"So. You two seem to have disgruntled our lovely ambassador." Captain Anderson addressed the two of us as we held a meeting shipboard on our way back to Elysium. I looked at the figure of Captain Anderson whose face, if I had to describe it in a word was stern. "Especially you Service Chief Wolfert, she had some rather…colorful words to describe your treatment of her."

I merely mumbled some unkind words about the haughty political figure that probably weren't worth repeating. "I believe what my partner was trying to say is that there were difficult circumstances sir. He had just been in a one-on-one fight with a formidable opponent after already being wounded thanks to a biotic warp attack."

"Thank you for the input Chief." He studied the area of my arm that had been hit and was still an angry looking red from the burn. "Make sure you take care of that wound Service Chief Wolfert. Burns like that get infected if you're not careful and we can't afford to have a soldier like yourself worse off because of neglect."

"Yes sir." Clearing my throat, I spoke up for the first time. "For the record, I apologize for my actions. My conduct was not fitting for an officer of my station and I'll accept any punishment that is deemed necessary without complaint sir."

"Well that makes this easier then. I assured her that both of you will be punished appropriately for your actions." Ah shit, here it comes. This is what happens when you piss off a political figure. "In addition to your regular training up of the kids on base, you two will be making sure all inbound and outbound paperwork for the next three months."

I interrupted. "Sorry to interrupt sir but Mitch shouldn't be punished for this-"

"Did I say I was finished Service Chief?" He fixed me with a glare that would intimidate an inanimate object.

"Apologies Captain."

"Now in addition to that, I have reason to believe that you were the main culprit here Service Chief Wolfert, am I correct in saying that?"

"You're not wrong there, Captain Anderson." I admitted, lying to the man's face would only make things worse.

"Then for your part in this little scuffle, in addition to the extra technical work, you will be docked a portion of your pay for the same amount of time stated previously." His voice softened a bit from the previously authoritative one. "You have to remember, both of you are not just representing yourselves but the whole N branch when you're out in the field and that goes to dealing with…prickly ambassadors as well. As much as I hate it, we do have to play nice with the politicians and when you tick off one of their number that just means more red tape down the road for us which hinders our effectiveness along with the freedom to operate as we see fit."

"My apologies Captain Anderson." Snapping to attention, I offered the crispest salute I'd given in a long time. "I understand sir and I'll be better in the future."

"Good, I'm expecting a lot from you two, the issues we seem to be having are not on the battlefield so you at least have that in your favor."

My partner next to me chimed in. "Both of us will be better Captain Anderson." Mitch looked at me pointedly. "I guarantee it."

"Yes sir, you won't hear another complaint about the two of us."

"I'm glad. Like I said, your field work so far has been exemplary. Now let's see if your conduct elsewhere can be that way too."

The former N7 spun on his heel and retreated to his personal cabin onboard the ship. Once he disappeared, I turned to the shorter man next to me and grinned sheepishly. "My bad little guy. It won't happen again."

"I appreciate the thought but yeah, it probably will. Let's just call it what it is."

LINE BREAK

My omni-tool ringing woke me up in the middle of the night. I sighed and looked down at my wrist, when I saw that, "Jack's Armory," was listed I selected answer. "Hey Jack, what's up?"

"Is this Nathan Wolfert?" A voice that was definitely not Jack's answered my question.

"Maybe, who the hell is this?"

"You can just call me Blade." Great, this already looks promising. With a moniker like that this guy just has to be a real model citizen. "Now I'm sure you have a million questions about why it is that I'm calling you from your daddy's store so let me start right in. I've got about," he made an exaggerated noise of deliberation, "four minutes until the ambulances get here and I have to book it so you've got until then to satisfy your curiosity."

"In order then: why are medics coming, where is Jack and who the hell are you?"

"Well the first two are kind of tied together so lucky for you that saves some time that I can answer more questions."

"Just fucking talk before I get even more pissed off than I already am."

"Damn Wolf, didn't anybody ever teach you that patience is a virtue?" I could practically feel him shaking his head in fake disappointment through the call. "Anyway, Jack is currently unconscious on the floor because he refused to pay the protection fees that the Reds require, which is also why I called the ambulance. You of all people should know that Detroit is a dangerous place to live. As the new head of the local chapter I take it upon myself to make sure that everyone is paying their dues so the rest of our great city can be safe from other gangs who would take advantage of the average Joe."

"Just know this. If he's not ok, I'll take leave starting tomorrow, come back to Detroit, hunt you down and kill you without hesitation. End of story."

