Suuuuup Yoooooo!

The next chapter is finally here!

Just for future reference in future chapters, I've altered the Colonist Shepard backround a bit. In the game he is around 16 when the Batarian attack takes place Mostly I'm just going to have take place when he was younger. What age I'm not exactly sure yet, but I'll let you know…maybe.

There were no words that could accurately describe Shepard's frustration. He had spent all of last night rifling through his files and conversing with Antee'a, trying to discover any information on the creatures that had attacked Tsukino and Mizuno, on both last night and the night before, consecutively. He really should have look into it on the night of the first attack, but had dismissed it as an anomaly.

He shook his head. He must have been distracted that night. Unfortunately, even after he spent a good seven hours rooting through every data resource he knew of, he still wasn't able to turn up anything from either his own research, or his partners; which threw up red flags in his mind. Antee'a was never at a loss for information.

In spite of his currently disgruntled attitude, he still had to go to work and, although he doubted it, the school library might have some sort of information he could use. So, after a quick breakfast, he pulled out a dark red button-down shirt, a black vest and slacks, a pair of black polished combat boots, and a black tie. He also grabbed his dark grey, checkered flat-hat, as even a battle harden soldier like Shepard appreciated a small bit of flare in his uniform. He wasn't completely fashion-blind you know. As he was about to step out his door he had a though and went back to his closet, grabbing up his Carnifex and several thermal clips with a few swift movements. After stowing the compacted weapon and its ammunition safely under his vest, he proceeded out the door, feeling more relaxed than he had in months.

He used to always carry a weapon on him when he went into public; however Antee'a had talked/argued him out of it. It wasn't really that hard for her, given that he had done it for a good ten years for almost no reason. That didn't stop him from carrying a small compact combat knife in his right boot though.

Next thing he knew he was at the school, marching up the steps at 6:10, rather than his usual 6:00. Slipping through the front doors and striding down the hallways he soon arrived at his and Mr. Nagasato's shared office. As he was about to open the door he was interrupted by Ms. Sakurada, one of his fellow teachers and, in his mind, one of the most annoying people at Juuban.

"Mr. Shepard? Mr. Shepard!?" The addressed barley hid his grimace. A short while ago, Sakurada had arrived roughly an hour late and was lightly reprimanded by him. Since then she had shown up at exactly six A.M. to prepare for her day. He had, at one point congratulated her upon newfound resolve… which turned out to be a large mistake on his part. Apparently, she had been on a quest to begin a currently non-existent love life with some unfortunate male, and had set her eyes upon him for some unfathomable reason. As such every encounter with her usually entailed deflecting a never ending stream of flirtatiously under-toned comments. Therefore, Shepard had a very good reason for his unappreciative mood as he turned to address her.

"Yes, Ms. Sakurada." He said flatly

"Nagasato-sama called me a short while ago. He asked me to tell you that he will not be coming in today." She said as she came up next to him.
The soldier internally rolled his eyes. Nagasato had been pestering Shepard about his and Sakurada's relationship ever since the ordeal had begun; the old man apparently thought that the two of them would make a, "great couple," as he had put it. Shepard did not share this opinion.

"Thank you for letting me known, if you'll excuse me." Said Shepard turning to enter Nagasato's office.

"Would you like my help with anything?" She aid stepping toward the same doorway.

In a few short movements the N7 open the door, stepped inside, and turning to face his fellow professor.

"That won't be necessary, thank you." Then the door shut; leaving Sakurada to let out a long dreamy sigh.

Inside the office Shepard took a seat behind Nagasato's desk and began rifling through the drawers. He had to give his the old Professor credit; he kept his workspace exceptionally clean making it easy for the soldier to find the class schedule. He then moved to the rather large book shelf on the other side of the room and pulled the text book from one of the middle shelves. He filtered through some of the pages taking notes as he went. Thankfully another asset to his augmentations was an extremely effective photographic memory. Stuffing the book, the schedule, his notes and a few other papers into his briefcase he then stepped to the door. After carefully checking to make sure Sakurada was no longer present he set off for his classroom, intending to get there a good while before any of his class. Setting a good example was a necessity.

