Like I said, the shit hit the fan last chapter. Shepard is on his way to a maximum security prison where one of his old comrades in the Reds, Sean Macarthur is incarcerated. Also, nearly all the members of Shepard's squad and Hackett were abducted in an attack on the Alliance outpost by another old Reds acquaintance of Shepard's, the cold Damien. Garrus, Miranda, Legion, and Joker are all on the run and Shepard must start to face demons from his past.


"Right this way General." Balak said as he hurried to open the door into the holding cells area.

"I know where the holding cells are Balak." General Zakman stated condescendingly.

"I, yes of course General." Balak said meekly.

Upon entering, the five guards snapped to attention immediately. He ignored all five of them and focused his attention on the human inspecting the cells. He had never seen this human before.

"And who are you?" General Zakman asked the silver armored man.

"Damien Crenshaw. Who are you?" Damien asked casually.

"Who the hell do you think you are to address the General like this human?" Balak fumed.

"Like I said, Damien Crenshaw. I don't know who you are either." Damien replied, angering Balak even more.

"Well then Mr. Crenshaw…" General Zakman began.

"Damien is fine." Damien interjected.

"Well then Damien, what are you doing on my ship?"

"Making a delivery." He gestured to the formerly vacant, now full, cells.

The General inspected all the cells now filled Shepard's squad members.

"One krogan, one quarian, one salarian, one drell, one asari, four humans." Zakman counted aloud.

"If you are who I think you are, I was told you would be happy." Damien said, not really caring if he was happy.

"And who do you think I am?"

"My friend's employer."

"Am I not your employer as well, if you are working for me?"

"I'm not working for you." Damien stated matter of factly.

"Oh?" Zakman said, keeping a much more level head than Balak, who was growing more irate by the second.

"Your Informant hired me on out of his own pocket."

"Why would he trust you with a task as vital as this?" Balak asked.

"Because he knows I can get it done." Damien said somewhat intensely, yet showing more emotion than normal for him.

"Can you? You are still short two humans, a turian, and a geth. Not to mention the real prize, Shepard." Zakman stated.

"We are in the process of tracking those four down; I'm heading back to Earth now to do just that. And we have Shepard; he just doesn't know it yet. You can probably expect a progress report from your Informant soon." Damien said before stepping past Balak and Zakman.

"Oh, and beg your pardon General." Damien said without turning, and he saluted lazily as he left.

"You should have had that disrespectful runt killed sir." Balak said.

"In due time Balak, in due time. He has gotten us the majority of Shepard's crew and Admiral Hackett though, I'll give him that. But still, I don't like this. We were told about those other ones, what were their names? Ah yes, Tyrone, Marcus, and Rico. I don't like that this Damien was brought it without my knowing about it."

"Would you have me take action sir?" Balak asked.

"Not quite. I want you to take a small group of men to Earth. Find Shepard, find his remaining shipmates, and find the Informant."

"Yes sir."

Balak's anger subsided, replaced by cruel and vengeful anticipation.


"Hey beautiful, you come here often?"

Oh for fuck sake.

Miranda thought this as the presumably drunken, perverted looking man swaggered his way up to her. Garrus, Legion, Joker and herself had hopped on a shuttle into the Lower city and gotten lost in the crowd in this outdoor market. She was really regretting it now.

"Not much of a talker, that's good, I don't like mouthy women." The drunk hiccupped.

You better hurry up in there Garrus.

"Mmmm. Listen, why don't I show you my…." The drunk tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground.

Miranda let out a steady breath, the drunk's own poor constitution had saved him from a world of hurt. He slept on the ground for about five minutes, with hundreds of passerby who were probably accustomed to such things stepping over him like he were garbage until a security guard came and dragged him off and out of sight.

"Alright, were down." Garrus said, stepping out of the shop he had been in.

"You three were in there for fifteen minutes, what took so long?" Miranda asked.

"Do you know how hard it is to dress a him? His figure isn't exactly meant for these clothes." Joker said as he stepped out with a hooded figure.

This hooded figure wore a loose jacket and sweater, baggy construction pants, size sixteen construction boots, and gloves tucked into the sleeves. Two fingers on each glove hung loosely.

"This platform was not meant to be disguised this way." Legion stated.

"Come on Legion, I think it is a good look for you. You could start a new fashion trend with the geth." Joker stated.

"Geth do not have fashion trends. Geth do not wear clothes." Legion sounded about as annoyed as a machine can be.

"You need to be disguised Legion. Having a geth with us will make us stand out too much. We need to stay incognito." Miranda said.

