Carmine stepped into the Normandy's training room and chuckled to himself at the sight of the sparring mats. It had been quite some time since his match with Zaeed, and he smirked, 'Old bastard is tough, but cocky.'
He had gone down to his room to change and shave his thick stubble after the leaving Shepard's room, which had taken quite some time considering he'd only used his knife. He kept his short sleeved shirt, but changed into a pair of black basketball shorts. Kasumi was also generous enough to order running shoes for him as well. Shepard shot him a glance and he saw as her lips quirked up into a smirk.
Carmine couldn't help but think about what Miranda and Kasumi had said about him, 'Do...do women really find me attractive?' He'd never let himself believe so, not that it would change much. His body is the product of years of pain and suffering, it just so happens that his pain and suffering translated into countless hours of exercise and killing. Where he saw others crumble under the weight of loss, he rose above it.
Of course his mental health took a massive downturn but that's to be expected when you've done and seen what Clayton has.
Shepard turned her head to fully look at him. She was running on a treadmill, or what he assumed was a treadmill, a tight black sports bra matched with her leggings, a red N7 logo on her left breast with a red stripe dragging down, the pattern continuing on her pants. She stopped running and faced him as he walked closer to her.
Carmine felt his head tilting down to trail the red stripe all the way down her toned abs and eventually her leggings, where the stripe continued all the way to her ankle. He stopped himself, noticing Shepard has been talking the entire time he had been ogling her.
"Uh sorry Shepard, what did you say?" A scratch to the back of his helmet brought a smile to the commander's face, "It's ok Carmine, I'd just asked if everything fit well?"
He looked down over himself, he felt very naked without his armor, but felt good, and light. His shorts were baggy which he preferred if he didn't wear pants, the shirt was tight but a good tight, as for the rest of his lower wear he couldn't complain.
"Haven't really worn civilian clothes in a while, feels strange, but a good strange I guess." Along with a towel that hung in his left hand, his holster with accompanying boltok hung loosely around his hips.
He didn't feel like carrying his boltok, so he just threw on his holster and left. Clay never went unarmed if he could help it, and that wasn't about to change today.
"Well that's good, don't know if you're going to need your gun though. Hmm maybe if the punching bag gets real handsy with me you can set it straight." Shepard chuckled followed by Carmine as he shook his head.
Shepard pointed over to a bench with her own water bottle, towel, and t-shirt neatly folded on it, "You can throw your stuff over there with mine if you'd like."
Carmine felt himself grow hot in the face with the smile she gave him, his eyes raking over her sweat as it trailed down her neck, past her collar bone, drifting further down in between her breasts and disappearing.
Once again having to shake his head back into working order, he recovered, "Sure thing, thanks commander."
He quickly turned away from her, having unknowingly walked his way rather close to her, and wandered over to the bench, taking off his gun belt and towel, resting them a fair distance away from Shepard's stuff. As he turned, a very amused Shepard was watching him, "Everything alright Carmine?" She noticed how tense he seemed as he was walking away and wondered what he'd been mulling over in his head, her lips quirked down momentarily.
"Yeah I'm good, thanks for asking," he took a seat at the nearby bench press and smiled to himself, "Just adjusting to everything still. Wondering how things are going back home." Carmine thought it was sweet how concerned she was for him, it was nice knowing she was making an effort to make sure he was alright.
She watched as his helmet dipped and his hands worked to crack his knuckles. She wasn't really sure what to make of Carmine in shorts, his legs were exactly what they looked to be under all his armor.
The guy's got tree trunk legs, which Shepard got a small peak at as his shorts rode up on him when he sat. They weren't as scar covered as the rest of him, but she did notice the odd scar now and then as she raked over his muscular lower half.
Shepard blinked a few times before bringing her observation to a close, walking over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder, which he quickly snapped his helmeted head up to look at what touched him.
"It's alright Carmine, I know if I was in your shoes all I would be able to focus on would be what was going on back home. I'm here for you, if you ever want to talk about it." Carmine looked to her with appreciation written all over his face, of course he still had his helmet on, but Shepard felt some of the tension leave his shoulder and smiled bright at him. She gave his shoulder a light squeeze and pulled back, jabbing his big arm lightly with her fist.
"Now quit moping big guy, and show me what those guns can do, I'll spot for you." Carmine couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up and forced its way out of him.
