Shepard:

Shepard stared in disbelief at Ty. He couldn't comprehend what was just said. He had to choose between two of his crew, two of his family. One of them would sure as hell die in the blast and all Ty could do was laugh and tell Shepard to get on with it.

"Damn it Shepard! This isn't an easy choice but it has to be made! Now make it!"

Shepard looked from Ty to Danny who just screamed at him, "These are people's lives! I can't just make the choice!"

Ty walked over to Shepard and grabbed him by the collar, "If you don't, then I will and I am sure that you won't like my decision."

Shepard grabbed Ty's arm to keep him in place and then connected his fist to Ty's face, Ty stumbled backwards with an imprint of Shepard's fist showing on his cheek, "You have lost the right to say anything!"

Ty stood up straight and walked back up to Shepard, "How? Because I didn't tell you about a choice you would have to make? I never even thought about it until now. This choice literally has become a speed bump that I have gone over so much that it might as well be part of the road. So I am sorry I didn't tell you that you would have to make this choice but coincidentally, this is different than the choice I had to make."

Shepard stomped his right foot in anger, "This is bull shit! It's still the same choice. Two people's lives are on the line and I have to make the choice. I have to have them willingly give up their lives."

Throwing his hands out in defeat Ty just turned around and began walking away, "Fine, I am leaving."

Shepard's teeth were too clenched to say anything but Tali asked the question for him, "What are you doing?"

Ty just walked toward the cave, "Another quote by Kevin Flynn 'removing myself from the equation'."

Danny spun on his heels and walked towards Ty, "I think I am going to go with him."

That left Shepard with Tali and that wasn't any good. Telling someone from a race that barely has enough to sustain a viable that you have to kill one of yours wasn't going to receive good advice. That meant that Shepard was alone, not physically but psychologically. Then something in Shepard's subconscious cracked.

They are Users, Ty made Shepard on a video game, Shepard isn't real himself. Shepard wasn't the main hero or the lost hero anymore; he is Arnold Schwarzenegger in the last action hero. Out of his element and left to try and still be the hero but what if he isn't the hero? Could he break what Ty had in vision? Could he change what was surrounding him?

As if a light had shined down on Shepard, he realized that there was only one way to survive and win. His way, and that meant he needed to make the call, regain control, and do what had to be done. Shepard took a deep breath and stood up, he was going to make the call.

"Ashley, get on the ship. Kaiden, I'm sorry."

"I cannot do tha-", Ashley was cut off and Kaiden answered.

"Sorry sir, I had to knock Ashley out. Knowing her, she would have stayed despite your orders."

Words caught in Shepard's throat as he tried to speak, "Kaiden, I truly am sorry. If there was anything I could do, I would do it. I would even trade places with you."

Kaiden came over in that relaxed tone he managed to possess, "No problem Shepard, at least I am going out with a bang. So, what's the plan after you get off this rock?"

Shepard felt like a hand had his stomach in a grip that would not let up and Tali, who was staring at him with sad eyes wasn't helping, "Go to Illos and stop Saren. It's all we can do right?"

"Heh, yeah we… sorry the ship just took off, now where was I. Oh yeah, we've seen quite a bit in our time in this hell. Funny thing too, we made it this far off blind optimism and some super natural freaks after all. How are the Users anyway?"

Shepard fought the urge to tell Kaiden that they knew about this choice and just kept talking, "Well, Cody made a giant robot. Danny is still being a smart ass, and we just saved Ty from Saren."

There was some chinks and cracks behind Kaiden which lead Shepard to believe he was priming the bomb, "So, the virgin got himself caught, figures. Hey Shepard, I am going to shut off here in a minute but do me a favor, tell Tali that the scotch she owes me now is owed to you."

"Kaiden", the comm began beeping and showing that nobody was on the other line."

Shepard grabbed his knees and felt a wave of pain shoot through him. He knew that he would always wonder if he had made the right decision here. He knew it.

Danny:

Danny sat next to Ty in the cave as they both waited for the Normandy to arrive, "So, how did you know that we set up shop in the rubble?"

