Teana's Travels Book 27: Invasion

by D.K.N

After around three months of peace following the closing of the Malia issue, the Dimensional Defense Force's rest is violently cut short as the Reapers arrive in force, ravaging Realm ME-N7 and using warp-gates to hit a few DDF worlds outside that realm as well. Can Commander Shepard unite the galaxy, rally the fleets, and stop the slaughter? Rated M for violence and language.

24. Shore Leave

Note: As my normal source of video for this fic does not cover Citadel, I had to use another. This person romanced Liara, so I had to modify some of her dialogue for Tali's in this fic rather than using Tali's canon lines. I found another vid with various voice-clips from Citadel, but it didn't have everything, so… And to make matters worse, BOTH of those two sources saved Kaidan instead of Ashley, so some of her dialogue is missing here. Sorry…

SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

-CHAPTER START-

The Citadel, Apartments

Commander Jason Shepard walked down the hallway leading to the location he'd been directed to. For the next couple days, the Normandy II was being given service and maintenance, a 'tune-up' if you will. While this was going on, the entire crew had been given shore leave. Shepard himself had been given directions by an old friend to an apartment in this zone.

As he opened the door and entered, he was struck by how huge and fancy the apartment was. It had two levels, a railed balcony overlooking the first floor; a weight room; a large and fully-stocked kitchen; numerous plush couches; a grand piano in the corner; a huge flat-screen display television; little decorative plants and a rock garden against one of the walls… He turned to a display and console against the wall next to the door; normally it would show footage from a security camera outside, but it could also function as an FTL communicator. He placed a call, and a few seconds later a familiar face was on-screen.

"Shepard" Adm. Anderson greeted.

"Admiral" Shepard replied. "How you holding up?"

"Day by day, Commander."

"Yeah. Hackett sent me a message about this apartment."

"I want you to have it – take it off my hands."

"Are you serious?"

"You need a place that's yours – somewhere to recharge, clear your head. Kahlee wanted us to settle down there. Thing is, the longer I'm on Earth, the less I want to leave. And I want as few loose ends out there as possible. Like I said, you'd be doing me a favor."

"That's very generous."

"It's practical. We need you in the best shape possible – rested, focused."

"If you say so. Thank you."

"And make yourself at home, damn it. It's yours now."

"I'm sure I can manage."

"Okay. Good. Been meaning to do that for a while. I'll talk to you soon."

"Be careful out there, Anderson."

"You too, Shepard."

Anderson cut the comm., and Shepard spent the next few minutes moving around the apartment, checking everything out. There was a pool table, two fully-stocked bars, at least three bedrooms, a kitchen table with a scale-model of the Normandy II as a centerpiece, a hot-tub, a workstation room for maintaining weapons & armor… After a few minutes exploring, a computer on the desk in the first-floor bar/pool-table/workstation room began chiming. Shepard sat down at it and checked the message he'd been sent:

"Hey Shepard,

I've got a few things I wanted to go over with you. With the Normandy in dry-dock, I figured we could meet up at that Ryūsei sushi place down in the Wards. I hear it's the best.

-Joker"

-SCENE BREAK-

The sleek red sky-car flew through the tightly-packed 'Silversun Strip', flying amongst more neon that Shepard had seen in a long time. It set down outside the Ryūsei sushi restaurant, and Shepard made his way out and over. The walls and even the floor were reinforced glass bordering fish-tanks containing various types of fish, many of which were available on the menu. There was a considerable line at the door, but upon seeing him the doorman waved him over.

"Ah, Commander Shepard," the man said with a (possibly fake) French accent, "your table is ready."

He gestured to a spot near the back of the restaurant, where Joker looked up and waved. Shepard made his way over, weaving through the crowds and tables as he headed to his pilot.

"Hey Shepard," Joker said as the Commander took a seat, "not bad, huh? This sushi place is serious. Like, 'French guy at the door' serious. Only had to save the galaxy twice to get a table here. You've seen the line outside?" He took a glance at the line in question. "But here I am, drink in hand – best pilot in the universe, and a rock star." He took a drink.

"Any news from the Normandy?" Shepard asked.

"Ah, you know, maintenance stuff. It's hard knowing a bunch of strangers are poking around in my ship. I mean… your ship."

"The best thing we can do right now is park her and let the techs do their work."

"Yeah, you're right. Maybe an oil change, space-tire rotation…"

"Right. Trust me. It'll do her some good."

"Oh, I trust you. Not sure about those shifty aerospace engineers. Always stealing the silverware."

"Let someone else do the work for once. Hackett's orders. You're on shore leave."

"Yeah, whether we like it or not."

"I'm sure you'll manage" Shepard took a drink.

"I may need a drink that comes with an umbrella."

"I'm the first human Spectre. I'll get you two umbrellas."

"Awesome use of power, boss. So… your email said it was important?"

Shepard looked confused. "My email? I'm here because I got a message from you."

"The hell? I didn't send anything…"

There were a few seconds of confused silence between the two men.

"Commander!" a new voice interrupted.

They turned to see a woman in an Alliance blue uniform squeezing her way through the crowd towards them, clutching a datapad in one hand.

"Sorry, Alliance business. Commander, this is urgent!"

"I don't think that's the umbrella lady…" Joker remarked.

"Commander Shepard, I'm Staff Analyst Maya Brooks, Alliance Intelligence. There are people trying to kill you."

The two men shared a look.

"Yeah…" Joker replied. "I think he's aware of that."

"No, I don't mean Cerberus or the Reapers! I mean other people – new people! They're… It's…" She took a deep breath. "Someone is hacking your account. Comm. channels, personal records… They're targeting you, specifically."

"Targeting me?" Shepard said. "What do they want?"

"The intel isn't definitive yet. Last time I guessed without definitive intel, we almost landed troops on a gas giant."

"Hang on, Brooks. Take a breath. …Now, from the top. What do you know?"

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" a new voice suddenly called out. "Tonight's performance is brought to you by random acts of violence!"

Shepard and Joker turned to look, just in time to see several men in dark-blue suits of heavy armor waltz into the restaurant, carrying big guns. The one who'd called out fired his rifle into the ceiling, and people screamed and dove for cover. His fellows joined in, some of them flipping tables and shoving guests. Shepard immediately flipped his table onto its side as cover, pulling Joker behind it. Brooks was forced to take cover behind another table a short distance away.

"Man, I love show business" the man said. "Spread out, boys! Find me Shepard!"

"Stay there!" Shepard whispered harshly to Brooks as she tried to poke her head out. "I'm coming!"

Suddenly, one of the mercs found Brooks, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her out. Shepard turned to Joker.

"Find the crew" he ordered. "I'm going after her."

"Find the crew, got it."

Joker crouched as he began hobbling toward the back door. However, one of the mercs was still nearby, looking around, and as he came up right on the other side of the overturned table he spotted Joker. He called out to stop, but then suddenly Shepard lunged up and grabbed him by the arm, snatching the man's pistol while simultaneously judo-flipping him over the table and onto the ground. He then formed his Omniblade, and stabbed it right down through the merc's helmet and skull, killing him instantly.

"You used me as bait?-!" Joker whispered angrily.

"Go!" Shepard ordered.

"Savior of the Citadel uses brittle-bones guy as bait…" Joker murmured as he made his exit.

Looking at the strange new pistol he'd acquired, Shepard then leaned out from behind the table, pointing it at the head of the nearest merc. He pulled the trigger, and the sound-suppressed shot drained the merc's shields in one hit. A second round immediately followed, piercing through the merc's brain. The other mercs did not hear the silenced shots, but unfortunately some of them did see their comrade's body hit the floor with a new hole in the head.

"It's Shepard!" one shouted.

As a couple more mercs began to approach, Shepard hit one with an Overload that stripped his shields, allowing Shepard to put him down with a single headshot. The other fired, but Shepard still had his shield projectors on beneath his suit, and they protected him as he lined up three shots that put the other man down. He reloaded and then moved forward, crouching behind the bar. Brooks was down near the entrance, probably wounded. As three more mercs descended down the entrance stairs, Shepard send out a Combat Drone, the construct's electric blaster zapping them and weakening their shields. He used his new pistol to take down two of them, and then the third was blaster by a mini-rocket from the Drone.

Shepard hurried over to Brooks; she only had a couple bruises, and he helped her stand. However, she suddenly shoved him down, and a bullet struck her, where he'd just been. As she fell, the merc responsible kept shooting at Shepard, missing him… but hitting the glass 'floor' that was over the main fish tank. The glass gave way, and Shepard dropped right through the tank, falling out the other side and tumbling down a series of neon lights. He grabbed hold of one, but after a couple seconds it broke free, sending him tumbling dozens of meters down the angled glass.

When Shepard finally stopped falling, he was exhausted, wounded, and soaked. He groaned as he struggled to his feet, holding a hand to his midsection. He grabbed the pistol, which had somehow survived the trip and landed right next to him.

"Commander!" Brooks radioed. "I found a secure terminal! Are you okay down there?"

"Yup…" he groaned. "Feelin' good… Brooks… You got hit…"

"I know! I used medigel. A lot of it. Um… all of it, actually. And now everything is a little bit bouncy."

"I think you used too much."

"So, can I help with… anything?"

"Alert C-Sec. I'll look for a way out."

He started moving, heading out onto the catwalks and taking a couple ladders down. A C-Sec drone flew by, scanning the area. After another ladder, he caught sight of a place across the way with a few sky-cars parked.

"Brooks, I see some sky-cars across the gap. Maybe a landing pad."

"I'm checking the area. Transportation, no. Food, no. Laundry… Aha! It's a sky-car lot – Cision Motors."

"Get a shuttle over there. I'll find a way across."

"Okay, right."

He kept going, entering the basement freezer of a meat shop.

"So, um, it turns out C-Sec has the whole area locked down. It's gonna be a tiny bit tricky to get you a shuttle."

"Keep at it, Brooks."

"Also, stay off your comm. Well, except for me. It's hacked. That's probably how they found you."

"Who are these guys?" Shepard wondered as he climbed a ladder out and onto a roof, making his way across.

"I don't know, but they really don't seem to like you."

"Yeah, I'm sensing that."

He hopped across the roofs of a few shops, making his way down a ladder and into a marketplace. The area had around a half-dozen merc troopers in it, searching. Shepard took cover, waiting as one merc's patrol brought him closer on the left side. As the man neared, he was suddenly frozen by a Stasis attack. Shepard then quickly & quietly yanked him closer with a Biotic Pull, right into the Commander's extended Omniblade through the throat. Shepard stuffed the body behind cover nearby, and then moved over to the right-hand side. Another patrolling merc barely had time to register the sight of Shepard poking out from cover before two quick-fired silenced shots punched through his cranium. Three more mercs were a little ways away, by a meat stand. Shepard tossed out a Singularity that snatched them up, and then a Warp that detonated it, ripping them apart.