"Alright commander. Don't think I've ever needed a spot before, but I feel pretty confident that you'll be able to save me if I fuck up." Carmine said as he got up and started setting the bar with nearby weight plates. Shepard gave him a flex with her right arm making her defined arm muscles far more visible, Carmine's eyes trailed the contour of her bicep causing him to almost drop a plate on his foot, "God damn it."
Shepard laughed and went to grab her water. When she got back she sat on the bench press, sipping her water as she watched the elder Carmine brother swing heavy plates around like they were nothing, the thick veins in his arms bulging as his fingertips dig into the groves of the plates, she bit her lip allowing herself to enjoy the show for the time being.
Shepard always worked out later in the day, she prefered not working out with her crew. One too many awkward encounters with a few crew members, both male and female, were to thank for that. She didn't mind sharing the large training room with Carmine though, 'It's only him, not like he's going to sit around staring at me...not that I'd mind too much.'
She cared for her crew deeply, and it seemed a few male and female crew members cared deeply for her as well, a little too much in fact. Shepard shivered slightly as the memory of the shrine dedicated to her that she'd stumbled upon when exploring around the ship one day when she was bored. Shepard let out a gentle laugh, red ponytail swinging gently with the shake of her head.
By the time Carmine had finished he nearly keeled over, he allow himself to properly take in Shepard's scent before he came in to lessen its effect on him, but now that she was a mere 6 feet away. and watching his every movement like a fierce lioness, he couldn't stop the torrent of alluring scents being thrashed into his nose.
He let out a low, barely audible groan and turned to face her. A smug look adorned her beautiful, sweaty features as a string of red hair hung loosely in front of her face somehow finding freedom from her ponytail.
He usually turned his nose off when came to the gym for obvious reasons, a bunch of sweaty people in the same room was never good for his heightened sense of smell. Shepard however, didn't smell nearly as bad as he'd thought she would have seeing as it had been a few hours since he had last seen her. She still carried that strawberry smell on her. Carmine thought it was a little counterproductive showering then working out, but he also could just take another one later, sweat never bothered him, he's been covered in way worse.
Clay never understood Cardio until he realized how fast wretches were, 'Sam was pulling grub teeth out of my thigh for hours.' Carmine let out a little chuckle as he turned back to secured the weights to the bar.
"What is going on up there Carmine?" Shepard said with a tap to her temple and smirk as she stretched out a bit, extending her muscular legs out and her arms above her head, "Ah nothin' important, just thinking about something dumb."
"Well now I'm interested, it's pretty obvious what you think is dumb, and what I think is dumb are far different my big friend." Shepard said as she watched Carmine paw the back of his neck for a moment before taking a few steps and planting himself in between her stretched out legs, not flush to her by any means but close enough that she could catch the pine and gunpowder scent that was stuck to his skin, she mentally fist pumped for allowing him to use her shower. She liked how he smelled, and now that he wasn't covered in blood and grime, that smell was so much more potent.
She also got a gauge for just how tall Carmine was, sure she'd hugged him, and stood along side him, but as she sat there at groin height she pondered if everyone back in his world was as tall as him.
Shepard settle back, her hands gripping both sides of the bench as she kept her legs stretched out, her eyes curiously roaming from his waistline to his helmeted head. She raised an eyebrow as she watched him hike up his right pant leg and expose a large scar on his thigh. Which Shepard immediately let out a little gasp at, the rumbled of his laughter made her smile as she observed the jagged teeth marks.
"I can tell you've been running for quite a bit of time, so it brought me back to when I started working cardio into my workouts." Shepard looked up to him confused for a moment, "How do you know I've been running for a while? I do things other than cardio you know." It was a cardio day for her but Carmine didn't know that.
He'd noticed the machine she was running on had tracked how much distance she covered when he made his way over to her on autopilot.
She had ran around 15 miles, but he also could've determined how long she'd been going from the scent of her sweat. Carmine also noticed there seemed to be very little strain on her arms and the rest of her muscles besides her legs. Of course she could just work out with less heavy weights, but he correctly assumed she had only been running. He was always very observational, he had to be to survive, and so now it's simply a trait he cannot get rid of.
He blushed of course, having a very easily accessible and not creepy answer in the fact he saw the distance on the machine, "Uhhh." However Carmine's lack of brainpower due to the overbearing smell of strawberries in his nostrils made him share a little more than he'd like to.
