Bit shorter this time I know. It is what it is though, hope y'all enjoy!

POV: John Shepard

It's been 15 days since the Collector base mission. In that time I've spent most of it in or around the hospital and the Normandy. The same went for the entirety of the ground team except for Zaeed, Kasumi and Thane. All going their separate ways. Zaeed continuing to be a mercenary, Kasumi to go steal more things and Thane to reconnect with his son. They all said their goodbyes before leaving at least and made to say goodbye to Aedon as well. Not that it did much for him as he was still in a coma.

They had taken him off the drugs to keep him in the medical coma about four days ago but he still hasn't woken up. Tali along with Jack were getting antsy that he hasn't woken up yet but I knew he would soon. It was only a matter of time before the stubborn bastard woke up. Speaking of Tali she hadn't left his room except to get food the entire time. The only two people who even came close to the time she spent in there were Volio and Ceelo.

I had really thought it would've been Frank but that question was answered on the twelth day. He came into the hospital room with a good sized case which when opened revealed a brand new mechanical arm for Aedon. It was the most eerily beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. The thing was absolutely built for power but at the same time you could see the finesse within the arm. Not to mention that after it was attached to Aedon parts of it would glow purple every now and again; exactly like his other mechanical hand.

When it had first been attached as well the hand flexed and squeezed for a few moments before going still. We had hoped that he would've woken up at that moment but he never did. That more than anything frustrated Jack and Tali. Both women becoming not only ansty, as previously stated, but also irritable. Especially Tali in that regard; she snapped at just about anyone that got on her nerves and as much as I hated it I understood.

I wasn't in the best state either all things considered as I sat in the room on one of the chairs in a corner. The first few days had been the hardest when he kept on flatlining and I have to say every time he did there was a presence that filled the room. I don't think the others felt it but I could; something was there every time he died but every time he came back it left.

Pushing that out of my mind we continued to wait for him to wake up. At the moment it was myself, Grunt, Garrus, Volio and Tali in the room with Grunt pacing around the foot of Aedon's bed. Volio and Garrus were having a quiet conversation about guns beside my chair as they leaned up against the glass of the room. Tali was sitting next to Aedon's bed in a chair clutching his hand and looking at him desperately.

Looking at this the only silver lining that I could possibly find was that the Council had left me alone. They had practically demanded a report when we literally landed on the front lawn of Huerta but I told them to piss off. Well, not literally but I said that I would get to it when I got to it. The polite way of saying piss off.

Before my mind could begin to wander any farther I noticed that Tali leaned forward and put her head on Aedon's arm falling asleep almost instantly. Looking at Aedon as she did that it was hard to see him like this. Half a permenate glasnow smile, fresh scars everywhere on his chest, mechanical arm and that wasn't mentioning everything that was on his legs and his ripped open stomach. Medi-gel worked wonders on every injury and when he woke up recovery from the muscles wouldn't take nearly as long as it should've. Probably only another few days before his body would be fully recovered to fight again.

Sounds ridiculous I know but, Turk, the surgeon and Dr. Cox the man overseeing Aedon's recovery both seemed to take the rules as just guidelines. Guidelines that they vehemently ignored as they pumped Aedon full of medi-gel at every opportunity. They had to be careful not to overdose him but from the way they talked about it they knew what they were doing. Something that was confirmed for me by Dr. Chakwas once she heard the name Dr. Cox. She just said to trust the grumpy bastard and that he, his apprentice and Turk were the only docs we could trust at Huerta. That being said, grumpy bastard did fit him pretty well all things considered.

Now, as I sat on the chair and continued to stare at Aedon with Tali asleep on him his eyelids began fluttering. Something they did every now and again since he's been asleep so it wasn't that much of a thing to me. Though it became one once Grunt let out another loud growl.

"Grunt. If you keep growling imma find a ball gag large enough for your mouth and shove it in there," Aedon spoke in a hoarse voice. Instantly everyone's eyes were on Aedon as he slowly pushed himself up on the bed waking Tali in the process.

