Note: I know that these chapters are super short compared to what a lot of other people write and I want to change that. Basically I just really haven't had much to write until I got to this part, I mean everything beforehand was building up to here so I'm hoping now that I've gotten to it, things will be a bit longer. I could be the author that takes like 4 paragraphs describing the same thing but I respect the time of readers more than that as people have imaginations and all of this is from a pre-existing universe where reference material could easily be searched up. Also, since I want to make the chapters a bit longer, it may take me a little more time to write them so there might not be a new one each day. Either way, I hope everyone is enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

-Chapter 8-

Where It All Leads To

Jared saw the gaze of four gun barrels meet him as soon as he was finished speaking, his hands being up was probably the only thing that saved him from immediate death. Slowly but surely, the figures put their guns away and began to walk towards him in formation. As they got closer, Jared was finally able to make out the features of all four of the heavily armed individuals. Starting from the left was a Krogan in heavy maroon body armor, the large plate on his head had several huge scars on it left by battles long past which descended down onto his face, past his broad mouth, and ended on his bulky neck. The Krogan kept his eyes steadily trained on Jared, watching for movement of any kind as they got closer. It was clear he had done this many times before, and he was not about to trust a seemingly innocent stranger. To the right of him was a Turian, donning black and blue body armor, generally, the Turian looked a lot like the ones he had seen before, with this one being steely gray, however, he wore blue face paint on certain areas, a color Jared had yet to see. With a blue, holographic eyepiece over his left eye, he also kept a very cautious view of Jared, however, he approached less openly than the Krogan, showing he was less likely to resort to full on close quarters combat. Further down the line was another new race he had yet to see in person, this one wore an environmental suit, similar to the Volus, however, its proportions were a lot more human. Its mask, rather than being an insulated cover, was more of a window that was heavily clouded, all that could be seen were the creature's glowing eyes and the tip of the nose. At the bottom of the mask was a small, circular speaker box similar to the volus's except without the uncomfortable breathing. Covering the helmet and mask was what looked like a decorative towel with a swirling pattern, weaving in and out to add a little flair to the otherwise drab suit. The creature had three fingers and three toes and its legs were fairly similar to the Turians, arching back like a dogs; the rest of its body was similar to a human in every way, with this one clearly being female. That's a Quarian, and one I know all too well.

Jared quickly became filled with excitement as the figures approached him, he couldn't help it, these characters in his mind were legendary, he was awestruck. He was quickly forgetting his words, whatever he had planned to say had suddenly left his mind in place of the many memories he had with these characters over the years.

Get a hold of yourself man! This is so fucking sad, you're literally fangirling when your life is in danger and your whole race is being subjugated by aliens. The attempt at calming himself was quickly diminished as his gaze switched to the final figure in the line.

The final one, that seemed to be leading the others, was a human male. Atop his head was full, brown hair that was swept back and led to a slight, natural pompadour at the front. He had full eyebrows that lay just above his hooded, green eyes. His nose was slightly crooked and came off his face at an arch and ended several inches above his mouth. Around his lips was a beard that was barely more than a stubble, he had kept it shaved quite consistently. His jaw was full and his chin was broad along with a slight scar that lay in the indent of his chin. Overall, his face was sharp but at the same time gave off an aura of kindness and calm that Jared had yet to feel since he got to his world. It was like seeing a relative after several years of being apart, a warm feeling had filled his chest as the man approached, all thoughts of doubt and worry had slowly fettered out of his mind and Jared had to hold back the feeling to try and hug him.

Oh my god! It really is him! And it's my Shepard too! Not the bullshit default one with the weird ass look, it's the one that I fucking made! Jared thought with little to no shame, not remembering what he had reminded himself seconds before, this was momentous, he had no idea what to think let alone say.

"Jared Knight? That's what you said right?" the man began to speak. He motioned to the rest of his squad to be at ease while he approached Jared. The voice of the man was all too familiar to him and it gave him comfort as it hit his ears.

"It's a nice name, you don't see many with it these days." The man extended his hand out. "I'm Jared Shepard, but you seemed to already know that."

Jared stood frozen. Not only was it the Shepard he had created, it also kept the name he gave him long ago when he first booted up the game. His mind had millions of thoughts crossing it as Shepard's hand was placed in front of him, not a single one of them about how he got here or how he was abducted.

Jared slowly extended his shaking sweaty hand out and grasped Shepard's, he was sweating so much he was worried Shepard would feel it through the black combat suit he was wearing, which had the N7 on the right breast, just like he had described to the Volus before.

It's perfect down to the very last detail. Jared thought, blissfully ignorant of the fact that he had yet to shake Shepard's hand and was instead just holding it as if he was an elementary school girlfriend.

Rather than make this situation more awkward, Shepard quickly gave the shaking motion himself and began to speak. "It's good to meet you." He said with a polite candor. "Now I know you said you needed my help but this area is dangerous right now." Shepard looked back toward the bodies lying on the ground. "And this is not a place for a civilian to be, let alone an unarmed one."

The Turian moved closer to both of them and began to speak, which Shepard seemed to understand immediately. However, Jared could not make out a word of what was being spoken instead hearing gibberish.

"Yeah, you're right." Shepard turned toward the Quarian behind him. "Are you good to go now or do you need a minute to rest?"

The Quarian quickly pulled up a holographic interface on her left wrist and began to speak. Same thing as the Turian, Shepard nodded along and was preparing a response while Jared was completely dumbfounded and lost, only hearing noise.

