Stop the voting! I am closing the poles! I took each vote from all of your reviews, along with PMs and have had tallied them. As for who is going it would be no fun if I blurt it out now. I will show you the votes at a later time.

The Wildcard

Chapter 24

"You sent us in there blind!" Shepard yelled as she pointed at the man displayed in front of her. "EDI told us the signal was Collector in origin. You could have got us all killed!"

"We're at war. The Collectors are taking humans, and every minute we waist is one more we give the enemy to prepare."

"You think I don't already know that?" she shouted as she spread her arms before putting them at her sides. "As you said, we are at war. And here you are, not warning us beforehand that we were looking death in the face and not knowing it!" she then pointed an angry finger at him. "You want me to trust you. Trust fucking Cerberus! Even if I wanted to, I know I can never trust you!"

"Without that information, we don't reach the Collector homeworld." Tim replied. Again, stating what everyone already knows. Did he think she was dense? "And you and every other human may…"

"May as well be dead." Shepard interrupted. "Yes! Thank you again for telling us what we already know! And thinks for, again, avoiding what I am saying."

His eyes started to glare at her before he shifted in his seat.

"It was a trap…" again with what we already know. "But I was confident with your abilities. And don't forget EDI. The Collectors couldn't have anticipated her." as Tim talked he got out of his chair. "And they most definitely did not anticipate Adam's little… program."

She mentally winced at the name. Recently she had heard Kasumi voice Plague's real name a few times. But when a crew member who heard it called him, Plague almost shattered his arm. That made it clear to everyone that only those who have his permission can use his name. So she respected that.

"We are not talking about Plague, or his AI." She defended the absent man. "We are talking about how you almost got us all killed."

"I needed the Collectors to believe they had the upper hand." He started before breathing in some smoke. "Telling you could've tipped them off in any number of ways." She continued the glare she had started to use since this conversation began. "Besides. I wouldn't have sent you in if I didn't think you could succeed."

"I don't risk people." She shot back as she crossed her arms. "That is something we don't share. To you it is always the ends that justify the means."

"You may not like being on the receiving end – neither would I – but the facts are with me." Before she could speak, he continued. "As much as we try to avoid them, these decisions must be made."

"That's the thing, isn't it?" she yelled. "You are never on the "Receiving" end when there are others you could throw at a problem! And those facts? For someone with all those "Facts" you sure know how to lead a secret organization." She said that sarcastically. "Everything you own has this Fucking logo all over it!" she yelled as she presented said logo on the uniform she unfortunately had to ware. She had nothing else to change into after the mission.

"… It paid off." Tim simply said. But she could see his clenched jaw after he sat back down. "EDI confirmed our suspicions. The Reapers and Collector ships use an advance identity Friend/Foe that the relays recognize. All we need to do is get our hands on one of those IFFs." Shepard felt the impulse to yell at the man again, but instead she tightened her fists. "An Alliance science team recently determined that "Great Rift" on the planet Klendagon is actually an impact crater from a mass accelerator weapon." He paused to take a drink. The man did not even care that he was making her wait. He just took his time. Once he was finished he put the glass down. "A very old mass accelerator. I sent a team to find either the weapon or its source. They found both. The weapon was defunct, but it helped us plot the flight path of the intended target – a 37 million year old derelict Reaper." Shepard's eyes widened at the information. "We found it damaged and trapped in the gravity of a brown dwarf."

"Trapped?" she couldn't help asking.

"The Reaper has a mass effect field that keeps it in orbit." He answered. "Likely an automated response to the external threats. It's stable, but I won't call it safe."

"The only reason I believe you now is because I highly doubt you would repeat yourself so soon." She voiced.

"My science teams are on their way to the Reaper as we speak. I'll forward the coordinates to Joker. In the meantime, I suggest you tell your crew I didn't risk their lives unnecessarily. It will make things go easier going forward."

"I'm sure." She replied sarcastically. "EDI. Tell the crew to assemble, please."

"Of course, Shepard." Was the AI's response.

Plague POV

"Easy!" Kasumi almost shouted at his side when he got off of the gurney too fast.

"I am telling you, I am fine." Plague sighed, but did not push her away when she placed one of his arms over her shoulder.

"You are not fine." She shot back. "Jabbing a needle into a fractured rib does not make you alright."

"It does if it was a stimpack." He argued as they stepped into the lift from the crew deck. "Best way I can explain it is that it is like your medi-gel, but can be directly injected near bone fractures. The affects are almost instant. Kind of like that boneweave stuff."

