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.

9. Horizon

Carmine shot awake, his breath raggedly coming from his lips as the handle of his knife dug deep into his calloused palm. He shook his head and ran his non-knife wielding hand over his face, groaning as he feels his tears smear across his cheeks.

Another nightmare. He gets himself seated upright and checks his omni-tool. The blue lights illuminate his bare chest as his eyes snap to the time. He grumbles, "It's only six in the morning, fuck. I can't even sleep more than three hours."

Another week has passed since recruiting Grunt. It's gone rather well for him, other than the lack of sleep and constant nightmares. Carmine shakes his head, his black hair flopping about as he tries to distract his mind.

In the past week he had rearranged his room entirely. His gear was now placed on and besides his new workbench, which was where his old bed used to be. It was a gift from Garrus and the engineers. He repurposed the table he had used for his equipment into a nightstand of sorts.

With the table he was able to lay out his mementos accordingly. The large, blood stained metal scrap was laid next to a stone he had grabbed before leaving Korlus. It wasn't a big collection, and he felt comfortable having his personal items on it as well. His old nightstand had been tossed as soon as there was an alternative.

He pat his new mattress, which by his request was held up by a normal metal frame. Carmine was never one for fancy things, but Shepard made sure it fit his size and was more than comfortable. His bed took its place against the wall opposite his workbench, in the other corner of his room.

With the new addition of his bed, he had asked Kasumi for a punching bag. Clayton knew there was one in the training room, but sometimes he just needed to hit something. Shepard started asking questions as she began to notice the large dents in his walls start to grow in number with each visit she had to his room.

The heavy bag was hung in the corner below his bed. The thick punching bag was already marked in dried blood from Carmine's nightly attacks. He never wrapped his hands, and the tough material always tore into his fists. Specifically after extended periods of nonstop punching.

Thankfully he healed fast, or he would be out of commission for days with the chunks of skin he'd taken out of his knuckles. He did enjoy the pain it brought him, helping to take his mind off whatever fucked up concoction of memories his brain threw his way.

Carmine sat up further, throwing his legs out onto the floor. He rested his forearms on his bare knees as he looked over his room. His couch stayed in the same spot, lined up perfectly with his door. His room was still rather spacious, even with the handful of storage crates he'd asked to be left behind.

He didn't really want to make much of a fuss with his room, he'd already had more in this one space than he ever had back during the war with the locust. The only thing that came close was his time at sea, but even then his cabin was rather small and cramped

Besides the changes to his room, and his growing friendship with Grunt, not too much has changed for the veteran gear. He sighs and stands up, placing his knife down next to his helmet on the table next to his bed.

"This place is still fucking unbelievable though. Aliens, space ships, a surprising amount of attractive women." He chuckles at his own joke for a moment before looking over to his other personal things.

He grabbed Benjamin's blood stained letter, running his thumb over the crusted envelope. He sets it down quick to slip on some pants and his boots.

Getting the envelope back into his hand he goes over to his couch and plops down. His right hand is still wrapped in the chains that hold his brother's tags. The cog around his neck jingles lightly as it bounces against his solid upper chest.

He hesitates to open the letter. Fingers twitching by the opening to the envelope. He growls to himself and clenches his chained fist, "Stop being a pussy and open it."

Carmine relaxes his hand and pulls out the letter. Much like the outside, it is stained in his youngest brother's blood.

He didn't die easy, in fact he died worse than most gears he'd seen killed in action. Clayton remembers it like he was there. He had seen it so many times. The Cog were always proud of their archives after all, and he put them to use constantly.

Carmine's teeth grind as he reads the last words his brother ever wrote, picturing the rift worm's parasites ripping into the youngest Carmine. His hand which holds the letter is calm, making sure he doesn't ruin the prized parchment, "I'm so sorry squirt."

His other hand however, is squeezed so tight that the chains wrapped around his right hand begin to rip and tear into his skin. Blood drips steadily from his hand as his exposed torso begins to steam up, his hatred surrounding him.

Hateful tears well up in his eyes but he doesn't lets them fall. Carmine can't let himself be weak again, not even for a moment.