This was undoubtedly the longest afternoon Shepard had had in a long while. About an hour ago at the end of the school day he had left Juuban to tail Tsukino, she of course when where she always when after school, that being her favorite arcade, and had proceeded to meet with Ami Mizuno. Shortly afterward she went inside, leaving her current partner standing on the sidewalk holding her cat. The talking one.

Shepard remained there for a good while, Mizuno eventually went inside and despite the previous night's escapade he couldn't afford to keep his focus on just these two. With that he turned and headed toward one of the quieter neighborhoods in the area. This particular neighborhood was home to a certain shrine, a shrine which housed his third reason for being alive. Rei Hino lived with her grandfather and attended a private, Roman Catholic School. Something which Shepard found rather odd, considering her role as a shrine maiden. If Shepard was honest with himself he did enjoy the calming nature of the shrine. In fact he had gone there several times and had become rather well acquainted with Hino. He appreciated Hino's reservation when it came to conversation as well, she wasn't one to nose around in others business.

Shepard had left his car at his apartment in favor of traversing the bus routes. After leaving the arcade he boarded a line bound for Sendai Hill, where he hoped the quiet environment of the Hiwaka Shrine would help him concentrate on his missions growing complications.

The sun had just begun to set as he walked through the large wooden archway. The golden sphere cast a dull reddish light over the shire grounds as it descended into the tree line. It was a peaceful as always; birds sang quietly in the trees, a pair of crows watched him as he walked along the stone walkway. Hino would not return from school for another half hour, which left Shepard with the empty tree grove. He sat on a bench, and looked around at the scene. The sunlight gleamed over the shingled roof of the shrine; weaving bleak shadows over walkways grey stone bricks. One of the crows flew off its perch on a nearby tree branch. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. There was something about this place, the almost painstaking calmness seeped through the cracks of his mind and dissolved his frustrations. However, as his worries of the present were pushed to the back of his mind, the empty space was filled with images of the past. For a moment he could picture them all inside the courtyard.

Samara was sitting at the top of the shrine buildings steps, eyes closed and a subtle smile on his lips. Thane walked among the tree's taking in everything around him. Zaeed watched the flying crow down the sights of a, quite frankly, oversized rifle. Garrus and Tali were sitting on the edge of the grove leaning up against each other and speaking of the old days. Miranda and Jack stood by the archway, biotics flaring, arguing over the minutest thing, while Jacob stood nearby trying in vain to break up the stand-off. Liara and legion stood together observing the tree's, locked in a conversation concerning the Geth culture, if you could call it that. Lastly stood Grunt, directly in the middle of the courtyard, staring directly at the sun as though its very presence was an insult to him.

As soon as the image flashed before his mind Shepard pushed it aside. He had long ago accepted the fact that everything he knew was gone; it wouldn't do him any good to bring old pictures to a modern screen. Even though he knew this however, Shepard still registered that there was something wrong. Honestly he didn't understand what the problem was, he never that close to anyone on either of the Normandy's. Sure, he knew them all inside and out, maybe even better than they knew themselves but that was just smart leadership. No, this was something else; he just couldn't place what. Maybe he was losing his edge.

He ran a hand over his face and leaned into the bench, letting the calming aura of the Hiwaka shrine envelop him once again. He stayed like that for a time before he heard the nearing sound of clipping shoes. It wasn't long before Hino turned the corner, she walk with her head held high, her long black hair trailing down to her lower back. She noticed him sitting on the bench as she entered and jumped slightly before flashing a small smile and walking towards him.

"Hello, Mr. Shepard." She said as she reached him, bowing lightly.

He stood and returned the bow while he replied, "Greetings miss Hino."

She had to tilt her head back slightly to look him in the eyes, "What brings you here on this fine evening?"

"Nothing interesting, I've had an interesting last few days and I've come to enjoy the comfortable atmosphere your shrine contains."

Hino smiled at the compliment, "Yes, well you welcome to stay as long as you wish. Excuse me; I must attend to my duties." She bowed again before walking toward the shrine building, leaving Shepard alone with his thoughts.

