Chapter 6: Fun Times on Therum, Part 1

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep...

Urgh... Can I never wake up to something peaceful? Always this awful beeping noise. Only this time it's accompanied with a bright, flashing, orange light. Wonderful...

I reached my right arm towards a dresser just to find there wasn't one. I struggled to open my eyes just to see that there was no dresser. That's gonna take some getting used to. I then looked down to my left arm to see that it was the source of the noise and flashing light. Definitely gonna be weird getting used to this Omni-tool business. I brought it up to look at the time. We were due to land at Therum around noon and it was... ten to eleven. FUCK.

I jolted out of my bed, threw the sheets in a ball at the end of it, took what may have been the quickest shower of my life, dryed off, hair still semi wet, threw on my new Alliance uniform, which is way more comfortable than it looks, and hauled ass to the elevator to get to the CIC for the meeting. The elevator crept its way up to the next floor. And it was going its typical speed. Of course.

Oh, c'mon... this is not the time to go super slow, elevator!

As if the slow moving, inanimate object was reading my mind, the door opened. Normally I would make some sarcastic mental comment about the turn of events, but I was too busy trying to get there on time. I don't need the hard-ass Commander Shepard, who I just got to like me even if it was only a little bit, pissed at me before this mission even started.

I bounded up the stairs two at a time, weaved my way past a couple crew members (I may be big, but I'm fairly agile), and slid in the door right as the clock hit eleven A.M. Just made it.

"Just in time Corporal," Shepard said. "You make it a habit of being there exactly as things start?"

"What can I say? I'm punctual to the point of perfection," I replied with a sly grin and a shrug of the shoulders.

"Yea..." she started with one eyebrow cocked above the other and an unamused look on her face, "just don't make it a habit of being last minute at every meeting, or you'll be cleaning out the gym locker rooms." I shuddered at that thought. "Take a seat so we can go over our plans."

I took a seat between Tali and Ashley on the left side of the room. Wrex was sitting in the middle on the opposite side and he kinda just stared at me. He really doesn't care for me does he? Whatever. Hopefully I'll prove him wrong on this mission.

Shepard took a seat opposite from us next to Wrex. She then lit up her omni-tool and brought up a projection of Therum in the middle of the room. "Ladies and gentleman, I give you Therum," she said gesturing to the projection of the volcanic planet.

"We performed a preliminary scan of the planet to what we were up against. The planet is a post garden world. Probably used to be nice but now it's all high temperatures and magma. We located the one spot that seemed most likely for Dr. T'Soni to be and that is here," She said as it zoomed in on the familiar dig site. "Our scans also picked up Geth signatures in that area, which just confirms that the Doctor is there. Unfortunately, we can't just drop in on that area. It's not the most stable spot for a Mako to fall. Joker will drop us off here," the map zoomed out and back in on a piece of rock that was our designated drop zone, "and we'll make our way to the dig site." The map zoomed out again and a bright line highlighted the path we would take. "As I said the land by the dig site isn't exactly stable, so we'll have to get in and extract T'Soni as fast as possible. Any questions?"

Silence.

"Good. I'll see you all in the hangar in 50 minutes sharp. Go gear up."

Everyone left the CIC. I was the last one out. Not sure why but I'm always the last one out. Maybe I just subconsciously think its polite to let everyone go first, who knows.

I made my way down the stairs to the elevator.

It's definitely not going to take me 50 minutes to armor up, and my weapons are still in good shape. I could take a nap... but then I pry won't wake up for the mission and royally piss off Shepard. What to do...

I just stepped into the elevator when my stomach started gurgling. Right. Food. That would probably be a good idea before this whole getting shot at business.

I took the elevator to the crew deck and walked over to the kitchen area, only to find that the cook was currently off duty.

Guess I'm making my own food. Something quick and simple perhaps. I opened the cupboard to see various cereals. That'll do. I grabbed a random box (ended up being some kind of Cheerios) some milk out of the fridge, a bowl and some utensils. I found an open seat at the table and started eating.

Halfway through my breakfast, Garrus decided to sit down across from me, with a plate of weird bluish purple food. We sat in silence for a few moments before I decided to say something.

"Didn't know they had dextro food on the ship," I said between a bite of my breakfast.

"They don't..." he replied. "I had to bring my own supply with me. Thankfully I just stocked up in my apartment."

"Well at least you have food. That you can eat without it killing you that is."

