Hey, everyone how y'all doing? I hope y'all enjoy this chapter and review when you can.

Also, I can't believe I'm saying this but ARCANE on Netflix is amazing. I don't like LoL and have never played it but that show is amazing. If you like good writing and solid character development I would highly recommend it. I personally would change just a bit at the end of ep 9 but that's from me having my own siblings. Either way, great show.

Book 2: Is Chaos Order or is Order Chaos?

POV: ATorchbearer

Cracking my eyes open I felt surprisingly good. My body still ached like no one's business but it wasn't debilitating. Looking up at the white ceiling I realized that I was in a hospital but with how the window was illuminating minimum light it was probably night time. Turning my head to look around I saw no one and decided to push myself up.

I got my right arm down but when I went to put my left one done I almost smacked my head into the railing. Looking at my left arm I sighed in realization that my left hand and most of my forearm was gone. Though that movement seemed to wake something below me on the ground. I tensed for a fight only to see Frank get up from the ground.

"About fucking time kid," Frank said as he got up and stood next to me. "How ya feeling?"

"Not bad actually."

"Good. Because we're leaving, I need to make you some new armor and a new hand."

"Can you?"

"I built my own armor from the ground up kid. Volio's got all the materials stashed at a warehouse for us."

"And my hand?" I asked bringing it up and waving my stump at him.

"Ceelo and Dr. Chakwas already got the schematics for me. I just have to build it."

"How long?"

"Have you been out or to make everything?"

"Both."

"You've been out for about ten days, the same to make everything."

"Then let's get the fuck outta here."

Frank didn't say anything else and just smiled. Turning away from me he bent down towards the ground and rustling started coming from where he was. Then all my other mentors slowly got up. First up was Miss T'Kari who gave me a radiant smile and congratulated me on staying alive.

Volio came next and he gave me a pat on the shoulder and promised I'd be fixed in no time. Ceelo was last and didn't say anything as he came over to me. He looked me dead in the eyes and just nodded his head. Guess that was the best I was going to get out of him for now and that was fine with me.

Once everyone was awake Ceelo began working on his omni-tool and after a few moments he gave a silent nod to Frank. He returned the nod and then got me out of bed. He helped me walk for a few minutes as we slowly made our way out of the hospital. Once we got to the stairs though I was able to walk on my own. Still felt weird with only one hand but it is what it is.

It didn't take us long to get out of the hospital and once we did we all piled into an air car and left. Like before when they got me from the ambulance we parked it in a darkened alleyway but didn't burn it this time. We would spend the next hour or so taking the back roads and ending up at a small warehouse.

Getting inside it was fully furnished and I had a sneaking suspicion that this was one of their safehouses. It was also a lot bigger than Frank's actual place. Though, the thing that stood out the most about it was that at the back of the place was a giant furnace and work place with a massive amount of destroyed geth platforms and a few iron ingots. I assumed they were going to be the raw materials Frank was going to use for my armor and hand.

Sitting down at the table in the middle of the place the others followed suit except for Frank. He went to a cabinet and proceeded to pull out several cigars and brandy. He laid them out in front of us respectively but Ceelo didn't get a cigar, just brandy for him that he would share with Volio.

"I got these a long time ago," Frank said as everyone had brandy and cigars in front of them. "Saving them for a special occasion and the fact that we survived the attack and you're awake I think it's a good time to enjoy them."

No one said anything against it and we all cut and lit up our cigars with the exception of Ceelo. Miss T'Kari cut my cigar for me while Volio lit it and we all enjoyed our time. There wasn't much talking going around but we were all happy we were alive. It was obvious.

I'm sorry, I lied. After a few minutes of silence and enjoyment of our presents we all started talking. Exchanging stories and laughing with each other. It was nice and frankly it still hadn't set in that I had lived. That we had won but I knew this wasn't the end. That the Reapers were still coming but it wasn't the time for that, we were alive and it was time to celebrate. So we did.

About halfway through the cigar I got the question I had slightly dreading.

"So kid, that speech. The whole Citadel saw it. Where did that come from?" Volio asked as he puffed his cigar.

"The HQ was on its last legs and we were close to breaking… We were breaking. I knew if I didn't do something we would fall."

"It worked and I'm happy it did. Finally got the people to stand up for themselves," Frank said.

