AN:Several reviews have asked how Sam has blended in despite being an Astartes, and modified beyond all reason, the answer is simple. All of the really eyebrow-raising stuff, such as the fused ribcage, are SUB-dermal. Meaning, beneath the skin. The only way someone's going to see them is if they flay him with a scalpel or something. The only one who Sam would let someone see enough of him to notice something was off would be Hannah, his wife, who Sam has obviously fed a hell of a cover story. The most obvious modification, his size, would not be as difficult to pass off as normal as you'd think. The tallest man ever, in real life, was Nine feet tall. Nobody ever accused him of being a genetically modified supersoldier. According to one source, 'Average' height for a Space Marine is 7' 2". Shaquille O'Neal,(A former American Basketball player, for those of you who haven't heard of him) is naturally 7' 1". Yao Ming, another former Basketball player, is 7' 6". Sam is tall for an Astartes, so maybe 8+. Odd, but it's not suspicious. People around his neighborhood may talk about him, but no one's calling in a news crew because he's taller than average. As for lack of demonic mutations, Alpha Legion actually canonically avoid the Eye of Terror, and as such don't spend too much time in the Warp.

As for the Black Carapace nodes...that'll come up later.

AN2: I have also received several reviews asking how prominent the Dark Gods/The Emperor/ other WH40K things are going to be. While I don't consider these things to be spoilers, some may disagree. If so, stop reading this AN.

The Dark Gods' influence is going to be minimal- the barriers between the Warp and Physical world are much stronger in M2 than M30-M42, and only one guy's sacrificing to them. They may pull a minor 'miracle' here or there, but nothing major.

The Emperor is actually going to feature prominently from ME2 on, though not as an omnipotent, omniscient being as he is usually portrayed in fanfiction. His role will be as a foil to Sam. I apologize for this, as some of my PM replies have said that he's not going to feature in this story. I have since found a way to work him in, so that is now retconned. Okay, maybe not retconned because I changed it before i wrote it into the actual story, but I digress.

Sam does have a Warhammer-verse ship… If you can really call it that. It's a heavily modified Caestus Assault Ram. For those of you who don't know what that is, It's small, even by ME standards. It's about 17m x 13m x 7m. (For reference, the Kodiak dropship is apparently 16m x 8m x 6m) [Sizes rounded to nearest meter]. It serves the same function as a dropship, but with a twist- it's designed to ram enemy ships, breaching the hull in the process, and dropping off the Space Marine compliment into the ship itself.

As for anything else from M30-M42 showing up… no. Absolutely not. It will lose all narrative cohesion if those are included. Imagine the final battle of ME3. You've gone through hell and back to sort through all the galaxy's problems, political or otherwise, in order to make this one final stand...only for an Ork fleet to show up out of nowhere and start wrecking the Reapers. Or against all odds, after much sacrifice, you finally wipe out the Reapers once and for all... only for Tyranids to show up, say "Screw your hard-won happy ending!" and eat everyone. The power imbalance is just too great for 40k to show up on anything more than a personal scale.

AN3: After some deliberation, I have decided to make it so Sam has a 'stash' of Wargear, that he trades between offscreen to fit the situation. I previously was concerned with how Sam was going to replenish ammo without having to commission a manufacturing plant to do a custom job for him, as that would raise suspicion. It turns out I failed to consider one aspect of ME lore: The ability to craft small objects using the omnitool. Such as custom ammunition. As you can imagine, this opens up a few options.

Complete list of Sam's Wargear:

Reaper Autocannon (Ammunition forged via omnitool/omnigel)

Lightning Claw (Master-crafted)

Custom Terminator-compatible Multi-Melta (Since it's custom I suppose it's Master-crafted as well)

Venom Sphere Harness(Ammunition forged via omnitool/omnigel)

Cameleoline-coated Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour

Lascannon

Volkite Charger

Grav-pistol

Cape bearing pre-heresy iconography (Cameoline?)