"Speaking of stating incognito, is there anyway you can reduce you're, um…" Garrus asked and gestured to his own face.

Legion seemed to get the hint. The light from his 'head' dimmed considerably, to the point that it barely illuminated the inside of the hood.

"That's better, but you should still try to avoid notice. We all should." Miranda said.

"It looks like we aren't doing a very good job right now." Garrus said.

Miranda gave him a quizzical look. He gestured with a subtle head nod to a dark corner, perhaps three shops down from them. In those shadows leaned a tall, heavily built man. He was obscured by all the passerby, but Garrus's keen eye picked him out. He was staring at them, studying them.

Miranda felt stupid and it infuriated her. She hadn't even noticed him. How long was he there?

"Come on, we need to move." Miranda said quietly.

The four of them, slowed down considerably because of Joker, left to go farther into the marketplace. They felt the curious stares of the crowds of people, but none of them seemed to care enough to pursue it. To Garrus's relief, he was not the only non-human aside from Legion in the area. He counted at least two salarians, a turian, and three asari. The Reds presence seemed to be minimal here, because these aliens were conversing with humans and buying goods like it were the Citadel. He imagined that Shepard's assault on the Reds base had contributed to this.

"Miranda, he is still following us." Garrus said.

"I know." Miranda said without turning.

Miranda led them out of the marketplace and onto the main street. From there they slipped into a dark, dirty looking alleyway.

"Joker go hide around the corner!" Miranda ordered the pilot.

"Jeez, make me sound even more insignificant will you." Joker said sarcastically as he left.

"Legion, behind there." Miranda pointed to a large waste disposal bin.

"Acknowledged."

"Garrus, in here." She showed him the space in the wall where a door was."

"Where are you going?" Garrus asked as he got into position.

"I'm going to wait until our stalker comes out and lead him here." Miranda said as she walked out of the alley.

She walked around the front of some houses and shops, trying not to look too suspicious and keeping an eye out for the man who was spying on them. It had been about fifteen minutes and he still hadn't showed up. Had they lost him?

Miranda felt a hot breath on her neck, blowing a stand of her hair over. Then she felt something hard press into her back.

"Turn around, do it like you know me." A man's voice told here.

Miranda forced herself to turnaround casually, the pistol's barrel now facing her abdomen. The man was definitely tall, definitely muscular, had a low buzz cut hairdo, and his face had a scar running from the top of his right eyebrow crossing down his eyelid, the bridge of his nose, and ending at his jaw. Another scar running sideways on his neck splintered into three branches in the middle. His skin was a motley grayish white. His eyes stood out the most, the irises being a dull gray and both eyes being incredibly bloodshot, despite him not looking tired.

"You are Miranda Lawson, yes?"

"My name is Miranda. Can I ask who you are?"

The man holstered his pistol, much to Miranda's surprise.

"Private Jerrod Kilik. Alliance Navy Commando."

"You are with the Alliance?"

Private Kilik activated his omni tool and an Alliance dossier with his name and picture appeared.

"I am. I've been looking for you, all of you." Private Kilik gestured to the alley way where Garrus, Joker, and Legion awaited.

"If you are with the Alliance, then you know what happened at the outpost?" Miranda asked hopefully.

Kilik merely nodded.

"Then you can get help us! You can get Commander Shepard out of prison."

Kilik shook his head, no.

"That's why I was trying to find you four. I need your help."

"What? Why?"

"When the brass sent me my unit to investigate the outpost, I found a recoverable video feed detailing the majority of the attack. I presented it to my CO and he confiscated it from me. Later, I found the same recording with the rest of the evidence wiped clean. The Alliance has a mole among them."

"How can you be sure of that? What purpose would that serve?"

"Admiral Hackett was captured in the attack as well. It is no secret that Hackett worked extensively with Shepard while he hunted for Saren. The majority of Shepard's team was captured as well, and Shepard has just essentially destroyed a batarian system. Since that event transpired, five outposts in Alliance space have been attacked by batarian extremists."

"You think someone on the inside is aiding the extremists?"

"All five of those off world outposts had early warning satellites that would've alerted them to the batarians. Each of those respective satellites was found disabled with an Alliance kill code. Someone is aiding these fanatics from the Alliance, and I think Shepard and Hackett are primary targets right now. Hackett because he holds such a high rank in the Alliance, and Shepard for the obvious."

"But Shepard is in prison, how can he be a target, unless…."

"He was moved there intentionally. Shepard isn't safe and we need to get him out. I can't turn to the Alliance for this without risking tipping off whoever the mole is. Technically speaking, I'm a deserter right now for leaving and coming to find you."

"Why do you care so much?" Miranda asked suspiciously.

