About six hours later, Elizabeth and I are sitting on my bed in the Ardat, reading over different files on datapads.

Well, that's what she's doing. I'm cycling through the vision types in my new cybernetic eye. So far, there's X-ray, thermal, night, echolocation, biotic presence and a medical scanner.

Something is on my mind, however, and I need to talk to Elizabeth. Setting my blank datapad aside, I turn to the raven-haired woman and tap her shoulder. "Hey. We should talk."

She sighs and puts her pad down, turning to face me. "What do you want to talk about?"

I point at my eye. "I met the twins today. They're the ones who gave this."

Elizabeth slumps over, the steel in her spine fading as she pinches the bridge of her nose with a groan. "I knew those two would show up at some point. I just didn't think it would be so soon."

She sighs, looking like she'd rather keel over and fall asleep. "Listen, Saul…there are some things that you need to know about me. I'm-"

"I know who you are." I cut across her revelation with one of my own. Her eyes leap up to meet mine, shock clear and present in those sapphire orbs. "I know what you are."

"…How?" She asks, her voice low and quiet.

I stare at her, trying to produce an aura of seriousness. "I'm not exactly what you could call a 'native' to this dimension."

Elizabeth's eye widen in surprise. "Don't say anything," I say, holding up a hand to forestall her questions. "Just listen to what I have to say."

"I was walking home from a trip in Seattle, a city on Earth. It was late because I missed a bus, and I caught the very last ferry home. It was dark, middle of the night, a new moon. I heard struggling and muffled yelling. When I investigated, I found a man fighting with a woman, trying to take her purse. She tried to fight back, but the gun he had wasn't helping. I decided to be a hero, to save the day and the damsel in distress. So I charged the guy, tackled him to the ground, and pushed the woman away. I didn't expect him to be stronger than me, and he overpowered me pretty easily. I was left on the ground, and he was standing above me, with his gun pointed at my head. And then he shot me. Point blank, in the center of my forehead."

I reach up and tap the spot, dead center of my forehead. "I saw a flash of light. I heard a clap of thunder. I felt a sting of pain…and then nothing."

Her eyes are wide in shock and horror. "And then I woke up. No hole in my head, with my brain still in my skull and not splattered in dirty alley in Seattle, in cage. On a slave shuttle, headed to Nasurn, a Salarian colony. Around me, in cages, were blue women. Asari."

"At first, I thought I was in heaven or hell. Instead, I found someone familiar. Not as in someone I knew before Seattle, but I'd seen her face before. In a videogame that I played a lot, that doesn't exist here. It was called Mass Effect. It took a few minutes, but I realized that I was in the video game. Except it wasn't a game any more, it's real."

I take a deep breath. "When you first approached me on the Citadel, I thought I was hallucinating. And then I heard your voice and your name, and I knew who you are. I'd seen you before. In a videogame…Anna."

Elizabeth draws a sharp breath, gasping in surprise. "You know who I am?" She asks shakily. I nod. "What I've done?" I nod again. "What's your real name?"

I shrug. "Saul Dewitt. It's more my real name than what I was born with, and I didn't even choose it. A friend helped me set up, and chose that name for me, and it fit. It might as well be my real name."

Elizabeth lowered her head, her hair draping over her face like raven curtain. "How can you even stand to be with me?" She whispers, her shoulders trembling. "You know what I've done. Who I've killed. How can you be looking at me with those eyes and not see a monster?"

I see a tear drip from her cheek and fall to the ground. I can hear the quiet impact it makes on the metal floor. I reach out and touch her shoulder gently. She flinches, but doesn't jerk away, so I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her close until she's nestled in the crook of my shoulder, her head resting against the side of my neck.

"Things happen, Elizabeth." I murmur quietly, feeling a patch of wetness grow on my shirt. "It's up to us to decide to move past them and grow from the experience or let them fester and rot away at who we are."

Hopefully, the way I've taken her own words and mixed them will penetrate through the shroud guilt and into her mind.

Quietly, in a whisper, Elizabeth speaks. "I killed him. Even when I had just found out he was my father, I still drowned him. I thought that if I ended the problem before it began, I would vanish as well. But I didn't. Killing him only stopped a few of the realities from existing, but not any of the others. After awhile, I figured it was my duty to finish what I started and stop the city from rising…for years, I tried to interfere, and stop him from gaining power…and sometimes, I succeeded…in others…not so much."

