A/N

I try not to write notes at the beginning but I just wanted to thank you guys for the reviews last chapter constructively criticizing my handling of the punishment. Even before posting it, I struggled pretty heavily with that scene, rewrote it a handful of times, swaying from light to harsh and in the end I portrayed it unrealistically but I just wanted to stay on schedule so I rushed it and I apologize for that. Over the next couple of days I went back and altered the events of how things happened in that conversation with Anderson about another five f'ing times and finally reposted the new scene when I was happy with it so if you want to go back to read it and let me know what you think it'd be much appreciated. I think I'm finally happy with how it turned out and hopefully you guys are too.

End of A/N

"So, how do you feel about getting a place together now that we're back in Detroit?" She turned to me from her window seat on the train. Unfortunately we hadn't been able to get a shuttle ride straight back but on the plus side we actually had a little time to talk about the future before getting home.

I scratched my head. "Well I kinda thought that it was a foregone conclusion that we were going to. I mean we have lived together for the last two years."

"Just wanted to make sure you're not going to bail on me now that we're back in your old stomping grounds." Emma leaned over and her brunette hair draped itself on my shoulder. "So what kind of house are we going to buy?"

"You know, I've never really thought about that to be honest." Tapping my chin with the hand that didn't have my girlfriend pinning it down, I continued. "Never really thought I'd have the money to get a place of my own…or someone to share it with." Boom, cheesy line nailed.

She gave an, "awww," and a little pat on the shoulder. "That's so sweet."

"Every once in a while I manage to say the right thing." I paused for a moment. "I guess my only request is we get a little spare room for me to store my gear, other than that it's whatever you want. Figure we can both go home for a few days while we shop. I'll go to Jack's and you can stay with your parents, they should be happy to have you there."

"They'll be fine with it." She waved me off before digging her elbow in as she teased me. "So, I pick the place and you spend the money? That works fine for me."

"As long as you're there it doesn't really matter." Damn I am just full of the sappy lines today. Bending over, I kissed the crown of her head. "Why don't you get some rest? We still have a few hours to go before we hit the city."

"But I'm not tired."

"Of course you're not. Completely my fault for thinking it. That's why you're leaning on my shoulder and your eyes are closing every few seconds."

"The only reason I'm on your shoulder is because it's more comfortable than the windowsill. I told you I'm not…"

Her head drooped even further and I re-adjusted myself so her head was resting more comfortably before giving a little laugh. So much for not being sleepy.

LINE BREAK

I got back to the armory late that night after making sure Emma arrived safely home. As I walked up to the door, a glint, as if something metallic was laying on the ground, caught my eye. "The hell is this?" Bending over I picked up a rather nasty looking knife with a piece of paper attached to it. In the dim light I tried to make out the words and as I started to piece together the message a feeling of rage started to settle in. "Welcome home Wolf. Here's a gift from the leader of your friendly neighborhood Reds, Blade."

I've gotta do something about this fuck.

Tiptoeing into the Armory, I brandished the sharp object just in case someone was waiting for me in the shadows. With the other hand I activated my omni-blade. Yeah, I kinda managed to sneak away my omni-tool with all the combat programs and hack modules before leaving Elysium. What can I say, old habits die hard and stealing whatever I wanted growing up was pretty firmly engrained.

Loud footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs from the living quarters and I pressed myself against the wall, waiting for my opportunity to strike if necessary. As the large person walked past me I gave a shout to make them turn around before shining the flashlight from the omni-tool in their face.

"The hell are you doing kid?" The annoyed voice of Jack Ramsey met me and I breathed a sigh of relief. "You're too old to be playing hide and seek."

"Sorry Jack." I got rid of the blade extended from the device and tucked the knife into my belt behind my back. "Just wanted to give you a big hello to announce that I'm back."

He gave a grunt. "Well it definitely worked. Now go on upstairs and go to bed. Your old room's all prepared for you."

"Thanks dad." I gave him a quick hug before walking away. "Good to be home again."

LINE BREAK

"So when are you and Emma gonna tie the knot?" The eyes of the former Spec Ops soldier danced with amusement as they glanced at me from over his coffee cup.

I spewed the orange juice that had previously been in my mouth all over the kitchen table as Daxyrus questioned my old man. "Tie the knot?"

