A/N: Only going to be Sabertooth and Shepard POV's right now for this chapter, also I am going to use a special replacement hero thing with Saber, what is it that I mean? Basically any actions that go against her Paragon morals will be handled be him, this also includes side missions, events or completing one side of a mission while Shepard gets the other, I hope you enjoy what's to come on next.

P/S: As a side note this is not going to be a Nirali/Sabertooth, I'm not sure if Saber should pursue any romantic routes but if you feel he should, just shout it out.


Chapter 2: Madmen And Impalement

Where we last left off…

"We do not seek violence now, we have concluded that out of 638 programs, 478 have judged to pay back mercy from human"the device said

"Okay, two fing's" I interjected "My name is Sabertooth and I amnota weak human" I put pressure on the word not.

"Well either way, it's either you go off with your Geth buddy, or do the smart thing and follow me" the soldier said.

Strong, better resolve than half the things I faced before, but still, foolish. So should I find some way around this? Might be easier just to kill her, yet, I could follow through with her idea and stomp on it/him, what allegiances do I have with a hunk of metal, yet it/he could be a worthwhile companion.

So then, I made up my mind and…


…Took the women's weapon from her hands, it was so easy I didn't even really need my enhanced speed to take it from her, with her guard being loose, most likely due to mental and physical exhaustion I expect.

She stood there, with her arms comically holding the air as is her weapon was still there with a bewildered look on her face, she then registered what happened and was about to reach for her pistol, and in response I aimed the rifle at her.

We stared at each other for a moment before I spoke "Right now, I can 'ardly give a damn about vhat's eating who, right now, I vish to find some person, who 'as some idea vhere I can the gutter-snipe who got me 'ere in ze first place"

She said right back at me "Well what do you need the Geth for then?" her tone was still angry.

I struggled for something to say, and then it hit me "Vhat do you 'ope to accomplish by yourself, somefing tells me you aren't in ze best position fo' refusing valuable 'elp"

She narrowed her eyes "what do you mean?"

I allowed myself to grin "Zis Geth, you called zem?" she nodded, looking confused I didn't know what one was, "zey could be vaiting around the next corner and you vouldn't know, but since I'm friends vith zis guy" I gestured to the metal device which now was in one of my pocket's, "Ve 'ave an advantage"

"Sabertooth is correct; we currently have 22 programs for location tracking of other platforms" said the 'Geth'; the name is quite strange, what dung head thought that up I'll never know.

Her eyes widen at the knowledge but then narrowed again "What if he is lying?"

"We wish no harm on organics now, we simply followed the Reapers because we thought all organics to be ruthless, and we now see that is now wrong"

"Stick vith me and I'll change zat zought quickly" I muttered, me, not ruthless, it took all my willpower not to throw him as far as I could; I most likely would never find him again if that were to happen.

She seemed to be in thought, weighing the pros and cons no doubt, and with a nod of the head she then said "Ok then, I'll go along with it, but the moment it leads us into a trap, no third chances, got it"

I grinned my signature feral grin as she said my plan to me, she cringed a little at this but kept firm, hah, this women is more man that that Barka guy was, and since his 'surgery' It is more likely as well.

"I believe ze term is, move out, correct?" I gestured to a path behind me.

"You mean me, with you at my back carrying my rifle, with a Geth whispering at your ear?" Hah, she's smart as well; I bet she would survive a while if she was in the Pit.

"We do not wish to cause harm to Female-Human" says the said 'Geth'; seriously, I will knock the living daylight's out of whoever thought that name up.

"My name isn't Female-Human" she directed to my pocket "I am Private Bhatia of the 212th, and don't forget it" she still had venom in her voice towards him it seems.

"Acknowledged" said the Ge- okay that's it, I am not going to repeat that word again, whenever in my head or out loud.

"Speaking of names, vhat is yours" I ask him,

"Geth" Wise bot huh?

"I mean your name" I repeated,

"We are Geth" Okay that's it,

"Vhat is ze fucking name, of ze fucking 'ollow-Man in my fucking POCKET" I yelled at him, Hah, try to get out of this one.

"There is not individual, there currently 638 programs within this platform"

DAMMIT! I want to smash my head against a rock so hard…

"Ok," I said, barely retaining my anger, "from now on your name is…" I thought a little before I came up with a good one "Valkman, got ett?"

"Acknowledged"

Bhatia raised her eyebrows at my naming, but didn't say anything about it "Now that your done bonding with your pet, can I have my gun back now?"

I shrugged off the comment and handed her rifle back, I then realised something "Vould you 'appen to know vhat day eet is, do you?"

She looked a little strange before answering "The second of July, why?"