It was less than a minute until he heard another person rushing around the bend, going significantly faster the Hino had been. Through the arch came a head of blonde hair, long tails trailing down to her hips; Tsukino. What was she doing here? Shepard unconsciously seemed to sink further into his seat, he came here to relax and think. Not to deal with the golden haired girl's foolishness. As she moseyed into farther into the courtyard she, surprisingly didn't notice him. Shepard could make himself scarce if he wanted to, but not being seen while sitting on a bench in plain sight was stretching it even for him. He was good, but he wasn't that good. While the girl didn't notice him, her cat did and it took it upon itself to let out a startled mew. It seemed to get Tsukino's attention.

"Luna, what is I-" she never got to finishing. Out of the main buildings door blasted Hino, now dressed in her Miko garb, yelling something along the lines of, "Be gone demon!"

Before anyone could react she smashed a long slip of paper into the blondes' forehead, knocking her to the ground as she did so. It was dead silent for a good minute, both the girls staring at each other and the cat switching its gaze between to two of them. It was broken by the sound of Tsukino beginning to wail and Hino, simultaneously, starting to offer her apologies. As the two began to converse, Shepard discreetly slipped back out onto the street, he could already tell there was no point in him staying any longer. Not noticing the black cat watching him with narrowed eyes.

Shepard began walking down the sidewalk, shoving his left hand in his pocket. As he walked farther down the street he could hear a pair of women chattering anxiously as they made ready to enter the shrine that was now getting farther and farther behind him. He didn't much care about their conversation, but he did in fact turn to look at them when one of them mentioned something about a disappeared child. Given how long he had been defending humanity he couldn't help but feel some sense of concern. A sentiment he quickly extinguished. The way he saw it, he was no longer responsible for his fellow human's safety. He was no longer Commander Shepard; the man who battled a synthetic race that hadn't been encountered in centuries, fought collectors, and came face to face with a reaper. No, now he was just Shepard; the guy who couldn't seem to figure out how to stay down. He had already given up everything for humanity, now it was time for humanity to watch its own back. He was here to make sure five immature teenagers survived whatever was supposed to be headed their way, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

Now, the N7 was by no means a wimp, however that didn't mean he that minded doing things the easy way every once and awhile. Therefore, he decided to save time and energy getting back to his apartment by taking another bus. So he stood next to a bench at the nearby stop, and glanced down at watch when he saw one of the objects of his transportation coming over the hill towards him.

6:00, good, he would be able to make it back in twenty minutes.

When the bus pulled up in front of him, he calmly stepped up the stairs and through the door. He nodded to the driver, who looked at him with a strange glint in his eye and an almost vicious smile, Shepard was immediately on edge. His suspicion intensified when he saw that there was in fact no one else there but him and the driver. Something didn't feel right. Shepard knew for a fact that by this time of day the buses should be loading up with people coming back from their jobs, and sports practice. In addition the air felt oddly heavy, like it was about to rain hard. Something was definitely wrong with this bus. So, after finding a seat, Shepard discreetly reached into his briefcase.

It should be noted that Shepard was an extremely efficient person, one who made a point of getting all his paperwork done at his job. And if one gets all their work done at their job, then that person really doesn't have a much of a reason to carry a briefcase around. Unless of course that person happens to be a highly trained, under cover, undead, space marine; who likes to carry a heavy duty pistol around with them on a daily basis.

Keeping his eye on the driver, he silently slide his trusty M-6 Carnifex out from its leather enclosure and slipped it into his coat, all the while letting the driver remained blissfully unaware of the unfolding situation. Shepard could have put a few into the back of his head right then and there. However, he decided that, while he might not defend humanity anymore, he had found himself in the middle of what seemed like a kidnapping scheme. And given that the person who appeared to be the culprit had gotten the brilliant idea to try to nab him. He decided he wouldn't mind waiting to see where the fellow's hideout was, and if he had accomplices. So the ex-marine sat back in his seat, closed his eyes and pretended not to be paying very close attention to everything that was going on around him.

Well, this wasn't what he was expecting.

