Zrocker119: Merry early Christmas everyone! Sorry this chapter took so long for me to put out. I was suck on how to finish it for the last three weeks. It was pretty frustrating for me and I'm still not all that happy with the results, but it will due. I always struggle with chapters that fill the gaps between the bigger parts of my stories.

Anyway shot AU at the end. Read it! It's important!

P.s. One more thing. 607 favorites, 749 follower and 232 reviews! HOLY SHIT!(Jaw drops and brain explodes form the sheer awesomeness)

-DOOM Effect-

Jane sighs for what must have been the 100th time within the last two hours as she sat in one of the many chairs in the briefing room. She had just finished informing the council of what had transpired just a few hours earlier, omitting a few details. It was evident that they were not happy about the loss of the ruins. She couldn't care less about some ancient ruins. All she cared about at the moment was that her crew was alive and safe.

Well, most of them anyway.

After Alex had passed out in the air lock, he was moved down to the med-bay. It had taken both Garrus and Wrex to move him while Jane was able to take Liara. Once there it took the combined effort of them plus Tali to remove his armor. The individual pieces were surprisingly heavy. Jane thought that Wrex was just being over dramatic about their weight until she tried holding one of the gloves herself.

Once Alex was on a bed and hooked up, they were able to see just what was wrong. Almost all of the muscles in his body had been torn, there was a large bruise on his chest and back from his struggle with the battlemaster, and was suffering form a serious case of exhaustion. The last Jane had heard from Karin was that Alex is now stable but still unconscious.

Liara was in much better shape. Other than a slight headache from where the rock had hit she would be just fine. The newest member of the Normandy was currently being taken on a tour of the ship by a more than willing crewman.

Entering the mess hall Jane see the others sitting at a table and appeared to be in a heated discussion. Heading in their direction she picked up what it was they are talking about.

"-m telling you there's no way what he did back there was humanly possible!" Ash all but yelled at Garrus.

"I'm not disagreeing with you." Was the Turians irritated reply. "But we've all seen what he looks like. He's obviously human. That armor he wears must be the reason why he was able to rip that Krogan's arm off. Right Tali?"

The mentioned Quarian rubs her hands nervously. "I can't say for sure. I did a quick scan the pieces of the earlier but I didn't get much. It was like something was interfering with my omni tool. But from what I was able to get the suit seems to have some mechanical functions. I found small receptors on the gloves and chest plate, as well as some capillary tubes that run throughout the suits substructure but I couldn't figure out what they were for. But that's not the most interesting part."

"Well don't keep us in suspense Tali?" They all jump at the sound of Jane's voice, well all but Wrex that is. It will take more to surprise the battle hardened Krogan. The others though had been so into the conversation that none of them had noticed her approaching. "What other surprises does that suit hold."

"What ever it's made of doesn't match anything know material in the galaxy." Tali says, silencing them all. "We all saw what kind of damage he sustained during the mission right?"

Kaiden decides to pitch in. "I saw him take a few hits from a Geth pulse rifle, a hopper tackled and clawed him, and then there was his scuffle with the battlemaster." He shivers a bit at the memory. He never heard a Krogan scream like that before. He had never heard a Krogan scream period.

Tali taps away on her omni tool and a 3D image of Alex's armor appears above her arm. "What ever his suit is made of is incredibly durable. I found no signs of damage, other than a few smudge marks."

"That's impossible." Garrus shakes his head in denial. "The metal should be bent or warped in some way. We saw him get thrown and charged by a biotically enhanced Krogan."

"We also saw him pull out a giant gun from nowhere that destroyed a Colossus as well as any nearby geth with a single shot of said gun." Jane's statement shuts up any argument the former C-sec had. She looks to Wrex, who up till now had been leaning against the wall with his arms crossed in silence. "You've been oddly quiet Wrex. Anything you want to add?"

The old Krogan closes his eyes in thought. "I've lived for a long time Shepard and have learned more than a few things...Did any of you take note of the way he fought?" His question caught them off guard. Wrex muttered "amateurs" under his breath when none of them answer.

"The way he fought was," Jane struggles to think of the right word that describes the way Alex fought. "Violent, savage...brutal." The words seemed to fit what he did, but at the same time, failed to completely encompass it.

