Cursed

by Hookshot25

Clayton Carmine has only known hate and carnage for so many years. But once he survives the war he hoped to die in, things get strange. When people need help he isn’t one to shy away, and while helping Baird he gets sent to a place in dire need of a man like him. A man that can’t be claimed by death as easily as his kin.

5. As Warm A Welcome As Any

The air was thick with tension. The training room had gathered a small crowd as Zaeed warmed himself up on one side of the sparring mats.

Shepard seemed nervous, she'd witnessed Zaeed handle Krogan with little to no issue before. Who says Carmine walks away from this fight as the victor. "Carmine you know you can back out right? We can go settle you in, and I can debrief you on our next mission." Shepard's offer was once again rejected by the prideful gear.

"Ah come on Shepard, us gears don't back down. I got this. Trust me." As he turned to Zaeed who had changed out of his chest armor leaving only his pants and boots, Zaeed scoffed "No armor, amateur."

Carmine balled his fist, then began removing his chest armor, gauntlets, and shirt, putting them next to Shepard "Anyone touches my shit kill 'em." Shepard chuckled but when she looked into Carmine's serious gaze she gave him a nod and swallowed, her eyes darting down to his naked torso. Although covered in sweat, dirt, and grime he still looked to be in peak condition.

Carmine nodded back and turned to face Zaeed who, along with everyone in the room got a good look at the scars that adorned his back, the crowd ooo'd and aaah'd at the muscular physique of their newest crew member. His body was covered in scars, even Carmine had lost count of how many marred his skin.

"Heh seems appropriate an amateur like you would have that many scars, tsk tsk. Too careless on the battlefield."

Zaeed's taunts barely phased Clayton, and as the two approached one another he spoke low and menacing, "War does a lot to a people. I'll be happy to show you what it's done to me."

Zaeed's cocky attitude quickly disappeared, a small smirk danced on his lips before he spoke.

"First to lose consciousness?"

"If you can even last that long old man, sure."

Zaeed noticed Carmine had an decent amount of facial scarring too, similar to his own. Not nearly as gruesome as the one that marred Zaeed's own features, but close.

They separated, evenly spacing themselves from one another, before they began Shepard spoke up.

"Alright, this will be a fair contest, I will stop it if things get out of hand. Other than that, don't hurt each other too bad."

Kasumi stepped up next to her and piped up momentarily "Betting has officially closed!" Shepard shot her a glare and she shrugged, retreating back past the sparring mat.

She looked to Carmine and saw nothing, his glazed over eyes sent a small shiver down her spine, 'Let's hope he keeps himself in check.' Shepard thought as she backed herself up to safety.

As soon as Shepard removed herself from the mat the two men began circling each other, sizing one another up. The crowd instantly getting into it, chanting and cheering. A setting which, oddly enough, Carmine was used to.

Carmine was the first to strike. Throwing a wild haymaker at Zaeed, which he easily avoided. Sliding out of the way, and throwing a sharp knee into Carmine's stomach eliciting an "Oof" from the large man.

As Zaeed retracted his knee he began rapidly throwing strikes at Carmine, landing most on his chin. Carmine was getting his ass whooped, and the crowd was responding wildly. Whenever Zaeed couldn't hit his face, he struck the body with fast, sharp punches.

Shepard looked nervous, maybe she overestimated his fighting skills, maybe she was too rash in thinking he was nothing more than a human bulldozer, her thoughts were broken as Kasumi noticed the worried look in her icy blue eyes.

They watched Carmine wildly throw another punch, Zaeed quick to counter. Carmine didn't look winded, or hurt. His blank, glazed over stare was all anyone could see on his face.

"Want to put some money on him Shepard? We both know Zaeed is capable, but Carmine doesn't look even a little tired." On cue Zaeed landed a killer uppercut, a loud snap could be heard, and Carmine seemed hurt.

He backed himself up almost to the edge of the mat, taking a knee. But he showed no signs of exhaustion, sure he was sweating, but other than that he wasn't breathing heavy, nor did his facial expression change. Definitely not matching the beating he was taking, bright red spots which were soon to bruise were scattered along his torso.

Zaeed laughed at the state of his opponent, too slow to avoid the damage he was dealing, he stood tall and cockily paced back and forth, taunting the big man in the process, "What's the matter whelp? Can't handle someone who hits faster than some Krogan?!"

Shepard was about to step in, she couldn't bare watch as her newest recruit was beaten and battered, a new cut opened on Carmine's face, a slice going down the side of his left cheek, courtesy of an elbow, dripped fresh blood onto the floor.

Kasumi put her hand out to stop Shepard, "Give him a second Shepard." She looked to Kasumi with bewilderment "What do you mean? That shot definitely broke something, this is getting out of ha-"

Her attention was drawn back to a now fully stood up Carmine, to her horror his jaw slacked, no doubt dislocated from the powerful shot. With one hand Carmine forced his jaw back into place, opening and closing his mouth. He spit a glob of stray blood out and smiled, his eyes no longer emotionless, he looked excited.

'Oh he has no idea does he? A little pain is all we ask for and this is all he can do for us?! I'm done playing around, just can't kill him, gotta keep that in mind.'

His teeth were stained slightly from his bleeding mouth, but he smiled menacingly. It was the most frightening thing Shepard had seen from someone who was taking that kind of beating. But that didn't stop him from approaching Zaeed again. Shepard couldn't help the odd tingle that shot into her when she saw Carmine's predatory like gaze. His steel eyes dilating, his pupils almost turning into slits.

Shepard, without hesitation threw a couple thousand credits on the line. And earned a small fist pump from Kasumi in return. Shepard allowed herself to survey the room. She noticed almost immediately the gender disparity, most of the people in attendance were female, 'I guess I'm not the only one with candy eyes for Carmine.' She thought with a small huff as she tucked a stray set of of hairs behind her ear anxiously.

Carmine tucked himself down more, and raised his fists. Zaeed laughed "Ha, maybe you've got more to you than I thought whelp!"

With that he charged Carmine. With frightening speed, Zaeed threw an overhand, which Carmine caught with ease yanking him froward into a knee that met with Zaeed's chin, sending him backward. Carmine gave him no breathing room.

He began peppering Zaeed with shots, brutal, almost bone crunching punches to his body as Zaeed tried to protect his head. Gone was the slow behemoth, throwing wild punches.

Zaeed was quick to counter a blow, but the punch that smashed into the already damaged jaw of Carmine barely moved him. The bloody smile on Carmine's face grew larger, "You're weak."

The crowd instantly swung around in Carmine's favor, chants of his last name could be heard through the extensive room.

"Beat his teeth in you giant hunk!"

"Break Im' down big guy!"

"Hell yeah, nothing can stop you Carmine!"

"Let me have your babies Carmine!"

Shepard shook her head slightly and glared in the direction that last comment came from.

Shepard felt she should step in soon, Carmine was getting brutal, he wasn't using elbows or kicks like Zaeed was. But he was picking him apart with elite level boxing. That and she could tell the female crew were getting a little too riled up, even she was getting flushed watching him fight with such precision and skill. Of course, him exposing his muscular flesh had its own impacts, no matter how sweaty, bloody, or dirty he was.

Right as she was about the break them apart Carmine grabbed Zaeed by the throat and threw him to the center.

Carmine saw his opponent's knees buckle slightly as he protected his head 'Done playing with our food big guy. End this.' The little voice in his head echoed as he approached a stunned Zaeed. Who was winding up to throw a last ditch effort punch, but Clayton was faster.

Carmine reads the attempted punch, throwing a right hook to Zaeed's body, dropping his guard. The following right hook that smashed into Zaeed's jaw knocks the man out cold. As Zaeed's lifeless body dropped face first into the mats everyone started cheering.

The losers grumbled and muttered, tails tucked between their legs as they exited the training room. While the people who bet on Carmine were currently getting their cuts of the fight winnings from a smiling Kasumi. She ushered them out of the room, feeling like Carmine would probably prefer his space to being swarmed by the audience. Although some took their time leaving, admiring the gear from a distance

Carmine stood over Zaeed, sweat ran down over the rough muscles of his chest and back. Trickling down him like a stream down the side of a mountain. Shepard smirked, as her eyes raked along his chiseled abs, to his chest, flicking over every scar she could find.

To her surprise when her eyes reached his face he looked worried. He quickly scrambled to get Zaeed, who was already waking up, into a sitting position.

"Ha, you really know how to fight. What do they call you whelp?"

"Clayton Carmine, but you can just call me Carmine. Sorry if I broke anything." As he helped Zaeed to his feet the older man swatted his hands away "Just a part of life Carmine, like being proved wrong. Ah shit!" He grabbed at his ribs and chuckled.

"Seems like I'll need a trip to the doctor. Take care Carmine, I hope we get to fight together some day, nobody will stand a chance kid."

As Zaeed slowly walked his way out of the training room, dragging his gear behind him Carmine sheepishly ran a hand through his sweaty hair. Shepard thought it was cute how concerned for Zaeed he'd become once everything was over. Another part of his personality had been revealed to her.

However as she did another once over of Carmine's body she almost went slack jawed.

