MASS EFFECT: PROJECT PERSEPHONE

Greetings dear readers! I'm glad the interest for this story has kept growing! All of your support, by reading, following, favouriting or reviewing, really makes all this possible. Thank you! Now, just a little heads up. I'll be starting work soon, so future chapters and updates may be few and far between. But never fear! I will see this epic tale through to the end. Now, enjoy this giant, action-packed chapter and have a cookie:

CHAPTER 4: Subway Assault, part 2

Location: Titan Station Transport Hub, Dry Dock Tram Departure Platform, 1215hrs

Bravo Squad

Jacob held up a hand, bringing the group to a halt. Legion stopped immediately, its head swiveling around like a searchlight. Tali however, was watching the rear and had been preoccupied with a gruesome, bisected human corpse lying against the wall, thus missing Jacob's signal and bumping into him with a surprised 'Oh!'. She jumped back about a foot, looking sheepish as she rubbed the back of her head, apologizing profusely.

"Hey, it's alright. I'm about as creeped out as you are too." Jacob said kindly, looking down at her. Despite her helmet visor obscuring his view of her face, he was pretty sure that she was blushing underneath. He cast a glance back at the human corpse which was missing its entire lower torso, and shook his head. "Nasty stuff huh? Well, at least we're at the tram. Come on."

They advanced cautiously across the platform to the tram, doing a full sweep of the area. Their lights revealed four more bodies, all slashed, mutilated and equally bloody, lying amongst the luggage and other detritus on the ground. The three of them appeared to be alone...for now.

Tali shuddered as she tore her gaze away from the wide, lifeless eyes of one of the bodies. "Jacob...what do you think killed these people? Could it have been one of those creatures which attacked Shepard?" She gave another involuntary shudder at the thought of one of those walking corpses stalking them and lurking in the shadows.

"Shepard did say that the people on this station were insane, engaging in random acts of violence," Jacob said, staring down at another body lying at his feet, a frown on his face. "But the more I look at their injuries, the harder it is for me to believe that the people did this to each other. These bodies look like they have been mauled and slashed to death by a Varren, or some savage beast."

"We agree with Operative Taylor's assessment," Legion cocked its head slightly, adopting an organic thinking posture. "Our analysis is that these particular injuries do not match those which would have been caused by artificial cutting tools. There is a 96.80% probability that an organic life form was responsible."

Jacob nodded. "I hear you on that one. I don't think it possible that a normal human being could cut a guy entirely in half with just his kitchen knife. Stay sharp guys, my bets are that Shepard's space zombies did all this."

Sighing worriedly, Tali stuck close to the biotic soldier, her shotgun also at the ready. Being surrounded like this by silence, blood and bodies made her extremely jumpy and uncomfortable. And now Jacob was saying that there were more of those terrifying creatures roaming around and cutting up all these poor people? She stole a glance at Legion and immediately envied the Geth Infiltrator's inability to feel emotions, particularly the fear that was coursing through her body now. Oh, the benefits of being a synthetic in a situation like this...No! She mentally chided herself for even thinking that way. Be brave, Tali'zorah! If Jacob could keep his act together, then so could she. The people on this station were counting on them, she couldn't afford to break down and give in to fear now.

They entered the middle carriage, Jacob taking point. Looking down the entire length of the tram from his current position all the way to the front where the driver's compartment was, he could neither see any bodies nor detect any movement. There wasn't even any blood in the front half of the tram. "Clear!" He shouted, beckoning Tali inside with the hand that wasn't holding his shotgun.

Legion was facing the opposite direction, checking the other end of the tram. Its single eye whirled and clicked as it scanned for hostiles and other anomalies. "Operative Taylor," it intoned. "There are no visible life forms to the rear of this transport. However, the last carriage appears to be locked and we are unable to observe its interior."

"That's not all, Jacob. It looks like somebody was injured and got dragged into the last carriage," Tali said in a hushed voice, pointing to the long trail of blood which marred the appearance of an otherwise normal, empty tram. The ominous red streak on the ground appeared recent and half-dried, starting in the middle of the next carriage and ending at the locked door Legion had mentioned. "Keelah! Maybe it's a survivor who locked himself inside when the monsters attacked! He could still be alive!"

Jacob looked at the young Quarian, her voice and posture full of hope. As much as he wanted to agree with her about the possibility of finding their first survivor, he knew that they were also just as likely to discover another bloodied corpse. Seeing as Tali was already so negatively affected by all the death around her, Jacob would hate to see her reaction to yet another body. She would probably just lose it...

He holstered his shotgun and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I got this one, Tali. But at the same time, we also need to get this tram moving. Shepard is counting on us to get that planet cracker ready for evac. I'll go with Legion to pick up our friend back there, you head to the front and see what you can do to start this bucket of bolts," Jacob said, giving her a reassuring smile. "How does that sound?"