"Relax he'll be fine. He's just a little," there was another long pause, "bleedy at the moment, but there won't be anything lasting. And uh…what was your last question?"

"Who are you?"

"Well like I said, you can call me Blade. I think the reason for that should be fairly obvious to a knife nut like yourself." When I didn't respond he continued. "Now since good old Weisman and Finch have gone to the Citadel to expand the Reds, they both are still more than slightly pissed at you by the way," he whispered the last part as if he was spilling some secret just between the two of us, "I was put in charge of the Detroit Reds. Oh and I've got about thirty seconds before I have to go so we have time for one final question."

"Is Dax ok?"

"Don't worry, your little turian friend is just fine, this was planned so he'd be out of the way. I'm fairly confident in my abilities as a hand-to-hand combatant but not enough that I think I could take both of them without somebody getting killed and there's no need for that. At least not yet." There was more silence from the other end, as if he was listening for something. After a couple seconds he gave a sigh. "I should probably wrap this up so, later Wolfy. I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty more of each other in the future."

"Yeah I'm sure buddy. You fuck with my family and I'll be the last thing you ever see."

"Would you believe me if I said I'm looking forward to it? Crushing local gangs gets so boring and monotonous, I could use a good fight with somebody who actually knows what he's doing to liven things up a bit." He actually laughed after that. "And nice line by the way, would've fit in some cheesy action flick like Blasto." The sound of sirens could be heard over the call. "Well, that's my cue. Gotta go."

As the call ended I quickly threw on some Alliance casual gear and stormed out of the room. At this hour the ship was running a skeleton crew so there was no one to witness my panicked, barefooted state as I sprinted to the captain's quarters and knocked on the door. "Captain Anderson sir! I know I'm in the doghouse right now but I have an emergency!"

After a few moments of rustling inside the cabin, the door opened and a weary but alert looking David Anderson stared me in the face. "What seems to be the problem Service Chief?"

"Sir." I threw a quick salute. "My dad Jack Ramsey was attacked by a local gang back home and is apparently in bad condition. I would like to take leave and go make sure that everything is ok. If my pay needs to be forfeit for that period I'll understand." I paused for a moment. "Sir please, I need to go. I won't be gone for long and Mitch can handle the recruits while I'm gone."

"I've heard a lot about your dad, all good things of course. It would be a tremendous loss if a Marine like home was gone due to negligence." He thought for a moment. "That's fine Chief, go take care of your family. Your leave is approved."

"Thank you sir." I shook his hand gratefully. "I'll be back as soon as possible."

As I walked back to the room to gather my things I dialed Emma's number. "Please pick up, please pick up." I pleaded as I paced back and forth.

"Hey Nate, what's up?" The chipper voice of my girlfriend answered from the other end.

"Em hey, sorry but I don't have a lot of time babe, we're on our way back to Elysium. Are you off work right now?"

"Just got back a half-hour ago, what's wrong?"

"I need you to put together a bag with about a week's work of clothes for me, Jack's hurt, don't know how bad. He got ambushed by some thugs from the Reds and is probably on the way to the hospital as we speak."

The brunette gasped. "Is he ok?"

"I…I'm not sure." Unfortunately, I had to face the facts. "Apparently he's unconscious, the guy I talked to said he'll be fine but I'm still worried about him. I just need to get there and make sure myself."

"Ok. I'll book a shuttle for you too so you don't have to worry about anything. Just let me know how he's doing as soon as you get there ok?"

"Don't worry, I'll stay in touch. Love you Em." I barged into Mitch's room, which I had been making my way to as we'd been talking. As I ended the conversation with Emma I woke up the sleeping blonde. "Woley, wake your ass up."

The infiltrator sprang to life before locking eyes with me and relaxing a bit. "You scared me Wolf." He lay back down in the bed with a sigh. "What's going on?"

"Jack got jumped by some Reds. I'm not sure how bad it is but I know he's on the way to the hospital. I talked with Anderson and he OK'd my leave so I'm going back to Detroit. Take care of Emma and the new recruits for me while I'm gone."

"I will. Get a hold of me once you meet up with Jack and make sure he's doing alright, ok?" His face bore signs of concern that I could tell weren't faked. Despite him probably being pissed off beyond belief that I had landed him in hot water, the Infiltrator was still a good enough friend to look past that and realize the emergency I was in. I didn't have too many people like that in my life.

