A/N: Here's the epilogue chapter... :) a sneak peak at the next story and where it will head.

(Almost a Year Later)

Deep into the caves and caverns of the planet Junthor was an undetectable fortress. An impenetrable force, financed by an unknown caretaker, seemingly blessed with as much resources as any of the big powers in the galaxy. Being an unsanctioned build, it was obviously used for less than amoral activities – more associated with the scum populating Omega than the goodies at the Citadel. In the black market world, this was their Fort Knox of the future, only the top mercenaries in the galaxy with business inside.

Imagine an underground Purgatory station of technology, classified projects, upgraded Geth tech, stolen Cerberus and Alliance weapons, mech prototypes, illegal and dangerous PEDs, nothing that could kill many organisms was off limits. This was a legendary armory only few of the good guys have ever seen. Hidden under tons of rock. Reinforced armor up the shoots. Defended by an advanced A.I system with an army of YMIR Mechs and mercenary security. It's no wonder why those that have tried to invade have yet to live to tell a tale. The baddies of the world know it simply as Haven.

Due to the dissonant nature of the base, it usually was a dead zone. But it wasn't now. Not for the last few months. It was a celebration of sinners. The mercenaries inside had found a golden goose that took a hunt of unfathomable magnitudes.

*Trance Beat!*

The music hit hard as the wicked grinded and drank to the rhythm. Inside this fortress was a baddie bash, celebrating an unending cycle of sex and abuse. There was only the strongest booze, the most intense drugs, and a small army of Asari pole dancers at the gang's beck and call. The primal yells and thumps shook the foundation to its very core.

On top of the complex, overlooking the entire sea of sin below like a V.I.P box sat the leaders of the lot. Tela Vasir, a Spectre who had been double dealing the Council for a long time. Being one of the top agents for the Shadow Broker she was as deadly as she was treacherous. Alongside her were the gang leaders Ganar Wrang, a Krogan who led the vicious Blood Pack and Vido Santiago, the human leader of the infamous Blue Suns. The trio was having a private viewing party, watching two Asari dancers getting close and personal, getting acclimated to one another in ways that should be left unmentioned.

Wrang downed his toxic drink, glancing at his datapad. "We have a few new offers on the package, about a three percent increase."

"And watch it keep climbing boys…" The Asari Spectre grinned mischievously.

"… How long are we going to sit with this frozen golden egg?" Vido, the Blue Sun co-founder growled. "The longer we hold it-"

"As long as need be human," Tela's Spectre resolve was as strong as a rock, the biotic biting her lip in voyeuristic lust, the playing Asaris motioning over for her to join the fray. "… The fools will pay what I tell them to pay. Got it?"

"We're a target with this Spartan on board, you know that." Santiago sighed, more of the pessimist. "How many times has this package switched hands via death already?"

"Few have found Haven, and the ones that do die." Tela shrugged not concerned, attention still on her grinding Asari dancers. "The A.I. will take care of any strays and your gangs and my Asari commandos are stationed here. Stop being a coward."

"I'm just saying… what about the alive Spartan?"

"Hah, how many have seen him?" Tela shrugged off the thought. "Besides if he ever shows his face…"

Click.

"Then you'll what?" A filtered voice came on cue, making the three's glares explode exponentially. The shadow of a phantom crept over them. The trio growled, more in disbelief than in anger. A gray live version of what they had hidden standing right in their stupid stares.

Noble Six…

** ~ Cerberus Database Update ~ **

~ Subject Seven ~

Name: Noble Six

Other Alias: Spartan B312, Lone Wolf

Known Allies: Former Members of Shepard's Squad.

Cerberus Status: Leader of Anti-Reaper Strike Team

( ) (

"Bullshit! Not him!" Vido pulled out his weapon shakily. "Why didn't I just keep my mouth shut?"

"What do we do Spectre?" The Krogan snarled, his shotgun right at Six's noggin.

The Spectre replied to her partner's panic by giggling to herself with the confidence of a true killer. In the back of Tela's mind she knew at some point he would come, a Spectre always prepared for the worst. The living non-frozen version had to show up sometime and Noble Six had finally found them. Her laughs slowly coerce her two partners to pull up their confidence pants hesitantly, all three glowering the cybernetic warrior.

"Finally I get to meet the infamous Noble Six in person." Tela sat back with no sense of urgency like her comrades. "Sorry if I'm as giddy as a school girl. It's been a wish of mine."

"I hope I'm all I'm cracked up to be." Six looked around sardonically, taking a place at their table without permission. "Nice place you guys have here. Haven right?"

Wrang and Vido were speechless to a Spartan who clearly was getting comfortable in his new world. Unlike most Spartans, Noble Six was a tech fiend and his progression showed. The MJOLNIR armor couldn't really be called Mark V anymore. It looked more menacing, edged out, glowing with red LED energy in various places, the highest grade omni-tool installed onto his wrist, blasters and grenades strapped to him that even Cerberus hesitated to give out to their top agents.

