Author's Note: I'm finally done with summer school work and when "real" school comes along, I will have a more routine schedule. By the way, that means more updates. Enjoy! :P

If you review, I'll update faster!


I wake up to the sour smell of blood and refuse. My eyes are crusted and my stomach screams at me, telling me to eat anything that I can find. All my ears can pick-up is the low rumble from civilization. A cable wrapped around my arms and legs threatens to cut off my circulation entirely. My lungs struggle to accept even small amounts of oxygen. My body is overcome with soreness and I feel a small breeze over my midriff and below my thighs.

Sweat makes my hair cling to the edges of my face and it makes the little clothing that I have stick to my skin. I crack my right eye open slightly. Before me is a dimly lit room with a door coming from the left wall, and a red light on the ceiling. I let my hands grasp whatever they can and they manage to come in contact with a wall behind me. A groan of sadness and pain relieves itself from my weakened body.

"What did I do to deserve this?"

The doors open and a three Batarians enter, two of them holding a chair with a blurry figure tied to it. I do not lift my head and I only let my eye stay somewhat open. The pair with the chair place the character next to me. Tali!

"Why are you doing this?" Tali's voice quivers with sadness and a hint of fear.

One of the aliens steps closer to Tali. "We need to know some valuable information from Shepard. When she wakes up, my boss wants to talk to her. That's all the answers you get, Quarian," he spits on her and it takes everything inside of me to stay still. He will die first.

The evil men leave and Tali starts to talk. "Shepard, you need to wake up. You've been asleep for two days and I am weak. Kaidan has marks all over his body. I'm scared, Marilyn. I'm so scared!" She starts to sob and her body droops in the chair.

"Tali," I whisper, so only she can hear me. "We are going to get out of here. Have any of them tried to torture you? Did you alert Joker what was happening?"

She shakes her head and looks towards the door. "I only have a few uses left in my P.F.F., though." Humorless laughs leave our beaten bodies.

A few moments pass before a question comes to mind, "Where are we?"

"I think we're on Omega, judging by the smell and the vast amount of Batarians."

"It seems to be that way," I scoot my chair closer to hers. "I am still curious why the hell they needed to kidnap me just to ask a few stupid questions."

A few minutes pass, then the same three Batarians and an Asari come through the door. Two of them are covered in cheap armor and walk over to me, while the other Batarian, who is more heavily armored, and the Asari stand to the side. The other two pick me up and carry me to the door. When I'm closer to the other two, I'm able to identify them as Balak and Mina; they follow us out the door.

"Terrible to see you again, Balak," I snort in disgust, my voice hoarse.

"What about me, Shepard?" The Asari decides to open her fucking mouth.

"I don't give two fucks about you. I just want to know why you dipshits had to make a big deal about kidnapping me."

"Information on a Drell aboard your ship," Balak answers me.

"Which one?" Try to stall them as best you can. You need energy for your biotics and for hand-to-hand combat, and it just so happens that you have none.

"Thane Krios, the best assassin in the galaxy," Mina replies aggressively.

"Why him? We have Archangel and some other pretty badass people on the Normandy, including me, and you want him?" No, no, no, not him. They cannot have him.

My captors are silent for the rest of our 'trip.'

We take a left into a crowded dining hall, complete with yelling Batarians. "I bring you Commander Marilyn Shepard, the very best of the best," Balak says mockingly to the crowd of Batarians; they jeer and taunt me. Irritated growls press at my lungs and I refuse to let them escape.

The head chair is on my left, where Balak sits, and the scum Mina sits across from me. "You need to keep your strength up for the video, Commander. Eat," the Asari says.

"And how the fuck can I eat with my arms tied to the chair and my crew members starving?" I hiss at her, so that only our end of the table can hear over the loud group.

"Tarum, undo her bindings and feed the other inmates," my cables are cut and I rub my wrists and arms. Red lines tattoo my biceps, and I can only hope they untied and fed Kaidan and Tali as well. I have no clue what Kaidan's condition is, but I only hope that he can eat and regain his strength.

"What's the video about?," I stuff some dry, stale bread in my mouth and chew, then take a sip of water.

Balak laughs. "It's just you, pleading for the Drell to show himself, in return for your life."

I choke on my water. "Thane? Save me?"

"If he doesn't he will pay for everything he did to me. Everything he did to my wife," His violent hand slams into the table, making our plates jitter with the sudden movement.

I sip my water, trying to drink as much as I can. "If you don't mind me asking, what...what exactly happened to your wife?"

His bloodshot beady eyes meet mine. "He made her have a slow and painful death. I never got to tell her goodbye!" He shouts this last part, and everyone looks at us. "Thane Krios is going to pay with his life!"


I am flung from the Batarians' arms and into the same room I was before, but only this time, Kaidan is also here. They are tied back to back, cables binding their arms, torso, and ankles.

"Shepard," Kaiden whispers, in pain.

With my new strength, from the food, I get off the floor and rush over to them. "Did they feed you two?"

Kaidan nods slowly.

"I'm glad they didn't take my straw," Tali laughs once. "Then I'd be dead."

"I had a delicious meal of stale crackers," Kaidan says.

"Hey, I took some bread and nutrition paste from the hall. I hope it will help with the hunger."

"We could eat. Not until you untie us though." He laughs. Why does he seem so calm when facing the possibility of death?

"Right!" I take a knife that I stole from inside the diner out of my pants.

