EXALT will act as a fail-safe to XCOM and vice versa.

If the need arises the ADVENT initiative will take place

Humanity will not fall to an extraterrestrial power

-XCOM charter

"It's a good rifle" Jacob sat leaning against a nearby table with his arms crossed. He recently started warming up to Marcus after swapping some war stories. Jacob mentioned his time as a corsair to prove his credentials to Marcus. Marcus then mentioned a mission and soon they were swapping stories. Jacob still wasn't fully at ease with Marcus. Things just didn't add up with him nor did he like Marcus holding Kelly and the doctor hostage without remorse.

"Why didn't you issue me this first?" Jacob shrugged and not one to shy away from the truth uncrossed his arms before standing up.

"I figured you'd be dead with the whole Jack business or run off... You didn't have the best first encounter with us"

"Fair enough what makes you think you can trust me now?"

"A gut feeling... And Shepard's orders" Marcus let out a cough. The truth really does hurt like a mother fucker.

"Well shit" Jacob didn't bother to reply instead he ran over the features of the new prototype mattock rifle. It was a semiautomatic rifle with a 22 round over heat. It had a much stronger punch than an avenger rifle at the cost of accuracy. With the new mass effect rifles recoil was almost gone in comparison to firing an AK-47 to a modern day avenger. Few knew how to hold a rifle steady while firing a rifle that provide recoil. It was meant to be the primary weapon on the Normandy but Jane Shepard woke up a little bit earlier than to have anything more than 3 prototypes.

Marcus on the other hand admired the new rifle. It kicked almost like a M16 and it's stopping power was just about the same. Three rounds to do the job of a AK-47 round. Taylor was going over how to maintain it and Marcus paid rapt attention.

After half an hour Taylor took the rifle back for a few last second checks while Marcus helped to inventory. He wanted to stay on Taylor's good side so he had somewhere to go between missions. He didn't need someone to tell him he was unwanted on the ship still. He only got chow on the zero hour when most of the crew was asleep, eating or relieving someone of duty. He would also grab a days worth of food two MREs and a hot plate of food he knew the cook piled up extra for him.

Jane said her door was always open and Marcus didn't want to become her lap dog holding onto her for social survival or more out of personal pride. The medical bay he didn't even go to after the mission he just grabbed some medigel and bandages and had a security member patch him up.

That being said only the security members accepted him. Thus, the armory was his only social ground. The guys liked him simply because of the war stories, and he was apart of the ops team. He liked the five guys on it. They were all marines besides one who was a former army engineer.

That being said it came to Marcus' surprise as he heard Taylor's stomach growl and Taylor to look up and say. "Hey Heinz... You wanna get chow?" Marcus immediately wanted to say no thinking it as a ruse to cause him discomfort. On the other hand... He was getting pretty lonely.

"Yeah I could eat some" Marcus didn't mention he ate a MRE two hours earlier and snacked on the other one out of loneliness. Taylor got up leaving the rifle plugged into a computer and headed to the elevator while Marcus finished writing down a number and followed Taylor.

The two entered the elevator while Kelly hurried out with a fake smile plastered on her face. Marcus knew it was fake because he could taste fear rolling off of her from his latent psyonic abilities. Marcus started to rub the bridge of his nose out of stress from his psy abilities getting more potent. Taylor took it as a sign of tiredness most of the crew felt.

The two left the elevator without any spoken words. Gunny noticed Marcus and prepared two plates the second purposely reserved for Marcus with a larger portion of pound cake.

"Doing good Heinz"

"Yes Sargent" Marcus and Taylor sat next to each other at the empty table. Taylor immediately tried to correct Marcus on his conduct without realizing it.

"That's gunnery Sargent Gardner"

"I know" suddenly everything clicked for Taylor.

"Your a soldier aren't you which planet I had some friends in the 73rd planetary force on Eden prime" Marcus flinched he never liked being noticed by his branch and he kicked himself in the head for that one. That was the exact same reason Sargent Gardner figured he was in the army.

"I never served with a planetary force"

"What then? There isn't much else for the army besides that. I mean there is always the assault forces..."

"Spec ops whole career can't share details." The expression on Taylor's face was the typical bull shit look. There was no way someone couldn't even share their unit. Hell, people could say they worked with N7 marines and even then they weren't even apart of the active unit.

