Shepard couldn't believe what he was seeing, none of them could. Whoever this was had torn his way through this base, and here he was standing in front of them. Barely even recognising that there were three people aiming weapons straight at his back as he tapped away at the holo-pad, humming quietly to himself as he stared straight up at the screen. The sound of beeping emanating from the computer and filling the silence in the room before finally Shepard broke the silence.

"Identify yourself, now!" the commander spoke forcefully to the figure, his command being responded by the man looking back at them over his shoulder. His eyes barely visible through his long, messy hair and his overgrown facial hair, clearly Cerberus had no interest in keeping up this man's appearance but that wasn't what really bothered him. Through the thick brown hair, he swore the man's eye looked red, not bloodshot…but his pupil was actually red. His train of thought broken as the man turned back to the screen.

"You first N7" the man replied, clearly unthreatened by the three

Shepard was about to ask how the man knew that, catching himself as he remembered N7 was plastered on his armour. Thanking god he had caught his mistake before he even made it. The situation was tense, he could tell both Tali and Kaidan had no idea what to make of this, so the commander was going to handle this. Hopefully no one else had to die today. "I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy. This is Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"Oh my name really isn't important, it hasn't been for a very long time now Shepard. But as for your real question, friend or foe?" he stated, reaching into the side of his jeans and throwing a surgical scalpel down into the ground at his feet, the metal vibrating like a tuning fork briefly "I'm friendly enough, the Quarian was proof enough that you're not Cerberus, and if you're not Cerberus….well…as long as you don't shoot at me I'm friendly" breathing deeply at the end of his sentence before he started to hum and tap his foot, his omni-tool lighting up around his arm.

Shepard slowly lowered his weapon, the rest of his squad doing the same but keeping their gaze straight at the man's back. He was far enough away for them to react if he tried anything and they were fully expecting him too, no matter what Shepard did, they trusted him with their lives…but the main had torn open 30 or more soldiers and scientists. Without armour, with a single rifle he took from one of the soldiers he had killed, and a scalpel.

Then a question hit the biotic like a sledgehammer, this man had no armour. Not one single piece and he didn't have a scratch on him. "Commander, this guy's a biotic!" immediately raising his weapon back at the man's back "He has no armour and no shielding, and look at him! He's not got a single scratch on him! He must have bar..." the Lieutenant was suddenly cut off.

The man was laughing, chuckling to himself as he tapped at the console before spinning around and leaning back against the giant computer. "A biotic?...seriously? Good guess Mr Alenko but nope. Try again team. The jackpot is just to die for" a smile forming on the man's face, partly obscured by his shaggy beard. "tell you what, I'll even give you a clue and it's really good one" he then stood up straight and slid his hands down his chest, along the shirt Cerberus had left him in "The holes in this shirt are not a fashion statement" again chuckling to himself at the end of his sentence before his omni-tool lit up and started flashing.

"AHA! All done, now just to purge everything on the system" his hand quickly moving back to the console before he was stopped by the commander shouting

"STOP! Don't move!" Their weapons flying back into their soldiers, who knew what data was on that terminal. It could prove invaluable to stopping anything like this ever happening again.

The man froze, his hand hovering over the console before it slowly rose back into the air along with his other hand, slowly stepping back from the console as the squad moved closer to the computer. "Ok….what suddenly got you all antsy? Nothing on there of interest anyway, just a few horrifying experiments that should never ever be allowed to leave this place…ever" emphasising the words horrifying and ever as loudly as he could.

"For all we know that computer could have data on Admiral Kahoku's death and you are currently an un-named "friendly". Maybe you're just cleaning up shop for Cerberus and this is all just a ruse" shouted Kaidan, accidently letting the Admiral's name slip in the heat of the moment. Shepard was about to berate the lieutenant, shut him up before he revealed anything else but the look in the mysterious man's face when he heard the name Kahoku.

"Kahoku's dead?" the man said quietly, looking down at the ground as he clenched his hands tightly "….how…how and when did he die?" his words, quiet and precise. Clearly the man knew the admiral in some capacity.