Tali turned to look at the other empty half of the train and involuntarily gulped. Jacob wanted her to go there and start the tram all by herself? Although there was no blood and the tram interior brightly-lit, she was still filled with a sense of trepidation. She thought back to Shepard's encounter with the 'space zombie' as she had called it. Wasn't the creature hiding in the ceiling, waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting Commander?

Jacob saw Tali staring warily above at the carriage ceiling and mentally kicked himself. Nice going, Jacob, let's send the scared lady off all alone so that she can freak out. "I can accompany you if you want," he added quickly, ignoring the mocking voice in his head.

Instantly, Tali brightened, relieved that she would no longer have to be alone. She opened her mouth to take Jacob up on his offer but just as she did so, the memory of the little pep talk which she had given herself just a few minutes earlier resurfaced in her mind. 'Be brave, Tali'zorah!' echoed in her mind as she bit her lip. 'Come on, Tali, you already signed up for a suicide mission! Now's a good time as any to show that you can handle it! Besides, what would Jacob think of you if you keep showing that you are scared of every corpse, pool of blood and dark corner?' Her inner voice scolded. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of inner turmoil, she turned to face Jacob, trying to appear confident.

"I'll be alright, Jacob. Thanks," She said firmly, proud that her voice did not falter. Without stopping to see his reaction, Tali stepped around him and began to walk towards the front of the tram, shotgun drawn and at the ready. The human biotic made no attempt to dissuade her, so she continued forward, taking measured steps toward her objective. 'There's nothing there, Tali'zorah. There's nothing there, just an empty tram,' she repeated the mantra in her head as she approached the door to the driver's compartment.

Jacob watched her retreating figure for a few seconds before turning his attention to Legion, which had been a silent observer during their entire conversation. "Well, it looks like it's you and me buddy," Jacob said, once again drawing his weapon and beckoning for Legion to follow him.

Bravo squad - Tali

Tali stood outside the driver's compartment, double-checking that her shotgun was loaded and that the safety was off. She let out a long exhale, readying herself before she reached out gingerly with a hand to activate the opening mechanism for the door. Taking cover with her back to the wall beside the doorway, she counted down from 5 as the door began to unlock. 'Another empty room, Tali.' She reminded herself again, taking a deep breath as the door pinged.

It whooshed open and she stepped out from her cover, brandishing her weapon and illuminating the cramped compartment. She did a quick sweep of the room from the left to the right, letting out a relieved sigh when a console and the driver's seat were the only things she saw. "Clear," Tali muttered to herself, holstering her shotgun and approaching the console. It appeared undamaged, and the interface was still active, bathing the driver's compartment in a dim, orange glow.

Tali took a seat on the chair and began to analyse the system in front of her, fingers flying over the interface. All of her previous nervousness and fears disappeared momentarily as she began to work, feeling comforted by the cool familiarity of electronics. Machines and systems were like constants to her, so much unlike the frightening variables of her current mission. Errors in programming were easy and simple to identify, analyse and correct, but 'space zombies' which wanted to tear off your face? That was something Tali had difficulty wrapping her head around, and whatever that she could not understand frightened her. Though, she thought with a grin, things were never 'normal' with Shepard around. Missions which started out as simple and straightforward tended to get complicated when the Normandy's crew were involved. What was the word that Shepard had used to describe almost all of their missions? FUBAR?

Tali shook her head, unable to make heads or tails of the strange Human word. Just like their game of strip poker, Shepard's race was full of mysteries. She tapped in the last code to override the tram's systems with a flourish, grinning as the tram powered up and started to move. As she relaxed, leaning back in her seat and watching the tram pull out of the station, she caught sight of the button for the tram's Public Address system and felt her smile of success turn into one of mischief. Why not? She was practically in command of the tram and there were no passengers on board other than her squad. Besides, if Shepard were standing next to her right now, she would be elbowing her out of the way to have a go at the PA system. Time to stop being scared and go have some fun, Tali.

With that, she held down the button and cleared her throat. "Attention, attention all commuters. This is Captain Tali'zorah vas Titan Station tram speaking," Tali said in her best impersonation of Aunt Shala'Raan's stern, no-nonsense voice. Keelah, this was so much fun. "We are now en-route to Titan Station Dry Docks, and will arrive within the next standard hour. Kindly keep all hands, legs, weapons and other appendages inside the transport at all times. Once again, I thank you all for travelling on the Bosh'tet Express." Deactivating the PA system, she took a moment to compose herself and stifle her giggles, thoroughly amused that she had gone ahead and done such a thing. Shepard must have really rubbed off on her.