"It means get married Daxy. And why is it that everyone's telling me I should propose to Emma? First Mitch when I was leaving Elysium and now you? I mean come on, what the hell?"

"Well you have been living together for two years now."

"And courting her for another three years previously." The turian added.

Jack pointed at him for extra emphasis. "Exactly. I'm getting old and would like to still be able to walk and play around with the grandkids so you need to get the ball rolling."

"Grandkids! We haven't even talked about getting married yet and you're already talking about the two of us having kids!" I slammed an open-palmed hand onto the table. "Besides, they wouldn't even be your grandkids!"

"Like that matters. You're practically my kid which makes them my grandchildren."

"Whatever." I threw my hands into the air. "On a less awkward topic though, I found this waiting for me on the doorsteps leading in." Swiftly bringing out the knife, I stabbed it into the wooden table so it was sticking pointy end in. "That's why I was acting so weird last night."

"Did you have to do that to the table?" Jack shook his head before covering his face. "Back for a few hours and you're already causing property damage."

I just grinned sheepishly. "My bad."

Dax however ripped the note that was still secured to the weapon. "Huh. Get a load of this Jack."

He leaned over and allowed the ex-Spec Ops soldier to read it. "You're fucking kidding me right?"

"Nope." I grabbed the dagger back and began to twirl it between my fingers. "Thing was sitting right on the doorstep and I'm not gonna lie, I half expected to find the two of you dead when I walked in. I don't know what to think about this fucking guy, he's a complete unknown and I don't like it." Pushing my chair back, I started pacing the room and gesticulating wildly. "First he attacks you. Then he calls an ambulance and lets me know you're ok. Now this. He leaves a damn knife as a threatening welcome back gift. I don't fucking get this guy's endgame and that bugs me."

"What are we going to do about it?" Jack leaned forward and propped his elbows on the table.

"What can we even do?" Dax interjected.

"I don't know…" I trailed off. "Like I said. I don't even know what he wants. Have you been paying that, 'protection money,' he talked about Jack?"

He just gave me a look. "Do you even have to ask kid? Of course I didn't."

"Hey, just checking." I raised my hands defensively. "And he still hasn't bothered you since then which I don't get."

My brain started to hurt at the inconsistency of Blade's actions. Nothing made sense to me at all and I hated that. If he didn't care about the money then what was he after? Clearly I was heavily involved somehow but the only Red I ran with back in the day was Finch so it's not like this guy has a personal grudge against me. Just…what the fuck.

"Kid are you sure you don't know this guy?"

"I don't think so." Suddenly, I sat back down as a thought entered my head. "What if he's trying to provoke me into a fight? I mean that's the only thing that makes sense right? If you think of it from that angle it all kind of makes sense."

Jack leaned back in his chair. "You might be onto something since it's clearly not about the money. Everything he's done has been to try and get at you, one way or another. The attack on me, call to you afterwards and knife with the message…it all lines up."

"Fuck." My head dropped onto the table and I smashed it a couple times. "Why does this have to happen? I just get out of the military and now I've got psychopathic gang lords with stupid nicknames after me."

Dax, who had been busy eating most of the time and instead just listened to the conversation said something that chilled me to the bones. "If everything that's done has been to try and get at you wouldn't he eventually go after Emma? If he knows you're back in town then it's safe to assume that he knows you two are involved to some extent."

He returned to his food and I looked up from my position on the table, mood completely changed at this point. "Shit." Without a word of explanation needed I took off for the exit. "Jack! Where's my pistol?"

"Under the counter. Still in the same box." I opened up the case and pulled out the weapon. "Good luck kid, stay safe. Anything goes wrong you call me and Dax alright?"

As I ran out the door I yelled back. "I'll be fine. If something happens to me just make sure to watch out for Emma and also…take this fucking bastard the hell out."

"Sure thing kid." I knew without a doubt it wasn't just empty words either, I'd hate to be in Blade's shoes if something happened to me.