Six had been tweaking the Spartan armor and weaponry for a year now in this new galaxy. He'd embraced the tech (Reaper mods included), making him as dangerous as ever, birthing a glowing red armor that many have found impenetrable. With a blade the roman numerical markings across his armor gleamed at the criminals. I, II, III, IV, V.

The fallen numbers of Noble Squad.

His deathly presence flowed out like a wave, silencing the once rowdy mob. The entire party's decibels head to null, every single dark soul's heart almost frozen in tension. They knew the stories. They've seen the bits of images of this Spartan. They've been debriefed. The legend of Noble Six was growing quickly. The mercenaries and evil doers of this universe saw him as some sort of Angel of Death. Fear was not common. That's a feeling they felt very few times in their despicable lives.

To them this wasn't fear.

It was horror.

"… I figured my reputation has caught up to me." Noble Six hid any kind of read with his lifeless helmet. The music stopped, a pin drop could be heard as everything seemed to be running in slow motion. "I'm assuming you know what I'm here for."

Only one of the bad ones seemed to have any composure.

"Hah, you're trying to scare us?" Tela's tone darkened. "I think you should be worried about yourself, Spartan." She snapped her fingers, instantly all the tentative Vorcha, Eclipse mercenaries, and Blue Sun troopers drawing their weapons. "I don't care who you are. Don't fuck with a Spectre…"

"A Spectre?" Six's confidence oozed, slowly standing making a few flinch. "You and I both know you're anything but."

"No one fire a shot!" Tela screamed out to the entire room killing any jumpy mercenaries, the Spectre's glare burning into Spartan. "I want to savor this moment. The moment where the great Noble Six bows to me!" she hissed, the thought of having the big bad Spartan in a trap making her cringe in excitement.

"I came here for a friend. Not to hear your bullshit."

Tela pulled her rifle on him, biotics seeping through her Vindicator armor, "We know why you're here! Are you dense? There's no way you're walking out of here with our prize. We have our entire crews here including Mechs that'll double the size of my little army here."

Six like a viper was still and calm, making the entire sea of mercenaries beneath on edge. "Look just to make sure there's no screw up here and I'm not wasting your time," He leaned over the railing, looking down to the crowd. "I'm looking for a dude that is about this high," he brought his hand up a few inches taller than him, "dressed in green, kinda looks like me? … Probably still in his little freezer box?"

There was no response. Noble Six stared out to a thousand beady glowering eyes, silence replied to him like he expected. He shrugged mockingly, leaping over the barricade, smashing into the ground thirty feet below, making a few mercenaries scramble in a back pedal, not even one blast being fired. It was apparent now to Six. They knew whoever fired the first shot was going to be the first one lying in their own pool of blood.

"How about you, you little punk? You know anything?" Six pointed accusingly at a Vorcha getting no reply. He turns to a Blue Sun color adorned Batarian. "How about you sunshine?" the same silence occurs and he looks at an Asari commando, pausing for a bit. "How about you purple?"

The commando gulped with rifle in hand, staring at the cyborg with a bit of nervousness.

"Okay maybe… I can just get a number afterwards at least?"

Six strolled around in charismatic ignorance, literally cutting any swagger this group had, even though they outnumbered him hundreds to one. Tela was appalled as the Blue Suns, her Asari commandos, and the Blood Pack were being treated like a bunch of helpless fools by one soldier. For this traitorous Spectre this was unforgivable. They were being embarrassed by an unreasonable fear.

"Enough!" Tela's eyes let out a pulse. "You're a fucking idiot if you think you can waltz in here and think you can scare the hell out of us."

"I'm scaring you?" Noble Six jabbed at her. "You guys are afraid of us mythological figures?"

"You Spartans are nothing but manufactured hype." The Asari laughed at him. "A bunch of Alliance marketing bullshit, that's making me richer by the minute. You try anything in here and you'll be dead no matter how many of us you kill."

Suddenly she motioned with her hands again, mechs in clusters stomping in like a stampede of metal with blasters at their disposable, and unlike the organic crowd were unable to show any type of fear. Noble Six was clustered in the strongest fortress with the worst crowd anyone could ask for surrounding him. Even for a Spartan, these odds were going to result in his death. With that revelation, of course, his calmness was unchanged.

"I'm guessing you're not going to give me what I came here for." Six pointed out.

"Bow down to me Spartan." Tela leaned over the railing, glaring down at him. "Bow down to me and we'll make your death nice and fast."

"Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way," Noble Six stared her down as still as a rock, every merc and commando in the complex's heart beating faster than a Mass Relay jump waiting for the bodies to drop.