Shepard realised this man was no threat to Alliance security, the breaking in his voice showed that. Whoever he was he wasn't a Cerberus operative simply cleaning shop. "A few days ago, he was executed by Cerberus and the intel we found on his body led us here."

Sighing, the man turned around and leant back against the wall. He was eyeing up Shepard, looking dead into his eyes and again. Shepard saw them again. His eyes, they looked like Wrex's. His pupils were irises were deep red and his pupils were slits. The white of his eye surrounding the brilliant red colour, seemingly vibrating out of his skull.

"Thank you for not lying to me commander…." He finally said before retreating back into his own mind

'The old man never gave up' the man thought quietly to himself. "Christ ok look, there's nothing on Kahoku on that computer. Just experiments and data and some….morally questionable areas. You can do a diagnostic on the system, I was just wiping all the main copies and all that's left is to purge it. Kahoku was never mentioned" his voice was clear, his words concise. This man was not lying to Shepard and he knew it, but before he had a chance to say anything he was interrupted yet again.

"There's a man going 'round, taking names, and he decides who to free, and who to blame. So Shepard…..are you the man?" his voice serious "because I want to be free N7, and….guns and biotics won't stop me. You saw the mess I left out there, and there are only three of you. So…what will it be? Am I to blame or will you set me free?"

The commander was stunned, unsure of what to make of this situation. This man was lethal, dangerous and clearly desperate to get out. He was right, they couldn't stop him. Three people wouldn't be enough even with all their skills combined. Today was the day this prisoner walked free but…but what if he could be used? He was lethal, he was dangerous but the commander had a krogan on his ship. This was a risky path to tread, but an extra hand on his mission would be welcome, and it could get everyone out of this hellhole alive.

"What if I strike you a deal? You come with me, help me complete my mission and I'll destroy all the data in that computer" Shepard said, lowering his weapon and noting the look of surprise on Kaidan's face. A look he was sure Tali was sharing behind her helmet. He was slightly surprised the red eyed man had exactly the same look.

Laughing filled the room again "Seriously? You're seriously asking me to join you? Look no offence but did your parents drop you on your head a little too often as a child?" the man couldn't believe what he was hearing, a minute ago these people had been ready to riddle him with metal. Not that he really cared but he was still amazed.

"Look all I know is this. You are clearly capable. You are desperate to get out of here and you haven't tried to kill me yet. Hell you even looked distressed at the news of Admiral Kahoku dying. I don't know who you are or what you are but I do know this. You're not my enemy and I'm giving you a chance to get out" Shepard stated as a matter of fact, and he was right. Even Tali and Kaidan knew it, Shepard was right. This man could help. Not only had he torn his way through heavily armed guards but he was clearly a talented hacker. His encryptions had slowed Tali for a couple of minutes and he was valuable. His methods….could be straightened out but Shepard knew it. This man was necessary to his mission. "But I would like to know you're name, it's getting awkward dancing around this whole nameless situation"

'He's serious…..he's deadly serious….but he's right…4 years I've been shut up and this is a chance to get out' he chuckled again at his own thoughts, shaking his head before standing up "…..my name isn't important…but you can call meeee….." pausing for a moment, clearly struggling to come up with something before finally speaking again "Feral. Call me Feral" extending his hand towards Shepard's and shaking it.

"Welcome aboard then Feral, don't make me regret this though. I do have a krogan back on my ship and he'd be more than obliged to space you if I'm wrong" Shepard smiled as he said it, only half serious. He was sure the krogan would love to throw him out anyway.

Feral laughed again, gripping Shepard's hand tightly, "he can try N7, he can try" finally releasing Shepard's hand. Leaving the commander considering the possibility that he was in fact fully capable of handling a krogan by himself. "Well then, I'll leave you to purge this computer. I trust you'll keep your word Shepard, I just need to gather some of my things. A locker in the hall is full of them and I just want a few of them" Feral simply stated walking towards the door to the room, leaving Shepard to re-join his squad. Nodding at Tali to start the purge before converging back to his squad, the door hissing shut behind him.

