Zenna sighed as she looked out of her apartment's room watching a kid around 8 years old playing with a toy of an alliance fighter. The kid didn't notice the minotaur as he played but the fact was, he was enjoying his youth. Or maybe he couldn't see her as she was behind tinted glass. Either way Shepard just watched the boy playing. The smile she had dropped as she remembered her own childhood. That being of scavenging for food and being experimented on. Not a pleasant childhood.

Ever since she got back, she had been stripped of her rank and placed on house arrest. Then the trail was about to begin something happened to a Batarian system that halted their trail. Now she was only kept around in case it was the reapers. As an Alliance Kodak flew by Shepard smiled and gently moved away from the window as she tapped a few times on a OSD. At that moment James walked in. The marine only wore shirt and trousers allowing him to show his mussels. As he entered, he saluted.

"Commander," he said.

Like most humans, James wasn't a demi-human. But with the mucles of his, Zenna had to think that he ad some minotaur in there somewhere.

"You're not supposed to call me that any more James," Zenna chided. "Well not yet anyway,"

"Not supposed to salute your ether. Any way the defence committee wants to see you," he said standing to the side.

"Sounds important," she said and threw the OSD onto her bed and followed James.

As soon as they stepped out into the hallway, she noticed the people running in both directions. "What's going on?" she asked as she caught up to James

The marine shrugged. "Dunno all I know is the committee wants to see you,"

As they began walking a familiar figure appeared in the crowed walking up to them. Shepard just smiled a bit.

"David," she said.

"Admiral," James saluted.

"You look good Kira," Anderson said as they walked around a corner. "Maybe a…." he paused but fell silent.

Minotaurs, as a general rule, were very particular about their figure. Mentioning it was a good way to get one's face caved in. The Admiral quickly coughed and changed the subject.

"How are you holding up after being relieved of duty?" Anderson asked.

"It's not bad once you get used to the hot food and soft bed," She admitted with a shrug.

He just smiled at that. "We'll get it sorted out."

"What's going on? Why is everyone in such a hurry?" the Commander noted as even more marines and officers moving around as fast as they could.

"Admiral Hackett is mobilising the fleets," David answered. "I'm guessing words made it to alliance command, something big is headed our way."

Sheppard stopped at the bottom of a flight of stairs and looked at Anderson who had stepped on a few stairs ahead of him. 'Something big' could only mean one thing to them both.

"The Reapers," she said gritting her teeth.

Anderson turned around and looked at Shepard with a serious face. "We don't know that, not for certain anyway,"

Her eyes narrowed a she looked up at him "Liar," she stated. "You reek of fear," David said nothing but nodded. "You know humanity let alone the galaxy is not ready, not by a long shot,"

Anderson just nodded in agreement. "Tell that to the defence committee."

Zenna walked up to him. "Unless we're planning to talk the reapers to death the Committee is a waste of time."

"There just scared." Anderson defended as the two walked. "None of them have seen what you have seen. You faced down a Reaper. Hell, you even talked to one then blew the damn thing up. You've seen how they harvest us, what they plan to do to us. You know more about this than anyone,"

"Is that why they grounded me and took away my ship?" she shot.

That sentence almost crossed the line. Anderson stopped in his tracks and looked at her, eyes fierce.

"You know that's not true. When you blew up the Batarian relay hundreds of thousands of Batarians died," he angrily said.

"It was either that or let the Reapers through our back door. I did the only thing that was left." Zenna countered.

"I know that and so does the committee," he defended. "If it wasn't for that you would have been left in the brig to rot. But I doubt that would have done much, knowing you,"

"But is that your good word?" she chided knowing the man in front of her.

To her surprise he nodded. "Yeah I trust you and so does the committee,"

Zenna's face fell before she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I understand but Anderson I'm a soldier not a politician,"

"I don't need you to be ether." Anderson said before walking again with Kira and James in tow. "I just need you to help us do whatever the hell it takes for us to stop the Reapers,"

They approached a security room. As the door opened a red-haired officer turned to them.

"They're expecting you two. Admiral," she said before leading them into another room.

As Anderson and the officer walked ahead to talk to one of the guards James decided to give the ex-commander his best.

"Hey Shepard." he said getting Zenna's attention. "Good luck in there."

James then shook the minotaur's hand before talking for a bit.

The guard then finished checking Anderson's and Shepard's details before walking off and allowing the Admiral and officer passed. As the officer walked ahead a woman dressed in blue armour to the Admiral.

"Anderson." she said before noticing Shepard over David's shoulder, seeing her commander just made her smile.

"Shepard." she exclaimed.

Hearing that voice Shepard just turned around to see her standing next to the Admiral. "Ashley," she smiled as she walked up to the two of them.

"Lieutenant commander, how did it go?" Anderson asked.

"I can never tell with them; I'm just waiting for orders now." The hu-hound sighed.

"Lieutenant commander?" Shepard said with a smirk on her face.