"Shepard, can you hear me?" Tali radioed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Might need a little backup."

"Thank the Ancestors. Joker explained what happened. I'm on foot, but should reach you soon."

"Excuse me, who is this?" Brooks cut in. "You're on an unsecured channel, and you're putting Commander Shepard in danger!"

"And who would you be?"

"Hang on, Tali. Joker mentioned Staff Analyst Brooks, yes? That's her. Everybody play nice."

He moved up an alley on the right, coming out into another section of the marketplace. Another group of mercs was patrolling in this area. Shepard repeated his earlier trick on the closest one, hitting him with Stasis and then Pulling him into an Omniblade strike. Now, he sent out a Combat Drone, the little construct catching the remaining mercs off-guard as it started zapping and blasting them, weakening their shields and drawing their fire. Shepard leaned out, and three shots from his pistol lead to three dead mercs. Two more were left, and Shepard hit the farther one with an Overload to de-shield him followed by a headshot. He rolled to dodge the last one's fire, and then two shots to the head put the guy down.

"Commander," EDI radioed, "Jeff told me what happened. The crew is headed your way."

"Good to hear. Things are a little dicey."

Shepard headed down another alley, hanging a left and reaching a door that looked out on a platform/bridge that led across. Unfortunately…

"Brooks! I found a way across, but it's locked down."

"Right, because of the, uh, lockdown. Can you get through?"

"I'll try to override it."

Shepard went up to the locked door, hitting the 'button'.

"C-Sec authorization required" the door chimed. But then, Shepard called up his Omnitool. "Confirming Spectre authorization. Spectre access granted."

The door opened, and an alarm began sounding as Shepard passed through, taking cover as a handful of mercs came running on the other side.

"Shepard, what are you doing?" Tali asked. "I heard that from here!"

"It's all under control!" Shepard replied as he hit a merc sniper with a Warp followed by a pistol headshot.

"I'm detecting multiple alarms across the Wards" EDI said. "What's the situation?"

"Thought I'd make things more interesting."

"Well," Tali replied, "that's certainly one way to do it."

He hurried across, taking cover behind a support column. He sent out his Combat Drone again, dividing the approaching mercs' fire and helping weaken their shields. Biotic attacks launched them over the nearby railing, while Overloads stripped their shields for pistol fire to bring them down.

"Shepard," Tali said, "Brooks sent me the NavPoint for the sky-car lot. I'll meet you there. What do we know about these mercs?"

"They have guns and don't like me."

"That doesn't narrow it down much."

"Commander," Brooks cut in, "it would really be great if you could stay off the comm."

"Hey, they called me!"

He moved on past a few shops, heading for the sky-car dealership, his Combat Drone moving at his side. Another few mercs appeared from up ahead, sending out their own Drone, but Shepard's was upgraded from the norm by quite a bit, and easily dealt with the teal-hued enemy construct. Meanwhile, Shepard launched another merc over the edge with a Biotic Throw, and used his Overload to strip the shields of two of them for two more pistol shots to put down. The last merc brought out a sniper rifle, but Shepard moved forward in a Biotic Charge that slammed the enemy man back, and then finished the merc off with an Omniblade strike.

"Commander! There's a C-Sec shuttle inbound if you can get to the sky-car lot!"

"Understood!"

"Okay, Brooks over! No, out. Brooks out! Over and out! Brooks- oh, damn it…"

Shaking his head, Shepard entered the 'back door' of the sky-car lot. He could hear some gunfire up ahead, and hurried. He passed through the door to the main lot just in time to see Tali blow two mercs away with her shotgun.

"Having a bad day?" she asked him.

"You could say that" he replied.

"The landing pad is over there," she gestured, "but it's behind a locked gate."

"Let's look for a control panel."

"I heard you fell through a fish tank."

"We'll talk about it later."

"I'd always heard good things about that restaurant…"

"We'll talk about it later…"

They moved through the dealership, passing various shiny new sky-cars on display. They neared the main office, but as they drew near the door was locked. As Tali looked through the glass into the darkened room, Shepard raised his gun and pointed it at the door. However, Tali grabbed hold of his arm and lowered it, and then lightly knocked on the glass.

"Excuse me?" she said. "Could you please open the gate?"

After a couple seconds, the Volus hiding inside complied, and the heavy gate slid open.

"Thank you. We'll be leaving now."

She turned to Shepard, and he could tell she was smirking inside her helmet.

"I coulda done that…" he muttered.

The duo headed across the lot and onto the landing pad outside. A C-Sec shuttle was flying in, and took a spot hovering a handful of meters above the pad. The door opened… and a quartet of mercenaries opened fire from within, one of them wielding a Geth Spitfire. Shepard and Tali dove for cover as a hailstorm of projectiles tore through where they'd just been standing and then began chipping away at their cover.

Suddenly, however, there was a crash of glass from a couple levels above the shuttle. With a battle-cry, Urdnot Wrex elbow-dropped the shuttle with his full weight, forcing the craft down to the landing pad a few meters below. With a heavy thud the old Krogan jumped off and landed in front of the open door, and he charged in. He shoulder-tackled one merc so hard into the closed opposite-side door that the entire shuttle shook, and then grabbed another merc and head-butted him so hard it cracked the man's helmet. A third merc got an uppercut to the stomach and a knockout straight to the head. Wrex then turned to the fourth and final mercenary, and the other door was opened wide as the man was flung out through it into the abyss below. The first merc tried to get up, only for Wrex to kick him over the edge as well. He stepped out of the shuttle, and headed over to a downed merc nearby.

"Wrex?" Shepard came out of cover, along with Tali. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah, just butting heads with the Council over Krogan expansion" the Urdnot chieftain replied as he pulled the Geth Spitfire out from under the merc's body and tossed it to Shepard.

There was an explosion and shattering glass inside the dealership, as a horde of mercenaries jumped in from the second level. The trio took cover, readying weapons.

"Shepard, we got a way out of here?" Wrex asked.

"Wrex, I'm a professional."

"That's not a yes!"

"It's not a no!"

"Commander!" Joker radioed as Tali picked off a couple mercs with precision pistol shots.

"Joker! We lost our ride! Where are you?"

"On the way. I picked up Brooks; figured you'd have a few questions."

"Good call."

Shepard leaned out from cover, spooling up the Spitfire and then holding down the trigger. A barrage of toroidal projectiles lanced out, cutting through a half-dozen mercenaries in less than three full seconds. Meanwhile, Wrex's 'Claymore' shotgun blew a merc's head to bits, while Tali used an Energy Drain to strip a merc's shields while recharging her own, and then gunned him down.

"Commander," Brooks radioed, "did C-Sec find you? Are you okay?"

"Yes and no – mercs in a C-Sec shuttle."

"What?-!"

"Little busy right now!"

"Right! Sorry! We'll be there soon!"

The mercs kept coming, but the presence of Shepard's heavy weapon made damn sure that they kept their heads down as much as possible. Over the next 40 seconds or so, Team Shepard kept the enemy back, but the mercs were slowly advancing.

"Sorry we're late, Commander" Joker said. "I had to take the scenic route."

"Scenic route?-!" Brooks interjected. "We nearly crashed four times! Where the hell did you learn to drive?-!"

"And Brooks says hi!"

Finally, one of the Normandy's Kodiaks pulled up, opening its hatch. Shepard, Tali, and Wrex piled in, as bullets from the mercenaries whizzed by them and pinged off the shuttle's armored hull. The Kodiak sealed up, and rocketed away as fast as it safely could.

-SCENE BREAK-

Shepard's New Apartment

"Someone wanna tell me what's going on here?" Wrex asked as he, Brooks, and Tali followed Shepard in.

"Who were those mercs?" Tali asked. "They have heavy weapons and a C-Sec shuttle."

"I don't know" Shepard replied. "I've never seen them before."

"I can't believe you survived all that" Brooks said, speaking hurriedly. "They had guns! And grenades! And those drone things!"

"It's all right. I'll call Commander Bailey and see what's going on with C-Sec."

"Okay, that sounds… Wait! Wouldn't that just make whoever you contact a target, too?"

"She has a point, Shepard" Tali added. "It's too risky until we know more."

"Okay" Shepard replied. "For now, we run this ourselves."

"Right" Brooks replied. "Ourselves. On our own. Outside the law. Okay. Yeah."

"Brooks, it's okay. I know this is a lot to deal with."

"I got shot! I've got medigel, but still. I took a desk job explicitly to not get shot! And you killed, like, a hundred guys with a pistol!"

"Well, yes, that did happen…"

"I mean, who does that? Well, you, I guess. But who else? They said the medigel might make me jumpy. Do I seem jumpy?"

"Yes" Wrex replied emphatically. "I've seen Salarians calmer than you are right now."

"How did you get mixed up in this?" Shepard asked her.

"I monitor data for Alliance Intel to prevent fraud and hacking of officer IDs. Like… someone using an admirals' pass to get into a nightclub on the Citadel when that admiral is fighting on Tuchanka. I wrote a tracking program. It's really neat. I named it 'Mr. Biscuits' after my cat."

"Brooks…"

"Right, sorry! Anyway, Mr. Bis… er, my program detected a breach in your classified files. Soon, everything we had on you was compromised: personnel files, mission reports, everything."

"Since when does hacking personnel records involve heavy-weapons fire?" Wrex asked.

"Think of what criminals could do if they had Shepard's military access codes, or Spectre codes, even!"

"Explains why they need you dead, Shepard" the old Krogan said. "Nothing to stop them until the damage is done."

"Okay," the Commander said, "let's figure out who they are and shut them down. Ideas?"

"What about that odd pistol you picked up?" Tali suggested.

Wrex nodded. "For such a tiny thing, it packs a punch, and it's quiet, too. Never seen anything quite like it before…"

"We'll have Liara look it up, see if she can dig up anything" Tali said.

"Well," Brooks replied, "she can try, but I should warn you, I haven't found anything yet, and I've been digging pretty deep."

"Alright," Wrex said, "Liara's on point. What about the rest of the crew?"

"Yeah," Joker added as he walked into the apartment, "what about those slackers?"

"Joker" Shepard greeted. "You've been busy."

"I found some folks who actually like being shot at."

"Permission to come aboard, Shepard?" EDI asked as she, Cortez, Liara, Ashley, Kaidan, Garrus, Javik, Kal'Reegar, Zaeed, Thane, Legion, and Eve all entered.

Shepard smiled. "Permission granted. Make yourselves at home for a bit, guys."