Shepard could barely believe her eyes, she rubbed them slightly. Most of the bruises that began covered him were already faded, as if he'd gotten them a week ago rather than a few short minutes. "How is that possible?" She muttered, grabbing Carmine's attention as he looked over to her.

'Well besides breaking that old guy's ribs it seems we've made quite the impression on cherry over there.' Carmine let a small smirk come to his face.

Carmine was something else entirely, and it aroused her curiosity to no end. But what really excited her were his steel colored eyes, which observed her curiously. His smirk became a smile and a blush shot onto Shepard's cheeks as she averted her gaze, running a stray crimson lock behind her ear. Her eyes flicking back to his upward turned lips, tracing the most recent addition to his scars.

'What the hell are you doing creep? We both know she's hot, but quit staring, especially with our shirt off. Put our gear back on now, before people start asking questions.' Carmine's smile dropped immediately, followed by a low growl as he shook his head and wandered back over to Shepard.

"Great work out there big guy, looks like you've earned me a few extra bucks." Kasumi appeared next to Carmine and slapped him on his bare back. She looked over to Shepard and began again "You already have his Omni-Tool registered and set up right?" Shepard nodded her head and sifted through the contents of her front left pocket.

"Perfect, I'll transfer your winnings as soon as possible."

"Winnings? Wait never mind I don't want to know." Carmine laughed lightly and shook his head.

Carmine watched curiously as she pulled out a small black wristband with a chip as the centerpiece, he also noticed Kasumi's hand lingered far longer than it should have and moved a step away from her. "Thanks for reminding me Kasumi. Normally this is implanted under the skin but we do make more portable ones fortunately for you Carmine."

Shepard gave him a smirk which he returned after slipping his bloody shirt back over his head along with his armor and gauntlets. The light blue bulbs sparking back life as his armor returned to its owner.

"Thanks for keeping this safe cherry. So uh. What's this supposed to do again? Help me understand other languages and stuff, so I'm not popping grubs left and right?" Shepard's smile grew with the little nickname he gave her.

"Anytime Carmine. Omni-Tools are used for other things as well. You can do research on different species, planets, even specific people if you so please. It also has plenty of other interesting and tactical features. Here put it on and see what you think." She handed the band to Carmine who held it for a moment.

Kasumi held his helmet in front of her, remembering what she'd been meaning to tell Carmine "Oh before I forget, the Omni-Tool should link with the technology in your helmet. I noticed a communication device implanted in it while I was observing it. So it should be an easy transition for you to access Shepard or whoever else in the field. Also you still owe me some answers, I'll swing by your room later though, no need to rush."

She extended his helmet to him which he took graciously, hanging it off the handle of his boltok.

"Huh, thanks Kasumi, that's fine with me. You ever take my helmet again without my ok, we're going to have a problem. Alright?" He noticed Kasumi shiver slightly and nod her head.

'Hmm she doesn't smell afraid, maybe she's just cold, that skin tight suit doesn't exactly look warm. Pretty revealing actually, damn she has nice hips. Ah Ah, cut it out Clay, back to the wristband.' He shot her a small smile and gave her a thumbs up.

In reality Kasumi was the exact opposite of scared. She really enjoyed the "matter of fact" tone Carmine had to his voice, and his little look over of her body shot a prideful shiver through her spine. Kasumi had to stop herself from saying things that would be more appropriate in private conversation, all in good time.

As he gently scratched the stubble on his chin, Shepard noticed the cut on Carmine's cheek had scabbed over, and wasn't bleeding anymore.

She couldn't keep the question to herself, "Carmine, how is it that your cut is already closing up? I know Chakwas mentioned some accelerated healing but when we were on Omega you bled quite a bit, you even had to get your wounds sealed up by the doctor herself."

Carmine simply shrugged his large shoulders "I wish I could answer that one for ya Shepard. It seems random when I heal faster or slower. Maybe it's just the circumstances. I'm not sure."

He shook his head slightly and slipped his left gauntlet off. Snapping the band on his wrist, a large orange hologram, similar to the ones Shepard and just about everyone else had popped up just above his wrist. "Holy shit! Cool!" he shouted as he messed around with it. Shepard and Kasumi shared a laugh as they watched him.

Carmine slipped his gauntlet back on over the wristband and was surprised to see it going through his hand armor. Shepard was about to run him through the basics when the hologram began to fizzle and faze in and out. "Ah shit, I break it already?" He smirked nervously.

Shepard laughed "Ha, no Carmine, sometimes the wristbands just bug out a little, here let me see." As she placed herself next to him, the faint smell of strawberries hit his nose and he quickly slipped his helmet off his boltok and onto his head to avoid showing the blush that made its way to his cheeks, 'Damn Strawberries!'

Shepard pulled up her own Omni-Tool and was about the start troubleshooting, suddenly the tool on Carmine's wrist flashed off for a second, reappearing the same color of the lights on Carmine's armor. EDI's voice spoke gently in Carmine's ear through his link, "Hello Carmine, I apologize for invading your helmet. I'm just letting you know you've successfully linked your Omni-Tool to your helmet's technology."

Carmine jumped slightly when he heard EDI but settled himself rather quick "Thanks EDI."

Shepard looked confused as ever, she'd never seen an Omni-Tool change color, ever. "Did you say EDI? Did that whole color swap link you to your Omni-Tool?"

"Yeah, seems that way. Pretty cool if you ask me, now I won't get lost with EDI in my helmet." The three shared a laugh.

"Of course Carmine, I'll be happy to assist you whenever you may need it, if you would like I can integrate a small section of my programming to your helmet in order to assist you."

Carmine thought for a minute then shook his head "Not necessary EDI, but thanks anyway. As long as I can contact you I'll be alright."

"As you wish."

Shepard showed him the basics of how everything worked with the Omni-Tool, and although he wasn't very apt with the hacking aspects of the technology stating "I was never really good with computers." followed by a sigh.

He did pick up on the basic quality of life uses for the device, the research, translation, and other aspects were easily taken up as Shepard finished her tutorial.

"See, that wasn't so hard." Shepard flashed him a smile and continued, "Now I can bring you to your quarters." He nodded and waved to Kasumi as she gave his a piece sign and vanished. He chuckled "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to when she does that." Shepard shot him a smirk "Me neither big guy."

"That's the whole point Carmine, hehe." Kasumi's voice could barely be heard, she was already on her way out, but Clayton heard her, and her giggle. It made him smile, he enjoyed her company, even though he did try to crush her windpipe but that wasn't technically his fault.

As Shepard led Carmine toward the exit of the training room his helmeted head tilted downward, practically staring at the rather tight jeans the commander was wearing, 'Well Clay, we've always been an ass man, and this place has no shortage of great hips.'

As his thoughts ran rampant, Kasumi's voice could be heard ever so slightly, "My my, seems Carmine has an eye for curves." Carmine straightened his view immediately as his neck started to get hot, Kasumi's giggled and Carmine grumbled as he heard the sneaky woman pitter away.

A few crew members greeted them on their way to the elevator. They made their way down to the bottom floor, which housed the engine, Zaeed's quarters, and a multitude of other areas. "Holy shit this ship is massive." Shepard heard Carmine mutter as they made their way past the engine's core. She chuckled and led him through the shuttle bay.

"There wasn't time to make proper accommodations so unfortunately we only have this spot for now, luckily we found a bed to fit your rather *cough* unique build. I won't lie to you, it's no 5 star hotel, hell it's not even a 1 star hotel. However there's plenty of space."

They'd made it through the bay to the storage section of the ship, Shepard led him to a door which opened up into a secluded section of the small warehouse, crates lines the walls obviously having been moved last minute to make accommodations. The "bed" was a thigh high crate with two mattresses fitted to its top with straps, and pressed to the steel wall. A few tables, a comfortable looking sofa as well as a nightstand beside his bed, it was a pretty sizable room overall. Carmine shrugged his shoulders and let out a sigh, 'More than I've had in a long time.'

He began to pull off his numerous weapons, setting them on a long table at the foot of his bed, once his weapons were off he began cleaning them. As he stripped his boltok apart Shepard approached the table and stood next to him.

"Thank you Shepard, I'm honestly just glad to have my own space. I prefer a spot like this anyway, always some noise. Helps me sleep." She was shook slightly from the sound of his deep voice resonating through the room. She then noticed the gentle hum of the engine and humming herself.

"Of course Carmine, if you'd like to stay here long term that can be arranged." She began to stare at his hands as he worked. He'd taken off his gauntlets, and she could've sworn he'd done the action a thousand times over with how fast he pulled the massive revolver into its base pieces. Just like the rest of him, his hands were large, and scarred. Thick digits pulled, twisted, and jiggled the mechanical pieces of his revolver, so efficiently in fact that Shepard found herself entranced by his hands as well as his weaponry.

Carmine noticed she was observing his firearms and as she reached out to grab one she looked up to him, his helmeted head nodded and Shepard smiled as she picked up his gnasher.

"Damn this thing has some weight to it." Shepard huffed as her biceps worked to move the gun around in her grasp, inspecting it. It gave Carmine a chance to peek over and watch her. He found himself entranced with her arms, the short sleeved shirt she wore hugged her small muscular arms rather tight. Even though she was small, he could tell she had power with those guns. It wasn't the only thing being hugged tight, his eyes trailed to her decently sized chest and he quickly averted his gaze, 'Not the time, nor the place to be ogling Carmine. I do love strong women though. Got Sam to thank for that.'