Tali stared at Aedon frozen and none of us could see her face as she continued to stare at him. After a short moment though we all heard her choked sobs before she jumped at the man throwing her arms around her neck and burying her face into his collar. Sobbing her eyes out and for a moment we all wanted to stay and make sure he was okay. However, once we saw him hugging Tali back with tears in his eyes as well we made our way out sending small 'get wells' to him. Being the last one to leave I heard Aedon speak once more before closing the door.

"I'm sorry I scared you my Con'trual," there was real fear laced in his voice too. He really meant it and didn't want to hurt her at all. The amount of love they had for each other really made me wonder if I could ever have that. Jack… could be that but I just don't know yet.

"Spectre Shepard," a professional sounding voice announced behind me just as the door closed. Turning around I was met with a well dressed Turian. "The Council kindly requests your presence."

"Demanding you mean?"

"I'm just the messenger sir… And frankly I'd rather not anger you."

"At least you aren't dumb. Message them saying I'm on my way," he gave me a nod and then I walked by him.

I got about fifteen feet before realizing that he hadn't told me where to go. Deciding to just wing it I grabbed a cab and made my way to the embassies before heading to the conference room. The one that they usually used for meetings between the councilmembers when they were all on the Citadel. Which turned out to the correct guess too as they were all sitting in there and waiting.

"Commander, your report is long overdue," Udina shot starting the meeting. As much of a prick as Udina could be at least he never liked to beat around the bush. Something that I appreciated immensely here. I wanted to get back and properly welcome Aedon back to the land of the living, with alcohol.

"Long or short version?" was my only question.

"Mr. Wynne just woke up so we can deal with the short version for now Commander but we will expect a detailed one within the next 24 hours," Tevos stated. The other councillors nodded and at that I began my quick debrief.

"While we were on Omega at Juni T'Kari's funeral, Aedon's surrogate mother, Dashi attacked us. That delayed us getting back to the Normandy as we had finally cracked the Reaper IFF code. It was a Trojan horse though and it disabled the ship allowing the Collectors to board it and take everyone. We immediately went through the Relay. Landed on the Collector base, fought to a junction point before splitting up. One group to get the stolen crew and another to plant the bomb.

The group with the crew got through fine. Mine, not so much. Aedon got taken away by the swarm and we continued our fight to plant the bomb; we wouldn't have been able to get to him. However, he…" I hesitated having a quick internal debate with myself. What to tell them, Essence or draining a Reaper? Essence won out fairly quick.

"He achieved Essence and fought his way back to us meeting us at the designated area to plant the bomb. Helped us kill the Reaper that the Collectors were making. Doing so with the liquified remains of the humans they had captured. Once the Reaper was dead we armed the bomb and got the hell out of there. Jumped through a couple Relays back to back and parked on Huerta's lawn."

There was silence between the Councillors as they looked between each other digesting the information that had just been given to them. There were a couple of reactions among them that I was able to notice before their political faces set in. Udina looked contemplative over the whole situation but he was reserving any type of judgement until he got the full report. Or at least everything that would be put into the 'full' report.

As for the rest Valern was his usual impassive self but I just knew he was planning every possible way he could get to Aedon and exploit him. For better or worse, and Aedon would not like it, Aedon needed someone to watch his back 24/7. Whichever panned out well as he would either be going back to Omega or to the Quarians. Right now my money was on the Quarians, there was no way that Tali was going to let him out of her sight for at least the next month or so.

Then Sparatus and Tevos. For a moment after they learned that he had achieved Essence they looked completely and utterly terrified. Something that I had to sympathize with in all honesty. What we saw him do and how the hell he survived against probably close to a thousand husks and Collectors combined was incredible; we watched his helmets footage. It was easy to see why Essence terrified the biotic community if one achieved it. Especially with no one holding their leash.

"Commander… This does not leave this room," Tevos stated after a brief look inbetween the other councillors. "Aedon Wynne is a Spectre. A black ops one exclusively for the Terminous Sector… Now, do you believe, given your time with him, that he at any point could go rogue like Dashi did?"