I staggered at the information "TWO MONTHS" I shouted she stepped back from my outburst but I was not caring right now.

"ZAT SLIMY FARCRON, VHEN I GET MY 'ANDS ON 'IM I'LL-"I will make sure whatever is left of him hangs from the Pit's rafters when I get my hands on him.

I continued to rant until I calmed down again; Bhatia looked less shaken this time, maybe she is accepting I will go in a tirade.

"Well," she said when I was calm, "I will have to hold the questions until next time, right now are you ready to kick some Geth ass" as she said it as she hefted her weapon.

I grinned "Zese 'ollow-Men wound know vhat hit zem"

"We wish to inform Bhatia-Private that Geth do not have a Gluteus Maximus to be kicked"

We took a few seconds to absorb what Walkman said before me and Bhatia burst out laughing.

I then said to the women soldier" I can tell ve are going to enjoy each other's company" I then turned to Walkman "and remind me to teach you humour after this"

"Acknowledged"

"Lead the way" said Bhatia still chuckling over our antics

I went first as I knew I could beat her even if she did have my back at gunpoint and moved forward on our way through the soon to be carnage display of Hollow-Men, funny the silver lining to every cloud, hmmm?


Meanwhile…

Jane Shepard POV


This mission has been going to hell so far.

'Simple Shakedown Run' my ass, it was enough when a Spectre came aboard that tipped my suspicions, but now Eden Prime was under attack, Jenkins's is dead, and the Beacon is possibly taken, why can't things be simple for once?

I was moving through a small forest, flanked by Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, until more drones from before came out of the trees and came at us.

We fell behind cover as they started shooting at us, I quickly threw a Warp towards one and a satisfying explosion resonated from same direction, Kaiden fired his Striker pistol at another and it fell down as well, the last one shot at us as we hid behind the fallen trunk of a tree, it tried to advance above us but I quickly jumped out of cover and gave it the business end of a shotgun.

Kaiden looked around the recent fire fight and looked back at me.

"I hope some of the colonist's survived. Commander, do you think…" My Staff Lieutenant left the question hanging, I can't blame his concern.

"Remember, we need to focus right now, don't worry about the colonist's, the best thing we can do right now is remove the threat from this planet, understood Lieutenant?"

He nodded and to show he did and we both proceeded forward.

We came out into the open and immediately saw I women in pink and white armour running towards us and being chased by two drones, she staggered as one hit her shield, but before we could help her she turned around taking out her pistol and shot at them as she threw herself to the ground, she was a decent shot luckily as they were shot down easily.

I scanned the area and saw there were more hostiles holding a human prisoner over some sort of device; I signalled to Kaiden forward and take his assault rifle, he nodded as we moved forward.

All of a sudden, the human shot up into the air, impaled on a spike, I gagged at the sight, and the metallic creatures looked at us with their single glowing eyes, I quickly got behind cover along with the pink armoured women who I noticed was just next to me.

I didn't think about her right now though, as I swung around with my pistol and shot towards our attackers, fortunately one went down after a few shots the first one goes down, the second one follows on a combo of the women's rapid fire along with a Warp from Alenko.

I scanned the area once again to show no more threats and turned to the women next to me.

"Thanks for your help, Commander. I didn't think I was going to make it." The women said as she hefted her weapon back on her magnetic holster, she looked back at the impaled body metres away from us and her face was the picture of remorse, and it looked very familiar to me, I had to deal with it every moment for years after Akuze, even now it still haunts my dreams.

"Gunnery Chief Ashley William's of the 212, are you the one in charge here Ma'am?" she then introduced herself, William's huh, that is the name my superior officer had compared my situation to after Akuze, letting all his men down, me and this Ashley seem to have a little in common.

"Yes, my name is Commander Jane Shepard and this is Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko" Kaiden nodded to her "Are you injured in any way Williams?" I had to make sure she was okay, I already had one life on my hands that I let down and I'd be damned if another followed.

"A few scrapes and burns, nothing serious," She then looked in the direction she came from and her face flashed despair again, "The others weren't so lucky"

She then let out a weary sigh "Oh man, I was teaching the recruits the basics on how to shoot a gun when the attack hit," she then looked back down the path "me and the recruits as well as most of my unit tried to get off a distress call but they cut off our communications" she then turned back to me "I've been fighting for my life ever since"

I knew what the answer would be but I had to ask to be hopeful "What happened to everyone else?"

Her mouth set into a line beneath her helmet before she answered "We tried to get to the Beacon…" she then trailed off "and walked into an ambush."