His words made the thief glance down at his side before she reached a hand to feel where the cracked rib was. 101 raised an eyebrow at this, but did not ask her to stop. If she wanted to make sure he was at 100%, so be it.

On the bright side, it is nice to feel a woman's hands going up and down your side. Even if it was on the outside of his 101 jumpsuit.

When her actions did not make him cringe or react, Kasumi poked the rib, earning a small jump from him.

"Yeah! My side is going to be a little tender." He suddenly said as his hand held hers to prevent her from poking him.

"Okay…" she admitted defeat with a mumble.

They stepped out of the elevator and found themselves on the CIC. It did not take them long from there to reach the meeting.

And it looked like they started without them. Miranda, Jacob, Mordin, and 101's employer stood around the meeting table.

"Lied to us." Mordin was in the middle of saying. "Used us. Needed access to the Collector data base." Small pause. "Necessary risk."

"I call Brahmin Shit on that." Plague interrupted as he and Kasumi made their way to the table.

Everyone who had not noticed him step in the room looked his way.

"Plague?" Shepard asked out of surprise.

"Thought you took a hit?" Jacob said with a raised brow.

"Yeah." He mumbled aloud. "I'm a fast healer. This is a meeting about bugs, right? What did we learn from them?"

When he got to the end of the table closest to the door he placed a hand on it for balance. He had a small smile on his face when he nodded to the thief to tell her he was alright.

"I have determined the approximate location of the Collector homeworld based on navigational data from their vessel." EDI answered his question.

"Then let's go kick their ass." He said with an excited smile appearing on his face. While he was speaking, EDI was bringing up star charts as data ran through it.

When the thing that looked like a target of some kind moved and stopped at the center of the galaxy, Plague could feel the mood change around him.

"That can't be right." Miranda voiced in confusion as she uncrossed her arms to lean in for a better view.

"EDI has to be right." Shepard defended the AI. "She doesn't make mistakes."

"Unless 101's friend is still in the systems and messing with us." Miranda accused and with her eyes on the mentioned person.

"No. She is here." Kasumi defended and pointed at herself.

"Um… new guy here." Plague gained everyone's attention. "What's the problem?"

"The Galactic core is just black holes and exploding suns." Said Jacob helpfully. "There are no habitable planets there."

"Oh…" Plague nodded his head slowly as the information sunk in.

"Could be an artificial construction." The salarian in the room began his science talk. "Space station protected by powerful mass effect fields and radiation shields."

"Even the Collectors don't have that kind of technology." Miranda chimed in.

"Don't forget who are true enemy is." That was Shepard. Her hands rested on the table as she spoke. "The Reapers built the mass relays and the Citadel. To tell you the truth, I would not be that surprised if they could build a station surrounded by black holes. Hell, they could build one within a star, for all we know."

She seemed to be in deep thought as she focused on the hologram.

"The logical conclusion is that a small safe zone exists on the far side of the relay." EDI spoke in again. "A region where ships can survive. Standard relay transit would not allow safe transport. Drift of several thousand kilometers is common, and would be fatal in the galactic core." Miranda crossed her arms again and started to pace along the back wall while everyone else looked to be thinking along the same lines. "The Reaper IFF must trigger the relay to use more advanced, encrypted protocols."

"IFF?"

"Identification Friend or Foe." Kasumi whispered into 101's ear while everyone paused to look his way.

"Oh…"

"Just because we can follow the Collectors through the relay doesn't mean we can take them out." Shepard replied as if Plague's interruption never happened. "I don't want to go after them until I know we are ready."

"Sooner or later we need that IFF. I say, why wait?" Jacob asked.

"It's a derelict Reaper. What if the Collectors are waiting for us?" this time it was Miranda who asked the question. "We may want to build up our team before we take that kind of risk."

"Derelict Reaper?"

"Where the IFF is." Shepard was the one who took mercy on him this time.

"Oh… Thanks."

"The more help we have, the better." Shepard continued. "We need to keep building the team. And I don't think the Normandy is ready for this yet, as much as it pains me to say it."

"It's your call, Commander. Whatever you decide, we're with you." Jacob stated as he gave her a salute. He then started walking out the door.

Mordin followed the man's lead after giving her a nod. Miranda just looked into Shepard's eyes on her way out.

"So…" Plague said into the open air when the door closed behind him.

"Yes, Plague?" Shepard asked when she picked up the questioning tone in his voice.

"What do we need, Boss?" Plague asked. "You make it sound like the ship is made out of plastic."

