A/N: Wow, I have been nonstop crying for the past hour and a half. Mainly due to the fact that Mass Effect is now done, forever. However, I feel like I need to get the demon out of me so the chapter after this one is just going to be goony and complete fluff and all that wonderful stuff. But if anyone else feels like I do.
"Don't cry that it's over, smile that it happened." -Dr. Seuss
or alternatively
"There is no real ending. It's just the place where you stop the story." -Frank Herbert
So there Shepard stood, caught uncomfortably between two pieces of metal. He could breath easily, but his lower body had gone numb from the lack of movement. Of course, he felt like his whole body was numb.
He had just had several bombs dropped on him a few minutes ago. First, he learned The Catalyst somehow survived. How? He still had no answers after talking to him twice. Perhaps it was fate, or maybe just luck. Either case, it was not good news for him. In that moment, he completely regretted keeping what had happened up there a secret. He knew why he kept it secret, but everything was falling apart around him.
Another bombshell was the fact that his best friend, who he thought was dead, somehow survived Akuze. Frank Mason was with Shepard throughout everything from Boot Camp to The N7 training camp. He remembered how Mason had saved him on Akuze, pushing him out of the way. However, he was now working for Cerberus, his captors. Why? Shepard didn't know, but he wanted to know as soon as possible.
And Finally, the worst of them all, Mikhail and The Catalyst were going to bring back The Reapers. Of course, this task would be extremely daunting to anyone attempting this, but Shepard knew that Mikhail had everything he needed now. The Catalyst created The Reapers, and could do it again if it desired to. Shepard was worried, and rightly so. Who knows what those two could do.
Just then, a few shuttles zipped by Shepard, all of them Cerberus. However, they just kept flying by, not even hesitating to stop. They were heading towards Earth, for some unknown reason. However, it seemed like utter suicide to go to the most defended planet in the known galaxy. At this point, Shepard was more focused on getting free from his position. He struggled and struggled, but couldn't budge loose.
Eventually, Shepard managed to break off one of the sides after banging on it for quite some time. He fell down onto his side as the plate was forced loose. Shepard got up and turned around. He began to walk towards the way he came in. Another shuttle came right by him and slowed down. It was an Alliance shuttle and it began to open its door.
"Shepard!" shouted Ashley from inside the shuttle. Inside was Ash and Miranda along with a couple other soldiers. Shepard ran towards them, leaping up into the shuttle. He holstered his gun and turned towards Ashley.
"What's going on?" asked Shepard.
"Cerberus is heading for Cairo," Ashley said.
"Cairo?" Shepard asked, "What the hell's in Cairo that's making it a target?"
"Besides the normal government buildings, not much other than The University," Miranda mentioned as she typed some things into her Omni-tool.
Shepard then realized why they were going to Cairo. It was for The Egyptian Institute of Advance Sciences and Advanced Engineering, or what was in it. He recalled Traynor talking about how the institute had one of the last working AI cores in the galaxy. And that's what Mikhail needed, the AI Core. With it, he could transfer The Catalyst into the core and take it with him.
"Shepard...what's wrong?" Ashley asked, "You seemed distracted."
"It's just," Shepard tried to come to the right words, "I learned something that's bothering me."
"What?" Ashley asked.
"It's, uh, It's about my friend...Mason," Shepard said.
"The one who died on Akuze?" Ashley asked.
"Yeah, he's alive," Shepard said.
"Alive?" Ashley posed, "How?"
"I don't know, but apparently he's working for Cerberus right now," Shepard said. He was grabbing his hands and nervously messing around with his fingers.
"Don't worry Shepard," said Ashley as she tried to comfort him, "We'll get everything answered as soon as possible." She looked at Shepard, who was seemingly a nervous wreck right now. She loved him and was worried why all of this was happening and hoped he would get the answers he desired.
"We're approaching Cairo right now," the pilot said as the shuttle buckled as it entered Earth's atmosphere. Shepard grabbed his rifle, priming it for combat. The shuttle slowed down and began to land.
"Get ready," the pilot said as he put the shuttle down. The shuttle landed and opened its door, the light pouring into the shuttle. Shepard and the crew stepped out into the hot Egyptian sun.
They were in the middle of a street of Cairo. They were in the slums, a thick fog of smog filled the air. The building were all ruin down, stacked on top of each other like cages. The windows were all flung open and they had everything from clothes to fans on the window still. The streets were deserted and only the sound of fighting in the distance could be heard. Shepard looked around the streets. A few cars were parked in the streets, but they were all intact. There had been no fighting in this area, but he knew it was close by.