Jogging the few minutes it took to the Perri's house since I still didn't have a license for a skycar, I panicked like a madman the entire time. I can pilot a shuttle, safely jump from heights that would kill a person, take out slaver dens but I can't pilot a damn car and now it's costing me precious minutes. Something seems wrong there. Anyway, thanks to the Alliance gene mods I arrived at their house tired but still upright and in fighting shape. As I knocked, I yelled. "Hey are you guys here, it's Nate…Emma's boyfriend." I continued rapping until the door opened up and I breathed a sigh of relief to see Emma in front of me, still perfectly healthy. Seeing that everything appeared right, I nonchalantly made sure my sidearm was tucked safely in the back of my pants.

"Nate?" She looked at me in bewilderment with both eyebrows raised. "What are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you but I thought you'd message me or something before coming over."

"I just figured I'd pop in and say hey you know? Been awhile since I've seen your parents and I wanted to catch up over lunch or something."

"Well, we did just sit down to eat so you're welcome to join us. Come on in." She motioned with her head and welcomed me into the giant Perri house that was always in immaculate condition.

"The three of us had a late breakfast but I won't say no to more food."

Grinning warmly, she teased me by patting my stomach. "Of course you won't…tubby."

"Hey! It's not my fault I'm a biotic and I need much more food than the average person to stay at peak physical condition."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night babe."

Nonchalantly, I strolled into the dining room where Evan and Kimberley were seated and had just begun to dig into the meal in front of them. As they turned to take in my entrance, I gave a sheepish wave. "Hi Perri's, sorry to bother you guys but I figured I'd pop in and say hi now that I'm back in town."

"Nate, good to see you. Glad you could make it over to visit us so quickly."

As Mr. Perri moved his arm to shake my hand he knocked a fork off of the table. The medical specialist bent down to get it but I quickly waved him off. "I got it."

"Nate." As I bent over to pick up the silverware I heard a terse voice from behind me and I instantly realized my mistake. "Can we go talk upstairs? Now."

I glanced around the room for help but finding none, I gave an apology and followed Emma. As we entered her room my girlfriend turned and simply stared at me for a few moments which was more than slightly unsettling. "So Nathan. Would you like to tell me why there's a pistol tucked into the back of your jeans?"

"Old habits and all that." I scrambled for a lie. "Now that I'm back in Detroit it's just my old ways kicking back in."

"Right. Except that I know for a fact you got your first gun the day you left the Reds so you never carried anything but a knife in your days on the streets." Fuck, caught in a damn lie. The brunette tilted her head to the side and adopted an overly cheerful tone. "So you're telling me that you managed to pick up this, 'habit,' over the course of about two days? That's impressive Nate."

"Well you see…"

"You really are a terrible liar, you know that? Now how about you come clean as to why you rushed over to my parent's house? I would like the real reason."

"Fine."

I went through the whole explanation, starting with the attack on Jack a while back. The whole deal with Blade had to be described in detail also which didn't do much to put her at ease. "You just have trouble follow you everywhere you go you know that?"

"It's part of my charm. Keeps things interesting at least right?" I walked across the room and took a seat next to her on the bed. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier. It's just, I didn't want you to be afraid. You've had to worry about me for the last five years I've been off-planet and I didn't think it was fair for you to have to do the same now that we're both home after all this time."

"That's a nice thought Nate and I appreciate it but do you really think I'm that worried about it?" She gave a short laugh. "If I was that scared of the trouble that could come from being around you I would have left after the first date when we got jumped by those thugs."

"Guess I didn't think of it that way. You know, I would have thought that you'd be much more concerned about this whole deal."

"Please, you think some thug clown with a stupid nickname and a flair for the dramatic scares me? I've got a couple N7's and a turian to protect me, I'm not even worried."

"Huh." I leaned back in surprise. Here I was expecting to have to talk her down from being worried and instead she's trying to boost me up. "Well, to make your boyfriend feel a bit more at ease why don't you let me stay over here tonight…just in case something does happen."

"You're paranoid." She gave a playful push and I fell backwards onto the mattress with her on top.

I smiled up at her. "It's kept me alive so far."

"Besides, we both know what your ulterior motive is."

"I'm confused, what might that be?"

She leaned forward and whispered things that were not to be shared around small children, the elderly or hormonal teenagers. "Well Emma." I coughed and tried to regain my senses. "As great as that sounds we should probably head downstairs for lunch with your parents before I totally turn into a blushing puddle of man. A very muscular, well-trained, biotic powerhouse of a puddle."