Before Taylor could say a word. "Don't even try but trust me he isn't lying as much as I hate to say it." The pair looked up to see Jack slid into a chair next to Marcus. Surprisingly, she had great table manners using the knife and fork properly. The chewing could use some work though... and cutting the meat into bit size pieces not playing lets see if it can fit in my mouth sized.

"Well at least tell me what ops you ran." Jacob already heard about Jack's uncanny ability to decipher people's lies. It was almost going from gossip to an untold ship rule in the span of a day.

Marcus contemplated for a moment before Jack punched him in the arm. "Yeah at least tell us that much. You owe me after me sparing your life."

Marcus' pride was hurt for the briefest second. He totally kicked her ass "We exterminated any xeno presence deemed hostile to mankind."

"Truth" Jack shrugged before continuing to eat. Taylor just shook his head and said. "I didn't think it was that bad I heard rumors about EXALT runni-" ting! Marcus' fork dropped from his hand landing on the floor.

He did go through the future! Jacob mentioning EXALT was proof. But they killed those traitors months into the war unless-

"You alright?" Marcus looked up to see Miranda standing there before bending down to pick up the fork and handing it to Marcus before sitting at the head of the table between Taylor and Marcus. Marcus wished he saved that on film.

"I'm fine I just thought about something." Taylor and Miranda thought it was at seeing Miranda. Jack on the other hand immediately knew he was lying.

"What did ya think about then?" Jane took a seat besides Taylor and started shoveling food in her mouth. While everyone still wore their normal 'uniform' being said loosely here since only Marcus wore the gay uniform and everyone else had cat suits or just walked around naked. Jane wore flannels and a tank top with a N7 on it and her hair in a messy bun.

Marcus felt weird that only Jane seemed to differ at all between missions. "I remembered my last op" that was he best he could come up with.

"Yeah fucking slavers?" Jane said in an understanding tone.

"I left some good friends behind to cover our retreat." Marcus now was thinking about the Tokyo terror mission now. He abandoned the remnants of demon platoon to recover meld. 41 letters to wives, husbands... Kids. The worst part was by the end of the war they had more meld than they even knew what to do with.

A hushed silence fell over the table and forks were placed on the table for the former service members. Miranda joined out of respect. Jack kept eating.

"Any good friends?" Jane inquired knowing this was more than getting to know Marcus but a moment for those who died for him.

"Yeah... His name was Kyle... He took two in the chest and I was there getting him to the evac zone. We didn't know how to treat it. We used bandages, painkillers and fucking dirt. Sgt. Li pulled off a damn miracle and stabilized him with some high speed medical supplies but just as we got in our ride gas hit the inside as the door closed. We got sealed but we didn't get to Kyle in time. He choked on his own spit."

Everyone was quiet aside from Jack who still ate on. Jane immediately knew what it was like remembering the blitz. Taylor was lost in his own thoughts about his own losses. Miranda did it out of respect.

"The worst part was it was days later. He just couldn't get better after that initial hit. We sent him to the best medical we had and they were saying there wasn't anything in him. Fucking dumb ass civilians"

"You make them pay?" Taylor asked giving a way of release for Marcus.

"I made our pilot turn around and smoke that bridge into rubble."

A sober silence followed. "You're lying there's more to it" everyone turned to Jack who was looking at her plate. Shadows seemed to fall over her eyes. "You killed the doctor didn't you?" Slowly Jack stood up and left muttering something. She was no doubt about it heading to the lower decks of engineering to hide out.

Marcus slowly got up before saying "I need to get some rest mission in 5 hours." He left unmolested by everyone. Marcus walked feeling lonelier than ever. He was surprised not to see Jack there waiting for the elevator.

Marcus got in the elevator heading to engineering to go to the room next to the life support where he carved out a little living arrangement. Suddenly a hand appeared in between the closing doors. Marcus' heart dropped expecting to see Jack and her to no doubt confront him about the lie he said. In walked Gunnery Sargent Gardner. He slowly brought himself to full length before entering the elevator and the doors soon shut.

The pair were silent before Gardner talked. "Look son I like you for some reason. I heard about that doctor feller. I don't mean to judge or to spy but... What I'm trying to say son is I've been there too. I'm always willing to listen to another marine."

