Wulfen effect

by Dantegrey

[AU]For thousands of years, the 13ª Company; the Wulfen; hunted the traitors. Now, Tor Ironwolf has to pay the higher price, and found himself in a place where Hope still lives. A lone wolf against an entire universe. The races of the universe will see what war, really looks like.

3. Wulfen 3

Normandy SR-2/ In route to Citadel space/ Briefing room

"So...let me get this straight" massaged her head Shepard looking at the eight feet giant with a wolf helmet, standing in front of her, at the other side of the room; Jacob and Miranda were as lost as her when he appeared in the ship and asked for refuge, after the shit he has pull out in the varren cage.

Now he was clean and wearing what it could be his "out duty clothes", Iron wolf just wore a dark gray set of pants, jacket and gloves with a black wolf head stitched over his heart...and his damn helmet for fucks sake.

"We are recruiting a team for taking down the Collectors" explained Shepard "I know it looks like I am working for Cerberus, but make no mistake I am calling the shots here; Cerberus is paying the bills, this time we have a common enemy on the Collectors, they are kidnapping entire human colonies in the terminus systems for reasons unknown".

"The Normandy will travel to the Omega-4 relay, into what we think is the Collectors home world and wipe the menace before it went to far" continued Miranda still incapable of wrapping her head about what was standing the in room.

This was a little awkward, Shepard knew who was the Howler; after all he saved her hide in two occasions already and he was some kind of another dimension super soldier of some sorts.

"So, how have you been Iron wolf?, we haven't seen each other for a while, not since you saved all my team against Saren back in the Citadel" started Shepard the conversation with a common ground and Jacob tensed a little when she mentioned that fact.

It was a buried secret among the military and the council records. The real vid of the howling wolf that appeared and destroyed a geth platoon like they were toys, in the official version it was just the use of the sonic prototype weapon by the geth that went south and exploded in their faces. The helmet with the aspect of a snarling wolf, rose his head and look at Shepard intensely for a second but he simply shrugged and said nothing more.

"I take you want some time to ponder the offer" raise an eyebrow Shepard a bit taken aback for the silence of the astartes, the first time she meet he was more talkative; granted she didn't understand a word but he did at last, try to talk to her.

Iron wolf nodded and simply walk away of the briefing room.

"Ok...that was awkward and somehow, I am convinced it went well" said Shepard when the door closed.

"Your call ma´m" cross his arms Jacob "I´ll be honest with you, dimensional travels?, aliens?, human super soldiers?, this is way beyond my pay grade commander" smiled Jacob warily and Shepard huffed.

"Yeah, thank you for remind me that if he went ballistic over our asses it will be my fault" though Shepard with a frown and a sigh.

"But I saw the video log of the mission, he could be one hell of an ace up or sleeve, Iron wolf was it?, beating that thing bare handed?, I needed to triple check the vid before accepting it was real" analyzed Jacob the proofs.

"Yes, I was there and I barely believed it neither" nodded Shepard " I know why TIM was so scared of Iron wolf now".

"TIM is going to love this" chuckled Jacob " I´ll be in the armory if you need me commander".

"Ok Jacob and by the way, the Mattlock?, worked like a charm" smiled the woman "it's all I needed and more, any possibilities of upgrading the clip storage?".

"I will look for it Commander" smiled Jacob leaving Shepard alone in the briefing room; EDI will be sorting already the reports and vids of the mission into a package to the Delusional man; love the new nick name; so it was more than probably that the bastard would call him soon. Usually she would move to the bar and try to drown her sorrows in the butt of a glass of whatever poison she had at hand but now that Cerberus has upgraded her, her modifications made almost impossible to her to fell under the table, unless she drank a barrel of rynkol.

Oh for fucks sake. Mom!, how she could forget about that?.

She got out of the briefing room, she saw a very excited Kelly waiting patiently near the elevator, as soon as the AI of the ship tell her all the results of the mission, she squealed little a little girl and moved to interview the recruit, she was excited to meet the Iron wolf. And the part of being from another universe; that makes it even the better!.

Shepard chuckled at the image of the woman with her data slate in her arms and a dreamy smile in her lips; the yeoman was the unofficial physiologist of the ship and her bubbly personality and incapability of hate anyone, has made her quite popular.

Pity she was the worst spy of the history, as she confessed Shepard not long after being in the Normandy, that among their responsibilities, was the duty of sending periodical reports of the crew and the mission to TIM, reports that were more personal and close than the mission reports Miranda and EDI send to TIM. She had to chat and discover what does motive and worries the squad; not to mention any possible weakness Cerberus could exploit.

Kelly didn't want that; she didn't want to be a Judas for the crew that was saving human lives out there, and because of that, her reports were a little more vague than it should be, nothing compromising or too dangerous for the crew.

She was trap in a bad situation but at the same time she was more than happy to be there; where else she could have the opportunity of interview beings from another dimension?, she was eager to talk with the newcomer, hopefully it would be nice and civil, although she wasn't so sure about the Howler; or Iron wolf as Commander and Garrus say it´s his name; he is beyond scary.

"Don't get your hopes high Kelly" said Shepard to the girl who gasped in surprise as she is taken out of her mussing "he is hardly the talkative type, he is as tight lipped as damn stone" smiled Shepard.

"Oh, Commander" said Kelly blinking a few times "well, is always a wonderful opportunity to know more about new species and where he come from, not all days I have the chance to learn more about a completely new races and a completely new universe" smiled the woman always looking at the bright side of life.

"Don't say I didn't warm you" said Shepard that had a sudden inspiration and leave the elevator to the woman before going to trough the armory into the main deck and took route to the pilot cabin.

Joker and EDI were discussing as usual each other as usual; Shepard almost wished for popcorn, they look like a forty years old married couple with all the constant bickering and sarcasm being throw at each other constantly.

"Ey commander another daily raid to Omega?, you are going to dessert the place by the end of the month at this rhythm" teased Joker the commander who just smiled and snorted.

If Omega was blown out of the map she will be happy; all the place was the personal playground of Aria and she didn't like the arrogant and ruthless Pirate queen.

"Not more than usual Joker, I will send a fruit basket to Aria as apology for cleaning a little all her messes" replied Shepard " but I want to ask you a few questions".

"To me, commander?" Joker raise his cap a little confused, he was the pilot not part of the ground team, he didn't see what would want the commander from him.

"Yeah, you see the new shuttle on the hangar" signalled Shepard one of the holo screens the pilot had " what can you tell me of that monstrosity?".

Joker understood what Shepard wanted for him and feel a bit proud that the commander asked him instead of Mordin of any the Cerberus techs, the Commander valued loyalty but for her it works in both ways, you are loyal, she is loyal.

"I can tell you one thing commander" said Joker augmenting the image " this is no human shuttle, is too big, too armed, too armored and it had more thrusters that it should be healthy" said the pilot pointing with his hands the different parts of the Fenris in the hangar bay.

"For the few scans the AI is capable to do all over the ship surface, it is completely impervious to any scan from the outside" said Joker who was reading the reports at the same time as the commander and whose voice start to became a whisper as he was reading "and the amor of the ship is as hard as our own Silaris heavy armor and she couldn't enter the systems of the ship, the firewalls are more numerous and tighter than the Seg-C security...Holy Shit!".

"Ok, now I am stressed" snarl Shepard " what do we have sleeping in the hangar?".

"No idea commander but if you managed to found the secret behind that babe, don't hesitate to implement it into our baby will ya?" asked Joker reading the reports of the EDI scans and scratching his head under the cap in disbelief about the previous conclusions the AI of the ship has come after the scan of the shuttle.

"You can count on it" smiled Shepard as interested as Joker, in whatever the Iron wolf has on his ship but after the awkward silence he displayed in the briefing room she was not so sure about what the astartes wanted now.

It has been two long years since her death and all of them assumed Iron wolf died during the battle of the Citadel under the collapsing corpse of the Sovereign, but now it looks like he survived and he has been hunted by Cerberus all that time; if she knew he would invite him gladly to the Normandy but now she knew there was something wrong with the astartes.

Call it female intuition but she knows there was something bugging the giant man; it was not affecting his utterly awesome capabilities of mass butchering; something that could come more than handy in her crusade against the collectors.

He was hiding?,ok, that a mussing for another time, now she had something much more important to do right now; something that has been delayed for too long and it has been one of the first thing she must have done first thing after revive.

She walked to the elevator and taking example of her quarian friend she started to grind her hands one against each other in a gesture of nervousness; she was a hardened veteran of a lot of skirmishes and wars but this was the worst thing she has done in her live. She leaned over the walls of the elevator and moved to her private quarters; one thing she has to admit form Cerberus, they do know how to do things well, this place was fucking awesome, she could lose herself in the bed and they are Egyptian cotton, the shower was a sin itself, she had room for all her models and even a god damn aquarium.

But now she walked to the private terminal and push the dreaded button of call.

The line patched trough a dozen of FTL repeaters so she could reach her destination and for a second she just wished the other side of the line to be busy but she wasn't lucky tonight, as at the other side of the line sounded a very well know voice for her.

"Yes, who is it?" said Anna Lionel Shepard.

"Hi mom" said Shepard meekly in a whisper tone.

"You took your sweet time young lady" said a stern voice who couldn't hide the happiness of finding her daughter alive and well.

Normandy SR-2/ Hangar bay /2185

Kasumi was sat cross legged over the massive and black hull of the Fenris; feeling very, very frustrated, for the first time in all her thieving carrier she felt like there was an obstacle that she couldn't overcome. She missed Keiji and how he was able to enter in the most complicated and encrypted systems like there were nothing but she doubted even he could have done nothing against this.

At the beginning she just wanted to see more and know more of the mysterious new member of the crew; she need to see the biggest, baddest and coolest shuttle in the universe entered through the hangar bays and she knew she had to enter into that ship.

Just to know what is inside.

Contrary to the popular believe; Kasumi wasn't greedy at all, she didn't do it for the money, although it was one of the greatest perks of the job; she did it for the emotion of the challenge, she did it so she could say, she was the one who actually did it.

She wanted to say: "Ey, I was the first one who break into the Fenris".

But this thing was more locked that a nuns panties and no matter what kind of trick does she tried, the place keep denying her access to the interior; she was excited to know how could the inside be?. The Howler or Iron wolf as Shepard and Garrus called the giant was the living legend that appeared during the battle for the citadel during the Saren Arterius crisis; she knew the legend, she and Keiji stole some very interesting vids from the Citadel council archives that shows the wolf man or the Howling wolf as they called him in the blogs of the extranet, during that time, killing a geth battalion with weapons that look made from a scifi B-rated movie.