"That actually sounds kind of intriguing when you put it this way."

"Dammit woman stop messing with me like this. We need to go eat right now."

"Fine. Later then."

I thought about it for a moment. "Well I am staying here tonight so sure, why not?"

LINE BREAK

At exactly one in the morning, I woke up and rolled out of bed, careful to not disturb the sleeping woman next to me. Emma was right in me having a hidden reason for wanting to stay at the Perri house but it wasn't the reason she thought, well mostly at least. Time to start the night watch.

The first thing I did was stealth my way around the house, checking to make sure that the Mr. and Mrs. were undisturbed. After that I inspected the doors to make sure that all of them were locked up and the windows were still secured. Yeah I'm a suspicious bastard but I'm a damn thorough one. Now that I knew for sure that no one had entered I needed to make camp and stand guard until the sun came up. I pulled out the gun I was carrying along with the kukri knife that was strapped to my leg, before setting them on the table next to me. Just try something you fucking assholes.

It was a couple hours later and I was just starting to nod off when the creaking of floorboards jolted me out of my stupor. I tucked myself into a dark corner and waited as the sounds drew closer. If he wanted to go after any of the family he'd have to pass this way and if it was simply someone getting up to use the restroom or something like that then I'd rather remain out of sight. It'd be just the slightest bit awkward to explain why I'm waiting around in my girlfriend's house with a gun and knife.

The footsteps almost reached my position and I tensed, the man in front of me was practically a shadow. He glided through the room, crouching low to the ground which is an almost universal sign of ill intent. I started my own way towards the intruder, mirroring him step for step in the lack of noise. The whole time I scanned for weapons my rage was building. When I saw the glint of a knife it just about hit peak levels. This asshole was trying to fuck with my family.

I wreathed myself in a biotic aura that caused the would-be killer to turn and even in the darkness I could see the, "oh shit," expression that was plastered on his face. Springing forward in a biotic charge, I smashed into my opponent and crushed him into the wall, leaving a slight dent. My opponent gave a sharp exhalation but managed to react quick enough to duck under my next blow and swing his own blade as he did. Thankfully I was able to generate a barrier around my hand that stopped the implement before it could do any damage and I'm not gonna lie, I got more than a little satisfaction over the man's worried expression. Clearly they hadn't told him about the possibility of having to deal with a biotic.

With my free hand I slammed a heavy right hand into his face and the assassin fell to the floor before whirling around. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

Instead of answering his questions, I simply closed the gap between us. This time though he didn't escape as I followed up the biotic attack with a tackle that brought the man to the ground with me on top, throwing punches punctuated by questions.

"Are you with the Reds?" I crashed my fist down. "Did Blade send you?" There was no answer as he tried to shield himself from a blow. "Answer me!" Another stroke and by now he was hardly capable of even defending himself and my questions were growing more frantic. "Were you hired to kill them?" I'm not sure if he was still breathing at this point. "Why the hell couldn't you just leave us alone?" I gave a final strangled cry as I continued to beat on the defenseless hitman.

The lights flashed on and I could hear a sharp intake of breath. I looked down at my opponent only to see he was no longer breathing. After a few seconds, I caught my breath, looking up at Emma who was shifting between staring at me and the dead man with an expression of horror.

Her voice quivered as she addressed me while I began to search the body. "Nate, what…what happened? What are you doing?"

"Caught this guy breaking in with a knife and…dealt with him." Practically growling to cover up my conflicting emotions, I continued. "And as for the other part…I'm looking for something." When I found the giveaway mark I made a noise of disgust. "Know anybody that has something like this?"

I held up the would-be killer's arm which was emblazoned with a rather familiar looking logo. My traumatized girlfriend hesitantly approached before I could see the recognition in her eyes along with a growing look of anger. "Oh my God." She gasped. "That's just like the one on your chest."

"The exact same." I threw his arm to the ground in rage. "I'm calling the cops. You might want to get your parents and let them know what's happening. I've got things handled here, so go ahead."

As she practically ran past I went to give her a cooldown hug before realizing that my hands and arms were a mess. Not that it mattered because she recoiled back, after which I tried to play it off with a downhearted smile. "I uh…should probably clean up a bit."

