The Wildcard

by Matalvis

In Plague's final moments, he flips the Enclave the bird, only to then end up in the Mass Effect univers. Mean while TIM makes Shepherd a new dossier of a man using antique weapons while giving Omegas lowlives a hard time.

12. Chapter 12 A Plague on the Horizon

Hello all. First I want to say how sorry I am that it took so long for this chapter to go up. Sadly I can never get any free time. Anyway. Last question was what happens when you disturb a Keeper.

Winner is Iyrsiiea.

Answer is if someone attempted to capture or disrupt a keeper, the keeper would

Self-destruct.

Enjoy Chapter 12

The Wildcard

Part 12

After several hours of him trying to explain how his pipboy worked, Plague found himself fighting a massive headache. Sure the pipboy in question, was pumping painkillers into his system, but that didn't stop him from complaining about it as if he was talking to someone as he walked around the ship.

"God dam, mother fucking, cock sucking, shitty…" he seemed to trail off as he noticed Kasumi walk out of the restroom on her way to a room he hadn't been in yet. "Greetings Ms. Goto."

As he talked, Kasumi didn't stop walking as if she didn't hear him. The last time he saw Kasumi, was yesterday when they started drinking. After that he had seen her around the ship and tried to talk to her, but she would give him the silent treatment.

He couldn't really remember what happened after the first bottle…but by the way Kasumi ignored him…he was beginning to think he fucked up somehow.

'Fuck…did I make a move on her?' he shouted in his head as he started thinking 90 mph. 'Oh god…did I do something?' he stopped at the wall in front of the elevator and started to hit his head on the wall, filling the small space with some thumbs every time he made impact.

The impacts started to add to his already present headache.

Once he hit the wall the 17th time, he thought of something.

"Hey, AI. You there?" he shouted loudly in the hallway, but not loud enough to be heard in the mess hall.

"I am always here, Wildcard." the AI answered. It saying it was "Always" here gave Plague a slightly creepy feeling. "I am called, EDI. Do you need medical assistance?" EDI asked, maybe talking about Plague's brief conflict with the surface next to him.

He wouldn't really be surprised if the AI could hear the impacts.

"No. No." Plague answered. "I just need to ask you a question." Plague said as he stepped in the elevator.

"Specify your inquiry."

"Do you know what happened when me and Ms. Goto returned from shore leave?" he asked as he pushed the button for Deck: 5. "She seems a little crossed with me."

The elevator ride was silent, as Plague counted the seconds that the AI stayed quiet.

"Ms. Goto called Jack, and Grunt to assist in your return to the ship." EDI started to explain. "Once Ms. Goto returned with you and the others, her heart rate was beating faster then usual. That along with her facial expression showed she was both saddened and stressed upon arrival."

With that last word, Plague hit the elevator door with his head.

"…Thanks, EDI. That's all." he mumbled as the doors opened.

"Logging you out, Wildcard."

Kasumi Goto POV

'What's wrong with me?' the thief asked herself as she looked at the painting before her.

The work of art was given to her by a sweet little girl she had saved. The yellow eye-like circles looked as if they were shining through the reddish haze that was the background.

The painting always had a way of helping her think as she admired the brush strokes.

'Why did I do it?' she practically shouted to herself. 'I'm terrible…he trusted me…and I drugged him up to interrogate him!' she started pacing in front of the art on the wall as she looked at the next work of art nearby. 'What do I do?'

Kasumi had done many things in her career. Knocked out guards, trespassed, invade peoples privacy by sneaking around while cloaked. And of course, lets not forget stealing. But what she did on the Citadel made her want to, in a word, turn herself in.

She was starting to feel disgusted with herself. There was no meaning to what she did. Why didn't she just trust him? Why didn't she just take his word for it?

Plague had been through a lot. And what does she do? Just threw the trust Plague had given her in his face. Of course he didn't know she had, but that just made her feel even more like she needed a shower.

And that's not all. She didn't just ask those few questions. Where did he grow up? Who's Amata? Is everything he said true?

The time it took for them to get back to the shuttle, was more then enough for her to get over the shock.

Out of curiosity, she asked more.

(It would only be 20 minutes until they would get back to the Normandy. She sat on her side of the shuttle, and occasionally took quick glances at the drunk man beside her, who at the time in his drunken daze, was sidetracked by the lights outside of the shuttle.

Plague was getting tired now, she could tell. She had used the same alcohol to trick someone to give her floor plans, passwords, and other things in her time as a thief. Kasumi knew what the side effects would do to those who drank it.

First was the drunkenness, next what she called the "gossiper" where the individual would let certain things slip, next was the stage where the drink would become a truth serum. Plague was almost to the final stage, where he would eventually fall asleep.

She wished she wouldn't have to do this, but she had to be sure.

"Plague?" she called to get his attention.

The man looked away from his window with a hazy look. He fought to keep his heavy eyelids open as he looked into her eyes.

"Ms…Goto…?" he mumbled as his head dipped a little. "I'm…Plag…no…no I'm not."

Questions started flooding into her mind as she heard him say that. Of course she knew Plague wasn't his real name. Why would he call himself that however?

'No…' she said to herself before she asked for what his real name was. 'I can't ask him that. Could I?'

"How are you feeling?" she asked to keep her from asking the actual question on her mind.

"I don't…don't…I had…worse"

Knowing about the scars she had seen on him made her not doubt that. "Ok." Kasumi needed a distraction.

She started messing around with her Omni tool to both kill time, and distract herself.

"What…is wrong…with me?" she heard him say to no one in particular. "I…something's wrong."

Those words made her look at him with some worry. "Plague, Are you ok?" she asked quickly as the man in question fell back into his seat.

"No…I am not…ok." he said quickly as he faced her when she moved. His eyes looked glazed over as he looked at her with a saddened expression. "Why…aren't you…using my name…Sarah?"

That question made her jaw drop as her eyes opened in shock. "I…I'm not…" she started to say nervously when she realized Plague thought she was someone else.

He must have been in between the last two stages. How that's even possible however, was unknown to her. The stages should be quick. The man was half asleep, and somehow still lucid enough to talk, but as for why he thought she was this "Sarah" was beyond her. What she did know however was he wouldn't last long.

"I'm not…" she started again but stopped when she felt a hand grab hers next to her.

She looked down to see Plague's hand holding hers tightly. Not tight enough to hurt her, but tight enough to show the sadness of the moment. This was confirmed when she looked into his eyes as he remained in his seat.

"I…miss you…Sarah…" he said quietly enough that she had trouble hearing those words. His eyes started to water as he looked at her. "…Please…don't go…" he mumbled when Kasumi tried to gently pull her hand away. "…don't leave me…"

His voice made her heart leap into her throat when she heard him. She heard the pain in his voice. She was all too familiar with the feeling of losing someone, and she could tell Plague loved this Sarah deeply.

When she heard Keiji had been killed, she was alone with the grief. She would walk around and every time she saw someone who looked like him, she would break out into tears in whatever dark corner she was hiding in. Plague had gone through what she herself was still going through. "…I…I'm here." she forced herself to choke. Instead of pulling her hand away, she gave his a comforting squeeze. "I'm not…leaving."

Watching the tired smile form on Plague's face, made her smile a little herself. Her vision started to blur when she felt the tears start to run down her face.

"I…I will…protect you…this time, Sarah. I can't…lose you again…" Plague's words started to come out slower as he started to lose the fight with his eyelids.

She knew he had only seconds left. This could be her only chance to ask, and she knew it. She breathed in air quickly between the sobs that started to appear. She needed it to steady herself for what she was going to ask.

"What's…your name?")

"Adam…" Kasumi mumbled out loud.

She felt sick of herself when she heard her voice say the name. she had no rite to say it. But, she had to know it…she had to know the name of the man who without knowing it, helped her with the sorrow she had bottled up.

She held his hand and put her head on his shoulder for the rest of the trip back to the ship, and let the waterworks flow.

Thankfully Jack, and Grunt didn't notice how she looked under the hood that covered most of her face. They also didn't see her holding his hand.

"I'm sorry…" she said quietly to the man, who wasn't even in the same room.

He may have helped her a little bit, but to do so she pretended to be his Sarah. Adam's Eve.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt sick with herself. Even with how she felt, Kasumi couldn't help but smile at the analogy.

Maybe it was her more artistic side that noticed it. A man named Adam falling deeply in love. Sarah being his Eve.

Donovan Hock's party was coming up soon…and she will be ready to get back Kaiji's graybox.

In a way, Plague didn't just help her with her emotions, he showed her, her resolve.

"I will have my Adam back."

Plague POV

"The roads are the dustiest, The winds are the gustiest" Plague's Omni tool sang in the cargo hold as he dismantled his mini-gun in a corner. "The gates are the rustiest, The pies are the crustiest"The song reminded him of old times. Made him remember those he had traveled with.

"The songs the lustiest, The friends the trustiest Way back home (Back home)"Sadly, it also reminded him of the bad times as well. "The trees are the sappiest, The days are the nappiest"

He trusted each of them with his life, and they…most of them, thought the same way towards him. "The dogs are the yappiest, The kids are the scrappiest"

He found his first friend, Dogmeat, defending a scrap yard. The dog followed him everywhere.

Plague almost chuckled when he remembered a time Dogmeat had taken a piss on Jericho's boot. "The jokes the snappiest, The folks the happiest, Way back home"

He had met the old former raider in Megaton. He was a good friend. Sadly though, being old and experienced didn't cut it. "Don't know why I left the homestead, I really must confess"

He was a great shot, but his age caught up with him. The ache in his bones slowed him down. A super mutant got him as he ran for cover. Plague received the AK-47 bullet wounds when he was trying to drag the man into cover. "I'm a weary exile, Singing my song of loneliness"

He was a good man. Harsh, but a good man.

A few days later, he saw some slavers carrying off people. With a look of disgust on his face, Plague followed them to Paradise Falls.

He snuck in at night, and slit the slavers throats in their sleep. He had watched the slaver outpost for two days before his attack. He knew who was innocent.

"The grass is the springiest, The bees are the stingiest"

There he met Clover. A slave who had been trained to fall in love with, and fight for her current owner. He didn't know what they had done to her to get the blond like that. Repeatedly raped, maybe. Plague had killed the owner slowly.

Cutting his flesh as a gag was tied around his fucking mouth. "The birds are the wingiest, The bells are the ringiest (The hearts?)"