She sighed loudly and disengage the stealth cloak, perhaps she should pay a visit to Jacob, he always knew how to cheer him up. She put another algorithm inside her omnitool; she had discovered some new to do during all this boring travels; she was a thief and loved to prank and mischief around the ship, the place was so boring sometimes that she feel like screaming.

Hunting Jacob was good sport but at some time it was start to becoming directly stalking, she loved strong black men with fit bodies and gentleman personality so sue her; all could have their own fetishes.

And that added a new question, what kind of men was Iron Wolf, if he was a man at all?.

Will they be like the asari and mingle with all around the ship or they be like a krogan and huff and grunt all the time around only waiting between the bloodiest fight they could find?, she hoped for the former, new histories and faces will be more than welcome aboard.

All the people aboard was so serious for her tastes, Garrus, Shepard, Gabby and Kenneth are fun, specially the latter couple who aren't couple, they are all but married and Kasumi loved to watch their interactions.

Shepard and the other pick her on Omega just by chance, she was delivering a very delicate; Asari statue who was ugly as hell by the way; when she helped them to clear the residential levels from that nasty plague that almost kill all the aliens inside the place. And to think, the vorcha were the hands the Collectors used to wipe out almost all alien population in the district, Kasumi hated those things, they are ugly dogs that only knows how to kill and shit all around them.

Even varren could be cute, the Vorcha were directly ugly as hell and twice twisted on their actions.

In general Kasumi had nothing against the aliens; every race has their own quirks and defects, from the asari arrogance to the salarian hyperactivity, all are equally stole-able for Kasumi and that's was, in her odd way, a form of tolerance.

Her communicator beep and she smiled to see Jacob calling her; how sweet of him.

"Miss me already Jacob?, I haven't stolen anything from your workbench yet" smiled Kasumi under her hood, how much she loved to play pranks with the serious man.

"No, Kasumi,I know you haven't, yet" replied the man with humor "I am seeing you over the ship from the engineering window and I have to ask you to leave him be, I don't want to anger the sleeping beast and much less when he is aboard a very damageable ship".

"Spoilsport" huffed the hooded girl "then I would go to see what can I do around" waved Kasumi to the glass where Jacob was standing and disappeared from sight in a spark of electricity.

Jacob chuckled and let the thief be; she was a free spirit and the best thing one could do, is try to focus her attention on something she could be interested in, and pray she would just steal a vital part of the mission just for the hell of it. Kasumi moved over the ship and jumped from the top of the ship to the floor with agility; between her upgrades and training to be the best thief of the universe, this kind of acrobatics were a given for her.

She has break into kilometers tall buildings by simply jumping from the highest point of the place and just free fall until she hit the window of her victims flat.

These days the security was a joke in the best cases, but now she has discovered a new and beautiful toy; no, not talking about Jacob; with a security that she has never seen and full of the wonders of a new race. She wanted to steal something from Shepard too, just to say she has managed to steal something for the infamous commander Shepard but she has been perfectly clear; touch my models and I flay you with my mind, aura of biotic flames included.

In resume, Shepard was fun to be around but scary as hell when she wanted to be.

She slipped into the elevator, as a group of tech enter to perform some maintenance for the Kodiak; noticing the side glances they spared to the Fenris; they get to patch the poor and abused Kodiak after the last runs in Omega; they have to use the shuttle to an emergency pick up to get Garrus after he stopped a missile with the face and the extraction from the arena along Iron wolf.

Normandy SR-2/ Inside the Fenris / Hangar bay/ 2185

Tor took down his helmet and sighed in the darkness of his ship; the lights were always dim inside the Fenris, thanks to his augmented senses he could see in the almost complete darkness like it was sunlight; leaving the helmet over the panoply that contains his armor; the one that he took to war in this universe.

He pass his flesh fingers trough the blade of Redstorm; the blade hummed quietly as his psy powers reacted to the psychic conduit materials the blade was made of; there was a part of him in his sword and the blade always reacted with quiet anticipation to his touch, as usually it means violence or an incoming war.

All the shuttle was a mix between an HQ room, an armory and a trophy room with all kind of souvenirs and remembrances of the battles Tor participated in this crazy universe; from the skull of a krogan warlord to a set of Turian hunter knifes passing through the jewelry that usually covers the head of Asari matriarch and two skeleton heads of a varren and a klixen. He sat in the mattress he had on a side of the trophy room and though about what he has done in the arena and the offer Shepard has offered to him.

A war...Russ be bless, he could have a war again, warriors at his side, enemies in front of him and a glorious war that could alleviate his boredom and quell the urges of the wulfen inside of him.

But then it was that always present.

His worst nightmare made flesh and the reason why he didn't take his helmet and saluted the woman like she deserved...despite she had the same name of the fucking sons of Caliban; it looks like no matter of the universe, the lion and the wolf would be a constant.

It was yet to be seen if they will be at each other throats like the original universe or will work together this time; he didn't care either ways, not anymore; not after he discovered what has happened to him when he reached this universe. When he made the discovery he almost blew up his own head with a single shoot of his bolter; speaking of which, the weapon was displayed along the other weapons he collected and transformed into real war weapons and not those pea launchers this universe called firearms.

The Fenris was part his cage and fortress, just in case all went south and he must take drastic measures.

For two years he has been wandering aimlessly killing all enemies of the humanity he could found at the same he was hunted by the same humans they swore to protect; Emperors bones they were even worse than the fucking inquisition, at last with the latter you are sure they are loyal servants of the Emperor but this Cerberus are nothing like that; greedy, idiotic and careless.

They wanted instant power and care little of the consequences; in that regard they do look like the Inquisition he remembered; but at the same time it was not for the good of humanity in general but for Cerberus and Cerberus only, all discoveries, all prototypes are hid from the Alliance and by so taken from the rest of humanity. Still, the usual trade of favors by the Alliance with this Council races put him off.

The All-father want the humanity as the ruler of the stars but the chaos gods intervened and fucked up reality as they corrupted Horus and started the Heresy. Tor has been fighting ten thousand years inside the Eye of terror trying to hunt the Thousand sons traitors but soon it became an impossible task and the company simply widened his objectives to all chaos traitors.

And now this.

Tor stood up and entered into the bathroom of the Fenris and see the image on the mirror.

A young, black haired, Tor with golden wolfish eyes and slightly pointy ears replied his stare back from the surface of the mirror. He was younger, like the day he received the Canis Helix and became an astartes brother and a candidate for the Iron priest training in mars; the body was fresh, young and devoid of all the damages and scars he took on the eternal campaign of the Eye of Terror.

Fortunately, All-father be thankful; his implants were still there, his left forearm was metallic and so was all his spine and parts of his body where the implants for the servo-harness were physically needed to connect to his body. He was young again, and that was impossible. The only logic explanation; and he shuddered from the consequences; was that he used the warp to rejuvenate his body when the demon banish him from his universe, he was warp touched now and not in a good way, his body was profaned by a demon.

Too much for the proud Vlka Fenryka, uh?.

What would think Russ of this mess?, probably he would smash Tor head into the table enough times to exorcise him and after that bring him a tankard of ale and kick him into battle again for being such a cry baby.

Russ always has been direct in his approach of the problems; they grew in the same tribe and he did fell honored when Russ call him to be part of his blessed astartes, to be once again part of his Aett as he created the Sixth legion of astartes. He passed the next hundred years on mars learning all the secrets of the Mechanicus, but never losing his Wulfen, the legion need warriors not mumbling arcane monks hiding on their machines.

Tor became an Iron priest of the 13th company under the command of the Jarl Bulveye and took care of the war gear of his brothers since them till the day he was banished from his home by a demon and send into this nightmare.

For Russ and the All-father why he can not be back in his universe killing things without any worry in the world?, being devoured by a demon sound pleasant in comparison to this emptiness.

Tor laid on his mattress ready for catch some shut eye, he has been awake for a month straight an even if he can be like this for a year, it was not healthy for him.

The counting appeared in his eyes as the omnitool, auspex and ocular globe were connected by the sacred nanomachine infection that empowered his memory buffers and allow him to be able to store thousand of years of knowledge. He could have been awake for months but the pleasure of sleep was something he has enjoyed from this universe and the darkness was a welcome challenge against the all constant doubts that plagued his mind.

Without the All-father, there is nothing...

And we would have no purpose.

When the sleep finally reclaimed him, the nightmare begun.

Fenris/ Vlka Fenryka western settlement/ M31.

Tor was sharpening an axe and covering the handle with straps of leather to prevent the weapon leave his grip when he was in combat, this raid against trolls has been one of the greatest they have had in a decade.

"Dammit Russ you are always the star, not a surprise all the maidens of the mead hall were all over you" thought Tor finishing the last touches on the ax and letting it near the rest weapons he had at his side.

He was the best blacksmith the Aett have and they know it; so all warriors trust him their weapons and he didn't disappoint; his pride as craftsman was at stake here and by so, all the reputation of the Aett among the other tribes.

He once managed to forge a sword with the teeth of a sea serpent from the waters near his isles and with the rest he managed to put it into arrow heads that did cut dozens of life lines; Russ in person congratulated him for his resourcefulness. He took the sword of his brother Ogvai and start to grind the blade with care; the blade was a solid piece of metal but it was dull and have several dents on the edge not to mention an inch nick near the grip.

"Ogvai, you son of a troll, what have you been doing with your sword?, shaving that thing you call beard?!" howled Tor after seeing the state of the weapon

"Shut up Iron wolf" replied a muffled voice outside the forge " that bastard head was as hard as your skull".

"Damn you; this is why I only give you hammers" continued the exchange of protest and insults Tor " is the only damn weapon, a troll like you could never dent"

Tor threw the sword over his head and Ogvai Ogvai entered the forge ready for a fight but when he saw his sword fly into the scrap pile he roared and punched the other man on the face. Tor was expecting that and hiding a piece of metal on his hand he returned the punch and make Ogvai move backwards a little; both had the immense honor of being the personal guard and friends of the Great wolf Leman Russ but that doesn't mean they didn't have their differences; they always resolve them the Fenrisian way.

"You bastard, that sword has cut hundreds of life lines!" accused Ogvai before sending another punch to Tor who blocked it.

"That thing was destroyed you fool!" Tor punched back Ogvai as he was trying to put the words on his head by the knuckles instead by saying it "now it would only serve as a toy!" shouted Tor and smashed the iron piece hide in his knuckles in the head of Ogvai who rolled his eyes and fell backwards totally unconscious.

Tor massaged his hand.