He chuckled. "True enough. On a dangerous mission chasing a highly trained rogue spectre and his army of synthetic servants, and I die from eating the wrong type of food because there isn't any dextro supplies here... I don't think my ancestors or the Spirits would let me live it down."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "The Vakarian that was stricken from the records..."

He chuckled again as well. "Never was the best Turian. I'd make history by being the first disowned person in my family only to have everyone forget it..."

A silence came over us as we continued eating our food.

"So... you ready for this mission?" he asked.

"As ready as I can be... I mean yea, I'm nervous about the whole thing, but at the same time I'm excited. Don't wanna die, but I kinda wanna see some action."

"Just don't be too eager. The ones who think they're ready for it are always the first ones to get killed or injured."

"Oh, believe me, I'm not stupid. Just have my nerves acting up a little. And they're conflicting with each other..."

"Just remember you're training and do what you did at Chora's. You should be fine."

"Thanks for the advice," I said while finishing off my meal. "But speaking of the mission, I should pry go get ready for it."

"I'll talk to ya when you get back. Good luck."

I nodded and walked towards the sink to put my dishes away.

I finished strapping my armor and weapons on with about 10 minutes to spare before dropping in the Mako. It's honestly kind of surprising how long it takes to get it all together. Not that I was expecting it to be like some kind of Dead Space suit kiosk type deal (it'd be awesome if it was), but I thought it might take less time. While I was suiting up most of the ground team had gathered around the Mako with the exception of the Commander. At least I wasn't last this time.

I walked away from my locker and made my way over to the rest of the crew and greeted them. Again all I got from Wrex was a simple grunt. Looks like I'm gonna have to impress him on this mission if I ever want to get anything other than a cave-man answer from him.

"Nice armor corporal," Ashley said. "If I didn't know you were Irish before with the last name of O'Connor, I certainly do now."

That's right. She really didn't get to see it much on the Citadel. I put on my best Irish accent, which I've been told is pretty damn good.

"Yea, well I thought it'd be good to 'ave the luck o' the Irish on me side foer any scuffles we 'ad. Then I remembered we didn't really 'ave the best of luck."

She laughed. "Well whatever you think helps."

"Hope you know what you're doing sacrificing the helmet," Shepard said walking up behind me. I didn't even hear the elevator open. "I'd hate to lose a man on the first mission."

"I appreciate your concern Shepard, but after that firefight with Sergeant Effinger, my head doesn't stay out of cover very long. My headache just went away from that concussive shot to the skull."

"Good to hear Corporal. Everybody pile in the Mako. Joker's dropping us off in a few minutes."

I got in the Mako, not really knowing what to expect. The inside was roomy but not super spacious if Wrex's expression was any indication of how comfortable he was.

"You got enough room in here Wrex?" I asked him.

"I've been through worse," was his simple reply. Ok then...

I looked towards the front of the vehicle and noticed two seats. One had a steering wheel, so I'm assuming that's the drivers seat, and the other had a bunch of monitors surrounding it. Navigations? Sure we'll go with that.

Just posterior to the two front seats was something like a chair hanging from the ceiling. A faint glowing emanated from the enclosed area above the seat, and a shadow of a singular, blocky handle projected itself against the back of the seat

Shepard finally hopped in the Mako and took the driver controls. "Williams, take navigation and keep an eye out for hostiles when we land."

"Will do, Commander."

"Wrex, I'm sure you've operated things like this before, take the turret controls," Shepard ordered.

"Shepard... This is an Alliance vehicle. As much as I'd enjoy blowing things to hell on the turret, there's no chance in hell that Im fitting up there."

She sighed. "Corporal, it's up to you then. Aiming is fairly straight forward. all you need to know is that left trigger fires the main cannon while right fires the heavy MG. Think you can handle it?"

"Sure thing commander."

"Get up there and strap in. We're almost at our LZ."

Oh boy... Turret controls. C'mon years of video gaming don't fail me now! I climbed up into the seat and took in my surroundings. It was essentially a tiny enclosed compartment with a holo screen in front of it. The holo screen had a reticle in the middle, what I'm assuming are overheat meters on the top left and right corners for the guns, and a projected an image of the shuttle bay. Well, aiming is pretty straight forward. I then looked at the controls; it was essentially just two handles with triggers on each of them connected by a bar. Also pretty straight forward. This might be easier than I was thinking.