The first blaster round was waiting to be fired, only to exhale deeply.

"Oh wait, forgetful me." Noble Six tapped his own helmet, "I almost forgot... before we get things started." he turned to a computer monitor, "My friend has a message for you."

Like a flash storm, suddenly every holographic display in the base began to flicker, the lights dimming out. The entire base seemed to come alive, each computer terminal short circuiting as if a virus had run the system for a muck. The on edge mercenary crowd begins a bit of hysteria; the mechs that stomped in suddenly beginning short-circuited, being shut down one by one.

Wrang gasped as did his Vorcha. "What the Hell is going on Spectre?"

"I… don't want to know." The Asari growled, scowling as she stared at Six, her Asari blood boiling over. The next image made everyone stare once again in silence, a brilliant azur glow coming from every screen.

"What in blazes is that?" Vido looked at his monitor.

"You should've listened to Noble Six you goons." A female voice chimed through the entire base, the blue image of beauty fading into their minds. "But you will listen to me."

() (

~ Subject Ten ~

Name: Cortana

Cerberus Status: Official Ground A.I. for Anti Reaper Strike Force

- The most Advanced A.I. Construct ever found.

- Seemingly can emote real human emotions. Thinks like a human. Behaves like a human.

- Capacity and abilities seem limitless.

- An expert hacker and targeting A.I.

- Really obsessed with a certain Spartan…

() (

"Where's my Chief?"

"God damn it! What hell is going on?" Tela turned to her top commando, grabbing her neck. "Re sync the A.I. what is this some kind of joke?"

Her Commando hesitated. "I… don't know! It's like the entire core has been corrupted! We've lost control!"

Tela turned back in fury at Noble Six only to see that someone else was standing at their V.I.P. table, a gun pointed right at her head shoving her back violently. Six was beneath the whole tussle, snugly smirking, looking around as the numbers were totally even now. "Oh, I forgot to mention again that my other buddy that came with me," he shrugged. "I think you two know each other pretty well."

Indeed she did. Any Spectre would know this face. That cold unrelenting face that had killed so many in the past few months. He was the best among them. Their once pride and icon of the power of their kind.

"Saren?" Tela gasped as her bones chilled at the sight, the re-born Turian stared at her with glowing eyes, remnants of Reaper upgrades still within him. "I thought you were-"

"Dead?" Saren's smile began to overtake his scarred face, pushing the Asari to the corner of the railing's edge at blaster point. "I'm sorry to disappoint you… but rumors of my death were highly exaggerated."

( ) (

~ Subject Nine ~

Name: Saren Arterius

Cerberus Status: Second Member of Anti Reaper Strike Force, First and only non-Human Cerberus member.

- Longest Serving Turian in Spectre History

- The Most Dangerous and Well Respected warrior in the Spectre Ranks

- Excellent soldier, exceedingly efficient with all firearms

- Biotics have been enhanced by Sovereign's implants.

- Obsessed with redeeming himself, distancing himself with his history with the Reaper Sovereign.

() (

"Took you long enough with that playful banter Spartan." Saren spat at his leader.

"... All in the fun Turian." He shot back.

Enemies no more, the icon of Cerberus was etched onto Saren's armor, just like Noble Six below. Cortana giggled from behind her terminal, sitting and waiting for the fireworks from her two boys here to get her hero back. The mercenaries began to sense their end was coming soon, each of them preparing for their last battle. The three leaders above were all rendered speechless, Six holding all the cards to their lives. He knew they weren't going down without a fight. The frozen Spartan was too valuable to give up. His pity for them was his one last chance.

"Alright now let's try this again one more time shall we?" Noble Six grabbed his assault rifle, pointing it at the crowd. "… Where's Master Chief?"

() (

~ Updating Member Profiles ~

~ Subject Eleven ~

Alias: Master Chief

Cerberus Status: N/A

- Information... currently uploading

() (

A/N: Most stories have Chief coming in smoothly Shepard discovering the Dawn... the next one is a little more complicated than that. :) The sequel will be called Resurrection and will be Master Chief centric/loosely Following the Mass Effect 2 story, so keep an eye out by the end of the week. I am writing it so that people can pick it up w/o reading this fic... which is a staple in the Mass effect games so far.

On as side note, Saren as a Cerberus teammate... rawks. I wish Bioware let that happen.

This story is offically done! Yay! *whistles!*

It feels like a big preface doesn't it? Because things get really fun in the next one I think. And yes Rachel is a cameo... although whether or not she is or not really doesn't make a difference storywise. This fic was dedicated to an old friend of mine and that was my present. The next story will be cameo ridden too... so for haters of that I apologize!

Thanks to the people that review and favorite the story. You guys make it all even worth it that much more. Until later Halo ME nuts...

Laters!

~ JB