"Where's Cerberus?" asked Shepard to Miranda.
"The fights a couple blocks ahead," Miranda said, "There trying to build a stronghold at the university."
"Confined area with plenty of buildings, makes sense," Ashley said as the group began to walk down the street. The sounds of gunfire were still in the air, echoing across the empty corridors of the buildings. Shepard looked up, a few people were looking out at them, one of them recording them on his Omni-tool. Shepard tried to ignore it, knowing that making a spectacle of these things wouldn't help anything.
Then, a women came running down the street. She was yelling in an panicked tone, and running towards one of the buildings. She started banging on the door, yelling, "Let me in!" The door whooshed open and the lady tumbled inward and shut the door. The group continued to walk down the street. Shepard looked down an ally way, seeing something that he had never seen before. There were hundreds of cats, all of them congregating and fighting over something.
"What the hell?" Shepard said quietly to himself.
"There's a lot of cats in Egypt, it's like a rat problem for them," Ashley responded.
"Really?" asked Shepard.
"Yeah, they often go on a killing streak once a year to try to get rid of all of them," Ashley said.
"They can't just adopt them or something," Shepard said.
"Sure," sarcastically responded Ash, "Adopt the flee ridden, rabies infected, dirty cats."
"I get it," responded Shepard.
The group eventually came upon the front lines. There were several tents set up, nothing too serious to assemble. Underneath was everything from the wounded to spare ammo. The troops were mainly doing reconnaissance, along with the gunfire. There was a large bridge, crossing the river that separated The Alliance and Cerberus at The University. The gunfire had seemingly calmed down within the last few moments. Shepard approached a large table underneath the tents, seeing a familiar face.
"Shepard," Admiral Hackett said as the group approached.
"Hackett? What are you doing Here?" asked Shepard.
"I was actually here on Earth when the attack started," he responded, "Figured I take a head on approach with Cerberus this time."
"Good," Shepard said, "Maybe we can finally get Cerberus."
"Doubtful, but we have the opportunity to make a large impact," said Hackett as he pulled up some holographic interfaces from the table. "We have word that Claire Medford is at The University, more than likely to make a grab at the technology there."
"What's there?" asked Miranda.
"Everything from new energy source development to real-time communication technologies," Hackett responded, "A lot of the funding to this school is Military based, so you can only imagine what Cerberus could do with these projects."
"So what's the plan?" asked Shepard.
"They're holding hostages, everyone from students to teachers," Hackett said, "Including Specialist Traynor from The Normandy."
"They're holding Traynor?" asked Ashley, "Where is she?"
"She's more than likely in the main labs of the campus, but that's just an educated guess," said Hackett to Ashley. "Right now, we are working on a plan to ensure the safety of the hostages."
Shepard walked away from Hackett, looking outward at the campus.
The college was relatively new, especially since The Reaper Invasion, but it had an architectural style similar to that of Roman-Greek styles. Overall, the school more than likely cost a lot of money to attend, Traynor would fit in there among the intellectual crowd.
"Shepard," Hackett said, "There's something you should know."
"What?" asked Shepard.
"There's an N7 among Cerberus," Hackett said as he pulled up a picture taken of Mason. He was wearing a full suit of N7 armor, with a large Cerberus logo burned onto the chest. He was wearing a helmet, so Shepard couldn't see his face, but he knew that it was Mason.
"It's Mason," Shepard said.
"Who?" Hackett asked.
"Frank Mason," Shepard said as he brought up a picture on the table. It was of both Shepard and Mason, around their early twenties. The two had saved heads and were just out of boot camp, and celebrating. "Mason and I completed N7 training together, I was on Akuze with him... I thought he died."
"And he's back?" Hackett asked.
"Just like Toombs," said Shepard, "I guess Cerberus was doing more experiments than I thought." "I just want to talk to him, figure out why he's working with his captors right now."
"Stockholm Syndrome," said Miranda, "Hostages, over the course of extremely long period of time, will agree with their captors motives."
"Maybe I can talk to him," said Shepard, "He could be a valuable asset to The Alliance."