"I'm a soldier sir I'm not apart of your brother hood" Gardner laughed a genuine laugh and slapped Marcus on the shoulder.

"You could've fooled me you walk like one and from your rifle cam kill like one. Your definitely better than those runts that are joining. The only thing you don't do is talk like one." With that the door opened and Gunnery Sargent Gardner left leaving Marcus a little soggy but with a little ray of sunshine.

Today was a mess for the process of integration and being apart of the crew. Marcus started to peel off his uniform. That being the best way to describe taking off the skin tight uniform. Soon he was down in his skivvies and he crawled into his sleeping bag and went to sleep using the discarded uniform as a pillow. He felt alone here and he didn't kill that man's family or him. He didn't have to the aliens got to them first.

Jane had a head ache. Jack somehow got a lot of dirty secrets aired out. For instance, Joker being a avid porn viewer was actually a cover up for dating a porn star. It was an incredibly awkward thing to learn also when he was worried she might be cheating on him. Another crew member was caught lying about not peeping on the other gender. Lastly, the most troubling was a poker game was found rigged. This Cerberus crew were some unmotivated, undisciplined fucks.

Then again they did their jobs well enough. Jane wouldn't have known if she didn't receive everyone's complaints in person as she ate when Marcus left and Jack sulked off. Miranda informed Jane that this crew was actually four cells brought together. That's why they were able to have a crew on short noticed and why they also seemed undermanned.

They were suppose to get another cell of security forces and another cell of engineers who could double as any other job vital to the running of the Normandy. It's safe to say Jane woke up a year or so early meaning those security forces were still training and the engineers were still learning.

The illusive man thought it'd be best to create two new cells and give them to Jane instead of another one at the ready. Safe to say, the illusive man had no idea what to do running a military operation. To be honest Jane understood Cerberus was a small terrorist organization meaning man power was secondary to research or information the focus of Cerberus. It just didn't help help Jane's stress. The moment she found out Kelly was a trained psychologist she had her in her cabin talking to her almost as white noise to help her stay relaxed.

The tasks seemed so large and there seemed to be an endless supply of things to do she didn't even have time to really register she was dead for two years. That's how she survived N7 school. She placed all her discomfort in a box in the back of her head and focused on the tasks at hand. At certain times of the day she just wanted to curl up and cry and give everyone a long fuck off speech. When she did she remembered the quote of one of the first N7 officers. "I'm remembered for my deeds because I didn't give into my pain during those tasks."

Jane ran a hand through her hair one last time before looking up from the ground. She was sitting on her bed in her cabin. She had her aquarium empty aside a few koi fish compliments of the Illusive man. She had a small scale version of a human fleet against a turian fleet reenacting the first contact war. The moment humanity was receiving the first blows. It all hung above her office area and she personally took great care in painting and setting them up. Unfortunately, one of the crew members apart of navigation did most of the work aka 95% of the work.

Jane had her armor stuffed in a corner of the room throwing off the luxurious look of the cabin and her rifle laid on the bed post with various history books. A small pile of video games laid by her personal computer all of which were strategy games of various history periods Jane studied. In all honesty, Jane liked Cerberus. Her mom actually supported them once or twice when she was openly asked to. Jane was almost recruited once or twice before but never accepted knowing it would hamper her ability to work fully in the alliance. Her family was in all honesty close to Cerberus as a family of unknown Cerberus associates could be. Heck, if aliens weren't useful in military operations she would see them as lesser beings.

She only respected them because of the day of the blitz. She saw two turians hold off slavers until they died. They took up arms even if they were considered non combatants. Vector or Veetor whatever the hell his name was the one that got sick and Jane had to save for information was a disgrace. She hated xenos like him. Jane heard her omni tool go off and slammed her fist into it. She started to mumble curses underneath her breath. Not cuss words but she was cursing various problems in her life like that one reporter bitch she punched in every interview.

"tired of being a pirate on the high seas?" Jane looked down at her arm to see her omni tool on. It took another second to register her mom's voice.

"Mom!"