The euphoria from her prank quickly faded away and Tali found herself wondering when Jacob and Legion would be returning with the survivor. They had been gone for a good 15 minutes now, what was taking them so long? She tapped the communicator on her omnitool to try contacting them, but just like Miranda had said, communications were being jammed and her ears were promptly treated to a burst of static. Frustrated and feeling a little worried, Tali had half a mind to get up and find her teammates but she knew that overseeing and monitoring the tram's systems took immediate priority. Still, her thoughts kept returning to the survivor, hoping that her teammates had managed to find someone alive. Sighing, she reclined the driver's seat, watching as the tram entered a tunnel with a whoosh.

Unfortunately for her, the howling wind inside the tunnel drowned out the sound of footsteps behind her.

Tali was idly tapping the controls on the console, viewing information about the tram's speed and hardware when a humanoid shadow loomed over the console. Immediately her heart leapt into her throat, her entire body tensing as all of her suppressed fears returned in full force. Still trying her best to hold back the scream building up in her throat, Tali slowly turned around in her seat, hoping and praying that it was just her teammate. "Jacob?" She asked timidly, her hand inching toward the shotgun on her back and finally coming face to face with the horror which had entered the driver's compartment.

She finally screamed as the undead creature right in front of her let loose a terrifying howl and attacked.

Bravo Squad - Jacob and Legion

Man and Machine approached the door, weapons raised. Jacob nodded at Legion, both of them taking position with their backs to the wall on either side of the doorway. He held up three fingers for the Geth to see. "On the count of three."

"Acknowledged," Legion intoned.

"Three"

"Two"

"Attention, attention all commuters. This is Captain Tali'zorah vas Titan Station tram speaking."

Both of them jumped when Tali's voice suddenly came over the PA system. Well, technically Legion didn't jump. It just raised its eye flaps, indicating its 'surprise'. "Tali?" Jacob asked incredulously, one eyebrow raised as her nonsensical announcement continued to broadcast throughout the tram.

"We were not aware of Creator Tali'zorah's new status. Operative Taylor, is she in command of the Normandy at this time?" Legion inquired when Tali's announcement was over.

"I...what?"

"Creator Tali'zorah referred to herself as 'Captain'. This title is mainly used by Creators who are in command of a space-faring vessel, and we can easily conclude that this transport is not such a vessel."

"...Legion..."

"Yes, Operative Taylor?"

Jacob chuckled. Legion had never looked or sounded so innocent.

"That would be organic humor for you. Tali's just pretending that she's the 'captain' of this tram," Jacob said, emphasizing the word 'Captain' with a pair of very obvious air quotes.

"We were not aware that organics find false information to be humorous. This has been noted. Thank you, Operative Taylor," Legion replied with a bob of its head.

Jacob's eye twitched but he quickly rearranged his features into a smile.

"Err no problem Legion. Now, how about we hack this door open?" He suggested to the ridiculously naive AI before the current situation could become any more awkward.

"Acknowledged. We will begin to override the lock, please stand by." As Legion spoke, the lock began to cycle, and a few seconds later changed from a red to a green display. "The lock has been bypassed. We may now access the carriage."

Legion took up its firing position behind Jacob, aiming its weapon over the Human soldier's shoulder while he activated the door. As it slid open, Jacob was expecting to see more blood, maybe a body or two, and perhaps even a survivor, but instead, the macabre sight that greeted him made his eyes widen in disbelief and lower his weapon in shock.

The entire carriage was covered in blood, slick red splattered all over the seats, floor and walls, an overpowering metallic scent filling the air. Five bodies were lying in a pile at its center and Jacob could see that they consisted of three human, one Turian and one Asari. All five corpses had been viciously mutilated, each missing at least one limb and suffering multiple stab and slash wounds. The Asari's corpse was particularly gruesome, the head decapitated and stomach torn open, entrails spilling out onto the floor in a gory mess.

But all that was nothing when compared to the freakish creature currently hovering above the bodies. It appeared bat-like, with pale wings which flapped erratically as it grasped one of the human corpses in its bloody talons. On closer inspection, Jacob realized with horror and revulsion that the creature was actually a human corpse with its chest torn open. The skin from the upper torso had been stretched taut over elongated and mutated clawed hands, forming the wings and leaving the innards of the body entirely exposed. The thing no longer had legs, and its head had been split in half, a long proboscis protruding out of where the lower jaw should have been.

Jacob continued to watch, paralyzed with morbid fascination as the creature stabbed its proboscis into the forehead of the human corpse that it was holding, causing a startling transformation to take place. The body began to spasm and contort, limbs flailing wildly as two extra limbs literally exploded out of its shoulders in a massive shower of blood. These limbs were skinless, exposing raw muscle and bone and were tipped with what appeared to be long blades made out of its bones. These extra 'arms' were twitching together with the rest of the body as its jaw enlarged and elongated with a horrible crunching sound, the bones within its head rearranging themselves, causing its face to ripple repulsively. Finally, the entire left side of the transforming corpse's face was destroyed as a serrated bony protrusion, very much like a horn, erupted from underneath the skin, leaving flaps of bloody skin hanging down from the side of its face. The winged horror withdrew its proboscis with a sickening sound, letting the newly-formed monster drop onto the floor, where it started to growl and get up unsteadily onto its feet.