"You deserved better. You were better than me. Why the fuck am I still here?" His cracking voice echoes off his walls back to him. His head hangs low, blood forming a small pool beneath his chain constricted hand.

He growls at his weakness and stands, his steel colored eyes are wet but he quickly stomps over to his table and places down his brother's items.

As soon as he sets them down his anger halts, curiosity taking over as he catches a pulsing blue glow coming from behind his helmet. He pulls his helmet back and his eyes widen slightly, "What the hell?"

The cube, the reason he's here, has fully reformed. It pulses a familiar blue, one of which he remembers vividly. He realizes quickly what that means, and he impulsively reaches out to grasp it with his bare hand. But he stops, his index finger a mere inch away from it.

"No...I can't leave them." He closes his eyes and whispers to himself. He pulls his bloody hand back and turns, opening his eyes to look at his hand. He grimaces lightly as the chains seemed to really do a number on him. Multiple lacerations cross over his palm, fingers, and the back of his hand.

Carmine sighs and rolls his shoulders, "What the fuck was I doing. I can't go back there. My best chance is to stay here, and do the only thing I'm good at." He says in a depressed tone as he sits back down on his bed.

As he looks over his hand again his mind flickers, 'You have to protect them, all of them. You have to do your job and kill those fucking collector grubs. You kill every last fucking grub in your path. It's what we're good for right?'

A small smile comes to the giant man's face as his mind shifts to think about the three women who've quickly grown on him. Jack, Kasumi, and Shepard have all caught his eye in a manor of speaking.

His smile grows, 'Jack is the craziest broad I've ever known. Always wanting to spar, even though I've beat her twice. I even found myself looking at her tattoos, and her ass. I'll have to ask her about them one day. The tattoos, not her butt. Maybe they have something to do with her biotics?'

He quickly scoffed though, "Not like she'd be interested in me. We have nice chats but she's probably not into a freak like me." He puts himself down, his voice sinking back a depressed tone.

Carmine's thoughts are quick to counter him though, 'Alright you bastard. How about Kasumi? She doesn't charge us for the things I ask for, even when I try and make her take my money. She's been a bit more physical with me this past week, even coming to peak in and check on me. She seems to care almost as much as Shepard does. And she has nice hips.'

"Doesn't matter what Kasumi seems to care about," he growls to himself as the blood stops flowing from the wounds on his hand, "Almost killed her when I met her. She doesn't deserve someone who can snap like that. Besides, her and Jack are my friends, I shouldn't think of them like that." He rambles, his thoughts taking a few minutes to culminate.

'Alright, but I do. I do think about them like that. It's not all the time, but those thoughts are there. Shepard is the exception. Now her we can't get out of this empty head. That red haired little deviant is living in here with me rent free. Her and those damn tight pants she wears during workouts...ok I've gotta stop checking out women's hips.' Carmine can't help the chuckle that rumbles in his chest. He then sighs, resting his head back against the frigid wall. He feels a headache start to come on and he groans.

"I can't be with anyone, not that they'd have me...I have a job to do. I'm not here to date. They're just my friends, and I've never been one to sleep around. That's not about to change because I'm in some new crazy world. I'm here to kill, and keep the crew safe, that's that." His words bounce off the walls of his room and mix with the humming of the engine. He groans and forces himself to stand.

"I have got to stop talking to myself." He runs his healthy left hand over his face.

"Should probably get these closed up by Chakwas if she's awake. If not, then Mordin it is." He said while looking at his bloody hand. He goes to leave his room and pauses, he's forgotten a shirt.

He laughs at himself before grabbing a fresh black shirt. It had a grey cog printed on the left peck, and he smiled as he pat the symbol. Another piece of clothing gifted to him by Kasumi.

He sighed and inhaled deep, it still smelled faintly of her. She never wore a particular perfume, or used any kind of special body wash. She had her own unique scent. One Carmine was easily able to distinguish, it helped to spot her when she was sleuthing about.

He felt the hair rise on the back of his neck as the scent grew stronger, she was there. She was watching him, and probably had been the entire time. She knew that he knew.