Wrex smirks and give the commander a nod of acknowledgement. "You only fight like he does for one reason, to-"

"Strike fear into your enemies." Jane finished, remembering the words Alex spoke to her a few hours ago. But she still couldn't understand one thing. 'What made him fight like that?'

"Shepard!" Karin's voice snaps them all out of her thoughts. "You might want to come and look at what I found!" Hearing the urgency in the doctors voice made them all rush to the med-bay, where they found the doc standing next to Alex whilst looking over her omni tool.

"What is it Karin? Is there something wrong with Alex?" Jane asked worriedly. She may not have known Alex for more than a few days but he was now a member of her crew and she would be damned before she lost one.

"I'm not sure Commander." Was Dr. Chakwas response. "T-this is something I have never seen before." She tapped away furiously on her arm and made a projection of Alex's skeletal structure and nervous system. Everyone's eyes widened in shock, seeing what had the doctor worried. Very dark, orangish-red coloration can be seen moving throughout Alex's body.

"What the hell is that!?" Garrus asks after breaking out of his shock.

"I don't know. I though it was a glitch in the system so I redid my initial scan but nothing changed." She tapped her omni tool a few more times. "Not only that, but all of his wounds have seemingly healed as well. My scans also revealed that almost every bone in his body has been broken multiple times within the last year or so and, if his latest injuries are anything to go by, were healed just as fast."

"My god." Ash whispered not so quietly. "How is he still alive? Is he even human?"

Even though she had seen Alex outside of his armor many times Jane was starting to question his race as well. She glanced over at Alex's prone-, formerly prone form. He now sat on the edge of the the bed, looking at the floor and rubbing his head in pain.

The pain seems to subside and he looks up to find the whole ground team and the Dr. staring at him.

"...Uh, hey?"

-Alex's POV-

As I looked at the team in confusion my eyes roamed around the room. 'Okay, I'm in the med-bay. They must have brought me here after I passed out. Gonna have to ask VEGA what that was all about later.' My musings ended once my eyes landed on the holo floating in front of them. I could tell that it was a medical chart, but what was with the orangish-red glow?

.

.

.

If this were an anime, I'm sure my eyes would've quadrupled in size a I realized what it was that they were looking at. It was a full body scan of me...and the Argent in my body was visible.

"Everyone else go back to your normal stations." I turn to see Jane staring straight into my eyes. "Alex and I need to have a little chat...now!" She didn't yell but the message was clear. I, and everyone else, didn't have a say in the matter.

One word could describe the amount of dread that I was feeling as everything came crashing down and that word is.

.

.

.

'FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!'

I stepped out of the storage room that now served as Liara's sleeping area, having gone in there to change out of the medical gown and into my everyday clothes. I also put VEGA'S ear piece back in so that I can talk to him. It had felt weird without his presence in the back of my head.

Back to the situation at hand, I looked at Jane with a tired gaze. I was already wishing that I was still out of it. I knew that I was going to have to explain to Jane the concept of storing my weapons in a pocket dimension but now I had to explain argent as well. So with no way out I lean against the wall, arms crossed and nod. "Alright then, let's get this over with. Where do you want me to start?"

"Well for starters, how do you feel?" I was caught off guard by the amount of worry in her gaze. "You just up and passed out after saving Liara, and then the scan showed that almost all of your muscles were torn."

"Damn." I've got to say that I wasn't expecting all of that. No wounder she's worried about me. "I'm fine Jane." I say with a shrug. "As you can see I heal pretty fast."

"Glad to hear it." She says with a small smile. One that is replaced with a firm scowl a few seconds later. "Now, explain how your even standing right now. Someone with your injuries should be hospitalized for several months, not up and moving about like nothing happened a few hours later."

I begin to rub my neck as I try and think of a way to explain things to her. I could tell her exactly what I told Miranda and TIM, but the truth will come out eventually. The part about me coming from DOOM mind you, not the whole "Your reality is a video game where I'm from", I plan on taking that with me to the grave.

"I'll try and explain it as best I can, but I need you to keep an open mind because what I'm about to tell you is going to be hard to believe. Can you promise me this?"

She eyes me for a moment before nodding. "I'll try but I won't promise anything."