"Thought you would be mad. I sent thousands to their deaths," I spoke softly, the mood souring for a moment before Frank reached over and put his hand on my shoulder.

"And how many more would've died if you hadn't? You gave them a chance, kid, and they took it. You're practically a folk hero to everyone now."

"The Council is already working on elevating Shepard and throwing you behind but most know. Most know they would've died scared and alone without that speech," Ceelo said, taking a sip of his drink from his straw.

"That's fine with me. Shepard can have the limelight, I'm just happy we won," I said, taking a drag of the cigar. "By the way, did you guys ever see a Cardinal in the hospital after the battle?"

"A Cardinal?" Miss T'Kari asked, confused.

"A religious man. Had a broken staff when I saw him last. He's the one that got me to the Council's Chambers."

"Religious garb stained red?" Volio asked.

"Yeah."

"Saw him in the morgue, sorry. His staff is over there though," he said pointing to the pile of materials. "Thought it would be good for materials."

"It would be but I'd like to do something before we use it," I said getting up.

Walking over to the pile leaving my cigar on the table. It took me a few moments to find it but it was pretty easy to find. Bit of a unique item. I looked it over for a few moments but what I was looking for didn't take long to find. On the bottom, or maybe top, there was an inscription on it. Written in latin and the seal of the Pope. I couldn't read Latin but I knew this was the property of the Vatican, I couldn't use it without the Pope's permission.

"I want to use this for my arm," I said, grabbing the two pieces in my one hand and brought it over to the table. "But I need to ask someone first," setting it on the table I looked at them.

"And who would that be?" Frank asked

"The Pope," I pointed to the seal on the staff. They all looked at me silently for a few moments before they looked at Frank.

"I'll make the armor first. You can go to Earth with Volio. He'll fly you."

"By the way did you guys ever find my Predator armor?" I asked after a few moments of silence.

"Destroyed kid. I was able to get the biotic dampener and shield generator out of it though," I'm not gonna lie after being through all that I had been through with that armor it war hard to imagine that it was just gone. It hurt because that had been MY armor. My baby practically and now it was gone... It wasn't the time to dwell on it though.

"What about my rosary and the coins in my pocket?"

"Top shelf," Frank said, gesturing to the cabinet.

Nodding at that we continued our mini celebration. The cigar and alcohol were good and being around them was nice too. I wondered about Shepard's group, Tali and Wrex especially, but things needed to be done.

Eventually people started to go to bed. Volio was first as he was the first to finish his cigar and alcohol. Miss T'Kari went next and Frank was quick to follow her to the bedroom. They were probably happy to have some alone time. As for Ceelo and I, we stayed there for a long time enjoying the silence.

After a few more drinks I grabbed his bottle and took a swig of it. He had a horrified look on his face but I just smiled it away. When he saw I wasn't negatively reacting to the dextro drink he gave me a curious look.

"I'm assuming Dr. Chakwas told you I got hit in the face with a nuke," he nodded. "One of the side effects is I can have both dextro and amino foods now."

"First of your kind then."

"I know. I'll have to stay away from the doctors here," I gave him a small smile at that.

"Good call," we went back into silence for a few moments before I spoke again.

"Why did you get exiled Ceelo?" he stopped drinking and looked me in the eyes like a laser beam.

"I already told you."

"Over a note I didn't read. If I'm going to learn about this you're going to tell me face to face. Not over some damn note," again he looked at me like a laser beam but he quickly relented. Finishing the rest of his drink he set it on the table before taking a few deep breaths.

"It was about 30 years ago now, about 5 years before I met Frank. The Flotilla, as always, was having problems with maintenance but it was bad this time. We needed a proper and full overhaul on a few of our ships before it got out of hand. Our filtration, water, and energy systems all needed to be replaced or at least worked on.

However, they were all on the smaller ships so the Admirals pushed it back. They kept pushing it back and soon enough they couldn't be pushed back any more without risk of losing those ships. Well, that's what I argued to them at the time but they didn't believe me after sending someone to inspect the ships. Said they would be fine for another year at least. Only Admiral Rael'Zorah agreed with me.