"Of course he could ma'am," my response was instant but I continued. "Anyone could if they're pushed enough. To fall as drastically as Dashi though won't happen. He has a very clear line and as long as you never make him cross it he won't push back against you. No kids, no slaves and that includes doing anything and I mean anything that could help the Hegemony in any way."

"Thank you Commander, you ma-" just then the door to the conference room burst open and the same Turian who had given me the message the Council wanted to talk to me rushed in.

"There's a shootout at Huerta and the docks. The Normandy and Mr. Wynne's room."

"Wh-" my radio crackled to life. Thank god for Aedon's paranoia rubbing off on me as I had my armor and weapons on me as well at the moment.

"Shepard!" Jack roared over the radio, gunfire in the background. "Fucking Cerberus is at the hospital! They're trying to get Aedon!" I was already out the door.

POV: Aedon Wynne; several minutes earlier.

Holding Tali in my arms as she cried into my shoulder hurt because I made her cry like this. Because of my actions but I made it back alive, I made it back to her and would never abandon her. She knew that as well but it didn't stop her from crying at the state that my body was in. The new scars covering most of my body and there was no doubt in my mind that the resulting scar tissue would need to be taken care of every couple of years so it wouldn't be detrimental to me.

Pushing that thought out of my mind for the future I continued to hug her and run my new augmetic arm across her back. The thing felt weird to be honest but whatever Frank and Ceelo had done was wondrous. My entire arm could feel Tali, I could feel her exactly like a real arm would. It did bring a tear to my eye and when the tear formed Tali finally calmed down from her sobbing. Pulling back minimally from me she looked up at me before taking off her mask.

Once her mask was off and I saw her face it hurt me all over again. Her eyes were blooshot with bags underneath them. Her nose was puffy and tears stained her face as she looked up at me. Taking my right augmetic from her back I held it gently at her cheek and she leaned into it. That alone brought a choked sob from me threatening to be a full blown one.

That was my greatest fear now alleviated. I had lost both my hands and even if my sense of touch was still intact thanks to Frank and Ceelo my arms were still augmetic and metal. And the love of my life came from a race that created the Geth and who had every right to hate or at least be repulsed by people like me. People with metal arms and legs and yet Tali didn't care; she leaned into my right augmetics touch and stared into my eyes. Her eyes full of love and understanding.

"Thank you for not hating what I've become," I whispered looking at her. She just smiled and leaned up towards me kissing me chastly on the lips before getting up onto the bed and straddling me.

"Aedon… Do you know what I see when I look at you?" I shook my head in the negative and Tali continued. "I don't see the man the entire galaxy fears. I don't see a killer, a monster, a soldier or a mercenary. I simply see a good man, one fighting against his nature so that he can make the galaxy a better place. Determined to be the best man anyone could ever ask him to be.

You are everything I could ever ask for. Strong, intelligent, faithful, kind but most of all loving. The reason you are who you are is because you love everything around you, even if you don't see it I do. You love the people, your friends and, of course, me most of all," she had a cocky grin at that but I couldn't find it in myself to tell her otherwise, mostly because she was right. "You are the man I love. No matter what, I will always love everything I have. I. Love. You."

As she spoke she removed her mask showing that she had tears brimming in the corner of her eyes. As shs finished talking though she looked down at me with the most gentle smile I've ever seen. Cupping the side of my face with her hand she leaned down and gave me a kiss before pulling away giving me a giant smile. Her fangs showing prominently in front of me but I just loved her more for it. I can't remember if I've thought this before but I would kill the galaxy for this woman if she asked me too, she was my everything.

Now, I won't lie and say it didn't hurt because even with the massive amounts of Medi-gel they must've been pumping into me to make sure I could still move everything hurt. My entire body felt like someone had taken a rusty spoon to it and started carving but it wasn't unbearable. Just incredibly painful but that sure as shit wasn't about to stop me from kissing Tali back. Which resulted in it starting to escalate and probably would've gone farther if the door hadn't been swung open.