'That's the best I'm going to be getting.' Pinching the bridge of my I let out a deep sigh. "It goes back a few years ago when I was abducted by a human supremacist group by the name of Hades. Like you they had discovered a Prothean beacon that warned them about the Reaper. They kept it under wraps and began researching was to stop them. During this time they discovered the ruins of unknown alien race, one that didn't utilize eezo." I hold up my hand to stop her from speaking. "Yes, that sounds impossible but trust me it's true."

"This race instead utilized an element that they called Argent to rip open portals and use them to go from one place to another." I demonstrate by summoning my energy pistol. "This is the same technology that allows me swap weapons at any given time. As well as the added bonus of never having to reload."

"How do you get mixed up in all of this?"

I sigh, "They, Hades, stumbled upon one of this races latest projects. One that involved bonding Argent to a host."

I could practically see the realization in her green eyes. "They-"

"Abducted me and many others, and forcefully bonded Argent to our bodies. Everything from my skeletal structure, veins and nervous system, Argent is currently coursing through it all." Bringing up my omni tool I show her the same video that I showed Miranda and TIM. "I was the only successful subject."

"They bonded this energy to you?" I nod, "What did it do?"

"You know that super human stuff you find in comics and movies? Basically that. I'm faster, stronger and as you can see, heal faster. After the bonding process was a success I was fitted with the Praetor suit and put in cryostasis. I was frozen for eight months before some dumb-ass decided to set off a fucking Argent bomb."

"A what?"

"A Argent Bomb is a explosive that when detonated, will unleash a wave of raw Argent energy. Those that are caught in the blast will either be killed, or mutate into a monster straight out of your fucking nightmare. One of the scientists tried sneaking one off base with the intent to sell it, but was caught and cornered. Rather than surrender the bastard set it off. 38% of the station was outright killed, while the rest became monsters."

"H-how many were in the facility?" Jane hesitantly asks.

"5,497." Her eyes widen. "3,408 of which were mutated. I would've died as well, but I was woken up by the only other survivor."

"Other survivor!? Some one else got off besides you!"

It is at this point that I find myself pinching the bridge of my nose. "I don't care if you tell the rest of the crew what I've already told you, but what I say next must stay between us."

Jane looks at me long and hard. Fuck I hope she just goes with it. If not then I may as well toss myself out the air lock. I let out the breath I had been holding when she eventually nods. "Awesome. Not do me a favor and don't freak out alright?"

"Why would I-"

Bringing up my omni tool once more I hit a button. "Say hello to the commander, VEGA."

"Hello, Commander Shepard." A image of VEGA appears from my arm. You know that symbol that always appears when ever he spoke in game? Yeah, that one. "I am VEGA. The artificial intelligence tasked with checking daily operations at the Hades HQ."

"AN AI!" Jane recoils, her hand going for the pistol at her side. When did that get there!?

"WOAH!" I say, hands held in front of me in a stopping gesture. "I know the killer AI stereotype is really in with the Geth attack and all but seriously calm, the fuck, down. If VEGA wanted to kill us, he could've done so many times over."

"For a galaxy that fears AI, your defenses against cyber-warfare are minimal at best." VEGA's image pulsates as he speaks. "Even the Citadel couldn't detect me when I hacked in and created an identity for Alex."

I mentally facepalm at VEGA's stoic statement. "Really VEGA? Now is not the time to talk about how shitty their cyber security is."

"Did it just say that it hacked into the Citadel?" Turning my attention back to the commander I see that her pistol is drawn and trained on me.

"Yes, HE did." I respond with added emphasis on the gender. "He did it so I can fit back in with society without trouble. Besides that I trust him."

"It's an AI!" Jane tries to look calm, but the hint of fear in her voice betrays her. "How can you trust it!?"

"I didn't at first. How can I trust something that my abductors created? But then I started thinking. He didn't have to wake me from cryo. He could've just left me there for all of eternity, but he didn't. He woke me up, armed me and helped me destroy the facility...by destroying himself."

Jane seems to pause at that. "What?"

"The only way to keep the infected from leaving the facility was to kill them all with a powerful enough explosion. The only way to do that was to initiate a meltdown of the facilities main reactor, my power core. But I can not self terminate, so I instructed Alex how to kill me. He did as I asked, but not before making a back up copy of my and storing me into his suit."