I know she's thinking of time she interfered and ended with a child being killed and breaking a man's mind so bad he reverted to who he had been. "Even after finding that man again, going by his name, I still let him die right in front of me. I saw that drill-wielding monster coming from behind him, and I just watched. He desperately wanted to repent for crimes he couldn't even remember committing, and I took that away just for revenge against someone with his face. Not his name or his actions, just his face."

Elizabeth grows still, her hands clutching at my shirt tightly. "I thought that, once I saved her, and finished my job, I'd finally die and be allowed to see him again…and then I woke up, with the twins standing over me, explaining with that smug air that quantic-invincibility is not something you can just give up at the drop of a hat. I was still trapped."

She falls silent, unable of unwilling to speak any longer. I need to say something. "And, despite that, you still continued. You kept going, kept saving people who otherwise wouldn't have been saved."

I push her up until we're face to face. Her hair still blocks her face, so I brush it aside and look into her deep blue eyes, red-rimmed and puffy from crying. "A man chooses, Elizabeth, and a slave obeys. You chose to continue, to save others, when others would have simply hid away from everything. You aren't a slave to your condition, Elizabeth. You might not be able to die, but you are still alive."

As we stare at each, I see fresh tears well up in her eyes and track down her cheeks. "It's so hard to look at you," She whispers. "You look so much like him…you even sound like him…it hurts so much. When I saw you lying on the floor of that ship, still as a corpse…I thought you were dead…and it hurts."

I move my hands up from their position on her shoulders to cup her cheeks, wiping away a few tears with my thumbs. "Before you forgive anyone, Elizabeth…you have to forgive yourself."

She rushes forward, her arms wrapping around me and clutching me to her as she sobs into my shoulder. "I'm so sorry…I'm so sorry!"

The first apology is for me…but the other is for another man, one that I look like, one that I share a last name with…one that she killed.

It seems to be hours until Elizabeth finally stops crying. She's still, breathing deep and heavy, sleeping. I lay back on the bed, holding her to my chest as I rest my head on the pillows and let sleep carry me away. No one should be alone at time like this. She won't be.

…

…

A week and a half later, there's been barely anything on the pirates. They seem to have gone to ground after the somewhat failed trap, though it wasn't for the lack of searching.

So, while we wait for some kind of information, Elizabeth and I have been simply waiting around on the SSV Ferris, meeting with the people aboard and learning more about them.

I'm still kind of disappointed Joker isn't around yet, but neither is the Normandy. As far as I remember, it's still being built and won't be put into operation for another couple of months.

While we've been waiting for something to pop up with the pirates, I've taken advantage of the gym aboard the Ferris to get an actual work out. With the lack of space and equipment, I've only been able to do simple things like stretches and push-ups, and with the full battery of gym machines on board the ship, I'm finally able to do some actual work.

I ran on the treadmill for a couple of hours before deciding that my stamina hadn't changed and was still long as ever, and moved onto weights. I have a bit of an audience, but I try to ignore them as I bench nearly five hundred pounds for about an hour. Then I move onto the pull-bars and get to work on those. After awhile, I think I'll take a break, so I hook my legs on the bar and let myself hang upside down.

While I'm hanging, I start to think. After our little confession session, Elizabeth had opened up a little more, actually smiling more than once. Whereas before she was cold and aloof, she's warmed up considerably. It's nice, I have to admit.

My thoughts are interrupted by a pair of well-shaped and muscled legs clad in work-out shorts. Looking up as best as I can, I see the tightly-packed abdominals of a six-pack, along with a pair of breasts constrained by a sports-bra and cobalt blue hair in a short ponytail. A pair of fierce, yellow-orange eyes peer down at me with raised eyebrow. "What are you doing?" Shepard asks, crossing her arms and tapping one foot.

"Oh you know…just hangin' around." Come on, how could I not answer like that? She left it wide open.

Shepard scoffs and moves to the bench-press, setting the weight to around four hundred pounds and begins lifting the bar with small grunts of effort.

As I hang, watching Shepard work, I start to whistle a small tune, trying to see how long I can go before the blood rushing to my head gets unbearable.