Plague left her with someone he trusted. He would check in on her, and eventually helped her become as close to normal as possible. Last he had seen her though, Clover was still in love with him since he was, in her mind, her lover and master. "The hearts the singiest (The arms?), The arms the clingiest"Charon, he met in a place the local ghouls called Underworld in the DC ruins. Charon was a little odd. He was bound to obey whoever held his contract.

"Way back home, (What about the sun?)"

After a while of failing to get Charon to understand the meaning of freedom, Plague ripped apart the contract in front of the man's face. At first he was extremely confused, but it didn't take him long to grasp the concept of being his own master. "The sun's the blaziest (And the fields?), Field's the daisiest (And the cows?)"

Last he heard, Charon was living in Underworld again, but not as someone's slave, but a protector of his ghoul brothers and sisters."Cows the graziest (And the help?), The help's the laziest"

Butch. Now that was kind of a surprise. Plague know him from Vault 101, and if he remembered correctly, beat the shit out of him when he started picking on his friends. He remembered giving him a broken nose one day when he was harassing Amata. "The boys (are the wittiest), The girls (are the prettiest)"

The Tunnel Snake leader followed him for a while. As for why…who the hell knows? He remembered seeing Butch start himself a living in Rivet City, instead of becoming the leader of the "baddest" raiders to ever hit the wasteland…big shocker. The fucking coward.

All that bullshit Butch had been talking in Plague's youth. "Way back home, (The pigs are the snootiest), (The owls are the hootiest)"

Star Paladin Cross. She was a friend of Plague's father, and said she had actually been there when 101 was born. Plague had so many questions for her, and for a short time felt as if she was part of his family.

She was a cyborg. Long ago she was injured and at the brink of death. The Brotherhood of Steel helped her, made her stronger.

"The plants the fruitiest, Stars the shootiest, (The grins the funniest) "

Fawkes. The jolly green giant. The first peaceful super mutant he had ever met. He gained quit a bit of knowledge in Vault 87, where he used to live before his mutation. Plague liked the intelligent conversations they shared, considering how the only other people to talk to were the damn raiders and mutant wildlife. "The smiles the sunniest, Way back home"When he traveled to the Mojave he met others. "Don't know why I left the home…"

Plague cut off the Omni tool when Shepard started talking on the comm.

"Listion up." she started with authority. "A colony named Horizon, has gone dark." with that, Plague started peicing his mini-gun together. He knew what this was about. "This is what you all sighned up for. The Collecters are making their move. Time for us to show them not to mess with the human race, and show them not to mess with those in this galexy we call home." Plague atomized the weapon and started walking to the shuttle that some techs started preparing not long after the announcement. He knew that if he was gunna be on the ground team, shuttle is where he will be told to go. "ETA to Harizon, 2 hours. Gear up, and be ready to give them hell. All ground team, meet up in the corgobay."

"Sharp, polished, and to the point." Plague complimented as he sat in the shuttle. "Like a trusty blade."

Now he had to wait.

1 hour and 57 minutes later

"Finally!" Plague shouted when he saw the elevator open with the six other members, and the seventh being Shepard herself.

Grunt, Jack, Jacob, Garrus, Zaeed, and then he saw Kasumi.

She still looked sad, and only made eye contact for a few seconds when Shepard spoke to Plague.

"Plague?" Shepard started as she led the group to the shuttle. "How long have you been here?"

"Knowing the fishbowl, he must have thought there was food in there." Jack said now fixing Plague with a glare.

"Up yours." Plague said quickly, but in a calm voice. He then looked back to Shepard. "It was a heavenly voice from above that brought me here…" he said with a humored smile as his stealth suit/duster combination re atomized on his person, his helmet now covering his face and altered his voice. "…and when the heavons call, your supposed to answer."

"Right." Shepard said back as the rest of the ground team boarded, except for Miranda and Mordin. "Mirand, and Mordin will try to help us from the air." she started as she herself boreded. "All of you have received Mordin's counter measure?"

Jacob sat down next to 101, as Grunt sat across from him.

"I have it on my stealth suit boss." Plague started as the ground team nodded.

Shepard gave him a short nod as she showed a map on her Omni tool. "Good. The plan is this. Plague, Jack, Garrus, and Kasumi with me." after hearing that, Plague looked over to the theif who turned away from him slowly to avoid eye contact. "Jacob, and Grunt will be on a second team led by Zaeed."

"Roger that, Shepard." the old man said when his name was spoken.

"Zaeed's team will be dropped off on the other side of the colony. Both teams will make their way to the center. Everyone, look out for, and defend any colonists you find." Shepard then looked over to Garrus, who was sitting across from her. "Garrus, Ash is on the planet. Keep an eye out."

"Yes, Shepard." the turian snapped as his mandibles opened slightly to make what Plague assumed was a smile. Shepard then returned the human equivalent. "Like old times."

"Am I missing something?" Plague asked when he saw their faces.

"Ashley Wiliams was on the original Normandy." Shepard answered quickly. "She's an old friend."

Plague then simply nodded at the explination as the shettle started to move after the cargo bay doors opened.

As it started to take off, the doors to the shuttle closed.

"Good luck, Commander." everyone heared Miranda say over the com.

As soon as he felt the pull of gravity as the shuttle descended, Plague really regretted coming along.

It didn't take long for everyone to notice his body language, which said rather clearly "GET AWAY, NOW!"

"Are you alright?" Shepard asked as Plague's visor opened to show the man's face. Her eyes went wide when she saw him, and clarified what she saw with two words. "Oh shit."

Right when she said that, Plague started vomiting in his little corner.

"Ha! Zaeed, you owe me a hundred credits!" Jack shouted in the small space, as she fought down the laughter.

As he vomited, Plague felt someone patting him on the back. "Let me guess, first time going into orbit?" he heard Jacob ask. Instead of answering, Plague puked up more of his stomach's contents. "I'll take that as a yes."

Grunt let out an irritated and hate filled growl as he lifted his foot.

Thankfully it didn't take long for the shuttle to land on the ground.

As soon as the doors opened, everyone on Shepard's team piled out. Plague was the last one to step onto the green grass. As soon as he saw it, the illness was replaced by both confusion and awe.

The sounds of the shuttle taking off to drop off the second ground team filled the air.

He slowly lowered himself to one knee, and put a hand on the grass that was then pressed down by his hand. Looking around, his eyes widened. The grassy plains he could see in the distence, the clear blue sky (Beside for those seeker swarms.), the healthy smells from the envirament around him.

"You, alright?" he heard Kasumi ask as she placed a hesitant hand on his shoulder. "Is it too much?" Kasumi asked him quietly with a hint of worry in her voice so no one ells could listen in.

"No…" Plague answered, knowing why she was asking.

This world was clean. His pipboy showed no radiation, the breeze felt good on his face. This was the kind of world that had been taken from those back home, and this was the world his father wanted to create with the Purifier.

"I'm…fine." he said as he lifted himself and looked at the small amount of grass he had just pulled out of the ground. He watched as the wind picked it up and it was carried by the breeze. "I'll be fine after I kill something. Thank you, Kasumi."

"Plague. You good?" he heared Shepard yell back as she walked away from the group.

"Ready, Boss." he reported as his visor closed, while he gave her a salute. "I'm good to deploy."

Plague held out his arms as his weapons appeared. A dark iron long barrel revolver with the words "AGAINST ALL TYRANTS" engraved in the side, called the Ranger Sequoia. In his left hand was Maria. A silver custom model of a M&A 9mm pistol covered in disighns of exotic flora, along with the image of Gualdalupe, also known as the woman of the apocalypse on the grip.

Both guns had been upgraded to accommodate the new rounds.

"Form up on me." Shepard ordered as she walked. She then opened up a com line to the Normandy. "We're groundside. Mordin, you sure those armor upgrades will protect us from the seeker swarms?"

She didn't wait for the reply, as she started leading her team along a white wall.

Plague heared a short silence as he followed his employer, over the com that silence was then swept to the side as the salarian started speaking from his end.

"Certainty impossible. But in limited numbers, should cunfuse detection, make us invisible to swarms. In theory…" Mordin went silent as Plague inserted himself into the conversation with a few button presses on his Omni tool.

"Should? In theory?" Plague almost shouted. "You told me it was foolproof!"

Shepard looked over her shoulder to look at Plague while the rest of the ground team did the same.

Plague's look of outrage, was hidden behind his visor, but that didn't stop the rest of the team from reading his body language.

"Mordin?" she asked after a pregnant pause. "Care to clarify?"

"Um…yes, Commander…I had to find the best way to fit the counter measure to the ground teams armors. Some…testing was needed." Mordin explained with a tinge of nervousness that was almost unnoticeable.

"I'm gunna ring your fucking neck!" the wastelander shouted, followed by the sound of Grunt chuckling over the channel.

"Experimental technology. Only test is contact with seeker swarms. Looking forward to seeing if you…" Mordin was then cut off again by Plague.

"As soon as this is over, I'm going to…"

"Cut the chatter!" Shepard shouted. "Enemy contacts!"

Those last two words made Plague push the conversation to the side. He would have to make a mental note to have a little "chat" with the alien, life sized bobblehead. While they had been talking, Shepard had lead the team to a open space with containers scattered around.

The "contacts" however, made Plague do a double take. Large bug like creatures flew over the truck and containers and took cover as they landed.

Two legs, two yellow circular eyes on both sides of a large long pointed shaped head that pointed the other way it was facing. Three sharp looking talons on the end of those strong insectoid arms holding oddly shaped weapons. Mini apendages along the waist and underarm areas that shared a small resembilence to a bug's legs.

Plague hadn't seen anything like them before. His photographic memory took in the image to be abserved later, as he raised his weapons to fire.

As soon as one of the contacts opened fire, a 9mm round found it's mark as Plague went behind cover next to Shepard.

The cover had ended up being a white wall that acted as a barrier between the open area for some vehicles and containers on the other side, and the way Plague and the others had came.

Garrus hung back a bit with his sniper rifle, while Jack, and Kasumi took cover behind the wall next to them. Jack had out her shotgun as her biotics flared, while Kasumi pulled out her submachine gun.

Shepared's biotics followed Jack's example as she pulled out her pistol.

"Jack, Make those bastard's fly!" Shepard shouted, as both her and Jack looked around their cover.

"I will throw you like a toy!" Jack yelled as the two biotcs lifted two collecters each with the upward hand motion.

