Author's Note: I would just like to remind everyone that reviews are a fanfic writer's BFF.

Chapter Fifty Six: Get the Lamb

"Commander, you're needed in the CIC," EDI's startled Shepard a little as he had been sitting alone in his room for hours. Doing fun things like going through causality reports.

"I'll be down right away," he replied, standing. He whistled to Rosebud and went to the elevator. In truth he just wanted to left alone for a little. He wasn't sleeping very well, and would probably say something he would regret later. Hopefully, this wouldn't be a waste.

"There you are, Commander. Reynolds intercepted something that you'll want to hear," Traynor met him and Rosebud at the elevator.

"Here you go sir," Ensign Reynolds handed him a pair of headphones. "I was combing through some encrypted transmissions, and happened across this," she typed at her console, and a buzzing noise started in Shepard's ears.

A very deep and distorted voice started speaking, "Get him, I don't care what you have to do."

"Getting Commander Shepard is not a simple task. He is an elite Alliance officer, and not to mention a Spectre. Plus he's surrounded by more elite soldiers," an equally deep, and distorted voice responded.

"I'll pay you a handsome sum," the first voice offered.

"I'm not concerned about creds. You said that only his blood will stop the Reapers. I'll get him for our church - consider it free," the second voice said. Before, Shepard was not overly concerned, and maybe slightly amused. Crazy people were always plotting to capture him. This was worse, though. It sounded like the same group that put out a bounty on him. The hefty sum had persuaded a few to try and capture him. Unfortunately for them, Shepard was even better than people said he was.

"This will bring great glory to you. The Reapers are only invading because they want him. When he's handed over, they'll leave. The knife needs a lamb," the second voice explained to his apparent follower.

Shepard was very concerned about the situation. Usually these groups stopped trying to get him in a few days when they realized how difficult the task would be. This group had been openly offering awards for him for a little more than a week. A very unusual situation, and a very deadly one. He made it a point to have almost no security in public areas as he wanted to make people feel welcome towards him. There was a downside to that though - he was an easy target, especially when he wandered around alone.

Shepard pulled off his headphones, and turned to the analyst, "Great job, Reynolds. Try, and find where this signal came from. If you can't it's all good, I don't think it's a particularly demanding threat." He lied; it was a very worrisome threat. Shepard didn't like the sound of being a sacrifice.

…

"This looks... lovely," Liara muttered, while looking around the bar. Colt laughed at her reluctance. Sure the bar was a shithole, but little behind-the-scene bars like this were fun. He could feel that the rest of his friends felt the same way Liara did. The only exception was Garrus, who probably knew how awesome these places could be.

"Oh, it's awesome. Come here every shore leave. The people are something else," Colt explained, before turning to the massive Krogan walking towards the group.

"I thought I told you that you're not allowed here," the Krogan growled. Shepard's group stepped back nervously.

"Stubby!" Colt yelled, and shook the Krogan's hand/ paw thing. It was actually a mechanical hand; his real one lost in an adventure to woo an asari.

"We were wondering when you'd be back, and I see you brought your friends. Plus you brought my favorite Varren!" Stubby petted Rosebud and got a massive lick in return. He did that Krogan chuckle and roared, "Come on, the bar isn't going to drain itself!" The Krogan's enthusiasm for drinking was impressive.

The whole group included Colt, Liara, Garrus, Chakwas, James, Traynor, Cortez, a couple of ensigns, and Joker. So the whole bar was filled with Colt's friends and drinking buddies. "How come I've never seen your face around here?" Colt asked the new bartender. He knew every single face that came to this bar.

"Just got hired, first day in fact," the human replied.

"Well, I'll take Ryncol then," Colt ordered. He hadn't told anyone about his inability to get drunk. Sure he could get buzzed and fall asleep, but he couldn't get truly drunk. His order was unusual for a human, and caused everyone to look at him oddly.

"Shepard here is a legend. Can drown down more alcohol than I've ever seen anyone do," Stubby patted Colt's back with bone crushing force. This earned a few snickers. Liara and Chakwas were apparently not pleased by his legend status, because they gave him the stink eye.

"Thanks Stubby, tell them how you lost your hand," Colt choked out.

"Oh ya... So it all started when I saw this pretty asari. See, everyone likes asari," Stubby started off, making Liara turn violet. Colt gave her a pat on the shoulder, and then a smile to confirm that he only liked one asari. Stubby continued, "There was this other Krogan, and that wasn't okay with me..."

Colt listened to his hilarious story, and started in on his shots. Two shots in, Colt noticed that something was off. His third shot had something fizzing at the bottom. It was barely there, but Colt's trained eye caught it. In an instant he realized what was happening. The 'new' bartender was trying to poison him.

He must be affiliated with his old gang rivals, or maybe it was someone from that religious group. At the moment he didn't really care. These sort people never tried something like this alone. Somewhere in the bar, at least two other people were in on it. They would be the backup in case the plan went wrong, and they would be armed. He needed to evacuate the bar before a shoot- out occurred.

Shepard slowly stood up from his chair and got on top of the counter. His friends were all paying attention to Stubby, but their chatter stopped. They all looked at Shepard with amusement; they all clearly thought he was drunk. If they were observant they would've noticed that Shepard had to be on duty tomorrow, and he would never dream of getting drunk before that.

