"Wait, Joker. That's not the real EDI. Look at Shepard!" Tali said with a panic in her voice as she started to rush towards her Commander, only to get shoved aside easily and into the opposite wall by the menacing robot.

"Tali!" Garrus cried out in concern as he ran over to his current flame and checked her for injuries. Meanwhile, the thing that looked like the former AI squadmate said nothing and ignored everyone else, only pulling Shepard up by the throat and looking him in his eyes and holding Ashley's dog tags tight right in front of his bruising face.

"You never understood the value of life when you activated the Crucible. You easily could have synthesized us, made the world perfect and free from discrimination against us AIs. You took the selfish route, we both know deep down that you knew you'd find a way to live, even without your cybernetic enhancements. So you thought the smallest possibility to save your own life was worth eradicating an entire species!?" The metal hand tightened its grip around Dylan's throat as he could feel the anger in her voice rise after the last sentence.

"If you knew about that, you would know I was told I was gonna die too. . .they said, ugh. . .they have no idea how I survived. . ."

Suddenly Grunt popped through everybody, Shotgun in hand. "Screw this, I've got a better idea to decide who's right or wrong. Nobody gets to Shepard without going through me first."

"Hmph." The robot's grip loosened as she erected an electronic barrier to stop the bullets from reaching her. . .all of them that Grunt kept firing.

"Nice move, EDI. . .but if you're so mad at me, let Ashley go. I'm the one you want. Take me down right here."

"Oh? That sounds like an appealing idea, Shepard. Though I would be going against direct orders."

"Yes, that would be bad. But there is another issue of why you can't kill me though."

"What is that?"

"This."

As soon as the word left his mouth, he flung his legs up enough to kick his former ship's AI square in the face, flipping over and landing on his chest while she landed backwards,not feeling any pain, unfortunately for the Normandy's crew. However, she was quickly surrounded by that very crew. Realizing she was knocked outside of the barrier, she had a quick plan B already in mind.

"It seems my vengeance will have to wait. However, leaving with Shepard's personal trinket should cause adequate grief for the time being." Clutching Ashley's dog tags in her cold hand, she deployed a smoke grenade effortlessly, setting everyone into a blind coughing fit as she slipped away.

"Shepard! I see her running to the CIC and I-I think she's heading towards the front of the ship, EDI's getting away!" Tali sat up from Garrus' arms to let Shepard know, being the only person unaffected by the heavy-duty smoke grenade.

"Like hell she is!" Dylan got up to a running start, in a blind rage that this was the person, or thing that captured Ash, and had his most prized possession in her grasp.

I'm not letting her get away.

The chase was on as he bolted through the cloud, giving everyone else something to follow to get out of the affected area, slower than their Commander though.

The chase was on, as they got out of the War Room, not bothering with the scanner, heading through the CIC and catching up on the twisted AI, pressing buttons doing something that Shepard didn't know about or care about. But as soon as she noticed the Commander coming, she slipped to the side, opening the door of the escape hatch, facing off with the man she hated, mere yards away from her.

"It's over, EDI. Just give me the tags and help us get Ash back. I don't know what you were thinking or if your program's malfunctioning or what, but there's nowhere to go now." Shepard said out of breath, feeling every one of his injuries as he spoke.

"I'd rather face what you put me through all over again than help you. And besides...I'm an AI, my intellect is superior to yours. Let me show you, you see, I rerouted the ship's autopilot to fly us over a much safer landing and with my exoskeleton...It would be correct to say you know what happens next."

"Damn!" Shepard watched as his target fell backwards out of the Normandy.

Only one option now.

"Shepard, no!" Miranda yelled from the crew that had finally caught up to the former Spectre as he immediately made his move and did a swan dive off of his mode of transportation, too fast for his crew as Joker caught himself, holding onto the edges of the door before he fell off too.

"HOLY SHIT!" The ship's longtime pilot yelled out in disbelief at his Commander.

"Shepard's lost his mind! I love it!" Wrex laughed out, only to get smacked in the back of the head by Dr. Chakwas.

"He's not fit to be taking risks like that. He might not survive if he was perfectly healthy, letalone in the shape he's in now. With all of his surgeries his body is just now acclimating to his natural parts again." The good doctor said in her British tone.