Seeing the biotic display, Plague smirked a little. He started to re atomise something as he placed the two hand guns in the pockets of his duster. When he held his hand out to the flash, a golf club bag fell into his arms. However, it didn't have a single golf club in it. Instead was a number of metal rods. Plague slung the bag over his shoulder as his free left hand grabbed one.

The whole process took less then a few seconds.

He pulled out the rod and was welcomed with the glare from the kitchen knife blade welded onto the end.

"What the fuck?" he heared Jack say as she was about to slam the Collectors into the nearest solid object.

The first Collector into a container. After the impact, Plague's intentions became clear as he pulled back his arm and lounched the homemade tool of death.

The bug made a sharp clicking sound as it's torso was impailed into the surface.

He bearly heared Jack laugh over the gunfire as he readied the next spear. This one's end was formed from a flattend and then sharpend fork. The second target was pined by it's waist to the back of the truck shaped vehicle. He locked to the next target as he heard the sounds of Garrus, and Kasumi finishing off the kills.

After a few seconds, Shepard must have caught on since she pulled them in closer, but a little derected at Plague.

The third spear had another kitchen knife welded to the end. He lifted the weapon, and launched. And since they both were soo close to each other, they were skewered on the same spear. Shepard let go almost right as the spear hit, making the impact of the weapon, transfer it's own motion into them as they collided into a container.

After that it didn't take long to clear out the rest with a few shots from Garrus and Kasumi, while Jack and Shepard sent out shockwaves.

"Move up!" Shepard ordered as she walked down the stairs with her shotgun ready.

Plague and the others followed suit behind the Commander. As they walked, Plague pulled one of his spears out of a Collecter's torso. As soon as it was free and in his hands, the spear atomized.

"Plague." he heard Garrus call behind him.

He turned to see the turian toss one of his spears to him. 101 caught the spear with a fluid motion as it atomized. It didn't take him long to collect his spears with the ground teams help. The only two who didn't was Shepard, who was collecting thermal clips from the corpses, while Jack just stood near what looked like a picnic table as if to keep a lookout.

The ground team continued on as Shepard took point.

"Hey, Fishbowl." Jack called from Plague's right.

"Yes, BaldBitch?"

Jack just took her new nickname in stride as she continued. "Why the Hell do you have silverware at the end of those poles?" she asked, talking about the weapons he had just atomized.

"Why? You looking for a pole to shove up your ass?" Plague asked as he slightly tilted his head in her direction. She narrowed her eyes at him, and Plague continued when she didn't say anything back. "I don't like to waste."

Taylor Shepard POV

"Get along, children." the Commander said over her shoulder.

"…Right, Boss." PLague reported quickly.

'That was easy…' Shepard thought to herself at how quickly the order silenced the two.

"Mamma's boy…" Jack tossed in and went quiet.

'…never mind…'

"Keep a tight formation on me." she ordered as she spotted another clearing coming up.

"Comm…ander we…er ge…ing…a lot…inerf… can't mantai…th…signal." she heard Joker say over the com in between static.

"The Collecters are disrupting comunications." Garrus observed.

Rolling her eyes, Shepard spoke back. "We are on our own now."

The clearing had a house to her team's right and a raised platform to the left. Before that was a mini clearing with more picnic tables. Shepard could imagion a family eating a meal together in the beutifal weather.

It also made her think of Freedom's Progress. The empty shell that used to be a home for hundreds of colonists. A chill ran down her back at the thought.

Images of Mindoir, appeared in her mind. The calm that came before the storm of slavers.

("Mom, who's that?" a sixteen your old Taylor Shepard asked her mother, as she saw the ships descending into the atmosphere above.

She was in the kitchen sitting at the table. Her head was looking away from her Omni-tool where she was having a nice texting conversation with a friend a few streets over, and looked out the kitchen window.

It was around noon, so her mother was preparing a meal for them both. Her father was working at the spaceport, so she guessed he would be gone for a while with the incoming ship traffic.

Her mother walked around the counter and followed her daughter's gaze to the trails of orange in the sky that formed behind the many crafts.

Taylor's mother looked a lot like an older version of her. She got pregnant with her at eighteen, and recovered from the pregnancy well. She looked rather young for her age, and still had her womanly figure. She had long braided dark hair that went past her shoulders that put her daughter's ponytail to shame. The only differences visible between the two were her mother's chocolate brown eye's and slightly darker skin. Other then that, people would have thought they were siblings.

Taylor got her dark blue eyes from her father, who had red hair. She took after more of her mother's side of the gene pool.

"I don't know…" her mother trailed off in thought. "…maybe it's a bunch of late shipments." she offered as she turned back to finish preparing the sandwiches.

"Remember a few years ago when the Migrant Fleet showed up?" Taylor asked as she looked back to her Omni-tool.

Her mother laughed a little at the memory. It was a navigation error that freaked out some of the xenophobic members of the community.

"Yeah. And our old neighbor thought it was an invasion."

They both laughed at the thought of the old man running door to door delivering his warnings to his fellow humans.

"Then he went to that house where the guy had an asari wife." the younger Shepard unleashed a new flood of laughter with the image of the man delivering a punch to the racist's face when he started yelling that the man sided with the "Enemy."

"That was entertaining, wasn't it?" her mother said, and was silenced as they heard sirens going off.

"Mom?" Taylor asked with a look of confusion forming.

She hadn't heard that kind of siren before and looked to her mother who dropped the knife at the counter she was using to cut some bread.

Before she could hear an answer, she heard something that was familiar to her. A ship was flying over at a low altitude while over the area.

"Is someone landing…" she was cut off by her mother who ran to her and pulled her out of the seat. "…mom, what's wrong?"

Her answers were met with the sound of an explosion going off down the street. The sudden noise made both of them scream as they got low.

The glass from the window shattered raining sharp pieces of glass over them. When they heard the first explosion her mother embraced her to shield her from the glass.

Taylor felt a sting on her left cheek where a piece of glass had managed to cut her. She felt the warm liquid running down as another explosion was heard.

Her mother recovered first, and pulled Taylor in her stunned state, to her feet and started to lead her through the kitchen. Her ears were ringing from the noise so she couldn't make out what her mother was saying.

Suddenly they both felt a force tear apart the front of the house. The explosion sent then both flying through the kitchen and into the walk in pantry.

Something stabbed into her right arm as she felt her and her mother's combined weight hit the shelves, sending both jars and cans to the floor.

She must have blacked out a few times. She still heard the ringing in one of her ears as she slightly heard her mother groan.

"…m…mom…" she barely managed to get out as she felt her mother climb off of her where she landed, and cup her daughter's face with shaky hands.

Her face was slightly blank as she lightly spoke to her.

"Honey…I'm going…to go get Zech…from upstairs…" her voice was trembling slightly as she got up to her feet. "…yes…I…I'll go get him…" her mother's expression and tone of voice scared her, as she talked about getting her baby brother out of his crib in his room. But her body ached too much. She couldn't move…she couldn't form the words she wanted to say with her head throbbing. "be…a good girl…and stay here where…it's safe…mommy will be right…back…mommy will be right…" she trailed off as she turned slowly to stagger out of the pantry.

As she turned, Taylor's eyes opened wide as she noticed the knife her mother had been using earlier, sticking out of her back.

Blood flowed freely from the wound. It was a miracle that her mother was still standing. Her mother turned again to look at her one last time as she reached for the door controls for the pantry door. Her mother smiled warmly at her as her cheeks grew more pale.

"Yes…mommy will be…right…" she stopped as she started to fall backwards after she hit the button.

Time slowed down in the kitchen as she watched her mother fall as the door closed. Her mother's eyes started to roll to the back of her head as gravity pulled her down. Her braided hair was in the air as it followed the human it was attached to. By the time the door was half way closed, she hit the ground. The knife was pushed in more by the tiled floor and Taylor saw the blade push through her mother's chest, sending some blood into the air as it was pushed in further then the handle.

The image burned into her eyes as she started to black out again. She welcomed it. Anything was better then what she had just seen.

'this can't be…happening…'

She groggily opened her eyes as she felt something moving her. She only made eye contact once as she looked at the face with four eyes.

"I found a young one!" he shouted as he carried her out of the pantry roughly.

"She has a nice form." another voice said as she was dropped on the counter. "Should catch a good price."

A jolt of pain shot through her as whatever was embedded in her arm was pulled out.

She felt tired, her head could barely make clear what was going on as she was flipped over with her legs dangling off the counter.

She felt some one start to feel her up as she felt someone start to mess with her pants.

Her vision started to become less blurry as she looked around the room to her left. The kitchen was demolished. Debris covered the floor and she almost didn't see the form on the floor at the edge of her view.

'What's going on? What happened to the house?' she tried to focus on the form and her eyes widened once she realized what she was looking at.

"Mom!" she almost shouted as she was held down.

The ships, the sirens, the explosions. It all started to come back to her, and she was shocked to see her mother's lifeless body on the floor where she had last seen her.

With her anger growing, her biotics flared a dull blue. Taylor had received her L3 implants earlier that year, because she thought she could help around the colony with her biotics once she was taught how to control them. She had been going to lessons on how to control it, but all of the things involving safety she had learned were forgotten when she realized what had happened, and what was about to happen to her unless she did something.

"She's a boi…" the voice behind her started to yell, but was too late as she sent out an unstable biotic wave in all directions.

The one who had been holding her still, flow across the kitchen in front of her and was impaled on a jagged piece of the wooden table she had been sitting at earlier that day. The crash behind her told her she had sent the one about to rape her into the wall.

With no one holding her down, she slowly pushed herself off of the counter and fell to the floor from the exertion. She felt the impact on her knees as her hands held unto the edge of the counter.

Her head was low as tears started to run down her face. The salt in her tears stung the cut on her cheek as she rested her head on the surface in front of her. Her hands let go so her arms could wrap around her shaking frame.

"No…please…this is not happening…" she begged to herself as her eyes looked to her left.

Before she could look at the still form again, she heard a baby crying. Her eyes opened wide in terror as she grabbed something next to her and forced herself to her feet.

She couldn't look at the body as she quickly limped through the kitchen to get to the stairs.

"Zech!" she shouted as she heard a single gunshot that silenced the cry.

She froze as the sound of the shot echoed through the house.

Taylor's legs worked against her as she forced them to walk up the stairs. Each step sent a dull pain into her as she ascended.

