And the next chapter!

Thanks for my betareader, Robert Falcon, who keeps fixing my errors, and giving me suggestions all the time.

And remember to review, or be...square.

Hello, and Welcome to Korlus! Here in Korlus, we have a nice mix of the second greatest murders per capita in the whole Terminus Systems, scorching weather, corruption scandals, and various mercenary bands that want to kill you! Korlus is known for its recycling; basically we take decommissioned, or junked, spacecraft, and manufacture them into component parts. This business requires the heaviest of industry, and subsequently; Korlus's sky is filled with smog, and its ports with scrap.

This place was really the worst piece of trash Shepard had yet seen, and he had only been on Korlus for a few seconds. Shepard's ever increasing team, of now five members in addition to him, took cover behind a fallen pillar.

"All right," Shepard began, glancing at all of his team members. "Okeer's in here, but maybe not by choice. Assume hostiles."

"One question, Shepard," Garrus chimed in, his mandibles moving in a confused fashion. "You don't actually think that a krogan warlord, with millennia of combat experience, could be kept here against his will?"

Shepard didn't answer for a moment, he looked quite contemplative. "Well, no…I dunno I why I said that."

Mordin was on him immediately, placing various medical sensors on Shepard and tapping his omni-tool: "Obsessive-compulsive behavior…hmm."

Shepard ripped the sensors off, and tossed them back to Mordin: "Keep your damn toys to yourself! I don't have that obesity –thing."

"Yes, clearly not obese. Very fit. But meant obsessive-compulsive."

"Shut up! You're making my head hurt! Let's go."

Just as the team was about to rise, a loudspeaker sounded: "There is only one measure of success; kill or be killed!" It was a female voice.

"A loudspeaker? Classy," Garrus remarked, and the team began their unstoppable march forward.

That unstoppable march was stopped however, when the team noticed a group of enemies. The team took cover.

"Observation point ahead, Commader," Miranda pointed out, looking at Shepard. "What is our plan of action?"

"Well, I thought that maybe we could simply ask them to leave," Shepard responded.

Miranda frowned: "You are joking, yes?" And as Shepard simply looked back at her, she sighed: "A frontal attack? Against a fortified position?"

Shepard didn't reply, but quickly rose up. He began to walk towards mercs, hiding a pistol behind his back.

Shepard came to a stop. "Hi fellas!" he greeted the mercs, who turned towards him. "Mickey O'Grady from Korlus Health Inspection!" The mercs looked at Shepard a little warily, but didn't raise their weapons. Shepard glanced around, as if looking for something: "I was wondering if you've seen a guy dressed in red, riding in a sleigh pulled by a few reindeer?" The mercs now looked extremely confused, and looked at each other. As they turned their heads, Shepard opened fire, and killed them all quickly. "You probably weren't good," he muttered.

The team now caught up with him, with Mordin babbling quietly, simultaneously tapping at his omni-tool: "Hmm. Compulsive behavior. Reckless behavior. Taking high risks, with very limited gains. Not rational, not tactical. Weird how highly ranked."

"I guess this is better than on Omega with the blowing torch…" Miranda commentated, looking at the corpses of the mercs.

"Oi!" Zaeed exclaimed, and everyone turned at him. He was poking a sitting merc with his gun. "This one still has a few breaths in 'im."

They walked towards the merc, who was getting back up: "Shit…shit. It won't stop bleeding…I'm gonna…Son of a bitch!"

"He doesn't look that bad," Miranda remarked quietly to Shepard, frowning.

Mordin was again tapping his omni-tool:"Neither is he. Cannot detect any internal bleeding, or any medigel being administered by the combat armor. Merely a scratch."

"That so?" Shepard half-asked, half-stated, he approached the mercenary.

"Hahaa!" the merc exclaimed in triumph. "I knew it wasn't berserkers. Not at range. You're mercs. Or Alliance. I'm not…I'm not telling you anything."

"Well guessed. You probably deserve a reward." Shepard glanced around but didn't see any reactions from his team. "No? All right then..." He put on his 'mean' face and leaned towards the merc: "Where's Okeer?"

"Who? You already know more than I do. I just kill krogan. The old one in the lab dumps crazy ones down here all the time. Jedore hired him to make her an army, but the krogan he creates are insane, so we use them for live ammo training. It's all crap! I'm not getting paid enough to goddamn bleed out!"