He let out a small cough and tapped the front of his clawed faceplate, "My sense of smell is pretty good at deciphering certain things, it also helps that your machine over there says you've ran about 15 miles. Which matches with what my nose is telling me." Carmine finished and it took a second to realize what he said. His eyes widened as he started sweating, his neck was cherry red as Shepard looked up to his helmet and quirked her eyebrow, a mischievous glint coming to her eyes.
"So you're telling me I smell Carmine?"
"No! No you don't, well not in the tradition sense, you do smell. B-but it's not bad at all, or at least I don't think so, n-not that I've been smelling you a lot o-or anything I just-" He continued to rambled for a couple seconds, all the while Shepard observed him, 'If I hadn't seen him in action, I would've never guessed Carmine was this adorable. I'll have to get him embarrassed more.'
Shepard wore a smug grin, "It's alright big guy, you don't smell too bad either. I appreciate the compliment seeing as I have indeed been running for quite a while. So, how did you get this bite scar?" Shepard decided to quit teasing the big man for now as she observed the large groves where she could see multiple teeth once dug into his tanned skin.
Carmine calmed himself down once he realized Shepard was just fucking with him, 'What the hell is it with all these attractive women getting me all heated. We have to start lifting, clear our head of all this extra crap. They're just women, hell Sam has teased us far worse. Get your head in the game Carmine!'
Clayton scratched at his helmet with his left hand as he began, "Well the grubs had these weird little monkey dog type animals we called wretches, and those little fuckers had a ton of razor sharp teeth from about this big, to that big," he gestured with his free hand to give Shepard a good idea of the size of size of the teeth.
"Wait so you got bit by pencil length razor sharp teeth from one of those thing!?" Carmine laughed with a nod, "Yeah that sounds about right."
Shepard's mouth formed a little o, "Oof. That had to hurt."
"Oh it fuckin' did. What hurt worse though was when I smashed my gnasher against its face and broke off just about every tooth in its upper jaw, in my fucking leg." He let out a hearty laugh as Shepard sat there absolutely flabbergasted, "Jesus Carmine."
She laughed a little with him as he reached with his other hand and traced the scar lightly, his thick fingers able to almost completely cover the tooth marks, "Yeah, I was pretty injury prone back in the day, hell I still am. It took Sam hours to get all the tooth fragments out of my thigh. Gotta tell ya, one of the most painful parts was watching the forceps root around in there. Ah, back when being hurt was a problem."
"I can imagine. Damn." She reached a hand out hesitantly for a second, "Uh, would it be alright if I felt it."
Carmine fell silent for a moment before nodding, pulling his pant leg further and moving his thigh sideways so she had access to the full scar, he held his breath as her small hand made contact with his flesh.
Shepard didn't know what made her feel so compelled to touch it, maybe because she'd seen him do so and wanted to compare how big the teeth would be to her hands, or maybe she just wanted to feel his hot, muscular thigh...she liked the first one better.
With a red tint to her cheeks, she began to sweat as her hand made contact with his thigh, just like the hug they shared in his room, Carmine was hot to the touch. Not scalding, but the comfortable kind, the kind that made her spread her hand out and gently grasp a handful, which wasn't a lot considering he had a big ass thigh.
She kneaded her fingers below the scar, getting her fill of Carmine's skin before unclenching her hold and gently moving up along the teeth groves. Compared to when he did it, Shepard's finger's on their own weren't able to cover any of the teeth marks without using more than one finger, she felt a burst of shame and stopped moving, 'What are you doing!? This is completely unacceptable, unprofessional, he's your newest crew member, he lost his damn family, and everything he had for Christ sake! He doesn't need to be fondled like this. He, this is... oh fuck I want to sink my teeth into all that muscle.' Shepard felt her mouth water as her hand resumed its course.
Carmine swore he hadn't taken a breath since she laid a strong but slender little pale hand under the scar on his thigh. During her methodical kneading of his muscle he had almost bit his tongue off to stifle a groan. It wasn't hard to stave off the other sensation he felt, it was only a touch. Sam had gotten him pretty used to being fucked with like that, so staving off an erection was practically second nature for him.
After Shepard had her fill she pulled her hand back, a new thought coming to her head, 'He mentioned a Sam. Maybe he has someone back home. Maybe it's just one of his friends. But if he has a woman in his life this is extremely inappropriate.'