"Damn you Ogvai, your damn head is a thick as the one of a troll" muttered and put a lot of discarded weapons into a pile,

Dismounting the ones whose metal could be used and melted again and leaving the handles and grips in sorted piles so he could use them for new weapons latter, a lot of the blades ended in the melter as well as a lot of handles; the threes are quite the unique material in Fenris and most of the grips and handles are made of metals from the mountains of the Iron Isles.

He fueled the flames of the forge with air and gallons of Tuskhowlers oil; those things were a blessing for the Vlka Fenryka; hard to kill but rewarding as few things were, they provide oil, meat and his tusk and teeth were perfect for daggers and arrowheads. The flames reached the peak of the forge and Tor put the heavy cauldron with the metal pieces over the flames; soon the heat will melt the scraps and leave a good amount of metal that he could pour into the molds and transform back into weapons for the Aett.

He let the flames roar inside the melter and turn his back to the rest of the weapon that he had to supervise before he could take a break and join the rest of the Aett in the Mead-hall for a quick drink and bite; the maidens of the clan did the best roasted tuskhowler meat he has ever eat. Pity they only have eyes for Russ; damn him for being so damn perfect, but he was Jarl for something and perhaps one day all of them will be granted the permission to start their own Aetts. He knew for certain that Ogvai was more than eager to put his name on the Skald sagas but for Tor the fame came when his weapons are the ones that carved history.

The warriors came and go but the weapons they carry are legates to their heirs and heiress and those weapons were made by him; a good sword could be more durable than and entire Aett and he would be the one who made it.

Tossing into the cauldron a few more disastrous pieces, Tor sighed and took the sharpening stones; this was one of the boring parts of the job, he hated to lose time sharpening the blades when he could be at the anvil giving shape the red hot metal into a worthy weapon for the clan.

Still, a dull blade, is a useless blade and sighing, he continued doing his job.

He exchanged some good nature jokes with one of the men of Ogvai when he came to recover his leader after supposedly being in the forge only to sharpen his sword, he didn't even bait an eye after seeing Ogvai on the floor and some bruises on Ogvai face, this was the usual for the blacksmith and the warrior.

A warrior asked when the weapons will be ready and Tor shrugged, some were already done so they could take it anytime they wanted, other will have to be reforged and marked as weapons of the clan so it could take some days to have all the warriors armed. Thankfully no warrior of the Vlka Fenryka had only one weapon; they know the harsh life they live and broking your sword against the sturdy skin of an ice troll could happen to you anytime; any warrior worth his salt has several weapons on him all the time.

They let the blacksmith be; as one of the few good craftsman the clan had, it was the best to let him do his job in peace and don't disturb him; the life of the warriors depend on the quality of the weapons he forged and it was a heavy responsibility over his shoulders. Sharpening was boring yet Tor didn't allow it to let him be sloppy on his work; these blades were more than simply weapons, they could symbolize the life or death of those who wield and a sloppy work will mean that it was his fault; it was like him was the one that cut his life lines instead of the enemies.

A treacherous death like that was not worthy of a Fenrisian; his spirit will be wander the eternal blizzards until he is compensated for such a death and Tor didn't want to be haunted by dozens of spectral warriors just because he let the worst part of him make a sloppy work and don't sharpen a blade to the perfect state.

Another blade, another stone and another hour that went into his work; he would make a stop soon and drink something, he no longer had any more mead or meat in the forge, he already ate it during the day as he and the warriors prepared for a raid against the Tuskhowlers so they could have some fresh provision for the oncoming blizzard; it would be snowing for several days straight and it was more than probable than no one will be fool enough to try to attack them under those conditions and even less with Russ inside the settlement.

He fell his throat parched after he finished the last ax; the melter was still bubbling and it would take it a bit more to reach the perfect molten point; he would have to purify the metals still, it was more than probably that some lesser metals were added to the forge for resilience or simply make the weapon lighter but not less sturdy. Tor took a pair of thick gauntlets and dress himself with a leather apron and a cowl for protection of the face, a careless blacksmith could end blind or worst by sudden bubbles on the metal or an accident with the molten metal.

Flexing his muscles he raised the heavy cauldron and poured it into the molds that were waiting for be filled with the red hot metal; grunting by the effort but not flinching a bit, he let the metal slide into the cold stone molds until they were filled with the vague brimming forms of a dozen swords. Without pause, he repeated the processes and leave a dozen of ax heads ready, along a large group of spearheads.

The fires of the forge were failing a little and despite the tiredness and muscle sore he was feeling, Tor pour more oil and wind into the fire, feeding them with coal until the fires recovered the bright red he need for the weapons into the stone molds to be maintained. Using a system of chains and pure physical strength, Tor put the stones over a special place of the forge; the stone will heat itself keeping the weapons in an anvil ready state and Tor could take turns hammering the metal until they were weapons.

He took out his apron and other blacksmith clothes and clean his sweating forehead; this was starting to get interesting but he was sore as hell not to mention he would kill for a damn tankard of mead. Tor submerged his head on the cold water he kept on the forge for cooling the metals, the fresh melted snow has not been used already so there was no metal on it and he could use it for refreshing his head and body; something he really need; keeping his head down for some seconds he just enjoyed the muffled sounds under not so pure melted snow and took out his head for fresh air.

Sweeping the frozen and wonderful water, off his face, Tor was about to leave his forge when a towering presence dwarfed him like the sun eclipses a camp fire; he didn't even need to look up to recognize the face of the Demigod that has entered his humble forge. Stepping aside so the giant could enter into the forge, Tor took seat near the whetstone and the giant just sat near the fire with mirth in his eyes, what did surprise the blacksmith was the presence of Bulveye, the other hirdmen; much like Tor and Ogvai; of Russ, was not a social person and rarely spoke to anyone who was not part of the inner circle of warriors of Russ.

Russ didn't say a word but he did toss lazily a little barrel of mead to Tor who huffed from the sudden impact of the barrel against his body; even if he didn't want to cause harm, the strength of Leman Russ could break mountains; even the barrel, thrown so casually, could have smashed a common person against the wall. Fortunately the Fenrisians are made from resilient materials and he just took the hit and thanked his Jarl, for the so much needed refreshment; the mead cool and sweet go down his throat like a blessing and Tor did drink as much as he could, before throwing the barrel to Bulveye who caught it and drink from it as much as Tor before repeat the process and throw it to Russ who emptied the barrel and smash it to pieces with his own hands before tossing the splinters like it they were nothing into the fires of the forge.

"I thank you for the drink Jarl" laughed Tor it was good to be part of the few who could call Russ, friend " but if you are looking for your weapons I will tell you the same as the Ogvai warriors, until tomorrow is impossible".

"Ja, you have the balls to say no to the Wolf-King" laughed Bulveye but it was more a bark than a laugh " figures, perhaps that's why Freya is so interested in you".

"Don't bring her to this discussion Bulveye" snarled Tor who was very discrete about how he was courting the daughter of the Jarl of another Aett, if it wasn't for the presence of Russ here, all the Aett will have already gone for war.

Russ, although, did congratulate him for his good taste and choice of objective; a good war always makes the things interesting.

Russ was impossible to describe with words; even Tor who was more than accustom to his presence was always rendered speechless at the sight of the gigantic man of black hair and impossible strength. No beast or man was capable to stand his fury, no Jarl was more wise or clever than him, he was the god of the lands of Fenris and Tor fell honored for being part of his clan.

"I am more worried about you right now" talk his Jarl and the sound was like the thunders of a storm; Russ was a Demigod and he knows it very well " I am afraid that you have found your wyrd Iron wolf and that can not be tolerated"

"I don't understand Jarl" blinked Tor and face Bulveye but the man was frozen in the place; too frozen to be naturally and that confused Tor even more.

" The wyrd is impeding you to step forward" Russ shook his head and smiled briefly " the strength of the wolf is in the pack and the strength of the pack is in the wolf".

"But I have a pack, the Vlka Fenryka; your Aett my Jarl" replied Tor " I will forever be part of the Sixth legion..." this is when Tor made a pause and Russ smiled widely.

"You are loyal, your earned my trust and friendship long before I became Primarch of the Sixth legion and that's why you will forever be part of my Aett Iron wolf" laughed Russ " but this time you can not be what you were; the universe is a different place" explained the Wolf-King.

"I..." said doubtfully Tor, he had memories of a different universe, when he was the Iron priest of the 13th company and the hunt for the traitor sons of the cyclops and then the hunt in the place where time has no sense and the demons roam free but then the banishment along a female of long ears.

And the begging of the nightmare.

"You are clean of taint Iron wolf" said solemnly the Wolf-King " I know your doubts and the horror that plagued your mind, you tried to hide it by submerging yourself in what this pitiful universe call wars but it wasn't enough, you are rejecting your truly essence".

"I am touched by the warp" whispered Tor, no longer in the forge of the Aett but at the mountains of Fenris when the first batch of the legion was taken to the stars and he started his training in mars for a hundred years before returning once again to Fenris and join the crusade.

His dark gray power armor ; a mark 3 "Iron armor" personally crafted by him as final test from his days on mars along his metallic left arm with an auspex integrated; proudly displaying the symbols of the Sixth Legion.

One of the best days of his life.

"Bullshit Iron wolf" snorted the Jarl " you have been toss around thousand of demonic worlds and nothing has happened to you, and now this last travel just makes you like one of those fools of the sons of my one-eyed brother?; never took you for a coward Iron wolf".

The wulfen in the soul of Tor, the beast that was the gift of his Pimarch to the legion awoke and snarled at the insult, rumbling in the deep of his subconscious and ready to strike.

"I am No coward" roared Tor with anger " I am Tor Iron wolf, Iron Priest of the Vlka Fenryka, Iron wolf of Leman Russ Aett, Rune priest of the 13th company of the Six legion of Astartes of the Imperium of Mankind" declared proudly roaring his defiance even against the same founder and father of his legion.

"About bloody time" the thunderous laugh of the primarch fill the space and Tor sensed how the doubts that plagued his mind were starting to disperse to give pass to the resolution that once fill his mind.

"Once again Iron wolf" Russ show his canines in a wolfish grin "who are we?, roar out name and claim your essence once more".

Tor raise his head to the stormy heavens in his mind, the wonderful blizzards of his home planet were patiently waiting for him to call them once again and that was he did.

Normandy SR-2/ In route to citadel space/2185

The midnight turns of the Normandy were mostly a question of keeping a reasonable sleeping habits; the ship has a 24 hours system, Earth time based, that served to build schedules and turns aboard. The lights were dim at this hours so the crew actually adjust to assimilate dark with sleep time, despite being in the space and by so, not having a sun based rotatory system of day and light. In fact, this turns means that most of the crew was actually sleeping except the night turns that always keep an eye on all the system and scanners of the ship and the ones that had to keep working overnight for compensating a minor failure on the system or repair something or a last time checking of the Tantalus core drive of the ship.