Whipping my head to the open door Frank stood there looking embarrassed at barging in on us for all of a quarter second before smiling. I returned his smile noticing that Tali was looking a bit sheepish as she pulled back from me and got back into her seat. Frank just strolled in though giving me a giant grin and he walked over and hugged me. Returning the hug we held each other for a few moments before he pulled back.

"How ya feeling kid?"

"As good as I can be right now I guess. Arm will take a little to get used to but you did an amazing job."

"Thanks kid. Put a little something in it too… Juni's sword is infused into the arm," I was shocked into silence my mouth agape as I looked at him. "I needed the extra material and I know she would've offered it if she was still her. Your mother will never leave you now."

As the words began to register in my mind I felt the tears the streaming down my face. Not a moment later my entire body was racked with sobs as I brought my new augmetic arm up to my chest and just held it there. I knew she would never leave me but to know for sure that she will always walk with me was something else. It was like at that moment that I had won every single lottery in the galaxy.

"Tha… Than-" I took a couple deep breaths trying to stop my sobs but it wasn't happening. It was almost five minutes later before I was finally able to calm myself down enough to talk. "Thank you Frank. I'll do her proud," he then gently grabbed the back of my neck and brought our heads together.

"You already have," he whispered and my sobs continued. He kissed me on the forehead before leaving but I barely noticed as my sobs continued.

Tali just sat there and rubbed my shoulder soothingly as I held my arm close to my chest. My sobs soon died down and I was able to recover from it all. Didn't mean the pain was gone but now it was manageable. Taking a deep breath I looked over to Tali and gave me the best smile that was manageable in my state. Even with the half glasgow smile now adorned on my face, she just didn't seem to care and looked at me like I was god's gift to her. Maybe I was because I knew she was god's gift to me.

Before we could get any more lost in each others eyes gunfire erupted outside of the door. A second after it did so the door opened and Frank dived through the open door rolling up onto his feet. As he reached his feet he released a growl before stalking over to Tali and stood in front of her.

"What extra weapons do you have on you?" he asked but more like demanded. Tali didn't respond verbally though and handed him a pistol and her knife; he nodded to her in thanks before looking to me. "Can you move on your feet?"

"Should be able to," I flexed my feet and toes but even I knew at this moment I was nowhere near 100%, probably not even 20%. "But help would definitely be appreciated."

"Switch princess. Give me your shotgun and you get your knife and pistol back," Frank commanded and Tali did so without question.

Just as they were switching weapons between each other there was movement right outside the window and all of us looked. Only too see six Cerberus soldiers rapelling down with weapons pointed at us. Frank reacted instantly grabbing both Tali and the side of my bed and flipped it over with Tali as well. It wasn't good cover but from a guess they were here for me and thus couldn't fire indiscriminately; someone on the Normandy definitely got a message out.

That being said being thrown to the ground and out of my bed left me groaning and in no small bit of pain. Pushing through the pain I hefted my left arm upwards and pointed it towards the soldiers. Immediately my omni-tool activated sending three consecutive Overloads at the soldiers with an Incinerate program to top it off. Frank and Tali wasting no time either as the fired while I was firing off my tech abilities.

Not long after throwing out the tech abilities there was no more gunfire in the room. The gunfire outside of the room only increased though as we finished up in the room. Groaning as we finished up in the room I propped myself up on the side of the bed using it to slowly stand up. Tali instantly put my arm around her and supported me up. Not gonna lie, my body was groaning and completely against this type of movement.

"Stand behind me princess. We're gonna head down and see if we can hijack an ambulance; we can't stay here," Frank said going to the door and opening it peaking out into the hall. A shot barely missing him above the head. He pulled back immediately and went over to one of the Cerberus soldiers we had killed and poached a shield generator. He then jerryrigged to his omni-tool giving himself shields.

"How's the situation look out there?" I asked.

"No casualties on our end yet but none of them besides Volio, Grunt and Garrus were ready for a fight. They'll overwhelm us soon enough; the only reason they haven't is because hallway fighting as an attacker without ordinance is basically impossible."