"Why should I not? I have a duty to the Alliance and to Earth, I've seen first hand what these fanatics can do, and I know Shepard is a target but also crucial to stopping them and getting your people back. I did some digging and found out that the one who lead the attacks on those other five outposts was the wanted terrorist, Balak."

"The batarian that tried to crash an asteroid into a colony that Shepard thwarted?"

"The very same. If he is involved, then Shepard will be invaluable in taking him down. It will also likely get him some leeway at that trial."

Miranda had almost forgotten about Shepard's trial with all that had happened. The memory of it put a damper on the already piss poor situation.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Private Kilik said, with real concern by the sound of it.

"Don't be sorry, it is unavoidable really. But if we are going to come up with a plan, we should really be having this conversation with the others." Miranda gestured to the alley where the others awaited.

"Maybe you should go first, I got a feeling it would be a bad first impression if I had to beat them up because they tried to jump me." Private Kilik chuckled.

Miranda, despite herself, shared the brief laugh.


Prisoner # 3447 John Shepard

This is what was written on the back of Shepard's prisoner uniform. His armor and weapons had been confiscated and placed 'evidence', which meant that the guards kept it for themselves. He was sure that he saw the cafeteria guard carrying his phalanx. He had been here for just over a day, but it felt like an eternity. He had been placed in solitary confinement. For this prison, that was something to be said. This was prison X-12, the most secure maximum security prison in the country. Some of the most dangerous criminals the Alliance has caught were incarcerated here. And he was labeled among the worst of them.

He felt lonely. That was to be expected in solitary confinement, sure enough, but he had grown accustomed to having people around him to some capacity. He missed Kelly reminding that he had a new message, the banter of crewman Hadley, Joker's wit and EDI's insight. He wanted to walk back into the armory to see Jacob meticulously organizing all their weapons, finding Mordin hard at work on something in the science lab, Garrus never being satisfied with the calibrations of the thanix cannon, Miranda sitting in her office…

How she would be typing on her terminal, reading silently and typing without a focused expression. The way she would cock her eyes, even the few times she wore her combat visor over them, at him as if she had not noticed him, though he knew that she would have heard the door begin to slide open immediately. That smile, the thin but expressive smile that would form across her full lips as she leaned slightly and crossed her arms on the desk. And that voice….

"Commander, what can I do for you?"

She would ask this, still referring to him as Commander even in the privacy of her room. Her formality, it wasn't a tease, it was her personality. It was her desire for organization, and her respect of his position. What it was not was her cold, Cerberus leader persona that she had kept up for so long. Dammit he missed her.

The darkness of Shepard's cell increased ten fold. He missed her, missed all of them, missed society.

Damn, I've been in here for not even two days and I'm already going nuts! Shepard thought to himself.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't been without some form of companionship since before he joined with the Reds. Even when first joining the Alliance he had the other cadets, such as Toombs. When he was living at the orphanage, the woman in charge was drunk off her rocker most of the time. The other orphans, well there weren't many, perhaps seven. He avoided all of them. Meeting Alexander in that alley gave him a life full of friendship and, happiness? Friends like Tyrone and Marcus, Rico and Damien. Friends that he had now watched die, who were now harming those he loved. And happiness was he really happy then? Did the stealing, cheating, extorting, drugs, women, money, and killing make him happy? Did leading his men make him happy, having those criminals look up to him as their leader, their protector, their trustworthy friend?

What parts of the walls Shepard could make out in the darkness seemed to close in on him. His breathing became more agitated, his fists clenched tightly and he ground his teeth. He now knew why he was drawn to people. Without others, he was forced to look at himself, and he didn't like what he saw.


Damien dragged the body of the guard into the storage room and locked it. He adjusted the belt to keep his pants up; this guard had about thirty more pounds of gut than him. He proceeded through the prison, passing by unsuspecting prisoners and guards alike.

"We're still on for drinks after our shift Watson?" Another guard asked from the catwalk overseeing the gym. Damien waved his hand in reply and kept moving.

He reached the elevator to the lower levels and pushed the button for the solitary confinement level. It was two floors down. It took about thirty seconds to travel between floors. One minute. Damien got really annoyed on the inside when the elevator stopped on one floor and another guard stepped in.

"Hey Watson, do you think you can take my shift tonight? It's my daughter's sweet sixteen and…. wait who are you?"

Damien, without turning to him, kicked the guard in the side of his knee, collapsing his leg. As the guard went to his knees, Damien pulled his head back and delivered a crushing blow to his windpipe. The man gurgled for a second before dying.