He then smirked as his eyes couldn't help but travel back to her, specifically to her face, an almost childlike wonder was plastered on her features and she removed a spare shell from the side and held it, "Wow Carmine, what did you have to kill with such big rounds. I haven't seen gunpowder based munitions in a long time but this seems like overkill." The shell was easily taking up her whole grip, almost like holding a miniature soda can.

Carmine laughed heartily and Shepard smirked. She really enjoyed his laugh. It was deep and genuine.

"The grubs were big sons a bitches. Thick hides too, had to develop stronger weapons to deal with them. And the gnasher is one of my favorites. No better kill than overkill."

Well this was it, if she was going be out in the field with him it was now or never to ask more personal questions, 'At least he's got his helmet on.'

As she turned the shotgun over in her hand and traced her finger along the carved tally marks, of which there were seemingly an endless amount of. "I'm assuming you killed a lot of those things with this?"

Bingo, another laugh, she smiled innocently as his helmeted head turned towards her, "Yes ma'am, to be truthful that isn't even the amount anymore, ran out of space."

"So how many of those locust have you killed." She noticed him stiffen, his hands working overtime to put his now cleaned gun back together, she was bewildered as it seemed his attention was fully on her now, but was putting the gun back together just as fast.

It was silent for the next 10 seconds but as soon as he clicked the last piece together and cocked his revolver he snapped out it, turning his head back to it as he reloaded and unloaded it.

"I lost count after a while. The COG kept record of all that shit but in my honest opinion it probably wasn't enough." He lied, he knew exactly how many grubs he'd slaughtered over the years, constantly checking, constantly doing his absolute best to increase that number.

Shepard could see he was hiding something, but decided to ignore it for now, replacing the shotgun in her hands for the crossbow type weapon she'd seen him use on Omega. The large blades on it were retracted but as soon as her hand found the grip they extended, she held it in one hand as the other felt the sharpness of the blades. She felt strong being able to hold one of his weapons so easily.

Carmine was busy wiping the spare gunk off his boltok with a spare rag, but as the blades of his torque bow extended with a sharp swoosh he snapped his head over to her.

He cleared his throat nervously as he put his large hand over the one Shepard has placed on the noticeable lighter weapon, and took it from her. Shepard looked to him with a quirked eyebrow, tilting her head slightly.

"Some weapons we took straight from the grubs themselves, their symbol is etched onto every one, this is the torque bow, and my revolver is called a boltok." He pointed to the locust cross on the side of the bow.

Shepard looked even more interested than before but before she could ask to hold it he continued, "It would be best not to mess with this one, I trust myself and only myself with it. The tip of the arrow has an extremely contagious and volatile fluid called imulsion in it. It's basically a parasite but also a fuel source, weird I know. You can touch anything but this ok?"

She nodded her head and he placed the bow back on the far side of the table and placed his boltok in front of her.

"Carmine, could you maybe tell me more about the war, how it came about? What happened to you?" As Carmine was reaching for his lancer he stopped halfway and sighed "I suppose I owe you some answers huh? Alright, best have a seat for this." Shepard acted quickly grabbing two chairs and taking a seat.

He couldn't help but smile seeing her so ready to listen to his story, but he didn't know if he was going to able to tell it all. There were things she didn't need to know, but as she sat there patiently smiling and tapping her foot gently, he knew he couldn't help but let her know what he'd been through. At least, the basics of it. "Just so you know, I'm not leaving until I get a solid answer out of you, and don't try to lie." she said narrowing her eyes with a smile causing the big man to chuckle.

"It all started with E-Day, or Emergence day. The locust rose out of the ground in populated cities all over the world, killed whatever they could find, men, women...children." She noticed Carmine clench his hands tight, she rested her chin on her fist as he continued.

"It was realized pretty soon into it that we needed to combine our efforts as a whole if we wanted to stand a chance against the grubs. In the end it didn't matter. The grubs overwhelmed us. The COG's higher ups were forced to destroy populated cities that the grubs were taking over." Carmine reached a hand up and took his helmet off and got up to place it on the nightstand next to his bed.

'Well so much for the helmet. Keep it together Jane, this is important.' Shepard's face burned momentarily as his messy, dirty hair popped into view, going down the back of his neck a smidge.

He began removing the rest of his armor and when he turned back to her Shepard noticed the pained look in his eyes. Same as he noticed the attentive and apologetic look in hers. He hadn't opened up about the war to anyone really, even with Sam he kept his lips tight. He'd already started though, and he couldn't leave his story unfinished, especially not for the person keeping him fed and housed.

After he sat back down he kept going, "They had no idea how bad it was down there, in the shit. I enlisted early, earlier than I should've. I was always a big kid, so at 16 I easily passed for 18. They didn't care, they just needed more bodies to throw at the grubs before they launched the hammer strikes. Probably didn't help that we were coming off a separate war not too long before the grubs popped up, left us unprepared, weak."

She looked a him quizzically "Hammer strikes?"

He was quick to respond "The COG utilized imulsion to develop a destructive and powerful weapon, the hammer of dawn. But it needed orbital satellites launched around the world for it to work properly. The device that sent me here was made by the same man who worked on the hammer, Adam Fenix. The hammer sent down a beam of pure destruction from the sky as long as you had a satellite overhead. Luckily most of the people in the blast radius were immediately turned to ash. The hammer could be used in small doses too, was great to splatter whole groups of grubs with it."

Shepard's eyes softened further, "I can't believe your government would just throw away all those lives." She spoke softly and Carmine chuckled with grim undertones. He scowled and continued.

"After witnessing what the grubs were capable of all I wanted was to get through the war and see my brothers again, so we could all be together. It had been a couple years after I joined up that we had our first solid plan to fuck the grubs up that didn't involve the hammer. But even that didn't work out, and the grubs came back twice as strong." His dark, bitter tone and furrowed eyebrows caught Shepard's attention.

"You don't have to keep going Carmine. Just tell me what you feel comfortable with." Her calming voice snapped him out of his rage, and he met her eyes. A weak smile came to his face as her icy blue eyes met with his, her soft lips curled up into a smile, and with that he found the strength to continue.

"I found out my parents were in one of the cities that got struck by the hammer. It didn't feel real, at first. But as my commanding officer took me aside and told me, it became reality. I didn't even think we'd still been hitting cities since it obviously didn't stop the grubs from popping up in more places. I was wrong though."

Shepard gasped lightly as Carmine's posture returned to its rigid state, she could feel the heat coming off of him, the rage, even with the space between them.

"I'm so sorry Carmine." He nodded appreciatively toward her, his gray orbs darkening as his head tilted downward to stare into the floor.

"I had my brothers though. I was still pretty young but more importantly I was angry and that's what kept me alive, but in between firefights I'd just get so scared for my brothers. We'd all enlisted. All four of us, once they became eligible of course. I wouldn't let them join up like I did. Not after what I'd seen the grubs do. By the time our parents died my youngest brother just entered boot camp. I was 20, the rest of my brothers were green as grass, but they were fighters. Nothing made me more proud knowing they were giving the grubs what for."

Shepard kept quiet and read his face, his smile came for a moment before a frown carved into his features. Shepard heard his knuckles crunch from how tight they were becoming as Carmine rested them on his thighs.

"Then Anthony died helping get the 'super weapon' to use against the grubs the first time around. I fell, hard. All I did was work out, push my body past it's limits, to be bigger and badder than the grubs. I was going to make the grubs pay for taking one of my brothers. And I did, I tore the grubs apart, I fought with desperation to get back to my two surviving brothers in one piece. I was so fucking naive to think I'd get to see them again. The grubs has already taken so much from me, but..."

He was starting to lose his composure, he stood and walked back over to the table at the foot of his bed and picked up his boltok and tried to load it. Shepard hesitantly stood back up and inched her way over to the gear noticing instantly how steam was coming off him, she could feel the warmth coming from him even being 10 feet away.

"But it was never enough for the grubs." His voice startled her, it was deep and menacing, he basically growled it out through his clenched teeth.

"They kept taking and taking."

His hands began to shake more violently, and as he failed to chamber a round for the third time he threw the gun down on the table scattering the few spare rounds he had across the table top. He stared down at his trembling hands.

"After the colossal fuck up that was the light mass bomb, the next grand plan was to hit the grubs where it hurt. Operation Hollow Storm.." Shepard could practically hear his teeth grinding, his jaw clenching harder, the trembling of his hands spreading to his breathing as she watched his back rise and fall unevenly.

"I'm the oldest you know. Anthony was the second oldest, David was the third, and Benjamin, was-" His shaking hand reached back and pulled 3 cog tags hanging off a chain, and a slightly crumpled letter stained in blood from a pouch on his waist. "Benjamin was the runt, squirt."

"Carmine?" She noticed a long streaking scar that disappeared behind his hair, but started near his right temple, it looked to be a bullet wound. She saw the tags, the same design that dangled from around his neck. Shepard felt her own dog tags and her heart truly sank, it was all he had left of his family.

"They took them all from me, my parents, my brothers, everyone. I tried so hard to get them to take me, no no I wasn't just gonna let them have me, they had to earn me!"