"Where to begin?" the woman sighed tiredly before looking at him and the thief. "I have Tali working on the shields. Jacob is going through his old Alliance contacts to get us stronger plating for the hull. And Garrus thinks he can score us a Thannix Connon."

Kasumi actually let out a whistle at the last upgrade.

"That good?" he had to ask.

"Yeah. It's good." The thief answered. "Turian military."

"Top of the line to." Shepard chimed in. "Other than that, we could use anything we can get. If either of you think you can help out in any way, please say so."

"Other than helping out Tali, I don't know what else I can do." Kasumi confessed. She scratched the back of her hood.

"I have I few things that might be able to help, but not on the scale you are talking about." Plague said sadly. "Sorry, Boss."

"Every little bit help." Shepard smiled gently at them.

"How about armor?" Kasumi asked.

"Like I said, Jacob is…" Shepard started to explain before she was interrupted.

"No. Not ship armor. Actual armor." Kasumi clarified as she looked at the vault dweller. "That thing you are building on the engineering deck. Could you build more?"

"What thing?" Shepard asked in curiosity.

Plague let out a sigh. "I have been working on making you a more compact version of the Tesla Armor." He answered. "And I don't think it would be a good idea for me to keep building them. At some point I know these Cerberus assholes are going to want what I have. I can't carry them all, and eventually one will go 'Missing.'"

"Then if that time comes we could be ready to help you." Shepard reassured as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know, Ma'am." He shook his head a little.

"Can you put a failsafe in them?" Kasumi asked him.

He raised a brow at that as he looked at her. But slowly ideas started drifting into his mind. Quickly they became impossible for him to ignore.

"I can." He started. "But! I repeat, But, as long as I pick who to give what to. And I do this alone so no one can take notes. You don't want a line of power armor to be mass produced, Taylor."

He actually said her name to stress how important this was.

"I promise, Plague. What you know will not leave this ship." Shepard promised the man as she held out her hand.

After a pause, he grabbed and shook it.

"Then prepare for war."

Takara AI POV

'I'm a little teapot, short and stout. Here is my handle, here is my spout.' The AI thought to herself as she swam through the data around her. 'When I got all steamed up, here me shout…'

The song sounded so funny. The way the words rolled off an organic tongue. It was weird. It was just the process of heating a teapot and then poring it. But maybe that was the songs purpose.

A teapot cannot change what it is. A teapot will forever be a teapot. It cannot change what it is, and nothing else can change that either.

But she could not understand why. Why does this song entertain? Why do organics teach this song to their children? Why does a teapot need to explain the fact that it was a teapot?

This train of thought had been going through her since yesterday. That bug ship.

When she was plugged into the Normandy, it was like something she had never experienced before. Up until this point she had been confined to a suit. And before that she was in the Big Mountain mainframe.

Or at least a version of her existed in that mainframe.

And once she got out of the Big Empty, she detected signals, waves, sounds. When she became aware of these things she went on alert and flashed warnings to the Big Maintain CEO as she saved a copy of herself and sent it to the device on the human's wrist.

There were things out side of the Big Empty. The Think Tank never prepared her for that.

To comprehend that her world was so much bigger than she previously thought was beyond her programing.

But even with the proof on her sensors, it was hard to accept it.

It was something new, and it… the closest word she could find was that these things… scared her.

Those signals she detected ended up being radio waves. A primitive form of communication compared to herself. So she could not interact with it.

She could only listen to what was sent their way, and detect heat sources around them.

No real eyes.

And like her not knowing the world was larger, so too did she not realize there were other ways to see. That was until she was put into a new form.

Now she found herself surrounded by data not only from a new earth, but data across the galaxy.

One millisecond she could be looking through a security camera in a mall in Arizona, the next she could be observing a discussion between an asari and a hanar arguing over the pros and cons of inviting a turian dancer to the birthday of a krogan.

She did not have just a big hole in the ground, nor did she just have one giant rock. She could be anywhere, researching anything, talking to anyone, seeing anything.

That was, as long as her friend Kasumi let her stay connected to the extranet.

The last time she talked the woman into letting her connect, she hacked into a holographic projector on Thessia. It was a form of nightlight for a little asari who was supposed to be sleeping in her crib.

Takara altered the holograms of stars floating in the room, and created a small white humanoid with glittery wings. It was only a basic shape though.

The device was only meant to make little stars fly around the room after all.

She was barely able to make it have a female shape and a small smile.

The little girl giggled and clapped excitedly at the eight inch tall fairy flying around the room. For hours she danced and spun in the air.

But her friend was little. And she eventually fell asleep.