Everyone spread out, looking around and finding various places to post at. As Liara, Glyph, and Brooks got to work around the table next to the kitchen, Shepard started walking around, giving them some time.

"Okay," Joker said to him from the couch, "when this is over and everything's settled, we are gonna talk about this 'bait' thing."

-X-

"Back during my Pilgrimage," Tali said from near the window, "I used to walk around that sushi place and watch the fish through the window. I knew they'd never let me inside, but I'd think to myself, 'someday, when I've proven my worth to the galaxy, I'll go there for dinner'. And then… you broke their floor."

"Do they even have food you can eat there?"

"Not the point, Shepard!"

-X-

"The Normandy's nice," Kaidan said from near a holographic fireplace, "but for unwinding after a mission? You can't get better than this. The observation lounge needs a hot-tub."

-X-

"The restaurant attack has made the news" EDI said, sitting on the couch near the big-screen TV and bar. "Civilian casualties seem to have been restricted to… fish."

-X-

"Nothin' beats having a Krogan bodyguard, huh?" James said in the kitchen. "I had a buddy like that once. Ah… no, not so much a buddy, really. More of a prisoner who helped us. It's a long story, man. Anyway… Brooks. She's kinda cute. Think she's on the market?"

-X-

"I'm glad you made it out of that ambush okay" Cortez said, seated at the rear bar. "None of us saw that coming. But, lesson learned: never have dinner with Joker. It won't end well."

-X-

"Shepard," Zaeed said, leaning against the wall near the piano, "nice place ya got here. Shame we don't have time to enjoy it. From what I heard, these mercs have fancy top-of-the-line guns & armor, but they're not too big on operational discipline. Like kids playin' with shiny new toys… Still, an idiot with a gun can be more dangerous than a trained killer with one. We'd best be careful."

-X-

"Commander," Javik remarked up on the second floor, near a bookshelf, "in my cycle, when we fled combat by falling through tanks containing aquatic animals, we usually… Oh, right, we never did!" He laughed. "You are a trailblazer!"

-X-

"Bet you never saw a shuttle get taken down like that before" Wrex remarked, lounging on the upstairs couch. "Heh. I still got it."

-X-

"So what was it, Shepard?" Garrus said, looking out from the second-floor balcony. "Five minutes before someone started shooting at you? On the other hand, we get this cool secret hideout to hang out in… unless the bad guys look in the window."

-X-

"From what I can tell based on reports and overheard chatter," Thane said as he sat on the grand piano's bench, "these mercenaries are not very disciplined or diligent, and they don't seem to take their assignments quite as seriously as they should. They should be easy targets for us. However, there do seem to be quite a lot of them – quantity vs. quality, I suppose."

-X-

"Hell of a way to start shore leave, eh Commander?" Kal'Reegar said as he looked through some books in the first-floor library. "This beats the time my buddy Ven tried to rent a prostitute and ended up accidentally uncovering a smuggling ring. …Less dead fish that time, though."

-X-

"Honestly, Shepard," Eve sighed, swinging her legs back & forth as she sat on the second-floor balcony railing, "you were on shore leave for, what, an hour, 90 minutes tops? And somebody's already trying to kill you. When I joined up with you, I actually didn't expect we'd be getting into scraps this often. …At least now I get a whole new group of humans to kill."

-X-

"Let me guess…" Shepard sighed as he looked to Legion, the synthetic currently standing near a modern-art painting. "You're gonna give me grief about the restaurant, too?"

"No" the Geth replied. "Though only because everyone else beat me to it. Trouble follows you, Shepard-Commander; this sort of thing is expected by now. …I hear that some insurance companies are starting to offer coverage packages that specifically include 'Acts of Shepard', though."

-X-

"I'm going to have to write a report about getting shot" Brooks sighed as she stood near the kitchen briefing table, as Liara continued working nearby. "I hear those are really complicated."

"It's faster if you make a template" Shepard suggested.

"…I think maybe you get shot too much."

"Shepard," Liara spoke up, "I've made some progress. Would you like me to call the meeting?"

"Do it" he replied.

Liara nodded, and sent a short signal to everyone's Omnitools. Soon, the whole gang was gathered around the table.

"We have a lead" she told them. "I called in some favors to run a trace on the gun. It led me to a casino owner named Elijah Khan. He's been suspected of using his profits to smuggle weapons onto the Citadel. Immediately after the attempt on Shepard's life, Khan mad an interesting call."

She called up her Omnitool and initiated playback.

"I'm cutting you off" a man's voice was heard. "I'm returning your down payment now."

"What's the problem?" another voice, modulated beyond recognition, asked.

"Turn on a vidscreen! When I sell a gun, I don't want it showing up on the nightly news!"

"You won't be linked to me."

"Save it. Our association is terminated. And if you even think of coming after me, I've got info on you ready for prime-time, so you ponder that. Khan out."

"So that's our identity thief" Shepard said.

"Looks like he's got an ID disguiser" Garrus observed. "Those things are a pain in the ass to get around."

"Did you get anything on the mercenaries who attacked us?" Shepard asked Liara.

"They're a private military corporation called CAT-6" Liara replied. "As most of you know, 'CAT-6' is an Alliance slang term for dishonorable discharges. Many have criminal records, histories of steroid abuse, and… other 'charming' features. No doubt hired by the thief, not by Khan."

"That phone call was pretty damning stuff. How'd you get it?"

"It involved the weapons' biometric data, Salarian intelligence, and a Hanar prostitute with camera implants."

"Seriously?"

"No, but the truth is boring."

"Khan didn't sound friendly to whoever that voice was. Maybe he'd pass on that info to us."

"That would take some extremely smooth talking. If he sees you, he'll probably assume you're looking for revenge. …The casino has a panic room. Chances are he'll have gone to ground there. EDI can give us programs to hack the door, but the cameras and guards complicate things."

"Yeah" Brooks chimed in. "Khan could disappear, or worse. If his guards ever open fire, normal people could get hurt. Like I did."

"She's right" Shepard said. "We can't risk spooking him. We go in quiet – small team, no gunplay."

"Dr. T'Soni," Glyph spoke up, "this evening the casino will be hosting a charity event to assist war refugees."

Liara and Shepard shared a look. "Purchase some tickets, Glyph," Liara ordered, "and then call up a layout of the building."

After a couple seconds, a 3D map of the casino appeared.

"So how close can you get?" Joker asked. "You don't usually put a backdoor in a panic room."

EDI highlighted something. "This air shaft bypasses the security gate and ends up in storage. From there, the panic room's door-camera can be disabled."

"Still," Kaidan spoke up, "we're talking about a casino. There's got to be alarms in that shaft."

"I believe I may have some countermeasures that may help" Liara replied. "I'll know more once we're inside."

"Who will go in the shaft?" Javik asked. "They need to be small in size."

"Yeah, that's not me" Wrex replied. "Too many snacks of roast varren leg…"

"I suspect my suit's built-in tech would be picked up by security sensors" Tali added.

"My presence in the casino would arouse suspicion" EDI said. "Mechs are not allowed, since they can have cheating software."

"What you need is someone trained in zero-emissions tech" Brooks said. "No electronics, no metal, just undetectable polymers. We had a course back at Op-Int, disabling a bomb with these little tweezers. See, the bomb was filled with shaving cream-"

"All right" Shepard said. "You're in."

"What? No. What?"

"You said it yourself. We've all got too much tech."

"But… I managed to get shot just coming to talk to you! Now I'm supposed to hack my way into a safe-room?"

"We'll be backing you up. The second you hit something you can't handle, we'll cover you."

"If that's settled," Liara said, "it looks like there's one last hurdle to get us inside."

"Which is?"

"Black tie required…"

-SCENE BREAK-

Silver Coast Casino

Three sharply-dressed people emerged from a gold-colored luxury sky-car, and began making their way down the red carpet: Commander Shepard, in the black suit with white trim he'd used back for infiltrating Mr. Hock's party; Tali, her suit's wrappings and hood now a near-gleaming silver color; and Brooks, her hair down as she was clad in a tight light-blue suit.

"You're looking good" Tali told Shepard as she took his offered arm.

"Feels a little light without body armor," he said, "but it's soft to touch."

"Good to know…"

"How are you so calm?" Brooks asked once they neared the stairs. "Well, you did run under a Reaper while it fought the galaxy's largest thresher maw, so this is no big deal for you…"

"Relax, Brooks" Shepard told her.

"Right. Okay. On it. I'll get to the ventilation shaft. Wish me luck."

"Liara, you have any input?"

"Khan has a lot of surveillance set up" the Asari replied over the private comm. "I'd mingle with the guests if you want to look normal."

"Okay, Tali. Time to meet the riff-raff."

Shepard & Tali moved in amongst the crowd, spending a few minutes making small talk with a lawyer and a Quasar player, until Brooks contacted them.

"Commander, I'm upstairs by the grate leading to the shaft. But there's a problem. Can you meet me?"

Shepard headed upstairs, passing the bar and dance-floor and finding Brooks standing beside a grate on the wall beside the dance-floor.

"Okay, right…" she said. "Just like we thought, there's an alarm on the grate."

"We'll have to bypass it" Shepard said.

"Try this" she handed two small objects to him. "Dr. T'Soni provided them. They're resonance emitter lenses. They should let you see security grids and wiring."

Shepard placed the contact lenses in his eyes, and as they came online the wiring became visible to him.

"Good" he said. "I'll follow the wiring to a junction box, splice it, and disable the alarm."

He moved along the top level, past the dancing area, following a glowing blue line of wiring beneath the floor. It led him to a junction box on the wall, on the opposite side from where the shaft grate was. But…

"I see a junction on the wall, but there's a camera watching it."

"I'm sending a hack to your Omnitool" Liara replied. "It will fool the camera, but it'll self-delete after a handful of seconds."

Shepard hacked into the camera, and in his lenses the yellow field of vision of the machine turned to green. He quickly went to the junction, running the needed bypass.

"It's done" he said quietly.

"Good" Brooks replied. "I've got the grate open and… in we go! Act casual; this could take a while."

Shepard spent a few minutes talking with the CEO of Eldfell-Ashland, the huge energy company; apparently, the Reapers' destruction of all those helium-3 refineries was taking a huge chunk out of his & his company's finances. After that, the Commander and Tali headed back downstairs.

"Commander!" Brooks whispered desperately. "There's a guard right below me."

"Don't panic. I'll get his attention."

Before long, Shepard found the guard in question; a grate was in the ceiling near him. Shepard nodded, and walked over to the man.

"Excuse me," he said, "I think I might have seen someone doing drugs in the men's room."

"I see" the guard replied. "Were you able to identify the substance used?"

