After this, it's time to go home.

Shepard half dreaded both going to the Citadel and to Rannoch. He dreaded going to the Citadel because he was going to be holding a press conference there, and he hated reporters. Some were fine, with only just reporting what is seen and not what is assumed. But nowadays, every news provider wants to get in on the victory story and his personal life. The latter he wished people would just keep their noses out of. I never wanted to be famous anyway.

He dreaded going to Rannoch, however, because he wasn't sure how he, a human, would adjust into a planet of quarians. He was sure he would get used to it, but it seems kind of odd that the person who gave them their planet back suddenly wanted to live on it because he was engaged to one of their kind. But that wasn't just it, either.

He wanted to seek acceptance from someone, and judging from previous words, he wasn't easily going to get it. He managed to get the acceptance of Raan, which was a large step forward. But this person held the most meaning. He just hoped his project would be successful in showing that someone how useful he was.

The project should have taken several months to complete, and being stranded on Earth ate up most of that time. Ever since the Mass Relays were repaired, he has been receiving messages from the geth who have been managing the project while on the planet.

Shepard was thankful that some of them managed to lock down their memory cores before the Crucible blast, or else the project would have taken a large halt in progress. Like Tali, the quarians managed to make new software for the geth to use their minds. They also managed to repair the bodies so construction work can continue, although slowly, since most of the geth weren't so lucky to survive. For that, Shepard felt guilty. They didn't deserve what I did to them.

The geth did manage to grow in numbers exponentially, but they have been slowing down recently in order not to outnumber the quarians so soon.

Shepard suddenly broke from his thoughts when the Normandy stopped near the huge space station.

"Alright Captain, we'll be docked in a few moments," Joker said over his cabin's intercom. "Wait, do I still call you Captain? I mean, I know you're retired. So does that mean Garrus commands the ship now?"

Shepard and Tali were sitting on the couch together enjoying the blue glow of the aquarium in his cabin. Both were reminiscing the times they spent together on the ship. "Most likely, Joker. I'm sure the Alliance will allow it."

Joker loudly groaned. "'Oh hey, how do we grow closer as a galactic community? I know! Let's make turian Mr. Stick-Ass become the commander of one of our most advanced frigates!' Great idea, Alliance. Way to be a tree-hugging bunch of-"

"You know we can still hear you, right?"

"Yeah, whatever. I just hope I break something important before Garrus destroys my baby," Joker said as he shut off the intercom.

Tali, who remained silent during the brief conversation, finally spoke up. "Well that was a little harsh. I'm sure he will take good care of the Normandy."

Shepard scooted Tali closer to him, the couch yawning from the friction. He began rubbing the intricate golden metal kissed with a diamond wrapped around Tali's last finger on her left hand. "I'm sure he will, and I'm sure Joker doesn't hate Garrus that much. He just likes giving him a hard time."

Tali sighed in agreement and rested her head in the base of his neck, the two helmets giving a simple tap sound as they collided. "I'll be honest, I'll miss the adventures we had, except for the getting shot at parts," she said.

Shepard chuckled, "Yeah, I'll miss this place, it's been home for a long while."

Tali actually groaned a little. "I can't say I won't be at least half relieved if I don't see this room ever again, I went through some tough times in here."

Shepard understood what she meant. Tali told him a little bit about her grieving in his cabin during the time they were separated and she thought him dead. Shepard gave her an extra squeeze to reassure her that he was here and alive with her, and that he was going nowhere else. Her eyes lightened up and she snuggled deeper into his suit, trying to cover every inch of herself with him, "But I'm glad to have you with me, now, and forever. For one long, last time."

"Me too," He gave a contented sigh. "Come on, we better get going."

Tali whined a little but she followed him off the couch nonetheless towards the elevator. Shepard smiled at her small act of cuteness, "Don't worry, we will back soon before you even know it."

He held her hand when they entered, and with his other poked the button to signal the elevator to go down. For once in his life, he thanked it for its slow speed. Half because he wasn't eager to get to his press conference any faster, and half so he could spend more time alone with his future lifemate. Tali on the other hand didn't seem so grateful.

"I swear, when we're done with all this, I will fix this elevator!"

"I don't know, I feel like it adds a little character to the ship. A single flaw in all its greatness."