"…Zechariah…" she mumbled as she entered the upstairs hallway.

In front of her were four rooms. One was hers, one belonged to her parents, and one was the upstairs bathroom. The fourth was her brother's.

As she stepped into the doorway, Zech's dinosaur lamp sent holographic images along the ceiling and walls. Her eyes went straight to the crib where she was both hopping and praying that her brother was ok. She took slow steps through the room and held her breath as she came closer.

Once she finally was able to look into the crib, she turned away quickly as she fell to the floor. The image was added to the one she had of her mother in her mind.

She threw up what little she had in her stomach and quickly started to dry heave since she hadn't eaten much.

She began to choke on what little vomit she had as her eyes went to something that moved. The movement was in the room across from her brother's in her parents room.

A humanoid form was searching through a nightstand next to the bed. He must have walked into that bedroom right before she made it into the hall. If she had to guess, she'd think he was looking through her mothers jewelry box that was in one of the drawers.

She could stay as she was, and wait for her brother's killer to finish what his friends started. She felt tempted to yell at him to finish it, kill her, let her see her family. But within those thoughts she felt something ells. The feeling of rage, the feeling of loss, the hatred for the form in the next room.

Not bothering to wipe the traces of vomit from her mouth, she lifted herself up and started walking. She didn't notice she had walked through what was in her own stomach as she was in the hall and approached the room.

Whatever she had in her hand ended up being another kitchen knife and she lifted it high above her head as she approached the alien in dark armor.

He had taken his helmet off to inspect the room, and she saw it on her mother and father's bed where it had a good view and watched as she stepped closer. He would not see her coming. His back was to her and he was low on one knee so he could get to the bottom drawer.

It had only been a few moments ago to her that she had seen her first dead body. And now she was about to become a killer.)

'Not again…please not again.' she thought to herself as she snapped out of her daze.

Someone's hand on her shoulder had gotten her atation and she looked to her side and found Plague attached to it and Garrus standing next to him.

"Use it." Plague said simply as he pulled his hand away.

He must have thought she was thinking about the colonists. His face was covered, but Shepard could imagine him examining the look on her face with an understanding expression.

"You alright, Shepard?" Garrus asked as they continude walking.

Was she alright? No. Did she want her team to know that? No.

She had to be strong. She had to lead, give orders.

(That night she spent curld up against her mother's cold form with the remains of her brother in her arms. Blood covered her clothing from the slaver she had repeatedly stabbed in the back of the head.

The floor felt cold, but she didn't care. Explosions went off in the distance, but she didn't care. She wanted to stay with her family, she wanted death to embrace her, she wanted to die.)

'Stop it!' she shouted in her head. 'I'm stronger then that. I AM stronger.'

(She must have fallen asleep in the kitchen. When she oppend her eyes to a voice, she noticed the sunlight shining through the demolished wall in the kitchen.

'Why am I on the…' she remembered instantly when she looked at the remains in her arms and who she was curled up to.

A new flood of tears ran down her face as she made herself as small as she could.

"My God." she heard a new voice say nearby. Shuffling debris made its way to her ears. She wanted them to go away, leave her there. She almost didn't notice the small contact on her neck where someone would check a pulse. "We got a live one here! We need a stretcher!"

Before she fell asleep again, she cracked open her eyes and looked at the man next to her. Armored, human, saddened by whatever he was looking at.

Before the darkness came again, she realized. He was looking at her.)

"I'm fine Garrus…" she let out a sigh as she felt her eyes water slightly. "…I'm good. Lets go."

The team started to walk farword and through the picnic area. As soon as they past the tables they heard something a little too familiar to her and Garrus. It was a loud scream that didn't come from a human. The sound came from what they had become.

"Tell me that is not what I think it is." Garrus said, clearly having the same thoughts.

All other posibilitys where thrown aside as a form staggered around the corner. Human shapped, circetry running through it's form, skin turned metallic gray as it looked as if it had been draind of any and all liquids and nutrients. The circuitry glowed blue as the mockery of the human form turned to look at them.

As soon as those dead glowing eyes looked to the ground team it let out another scream as it broke into a full on sprint with it's arms flailing around, desperate to rip apart whomever was in it's path.

"Open fire!" she ordered as soon as it sterted moving towords them.

Almost as one unit, the whole team peppered the husk full of holes before it made it's fourth step to them.

Before the creature could hit the ground, the sound of buzzing and more screams filled the air as more Collectors took up defencive positions as a mob of husks ran at them from the surrounding buildings.

"You take me to such beautiful places, Shepard." she barely heard Plague comment with a thick layer of sarcasm.

She paused as Plague's shape ran ahead to confront the mob.

"Plague! Get back…" she stopped to shoot back at a Collecter as her team found cover.

She looked over the wall she was using and saw Plague re atomize what looked like an old fashion shotgun.

He cocked it and planted it in the chest of the clossest husk as he pulled the trigger. In response, the husk practicly exploded and rained chunks of flesh and gore all over it's friends. (Perk: Bloody Mess. Also known as Fallout's bread and butter.)

He continued unleashing shot after shot into the crowd as they grew closer and closer to him. Plague also seamed to be having the time of his life since she heard laughing that sent chills down her spine. Sadly in his shotgun rampage, he didn't notice a second group running up on him from the side.

"Plague, find cover!" she shouted as she readied a shockwave.

101 just took a quick glance towords her and instantly understood what she was doing. He went into a sprint towords the raised platform and managed to run up the side to grab onto the railing as the shockwave went underneath him and throw the husks all over the place.

She saw him sling the weapon over his shoulder as he pulled himself up onto the platform.

Now that the man was no longer in the line of fire, Shepard ordered Jack to unleash a shockwave as she recovered from the one she had just sent out. She didn't see what heppend so she had to use Jack's reaction to tell her if she did any damage. And the trail of profanitys told her the convict was dead on target.

"Garrus, take up a sniping position on the raised platform! Kasumi, cover him!" she ordered as she looked out of cover to fire a few shots from the pistol she switched her shotgun for.

"Roger." she heard the two say almost at the same time.

"Plague, Look out!" she heard Garrus shout and saw a mass fall from the platform.

She looked further out of cover and saw Plague on top of a husk that was crushed under his and his atomized arsonal's weight.

"Mother…Fucking…Piece…Of …Shit!" he shouted inbetween him bashing the husk's face in with his fists.

As she looked at the scene though, something bothered her.

'Why is that husk red?'

Plague POV

"Why…Wont…You…Die?" Plague shouted as the husks arms continued to thrash under him.

Each pounch started to deform the ghoul's face. Well…at least he thought it was a ghoul. He honestly had no clue as to what it was.

"Plague, I don't think that's…" someone started to say to him but the ghoul's body exploded from underneath him. (Perk: Hit the Deck)

The force sent him flying into the wall he had climbed up moments ago. As he hit the wall a blacked out for a second. And before he did, he almost thought he heard someone say his real name.

The ringing was replaced by the sound of a ghoul running up on him, and almost on instinct, he re atomized a weapon and aimed.

Taylor Shepard POV

"Plague, report!" she shouted over her cover. "Shit. Garrus, do you see him?"

"No, Shepard." the turian shouted back over the sound of his rifle shooting a round into a Collect's head. "He is under me, but I am taking to much enemy fire. I can't take a look."

"Jack, we will cover you. Go in there and drag his ass out of the…" she began to order and was interrupted by a loud whistle that almost dwarfed the battlefield. The sound, sounded kind of famialer, and she blurted out the question in her head. "…Is that a train?"

A husk flying over her cover and hitting the ground answered her. But she saw no train, instead she saw what looked like a large railspike stikking out of it's back.

Another whistle ripped through the air as another railspike impaled a Collecter in the neck and pinned him to the wall.

She looked over and saw Plague standing there with a steam powered long weapon in his hands as he aimed again and took out another one.

After the ground team got over the shock, they returned fire and clearerd out the area.

"What the hell…"Shepard began to say as she got out of cover. "…on second thought. Never mind." she just waved a dismissive hand in Plague's direction and received a shrug. "You alright?"

"Yes, Boss." he groand as he rolled his shoulders. "Going to hurt in the morning." he then looked down at a husk nearby that he had shot down. "Is that a ghoul? And why the hell do the red ones explode?"

Shepard looked at the form and looked disgusted as she answered. "Those things look like the husks the Geth used on Eden Prime."

"I thought the Geth got that technology from Sovereign." Garrus chimed in as he jogged up to them with Kasumi not far behind. Seeing confused body language from Plague, he continude. "He was a Reaper we took down. At the time he was controlling the Geth, synthetics who worshipped him."

Plague slowly started to nod his head at the explenation, but he still looked fairly confused.

"We will fill you in later." Shepard said as she turned. "Either way, this proves the Collecters are working for the Reapers."

They started to walk on as Plague re atomized what looked like another railspike to load into the seemingly homemade weapon.

"Who the hell are you?" Shepard couldn't help but blurt out. "MacGyver?"

"Who?" Plague asked back as he slightly tilted his head.

"Never mind…" she answered as she rolled her eyes and became aware of a headache forming.

"Anyway." Plague said as the walked up to another husk. "how are they made? Did this thing use to be a colonist?"

It was Garrus who answered. "No. The Geth impaled their vitoms on giant spikes to turn them into husks. But we haven't seen any. The Collecters must have already had the husks." he looked around for a second, maybe seeing if he could see a spike near by. "They want the colonists alive for something ells."

'No. not again.'

The grip on her pistol tightened as she looked at the body with even more disgust at the words. "The Collecters aren't getting away with more victoms." she then took a step forward as her team followed. "Lets move out!"

"Disgusting." she heard Plague say as he stepped around the body, the motion perhaps giving it one final strand of respect for who the man used to be. "Even I wouldn't eat that."

Kasumi Goto POV

"What?" Kasumi blurted out as she looked at the man's back.

"Like a said." he looked over his shoulder and appeared to be afrade of how she would react. "I my be a survivalist, but I know bad meat when I see it. Sadly, survival doesn't always equal respect for the dead."

"When…" she started to force herself to ask. "…was the last time you were forced to…do something like that."

"I don't really like talking about it." his slightly altered voice replied. "My…condition…hits me when I least expect it. On the ship I am on a timer." he then raised up the arm he had his Omni-tool on and it activated and showed a count down of a few hours. "Every time it goes off, I have to get a meal out of the mess. Three meals a day or I could get grounded if Gardner says I skipped a meal. I am also told to eat before participating on the ground team." he then looked forward as he followed Shepard and lowered his arm. "Even then…I get cravings."