She looked down at the ground before continuing "Half of the people I was commanding were in training, they were mowed down because of that" she then glanced up at the impaled man "my unit didn't last longer after that"

She then looked back at me "I… I think I'm the only one left"

I felt a twinge of sympathy in my chest, I myself had to deal with my squad dying, and I know what she must be going through right now.

"This isn't your fault Williams," I comforted her "you couldn't have done anything to save them"

"Yes Ma'am" she replied thankfully, I knew this wouldn't be the end of it, because I blamed myself for my squad dying for a long time.

"We held our position for as long as we could, before the Geth overwhelmed us" as soon as I heard that name I drew in a sudden breath, there's another reason why this mission's gone to shit.

Alenko then interjected in with an incredulous tone "The Geth haven't been seen outside the veil for nearly two hundred years, why are they here now?"

"They must have come for the Beacon" Ashley replied, she then pointed east down the path "The dig sites close, just over that rise, it may still be there"

I looked where she pointed, with the possible threat of being overwhelmed like Ashley said was too great to risk with only Kaiden watching my back, as good as he is I would need another gun at my side, I turned to Ashley and said "We could use your help Williams, if you are up for it"

She then nodded her head in a determined way "I'm up for it don't worry Commander, and I'll make those bastards pay for what they done" she took back out her rifle to show it.

"Move out" I told them, and we set on our way to the dig site.


Sabertooth POV


Seriously, in all the years of my life I had never fought with anyone before, in the Pit you were to be the last one standing and since the pit was closed in, alliances were hardly made in a short amount of time, and why would I need to anyway?

So you can imagine how strange it was to actually travel with someone to be considered an ally, the present circumstances forced me to play along, but in all seriousness I found it irritating that I had to keep at a pace that the female soldier could keep up with.

It was obvious she had she back against the wall before I came along, I had a very advanced sense of smell which allowed me to perceive emotions, she smelt of recent despair to par with someone about to die (which I am very familiar with), and so she must have been in a situation that gave this feeling, and along with a knowing hopelessness that was recent as well, I find myself questioning why I'm teaming up with a weak human in the first place, but I knew that whatever information I could receive from Walkman would have holes in, after all, whoever programmed them must have restricted information to them(but I could still not explain why they programmed them to beg), and so I would need her to fill in any blanks I came across.

We met I few more patrols of Hollow-Men on our way to the 'colony' as Bhatia calls it, I easily met with them at full force with Bhatia covering my corners, I was able to enjoy my fights to the fullest now that I have found they have blood, but I refrained from licking it as I usually do in the heat of battle, as it smelt like rubber tires burning in mortar oil.

We eventually made it to some manmade structures within three hours of setting off; they looked more like large cargo boxes with strange doors that anything, I then noticed Bhatia stiffen suddenly as remorse came off her in waves.

I followed her gaze upwards to see…

More Hollow-Men, wait, Humans?

They gave off no smell that they were living, but their shapes were different than the previous HM'S I had seen, as well as them having a grey metal skin covering them, all of these creatures were dead, impaled on some spike of some kind, I was hardly phased by this, after all the Pit had rape and open acts of cannibalism allowed in it, impalement was I trend that lasted a few years within the Pit, electrocution had replaced it afterwards, coupled with the fact that they were machine like they might as well have been fly's on the wall, just bigger.

I then picked up slight sound of movement with my sensitive hearing from within the metal box buildings, I tapped Bhatia to snap her out of it and she looked at me, I signalled to the building and she shook herself as she followed me towards it.

I then saw a puzzling device upon the door, I could only assume it was a lock of some kind, Bhatia came up to it and fiddled with the controls for a few seconds before the door slid open.

We walked in to be greeted with "Humans, thank the Maker" from some female, she was not a soldier like Bhatia, that was obvious from her clothes, and the relief coming off her was so strong that I actually gagged slightly at the smell; the other was male and fearful and seemed to be muttering to himself.

"Close the door, before they come back" he said as he came out of his little world,

Bhatia gave the female a look of recognition "Dr Warren, thank God you're still alive"

"Likewise to you Nirali" So that's her first name huh?

The doctor looked at me, her face was surprise and she smelt of apprehension "Who is this, Nirali"

"Don't worry Dr Warren, he's with me" the doctor visibly relaxed

"Good to be loved" I mutter

"It is curious why the Geth left these two alive; we were given orders to spare no survivors when we were still on the Reapers side" Walkman interjected

"Wh-what was that" the female doctor said looking at my pocket worryingly.

"It's his VI" said Bhatia quickly; I did not know what a VI was but I nodded my head to follow along.

"So 'ow did you survive anyvay" I said to change the subject

"The marines held them off long another for us to hide," she took in a deep breath "they gave their lives me and my assistant Manuel."