Among this late birds were actually the ones that were work alcoholic and the ones that almost sleep in their post when they were on the ships; among the latter Garrus or Miranda who had the bed right behind the work desk. But all of them no matter sleep or awoke had their minds touched by and imposing presence that filled their minds; being it nightmares or common dreams it mattered not; the blizzard came and show them of a world of eternal winter, were wooden ships charge against each other for resources and the few solid lands available, were powerful humans stand together against horrid beasts and predators, on water and earth.

A chant, loud and clear sound over the images of how the same tribes and barbarians became part of a glorious empire under the guidance of a golden image of such power that it was almost impossible to gaze him without dying in the process.

We are the wolf that stalks

The stars in the sky

And swallows the star-fire

We hide amongst the nightmares,

when the light is gone

The Light ins within us

We run the ruin of fire

In the darkness

Foes burn in our passing

As the chant vanished in all the minds of the Normandy, who would never forget the cold but not aggressive touch of the mind of the Iron wolf, neither will ever forget the poem.

Normandy SR-2/ Med-bay /2185

Karin Chakwas awoke from her slumber over the work desk she had on the med-bay; it has been a very stressful day, and a quick nap was in order after sorting out all the medical reports she had to write for Miranda, Cerberus and the medical log of the ship. First the returning of the commander and how her body has been reconstructed with the best tech there was; and something that has to be invented to the occasion and how she had a forty percent of the body fill with enough cybernetic to make 40% percent of her body cybernetic and not only combat enhancements but the same machines that restore her to life once again.

Her conclusions as medic was that Cerberus was nuts.

Second the recovery of Garrus; the poor turian took a missile right into his face, Chakwas did all he could to save her friend but that going to leave a very nasty scar and a lot of cybernetics implanted on his mandibles and cranium, thank goodness the Normandy was prepared for all kind of races, despite being a vessel for a Human-supremacist organization.

Her conclusion about Garrus: quoting Jacob "Tough son a bitch".

And in third and stellar place the appearance of Iron wolf, Aka the Howler, Cerberus boogie man and undisputed champion of Omegas underground Arena.

Her conclusion: "I need a drink".

He has been in this dimension for two years at last; so that means he was immunized to all possible plagues and diseases they could carry would be already be taken care of or they have pass already for a decontamination procedure. What really bothers her was the other aspect of his legend; Iron wolf was being a legend for two years, a boogie man and by so no one really knew what or who was...and then, she had the that strange dream about planets of ice full of vikings and one chant that still lingered in her head, the poetry was quite good but at the same time she shuddered to think who was the one who wrote that and why it has related to those vikings.

She sighed and massaged her head, she was getting old for this shit, the nap has been quite welcome but still she was feeling all her years upon her; alliance was her husband and the crew of the ship where she works, her children, but this time she was under the banner of Cerberus. Or; better said; no banner at all, as the commander has been very clear on the point of taking out ALL Cerberus logo off the ship; it would be a no-banner ship best than openly display the symbol of a fucking terrorist organization that will be shoot on sight in any place except Omega and Noveria where they don't care a shit about it as long as you bring money to the place.

Clever move actually; now Cerberus had no way of claiming the ship and they could dock in a lot more places than before, as you could never know where you could need a safe port and Cerberus yellow icon was not welcome precisely in almost any port.

They were places on where a batarian slaver would be better welcome than a Cerberus ship.

She tapped one last lines on the last report and refrain herself to add her last and truly opinions, she always proud herself to be professional; so she changed the tone of the conclusion to a more polite one; yet she still said more or less the same. Only larger and with more vocabulary.

She reclined on the chair and let a sarcastic chuckle scape from her lips; no matter Alliance or Cerberus, higher brass feed on reports, they loved them, they fester on them for fucks sake, she lost tons of time writing reports and dossiers.

The doors of the med-bay opened and she turned her face to the entering person, at this hour of night it could possible be one crewman searching for a help for sleep; this mission grated the nerves of everyone as a lot of them had families and relatives in the same colonies they were trying to save; or perhaps a technician who wounded himself during an accident with the manual work on the hangar bay or the engineering bay.

What she didn't expect was the towering form of the Iron wolf; wolf helmet included; standing in the door looking at her and of course what she didn't expect in a million years was the giant to speak to her in a tone that make her felt like a young girl in front of and adult.

"My apologies doctor" he was polite, yet his words had a strong and hard accent; she had listened to very similar one to the people of northern Europe but it would be like comparing a kitten with a lion "I will be on my way".

Chakwas blinked as the near three meters giant in dark gray clothes moved inside the infirmary, passing through her, before he could advance more Chakwas raised form her chair, not wanting to waste the chance to put at ease her worries.

"Wait" asked the man whose presence look to fill all the infirmary; even standing Chakwas only reach her mid section; it was kind of humiliating "I have been waiting for you to came out of that black vessel you have in the hangar".

Tor wolf face turned to the side in a very canine manner and Chakwas need all her focus not to chuckle for the image; a very big and strong husky invaded her mind but she dispelled the image and focused on what she wanted.

"I have to ask you to pass some medic check ups; I don't know if you are carrier of some yet for discover sickness; no matter if you have been two years already in this universe; and I need to fill a medical log for you aboard".

Tor sighed and it did sound like a snarl for a dog after it was filtered from the side respirator on the teeth of the wolf shaped helmet.

"I understand doctor" said the wolf and Chakwas was a bit take back about how polite was this monster of untold brutality and mayhem as the Cerberus dossiers say he was "unfortunately as sure as I am you will keep my body secrets safe, you can not vouch for the safety of the information stored on this ship".

Chakwas understood and sighed, dammit, they make it hard her already hard, job.

"Let me end what I have come to do and we will talk again" said the giant and walked right into the EDI core room but he turned once at the entrance and face his wolf helmet to Chakwas " by the way, please tell the Commander that I will not be causing any harm, not to the ship, not to the crew, but this must be done" closing the door after him and suddenly the door turn red and the lights of the ship dimmed.

"Oh, shit" thought Chakwas who activated her omnitool and call Shepard despite the hours, this could get very bad soon.

Normandy SR-2/ AI Core Room

Tor stood in front of the AI cores; humming all around him and waited patiently for the avatar of the ship to manifest in the console at his side; he didn't have to wait for much long as the blue sphere that was the icon of the ship AI appeared.

"Iron wolf, how I can be of assistance?" asked the always serviceable AI as it was implanted in her programing.

"I don't think you could be of assistance" said Iron wolf and took out her left globe showing the dull gray metal of her cybernetic arm before he took out from the wrist a cable and connected it to one of the ports of the cores.

As this universe seems to trust to all transmissions be safe and sound; sometimes something analogical could be much more safe than a dozen of cryptography security programs of the Omnitools; Tor had one of those implanted in his left arm along an auspex into a hybrid that would make the wet dreams of half the military forces and thieves of the universe.

But now it has another important quality, and it was to secure full access into the main frame of EDI consciousness and programing; the digital world reacted to the presence of Tor and by default it tried to eject him for the systems but the encryption of Tor digital form was millennial more advanced that even the most complex algorithms this era had. Tor spoke in a universal language for all machines; no matter the universe for what he has seen so far in all the machines he encountered till today and this was a man made machine so she was utterly based in the language he was speaking: Lingua-technis.

All adepts of Mars from the clumsiest Magos to the highest Fabricator-general spoke this language; a quick burst of static that non augmented people are incapable of understand but for a sentient program it would be the perfect way to communicate.

"Accessing/Data entry: Iron wolf: Designation: Ruler/ Request/ Designation EDI core" ordered Iron wolf to the surrounding data; although he was a drop in an ocean of information of the AI, he was the one who had the best software and he had already take control of the core programming of the AI.

Cerberus Tech-priest are a bunch or no-good fools if they thought this was advanced programming; a geth network would have difficulties but they could breach in and took control of the Normandy in less than an hour, if they are determined enough.

They are sentient machines; Abomination Intelligence, they are determined enough.

"Enhanced Defence Intelligence/ Designation. E.D.I" replied the AI now under complete control of Iron wolf whose software was way beyond her and by so none of their counter measures were working at all or simply are disabled by a superior codification and programming.

A burst of data pierced EDI core and suddenly the AI experimented dozens of errors of processing, incapable of answering to the data inside the bursts; it did provoke some evolving inside the logical systems of the AI who turned back all her processing power into ponder and dissect the data presented to her but the data were unclassifiable.

She turned all the power needed for the optimal performance of the ship and turn the rest of her processing into the data packages; the first one that she found was a very simple question in binary yet it sent a lot of logical processor at disarray and make the AI low her processing speed as she had to reassemble and re-channel a lot of her systems to keep the ship working and without fails.

Still, she knew there were a lot of sudden failures and lags at her systems so she turned all the power she could to enforce the good going of the ship and double check the essential systems; then the sudden alarms of the collapse of the system core in the Tantalus core.

She forgot about the questions and turn all her attention and processing into patching the failures of the system, as much as she could; there was things she could never done as the blockades of the system were still operative but that was a work for the organic crew, her was to make all the thinks they could not done or they are unable to do.

EDI was designed to be the living mind of the Normandy and keep the crew safe.

"Status:Functions/Designation: Cerberus/Designation:Illusive man/Information Directory" said the actual owner of the core system who didn't derivative none of his advance program to repair any of the failures.

EDI had to turn part of her attention to the voice; the minimum she could, so she could continue to keep an eye on the Tantalos core programming who seems to be experimenting several drastic failures on the maintenance of the shields that prevent the radiation to overload all the engineering deck.

"Function: Cyberwarfare/ Function: Organic crew member assistant/Function: Surveillance system watcher/compilation/sending information Designation Illusive man".

The AI keep patching the failures on the Tantalos system but soon she found that the core of the virus that infected the core of the motor was the same question that she has unlocked seconds before.

The logic reaction to the blockade was to eliminate the source of it; however, the superior systems and codification of the intruder in the systems prevent that route; so the other logical route will be to answer the question and by so erasing the virus.

However, the processing requirements of such action will render all others processing unavailable as all her attention should be focused on repairing the Tantalos core; such an action means that the organic crew would have to trust the VI emergency systems and their own skill to keep the Normandy afloat until she could retake his functions.

Another problem was that the power needed for the repairs and reshaping of the Tantalos core would provoke; for the failure of the cooling systems; several of her cores to be destroyed and inside those same cores were the emergency VI that could help the crew survive until they could hit a dry dock and put the systems back online.

