Thessia was on its way to being in ruins. Reapers were completely ransacking everything. Shepard went up to talk to the leader as the reapers broke through the barrier. "Commander, we'll talk later, get on that gun and do some damage."

Shepard put her Javelin back on her back and hopped up to the gun. She loaded in a fresh clip and took aim. A brute was charging towards the asari using her biotics to clog up the hole. She looked damn near terrified as the beast came at her. Shepard was already shooting and it fell, skidding from the momentum and stopped feet from her.

"Come on, sons of bitches, come on." Shepard said lowly to herself as she loaded another clip and turned the turret to a husk creeping forward—well creeping for them, it was still running head long into her firing range. It fell to the ground in a split second. Without even taking her hand off the trigger she turned it to a brute that was following in its friends footsteps, right into the fire pits of hell and bullets. The clip popped as it dropped to the ground.

Two brutes and three husks charged at once. So they actually had some brains. Charge alone and you will be gunned down, together she couldn't shoot all of them.

"Liara, lift those husks up for as long as you can, Tali send out the drones and keep the second brute busy if you can." she ordered and her team went to work. The husks lifted into the air right before the barrier and Shepard turned her attention to the brutes. One was trying to smash at the drones circling around it. It may be powerful, but it was still half krogan, and krogans, though she loved Wrex and Grunt, where a few points shy of smart on the IQ scale. Reaper code imbedded in them didn't help that either.

'Well, while that one plays wack-a-drone…' she thought and shot at the other one. It deflected most of her bullets and she had to load in a second clip before it went down.

"Hurry up, Shepard," Liara said, straining to keep the squirming husks in the air. How long had it been? Two minutes, three? She knew that Liara was getting to her limits. She was a powerful biotic, but she was holding three, and trying to help strength the barrier.

"Working on it," Kat said and turned to the husks. She shot them down, releasing Liara from having to hold them.

"Shepard!" Tali yelled as her drones were both destroyed and the brute started charging her gun.

"Shit, shit, shit," Kat said as she loaded a fresh clip and turned the gun to the brute.

She unloaded a clip into it, but it didn't go down. It reached her as she was loading the next clip. 'This is going to hurt,' she thought and braced for the attack.

The brute raised its arm and went to hit her, but it fell to the ground dead, the corpse slamming into the barrier and making it shudder.

"What the hell…" Shepard muttered as she looked at it. One of its eyes was torn apart and she knew the bullet wound, seeing it so often. It had come from a sniper rifle. "EDI, I told you to keep him on the ship." Kat spat into her com.

"I apologize, Commander, I am unaware how he escaped, but judging from the dead brute at your feet you need him there." the AI said and Kat set her jaw.

More husks and another brute started charging and she didn't have time to argue. "Thane, you better be careful," she said into her com.

"Of course, siha," came his reply.

Even without seeing him, without knowing where his perch was, they moved together completely in sync. The brute fell from half a clip with the aid of his headshots and the husks never touched the barrier.

"That's some sniper you have there." the leader said as she came back down from the turret.

"Oh don't say that, he doesn't need a bigger ego." Shepard said and heard him chuckle in her ear.

She turned from Shepard to give an order to her crew. "I want that gunship in the air." she ordered. "And do not take out the… what is your sniper?" she asked.

"He is a drell, dressed in leather armor, green, sexy… you probably won't even see him though." Shepard said and earned more chuckling from said green, sexy drell.

"Are you two…"

Shepard nodded, "We're lo… we're engaged." she said with the slightest blush on her cheeks.

Tali heard her and squealed. "You and Thane are engaged? He purposed? When?" she said and grabbed her friends arm.

"Yes, yes, last night." Shepard said and the quarrian hugged her.

"I just knew you two would get married, you are perfect for each other."

"You mean like you and Garrus?" Shepard said and made the girl eep and let go.

She crossed her arms and looked away and Shepard was sure she was blushing. "I don't know what you are talking about." she denied.