Tali looks at me funny, "Is there anything else in your pants that could help us escape?" I ignore her and continue to saw at the cords.

The dull knife is placed between the chairs, so that their torso and arms can be released first. The cables prove to be much worse than I imagined and it takes about ten minutes to cut just one out of eight. Why did they just have to take my Omni-tool? I could have cut through this like a hot knife on butter. After three more cables are cut, Batarians open the doors. I quickly give the knife to Kaiden and food to Tali. My feet drag me to them and they place cuffs on my already reddened wrists.

The journey to wherever we are going is much shorter than the trip before. We arrive at a smaller room, with only two others inside: Balak and Mina. In the middle of the room is an armchair with steel restraints on the wrist and ankles. Several chains hang from the ceiling. The Batarians take my cuffs away and place me in the chair, locking me in. I am ready to take any type of torture; I only hope that my crew members don't have to deal with any pain.

"As you know, we are going to record a video. In order to make it real, you have to be in pain," Mina paces from left to right. "So what can really hurt you, Shepard?" She lifts a glowing blue fist and punches me on the cheek.

Balak drew a small dagger from underneath his armor. He slowly and painfully carves a rugged laceration from underneath my eye to my earlobe. "You've finally been beaten, so you need to look the part." He smirks and gives the knife to Mina. "Put this in a special place. The knife that cut Shepard for the last time."

"I won't say anything for your stupid video," I spit at them. My cheeks sting with pain and it takes all I can to look like I am not in agony. I can feel the blood pouring very slowly out of my cheek, and onto the chair.

"Bring in the boyfriend. Maybe he will change your mind" Balak's fist greets my stomach and the rest of my body jerks forward, my breath knocked out of me. I should have expected that. How am I going to get out of here in this condition?

Seconds later and Kaiden comes into the door, huffing and puffing. They cuff him, raising his arms up to one of the chains, locking one around his already bound hands. One of the no-name Batarians comes up to him with a yellow-glowing whip. It slaps vigorously against Kaidan's back, and the thin clothing tears apart against the pressure. It hits him again and again; I just can't handle it.

"Stop!" I shout louder than I ever have before. My lungs must have given out from the strain because I start coughing. A light red mist of blood comes from my mouth. I can't be internally bleeding, not now.

They whip him once more and unchain him, letting his body drop lifelessly. I try to swallow down the fear growing inside my stomach, but all I can do is gasp for air.

"Will you comply?" Mina asks. I encouragingly nod my head. "Take the boyfriend back and grab the equipment. This video is going viral." Her thin lips form a malicious grin.


*THANE KRIOS*

'There was an explosion at a restaurant on the Citadel, today. No one was killed or injured, although, it seems that people are missing. Could this be a terrorist attack? Or, was it just a foolish accident. More news on the Human colony..."' Sweat drizzles my forehead and I gasp.

I cannot drown my thoughts over the happenings of two days ago. Shepard is missing, along with Tali and the male Human. "Arashu, goddess of motherhood, defend my friends against any evil that may come to them. Amonkira, grace my hands so that they may be swift and my journey so that it will be prosperous."

I stuff my gear into the nearest large duffel bag and open up my Omni-tool to access my contacts. "NEW URGENT MESSAGE" is the first thing I notice, my finger drags over "OPEN". A video with Marilyn's face appears, 'Press Play' is written across the top of my Omni-Tool. An unbelievably large bruise covers her cheek. On the opposite side, a brutally crafted wound resides underneath her eye and continues to the right, seeming to disappear beneath her messy hair.

This couldn't have happened to my Shepard, she is much stronger.

"I have a message to be delivered to Thane Krios of the Normandy SR2," though her voice is filled with pain and sadness, her blue eyes shine with fury. "I've been taken hostage by Balak, Lorathyra's husband, and his men. The only way they will release me is if you give yourself up to them. They also have Tali and Kaiden in custody, and will not hesitate to...," she seems to swallow and take a moment to comprehend her next words. "They won't hesitate to kill them if you don't come."

I feel my heart racing and it becomes harder for me to breath. Dizziness overcomes my body and it becomes unbearable to stand, so I lay on the cot and try to think where my sweet could be. Balak could only hide-out in a place like that, that has no real rule over its people. Where could she be? I stumble out of the cot and find everything that I need.

With my equipment packed and sniper rifle strapped on my shoulder, I rush out of the humid room.

"Will active crew members please report to the Comm Room to discuss urgent news," EDI says to the entire ship. I'm already in the elevator, so I push the button for the CIC.

When I reach the room, Jacob, Miranda, Mordin, and Garrus are already lined up around the table. "Thane, we need to talk about finding Shepard, and about the video including you," Miranda says, the first one to notice me.

"You got the messages, too?"

"Everyone got them, Krios. Someone hacked it into every device that can show video," Garrus snaps, pacing.

Kasumi and Jack enter the room. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you, Krios. An assassin is very bad news." This comes from Jacob, who talks as if I didn't know my profession would be problem.

"Calm down! I know where we can save her!" I shout at them, which is very unusual for me.

"And where exactly is that?" Miranda has both hands on her hips, seeming to act like she's in charge.

I take a deep breath. "Omega."


Author's Note: I just wanted to thank my amazing beta to make this story 7000000000x better (ClaireDuhBear)! Be sure to review if you want more chapters! Have an amazing rest of the week. :P