"Sure thing. I'll be back soon." I began to run back to my bunk to prep and threw a few words over my shoulder as I left. "Take care Mitch, sorry I'm such a jackass. I owe you one chief."

"Yeah you do. Now get the hell out of here and go see your pops."

LINE BREAK

Frantically, I walked through the hospital in Detroit where Jack was staying and up to the front desk. The redheaded woman behind the counter took in my appearance, scars, alliance gear and all before addressing me cautiously. "What can I do for you sir?"

"I need to find somebody staying here." I placed both hands on the counter. "He would have been checked in a few days ago."

"Name?"

"Jack Ramsey."

"And how do you know him?"

As I answered she began to type on the holographic display that sprang to life in front of her. "He's taken care of me since I was a teen so, unofficial dad I guess you could say. Don't know where exactly that fits in the visitor's log."

She simply nodded, choosing not to say anything. It was only a few seconds more before she found the results as the typing then ceased and she looked up at me. "I'm sorry sir…he's no longer with us."

"What?" I choked out. My head began to spin and the room shifted around me as her words settled in. "He's…gone?"

"Yes, I'm very sorry."

"H- how," I stammered, reeling at the news. "How did he die?"

"What?" She looked at me oddly. "No, he's not dead. Mr. Ramsey woke up after being unconscious for several hours and immediately ripped out the IV's we had attached to him. I guess you could say he checked himself out, none of our security personnel could stop him."

I stared blankly at the woman. "You know you really could have phrased that better. If I wasn't reassured at the fact that my dad's doing fine I'd be more than a little pissed off right now. And just a bit of friendly advice going forward, don't describe people in the hospital as, 'gone.'"

"I'm sorry." Her face turned red.

"When did he leave?"

"A couple days ago. Like I said, he woke up while a nurse was checking up on him. Immediately after that he disconnected all the cords, grabbed his clothes and left without a word."

"That's a relief. Doesn't sound like anything permanent then." I ran a hand through my hair while exhaling loudly, thankful that the old man was alright. "I have to go, thanks for your…help. I guess."

Rather than look for a cabbie, I simply jogged all the way home, bursting into Jack's Armory, flustered and out of breath. Behind the counter Jack was chatting it up with Dax, like nothing had even happened. "What the hell are you doing out of the hospital!" I exploded at the former N7. "You got the crap kicked out of you and now here you are, already back at work like everything's just fine and dandy."

"Nate? What are you doing back in town?" The two looked at me incredulously.

"Making sure you're not dead, what do you think?" Both of them just turned to look at each other as I continued. "Do I have to explain this whole thing?" I sighed and almost tore my hair out due to frustration. "Alright fine, so I'm on my way back from a hostage rescue and I get a call from the store here. Some asshole who calls himself, 'Blade,' says that you're unconscious and an ambulance is on the way. Of course, now I'm freaking the fuck out now so I leave Elysium to come see you, go straight to the hospital and the damned receptionist gives me a heart attack before saying you wouldn't stay for treatment because you're a stubborn idiot."

"Please Nate, I've had much worse in my time in the military. You think I haven't had the crap kicked out of me a couple times before? This is nothing kid."

"Yeah, that was back when you were in the military. I don't know if you've noticed but you're retired and a just a bit older than your Spec Ops days." I sighed as I sat down at the counter. The only signs of the beat down Jack had received were a couple bruises on his face. "Holy shit, now I know how you feel…"

"What do you mean?"

I ran a hand through my hair. "Having to deal with a hardheaded asshole who won't stay out of trouble all the time." Grinning, I continued. "Is this what it was like raising me? Now that the roles are reversed I gotta say I retroactively feel really bad for you."

"Please Wolf, at least I can handle myself in a fight. There's nothing I get myself into that I can't work my way out of."

"Your run-in with, 'Blade,' would suggest otherwise…in all seriousness though, how are you doing?"

"Let me close up shop first, then we'll talk."

Dax raised a taloned hand. "Relax Jack, I'll handle it so you two can talk."

"Thanks Daxy." I gave him a warm pat on the shoulder as he walked past and in response, he bared his teeth in the utterly frightening facial expression that is a turian smile. "I'm glad you didn't get tied up in this whole mess." I turned back to Jack who was now seated next to me at the counter. "So what happened?"

He sighed loudly and leaned back. A spasm of pain crossed his face as he thought back to the events of a couple nights back. "Detroit's been bad Wolf. Really bad."

"I kinda remember it always being a pretty rough place to live Jack."