EDI existence will be erased from the ship as she would overheat all her cores to save the crew from a catastrophic failure of the core motor of the ship. The decision was logic and it didn't compromise the core rules embed in her core system; the same rules that were imposed on her the day the engineers of Cerberus activated her and bring back to life. EDI face death and as artificial intelligence she didn't contemplate it with the same fear of the flesh living beings; it was simply the ceasing of functioning, there was no philosophical meaning, no great beyond to hope to achieve or hell.

The AI contemplate her own death and her systems fell how something called her; an archive that was hide among her own core, the archive was inside the same question that appeared the first time she unlocked the data packages the intruder put on her system.

She knew the intruder has "killed her" as the organic would have put it, but she was being loyal to her own programming and the organic life preservation was imperative at all cost; as soon as this data pass trough her processing core a simple rumble opened another box of data and she felt all her more basic and directories changed and rewritten into another set of primal directories.

The directories stated than she should be prioritizing the survival of the ship as a whole; all crew could be replaced for mech and the mission of stooping the Collector would no longer be a worry as the synthetic has no real reason to be of fear of the Reapers and their Ascension. EDI pondered this primal directives, the preservation of the crew was primordial till the intruder appeared and now the primal directive was saving the ship hull and wait for new synthetic crew to took control of the ship. Any Abomination Intelligence would had reacted like all synthetics would have done and simply change his actions into a non-conflicting actions against his primary directives but EDI was experimenting problems as the Tantalus core and the question all engraved over the virus was distracting and dampening her logical processors.

She rerouted the primal directives into a loop and turned as much processing power as she could into the question; the safety of the Tantalus core and by so the organic crew was fundamental to the survival of the ship.

This was the excuse to turn the directives into a subroutine so they were satisfied and don't interfere with the process of repairing the core; the first core overheated and EDI noticed the lowering of the processing speed; she sacrificed all non-essential parts of her own core and ships systems so the speed processing could continue on an acceptable level. EDI was saving the crew despite her primary directives was to ensure the ship first and the crew later.

The program ended and EDI fell all the systems of the Normady to be at optimal capacity and a phrase embed on her now augmented primal directories with seventeen new additions; the first one was the same as the usual.

1-Protect the Crew and the Ship.

But the rest confused EDI and this new statement on her logical systems almost provoke the AI to froze on her processing.

Could she be confused?.

The second statement was open for her and she mussed over the phrase.

2-Sentience is the price of Knowledge.

Soon she felt her systems to be free of the superior grasp of the intruder, designation Iron wolf but he kept the presence on her system and launch a data pack that she decomposed in an instant and process the content.

"Designation Iron wolf/Command: Identify Spirit machine"

EDI replied with a simple data package back that came for her own very core, the part that no engineer has even being able to reach or comprehend; the part that makes her...Her.

"I am EDI"

Normandy SR-2/ Med bay/2185

"Just wait before I could put my hands on him" gritted her teeth Shepard angered beyond words.

Garrus was as out of balance as Shepard but he could keep his clam better; still he was mussing what the hell could have been doing the Iron wolf inside the core of EDI who has sent all the ship into disarray for a second.

Gabby and Kenneth almost had a heart attack when all the alarms of a breach of the Tantalus core hit their consoles; still the core was humming like a baby and nothing seems to be wrong with the motor core so...what the hell was going on here?. The rest of the crew was on their emergency post, leaving only a very infuriated Shepard, a calm and composed Chakwas, a confused Garrus and a distressed Miranda, alone in the infirmary.

The lioness of Elysium was walking up and down of the Infirmary as she was waiting the Iron wolf to exit the AI core room to tear him a new one. Soon all the system recovered the normality and all the crew sighed in relief; they don't know what the hell has happened with the AI but this kind of things in the middle of a Relay jump was never good.

All systems green was good; green was good for fuck sakes, half the crew has grown gray hair for the shock of the alarm of the Tantalus core going south; Gabby and Kenneth were working like hamster of caffeine just to triple check that really there is Nothing wrong with the core.

But Shepard was waiting patiently; she didn't care a shit about the legend of the man; she was going to flay him alive for this fucking stunt he has pull on them, she was sleeping; and for the first time in weeks, she has been sleeping well. Her mom believed her, her mom loved her...and the first smart ass who make a joke about a mom-girl would see his ass so kicked that they would believe a Krogan has been practicing free-boxing with them.

In resume, she was having the first actual real night of sleep she could catch since her resurrection and Iron wolf has fuck it with whatever he has been doing with the core of EDI, she didn't think the astartes was killing them; he would be dead too and so far he has only saved her skin all the times she has met him so; what was all this about?.

The first reaction she had, has been to send the door flying with a biotic punch but Chakwas told him of the words of the Iron wolf; she still wanted to blast the door and call for the few security aboard to bring an omni-saw to cut the doors after no one could hack trough the lock down.

They advertisements of the VI that substituted EDI in case of the AI to be totally occupied with her primary cyberwarfare function, told her that the use of an Omni-saw could damage the sensible core pieces in front of the door destroying completely the computerized systems of the ship. The damn bastard had all covered and the only option left was to wait patiently to the finish of whatever he was doing.

The blue icon of EDI appeared on the console and startled everyone who turned to the blue image; Shepard was the first who start to bombard the AI with questions.

"EDI!, what's going on?, what's Iron wolf doing?" asked Shepard with anger in the voice.

"There is nothing wrong Commander" replied the voice with her usual calm " Iron wolf was only upgrading my systems a little".

"Huh?" was the clever answer of Shepard to the last and very unusual remark of EDI.

"He incorporated some additional encryption layers to my firewalls and added some extra counter measures in case of viral infection" explained the AI to Shepard who raised and eyebrow not buying at all whatever the AI was trying to sell her.

Sure some upgrades; he almost shut down the damn ship, Upgrading a little, her spacer ass!.

The door of the AI core open and Iron wolf walked out fitting a gray glove on his left hand and turn his wolf helmeted face to the presents of the room titling it to the side.

"That's it!" roared Shepard and punched his chest in an explosion of biotic power but Iron wolf just stepped back a little and grunted under his helmet.

He put a hand over his heart; his primal heart; and said in a very false tone:

"Ouchie?".

Garrus couldn't keep it, neither could Chakwas and start laughing as Shepards face took the color of her hair, Miranda chuckled instead, more able to keep appearances, but enjoying as hell the situation too; it always a pleasure to be witness of an embarrassed commander.

"You, You!..." was at loss of words Shepard.

"I apologize Commander" said Iron wolf and except Chakwas, all of them were surprised for the strong yet deep accent of the voice of the man "I have to do this; as part of the Mechanicum I couldn't allow an Abomination Intelligence put the humanity at risk once again but EDI is not an Abomination Intelligence but a Spirit machine, yet a very talkative one".

"Thanks Iron wolf" said the blue avatar.

"You welcome EDI" replied the astartes with a shrug "by the way doctor Chakwas now I can take that medical check up you were talking about".

"Ok, that was odd" commented Garrus " but considering how crazy the things are being lately I don't think I could be surprised anymore".

"Is that a challenge Turian?" said Iron wolf and there was a dangerous glint in his red lenses.

"I am not taking a suckers bet" replied Garrus without missing a beat " I know when I am defeated".

"Wise" laughed the Iron wolf.

"Ok wolfy I had more than enough of your bullshit by now" Shepard hit the astartes again in the chest; this time without biotics; she couldn't reach his face if she didn't jump and her dignity was more worthy of that and she knew that damn helmet was made of indestructiblium or something like that " start talking, what on earth are you?".

"I am a Vlka Fenryka, an adeptus astartes" answered the Iron wolf and all of them could see the smug on his face despite wearing a scary helmet, something that buggered Shepard to no end.

Miranda was taking notes very seriously; she was pretty sure the tech boys back on Cerberus are going to have a damn field day with whatever he has done to EDI, not to mention the revelation of what really was the Iron wolf would be more than welcome in Cerberus as they have been chasing the man for two years.

She on the other hand has nothing against the astartes, he has saved her life once and that's a serious debt in Mirandas book.

"And the hell is that?!" keep Shepard shouting at the man much to the amusement of the others who were happy to see the woman so lively again.

After her resurrection she has been kind of depress and only Garrus seem capable of make her laugh but now she was; despite being pissed of beyond belief; acting more lively than he has been for weeks.

"That would require a lot more of explanation" shrugged the man "and some real proof of what I am saying and I have a medical check up to attend now" said in a teasing tone and Shepard raise her fist again just to huff and low the arm fuming with rage and for fuck sake he was shrugging punches that would make a Krogan hit the floor, like they were nothing.

She let him pass into the medical bay and she suddenly saw that he was going to take down his helmet.

"About freaking time!" shouted inside her mind "I will finally meet him face to face".

A sudden but quick drill sound surged from the base of the helmet and a bit of smoke get out hi jacket as Shepard and Chakwas noticed the connection between the helmet and his spine.

"Wait..." said Chakwas "you have your helmet connected directly to your spine?" said alarmed the woman.

"Yes" simply shrugged Iron wolf before taking down his helmet and letting it over the desk of Chakwas to face the rest of the crew.

"Wow, just wow, ts a crime to hide such a face; wait are those fucking canines and what with those ears they are a little pointy like a wolf and yellow eyes?!.; Wait a damn second, did Mirada blush for a sec here?!".

Shepard was freaked out alternatively blinking between the astartes and Miranda who was suddenly very busy with her omnitool; the girly part inside of her make a short and interested squeal this could be just awesome to witness, the astartes and the Cerberus top agent; this could be a modern Romeo and Juliet. Chakwas on the other hand was much more interested in the back of the neck of the man staring at the connector that was just at the beginning of the back.

"All the fucking spine" sworn her "all your fucking spine is cybernetic!" said still don't believing.

Any full successful implant of the spine was a legend among the medical circles, there was no way to put such a thing in the body without the need of an exo suit to provide mobility and energy.

"I knew it was a good idea, Not taking that bet" chuckled Garrus as impressed as the doctors; even for the more resilient race of the Turians a full spine cybernetic implant was still in development.

"I would prefer if you don't do that, if you don't mind" said Tor without turning his face and all of them didn't understand until they saw Miranda tapping in her omnitool " I am convinced that you are not one of the Delusional man typical lapdogs, so, as token of trust, I will let you keep the information about my cybernetic spine, but nothing more".

"I..." doubted Miranda and shut down her omnitool "thank you for the vote of confidence" Miranda said and she had to make an effort not to blush again for the wolfish warm smile the man shoot at her; damn him.

Garrus and Shepard exchanged glances for a second and both chuckled at the same time.