'Sounds like hell.' she said to himself.

To feel that every day, to be afraid to get close enough to someone. Every being he talked to would be in danger if he had one of those moments. She didn't know how to react to that.

"Did you eat before the mission?" Garrus asked out of nowhere. "You were the first one in the shuttle."

"Yes." he sighd. "I am Chakwas, Approved."

Plague POV

"What are those?" Shepard asked as they turned the corner.

She was talking about the rows of podlike brown pods. They all seemed to be shapped like cocoons of some kind with orange domes on the fronts.

Many things popped into his head to answer the question, but the sight may have answered for her when they noticed the human forms inside.

"All these empty buildings." Garrus absurved drawing there attention to the homes before them.

He was about to comment when the buzzing started again. As he focused on a Collecter landing, his pipboy pumped adrenaline into his brain.

'Fucking bug!' he almost shouted outloud as he aimed his weapon and sent a railspike through the head of the first one he saw. (V.A.T.S. for those who are confused…you know who you are.)

"Open Fire!" Shepard's voice shouted slowly next to him, and started to accelerate to normal speed as the amount going into his brain worked it's course.

They all ran to cover as more Collecters landed while some more husks appeared from the surounding houses. As he got low, Plague reached into his pocket for Maria since the larger weapon needed to be loaded. He leaned over his cover as he aimed. Some of the bugs hid in the houses while some took cover on balconies.

"Garrus, concussive shock!" Shepard shouted to the turian over the gunfire.

Garrus had been behind the same cover as her and leand out to fire.

The projectile flew through the air and hit just above one of the balconies and successfully killed two who were aiming over the cover.

"Jack, shockwave in 3!" she shouted to her fellow biotic as she couted down with her fingers.

Once she reached zero, Shepard sent a shockwave that murged with Jack's aimed into the door of a house. Plague instantly saw results as some bodies flew out of the window.

The bugs were still alive so he took aim as the hit the ground and each shot met no resistence except for one who managed to put up a yellow barrier.

The shield blocked the one shot, and saved the bug's life for a moment.

"You little piece of…" he started to aim and was cut off by some kind of laser before he could kill his target. The beam made his kenetic barrier shimmer with red. Before he know what was happening, his shields dropped. "Son of a bitch!"

'what the hell was that?'

The weapon packed a lot more power then it looked. He felt the heat for a split second before he took cover. That thing could have taken his arm off.

"Shepard!" he shouted as he waited for his shields to recharge. "Beam heavy wheapon!"

His warning made it to his Commander and she ducked as soon as he said that, and barely dodged the weapon before it could take her head off. "Holy shit!"

Everyone who had shields, focused their fire on the Collecter and managed to take it down before it could fire again. The instant silence told them there were no more contacts around.

"What the hell was that?" Garrus asked as they all moved up.

"I don't know, but…" she kicked the sparking weapon out of the dead bug's hands and looked disappointed that it was damaged. "…if anyone could get their hands on a functionall one, let me know."

The ground team walked through a space full of what Plague guessed were canisters.

"Colonists." Shepard said as they all noticed the forms.

Folloing Shepard's orders she gave earlier, Plague ran up to the humans and stopped when he got a good view. A man was reaching down to help up a woman on the ground and appeared to be stuck in that moment in time. As if they were just statues.

A dark energy flaired around them, similar to a biotic but appeared far different at the same time. After looking behind him, Plague saw another human stuck in mid run at the top of a staircase.

"Looks like some type of stasis field." Garrus offered as the rest of the team walked up to look at the colonists.

"Are they aware?" he heard Kasumi ask behind him as he leaned in to look at the man who was helping the woman.

The man's eyes darted from side to side in fear and focused on Plague who was closer then the rest of the team. He then looked down and saw that the woman was in the same state, focusing intently on him as if she thought he could free her.

"They are aware." Plague answered as he placed a hand on the woman's shiulder. "You all are going to be alright."

Words were the only things he could do for them, but he instantly saw results in the eye movment.

"Must be how the bugs capture people." Jack, of all people said as she started walking with the ground team who all started walking. "Make them helpless."

Plague gave the woman one last squeeze on the shoilder as he left the captured forms.

He startede to follow the group that had stopped as Shepard bent down to pick up something.

"Hell yeah!" she shouted as she cradled one of those energy weapons in her arms like a child. She then looked up at Garrus with a fake pout. Her lip started to shake as she spoke. "Can I keep it?"

The turian looked at her like she had grown another head at the sudden change of character.

Plague was doing the same, but no one could really tell so he just tilted his head. "I'm going to laugh at that later." he said as he walked past the Commander.

"Plague." he heard Shepard say as he turned to see what she wanted. "I only need one heavy weapon." she said as she switched the new weapon with the gurnade launcher on her back.

His eyes swept over the large weapon, as his hand reached for it and swipped it before she could change her mind. "Lets continue, shall we?" he asked as the new weapon was atomized.

They continude walking and Plague couldn't help but notice the slight decrease in speed as he walked. Having new weapons were good and all, but there were always downsides.

"Contacts!" Garrus shouted as the team ran for cover.

Collecters flew onto the battlefield and landed. Plague was about to aim and fire, until the same Collecter sharted glowing as it was lifted into the air.

"What the fuck?" Jack said loudly from her cover.

"I AM ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL" a bodyless voice said as the Collecter pullsed with energy as it landed on the ground. Energy built up in the pulsing bug's hand as the energy started to resemble orange fire. "THIS IS WHAT YOU FACE" the energy was launched towards Shepard who was to sheocked at the moment to move.

"Shepard!" Garrus shouted as he tackled her to the ground.

The energy exploded where Shepard had been and showed the power behind the attack in the damage to the ground and rained dirt over the ground team.

The battlefield was filled with gunfire from both the Collecters lead by the pulsing bug, and the rest of Shepard's ground team. Plague noticed Shepard pull herself together and find cover in the corner of his eye as he shot down a bug with a well placed railspike.

"IF I MUST TEAR YOU APART SHEPARD, I WILL"

Taylor Shepard POV

"Like hell you are!" the Comander shouted as she fired pot shots into the being.

'What was that? Who is talking?' she shouted to herself as she recovered from the fact that whatever it was, knew her name.

Her team quickly took down the normal collecters, but the energy filled one just walked around fireing at them as it simply took the shots. It didn't take cover, as if physical harm was irrelevant. She saw the damage, she saw it being ripped apart by the shots after they finally got it's shields down.

Once it died, it simply desolved into the air as if it didn't even exist.

"Report!" she orderd as she left her cover.

After receiving an ok from everyone, she lead them to the bunker nearby.

She was still shaking, and her heart was beating quickly, but she did a good job hiding it.

'I have to be strong.'

Kasumi Goto POV

"Kasumi." Shepard called as the door beeped when she tried to open it. "Open it, will you?"

"Got it, Shepard." she answered as she jogged to the door.

After a quick servay with her Omni-tool, she smiled. It was a basic security lock. Someone on the inside must have activated it. Unlocking it wouldn't be a problem, but it would take a minute.

The footsteps walking away from her told her the ground team was setting up a parimiter to cover her. Everyone, except for…

"Can we talk?" Plague's altered voice asked to her right, before his visor opened.

Her heart started beating fast in her chest, and she felt the warmness in her cheeks.

"I can multitask." she said before she realized that could have been an opportunity to avoid the conversation.

Plague leaned against the door with his arms crossed as he looked upwards at the sky.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened on shore leave."

'No. He knows.' she thought to herself as her heart managed to go even faster.

"What about it?" she asked quietly.

"Well…" he seemed to be looking for the right words. "…I am having trouble remembering what happened. I am a little afrade to ask, since you have been avoiding me since then."

Kasumi would have let out a large sigh of relief if it wasn't for the fact that Plague was now looking at her.

But why was he so worried about her avoiding him.

"You see, I can guess a few things…but I was hopping you could…clarify."

Her cheeks grew warmer when she realized what he was implying. That something happened, that one of them could have made a move on the other, that they at some point…

"No. no." she said a little too quickly. "Nothing happened…it just got a little…weird."

That just made Plague raise an eyebrow as he looked at her Omni-tool as if it was a way to lessen the awkwardness that had formed in the conversation.

"…well…that's better then what could have happened." he said. "Not that your not attractive…I mean." he seemed to be struggling with what he was saying. "it's just…I was also worrying that I had one of my…moments."

"Like what?" she asked, now wondering what could have been worse then waking up next to her.

'Why am I thinking that?'

"Well…" he started to scratch the tip of his nose as he looked in thought. "…I could have tried to eat you." the theif was instantly taken aback by that. And Plague must have seen it to since he continude. "I have a high tolerance to alcohol. It takes twenty times more then the average human to get me buzzed. My…condition is suppressed by my willpower and how much I could fight the temptation. I shouldn't have drinked that stuff without knowing how it could affect me." his eyes looked saddened as he looked at her. She was almost done with the door. "I have never been that far under the table. I put you in danger…and I am sorry."

'What?' she almost asked.

She should be the one apologizing. She tricked him into drinking it, she interegated him knowing full well he wouldn't remember, she betraid his trust and learned his name. Her eyes started to water, but was hidden under her hood.

She had shouted it when that red husk sent him into the platform, and caught herself since Garrus was almost right next to her. Thankfully he didn't hear over the explosion.

"No…I should have told you the right way to drink it." she blurted out as the final firewall was bypassed. Before he could say anything, she shouted to Shepard. "It's unlocked, Shepard."

Plague POV

Plague let out a deep sigh as Shepard opened the door. All of his fears had been put to rest. He wanted to ask how exactly the situation became "weird" but he thought it would have been something Kasumi would not want to talk about with the whole team in earshot. He would have to remember to ask later...he looked around the room as he heard something fall on the floor.

"Compeny." Shepard anouced as she pulled out her pistol. "Get out here. Now!"

She lowered the wepon when a human head pocked out to look at them. Almost as soon as the weapon was lowered, the man wlked out of his cover, clearly looking tired.

"Your…your human. What are you doing out here? You'll lead them right here." he said, with a hint of worry.

"I cleard a path." Shepard said with an annoyed tone. "How did the Collecters not find you?"