He was slipping back into his memories, her heart broke hearing the conviction in his voice. "They took them from me like it meant nothing! They tore me apart day in and day out, but I was better, bigger, badder. They did that, they made me a monster. Shot me, stabbed me, burned me, it didn't fucking matter!"

They locust took his whole family from him. She didn't know how to stop him, she could see him shaking, could feel the heat from him, saw the wild look in his visible eye. His shirt stretched to accommodate his rapid breathing. The tags in his hand clanking together over and over as his shaking intensified.

"Those worthless grubs couldn't even fucking! Kill! Me!" He slammed his fist into the wall leaving a massive dent in it as Shepard rushed to him, wrapping around him from behind in a hug as best she could as the big gear's erratic breathing slowed. He felt Shepard's small body press into his lower back, his mind still plastered with images of his brother's brutalized bodies, and the ash remains of his parents.

Shepard pushed her face into his rather hard lower back as his tremors started to falter.

"Why couldn't they just take me?" She heard his voice break and squeezed him tighter. A few stray tears dripped down his cheeks, which he quickly wiped away. "They took my baby brothers, my old man, my ma. Why couldn't they take me?"

Carmine began to take slower, deeper breaths. As he did he noticed the small arms of Shepard wrapped around his waist, as much as her being attached to him seemed to help calm him, he needed to finish talking with her.

Carmine gently pulled her hands off of him and turned to her, her hands still gently in his grasp "Sorry about that, where was I?"

Shepard pushed down the blush that threatened to push its way to her face, and swatted to butterflies in her stomach, "It's alright Carmine, you don't have to continue if it's too much. I really appreciate what you've already shared. Im sorry for what you had to go through Carmine."

She looked up to him with pride, their eyes met, steel on ice. "But you did what you had to do, you survived, and from what I can tell, only having spent a little over a day with you, you're a good man." She noticed his eyes were still a little watery and her hearted ached. All she wanted to do in that moment was make everything better.

He left go of her hands fast and cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck, a slight tint of pink flashing on his cheeks briefly before he walked back over to the chairs and sat down, Shepard couldn't help but notice the blush and smirked, finding her chair and sitting back down. He tucked the letter and the tags back into a pouch.

Carmine took a spare rag out of his pocket and doused it with canteen water, washing his face off. "To make a long story short, I was happy once. I had a family, cute little house in the country. But it was all ripped away from me. And now here I am, the mass murder machine you know as Clayton Carmine." He held out his arms wide and put on a fake smile. He hated crying, especially in front of others.

Shepard was surprised he shared so much of his life with her. It only made her admiration for him grow, knowing he trusted her with such information. He let out a little yawn, which she thought was one of the cutest things she'd seen him do.

She laughed lightly and stood up, him following. "I see you're rather tired, thank you for sharing what you did Carmine. Honestly it means a lot. Those tags are a lot like mine ya know." Shepard pulled hers and jingled them in front of her. Carmine chuckled and nodded, pulling his out and doing the same with a little shake of his head.

"It seems that way. As much as I'd love to continue this conversation you're right, I'm beat. Maybe you can fill me in on the next mission in a couple hours?" He checked his Omni-Tool, "How does 3 hours from now sound?"

Shepard nodded her head and smiled "Sounds great, you can just come right up, the captain's cabin is on the top floor." She watched as he pulled his chest armor toward him and take a seat on his bed. He starting to clean it, his arms flexing while he worked. Shepard bit her lip gently as she watched 'Calm down girl, not the time.'

"So you only plan on sleeping three hours?" Shepard asked as she twisted a lock of red hair between her fingers.

"Nah, I gotta clean my guns and armor, that'll take a bit. Never needed much sleep on the front lines. I just need about an hour or so to recharge. The grubs around here really make a mess." They shared a chuckle as he started scrubbing at his armor hard with a rag.

"Make sure you do sleep Carmine, you're not on the front lines anymore, you can afford a couple hours rest. That's an order." She smiled as he rose from his bed and saluted.

"Yes ma'am!" Dropping his salute, Shepard walked over and extended her hand to him.

She was certain he'd been honest with her. So she was more than happy to have him aboard, to stop the collectors of course. And not just because he's the most attractive man she'd ever laid eyes upon. That was only half of it, she enjoyed his personality as well, not just his layers of hard, chiseled muscle, those were a bonus. All she'd wanted to do was help him, but she knew from their talk that his trauma is extremely severe. Even with how big and strong he is, he's just like everyone else, and that was comforting to Shepard. To see his humanity.

"I'm glad to have you on board Carmine." His eyes flash down to her hand and back to her eyes, he smirked and stood up. He reached out, grabbing a hold of her hand and tugging her gently into him.

"Wooah!" He pulled her flush against him and wrapped his arms around her, thankfully the blood that was soaked in his shirt only went to about his chest. He was a sweaty mess but surprisingly didn't smell all that bad to Shepard, like gunpowder and pine. She smiled and closed her eyes, nuzzling into his surprisingly soft body, slipping her arms snuggly around his waist. "Thank you for listening Shepard." She heard him mutter above her, "Yer welcom." She muttered back, her speech impaired from her face being buried in Carmine's shirt. He hated human contact normally, but he was fine with this, she didn't judge him or pity him. She just listened, and that was worth a single hug at least.

Shepard's muffled response caused the big man to chuckle, the vibrations coursing through him into her. Leaving her with a warm feeling throughout her body. She softly moaned into his shirt.

The smell of her arousal had reached his nose, and Carmine blushed extremely hard. Shepard's eyes widened, 'Don't tell me I just did that!'

Almost at the same time the pair split, blushes covering their faces, "I'm sorry, I uh, didn't mean to do that, that was extremely unprofessional. I'm going to just take my leave, sleep good Carmine."

"It's all good I...should probably get to rest, my armor can wait. Oh and do you think you could get Jacob or someone to manufacture some more ammo for me, I'm not running low but it's always good to stay stocked."

Shepard turned to face him avoiding his eyes, nervously curling a bit of her red hair, "Of course, I'll just need a sample of each bullet in order for Jacob to fabricate what you need. We can discuss it later."

"Thank you Shepard. Oh and could I possibly get some clothes, unfortunately I only packed the one set." Carmine said followed with a light chuckle.

"I've already discussed that with Kasumi, you should have your new clothes within the week. Nothing fancy, just normal wear, short sleeved shirts, sleeveless shirts, jeans, numerous bits of tactical wear, a couple pairs of shorts and so on. Fortunately for us, Doctor Chakwas managed to get your measurements." Shepard replied with a small smile and a wink as she looked up to meet his eyes

"Awesome, and thanks again cherry I mean it." The combination of the his smile and his nickname for her sent Shepard into overdrive as she broke eye contact immediately, turning to leave.

"Don't m-mention it Clay." She stumbled slightly before she reached the door, standing back up straight, and patting herself down before releasing a deep breath, and exiting his room. His eyes tilting down to watch her impressive lower half as she power walked out of his room, he noticed to pitter of Kasumi's footsteps as she followed Shepard out, "Guess she got her answers too."

Carmine chuckled lightly, "Well that could've gone worse," he let out a relieved sigh, "Great legs and a great listener."

'Seems we like her. Reminds me a lot of Sam. You can see it in the eyes, and the legs. I miss her, Sam. But now she won't have to worry about me at least. Can be with Baird, no interruptions.'

Carmine let out another sigh and a grumble before slipping his shirt off, followed by his boots. His tags jingling as he flopped onto his new bed.

"I hope this works out. Hmm I wonder if I can-" Carmine pulled up his still very blue Omni-Tool.

"Hey EDI, could you set me an alarm for about 3 hours from now." He waited momentarily before gently shaking his wrist and tapping at the wristband.

"Done, would you like anything else Carmine?" Her rather eager voice came through the communicator and he smiled. "Nope, thanks a lot EDI."

"Noted, sleep well Carmine."

'Man I wish you could see this shit Benny boy. You would've loved this space stuff. I miss you guys so much.' Carmine looked over to his tattoo, three helmet and three names along with the rest of his tattoo's design.

"Sleep well guys," he slipped the tags and letter out, wrapping the chain around his wrist and hand, tossing the letter carefully onto the nightstand next to his helmet. His chained hand slipped the large jagged knife out from the sheath behind him and held it close. He never went a night sleeping unarmed, "I know I probably won't."

Carmine fishes around in his back pants pocket and pulls out the cube, "What the hell?" The four pieces were held together by blue strands of energy, the cube wasn't whole yet, but it looked like it was reforming. Carmine hummed and placed the reforming cube next to his helmet.

"Maybe we just don't go back. Shepard and her crew need a ruthless fuck like me around. I'm not going to abandon them, just to go back to not having a purpose. I need this, I need to help them. If anything it'll be a nice momento to have to remind me of Sera."

With that last statement muttered, Carmine closed his eyes and settled down on his back, his knife clad hand resting on the middle of his chest.

---

Sam ran her hands through her hair for the 20th time in the last 10 minutes, you'd swear she was going to tear it out. She stood outside the laboratory door that had been kicked in inside Adam Fenix's office. She'd been waiting there for hours.

The battered door swung open, and a pissed off looking Marcus stood before her, "Sam, this isn't good. Don't lose your head, got it?" His sergeant's tone never faltering.