Feral walked back into the main hall, staring at his once containment unit. Shepard's team must have been the reason for the staff's panic; he chuckled as he walked towards the unit with his belongings. The staff's rushed attempt at shutting this place down had caused a power fluctuation, a brief second in which his containment seat was transformed into just a piece of metal. He had easily broken through it….and then…well….the rest was simply revenge. The years of torment, the experiments on him, what they had turned him into….he let them know exactly what he had done. He had no regrets over it, they deserved it, and at least he had been kind enough to make it quick.

The unit was locked, obviously. Growling under his breath he quickly looked back to check that Shepard's team were still in the computer room, his suspicions confirmed he suddenly brought his fist into the metal door. Instantly bending the metal, something he had gotten used to over his many years in captivity, his experimental enhancements were finally proving useful.

Opening the cabinet, he looked into it, his stuff….after so many years of watching it being carted around it was within his reach again. Most of it was junk, Cerberus had destroyed most of it trying to figure out who he was. His old omni-tool was ruined, along with everything on it, the one he had taken off a scientist was useful for now but he wanted to get a new one as soon as he could. No, nothing in here was worth taking except for one simple item; his dog tags. He reached in and took them, holding them in his hands as he slowly stroked over his name. His name?...no, not anymore. They had made him something else. Whoever that man was, he's dead now.

Feral sighed, pocketing the dog tags into his jeans before bolting upright, spinning on the spot a noise behind him bringing him to full alert 'How did Shepard miss him? HOW DID I MISS HIM?...Fuck'

- back with Shepard's team, minutes before-

"I still can't believe he quoted Cash" snorted Kaidan, as he stood back with Shepard, waiting for Tali to give the all clear on the purge

"Cash?" inquired Tali, looking up briefly from the odd comment from the Lt.

"Johnny Cash, human singer from over a century ago. Not many people still listen to him but he's a classic" replied Kaidan "He quoted the man comes around, good song, very different to the techno stuff you usually hear now"

"Wait wait wait, he tore his way through this base without armour, cryptically hinted that the holes in his shirt were from bullets and had eyes that looked like Wrex's and you're most surprised that he quoted Johnny Cash?" Shepard couldn't help but laugh, of all the things for Kaidan to pick up on it had been the most normal occurrence of the day

"I saw his eyes as well, what do you think they did to him Shepard?" asked Tali, quiet concern in her voice. She had seen Cerberus' activity in the other bases and if this man had been one of their experiments, she dared think what had happened to him

"I don't know Tali, whatever it is he'll have to tell us. All the data has just been purged" gesturing to Tali's omni-tool as it flashed before suddenly snapping his head towards the door. A familiar sound reverberated through the steel of the walls. Gun fire. "BACK TO THE HALL! MOVE! NOW!" Shepard shouted, grabbing his weapon and bursting through the doors. His squad storming behind him as fast as possible, all three of them exploding through the door and not for the first time that day, what they say stunned them all.

Feral was breathing heavily, growling angrily at the now limp, bloody Cerberus soldier in his hand. A soldier they had obviously both missed in the heat of battle, heavily wounded but not quite dead but that wasn't it. The gun fire hadn't been from a one sided fire fight, the soldier clutching a pistol in his now dead hands, three fresh smoking holes in the centre of Feral's chest, his shirt smouldering from where the bullets had ignited the cloth as it passed through. He had no barrier, no shields. He shouldn't have been moving let alone standing up, hell…..he shouldn't even have been able to reach the man and yet here he was. Clutching the dead man in one hand before letting his body crumple back to the ground.

Still panting he looked up at the team in front of him, "What?" Feral growled, he wasn't appreciating seeing guns pointing straight at him. The way they were looking at him, and then it hit him. They were staring lower than his eyes, following their gaze he looked down and saw it. The bullet holes in his shirt. "Well then…..this is awkward" he coughed, trying to turn their attention away from the blaringly obvious question that he was now dreading.

"Keelah….how…how are you still alive?" Tali managed to finally stutter out, the words lingering in the air, all three of them contorting their gaze as they noticed that not only was he alive. But each and every hole in his shirt had something in common, a patch of unbroken skin. He had been shot, but there was no trace of it, no wound, and no blood. Nothing, just a series of scorched holes in his shirt.