"Either Case..." Hackett began to say, just as a bullet flew past them. I hit the table, sending a large explosion of sparks into the air as the group flinched backwards. Shepard turned to see where the bullet came from. It was from a sniper rifle from across the river, the gunman laying down in the grass. Shepard looked closer, and realized something. It was Mason. He was still in his armor with the helmet, but Shepard knew.
Shepard immediately ran up to the river, ignoring the people that tried to stop him. He looked across, seeing the figure begin to get up. Shepard just stood there, staring at him. Mason got up, now aiming his gun at Shepard. Then, suddenly, the gun simply fell from Masons hands. Mason stepped forward also, simply staring across the river as well.
The two stood for a minute or so, just looking at one another.
"Mason," Shepard thought, "Why? Just surrender so we can talk." Shepard raised his hand, waving at Mason. Surprisingly, Mason also raised his hand, waving back at him slowly. The rest of the group was watching the two, amazed at the two warriors simply looking at each other. Mason slowly backed up, turning around to head back inside the building.
"Shepard," Ashley asked as she approached Shepard from behind, "You okay?" she softly said.
"Yeah," Shepard managed to squeak out, "It's him."
"We'll get the answers, trust me," Ashley said as the two turned around. "Let's just get ready for the assault.
"I know," Shepard said. He was completely absorbed by thoughts, "Why?" is what was prominent in his mind at the moment, "why?"
"You know Shepard, you looked better without the goatee back then," said Ashley.
"Shut up..." groaned Shepard.
"Please don't kill me!" the man pleaded with Cerberus troops, "Please!" A gunshot rang throughout the lab as a bullet flew through the teachers head. This was the main laboratory, the room filled with millions upon billions of credits of engineering technology. On the walls were detailed blueprints along with various projects throughout the room. At the far end, was an extremely large machine that house a small metal case no larger than the average laptop.
Traynor was hiding behind one of the tables, trying not to be heard. A couple of tears were rolling down her face, hitting her hands which were covering her mouth. What was a normal day had now just become a nightmare. Cerberus had barged into the building shooting everyone they could see and now were hunting for anybody else they could find. She overheard them talk.
"Area secured sir," one of the troops said as someone entered the laboratory.
"Good," the man said as he looked around. "This place is amazing."
"Yeah Mason," a woman said, "It's more amazing if you realize what half this stuff is."
"I haven't seen this kind of technology since my time at The Villa," he said. Traynor tried to be as quiet as she could, hearing a pair of footsteps coming closer and closer to her.
"Wait a minute," the man said. Traynor had never felt more terrified in her life, even after her time on The Normandy. She was pushing on her mouth as hard as she could, not letting one sound out of her lips. Then, as quick as lightning, the man grabbed her arm and jerked her up. She screamed, tears streaming down her eyes.
"Please, God No!, I'll give you anything you want!" Traynor pleaded, "Pl-ea-eeease!"
"Shut Up!" one of the troops yelled, "I'm so sick of you people pleading for your life!"
"Shhh," said the man. He was in N7 armor with a big Cerberus logo on it. "I'm not going to kill you." Traynor was still crying, trying to get free.
"Where's the core?" asked Mason to Claire as she was looking at the big machine at the end of the room.
"Right here," Claire said, "But it's locked."
"I need you to unlock it," Mason said to Traynor, "Please."
"No," she cried, "I won't help you," she was shaking violently and was scared out of her mind. Mason took a breath, then slammed her down onto the lab table she was hiding behind. Traynor cried out, but Mason held her down as she squirmed about.
"Alright, listen up," Mason yelled, "You're gonna unlock that machine so we can get the core, or else," Mason said as he pulled out a large knife and held it to Traynor's head, "I will kill you, cut off your hands and proceed to harvest your corneas to ensure I can unlock it."
"GOD NO!" she screamed, "I'll unlock it, just let me go!" Mason let her go, still holding the knife at her. She ran towards the machine, typing in the code as fast as possible. She quickly scanned her hands and eyes to confirm her identity.
A voice chimed in from the machine, "Doctor Traynor, Communications Specialist, Access Granted." The force field guarding the case opened and revealed the AI Core in all its glory. A dark blue light gleamed outward from the core, encasing that part of the room.
"Okay, It's unlocked, Can I please go home," Traynor cried out to Mason.
"No," he said. Traynor began crying again, exclaiming, "Please let me go, please!"
"For the love of fucks sake, just SHUT UP," Mason said as he grabbed Traynor's head and slammed it as hard as he could onto the machine. Her body became limp and just fell to the ground, blood began pouring out of her nose.