She noticed he was practically a statue, not moving to drop his pant leg back down, nor taking a moment to move away from her. He was breathing heavily, taking deep breaths in and out, almost like he was fighting off displaying any kind of reaction to her touch. Shepard found herself timid as she asked her next question.
"C-Carmine, would you by any chance have a partner back home? I know you laughed and said you didn't back when we ate together but, is there anyone in your life like that." Shepard's gentle tone roused Carmine from his self imposed prison as he dropped his pant and shifted his leg back so he stood normally, he unconsciously folded his arms over his broad chest.
"Me? Nah. I've never been popular with the ladies." Clay scoffed and shook his head gently.
"Oh alright. You had mentioned the name Sam so I wasn't sure if I was overstepping a boundary here." Shepard said with caution and a light shrug of the shoulders.
"Oh, yeah, her. I could go on and on about that whole mess, it's pretty complicated. But I don't feel like getting into it right now. Maybe..maybe some other time Shepard."
Shepard's curiosity had peaked and with a quirked brow she asked another question, "What's so complicated about it? Are you two together?"
Shepard instantly regretted her question as the big gear visibly tense up, straightening himself out, "No," he managed to get through his clenched teeth as the muscles in his arms tightened and flexed.
Shepard looked down at her lap as her played with her hands and prepared for an explosion of angry words, but was met with nothing. She looked up to him as he unfolded his arms and let out a deep sigh.
"Let's just say it's better off that I'm here, if you're worried that I have ties to my world and will want to leave before your mission is done, don't be. I'm not going anywhere. Like I said we can talk another time. Now, hop up off the bench, I gotta get my muscles burning." Shepard frowned but complied. She kicked herself mentally, 'He's already given me a lot of information about himself, but we just keep asking and asking. Not my fault he's got so much mystery to him.'
Carmine's lips curled down into his own look of confusion at the obvious difference in Shepard's disposition.
"I'm sorry for digging so much Carmine, I'm just curious is all. I apologize if I've overstepped." She found her way behind the racked bar and leaned on it, "Hey, it's alright. I get you're curious and everything I just...it's kind of a rough patch for me, I'm not shutting you down. This is going to sound rude but, I just don't know you well enough yet Shepard."
She nodded, a weak smile on her face, "I completely understand Carmine. You honestly didn't even have to tell me half of what you did already, so thank you. I truly appreciate it. J-just so you know I don't have anyone either, not that you asked but...never mind." Carmine tilted his head before chuckling.
The two shared a knowing look and Carmine held his fist out to her. Shepard raised a brow but gave him some knuckles causing him to go "Boom," when her fist connected with his.
Shepard snorted out a laugh, quickly covering her mouth with her hand and gasping, a look of horror etched on her face, which only caused the two to break into laughter.
"Ah man, haven't had a good laugh like this in a while, wouldn't have guessed you're a snorter." Carmine said as he plopped down onto the bench, getting into position to start the press. Shepard smirked and faked an offended look, "Snorter? I do not snort, helmet head."
As his hands gripped the bar she looked down at him, "Hey that's a low blow, don't be dissing the helmet."
"Then don't make fun of my snorting, you should feel honored you even get to hear it."
"I thought it wasn't a snort?"
The smugness in his tone had Shepard open her mouth as nothing came out, "Ha, checkmate." Shepard grumbled to herself and Carmine chuckled.
Shepard smiled, glad that Carmine was able to at least feel comfortable enough to joke with her, 'Baby steps here Jane. The more time he spends under your command, the more interactions you get to have with him. Maybe he'll make a habit of coming to work out with me.'
Shepard was so caught up in thought that she almost didn't notice the near 750lbs of weight on the bar and was quick to place her hand on the middle, stopping Carmine from lifting it.
"Umm Carmine are you sure this is the amount of weight you want on here?"
"Ohhh yeah, been going back and forth with a good friend of mine back home. Been trying to see who can do more reps, we've been one upping each other for years. Trust me I'll be fine." Shepard eyed him nervously but as he easily lifted the bar from the rack and began steadily lifting the weight that nervousness turned to pure disbelief.
Shepard could only watch in wonder as his arms flexed, the veins jutting, his shoulders, biceps, and chest working rather easily to move the massive weight.
Shepard had lost count, too busy watching the front of his skin tight shirt as his muscles flexed and pulled the thin gray fabric. Shepard could feel the heat pooling in her stomach, "Holy shit Carmine, you're really strong."