Four months later the systems failed. I was on the flagship doing maintenance when it happened, total system failure so they quarantined the ships immediately. By the time the engineer there caught it, it was too late, over half the people on those ships got sick. Another quarter would get sick before we were able to fix everything and return it to livable. Three fourths of the people on those ships got sick Aedon, 18000 people got sick. Roughly 15000 of them died because the Admirals didn't listen to me.

Of those 15000 I lost three people. My wife, my daughter and her infant daughter; only me and my son survived and my son was on his pilgrimage at the time. So, grieving I took my revenge. I killed the inspector they sent to the ships, and 3 admirals too. Killed them the same way my family had died, of sickness.

I didn't make it a secret who did it. So naturally they found me in my room and took me to trial. They wanted to execute me of course but I escaped and found myself on Omega. Few years later I met Frank and never looked back." I was silent for a few moments.

"Did you ever try to talk to your son?"

"I send him messages every now and again. Sometimes we talk, sometimes we don't. I've kept up with him through the Quarian net though. It's not that hard to hack for me so I know he's done well for himself. Even if he changed his last name"

"What's he do?"

"He's a Marine. Got a kid if you can believe it, a grandkid I'll never see."

We went back to silence between each other for a few minutes. When the silence was broken Ceelo was just informing me that he was headed to bed. So I sat there and pondered nothing for another minute when the plan I had started coming up with during the battle came back. I knew on some level the Council would never actually see what was coming even if they had all the information.

The implications of the Reapers' existence was enough to make anyone want to bury their heads in the sand. What to do about it though and that's where my plan came in. It wouldn't be nice and it would definitely be stupid but I already had the groundwork done. Now, it was just about making sure it could actually work. That was something for tomorrow though, I'm tired.

The next morning Volio woke me up at first light and we made our way to Frank's ship with a change of clothes and the broken staff. Jumping in we were off and through the Relay before 10 o'clock and arrived in the Sol system moments later. It always felt weird coming to this system as it had once been my home.

Pushing those thoughts out of the way I fell asleep in my chair and woke up as we were about a quarter of the way there. Somewhere between Neptune and Saturn. From the quick exchange I had with Volio after waking up we would arrive at Earth sometime around noon tomorrow morning. After finding that out I went straight back to sleep periodically waking up over that time until we finally reached Earth's orbit.

Volio sent his identification through and next thing I knew we were flying over Rome. I had been here once in my past life and it was just as beautiful as before. There were plenty of renovated areas but for the most part they kept their ancient structuring. Gave it a homey feel if I'm being honest.

Landing right outside the city I put the broken staff in a backpack he gave me and we made our way in. It was mostly how I remembered it surprisingly, a good amount of street vendors everywhere and tourists. The tourists this time around were of all species though.

Walking through the streets we made our way to the Vatican but as we came to it we were stopped. Apparently it had been closed for the past week and according to one of the people we asked about it the Pope was in mourning. His friend, Cardinal Samuel Gonzalez had died on the Citadel.

Now, we could have exploited that to get in but it would've raised a bit to many questions than I was comfortable with. Volio agreed on that matter and we decided to sneak in. Problem with that was that every exit and entrance was covered, as were the rooftops. This place was more well guarded and protected than the Citadel had been. After a quick hack job too it turned out the guards were no slumps either. All former special ops guys.

Now, if I had my gear and my other hand I could get in. It would require more planning and equipment but I could do it. Right now though, no way. So, with that being out of the question we decided to wait until night when the tourists would disperse.

It would be about 10 o'clock before we began to walk to the front entrance of the Vatican. As we neared the entrance I told Volio to wait. He stopped walking with me and waited while I went to the entrance where 4 guards were. They spotted me immediately and raised their weapons.

"Stop where you are and remove the backpack!" one of them shouted as they walked towards me, guns still raised.

Slowly taking off the backpack I put it in front of me before getting on my knees and putting my one hand behind my head. My other I kept in front of me. They made a semi-circle around me before with hand motion from one another opened my backpack. When he saw what was inside he brought it over to the one who had given the order. His eyes widened in the moonlight before they shifted to me.

Bringing his radio to his mouth he spoke into it. "Holy Father. Are you reading me?"

A weary voice came through the radio back at him but I couldn't make out the words.

"The Cardinal's staff is here sir… No. The body hasn't been brought… Just a young man," as he spoke those words he then looked down at my severed arm. "Yes sir. He does… Are you sure sir… Okay, Holy Father. We'll be there momentarily. Get up, he wants to speak to you."