"We need to run then," Tali asked in a way that told us that's what needed to be done regardless. Which was the truth.

"Yes," Frank then walked over to one of the Cerberus bodies and picked up the pistol before tossing it to me. I caught it with my right augmetic and went through the usual checking of a pistol. "We go now, be ready."

Frank then stacked up on the door and Tali and I got behind him waiting. He spared one more glance at us before going out the door and firing his shotgun down range and pointed to our right. We followed his instruction without complaint and went down the hallway. Following the signs that told us where the garage was.*

As we progressed down the hallway we both heard Frank shouting out orders to the others and steadily they began to follow us. Falling back as best as they could but like Frank said, even retreating in a hallway without ordinance was ridiculously hard to do. They still managed it especially with Grunt being the last one and soaking up most of the damage.

Continuing down the hallways following the signs towards the garage I felt completely helpless to be honest. Everyone around me was fighting and protecting me but here I was being carried, literally, because walking unassisted wasn't something that could really be done by me at the moment. It hurt my warriors soul for this to be the case but to join the fight in earnest would be stupid in my current state.

So there we were with Tali supporting me as we rounded one of the final corners to get to the garage when the wall next to us exploded outwards. The explosion sent both Tali and I sprawling into the wall on the other side of the hallway. Impacting against said wall did not help my current phsyical state at all.

As I laid against the wall I looked to my left and saw the body of a Cerberus soldier that looked like he had gone through a woodchipper. Torn to shreds in almost every imaginable way but somehow still with all his limbs attached. Looking back towards the hole in the wall Jack stepped through it with blood coating most of her body but no visible wounds. She looked down at me as she stepped through the hole and gave me a cocky grin.

"You look like shit," I could only grunt in response as Tali helped me onto my feet and began to support me again. "Shepard's on his way and everyone at the Normandy is holding down the fort as best as they can."

"The Normandy's under attack as well?"

"Smaller group from what Joker was able to tell me but yeah. He's locked himself in the cockpit and everyone not here is fighting them off, doesn't help that everyone but the engineers turned traitor but they're managing. At least that's what Ice Queen says."

"She finally made it official and went turncoat for us?" I couldn't help but ask with an arched eyebrow.

"Yep. Jacob too… Though Zaeed is fighting with Cerberus, gave him one hell of a payday to try to take the Normandy from what I can gather," not surprising all things considered. Though, I had hoped he would be better. He'll die next time he crosses my path unless he has something that can help us. Which I doubt.

"Thank you for the info but we need to move," Tali cut in getting a nod from both Jack and myself.

From there Jack took point protecting Tali and myself as we made our way to the garage. On the way there we encountered only a token resistance from Cerberus. The sounds of gunfire didn't stop around us though so I assumed that C-Sec or other Spectres on station were cleaning house. Still, that didn't stop the soldiers behind us though so we kept on pushing towards the garage.

When we did get there Tali started taking me to the ambulance and when we got close enough I disengaged from her and threw myself at the door. My body so weak that I was barely able to grab the handle before collapsing but I was able to do so. Thrusting the door open and practically crawling into the drivers seat I hotwired the ambulance to start. Not the first time I've done it.

As Tali and myself waited for the others to arrive they made a fighting retreat to the ambulance. Helped by myself as I started and manuevered the ambulance so that the back of it was towards the entrance to the garage. Allowing everyone coming in to just jump into the ambulance via the back door. All thanks to Tali who opened the door for them.

A minute or so of agonizing waiting as everyone piled into the back of the ambulance felt like decades. Then, finally, Grunt jumped into the back and as soon as he was in the back Jack screamed out for me to punch it. Being knowledgable to my own driving chaos I waited until the doors were closed before punching it.

The resulting drive to the Normandy was the definition of chaos. Plus, I heard more screams from everyone while I drove than every before; it was satisfying in a sadistic sort of way. Most of them had never experienced my driving and it was arguably worse than Shepards. Definitely worse than Shepards all things considered; Shepard was controlled chaos when he drove. I was just pure chaos and definitely caused several accidents along the way to the Normandy.