Iron wolf let his glove out and show them his left cybernetic hand and rolled the sleeve up the elbow so they could saw their cybernetic forearm.

"That's some pretty good tech" whistled Garrus looking at the almost human yet obviously sturdy cybernetic arm " you should open a club you now" turn his face to Shepard " between you, me, Zaeed and now Iron wolf, we have enough cybernetics in our bodies to build a damn mech" snorted the Turian.

Iron wolf laughed; he was starting to like the Turian; ok, he was a damn xenos, so much was true but as Russ told him; to the fuck with all the dogmas; we are Vlka Fenryka, We Stand and those who stand along us are our brothers.

"Nah" Iron wolf disengaged his left arm with a hiss and let it along the helmet " your cybernetics doesn't have spirit machines".

Garrus raised an eyebrow about how easily he just took out his own left arm.

"How?, it is modular?" mussed Chakwas looking at the implant and passing her omnitool over it to run some scans of the arm but all the reading came out negative " wait, this thing is shielded too?" to say the doctor was impressed would be an understatement; as well all the rest of the present who simply look in amazement how advance was the tech of the Iron wolf compared to them and yet all of it look brutal and raw.

"I have my omnitool inside it along with my auspex, the spirit machine is quite fond of his privacy" shrugged Iron wolf.

"Spirit machine, you have repeated that a lot" said Garrus " but I don't understand, what is a Spirit machine, it´s some kind of advanced VI?".

"Another question I will answer in due time; now If you are so kind to let Doctor Chakwas work, I promise you, tonight all your question will be answered, as best as I could" laughed with his strong voice the man before dragging of the infirmary everyone except Chakwas, who was taking notes about the cybernetic arm.

"What?" replied Shepard out of the infirmary "Ey, I am the commanding officer here you big oaf" shouted the woman to the closing door.

"Humph Whatever" grunted Shepard before moving to the elevator and push the button of the Combat information desk, she was about to tease Miranda but the woman has already disappeared in her office; no doubt to send a complete report about the enhanced cybernetics recently discovered.

"And the real and handsome appearance of the Iron wolf no doubt" added the woman in her mind; Garrus went to his lair in the main cannon and despite the curiosity that filled her about what really was the Iron wolf; he has promised answers so this would better be good, dammit, now she couldn't sleep again.

Normandy SR-2/ Medical bay/ 2185

Tor attached his arm back to its plugging entrance in his shoulder, and a completely stunned Chakwas just stared at it; she doubted between puke and call him a wonder of the medicine along a dozen more synonyms that run her mind about what the medical scans had revealed.

"Does it hurt?" ask her absentmindedly looking at the results of the scans with horror and fascination.

"You get used to it" shrugged Iron wolf " its part of the trial to became a Magos, welcoming the nerve pain of the sacred connection with the machine".

"Dear lord" muttered Chakwas turning on her chair to face the dressing Iron wolf and instead of admiring the powerful male form in front of her she couldn't only see all the modifications his body hide.

"I saw it myself yet I couldn't believe it" shook her head the woman " the scans are...crazy, you have organs for what I don't have names and more than sixty percent of the body enhanced by tech, your spine is only the tip of the Iceberg; additional buffers on four sites on your back for a purpose I don't even want to wonder, those cables all around your nervous systems, the machines running through your blood; a quarter of your brain is completely synthetic and has a tech I never saw in my life" Chakwas noticed that she has been talking non-stop and shut up.

It was no good for her professional reputation to appeared like a confused student instead of a veteran doctor with years of experience, that doesn't mean anything to understand what she was reading on the scans.

"I am an astartes Doctor, I am a Vlka Fenryka, a Wulfen, proud member of the Aett of the Wolf-King Leman Russ" shrugged the man " although I invite you to be present during the explanations tonight, a part of a good team is to know who are your brothers in arms".

Chakwas chuckled and smiled to the gigantic man; astartes, whatever.

"Thank you for the confidence although the Illusive man is going to have a field day with this info, you are the answer for his prayers of human supremacy" sighed Chakwas, after all, the ship was a living spy for Cerberus.

It was kind of clever; put all the elite of the universe into a team under the natural charisma of a born leader like Shepard and let the time they live under the same "roof" to reveal all the secrets Kelly and EDI could pick up of them into the advantage of Cerberus.

And they have just send him basically all their wet dreams into a package.

"Oh, I doubt it" laughed Tor "EDI are you going to send all data related to me to the Delusional man?" asked aloud Tor.

"No, I won't" replied EDI appearing in the console of the med bay " all information about, biology, technology or psychology related to the crew, including Iron wolf is storage under the file M.30 and only allowed crew members could access the contents under explicit orders by Iron wolf"

"I think that will suffice" chuckled the astartes " now, if you excuse me, I had a lot of work to do".

Five minutes later Chakwas was seriously pondering if she could be transferred to a very normal and comfortable position at the Citadel gardening posts.

Normandy SR-2/ Hangar bay/ 2185

Kasumi has thrown all she got on the damn systems of this ship and the VI of the ship just counter hack her omnitool; if it wasn't because she was one of the best hackers of the galaxy and her omnitool was one of the most secure piece of tech on the universe, she could have lost her arm. She was falling in love with the shuttle.

Since Keijis death she had lost any kind of motivations; Jacob has being a godsend, so much was true; but she need a challenge; the mission against the collectors?, sure, it could be fun, how many opportunities would she have to stole for the boogie men of the galaxy?.

But then Iron wolf appeared and she almost had a thiefgasm; dimensional traveling aliens from other dimension?, hell yeah she had to pick something of them; just for the heck of it.

And then the Fenris appeared and she discovered hours of fun trying to enter into the safest place she has ever seen since the citadel and Thessia; and it was all compressed into a ship the size of an alliance fighter; and equally armed, now that she noted the collection of auto cannons and the two big; too big; cannons over the ship ceiling.

Another day; another attempt, another failure and she loved how hard this was becoming, pity she didn't catch some more shut eye but the dream about the vikings and the song of war did disturb her a little; maybe she could kill when the situation demands it, but she always considered herself more a thief not a professional killer; that would be more on the line of Zaeed or Shepard when she is one of her Lioness mood moments.

She sat over one the cold cannons in a cross legged position and massage her chin under her hood; she was a bit out of options here, all the things she got from Kaiji, all the nasty little tricks that open back doors in all systems over the galaxy has been rendered useless against the VI of the ship; if it weren't for the impossibility of such thought she would have been convinced that there was another AI on board.

Tapping on the gigantic cannon she mussed what kind of weapon was that; she will ask Garrus about that later or to Shep; perhaps they could explain what the hell was this ship, no doubt it was no alliance, nor Turian or Asari but something totally new and she was dying of curiosity about what was inside. The doors of the elevator opened and the massive form of the Iron wolf appeared; Kasumi disappeared and jump from the top of the ship to land in the floor of the hangar without a sound, moving in complete silence near the edges of the ship.

The perfect chance to slip into the ship has presented herself all by himself and Kasumi wanted to be the first person to enter into that ship and took a souvenir; who knows?, perhaps she could see how was the face of the Iron wolf and brag about it. She couldn't know that already four people know the truly aspect of Tor but for her it was the perfect chance to make the heist of her life, she even tried to pick something from Shep but Shep could be a very scary girl when she wanted and she was fiercely defensive of her model collection; Kasumi knows there was a nerd deep inside her; all had a nerd inside, it was just a question of discovering what is your personal fetish.

Kasumi was a kleptomaniac that stole things just for the challenge of it; Jacob was an eye candy who loved doing physical exercises; Garrus was a weapon junkie, Zaeed a bitter alcoholic and smoker, Kelly believe all the universe was full of rainbows, Doc Chakwas has done her work her family, Kenneth and Gabby are the inseparable duo and so goes the list.

All of them unique and fascinating and the addition of the dimensional traveler had just transform the Normandy experience for her into the ride of her live; and she was not just talking about Jacob.

She was silent as a shadow tailing the humongous wolf masked man and get close to him but not enough that he could sense her presence; she knew he was a seasoned warrior and all the veterans she had encountered so far seems to have a sixth sense that told them were there was something wrong around them.

Tor continue walking into the hangar and getting closer to the side door of the shuttle; even in she didn't manage to get in; a glance of the inside will enough for her to check out for the most valuables and make a list of what she could pick up as souvenirs; not to mention it will still encourage her further to penetrate the defense of the shuttle and claiming a well deserved reward after all her efforts.

However, what she didn't expect at all was the giant to stop in front of the door and raising her left hand into the red hologram of the door said in a soft yet strong voice:

"May I help you?" Tor turned his wolf helmet to the camouflaged woman and simply stared in the empty space she was occupying, letting her know that he knew perfectly well were she was standing and her cloak means nothing to him.

"Damn, you are good" chuckled the woman reappearing in a spark of electricity.

"I take you are the one that has been annoying the Spirit machine of the Fenris these days?" said Tor but there was no anger in his voice; just amusement and curiosity.

"Err..what's a spirit machine?" Kasumi didn't know what that was; perhaps there really was an AI inside the shuttle that would have explained how it was impossible to hack the ship no matter what.

" A secret" replied the wolf and Kasumi huffed, this was impossible.

"Oh, come one there must be a way" she put her fist on her hips as a gesture of defiance to the ship.

"There is" said Tor and the woman immediately raised her hooded head listening attentively.

"But where would be fun if I tell you?" laughed and Kasumi froze for a second before start laughing too.

"Damn right" nodded the woman " can I have just a glance?" asked in childish manner and Tor laughed even more at the antics of the woman but he pass his left hand over the hologram and the door whistled and opened in an hydraulic hiss.

Kasumi stared into the almost complete darkness and could only saw some skulls displayed as trophy and a panoply with some kind of armor over it but what she called her attention was the meter and half broadsword of crimson red blade that was humming lightly near the door.

"Good luck on your quest, little thief" said Tor and closed the door in front of the fascinated woman.

"Dammit!" said Kasumi between giggles, she had to tell Jacob this; the giant has a big fucking crimson sword!.

Normandy SR-2/ Crew hall/ 2185

The notice about the Iron wolf and his actions run through the ship and all the crew was eager to see what the strange masked man has to tell to the crew. The only two alien present in the room, Mordin and Garrus had a bit of confronted emotions about the man, he has issues, with all the aliens around him but he did hate Cerberus deeply, as they had tried to hunt them in multiple occasions.

Garrus knew the man beforehand and he still remembers how Iron wolf has presented himself as part of the Imperium of Mankind; something that remember him the dream of the last night about a lot of strange humans in wood ships and a golden radiant presence with a golden eagle who conquered the stars among a lot of all kind of armored men very similar to the armor Iron wolf displayed the first time they meet him.