"Yeah but it's only gotten worse in the last two years. Since Weisman left things to this Blade character, the violence has only increased. People are afraid to even leave their homes. I thought things would get better when the Reds won the turf war not too long after you left but I was dead wrong. Now they're demanding this so-called protection money and anyone who doesn't," he crashed a fist into his open palm, "they get what I got…or worse."

"Aren't the police shutting them down?"

He just leaned back and gave his deep, throaty laugh. "Police?" He finally settled down after chuckling for a few more seconds. "Nate. The police in Detroit are one of two things. They're either incompetent or actually being physically paid off by the Reds to look the other way."

"Huh, well that's a bit of an issue then isn't it?" My brow wrinkled as I thought of something else that had been bothering me about the scenario. "What I'm curious about though is how'd this guy get the better of you? I mean I know you're," he raised an eyebrow, warning me to choose my words carefully, "experienced, but you're still in pretty good shape. How'd some gangbanger take down a former Spec Ops soldier?"

He gave a shrug. "Guy came in like any other customer the day it happened. I should have been suspicious when he had his hood up and his back to me the whole time but it'd been a long day so I didn't think about it too much. Anyway, I went into the back to grab something and next thing I know I'm lying on the floor."

"What'd he do after that?" I listened with rapt attention, trying to take in every detail of Jack's story.

"You know, gave the usual bad guy talk while I was bleeding on the floor. He made a few vaguely intimidating threats, told me about how the Reds have a stranglehold on the city, actually mentioned that he called for an ambulance so I wasn't gonna die which was odd and…" He trailed off.

"What? What'd he say?"

"He told me to tell you that he can't wait until your military time's up and you're back in Detroit." He lowered his head, shaking it from side to side. "Apparently Weisman's still got an exorbitant amount of money on your head and he plans to collect. Guy's got some issues, seems to be really fixated on taking you down."

"Great." I put a hand over my face. Just add him to the list of deadly psychos gunning for me. The Hegemony, Blue Suns and now this asshole. "He say anything about why he's got such an issue with me personally?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing actually. Anybody you can think of back in your days with the Reds that you really pissed off?"

Placing a hand on my chin, I tried to recollect everybody I'd met back in my gangbanging days. "Besides shooting Weisman and Finch nothing comes to mind. I guess there's the guys I got in the fight with when Emma and I went to the restaurant."

"This dude was small though. No bigger than five eight."

I pursed my lips. "That's not any of them then. Those three that we fought were all pushing six feet at least."

As I made a sound indicating my bewilderment, he continued. "I have no idea who this guy is then. We need to stay on our toes while you're here though. Can't let him catch us napping again."

"I'll take the first shift tonight. Where's my gun?" He reached behind the counter and grabbed the box that held my pistol before tossing it over to me. After opening it, I held the weapon up, admiring the grey camouflage pattern and wolf logo that personalized the weapon. "You know, I didn't think I'd have to keep watch on my ten day leave."

Jack just gave a grim look. "Sometimes the war comes back home with you kid."

LINE BREAK

I sat through the first few hours of darkness, disassembling and reassembling my weapon to make sure I stayed awake but despite the previous events absolutely nothing happened that night and it was the same for Dax and Jack's shifts. The rest of my leave was entirely uneventful too, the whole time I was there not one thing happened out of the ordinary which confused the shit out of me. This guy attacks Jack, leaves a message for me and then doesn't even show his fucking face. If his plan was to leave me wondering what the hell he's up to then it definitely worked.

All too soon my time was up and I took a shuttle back to Elysium. Once again, without any incident whatsoever. No harassing from the Reds. No sabotage of my shuttle. I might be a paranoid son of a bitch but typically, attacking someone's dad right in their home basically means war. The whole thing dumbfounded me and I couldn't think of much else on my way back to Elysium.

I made my way back to our apartment before calling out for the two occupants. "Hey I'm back, Jack and Daxy are both doing just fine. Nothing's happened this whole past week besides my Dad breaking out of the hospital." Walking to the kitchen table I saw notes from both Emma and Mitch. Woley's saying he was staying on base tonight for some extra training and Emma was gone too as she got called in to work extra hours at the hospital. Walking over to the couch I flopped down and pulled a blanket over my chest. "Well this sucks."