Feral sighed, there was absolutely no way of getting past this line of questioning. He was either going to answer them or he'd never get out of here. Glancing down at the ground, up at the ceiling and to the walls. Trying to look anywhere but at the three confused, armed people standing in front of him. "Ok…ok so….maybe I'm…." he sighed again, how do you explain what happened to him. How do you explain it without telling them the whole thing?

"I already told you that they were conducting experiments here, and I guess by now you have guessed I was one of them." He looked at them, expecting a response but instead seeing confused looks "as if my eyes weren't clues enough and yes these are my eyes, red and all. Their experiments….made me….able to regenerate like a krogan, except I can do it hell of a lot faster ipso facto, bullets do fuck all to me in the long run. There is some other stuff as well but we can save that for later" he finally got it out, dodging the question as much as he could, smiling awkwardly at the squad. Hoping this would end their questions, if it was only a brief interlude in the barrage to come.

"How? And why? Why bother? ", Kaidan asked, his voice full of disbelief. His brain refusing to believe what his eyes were seeing.

Feral sighed, rubbing his brow. His long hair getting in the way slightly and his beard tickling his lips as he rubbed his face. ' damn I need a shave' once again snorting to himself before looking back up at the confused humans and quarian. "How? Fuck knows, you'd have to ask a scientist and….do I honestly look like one?" gesturing to himself again, he knew that'd shut them up straight away. Of course he knew details on how, he had lived it but it really wasn't worth discussing. He just wanted to leave. "and as for why? I just took 3 rounds straight to the chest and I'm not even phased by it. I think that should answer your question. God knows why but I guess Cerberus wanted super-soldiers. Luckily though I'm the only one, something to do with genetics I honestly don't know"

Feral just sat back against one of the destroyed consoles and stared at the three people in front of him, "look you clearly have a boat load of questions to ask me but can it wait? I'm still going to come with you and the only difference now is you know I'm damn hard to kill, which honestly works in your favour. Whatever your mission is, I'm sure a soldier who can take rounds and keep going is slightly invaluable. Plus you know I'm good with software so….can we go?...please? You have questions to ask me and I still need to be briefed on your 'mission'"

Shepard finally nodded; the truth was he wanted to get out of there too. He had a headache, the questions were just piling up by the second and the smell of the dead wasn't helping anything. "Fine, let's get back to the Mako. Did you get everything you wanted from your locker?" He quickly asked, unsure if Feral had even had time to check. Feral simply nodded in response, clearly itching to get out of here.

"Ok then, let's get out of here everyone" he said finally, walking towards the entrance as fast as he could. Calling joker for extraction the moment he got back out into the open again. The fresh air was a godsend; it finally cancelled out the smell of the dead inside the base. He had questions, lots of questions. Who was Feral, where did he come from, what exactly was he capable of and if he was ever going to completely open up about his experiences in the Cerberus base?

- Back aboard the SSV Normandy, 3 hours later –

Shepard was back in his quarters, finally out of his armour and he was thankful for it. The armour was tight fitting and it always felt good to get it off again, even if the mission had been less eventful in terms of combat than it could've been. But the report was bugging him, what could he even say? He had no idea and he still wasn't sure about their newest member.

Feral was clearly capable, but there were some hidden clues in his words. He had expressed a wish to be briefed and his knowledge of the admiral pointed towards him having a military background, plus he was a talented hacker, he could've been part of the Alliance. The possibility that he was a former Cerberus agent still stood, but he clearly had no loyalty to them now if that had been the case. There was however, a lingering doubt over Feral's mental condition.

Dr. Chakwas was insistant on doing a health check on him when he came on board, he refused insisting that it was pointless. Shepard knew it was, but…he also knew it was pointless to argue with the doctor. She would have her examination whether Feral had to be strapped down or not, but that wasn't the issue. The moment he had seen those tables, the machines. Feral had frozen, bolt upright with panic in his eyes. It was a momentary flicker but it was there, what had Cerberus done to him? Hopefully he would be able to find out but right now, this report was going nowhere.