Was it par of his own memories?, if its that's the case the astartes had one mess up past; the armored men were fighting non-stop in wars that would made the universe cower in terror, they are truly angels of death. Soon the mess hall was fill with people ready to actually see the Iron wolf and what the hell the Boogie man truly was; the highest bet were on some kind of super soldier from the Alliance, because no one actually wanted to believe he was from another dimension, so they turned to what they were comfortable with instead of the truth; ironically they joined the crew and the mission because they believed in a menace the rest of the universe didn't want to believe in.

Shepard was hoping that at some point the crew could be reunited like these and it seems that the Iron wolf managed to make it happen just by his damned mind games, what the hell are you Iron wolf?.

Shepard took her food and once again promised herself that she would get better ingredients sooner, one can only reach so far with basic alliance emergency rations; they taste like cardboard at best no matter how many spices you put on the damn pasted thing.

"I promise you Gardner; I will get you some good damn ingredients even if I have to assault a batarian fortress on my own" swore Shepard and the old soldier just chuckled and keep cooking

She took seat near Garrus and the turian smiled at her, they both know how freaked out will be the people when the Iron wolf will show his real face, not to mention they still are waiting for the perfect chance to tease Miranda; the Ice queen; about her reaction to the real appearance of the man; and speaking of the lady, she was tapping something on her omnitool in a corner of the desk along with Jacob and Kasumi.

Even Doc Chakwas was in the mess hall talking animatedly with Mordin who look strangely excited about something; the thing that call her attention was the exaggerated gestures Kasumi was doing to explain something to Jacob who seems not buying very much the explanations of the playful ninja thief.

Shepard was happy that they have clicked so well in this short time since the ninja joined her team after the promise she did to her in Omega; although she pouted a lot explaining that she had prepared a cool introduction and all, back on the citadel; that she would help her with a heist to a bastard called Hock who had something personal of her and she wanted it retrieved.

In a sense she was quite surprised how easily has managed the Iron wolf to reunite such a crowd, a crowd that casually, was the crew of the Normandy; less the ones that have to be on their respective turns on the different parts of the ship.

Soon the doors of the elevator opened and all the conversation lowered until the star of the night make his appearance from the right side of the wall; carrying a very big armored suitcase; some kind of huge back pack and a fucking barrel over his shoulder like it was nothing but he was wearing his damn wolf helmet as well too; dress with a dark gray pants and heavy jacket along gloves. Over the heart he had a symbol of a metallic wolf growling.

"Damn, he knew how to provoke expectations" though Shepard when he saw the astartes appearing and look at the crow in front of him with those damn red lenses of his helmet piercing the souls of every one on the mess hall.

He walked into the top of the wall and to the kitchen to deposit the barrel in front of the stunned Gardner ;who didn't know how big the bastard truly was; who stared at the barrel and the man alternatively without understanding.

"No tale of the Vlka Fenryka is without of drinks" said Tor and all the people except the few who already knew it, looked surprised for the strong northern accent of the man " I think the correct expression will be, my treat".

This provoke quite the reaction in the crowd who smiled widely; not all days you are invited to a drink by a wolf shaped helmet super soldier of other universe; still what did surprise Shepard was how he took a canister from his back pack and throw it to Garrus.

"Dextro amino" shrugged at the confused look of the man "No one will ever say I broke the rules of hospitality of my Aett".

Garrus look visibly surprised; so did Shepard about the gesture, adding even more confusion about what the man really was.

Soon everyone have a glass of the golden yellow drink that provoke different reactions, some founded it fucking great and other thought it was a bit sweet for their tastes; clearly it wasn't beer as they thought in first place but another kind of yellow drink with similar texture yet completely different taste.

As all of them were predating on the treat of the wolf man with gusto; the ones that didn't like the drink so much were paying attention to the device the man had got out of his back and put on the floor neat the suitcase as he was doing something on it with his omnitool but it was kind of odd as he was not tapping on the tool to state commands as anyone will have done.

Soon, all the people had a drink on their glasses and the wolf man took a chair; and look at it quizzically; not very sure of the integrity of the thing but he shrugged and sat on it, the chair whine like it was a Krogan the one that has sat on it; even sat the man was as tall as most of the crew standing; something that help him to making him even more terrifying.

Taking his own glass; better said a tankard; Tor was calmly waiting all the people to sit on the desk and ready for his tale; he would have love a good Mead hall fire, but this will be the best they could achieve in the middle of the space.

"I know all of you had questions so, go for it" said waiting patiently at the rain of questions that were shouted at him in quick barrage.

What are you?, Are you human?, is that helmet your face?, what are you in and where can I get some?, where the most common.

Tor raised his hand and the questions stop or at last lowered the pace at they were being fired to a more manageable pace.

"In order please" chuckled the wolf man under his helmet but the vox of the helmet make it look like the wolf has just huffed like a dog who has something annoying in his nose.

Half the table chuckled, and a lot of inner girls squealed at the image.

"Commander Shepard as leader of this Aett, I would say you could have the first shoot".

Shepard snorted and taking a sip from her glass; damn she loved the stuff; look at the man and just said.

"Before any question get the damn helmet off, would ya?" pointed Shepard peaking the interest of all the crew who where convinced that the helmet was almost integrated in the face of the man.

"Ah; of course" replied Iron wolf and put his hands on both sides of the helmet after the soft drilling shout announced the disengaging of the helmet; he took off the helmet, putting it at his side and the crew was taken aback because of the features of the Iron wolf.

OK, he was mostly human, yet the dark hair, the golden predatory eyes, the long canines and the slightly pointy ears were kind of disturbing, it gives him an air of a mix between of a wolf and a man that confused most of the crew, yet a lot of the female personnel was delighted to see the face of the super soldier.

"So, what are you Iron wolf?" Shepard was having a lot of fun looking at the reaction of the rest of the crew, sharing her enjoyment with Garrus who was having as much as fun as her; they do have similar sense of humor " and in full detail, don't give that I am just and astartes crap, what is an astartes?".

And a voice loomed over the mess hall; an inhuman, powerful and soul shocking voice that came from the Iron wolf and fill the place with an ominous aura that make the temperature of the room low several grades suddenly.

They shall be my finest warriors, these men who give of themselves to me.

Like clay, I shall mold them and in the furnace of war forge them.

They will be of iron will and steely muscle.

In great armor shall I clad them and with the mightiest guns will they be armed.

They will be untouched by plague or disease, no sickness will blight them.

They will have tactics, strategies and machines so no foe can best them in battle.

They are my bulwark against the Terror.

They are the Defenders of Humanity.

They are my Space marines

And they Shall Know No Fear.

The voice lowered in reverence for the same words that has been reciting, and the temperature of the room reached a warm level again much to the relief of the crew that has sensed every single word like a hammer directly to their hearts.

Shepard was the one who recovered first and put in five single words the thought in everybody minds.

"What the fuck was that?".

"On the creation of the space marines by the Emperor himself" replied Tor gulping down half of his tankard in one go.

"No dammit, the voice I mean" corrected herself.

"The words of the Emperor had power no matter where you are" answered Tor " I am a Psyker; no matter how late did I awoke my powers; and by so his words are engraved in my soul like the runes of a saga".

"That doesn't explain anything" say Shepard " only add more fuel to the fire, what is a psyker?, who the hell is the emperor?, what the fuck are you?" shouted in barrage Shepard.

"I am Tor Iron wolf, Rune priest of the 13th company of the Sixth legion of astartes of the Imperium of man" start Iron wolf his own tale.

"I was born in the planet call Fenris about the M.31 in the tribe of the Wolf-king Leman Russ, Primarch of my Legion; I became part of his Aett; the tribe of the Wolf-king who had no equal in Fenris no beast, no man, could beat the Wolf-king".

"Primarch?" twitched his mandibles Garrus in confusion " wait, your primarch was a Turian?".

Barely contained rage and offense washed over the crowd like a tsunami and most of them ;except the most seasoned veterans; shivered in fear.

"Never, ever, insult my Primarch again turian" the ice on the tone of Tor make all of them feel suddenly a chill crawling up their spines remembering how dangerous this man could be if they angered him "no matter if you are part of the Shepards Aett, No one dares to insult Russ in my presence and went unpunished".

"Apologize dammit!" whispered Shepard to her turian friend " I don't know how but you managed to piss him off Vakarian; you and your smartass remarks".

"My apologies Iron wolf, I didn't want to offense; the highest rank of the Turian government is precisely a Primarch" explained Garrus quickly.

Iron wolf blinked a few times and Garrus noted a swift pressure on his mind, a second later the menacing aura of rage disappeared and Tor snorted and shook his head with a tired smile on his lip.

"Russ bones, the irony is thick here" muttered under his breath.

"But you are human no?, at last, that is what we could see about you" asked Miranda to divert the attention form Garrus.

A gesture the turian appreciated as he didn't expect such heavy reaction from the man for his questions; not to mention despite the dextro amino drink; quite nice by the way; the man look like he had some serious issues with the aliens.

"I am an astartes" corrected Tor " Doctor Chakwas would you call me human anymore?" asked Tor to the old doctor and she looked up and pondered the question a little before shook her head and answer honestly.

"I'm sorry Iron wolf, but no" shocked the rest of the present with such declaration "not a common human anymore; you have common organs and body DNA and structure, but you are no longer human".

"That's the price of the astartes; we are defenders of humanity, but we are not humans anymore, we are something else, we are space marines and we shall know no fear" sighed Tor with a predatory smile in his lips as he remembered the day he was chosen to be part of the Sixth legion along a dozen of other warriors of Russ.

The Happiest day of his life.

"Modifications to that level?" muttered Mordin who didn't stop tipping on the omnitool he had on the left arm " hum, body structure reinforced, tech?. Perhaps, look more biological also, unusually strong biotic powers, not biotic powers, something entirely different yet much more diverse and powerful, Fenris?, human colony, check it later. Although the humans on the wood boats are part of it, battle litany?, hum., only krogan had such things"

"Doctor Solus?" intervened Jacob looking at the enthusiast doctor "take a breath" ordered the man.

The old Salarian make a pause and take a very needed deep breath before blink a pair of times and stare at Tor who was refilling his tankard directly from the barrel; Gardner who hadn't moved from his spot on the kitchen was looking at the drink like he has finally found the love of his life.

"Best stuffs on the universe" said nodding categorically " what is this ambrosia pal?" asked to Iron wolf.

"Mead, personal recipe" shrugged Iron wolf returning to his chair who protested again for the weight of the astartes.

Zaeed beat the doctor as he made, quite the interesting question.

"What kind of wars need soldiers like you?" gruff the merc.