After he had been on the bus for no more than five minutes he had felt a strange tremor run through his body. Upon opening his eyes, he found that they were no longer passing suburban houses that were basking in the setting sun's light. Now they were surrounded by darkness and instead of houses Shepard could see gray stone pillars flash by him. Only slightly alarmed, he quickly but smoothly rose from his seat, pulling the Carnifex out of his coat as he did so. Luckily, the driver didn't appear to be all that observant so he snatched up his briefcase and slowly backup towards the emergency door.

Keeping his eyes on the driver he gripped the handle with his left hand and opened the door. The bus wasn't going that fast, so it wasn't much of a challenge for the former Spectre to hop out of the back. Moving from pillar to pillar and making sure to keep the bus in sight, he surveyed his surroundings. There were in fact a vast number of pillars stretching as far as his eyes could see. As a matter of fact his vision would have reached farther if the whole place wasn't covered in a black sort of haze. In fact the only place that he could really see much of was roadway the bus seemed to be following, as it seemed to be dimly lit by an eerily pale light.

As if all of that weren't creepy enough the entire ground was marred by a strange purplish fog, Shepard could barely see his feet, let alone the floor. Like many a time before though, he steeled himself and pressed on. Moving fast, he followed the bus until it came to a sudden halt. The alliance marine pulled up and crouched next to the nearest pillar and watched the scene unfold in front of him.

Jadeite took in the empty bus, along with the astonished creature that had posed as the driver.

"I-I don't understand lord Jadeite. H-he was right there!" The beast stuttered.

The blonde haired man, needless to say, was not impressed. With a growing fire in his voice he addressed his minion. "I thought you said you were bringing someone!" He said, glaring at the nervous creature before him as it looked to the ground.

"I- I don't-"

"And what of your decreasing ability to retrieve humans? We must have more energy beast, and yet for the past two days you have failed to bring me as many as a dozen!"

The thing look into its masters burning eyes, and then back down to the ground. "Master, the word has spread of the humans disappearances. Others have become wary of-"
"Enough!" said Jadeite raising a hand, "Tomorrow I will go myself. And should I find a deal of people approaching this contraption," he gestured to the bus, "Then you will have much more to worry about than one missing human."

Shepard looked on with narrowed eyes. The blonde who the monster called 'lord Jadeite' had just confirmed his suspicions. It was in fact some form of kidnapping plot, granted a seemingly supernatural one. He knew Jadeite looked human, but he also knew that appearances could be deceiving. After that he realized that he had no way out of the dark recess that was… wherever he was. In spite of that however, he had come about a stroke of luck. Blondie said he would be going back tomorrow to try and abduct more people. It looked like Shepard would just have to catch a ride with him, and afterwards decide what to do about the man and his sidekick.

So he sat down next to the pillar, and proceeded to play the waiting game.

Sure enough at exactly 6:00 the next day, the very same bus rolled down the hill towards the bus stop near Hino's shrine. Shepard precariously crouched behind the rearmost seat, patiently waiting for his chance to depart unnoticed. Unfortunately he wouldn't get the chance, as things were about to become complicated once again. He felt the bus come to a stop; once again acting discreetly he turned the latch on the rear door and hopped out, silently closing it behind him. He noticed they were nearby Hino's shrine and casually moved towards it. He had just made it to the sidewalk when he realized, to his utter frustration, that Hino herself had just border the bus. Growling under his breath he reached into his jacket, fully intent on blasting the tires out from under the thing, when past him charged a head of blonde hair, who promptly proceeded to start yell.

What exactly she was yelling, Shepard didn't really care. What he did care about was the fact that in an instant the golden haired person, who Shepard identified as Tsukino, had changed into a dark blue blazer and skirt and leapt onto the back of the bus. Acting on instinct he took off after the bus, well and truly pissed at the fact that now, not one, but two of the girls were in jeopardy. The Spectre pulled out his Carnifex; however, before he could get off a shot the bus disappeared into a glowing purple portal, which had appeared out of thin air.

Shepard clenched his left hand, the other grip the heavy pistol firmly. If he caught up to that Jadeite character, somebody was going to have hell to pay.