"It looked like red sand."

The guard nodded, and called up his Omnitool. "Dispatch, we've got a possible sand-tripper in the bathrooms."

"Have they tried to compromise the games Biotically?"

"Unknown at this time. Moving to confront; have backup ready."

The man wandered off, and after a few seconds Shepard sent Brooks the all-clear. Brooks moved on, and Shepard & Tali went back to mingling. They spoke with a woman who was apparently a frequent charity worker, donating credits and time to various organizations to help the less fortunate.

"Um…"

"Talk to me, Brooks."

"I've got a pressure pad and an obstruction detector ahead. I can't disable them from here."

"Okay. EDI, I need a tech solution. Brooks, stay put; we'll find some junctions and take down the sensors."

He looked around, soon finding the junction, but there was a camera and a guard. He sent Tali to distract the guard, while he quickly hacked the camera and then the junction.

"Try it now, Brooks."

"Checking the pressure pad… No alarms. Looks good."

He then followed the red-highlighted wiring across the casino, ending up by the roulette tables. There were two guards this time, one stationary and the other patrolling. Tali distracted the stationary one, while Shepard worked quickly while the patroller was going the other way, bypassing the junction. Brooks moved on, and after several more seconds she called in again.

"I'm at the storage room grate. Time to hit the lock…"

"Be careful, Brooks."

There was a sudden noise on the other end.

"Oh, son of a… Hey, Commander?"

"What happened?"

"Infrared laser hooked up to a silent alarm. I didn't get it in time!"

"Shepard," EDI cut in, "I'll call the responding guard to say it was a false alarm, but you must stall him before he reaches Brooks. Marking him with a NavPoint on your lenses…"

Shepard followed the NavPoint, soon coming across the guard moving leisurely but purposefully through the casino.

"Hey, excuse me!" Shepard interrupted.

"Just calm down" the guard replied. "I'm trying to do three different things here." His Omnitool then chimed. "Barrows here."

"Sir," EDI replied in the voice of one of the man's colleagues, "we checked out the alarm in storage. It's nothing, just an accident."

"Find out who tripped it and get them in my office by end of shift!" He cut the connection. "Now you. What do you need?"

"I'm sorry," Shepard replied, "I thought you were someone I knew. You have the same haircut."

The guard sighed. "Enjoy your evening…" He wandered off.

"You're all clear, Brooks."

The woman sighed. "Good. Thanks, Commander. I'll see if I can get to the panic room."

Shepard and Tali mingled some more, striking up a conversation with a surprisingly charming Turian conman (or 'con artist', as the man preferred).

"Okay," Brooks radioed, "so now I think you just need to get to me. I'm on the other side of the security gate. I can't get the security gate to open from here. The junction must be on your side. It might be tricky. Just so you know."

"Have a little faith" Shepard replied.

Shepard and Tali moved to the 'back' of the casino, finding three cameras (one already hacked by Brooks) and two guards, one stationary and one patrolling. With some fancy work by the both of them, the guards were distracted or maneuvered around, and the cameras were hacked. Shepard and Tali hurriedly met with Brooks and slipped through the door of Elijah Khan's office/panic-room just before the camera hack self-deleted. Inside, the lavish and darkened office had Mr. Khan sitting with his back to them.

"Khan," Shepard said, "I'm not here to threaten you. We need to talk."

The man said nothing; he didn't even move. Tali, curious, walked around the desk and beside Mr. Khan… and winced.

"I don't think he'll be doing any talking, Jason," she spun the chair around, "because his head has a bigger hole in it than the Council's old defense plan."

"Commander," Brooks spoke up, looking through Mr. Khan's private terminal, "there's a deletion order here."

"Damn it!" He immediately started working at the terminal.

"Everything's been wiped. I don't know if it was him, or the killer, or… When I tripped that alarm, did I screw this up? …What are you looking for?"

"Mistakes" Shepard replied. "Aha, thought so. Whoever it was had to do this fast. They wiped the terminal, but not the comm."

"Oh, so we can take the comm. back to the safehouse to scan it, or…"

Shepard hit a button, and on the large screen behind them a heavily distorted figure appeared, his identity obscured by static.

"Elijah," the figure asked in a modulated voice, "come crawling back?"

"Guess again" Shepard replied.

"You… I see you've recovered from flopping on the floor like a fish."

"You'll need to do better than that. The last guy who trash-talked me was a few kilometers taller than you."

"Brave. I thought as much, but it won't matter. You have nothing. All you can do is wait for the hammer to fall."

"Why do this? What did I do to you?"

"…I'm going to take everything you have, and everything you are."

The connection was terminated.

"Damn it!" Brooks cursed. "Sorry, Commander. There wasn't enough time to trace the call."

"We're not finished. Pull out the data drives."

"The ones that got wiped? You think we can find something?"

"With EDI, anything's possible. The sooner we get them to her, the sooner we can track down this threat."

-SCENE BREAK-

The Apartment

"Brooks, work with EDI & Legion to see if there's anything useful on those drives."

"Here's hoping" Brooks replied. "I'll let you know what we find, Commander."

"Damn, Loco," James said, "you can't even attend a party without someone ending up dead."

"I actually kinda wanted to go, a little" Eve admitted. "I have this deep-red dress I bought a little while back that I haven't really gotten an opportunity to wear…"

After about 10 minutes, Brooks' group called everyone over.

"Shepard-Commander, we have something" the Geth stated. "Though the data's root structure was erased, the logic integrity remains viable."

"These two have an incredible talent for this stuff," Brooks said, "especially EDI. I know they're AIs, but even still… We found an encrypted transmission from a few days ago. We just need another minute to crack it."

"A whole minute?" Joker said. "EDI here could shave that down to five seconds."

"I thought it best to allow Staff Analyst Brooks a chance to improve her decryption skills" EDI replied.

"And now you've lost your chance to show off."

"Like she needs it" Brooks said. "You're the crew of the Normandy. You're legends to the rest of the Alliance."

"Legends can be good or bad" Shepard replied. "Which are we?"

"You're the kind that people look up to. The kind they owe their lives to."

"Then how come everyone's always shooting at us?" Wrex asked.

"I think it's mostly you, Wrex" Tali replied. "You're a pretty big target."

"You're saying I've gained weight?"

"It just means there's more of the legend to love" Liara said in response.

"And the camaraderie, the friendship?" Brooks continued. "I think that's your secret weapon."

"It's all just part of the job" Shepard said.

"Wait, 'job'?" Garrus replied. "You mean the rest of you are getting paid for this?"

"Ah, here we go" Brooks said. "Wow. Those mercs who were after you? They bought a lot of weapons – like, big ones."

"Heavy mechs?" Ashley said, looking at the displayed data. "What the hell do they need that kinda firepower for?"

"Attention, please!" Glyph shouted as it hovered up to the center of the table. "I have just monitored the Commander's Spectre access code in use at the Citadel Archives."

"Punch it up" Shepard ordered.

Glyph projected a 3D map of the archives, with various data displayed and a single point flashing red.

"The archives are going into emergency lockdown" Brooks observed. "Whoever's hacking your records is there right now!"

"What do we know about the place?"

"The Council keeps sensitive historical information there," Garrus replied, "real hush-hush. Even my old C-Sec clearance never got me in."

"Then we'll find our own way in. Gear up, and let's-"

As the Commander turned around, he was presented with a very odd sight standing behind him: a Volus carrying a pizza box. After several seconds, he turned to face the group.

"Pizza-delivery guy" James said sheepishly. "I, uh, got the munchies."

"*Hrrk* Double pepperoni" the Volus clarified.

"These archives are huge…" Brooks said, still looking at the map. "You'll have a lot of ground to cover. Shame you can't bring everyone…"

Shepard turned back around. "Who says we can't? All hands on deck for this one."

"Hell, yeah" James replied. "But, uh, who gets to take point with you?"

Wrex cleared his throat, and then Javik, and then Zaeed, and then Tali… and then the Volus.

"*Hrrk* Who's going to pay the bill?"

"…James, you ordered it."

"Alright, alright, lemme get out my wallet."

"Okay. First a quick snack, then we head out. …In fact, just bring it with us on the cars."

"But bring napkins!" Cortez spoke up. "I don't want grease on the upholstery!"

-SCENE BREAK-

En Route to the Citadel Archives

Four sky-cars flew in a line through the Wards.

"What's the best way into the archives?" Shepard asked as he drove Car 1.

"The facility is located below the Wards" Brooks replied from the passenger's seat. "Maybe a direct breach for maximum surprise?"

"I like it. Sounds like you're learning the ropes."

"Hell," Cortez replied, "hang out with us long enough, and you'll learn ropes, knives, bombs, thresher maws…"

"But don't hang out too long," Wrex added, "or pretty soon you'll be making friends with Asari."

"I heard that" Liara replied.

The cars parked on top of a seemingly random and unimportant spot, and everyone got out, Shepard joined by his picked team of Zaeed and Liara.

"The archives are somewhere below us" Brooks said. "It could be pretty tricky to get in there."

"Not really" James replied, hefting a heavy breaching charge.

Everyone got some distance, and James hit the detonator. The focused blast blew a sizable hole in the floor, revealing a subterranean tunnel that connected to the archives.

"Krogan first!" Wrex leapt in. "See you at the party, princesses!"

Everyone else followed him in, splitting into three groups. They made their way down, and soon they all reached a two-level room with various desks and terminals on the ground floor, an upper level that ran around the sides of the room, and a large scale model of the Citadel hanging from the center of the ceiling. Shepard, Zaeed, and Liara came out on the ground floor, with the other two teams on the upper level on either side.

Suddenly, a plethora of weapon laser-sights flickered online, pointing at everyone.

"Not this again…" Shepard sighed.

Everyone immediately went for cover as the mercs started shooting, their shields allowing them to reach safety and then return fire.

"Jeez," Wrex said, "in the old days, we had at least five minutes before a mission went south!"

Shepard zapped a shielded merc with an Overload, letting Liara take him out with a pistol headshot, while Zaeed gunned down another with his Avenger rifle. Up top, Wrex's Claymore and James' Scimitar blew two mercs away, while Thane used his Viper to pick off a merc sniper trying to set up position on the far end of the room, and Eve fired the Vindicator rifle she'd brought along at a pair of approaching enemy drones. Legion sent out its own Combat Drone, the little construct zapping mercs to weaken their shields, while Kaidan Biotically lifted a hapless enemy sniper for Ashley to fill full of lead. Tali 'stole' a merc's shields with Energy Drain, and fire from Garrus' Phaeston rifle put the hostile down. Cortez fired his Locust SMG in short controlled bursts, taking out at least two mercs and wounding a third, while Kal'Reegar took out a shotgun-wielding merc with a Carnage shot.