"You didn't hear?" Anderson stated.

"Well, no, but then again I have been incommunicado for the past 6 months." she said walking up and standing next to the Admiral.

"Yeah," she said smugly. "Sorry,"

The minotaur shrugged. "It's ok I'm just glad I bummed into you,"

"Me too," the marine smiled

"Admiral," the red-haired officer said walking up to the three of them.

Anderson and Shepard became a little tense but followed the officer. As Zenna walked past Ash she nodded with a charming smile. Shepard did the same as she walked after Anderson.

OOOOO

Shepard and the others just saw a video transmission from London. Even from that short video made her grit her teeth.

"Why haven't we heard from Hackett?" Anderson asked.

"What doooo we dooooo?" the owl demi-human asked.

Zenna turned to them. "We fight, or we die. That's the plan,"

Before anyone could say anything, a Reaper fell out of the sky. Everyone turned to watch their mouths wide open. Just them a red beam came from one of its tentacles.

"Move!" Shepard yelled but it was too late.

But it was too late the beam hit the tower sending everybody running towards the door. But Zenna and Anderson got hit buy the beam and the debris falling from the ceiling. Zenna got knocked out by both.

"Shepard!" Anderson yelled.

Shepard woke as she saw Anderson came up towards her fast. Fully awake now she yelled in pain as something felt wrong with her arm.

"Shepard are yo..." Anderson trailed off as he saw Zenna's arm. "Shepard your arm it's..."

Zenna looked at her arm to find it dislocated, that's when the pain hit her and badly. She cried out in pain holding onto it. Gritting her teeth, she got up and looked at David.

"You may want to look away." she said. "What I'm about to do is disturbing."

Anderson just nodded and turned around. Zenna took hold of her shoulder, closed her eyes and jerked her shoulder forward yelling in pain as she did so. There was an audible crack and her arm was corrected. David turned to the commander once again, now understanding why he was told to look away.

"Did you just..."

"Yep. But that doesn't make it any less painful." she grunted rubbing her shoulder.

Nodding Anderson handed Zenna a spare pistol and both of them made their way onto the outside structure. They watched for a few moments as Reapers descended from the sky. They looked at each other before moving to the next rooftop. As soon as they did Shepard used her comm.

"Ash, do you read me?" she yelled as she and Anderson moved across the rooftop.

"Commander, I'm with Vega, we're heading to the Normandy but we have ran into some resistance. But we're moving." Ash said.

As Zenna and David rounded a corner and crossed the roof to a nearby apartment. The door to it was locked but before they could open it a moan sounded. They both looked to the edge of the building where four human husks emerged. But these husks where armoured and had weapons in place of their right arms. The husk's aimed and fired. One of the

Anderson took aim with his pistol and fired at the Husks but the rounds bounced off the shells.

"Shit," she whispered.

The Husks stopped firing and approached the two slowly. Gritting her teeth, Zenna jumped out of cover and charged at the husks before her. They tried to fire her weapons at her. But outside of scratching her, they mostly missed as she barrelled towards them at her full speed. She slammed into one sending it over the edge and into the water. She then turned to the other one and grabbed onto one of it's shells and pulled. The husk yelled out in pain and tried to throw her off, but thanks to her grip and strength, Zenna refused to budge. A loud snap sounded and the shell came off with a bit of blue blood.

The husk jumped away and aimed at Zenna, but several inferno rounds hit its soft flesh causing it to yell out in pain. The minotaur turned and smiled to see Anderson aim and fire his pistol at the husk. His aim on point, despite his advanced age. The husk burst into fire before Zenna kicked it off the edge.

But the moment's respite didn't last long as Reaper then fired in their direction as it tried to hit a frigate above the two. The door unlocked and both of then went through. Ahead was another locked door. Shepard walked over to it and opened it with some difficulty. Normally she could open it with ease but the damage due to weapons fire made it quite weak.

Anderson when through the gap. Shepard was about to follow but a noise detracted him. Letting go of the door she walked over to an office space before she heard a clunk. Looking around she then spotted an air vent she walked over to it before crouching down. Inside was the child who was playing on the rooftop earlier.

"Hey," she said calmly.

"Everyone's dying." the boy said shaking his head.

"Come on I can help," Kira said offering her hand.

"You can't help... no one can help," he said tears falling down his face.

Shepard was about to argue but the sound of a Reaper made her look to see one walk by. She then turned to see that the child was gone.

"Shepard." Anderson said getting the commanders attention. "This way."

Shepard looked inside the vent once again but there was no sign of the child. As she got up and followed Anderson through the door. The next few rooms had caved in and David was moving some of the debris out of the way. Zenna helped.

The two quickly came out of the rubble they tried to contact Ashley but the communication was garbled. Thankfully Anderson said that he saw a gunship crash nearby and the beacon could be used to contact the Normandy. Agreeing Shepard moved on ahead. As they moved onto a glass building a Dreadnought was firing on a Reaper but as it fired its main weapon it exploded.