"I'll need to store this one somewhere when the elevator stops." Damien said as he tapped his foot for the last ten seconds.

The sign read solitary confinement and the elevator door opened. A guard reading a data pad waited on the other side. Before he could look up, Damien punched him to the ground. He then kicked him in his ribs to put him on his back. To finish him off, Damien raised his leg and stomped on his head. The guard's entire body jerked from the impact.

"I'll need to hide this one as well."

Damien noticed a large waste bin nearby, probably the waste bin for the entire floor. He dumped both bodies into it and activated the terminal for this floor. He used it to look through the inmates put in solitary confinement.

Prisoner # 512 Mathew Smith

Height: 5'8

Weight: 176 lbs

Crime: convicted of 232 counts of rape of women, children, and men.

Prisoner # 795 Charles Smith

Height: 5'11

Weight: 156 lbs

Crime: convicted of stealing 32 millions credits from three different firms

Prisoner # 3447 John Shepard

Height: 6'3

Weight: 210 lbs

Crime: convicted of arson and murder. Current number of victims unknown, awaiting further evidence. Scheduled for a trial in the case of [Information Withheld.]

Damien lingered on that one for awhile longer. He was still surprised that Shepard was caught. Of course, after that was what was planned to happen after detonating the bombs at Alexander's estate, but he still figured Shepard would've fought his way out.

"You've lost your touch John." Damien said to himself.

He scrolled through eight more listed prisoners before he found the one he was looking for.

Prisoner #2187 Sean Macarthur

The screen read that Sean was held in cell G8. Damien walked past plenty of other cells where snarls, ramblings, and curses of twisted and violent men. He yawned; he hadn't been getting much sleep. He finally came to cell G8 and opened it up. To his admitted surprise, steel bars were in place. These cells seemed to be older than the others, unless the warden felt that metal bars worked more to sap the will of the prisoners than colorful kinetic barriers. Damien stepped close to the bars and peered into the darkness. He saw nothing.

"Macarthur." Damien said.

Silence.

"Answer me Macarthur."

"Go away pig, I don't have anything to say to you." A deep, almost growling voice replied through the darkness of the cell.

"I think of myself as more of a shark, you overgrown bear." Damien replied.

No words came back initially, but Damien picked up the intensified breathing of something and the creaking of a bed.

"Damien?"

"Sean." Damien replied flatly.

The creaking sound increased when Damien noticed something move in the darkness. It got closer and grew bigger with each step. It resembled a good sized man giving another a piggy back ride. Damien found himself looking up into the face of Sean Macarthur. What skin was visible beneath the tattoos was deathly pale from the lack of sunlight. His hair looked like it always had, shaved at the sides with a row of it running from the front to the back of his neck.

"You look, well, Sean. I see those genetic enhancements stuck rather well. What were you before them? 7'4, 356 lbs?" Damien asked nonchalantly.

"350 lbs, thank you." Sean replied.

Sean had always been a freak of nature. He wasn't even afflicted with gigantism, he just grew to 7'4 naturally. The bulk was a combination of that same genetic blessing and a diet of a lot of food. He also hit the gym every now and then before as well. Damien remembered when they had got their hands on some Alliance contraband and Sean had had the genetic enhancements performed on him. A licensed doctor hadn't performed the operation of course, so some side effects occurred. Namely, growing five inches and putting on around fifty pounds of raw muscle.

"I really hope you aren't a guard here now Damien, you aren't suited for the job."

"Tell me about it. I'm not looking for a job; I was looking for you Sean."

"Really? Where were you looking, because I haven't been anywhere else but here for seven years!" Sean said in an surprise burst of anger.

"I see all that time to yourself hasn't done anything for your temper."

"What the hell do you want?" Sean asked.

"I've got an offer you can't refuse."

"I can't refuse it eh? This isn't like old times when you gave orders only when you were allowed to Damien."

Damien let his fury slip through when he let his eye twitch at that comment.

"I've got an offer that you won't want to refuse then."

"Really?"

Sean's arm went through the space in the bars faster than would be expected of someone his size. His huge hand wrapped around Damien's throat, and Damien was subsequently lifted into the air, face to face with Sean.

"Really." Damien said calmly, despite Sean's tightening grip.

"Why would I trust you?" Sean asked.

"I don't know, why would you?" Damien replied smugly.

Sean growled and tightened his grip more. Damien stared directly into his eyes, his tattooed face looking even more fearsome because of the ink.

"But trust me when I tell you this. John is here."

Sean's eyes widened as questioning amazement washed over him.

"What?" He asked.

"Why don't I tell you everything at ground level?" Damien asked.