Tali only responded with a grunt and a, "Maybe," followed by some mumbling about Cerberus, he chuckled as the elevator finally opened.

It wasn't easy to keep his feet moving, the ship became more and more interesting the closer he moved to the door of the airlock. It almost came to a point where Tali was dragging him, always keeping a foot or two in front of him as he walked slowly.

After the small reversal of attitudes, they both appeared at their destination, and Shepard was pleasantly surprised to see Garrus there. The turian returned to his bulky silver blue armor which reflected the low amount of light that his eyepiece gave off, he could also see the cool metal of the barrel of his sniper rifle hovering behind his head.

Always battle ready.

"Figured I tag along, it's fun watching people pester you until I have to swoop in with a save," his mandibles twitched into a grin.

Shepard just rolled his eyes, "Thanks for your loyalty and support."

This time Garrus's grin turned wicked, worrying Shepard a little, and he dramatically raised his arm to open the door. "Loyalty and support I have, and loyalty and support I will give...But what's support without an army?"

Just what did you do?

With that, Shepard could hardly see the door open when flashes of light began blinding his eyes and cheers exploded through his audio receivers to deafen his ears. He raised his arm to protect himself from the bombardment of distractions when he realized there was a paparazzi waiting below his feet. How did they even know we showed up here?

He took a sidelong glance and saw Garrus laughing. The pieces fit together like a puzzle instantly and he tried his best to yell over the noise.

"Garrus, you're a dead man!"

He stayed there frozen for a moment in the midst of Garrus's laughter and the paparazzi's obnoxious cheers and flashes until he felt Tali guide him down the steps. It felt like torture. Every time he tried to blink a light out of his eyes, two or three more would take it's place. He was sure he had gone blind once his feet touch the ground of the docking area.

He hardly took notice of the crowd separating into a path as Tali guided him to his conference. He could hear questions being asked by the people in between the muffle of noise in his ears, most of them pertaining to his suit, others about the quarian leading him, and most less about his actions on Earth.

He could hear Tali warning them away as she pushed through them, with a few insults thrown at Garrus in between. Somewhere in the middle of his long journey, he felt another presence that was unmistakably quarian helping him through the crowds.

Shala'Raan?

Admiral Raan decided to wait for her niece before going to the relay that lead home, but Shepard figured that she would wait on the Tonbay until the conference was over. Either way, Shepard silently thanked her for being there to help him out.

Shepard was bombarded with more camera flashes and questions, and he was wondering when he would arrive when Tali stopped guiding him and he was pushed into something hard.

He blinked rapidly, trying to tear his sight away from the circles of light begging for attention. He squeezed his eyes shut once and blinked rapidly once more. He heard some muffled talking and his body gently lifted from the ground. His stomach lurched as he moved forward in an increased speed.

He braced himself in case he vomited in his helmet, bending over his knees to keep his visor farthest away from his face. Luckily, he felt nothing pass his stomach so he raised his shoulders and opened his eyes.

It came to his realization that he was in a skycar. He was behind the passenger seat which contained Admiral Raan herself looking back at him, full of concern. "Are you alright, Captain Shepard?"

"Yeah, yeah..." He let out another groan.

"Are you sure?" came the sweet voice of Tali next to him. He turned his head to see her with even greater concern in her eyes. His arm was in an awkward position and he saw that he was still holding hands with her through his little recovery.

"Yeah, just disoriented is all...How long until we get there?"

Admiral Raan changed her view to the driver and asked a similar question with more specifics. Shepard was surprised to see the driver was a geth. He was a dark purple color with electric blue markings around his armor. As he spoke, he noticed that his robotic voice had a somewhat Scandinavian accent. "We will arrive to the press conference in precisely five minutes."

"Might I ask who you are?"

"I am Dyad. It is a pleasure to meet you, Shepard-Captain."

"Good to meet you, too, Dyad."

Shepard tried to blink another circle of light away from his vision, he groaned again in irritation. "With technology advancing this far, you think that they would learn to make cameras that didn't need flashes."

"Oh they do, they just use them to grab the attention of their desired person. The flash disorients said person into confusion which is followed by a question. That person will most likely answer to try to reorient themselves. A technique used by paparazzi, and is also used in minor and rare cases of interrogation," Dyad said in rapid succession.