Iron Halo

Terminator Cyclone Missile Launcher (Ammunition forged with omnigel-due to size, either takes the omnitool a long time or requires a bigger fabricator, so cannot be reloaded on the fly) (NOT always equipped)

Terminator Conversion Beamer (Used sparingly!)(Firing Calculations done via omnitool)

ME Kinetic Barriers

ME Omnitool

Plus a couple of 'plot' items not in this list due to spoilers.

For those of you thinking "How in the world did he get some of those? Those are really rare/Unique!" Let's just say Sam had ...'Connections'...before the Horus Heresy. Which will be expanded upon in later chapters.

And now, after that massive wall of text, on with the Story!

Entropy Effect

Chapter 5

There were times Tela Vasir regretted her deal with the Shadow Broker. This was quickly becoming one of those times.

She reviewed the security footage once again, hoping to catch something she missed the first five times. Something she could use to track him. All she could get from it was that he was patient. Patient and smart. He would have had to successfully find out which shipping container would be heading to the facility, and, once inside, wait for days before making his move. He had to have incapacitated the pilot so that he'd have a ship to leave. Then he had to trick the guards into thinking the pilot was, well, still piloting, while inside a shipping container. Without making enough noise to alert the guards. Once the trap was sprung, killed every single one of the guards, hid well enough to wait out the lockdown, while being smart enough to know that they would have set up a killzone, making a head-on assault...less than ideal.

That's when things got strange.

The attacker made it a point to kill everyone. Yet didn't bother with the security footage. If the intent was to silence them, he would have at least tried to tamper with the cameras. He didn't.

The kills made in combat were quick and efficient. The mark of a professional. The final sweep...was not. The killings were too...ritualistic. Like it was done for fun, or some form of psychosis.

Once done, he...just got what he came for and left. No attempt to clean up, nor leaving a calling card.

She tracked him to Illium, but the trail went cold there. No police chatter about some hulking armored figure skulking about. The only thing close was before the attack on the Shadow Broker's facility, someone matching the description attacked an information broker.

Having finished watching the footage again, Tela got up, and decided to check out the broker he attacked. It was the only lead she had, at the moment. How could someone that distinctive stay in such a densely populated city without anyone commenting on it?

"Wow! Nice costume! Who are you supposed to be?" A rather...flamboyantly dressed Asari asked.

"Samael the Iniquitous, Harrower of the Lernaean Terminators, Chaos Lord of the Alpha Legion. Yourself?"

"Shiva, from Galaxy of Fantasy."

"I believe I've heard of it. Isn't that some online game?"

"Yep! Let me guess, you're a tabletop guy." She stated more than guessed.

"...I'm a bit old fashioned, yes."

"Well, you're in luck, I just met this new group! Want to join?"

"I would be delighted. Thank you for your hospitality."

Sam followed the Asari deeper into the Expo Center, taking great care not to run into anyone. Due to the density of the crowd, one unfortunate Imperial Stormtrooper got cuffed upside the head by a giant gauntlet, despite his efforts. Not hard, of course.

As Liara returned home after a hard day at her office, thankfully now fully repaired, she noticed something was off. The door was unlocked. Considering her occupation, that was a mistake she never made. She withdrew her sidearm and cautiously entered. To her surprise, the only thing out of place was a single OSD on her coffee table, along with a note. It read: This disk contains files I obtained from your 'shadow broker', but they are encrypted. As I understand it, you are skilled in decryption. I will be returning in a week to check on your progress. Signed, your ally in recovering Shepard, Alpharius.

Putting the note down, Liara then checked her security. There was nothing. There was maybe a shimmer, most likely a tactical cloak, but other than that, nothing.

She hated acquiescing to this...things demands, but the truth was, she was very interested in what was on that disk, even if it had nothing about Shepard on it. And at least she knew what the...thing was after now.

She opened up her omnitool interface, and made a call.

"Officer Vakarian, Citadel Security. How may I help you?" Asked a bored voice.

"Hello, Garrus. It's Liara."

"Liara! It's good to hear from you! How are you doing?" The voice responded, all traces of boredom gone.

"Generally speaking, quite well, apart from...a certain issue. And you? I thought you quit C-Sec?"