The next thing I know, I watched the shuttle bay doors open. Here we go...

Joker's voice came over the PA, "Ok, guys, we're at optimal drop distance. You might wanna grab something in about 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Now!"

Shepard slammed on the gas throwing us out of the hangar, and I got a front row view of it all.

I had conflicted feelings on dropping out of a ship and plummeting to the ground who knows how far away. On one hand, I'm not a huge fan of heights. I'm not exactly afraid of heights, it's just that falling to my death has never been my idea of a particularly good time.

On the other hand, I've always liked roller coasters, and this was pretty damn similar. Adrenaline rush, feeling of my stomach sinking, and that unmistakable sensation of fear combined with excitement. Let's have some fun with this then.

I threw my hands up in the air, or towards the top of my little compartment and couldn't help but yelling "WOOOOOOOO!" as we hurtled towards the planet's surface. It was a good thing I strapped into the gunner's seat earlier, otherwise I probably would have been floating around the Mako somewhere. Even with being strapped in I kinda hovered in my seat.

The next thing I know, the Mako lurches upward, and I crash into the seat causing my head to lurch forward. Unfortunately, because I didn't grab onto anything, I had apparently slipped forward just enough for the straps to be ineffective at keeping my completely held back. My nose collided with the turret controls. Hard. My vision instantly clouded with tears from the impact, and I felt something warm and wet start to seep from my nose.

"Everyone alright" Shepard asked.

"Hmmph," said Wrex.

"Alright here," came from Ashley.

"I'm fine," muttered Tali.

"Urgh, my damn nose!" I replied while tilting my had back and holding it to try and stop the bleeding."

"Corporal?" she asked.

"I think I broke my nose..." I said with a pained voice.

Shepard sighed. Again. "Change of plans. Rick, get down here and take a seat with Wrex. Ashley, you're gunning now. Tali, think you can figure out the nav controls?"

"Please Commander, I'm a Quarian."

She laughed. "That's what I like to hear. Lemme know when you two get situated. And Williams?"

"Yes, Commander?" she asked, halting her climb into the gunner's seat.

Shepard turned around and gave an evil smile. "Help the Corporal out will you?"

Ash just laughed, walked over to where I was sitting, and grabbed a small medkit from above me. I was still awkwardly trying to stop the flow of blood.

"How the hell did you let that happen?" she asked while rifling through the kit.

"Well, I thought that seeing as how I was wearing a seatbelt I'd be fine, but I guess those are just for show."

"You lifted your hands up didn't you?"

"Yea?... How'd you know?"

Ashley laughed and put her hands on my face, feeling my nose with her thumbs. "Cause the first time I went on a practice run in a Mako, I did the same thing. Only I lost consciousness and had a concussion for a few days after."

I couldn't help but laugh. The typically semi-serious Ash, making as big of a fool of herself as I just did. "Learn your lesson?"

I felt a slight pressure followed by a sharp cracking pain as the Chief snapped my nose back into place. "Did you?" she asked with a smirk.

I'm not typically the kind of person to make noises or scream when I'm injured because I generally have a pretty high pain tolerance, but that almost made me do it. Forgot how sensitive the nose was.

"Ow... I think so..." I muttered.

"Good. I'm gonna apply some Medi-Gel, and then you should be good by the time we get to the Doctor. For now just try not hurt yourself again."

"I'll try, but I promise nothing," I said with a grin as I leaned back. She put a light layer of the clear substance on my nose. The pain in my face was already starting to go away, and the bleeding has all but stopped. Medi-Gel is awesome!

She must've ignored me cause she just climbed up into the gunner's

Both Ash and Tali gave the all set and Shepard took off right after. I was kind of expecting this ride to be terrible given the Mako control in the game, but it actually wasn't. Guess that's one thing BioWare got wrong... unfortunately. Or maybe it was just me who hated the Mako controls. Then again I may have been a bit biased considering I didn't know it had a cannon until the Conduit run on my second playthrough. I was sitting there like a jackass shooting everything with just the machine gun for nearly two playthroughs... I wouldn't have even known there was a cannon if I hadn't dropped my controller on the bumper and made it fire. Whatever, I'm letting my mind wander.

As I focused back in on reality, I saw Wrex sitting across from me with arms crossed and he was well... glaring would be the nice way to put it. Or maybe it was just his face, I don't know. Let's tempt fate a little.