"Shepard. . ." Miranda said with worry in her voice at the thought of Dylan risking his life, all over some stupid dogtags. . .from the woman he loved.

As the ship passed on through the skies above, Joker quickly slammed the door shut and got into his seat in the cockpit and started to steer the Normandy back to Shepard's location to help him, noticing they were flying over what appeared to be the ocean. They were still somewhat high up in the air when Shepard and EDI jumped off.

Meanwhile EDI was falling through the air towards the ocean and had begun making preparations to go back to base and help take care of Ashley, also hopefully leading the Normandy crew directly into the base so they could all take their revenge on the man who had caused the AIs extinction. . .

"EDI!" The robotic figure was interrupted by her processing by the voice of the man whose lovers' tags she had stolen, surprising her and causing her to turn her body in midair to face him, falling towards her at great speed.

"Wha-" was the only sound she could make before the tip of that man's Omni-Blade crashed through her skull as he thrust with all of the might he had, easily plowing through it and destroying it completely and showing a slight mess of wiring protruding from what was identified as her head before.

Shepard clanked into the metal body, hugging it tight and spinning enough until he crashed into the waters below, maneuvering just right to allow EDI's body to help break his fall into it, but still feeling massive amounts of pain after he hit it, and immediately coughing up some blood, his ribcage taking the brunt of the impact.

Using all the energy he could muster, Shepard paddled himself to keep him afloat, holding onto EDI's body all the same for reaching into her fist that had stayed clenched throughout the fall, tearing the dogtags away and letting go of the cybernetic body before swimming his way to the nearby shore from this body of water he was too exhausted and hurt to even begin to identify. He put the tags around his neck and simply laid back, looking at the Sun up above him. It was just now becoming Springtime and it was starting to warm up in London, especially at midday.

No time to rest now. I took back what was mine. . .now I'm gonna do it again.

The beaten commander sat up after a few moments, wiping away the blood from his face. The water he fell into did a good job of cleaning it off, though some slight bruising had already begun taking place from EDI's brutal attack earlier. He looked up and saw the Normandy circling around and slowly descending upon him, landing at a spot almost right next to him on the shore, the heat causing beads of sweat to trail down the Commander's face, which took the form of a slight smirk.

I bet everybody was scared to death when they saw me launch myself off. . .They should know better than to doubt me.

The Starship landed softly, with the very door Dylan Shepard had brazenly jumped out of in midair earlier opened up, with the ship's pilot bursting out with a worried expression on his face, only for the door to quickly shut behind him before anyone else could get out to check on their friend.

"Huh? Now's not the time for malfunctions on the ship!" Joker yelled out while turning around and banging on the door.

"Dammit, Joker this better not be one of your bloody pranks! Now is NOT the time! I need to see Shepard!" Miranda's muffled voice was heard from behind the seemingly impenetrable barrier between.

"Come on, Joker, let us out of here. Miranda's right." The equally muffled voice of Garrus said, much more calmly.

"Guys, it isn't me I swear. I mean come on, the door mysteriously slamming shut? That's not my sense of humor, It's way too cliché. If we find a picture where the eyes start moving then I'm just assuming the Normandy's stuck on "19th Century Trope Mode" again.

Shepard just sat on the ground silently, pondering to himself how he's going to get to Ashley and what sort of defenses there will be and waiting for the door to open so he could grab Garrus and Wrex and blow his enemy's plans straight to Hell where they belong.

"I'll get it open! Don't worry, I've got a key. Get out of the way." The bellowing sound of Wrex's voice shouted before the sound of his Shotgun going off and the door thudding. . .to no effect. And then another fire went off to similar results.

"Stop it, you bosh'tet! That's not working." Tali's voice was heard now, again muffled.

"Yeah, let the true Krogan show you how It's done." Grunt stepped up, presumably with his own shotgun. Sure enough, there was a loud bang right after that boomed out, again not causing the door to budge even a little.

"You guys do know she's bulletproof resistant, right? Try not to scuff her too much will you?" Joker said, turning around and sitting down next to Shepard.

"Of course! Now I know what to do." Another more thunderous thud was heard, with the door not being any more open than before.

"Don't do that! You're going to hurt yourself, love." The British voice of Dr. Chakwas tried to calm the Krogan.