"Nobody is saved" said the Manual person "the age of Humanity has ended, soon only ruin and corpses will remain" Cheery chap isn't he?

"Do you know anything more about the attack" Bhatia asks Warren

"It all happened so fast" she responded "one second we were gathering up our equipment, the next we were hiding in the shed while the Geth swarmed over the camp"

"Agents of the Destroyers, Bringers of Darkness, Heralds to our Extinction" said Manual, okay now he's getting annoying, I never liked mad people in the Pit, it showed that they were so weak they couldn't even control their own minds, plus most never even were afraid when I came up to kill them, absolute turn off to my fun.

Warren continued, "We heard the battle outside, gunfire, screams, I thought it would never end, and then everything went quiet, we just sat there, too afraid to move, until you came along" her breath hitched at the last word

"What about the Beacon" Bhatia asks,

"Well we don't know, but we had heard a large patrol of the Geth move through here a little while ago, it might have been them transporting it to the colony"

"Von question," I ask "Vhat is a Beacon?"

"Well basically it's a data module for a galaxy wide communications network, remarkably well preserved, it could be the best scientific discovery of our lifetime, miraculous technology's, ground breaking medical advances, who knows what secrets are locked inside" her dreary mood perked up at the her own explanation.

That… sounded incredibly important, but how come I've never heard of it if that is so, I was about to ask so before Manual butted in again.

"We have unearthed the Heart of Evil, awakened the Beast, unleashed the Darkness!"

"Manuel, please, this isn't the time" Warren tells him

"Vhat weed is zis von tripping on, because he is getting on my nerves" I was speaking my thoughts at this moment, if he spoke one more cryptic word I was going to lose it.

Warren stepped in "Manuel has a brilliant mind but he's always been a little…unstable. Genius and madness are two sides to the same coin" check both sides just in case doc, because I can't see the first one.

Manual goes off saying "Is it madness to see the future," Yes "to see the destruction rushing towards us," Yes "to understand there's no escape, no hope?" other than pissing me off, Yes "No, I am not mad, I am the only sane one left"

"You know, men who 'ave talked as much as you vould find vemselfs in 'ospital later, or ze morgue"

"You cannot silence the truth" he says to me as he went closer, I swear one more step… "My voice must be heard and-"but before he could touch me I put my claw the left side of his head, he stopped talked at the sudden realisation he badly crossed the line.

"Goodnight, Manual" I said with a straight face, as I took his head and slammed it against the metal wall of the shed.

"Unngh" he groaned as he slid to the floor, I looked down, satisfied at my work before looking up at the two shocked females.

"Oh my God! What did you do?!" Warren said in shocked disbelief.

"You didn't have to do that!" Bhatia said to me angrily,

"You can't just go whacking people in the head!" Warren adds

I took a few moments looking at them before looking down and asking "Valkman, vhat do you zink a-"I paused but continued "Geth would do if he heard a preaching mad man voice coming from this place"

"There would be a 100% chance that the Geth would investigate and kill off possible survivors, 56 programs have judged that they would use gunfire, and 582 judge by use of Dragon Teeth"

"And Dragon Teeth vould be the impaling devices, correct?"

"Affirmative" he replied

I then looked back up at the now guilty looking females

"Sorry," said Bhatia as realised what I did "you could have explained first though" she mumbled,

"I suppose you're right, by the time he wakes up the meds will have kicked in" Warren concedes

I nodded my head as I turned my head to Bhatia "So vhat now?"

She looked confused for a moment before realising we needed to do something now that we were at the colony, she thought for a moment before saying "Well we can't let those flashlight-heads take the Beacon without a fight, most likely that are taking it to the ship, if we can cut them off we should be able to get it back"

I grinned as I thought about another possibly bloody battle; we then left the shed, with Bhatia saying to Warren that she will tell a rescue team to pick them up as soon as possible.

But just as we closed the shed door we heard an eerie moaning from behind us, we turned around to see-

Oh shit…

One of the 'Dragon Teeth' were suddenly retracting with the body along with it, when it had fully retracted, the previous 'corpse' rose up onto its feet and its mouth opened in a wide moan that sounded like the echo of a metal cave.

It then started an unearthly walk towards us like a puppet on strings, it was obvious its intention, as it had an aggressive stance and aiming towards us, at this point Bhatia was shaking, but it wasn't out of fear as I smelt her emotion, nor sadness, it was pure utter anger.

"Vell zat's pretty fucked up" I commented, the Pit would make a killing if they had this.

"Those bastards" she says through gritted teeth "that could have been someone's husband, wife, hell I can't even tell what gender it used to be," She then proceeded to take out her shotgun, but didn't fire yet, the walking corpse was only six metres away from us now.