"Can I help you?"

"Just wondering if all humans are as easily broken as you."

"Again. I'm not a massive walking tank like you."

"And I'm just saying. I've seen toddler Salarians take bigger hits than the one you just did to yourself and walk away without a scratch."

"Whatever Wrex..."

He just laughed his deep evil laugh and left it at that.

The ride went on for another five minutes in silence until Tali interrupted it.

"We're approaching two large Geth signatures Commander."

"Hold on tight people. This might get rough."

"Shepard, signatures are reading as two Geth Armatures up ahead," Tali warned.

"You mean those four-legged things?" Shepard asked as they came into view.

"Yes. Equipped with an anti-infantry mini-gun and a plasma cannon to take out vehicles."

"Wonderful..." the Commander muttered. "Ashley! You know what to do!"

"Already lining up the shots Commander..."

"The rest of you... well just hold onto your asses."

And with that, the previously peaceful ride turned into the one I was more familiar with. The Mako started frantically bouncing, my head was being whipped back and forth, nausea and a headache set in. Not too different from the feeling I got whilst operating the Mako in game, simply because the controls were so infuriating (not to mention gravity defying; "Go up that cliff at a ninety degree angle you say? Not a problem!")

All during the evasive maneuvers I heard the thundering roar of the main cannon, followed by the repeating patter of the heavy MG. About a minute or two later, the firing halted and the driving went back to being tolerable.

"Nice job Williams," Shepard complimented as she continued driving towards the dig site.

"I like big guns," was Ashley's reply.

That got a chuckle out of most of the crew. Well, except for me. I was busy trying to keep my meal down. Eat some breakfast I said! It'll pry be a good idea to eat before the mission I said! I wasn't gonna complain though. It could be worse than nausea... I could be a charred corpse from the Mako blowing up.

We kept driving but we didn't see any more Geth. This was odd. There was supposed to be an assload of armatures around here, but whatever, the less I'm getting shot at the better. We were getting closer to the compound where we'd have to get out and open the gate when we came across a massive rock formation that acted as a bridge over the lava. Then, out of nowhere, a Geth dropship flew in, delivering Geth for us to slaughter. The report of the cannon and MG sounded soon after its appearance, but none of the shots seemed to affect it. It also wasn't shooting at us, which I found strange. Until I noticed it was shooting at the bridge. Shit.

"Shepard you need to hit the brakes!" No sooner had I said that, the rock bridge exploded, leaving a massive gap over the lava that in no way were we gonna be able to jump. And we're not fully braked. I closed my eyes and braced for the worse. Fuck, fuck, shit, lava is gonna hurt...

And then we stopped moving. Am I dead? I looked out of the front viewport to see that Shepard had barely prevented the Mako from falling over the edge; the nose was pointed downwards slightly, and I'm pretty sure the front two wheels were dangling in the air. Good thing we have four wheels still on the ground. The other thing I noticed was that... we were glowing blue?

"Thanks for the brake assist Wrex," Shepard said sounding relieved.

"I didn't feel like melting today," was Wrex's reply.

"Regardless. Thanks. Now how are we getting over this..." She sat there for a few seconds. When I looked over about to suggest something, I saw her eyes light up and an evil smirk form on her face. Suddenly she threw the Mako in reverse, ending my sentence before it began, and started going as far back as she could. She stopped the tank and put it back into drive.

Shepard took a deep breath and then asked, "You guys ready?"

"Ready for wha-" was all I managed to get out before Shepard floored it, the sudden jolt cutting me off. Did I mention she was flooring it towards the huge gap over the lava? I didn't? Well she was.

"Um Shepard?" I asked, sounding as nervous as I felt.

"Trust me..." was all that she said.

We were rapidly picking up speed as we approached the gap.

"Skipper? I heard Ashley ask from the gunner's seat.

"Just trust me..." Shepard said.

Oh, God...We're gonna die... I closed one eye. We were about 30 feet from the lava pit when Shepard punched a button on the console and slammed on a pedal under her left foot, the button giving a speed boost, and the pedal causing the Mako to jump. We were halfway over the lava when everything seemed to slow down. It felt like we were suspended in the air, barely moving. The only thought that went through my mind was the deep voiced narrator from the Dukes of Hazzard saying "Well...Looks like Shepard and the gang are at it again..."

Then everything sped back up and we were rocketing towards the other side. We landed with a crunch, a splash of white coating the front viewport.