Shepard's been avoiding me since I've been on the Ferris, and it's starting to get on my nerves. Not only because I'm an awesome person and she should definitely know me, but if we don't have some kind of rapport, how the hell can I get her to invite me onto the Normandy? There's only so much I can do on the sidelines; I need to be on the Normandy. I've tried so hard and gotten so far, it can't be for nothing. And as loathe as I am to manipulate people, it's something I gotta do.

"So, Shepard." I need to find out what her name is at some point. "Why do you dislike me?"

Her hawk-like eyes glance at me before looking away. "I don't dislike you." Bullshit. "What I dislike is having to rely on a mercenary for help."

My narrow at her. The tone behind 'mercenary' makes it sound like an insult. Considering that most mercenaries are bastards, note I said 'most', that is an insult.

I release the bar and flip, landing on my feet. Shepard looks at me as I walk around the bench to stop by her head. As she goes to push the barbell back up, I quickly reach out and lean on it, pressing the weight back down.

"Let me make this perfectly clear, Shepard." The tone in my voice is stoic. "I'm not a mercenary. I'm a Private Investigator. I investigate things. I solve problems. Privately. Yes, I do it for money, but I am not a mercenary."

I know how Shepard is. She's tough, with no bullshit attitude that irritates me something fierce. A show of strength is the only way I'll get her to listen to me. "If anything, I'm a cop. Technically, I worked for C-Sec until I was blacklisted after refusing an order from the Chief Executor and saving maybe thirty hostages as a result. When the Executor screamed at me for ignoring his orders, I told him to kiss my ass, and it basically cost me my job."

I let the bar up, and Shepard hooks it back on the stand. She stands up and faces me, her eyes hard. "Why would you do that?" She asks, her voice as hard as her eyes.

I hold up two fingers on my hand. "There's a saying I've lived my life by as a child, Shepard. There's two ways to do it, one," I drop a finger. "The easy way, or two," I lift the second back up. "Or the right way. Rarely do those two intersect."

"Whatever the reason for this tension between us, Shepard, we need to fix it if we're ever going to work together in any sort of fashion." I jack my thumb over my shoulder to the sparring mat. "So, are you gonna spar with me, or are you too much of a bitch?"

The fire that lights in Shepard's eyes is just what I'm looking for. "Let's go." She growls, stalking over to the mat. I follow behind her, crouching slightly and waving my arms up and down, snapping my fingers.

A crowd gathers as Shepard stands on the far edge of the mat, facing me with a look of anger on her face. Good, that's exactly the reaction I wanted.

I drop down into a very crappy imitation of a kung fu stance, leaving as many openings as possible. "Come on, girly, you just gonna stand there or are you gonna fight?"

She rushes forward, her fist out in an obvious punch, any sort of style thrown out the window with my taunts. I hop forward and step aside, relaxing out of my stance. I reach forward, my hand landing on top of her fist. With a quick push down and quick trip, Shepard, flips over and lands on her back. Very casually, I stick my elbow out and drop down, driving the point under her ribs and pushing the air out of her lungs and roll away.

She jumps back to her feet, anger and humiliation bringing a red sheen to her cheeks. "Your Angry Panther style is no match for my…Flying Crane style!" I shout dramatically, lifting one knee into the air and spreading my arms out, making a 'waaaaaah!' sound.

Shepard growls, diving forward, intent on breaking at least a few of my bones with a punch, but she's far from stupid. She stops her punch a few feet away and transfers her momentum into a kick, but I see it coming. I jump forward, with my hands landing on her shoulders and my feet on her leg, and I push up, flipping over her shoulder and pushing her leg to the ground.

As she gets back up, I drop into a bastardized Tae Kwon Do stance, with an open hand facing her. I twitch my fingers up in 'come here' motion with a smirk, and she obliges.

Anger blinds her mind, and I can easily avoid her strikes, smirking all the while. Shepard puts too much weight behind a punch and I spin around it, landing a loud slap on her left butt-cheek as I go.

"Come on, stop trying to hit me and hit me!" I've always wanted to use that line. Unfortunately, I could never use it Tela; she'd actually hit me.

Shepard spins around and kicks; I lean to the left and dodge, leaning to the right to dodge a punch and bending backwards to avoid a roundhouse kick.

When she comes out of the attack, I move forward and honk her nose. I lift my arm and stop a wild punch before it can and use my leverage to push her off balance, taking advantage of that to pinch both of her cheeks. I jump forward until we're nose to nose, too close for her hit with her arms extended out and push my chest against hers a couple of times, making her stumble. "Come one bro, do it! Do it bro, come on!" I taunt in a bro-tastic voice.