"Er, thanks?"

"Always at your service, Shepard-Captain."

This time Tali spoke, a hard rock for him to hold on to. "I think you should prepare yourself when we leave for the conference, we're bound to have more on our way out."

Shepard groaned once again at the thought. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, "Hey, we'll be back soon before you even know it." He only smiled simply when she mirrored his words from earlier.

He shifted his gaze out the tinted window of the red colored skycar. His breath was nearly taken away as he saw how much the Citadel was rebuilt, granted it had over three months of work and nearly anyone that could hold a hammer was thrown at it, but it was such a striking contrast from the smoke and destruction that was littered with human bodies.

Memories of smoldering ash and pain made its way into Shepard's mind, causing him to breathe faster and for a second, he could've sworn he had smelled it. His mind worked furiously as the images of corpses passed through. It's like Akuze all over again. A similar situation happened when he saw his whole entire squad get wiped out, and now he had the Citadel to add to his jar of painful memories. He let out a quick, depressive sigh as the echoes of screams came from the dead empty faces, begging for mercy from the monsters that killed them, and Shepard had to watch it all. It was heartbreaking and gut wrenching.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to live this one down.

He must have been thinking for awhile, because he was only pulled out when Tali snaked her arm up to his shoulder.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"I failed so many people. It seems no matter if I'm a coward or a brave soldier, I still continue to fail. There should be more people walking these streets, and I couldn't have pushed harder to make it so. I failed so many people up here, that night."

Tali shook her head in mild annoyance. "You are not a coward, John. If you ever were, it was for a good reason. That reason was to bring you here, to us, to me. So you could save more than all those people you keep thinking could have survived. Their sacrifices weren't in vain. You did it because they were willing to die for the cause. You're right, you couldn't have pushed any harder..." she took a deep breath.

"You can save the galaxy, but that doesn't mean you can save everyone along the way."

This struck a chord with Shepard. He reflected deeply on this for a long while in silence. He remembered sharing the same mentality when the reapers hit earth, but now, he wasn't so sure. There were plenty of lives that could have seen this day if he tried a little harder, if he made a different choice, if he finished a task sooner. But there was nothing he could do about it now, they were long dead and gone, and they will be honored and remembered.

Tali's right. She is. There's nothing left but the future. He looked up at her once again. "You're right, I shouldn't ruin our engagement with things in the past."

"Nonsense, you couldn't possibly do anything to ruin it so long as you're here with me."

"Either way, I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to entirely get over this."

"Then you can reach for me, and I'll always be there to make you feel better. Besides, I'm pretty sure you gave many talks like this to other people, I think it's time you, what is the human phrase? 'Get a taste of your own medicine?'"

Shepard grinned. "Thank you."

"Whenever you need me," her unseen smile burning through her mask.

He became acutely aware the the skycar was stopping, and that Dyad and Raan were still in. There's no way they didn't hear all that. Shepard tried to scratch his neck in potential embarrassment. He was supposed to be the one taking care of Tali, not the other way around. He hoped that opening up like that didn't diminish any trust that Raan had in him. But before anything was said, the side of the car opened and sounds of cheering illuminated his ears. He had a few moments to prepare his eyes as he stepped out of the car into the barrage of flashing lights.

Tali walked around the other side and Shepard followed her off the landing pads into the building. Questions soared from left and right but Shepard kept his eyes squinted and focused forward, ignoring the loud noise that shook his helmet.

The building was more like a long corridor that was perpendicular to the landing pads, with rooms leading off in some areas on the other side. Tali grabbed his arm and lead him left down the hallway, doors to his right and large windows that showed skycars passing by to his left, with reporters in between either side. They walked for several moments until they peeled into the right towards a large glass door. "Right on time," Tali noted.

There were two soldiers guarding the entrance, and they gave a familiar friendly smile as he walked towards them, something that caught his eye. Wait, I know those two! He recognized them as the first people he saw when he woke up after the reapers downfall. Sweet Street and Redge!

He didn't have time to stop and chat once they opened the doors. He was forced through and could only manage a small wave before they fell out of sight. Behind the doors was a small hallway that lead into a large room. The room was more or less empty in regards to decoration, only many chairs and a few tables were in place. On the far side, the whole wall was made of glass that opened up the view to a small grassy field that lay below them. In the middle center of it was a podium laden with microphones, and in front of the podium...was a whole bunch of seated reporters.