Her mumbling got a laugh from the big man as he steadily approached his 50th rep, not faltering for a second.
Shepard stood by making sure she was able to help if he needed it. He kept surprising her, his steady rising and lowering of the 750lbs stayed fluid even as he approached 100 reps.
"So what's the high score you're shooting for big guy?" Shepard asked as her eyes glistened with wonder as they eyed his bulging muscles.
His breathing became more focused as the weight finally started taking its toll on him, "Round' 250," he said while lowering the bar once more.
"250?!" Shepard's shocked voice rang throughout the empty training room, earning another chuckle from the big man as he finished his 150th rep. "Well that was what me and Cole have been stuck on, I'm shooting for 260." Carmine said with a huff as his muscles started working harder to keep up with the weight as it grew heavier, his form not failing for a moment.
"Is that normal where you're from?"
"Eh just for, hmph, Cole and myself."
Shepard stood idly as she processed just how strong the gear in front of her truly was. "What are you on now?"
"175," he said as he lifting the bar once more.
Carmine continued lifting until reaching his secondary goal of 250 reps, by then his arms had drastically slowed. He struggled to lift 251 and Shepard put her hand under the bar gently, "You need help?"
Sweat stuck to his neck and arms, his breathing came out heavier, "Nah!"
He looked like he needed some help, but instead of physically helping Shepard decided to egg him on, "Come on Carmine you got it," he finished the rep, 251, he technically held the title over Cole but Shepard knew he wanted 260, "There you go you big bastard, one more come on! They call you the Grub Killer but you can't even lift a little weight?" She heard a low growl come from him and smiled.
They repeated the process until Carmine finished at 265, gently setting the bar back into place he shot up into a seated position, now evidently covered in sweat. He heard Shepard cheer from behind him and it made him smile, "Hell yeah big guy! Great work, I'd like to see your friend Cole beat that! Sorry for being an ass but it worked."
Carmine chuckled at her as he got up and made his way to his towel, unfolding it and laying it across the back of his neck, "I wouldn't call it being and ass, I'd say you're good with motivation."
Shepard watched him as he sat on the bench next to her stuff, she had already finished what she wanted to do for the night and needed rest for the coming mission. However the other part of her just wanted to watch Carmine work his muscles all night long. She shook her head gently and made her way over to him copying his movements but slipped her t-shirt back on first.
He chuckled and pulled his helmet off, Shepard's face instantly turned red upon seeing his now cleanly shaved lower face, his hair however was suffering from a workout induced case of helmet hair. Multiple black strands were jutting out in different places as he tried to pat them all down. Shepard stifled a laugh with the back of her hand as he growled in frustration, his expression now visible to her. The annoyance clear as day in his steel eyes.
Shepard stood and placed herself right in front of him, he was using one hand to hold his helmet up like a makeshift mirror and the other was furiously patting at his hair.
"Here Carmine, let me help." She took his helmet and set it next to him, thankfully the height difference wasn't too bad when he was seated. Although Shepard was only taller by a head or two. He sighed dramatically and nodded, gratitude twinkling in his gray orbs as they locked onto her icy blues.
She ran her hands through his thick sea of black hair, it was sweaty but she didn't mind. His hair felt amazing to her, and she noticed as she raked her nails along his scalp that his eyes shut and he lightly hummed in content. The vibration shot through her hands and arms, making her feel rather warm all over. A blush came to her face as she used her hands to push down the stray hairs rather unsuccessfully at first.
Carmine was on cloud 9, it reminded him of when Sam would play with his hair whenever he had a head wound. He let out a low sigh that made Shepard's knees weak for a moment, she silently thanked god that his eyes were closed and quickly finished setting down the final hairs, "Aaand there, good as new if new were an inky black mess."
She smiled as he laughed and slowly opened his eyes back up, only to lock them onto hers, "Thanks commander, I appreciate it."
His smile only made the blush on her face worse as she removed her hands rather awkwardly from his head and cleared her throat, his smell overwhelming to her.
It's not that she didn't like it, no, she particularly liked Carmine's natural smell, that gunpowder like scent that was practically stuck to his skin no matter what he did to scrub it off and the pine scented soap she had in her bathroom.
Carmine didn't fight the commander's strawberry scent either, and allowed it to come to him in strides. He found himself sinking a nice calm until she removed her hands.