Shepard regains her footing and shoves me back, a snarl on her face. "Stay still!" She growls, fist cocked back.

"Okay." I reply, dropping my stance and doing nothing to stop her.

The first punch cracks across my left cheek and turns my head to the right. The second lands on my stomach; luckily, I'd clenched my abs in defense of such a move. She leans back and lashes out, her foot landing on my sternum and pushing me back a couple of steps.

I'm lucky I don't feel pain. Otherwise…I'm sure I'd be out cold on the ground.

She steps back lashes out with a drop kick aimed towards my family jewels. I may not be able to feel it, but I'm not about to let her kick me in the balls.

Right before her foot lands, I close my legs and trap her foot. "Wait a tic!" I say loudly, as if I just realized something, "You didn't say please!"

I kick out and land my foot on her stomach, pushing her back and off balance. Hopping forward, I bring my hands back as if I'm cupping a large ball and thrust forward, announcing, "Lashing Tiger Strike!" In an exaggerated Asian accent.

Both palms of my hands land on her sternum and throw her back on the mat. I won't lie, I used my biotics to increase the force of that one.

As Shepard scrambles back to her feet, a stern voice sounds out over the din of the audience. "What the hell is going on here?"

The crowd parts as Anderson comes up, a stern look on his normally friendly face. He looks to Shepard first, who pushed herself up to her knee and was facing the floor with her hair hiding her face. He then looks to me, brown eyes boring into my mind. He cocks an eyebrow in question, with a subtle aura of danger if I don't answer to his satisfaction.

I stare back, trying to communicate my intent through my gaze and small gestures to Shepard. 'I'm trying to help her' I mouth to him, pointing at the kneeling woman and making a mock-angry gesture.

Anderson stares at me as if judging me. After a few seconds, he nods and turns to the crowd. "Showtime's over, everyone get back to work! Kaidan, set course for the Artemis Tau cluster when you relieve Wilkinson."

He glances back and nods slightly, before leaving with the others, leaving Shepard and myself alone in the empty gym.

Silence reigns for a couple of minutes, until I break it with a question. "I'm not the one you're really mad at, am I?"

Shepard sighs quietly. "No. No, I'm not angry with you." She says in low tone.

And once again, silence. "Who are you angry with?"

The cobalt blue hair bobs a little as she tilts her head, one yellow eye peering out at me from the curtain in front of her face. "At lot of things." She says at long last. "My mother. The crew. Our progress in tracking down those pirates…and myself." Shepard breathes heavily. "I've tried so hard…I've trained for years…completed my training in half the time it normally takes…been called a prodigy…and yet, I can't catch a gang of two-bit pirates!"

Her voice escalates until it's a scream of anger. "Why?" I ask as the echoes of her voice die out.

"Why what?" She replies quietly, her tone hoarse and trembling.

"Why are you so angry?"

Shepard clenches her fists and the muscles in her shoulders tense. "My parents were in the Navy. My mom still is, as a Rear Admiral. My dad…died, when I was five, because his captain revolted against command and became a pirate, killing everyone who disagreed with him in the process…including my dad."

She seems to be restraining herself from pounding the floor. "When I found out, I swore to kill every pirate I could find for my dad, in his memory…and we can't catch any of them!"

I sigh and rub the bridge of my nose. This is not something I foresaw coming. There's a lot more to Shepard as a person than as a player-character. "Shepard, you need to focus." She looks up with rage burning in her eyes, but I cut off anything she could say. "That's what I'm talking about!" I say, pointing at her. "This whole thing, the taunts, the fake kung fu…it would have never worked on you had you been calm and focused. Instead, I used fake B-movie Kung Fu and you only hit me when I let you!"

Her face bows again. "I know, personally, Shepard, that it's hard to get over a parent's death! But you need to focus. I'm not saying forget your father or the determination you hold because of his death, but you need to channel that anger into focus and will, but don't let it command you! Command it!"

By this time, my voice is much louder than I mean it to be, but something about this speaks to me. I've experienced something similar before, and it nearly killed me.