"Mason, it's gonna take a few minutes to begin the transfer process," Claire said, "And a few more in order to remove the AI core."
"Then What?" asked Mason, "What's our exit strategy?"
"Mikhail is working on that," Claire said as she typed a few things into her Omni-tool, "He's with a few others securing a convoy."
"Figures," Mason thought. Mikhail was all-in-all, a huge coward. He would never show it in public or say it to Mikhail's face, but he was very cowardly. He often avoided direct fights and when he got into fights, he panicked. Mikhail's primarily asset was his mind, which was full of plans and strategies that anyone back at The Alliance would kill for. However, unlike Alliance ideals, Mikhail often threw troops and money at every hair brained idea that he got. He was lucky for most of them, mainly because they were so complex and required fast paced work, these hit and run plans worked so well.
"General Mason," said one of the troops, "We just received word that Admiral Hackett is with The Alliance right now."
"Admiral Hackett," Claire said as she continued to type things into the machine, "His head would make Mikhail happy."
Mason looked at a nearby Nemesis, who proceeded to toss her sniper to Mason. "I'll go kill The Admiral, you work on that AI Core."
"Got it," said Claire as she stopped typing.
"AI Transfer in process, Estimated Time of Completion: Ten Minutes, please wait," the machine said.
"Roger that," Mason said as he headed near the exit. Mason stepped out of the building and looked around. The Campus was deserted and Cerberus held hostages in every other building. Mason kept towards the wall, heading towards the front that Cerberus had place several scouts on, near the river. The campus was very nice, with kinda a Romano-Greek architecture, something which he learned from this guy he fought back at a bar in his early military career.
He got down on the ground once he saw the river, along with The Alliance tents. He crawled slowly across the ground, pulling his gun along with him. He examined The Alliance forces, which made him uneasy. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and surrounded. He eventually got to a nice grassy spot that hid him from plain view. He picked up the gun, looking at the scope. He grabbed a small piece attached to the scope, the laser pointer. He didn't want to attract any attention, so he quickly broke it off and pulled the scope up to his eyes.
He looked around the front The Alliance forces, who were all armed to the teeth. He looked around, seeing that The Alliance was ready for either an all out assault or a long siege. He looked around, eventually being drawn to a figure in dress blues. It was clearly Hackett, with his white hair. Mason took a breath and steadied his aim. He fired.
He expected Hackett to fall, along with blood spraying out the other side. However, the results he got were very unsatisfying. The bullet had hit the table that Hackett was standing next to, some sparks flew from it. Mason realized that breaking of the laser must've jerked the scope from its proper position. It was a stupid mistake and Mason knew it. So he knew that he needed to get out of there as soon as possible. He stood up and was ready to run as fast as he could.
He caught a figure running up to the river near his view. Mason picked his gun up, getting ready to fire at the figure. He figured that a simple kill would at least send him back with a kill. Mason picked his gun up and aimed, but couldn't fire. He hesitated, the gun slipping out of his hands as he realized who it was. Shepard.
The Savior of The Citadel, The Lone Survivor, The Savior of The Galaxy, thrice over. He had not seen the man in person in many years. He had read and read and read Shepard's file Cerberus had over and over again. He watched his acceptance speech to The Spectres, every interview that he had done. Yet it still had not sunk in. His friend, someone who was always there for him back in the day, was back. Mason just stood there, staring at Shepard as Shepard stared back. There was no gunfire, and time seemed to slow down for Mason.
Then, out of nowhere, Shepard waved. It wasn't an excited wave in anyway, but was more of a simple "Hi." Mason didn't know what to do, part of him wanted to walk away, but the other wanted to just walk over and talk to him. However, he began to raise his hand. He got it up, and slightly moved it back to say "Hi" back. They stared for a little bit longer, before Mason began to step backwards a little bit. He still felt flabbergasted and he decided to just turn around as quickly as possible.
Mason just jogged away, trying to get back to the lab. He felt an enormous amount of emotions swelling up inside of him. he got back to the doors, and slowly walked inside. He entered the lab to find Claire and the others frantically working to gather as much data as possible. Mason took his helmet off, putting it onto a nearby table. He fell against the wall, still trying to comprehend what he saw.
"Is he dead?" asked Claire.
"No, I missed, the scope wasn't sighted in," Mason said, "I...I saw Shepard."
"Yeah," Claire said.
"You realize what this means," said Mason.