And all this had taken place in less than eight seconds.

"Holy shit," Jacob breathed, not sure if he could believe what he had just witnessed. However, whether he chose to believe it or not quickly became irrelevant as shit started to get real. A loud screech turned his attention back to the bat creature, which had descended upon the Turian's corpse and inserted its proboscis into its head. Almost immediately, the body began to shake as its grisly transformation began, blood spraying out from its chest spectacularly as several ribs erupted out of its chest. The jerking Turian corpse was the least of his worries as the human zombie with the bladed arms howled, finally catching sight of them and running at them with its arms slicing through the air. "Holy Shit!"

"Legion! Open fire! Open Fire!" He bellowed, leveling his shotgun at the charging monster and pulling the trigger. The shot, having been fired at almost point blank range, caused a bloody explosion in the center of its chest, causing it to stumble. Legion then hit it with a burst from his Pulse Rifle, landing five direct hits to its upper torso, shredding through its skin and bones and causing it to double over, reeling from the shots. But instead of collapsing right there and then, it regained its footing, giving another inhuman scream before charging forward again. This time, its wildly swinging arms came within striking range, forcing Jacob who was still stunned at the thing's resilience to duck and step backwards in order to avoid decapitation.

As he backed away, Legion fired two more bursts from its position behind the creature, is rounds tearing through its misshapen back and splattering its vile blood on the opposite wall. Still, the unholy beast continued to advance on Jacob, blood streaming out from the multiple holes in its chest but still not showing any signs of tiring or collapsing.

"Operative Taylor, our weapons are ineffective against this enemy unit," Legion said urgently, ejecting a spent thermal clip from its Pulse Rifle. 'Damn right,' Jacob thought with mounting panic. 'How do you kill something which is already dead? Well, if our weapons don't work...'

The zombie screamed and lunged for Jacob again, but this time he switched tactics and unleashed his biotics against it. He shot out a hand which glowed with blue fire, creating a mass-lowering field around the monster, yanking it into the air where it thrashed and flailed helplessly about. As it struggled furiously, carving deep gouges into the walls and roof of the carriage and sending sparks flying in all directions, Jacob knew that it wouldn't be long before his mass-effect field dissipated.

"We haven't got all day, Legion! My biotics won't last forever! Aim for the head, let's put this sucker down!"

"Acknowledged."

Legion brought up its rifle, aiming and putting the ghastly creature's head in its sights. It was just about to pull the trigger when a horrible gurgling sound filled the carriage, accompanied by wet, squelching footsteps.

The Turian corpse had caught up with them.

Having sensed movement right behind it, Legion whipped around, smashing its weapon into the reanimated Turian's head with enough force to snap its neck, a sickening crack filling the air. As the corpse staggered back, continuing to make that disturbing gurgling noise, both Legion and Jacob got a better look at the newly risen horror.

The front of the Turian's body had literally been melted away, strings of acid-dissolved flesh exposing a set of yellowed, diseased lungs and other internal organs. A series of grossly elongated ribs were the only things keeping the organs within the body as it lurched forward, making the organs visibly shift and roll inside the rib cage. Its missing leg had been replaced with a twisted mass of flesh extending from its intestines, and the plating which normally covered a Turian was gone, leaving its pale skin hanging disgustingly in thick flaps around the rest of the body. But the most disturbing thing of all was that the lower half of its face had been melted into its throat, forming a gaping orifice which dripped with viscous bodily fluids. The corpse's head was twisted unnaturally to one side, fixing them with a hollow and blank stare with its eyeless sockets, still alive even after its neck was broken by Legion's powerful blow.

As Legion was still processing this new turn of events, the corpse lurched forward, a deep gurgling continuing to emanate from its throat. It seized Legion with both its clawed hands, one hand latching on to its arm and the other wrapped around its 'neck', dragging Legion into a deathly embrace. Legion struggled against its grip, trying to throw off the shambling corpse and using its free arm to punch the corpse repeatedly, powerful fists driving into its meaty flesh, but to little effect. The Turian corpse then drew back, as if taking a deep breath, and vomited a torrent of steaming acidic bile onto its synthetic prisoner. At such a close range, the damage was catastrophic.

The caustic attack landed on Legion's entire left arm and shoulder, completely destroying the synthetic limb. The arm simply melted away in a matter of seconds, acid eating away at it and causing the white hydraulic fluid running through the limb to boil and explode in a steaming mess. A portion of Shepard's N7 armor on Legion's chest was similarly affected, the metal sizzling and melting, holes appearing on the material. Having expended its vomit attack, the Turian zombie gave a guttural roar and threw Legion bodily across the carriage. Legion crashed into the seats and slammed into the ground, the light that was its eye flickering rapidly as it lay on its back, unmoving.