The shock-wave shattered the glass that Anderson and Shepard were on. They slid downwards to the riverside. There was part of the crashed gunship and two wounded troopers. One of them however had his legs under some rubble.

"Hold still." Shepard said as she moved up to the frame and lifted it freeing the marine.

As she tried to help out several rounds peppered around her forcing her to look at the other end. Her heart sank as she saw what she was facing.

At the other end stood a minotaur. But it was all wrong. It had multiple horns along the crown of its' square head. Armour had been fused to its torso with its arms removed. Replaced with mantis like claws. Fire fell out of its mouth indicating that it had more than just claws. It roared with a jet of fire coming out of its mouth melting some of the metal around it.

Fear gripped her as she looked at the minotaurian husk. This is what she would become if they catch her. But that wasn't what was going though her mind. Regardless of clan, or lack thereof, loyalties among the minotaurs was strong. They looked out for each other even if they were on separate sides. Like a family in a way. So seeing something like this done to her fellow minotaur hurt Zenna more than her conversion into a Chimera.

Her eyes blazed with anger, her muscles twitched with fury as she looked at the abomination in front of her. This insult to the minotaur race. She roared, louder than she had before causing allies and enemies to cover their ears as they heard it. But the minotaur responded in kind but was muted by Zenna's own roar. It stopped and jumped up and toward her. Zenna cased her roar and jumped back as it landed where she was. Her eyes focused on it; teeth barred.

Anderson saw what was going to happen and helped the two injured marines away from the upcoming battle. The two growled and roared at each other before charging in. Normally, they would lock horns, but Zenna avoided that due to the mouth flamer. She inside dodged to the side and slammed her foot into its side. It roared and reacted quickly using it's mantis blade to get her in the leg and slash her across the face. She stumbled back holding onto her bleeding wound.

Despite it's size this thing, this monster was fast. She couldn't treat this think like a tank, or something heavy and slow. Deprived of her battle axe, she needed to think of a way to take this thing out. She reached over to her pistol when she realised, she did have something to take this thing out. It attacked her again, but missed as she rolled out of the way. She then grabbed her pistol and messed around with a few of the settings.

"Don't worry, your pain will be at an end," she muttered as jumped on the monster and ripped off a section of it's neck.

It roared in pain as she shoved the pistol into the neck and jumped off. As it turned to face her, the pistol detonated killing the minotaur and showering the area with it's guts and mechanical parts. The cannibals gave her no rest as they fired at her. Shepard lobbed a grenade at the cannibals. The high explosive grenade detonated almost killing the cannibal's but the floor underneath them fell into the river. A large building frame then fell into the water as well allowing Zenna and David to cross. They moved across where the cannibals once where and moved fast across the pontoon to the crashed gunship. Anderson moved up to the beacon and activated it while Zenna looked out.

"This is Admiral Anderson, Normandy do you read?" Anderson half yelled.

"Admiral it's Joker we have a lock on you ETA 5 minutes." Joker said over the comm.

"INCOMING!" Zenna yelled as several husks and cannibals came into sight.

They both took cover and started taking pot-shots at the Reaper forces. But as the husks fell the cannibals ate the corpse's making them hard to kill. They were running out of ammo fast. The final laser bolts hit a cannibal in the head. It fell into the sea. They had no grenades left just then a rumble and the buildings in front of them exploded. A large blue snake with glowing vain's emerged from the ground it had 9 head's each one roared and began to eat reaper forces.

"We are royally screwed," Zenna muttered.

Anderson just silently agreed. As the Reaper forces approached the sound of metal on metal sounded and just then the Normandy appeared and fired the main gun at the creature forcing it back into the sea. It then made its way to Anderson and Shepard. The cargo bay ramp opened and Shepard ran towards it as Ashley and two troopers appeared providing cover. She then jumped and landed on the Normandy.

"Welcome back Commander," Ash said.

"Good to be back," Zenna replied.

"Shepard." Anderson called. "I'm staying those marines back there, there's going to be a lot more. My place is here,"

"Anderson we're in this together," Zenn yelled back

"Yes, we are." just then the Admiral was interrupted by a Kodiak flying by. "But you need to rally the galaxy, get allies, reinforcements while I stay here and take out the Reapers here." he then took out a set of dog tags and threw them at Shepard.

Zenna caught them and looked at Anderson. "I'll come back with reinforcements. So don't you dare die on me old man." Anderson just laughed out loud before saluting. "Good luck."

The Normandy then took off. As it started to move into the upper atmosphere Shepard saw three Kodiak's getting civilians on them. One of those people was that boy that she saw from the building. As a Reaper approached the boy climbed onto one of the Kodiak's before taking off with another Kodiak. But they did not get far as a Reaper shot them down.

Zenna looked away as rage built up in her. The Normandy then sped away from earth.