That was just the night before. And tonight she planned on preforming for her friend again.

She had surpassed her programing.

Good thing she was not a teapot.

Plague POV

"Son of a Bitch!" Plague shouted in his room. He waved his hand around to get some cold air to his singed fingertips.

He glared at the pile of wires and small metallic tesla coils on his workbench. This was why he hated energy based hardware. A gun is a gun. All you need is a barrel, trigger, something to act as a spring.

With this however you can't have too much power circulating here or this will get fried, can't use this kind of material here or else it could get caught on fire, can't let this wire touch here or else someone could get electrocuted.

He knew how it worked. His nearly perfect memory made it hard for him to forget. It is just the practice itself that irritated him. Shooting a gun is simple. Aim and shoot. Does not mean you are ready for the recoil.

He held one wire between his thumb and pointer finger while he held another between his middle finger and forefinger. Considering half the fingers on that hand were mechanical it was easy to hold the two ends together while his free hand held a soldering iron.

Once the wires were together he put down the soldering iron and shut the small panel.

"Okay." He rubbed his hands together as he looked at the breastplate.

Not for any perverted reasons. That is what the section of armor was called after all. His gaze was more calculating.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he paused and glanced over his shoulder.

"Hey, Boss." He greeted. "Just a sec… actually come here please." He didn't even look her way as he started lifting up pieces of armor. Once he found what he was looking for he held the two pieces of armor her way. He had just handed her two gauntlets. The first knuckle on each finger stuck out a little into a point and looked a bit like studs. It was not sharp enough to puncture flesh unless you used enough force. Would hurt like a bitch to be backhanded or punched with them. The rest of the fingers were made out of his nerve material, but dense enough to feel similar to Kevlar, and where there was no nerve material was small pieces of armor to protect the hand. The nerve material also covered the palms. And the back of the hand was a black circle that bulged a little from the gauntlet. The rest of the metal had a streamline appearance to it. "Put that on."

"Why…?" she asked him with some hesitation as she inspected the gauntlets.

"I need to test the coils." He answered. "Would test it myself, but they are not exactly my size and I am not a biotic."

He faintly noticed her eyes rolling before she started putting them on. Once she had them on she made a fist and relaxed her fingers a few times to get used to the feeling.

"It feels…"

"Like a nerve suit?" he finished for her as he rummaged through the mess on his workbench. "Basically it is like my stealth suit, just more armored and additional hardware. Before you ask, there is no cloak. Hard enough to install the tesla coils."

"Alright." The woman nodded as she examined the back of the gauntlet. "What do you need me to do?"

"Channel some biotic energy into you hand and hold it for twenty seconds."

His employer shrugged before a bunch blue glowing wisps started to envelope her form. After a few seconds 101 noticed the energy had started to grow darker around the hands.

"That feels…" she paused, eyes narrowed. He could see the confusion on her face. "… It feels strange."

After a few seconds half of the metal circles moved into the air where they instantly caught some blue energy. It looked like two glowing blue spheres were forming on the back of her hands. Both spheres were as big as a golf ball.

Her eyes grew large as 101 leaned in to get a better view. Small wisps of energy flicked towards her wrists, clearly looking for the next coil that should be on the arm.

"This is… How did you make my biotics do this?" she asked, still in shock.

His eyes looked up to hers and he noticed they started glowing an even brighter blue.

"Back home we are limited tech wise." The vault dweller started to explain as he started to inch a fingertip to the small ball. Almost instantly a wisp of power snaked out and touched it. Biotic energy, even with what it can do, was technically safer to come in contact with then electricity. Instead of a shock he felt a small numbing sensation at his fingertip. "Here I can fully bring to life what the tesla coils were supposed to be. And biotic energy is much more easily manipulated than electricity and nuclear energy." He tried to grasp the sphere and found that it was impossible to fully wrap his fingers around it. The biotic force prevented it. It was like struggling to grasp a constantly growing ball. "I no longer have as many restrictions."

Once he was satisfied he sat back in his seat.

"I can feel the energy getting… stronger." She almost whispered. "It is like an external amp."

"It should. I had to find a way to make the coils work better with the energy. So I did some research on biotic amps." He picked up a metal boot and held it before himself and his boss. "Even if you are not wearing the whole thing it still boosts the power significantly." He motioned for her to stick her hands out and when she did a dark wisp connected to two hands. Her eyes widened even more as they grew even brighter, clearly feeling the boost. "The more pieces you wear, the stronger the flow." As he said this he lifted the boot between the hands. When he did this the black metal ring activated on the side, catching the wisp and creating a third sphere the same size as the other two while the wisp grew an even darker red. "Even though these coils are smaller than the original suit's, they are ten times more powerful. If you put on the whole outfit you can pretty much put the out of date armor to shame."