"Well, I needed something to pay the bills once I got back. But I think I'm going to turn in my resignation sooner rather than later. For good, this time. If the red tape was stifling before, it's downright suffocating now."

"I'd imagine it must seem dull, after working with a Spectre. Unfortunately, as good as it is to catch up, this is not purely a social call."

"I figured as much. What's the problem?"

"About two weeks ago, I was...accosted by a ...creature in my office. I approximate between nine and ten feet tall, bipedal, five-fingered. Bulky, like a krogan, but possibly that's just armor. It asked after Shepard. I told him what I knew, and that is that the Shadow Broker put a bounty on him. It left after that, and during the next week, shadow broker informants started turning up dead. Not 'convenient accident' dead, I mean 'doors kicked in and victim literally torn apart' dead. I…"

"Wait, you were attacked by this thing? Are you okay?"

Liara rolled her eyes at the interruption. While she wouldn't trade the Normandy crew for the galaxy, their tendency to treat her like a maiden who hadn't even fired a gun before grated on her. Of course, that may have something to do with the fact that just a few months prior, she was a maiden who had never fired a gun before.

"I'm fine, Garrus. As I was saying, I just now returned home, and in my previously locked apartment, there was a note left by the creature. It wants my help finding Shepard's body, and It calls itself 'Alpharius'. It sounds like a Turian name, but the writing was human."

"Alpharius? That's not a Turian name I've ever heard. Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"It was blue, had numerous markings, possibly of religious or cultural significance, then again, it was obviously a soldier or warrior, so they may be indicative of personal accomplishment or status. It had powerful kinetic barriers, I overheated a thermal clip and they gave no indication of failing. A full powered biotic blast only slowed it down for a split second. It was physically strong, it subdued me with a single hand. The only thing I could determine of its personality was that it let me live because I was friends with Shepard."

"...Next time, when I ask, 'are you okay', and the answer is, 'a serial-killing bullet-and-biotic-proof juggernaut tried to murder me', the correct response is not 'I'm fine.' You're on Illium, right? I'm going to turn in my resignation and pack. As soon as I get that done, I'll be on my way."

"Garrus, I didn't call to ask for your help. I called to make sure you were prepared in case it tried to seek you out." Liara explained, exasperated.

"Too bad, you're getting my help." Garrus declared, as he cut off the call.

Liara sighed as she picked up the OSD.

"Well, better get to work. Thankfully, Sekat still owes me a few favors…"

After all, who knows what horrible things that creature was capable of…

"I cast Detect Evil to pinpoint the location of the Hag, and use Branding Smite to dispel its invisibility."

"Roll to hit." 'Deadpool' ordered.

Sam did so.

"Natural 20! YOUR SORCERY WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO EVADE MY RIGHTEOUS FURY, WITCH!" Sam bellowed, following up with a manic cackle.

"You know, I never would have pegged you for a Paladin. A Warlord or Hexblade, maybe, but not a Paladin."'Shiva' commented.

"...I was feeling nostalgic."

AN: Sorry about the wait, but a few things have happened since my last post, most notably the death of my father. While that was a significant personal event, which did make it difficult to get in the mood to write, it does not explain the long wait.

For that, the explanation is much simpler- Imagine a hill. When you start, you are full of energy, enthusiasm, and momentum. That momentum gets you, let's say, halfway up the hill. At that point, it takes far more energy and effort to continue up to the crest of the hill, which is then very easy to descend from. All three of my stories are at the 'halfway up' point.

Since this is good as a place as any, I suppose I will post an update, so you who follow me can know what's going on.

Entropy Effect: Next chapter unwritten, but I have a very good idea of what is going to happen, so it should be done shortly.

Not Just A Routine Mission: First half of next chapter planned, second half… not so much. I previously had it half-written, but scrapped it because it was horrible.

Dark Lord of Naboo: Hiatus.

Sotor-verse fics: Canceled. Exception is Peacemaker.

Peacemaker: Hiatus. Will be turned into a technically 'non-canon' NJARP-verse spinoff. (Non canon because NJARP-verse is very much a 'hard science' series. FFVII is… not based on hard science. At all.)