As they stared into one another's eyes Carmine chuckled and leaned back into the wall behind him, "I appreciate all the help Shepard, if this is the normal time you like working out I wouldn't mind showing you a few things. I'm pretty adept when it comes to weight lifting. That is if you don't mind me joining you, I understand if you'd like your privacy."
Shepard was quick to answer, "I don't mind at all Carmine, I'm sure there are a few things I can show you to help your cardio."
Carmine flashed his teeth as the two soldiers shared a laugh, "Well I'm probably going to tuck in for the night. Make sure you get plenty to eat before we go tomorrow. The mess hall serves three hot meals a day, so please feel free to eat whenever you like Carmine."
"Hmm I'm sure I can arrange that. Would it be alright if I popped into your room for another shower in couple hours?"
Shepard nodded as she gathered her workout towel and half empty bottle of water, "Of course, just send me a message through your Omni-Tool or call me so I know you're coming, wouldn't want you walking in on any compromising positions." She shot a seductive glance his way, and reveled in the red tint that came to his cheeks as he scratched the back of his head, "Will do commander."
Shepard gave him a killer smile, flashing her bright teeth to him before taking her leave, hips bouncing with every step on her way to the door. Carmine stared at her posterior as she walked not noticing when she stopped at the door until she turned, catching his eyes as they shot up to meet hers.
She bit her lip and swung her towel over her shoulder, "Don't hurt yourself alright big guy? I'll see you later." Shepard gave him a gentle wave as she sultrily waltzed out of the training room.
As the door shut Carmine let out a deep groan, shut his eyes, and smacked his head against the wall, "Man, she is something else." He didn't mind having his helmet off around her for some reason. Normally it would stay on unless he had to take it off, but with her he didn't feel so obligated to wear it all the time, mostly just when they were alone.
He smiled and slung an arm across his eyes before standing and getting back to it. He still had a lot of working out to do.
Carmine awoke with a start, "Ugh what the hell? My head." He felt like shit, he noticed he was in a pitch black room, he memorized the layout immediately though with his powerful eyes. It was his old living room. Why was he here though?
A light switched on behind him, and he snapped in that direction, finding his boltok and drawing it.
His brother David lay close by, his back to Clayton. He quickly rushed over and knelt next to him, noticing immediately the long slices and hooks stuck in his back, "It's ok D. I gotcha, those hooks aren't nothin', you'll be ok David I promise." Tears began to well in his eyes as he carefully raised his brother into a seated position, his front still covered in darkness.
As he shifted his brother into the light, the first tear fell. David's eyes were wide open, gray and lifeless. There were scorch marks along his chest, and as he examined lower, Clayton looked away.
His sob caught in his throat as he began letting his tears flow down his face, "Fuck D-D-David I'm, I'm so sorry. I couldn't. I'm not-" a gut wrenching sob released from the large man as he turned his head back toward his brother.
David had been severely burnt, "No...David, it'll be ok, I-I can fix this, you'll be alright I promised. I'll make it better, just hang on." David's lifeless eyes blinked, he was somehow still alive, even after all the torture.
"Cl-Clayton?" David's voice came out weak and low.
"Yeah buddy *sniff* it's me, your big brother. I'm gonna get you out of here kid I promise." Clayton's tears fell steadily down his cheeks and he began to carefully try to pick up his burnt, brittle brother, "I can fix this, I can fix you."
David rested a weak, cut up hand on Clayton, gently pushing his hand away, "Please don't let them take me again Clayton, please." Clayton was aggressively sobbing at this point, "Please kill me."
Clayton shook his head, "No! You're alright I'll protect you, I promised I would. You a-and me, Ben, Anthony, we'll all be together again like I said."
David gently shook his head and let out a whimper, "P-please Clayton, i-it hurts so bad." Clay started breathing erratically as his brother's weak hand found his boltok, bringing the large gun up to his forehead.
"I-I, David I can't, I." Clayton's sobs echoed throughout the room, David gave him a small smile, "I love you big bro."
"Gaahhh Fuuuuuuuuuuck!!" Clayton shut his eyes tight and looked away, pulling the trigger as hard as he could.
*BANG*
The gun was gone from his grasp, clattering to the ground, Clay opened his eyes and stood. As he turned and backed away he heard the flipping of a switch, three lights shone down on three corpses in the dark room, tears steadily streamed down Clay's scarred cheeks as he turned and focused on the bodies.