"Yes Jane its me" a few peals of laughter came out. "I heard you came back to life, so I just had to call." Jane laughed at that. While they never saw eye to eye for most of her life, Jane turned 23 and everything just clicked. Granted she just became a marine and realized there was more to the military than just high school drop outs. It had a rich tradition and history tracing it's roots back to the roman marines.

"What how are you even-"

"I'm an admiral now due to your actions during the citadel and certain friends have insured my command over the 105th marines. I'm also to spy on you confirm if you really are my daughter" Jane's mood darkened a little but she was glad her mom commanded the 105th marines her marines and whatever naval war group attachment over them.

"I'm feeling the love" Jane sighed.

"I also called because a certain letter and someone asking our party about XCOM." Jane perked up at this. "As you know Cerberus was formed over night according to every credible history source... But it's actually the intelligence wing of an older special operations group called 'ADVENT'"

"The first combined armed group to fight alien threats-"

"Yes but never actually created or used even during the first contact war a oddity for the peace loving United nations..."

"I know you haven't called me to talk about failed military organizations." Jane could almost see her mom's smile. Jane always told her mom her spirit animal was a snake. When she had a nibble of information she loved to show her fangs.

"Your crew member Marcus has received a coded message on former XCOM frequencies Delta Tango 4200 by 12500 don't ask me if thats even a thing I'm just quoting your former comms specialist. Its a coded frequency that you would have to know. We know it because of a Cerberus informant God knows how he found it. I'm telling you this because it has your crew member's name Ssgt. Marcus Heinz"

"We don't have a Marcus Heinz"

"Did I mention my informant was the Illusive man" fuck Jane thought. Sneaky bastard didn't want to tell her himself.

"Look I'm telling you this because that bastard figured you'd like to know that information I have to go now stay safe and I love you" Jane said her good byes wishing they could talk about history instead of more mysteries.

Jane just sat there on her bed a little longer before she grabbed a history book about WWI a diary of a German soldier. He pitied the opposing force due to their shared misery of all the soldiers involved. Time flew very quickly for Jane. She was wrapped up in the shared feelings of that frustration at high command who were caught up in their own 'problems' to really care about the real problems that mattered.

Unfortunately for Jane, a good read must always come to an end even if she had the last chapter left. "Commander, we are ready to deploy." Jane sighed. She gently closed the book and set it on a nearby table next to the bed. She slowly got up stretching as she uncurled from the 4 hours of physical inactivity. Rolling her shoulders one last time she left to the elevator thinking about what she read. She also briefly reflected about going back to college for a master's degree and maybe teaching high school history. Jane smiled before the door shut. She would love to just end her career right now and just be a normal person for the first time in years. Maybe even fall in love. She also knew humanity needed her. Not only against the reapers, they needed Jane as the spearhead to human equality among the council races.

Udina might be a slippery bastard but no matter what Jane knew his own ambitions came second to humanity. He proved it when he gave a message to let the council die. He had black mail all over those council members, but he knew if they died so did a large amount of their power base would dried up too. Humanity now was almost there just a little longer. Anderson was back to the military life. Jane needed to be a savior once more and prove humans could achieve the unachievable.

Meanwhile, Marcus was up and checking his gear. Taylor gave him a wide berth but also told Marcus he didn't believe Jack. Miranda and Jack were more cold towards him but then again Miranda was the cool agent girl and Jack the arrogant ass hole.

Marcus grabbed additional mags replacing the mobility for ammo."we're fighting krogan bring some flame rounds." Marcus looked up at Miranda before saying.

"Why should I they regenerate all the same?" Miranda shook her head thinking Marcus as an idiot."

"Those rounds basically halt the damage dealt and they can't regenerate fast enough.. Normal ballistics they can heal from very quickly from. Five seconds of cover and your damage is almost rendered useless"

"I use incin rounds I'm dropping a forth of my ammo count for specialized rounds that over heat and wear down my rifle" Miranda raised a brow at that before smirking.

"Then do tell me your solution to this problem? get bigger guns and more ammo?"

Marcus was stumped for a second and he noticed despite Miranda's arrogant posture her eyes seemed to be watching him like a teacher and her pupil. A person watching a rubix cube being solved and figuring out the logic behind every move and seeing if it worked or not.

"melee we'll kill them with knives" Miranda raised one lovely brow as in question.