"Those things are Collecters?" the man asked as he started to pace. "You mean…they're real?"

"Not at all." Plague chimed in after the boredom level reach full capacity. "It was Butcher Pete knocking on your door."

Everyone one seemed to ignor the joke as the man continude. "I thought they were just made up. You know…properganda, to keep us in Aliance space." then he turned back to them. "No! They got Lillith. I saw her go down. Sten, to. They got damnear everybody!"

"What's your name?" Shepard asked as Plague started looking around the room. Everyone ells on the ground team was patient, but this, not moving, was really starting to anoy him. "What do you do here?"

"Name's, Delan. Mechanic." the man introduced himself. "I came down to check on the main grid after we lost our comm sognal. Then I heard screaming." he then started moving again and made motions with his hands to further explane what happened. "I looked outside and there was…swarms of bugs. Everyone they touched just froze. I sealed the doors."

"Could have saved some lives if some people made it in, before you closed the door to this nice bunker you got here." Plague chimed in and received a glare from the man.

"What could I have done?" he almost shouted. "I'm no soldier! I'm not even armed." Plague lifted a hand to silence him, and then used his other hand to motion to the weapons locker on the other side of the room. "Damn it…it's the Alliance's falt! They stationed that Chief Williams here and built those defense towers. It made us a target." he finished as he pointed at Plague, trying to pin the blame onto someone ells.

"This Williams, your Ashley?" Plague asked the turian next to him and received a nod. "Right. What about those defense towers? They something we can use against that beehive looking ship?"

"You'd need to calibrate the targeting system first. It's never worked right." he explained.

He saw Shepard let out a sigh full of frustration as she rubbed her temples. "Garrus. Think you could do something?"

"How about it, Mr. Calibration?" Plague asked almost a second after Shepard asked.

"I'll see what I can do." the turian answered, shrugging off the nickname given to him.

"Head for the main transmitter on the other side of the colony. It's really hard to miss." the colonist directed. "The targeting controls are at the base."

"You know the coloney, and the equipment." Shepard informed the man. "you'd better come with us."

"Not the best idea, Boss." Plague advised as he glared at the toppic. "He would get in the way."

"That's what I was thinking to." the toppic acknowledged as he activated his Omni-tool. "I'll let you out, but I'm locking the door behind you. I'm not taking any chances." to his word, a door's desplay turned green as he looked back at them. "Good luck. I think your gonna need it."

Taylor Shepard POV

"Fucking coward." Plague nearly shouted almost before the door managed to close behind them.

"He isn't a soldier." Garrus riminded as they walked.

"He still could have done something!" Shepard snapped as memories started to reappear in her mind's eye. "This is a big colony, and he is conveniently the only one within the area who thought of heading there? Bull shit."

This colony could have housed thousands. Everyone who must have gotten to the door after Dillon, must have pounded on the door, trembling, afraid, screaming. The one man who could have saved they're lives, just bunkered down to save his own skin.

"We agree then." Plague started to look towards some red lawnmowers nearby. "I understand necessary losses, but only him? Might as well gift wrapped them for the insects."

"Fucking, pussy." Jack added.

"Find cover!" Garrus shouted, silencing the conversation.

Shepard followed Garrus's weapon to the Collecters whe started to file out of the sarounding houses, along with husks.

"Open fire!" she shouted as she dived behind a railing for cover.

She heard Plague's weapon make it's shrill whistle as it launched a spike into a husk. "First stop, Hell!" he shouted as he went back behind cover.

"WE ARE HARBINGER" said that disembodied voice. "YOU CAN NOT RESISTE"

Her eyes flickered around the battlefield for the familiar firey energy, and almost got hit with the energy that sailed past her face. She felt the energy's heat across her right cheek as it slammed into one of the lawnmowers.

The divice exploded in a firey display as it's fuel ignted.

"Guess what!" she heard Plague shout as something large re atomized and replaced the small ones that vanished. "I'm resisting."

The light dimmed down to reveal a large minigun, that's barrols started spinning as he rained gunfire upon the glowing bug.

Once the Collect had enough, it dissolved like before.

"Damn glowworm." Plague shouted as he went back behind cover.

Shepard, fired a quick shot and went back into cover to replace the thermal clip. "Plague, cover fire. Kasumi, move up." she shouted.

Plague followed to the letter as Kasumi vaulted over her cover to reach the next.

As Kasumi ran, Shepard saw a large blue form step out of a house. At first she thought the mass was another mob of husks, until the form raised a hand and sent forth what looked like a biotic shockwave headed toward the black and white form running for cover.

"Kasumi!"

Kasumi Goto POV

The theif looked towards Shepard as she was running.

She couldn't hear her words over the gunfire. The Commander's, eyes were wide and slightly confused her.

'comeon, Shepard. I know what I'm doing…' her thoughts trailed off as she felt a force hit her in the right side.

Over her time as a thief, Kasumi had been hit with forms of biotics. Someone trying to catch her and suspend her in mid air, stasis field attempts, but this. The energy that hit her felt cold. A normal biotic's energy had no temperature, it was just…there. What hit her however, made her body feel as if it was ripping itself apart, as the chill made it's way to her bones. She felt frost forming on her as she slambed into a wall.

She was both dazed, and in shock, but she still had control of her slightly freezing arms. She felt like she had just skinny dipped in a freezing lake in winter.

She fired into a husk that saw her as an easy target.

Her ears ringed, her fingertips were numbing up, her skin now felt as if little needles were dancing acros her form.

The husk went down, but some of it's husk brethren saw the opening as well. They all ran at her as a mob. Her vision blurred as she barely felt the kick of the weapon firing in her hands.

At the corner of her eye, she saw everything slow down as she started to panic. Combined with her graybox, the processing of what she saw was shown to her as if the world was grinding to a halt. She made out Shepard's red, armored form with an expresion of worry, and shock as to what was happening. She saw Garrus franticly trying to get a shot on a husk in her derection, but in Kasumi's state, it appeared like his quick reloading was happening in slow motion. Jack was in the middle of yelling something as her biotics flared.

Then she realized, Plague was not slowing down…well, not as much as everything ells. He dropped his large weapon, that slowed down as it felt the pull of gravity. (Perk: Action Boy)

She saw a light forming on his arm, over his pipboy.

If she was able to think fast enough, she would have thought he was re atomizing his medic set. The light growing to envelop his form seemed to suport the theory.

She knew he wouldn't make it to her. She was going to be killed by the genetic monstrosities running for her.

She was going to die without retrieving Kaiji's graybox, she was going to die at her young age, she was going to die as the one she betrayed, was trying to save her.

Within that madness, she thought of two things. 'I failed you, Kaiji. I'm sorry, Plague.'

She couldn't held them off anymore. She saw her thermal clip eject out of her weapon and watched it freeze in mid air. Not wanting to see them get they're hands on her, she went back to look at the form covered in light.

Her eyes widened as she noticed a large object forming in his right hand, as he was covered by, what Shepard called, his heavy set.

She realized. He was not running to help her, he was running to intercept the mass of husks. The large object started to take form in his hand, as he planted a heavily armored foot into the ground. He started to spin to his right as if he was building up momentom for what was in his grip.

Within that fraction of a second that the weapon was out of her view, it reappeared with a long , sharp edge.

When it collided with the mass, the sword like weapon cut most of those in it's path in half, while at the end of it's swing, sent many of the husks flying. (Perk: Slayer)

By the end of the swing, the large sword was held in the air with one arm, as the carnage of the motion followed it to it's stopping point.

The world started to speed up again as her thermal clip started falling to the ground next to her.

Plague POV

"Kasumi!" Plague shouted with his helmet altering his voice.

He crouched down next to her as he heard the rest of the ground team cover them.

'First Purgatory, now this.'

He had failed again. He failed to protect the closest person to him in this existence. His left, gauntlet covered hand, rested on her shoulder, as his right still held his bumpersword low to the ground.

He was as close to her as possible so that his kinetic barriar would cover her.

"Kasumi!" he shouted at her again to get her to focus.

When he had reached her, she was in a daze. Since he had started shaking her, the woman finally pulled herself together as she looked at him with her hood still down.

"I…I'm fine…?" she groaned as she rested a hand on her head.

By the tone in her voice, it sounded as if she couldn't comprehend that she was safe.

Plague was about to pick her up and take her to cover, but was interepted by a force slaming into him. He lurched forward, and if he haden't dropped his sword and slammed his hand next to Kasumi to brace himself, he would have slammed into her and crushed her with the combined weight of his armor, and atomized arsenal.

The suit's hud flashed red as he was hit again by the biotic force that threated to rip him apart. He felt a chilling feeling that tingled his skin under his armor's plating. His teath grinded together as a growl excaped his mouth as he notice frost forming on his hud.

He turned to see the lumbering blue mass and instantly felt pure disgust at what he saw. The creature was constricted from many husks that had been murged together, like some horrific, cybernetic conjoined twin. The faces on it's form howled as less dominent limbs flailed around as if trying to will they're way to strangled him and those around.

Plague had seen many things in his life, but only a few of them matched up to the creature.

His limbs started to feel a little sluggish as he grasped the weapon he had dropped. He lifted the weapon above him as he saw the creature build up energy to unleash another attack. His suit added to his own strangth as he launched the weapon across the short distence before the biotic like attack could be used.

The weapon sailed through the air, and plunged into the abomination's chest. At least that's where he thought it's chest was. He just hopped he hit something vital.

In response, all of the heads howled in pain as it fell to the side and slammed into the ground.

"Fishbowl!" he heard Jack call as she moved up to cover next to him. Although, to Plague she sounded extremely iritated as her biotics flared so she could throw a husk into a Collecter. "Stay the Fuck down!"

He would have made a little quib to mess with her, but the cold still stung his flesh. If it wasn't for his power armor, he would have been in the same dazed state as Kasumi.

After Plague took out the large husk, it didn't take long for the rest of the ground team to pick off the straglers.

Next to him, he saw Kasumi fight to load a thermal clip into her gun as she tried to pull herself up. She looked like she was freezing. Her arms were shivering as and made her drop the thermal clip.

Plague instantly felt concerned. He lifted her chin so that he could see her eyes. She looked extremely tired. Her eyes looked at him but showed some confusion.