Suddenly, the mercs radio came alive: "Outpost four? Jedore wants us to move. We need coordinates on the krogan pack."

"What's he talking about?" Shepard asked, frowning.

Miranda turned at Shepard: "Are you feeling all right, Commander? He did just explain that they are using the krogan as live ammo practice..."

A sudden realization went across Shepard's face, and he facepalmed. "Right..."

The merc however didn't notice: "Jedore runs a Blue Suns outlier, and she's making krogan for an army. But they all come out craz--"

He was interrupted by Zaeed poking him again: "Shut it! We don't need you to parrot yourself."

"Hmm," Mordin mumbled, his hand on his chin. "Makes no sense. Breeding facilities expensive. Extremely. Tried to manufacture one myself. Failed. Could only breed varren. Vicious bite." He suddenly seemed to realize what he was saying, since he shook his head a bit, and continued: "But that's beside the point. Point was; not worth the cost. Could have tens of soldiers with the cost of one bred krogan!"

"You can't fit tens of soldiers into the same space as you can a krogan," Garrus remarked, his exoskeleton-brow raised.

"And more importantly:" Miranda chimed in, frowning. "You tried to build a krogan breeding facility? For what purpose?"

"Let's not hear the answer," Shepard pleaded, hands raised.

He turned back to the merc, who began speaking again: "I don't know. I just point, shoot, and bank my credits. Maybe there's something better in the labs?"

"Yeah. Okeer." Shepard put on his 'mean' -face again. "By the way, your pals still need their directions. Oblige."

The merc began speaking into his radio: "Um...krogan pack sighted at post three. Yeah. Out." Then the merc lowered his head. "Son of a bitch! They're heading straight to those krogan!"

"And it's on your ass, big boy. Now limp away," Shepard retorted.

"Where am I supposed to go?" the merc asked, glancing around.

"Look, there! A nice hiding place!" Garrus shouted suddenly, pointing at something behind the merc.

The merc immediately turned: "What, where?" Garrus shoved the mercenary hard in the back, sending him straight into a pillar. The merc was knocked out immediately.

"Hmm," Mordin mumbled. "Adding insult to injury. No. Injury to injury. Literally. Necessary?"

"Yes. Was that absolutely necessary, Mr. Vakarian?" Miranda joined Mordin.

"Wonderful," Zaeed entered the conversation. "Miss Whiny-Bitch found a soul mate. How soddin' romantic..."

"Keep your tongue under control, Massani," Miranda snapped to Zaeed. She opened her omni-tool "Or else..."

Zaeed growled silently, but didn't talk back.

Garrus poked the unconscious merc: "He's not complaining." Garrus then raised one finger, as if stating the obvious. "Neither should he; it's a great honor to be knocked out by the Archangel."

…

The team continued forward, killing mercs. The woman, probably Jedore, kept shouting clichéd things over the loudspeaker, like "Death is the servant of the righteous!" or "There is nothing to fear but failure!" Suddenly however, the voice speaking in the loudspeaker changed. The voice started saying things like "Always Coca-Cola!" or "McDonald's, I'm lovin' it!"

"Whatta...?" Shepard asked in complete confusion. "Those are commercials..."

Before anyone could answer, Jedore spoke again over the loudspeaker: "Sorry about that, gentlemen. You know the financial situation of the Blue Suns...have to sell advertising space wherever we can...But now...." She cleared her throat. "Zeal is its own excuse! Cleanse! Purge! KILL!"

The team ignored those very intelligent messages, and kept marching forward. At one point, they noticed krogan fighting the mercs on top of a building. Jacob and Miranda lifted them up, and the mercs came crashing down to the ground. The fight was over.

The krogan turned to look at the newcomers, and immediately Garrus, Zaaed and Jacob pointed their guns at it. "You...are different. New. You don't smell like this world. Seven night cycles, and I have felt only the need to kill. But you...something makes me speak."

"Night cycles? Does he mean days?" Miranda asked. "He is only a week old?"

"Hmm. Probably bred full-size. Ready to fight. Don't need training," Mordin informed.

"Bred...to kill?" the krogan asked. "No. I kill because my blood and bone tell me to. But it's not why I was flushed from glass mother. Survival is what I hear in my head. Against the enemy that threatens all my kind. But I failed even before waking. That is what the voice in the water said. That is why I wait here."