"Of my own volition by the way." I add so she doesn't think VEGA asked me to save him. "VEGA was willing to give his life to ensure that Hades's fuck ups didn't make it back to civilization. If that doesn't gain your trust," I shrug, "Then I don't know what will."

I watch with baited breath as Jane thinks. After what felt like an eternity though, she finally lowers her weapon. "I must be crazy for going along with this."

A smirk tugs at the corner of my lips, "Jane, we're after a mad turian that may or may not be in league with a ancient race of giant killer machines...we threw away our sanity awhile ago."

Massaging her forehead she asks, "What happened after you initiated the meltdown?"

I shrug, "Stole a shuttle and got the fuck out of dodge. Passed out from exhaustion shortly afterwords, woke to find myself on a slaver ship and you know the rest."

"This-this is a whole lot to take in." A few moments of silence pass between us. "I need a drink."

A chuckle could be heard from within my throat. "I've got a bottle of whisky stashed down below. I was going to save it for after we beat Saren, but I'm willing to bust it out now if you want."

"...I just might take you up on that offer." She responds, a small twitch in the corner of her lip betraying her amusement. Nodding slightly she goes to leave while saying, "Karin wants to give you another check up before you leave."

"Jane," I call out, stopping her just at the door. "Please keep VEGA between us. The others will be cautious around me enough as it is. If they knew about him though." I trail off as we both know how the others will respond to an AI. Violently, especially Tali.

"I'll trust your judgment for now, but Alex," Her gaze bores into mine. "If it becomes a threat, I'll personally put it down."

"...I understand, but I know that it won't come to that."

She leaves the room. "I hope you're right."

It wasn't until half an hour later that I was finally able to leave the med-bay. Dr. Chakwas had put me through a few basic test to make sure that everything was working properly and took a few more scans. It was refreshing to see someone so dedicated to their work.

Once I was allowed to leave though I made a beeline for where the food was. For some reason I was famished, like I hadn't eaten for several days. So after grabbing a couple plate fulls of the shit the Alliance Navy called food I grabbed the nearest seat and dug in, regardless of taste. While doing so I could feel the wandering eyes of the crew on me.

No doubt word about my exploits during last mission have spread.

"Great." I grumble quietly. I knew the way I handled things would draw me attention but it didn't make it less annoying. I also notice that I couldn't see any of the other members of the ground team. More than likely Jane had gathered them all in the briefing room to inform them all of my "condition".

"Excuse me, but you're Alexander Carter correct?" Asks a quiet voice.

Looking up I'm greeted by the sight of Dr. Liara T'Soni. There's a small spot on the side of her head that's darker than the rest of her skin. Probably from the hit to the head she took earlier. "Yes that's me. Liara right? How's the head feeling?"

She look momentarily confused before her eyes widen in remembrance. "Oh I'm alright, nothing now but a slight headache."

"That's good to hear." I gesture for her to take a seat, "So what can I help you with?"

"I-I just wanted to thank you personally for saving my life."

"Think nothing of it little blue." I give her a small smile. "We had a job to get you off that planet safe and sound. Though it is nice to be thanked every once in a while."

"Uh," Liara tilt's her head in slight confusion.

"Something wrong?"

"Sorry, but did you just call me little blue?"

I nod, "I like giving nicknames to friends. Given that you're smaller than me and blue, little blue was the first thing that popped into my mind. Sorry if I offended you in anyway."

Raising her hands and shaking her head Liara says. "No, I'm not offended at all. No ones given me a nickname before...I don't even now what that means." Color floods her cheeks as the rest of my words register in her mind. "You consider me a friends?"

Seeing her look so flustered, I couldn't help but find her to be very cute. "Why the hell not?"

"Well." Her gaze shifts to the side, suddenly finding the wall more interesting. "I don't like talking about others when their not present-"

"The others are giving you shit for being Benezia's daughter aren't they?" I ask her bluntly. Silence is all that greets me. "I'm guessing that statements true, except for Jane and maybe Wrex." A slight nod is her response. "Looks like we're sort of in the same boat. That's just a old human saying by the way. Basically it means we're in the same situation." I add that last part quickly.

"How are we, as you say, "In the same boat"?"