"Where is he Marcus?" She asked anxiously.

When Marcus came back with Baird instead of Carmine she knew something had gone wrong. It had been almost a full day since Baird and Carmine disappeared in the first place. She started to worry almost immediately after she saw Marcus.

"Just come inside alright? Baird is going to explain it all. Just-" he grasped the bridge of his nose and sighed, "Don't kill him." He muttered as he walked back into the lab, Sam following directly behind.

Marcus led her to a very nervous looking Baird, he was playing with his hands, the only times Sam ever saw Baird this distraught was when he fucked up, or something bad had happened.

"Tell her what you told me."

"Marcus I don't think-"

"Tell her now or I will!"

Baird slumped and took his goggles off his head, putting them on the desk behind him and walked over to the two gears.

"Sam, Carmine is gone."

"What?" Sam's teeth clenched and her fists curled into fists, you could hear her knuckles crunch from the tension.

Marcus smacked Baird on the back of the head, "The hell is the matter with you." Baird rubbed his head with one hand and shrugged, "Ah damn, what did I do?"

Marcus shook his head, "Genius my ass." He turned to Sam, "He's not dead, at least that's what Baird says, just gone."

Sam unraveled her fists and stared at Marcus confused "What do you mean gone?"

Marcus looked over to Baird and Sam followed his gaze. Baird nervously rubbed the back of his head "Weeeell, after Carmine helped me in here he may or may not have found a device that allows a person or people to travel to an alternate dimension. It was an accident, I wasn't paying attention, and you saw how drunk he was starting to get, he wandered and found this."

Baird held up a small glass container with the a metal cube in it. He handed it to her and as soon as she got a hold of it she reared back and smashed Baird in the face with a punch that sent him reeling backwards, sitting him down in a chair.

Marcus quickly got a hold of her as she thrashed about and spouted off all sorts of insults.

"You small dicked, blonde, receding hairline fuck! I'll bloody kill you!"

"Sam stand down now!" Marcus was starting to struggle, she was really starting the get revved up. He laughed a little on the inside as Baird nursed his bloody nose.

"Hey! I didn't make him touch the cube you fucking banshee!" With that comment Sam doubled her efforts to be freed.

"Baird! Not helping!"

She struggled for another couple minutes before slumping in Marcus's grasp, "Fuck you blondie, send me wherever he is so I can go get him!" The venom dripped with each word she spoke.

"No, you're not going alone, the rest of delta is gearing up as we speak. I'm not letting another Carmine die out there. Clayton's probably fine though, even drunk, you know how much of a force to be reckoned with he is. I bet wherever he is he's fine."

Sam relaxed slightly and Marcus let her go, she placed the container down next to Baird's goggles and turned her sights on him, "What? Come to finish the job, ugh." He groaned as his nose already started to swell.

"Shut it cunt, and let me check you out. If anyone is going to get Clayton back to me-errr us, it's you. So let's just make sure that's not broken. For what it's worth I'm sorry I hit you."

Baird looked at her skeptically as Marcus smirked behind her, "Ugh fine."

As she checked his nose Anya came over the coms link, "Marcus I grabbed Cole, we're almost there."

Marcus put two fingers to his ear and responded "Sounds good Anya, did Cole bring Carmine's mulcher?"

As if on cue Cole burst into the room, all geared up, the massive chain gun that is the mulcher in his left hand, Clayton's signature Grub Killer painted on the side in red and white paint, "Oh hell yeah baby! Clayton's gonna love having his favorite toy!" Anya popped out from behind the behemoth of a man that was the Cole Train and walked over to Marcus.

She noticed Sam examining Baird's swollen nose and raised a questioning eyebrow, Marcus sighed, "Just more of the same, she didn't take it very well."

"Ha, well that's Sam for you. Always so protective over her man. He's been in her sights since before hollow storm." She leaned an elbow against Marcus and he smirked, wrapping an arm around her shoulder pulling her into him. The two shared a small kiss, just a peck.

Sam finished her examination on Baird's not broken nose and joined the three other delta members. "So how's this gonna work mate, do we just touch the little cube thingy and get sent to Clay?" Baird shook his head.

"First off. Only four people can be sent at one time, if more than 4 go on one trip it leads to-" Baird picked up a stray piece of paper and began to read from it, "Overall Mass Incineration. Which matches what Carmine was yelling about before he got sent off. Apparently the process burns quite a bit, and in the tests, anytime 5 live subjects or more were attempted to be sent, they burned up to a crisp and turned to Ash before being transported. Luckily we can bring jack and our weapons though."

They all looked to Baird like he had grown an extra head, "Hey don't look at me, your Dad built it." He pointed at Marcus who sighed and nodded, "Fair enough. So who's going."

Before anyone had a say, Sam immediately spoke, "Me obviously."

Marcus nodded, and Baird slowly got up and walked over to her, "I owe it to Clay to help bring him back. It was mostly my fault after all. And let's be honest the big guy has taken bullets for all of us before, gotta pay him back somehow. I'm also probably the only one who knows how the cube works, I'll be able to send us home safely."

"Alright that leaves one slot, since Carmine has to come back with you." Marcus said as Cole placed down Clayton's blood stained mulcher and put his hand up high.

"Oh it ain't Delta 2 without Carmine baby! We going all the way for our fourth member! Who better than us to bring him back." Marcus smiled at his friend, "Alright that's everyone. I wouldn't trust any other group to help bring Carmine home. Baird, how soon can you get after him?"

Baird walked over to the main computer, snagging the cube's container along the way, and placed it into a machine next to the computer, "That's what I had been trying to figure out when you stumbled across me Marcus. Apparently the cube has a copy which Clay should have on his person if he didn't forget to pick it up, which is a big if. But from what I can gather the cube was damaged on Carmine's end, he'd have to repair it somehow in order for us to get anywhere."

Sam growled to herself, "What the hell. Does that mean he's just stranded, or dead!?"

Baird was typing away, "Ah, no he's definitely not dead, the cube apparently links to the lifeforms it sends, Adam developed a program to track the vital signs of whoever goes through. He's doing just fine by the looks of it."

Sam's head perked up and she relaxed. "Oh thank fuck. The only issue I see here is Carmine getting that cube repaired. Let's all be honest here, Carmine isn't exactly technically gifted. I'll be the first to admit it, big bugger can barely use a computer."

Marcus nodded and Baird clapped his hands together gaining the attention of everyone, "Alright so the cube is on his person, and apparently it's started it's own repair. The notes your old man left stated that the program tracks those bonded to the cube, and after a load of successful trip the cube would be split into pieces, it will slowly start the repair itself if it's close to the person or people it's bonded too. The program tracks how close the other dimension's cube is to being repaired as well."

Marcus walked over to the computer where Baird was furiously typing away, "And how long is that exactly."

Baird looked up to him, "It's shorter based on the amount of people sent, so we're in luck there. It's also lucky that we'll be able to be sent back with no issues, apparently the cube's damages don't happen frequently, it makes more sense now that I think about it. Your dad was probably doing multiple tests, trying to find an out besides the one he eventually came to. The cube was already worn down from so many trips."

Marcus grumbled as Sam came on the other side of them and gripped the back of Baird's chair, "Didn't answer the question blondie. When can we go get Clayton?"

Baird stopped typing and sighed, pinching the bridge of his swollen nose, "I was getting there. According to the program the cube on Clay's end has already started repairing itself, so even if he leaves it somewhere it'll still get done by itself. That whole process is going to take around a two weeks. Unfortunately for us though, he has to be within a certain vicinity for it to work."

Sam ran a hand though her hair as she watched the timer on the computer tick down, "When you say vicinity you mean-"

"He basically has to be holding it."

Cole let out a huff, "Alright alright let me get this science shit straight. First that little cube is gonna ready to go in two weeks," Baird nodded having turned the chair around to face the rest of the team, "Then Carmine has to be holding it for it to work," Baird let out and sigh and nodded again, "So all of us need to be in here at that exact fuckin' time Carmine holds the damn thing? How the hell are we gonna even know it's ready?"

Anya spoke up, "We can set up constant supervision of the cube in here, we'll have to keep it quiet though, so there will always need to be one of us in here. Baird is there something the cube does to indicate it's ready?"

Baird sifted through the scatter notes on the rest of the desk and turned back to Delta, "When the artifact hums gently, and a steady blue pulse is emitting from it, the repairs should be completed."

"Alright, so now what? We just wait and hopefully Clayton doesn't bloody get himself killed. That's our plan?" Sam asked throwing her arms up.

Anya was quick to answer in a calming tone, "Sam there's nothing we can do right now, if we could we would. You know he'd do the same for us. I'm sure he's fine, you know more than any of us how capable he is."

Sam's expression softened as she adjusted her hair into a small ponytail, "Yeah, I know..."

---

Three grenadiers stood behind the bloody and battered Carmine brother, the rusted hooks that stuck from the skin of his back had chains attached to them, as well as a collar around his neck. His blood dripped steadily down his back.

The first grenadier grabbed a hold of the chains and yanked, effectively getting a yell of pain from the eldest Carmine. They laughed as they pulled him out of his containment unit and out toward the bright bubbling lake of imulsion near the edge of camp.