Shepard could only think up one word, which exactly described the way he felt: "What?" The krogan didn't answer, and Shepard continued: "What the hell does any of that mean?"

Mordin again looked contemplative, with a hand on his chin. "The glass mother. Probably the tank the krogan was grown inside. The voice in the water. The mental images imprinted into the krogan, teaching things. The enemy. Hmm. Probably the genophage. Although does not threaten krogan. Only keeps population stable. Yes-yes. That it does." He then quickly raised up his hands. "That's what have heard. From friends. STG. Not responsible personally."

"Let's ignore that incredibly suspicious-sounding speech..." Miranda jumped in, glancing at Mordin. "The krogan might know where Okeer's lab is."

"The...glass mother. She is up. Past the broken parts. Behind many of you fleshy things. I will show you," The krogan answered, and then began moving towards a hole in the wall. The hole was covered by a large metal plate. The krogan lifted the heavy plate, gorilla pressed it a couple of times, did a few bicep curls, and then tossed it away. He was very strong.

The whole team, except Garrus, seemed to be quite impressed by this showing of strength.

"Hmmh," Garrus snorted. "I could have done that."

…

Again, the killing. It went on for a while, along with the shouts from the loudspeakers. But now the team opened a door, and behind it stood a familiar face.

"Shepard, don't shoot! You know me!" the asari scientist, the same that had worked with Saren shouted.

Shepard pointed a gun at her head. "Yeah, I know, which is why I should kill you."

"Who is she Shepard? Your ex-wife?" Miranda remarked, smirking slightly.

"Fuck you," Shepard snapped. He pointed at a railing of a bridge near them. "Go try out how big that fall is. Let me know."

Miranda crossed her arms and snorted, but did neither move, nor answer.

"I shut down the security cams as soon as I saw it was you. Never thought I'd say it, but I'm glad it's you shooting up the place," Rana, the asari scientist spoke up.

"Cut the damn chit-chat," Shepard snapped to her. "What the hell's going on here?"

"I'm trying to use whatever I learned on Virmire in here. Not for the mercs, but for Okeer. He's trying to do something good, even if his methods are a little...extreme." Her tone then became much lighter, and she put a charming smile on her face "Everyone deserves a second chance. Right? And sometimes giving one pays off. I take care of my debts."

"Something good? Considering his reputation, I doubt it is that," Miranda remarked.

"It's complicated. Jedore wants a private army, but Okeer mostly ignores her. He's running the project for his own reasons. I created a mental impr--"

"Stop with the sciensy-crap!" Shepard snapped, raising his hand. "You don't even know what you are doing here?"

Rana considered the question for a second, then shook her head.

"How the hell did you outrun the blast anyway?" Shepard asked next.

"Well...I just ran fast," Rana answered, shrugging.

"What are you, a long-distance runner now?" Shepard asked snappily, and Rana shrugged again. "Tell you what; since it was so easy for you escape the last time, and you believe in second chances..." Shepard lowered his gun and shot her in the leg. "That'll make escaping a bit harder this time..."

Rana rose back to her feet, holding her leg. "You shot me! You monster!"

"And then some."

Rana limped away, and Mordin watched after her. "Should have killed her. Too much knowledge without ethical boundaries."

Shepard frowned extremely deeply. "Says you, Mr. Genophage."

…

The next door opened, and behind it was a large krogan. "It's about time!" the krogan saluted them. "I've watched your progress. It excited me...greatly..." Suddenly, the krogans eyes stared emptily at Shepard.

"You Okeer? I wanna--. No, I wanted to have you in my team. Now, I'm not so sure..."

"Team up with Shepard, the destroyer of the genophage cure on Virmire?"

"Right. That," Shepard muttered. "That probably doesn't make me look like a guy you wanna team up with..."

"But I approve. It was the right decision," Okeer answered, and Shepard frowned. "The krogan should not try to cure the genophage!"

"They shouldn't?" Shepard asked in disbelief.

"No. The krogan should overcome the genophage. Ignore it. That is the krogan way."

"Sounds like the advice my grade school teacher gave me, when one of my classmates was bullying me..." Shepard retorted. He imitated a woman's voice: "Just ignore him!"