Oh, boy.

The reporters that followed them answered an unspoken order to sit among the others, and Tali guided him around the room to the podium. The flashes of light slowed down a little, where there was only one or two every five seconds.

Tali leaned into his audio receiver, "Good luck," and left him there to go stand off to the side next to Raan and Garrus, who just showed up with his wicked smile still on his face.

He shifted his gaze to the reporters, who waited expectantly for him to speak. Shepard had to admit, it was starting to feel a little hot under his suit.

"Uh, thank you all for coming...But I must ask if you could lighten up on the camera flashes, it's a little disorienting." With that, some of the reporters opened their omni-tools to turn off the flash option on the cameras the hovered above their heads. Thank you, for once.

He stood in a few moments silence gathering his thoughts. Let's get it over with.

He leaned his head into the microphones and spoke. "So, I've come to answer any questions you might have in regards to events that transpired within the past four months. If any of you do, please raise your hand and wait patiently until I pick you. I'm sure all of you are eager and starving for unknown information, for that I will try my best to go as fast as I can. So please, go ahead."

All of their hands launched upwards immediately. Shepard expected this, but he couldn't help but feel slightly overwhelmed by all the choices. He noticed there were mainly humans and asari, with a few salarians thrown in the mix. In the back were a few turians, but they were only taking notes or recording. He scanned a room and picked a darker skinned asari. "Imellia T'lalo, can you give us a rundown of events leading up to the reapers downfall?"

"Well, it all went according to plan," Shepard lied a little, "We attacked the reapers here, docked our superweapon outside, and fired it."

"Yes, but how come the Citadel, the Mass Relays, and the communications throughout the galaxy become damaged as a result of this superweapon? Or the Crucible, as it's called?"

Ah, shoot. "The Crucible used the Mass Relays to destroy the reapers around the galaxy. The power contained ended up damaging both the Citadel and the Mass Relays. I can only assume that it also disrupted communications as well. You must understand, the reapers took all our might to take down, and risks had to be taken."

"But-"

Before the asari could continue asking questions, a salarian raised his hand to which Shepard gladly acknowledged.

"Nodul Puron of the SNDN, as no doubt that your actions prove most...heroic...I must assume that not everyone was left unscathed, do you mind filling us in on why you wear a suit from the quarians?"

Shepard actually felt surprised at himself that he actually preferred the more personal questions, he thought it would have been more easy to talk about the reapers destruction.

"As I said, risks had to be taken, my health was one of those risks. I won't go too much into detail, but the Crucible wasn't as much as we thought...I activated it, as a result, I alone had my immune system disrupted, and my body changed. I was willing to take that risk for the greater good."

A human hand shot up this time, "Back towards the first question, you said we docked the Crucible outside of the Citadel. Why was it that the Crucible needed the Citadel before it could fire? Could we not just have fired it and retook it? Was it possible we could have not caused damage to the Citadel and the Mass Relays?"

I wish. "Like the Crucible, the Citadel was ancient technology. We found out that the Citadel was only half of the weapon needed to destroy the reapers. The key needed to save lives was beneath us this whole time." He tapped his foot. "There could have been a possibility that the Citadel and Mass Relays could have not been damaged, but we were losing time and had no other options." Shepard desperately wished that there was another option, somewhere buried in the choices he was given. But again, he had to live with it, broken immune system and all.

The conference continued for awhile. He shared views on other homeworlds, unity, the Citadel moving back to its original place, a new councilor for humanity. There was one topic dangerously close to his future plans after retiring from the Systems Alliance and never returning to Earth, but he let out a sigh of relief as he managed to steer clear of it. He was growing very uneasy and waited desperately for an end. But it didn't feel like it was just the questions that put him on edge, there was something else. He shook his head in irritation. Paranoia. Again with the paranoia, it is just like Akuze all over again.

His worst fear came to light when a very personal question was asked, and it wasn't something simple to back out of. The question was asked more by a fan rather than a reporter, so professional topics seemed to have gotten thrown out of the airlock. "So, Captain Shepard. Now that you're retired, how do you plan on living life? Are you excited to relax and...mingle?"