"LEGION!" Jacob yelled, praying that Legion wasn't 'dead'. He was still levitating the first zombie up above their heads and could only watch helplessly as the Turian zombie brutally incapacitated the Geth. Now, faced with a quickly weakening biotic field, an incoming Turian vomit-zombie and an out-of-commission Geth squadmate, Jacob knew that he was in trouble.

And just when he thought that the current situation couldn't get any worse, it did.

Several more howls and screams were heard as the three remaining corpses shambled into view, all with extra bladed appendages and extensive, horrific mutations. He shuddered in revulsion at the legless and headless Asari zombie which was dragging itself forward on its clawed hands and slashing 'arms', scuttling forward like some demonic insect and trailing its wet and slimy intestines behind it.

"Shit..." Jacob felt like throwing up. All the blood and gore that he had seen, together with the horrifying appearance of the zombies, had shaken him to the core. It took all of his willpower and stomach muscles to keep it all together. Quickly, his soldier's mind went into overdrive, assessing the situation and trying to find a way out.

'Legion needs help, and Tali might be in danger as well. I am now facing down five zombies that don't die when shot. Since a broken neck didn't even seem to have any effect on one of those creepy bastards, I don't think headshots will work either. And I think they are all about to attack.'

Well, shit.

Alpha Squad

"MIRANDA! LOOK OUT!" Naomi screamed, reaching behind her back for her assault rifle.

It took Miranda half a second to react and spin around on her heel.

It took her another second to register the previously 'dead' corpse rearing up in front of her, its gruesome bladed appendages raised above its head and aiming for her head.

Another second passed as she instinctively threw her arms up in a cross in front of her, trying to block the incoming blow and at the same time unleashing her biotics to defend herself.

The undead monster only took 2 seconds to leap forward and bring its arms slicing down on her with incredible force.

Miranda was half a second too slow.

With a roar, the zombie broke through her barely-formed biotic shield and its deadly blades raked across her arms. Without her biotic shield, both of her arms would have been instantly dismembered, but thanks to her hasty last-minute defence, Miranda had avoided suffering such a gruesome fate. However, that did not mean she escaped serious injury.

The sharp bones slashed two huge and deep gashes into each arm, cutting them to the bone. Miranda cried out as the blood gushed out of her wounds, the force of the blow knocking her to the floor. The Cerberus Officer crumpled in a heap, a red pool spreading quickly around her as she clutched her arms close to her chest, screaming in agony. Seeing that its prey was still alive, the zombie howled and raised its arms for another attack.

"Get the fuck off her!" Naomi raged, getting its attention and making it halt its attack. The zombie turned toward the source of her voice, tilting its head as it observed her with its bloodied and soulless eyes. And then, without warning, it raised its bladed arms above its head and charged.

At this point, Naomi and Garrus had already drawn their weapons and immediately let loose with a huge barrage of gunfire. The entire carriage was filled with the flashes of their assault rifles and the howls of the zombie as two entire thermal clips worth of rounds slammed into its body, ripping bloody holes in its chest as it struggled towards its attackers. Naomi reloaded as Garrus kept firing, one of his shots blowing the creature's head off in a gory explosion and another burst shredding one of its arms off at the elbow.

"I'm out!" Garrus called, ejecting his thermal clip and reaching for another. His eyes widened when he looked up, seeing that the one-armed and headless human corpse was still very much alive and staggering its way toward them, ejecting blood from its neck while waving its remaining bladed arm wildly in the air.

"By the spirits!" Garrus exclaimed, bringing up his rifle and getting ready to shoot the seemingly invincible undead human. How was this all possible? No living thing could survive such injuries!

Before he could fire, Naomi interrupted him with a battle cry, lowering her shoulder and charging straight for the flailing zombie. She narrowed her eyes and grit her teeth, snarling as she ducked underneath its wild swing and rammed into it with a bone-snapping crack.

Garrus winced as Naomi's heavily-armoured shoulder struck the corpse where its arm met its shoulder, instantly dislocating the grotesque limb. As it fell back from her charge, she stomped down viciously on its bloodied chest with a heavy booted foot, pinning it to the floor before following up by slamming the barrel of her assault rifle into its torso. Naomi glared down at the still-struggling zombie and pulled the trigger, firing a burst into its body at point-blank range.

After several explosions and sprays of blood which coated her suit's leg with a slick, red layer, the zombie finally fell still, legs going limp. Naomi stepped off it, breathing heavily and shouldering her weapon. Garrus quickly did the same, rushing over to Miranda's side, scooping her up gently into his arms and laying her down on one of the seats in the carriage. Naomi knelt down beside him as they inspected their downed teammate, grasping one of Miranda's hands tightly and running her eyes over her injuries.