Okeer brushed him off. "Bah! To outsiders, maybe!" He stared at a krogan inside a tank filled with some liquid. "This perfect krogan will not restore us, but will renew us!

"Attention minions!" Jedore suddenly shouted over the speakers. "Okeer is doing something fishy, and you know what the punishment for that is; death by gas!"

Green gas started coming from the pipes, and Okeer looked surprised. "Rah! How weak! Jedore wishes to destroy anything she can't control!" He turned to Shepard: "Shepard, you must stop her! I will stay here and do what I must..."

"And what's that? Sit here in this gas and die?"

Okeer nodded "Yes. And record a message for you."

"Nice. It's good to be remembered...Let's go."

…

Jedore was rather hard to kill; she had tens of tank-bred krogan with her, along with two heavy mechs. Garrus and Miranda managed to overload the mechs' shields, and when Mordin worked some of that incinerate-mojo the existence of the mechs ended rather violently. Mordin, Zaeed, Miranda and Jacob fought the krogan, while Garrus and Shepard took Jedore one-on-two...

She was pretty tough; she had tech armor, combat armor, strong kinetic shields, and a rocket launcher. A nice combination.

Shepard and Garrus took cover behind a cargo box, and could hear the rockets exploding against it.

"I hate rockets..." Garrus muttered angrily.

"Tell that to the broad," Shepard replied, pointing at Jedore with his thumb.

"I'll send her a note...in a form of a bullet..."

Shepard bit his lip. There had been something about Garrus he had wondered for a while, so he decided to ask him. "Garrus, one question..." Shepard half-asked, half-stated, and Garrus nodded. Shepard continued: "Have you learned some 'Human Pop-culture for Dummies' -book by heart or something? It sure sounds like it..."

Garrus laughed nervously. "Of course not!"

Shepard sighed, and looked back at Jedore. "Right..."

Jedore kept firing at them with her shotgun, and her rocket launcher in turns, keeping the power duo pinned down. At times, she would shout out things like "Death be thy compass!" or "Excuses are the refuge of the weak!"

Shepard fired blindly at Jedore and turned to Garrus. "Any suggestions?"

"Yeah, tens. None of them work."

Shepard nodded. Garrus and Shepard looked at each other, and suddenly it felt like they were linked, like they understood each other perfectly. An enlightened smile came to Shepard's face, and Garrus' mandibles moved in a same kind of fashion. "Frontal attack?" Shepard asked, and Garrus nodded.

Garrus and Shepard immediately got up, and started running towards Jedore, bellowing their battle cries, guns blazing. The sight caught Jedore by surprise, and she was simply overwhelmed. After a moment, she laid on the ground, with Shepard and Garrus towering over her.

"Jedore," Garrus began. "You are hereby sentenced to death for shouting extremely clichéd, and bad one-liners. The Archangel considers this a personal insult. Do you have anything to say to your defense?"

"Screw you, turian! And screw you!" Jedore yelled back, and spitted at Shepard's feet.

Shepard shrugged. "Well that's not gonna sway any judges..." He pointed his pistol at Jedore's head, as did Garrus. They fired, and the ears and sanity of the world thanked them.

…

They went back to the lab again, and could see Okeer lying before a terminal. A recording was running.

"Shepard. I made deals with the Collectors to build this one perfect krogan, though I do not know why they'd want humans. All that I know of the Collectors is imprinted into this perfect krogan. This krogan...my legacy...this perfect soldier, this grunt. Perfectly formed muscles...Perfect quad...Ah...Quad...Urgh.."

"That was quite..." Miranda started, but seemed to not find a suitable word to describe the speech.

"Vomit-invoking," Garrus suggested, and Miranda nodded in approval.

Before them stood the tank, filled with a krogan. Apparently the krogan was perfect in some way incomprehensible, but at least now he didn't look that much different. Yes, he was distinctively different to other krogan, and could easily be recognized, but he didn't shine or have a halo over his head or something...He was just a krogan.

Jacob and Zaeed were now examining the tank. "Wonderful, a krogan in an aquarium."

"This is heavy, man," Jacob informed, trying to lift the tank off the ground. "How're we gonna get this big boy on board? Shepard-dawg?"

Shepard shrugged, and begun to order a ride for them.

…

Shepard stepped inside the briefing room, where the whole team was already waiting for him. Miranda and Jacob were arguing about something...