LINE BREAK

I woke up the next morning to cold water splashing over my face. Spluttering and angry, I looked around the room only to see face of Service Chief Mitchell Woley crinkled in mischievous amusment. "I swear to God Mitch." Wiping some water that had pooled on my face with a flourish, I continued. "You're a fucking dead man." Rising from the couch I stomped over to the much shorter man. "That was the first good sleep I've had in about two weeks."

"Think you've earned much worse than that all things considered buddy."

There was a few moments of silence before I couldn't keep a straight face any longer. "It's good to be back. How's the new batch of kids looking?"

"Not too bad." He tossed a towel that was draped over the chair and offered some hot coffee. "They're learning slowly but surely. Could use somebody to help them with the biotics part though."

With a sigh I walked away to go grab my Alliance gear. "Back to the grind huh?"

"Ain't no rest for the wicked." He paused as if he had something to say but wasn't quite sure how. "We uh…we have another visitor with us that just popped in a couple days ago."

"That so." I downed half of the black liquid in just one gulp. "Somebody I should know?"

"You could say that. I found him chilling in our kitchen chowing down on a power bar if that helps at all." He gave a little grin at the recollection. "Thankfully Emma was out of the house at the time so I could introduce him as an old friend connected with the Alliance as an informant instead of…what he is."

"I prefer the term soldier-of-fortune if you need to talk about me behind my back."

"Ty?" Looking at the drell who had popped in at the opportune moment to make his retort. "What the hell are you doing here?" As his face changed from his usual joyful expression to a more somber one, I tacked onto the end. "Not that I'm not happy to see you or anything but it's just, very unexpected to say the least."

"Well, I already explained things to Mitch a couple days ago but I guess I could talk a bit more about my various exploits if I have to."

Mitch cut in before he could start. "I'm gonna head to the barracks, I'll give you guys twenty to talk it out but then I need you over there Wolf."

"Sounds good."

As an idea struck me, I must have got a mischievous glint in my eye because Mitch stopped dead in his tracks and gave me a look. "Wolf…what do you have planned?"

"Just wait. It'll be great."

"Wolf…"

"C'mon Mitch let me have my fun. No one's gonna get hurt, I promise."

"Fine. Any medical expenses are coming out of your paycheck though."

With his finger stuck in my face I raised both hands skyward in surrender. "Deal. Just run 'em through their drills like usual and I'll shoot you a message to assemble the troops right before I'm going to pop in."

Mitch just walked away, mumbling to himself. "Alright, whatever. Sometimes it's like I have a little child as a partner."

"Good, now that buzzkill's out of the way we can talk freely." I couldn't resist one little jab at my blood brother as he exited our little apartment. He didn't even fire back like usual, well unless you count a loud, exaggerated exhalation as a response. "Now go ahead Ty."

"Alright." He finished up his snack and plopped down on the couch. "Now, where should I start?" Tapping his chin absentmindedly, he snapped his fingers as he made up his mind. "I'll just go straight to what happened after you left. Went back to my place like usual that night and early the next morning Aria called me in to see her. Now I thought it was a little odd because despite her tendencies to be a cold-blooded bitch she usually is good about giving her men a break after each mission. Anyways, the queenie herself gives me an assignment, says she needs me to retrieve an important package from one of her informants down in the wards."

Already, this story was striking me as odd. "Couldn't she just send someone else? I wouldn't imagine something as simple as a pick-up job would usually fall to you."

"Now that's what I said." The drell was really starting to get into his story now. "But when Aria tells you to do something you fucking do it so I didn't raise too much of a stink about it. What I did do though was talk to my people about the area and I found out something interesting…"

"What's that?"

"Wolf, you have no sense of dramatic timing." He shook his head in disappointment. "Well since you spoiled my storytelling, the whole area was basically crawling with vorcha and everyone around there knew it, including Miss High and Bitchy herself. Basically, she set me up to be a chew toy."

"Shit Ty, I'm sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it, I knew the risks when I helped you guys out and now look, you're doing the same for me." He got up and started to raid the cabinet again. "Someone there must have saw me talking with you and connected the dots when the Suns came calling but you three were already on the move. Wasn't really that tough to figure out in the end I guess, the three of us weren't that discreet."

"So what happened after that?" My curiosity was now piqued as to how exactly he avoided the trap that had been set in front of him.

"I went down there and battled with the bastards for a little while before ultimately making my escape, after that I simply dropped off the grid for a few months. If I was dealing with anyone else it would have been much easier but Aria really made me work for it. Almost got discovered a few times but I managed to outfox her agents, knew practically every move they'd make after being on the other side for so long."