Silently standing up I walked with them. The one who had talked and looked in the bag in front of me with the other two behind me. No one said anything as we went into the Vatican Church. Honestly, it was surreal. I had visited this place once before and it remained beautiful to me. Walking past the ceiling painting we went to an area I had never been before and even walked through the actual church area before coming to a rather modest doorway.

We stopped there and the one who had the backpack handed it back to me before opening the door. The one who talked went through first and beckoned me to follow. I did so and the rest of the soldiers stayed where they were.

Going through the doorway I saw the pope. He sat in a chair looking out the window with an empty chair beside him and as all Popes before him he looked old. Old but wise and when he turned to me I saw the experience he held in his eyes. It was unfathomable. Patting the seat next to him he beckoned me over. Once I was sitting down he looked back at the man.

"You may leave."

"Yes, Holy Father," was all he said before leaving. Once he was out of the room I wasted no time and reached into the backpack and brought out the broken staff.

"This belongs to you Holy Father," he didn't take it back and gently pushed it back to me.

"Did you know the Cardinal son?"

"No sir. I did not."

"That's too bad. I believe you would've been good friends," he quietly looked out the window before looking back to me. "He liked your work, Torchbearer. Thought you were doing God's work."

"Sir?" I tried to feign it but he just gave me a soft chuckle.

"A man shows up missing most of his left forearm and with the Cardinal's staff. It's obvious."

"Didn't know you would know about that."

"The Church has eyes everywhere son. Even if we aren't what we used to be… But you didn't come here to give back the staff, did you son?"

"No Holy Father. I did not."

"Then why did you come?" It looked like he already knew but wanted me to say it so I did.

"To ask permission to use the staff as material for a new arm Holy Father… I did not know the Cardinal but in what I believe were his last moments he helped me save the Citadel. If not for him the Citadel could've fallen," without even hesitating he responded.

"You have my blessing son. For using it and for everything you will do."

"Sir?"

"Tell me son. Do you know John 2:15?"

"Yeah, it was when Jesus drove the merchants out of the temple," his smile seemed to glow at that.

"Indeed. It shows us that even the most compassionate man ever knew that you cannot always fight evil with peace and understanding… Our galaxy allows desecration, sin and violations against his word but we cannot stop it with peace."

"So you're asking me to?"

"I'm asking you to show the galaxy a better way."

"How? I have no idea. I'm just a soldier, an assassin, a killer. I'm not a prophet or preacher," I looked at him in shock. I had no idea how to do what he was asking of me. Though his smile seemed to grow wider at that.

"Before storming the temple Jesus made and braided his whip. Do you know how long that takes?"

"No Holy Father."

"A skilled hand can do it in 3-5 hours depending on the material. Before he could do what needed to be done he took the time to make his materials. Just as it will take you time to figure out how to do what I have asked of you. I have faith in you son."

"Thank you."

"No need for that, here," he said handing me a piece of paper from his pocket. "The direct comm code for the Vatican's best. Now, go You are needed elsewhere."

I left the room and the soldiers escorted me back the way we came and out of the Vatican. None of them said anything as they escorted me out. Once we got back to where they had stopped me they let me go and I walked back to Volio. He had been waiting there the whole time for me.

"You get permission?"

"Yeah… Yeah, I did."

"You good kid?"

"Yeah, just got more than I bargained for."

"Well, let's get back."

*1 Month later*

I sat at a cafe table near the Presidium and quietly sipped on my hot chocolate. No one bothered me and I liked it that way. Quietly observing everyone around me it seemed that the Council still didn't know exactly what I looked like. After calling them out like I had they definitely would've tried to hound me down and 'convince' me not to. Though, Bau and Vasir had reached out to Frank and asked what they could do. I laughed like a madman when I heard that.

They wouldn't be able to do it all though and if the Council weren't willing to see the facts as they stared them in the face then it would be my job to do something about it. As the old American saying goes: When the government no longer serves the people, it is the duty of the people to remove it. Might not get that extreme but something needed to be done.

The plan I had thought up during the siege was now being actualized with the help of my mentors. Although, it does come with the caveat that they won't help me with the execution, only with the set up and it can never be known that they helped me. That was perfectly fine with me because if I failed or was caught their lives would be over. I wasn't going to let either happen though.