She giggled, it was always a dead giveaway whenever he found her, especially if his helmet was off. His large form was frozen, his steel eyes locked onto her position as he visibly tensed and straightened out.

As per usual, she de-cloaked and raised her hands in mock surrender, "Hey there big guy."

As he saw the small hooded woman his body immediately began to relax, his shoulders shifting back into a half slumped position.

"How much of that did you hear?" He asked, a stone faced expression with words to match as the playful smile of the hacker disappeared.

"Just some of the bits of you talking with yourself, nothing to worry about. You told me not to watch you sleep, so I don't." Carmine nodded to her, his expression following his body as his face took its normal blank look.

"I was just wondering about a few things and correctly assumed you'd be awake at this time of day. I hope I haven't come at a bad time, I'd hate to have to hunt you down later." Carmine's ears perk at the playful tone of her voice.

He smirked, "Ha good luck with that."

Kasumi gave him a sly smile as she walked over and sat on his couch, patting the cushion next to her. Carmine rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but oblige her.

He did as she asked and sat next to her. Kasumi could feel the heat coming from him, "My my, you're quite the furnace Carmine. Have you always been this hot?"

Carmine was practically blind to the obvious flirt and scratched at his chin, "I think so. I only know what people tell me, but I don't feel hot at all."

Kasumi snickers at the oblivious man and decides to get into her questions as she sink into the comfortable couch, crossing her legs, "How has everything been for you so far Carmine? A new dimension must be pretty jarring to experience."

Carmine leaned back into the couch and instinctively laid his left arm across the top of it. Kasumi smiled at the act, gauging he felt comfortable enough to relax around her.

"It's been better than I expected. You all have been really accommodating. But this place still feels foreign to me. You and the rest of the crew make it a bit more bearable though." Kasumi nods and smiles at his response.

Her smile fades quick though as she recalls some of what she heard moments prior, when Carmine was talking with himself, "Wether you believe it or not Carmine, we do care about you. You've proved yourself to us, wether it be in little or large ways. And you're easy on the eyes, so that's a bonus."

Carmine chuckles and blushes lightly, scratching the back of his neck, "I don't know about all that. B-but, thank you Kasumi. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about while you got me here?"

Kasumi nods, her eyes trailing over his bashful expression with interest, 'For someone who can easily tear apart people and aliens with his bare hands, he's just too cute sometimes.' She thinks before speaking again.

"Yes actually, but only if you'll feel comfortable answering." Carmine looks to her with a small smile and nods. She finds herself lost in his eyes, which seem to glow with the lack of light in the room.

"Perfect. Well in that case, I was wondering about a woman. Hmm what's her name? Ah yes, Samantha Bryne." Kasumi smiles at the persistent blush on his cheeks as he looks away from her shyly.

"What about her?" He asks in return, looking over the hologram on his door.

"Just curious as to what your relationship was with her. I know you've said you aren't with anyone, but some of the things you've said about her say otherwise." Kasumi pries a bit, seeing if Carmine would spill a bit more about his possible love interest.

She felt her smile fall as the big gear shook his head and sighed defeatedly, "What is there to say? She's one of my closest friends. Does it bother me that she's with someone else? Yes. Am I going to cry about it? No, not over that shit. She's better off without me anyway. I'm a fucking mess." He chuckles cynically.

Kasumi gazed hard at him. Something she'd picked up from talking with the rest of Shepard's team is that Carmine has a tendency to put himself down. And that was something she wouldn't allow, "Well I think she's probably worried sick about you. I know we would be if you went missing. And we've only known you for a couple weeks. She's known you, what, seven or eight years?"

Carmine sighs and nods, "Yeah, you're probably right. But I don't want any of them to worry back home. I'd prefer if they moved on. But I know that's not likely if Sam is involved. That girl is an unstoppable force when she's motivated." Carmine snickers as his mind wanders to the early years of their friendship.

Kasumi smiles as Carmine's mood begins to swing more lighthearted, "I remember when I was still a teenager, I had bet her that she couldn't drink more than me. That girl was hospitalized with alcohol poisoning from trying so hard to out drink me."