Either way once we made it to the dock I skidded to a stop in front of the entrance. Looking back at everyone every single one of them were giving me the stinkeye. I just laughed it off and announced that we were at the Normandy. At that they all jumped out of the back of the ambulance but Grunt stayed with me. Looking at him with a silent question on my face he simply responded that someone needed to watch over you and Tali couldn't because she was needed for hacking purposes.

Taking that answer we waited in silence as the group charged into the Normandy and began to kill all of the Cerberus personnel that was there for a fight. I assumed that was the case at least and our end we were completely fine. No one came out to us and no one tried to ambush us from behind. Though we did see a shuttle take off out of the Normandy's cargo bay.

It infuriated me to no end that I couldn't help with the fight but with the state that I was in that just wasn't possible. I would be the definition of a liability right now. Didn't stop me from demanding a gun from Grunt. Something that quickly provided in the form of a pistol. Which brought up another question. Where the hell was my gear.

"Grunt. Were's my gear?"

"Frank has everything. Didn't trust Huerta or the Normandy. A sound decision," Grunt grumbled out with mild anger lining his voice.

After that we stayed silent just waiting for the others to finish up with the Normandy. It was only about a half hour later when it was all done. The radio chatter finally dying down as Cerberus was evicted from the Normandy and Huerta. A couple minutes after that a shuttle pulled up and parked right next to the ambulance with Shepard getting out once it was parked.

"You all good Aedon?"

"No. I'll live though," he just nodded before heading into the Normandy.

With that all done now I just needed to rest and get used to my new arm. I was pretty sued to it but there was no doubt in my mind that it wasn't fine tuned. At least not yet, experience with it was the only thing that could do that.

POV: Pope Victor V

It took us just under a year to find the man. Elric Kalt, a pale and short young man who had a bit of a breathing issue due to prolonged exposure to toxic fumes when he was younger. That wasn't what I was interested in though, it was his mind that I wanted for this upcoming war and there wasn't much time left. The Church has deep pockets and we may finally be able to actually use it for something other than the church and help the galaxy as a whole.

The young man, 26 from the file, was one of the greatest mech designers out there but was reclusive. Not because he was sought after but because he could never really make any money. A bit of a contradiction when you know the prowess he has with his designs. However, he was from Korlus and no one bothered to look all that deep into the planet. If they did no doubt people would've found him.

That being said though his designs were expensive. Not in how he sold them but in how much it cost to make a single one of his designs. Which is the main reason no one really knew about him. With YMIR mechs and others that could be mass produced in days need be for relatively cheap no one wanted to spend more money. Especially considering that the last ones that did were the Quarians and everyone knows how that ended.

All that said though I didn't care and the Cardinals in the know didn't care after seeing some of his designs our people found when they found Kalt. He came willingly being, surprisingly, part of the faith himself. So now he sat across from me with a modest table between us.

"So, why am I here?" his voice and body were relaxed but from the way his eyes darted around the room he was on edge.

"We want you to make an army for the church. We will not sit on the sidelines of the coming fight against the Reapers," he tilted his head to the side confusion written across his face.

"Reapers?" at his question I sent him the video the boy had provided for us plus a small data packet we had compiled. He read over the packet first before watching the video. His already pale complexion paled even farther upon watching the video. Once it ended he sat there in silence seemingly contemplating life and I couldn't blame him, my reaction was the same upon seeing the video. However, his face became pure determination after a moment.

"How long do I have and how many people will I have with me?"

"We don't know but within the next year from today onwards. And you'll have several thousand people working under you prepared to follow your instruction."

"What's the budget?"

"There is no budget," he opened his mouth in shock before he nodded his head.

"I'll have a list of everything I need within the day."

"We took the liberty of looking at your designs. All the parts are being procured as we speak and the workers are already set. You start in five days."

There we go folks. Bit of a shorter chapter I know but it is what it is. A lot coming in the future.

*1: Some hospitals will have signs to the ambulances and some to everything within the hospital. My dad was a doctor so that's how I know; from years exploring hospitals.