At the end of it the hardest thing to be done was a certain little program I needed designed. Ceelo was still going over the mechanics of the program but he had told me it was theoretically possible to pull off. That was all I or he needed for this situation.

That program was in fact the hardest thing about this. Everything else had already been meticulously planned out and prepared for. Hell, even one of the warehouses we used was in the process of being readied. Had all the C4 and claymores that were needed with pressure sensitive plates already installed. Just needed to be put together.

As for my armor* Frank had finished it before the meeting with the Council and I loved it. It was a blend of Geth and iron and made an interesting alloy. Strong and light, with a good resistance to heat. Although if there was too much heat and it had the possibility of melting onto my skin. We had tested it out though and unshielded it could withstand 4 direct shots before one of the plates broke. Most armors could only withstand 1 or two.

That wasn't the end of it of course though. A lot of the plates on the armor were removable including the protruding neck guard. It allowed for plenty of customization to certain situations from being a juggernaut, which is what it looks like with everything on it, to being optimized for stealth. It was perfect for me. Not to mention that Frank had managed to cannibalize the Predator X shield generator and biotic dampener into it.

My arm was made of the same stuff but with plenty more iron. It was harder and heavier but its internal wiring made the whole thing into an omni-tool. It turned into a scaled down version of Ceelo's idea. With the metal from the Cardinal's staff in it too it had some interesting effects I was still figuring out. It reacted weird around Miss T'Kari and her biotics and over the last couple days had started to humm when when she used biotics in spars. Still didn't know what was going on but I'll figure it out.

The hardest part of it though was just getting used to it. It was a lot stronger than my original hand had been. Breaking the datapad in half at the Council meeting being an obvious example. Still, punching with it was almost akin to being shot; there was so much extra force because of its mass.

"Hello boy," I looked up at Wrex and smiled. He quietly sat down in the chair across from me. "So what's this about?"

"Wait a few for Tali to show up," I replied and he hummed in acknowledgment. It would only take a few minutes for her to show up and sit down next to me.

"What's this about Wynne?" she asked as she sat down.

"I'll answer that soon but firstly how many people signed that ridiculous NDA?"

"Ashley and Kaiden," Wrex huffed out.

"That's not surprising, their whole careers are in the military. Not Garrus though? Isn't he still in C-Sec?"

"Resigned the next day. He's disappeared, don't know where he is," Tali responded. That honestly surprised me a bit but not that much. Wonder where he is though.

"Huh, well I suppose you're both curious about why I asked you to be here?" They both nodded. "Well, I'm going to do something. I'm not going to tell you what it is but I'll be out of contact for a bit. As for that, here is my direct contact information." I sent them both my data.

"What are you going to do?" Wrex asked curiously.

"Something dumb and dangerous but needs to be done," it got quiet before Tali leaned forward and whispered to me.

"Are you going to kill the Council?"

"No. They're worth nothing dead."

"You're just going to kick them in their teeth huh?" Wrex said and all I did in response to that question was smile.

"I'm going to show them they aren't as untouchable to the common man as they believe."

"Good. I'll be in contact, boy," and then Wrex stood up and left but stopped just a few feet from the table before turning back to me.

"I saw your speech boy... Consider my honorary Krogan status rescinded. You are Krogan, let no one tell you differently," and with that he left. Turning to Tali I started speaking in Quarian. (AN: I'm going to write it in english to make things simple but they are now speaking in Quarian)

"When do you head back to the Flotilla?" I had gotten a decent understanding of Quarian thanks to Ceelo. He still punished me and had supercharged his teaching in tech but he also supplemented it with lessons in Quarian now.

"I leave tomorrow. A ship is coming to pick me up," she spoke, smiling through her mask.

"They'll receive you like a queen," she let out a huff of annoyance at that.

"Doubt it. Still have to prove myself within the Flotilla."

"I have no doubt you will," I gave her a bright smile at that.

"I don't know how you have so much faith in all of us?" she said, shaking her head.

"Because I know what you are all capable of."

"And yet Shepard is still dead," she bit out.

"I don't think he is," I said looking up. "Just call it a hunch or faith. But I doubt he's dead."

"I wish I had that much faith."