Shepard didn't stay by the portal site. He got back to his apartment and jumped into his armor, grabbing the viper on the way out. He returned to the sight about 7:30, and was surprised to realize that for once in a long while; he had no idea what to do. He didn't dwell on it two long though; he wasn't the kind of person to feel bad for himself.

He figured the only thing he could so at this point was wait for the bus to come through again. So he made his way onto a nearby roof and went prone. However, not 10 minutes later he was surprised to see a bright golden glow appear in the middle of the street, seconds later depositing Hino, Tsukino, and surprisingly, Mizuno; whom Shepard did not recall seeing enter the portal. Letting out a breath that he didn't know he'd been holding, he waited until they had dispersed before leaving; jumping off the roof and landing heavily onto the concrete below. As he jogged through the back ways of Tokyo he came face to face with a grim reality. He had almost failed.

The three who had gone after the bus might have been injured, if not killed, inside what Shepard could only describe as a black hole. After this fact confronted him, he came face to face with another certainty. He was only one person, and it was getting more dangerous. There was no way he would be able to keep track of all of them. He had to come up with a solution; fast.

Usagi flopped down onto her bed; completely exhausted from the day's events. She let out a sigh as she felt herself begin to slide off to dreamland. She would have arrived there quickly had she not been interrupted by her talking black cat from the stars.

"Usagi, I need to tell you something."

"Uggggh, Luuunaa…" Moaned Usagi; not looking up from her pillow, "Couldn't it wait until morning? I'm sleepy."

"Usagi…" sighed Luna while rolling her eyes at her companion, "Earlier today… I think I saw that, "Mr. Shepard" you've told me about."

That seemed to get the girls attention, she bolted up from bed with wide eyes; her curiosity aflame. "What? When?!"

"Earlier today, when you chased after the Demon bus. I could have sworn I saw him standing in the street holding… I'm not sure, some kind of weapon."

Somehow, the blonde managed to get her eyes to widen even farther, "Really? But he's just a teacher." She folded her arms around her stomach and looked down at her bed, "I mean there have always been rumors about him, but I always figured they were just jokes."

Luna let out another sigh, "I don't know, Usagi. I could be wrong, but I think you should be a bit more careful around him from now on."

Usagi nodded and then yawn tiredly, "Yeah, maybe you're right."

Luna nodded, "Alright, goodnight Usagi."

"Goodnight Luna."

Shepard stood; his arms crossed over his chest, and gazing into the endless expanse of white that spread out before him.

"Something troubles you?" asked his associate. Her normally upbeat voice carrying a seriousness that fit Shepard's mood.

"Today could have been a disaster."

"Mm…" was the only reply; not in agreement or disagreement. Antee'a could tell that it was best to let her companion think.

After a long silence the Spectre broke out of his thoughts and dropped his hands to his side. He spoke seriously, leaving no room for either jokes or questions, "There is no way I can keep track of each of Senshi if things keep going the way they are. There's too many of them to keep track of at once."

"What would you suggest?" Spoke Antee'a, sounding genuinely curious.

Shepard took a breath before speaking. Once again he contemplated the situation. "The way I see it I have two options. I reveal myself to the Senshi and hopefully strike up an alliance of sorts, which shouldn't be too hard by the way, given how naive their apparent leader is." He started pacing, fixing his eyes to the ground. "The alternative is that I try and get a hold of someone who can keep track of them when I can't."

He rubbed his eyes, "Neither of them are perfect though."

"Such as?" asked his partner.

Shepard folded his hands behind his back, "Working with the Senshi would help me keep an eye on them, however, some would say that the way I go about my job is… less than moral; which may present a problem during operations."

"On the other hand acquiring another operative would give me a wider field of focus, but in my experience the less people in the field the better." He straightened and re-crossed his arms, "Don't even get me stated on security issues."

There was another time of silence before the N7 spoke one simple word, "Thoughts?"

You could almost hear the smile in Antee'a voice, "I think that perhaps it is time the Sailor scouts met Commander Shepard."

He let out a grunt before responding, "Yeah, you might just be right."

Soooooo, how was it? Let me know of any questions you might have in the review section.

Next chapter is Shepard's big entrance. Stay tuned.