"That's enough!-!" a new voice suddenly shouted.

Everyone looked up and over at a spot on the second floor at the far end of a room. A figure, his identity hidden by the shadows, had Brooks hostage, a pistol in his free hand.

"Drop your weapons," he ordered, "or this won't end well for her."

As the mercs surrounded all three teams, Shepard reluctantly gave the signal, setting his guns down on the floor. The shadowed figure then shoved Brooks forward to fall to the first floor.

"Whatever you think you're getting away with…," Shepard said as Brooks hurried over to his side, "there's nowhere you can run, nowhere you can hide where we can't find you."

"Hide?" the mysterious figure replied. "Why?"

The figure stepped out of the shadows… and, upon seeing him, every Team Normandy jaw in the room dropped a little.

"I'm Commander Shepard," the duplicate said, "and I never hide."

"What the bloody fuck?" Zaeed murmured, eyes wide.

The other Shepard, clad in a heavier and more advanced-looking variant of the armor his mercs wore, leapt down from the top floor with a thud. He slowly stalked toward the original.

"Who and what are you?" Shepard asked.

"You weren't the only Shepard that Cerberus gave life to," the new one replied, "but at least one of us will finally do something with it."

"Where did you come from?"

"Your DNA. Cerberus spared no expense in resurrecting you. With me… I was created for spare parts, in case you needed another arm, or liver, or lung."

"Where have you been this whole time?"

"In a coma… until I woke up around six or seven months ago. While you were helping the 'Dimensional Defense Force' and the Alliance, I was learning to be human. Amazing what a person can do with enough neural implants."

"If you're really me, then we're on the same team."

"We're not even in the same league."

"Did the Illusive Man send you?"

"No. He abandoned me when he had what he wanted: you."

"Then why are you trying to kill us?" Liara asked.

"Because I don't have his memories. I'd never fool 'my' supposed friends… the ones who abandoned their duty to join the cult of Shepard. Like you, Massani. An old man who should be in a nursing home, not a battlefield."

"You're just a cheap, second-rate copy of the genuine article…" the old soldier growled.

"I'm the real thing perfected." He turned back to Shepard. "I'm you without the wear & tear, Shepard. The doubts, the failures… I'm the lone wolf you were always meant to be… without the emotional baggage holding me back."

"No-one will ever believe you're the real Shepard" Liara said with a glare.

"They will when I'm flying his ship…"

Shepard's eyes widened, and he called up his comm. & Omnitool. "This is Shepard! Initiate Normandy lockdown! Transmitting command codes now!"

"Good idea" Clone-Shepard replied, his own Omnitool active. "Too bad the signal was blocked. …Traynor, this is Shepard. Prep the Normandy for emergency departure. We're leaving. I'm sending the command codes now."

"Acknowledged. We'll get underway."

"It'll be a cold day in Hell before someone steals my ship" Shepard growled.

"It's not stealing it if I'm you" the clone replied. He spoke to his mercs as he left: "Execute them. The cult of Shepard ends today."

As Clone-Shepard left, Shepard suddenly dove for a pistol, firing it up at the scale-model Citadel above. One of the 'arms' broke off, and he, Liara, & Zaeed dove to the side as its pieces fell on the two mercs guarding them, snatching their weapons up in the process. On the upper levels, Wrex and Kaidan let out Biotic pulses that knocked the other guards away, letting the rest of the team begin their counterattack as well; Eve rammed her staff's lightsaber-like blade through one merc's chest, while across the way Thane put two more down with a pair of precision Phalanx shots.

"We still got everyone?" Shepard asked over the team-comm. as he flattened a merc against a wall with a Biotic Throw.

"We're on the balcony!" Wrex replied.

"I'm okay up here, too!" Brooks shouted.

"On high ground with a sniper rifle!" Garrus said. "Doesn't get any better than this!"

"These mercenaries will make good sport!" Javik said as he blasted one with his particle rifle.

"If we go down," Liara said as she Stasis-ed a sniper for Zaeed to finish off, "at least we go down together!"

"One big happy ass-kicking family!" James cheered as he used his assault rifle to take out two mercs.

"Alright, everyone!" Wrex shouted as he blasted a merc with his Claymore. "Uncle Urdnot's back in town, and he brought the boom!"

"Is that supposed to be a catchphrase, Wrex?" Shepard asked as he sniped an Omnishield-bearing merc.

"Thought I'd try it out, see what you think!"

"Try again!" Tali replied, Energy-Draining a merc engineer's shields away so Legion could gun him down.

"Rapier Squad," a merc captain shouted, "orders are to kill the other Shepard's crew! No messing around this time!"

"But they've got a Krogan!" a merc replied. "Why don't we have a Krogan?-!"

"Wouldn't wanna be you, princesses!" Wrex shouted gleefully.

"Shit, that's a Prothean over there!"

"And that's a future corpse over there!" Javik replied as he staggered two mercs with Dark Channel for Ashley to finish off.

"I think that Turian they've got is Archangel! How the hell are we going to kill him?-!"

*BANG* "You're not!" Garrus said, blowing another merc's brains out.

"Maybe the other Shepard should've stuck around to help!"

"We've got 'em psyched out!" James said. "Hey, pendejos! Our Shepard is better than yours!"

"And better-looking, too!" Tali added.

"You poor, undisciplined bastards!" Zaeed cackled as he gunned a few more down. "You call yourselves mercs?-! I've met Volus who are bigger threats than you lot!"

Pitted against the entirety of Team Shepard, the remaining mercenaries didn't last long at all. Soon, their bodies littered the area.

"We're clear" James reported to Shepard. "Now, where'd the other you go?"

"He's pushing into the archives" the Commander replied. "Stay in your groups! Team Mako, you're on point. Team Hammerhead, cover the flank!"

"Got it!" Cortez replied as the two upper-level teams moved out. "And the Mako's got nothing on the Hammerhead!"

"You wanna start that shit again right now, Esteban?" James replied.

Shepard, Liara, and Zaeed passed through the first-floor door into the archives, passing machinery & terminals and walking through scanning fields. Soon, they passed through one more door, coming out into the main archives themselves – an enormous area filled with catwalks, machinery, and hundreds of large cylindrical storage capsules.

"Impressive…" Liara remarked.

"I wonder what your, uh, clone is looking for in here, Shepard?" Wrex said.

"At this point," Shepard replied, "anything's possible."

"You mean like strolling around and bumping into your clone?" Kaidan remarked.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Right" James replied. "At least not until we've all had a round of drinks."

"How the hell are we gonna find anything in a place this big?" Zaeed asked as the teams got moving.

"Glyph?" Shepard asked.

Liara's light-blue helper drone flew up. "Yes, Commander?" it asked.

"Track the target; give me updates on its location."

"What is the nature of the target?"

"He looks like me."

"…Then I have found the target!" the drone stated cheerfully.

"No, Glyph. It's another me – a clone of me. Now get going!"

As Glyph flew away, Shepard's group kept moving, spotting the other two teams making their own way along the other walkways. As they neared the far end of this section, however, a large lift lowered, carrying three merc specialists. Shepard blasted the center one with Overload and then with a few N7 Eagle shots to put him down, while Zaeed knocked the right-hand one on his ass with a Concussive Shot followed by a burst of assault-rifle fire, and Liara hit the third with Stasis and then a barrage of fire from her Tempest SMG.

"Shepard, step onto the platform" Tali said. "We'll lower you down and slide a vault out for you; we'll move you across in it."

The trio stepped onto the platform, and it lowered them down a level. One of the storage tubes slid out to in front of them, its kinetic barrier shutting off to let them inside. As the trio rode the vault, Zaeed walked up to an old rifle within it.

"I'll be damned," he said, "it's an M7 Lancer – straight outta the First Contact War."

The mobile vault came to a stop in another section of the archives, the field lowering to allow the trio's exit. As they kept moving, Glyph flew up.

"Commander," it reported, "the other you is searching for something 200 meters ahead."

"Got it" Shepard replied.

"So…" Zaeed started. "Fighting your own clone, eh? Nuts even by the standards of the stuff I've seen & done."

"But useful" Javik chimed in. "If there is a task you don't wish to do, Commander, let them handle it."

"So, like a personal butler?" Brooks added.

"I don't want to talk about it" Shepard repeated emphatically.

"Then let your clone do it" Garrus replied.

Group Shepard reached the end of the catwalk and hopped off to the right, walking along atop some of the mobile vaults. Up ahead a few mercs dropped in, but Shepard and Zaeed quickly sniped them before they could even get into position to fire.

"Dagger Squad," Clone-Shepard was heard over the comm., "I need more time to reach the bunker! Keep Shepard off my back, or I'll have your heads!"

"The other Shepard sounds like a real asshole!" Cortez said.

"I'd quit if he was my Commander!" Brooks added.

The three teams fought their way down the tubes/vaults, bulldozing through the mercs in their paths. Soon, Group Shepard reached the far catwalk.

"Shepard," Tali radioed, "they've got us pinned down! We could use some help!"

"On our way!"

The trio hurried left, coming out on a catwalk overlooking lower level, where the rest of the team was pinned down by a sizable force of mercs. Shepard leapt down, dual-wielding his pistol and SMG, giving the rest of the team time to climb up the nearby ladder to safety. Liara and Zaeed followed them up, but Shepard was now getting backed into a corner by the mooks. Suddenly, every member of Team Shepard opened fire on the mercs from the level above, a storm of bullets ripping the multitude of hostiles apart.

"That's why I love hanging out with you guys" Wrex said. "Why shoot something once, when you can shoot it 60 more times?"

"The… other me can't be far" Shepard said as he climbed the ladder up. "Keep up the pressure, and we'll try to surround him. Let's move."

The team split into three groups again. Shepard, Liara, and Zaeed entered the next section of the Archives, passing by a record from back during the First Contact War. They kept moving, passing by more records.

"You can only imagine the history in this place," Liara remarked, "millennia of experiences…"

"I just wonder what the… other me is looking for in here" Shepard replied.

They kept moving, past a recording from immediately prior to the Krogan Rebellions' outbreak, and at the bottom of a slope up ahead was a lone merc; a quick Overload and Concussive Shot from Shepard and Zaeed put him down.

"This is Hammerhead!" Ashley radioed. "Hostiles ahead, Shepard! We'll get their attention!"

"Captain, they're above us!"

"They're behind us, too!"

"And they've still got the Krogan! Can someone kill him?-!"

"Someone can try!" Wrex replied as he blasted a merc with a Carnage shot.