"Looks like we landed on some Geth," Shepard said nonchalantly while activating the wipers.

"Some Geth? Shepard we just crushed one of those massive four-legged ones!" Ashley exclaimed.

"Same thing," she muttered.

"Commander, can we never do that again?" I heard Tali ask.

"Agreed," I stated, letting out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"What're you sniveling Pyjaks talking about?" asked Wrex "I wanna do it again!" He said with a deep laugh.

"Glad I'm not the only one who enjoyed it," Shepard said with a chuckle. "Come on, we have a doctor to rescue."

"Shepard, Garrus is gonna be pissed when we get back. From what I've seen he's been spending a lot of time with the Mako, and you just messed it up." I said as we neared our objective.

We had passed through the barricades the Geth had put up. Mostly because Shepard ran over everything that moved. We got through the small compound they had fortified by crushing every platform that was there. The turret rarely fired. "How many Geth pieces do you think are stuck underneath us?"

"Enough to keep him busy for a while..." She replied. That got a laugh out of everyone.

We kept driving for another minute or two when Shepard suddenly stopped. "Looks like we're going on foot from here. Our destination isn't too far from our current location and there's no way we're making it through this in the Mako." She must be referring to that massive rock wall with the super narrow path leading up that hill. This'll be fun.

As we piled out of the Mako, Shepard reached toward her helmet, "Joker! Come pick up the Mako, we're going on foot for the rest of the mission."

"Sure, cause you know I run a pick-up service. I'm not the pilot of the most advanced frigate in the Alliance Navy or anything," replied the pilot, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Keep that in mind Flight Lieutenant. Might be a good alternative career choice for you if you keep up the mouth," she said.

"... Right. Picking up the Mako in ten..."

"Note to self, don't be sarcastic to the Commander," I muttered.

"Heard that," she said. "Not that I don't appreciate sarcasm, I just don't appreciate it all too much in the middle of a mission. Come on, we're wasting time here."

Shepard grabbed her sniper from her back, while the rest of the crew grabbed their weapons of choice; I grabbed the valiant, Wrex had his shotgun, Tali was holding her pistol, and Ashley's unfolded her assault rifle. Shepard then looked down her scope. "Ok...There's a small clearing up ahead overlooked by...one, two, three towers. Each one has what appears to be a sniper. Tali take a look." she said, handing the Quarian her sniper rifle.

"Yea, two snipers on the outer tower and a rocket trooper on the middle." She handed the rifle back.

"Here's the plan: Wrex, Tali, Ash, you guys go eliminate the targets that are sure to be on the ground. Looks like it leads to a small valley. Be careful for any ambushes. You'll also get the sniper's attention, so make sure you find some cover. The Corporal and I will stay back and cover you. Understood?"

"Aye, Aye," everyone replied.

"Ok, move out."

Shepard and I stood at the entrance taking cover on the rocks. We watched as the other three disappeared down the hill.

"Wait until you here them fire... I'll take the rocket trooper. You take the far left sniper" she said.

Shortly after, shots echoed out. I took aim, the visor quickly indicating my target. I lined up the sights over the flashlight, and my victims head exploded in a mess of electrical bursts and white fluid. I moved my scope over to the right just in time to hear a mantis fire and see Shepard's shot land. A thunderous sound erupted from the rocket trooper. Fire bloomed outward and weakened the tower's structure. It collapsed into the remaining tower, helplessly crushing the final sniper.

"Holy shit, commander..."

"I was gonna take it's head off, but then I thought shooting the rocket would cause more damage. I was right," she said with a smirk.

We ran down the slope and met up with the rest of the team, noticing that Wrex had a knack for dismemberment and making as big of a mess as possible. There were Geth bits everywhere and his massive shotgun was still smoking. Tali was covered on one half of her torso with Geth blood. She didn't look all too thrilled.

"Next time we go to kill Geth, don't send me with Wrex. Geth blood is hard to wash off..." Tali mumbled.

"Not my fault you let two of em sneak up on you. It was either let you die or splatter Geth..." was Wrex's gruff reply. "Next time I'll just leave em be." He seemed unphased.

"By the way Shepard, nice explosion."

"Easier than picking em off one by one at least.." she replied.