"What?" Claire said.
"I'm going to have to fight him..." Mason said, "And kill him."
"Listen," Claire said as she stepped away from her console, "If you two wanna suck each other's dicks, do it on your own time, but stayed focused!"
"I didn't join up to kill my best friend!" Mason yelled, "I stand with humanity, and humanity alone, but I refuse to kill my friend!"
"Mason!" Claire yelled, "Shepard is the enemy, and these hard decisions face everyone." "So if you wanna leave, then leave, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna sit here and cry about your little girlfriend."
"Fine," Mason said as he walked towards The AI Core, "I'll stay..." he looked at the device, which had nearly uploaded the "AI" that Mikhail had found.
"Shepard," Mikhail thought.
"Shepard!"Ashley said to Shepard. Shepard was sitting down, lost in thought. "Shepard, the Makos are here, were about to begin the raid."
"Okay..." Shepard croaked out.
"Shepard," Ashley looked down at Shepard, "I promise that you'll get to talk to Mason, trust me."
"Okay..." he croaked out again and stood up. He grabbed his Reverent Assault Rifle and got in position behind the convoy of three Makos. The Makos were firing at the snipers planted around the outside of the campus. The groups were ready to head inside of their assigned buildings. The Makos reached the other side of the bridge, then drove into the Campus grounds to secure the insides.
Shepard looked around, seeing troops begin to take point by each building. Shepard looked around, eventually finding the main laboratory. If Mason was anywhere, he would be there. Shepard ran towards that building, seeing that both Ashley and Miranda were there too. Shepard took point by Ashley and asked her, "What's the plan?"
"Shoot the baddies and save the hostages," Ashley said, "Beyond that, not much."
"What if Mason is in there?" asked Shepard.
"I think that N7 armor with a large orange hexagon on it would give it away, so we won't shoot the man," Ashley responded. "Okay?"
"Okay," Shepard said.
Ashley held her hand up, holding three fingers up, then two, then one, and then it happened. The three barged through the doors. Shepard spotted three Cerberus troops, each of them spread across the room, and no hostages. Shepard shot the one at the farthest right, Miranda and Ash taking the ones at the other sides of the rooms. Shepard looked around, seeing the AI Core at the end of the room. Next to it was Claire and...Mason. the two held their guns up and pointed them.
"Mason!" Shepard exclaimed. Mason looked exactly like he remembered, but with the added effect of age.
"Shepard!" Mason yelled. Shepard looked exactly the same as Mason remembered.
"Oh...My God!" Claire said, "We all might as well just leave while you two have sex with each other!"
"Shut Up!" Mason said as he continued to look at Shepard. "Shepard...I...uh."
"Mason, I don't know what to say," Shepard tried to come to the right words, "I guess...uh...I would have to say...Why are you with Cerberus?"
"Cerberus has done more good for humanity than The Alliance has ever done," Mason said.
"Does trying to kill The Council and me include that?" asked Shepard.
"Those were the plans of The Illusive Man," Mason said, "I know that Cerberus has done some shady things, but Shepard, we both know that the ends justify the means." "We were taught that back at The Villa, we've been taught that our entire life. There's a fine line that men like you and I have to cross, and Cerberus is that, it is us."
"It's not," said Shepard, "Cerberus kills civilians, and good men and women that have children." "You're 'friends' are responsible for this whole incident right now, and you think that these means justify whatever ends you'll get."
"Shepard, you think that you haven't torn families apart," Mason replied, "You've killed before, and whether it's some drug dealer or civilian, you're tearing apart someone's love."
"Mason," Shepard cried, "I never meant to hurt you." "If I knew you survived, I would've come back for you."
"I spent the last ten fucking years in a dark cell, with no light other than the sunlight through the small cracks in the wall," Mason said, "I was tortured for information and possibly anything that Cerberus could use!"
"Then why side with them?" asked Shepard, "If these people did unspeakable things to you, then why would you dare join them?"
"the Villa did all of that to us!" said Mason, "And yet here you are." "Is it really so wrong to want the best for humanity?" "When I was set free after all that time, Mikhail came to me and told me about everything that had happened over the past decade." "You became a hero, fighting a rogue Spectre and The Reapers." "Did you know that I was the first choice for The XO position on The Normandy?"
"What?" Shepard said.
"Yeah," Mason bragged, "You were deemed, to emotionally volatile, you're parents death still haunting you to your core." "And I know you, you have so much that haunts you to your core." "You drank, you smoke, hell, you did red sand for two goddamn years of your life!"