"Alright, good." Shepard turned back toward Jared. "We have some information we need to get to the human ambassador, would you mind coming with us and waiting until this whole fiasco is resolved?" He said with a weariness, it was clear he had been through a lot to get this information.

The Korgan started to speak as well, beginning his turn to assault Jared's ears with sounds and noises he would never imagine hearing. Then the Turian added something quickly after the Krogan. Although he could not understand them, he could tell they were talking about him.

"Either way, this information needs to get to the ambassador now. Having him follow us shouldn't slow us down any, as long as he can keep up." Shepard looked Jared in the eyes. "Is that okay with you?"

"Huh? Oh, um, yeah."I literally understood only what Shepard said but I really don't care, he's speaking to me right now and he even shook my hand which is so fucking cool! Jared thought to himself while looking at his hand, which was still covered in his own perspiration.

"Alright, Garrus you're with me." Shepard pointed at the Turian. "Wrex, you stay near Tali and make sure no one tries to approach her." He motioned toward the Krogan and the Quarian. "And Jared, you stay near them and make sure to keep up." After Shepard gave out the orders, everyone gave a quick nod to show that they understood, everyone except Jared, who was still not sure what to think.

"Okay, let's move!" Shepard called out before beginning to move, everyone had a sense of urgency about them, each keeping their hands above their respective weapons in preparation for trouble.

As soon as Wrex, the Krogan, began to move, Jared's legs idly followed. He knew that he needed to go with them but still wasn't 100% sure why due to the lack of understanding and his own thoughts being clouded by Shepard. Hey, I'm fine with following them if it means I can even be near them, this is so fucking cool.

The team moved to the opposite end of the hallway from where Jared entered and opened a door which led to an actual corridor rather than a maintenance wing. Shepard immediately moved left towards what looked like an elevator; after calling it, he made his way back to the doorway and took cover. Silently, they watched the elevator come down with a sleek swoosh as the doors opened slowly. The elevator appeared to be empty.

Shepard looked back to the rest of the group. "Garrus, you're with me, we're going to scope it out." The Turian nodded as they both moved up to opposite sides of the elevator. After both drawing their weapons, Shepard drew what appeared to be a shotgun while Garrus drew an assault rifle, they quickly performed a perimeter sweep to make sure the elevator was secure.

After a few seconds, Shepard made a hand gesture which caused the group to move up with him. Jared, still with his head in the clouds, lagged behind slightly. As soon as everyone was in the elevator, Shepard quickly used a control panel by the elevator doors which caused them to shut and for the elevator to begin ascending . For Jared, it was hard to tell when it actually began moving, there was no feeling of inertia as the elevator rapidly began to take off, faster than any one he had been in before.

They stood in a circle, all of them facing the elevator doors, waiting for them to open. It was extremely silent as they all waited, no one dared say a word as the silence continued to blanket the small box.

Oh yeah, I should probably mention that language thing now before I end up going any further. Jared thought,

He tapped Shepard on the shoulder to get his attention. "Hey Shepard, I forgot to mention this back there but I can't understand a word these guys are saying." Jared said, motioning toward the rest of the group.

Wrex chimed in with something that caused Tali to snicker, he could tell it was most likely an insult.

Shepard gave Wrex a look and turned his attention back to Jared. "What do you mean? Do you not have a translator or anything?"

"I didn't think I needed one." Jared said, confused. "I spoke to a Volus merchant earlier without one and I could understand him perfectly."

"Yeah, a lot of store owners here seem to do that, they think if they speak in a race's native tongue it'll get them a sale." Shepard switched his gaze to the other teammates. "Anyone have an extra translator on them or anything?"

Garrus seemed to reach around himself before eventually pulling out a bracelet of some sort, handing it to Shepard and saying something.

"Thanks." Shepard said before handing it off to Jared.

The bracelet was completely black, however, when the light hit it at different angles, orange circuits could be seen sending small electrical pulses around the interior of the bracelet.

"Why did you have an extra translator anyway?" Shepard questioned. "I didn't think anyone would actually have one."

Garrus began to speak as Jared put on the bracelet. Suddenly, the Turians went from speaking a different language entirely to speaking in fluent English.

"Standard C-Sec issue, in case a tourist doesn't have one or yours breaks on the job." Garrus concluded. When the Turian spoke, his voice seemed to waver at two pitches, one higher and one lower, which produced a unique effect and made the voice instantly recognizable.

"So, he can understand us now?" Wrex uttered. "Damn, I was going to have fun with that." The Krogan spoke in a deep, gravely voice while genuinely seeming a little upset he could no longer mess with Jared.

"So what do we plan to do once we give the information to the ambassador?" Tali spoke ignoring the other, her voice was soft with a slight accent and inflection highlighting every word.

Shepard turned to face her. "We hope that the information is enough for him to get us another meeting with the council. If that happens, we expose Saren for the traitor he is."

"If this damn elevator would hurry up." Wrex said, impatiently crossing his arms.

Finally after several more seconds, the elevator began to slow down as it reached its destination. The doors to the elevator opened, leading to a pristine area, compared to the markets Jared had been in, it looked beautiful. One by one, the group filed out of the elevator with only Jared and Shepard remaining.

This is all too surreal. I can't lie, this is so fucking cool, but. Jared suddenly remembered how he had gotten here and everything that had happened prior. But it's all for the entertainment of those damn Ulzo, and at the expense of my own people. No matter what, I have to get back.

Shepard put an arm on Jared's shoulder. "Well, you coming?" He said with unwavering confidence, just hearing his voice put Jared at ease.

He turned around to see Shepard giving him a half smile, Jared returned the gesture. "Yeah. let's go."