We kept the same plan for the next part, only this time Ashley stayed back to snipe while I was with Tali and Wrex. I moved up behind some rocks and a large cliff waiting to give the signal to the snipers. I looked over to Wrex, waiting for him to indicate that both him and Tali were ready to charge up into the next clearing. I was waiting for Wrex to point ahead to indicate the fire signal, but I guess that's not how he works. He kinda just started walking forward firing his shotgun, taking out some Geth's shields for us.

I popped out of cover, vindicator set to single shot for accurate fire, and started unloading. My first shot hit an unshielded Geth right in the flashlight, and it immediately dropped to the ground. Thank you Wrex. I quickly changed targets. I fired five rounds into his shields to take them out. Three more shots followed and the machine collapsed.

We continued weathering the forces shields down. Every so often, a sniper shot would sound from behind me, and a Geth I had just unshielded would drop. I was never a huge fan of kill-stealing in games, but I think I'll make an exception when actual bullets are whizzing by me.

We had just about finished clearing the small battleground when I noticed a red flash out of the corner of my eye. I looked up to a cliff to see a Geth sniper prone and aiming. Right at me. Wonderful.

I immediately snapped my rifle up to his location and started firing. My shots weren't as accurate as I had hoped, but a few landed. I kept firing, hoping somebody would help, but they were pre-occupied with the few remaining ground forces. The sniper fired once or twice times but my glancing shots knocked its aim off. A warning popped up on my visor, indicating my gun was about to overheat, but it came a second too late. The vindicator had already started venting.

I was pinned against a rock and a hard place. Literally. I was between a rock I had been using for cover and the cliff the sniper was using as a perch. There was nowhere I could roll to dodge it. I was pinned against my cover. Every time I tried to get out of the predicament, the red dot would appear in front of me, cutting off my escape route. It was kind of like that thing kids do with bugs: bug tries to run away somewhere and the kid blocks with his hand and keeps blocking off every path the bug tries to take afterwards.

I don't like being a bug. Maybe I can show him that this bug has teeth,

I dropped my rifle, reaching for my valiant, hoping it would unfold in time to actually deal damage. I tried running out of my death pit, and dropped into a slide on my knees. The scope snapped up to my eye. I frantically tried to line up the reticles as the Geth adjusted his position. I don't have this shot lined up. I'm screwed.

A loud crack sounded in the background. I watched as a bullet entered one side of the sniper's head and exited the other. I slid down my cover into a sit, breathing in as I relaxed. I heard footsteps approaching behind me to see the two snipers nearing. Shepard continued forward, Ash came over to me with a smirk plastered on her face with an extended hand to help me up. "Saw you struggling with that sniper. Thought I'd lend a hand."

"Better late than never..." I said taking her hand and getting to my feet. "Looks like I owe you one Chief."

"Yea, you do. Pick up your rifle. We gotta catch up to the others."

We jogged down a slope and caught up with everyone else. They had regrouped at the base of an upward slope and were all checking their weapons.

"Anyone injured?" Shepard asked.

"Negative Commander," Ashley replied.

"Nothing I won't get over," Wrex said.

Tali and I simply shook our heads. I had a couple bruises from taking cover a little too fast, but nothing that wouldn't heal.

"Ok then. The dig site is right up ahead. Let's get a move on," she said spinning around and walking up the hill.

Fuck...this part. There's a lot of Geth up here aren't there? Yea, it was the part with the Armature we have to take out on foot. Wonderful.

No guts not glory I guess...

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long update period. I had planned on uploading this a while ago, but I just got a new work schedule. Now if I'm not in class I'm working. Doesn't leave a whole lot of time for writing, but I'm trying my best. I'll hopefully have the second part of the Therum mission up shortly. Also sorry if it seems like I cut the chapter off just as it was picking up, but the entire Therum arc is fairly long and I'd rather make more chapters with shorter length than a few massive chapters.

Also, I'd like to thank everyone for the support. I appreciate every review I get, and it's definitely awesoeme when I see my story views spike. I know we haven't gotten very far into this, but for those who have been following this, I really appreciate it.

As always, leave a review if you would like to. Your criticism and ideas just serve to make this story better so feel free to send em my way.

Rfalzar out.

P.S. - So for some reason, despite posting it last night and the fact that it's only supposed to take 30 minutes to post a new chapter, it hadn't gone up when I just checked, around 8 AM PST. Something about the chapter not being found. I think I may have broke ... Hopefully this will finally work? Sorry for any confusion, but yes I did indeed post a new chapter, aha.