Group Shepard caught the mercs from behind, a Singularity from Liara snatching three up, and a Warp from Shepard destabilizing it and ripping them apart. In this larger office-like area, there was still a handful of mercs in cover, trading fire with the teams on the upper level. Shepard sniped a merc sniper up on the far-side upper level, while Zaeed switched his rifle to fire Disruptor rounds to help cut down the enemy's shields. Thane Biotically picked a merc 'specialist' up and then slammed him hard to the ground, while Legion's pulse-rifle took out another sniper.

"This is almost unfair" Tali remarked. "Should we give them a chance?"

"Speak for yourself, please!" Brooks replied. "I'm not even a field agent!"

Soon the last merc in the area fell to a sniper shot from Zaeed.

"Hammerhead and Mako, keep pushing ahead" Shepard ordered.

Group Shepard made their way around and across the room, heading down a level. In the next hallway-like area, there were a couple more mercs waiting, but Liara caught them both with a Singularity and then hosed them with SMG rounds, letting their bodies drop. They heard gunfire up ahead, and hurried to the next open area, finding Mako and Hammerhead Teams already engaged.

"Somebody stop these guys!"

"I'm starting to think we picked the wrong Shepard!"

"Attention, low-life mercenary wannabes!" James shouted. "Say 'please' and we'll accept your surrender!"

"Say 'pretty please' and maybe Wrex will take a break!" Tali added.

"Try it, and we'll see!" the old Krogan replied.

"The Prothean, on the other hand, makes no such promises!" Javik added.

"Attention, enemy drones" Glyph spoke even as the bullets flew by from both sides. "Please cease hostile actions. I believe we could benefit from a mutual exchange of data. Additionally, the term 'floating butler' does not encompass all of my primary functions. One day, I too hope to possess combat capabilities like yourselves."

A Singularity from Shepard picked two mercs up, and Eve shot them while they were helpless. Legion and Thane sniped three more from up high, while Tali and Garrus handled enemy drones. Soon the last merc fell to a Carnage blast from Kal'Reegar, and the teams started moving again.

"Commander," Glyph said, "I have catalogued 18 previously-unknown historical events."

"Where's the target, Glyph?"

"He is searching for a secret vault. He did not wish to be disturbed."

"What?"

"I thought he was you."

Shepard sighed. "Go find him again."

Group Shepard completed a circuit of the room, coming to another door that led through a sloping hallway down a level. Glyph zoomed on ahead, as the trio made their way through another checkpoint and came out into another huge vault-space. Up ahead, a merc-controlled Atlas mech was on a higher level, trading fire with Garrus' group.

"Team Mako here!" Garrus radioed. "We've got it in our sights!"

"Team Hammerhead here," Cortez said, "providing moral support."

"800-pound Krogan here, providing the boom!"

The volume of fire being sent the Atlas' way was too much for it, and it jumped down to the lower level. Unfortunately, as Team Mako moved on, the heavy mech turned its attention on Shepard's group. Its shields had already been depleted by Team Mako, and Shepard & Liara hit it with Incinerate and Warp to weaken its heavy armor, while Zaeed aimed Disruptor rounds at important parts and joints. The Atlas, soon badly damaged, fired a rocket that forced the trio into cover. However, Garrus with Team Mako then turned back around and fired a sniper shot right at the mech's power core on its back, setting off a chain reaction that tore the Atlas apart.

"I never get tired of watching mechs blow up like that" Zaeed remarked.

Group Shepard moved on, continuing down catwalks and walkways, occasionally catching glimpses of Groups Mako and Hammerhead moving along their own paths.

"Commander," Glyph flew up, "a large contingent of soldiers calling themselves 'Razor Squad' is just ahead. They wish to inflict bodily harm on you. Also, I discovered an Elcor mating totem in Vault 347B. Fascinating…"

After another minute or so, gunfire broke out ahead. Group Shepard hurried forward, finding a group of mercs engaged with Teams Mako and Hammerhead on the surrounding upper walkways; they quickly joined in, Shepard sniping a sniper while Zaeed took out a 'specialist' and his drone.

"Team Mako here," Garrus said, "showing Hammerhead how it's done!"

"Hammerhead here!" Kaidan replied. "Only because you're copying us!"

"Mako here! If we were, we wouldn't be hitting anything!"

"This is Team Prothean!" Javik interjected. "I have a higher body count than the rest of you combined!"

"Attention, enemy soldiers" Glyph stated as it flitted about. "Why do you persist in fighting? The Alliance offers a number of benefits and a generous retirement package. After seven years of service, a sabbatical to the planet of your choice can be arranged. I would be happy to discuss- Please refrain from shooting at me."

"I've fought Volus bankers tougher than this!" Wrex said.

Suddenly, the central area opened up, and a lift arrived from below with four heavily-armored, Omnishield-bearing mercenary soldiers. They began firing large-caliber guns at the teams, forcing some heads down. But they were outnumbered and surrounded, and rounds began chipping away at their shields and armor.

"Attention enemy soldiers," Glyph said, "you only have a .04 percent chance of winning this encounter."

"That drone's giving me a headache!"

"He belongs to me!" Liara shouted.

"Keep him on a leash!"

"Glyph, lower their morale!"

"Attention enemy soldiers, your life expectancy is now 15 seconds and dropping."

The first heavy trooper fell soon, sniped by Legion's M98 Widow. Another was wounded by a grenade from Kal'Reegar and then finished off by Eve's rifle, the third was stunned by a double Overload from Garrus & EDI that allowed Ashley to snipe him, and the last staggered from Shepard's Warp and then dropped as Zaeed put a round through his skull.

"Hammerhead and Mako, keep pushing ahead!" Shepard ordered.

"Right!" Brooks replied. "I think I might throw up a little bit now, if that's okay with everyone!"

Group Shepard moved through the door straight ahead, entering and passing through another low-ceiling hallway area with terminals and a few records.

"Commander," Glyph flew up to them, "the clone wishes to pass on a message. 'Shepard, save yourself the trouble. Once I have what I came here for, you won't matter anymore. Now go, drone! Deliver it!'."

As the trio moved on, there was some gunfire up ahead, as on the upper level Team Mako carved through a small pack of mercs. There were a couple on the lower level as well, but Shepard's SMG handled them quickly enough. The group headed around, through a door and up a slope.

"Team Hammerhead," Shepard said, "we're headed to the next level. What's your location?"

Static, and then silence.

"Hammerhead, do you copy?"

"There's Team Mako!" Liara pointed ahead as they arrived on the room's upper level, seeing Garrus' group moving on.

"We'll try to clear a path, Commander!" Brooks said. "Hammerhead's gone ahead!"

A couple of merc 'heavies' emerged, marching forward with their bright blue heavy shields in the lead. Shepard and Liara tossed out Singularities that snatched them both up, and Zaeed put them down with precision fire. They made their way down and right, passing a record of when the Asari first discovered the Citadel. Shepard led them through another door, heading up another level.

"Team Mako, we're coming up behind! What's your status?"

More static.

"Mako, where are you?"

On the next level, they passed a couple more terminals and records, including one on Shepard himself.

"Commander, do you copy?"

"Brooks? What's your status?"

"The other you is jamming our radios. Hammerhead and Mako are trying to get ahead and cut him off. But I've been hit and need help! Please hurry!"

Passing through another office area, the trio entered a hallway that proceeded to run a biometric scan of them. After several seconds of that, it let them through into the next room. Up ahead, Brooks was visible limping off to the side out of sight. Shepard, Liara, and Zaeed hurried forward… and a kinetic barrier suddenly sprang up around them, trapping them. They were inside one of the tubular mobile vaults.

"Brooks! The vault sealed us in!"

"There's got to be an override" Zaeed said.

"I can't find one, though" Liara added.

"Cortez? Brooks? Do you read me? Is anyone on this frequency?"

"The short answer is no," Clone-Shepard replied as he emerged, "they're not."

Shepard immediately opened fire, but the shots were stopped harmlessly by the barrier he & his team were trapped in.

"The long answer" the clone continued "involves your friends trapped in iridium vaults and forgotten for… well, forever."

"Others know about this. About you. The Alliance will stop you."

Clone-Shepard smirked, looking back over his shoulder. "What do you think, Staff Analyst Brooks? Will the Alliance stop me?"

"I wouldn't know" Brooks replied with a now-noticeable British accent as she strutted out of hiding, a matching smirk on her face as she casually rested her arm on Clone-Shepard's right shoulder-plate. "I've never worked for them."

There was silence for a few seconds, broken only by a low growl from Zaeed.

"…Who the hell are you?" Shepard asked. "And do you really think I won't track you down?"

"My name doesn't matter" 'Brooks' replied. "I never keep the same one for more than a few days. And if the Illusive Man hasn't found me yet, you never will."

"You're Cerberus?"

"I was. Mr. Illusive and I didn't see eye-to-eye. I'm fairly sure he's Indoctrinated, whereas I prefer the whispers in my head to be my own."

"Why not come to me? We could've worked together."

"In a way, we did. I'm the one who put together all those dossiers on your 'suicide mission'. There was the Salarian doctor, the Asari Justicar, the Drell…" She scowled. "They were all mistakes. We were a pro-human group who started looking to aliens for help. So I bided my time, and when I found another you who agreed… I woke him up."

"What was the point of it all?"

"All we really wanted was your Spectre code, and when you unlocked that one door in the Wards we got it. But then you survived the hit and insisted on bringing your damned Asari into it, so I had to tie up loose ends." She made a gunshot motion with her hand. "But then your sex-bot just had to go and recover the data. So here we are, forced to… contain the situation."

"…Fair warning: nobody who's betrayed us has ever survived. You two may think you're clever. And yeah, you were – just a bit –, but clever doesn't beat a bullet. And yeah, maybe I am trapped in here. But don't get comfortable. Because that bull's-eye on your back is getting bigger by the second."

"That sounds very dramatic. And if someone like, say, Commander Shepard made the threat, I'd be worried. But you're not Shepard. Not anymore."

"You had Miranda" Clone-Shepard said. "I have her. Mine has more bite."

"It was fun while it lasted."

Clone-Shepard walked over to a nearby terminal, keying in a few commands.

"What are you doing?" Shepard asked.

"Setting things right" the clone replied. "Remember this?"

"You are the first human Spectre" the recording of Councilor Tevos said. "This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."

"Except somewhere along the way, you forgot about your 'entire species'. You've saved more alien lives than you have human."

"I don't care what species they are" Shepard replied. "Every life counts… but maybe a clone raised from 'birth' to be a racist bastard wouldn't understand that."

"You know the one thing they can't duplicate? Our handprint. Life gives it its shape, not DNA… which is a problem." He placed his hand on the terminal, which scanned it and updated system records. "Or rather, it was a problem. Now, if you'll excuse me, the Normandy needs its captain. So… I should go…"

Shepard's eyebrows visibly rose.