A younger Sam, dressed in brass armor and a military cap watched in horror through the scope of her long shot from across the river.

The plan was simple, Carmine knew his brother was stuck in the camp, a friendly tip from a gear who'd managed to escape the grubs before he was captured. They also knew that any camp they'd raided that housed slaves usually went fubar and the grubs would kill all their captives before they'd be killed themselves if defeat was imminent.

So Carmine had the bright idea of infiltrating the compound via surrender. He knew the stakes, and Sam was very hesitant about it all, she really like him. They devised a signal that Clayton could give her via sniper scope that would allow them to begin the attack while he freed the prisoners and found his brother. She'd flash her light at him from her vantage point if and when she saw him.

Sam turned her head, she couldn't bare watch the man she cared for brutalized by the grubs, she'd already lost her father, she couldn't lose Clayton too. But his mind was set, and their squad leader was always envious of Clayton, if the operation went well he'd quickly promoted and praised for his "genius idea." and Clay would have to endure whatever the grubs had in store.

Her eyes teared up as she turned back and looked through her scope watching the grubs beat on him, one even going so far as to tear one the deeper set hooks from his back, her heart sank and shattered as his roar of anguish filled the underground cavern. She chambered a round and set her sights on the grubs, growling to herself as her grip tightened on her rifle. He was going to die for nothing. They'd still raid the camp, kill the grubs, and collect the tags they could find. That's what they did with the other slave camps they'd cleared.

She watched as they unclipped the chains from his back, the main grenadier holding the chain to his collar pushed him toward the lake. Sam's heart dropped, but before he could start his fall into certain death, the chain connected to his neck went taut, and he was held steadily over the fumes. Large bubbles splattered onto the open wounds of his back with imulsion, as well as the fumes that seeped into the open cuts. She could see the pain in his face, even with the adrenaline in his system, he was suffering.

She saw him grab at the chain and try to reel himself back up, even with the beatings and the torture, he still had the strength to pull himself up enough to get away from the imulsion. Sam zoomed in further with her scope and noticed the imulsion that had splashed onto his wounds was no longer there. She blinked and checked again, noticing the rather bright spot on the back of his collar that was still steaming with the bright yellow substance.

"Bloody hell?" She muttered as Clayton steadily climbed his way up the chain, now with a sort of vigor. The grubs however were still laughing, distracted. They barely noticed that Carmine had fully climbed up the chain and stood on the ground in front of them. The rest happened in a flash.

Carmine swiftly pulled the boltok out of the main grenadier's holster, while grabbing its throat, tripping it, and tossing it into the bubbling river. He fired two shots, effectively splattering the remaining two grub skulls. He looked across the river expectantly and Sam was quick to come out of her stupor, flashing her light. Sam saw him give a weak smile as well as the sign.

Carmine grabbed a hold of the collar on his neck and snapped it off. Sam quickly scrambled, grabbing her flare gun and shooting it, the countersign, the signal for the raid to start. She checked back through her scope and a still smiling Clayton Carmine stood tall as he waved at her. She couldn't have been more relieved. He'd adorned himself with the grub's gun belt and had stowed his new firearm.

However as a bullet pierced his should, snapping him forward, she zoned in, tracing the round back to drone who stumbled across Carmine but before she could effective remove its head from its body she saw almost a fearful look on its face as Carmine came into view. He tackled the drone down and began systematically beating the fuck out of it. She watched with a grin as he methodically beat the drone into submission, gouging it's eyes and smashing its head into bits against the cavern floor, she wondered where Clay had suddenly found the energy.

Sam watched in awe, as Carmine pawed his gunshot wound and shrugged it off. He looked back in her direction and gave her a thumbs up, snatching the hammerburst that previously put a round through him, and trudged off to find his brother, the hooks in his back still stuck as he disappeared in the doorway he was dragged from. Sam quickly joined the raiding party as they got ready, with newfound courage that Clayton was giving them hell on the inside.

---

"Gahhhh!" Clayton shot up out of his bed, knife pointing in different directions. As he calmed down his head dipped and he sheathed his knife, "Fucking dreams." He felt his cheeks, there was a wetness to them.

"Great, just great. We are a fucking mess pal." He chuckled grimly to himself as he picked up his armor and began scrubbing at the blood stains, making sure not to rub off his signature paint job.

After he was done, and all his armor was cleaned he checked his tool and noticed it was around 4:30pm, "Damn, did me and Shepard talk that long? Or did I oversleep?"

EDI who had been monitoring Carmine's sleep via a request from Dr. Chakwas, decided to make her presence known, "You were asleep for an hour and 42 minutes Carmine. Your conversation with commander Shepard ran for quite some time after your sparring match. I've taken the liberty of canceling your alarm. Are you aware that you move a lot in your sleep, while suffering from accelerated heart rate and sweating?"

Carmine chuckled, he wasn't ever going to get used to all this technology, especially not EDI, "Thanks EDI, yeah I know all about that. Is Shepard up in her room? I'd like to go have that talk with her now."

EDI was fast to respond, "Commander Shepard is in the captain's cabin, would you like me to notify her of your departure?"

"No thanks EDI I'll just be on my way now. Thanks again for the help."

"Anytime Carmine."

Clay smiled as slipped on his boots followed by his lower gear, his leg armors, and his holster. He slipped his brother's tags and Benjamin's letter into their own pouch on his belt, and slid his helmet on deciding to leave the artifact there for now, he'd be back soon anyway. He left his chest armor and gauntlets as well, only taking his boltok which fit snuggly into its holster, and his lancer which he held.

With that he left his room for the first time, still covered in blood, dirt, and dried sweat. He sniffed the air and crinkled his nose, "Jesus we need a shower, gotta remember to ask Shepard about that," he muttered as he walked his way through to the elevator. As it opened, a woman and a man both walked through almost smacking into Carmine's lancer, which he held loosely in front of him. "Hey, sorry folks, don't mean to get in your way."

They stood starstruck for a moment before exiting the elevator, the dark skinned woman spoke first, "It's no problem, you're Carmine right? It's nice to meet you, I'm Michelle, this is my boyfriend Marlon. We help maintain the engine." She pointed to a shorter white guy with glasses who gave Carmine a little wave.

She extended her hand and Carmine shook it, his lancer still gripped in his right hand, now at his side. "It's nice to meet you two, maybe I can lend a hand sometime, I'm decent with machinery. Not so good with all this future stuff but I can lift some pretty heavy things," he said with a laugh as the couple followed, nodding along.

"That would be awesome Carmine, I'm assuming you're the one in that room down in storage?"

Carmine nodded, "Yep that's me," he said as he raised his lancer back up.

"Alright, if you're around later we might need your help, looks like you don't mind getting dirty, good, that'll come in handy down here." She smiled at him and gave him a small wave as her partner cleared his throat and tugged on her shirt sleeve, "Alright, was nice meeting you Carmine see you around hopefully."

"It was my pleasure, see you two around." He nodded to Marlon who gave him a smile and a nod back. Carmine waltzed into the elevator and checked out the buttons, "Shepard did say the top right? Hopefully it's that one." He pushed the top button, and in a matter of seconds he heard a ding followed by Captain's Cabin popping up on the panel.

Carmine smiled a walked through to stand outside Shepard's door, a notification popped up on his helmet's screen, "Huh, that's new, barely even noticed it." A whole new hud was being displayed in his helmet view.

"New message?" He pulled up his tool and noticed he'd received a message.

Hey Carmine, I managed to get that shipment of your clothes early, it's in your room on your bed waiting for you. Also I know you heard me leave earlier, I'm sorry for eavesdropping, but I'm more sorry for what you had to go through. Hopefully These clothes and your fight winnings make up for my intrusion.

-Kasumi

"Hmm, I thought Shepard said within the week?" A pretty decent sum of credits were attached to the message around four thousand. Carmine decided to message her back. Which took a few minutes as he figured out how to properly type.

Hi Kasumi, I forgive you for snooping. Next time just come and talk with me, you don't always have to be sneaking around. Thanks for the clothes, I'm just getting up to Shepard's to talk about the next mission but I'll check them out as soon as I can.

-C.Carmine

He smirked happy with his work, look at him actually being able to use technology, Baird would be proud. Carmine stood in front of Shepard's door nervous, did he knock? Or just go in?

Carmine shrugged, 'She did say pop in whenever.'

Carmine pressed the hologram and it began to open. Her doors opened with a gentle whoosh, and Carmine took a few soft steps into the room, noticing Shepard almost immediately. She'd changed out of her jeans, favoring a pair of rather high tight fitting spandex pants, he ignored the reaction his groin had to them and proceeded.

She was watching footage, which he recognized as soon as he tuned to hear the firing of his lancer. He took a few more steps and got a better view. She was reviewing the footage on Omega, just before they'd discovered him. She managed to get a hold of the footage as not to let Carmine be exposed. Before he knew it he'd snuck up almost right behind her, he looked up and smile at the large display case with model ships in it, 'She's a little collector too. Cute.'

"Didn't know I had a highlight reel." Clayton's amused tone startled the commander.

Shepard jumped in her chair, smashing the pause button and spinning her chair around to meet him, "Heeeey Carmine nice of you to drop by." Shepard said nervously running a hard through her freshly cleaned hair. He could smell it, she'd recently finished washing up, and her scent was intoxicating to him.