He froze, he looked to his left, the corpse of Anthony laid bare, the hole in his head leaking fresh brain and blood onto the ground. Clay looked to his right, Benjamin's mangled body lay spread across the ground, so torn that he could see most of his rib cage and even his spine along with most of his internal organs. And in front of him lay the tortured David, a good portion of his head removed from the boltok shot, blood pooling with the leftover skull fragments and brain chunks.
Clay began to back away, tears pouring from his eyes, head down. Until he noticed one of them move from the corner of his eye. Tears still flowed down his his face but he looked back to them, the room becoming noticeably colder.
Anthony was the first to move, his rigor mortis stricken body popping and cracking sickeningly as he raised to his feet. Next was Benjamin, struggling to get upright, but once he was up whatever was left of his insides spilled out as they both groaned and took clumsy steps toward him. David followed suit, the remnant of his head popping into view, skinny legs barely dragging him as Clay bent down and snatched his boltok.
Clay took another step back, his eyes wide, gun shaking, "No.." he whimpered out as they closed in on him. Pale blood soaked skin came into his view as his back hit the wall. His zombified brothers closed in on him. The stench of their rotten flesh hit his nose, burning his already tear clogged eyes.
As Anthony reached out to him Clayton let out one last set of tears, grabbing a hold of the second oldest Carmine and pulling his corpse close, tucking his boltok below his helmet covered head, right on his chin, "I'm sorry..."
*BANG*
Blood splashed onto his face and Anthony crumbled to the floor, his head completely destroyed from the blast. David's head came into view, the remaining bits of his head and mouth snapping for his neck as a Clayton held him easily, repeating the process, and effectively removing the rest of his head.
*BANG*
"Please don't do this squirt." Clayton pleaded as Benjamin's reanimated body shambled closer, intestines leaving a bloody streak behind him as they dragged along the floor. Just before he could reach him Clay raised his boltok.
*BANG*
He put a fist sized hole through Benjamin's neck, the remaining stringy bits of meat barely able to hold as his heavy helmeted head audibly sloshed to one side tearing easily from the weight, decapitating him. His body fell backwards onto the ground. The helmet containing his head rolling across the floor.
Clayton fell to his knees, not able to shed anymore tears, his body consumed by anguish. He raised his gun once more, and pressed it to his own temple, the heat of it burnt his skin and a sick smile came onto his face, "Don't worry, we'll all be together, just like I promised."
*BANG*
Carmine's eyes shot open as he sprung out of bed quickly retrieving his gun from the table at the foot of his bed. His boltok pointing frantically to the dark corners of the room. Tears streamed down his cheeks as his face contorted into a snarl, flashing his clenched teeth as his breath came out ragged and uneven. The boltok in his hand shook as he backed up. The cold wall next to the table where the rest of his gear laid came in contact with his scarred back.
He slid down, frantically sobbing as his hands shook uncontrollably. Taking deep gasping breaths he placed the boltok to the side of his head, "Can't miss twice," he said in between breaths, his voice gravely, echoing off the metal walls of his room. The barrel scraping the side of his head momentarily, where a streaking bullet scar marred his flesh, and disappeared behind a wall of inky black hair. Clay shut his eyes, and tightened his grip on the large revolver.
Before he could pull the trigger he heard the jingling of his brother's tags, and opened his eyes. The steel collection of COG tags dangled from his right wrist, and he dropped the gun. As it clattered to the floor he unraveled the tags from his hand and held them close to his chest, legs spread out, back against the wall. He let himself cry further, memories of his brothers filling his mind as he recovered.
It didn't take him long to stop crying, he got up and went to sit on his bed, tags clenched firmly in his right hand, 'I can't opt out now. After all this time death still has to earn me. I'm here to help Shepard.'
"And that's exactly what I'm going to do. Even if it kills me." Clay said, his voice deep and raspy.
Clay reached over and gently swapped his brother's tags for Benjamin's letter. He opened it, and began to read from it. Tears welling back into his eyes, and dropping gently onto the blood stained parchment.
"I'm not letting this crew down. Nobody is dying on my watch." Clay said as he folded and replaced Ben's letter with his helmet, sliding the head protection over his unruly hair, but not before he washed away the tear stains on his cheeks.
Clay felt his faceplate. Fingering the three deep claw marks in his custom head gear, he groaned as he noticed the crack in one of his lenses. Clay pulled up his blue Omni-Tool, and fumbled around trying to send a message to Garrus about possibly fixing the damage after the upcoming mission.