"Remember what I did to that Krogan?" Now I don't know what color Asari turn when they're about to get sick, but she's changing shades. "I'll take that as a yes. I fight with that ferocity in every conflict that I'm involved it. I told the others this before I even took a single step on this ship. You saw me in the med-bay. I should be hospitalized for months, yet hear I am talking with you like nothing happened. We're unknowns to them Liara. People, regardless of race, are afraid of unknowns. I'm sorry but that's just how it is"

"T-that's one way to look at it." Liara agrees. In a very human guester she starts fiddling with her thumbs. "How are you awake? And how were you able to do "that" to a Krogan?"

"Jane's probably telling the others what I told her earlier so there's no harm in letting you know as well." Finishing off the rest of my food I cross my legs and rest my hands on the table. "Well a few years ago..."

-Meanwhile in the briefing room-

"-and that's all of it." Jane says as she finally finishes relaying the same info that Alex had given her, omitting the parts about VEGA as per Alex's request, and oh boy did they look confused. Leaning back with her arms crossed she awaits for the up coming shit storm that will be their questions.

"And that's what he told you?" Looks like Garrus was the one to break the ice.

"Yes."

"And you believe him."

"Yep." This earns her some incredulous looks from some of her crew. Aka Garrus, Kaidan and Ashley. "His position on this ship is in jeopardy and he knows it. What would he gain from lying?"

"But what if he is commander?" Ash says trying to make her see reason. "For all we know he could've stolen that technology from the Alliance!"

"I'm gonna have to disagree with you there Ash." Kaidan says surprising her. "We're going after the councils top agent. If the Alliance had something like Alex's weapons and armor on standby...then we would've gotten it for this mission. Plus like the commander said, we all saw him summon those weapons out of nowhere not to mention the chart from Dr. Chakwas. No one has technology like his." Kaidan finds himself on the receiving end of Ash's gaze.

Jane's eyes shifts from between the two. She's glad that Kaidan was at least open to the idea of Alex being a genetically enhance human, but it would seem that Ashley wasn't even willing to consider the idea. First she objects to helping Liara with combat training and now this. She was going to have to pull her aside soon and have a chat with her about trusting others.

Speaking of trust issues, Jane couldn't help but think that Alex wasn't telling her the whole truth. Sure he told her about VEGA, she was still trying to figure out how a fully functional AI was in his omni tool, but the nagging voice in the back of he head was telling her that he was holding something back.

Regardless of if he is though Alex took a big risk by revealing VEGA to her. She was kind of touched that he trusted her with such a big secret.

Jane shook her head. She was getting off track. "It doesn't matter if his technology is his own or if he stole it, we'll just have to take his word for it. Now I don't want to see any confrontation between any of you. This extends to Alex and Liara as well," Though she doubted that Liara would be a problem, "Am I understood?"

"Yes commander." Were Kaidan and Ash immediate reply.

"Good. Now anymore questions?"

Tali was the one to speak up this time. "He said that this "Argent" made him what he is, while it turned others into monsters right?"

"That's correct. He should me a vid of one of the other subjects. "Jane actually shivers at the memory of it. "It wasn't a pretty sight."

"...Do we have to worry about it affecting us?" Wrex asks.

Jane frowns at that question. "He didn't mention anything about contaminating anything before. My best guess is that we would have to be exposed to a large amount of Argent in its raw state like he was. Besides if it was contagious, I think he wouldn't be living on the Citadel let alone any populated planet."

"So to recap," Wrex begins, "Alex is a super human, with highly destructive weapons, an insane healing factor that could rival a Krogan's and can tear his foes apart with his bare hands."

The others blink at his rather short and crude summery of what took Jane a hole hour to explain. "Basically." Is Jane response.

"...I knew there was a reason while I liked the bastard!" Wrex then proceeds to laugh in excitement for the future carnage that will surely follow them.

-END-

Zrocker119: Now for what I was too lazy to right at the beginning. The poll for who Alex will be paired with is closed and the results...don't really surprise me. The winner is both Jane and Miranda! Now don't worry I won't just put the three of them in a room and have them go at it. I will put in the effort to make the relationship between them reasonable. I have some ideas in mind but I'm open to suggestions.

Till next time folks!