Several groans and cheers could be heard from the crowd as well as some, "Keelah's," from Tali and Raan next to him, which was followed by a small laugh from Garrus. Oh my...why. He desperately wanted to reveal his love for his future lifemate, but it didn't feel like the time. Not when he was more popular than ever, and Tali didn't need the unwanted attention.

"Er, yes, I am happy to finally relax after years of f-fighting," Shepard could have stopped there, but he was slightly flustered and his mouth kept going, "I already have p-plans and I'm settling down...w-with some-" He went mute, shutting himself up, but he had a fear that he already said too much.

"So recent rumors backed by photo evidence show you and Ad-"

Another hand shot up and Shepard quickly acknowledged it rather eagerly. Oh, boy. This is going to come back up again, I just know it. Ancestors and God, please make this end soon. He wouldn't be able to stand it any longer, not when the hair on his neck standing on end. The questions and...something else was bothering him. He realized that his thoughts were so wrapped up that he missed most of the question that the new person asked. "-dromeda?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat the question please?"

"JOHN!"

"SHEPARD!"

His brain rattled as Tali jumped and slammed into him in front of the crowd, wrapping her arms around him, pushing him slightly off balance and squeezing him like he was a large stress ball. Tali? What are you-? A large noise and a flash of light followed with glass getting punctured interrupted his thought process.

BANG!

"Uhnng!"

He looked over her shoulder to see everyone's heads turning fearful towards an exit door on the other end of the room, where a man in bulky silver armor emblazoned with rich red markings held an odd sniper rifle.

"Johhn..." Shepard looked to his quarian fiancée and was concerned when she spoke with pain. His eyebrows furrowed as he felt pressure pushing against his gloved hand which was placed on her side. He looked down and his heart stopped when he saw red blood gushing from a hole in her suit. "Tali..?"

"Everybody get down!" Yelled a random person in the crowd. Shepard quickly laid himself and Tali behind the podium for cover, and several screams erupted from the crowd as they tried to find shielding in their chairs. Shepard allowed himself to release Tali and look her over. Oh no...no, no, no, no, no.

It was bad, not only was blood pooling from her back, but it was escaping her suit in the front where the round exited. He desperately looked for anything to stop the blood as Raan dropped down next to him. Garrus took cover behind a corner where they first entered, holding his own sniper at the ready.

Footsteps thundered and someone vaulted over the podium and dropped down next to Shepard, Raan, and Tali. It was another quarian that wore silver armor with black decorative cloth. He held up something, "Here, Tayi, I have medi-gel."

Who? Tah-yee?

Finally the attacker spoke. He had a cold, icy tone that sounded much younger. "Huh, might as well get the suit-rat while I'm at it," he laughed.

The cold humor in the insult turned the fear in Shepard's heart to raging anger. "What the hell do you want?!" Shepard yelled. He watched the new quarian applying the medi-gel to the light in his life in worry.

"What do I want? I want you dead, Shepard! You claim to be the Savior of the Galaxy, but you only care about yourself! You only want to preserve your own miserable life!"

"Silont..?" Tali groaned. "Shh, Tayi, you will be alright," the new quarian said.

"You pissed off the new big boss organization in the galaxy Shepard, and its name is Chimera! You killed my brothers without a second's thought! So now...you die!"

Shepard had to think fast. He had to get him away from Tali and the civilians. But how? Garrus poked his head around the corner which greeted metal sparks and dust. "Gah!" He jumped in surprise and wiped the dust from his face that came from the wall where the round hit.

Shepard summoned the communicator in his helmet and whispered to Garrus. "I'll try to distract him, take a shot if you can!"

"Alright!"

"What's the matter, Sheepard? Mourning the loss of your little suit-rat?"

The insult again made his stomach boil, he tried to keep a level head and think of any strategy that could help in defeating this attacker. It wasn't easy when the room barely had any cover and there were multiple civilians in between them.

The attacker seemed to have taken advantage of this, "Come out, Sheepard. I promise your slaughter won't be painful," he sang.

"I know how much you love aliens. Maybe in more than one way," he hinted. "Now, you would mind if, oh, I don't know, a trigger slipped with a barrel aimed at one of these...civilians."