I walked into the kitchen and dialed up the number while cleaning up. "You've reached Emergency Services, what seems to be the problem?"A feminine voice answered my call.

"Yeah we've had a break in here, an intruder with a knife."

"Is everyone in the house ok and what is the status of the criminal? Is he still in the house?"

"Yeah everyone's fine." I paused for a moment. "And as for the man, he's dead. I got the jump on him before he could do anything."

There was a long silence on the other end. "I'm sorry sir you broke up there, did you say he was deceased?"

"That's correct."

"Ok." Another awkward pause. "Sir, I keyed in to your omni-tool's locations at the beginning of this call and alerted a squad car that was patrolling the area, stay on the line until he gets there please."

"Sure thing." A few minutes of silence passed before loud sirens broke up the stillness in the air. "Alright, they're here. Thanks for your help." Hanging up, I went to open the door for the policeman who was walking up the sidewalk to the door. "In here officer."

"Are you the houseowner?"

"No sir, I'm their daughter's boyfriend, Nate Wolfert. I was staying here last night visiting the family since I just got back in town after my five years in the service."

The darker-skinned man looked at me in a new light. "So you're Alliance then." It wasn't a question. He pulled up his sleeve to reveal the logo tattooed on his forearm, that of the Alliance Navy.

I smiled inwardly at that, it helps to have a sympathetic ear when you're explaining to the authorities that you killed somebody. It was self-defense, but still. "Small world. I was Marines."

"Jarhead huh? My brother was a Marine, served in the late seventies." We had begun to walk into the scene where everything happened and now he could see the effects of my brutal attack on the man. He gave a nod to the Perri's who had congregated around the body while we had talked before shaking their hands. "Sergeant Jayden James. I'm sorry you folks had to deal with this and I hate to make you relive something terrible but could you tell me what happened tonight?"

Emma pointed over towards me. "All of us were actually sleeping. Nate's the one you need to talk to."

"Understood. So Mr. Wolfert," he opened his omni-tool and prepared to take notes as we talked, "could you tell me what happened?"

"Of course." I began to talk, making sure to leave certain details of knowing why the man was there out of my tale. "Well I was just walking downstairs at about three this morning when I heard a noise. Don't know why I did, guess you could say old habits kicked in or I just had a bad feeling but either way, but I hid and waited for the guy to show himself. He was crouched low and I could see the glint of a knife so I smashed him into the wall over there," I pointed to the dent from my charge, mostly to get him to stop giving me weird looks, which he had been doing the whole conversation, "dropped him to the ground and just kept punching. That's about it."

"I see." He took a look at the corpse and noticed the ten that had been branded onto the man. Muttering low enough that I just barely caught it, he began to talk to himself while he analyzed the attempted killer. "Pretty weird for the Reds to be trying something on this side of town. Usually they don't pull anything this brash." Sergeant James gave me another glance and by now I was starting to get a little nervous. "And you don't know who this guy is right?"

"No idea." Technically it wasn't a lie. I didn't personally know the bastard, even if I was aware of the reason why he was here and his affiliations.

He stood up and looked at me again, asking a question out of nowhere. "Were you on Torfan?"

"Yeah." I breathed a sigh of relief. That actually makes sense, guess I kinda forgot that there was a whole Alliance News report on me that was televised on multiple planets and a former military man would probably keep up to date on some of the happenings.

"Thought I recognized you from somewhere. That whole mess doesn't help though." He pointed towards the scar running down my face along with the fake eye. "My brother was on one of the clean-up teams that got sent in after you and your team wrecked shop in there." He took my hand in his strong grip and shook it. "That's a thank you from the both of us. If you hadn't taken out those slaver sons of bitches he might not have made it home in one piece."

"I'm not the one to thank, I had the easy part. The real people you and your brother should recognize are the Marines who died there along with one who's never going to walk again. Not me though."

"Still. Thanks for finishing what they started." He closed his omni-tool and turned to address the family. "A couple other guys should be coming by any minute now to finalize everything, get your official statements and get…that out of here but as long as what you told me is true, there shouldn't be any trouble on your end. Have a goodnight." He gave a final nod before returning to his squad car and taking off into the night.