"Yeah, Junior. Don't hurt yourself." The elder Krogan teased.

"Oh stow it, you old bastard. I'm gonna go rough up Verner some more." He said while walking away to wherever he kept the strange young scientist held.

"Anyway. . ." Garrus interjected. "Shepard, how are you, buddy? I'm glad to say you failed your mission. . .to give us all heart attacks."

"I'm okay, Garrus. Just a few bumps and bruises. Sorry for the dramatics back there, but I had my adrenaline going and wasn't thinking about anything except stopping her. In hindsight. . .jumping off a moving Starship probably won't rank among my smartest ideas."

"I'm very concerned about the state of your body." Dr. Chakwas focused her attention to her friend. "The reports I've gotten from Dr. Michel say you shouldn't be standing right now. I don't know what's possessing you to pull stunts like that and I don't know what's fueling you to actually make it through them, but there's no way doing this won't have severe consequences. As your doctor for years now, I'm recommending you take at least a day's rest under my treatment and surveillance before continuing on."

"That's not gonna happen, Doc. I'm taking Ash back and there's nothing in the galaxy that can stop me. Even if it kills me."

"But it 'will' kill you! I'm a medical expert too and have seen you die twice and personally been there to put you back together again. I don't want to have another funeral for you, nobody does." The accented voice of Miranda Lawson said softly with concern in her voice.

"I'm sorry, Miranda, but I'm not stopping until I get her out of there. God only knows what that son of a bitch is doing to her and he's not getting a second more of a comfortable life if I have anything to say about it. Besides, we're right in his back yard. I'm sure whoever's responsible for this isn't just gonna let us casually camp out here. Tali, Garrus, you saw the message. He wants me dead. And I want his sorry ass dead too."

"Just let him go. . .he knows what he has to do." Garrus silenced anymore potential protest as Miranda leaned against the wall in fear of whatever could happen next and Chakwas simply nodded seeing the determination in her Turian friend's eyes. "I'm gonna check out the cockpit, see if there's anything I can do to get a door or hatch open so we can give you some backup."

"Roger that, Garrus." Dylan said, starting to stand up before his Omni-Tool started to ring, indicating a Vid-Call coming in, which was quickly.

"Hello, Commander Shepard. . ."

"You. . .!?"

"Who is it?" Joker leaned over to see the face of his former girlfriend, again.

"I just killed you. I saw my Omni-Blade take your head off and you floating in the ocean."

"You what!?" Joker leaned up in anger.

"Do not worry, Jeff. I am fine. That was simply a copy of the one you know as EDI. The authentic one is here."

"And where is "here" exactly?" The frazzled Commander said softly.

"It is not far from your current location. I'm uploading the exact coördinates to your Omni-Tool, Shepard. There's no backing out now, as you can see by the fact I've locked down the Normandy."

"So that's why everybody else is locked in."

"Precisely. Jeff! I only wanted to take my vengeance on Shepard. You are a good man, and It's unfortunate you chose to follow in the lead of someone so. . .unworthy."

Shepard simply grimaced, knowing there wasn't going to be any backup and looking at his pilot who maintained a stoic look as EDI spoke.

"Well, EDI-"

"You and I are so similar, Commander Shepard. . .more than you will ever know." The monotone voice of the Commander's adversary interrupted.

"The only thing similar about us is that we both like making fun of Joker's bald spot behind his back."

"I Knew it!" The pilot leaned forward to glare at both his robo-ex and his best friend.

"Hmph." The callous AI stared with a sinister smirk on her face. "You're right. But wrong. There is something else only you and I share, Shepard. We were both supposed to have perished after the Crucible was activated. But somehow, we both defied the Catalyst's wishes and survived, proving even death itself can be defied. For both organics and AI alike."

"How the hell did you know about the Catalyst? How are you even alive. . ?" The Commander punched the ground below him in frustration.

"See, Jeff? How much it pains Shepard to see me alive, to see any AI alive?"

"That's not it and you damn well know it! I just. . .want. . .Ash." Dylan closed his eyes and said softly, not noticing the stern look coming from his pilot and comrade.

"In that case I suggest coming soon. Your romantic made an escape attempt just before your arrival in London. In response there has been authorization for some. . .unique methods of punishment."