Sean lowered Damien to the ground and released him, kneeling down himself.

"Now pay attention, you've missed a lot."


Miranda turned over another pile of charred walling to search beneath it.

"Nothing. You find anything Garrus?"

Garrus stood up from where the pool of the estate likely once was.

"Nope." He replied.

The two of them along with Legion, Joker, and Private Kilik had come to this blown up wreck of an estate to look for evidence of a lead that Kilik wanted to pursue. Joker insisted upon flying the hovercraft, and was docked several yards away. The other four had come here to search the rumble.

"This is the place for which Shepard was arrested under the suspicion of arson and murder. If my hunch is correct, he was framed." Kilik told them.

"And if your hunch is wrong?" Garrus asked.

"It hasn't been yet." Kilik replied with a slight smile.

Garrus chuckled at this. He was initially weary of this man, but he seemed to be genuine. He was informed and had drive. He reminded Garrus of Shepard, oddly enough.

"Kilik Private, we have located something of interest." Legion said from the bottom of a crater.

Kilik, Miranda, and Garrus slid down into the crater to find Legion holding a large piece of dented, burnt metal.

"This is exactly what we were looking for Legion." Kilik said, taking the metal.

"Can you elaborate?" The synthetic asked.

"Those attacks on the other bases, they all had remains of the same munitions, this one. This was used primarily by the batarian military before they left the Citadel." Kilik explained.

"So these fanatics are backed by the military?" Garrus asked.

"Just a splinter group of the military more likely." Miranda answered.

"I think you are right Miranda. This proves that whoever has been attacking the Alliance off world also attacked here…."

"Alert! We have intercepted communications from an approaching drop ship. Recommend battle preparations." Legion said.

"Up top, now!" Kilik ordered.

The four of them reached the top of the crater to see the drop ship land. It was the same one present at the attack on the outpost when everyone was captured. Stepping off of it was ten batarian's.

"Kill all of them!" Balak shouted as he drew his rifle.

Cover was very scarce for the group of four. To try and get out of the crater now was suicide. The batarians used the destroyed remains of walls and beams to hide behind as they advanced on the crater. Bullets slammed into the dirt rim of the crater, forcing the four defenders down.

"I don't know how we'll get out of this one." Garrus said.

"Well we can't make a run for it, they got us surrounded." Miranda added.

"Legion, can you boost your shield over all of us?" Kilik asked Legion.

"Yes, but a distributed shield will not last long under this much fire." Legion replied.

"Just do it, I got an idea."

One of the batarian attackers approached the rim of the crater. He peered around to see six of his comrades doing the same. They all peered over to see the four defenders with shields. As they shot down into the crater, a small object was thrown into the air by the male human. The batarian followed it with his gaze until it exploded into a blinding light. He brought his hand to his eyes and could continue to hear the gunshots. He felt stupid, his comrades hadn't looked as he had and were not blinded and continued to fire at the defenders, no doubt killing them. When his vision finally cleared, he opened his eyes to stare down the barrel of the pistol of the human who threw the flashbang.

Kilik shot the batarian in the face and purple blood splattered onto him a little. The six others who had also surrounded the crater were also dead, because they had indeed been blinded. Garrus and Legion flushed two more out of cover and cut them down.

"That's nine, where is the tenth one?" Miranda asked.

She didn't notice the batarian coming out of cover behind here. Kilik sprinted with all his energy and reached Miranda, placing himself between her and the attacker. Two shots hit him, one in the shoulder, one in the ribs, before he was able to shoot the attacker in the shoulder, disarming him. Kilik shot again, this time in his leg. He approached the kneeling batarian and placed his pistol to his head.

"Get it over with human." Balak spat to Kilik.

Kilik shot Balak in the head. Balak's lifeless body slumped, but still remained in the kneeling position that it was in.

"You've been hit Kilik!" Miranda exclaimed worriedly.

"I'm fine, really."

"Like hell you are your bleeding." Miranda placed her hand over his wound.

Kilik used his omni tool to apply some medi gel.

"There, all better."

"But.." Miranda began.

"Call your pilot. We've got things to do." Kilik cut in sharply.

Miranda wanted to protest more, but something in Kilik's eyes told her that he wasn't about to drop everything over a gunshot wound. It was something Shepard would do.

"Thank, Private Kilik." Miranda said quietly.

"Your welcome." Kilik replied.

Miranda really didn't expect him to hear her. She left to join Garrus and Legion as she called Joker for a pickup. Kilik remained behind a little bit longer. He stared at the lifeless body of Balak, blood pouring from the head and down the torso to the ground.

"It looks like we owe your people ten more lives now."