"Farewell, Commander" 'Brooks' said. "I guess this is where 'legends' go to die."

As Clone-Shepard and 'Brooks' walked away, the vault that Group Shepard was in lurched as it slid out and shifted around, being deposited somewhere amongst the hundreds of vaults in the area.

"That went… well" Liara remarked.

"He said, 'I should go'" Shepard said. "Do I sound like that?"

"I think it was one of the first things you said to me."

"How 'bout we worry about the vault we've been sealed in for goddamn forever?" Zaeed suggested.

"How come nobody told me before?" Shepard kept going. "I'm open to feedback here!"

"You could try, 'I'll be seeing you'" Liara suggested. "That might spice things up a bit."

"Probably only got about an hour's worth of good air left, tops" Zaeed rumbled.

"Maybe it's: 'I should go. I should go. I should go."

"Shepard, why the hell aren't you even the least bit more worried about our present situation?"

"Hm? Oh, right. Glyph, you still out there?-!"

"Yes, Commander" Liara's drone was heard from right outside the vault.

"Unlock this damned thing, and then go find & free the others. No one steals my ship. Not even me…"

-SCENE BREAK-

Outside the Archives

As everyone finished climbing out of the 'entrance' they'd made, a red sky-car flew in and set down. It opened to reveal Joker in the driver's seat, and Teana in the passenger's.

"I've got room for Shepard plus two" Joker said. "Pick fast, because the other Shepard is stealing my ship!"

"Actually," Teana cut in, "we might have room for more. I can't send myself into & out of the subspace realm of Kamui like Kakashi-san and Homura-chan can, but I can send other people. I can come along, bring some of the team with me via Kamui, and then 'eject' them from it to join the fight once we get there."

Shepard nodded. "Alright. I'll take the 'old guard'. Garrus, get in the backseat; Wrex, Liara, Tali, Ashley, and Kaidan, Teana will 'carry' you there."

"I kinda wanted to go…" Zaeed pouted.

"Joker will come back for you all. I promise."

Garrus got in the car, while with a whirl of motion the other five were seemingly sucked into Teana's Mangekyō eyes, being transported to the subspace realm that she, the six other living Uchiha, Kakashi, and Homura could access. She climbed aboard as well, and the sky-car sealed up and took off.

"This is why I hate shore leave" Joker remarked. "I swear, you park the ship for five minutes…"

"Can you contact Citadel control and get them to deny the departure request?" Shepard asked.

"I tried. All the comm. lines in this area are jammed… probably to make it easier for them to steal my ship!"

"We'll stop them."

"Even if we can't get there in time," Teana said, "we could go to the Council and prove you're the real Shepard."

"No," Garrus replied, "the clone changed the logs to make his biometrics the official ones. We can't prove anything."

"Yes, that!" Joker said. "Can we all just agree that it'd be easier to not let Shepard's evil clone steal the Normandy?"

"Don't worry," Shepard replied, "you'll get your ship back."

"We'd better. I just got the seat broken in how I like it."

They flew on at best speed, soon reaching the docks where the Normandy II was docked and waiting.

"Okay, Citadel systems are auto-targeting the car; any closer, and they open fire."

Joker brought the vehicle down and around, letting Shepard, Garrus, and Teana exit. With a whirl of motion and color, Teana ejected the rest of the squad from Kamui. Then, in a flash of red, she switched to her Mark-VII Mjolnir armor, readying Cross Mirage in rifle-mode.

"Get back and pick up the others, ASAP" Shepard ordered Joker.

"Right" Joker replied. "They can't have gotten far, unless they called a cab or something."

Seconds after the red sky-car flew away, approaching mercenaries started taking shots. Team Shepard took cover, and then returned fire; Garrus got the first kill, a snipe-shot punching through a merc's skull. Everyone else opened up as well – Wrex leapt down, shoulder-tackled a merc, and then blew his head off; Teana had her Device/rifle in single-shot mode and started picking off approaching mercs that were a bit farther back; Liara and Kaidan used a Singularity/Warp combo to obliterate three mercs; and Ashley & Tali used their shotguns to clear out enemy drones and the specialists who'd sent them out.

The team of eight advanced, Shepard sniping an enemy sniper up ahead while Teana switched Mirage Rifle to full-auto form and gunned down two shotgun-wielding mercs. A merc 'heavy' with an Omnishield found his protection stripped away by Garrus' Overload, letting a Reave from Kaiden put him down for the count. Shepard and Tali sent out Combat Drones, their upgrades enabling the orange-hued constructs to easily outmaneuver and destroy their hostile teal-hued counterparts. Up ahead, the stealth-attack frigate's engine nacelles could be seen moving, and soon a low but climbing whine was audible.

"We need to move!" Garrus shouted. "The Normandy's about to take off!"

"When we wanna take off," Shepard said, "there's a half-hour of pre-flight checks! They just gun the engines and go?"

"Most of those are for your benefit, Shepard" Tali replied. "The ship can be ready to leave in only five minutes."

"Gee, thanks…"

They hurried across the current platform and down the ladder, making a beeline for the docking tube. Another pack of mercs emerged to bar their path. Garrus picked off their lone sniper, while Wrex and Ashley charged in, shotguns blazing. Shepard and Teana hosed a few more down with full-auto fire, and Tali & Liara picked off the stragglers. With the way clear, they hurried up the docking tube. As they reached the top, they found a distraught – and now very confused – Specialist Samantha Traynor.

"Traynor," Shepard said, "is the other me still in there?"

"What… What the bloody hell's going on here?"

"Shepard's got an evil clone" Wrex summed up. "Makes sense when ya think about it."

Shepard eyed the toothbrush in Traynor's hand. "That's a Cision Pro Mark-IV. It uses tiny mass-effect fields to break up plaque and massage the gums, and it costs 6,000 credits."

"…The other you didn't know that" Traynor said with realization.

"Right. Because I'm the real Shepard."

"He… He fired me!"

"I'll get that reversed once my clone's in cuffs or a coffin."

"Door's sealed, Shepard" Teana called from near the door into the ship, in the airlock.

"The engines are online" Garrus said. "They're about to take off!"

"Is there anyone still aboard who can help us?" Shepard asked Traynor.

"No" she replied. "I was only there because I helped with the Normandy retrofits back on Earth. Everyone else is on shore leave."

"Okay, you know this ship inside & out. Can you get us inside?"

"There's an emergency exit hatch for evacuations. It should be right… here!"

She pried up a panel on the floor, revealing the hatch in question. Shepard knelt down to examine it.

"Manual lock," he said, "and it's only meant to be opened from the other side. Any ideas?"

"From this side?" Kaidan said. "Maybe a small and very precise mass-effect field…"

There was a sudden buzzing, whirring noise as Traynor held her mass-effect toothbrush aloft.

-Break-

"If you told me this morning that a toothbrush was going to save the Normandy," Shepard said as he led the group through the crawlspace, "I'd have been very skeptical."

As they neared the CIC, they felt as the ship uncoupled from the dock and began flying away, zooming low over the Citadel's 'arm'. At the command podium, Clone-Shepard and Brooks looked out over Deck Two as mercenary forces patrolled or worked at terminals.

"Sir!" one reported. "Just before takeoff, Normandy registered a perimeter access alert – one of the security hatches."

"Him" the clone replied. "Where?"

"Unknown. When we shut the AI off, we disabled a lot of security systems. Shepard could be anywhere on the ship."

"'Shepard' is standing right in front of you! Are we clear?"

"It's better this way" Brooks interrupted. "Wouldn't you rather take him down yourself?"

After a few seconds, Clone-Shepard followed Brooks into the elevator.

"Armory" he told the merc. "Find him and slow him down!"

As the mercs began combing Deck Two, they were unaware of Team Shepard and Teana quietly crawling down the pathway beneath the flooring.

"Pretty sure we broke Traynor's toothbrush getting the hatch open" Shepard said quietly. "Remind me to reimburse her for that."

"…Hey Shepard, remember to reimburse Traynor for her toothbrush" Ashley said.

"Later. Remind me later."

"All right," one of the mercs was heard above as the team silently crept further 'back', toward the CIC, "get a patrol going. Find Shepard. The real one."

"Hey, what did he mean by 'slow him down'?" Another merc asked. "We're allowed to kill Shepard if we have to, right?"

"The boss said 'slow him down' because he thinks we're cannon fodder."

"Oh. Well… shit."

Reaching the end of the passage, Shepard held up three fingers, then two, then one, and then clenched a fist and bopped the hatch-open button with it. Immediately the team sprang out from beneath the floor and opened fire on the very surprised mercs. The mercs took cover as best they could, and soon assault-rifle and pistol rounds were flying from both directions.

Wrex laughed gleefully as his shotgun blasted a merc. "I've always wanted to do this!"

"You always wanted to have a firefight on the CIC of my ship?" Shepard replied while using his Valiant to snipe a merc 'heavy' coming out of the war-room.

"And it isn't even my birthday!"

Teana switched Mirage to 'shotgun mode', rushing in and blasting two mercs with close-range 8-guage shots that pierced right through their shields and armor. Kaidan hit a merc with a Reave attack, and while the Biotic energy was still ravaging the man's body Liara hit him with a Warp, triggering a Biotic detonation that blew the merc to bits and also killed two who were close to him. Garrus' Phaeston and Ashley's Avenger cut a few more down, helped by Tali Energy-Draining their shields away. Soon the CIC was clear.

"EDI, this is the real Shepard. I need you to lock down the Normandy. Can you help us out? …EDI, do you copy?"

"Guess she's got problems of her own" Garrus said.

"Let's get to the cargo bay."

As they neared the elevator, Shepard saw something unexpected sitting on a crate nearby: his hamster cage, with hamster still inside and alive (though understandably spooked), with a note on the cage.

"'Please send this to an animal shelter for proper disposal, as a warship is not an appropriate…' Oh, that is not okay! He messed with my hamster! Now it's fucking personal! …Guys? Were you gonna say something, or… No, no, I get it. Hard to even find the words… Should we check on my fish? 'Cause, if he's getting rid of all the pets… We should… probably deal with him first, huh? …All right. Sit tight, little buddy. If anybody gives you trouble… go for the eyes."

Kaidan hit the elevator controls, and after a few seconds the doors opened. Shepard, Ashley, Kaidan, Wrex, Garrus, Liara, and Tali managed to just barely squeeze in. They looked to Teana.

"Uh…" the armored girl looked at the filled-to-capacity elevator. "I'll just… stay up here, keep an eye out for more mercs, maybe take care of the hamster. If you really need me, send me a call and I'll take the next elevator down."