Plague had seen many ailments. A severed leg, loss of an eye, burns, broken ribs that puctured the lungs they were supposed to be protecting. He had served with the Brotherhood of Steel, and had to remove dented and shredded metal that mangled the limbs it covered. He had served as both a Ranger, and a Field Medic for the NCR, but what he saw, slightly confused him.

He had read about other illnesses and such brought on by the cold, but the Wasteland didn't have snow where he had traveled. The closist he had ever came to a freezing temperature was from the simulation of Operation Anchorage, that happened before the bombs fell.

He had to pretend to be a normal marine in the program or ells he would have been trapped. 101 had needed to treat a soldier program as if he was a real person.

("I…I…tried, Sir…" the program stammered as simulated, but deadly, gunfire sailed through the air.

Plague was crouched over the illusion as he ripped the form's pant leg to treat the fake bullet wound that was seeping blood. Plague knew it was all fake, but he felt the blood on his hands, he felt the simulated hunger that grew in his system.

The machine he was in, would keep him alive, but it was made to give him as close to a realistic experience as possible.

To him, it felt as if he went a few days with only rationed MRE's that were devided between him, and the programs in his squad.

Over the few days he had been in the machine, he developed a hatered for the programs around him. He knew he would be in there for days.

It was a waste of food to him. Why should he starve so the programs could live.

'They aren't fucking alive!' he thought to himself as he opened his field kit. 'That food should be mine!'

He took a quick glance at the other six in his squad. They surrounded him in the foxhole that provided cover for them and himself. Some were reloading as others fired out of the cover the hole provided.

His thoughts went back to the man. The warm wetness of the blood on his hands, were replaced by the cold seeing it as a chance to freeze them.

Plague was confused. The "man" showed medical signs that he didn't know. Why he continude to try and save him? He didn't even know himself.

He wanted them all to die so he could take all the MRE's for himself to survive, but he felt…compelled by his medical curiosity to find out what was wrong.

By night fall, the program went to sleep and never woke up.

He later found out what it was. Hyperthermia.)

"Kasumi!" Plague shouted as the woman in question started to doze off. "Stay awake!"

He lightly patted her cheeks to keep her awake, as his heavy set was replaced with his stealth suit, that's material quickly warmed him up, and his duster in his hands that he then covered her with.

"I'm…fine." Kasumi anounced groggily as she used the section of wall next to her to get up, along with Plague's assistence. "I'm fine. Just a little…winded."

Plague didn't by it. Each word she said, had to be forced through her shivering. Her grip tightened on the old duster on her shoulders to try to get as much warmth out of it as possible. But, thankfully she didn't look as bad as she did on Purgatory.

"Kasumi." Shepard hailed as the team approached. "Hang back with Garrus. You took a big hit."

"I…fine, Shepard." she protested. "I…just need a b…breather."

"Sorry, but we don't have time for that." the Commander pointed out as she walked bast them. "Close formation. Garrus, and Kasumi. Hang back."

Plague could clearly see the thief didn't like the idea, but she followed the order.

Before 101 started walking, a talon tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to react by drawing a knife that stopped two inches from the targeted turian's eye.

"Sorry, Garrus." he apologized as he atomized the knife he almost killed his teammate with. "Have to admit, not a lot of friendly's here have talons."

Garrus had been frozen in place, but once he saw the knife disappear, he relaxed. "Understandable." he then passed Plague's mini-gun forward.

He almost forgot. Both the weapon in Garrus's hands, and the bumper sword atomized as Plagues shotgun appeared in his hands.

They both then sprinted to catch up to their Commander.

"I thought we'd run across more of those frozen colonists." Kasumi said aloud, but still shivering. Plague looked back to her to see she now had her arms through the duster's sleeves and a few of the button's, buttoned. Clearly she still felt cold. "Not that I'm complaining."

"Sadly, they must have already been loaded onto the ship." Plague answered back.

Plague felt a little chill, and it wasn't from that large husk's attack.

Taylor Shepard POV

Thinking of something to name the large husk firing shockwaves at her, Shepard went behind cover after she had sent a smaller husk into the ground.

"Garrus! Shoot that Scion!" she ordered the turian, who was behind a container, taking pot shots on the normal husks with Kasumi covering him.

"The what?" Garrus shouted back as a husk's head was blown off.

"THE BIG ONE!" Shepard yelled as she lifted another husk.

Almost as soon as Garrus put 2 and 2 together, he started firing round after round into the blue being.

"Plague!" she then shouted to the man taking cover next to her. He had replaced that old shotgun, with a survice rifle. "Cover, Jack!"

Jack was taking cover on the other side of the area in the back of a truck, seneding out shockwaves wildly at anything near her.

"Yes, Boss!"

Shepard fired over cover at the same time as him, almost right as Garrus finished off the seconed scion. The first was taken out with a little biotic cooperation, between Jack, and herself. Ending result, truck ontop of said Scion.

Shepard's heavy pistol fired into the last Scion, who was one of the only threats on the battlefield.

Once it went down, and Shepard did a quick sweep, she saw that all hostiles in the aerea had been delt with.

"Converge on the transmitter!"

"The antenna looking thing?" asked the man to her left. Instead of answering, Shepard shot Plague a stern look. "Yes, Boss." he said quickly as he vaulted over cover.

Kasumi and Garrus made it there first and quickly started working together to get it working.

After getting a thumbs…talons up, Shepard activated her comm as she reached the group. "Normandy? Do you copy?"

Almost instantly, a voice was heard on all of their comms. "Joker here. Signal's weak, Commander, but we got you."

Letting out a sigh of releif, she looked to the rest of the ground team. Garrus and Jack were keeping watch, and Plague looked like he was checking on Kasumi, who looked really exhausted. "Anything on the second ground team?"

"Yes, Commander." Joker acknowledged. "They are close to your position, but the signal is still terrible where they are."

"Alright. EDI, bring the defence towers online." Shepard ordered as she rolled her shoulders. It had been a long day, and she couldn't wait to take a nice warm shower.

It didn't take long for the A.I. to respond. "Errors in the calibration software are easily rectified, but it will take time to bring the towers to full power." Shepard felt a minr headache coming on as she heard that. "I recommend a defensive posture. I will not be able to mask the increased generater output."

"God forbid, we get it easy." she then rolled her eyes. "We'll defend the transmitter."

"Enemy reinforcments closing in. I suggest you ready weapons." the A.I. anounched.

"ASSUMING CONTROL OF THIS FORM" Shepard felt a chill run down her spine as she heard that voice.

Looking up, she saw dozens of Collecters appearing on the battle field, lead by Harbinger. She also saw more husks swarming into the area.

"WE ARE THE HARBINGER OF YOUR DESTINY" the glowing Collecter anounced as he threw an energy blast towords them.

"Hit the deck!" Garrus shouted.

The blast barely missed Kasumi's head, and hit a container.

"Open fire!" Shepard ordered, even though no one really waited for her to say so.

She lifted a Collecter into the air, and the threw it towards Harbinger. The smirk she had on her face, vanished as the firery insect just fired at it's own ally. The power of the blast burned the Collecter alive and disintegrated it before it could hit it's intended target.

"KILL ONE, AND A HOUNDRED WILL REPLACE IT"

Garrus Vakarian POV

The former C-Sec fired his assalt rifle into the oncoming husks with Plague to his left, and Kasumi to his right.

"Hold formation!" he heard Shepard shout as he gunned down another husk, and noticed Plague kill the clossest Collecter.

Harbinger sent blast, after blast at them, and each one was close enough for them to feel the heat.

"Jack! Warp that bastard!" Garrus yelled to the bald biotic.

"One fucking minute!" the convict yelled as a Collecter was ripped in half with biotics.

A biotic warp was then fired at harbinger, and punchered a hole in It's body. Garrus was about to compliment the handy work, until he relized that the attack didn't faze it. The burning Collecter continued walking towards them as another energy blast was fired they're way.

As the attack decimated the container behind them, Garrus almost didn't hear EDI anounce that the GARDIAN anti-ship batteries were at 40%.

"Hurry the fuck up already!" Plague yelled as he planted a kick to the chest of one husk that got too close.

EDI then announced that the batteries were now at 60%.

Garrus let out a sigh as Harbinger disintegrated.

"Have I said how much a hate that guy?" Plague asked as he fired at one of the last Collecters.

"Finally." Garrus said as he took down the last Collecter.

As he looked over the battlefield for another target, he felt burning in his left arm.

"WE ARE HARBINGER" the new Harbinger anounced as he tightend the grip on Garrus's arm.

'He must have landed when the last Harbinger died.' Garrus thought as he let out a growl of pain.

Before he could try to hit the being with his rifle, it threw him back. The force of the throw almost made him black out when he hit the pulverized container.

Plague POV

"Garrus!" Plague shouted as he emptyed a clip into Harbinger's head at point blank.

He thought he was doing damage until an arm swatted the weapon out of his hands, and another grabbed him by the neck and lifted him.

The touch burned at his throat as he kicked the bug franticly. He was trying to force it to let go with his hands, but only succeded in making then burn as well.

"Adam!" a female voice shouted nearby, over the gunfire that almost made it impossible to hear.

Plague's eyes bulged in his helmet as his ripper re atomized in his left hand.

'No one should know that name!' he raised the weapon high as it's engine revved up. 'No one, but Sarah should know that name!'

Before he could bring the weapon down to saw off the limb crushing his windpipe, Harbinger's second arm grabbed his.

"YOU SHOULD NOT EXIST" Harbinger said as his remaining two glowing eyes burrowed into him. "YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE WITHIN THIS REALITY" his grip tightened on his hand, crushing bones, making him drop the ripper. "THIS ERRER WILL BE RECTIFIED"

Plague screamed as energy was sent into him. The raw power burned at his covered flash.

Kasumi and the others had been there the whole team fireing into Harbinger, but had trouble getting through his shields.

Plague felt the power surge into his brain, making him unable to comand his pipboy to diliver aid.

"I AM KROGAN!" a voice shouted as a large mass slammed into both Plague, and Harbinger.

The large mass then aimed a large shotgun at harbinger as they all hit the ground. Without skipping a beat, the shotgun fired and practicly made the Collecter's head explode. Half a second later, the rest of the body disintegrated.

Plague felt the harmful energy flew cease as his mind started to clear. He coughed painfully as his hands went to his throat.

Kasumi Goto POV

"Plague!" Kasumi shouted as she ran over to him.

Jacob crouched down and helped her treat the wounds.