"Wait!" Ashley interjected, "You did Red Sand?"
"Yeah..." Shepard simply responded.
"From sixteen to eighteen years old, you went off the chains," said Mason, "That's how I met Shepard, in fact." "I was at a club on Earth, one of those eighteen plus nights were they don't serve alcohol till midnight and then kicked us young kids out." "Shepard was higher than anyone I've ever seen, a depressed child indulging himself in drugs."
"I'm not proud of it," said Shepard, "I was young and depressed, my parents died because I left them, so I wanted to feel better!"
"You got into a fight with this Alliance soldier who tried to arrest you, left you knocked out in the middle of the dance floor," Mason said, "Of course, you shaped up and joined The Alliance, and now here you are."
"Mason... we don't need to fight," Shepard said, "Just put the gun down."
During this conversation, Claire had stepped back and managed to unhook the AI Core and put it in a slot on the back of her white Cerberus Officer armor.
"Mason," Claire said, "We've got everything we need, let's just go."
"I can't let that happen Mason," Shepard said as he tightened his aim on Mason.
Claire tossed the AI Core to Mason, "They won't fire at you, so go!" Mason slowly began to walk towards the exit. Shepard wanted to shoot him, even just wounding him in the leg would've been fine. Shepard couldn't do it, and Ash and Miranda knew that Shepard would never let them take the shot. Then, Mason just left, with the AI Core. Claire pressed a button and then, suddenly, a large force field came up around the part of the building they were in.
"I never thought I would live to see the day that The Great Commander, or rather, Captain Shepard flinch like a bitch," Claire laughed. "So, listen, I gotta go, but I wanna tell you one last thing before I go Shepard."
She approached the barrier, looking straight into Shepard's eyes. "The Alliance's time is over, Cerberus has a plan and we will ascend to the highest mountain top as!" Claire began yelling in a maniac type manner. Then, there was a loud bang. Blood splattered against the barrier as it sprayed off of Claire's head. Her body just fell backwards, slamming down to the ground with a loud thud.
The group looked on as they saw something that they never noticed. Traynor was knocked out on the ground and had woken up. She managed to wrangle up a gun and shot Claire right in the head.
"Oh my god," Traynor said as she got up, "I...I...I..."
"Traynor," Shepard said, "Thank god you're all right!" "Can you please shut down this force field?"
Traynor took a while to understand that command, but she managed to walk over to the button to close the force fields. They shut down, freeing the group to go after Mason.
"Traynor," Shepard said as he approached her. Then, Traynor just started to vomit. It was obvious she had never killed someone before, and it was taking a toll on her. She vomited all over Shepard's armor, Shepard cried out in disgust at what was happening.
"I think," she managed to say before she vomited again, "I have a concussion, GOD I KILLED HER," she managed to say as she fell to the ground.
"I have to go after Mason," Shepard said, "Can you two help her?"
"Yeah Shepard," Miranda said, "Just go get him, and whatever she handed him." Shepard nodded and then took off. He exited the building towards the main part of the campus. There, a huge firefight had erupted. In the middle, Cerberus was getting ready to evacuate who they could. Mikhail was one the shuttle, along with Mason. The three Makos were all in flames and The Alliance was taking fire from snipers. Shepard quickly sprinted as close as he could to the shuttle, which was getting ready to take off.
"Hey Mikhail," Shepard shouted as he raised his pistol. Mikhail looked over and saw Shepard. "I killed your girlfriend!" he shouted as he took a shot. The shot nailed Mikhail right in the left shoulder, causing him to fly backwards into the shuttle. He looked at Mason, pointing the gun at him. However, Mason shot first. A bullet hit Shepard right in the toe, causing him to jump. The shuttle doors close, then safely escaped into space.
"Damn it," Shepard shouted as he tossed his gun to the ground. Shepard continued to take of his armor, throwing it in an angry fashion across the campus. He threw his chest piece on the ground, stomping on it with his good foot. The piece broke, Shepard picked up the N7 piece that had broken off. He tossed his bottoms off two, leaving him in his Alliance casuals.
Shepard started walked away from the college, angrily grumbling to himself. He took his dog tags off, looking at them. He chucked them into the nearby river, yelling as he did it.
"Goddamn it, I need a fucking drink," Shepard grumbled to himself in anger and pain.