"Really? Because according to Thane, who is laughing his ass off in my ear, he walked into the mess hall to find you two making out against the main battery door one night. Does that ring a bell?" Shepard repeated what Thane was saying through his chuckling.

Tali wrung out her hands. "Yes…" she said and Shepard hugged her.

"Good, you two have been eyeing each other up since we took out Saren. It's about fucking time." she said.

Tali remembered that, remembered how she first started to have feelings for the turian.

Saren was dead, for good this time, and the fleet was taking out Sovereign. Shepard was standing off to the side, eyes clutched shut and gripping her gun tightly. She had just ordered the council to their deaths, she had to. Taking out Sovereign was the most important thing. If they saved the council they might not have enough ships to take out the reaper.

As the huge monstrosity died its body was scattered across the Citadel. Large pieces flew through the glass and into the room they were in. They all ducked out of the way and Tali watched as a large piece landed on Shepard.

"Shepard," she cried and tried to go to her, but Garrus grabbed her around the waist and held her as she cried for her dead friend. They sat there like that, Tali sobbing, Garrus rubbing her back, until they were rescued.

"Plug that hole!" the lieutenant ordered, hurrying along two asari that were working on it. "I'm Lieutenant Kurin, I've been told to hold this bridge at all costs, for you." she said and turned back to Shepard.

They both turned and looked at the asari still holding the barrier as missiles were shot at her. The barrier wavered.

"I said to plug up that hole!" she shouted at her women then turned back to Shepard. "But our perimeter is collapsing, I'm getting my people out of here."

Shepard understood this. If they stayed all of them would die, but if they left Shepard would never reach that temple. She looked over the dead bodies and the wounded, Liara was tending to some of them. "I'm sorry…" she said quietly. She was going to have to convince Liara's people to kill themselves for the "greater good."

She followed after the retreating asari. "Look, I know this looks hopeless. I know how you feel, this is how it was on Earth." she said kindly. "And I know I have no right to ask you to stay and fight when I didn't just run from the battle, I ran from the planet."

Kurin stopped and looked at her.

"I left my people that day so I could go get help. If I was you I'd retreat to go get help too." Shepard sighed and bowed her head a bit. "But we can't afford that, not now. We need you holding this line, watching our backs, so we can get to that temple. Something in it will help us stop this war. We have to stand and fight today, and I will be right with you. I will do for you what I should have done for my own, put my life on the line for your people, will you do the same?"

Kurin reacted just how she wanted, with a nod and agreement. "We'll hold this position while you get to that temple." she said with newly found vigor.

Shepard nodded to her and turned away to start the trek, knowing full well she convinced these people to lay their heads down on the slab for the executioner's blow.

The fight across the bridge wasn't much. A harvester tried to dive bomb them, but one of the gunships shot it down. Other than that there were some cannibals, a lot actually, but nothing that she and Thane couldn't snipe down by the time they reached them.

They ducked into the building and started climbing over the piles of rubble inside. "I've lost sight of you, be careful." Thane said into her ear.

"Roger that, see if you can't find another perch, if not come and meet us on the ground." she replied.

They froze at the exit to the building and two harvesters swooped down into view, dropping off reaper spawn.

Shepard loaded her Javelin and shot them down as they started to move. Still nothing they couldn't handle. That team was really doing a good job, she just hoped at least some of them wouldn't die.

"Their slaughtering my people." Liara cried. She was still only a child and it pained Shepard to see her like this.

"Then will give it back to them tenfold." Shepard assured her and slid down a pile of rubble to the lower level. She took out her avenger and shot down anything she had missed.

Just when she thought this might be easy they were slammed hard. Marauders poured out from behind the building they were going around. Cannibal lackies were right behind them.

J

"Jeff, I have found a pattern that I think the crew should know." EDI said back on the bridge.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" he asked and turned to look at his robot girlfriend.

"I have taken a look at the time periods Commander Shepard has had her break downs." EDI said and tapped some things on her terminal. "All of them have happened when there has been a reaper within com distance, and the closer they it appears the worse the break downs are."