A particular thought struck me. "But how'd you go about faking your death exactly? I mean, she'd have somebody verify the body before moving on right? And for that matter, why not just shoot you on the spot? Frigid bitch like her doesn't seem like she'd have a problem having a little bit of blood on her hands."

"To answer the first one. You remember the turian named Corellix Parius who helped us in the final raid? Well when I told him my suspicions he agreed to report my death to the woman so I could make my escape. Despite our rivalry, we've saved each other's asses more times than I can count and the two of us have always watched out for each other. And having a corpse to present as evidence wasn't an issue since…well let's just say that the vorcha don't leave too much of that."

"Wow, could have lived the rest of my life without knowing that."

"Hey, you asked." Niat just shrugged. "As for the Aria murdering me part, it's really bad policy to kill your agents in front of the other ones, especially the well-liked hired guns like myself. Much easier all around to simply send them on a suicidal mission where they're set up to be eaten alive by vorcha to the sound of screams, flying body parts and…you get the point."

"Yeah, yeah I do." The cryptic message that I had received back when I was visiting with Talia stuck in my mind. "So is this that favor that you told me about a while back?"

"Nailed it in one. I sent you that just before I went off the grid as I had to go dark for a long time. Can't exactly have a dead man communicating with people since it tips 'em off that things might not be exactly what they seem pretty quick."

"Very true." The drell's logic was impeccable. "Now I've got a couple minutes left before I have to go whip some kids into shape so I apologize for the bluntness but what do you need from me? I'm sure a high-profile place like Elysium isn't your final destination since eventually you'd be found out here."

"Good observation. What I need is for you to buy a shuttle ticket to Kahje." The facial expression of the drell in front of me changed to a sort of longing with a fair amount of curiosity mixed in. "My whole life has been spent on the hellhole that is Omega and I've got no complaints but now I want to go home you know? I want to spend a little time learning about my people's culture and I think this is the best way to do that."

Immediately, I opened my omni-tool, scanned travel sites and made the purchase in my name. "I owe you my life Ty, spending some money is the least I can do for you. Your flight's leaving tomorrow morning, you can stay here again tonight if you need to. I'm assuming someone as skilled with tech as yourself will have no problem getting past any ID checks they might perform?"

"You assume correctly my friend but you should probably go now. Mitch is gonna be pissed." I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door. Before I could leave, Ty stopped me. "Thanks for that Wolf. I appreciate you helping me out in a pinch like this."

"Hey no problem, that's what friends are for right?" I gave a final message before walking out in a fake serious tone. "And stay the hell away from Emma while I'm gone or I'll hunt you down myself."

The drell threw back his head and laughed. "No worries, I'm not into human women anyway. But I think you've got a keeper there, don't go getting yourself killed now."

"Not planning on it." I hurriedly shot a message off to Mitch letting him know that I was on the way and he should get the kids together.

I stood just outside the main room of the facility and waited for the text from Mitch on pins and needles, opting to raise a barrier around myself and launch miniscule attacks to pass the minutes. "Hey, it's time. Just remember what I said about paying for damages."

Here we go. Preparing for my entrance, I wreathed myself in a biotic aura before generating a charge. I phased through the solid wall while under the effect of the technique before materializing right in front of the group of Marines huddled around Mitch. To my immense satisfaction a few of the men and women screamed out of shock and one rather large guy jumped straight into the air. "Morning Marines. My name's Nathaniel Wolfert, known to some as The Butcher of Torfan and I am your new biotic instructor." I gave a huge grin while the soldiers recovered. To my right Woley just sighed and shook his head. "Now who's ready to go blow shit up?"

LINE BREAK

The last year of my military service was coming to a close now. The months since Jack's attack had passed without incident on his end thankfully so I didn't have to make any more emergency trips back home. Nothing of note really happened on the Elysium side of things either. I got sent out on two more missions, accompanied by Mitch of course, to take out some slaver dens that were operating a bit too close for comfort and once again when we returned, there was a brand new class of kids to bring up to speed.

And now Speirs was sitting in the living room of our shared quarters, giving me the re-recruitment speech to try and get me to stay in the Alliance. At least that's what I'm assuming.

"Hey Wolf, good to see you again." He gave me a friendly tap on the shoulder. "And I'm assuming this is Emma?"

I wrapped one arm around her shoulder. "Yup, this is my lovely girlfriend."