"6:30 am. Fuck, I guess I've got some time on my hands before the mission. Doubt Shepard is awake, might as well do a little digging. See what I can figure out about the grubs there are out there."
Clay proceeded to research the different alien races that inhabited the vast expanse of the new dimension. Finding himself both disgusted but mostly interested in many things.
First off, the concept of humans being able to have sex with most of the alien races almost made him fill his helmet with vomit when he imagined someone being attracted to a locust, "Oh fuck no! Not happening, get the thought out your head Clay." The big man shivered and continued his research, digging into the races.
Grubs that looked similar to Garrus popped up onto his tool as he quirked an eyebrow, "Turians huh? One of the strongest fleets in the galaxy. Ha, makes sense why he's so scrawny, they're dominant in the air." Carmine joked to himself and continued learning the basics of the more common aliens he'd no doubt encounter.
He found himself entranced in this new world's inhabitants, learning the basics on as many aliens as he could, "Well, at least I know more about these grubs. Still freak me the fuck out though." Clay sighed as he put his tool away and got up.
"Fuck it, time to get geared up and go eat. Hmm?" A notification popped onto his helmeted view. It seemed doctor Chakwas wanted to check up on his wounds before the upcoming mission.
Carmine shrugged as he slipped his boots on followed by a rather tight fitting black long sleeved shirt. He shot the doctor a quick response and made his way out of his room. He looked back to his gear and sighed, "Hopefully this doesn't take too long, still gotta clean a few of you."
With a gentle shake of his helmeted head he shut his door and locked it via his blue Omni-Tool and headed for the elevator.
Shepard woke with a yawn, her sheets were strewn about haphazardly and she stretched out further. With a grumble she raised up and kicked off the remaining clothes she had on, trudging her way to her shower to freshen up for the day.
She looked in the mirror and observed her body. The scarring left by Cerberus's procedure to bring her back to life had been steadily fading, now almost nonexistent. A smile came to her sleepy face as she admired her fit physique.
After her shower she threw on some clothes which consisted of some jeans, her boots, a gray t-shirt and her N7 leather jacket.
She didn't bother with her hair, she normally didn't worry about it unless it was rather unruly. As she sat down at her desk, a few notifications caught her attention.
The first of which being from Miranda.
Shepard, I think it would be wise to bring someone else with you, preferably Kasumi, or Garrus. Apparently this biotic we're going after has a "distaste" for Cerberus.
-Miranda
Shepard sighed and squinted her eyes, "Not an issue, I'll take Garrus. Hopefully Carmine doesn't try and shoot him again, though I doubt he will."
Shepard quickly messaged back as her mind traveled to her newest crew member, she wondered what he was up to. She decided to test his helmet's communicator and pulled up her Omni-Tool.
Almost instantly he responded, "Hey Shepard, you alright? It's not time for the mission yet is it?"
Shepard chuckled at his eager tone, "Hi Carmine, nothing is wrong or anything. Was just testing out the communication's link in your helmet."
A silent pause held for a moment as she heard him grunt, a faint female voice coming over the coms link, "Just a little bit higher Carm."
"Yeah yeah, I'm gettin' there bossy." A chuckled followed his grumpy response.
Shepard raised her eyebrow and cocked her head in confusion, "Everything alright with you Carmine."
A couple more grunts from him and metallic banging ensued before he answered, "Me? Oh yeah I'm just fine, helping out some people down in engineering before the mission. Was coming back from breakfast and the med bay and they neeeeeded my heeeelp." She chuckled as she heard him straining to lift something.
"Well don't hurt yourself big guy I still need you for the mission." Shepard felt her lips tug upward as his laugh came over the coms.
"I'll make sure I take it easy." Shepard smiled and the two said their goodbyes. It was still a few hours until they had to head out for the prison. Shepard sighed and started cleaning her weapons off.
A smile stayed stuck to her face as Carmine drifted through her thoughts. She didn't get a response from Garrus yet, so as she cleaned she decided to call him up. Hopefully he was ready to go to work.
Author's note:
Howdy everyone, now to start this off, this chapter is just a bridge for the upcoming story progression. I wanted Shepard and Clay to establish some sort of friendship before I started getting into the meat and potatoes of this story.
So as always I hope ya'll enjoyed yourself and tune into the next chapter, whenever that may be coming out.
Adios amigos