I turned away from the door and walked over to the Perri family who all looked disturbed to some extent. Surprisingly, the first one to speak up was actually the rather prim Mrs. Perri who extended her arms and with tears on her face gave me a hug despite the fact that my clothes were splattered with the aftereffects of the fight. "Nathan are you alright?"

"Yes ma'am I'm doing fine. Still reeling a little but I'll be alright in a few minutes."

The doctor walked over afterward and pulled me into another embrace. "We're all extremely thankful that you were here tonight Nathan. It was a stroke of luck that you came by to visit us." I frowned inwardly while still keeping my outward expression neutral. If he only knew, the whole reason they're in danger is because of me. This time I was able to save them but I can't protect them around the clock, twenty-four seven. "Are you injured at all from the fight son? I could take a look and make sure you're doing alright?"

"Thank you but no, it's not needed. I got lucky," another baldfaced lie, "and the guy must not have heard me walking around." I flashed a tired smile at the man. "I appreciate the offer though."

"Well alright, I'm going to take my wife outside and away from this nasty business and greet the officers who are coming by. You two are welcome to retire back to bed, if you can of course."

Yeah, the chances of that are not great. "Hey you go on up, I need to change out of these clothes and clean myself up." She just gave a slight nod before walking away in a zombie-like trance.

About ten minutes later after a lot of arm scrubbing I joined her in the room we were sharing only to find the brunette nurse still sitting bolt upright with the covers from the bed wrapped around her shoulders. "Mind sharing?"

I sat down next to her, before she gave a little shake of the head and opened the comforter for me to join. There was a brief quiet before she dropped her head onto my shoulder and whispered something I could just barely hear.

"How do you do it?"

"How do I do what Em?"

"Keep on living the way you do. You're still upbeat after everything that's happened." She continued on in her quiet tone of voice. "The way you left Detroit the first time. Torfan. Every single mission you participated in between then and now." She looked up at me with her blue eyes glistening with tears. "I only saw what happened after the," she stopped, unable to finish the sentence, "but I know that image from downstairs is going to be burned into my brain for the rest of my life. And I wasn't even the one who had to do it…"

A fresh batch of tears burst forth and I pulled her onto my chest as we reclined into the mattress. "I've done a lot of stuff that I'm not proud of Emma, you of all people know that. But none of those things were in the last five years." She stopped sniffling and glanced up at me with a curious look on her face. "Everything I did before that, robbing, cheating and lying, all of it was for me, but something changed five years ago. Everything I've done since that day we met, well most of it, was to protect good people. I'm not perfect but I'm trying to be the best I can every day."

"Both of us help people in our own way." I continued, grabbing her hands and intertwining them with my own. "Your way is healing. People are at ease around you, hell you managed to give me a shot without me completely freaking out." That actually got a little smile out of her. "You and your dad help to make people whole. Me on the other hand, I can't do any of those things that you two can but that doesn't mean I can't try and help. My job is to protect the people like you, the healers, from the people who are like me but on the wrong side of things."

"That's how I keep moving Emma. I have to believe that everything I'm doing, all the bad things, are to protect the innocent people who can't help themselves from wolves like me." I looked down at the mess of hair on my chest once again, only to see she had fallen asleep. Giving a kiss to her forehead I pulled the blanket up to her shoulders. "Goodnight Emma. I promise I'm going to do everything I can to not lose anyone again."

A/N: So after thirty plus chapters the Tenth Street Reds rear their ugly head once again. Everybody probably figured it was coming eventually so here it is, the kick off for the final arc of WiSC 1, spanning from chapters 38-50.

Ranger Station Charlie is my part-time Beta, part-time parody song writer…who's also not getting paid for either of those job titles.

Review Answering Portion:

Jedi Master Albus: I can tell you for sure that Wolf won't become a Spectre but as for the reason he joins up with the Normandy and the Detroit/Reds/Jack/Emma happenings…that I don't wanna give away just yet, you'll have to wait the next 12 or so chapters like everybody else ;)

And wild guessing is the best kind of guessing, that's really been my favorite part about committing to write a story that doesn't just kick off at the start of ME1 is just how much fun I can have world building and creating these characters and interactions that aren't foregone conclusions. Although I will say that things won't go exactly the same as in-game, gotta keep things fresh still.