He found his loud voice, and announced, "Ladies, and gentleman it would be a great idea if you all left. Right now!" He was met with laughter, and general disinterest. His crew however was looking at him with real concern. He had to do something more shocking to get everyone to evacuate.

"Ladies and gentlemen! If you want to get out alive, I would recommend listening to the Spectre. I order everyone to evacuate, now," Shepard's words finally reached the bar patrons, and one-by-one they left. He suspected that his authoritative voice had done the job. Only a few people remained, who Shepard suspected where the backup.

"Sir, I can assure you that nothing is wrong," the bartender looked at him with worry. This guy was a great actor. Shepard jumped down from the bar, and turned towards him.

"Next time let the poison dissolve, you asshole," Shepard yelled at him. Anger pulsed through Shepard until he could no longer control himself. He picked up a shot glass, and slammed it into the guy's head. Blood immediately started flowing, and the guy went down. He hit his head on the bar while he fell. Shepard was sure that he was dead or close to it.

There was still the backup to deal with. Shepard's first concern was his crew's safety, so he produced a biotic barrier that spread through them. He watched through the corner of his eye as people who had never felt biotics observe the blue flowing around them. Shepard had bigger problems, though, two guys were approaching quickly.

Shepard grabbed a knife sitting on the bar and aimed it at the first guy, who was around the same age as Colt. Shepard only stumbled back a little when a bullet tore through him; there was no pain. Commander Shepard aligned the knife with the guy's neck, and threw. It caught him right in the center of the throat and he fell backwards. He would bleed to death in a couple minutes. He turned to the second guy, who had stopped his approach after watching his partner get knifed.

The other man (who was more like a boy) started a hasty retreat towards the exit. Shepard caught him in a stasis, and let his biotic barrier go down. He walked over to the boy, and let the stasis go. Shepard grabbed his collar, and dragged him back to the bar. "Don't say a word, just listen," Shepard shoved his pistol in the boy's face, and dragged him on the bar. Glasses and alcohol fell to the floor. His crew was watching with shocked eyes and wonder, probably assuming he was going to kill the kid.

The boy started scrambling away, and grunting in terror. "What did I just say? Don't say anything, don't make a noise. See, I remember voices, not faces. I hear your voice when I'm wandering around, and well... that's not good for you. I'll associate your voice with danger, so don't make a noise," Shepard told the terrified boy. He was probably around eighteen.

"Is this all you wanted to be? In some seedy bar trying to kill Commander Shepard? I'm gonna' go ahead, and guess that you wanted to be something else. Maybe a doctor, maybe even an Alliance soldier. Do that, instead of trying to kill a Spectre. I could've killed you as quickly as I killed your friend. Nothing would've happened to me, I would've slept like a baby after repainting the walls with your brains," Shepard's words were a lie. He would've been stoic in front of his crew, and then he would've found a private place, and cried. He wouldn't have gotten over killing a kid.

"Now, you on the other hand, would've been in a sorry state. I think it's time to get a new profession. Open your hand," Shepard calmly asked, but the boy didn't. "Open your hand!" This time he did.

"I can read palms," Shepard was having too much fun lying, "This line tells me that after this you're going to do several things. First I'm going to let you go, and then you'll leave without a word. Then you're going to decide what you want to do with your life. When you decide what you want, you're gonna make it happen. Then you'll live a life of bliss, and every time you think about this you'll laugh. That's your future," Shepard allowed a small smile at him. The poor kid relaxed a little.

Shepard leaned in a little before speaking, "Before you make your future happen, I want a favor. I want you to go to the person who hired you, and I want you to tell them that I'll be waiting. Tell them that sending eighteen year olds to get a Spectre is only gonna get them so far. It's practice for me, not an actual threat. Tell them to do better," Shepard growled. He wondered if his words made him sound bloodthirsty.

Shepard pulled his pistol out of his face, and let go of the kid's collar go. When the kid realized he was free, he rolled off the bar, and stopped at his friend's body. "Get out of here! I never want to see your face again," Shepard's warning propelled him out the door.

A familiar pain tore through Shepard's torso, and it was clear he was starting another episode with his cybernetics. He would have to hide it for now.

"Shepard, you've been shot," Liara helpfully pointed out. Shepard didn't know if he could pretend like he wasn't in pain. The pain in his stomach was getting worse with each second. When he looked up towards his friends, he saw blood spattered on them. It must have happened when he was shot.

"I know," he tried to keep his voice even. He looked at the shoulder that was shot, and noticed a surprisingly small amount blood. He inspected it further, and found that the hole was closed. His cybernetics were good for something. "I'm all healed up," he told his friends, before sitting heavily at a bar stool.

He coughed a little, and spat some blood onto his hand. The pain wasn't getting any better, so he shot a look at Doctor Chakwas. She seemed to understand, and glided over to his seat. Everyone else just stood and surveyed the scene. Chakwas handed him a pill, and he gulped it down in seconds. The pain started to retreat.

"C-Sec is here!" Garrus called to Shepard. Shepard didn't want to deal with this now, he was still in too much pain. Even so, he didn't want to get arrested, so he slowly, and painfully pulled out his wallet.

"We're all good guys, I'm a Spectre," he handed one of them his documentation.

"I'm too sober for this!" Stubby roared, and started laughing. Shepard had to agree with him.