Garrus wasted no time in taking two of their medigel packs and ripping them open, applying the entire strip over each arm and trying to ignore Miranda's grimaces and cries of pain as he did so. His hands came away incredibly bloody, Miranda arching her back and crying out as the medigel started to set, sending fire shooting up her arms. She was extremely pale and shaking uncontrollably, her lips trembling and eyelids fluttering as she fought to stay conscious. Her previously pristine white suit was now bloodstained, the huge rips in the material exposing the gaping wounds on her flawless skin. The medigel had stopped the bleeding and closed the grievous wounds, but it was clear that she had lost too much blood and was going into shock. Naomi flipped her hand around and felt desperately for a pulse, finding a worryingly weak one. Her breathing was similarly laboured and shallow, making Naomi fear the worst.

"Garrus," She whispered, gently placing Miranda's limp hand on her stomach and brushing her raven hair away from her damp forehead. "How bad is it?"

The Turian sighed, looking downcast. "I'm not going to lie, Shepard. It doesn't look good. Miranda needs proper medical attention soon, maybe some blood," Garrus said softly, watching his Commander's shoulders sag in despair.

Naomi's grim expression was her only reply as she turned back to the trembling biotic lying broken on the bloody carriage seat. Miranda was barely conscious, and her entire body was now slick with cold sweat. She seemed stable for now, but Garrus was right. Miranda was fading away slowly and they couldn't do anything for her! Their only hope was the hospital, which by some twist of fate, was also their planned destination. But what were the chances of finding any medical staff still alive and working facilities after all the chaos which had befallen the station?

"It's...a good thing we're headed to a hospital...right, Commander?" Miranda smiled weakly up at her, making her throat tighten.

"You'll be fine," Naomi told her quickly, giving one of her hands a tight squeeze. "Just hold on, Miranda. You don't have the permission to die on me now, it's not the suicide mission yet." She gave Miranda a smile of her own, but inwardly, it terrified Naomi that her XO was looking so uncharacteristically weak and vulnerable, so different from her usual strong and confident self. Naomi sighed, closing her eyes in worry as Garrus put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Not the best way to start a mission, Garrus." She said glumly, watching the slow rise and fall of Miranda's chest.

"I think you should have said that when that gunship blew us out of the sky," Garrus replied dryly, trying to lift her spirits. "Miranda is strong, Shepard. She'll pull through. Besides, I'm sure that I can help Miranda when we get to the hospital. Patching up battlefield wounds is also part of my very extensive resume as Archangel," he ended with a proud twitch of his mandibles.

"Oh my gosh. Shepard, kill me before that bloody Turian touches me," Miranda shot back in a weak, but playful voice, the smile still present on her trembling lips.

Naomi grinned, feeling comforted that both Garrus and especially Miranda had not lost hope yet.

"Ok, break it up you two. Lawson, get some rest. Vakarian, you wisecracking chicken, try to use the tram's communicator to reach the other trams. If everything is going according to plan, the rest of the squads should also be on their respective trams. If you can get through to them, let them know what happened and tell them to be extra cautious now. These space zombies like to play dead."

Garrus snapped to attention and gave her an overly-exaggerated salute. Naomi punched him in the arm.

"On my way, Shepard." Garrus laughed, proceeding into the driver's compartment.

Location: Somewhere above the Government Sector, 1220hrs

Echo Squad

Joker was bored. B-O-R-E-D. He had followed Shepard's orders to the letter, getting the Normandy to circle around Titan Station for the past few hours, searching for survivors, but had found nothing. Only the usual sight of big, fat Saturn and his bird's eye view of the entire station. Outside of the viewport, rocks of different shapes and sizes drifted past, remnants of Titan's shattered core. It was all incredibly boring. EDI was running the scanners, trying to pick up distress calls and any updates from the ground crew, but was also unsuccessful.

"This is just...ugh!" Joker sighed in frustration throwing his hands in the air. There was nobody out here! He was tempted to contact Shepard and tell her to get her sorry ass out of the station, civilians be damned. They should be focusing on the imminent threat of the Collectors, not wasting time on the Illusive Man's pet project. Joker didn't like the whole idea of the mission and frankly, he was concerned for his Commander's safety. Psycho civilians? No thank you, ma'am! They had already hit their quota for crazy people when they retrieved Jack. If he had to take a guess, Shepard had only taken up the mission because she wanted to save the innocent people caught in the crossfire.

'She should really stop doing that,' Joker thought bitterly. 'She had already died once trying to save someone. Me.'

"You should have died, Joker."

Joker frowned in annoyance. "Gee, why don't you shut up EDI? I already feel guilty as hell..." the rest of his sentence trailed away as Joker froze in shock. That voice was too human to be EDI's and had come from directly behind him. Slowly, Joker turned around, his skin crawling and all the hairs standing up on the back of his neck. That voice sounded just like...