"We cannot open the tank! It is against Cerberus protocol! Not to mention, that it is completely reckless!" Miranda snapped to Jacob.

"C'mon girl!" Jacob retorted. "Krogan fight tough! It'll be aiight..."

"That is quite the argument, Jacob," Miranda snorted, and crossed her arms

"What the hell's the problem now?" Shepard asked them both snappily.

"Jacob wants to unleash the krogan! Which is completely irresponsible!" Miranda answered, glaring at Jacob.

"Hey man! Miranda wants to give the krogan to Cerberus! You don't want that man, don't you?" Jacob retorted.

"You're part of Cerberus too!" Miranda remarked.

"Yeah, but I wanna win this argument," Jacob said, shrugging.

"You're making me insane!" Miranda now almost yelled back at him. She turned to Shepard "We can't unleash the krogan. It's against Cerberus policy! We have to give him to Cerberus, the krogan will be more useful that way."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stop yapping," Shepard muttered, brushing her off.

Miranda frowned. "You can't seriously be thinking about this!"

"I can't seriously think at all with you bitching."

Miranda sighed in defeat. "I give up. At least inform the rest of us to come with you if you decide to open the tank."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The meeting's done."

…

Shepard was standing in front of the tank, along with the rest of his team. Not. He was alone, and started pressing buttons to open the tank. Before he could finish, EDI popped up.

"You do know that you're going completely against the recommendations given by Miss Lawson. Quite reckless."

"Yep." Shepard muttered, ignoring EDI. He kept pressing the buttons.

"And you do know that this is completely against Cerberus protocol?"

"Yes," Shepard answered, still ignoring her. He continued pressing the buttons.

"There is something you don't know, Commander..." EDI begun, but didn't end her sentence.

"What?" Shepard snapped. This was starting to get annoying. First Miranda would question him, then his own ship would...

"You do not know how to open the tank, do you?" EDI asked. Although she was a machine, the amusement could clearly be heard in her voice.

Shepard stopped pressing the buttons. "No, I don't. Please help."

The tank began to make weird noises, which probably meant that it was opening. The liquid within drained, and the door opened. The krogan fell to his knee, coughing out the liquid. The krogan noticed Shepard, and stared at him for a second. Then he roared, grabbed Shepard, and slammed him against the wall. "Human, male," the krogan spoke. "Before you die, I need a name."

"John Wayne. What the hell do you care about my name?" Shepard asked.

"Not your name, mine. I know things, the tank showed me, but Okeer couldn't implant connection, his words are hollow..." The krogan now looked contemplative, or at least as contemplative as a krogan could "Legacy, Soldier, Grunt, Muscles....Quad...No! Definitely not Quad. Grunt...Grunt sounds good."

"What about...Hole?" Shepard asked.

"Hmmh?" Grunt mumbled, and Shepard started firing the pistol he had secretly managed to pull out. He kept firing at the krogan, who staggered backwards. Shepard fired a couple more shots, and then stopped. He still kept looking at the krogan through the sights, who was flexing his neck and fingers. "Offer one hand and arm the other. Perhaps you are worthy enough to follow?"

"Don't know about that, but I have pretty good aim."

The krogan shrugged. "Hmm. That's acceptable. I'll follow you. Hmmh, I'd follow a kumquat if it'd lead me to a fight."

Shepard lowered and holstered his pistol. "Good, but give me a warning the next time you wanna try out some wrestling move you saw on TV." Grunt nodded, and Shepard continued. "So, you have those imprints? Know anything about humans?"

Grunt put his hand on his forehead. It looked as if he was trying to remember something. "I see three mighty human warriors...Arnold Schwarzenegger? Sylvester Stallone? Bruce Willis? I have all of their adventures imprinted in me...Hmm...Entertaining...Hmm...What's pro wrestling? Oh!"

Shepard blinked, and frowned "You have action movies and pro wrestling inside your head?"

"Don't know what you mean. Hmm... These three humans are quite forceful...They say interesting things...I'll be back...Hahaa! He drove his shiny wheel thing through the wall!"

"I'm feeling pretty unreal. I should go rest..." Shepard said.

"Bah!" Grunt snorted, brushing Shepard off with his huge hand. As Shepard was leaving he could see Grunt flexing in front of a mirror. "Whatcha gonna do when Grunt comes at you, brother!"