Shepard nodded and hit the controls for Deck 5, the elevator closing and beginning to slowly carry them all down.

"So Tali," Wrex spoke up, "you been practicing with that shotgun? Still remember that fast-reloading trick I showed you?"

"You know," Tali replied, "I've taken care of myself for the past few years."

"I know. I'm old and I worry, even though my favorite Quarian is all grown up and killing Reapers."

"You're like the crazy head-butting uncle I never had."

"How 'bout you, Liara? You ready?"

"Absolutely" she replied.

"Really? No worrying? No emotional concerns? You've grown up, T'Soni."

"Well, I did recently discover that I'm one-quarter Krogan."

"Ha! I knew there was a reason I liked you."

The elevator let out a soft chime as it stopped at Deck 5, the doors opening to allow the team to pile out. Weapons were raised and ready as they visually swept the cargo bay, seeking their target. And eventually, they spotted Clone-Shepard as he casually strolled out from where James usually hung out… now wearing a set of N7 armor exactly like Shepard's except with blue stripes instead of red.

"Well," Shepard said, "that's creepy."

The clone ran to the side while firing his rifle, and the team dove for cover, with Shepard returning a few shots.

"You wanna stop shooting up my ship?" Clone-Shepard shouted from behind cover.

"It's not 'your' ship" Shepard replied.

"It will be! I've taken your name, your Spectre rank, even your fingerprints!"

Shepard crept out from cover, slowly and cautiously advancing. "And then you left me to die… only I didn't. You think fake fingerprints are going to fool the Council? Or my mother? Or Hackett? …How's that big plan looking now?"

Shepard suddenly brought his Omniblade up to bear, blocking the strike from Clone-Shepard's blade as he came from the side. After a couple seconds, they broke off and got some distance, and Brooks came out of hiding.

"Hatchet Squad to the shuttle bay!" she ordered while firing her shotgun.

Mercenaries came pouring in, and the members of Team Shepard began to engage them.

"Hey Loco, you copy?"

"Loco here. You cut through the jamming?"

"That we did, sir" Kal'Reegar replied. "They had it pretty heavily defended, but we got through and shut their jammers down."

"Commander," Teana called in, "the cockpit door's locked! I can't get through without destroying the door! You want me to?"

"Hold off for now, Lanstar. If I tell you to, or I get killed, break that door down and stop this ship! Until then, though, let's try to hold off on property damage!"

Shepard rolled to dodge an Incinerate blast from his clone, and then hit the clone with an Overload, partially draining his heavy shields. Clone-Shepard fired his assault rifle, chipping away at Shepard's shields, but Shepard hit him with a Biotic Throw that staggered him long enough for Shepard to get to cover and let his shields recharge. Brooks tried to flank him, but a blast from Wrex's shotgun near-totally drained her shields, and she cloaked and retreated.

"Commander," Cortez radioed, "the Normandy's prepping for a jump to FTL!"

"Can you get into the cockpit?" Joker added. "Like, soon?"

"Negative! I'm occupied in the shuttle bay!"

"Roger that, Commander" Cortez replied. "We'll proceed with Plan B."

"Plan B? The hell is Plan B?"

"I am Commander Shepard!" the clone shouted.

"Are you kidding me?-!" Shepard replied. "You're nothing more one more mercenary thug!"

"I'm overriding the sky-car's safeties, Commander. I'll obstruct Normandy's path, try to get their attention."

"We're bait? Plan 'B' stands for 'bait'?-!"

Shepard and the clone sent out Combat Drones, the two constructs meeting in the middle and quickly destroying each other. They then fired Warps at each other, but the bluish energy blasts also met halfway in a mutual detonation. Shepard then hit his clone with another Overload, but this time it was followed by one from Garrus that drained his shields. A couple rounds from Shepard's SMG clipped Clone-Shepard, who swore and dove into cover to apply medigel, while his underlings engaged the real Shepard to hold him off.

"You ruined everything!" Brooks shouted. "My plan was perfect!"

"Except for the part where you're losing!" Wrex replied.

"My team is just as good as yours!" Clone-Shepard called out.

"A team?" Shepard replied. "You have minions! And you're running out!"

Liara took out three mercs with a Singularity-Warp combo, while Wrex and Tali used their shotguns to deal with a couple 'heavies'. Ashley and Kaidan double-teamed a half-dozen more mercs, while Garrus caught Brooks in the side with some Phaeston fire, one bullet piercing through her shields and hitting her in the arm; she cloaked and retreated to fix herself up. Shepard and his clone rushed each other with Omniblades drawn, locking blades and trying to outmuscle each other. After several seconds the 'real' Shepard won, slashing across the clone's armored chestplate and leaving a comparatively shallow cut across his chest. The clone shoved him back with a Biotic Push, and fell back to heal himself.

Suddenly, the ship began to rock and lurch back & forth, throwing everyone around for a bit.

"What the hell's going on up there?-!" Clone-Shepard radioed the pilot. "Get us out of the nebula and jump to FTL!"

"We can't!" the merc pilot replied. "A sky-car keeps blocking our path!"

"Then shoot it!"

As the Normandy II began firing its 'light' forward guns at the sky-car, Cortez and Joker put the little machine through its paces, nimbly dodging each shell fired at them.

"Damn it! Launch the shuttle, and blow that thing out of the sky!"

The ship's forward hatch opened, and the Kodiak flew out to engage and pursue Cortez's sky-car. The door remained open, a thin mass-effect field keeping the atmosphere in, and the ship continued to sporadically rock and sway as Cortez persistently kept his little vehicle in the frigate's path. Shepard and Clone-Shepard continued exchanging gunfire, tech attacks, and Biotic blasts, while Garrus and Tali began fighting Brooks into a corner, and the others handled the mercs.

"You should've stayed in the archives" Brooks said. "I tried to make it clean and painless!"

"I can win this war!" Clone-Shepard shouted. "All you have are the vain hopes of a tired old man!"

"This 'tired old man' is kicking your ass!"

"I am Shepard!-!"

"Are you kidding me? Conrad Verner is better at being me than you are!"

"You're just cybernetics! Scarred, worn-out Cerberus tech!"

"You know where I got these scars? On Elysium! On Noveria, and Feros, and Virmire, and Ilos! On Horizon, and Pragia, and the Derelict Reaper, and the Collector Base! On Earth, and Palaven, and Tuchanka, and Rannoch! I earned these scars protecting the galaxy! You got yours from a petri dish!-!"

Clone-Shepard roared out in anger, his body glowing blue, and Shepard responded in kind. The two Biotic-Charged toward each other, meeting in the middle with a shockwave that nearly flattened half the hangar bay. They immediately flew into a fast-paced Omniblade duel, also trying to blast each other with Biotic and tech attacks. Shepard dealt his evil clone a few more slashes, and then tackled him. The momentum of the blow, however, sent them both rolling down the opened hatch of the ship. Weapons forgotten, they stood up near the edge and began pummeling each other.

Suddenly, the ship lurched again, and both men lost their footing. They were both left clinging to the edge of the opened hatch, side-by-side, their lower halves dangling over the edge as the Citadel sped by below them. Due to injuries, tiredness, heavy armor, and the turbulent nature of their battlefield, neither were able to pull themselves up.

"Look at you" Clone-Shepard growled. "What makes you so damn special? Why you and not me?"

"Shepard!" "Hang on!" "We've got you!"

The entire rest of the team came running, Tali and Ashley grabbing on to Shepard and pulling him up while Garrus and Wrex held onto them in turn. Clone-Shepard tried again to pull himself up but wasn't able to, and when he looked into the hangar he met eyes with Brooks… who, after a few seconds, turned and walked away.

"Thanks" Shepard said as his comrades helped him up. He turned to his clone, and after a few seconds of thought he made his decision.

"Here" he said. "Take my hand."

"And then?" Clone-Shepard asked.

"And then you live!"

The clone looked around at Shepard's onlooking team, and then back to his original.

"…For what?"

And he let go.

Shepard turned away just before his falling clone slammed into the side of a building with instantly-lethal force. Seconds later, as they walked back inside, the Normandy II pulled up from its course and began to head back towards the docks.

-Break-

"Fortunately," Cortez said as he, Joker, and Teana strolled into the hangar, "they weren't here long enough to do much real damage. Although, I may need some help from James cleaning up the damage to the shuttle bay."

"Plus," Joker added, "they overloaded the heat diffusion system firing at us. Not sure if you noticed, Shep, but Shuttle Guy here did some crazy stunt-flying to keep us in one piece."

"It was nice to fly something a little more maneuverable than the Kodiak" Cortez remarked.

"What about EDI?" Shepard asked. "Is she back online?"

"I am once again fully in control of the Normandy II" the AI replied.

"Glad to hear it. What about the mercs? Any survivors?"

"Just one crappy-ass pilot" Joker replied. "And her…" He pointed to where Brooks was in cuffs, under guard from Cortez and Teana. "Alliance is taking her to a high-security facility. Maybe she can give them some dirt on Cerberus."

"I'll be more than happy to cooperate with the authorities" Brooks said with a little smirk.

"Maya, I know that tone" Shepard said.

"Do you, really?"

"You're getting a chance to redeem yourself" he said as he walked up to her. "Don't waste it."

"So serious… Admit it. Some part of you liked having me around, looking up to the legend. We had some laughs" she said as he turned away. "And who knows? Maybe we'll have more someday."

"No, we won't" he replied as he got closer to her again. "Because you're going to stay in your cell and do your time."

"Afraid I'll escape, come back for revenge? Is the great Commander Shepard pleading for his life?"

He got right in her face, and spoke in a low, dangerous tone. "I'm pleading for yours…"

The cocky expression dropped off her face, replaced first by surprised fear and then by resignation. "So thoughtful… Then I suppose I'm off to lockup. …You know… he wouldn't have let me live."

"You can't clone everything…"

"In the old days," Wrex said as Cortex and Teana marched Brooks away, "we'd have just shot her." He sighed. "Good times…"

-Break-

As the Normandy II pulled back into dock, with multiple C-Sec sky-cars flying in to take up position around the area, the hangar-bay hatch lowered to let the gang out.

"The rest of the squad's waiting outside, Commander" Cortez said. "We'll have the Normandy back in shape in no time."

"Well…" Garrus sighed as they all began making their way down the ramp. "What happens on shore leave stays on shore leave."

Shepard laughed. "Come on. Maybe we can take some actual time off. No explosions or anything. Just us."

"I don't know about the 'no explosions' bit," Wrex replied, "but 'just us'… sounds perfect."

-CHAPTER END-

The next chapter will be another original bit with no game-canon equivalent. It'll also be shorter than the last two.