He came face to face with Commander Naomi Shepard.

"You should feel guilty, Joker. I died because you wouldn't leave."

Joker was shocked into silence, his mind unable to process the sight in front of him. Shepard was wearing the exact same armor that she had on two years ago, on the old Normandy when it got destroyed. There was a look of sadness on her face, and she was crying. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she took a step toward the Normandy's terrified pilot.

"C-Commander?" Joker finally found his voice, Shepard's appearance pulling at his heartstrings and filling him with overwhelming regret and anguish.

"Why didn't you leave?" Shepard choked, wiping away her tears furiously as she continued to cry. "Why, Joker? Because of you, I lost my life."

"I'm sorry..." Joker whispered, unable to tear his eyes away or react as Shepard sat down on his lap, both her legs on either side of his chair. She looped her arms around his neck, face just inches away from his own, still wearing an expression of extreme sadness.

"I care too much about you, Joker."

Something stirred within Joker as his Commander shifted on his lap, still gazing sadly into his eyes. All common sense and logical thinking had been thrown out of the window and forgotten as he placed both of his hands on Shepard's slim waist. Oh my god...she's so beautiful... Joker reached up slowly and used his thumb to wipe away the tears on her soft, delicate cheeks, heart fluttering as she offered him a small smile. She closed her eyes and leaned in, her pink lips moist, perfect and inviting.

Joker's lips met his Commander's and he immediately began to savor the forbidden fruit, groaning as her tongue slipped into his mouth. He closed his eyes as he tasted her, tasted the salt of her tears, his hands roaming around her body, undoing the clasps around her armor, throwing the pieces to the floor. His quickly disappearing sanity finally made one last, desperate grab for the light and Joker's eyes flew open, head snapping back away from Shepard's.

"No! Wait!" Joker gasped in horror, withdrawing his hands away from Shepard's chest as though he had been burnt. His heart was beating extremely fast, his body hot and sweaty. 'This is not happening, this is not happening...' he thought, furiously shaking his head in an effort to clear it. The darkness and haze once again started to creep into his mind, despite him feverishly telling himself that this woman in front of him was not real, despite him trying to force himself to grasp the fact that he was dreaming, hallucinating.

It was a valiant, but futile effort. Shepard kissed him again, and he was once again powerless, giving into his deepest, darkest desires. His tongue ravaged the inside of her mouth as he hungrily kissed back, hands diving underneath her shirt, making her groan into his mouth as she moved against his body. They parted for air, Shepard knocking the cap off his head as he struggled with her shirt.

"I'm sorry, Shepard. I...I technically caused your death," Joker paused as he raised both his arms above his head to allow the gorgeous, topless woman on his lap to remove his shirt. "Not a day goes by that I regret and hate myself for my stupidity. And after you died out there, Cerberus made you into some damned female Terminator. It's all my fault. I'm so sorry." He placed a hand on her cheek and Shepard smiled at him.

"You can make it up to me, Joker. You can rid yourself of all this guilt that you have inside," She leaned in and whispered seductively into his ear while grinding her hips against him. "All you have to do, is to make us whole."

Joker groaned as Shepard continued to tease him. He gazed at her with lust-filled eyes, taking in her perfect body and teasing smile, pure bliss coursing through his every being.

"Make us whole, Joker!" Shepard urged again, sounding almost desperate.

"If you put it that way..." Joker grinned, his chest full to bursting with excitement. He had always secretly lusted after his Commander, and now that he had the chance to finally...

"JOKER! JOKER! JEFF!"

"Aaargh!" Joker yelled as a sharp pain shot up his arm. In an instant, his mind was his own again, feeling as though he had just woken up from a long nightmare. Quickly, he returned to reality. It had all been a hallucination, a very real and haunting hallucination. He was fully-clothed in the cockpit, and Shepard was gone from his lap. Kasumi had his arm in a vice-like grip and the thief had twisted it behind his back in an attempt to snap him out of it. It had worked. Painfully.

Joker cried out again as Kasumi twisted his arm for the second time, sending excruciating pain shooting through it. "Hey! I'm out of it! I'm awake! Stop it! Let go of my arm, woman!"

Kasumi released him and he massaged it gently, cursing under his breath. His whole body felt numb and his head was hurting, and he even felt a little like throwing up. And why the hell did his neck hurt so much?

"My god, Joker!" Kasumi exclaimed, grabbing his chair and spinning him around to face her. "What got into you just now?" Joker couldn't see her face, but he could detect the fear and panic in her voice.

"Why don't you tell me? Did I faint or something? I was kind of having this freaky vision..." Joker trailed off as he moved his hand to his neck, intending to massage it. Seriously, it hurt for some reason.

"Stop it!" Kasumi shrieked suddenly, slapping his hand away and making him yelp.