Shepard didn't speak as he tried to think. "Or maybe, you don't actually care! You just wouldn't have a choice. You kept up the hero act for this long, you wouldn't want people thinking otherwise!" What the hell is he talking about? "Now, how about I play a little game of Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe with our beloved audience? Or, I could play, 'Guess where the suit-rat's heart is behind the stand!'"

Shepard tried his best to remain calm. But he couldn't go any longer not doing anything. He didn't trust the podium to withstand sniper rounds and he wasn't taking any chances, not with Tali's life on the line. Slowly, he rose his hands above his head and walked out of the cover.

"Shepard!" Garrus hissed, "What are you doing?"

He didn't answer as he continued revealing himself to the attacker.

"Ah, Ego over self preservation. Honestly, I don't know which one over the other is more sickening...Come here so I can put a gaping hole in your helmet!"

Shepard walked slowly forward and closer to the man until the raised sniper barrel was touching his mask.

The attacker hissed quietly to him, only loud enough for him to hear. "Do you even remember them? All those people you killed? My brothers are dead now because of you! This is payback!"

Shepard waited to hear a click of a trigger. Lucky for him, just like he hoped for, he didn't. The attacker turned Shepard around, and kept the sniper to the back of his head. "If any of you follow me, he's dead!"

Thinking fast, Shepard activated his omni-blade and sliced the sniper in half, taking the attacker by surprise. He swiftly turned around and punched him in the side of the helmet, where he sprawled off to the side toward the exit door. Before he could pull out his own pistol, the attacker was on him again and slapped it out of his grip.

He realized that now, with each other unarmed, it was just fisticuffs. The hard years of N7 training permanently engraved into his mind kicked in, making his senses sharper and more clear.

He let him make the first move. The attacker swung his fist around in a hook punch in which Shepard took a back step to dodge. He threw another punch straight where Shepard caught it, but unfortunately had shaken his fist out of his grasp. This time, Shepard threw his own punch where the attacker ducked, followed by an uppercut that also didn't connect. They kept throwing punches with an occasional kick back and forth, all of them dodging each other.

"Shepard, I can't get a clear shot!" Garrus shouted. Shepard backed up slowly towards the turian, trying his best to make it easy for him. They exchanged blows continually, and Shepard could tell that it wasn't just him that was getting frustrated that they couldn't get a hit to connect.

Oddly, a simple memory came to him when he was training with Tali once awhile back for fun, he didn't expect a bit of her advice that came from one of her leaders before her pilgrimage would come now.

"He told me to read your enemy, keep them distracted, make them wonder what you are doing, once they start doing that, hit them. But try not to waste your energy."

Shepard danced a little, putting the idea into play. So far the attacker thought nothing of it. He dodged another blow from him yet continued dancing. He shook his arms side to side a little, throwing a little bit of his infamous, "Shepard Shuffle," in there. He waited. Waited for that magic moment, a signal of hesitation.

Then he got it.

The attacker made a confused gesture with his hands, "Wha-?"

Before he could even finish the word, Shepard swung and connected a blow to his chest. The attacker hissed in pain and retaliated, throwing his own punch but missed as Shepard took a sidestep. He gasped in fear when Shepard kicked him off to the side.

"Garrus, now!"

"Civilians behind him!"

Oh, come on!

The attacker growled and pulled out a concealed knife.

Well this just got interesting.

Shepard prepared himself as the attacker ran at him, he planned to sidestep but was caught off guard when the man wrapped his arms around his midsection and threw him past the podium and towards the corner where Garrus stood. Shepard felt pinned down as the attacker wrestled him with the blade that Shepard managed to hold back.

But his attacker was too clever, and he twisted his arm and tried to stab his side, which narrowly missed at sliced the cloth along his chest.

"Gah! Tali made me that!"

There was a moment of pause as the attacker held him down, he laughed wickedly. Oh no.

"My bad," the attacker sneered as he raised his arm with the blade. The Shepard looked in fear as the blade came down on his mask and a sickening crunch was heard.

"Shepard! No!"

Shepard opened his eyes and gasped when he saw the point of the blade was only millimeters from his left eye. The elongation of his helmet managed to stop the blade from touching him.

Holy!

The attacker noticed this and yelled in fury as he retrieved the knife. The cool air kissed Shepard's face and he could already feel his eye puffing up from foreign material. He tried to wrestle the attacker off.