"Your omni tools can create blunt edges why not ones that can cut? Hell anything. A blade to the primary spine or heart would force the krogan to weaken and not move as quickly."

"Correct assumption but no omni blade will work they're faulty... Those that do are illegal."

"Grenades rely on the premise of creating a force to move metal at dangerous speeds... Grenades would be useless against krogan...melee is the only option" Miranda smiled briefly showing her perfect white teeth and she flipped back her raven hair.

"Not quite soldier" Miranda flicked her finger out and Marcus immediately recognized the purple hue of a biotic field. She smiled before slowly walking away swaying her hips whether intentionally or unintentionally Marcus didn't know. What he did know was Miranda was testing his tactical prowess and he felt like he failed.

Miranda on the other hand felt like she was making progress. Marcus didn't snap at her or chase her like a dog. After years of either being hated or lusted after this is how she assumed friendship was formed. She loaded incinerary rounds without hesitation. Remembering Marcus' mention about what heat rounds did to her ammo she decreased her heat levels to prevent over heating and did last second prep work including eating a protein bar knowing she'll need it for her biotics.

Jack lazed around loosely holding a scimitar shotgun and a predator pistol stuffed in the front of her pants. She sat onto of a work bench with a leg propped up and right arm laying on it left arm propping herself up. Garrus stood in a corner calibrating his rifle. Taylor was with the security team checking over their own gear. They had heavier armor on. It was a direct reflection of Marcus and Jane's armor without N7s but the Cerberus' logo above the heart. They still were issued assault rifles specifically avengers and were to come in if a large problem arose. Specifically if the krogans were causing a huge problem and it would be useful to create an outer cordon.

Jane arrived to this sight and the tail end of Miranda's talk to Marcus. Jane really needed to have a one on one talk to Miranda and teach her how she could come off across to Marcus. She noticed Marcus wanted to kill Miranda.

Jane knew Taylor, Miranda, and Jack were good to go but already knew Marcus wouldn't have a problem placing a round in Miranda's skull for making him probably feel inferior or annoyed.

Marcus turned around after he felt a hand on his left shoulder. Turning around and looking a little down at Jane he saw her smile. "You ready?" Marcus nodded. "Don't worry about Miranda she's just... A bitch" Marcus cracked a grin but it didn't reach his eyes at all.

"Roger" Jane was still deciphering Marcus and didn't need a year of bonding time to know Marcus was still pissed. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Marcus' hand shaking. Jane met a few marines like that. Their whole bodies would tremble if they smelled blood in the water.

"Eyes, spine and heart" Jane knee Marcus was untouchable right now. He was wholly focused on the mission anything else wouldn't reach him.

"Roger"

Jane moved onto Garrus. He immediately saw Jane walking up. "Hey Shepard ready for this mission?"

"I want to keep you up in the air if possible with the reaction team and provide sniper support."

"Now your talking my language Shepard. I hope you're not doing this about my injuries" Jane almost flinched thinking he would say race. Jane was afraid Cerberus was driving him away. Jane wasn't a expert at Cerberus but was sure if Garrus tried to leave they would kill him. Jane pulled Garrus aside and looked around.

"I need someone to keep an eye on-' Garrus held a hand up with hid back a little straighter given new purpose.

"I'll keep an eye on them for you commander." Jane nodded feeling guilt gnaw away on her heart.

"Thank you Garrus I knew I could trust you" Garrus smiled before returning to his calibrations.

Jane inwardly sighed feeling two sided with Garrus and Marcus. Garrus received the Jane who accepted inter species relations. Marcus saw the xenophobic Jane. Running a hand through her hair she informed the crew. "Cargo bay in 5 minutes.

Jane left the armor with most of the crew right behind her ready to get this so called krogan scientist. She would be going with Jack, Taylor, Miranda and Marcus with Garrus as the reserves. Shit wasn't going to get too hard. Plus, the krogan shouldn't be a problem since they're doing their own training thing right?

A/N

A quick note here. I'm heading to AIT on June 9th for like 6-7 weeks of training depends on reception *shiver* that means updates will probably stop for a good while. That being said there's a lot of other XCOM ff I've seen but never read. They look interesting so give them a look tell me how it goes.

As always please review to help me write this story, or critique any problems. Any thoughts or feelings with what's going on. Until next time.

-SITH