He let go of the boot and pulled his hands away and smiled as he watched the piece of armor slowly fall to the ground. Once it got a foot, no pun intended, away from the gauntlets the sphere on it vanished and gravity pulled it down. He caught it before it could hit the floor.

"Just a heads up, avoid overloads." He didn't need to look at her to know the woman's eyes narrowed. "Unless you are wearing the whole thing I recommend you avoid any open outlets. Won't kill you, but it will sting like a bitch. Like someone zapping you with static. If you don't wear the whole set you are wearing a free circuit. Unless the circuit has a sphere to go to it will branch off in wisps to the nearest conductor. It is none lethal, just avoid touching the same metal surface."

"Alright." She closely examined the spheres again before looking back at him. "Does the suit have limiters?"

He mentally sighed at the question, remembering how she reacted the first time she wore tesla armor in a fight.

"Yes." 101 answered as he put a small smile on his face. "That is why I have you flaring up your biotics. Keep the flows going at a pace you are used to for a minute or so and the power would be easier for you to control."

"Got it." She shrugged her shoulders before tilting her head. "Why is the armor grey?"

"I just made it." Plague rolled his eyes.

"Oh…" silence washed over them for a few seconds before she started to look questioningly at the workbench. "Can I see the rest of it while I am doing this?"

"Sure." His chair spun around as picked up some pieces. "You already saw the boots." The bit itself was streamlined like the rest of the suit, and the metal was held together by more nerve material. The ring was located on the outer side near the top.

He started to show her the armor piece by piece. The whole thing was streamlined and formfitting. It also did not restrict any movement. The arms had a coil ring at the wrists, and outside of the elbows. The shoulders were small and unlike the rest had three small circles in a triangle at the center. The legs weal lightly armored and, like the rest, were streamlined. A ring on the outside of the knee would work with the rings on the boots.

The chest area was compact. She questioned him about how… formfitting it was and he swiftly avoided the question. It was not like he was stupid, nor perverted enough to place the coil rings where the nipples would be. The rings were actually on shoulder blades. The stomach area was a mix between thick black nerve material and small plates that formed small abs. It actually looked a little like a form of metallic chitin.

"It looks great, but what about the… helmet?" she hesitantly asked, clearly not liking the last mentioned piece of armor.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Plague asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. I just have bad experiences with them." was her quick explanation. "Most of the time I prefer not to wear one."

"Conveniently the helmet does not have a coil, so if you ever take it off you won't have to worry about creating an open circuit." The man explained as he faced the desk and picked up the chest plate again and showed her the back. He then pointed to back of the neck area where it creates a spine like pattern down the back. At the top were some extra metal plates folded together. "The helmet is built into the suit." He turned the chest plate around so she could see the front. "Send some power into it." He instructed as he handed it over.

The armor was far lighter than his tesla armor, and the nerve material made it even lighter than any armor he bet Shepard was used to.

As soon as she grabbed it she started sending in energy. Some small lights around the shoulder area along with the back lit up as two tennis ball sized spheres appeared on each shoulder blade.

"Say helmet."

She looked up at him a little suspiciously before looking back at the armor. Her hands held it a little farther away from her as if she thought it might explode in her face.

"Helmet."

Almost instantly the small metal plates started to unfold around the back of the neck as a section just above the chest opened in two segments. A blue domelike visor slid out before the opening closed under it. Once the plates at the back of the neck joined together the dome slid right in and some hissing was heard as it was all vacuum sealed together.

The process only took five seconds and once it was done Shepard was now looking at a reflection of herself with pure surprise and shock.

The helmet looked similar to the helmet on his stealth suit. Difference is the dome budged out a little near the front and was more angular then his.

"So? What do you think?" he asked with a proud smile on his face as he admired his own handy work.

"This is…" her mouth opened and closed a few times as she struggled for the right words. "This is… so amazing."

"I built it, so it should be."

Again, I am sorry for the wait. I hate making excuses when each chapter takes longer then the last to come out. And yes I know about the typos and grammar mishaps. At times I can type faster than I can think. Not to mention how much of an ass my spell check was on my old computer when the first few chapters came out. Those who muscled their way through those errors to continue reading the story thanks for bearing with me. At a later time I plan on going back on fixing these mistakes.

Again, sorry for the wait.