Just as it was closing the distance, Bhatia raised her gun to its head, "We can't even bury them now"

BANG

The body then hit the ground with a thud and a bullet hole through the head, as if it was like a starting signal, the rest of the Dragon Teeth started to slide down along with their 'packages'

"Do I 'ave permission to start tearing?" I looked around to see about a dozen surrounding us.

Bhatia seemed to consider my question, she then locked her shotgun and said quietly "Whatever, It would be mercy to them now, just make sure they aren't recognisable as humans afterwards"

I grinned as she said those words, and I proceeded to rip the arms of the closest one.


Shepherd POV


As we fought our way to the dig site I knew not to expect any luck, and as luck would like to make things harder for me, the Beacon was taken.

"This is the dig site" Ashley said, confused as she looked around as if to see the Beacon hiding, "The Beacon was right here, it must have been moved"

"By who, our side or the Geth?" Kaiden asks

"Hard to say, maybe we'll find out more after we check out the research camp"

"Do you think there are any survivors left?" I asked; always have to remain optimistic after all.

"If they were lucky," Ashley reply's, "maybe hiding up at the camp, based at the top of this ridge, up the ramp"

I nodded and was about to give the order to move out, and then my communicator beeped.

I put my hand to my ear to answer and immediately Nihlus's voice sounded in my ear

"Change of plans, Shepard. There's a small spaceport up ahead. I want to check it out, wait for me there."

"Understood" I replied

Me, Kaiden and Ashley went up the ramp to reach the camp.

But what we didn't expect to find was slaughter.

Bodies were littered everywhere, at least I thought they were bodies, they were identifiable and all I could make out of the flesh was that it was synthetic.

Ashley and Kaiden looked around at the utter carnage in front of us, and they wore similar faces of awe and disgust

Some were in small slices, as if someone took the time to cut it so, the very thought makes me sick, the skulls of some were busted into a bloody mess, multiple holes and what appeared to be claw slashes scarred any surface of what wasn't mashed into a pulp.

Kaiden bent low to examine the mess,

"These… look like they are from some sort of animal, but I don't see how the Geth could be killed so easily like this" he gestured to the mess across the place.

We suddenly heard one of the shed's doors open and we all point our weapons in the direction because of recently strained nerves.

"Wait!" Ashley "Its Doctor Warren"

I singled for Kaiden to lower his weapon as I did mine.

"Commander, this is Dr Warren, she was the one overrunning everything involving the Beacon"

"Are you with Nirali by chance?" she suddenly asks,

Ashley's eyes widened "What, she's alive?"

"Yes she came through here just a while ago, and then moved to the direction of the Beacon," she then nervously looked around the place, "after venting some anger"

Ashley mouth then gaped open "Nirali did this!?" she then looked at the more violent displays that littered the place, "that's not possible, she is a good soldier yes, but she isn't capable of this much"

"Well, she had more help from her friend than anything," Doctor Warren interjected "he did most of what happened here, including that" she then pointed behind us,

When we turned around I gagged upon the moment I set eyes on it, threatening to throw up, this was, barbaric.

Any limb, torso, or head that didn't litter the ground, were impaled on one single spike that had held bodies before, the most gruesome thing is that as in let up to the top, the head seemed to look at us with its synthetic eyes.

"Who is this guy?" Kaiden mutters as Ashley puts her hand on her mouth,

"Do you know what he looked like?" I asked Warren, I needed to recognise this possible threat in case we meet him.

"Well, he had no shirt for a start off, several scars, muscular body…"

"That all you noticed Doc?" Ashley joked,

Warren immediately turned into an interesting shade of red, "N-no n-n-not like t-that…"

"Okay William's, I believe you tortured the poor doctor enough" I said, I then turned to Warren "continue, please."

"Of course" Warren said, calming down "He also had army trousers that looked like they were from the 21st century, along with a sort of strange helmet with horns" she then indicated both sides of her temple to emphasize the point, "He also had these strange gauntlets that looked like claws and a sort of VI he was carrying around"

I tried to picture such a strange individual, but I found I couldn't, oh well, can you really blame me?

"Thank you for your help Dr Warren" I said "now please stay inside the shed for your safety please" we then turned away.

When we had walked a few metres away, we heard her shouting behind us "Oh, and if you see him, tell him that Manuel said thanks for knocking him out, as strange as it may be"

I rose an eyebrow but shouted back "sure, I'll do that"

As we walked on, I couldn't help but think of who this man can possibly be.


A/N: Long chapter this time, well hope you enjoyed it, next time, lizard Men, Shepard's and their Lambs.