Joker just stared at her and Garrus is the one who spoke up, making him jump. When had the turian showed up. "You mean the reapers are the ones doing this?" he asked and EDI nodded.

"I believe you experienced a similar situation with Saren." EDI said grimly.

"Spirits… Shepard is becoming indocturnated?" Garrus said wide eyed. Not Kat, not his best friend.

EDI nodded, "I believe so, but the reapers are being slow about it. I think they have a purpose for her, but what I can't not speculate."

"Shit," Garrus and Joker muttered together.

TK

He walked through the shadows behind Shepard's movements until he could find a high sniper's perch. He climbed up to it gracefully and turned his sniper to the enemies that threatened his lover's life.

Scores of them poured out, more than he could hit. Shepard was forced into cover and was pinned down.

"Tali, send out the drones and keep them distracted, Liara, keep your head down and wait till I tell you." he heard her order. She pocked her head out of cover and shot down a cannibal in the middle of the field. He smirked, knowing what she was planning.

They all gathered around their fallen comrade and started to eat it.

"Now!" Kat shouted and Liara lifted them all into the air for Tali's drones to shoot down.

Without their lackies the marauders started moving forward, pushing their line back, but it also left them open. Kat pulled out her Javelin and loaded cryo ammo into it. She should one and he followed with a bullet of his own only a second after. Her bullet stiffened its body and his shattered it. They kept up the pace, while one reloaded the other shot. The three of them were never even touched.

"That is some sexy drell shooting." she muttered into their private channel and he smirked.

"You didn't tell me headshot," he commented.

She gave a short laugh, "I can't tell when you headshot if they explode." Her smile slide from her face as they heard a banshee cry. He could see her tremble and wanted nothing for than to hold her and tell her everything would be alright.

KsK

Kat never liked banshees, ever since one stabbed her through the chest, which was the first one she had faced.

"Shepard, move." Liara cried and Kat rolled into cover out of reflex, dodging the blast of biotic energy from the horrid, ugly, mutated asari.

Thane was unloading bullets after bullets into it, trying to stop it from moving towards Kat, who was sitting behind a crate, trembling and gripping the barrel of her sniper. She was scared. The woman who had stared down a reaper and she was scared of a banshee.

"Siha, it is okay." Thane said into the com. "You need to move, you will be fine but you need to move." he tried to coax her into motion. When Shepard moved she made mountains move with her, they needed that right now.

She took a deep breath and ran over her training in her head. "Others before yourself, others before yourself." she repeated again and again until she could move her legs and ran into a better cover.

She took another deep breath and pulled out her shotgun. Thane was mildly surprised, she never used her shotgun.

She wanted to blow this thing's face off, she wanted it to never exist. She charged up a shot. "Liara, hold this thing still if you can." she ordered and gave her a few seconds before she turned and fired on the banshee that was glowly bright blue and frozen.

Thane used the chance and shot it in both eyes.

The blue faded as Liara lost control over it and the banshee thrashed about, unable to see. Kat dodged out of the way of its flailing arms and shot at it again. This time it fell and imploded on itself with a high pitched scream.

A/N: Well there you guys go, two chapters in as many days. A product of my boredom. I work so much that I don't know what to do with myself when I don't work.

Some things I want to tell you guys. First, I have pet goats. One of the goats gave birth Friday and I convinced my mom to let me name the little tri-color one Zorha, like Tali'Zorha, yeah I'm that big of a nerd.

Second, I went to go see Avengers a few days ago and in it was the closest I have ever seen to what Kat looks like. The only real difference is the eye color and Kat's hair is flatter, other than that Black Widow is pretty dead on.

http:/www. /wp-content/uploads/2012/03/SJBW. jpg

Even the outfit is pretty damn close to what Kat wears under her heavy armor.

Now a question for you: Would anyone be interesting in reading a MShepXJack story? I've been thinking about writing one.