"You are strong, Shepard! Smart and strong and fast! But anyone could make a fool out of you if they know what buttons to push, and that is not okay." Shepard slumps over, her body language screaming sorrow. "You need time to think, Shepard. Nothing comes easy, and this sure-as-shit won't be fun either. But you need this. Or you'll die, Shepard. And even if my only experience with you is you being rude and trying to break my nose and possibly my testicles, I still know that you're a good person. You deserve to move past this. I know you can."

I turn to leave, but Shepard's voice calls me to stop. "Wait!" She calls, her voice no longer trembling or angry. I spin back to face her, only to be struck by surprise.

"What are you doing?" I ask incredulously.

Shepard has her forehead touching the ground, her arms out over her head on the sparring mat. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me for my indiscretion."

What the unholy hell is this?! "Uh…okay? I forgive…you. Now seriously, stop bowing to me."

I can almost feel the humor radiating off of her. "Seriously, Shepard, stop. This is getting weird."

Shepard sits back up, a small smile on her lips. "Well, how else am I supposed to apologize?"

I shrug helplessly. "Hugs are nice, I guess. Just not bowing!"

She stands and approaches me with her arms wide for a hug. I move forward and wrap my arms around shoulders. All too late, I realize that this was a mistake. Tricky woman.

Breath comes rushing out of my mouth as my lungs are flattened by her grip. "That's for calling me a bitch." She whispers in my ear.

"Sorry…can't…breathe…Shepard…"

She let's got, a small but genuine smile on her face. "My name is Zaira. I don't mind if you call me that."

I smile back at her. "Then you can call me Saul."

"Alright, Saul. It's nice to meet you." We shake hands, and then she waves me away. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to think over some things."

I leave with wave, heading towards the elevator with a small spring in my step. We're not friends or best buddies, but it's definitely a start. And that's all I really need.

As the elevator door slides open, I find that the lift is not empty. Leaning against the rail is Anderson. He's smiling a bit, looking somewhat impressed. "You did all of that on purpose, didn't you?"

As the door closes, I shrug. "What, you mean the taunting or the stupid fighting? Because yeah, pretty much."

He nods genially. "I've been trying to figure out how to help her out with her anger issues, but you did good. I'm glad you were able to get through to her."

I shrug. "All in a day's work."

Silence falls, broken only by the grind of gears lifting the elevator. "I meant everything I said."

"I know."

The door slides open, allowing us into the CIC. Kaidan's black hair is peaking over the Pilot's chair, and the windows are blurred by the FTL speeds the ship is traveling at. "Where are we going?" I ask.

Anderson grins. It's not a nice grin. "We've gotten an alarm about an attack in the Artemis Tau cluster…by pirates. The insignia on the ship matches that of Captain Carlo's fleet."

"I'm going to get my ship ready!" I shout back to Anderson, as I'm already nearing the airlock.

Next stop, pirate-shooting-time!

…

…

A/N: This chapter dealt with a lot of heavy stuff, but I think it went well.

This wasn't bashing of Shepard, only me trying to show that Shepard is human, and therefore has faults, has dreams and makes mistakes. Saul, with the whole act, was hiding the subtle manipulations he subjected Shepard to by being over the top with the act. He broke down her mental barriers, already under the strain of her anger towards pirates, exposed the problem she has, and then ingratiated himself towards both her and Anderson by helping her.

Subtle, right?

Anyway, here's a new part of the story I'm starting now.

Saul's Tips, Tricks and Tools of the Trade, or, Just 'Saul's Tools'.

Close-Quarters-Combat (CQC)- Saul has been trained in hand-to-hand by Tela Vasir, who was a prominent Asari Commando and is an Elite Spectre who prefers white collar crimes because of the lack of bloody remains. Saul was trained much in the same brutal fashion as she was, being beaten into the ground often, and if he could feel pain, painfully. While he prefers guns, knives, his lightsaber, omni-blades and other weaponry, he is no slouch when it comes to fisticuffs, and could take on a N7 marine in hand-to-hand with some difficulty, but would ultimately succeed due to the lack of pain and accelerated healing.

And that's the first of 'Saul's Tools', with others to come dealing with the equipment and skills Saul has.

As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and leave a review.

Read, Review and Enjoy.

Stay Awesome.

~Soleneus

P.S.: the next two or so chapters will wrap up the pirate and missing child arc. I know I said that last chapter but think of it this way…shut up.

Stay Awesome Some More.

~still Soleneus