His stealth suit was burned, and she could make out burned flesh where the suit had been burned away. She managed to get him into a sitting position as she applied medi-gel to the burns on his neck.

"Are you alright?" she asked in a bit of a panic. "Your lucky, Grunt showed…" she went silent when Plague grabbed her hand, and brought it away from his neck.

"How do you know my name?" Plague strained to ask as loud as he could.

His visor opened, and Kasumi flinched when she saw his bloodshot eyes, along with a badly bleeding nose.

It wasn't just how he looked that got to her, it was mostly do to the question that had been asked.

"I…" she didn't know what to say.

Before she could even think of a proper answer, Plague's eyes closed as he blacked out.

"What does he mean?" Jacob, who had been quiet, asked.

The rest of the ground team were treating their own wounds over by the transmitter, well out of earshot.

"I…It's not important." she answered as she mentaly prepaird for Plague's reaction later.

Taylor Shepard POV

"Report." Shepard ordered as Zaeed walked up.

"We found some colonists, but that's about it over 'ere, Shepard." he explained as he looked over his assalt rifle. "A few bugs. Nothing big."

"Shepard." Jacob called from a container where he and Kasumi had been treating Plague. "Plague's out cold, Commander."

"Take care of him. Kasumi, you to." she ordered as she looked at the transmitter.

Kasumi seemed to be the closest to a friend Plague had on the ship, so it would be a good idea for her to watch him.

"Incoming!" Jacob shouted causing everyone to look where he was pointing.

A large, gray form was flying towards them from the Collecter ship, and it was coming fast.

"Kasumi, Jacob, get Plague to safety." she ordered as she pulled out her newest weapon. "Everyone else, find cover!"

The large, buglike machine hit the ground hard when it landed. It had four legs, and like the Collecters, had four eyes that seamed to be a blue color. It roared at the ground team, and once it's large maw opened, it reaveiled many husk heads, that all seemed to be looking at them.

"Spread out, and open fire!" Shepard ordered as she fired the particle beam weapon into the creature's eye.

The rest of the team peppered it with rounds as it lifted itself off of the ground to hover.

"Concussive shots!" Shepard shouted as the whole team scattered as the hostile let loose an energy beam-like attack. "EDI, we need that system online!"

From her cover behind another container, Shepard could see Kasumi, covering Jacob as he used his biotics to lift Plague. That was probably the fastest way to move him with his gear.

The creature fired another beam towards Jack, and Zaeed's cover behind the container Harbinger had be decimating.

Shepard looked to her left and saw Garrus treating his arm next to her.

"Hit it with everything!" she ordered as she fired her oun beam at the monster.

It almost had no effect on those kenetic barriers, but she could see a little progress.

Along with her oun particle beam fire, concussive shots rained on the creature as the telltale blue warps hit it on it's left side. Clearly Jack, who's warps looked a little less stable, but powerful.

"Jack. Keep it up!" Garrus shouted, as he looked over the cover once his arm was treated with fresh medi-gel.

"GARDIAN anti-ship batteries at 100%" EDI anounced. "I have control."

"Took your damn time!" the Commander remarked as the giant bug slammed into the ground in an atempt to crush Jack, and Zaeed.

The defence towers fired at the hive ship with pinpount accuracy, due to EDI's aiming.

"I need a thermal clip!" Garrus said as he ducked back in cover.

That was not good. Shepard's new heavy weapon was needed, and she only had one extra she was ready to use when the one she was using needed to be ejected.

And almost as if reading her mind, the clip ejected.

She insurted the fresh one as she thought of an idea. "Take my pistol's clip!"

As soon as she said that, she felt Garrus take the weapon from her hip to salvage the thermal clip he needed for his own rifle.

Nothing was heard, but the sounds of controlled bursts and biotic warps for the next few seconds.

With one final combined warp between her, and Jack, the creature dissolved into nonexistence with a blue display.

"Right on your ass!" Grunt yelled.

At the same time, the Collecter ship's engiens powered up, sending dirt and dipris flying as the team was hit with the wave of dirt.

"Their leaving!" Kasumi shouted over the noise.

"Damnit!" Shapard cursed as she covered her face so the dust wouldn't go in her eyes. "They got the colonists!"

The dust settled down once the ship was in a higher atmosphere. Shepard watched as the Collecters got away with the unfortinute colonists that had been loaded onto the ship. The fear that must be going through them. Unaware of their destination, unaware of the reason they had been abducted, unaware of their fate.

Shepard felt her haert ach. She let them down. Ashley was probably on the ship as well.

She was like a sister to her.

"No! Don't let them get away!" a familiar voice shoued, followed by rushed footsteps.

Turned out, the voice belonged to the mechanic who had just recently decided to leave the safety of his bunker.

"We can't do anything…" Shepard said as she felt her eyes watering again for the second time that day.

"Half the colony is in there! They took Egan and Sam and…and Lilith. Do something!"

"I…I can't." she shot back as the first tears fell. Shaking her head, she repeated. "I can't…"

"You did all you could, Shepard." Kasumi said as she walked up to the group, Jacob carrying Plague behind her with biotics.

The mechanic paused and then faced them. "Shepard? Wait. I know that name." he seemed to nod to himself as he looked at Shepard, who was hanging her head so no one would see her. "Sure, I remember you. Your some type of Alliance hero."

"Commander Shepard." a voice said that took the woman in question by surprise. As she slowly looked up, her tears started to flow freely. "Captian of the Normandy." Ashley continude as she walked into view. She wore some heavy Phoenix armor. She could have sworn Ash had better armor then that the last time she saw her. The marine looked at her with a smile on her face. "The first human Spectre. Savier of the Citedel." she then looked over to Delan. "Your in the pressince of a god Delan. Back from the dead."

"All the good people we lost, and you get left behind. Figures." Delan then gave them all a dismissive wave as he started walking, as if the wave would make them disappear somehow.

Shepard didn't pay attention to the last thing the mechanic said. She was preoccupied trying to comprehend that one of her closest friends were alive, and stepping towards her.

Ashley held her hand out to shake hers as she spoke. "I thought you were dead, Commander. We all did." after a second of silence, Ashley tilted her head as she looked at Shepard's face. "You alright, Skipper?"

Right as she used Shepard's old nickname, Shepard quickly closed the gap and wrpped her arms around the shocked Alliance marine in her grip.

"It…it's soo good to see…you Ashley." she sobbed as her face went into Ash's shoulder, quickly soaking the armor that covered it. "I…missed you."

Flashes of when she saw Tali on Freedoms Progress, and when she found out Garrus was Archangel flashed in her head as she tightened her grip. It felt so good to finally be with another one of her old friends.

Tali's squad almost shot her, and back on Omega Garrus accidentally fired his sniper rifle at the wall next to him. Both knew how she was around friends, but none of them expected her welcome.

"Ok…ok!" Ashley said as she tried to pry her old Commander off of her. She barely managed to get her off, and even then, Shepard still was holding both of Ashley's hands between them. "Turn off the waterworks." Ashley begged after a short laugh. "Why didn't you contact me? Why didn't you let me know you were alive?" she asked as a bit as sadness showed itself on her face, and in her voice.

"I…I was dead…for two years." Shepard sobbed as she tightened her grip on ash's hands. "I wanted to…but everyone moved on with their lives…I didn't know what to do…"

"I moved on…" Ashley began to say as if agreeing with what Shepard had said. Just as suddenly, the tone in her voice, and the look of sadness returned. "…but here you are; pulling me back in." she then pulled her hands out of Shepard's. "And now we've got reports about you and Cerberus." she sounded as if she had just caught her friend buying red sand in a shady neiborhood.

"Reports?" Garrus asked as he walked up to the two. "you mean you already knew?"

"Alliance intel said Cerberus could be behind our missing colonies. We got a tip that this one could be the next to get hit." she informed. "I went to Anderson, but he wouldn't talk. But there where rumors that you weren't dead." Ashley's eyes then narrowed as she looked at Shepard. "Worse; that you were working with the enemy."

"Our colonies are disappearing." Shepard pleaded. "The Alliance turned it's back on them. Cerberus is the only group doing something about it."

"Bullshit!" Ashley retorted harshly. "I know what Cerberus is like. They talk about putting humans first, but at what cost?" Shepard could see her old friend fighting back tears as she continude. "I wanted to believe that you were still alive…I just never expected anything like this. You've turned your back on everything we stood for!"

The sudden harshness in her voice made Shepard take a step back. She couldn't believe Ashley thought she would do such a thing. "Ash, you know me. You know I'd only do this for the right reason." Shepard begged, franticly hoping she would understand. "You saw it. The Collecters are targeting human colonies. And they're working with the Reapers!"

"I'd like to believe you, Shepard. But I don't trust Cerberus. And it worries me that you do. What did they do to you?" she asked, still with a hostile tone. "What if they're behind it? What if they're the ones working with the Collecters?"

"Damn it Williams." Garrus started, thankfully giving Shepard time to get over the fact that one of her best friends wouldn't belive what she said. "Your so focused on Cerberus that your ignoring the real threat!"

"It's me Ash!" Shepard started to sob, but she held it back mid sentence. "And it's the Reapers working with the Collecters! Please. Listen to me!"

"Or maybe you feel like you owe Cerberus because they saved you. Maybe it's you." Ashley's eyes narrowed again. "Doesn't matter… I still know where my loyalties lie. I'm an Alliance soldier. It's in my blood." she then began to turn away from Shepard as she finished. "I'm reporting back to the Citedel. I'll let them decide if they believe your story."

Shepard couldn't belive what she was hearing. Her friend was leaving her, abandoning her. "Ash, Please! It's me. Cerberus does not control me, Ashley. Please don't go!"

"I want to belive that, Taylor." ash said as she looked back at the woman who saw her as a sister. "I'm sorry, but your in too deep. Good luck."

As Ashley went out of view, Shepard looked on in disbeilef.

'How could she not listen? How could she say such things?'

She refusde to turn to her ground team. She didn't want them to see her in the state she was in.

Garrus tried to look her in the eyes, but she quickly turned away as she hailed Joker. "Send the shuttle to pick us up…I want to get as far away from here as possible…"

I always liked Ashley, even if i never picked her as a romance option.

This was kind of a sad chapter in a few places. The game never said what really happened when Shepard's colony was attacked. I hope I typed in a good scene.

Anyway the question for this chapter is "What's the name of the song Plague was playing?

See you later friends.