"Trust me. That's all you need to do," I gently grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. She gave one back and then leaned over and hugged me.

"I should get going… I'll contact you."

"Whenever you need me," she then stood up and started to walk away and I will not lie. I looked at her ass.

*3 Months later*

POV: Councillor Tevos

Over the past month and a half we have been under attack. We don't know for sure who it is without definitive evidence but we all knew it had to be Aedon Wynne, aka: Torchbearer. There was remarkable little on him overall as a person and the only thing we could grasp with certainty was that he worked on the Normandy with Spectre Shepard. Nothing else, the man was a ghost. Even STG found nothing.

As for being under attack the first incident happened a month and a half ago. Sparatus disappeared without a trace from his apartment. His Blackwatch guards didn't even know he was gone until the next morning when they couldn't find him. We, of course, didn't release this to the public and have been saying he's been on vacation. Something hard to convince people of after almost 7 weeks without him.

Next was just a week later and Udina was gone. His N7 guard were found inside his apartment wounded. One had a broken arm and concussion while the other was sporting a broken leg and concussion. We followed through with the same procedure saying he was on vacation. However, we decided it was best to just announce that the Council was going on vacation.

Valern had tried to leave the next day only to never make it to Sur'kesh. His ship did of course along with his five STG and singular Spectre guard. Though, 3 of the five STG guards had been choked out and didn't know what happened. The other two were both sporting broken jaws and fractured legs. The Spectre had been hogtied.

I had been the last one standing and surrounded myself with 3 squads of Commando's including Spectre Tela Vasir. We took every precaution and even changed cars and had multiple drivers when I went anywhere but it didn't matter. Yesterday I had a meeting with a Volus delegate but never made it. I took one of our cars and next thing I knew the world had gone black. Which brings me to now.

I woke up strapped down to a chair with my left hand outstretched forwards with the palm facing up and locked into place in the middle of a room. A long, thin, and sparking pole coming down from the roof hovered over my hand. Blinking out my weariness and looking around I saw that the other councillors were sitting next to me. All were in the exact same predicament as me.

"It's good to see you're all awake," a voice spoke out from in front of us. Snapping my eyes to the voice, Torchbearer walked forward but it was just a hologram.

"What do you think you're doing boy," Udina snapped at him. Torchbearer's red eyes looked at him with nothing and didn't respond to his question.

"Have you enjoyed your food?" he asked.

"Better than expected," came Valern's voice.

"Thank you, I cooked the meals myself."

"Then why aren't you here now?" I asked. Torchbearer's eyes shifted to be before he let out a long sigh.

"Because I'm not an idiot and know we'll be having visitors soon."

"Running, as usual for your species," Sparatus said and it resulted in an indignant snort from both Udina and Torchbearer.

"And yet you're here. This isn't about race or anything that trivial. This is about survival."

"Reapers?" Valern asked.

"Yes," just then the wall behind, in front, and both of our sides burst out and our soldiers came in. Vasir with the commando's, Bau with the STG, and no Spectre's with Humanity's N7s or the Turian Blackwatch.

"This charade is over," Sparatus said and his soldier's started to walk forward.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Torchbearer said but they didn't heed his words until there was a soft click once the Turian pointman stepped two feet into the room. "This whole room is pressure plate booby trapped. I have the detonators too so if you want to live you will all listen to me."

"What do you want?" Udina snapped.

"Oh, I just want to let you know I beat you all. I snuck past your Blackwatch, I beat down your N7, I beat the STG at their own game, the commando's got embarrassed and the Spectres. Well, best of the best might be pushing it a bit."

"Get on with it," Vasir snapped at him and he held up his hands placatingly.

"You're right. Now, Councillors. Whether you choose to believe it or not the Reapers are coming and they cannot be bought, reasoned, or negotiated with. This cycle of theirs dictates we are all abominations and must die. You've all seen the recording of the conversation I had with one of them."

"No evidence supporting theory that they are Reapers. Advanced AI from Geth," Valern spoke.

"Sparatus, Black Ops mission and no one can know it was you. Go?' Wynne spoke in response, looking at Sparatus. Sparatus looked flustered for a moment before responding.

"Wipe everything out. Nothing left."

"Exactly, that is what the Reapers do and Shepard saw it in a Prothean Beacon. Yet, you didn't listen to him."