Shepard stood and turned pushing in her chair and bending slightly to clear some clutter away from her desk, pushing her ass out toward him. "Sorry about that Carmine, I just didn't expect you so early, don't mind the mess." She could see him through the reflection of her display case, more importantly she saw his helmet tilt downward, and she bit her lip mischievously. She took her time cleaning, even wiggling her hips a little when reaching far to swipe a few papers.

Carmine let out a low groan, and gripped his lancer tighter. "I-it's all good Shepard, before we get started do you know where I can take a shower, I'm still covered in yesterday's grub chunks and my own blood."

Shepard let out a little chuckle as she turned back to him, he sighed in relief that her rather impressive rear end was no longer in his view. "Sure, you can use my shower until we can set something up for you down there. I'm pretty sure the ones for the rest of the crew won't fit someone your height."

"Are you sure? I'd hate to intrude." Carmine replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his helmet.

'That's what I'm hoping for big guy.' Shepard gave him a warm smile, "Ah it's alright I don't mind, as long as you give me a heads up before hand. The engineers will be able to get a shower installed close by to your room pretty easily, so you probably won't have to use mine too often."

"Alright, great."

Shepard walked over slightly brushing his forearm with her hand, feeling him shudder slightly under her touch, as she opened up the bathroom, "It's all yours big guy, feel free to use whatever's in there." He smiled under his helmet and placed his lancer down outside the door, "You can check out my lancer if you'd like, just be careful, I always used to cut myself on the blades when I was a rookie."

And just like that the door shut behind him, Shepard released a breath she didn't know she was holding in, looking into her reflection and posing, she did have an impressive lower half, 'Hmm, guess all those squats have been paying off. Nice to know I'm not the only one snatching looks, he's just as guilty as I am.'

Shepard smirked deviously at her revelation, reaching down to collect Carmine's prized firearm, she was excited to check it out. She heard the water start to run and her imagination ran wild.

She smirked as she wheeled her chair over to her other table and sat, placing the large gun down gently. She imagined the water gently spraying over his broad chest, washing away all the dirt and blood, leaving a trail of his clean skin all the way down his perfectly sculpted upper half, over his scars, all the way to his di-

Shepard was snapped out of her little fantasy by a knock on the bathroom door. She shook her head, how long had she been sitting there staring at his gun on her table. Long enough to feel her arousal stain the front of her panties, she felt the heat rise to her cheeks, "Y-yes?"

"Hey Shepard could you do me a big favor and get a few things of clothes from my room? Kasumi apparently got the shipment here early." Shepard let out a disappointed noise and responded, "Sure thing Carmine, what would you like?"

"Just some underwear, socks, and a shirt will do. I think I'm going to work out if this next mission isn't going to be today."

She smiled and sent word for someone to grab the clothes from Carmine's room. She could just open the door, get to see Carmine in all his naked glory, she quickly shook that idea out of her head.

'Bad, that's very bad. Hmm but maybe he likes bad? No, ughhhh. We barely know him, calm the hell down Jane, you're his commander for Christ sake!' She groaned and took a seat, focusing on Carmine's lancer.

Finding the release she pulled the magazine free and nearly fell out of her chair when she saw the size of the rounds. "Jesus Carmine these bullets are huge!" She heard his hearty laugh from behind the bathroom door, "If you think those are big, you gotta see the ones that go in my favorite gun. Even I think those bullets are big." Shepard giggled and fiddled with his gun a bit more now that it was unloaded. It wasn't too heavy but not light. She could see herself using it if Carmine let her.

"Go on, rev up the saw. It's the lever on the side, just above the front grip." She found it almost immediately, but struggled a bit with it. When she finally pulled it down the saw sprang to life, the freshly cleaned blades whirred with that sexy chainsaw sound.

"Now I know why you love this gun." She muttered as she swung the weapon around a bit, "I saw you using it without pulling the lever in the Omega footage, how'd you manage that?"

She heard nothing for a few seconds as she practiced with the dangerous weapon, mimicking Carmine's movements from the footage she'd watched. "It's a secret, I'd have to be out there to show ya, and unfortunately I'm not presentable at the moment. I'd hate to frighten a lady of your stature." Shepard laughed heartily and shook her head, "If you say so big guy. Not like I'd mind." Shepard muttered the last bit and heard Carmine chuckle from behind the door, she felt her ears heat up and silently cursed herself.

Shepard's door opened and in walked Miranda with a pile of clothes, "Shepard, one of the engineers handed off these clothes to me and asked to...What the hell are you doing!?" Miranda's eyes widened and her mouth hung open from seeing Shepard swinging around Carmine's chainsaw bayoneted rifle.

"Ah Miranda, nice of you to deliver them. Why were you down in engineering?" Shepard said as she shut off the saw and placed the lancer back with its magazine on the table, going over and grabbing Carmine's set of neatly folded clothes.

Miranda shook her head and got herself back on track, "I was taking a trip to see our newest crew mate, the Illusive Man is quite interested in him, and wanted to have a word with him after our mission to acquire the biotic prisoner. Jack I believe is their name."

Shepard scowled, the illusive man was a sour subject, she personally didn't trust him or his motives. Unfortunately their fates were tied together for now. As she approached the door she knocked, "I have your clothes Carmine."

The door whooshed open and a shirtless Carmine stood in his pants, helmet off and a small smile plastered on his face. Shepard's eyes went big, his pants hung rather loose on him, it's obvious he just threw them on to get his clothes. Her eyes raked along his freshly washed body. Much like she'd thought, the water washed away days or perhaps even weeks of grime, blood, and sweat.

Miranda was curious, what was Carmine doing showering in Shepard's bathroom? From her view she couldn't see the big man, but it was convenient for her, she despised his methods but he could be a valuable asset to Cerberus. She had much to discuss with him. Miranda was oblivious to the rather flushed reactions that Shepard displayed, being too wrapped in her own thoughts.

Shepard's cheeks burned, she could see every distinct, perfect muscle on Carmine's upper body along with his tattoos which fit his massive arms perfectly, the bullet belt wrapped around his left arm, the memorial to his brothers on his right, and a couple others scatter around.

He seemed radiant, a healthy tanned glow to his skin. Shepard's eyes met his as she looked up to him with a goofy smirk, she couldn't believe he could get more attractive and was swiftly proven wrong, 'Oh you're going to be using my shower for a long time.' She thought as her hands gripped the clothes pile tighter, her blush spreading to her neck as her core was reacting rather violently.

Carmine's hair was still wet, darkening his decently long jet black locks and to Shepard they were practically begging to be raked through. Carmine noticed Shepard's hands tighten on his clothes and he chuckled, 'Seems a little lost in thought, happens to all of us. Let's help her out here big guy.'

"Thanks again Shepard." He reached out and grabbed them, breaking Shepard from her stupor. The door swiftly shut as she could hear the plop of his pants hitting the ground from behind the door.

"Ah, well that saves me a trip it seems, good that Carmine is here. He can answer a few questions for me." Miranda said as Shepard took a few deep breaths and shook her head moving to grab a hair tie from her desk and sat down in her chair, "Questions can wait Miranda. Do you have a status update on the upcoming mission?"

Miranda leaned on Shepard's desk and folded her arms over her chest, "Yes, the credit transfer is complete, hopefully it will just be a simple pick up if the warden cooperates."

The bathroom door opened and out walked the freshly cleaned Carmine, helmet now on. Besides the skin tight, gray short sleeve shirt Carmine adorned, he was practically wearing the same gear, his old clothes were in a neat stack gripped in his left hand and hung past his waist. Miranda's eyes shot over to him and her eyes raked over his impressive frame, biting her lip slightly.

"Damn, so I'm not gonna get to kill anything?" Carmine said with a scratch to his helmet. Shepard shook her head with a chuckle, "If it all works out Carmine we'll just be going in and grabbing the prisoner and leaving. Speaking of, it's good you're here Miranda. I'm bringing you with me and Carmine, saves me a trip."

Carmine let out a disappointed noise as he adjusted his shirt, tucking it into his combat pants. It was a pretty comfortable fabric, it being skin tight was a little different to what he's used to wearing, but he didn't question it. He caught Miranda shooting him looks, 'God what did I do to her now.'

"If you've got something you want to say Ms. Lawson go right ahead," Carmine said as Miranda tilted her head to meet his helmeted eyes, "You've got quite an interesting set of abilities Carmine, after we're done here would you mind answering a few questions of mine?" Shepard pulled her red hair into a ponytail as she settled into her chair, her eyes boring into the side of Miranda's head, 'Since when did she seem so interested in the "monster". Pfft maybe it's because that shirt isn't leaving anything to the imagination, mmm I'll have to thank Kasumi later.'

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to Carmine, don't feel obligated to just because you're under my command now." Shepard said while shooting a little glare toward Miranda, "It's all good cherry, don't mind answering more questions, you're all due some. Well, depending on the questions." Carmine rolled his right shoulder eliciting satisfactory pops from under the layers of muscle. He let out a low groan, "That's the stuff."

Shepard was glad she was seated, she crossed her legs, hoping the friction was enough to appease the ache in between her legs. If he made more noises like that Shepard was bound to lose her marbles.

