He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, running to the opposite edge of the large room. He aimed his pistol, firing towards the encroaching enemies. This served the purpose of making them hid and seek cover from the large pistols wrath. Ben jumped up onto a crate, sheathing his knife at the same time. He jumped up to the walkway above and grabbed onto a ladder that was connected to an emergency hatch.

He proceeded to pull himself up the later, shots bouncing off of the metal walls around him. The metal of the ladders rungs was unused and rough, allowing him to easily pull himself up and to the hatch. Using his left arm, he pulled the emergency release and pushed the hatch up. Ben climbed the ladder and up into the observation hallway. Fire burned everywhere and he could barely breathe. He needed to make his way back to the ship, which was where Jack would go for sure.

Ben ran, his breath running short due to the smoke. He had yet to run into any interference. Jack had ripped apart everything, using beams to bash Mercs and she ran them through. Blood flowed from the bodies of her victims. She was extremely tough, that was for sure. He came across a few that were still alive, but he didn't want to stay very long.

The hall was long, longer than he remembered when he came aboard the ship. He could hear Jacks screaming and yelling along with loud booms and thunderous crashes. She was pissed, that much was obvious even to Carmine. He ran faster and faster. He needed to get to her before she destroyed the space ship entirely.

His boots made his steps loud and thundering as he made his way back to the docking bay. The airlocks that had previously been shut were now torn as if they had been paper. Shrapnel lay everywhere and dead bodies littered the ground. At the end of the long hallway, amidst fire and blood stood a woman of the likes Ben was not accustomed to meeting. She paced and growled, cursing about Cerberus and how she was going to kill them all. He reached out to her as he approached, trying to get her attention her yelled for her.

"Jack! Wait up..." Ben waited for Jack to look at him, but what he got was something he wasn't expecting in the slightest. He had at one moment been standing on solid metal sheeting and the next all he could feel was pain and a numbness in the left side of his face. He opened his eyes and noticed he was now on his back, Jack standing on top of his chest. Her fist was alight with a blue glow that radiated power of a lethal kind. He couldn't see very well, his left eye not even showing anything and his right somewhat blurred when he tried to focus on anything besides the woman on top of him.

"Who the fuck are you and why in the hell shouldn't I end your pathetic little excuse of a life? You got five!" Her voice was solid and strong. She was serious about her request and Ben knew she wasn't going to hold back. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but he needed to convince her. In his life, Carmine had found that the truth was always the best way to go.

"Benjamin Carmine, I'm a Gear, Rank Private in the COG military on the planet Sera. My squad is Delta-One, Sergeant Fenix, Corporal Santiago are my squad mates. I'm the youngest in my family. I love bacon and I am the smallest in my family. I'm here to pick you up and add you to my commander's crew to take out a galactic threat of epic proportions!" His voice was still rough, deep, and loud. It reverberated throughout the room.

Jack was taken aback by the response. She had expected a lot, but definitely not that. Her hand stopped glowing slowly and it came to rest back at her side. She looked confuse, and looked Ben straight into his brown eyes, trying to find some sort of tell. In those brown, innocent, and bloodshot eyes, she found no such thing. He was telling her the truth...

"What makes you think I'm going to go with you? I can only assume you're with Cerberus, why else would you have that damned logo on your ship?!" Ben went to answer, only to get interrupted by another.

"Because, I owe them and they also don't want the galaxy to end." Commander Shepard had arrived, Miranda Lawson in tow behind him. They had their weapons put away, no obvious fear that the girl above Ben could rip them in half.

"I don't work for Cerberus, I'm just using the resources that they are giving me. In no way am I in their control." Jack still didn't look like she was buying it. She needed more to get her to turn to their side. Ben judged that she hated Cerberus. Maybe, she would want to know more about them.

"What if we give you information on Cerberus, would that get you to join?" Ben looked up to her, locking his eyes with hers. She looked thoughtful for a moment, contemplating the decision.

"We can give you anything you want. You'll have full access to all of our resources, unrestricted to the fullest extent." John looked to Jack. This was the only way, but it had to be done. They needed all the help they could get with this fight. Jack smirked devilishly at them, certain she had gotten the better deal.

"I get full access to all the files you have on Cerberus? I would have to be stupid to say no to that, I'm in." She got off of Ben, grabbing his arm and pulling him up to his feet. His face was bloody, but he could finally see again. He just needed to sleep it off, he would be fine by the time they had another mission. Jacks had stayed just a moment longer than necessary, but when Ben went to look, she was already following John back to the ship. Carmine was sure it was nothing…

Let me know how you feel. I want to get more into this story again. I'm sorry if it's not a good chapter, but it's the best I could do now that I'm in college.