He extended his grizzled hand and shook the much more tender looking one of the blue-eyed brunette. "Nice to meet you Ms. Perri. We've spoken before but it's an honor to finally meet you in person." It's funny to hear the old war vet talking in such smooth tones, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself at the change. "Still don't know what you're doing with this idiot but that's a whole different topic."

"He's not so bad."

"I'll have to take your word for it." He coughed loudly. "Now to get to business." Emma stood up to leave but he waved her off. "You don't have to go by any means, there's nothing confidential being discussed. This is just about Nathan here and his future with the Alliance."

Yup, here it is. I took Emma's hand and gave her a reassuring wink. "So what's going on Lieutenant Commander?"

"Well, as you know when you initially signed up it was for five years of service. That's coming to a close in five days so they sent me here to talk to you considering we've worked together in the past and frankly, none of the other brass want to deal with you." Well that would explain why I've dealt with him so much in the past. Looks like none of the other bigwigs wanted to associate with someone with, "Butcher," in their title and considering our past association I guess he was a natural fit to be stuck with me. "Now don't feel too special, this question goes to everyone who's gone through any level of N training." He opened his omni-tool and projected a large document with a metric fuckton of legalese looking type on the table. "I'm not going to beat around the bush here with you. They're offering a large pay bump and the opportunity to be stationed anywhere you'd like along with a few other nice bonuses if you're interested."

He withdrew his omni-tool and leaned back into the couch. "You've got a whole week to think it over. Talk to Emma and let me know when you come to a conclusion."

"Well." I glanced over to Emma who nodded in support. "I appreciate you coming out here and it's great to see you again Speirs but I'm done with the military. I've served my five and seen some stuff in that time that I'd rather forget so I'll be ecstatic to return to the civilian life. Maybe get a little house and find out what normal people who don't shoot other people for a living do."

"Alright. Well that's that."

I just stared at him. "What do you mean that's that? No big speech about how I'm missing out on the camaraderie of being in the trenches with other Marines?"

"That's a negative." He got up and threw on his coat. "You're what twenty-four now?" I nodded. Damn time has flown, doesn't seem like too long ago that I was a nineteen year old kid on the run from the Reds. "See, plenty old enough to make your own decisions. You've got a lot going for you Wolf. Beautiful girlfriend. People back home who care about you. A good buddy who's got your back. As long as you've been smart with your money you can buy a nice little place and set yourself up for the future."

He walked over to the window and glanced out balefully. "If I was in your shoes kid I'd do the same thing." The veteran of the Shanxi conflict turned and gave a sad grin towards the two of us. "That's why I'm not trying to convince you to stay. Get out of this business of death while you still can and run as far as possible because sooner or later it catches up with everybody. You've come out fairly clean for the amount of crap you've had to wade through. Don't keep pushing your luck."

There was a few moments of poignant silence before the N7 sighed. "I should probably hit the road." He straightened his navy blue Alliance cap.

"Why don't you stay for dinner Mr. Speirs?" Emma questioned the man. "Unless you're not too busy of course."

"Yeah, just put your feet up for a little bit, the Alliance can wait a couple hours. Plus Emma's a great cook, probably the best I knows."

"Who else have you had cook for you besides Jack and I?" She turned to me with a playful twinkle in her eyes.

"Well, uh…that still doesn't make it not true." While Emma and I bantered back and forth he hesitated at the door while considering the offer we had just extended. "Come on Speirs, relax for a bit. Mitch'll be done with the techies pretty soon and then he'll be back here too. I'm sure he'd love to see you again."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt." He looked at the time function on his omni-tool. "Might help some of the higher-ups pull the stick out of their ass when I show up fashionably late. Make 'em realize that there's more going on than politics and strategies in life." He took his military jacket back off and set it on a chair along with his cap. "So, what's on the menu tonight Emma? It's been forever since I've had a nice home cooked meal."

"Well I was going to bake a lasagna for tonight and maybe have a salad on the side, how's that sound?"

"After Alliance meals for the last twenty-five plus years of my life I'm not going to complain about anything. That sounds great."

"I'll send a message to let Mitch know to hurry up because we've got company tonight." I quickly typed out a quick text to the infiltrator. "He'll cut it short when he hears that you're here Speirs."

LINE BREAK

"Damn. What are you gonna do without me to back you up Mitch?" I looked around the training facility for the last time. Everything that wasn't Mitch's was already out of the apartment and on a shuttle headed back to Earth. Now it was just time to say goodbye to Mitch and the Marines we'd been training. "Still can't believe it's all over."