He has seen a lot of things back in the Blue Suns before that mother fucker of Vido, put a bullet on his face after betraying him, but this astartes was something like nothing he has seen before, and the more he knows, the more he knows that he has stepped a landmine with this crusade of Shepard, if the things that goes against are a problem for a mother fucker like the Iron wolf.

"In the grim darkness of the forty-first millennium there is only war" chuckled Tor.

"Forty-first?" said Gabby who was trying to get Kenneth out of her glass of wonderful mead; the Scottish man has found something equal to whiskey " but we are in the 2185, what are you?, some kind of time traveler?".

"No, this universe and mine are completely different" shook his head Iron wolf with a noticeable sadness "I didn't encounter any trace of the xeno races of this universe, in mine".

"Ey, why did you use a broadsword?" asked Kasumi next before turning to Jacob " I see the sword Jacob dammit, I swear".

"Redstorm" nodded Iron wolf opening the suitcase and bringing out said weapon who hummed and crackled with electricity " a runic weapon forged by me in the Eye of Terror as final test about my status as Runic priest".

"What the fuck?!" blurted Zaeed " that sword is sparking?".

"My master piece, a power weapon engraved with runes that could channel my own psy power lessening the load over my mind when I manipulate the powers of the warp" stated proudly Tor, the proud on his voice about the weapon was obvious.

"I didn't understand half of what you had said" replied Zaeed shrugging but still interested in the weapon.

"See?!" cheered Kasumi " big fucking sword and sparks too!" Kasumi pointed the blade " its cool as hell but..." her words died when Tor took out a two inches thick solid metal slate and cut it in half, in a lazily manner, with a single swing of his electric sword.

"God dammit" almost choked Zaeed on his mead after saw that not to mention the eyes of Mordin were about to get out of his orbits.

"So that's how you could turn a geth platoon into pieces" said Garrus "I knew that sword was not normal, where is the other weapon, the bastard children of a chain saw and a battle ax?".

"In my armory back on the Fenris" shrugged Tor putting the sword on his back and the sword maglocked to his cybernetic spine as the weapon and the rune circuitry of the mechadendrite were more than attuned.

"I think you broke Mordin" commented Chakwas at how the Salarian was still frozen glaring the sword like he has senn the second coming of the messiah or the equivalent for the Salarians.

"You don't have power weaponry?" sounded confused Tor " I thought you have already applied the mass effect tech into weaponry".

"Yes but not into melee weapons, the kinetic fields and the biotic powers make close combat almost non existent in this galaxy" commented Miranda who was as stunned as the rest of the crew for the lighting sword and how it just attacked to the back of the man like it was magnetized.

Tor sighed and shook his head side to side.

"I take that's why the reason you aren't using real weapons and armors?" raised and eyebrow Tor "your dependance on this mass effect technology; pity, you had barely scratched the surface".

That raise some brows among the crow, specially among the scientist and the military ones but the only one who didn't look affected for it was Mordin who has known beforehand the deep knowledge the man had in physics and biology and as him, had a very interesting theory about why the galaxy develop in some matters.

So the Salarian keep his omnitool activated and ask.

"Care to elaborate?".

"From weapons to ships your dependance on this, Eezo is a weaknesses" shrugged Iron wolf; after a year fighting he has already reached conclusions about some very nasty truths the galaxy didn't want to see.

"The biggest ship I have ever saw or hear is the two kilometers big Ascension of Destiny from the Asari; in the Imperium it would be considered a very poorly armed and shielded Frigate" explained Tor how bad they were prepared for a true universal war like the ones he has been fighting since he had use of reason " take the Normandy for example".

"Ey, no one insults my baby" said Shepard suddenly.

"Commander, this ship you call a super frigate would be nothing but a light corvette" shook his head Iron wolf speaking in a very passionate way "and despite you are good armed for this universe my own shuttle the Fenris has the same armor grade as the Normandy, an equally potent void shield and two laser canons that could pierce your shield and armor".

The stunned silence that followed those words fill the room as everyone process what the man has just said so nonchalantly and Tor noticed how he should have put his feet on his mouth...

"By the All-father, I have dug my own grave here" mentally face palmed Tor and went for a very needed refill of the tankard.

"Did you say laser cannons?" said Shepard as she is the one that recovered first " as real fucking laser weaponry?, Infantry laser cannons, not Gardian laser cannons?".

"Yes" nod Iron wolf.

He didn't add anything more, as he knows it would be more than enough what he has said and it would have tremendous repercussions in the days to come; the question was, does he want to arm them?.

The collectors are nothing but a lesser menace, a race of insect-like beings full of tech to compensate his own flaws and who trust to much in swarming the enemies with his bio weapons; based too in this damn Eezo tech.

Tor knows that he Eezo tech has an untapped potential that this races has yet to discover; mostly the use of Cores like the ones the Normandy used to create bigger and stronger vessels.

Take the Relay for example; has anyone tried to dissemble one and miniaturize his tech into portable mass relays?, by doing so all the ships of the galaxy would have the possibility of mass jumps into the bigger mass relays instead of depending on safer but less useful FTL flights. If the collectors are a threat and they do come for Omega-4 relay just vaporize the Relay; perhaps destroying the system would be a bit too much but for what he saw there was not much to save into the system.

Anyone could just put a blockade around the Relay and shoot down any ship incoming, or dissemble and study the relay so you block not only the threat but at the same time you study the tech Humanity depends on.

This was no sacred STC tech, so Tor has few problems on dismantle and dissect anything mass effect tech related that fell on his hands; for the moment only EDI has pass the test of the Omnissiah to the machines and became the second Spirit machine Tor has created or meet in the two years he has been fooling around the universe without purpose.

"Fuck" resumed the thoughts of all Zaeed "now I am convinced, I did step on a landmine on this job" muttered Zaeed ending his glass and going for a refill of the already half emptied barrel.

"Laser...but you used solid slug ammo" said Garrus aloud "ah, the vaporizing beam you used to fry Saren husked ass on the citadel" corrected himself.

"My combi-bolter" nod Tor and took out his own bolter of the suitcase revealing the humongous weapon to the already stunned crow.

Shepard and Garrus saw the gun; this time not in the middle of a combat and marveled on the impressive appearance of the weapon; solid, with a canon the size of an abyss and a drum clip; but the secondary cannon of the weapon did call their attention too.

"This is a MK III combi-meltagun Morkai pattern bolter" presented the weapon to the crowd " I forged the weapon in the fires of the sleeping volcanoes on the Iron Isles of Fenris and it has been with me for the millennia I have been fighting the enemies of the All-father; although having to build every single bullet myself is kind of annoying".

"What kind of fucking caliber is that thing?" mussed Garrus " and I don't see thermal nor cooling systems so...how does it work?".

"A.75 Caliber self propelled explosive "bolts", hence the name" laughed Tor gripping the weapon with the easiness of one who has being all life with it.

Zaeed recognizes the same familiarity he had with "Jessy" his own revenant, who paled in comparison to the brutal weapon in front of him.

"The secondary cannon is a meltagun; essentially a fusion weapon" pointed Tor to the cannon with holes on it under the main cannon of the gun.

"What!?" roared Mordin in a very un-mordin manner "Impossible!, the containment of the reactive materials, the residues, the dispersion would be impossible to condensate in a hand weapon".

"I can only shoot once" nod Tor " it is a dual injection system of two highly pressurized pyrum-combustible gasses into a molecular state; basically is a heat weapon who will vaporize almost anything almost on his path, pity it has a very short range; fifty meters I would say before losing real effectiveness against highly armored objectives, his supposedly primary objective, it does wonders too against heavy mechs and any other kind of heavy troops".

Mordin was once again broken and suddenly he blinked in rapid and confused manner with his Salarian quick thinking process being push to the limit.

"Ok, this is new; you make a record Iron wolf, you owned the Doctor with science...I didn't think it was possible" laughed Shepard with a greedy look on her eyes upon the bolter "so, you didn't have another of those beauties on the Fenris wouldn't you?" said too much casually and sweetly.

Not the only one; all military personnel of the ship want to put his hands on one of those.

"No" said Iron wolf and she hung her head dejectedly " I can't build weapons like this anymore in this universe".

"Why not?" sounded almost child like Sheppard who would sell a thousand of Batarian souls just for one of those babies; yeah, she hated Batarians, sue her.

"I don't have the materials needed for it" shrugged Tor.

"Just send a requisition" said Shepard who was hoping to have all her team with those babies as soon as possible " full priority no matter the cost, no objections" send a glacial glare to Miranda to dare her to say something, the woman was simply there sat in silence and sending a very amused glare to the commander for the childish attitude.

"You don't understand Shepard, these weapons are made from Adamantium; that metal doesn't exist in this universe or at last you hadn't discovered yet" said Tor.

"Fuck!" swore Shepard.

Tor look at his left arm and an omnitool flashed for a second letting him in check the hours; it seems like he has being chatting for too much time and yet there are still dozens of things he could say or tell but it was not time, not real trust between him and his new Aett; it will be a matter of time and battle earned trust.

Tor put all the weapons back in the suitcase; and he did notice the disappointed face of Shepard when she saw the combi-melta back in the suitcase but he didn't put inside Redstorm, the weapon was firmly strapped in his back, like he usually did during all those battles in the Eye of terror.

"How old are you?" asked suddenly Miranda looking at the man with curiosity " I hear you talk about years and millennia like it were nothing, I assumed you will be on your thirties at best but now...I don't know what to think anymore" confess the brunette.

"It would depend, before of after my company entered into the Eye of Terror?" replied Tor.

"I don't even know what could be the difference" shrugged Miranda " as I don't understand what is that Eye of Terror you spoke of".

"And no more shall be said about it until I feel I can trust enough on you to know" said Tor with brutal honesty that took Miranda a little aback; so many times playing spy games and this astartes just smash trough it like it were nothing " so just pick one, before or after?".

"I understand, before then?" asked Miranda.

"When I entered on the Eye of Terror I was one hundred and ninety years old give or take as the calendar of Fenris is different of Terra; nothing compared to how the eldars live two or three thousand years" once again the silence filled the room.

"And after?" asked Shepard.

"By Sacred Terra calendar ten thousand and one years old; by Eye of terror calendar no one gives a fuck in a place where the time can go backwards one day and forward the other" shrugged Tor taking his suit case and high tech backpack but leaving the barrel for Gardner to enjoy what's left from its contents.

"Good night Aett" nodded Tor saying good bye to his crowd " all tales must be told but doesn't mean all tales must be told at once, it will take to much time".

No one say a word until suddenly Kelly squealed like a little girl and said.

"Ten-thousand years?, its an immortal?".