Miranda on the other hand was more than welcome to it, 'He might be barbaric, but he's also rather sexy without all that mess on him.'

Carmine felt uneasy under both women's gaze as they raked over his form, trailing every perfectly defined muscle. He let out a small cough, "So uh, anything else I should know about the mission Shepard?"

This seems to have snapped her out of whatever lust filled imagery that clouded her mind as she blushed and stood, turning Carmine's lancer and retrieving it as well as its magazine, "Unfortunately no. All I know is the prisoner is an unimaginably strong biotic, much like Miranda. And that they're extremely dangerous." Carmine's head perked up when she said dangerous.

"Hmm, so maybe this will get interesting. Well, more interesting than going off to some space prison. By the way what's a biotic?" Carmine asked as he crossed his arms over his chest. Shepard gulped as she approached him with his gun, 'Why do sleves make him hotter!?'

She cleared her throat before she started, "Biotics are individuals born with traces of a certain element inside them that allows for the controlling of mass effect fields. That probably didn't help at all," she cleared her throat and rubbed her neck anxiously before looking to Miranda, "Would you mind demonstrating?"

Miranda nodded, a blue/purple glow forming around her hand. Carmine felt a tug on his free hand and looked down to see she'd been pulling on it with her biotic power, very lightly mind you, but still impressive to Carmine even though she'd barely moved him.

"Holy hand grenade that's cool!" Miranda smiled at his outburst of childlike enthusiasm.

"If you think that's impressive you'll have to see what I can do in the field." She shot him a wink and he nodded his head, "That I will, oh man. Can't wait to see you crack some grubs open with that stuff." Miranda grimaced for a second, but she'd found Carmine's presence to be rather nice compared to her first impression of him, and her expression softened into a content smile.

Shepard on the other hand had her eyes glued to where his tattoos disappeared behind the fabric of the tight fitting short sleeves. Miranda watched, holding back a laugh as the commander stared at their new crew mate with starry eyes. Shepard shook her head as she loaded his lancer and held it out for him, "You'll have to let me play around with this one at the firing range."

Carmine smirked under his helmet and took the gun rather easily in his right hand, "Sure thing Shepard, maybe after we get back from this mission."

Shepard nodded, "Hopefully it all goes according to plan for once. Well I'm going to head to the training room, if everything goes according to plan we'll be set to go sometime tomorrow, I'll make sure to contact you when we're ready to go."

"Thank you Shepard. I'll probably see you down there if this doesn't take long." Carmine said with a helmet covered smile, as Shepard passed him she let a hand slide over his left bicep. Carmine's skin shuddered under her touch.

Shepard's smile grew as she nodded to Miranda before taking her leave. Miranda looked over to Carmine, who had walked over to Shepard's desk and placed his clothes down for a moment, pulling out some kind of strap from a pouch on his thigh.

Miranda let her eyes linger, trailing down his muscular back to his legs, which much like the rest of him were practically all muscle. She got a rather fine view of his ass as well, and bit her lip as he finished up attaching a carry strap to his lancer, throwing it over his opposite shoulder so the strap went across his chest.

Carmine turned to her, "What kinds of questions did you have for me Ms. Lawson?"

She shook her head lightly and met his helmeted eyes, "I'm sure I can ask Shepard the details of your past in private, if it was bad I'm sure you wouldn't be here right now. So relax, I won't be digging into your past."

She watched him cautiously, the tension in his shoulder's not easing at all, "From what I can gather you have rather impressive abilities, enhanced hearing and durability just to name two. Abilities that my employer, the head of Cerberus, are interested in. All I ask is that you consider meeting with the Illusive Man, you'll be able to access him after our next mission. Shepard usually reports to him after our missions, so it would be a convenient time."

Carmine's now freed right hand rubbed the faceplate of his helmet, as if he was rubbing his chin. He had no clue who the Illusive Man was, or what his motives were. If he shared the same goals as Shepard and her crew he couldn't be that bad, right?

Carmine let out a breath as Miranda's gaze on him never faltered, he let his hand drop, hooking his thumb into the front of his belt, "I'll consider it Ms. Lawson."

Her smile faltered for a moment before she extended her hand to him, "That's all I ask Carmine. You can call me Miranda if you please, no need to be so formal, especially since you don't seem to be quite so formal with cherry."

Carmine felt heat rise to his neck as it tinted red from embarrassment, "Just a nickname is all, I apologize if I've overstepped some kind of rule of some kind." He shook her hand gently, and she laughed a bit at his response.

With a gentle shake of her head she looked back up to him and walked toward him slowly, causing him to walk backwards until his legs backed into the neighboring table.

Miranda approached him, getting into his personal space, "You uh.. *cough* E-Everything alright Ms.- I mean Miranda." Carmine wasn't uncomfortable, just nervous with how close the brunette had gotten to him. He'd fully straightened himself out to the point the tip of his helmet reached the top of the display case housing all the model ships.

"You know for someone so big and intimidating, it seems women have a way of getting under your skin, it's rather cute." She took a small step out of his personal space and stifled a giggle with her hand as she saw him deflate, hunching back into his normal posture, still towering over her though.

"I'm just not used to the attention I suppose." He grumbled as he scratched the back of his helmet, "Not much time for flirting and playing around when you're getting shot at 24 hours a day." A short chuckle followed his words as the corner of Miranda's lip tilted upward into a smirk.

"Hmm, you'll have to get used to it Carmine. Especially with that body. Have a nice afternoon." She shot him a wink which burned Carmine's cheeks, before turning and walking away, an intentional bounce to her step which caught the eye of the gear. He traced the outline of her rather large butt in her tight fitting uniform pants.

Carmine released a deep breath as he relaxed further, adjusting the strap across his chest as he felt his lancer's saw poke him lightly.

Carmine stood still as he heard the light pitter of cloaked footsteps and smirked, "So how long have you been around here Kasumi."

"Hmmm, long enough to know how much you like staring at women's butts Carmine." She shot back as she appeared in front of him with a smirk.

"H-Hey! I don't stare. I-I just take in my surroundings is all." He let out an exasperated huff as Kasumi giggled and turned around, looking over her shoulder at him, "So Carmine, what do you think of your surroundings hmm." The tightness of her suit left nearly nothing to ponder as her small, but still full rear was on display. She was having so much fun teasing the big man, she noticed the red tint on his neck and giggled as he coughed and turned his head away.

"You know, I don't agree with the Cerberus plaything all that much, but she's right about one thing." She turned to him and walked with a sultry sway in her hips toward him.

Kasumi planted herself in front of him which of course caused him to stand up fully. She snaked a hand up his chest to the center and flattened her hand out, pressing her upper half into his mid section.

She felt his heart beat increase and his breathing become slightly faster, "You're going to have to get used to all this teasing, especially for us ladies that know what you've got under that helmet, handsome." Carmine's breathing all but stopped as Kasumi took a step back, breaking down with laughter.

"You're a dick." She heard him grumble only causing more laughter to burst from the small Asian women, he shook his head with a smile under his helmet. He enjoyed her laugh and he made his way to Shepard's door, turning for a moment only to see an empty room.

He chuckled, "See you around Kasumi, thanks for the new duds." He plucked at his shirt and heard a quiet giggle, "You're welcome Carmine. No hard feelings, I just love teasing."

With a shake of his head he made his way into the elevator, pressing the button and closing the doors.

"Jesus Christ." He laughed to himself, his chest shaking with laughter as he nestled his hand on his lancer's strap.

"What have I gotten myself into."

---

Author's note:

Hello ladies and gents. Been quite some time. I've been working on and off with this chapter for ages it seems, mostly to:

A. Shape up how I want things to go with this story

B. Refresh my knowledge of mass effect 2

C. Go to work, lots of working unfortunately

I know things bounce around in this chapter, from Carmine's fight with Zaeed, to him opening up with Shepard, then there's Sam and the gang figuring out the mysterious cube's properties, Clay establishing relationships with his new crew, and even a flashback to when Clay was taken into a locust prison camp (I plan on doing more with that, don't worry). I'm sorry if the pacing is a little rough, I'm trying to have an original take on Carmine's character. I tried fitting in as much as I could within the story's constraints since my uploads are few and far between.

Of course Carmine is going to get into plenty hijinks so if you're worried about that, don't be, outside of the tortured and brutal soldier he is, I see Clayton as a laid back and enjoyable dude to be around. Keep in mind the Normandy's crew have only known the big guy for roughly a day and half at this point. So as things develop and friendships grow it'll give me more of an avenue to push more of these interactions that Carmine has with his new crew. Heck maybe I could even take reader suggestions for possible situations for Clay and the gang to get in, once the gang is all there of course.

But I digress, that's for the future, and for now I really want to get this story groovin'. That doesn't mean I'm going to be pushing out chapters left and right, I still have responsibilities to handle outside this silly little story of mine.

So until next time, I hope you enjoyed friends, and I hope I didn't lose you all with my ramblings. As always feel free to give suggestions and critique, it's widely accepted.

Thank you to those who've liked, followed, and commented, it's means a lot that so many people like my work, and it's always encouraging to see how my silly little story is growing in popularity. Until next time folks.

Adios :)