"Garrus, shoot him now!"

"Can't! I might hit you!"

Too late!

Shepard's relief was short-lived as the attacker pulled the pistol from earlier off the ground, aimed near his stomach, and fired.

"Shepard!"

Searing heat burned him at his core and he gasped in pain, the pistol was too close for his barriers to take effect. It felt like his insides were turning inside out and wrapping themselves all over. It was only a moment before he felt another shot searing through another section of him. Shepard yelled in pain and agony again, making his throat hoarse. Then the chilling words of the attacker came.

"To think the Savior of the Galaxy would fall for a suit-rat. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you became a suit-rat yourself."

Shepard let the anger fully consume him now, and he ignored his pain as he threw the attacker off in surprise. Shepard became pure rage as he tackled him to the ground, and threw a punch to the helmet that disoriented him. Groaning in pain, he picked him up from the ground and grasped his helmet, "Call her a suit-rat, one more time!" Shepard threatened. The attacker laughed icily.

"Suit...rat!"

His rage was at his peak, and he couldn't stop himself as he slammed his head against the wall. He pulled him back, and slammed it again. And again, and again until the attacker could do nothing but await the final blow, which Shepard was about to give until a voice called him back.

"John! Stop!"

He looked back and saw Tali standing there, leaning on the new quarian's shoulder and fear in her eyes. Raan and Garrus too were astonished.

"Spirits."

He took a moment to realize just what he was doing. He was performing a very brutal act of killing someone in front of his closest friends. He dropped the man who dizzily dropped to the ground with barely any conscience.

He tried to stutter something out, "I-I-I-..." But the pain would not let him finish.

He clutched his stomach and collapsed, trying anything to stop the continual flow of blood loss.

"No!" Tali limped closer, but it wasn't to him. Instead Garrus, Raan and the newcomer tended to him as she continued to pass him and kick something away. A small groan came from the attacker.

Ugh, what the? He heard a rustle of armor as Tali picked up the woozy man. He tried to focus over the two holes in his gut and the throbbing of his eye. But the next thing sent chills down his spine, as he never in his life expected to hear Tali use the coldest venom in her voice, crisp and clear that could even send demons running.

"You listen to me, nice and clearly. When you wake up...I hope you have a fun time rotting in HELL!"

He then heard a loud crack of a punch and the man fell over. Shepard felt fear that Tali might just have finished the job. The patter from her feet sounded as she rushed to his side, helping the other three pick him up from the ground and lean him against the wall. "John, no, no, no. Stay with me." Shepard finally got a good look at his wounds, and it was bad.

His vision was blurred between the clear colors and the golden tint from the hole in his helmet. But he was able to see that the blood escaped him as if a dam broke. One shot came from a hole below his rib cage on the right side, and the other looked like it came from his very center. He was surprised that he didn't feel any nausea, but he wasn't sure how long that was going to last.

"I called C-Sec, or whatever there is, and the Normandy when he first shot. Help should be here any second," Garrus said as the new quarian applied medi-gel. Shepard nodded, happy to receive the cool gel that near instantly kept his flesh together.

A patter of fearful noises peeked around the corner and there stood a few brave civilians to come check out the scene. A few red lights signaling a recording was shown on the cameras that hovered. Raan noticed this and she stood up.

"All of you back up! Give us some room!" The reporters followed the instruction but tried their best to get a good look at Shepard. Few of them let out gasps of shock before they disappeared around the corner again.

"Easy Shepard, try to keep yourself awake," said the new quarian. "And you, Tayi, you better lay down, too." A few minutes passed and help did arrive, including Kaiden, Kasumi, and James.

"Loco! Sparks!"

"Shep! Tal!"

"Shepard! Tali! Are you alright?"

He could barely focus as he was laid down on a gurney next to another one with Tali on top. "Let's get them out of here!" They started to move and Shepard threw up in his throat because of it, giving a nasty tasting burn. Somehow, some tape was already over his mask and makeshift bandages over his wounds. He looked sideways towards his fiancée, where he was relieved to see her still breathing. His mind hurt as a fever started to consume his brain, but that didn't stop him from speaking.

"Tali?" He croaked, "You doing good?"

