Hey hey! We are close to the end of ME2,but not the end of the story. I kinda skipped ahead in the timeline,so it may be a bit confusing,but I felt it worked.

Thistle's past is coming to a head people,we're going back to New York!

Bioware won't sell

Present time,Normandy SR-2,Shepard's Quarters

Shepard sighed tiredly rubbing his shoulders tightly. They had just picked up the Reaper IFF they needed,right after clearing Tali of a treason charge. Now they had Reaper tech on the ship,and a new squad mate. Legion the geth was called. It was still in the AI core. EDI had protested it's addition to the crew,so had Tali,but having the geth on board was helpful with it's knowledge and hacking skills.

Thistle had gone into the room after Shepard had left,EDI was keeping tabs on her. So far it seemed that Thistle and Legion were getting along. While creepy,it was good that she was branching out. Hopefully by the end of the mission she'll be comfortable talking to all of them.

"Joker,set a course for Earth"

"Going hunting Commander?"

"Legion is busy setting itself into the system,might take a bit."

Week later,Ground Side,New York

A normally four day trip took longer with a side mission to help Legion settle a internal problem within the geth system. With the knowledge of the Reapers coming and what they could do Shepard had chosen to rewrite the geth programs to allow them to have a freedom of choice.

Now they had touched down in New York city. The bounty on Thistle's head had left a sour taste in many of the team's mouth. New York was a slum town,that much was clear the moment they stepped down.

"Alright. Legion,Tali shake down the externet here. EDI traced the bounty's posting to somewhere in the New York area. Try not to kill each other"

The two techs nodded,though Shepard could see that Tali had her hand on her shot gun as they wandered off to find a area to connect.

"Grunt,Jack,Garrus turn the slums upside down. This all started 18 years ago,I know it's a long time to go back,but see if anyone remembers anything. Children disappearing,people just up and leaving work and homes. These are hard people,push harder" The three nodded,Jack and Grunt looking more than excited at the idea of violence.

"Miranda,Jacob find your Cerberus contacts and get whatever information from them about what happened here. Thane,go with them. Be ready to use force if they try to refuse."

"Mordin,go to the hospitals. See if anyone matching Thistle's condition has ever come by,you know the most about whatever they did to her"

"Samara,Kolyat,Thistle. We're going to the facility. Thistle,do you think you can find it again?"

"Yeah"Thistle was shivering slightly. Samara placed a hand on her shoulder,and to Shepard's surprise Kolyat was holding her hand tightly.

Hour later,Facility,Main entrance

Thistle had lead them to her personal circle of hell. The old building was falling apart, but the signs of carnage and murder were still clear. Dried puddles of blood were covering the floor and walls,Shepard felt like throwing up at the thought of Thistle being here. No child should have been around this much blood.

"There was seven of us. The walls were whiter,and it smelled like bleach,not open air like now."

Thistle's voice was far away as she lead them deeper into the building. Kolyat stayed at her side,holding Thistle's hand loosely. They let her lead them to wherever her memories went.

When Samara tapped his shoulder and pointed to the floor Shepard nearly threw up. Little foot prints in blood were leading out to the area they just came from. He looked at Thistle's back,she was telling Kolyat about the room they were in. A type of lab to measure how the children were adjusting to the treatments.

"The man in the black hat came for the other six. I don't know where he took them."

"Shepard"

Turning away from the two Shepard put his hand to the comm,pressing it closer

"Yeah Garrus?"

"Nobody remembers much of anything,but one lady mentioned that six kids turned up dead after disappearing seven years before that."

"Yeah,Thistle just mentioned something like that"

"Is she starting to remember?"

"Garrus,I get the feeling she never forgot."

Ten minutes later

Thistle had lead them through the facility and they had come across a usable terminal. Shepard downloaded the information to review later. They're final stop was Thistle's old room. It was the last room in the whole building,and was the most ruin down. The roof had collapsed leaving the floor bare to the elements.

"I found myself here"

Samara was holding the girl tightly as the explored the ruined room. The bed had restraints at the corners,and machines with needles were still sitting close by. As Shepard and Kolyat turned things over to find answers Shepard noticed one part of the floor was covered with plant life. The most prominent was a large purple flowered plant with spiked leaves.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's a thistle"

That night,Normandy SR-2,Mess Hall

They were gone.

The Collectors had found the Normandy while everyone was on Earth trying to track down the bounty on Thistle's head. No suck luck on the frontier. All they had found was that the lead scientist had survived along with Thistle,but the girl couldn't tell who was in charge. She saw everyone at different time,and never together.

Joker was furious at Shepard for leaving them. New York didn't have a space port so the Normandy was out in open space waiting for the signal to retrieve them. Everyone was pulling double shifts currently,and Thistle had a nervous breakdown blaming herself. Last Shepard had seen, Kolyat and the young girl were curled up on a med bed after giving Thistle a sedative.

The data from the old facility was blinking on his terminal. Shepard sighed deeply and clicked it open. Might as well review it as they headed back to the Omega 4-Relay. He scanned medical test and behavioral analysis looking for the purpose of the whole thing. He found the reports of the first tests,recordings made by the doctors,even a full physical of each child before the facility was shut down.

He finally found the whole thing's main goal. It was sickening...it couldn't have worked correctly. Yet while he tried to deny it,memories of the time with Thistle crept to mind. The dark red medicine,claiming that the kills she had done were to keep herself alive,contacting a doctor for a hemoglobin supplement.

"He doesn't know"

It couldn't be...

"Do you want to?"

Yes,I am evil. Don't worry,you'll all get to know soon enough.