"HEY! WATCH IT, KASUMI!" Joker bellowed as he clutched his injured hand. This time, Kasumi had caused some damage to it, fracturing one of his knuckles.

"I'm sorry!" Kasumi squealed, shrinking away from his outburst.

A few tense seconds passed in silence as Joker gently rubbed his hand, glowering at the Master Thief.

"Ok, now can you please tell me what the hell happened? And why you were trying to rip my arm off?"

"I called Miss Goto up to the cockpit for assistance," EDI chimed in. "You were trying to kill yourself, Mr. Moreau."

Joker gaped. "I was trying to off myself? Why? How?" Wasn't he just hallucinating?

"When I came up here, you were strangling yourself with your bare hands! I couldn't say anything to make you stop, I was so scared, Joker." Kasumi said quietly, letting the chilling information sink in. "It was like you were possessed. I'm surprised you didn't break your neck. I had to stop you in any way that I could."

Shit. Well that explained his throbbing neck. "Shit," Joker repeated out loud, hardly believing his ears. So, he was trying to commit suicide and having hallucinations at the same time? Or maybe the hallucination of Shepard was actually making him kill himself? Was he going crazy? "Shit shit shit shit..." He groaned, putting a hand to his head.

Kasumi patted his shoulder, not knowing what to say. "Are you alright, Joker?" She finally asked cautiously, removing her hood to show her sincerity.

"Absolutely brilliant," Joker murmured softly to himself, but Kasumi's finely-tuned ears still picked it up. "I hallucinated that I was making out with my Commanding Officer, tried to choke myself to death and now have absolutely no idea how all that happened."

Kasumi raised an eyebrow when she heard 'making out' and 'Commanding Officer' but chose to keep her mouth shut. Given Joker's current fragile (haha) mental state, asking him about the hallucination he experienced would be inappropriate. For now, if it would mean his return to normalcy, she was more than happy to just silently let him mumble and grumble.

"I'm fine. Might not be able to enjoy this month's illegally downloaded issue of Fornax to the fullest though." Joker declared audibly, squinting at his injured hand.

Yep. Joker was back.

Kasumi coughed and turned pink as she caught the hidden meaning behind his words. She flipped her hood back over her head, turning to exit the cockpit. "Good to hear, Joker. I'll head down below to see if there's anything in the medbay for your hand."

She stopped at the door. "And before you ask, no. I have no intention of 'helping' you enjoy your magazine."

The door slid shut.

Joker grinned, turning to see EDI's flashing spherical form. "What?"

"I am picking up an incoming distress signal, Mr. Moreau. It appears to be from an escape pod," EDI informed him.

"How did we miss that before?" Joker scrambled to his controls, steering the Normandy as EDI directed him to a large cluster of rocks in the distance.

"The escape pod is currently lodged in the crevice of one of those rocks. The scanners were thus unable to detect it during our previous patrols."

"Can you patch me through to the pod?"

"Attempting connection...connection successful, Mr. Moreau."

Joker pumped his fist in the air and whooped in joy. "Yes! We are now officially in business!"

He opened the channel to the pod, hearing the heavy breathing and frantic voice of a human male.

"Hello? Anyone! Is anyone out there?" The man's voice was bordering on hysteria and sounded hoarse, most likely due to repeating his distress message over and over for hours on end.

"This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy," Joker spoke in his most masculine voice, trying to maintain a straight face. He turned to EDI's hologram and mimed 'do not interrupt my magic moment or I will unplug you' before resuming the conversation with the pod's occupant. "Hold on, my good man, we are on the way to pick you up."

"Please! You have to come quickly! My wife and I were attacked and we barely escaped the station! She's hurt bad! Please!"

"We hear you, just hold on. Help's on the way!"

The Normandy weaved between two large, tumbling rocks and the escape pod finally came into view. It was cylindrical in shape and colored a dull gray, wedged between a fold in the rock. Joker expertly brought the Normandy to a dead stop about fifty metres away from the rock, rapidly entering commands and adjusting the power to the thrusters to keep the ship in place. When that was taken care of, he contacted Kasumi over the ship's PA system.

"Hey, Kasumi! We got our first survivor! Could you be a dear and head to the hangar to pick him up?"

Joker snickered as he tried to imagine the look on Kasumi's face when she realized that she would have to go on a spacewalk in order to free the escape pod.

Outside, meters away from the gleaming, sleek shape of the Normandy, the man cried in relief within the cramped confines of the escape pod.

"We're saved. Everything's going to be alright now," he whispered softly, hugging the bloody corpse beside him.

"Everything's going to be fine."

Legion is out of commission! How will Bravo squad get out of their predicament? What will Alpha squad find in the hospital? Miranda's life hangs on a thread! Joker and Kasumi are about to let a deranged survivor on board the Normandy! Just what else can go wrong? Find out in the next installment! Gibbering Gemstone, out!