"Can we just go home now?" Tali sobbed a little.

That's it, I'm sick of all the sidetracking, I'm done with everything! Damn everything else! He clenched his teeth with determination, "Yes, I promise."

With that, Shepard finally let go of his tenseness and relaxed, falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.

HOURS LATER

He woke up in the Normandy's medbay. James and Kaiden took charge of where they were going and decided that there was no better place to be than where Doctor Chakwas was. His head pounded and his face felt hard underneath his skin, and his stomach wasn't doing so hot, either. He felt relieved however that his mask was replaced, and his eye was calming down on the swelling. He looked around and saw Tali staring at him with her bright eyes, laying down on the bed next to him.

"You're up."

"What can I say, taking two to the gut really knocks you out," he said hoarsely.

"I bet."

"How long have you been awake?"

"About an hour. I already got the details filled in for me."

"What happened?"

A new voice sounded and Shepard turned to see the quarian from the accident that helped them, as well as the geth driver, Dyad. "I'm sorry Captain Shepard, I failed my job. A lone man knocked out the guards at the door and attacked you. After your fight, we brought you here to patch you up."

"Thank you very much for your help. May I ask who you are?"

Tali answered for him, "This is one of my very old friends, Silont'Mikera, you know, the ones I talked about that watched Fleet and Flotilla with me when we had sleepovers."

"-Tolerated! I tolerated watching that," Silont interjected.

"Don't lie, you loved it," Tali teased.

Silont shuffled his feet a little and bowed his head, embarrassed. "...It's a guilty pleasure."

"Who was the man that attacked us?" Shepard asked.

Silont picked up his head, "Jordan Carry," He said as he turned on a monitor. It showed the recent news of the attack, the attacker who was apprehended showed a picture of his face. A young man in his early twenties with red hair that ran down on the side of his head, leaving the other half of his head bald. There was also a tattoo on the side of his face that showed a logo similar to Cerberus, but with a red color instead of orange.

"Dyad here and I were tasked by Admiral Raan to watch over you guys."

"Where I wish Auntie actually told me," Tali said in annoyance. I have to agree there.

"Which I apologize heavily for failing. I stopped an earlier attempt at your life when you were recovering on Earth, I found out that a group called Chimera was behind these attacks...They call themselves an organization, but really they are just Cerberus remnants looking to rebuild. They started growing more dangerous as they started dealing in experimental weapons, like that sniper you saw."

Shepard nodded as he remembered.

"But don't worry, my group and I plan to stomp them out before they grow too big of a threat. You don't have to worry about anything Captain, I promise."

"I trust you, Silont. Everyone makes mistakes. How are the guards at the door? Sweet Street and Redge?"

"Those two are unharmed. They are fully recovered and walking around just fine."

"Thank you." I better send a message to them, I still haven't thanked them for what they done.

The video on the monitor showed Jordan lacking a helmet getting put in a skycar, the side of his head was already bloodied. Surprisingly, Raan showed up in the frame and marched up to the man. "That was my niece you bosh'tet!" She yelled as a loud smack cracked across his face and a video cut out.

Shepard whistled, "She can be a tough cookie when she wants to be."

Tali laughed from the human phrase, but Silont just stayed quiet. This time Dyad spoke. "I apologize for your unwanted experience, Creator Zorah and Shepard-Captain. We are set to leave the Citadel and go to Rannoch soon. It is advised that you two should stay in here until your conditions are more suitable for movement outside the medbay."

"Thanks Dyad. You, too, Silont."

"Get well, soon, Shepard. It was nice to see you again, Tayi," and they both left the medbay.

Shepard returned his view to his quarian lover. "Why does he call you Tah-yee?" He asked.

She replied with a little laugh, "When we were little, he couldn't pronounce his l's. So the nickname kind of stuck."

Shepard also laughed a little. He continued his thoughts aloud. "It's crazy to think that someone else tried to kill me, but I didn't know."

"I didn't know either. I'm so going to have to talk to Auntie Raan on why she kept my childhood friend a secret."

"Yeah..."

"Yeah..."

Silence ensued and Shepard raised his hand to grasp hers. "We'll make it home, and then you won't have to deal with anymore fighting. I promise."

"Thanks, John," she said with a smile in her eyes.