Ty looked over at Danny, "I was just headed out of sight of Shepard. Figured the cave was good as any."

"So, you guys ready to party or do we have to leave the paradise without you?"

Danny looked over to Cody who was climbing into the VS suit. That could only mean that the Normandy had arrived and it was time to get the hell out of dodge. Pointing at the exit Danny signaled to Ty that they had to leave while Cody opened up the ceiling. They quickly exited out through the cave entrance with the Salarians and headed to the Normandy, which had parked itself for a quick take off.

Everyone loaded into the ship and it took off, no words exchanged, no questions, and no answers. They had left Kaiden, that's all that was needed. Danny did the one thing that made sense. He went straight to the Medbay and Chakwas.

Danny entered in and immediately dodged a medical probe device that was thrown. A quick glance at where it had come from and Danny saw Ty sitting on a medical table and Cody over by Chakwas and they both looked pretty pissed.

"Sooooo, what'd I miss?"

Cody looked over at Ty, "You want to tell him?"

Ty just pointed over at Chakwas and she leaned back in her chair and began explaining, "Well, there is a bit of a problem. Ty started a merger and lost."

Danny just shrugged, "Well, you win some, you lose some. I'm more interested in Garrus seeing the giant robot where the Mako is."

Chakwas pincher the bridge of her nose, "It's not a simple matter, the merger. It's the fact that Ty could be fully enveloped into Saren and allow Saren access to the real world."

Danny pointed back at the door, "So, we stop him. Now let's go see what Garrus does."

Ty smacked his hand on the table, "Danny, this isn't a matter of just stop him. Saren is becoming part of me. If he dies, gets hurt or I don't continue the merger then he could… I could be… this isn't a game anymore. This is a matter of life and death. If Saren isn't stopped as soon as possible then he not only wins but he WINS. Game over, no getting out, no being trapped in game, we will literally evolve into binary code and disperse into data."

Danny waved off the information like warding off some bees, "We can worry about that when we get to the Citadel. Right now, let's go check the Mako and Garrus."

Chakwas got out of her chair and snapped her fingers, "I already fixed the Mako. It's the actual Mako again. Now can we please get on with it? Saren has become a rouge program, he has gone from a regular zip file into something more. I believe that when his memory was unlocked and he began using the World Database he may have caught an infectious program that is changing not only him but the game all together."

There was an awkward silence and then Cody spoke up, "You mean that Saren caught a virus?"

Chakwas snapped again, "Bingo, now, in order to restore the game to default Saren, Ty will have to win the merger."

Danny looked over at Ty, "How will he do that?"

Chakwas answered for Ty, "Ty will need to restart the merger, and that means you will have to get to Saren before Shepard does and restart the merger."

Ty looked up at all of them, "That means we need an excuse to stay on the Citadel. I am not telling Shepard anything."

Danny just shrugged, "Well, after that fight you two had just say good bye and good riddance or something. Shouldn't be too hard."

Cody sat up, "So, just use vagueness? Simple enough."

Ty nodded, "Okay, until we get to the Citadel, let's just chill and wait."

Danny stepped forward and put his hand into the middle, "Okay guys, bring it in."

Ty and Cody just looked at Danny, "No."

Both of them got up and left and Danny sat alone in the medbay with Chakwas waiting him for him to get on with it. Danny just sighed and put his other hand in and lifted them both up yelling, "Users!"

Chakwas just shook her head, "Dumbass."

Sorry this is out later in the day than usual. Same old bull, lack of reviews=lack of motivation=lack of getting shit done. So, please give me some feedback, it drives me and its one of the funnest things about writing this is when you guys give me an idea or suggestion that takes over and changes the story.

On the subject of the poll, The Convict is winning and there can be ties so go in and vote. Takes two seconds and you get your two cents in for Users 2. The vote will last till midnight 3/4/2013. The new vote goes up 3/5/32013.

So, see you guys next week. Checkout my other series Losing Humanity and tell me what you think of it. Uuuumm, until next time, ROAD HOUSE!