"No evidence," Valern spoke again.

"Bau, I know you found something." Wynne said, looking at the Spectre. Bau looked hesitant to say anything but relented when we all looked at him.

"Recovered Geth hardware has them call the ship known as Sovereign an Old Machine. They revered it as a god and no units showed that they built it. According to what I could find, it found them, and they don't know from where it came," silence reigned in the room.

"Death comes for us all Councillors. The only question is will you allow your pride to kill us all?"

"And what do you get out of this?" Udina asked and I stared at him in shock. Torchbearer basically just told us if we did nothing we'd all die. I'm not completely convinced of this myself but it's enough to do something in my opinion. Hopefully the Council of Matriarchs will agree.

"Nothing but know that if I did this once I can and will do it again. Only next time we won't talk, I'll just kill you. And I'll kill whoever comes after until they see reason… Also, get the Batarians to lift the bounty on my head."

"And in exchange?" Udina asked.

"I'll stay out of Council space for the foreseeable future."

"That is agreeable. Thank you Torchbearer," I spoke up for the first time making sure that my associates didn't get me killed.

"Great. One last thing Councillors. Remember this though: If the government no longer serves the people, it is the duty of the people to remove it… and the whole of the Citadel found out they could fight back. Change is coming, best not fight it."

As he got those words out his hologram disappeared. However, the place where the Turian pointman had stepped hadn't pushed back up. Instead, the pole that was above the Council's hands shot down into our open palms. It burned so bad I screamed out in pain but as soon as it began it stopped. When it stopped the straps keeping us in place were released and the place where the Turian pointman had been pushed back up releasing the trap.

Bringing my hand to my chest I breathed out a couple hard breaths before the pain subsided. Looking at my palm there in the middle where the rod had hit was his symbol. A burning torch had been burned into our palms with omni-gel. As I looked at it the ground in front of us lit up with words.

I am always watching ~ T

POV: Torchbearer

Five days later I was standing on a rooftop looking over the cityscape of Illium. It was rather beautiful in a way if you appreciated cities. I never really liked them that much but looking at the city the appeal was understandable. Too bad this place was about to get a lot more hectic with me.

The building across from me was undergoing construction on the top few floors. They were expanding upwards and had heavy equipment everywhere but that wasn't what I was interested in. Looking through the scope of my M-97 Viper Sniper Rifle, excellent against biotics and shields, I observed a floor about halfway up the tower. There were people bustling around moving chairs and such to make the place look good.

This place was going to be used for a slave auction in two days time. I'm sorry I mean an 'indentured servant' auction. Same thing and hacking their records for the people about to be bought most of them had signed things they had no idea about or were under some heavy bullshit debt. I still needed to do more research on the people being sold though, wouldn't want to release criminals or people who needed it.

I didn't like how Illium ran things, if that wasn't obvious. However, for this punishment there are a few people who deserve it and a few who need it. It's a good way to get solid work and to get your name in with some people. I didn't like it at all but in certain cases it could be used.

I had already gotten the list of people who would be attending and some were on the up and up. Most of those got their cheap labor this way and treated those under them well. The ones that didn't treat them well or used them were added to my list. Like the Asari merchant who used them as a smuggling tool. Though, she was already on my list as she had been one of the ones to flee the Citadel.

Putting my sniper rifle down I started thinking over ways to hit the place when I looked back up at the construction. A slow smile went across my face.

Pilot YES Sam spoke to me.

"Pilot YES."

Just to let y'all know there will be some serious shit going on in the future chapters. It won't happen for a bit (5-8ch) but it will get extremely heavy. I'll have disclaimers at the beginning of chapters but rest assured I won't be writing anything crazy. I don't like to and it wouldn't be good for the story in my opinion. Still, you have been forewarned.

Red Eyes will make his appearance soon and the forewarning I just gave will be where he makes his grand entrance and statement. This shit is gonna go HARD. I already have the intro written out and I can't wait for y'all to read it.

Also, sorry I didn't write about the execution of his kidnapping but I wanted to get this going. There will, of course, be consequences to his actions.

1*: the armor he now has in its completely armored form is exactly how the story picture depicts it. If you can't see it then I hope I described it adequately for you, if not open the computer page, if you can, and look at the pic for the story.