Thanks! I definitely appreciate anything, even just a simple, "nice chapter," (hopefully it's that and not the other way around, lol) is much appreciated. I'm committed to writing this no matter what, but getting reviews and opinions from you guys just makes me even more motivated to get it done.

RSC: I really don't enjoy reading stories that are full-up on angst so I figure why write one? Even when shit gets dark, I still like to have a few glimmers of light shining through to make it a touch brighter.

Yeah, that was just a logistical thing where that was really the only spot that it fit in the story. Considering the Omega deal happens at the end of '79 and the last chapter took place stretching from the first few months of '81 to fall of '81, I figured that just over a year was a good time for Ty to lay low and get the heat off him. Plus, him going back to Detroit was just something that didn't mesh with the focus on the Reds, Jack, Emma and Dax going forward.

P.S. That was pretty good, I figured it was you but I wasn't quite sure and it definitely made me crack up reading it.

Fallout Fan: I'm a big RT fanboy so yeah, I incorporate more than a few shout-outs that aren't (at least usually) direct line rip-offs from the series if you know where to look for them.

And I'm reading through Auburn right now, haven't had much time due to Finals and all that jazz but I think I'm about a half-dozen chapters or so in. Really good stuff so far, thanks for the recommendation!

Cerberus Agent 0001: Welp, I guess we'll just have to read now won't we? Obviously, he gets onto the Normandy since the very first chapter talks about some of the things that happened but other than that…it's all just a big game of wait-and-see.

Guest: Yeah, like I said in the A/N I realized after posting it and reading the reviews that it was a bit much considering Wolf and Mitch weren't simple grunts any longer but it was too late. I struggled with what exactly to do with that quite a bit and rewrote the thing seriously about seven or eight times before reposting what's my final version so if you wanna go back to last chapter hopefully it's a bit more realistic as to the ramifications that could come down from the Alliance superiors.

General-Joseph-Dickson: Well she's survived one assassination attempt, it remains to be seen how long Wolf and Co. can dodge bullets and not get hit.

Phoenix1222: Sort of, lol, TF2 is actually making a Highlander reference. Basically it's a movie (well it started with a movie, there's more afterwards along with some TV series and who knows what else) about a race of immortals who, hence the name, live forever. When one immortal chops off another's head they get their power and the loser is…dead…obviously. Oh and they're also at war to be the last one and get, "The Prize,"…or something…it gets a little fuzzy as the thing goes on.

*Mini-rant here that was set off by the above quotation marks* And by the way, that was the most cringe worthy moment in the whole damn ME series. I'm not a great (or even good) writer by any stretch of the imagination, I know that all too well, but damn, "The Prize?" The motherbleeping Prize? *shakes head in sadness* Fucking Jacob man. I feel sorry for the dude, Bioware set him up to fail from the beginning. *End of mini-rant*

Ch. 11 Guest: Yeah, I fucked up, rushed things and had to back and rewrite it…wouldn't be the first time and it probably won't be the last either unfortunately. I went back and rewrote the Anderson interaction again if you want to give it another readthrough.

…Honestly, I didn't even realize Blade was a Marvel character until I looked it up after seeing your review. I'd heard of the movies, never saw 'em, but I really just kind of brainstormed on vaguely thuggish names that would fit a gang boss and Blade was one of the first ones that came to mind for me. I guess even when I don't try to intentionally do it, the comic book alias still sucks me right back into its gaping maw.

Tarikk: Yeah, Wolf does not like to lose at anything and when you combine that with like you said, being a bit of a show-off, it can be a bit much at times.

The gangwar has officially begun so, your wish is granted. We'll see how quickly things escalate in the next few chapters.

There's definitely a plan for Ty going forward, he figures pretty prominently into the future story so don't worry, there'll be more of the drell in the future.

Well, it's a slight spoiler but Wolf will definitely be keeping his skills sharp and quite possibly developing some new ones in the near future so Mitch won't be running away in terms of surpassing Wolf in skill levels. He'll definitely be rusty in terms of working with a squad once he gets on the Normandy but Wolf might even see more fighting in that time than Woley does.