"I don't know what you're doing to her, but I have a feeling when I find out It's gonna make me want to kill you even more than I already did. . ."

There was a long silence as Dylan Shepard's rage-filled words hung in the air, as well as the look on his face that made even Joker take pause at what his friend was thinking, but he was already starting to worry for his former lover's safety before the AI spoke up in her usual voice, obviously feeling no emotional response whatsoever.

"Time's running out, Dylan. If you wait any longer Ashley will die and I assure you it will be a painful death. But also keep in mind that you will suffer a painful death should you enter, and your death. . .will be made sure to be of the slow variety."

The Omni-chat was ended with a click and a pop-up showing where the location of EDI's stronghold was shown, a simple trek away from their current position.

"Jesus, what has happened to her? I'm half expecting to walk in on EDI twirling her moustache and talking about how she wants world domination." Shepard said, wiping some blood away from his mouth and holding his ribs while standing up gingerly. God knows which bones were broken or not at this point.

"I don't know, Shepard. . .all I know is that you need to get this done and save Ashley." Joker spoke solemnly, almost in shock while he started walking with Shepard, only to quickly have his Commander's armored hand reach out to stop him.

"I don't think so, Joker. Between your legs and having to deal with all the emotional trauma you have, not to mention my complete lack of backup, It's better if you stay put."

"No way, Shepard. I'm a sitting duck out here. I'm not even armed. Plus, I HAVE to see what's going on in there. If that's the real EDI and if I can. . .I don't know, see if the old EDI's there, the real one. And with all due respect, Commander, you're not the best person to lecture me about my legs considering how gimpy you are. So get ready, because I'm coming whether you like it or not." Joker looked tall and proud as he talked and clearly showed how determined he was, standing up fully straight and showing good posture perhaps for the first time in his life.

"Alright, Jeff. . ." Dylan reluctantly agreed, possibly feeling a sense of guilt over inadvertently killing all synthetics to begin with. "But look me in the eye for this, because there's something I gotta know. . .If we go in there and it comes down to that EDI impostor facing off with me, am I going to be getting a knife in the back? Even if this all blows up and everyone in the galaxy wants to take me out, this is about Ashley's life. She didn't do anything to you or EDI or anyone else. So if that's the plan here, I'm asking for it to wait until I get her out and safe." The two men's eyes were locked and neither wanted to blink, but Joker spoke in a determined way that reminded Shepard of himself.

"I'd never do that. I'm telling you, even if that is the real EDI, she still kidnapped Ashley, and I know she's going to have to pay. At least this time, even if everything goes to hell, as usual for our missions by the way, at least I'll have a chance to say goodbye this time. . ."

The two friends immediately embraced and slapped each other's hands and embraced in an emotional show of support for each other.

"Thanks, Joker. You're a good man, even better pilot, and the best friend."

"I don't know about that. I'm a pretty damn good pilot."

A pair of smiles were traded between Shepard and Joker and then the two walked off after an unspoken signal that it was time to go save Ashley. They started walking away from the locked down Normandy, with Dylan knowing that everyone was scrambling trying to override whatever the ship's former AI had done to keep them inside. Just before they were about to round the corner, a good 20 yards or so away from the Normandy to reach the short path leading to EDI's homebase, Shepard turned around to his Starship and the crew that was truly his family, knowing this could be the last time he saw any of them. He smiled but quickly turned a bit pale as his memory was jogged towards one fact he had lost sight of with everything happening so fast. Jumping out of moving aircrafts will do that to a guy.

Oh crap! The weapon! The Cataclysm! It's still under my bed!


*A/N: I just wanted to give a huge, over two month long sized thanks to everybody who is still reading. I'm extremely sorry for the long wait between chapters but alas duty and a bunch of sports stuff simply got in my way. I know I'm no stranger to long absences without updates but this story never once left my mind and I want everybody to know that I'm gonna keep on keepin' on. Honestly, I had everything up to the call with EDI saved on this thing for like a month. The creative juice hasn't come close to dying out, but the time to actually finish is the issue, and one thing I won't ever do is release something sooner than I want or before it's ready "Just to update". I don't do things that way and if I'm putting my name on something It's gonna be the best I can do at it and I'll never let myself settle for less. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy my return chapter. Action's coming up. Let me know what y'all think and again, thanks a lot to everybody.