The commander decided to leave it for another time, it could wait. He was a spectre after all. Quickly leaving his room he entered the mess hall, hearing the group of marines plus Garrus, Ashley and Liara. They were huddled around the table all facing Kaidan and Tali, clearly the story of their newest addition had reached them all and they were eager to hear it. It was clearly providing for a good story, the rowdy marines were barely saying a word. An eerie silence in the once buzzing mess hall as they all just listened intently to the story.

"Wait…he walked off 3 gunshots to the chest? Just walked them off?" Garrus was the first to break the silence, his voice vibrating as his mandibles flared slightly with his question

"Like it was nothing, we arrived after it happened but it was only about 15 seconds. He'd killed the guy before we got there" replied Kaidan. Shepard noticed he was having fun telling this story, it was like some sort of horror story around the campfire, inwardly snorting to himself as he stepped up to the table, joining the group.

"Hey commander" Ashley quickly said, before quickly adding. "So is this all true? I mean Kaidan has some pretty crazy stories but even Tali is backing him up this time"

"Every word Ash, I don't fully get it either but it's all true. We all saw it and he's here on the ship now so I'm pretty sure it wasn't just one massive LSD trip….not that I'd know of course" Shepard joked, earning chuckles from the crew, and some confused looks from the aliens around the table "It's a drug, a bit like red sand" he added, the non-humans finally getting it.

"He looked like a mess though, everyone on board is so clean and he just looked so rough and ragged" Liara said, still trying to wrap her quite brilliant mind around it, it was all so impossible and yet three people she highly respected were calling it fact. She knew her comment was irrelevant in the grand scheme, but it was all she could muster up.

Ashley snorted "What? You don't like rough, ragged men Liara?" she teased, it was juvenile but she got her desired effect, the poor Asari blushed up a storm and stumbled over some words before Tali interrupted.

"Who would? I mean, he looked unclean and that hair was just everywhere. Why would anyone like that?" Tali questioned, missing the point of Ashley's comments completely before a voice suddenly appeared behind them.

"Talking about me? You know some people might take offence Tali" the voice stated

The entire table looked up or turned around to look at the origin of the comment, and looked in silent shock for a moment. There they were, those deep red eyes looking back at them. Exactly as Kaidan had described, and they knew exactly what he meant. His irises and pupils looked exactly like a smaller version of Wrex's eyes, but that wasn't what really got their attention. Feral's face was finally clear to see, the man had shaved and gotten a haircut whilst in Chakwas' loving care.

Shepard was surprised, he hadn't known what to expect but even he silently admitted. Feral was handsome, his brown hair was cut down and while shorter than it had been, he had kept it longer than any soldier would have it. Just enough to cover his head completely and his fringe ended in a slight point over his left eye. His skin was relatively pale, clearly from his time indoors but his skin was flawless, not a crack or blemish on it. A side effect of his regeneration assumed, as were his eyes. They were the kicker; his eyes were even more obvious now. The red standing out against the whites of his eyes and his skin.

"…..ok….stop staring?...please? I just had a haircut and a shave….big fucking whoop" Feral slowly said, snapping everyone out of their surprised daze. "Thank you….that was…..weird" uncomfortably shifting around in his standard alliance suit, Chakwas had leant one of the same uniforms both Kaidan and the commander wore. "Commander, Chakwas said you'd give me somewhere to set up" Feral shrugged hoping to get away from the stares, he'd been stared at before but this was the first time it had been soldiers instead of scientists.

"Ah, right. Follow me Feral. I'm sure we can find somewhere in the lower deck, your software skills could be useful in the engine room" Shepard stated as he started to walk towards the elevator, Feral walking up to it alongside him before stepping inside the elevator with the commander.

"Err, Shepard?"

"Yes Feral?"

"What the hell just happened out there?" Feral asked, only to be answered by Shepard laughing as the elevator doors shut.

The mess hall was left in silence as they dull humming of the elevator slowly moved downwards.

"Sooo….I guess now that he's not all messy and hairy and stuff you'll have lots of fun working with him in engineering, huh Tali?" Garrus almost purred, earning a loud snort from Ashley.

"Shut up Garrus, I still have my shotgun you know" she snapped back quickly, the crew, Garrus included, laughing as they went back to their duties. Even though Garrus had been joking, Tali knew whatever happened. It would be very interesting.