"I'll survive." The shorter man put away his sniper rifle and grinned. "Things'll probably be more efficient without you clogging up the comm channels with your endless chatter anyway."

"You're probably right." Exhaling noisily, I continued. "Fuck man. Can't believe it's already been five whole years since boot. It's flown by that's for sure."

He jumped up, took a seat on the workbench and propped his feet up. "No argument from me there."

My expression changed to a more solemn one as I got a text from Emma saying that the shuttle was leaving in ten minutes. "Hey, in all seriousness, stay safe out there. I'm gonna be beating myself up if something happens to you in these next two years while I'm gone."

"I'll be fine." He waved me off. "I'm more worried about you. How are you gonna cope with living the civilian life after all this action the last few years? If we're not out in the field or training the kids you're shooting down at the range. You eat, sleep and breathe military. How the hell are you gonna adjust to a normal life?"

I glanced over to the entrance to the armory where Emma was standing, allowing the two of us to say goodbye in private. "I'll have plenty of help. Between Jack, Dax and her I think everything's going to be ok."

"You'll be fine. Just a bit of advice before you go regarding Emma."

"So now I'm getting relationship advice from the guy who's never kept a girl for more than a month." Giving a shit eating grin I allowed the blonde to continue.

"Laugh it up Wolf." His eyes crinkled in good humor. "Now it's my turn to be serious though…don't make her wait too long."

My face turned a bright shade of red. "I don't get what you're talking about."

"Oh I'm pretty damn sure you do. And when the time comes I'd better be standing right there next to you." He turned pointedly toward Emma. "Now you should probably get going. I don't want you to be late on my account."

"Yeah, yeah, right." Still reeling from the blow I'd just been dealt I managed to stammer out a goodbye. "See you Woley."

"Later Wolf. You ever need anything I'm just a call away." The infiltrator waved to Emma. "See you Emma! You guys have a safe trip back and take care of Wolf for me alright?"

"Don't worry we'll be fine! I'll be sure to keep him plenty busy."

I slowly shambled my way over to Emma before getting a rough shove to the back from Mitch. Linking arms with my girlfriend, we made our way to the ship that was taking us back to Earth. "You ready to go home Nate?"

"You know babe, I think so."

A/N: Due to my future self prodding me, this chapter is out today instead of next week. I've been crazy busy with Finals and finishing up my projects but I cut out a little time to get this chapter out today so I remained on schedule.

Since I've had multiple people ask about ME1 I'll say that chapter 50 is the last one for this book and then after that the Normandy arc will kick in.

Ranger Station Charlie is my Beta.

Review answering portion:

Sheploo: Just fourteen chapters to go my man, then Shepard will be all yours.

General-Joseph-Dickson: I guess the politicans get a half point in the end but I think Wolf still came out on top.

Jedi Master Albus: Thanks! It's nice to hear from you again and glad to see you're still enjoying the story!

Twisted Platypus: Awesome, I know the internet situation for you Aussies is not the best so I'm glad to hear you have access again!

Yeah, I wanted to show a different side of their skill set instead of the usual kick in the door, blast everyone in the face and toss biotics. Plus, I get to show off Mitch's new toy in a fun little way.

Awww, you're gonna make me blush XD

RSC: Awesome advice, as I've said before I have to stop myself sometimes from beating a dead horse so this is a good reminder to sometimes just sit back and let the story flow.

Fallout Fan: Well, it could have been worse but Wolf definitely got a little kickback. I guess we'll have to see if something comes up in the future with her.

Yeah, my inspiration for writing my hand-to-hand scenes really comes heavily from RvB and RWBY, they both have such a beautiful flow to their small number fights that comes across nicely. I'm just going to have to work harder to make that come across in the actual gunplay too in the future, I always want to work on my weaknesses as a writer so I'll really try and improve that going forward.

Cmitts93(this feels awkward): I uh, I'm really trying man, it'll be here before you know it. Although I am curious as to how you're reading this in the future and I haven't written past where I'm at now…and my review went back in time, unless this is like some Steins;Gate situation where I can send FanFiction reviews back in the post through some complicated process. In that case it makes sense…sort of.

Sorry about…us…getting stuck in the future, try not to erase us from existence via the aforementioned paradox or anything like that. Because then nobody would get to read the rest of this…in fact it might erase it from existence altogether…holy shit I think I just blew my own mind…or our mind…I'm just gonna end this now.

P.S. Whoever this is, major kudos to you. For a second when I got this notification in my email it confused the absolute hell out of me.