Kasumi and Carmine share a small laugh at the story. The small hacker taking the opportunity to dig a little further, "So why didn't things work out between you two? It seems you two spent a lot of time together in between all the fighting."

Carmine's smile fell, but didn't disappear, "Yeah, we had good times. But the bad times came tenfold. There was a time where all we had were each other and our team. Delta squad is my second family, and I did everything I could to keep them safe, everything. I think I just wasn't what she was looking for."

Kasumi felt her heart ache as Carmine spoke so honestly. His emotionally rich response only reinforced her opinion of the giant man. He was a big softy under all that muscle and hate.

Although she was attracted to him, it was her personal goal to make sure the big man ended up happy. A happiness she knew she couldn't offer him outside of sex. Especially with her own problems and reputation involved.

"Thank you for sharing that with me Carmine, I know it's probably not easy to think about your friends back home." Carmine waves a dismissing hand at her and scoffs playfully.

"Ah don't thank me. We're friends right? What are friends for if they can't talk to each other?" Kasumi beamed at the gear as he smiled down at her.

Kasumi decided to uncross her legs and stand, walking in front of him. He sat up with a small confused look on his face. He was almost eye level with her, even while sitting down, and Kasumi bit at her lower lip.

Before he could ask, Kasumi quickly and gently wrapped her arms around the back of his head and hugged him. Tucking his head just above her breasts. She felt him freeze, but smiled as his muscles slowly relaxed. His messy hair tickled her chin, widening her smile.

She felt his muscular arms wrap around her slim waist as his heat soaked through her skin tight clothes. She was quick to stop the fire being lit in her belly as she pulled back, her hand resting at the top of the gear's chest.

A harsh blush was on his cheeks. He barely registered where his hands were going from how comfortable her body felt. Kasumi giggled at him as his hands shot off of where they had sank down at her hips.

"S-sorry I didn't realize my hands were-" Kasumi shut him off with a single finger to his lips, enjoying the small shock evident in his gray orbs.

"It's alright big guy. I just have one last thing to talk to you about, then I'll be off, and you can get your hand fixed by Chakwas." Carmine looked back to his bloodied hand and matching bloody marks on the small woman's clothes.

"Alright, sorry I got blood on you." Kasumi shook her head and snickered at the embarrassed look on his face.

"Shepard had asked me yesterday to come on a mission with her. Apparently we're heading to a colony that's in the collector's crosshairs. If we act fast we might being able to save some people. You want to come along?" Carmine doesn't hesitate to stand, towering over the smaller woman.

"You better believe I want to come along. Those grubs won't know what hit them." Kasumi smiles and lets her hands, which had slid down to his abdomen, squeeze at his muscle.

"Perfect, you can go talk to her now. She's an early riser, almost as early as you. Oh and thank you for being open with me Carmine. Just give it some time and you'll feel more at home here." Kasumi winks at him before stepping back and dissapearing.

"I wasn't being open, just answering questions you little ninja." Carmine said with a laugh as he snags his gun belt and opens up his door. He checked the time and a surprising amount had passed since he woke, it was nearly nine and he could barely believe he talked with Kasumi for that long.

He shrugs and grabs his helmet before locking his door and walking into the shuttle bay, greeting some of the early rising crew as they run diagnostics and tests on the shuttles. He runs into one of the engineers as he heads to the elevator, "Hey Carmine, perfect timing. You heading up to the commander's room by any chance?" Daniels asks him.

Carmine nodded, "Ah perfect, there should be a panel to the right once you get out of the elevator up there. I forgot to finish screwing it back into place. Could you do me a solid and get it back on?"

Carmine chuckled and nodded again, "Sure thing Daniels."

The short haired woman lets out a breath of relief, "Phew, you're a lifesaver muscles. I already got written up this week and can not afford another citation. I literally can't afford one, I gamble too much." Daniels replies with a smile, patting the big man's bicep at she passed.

Carmine shakes his head with a smile as he gets into the elevator and heads up to the med bay first. He is greeted by a few crew members on his way over to Chakwas.

He opens up the med bay doors and takes a few steps in, "Ah Carmine, what kind of visit is this? A social call, or have you somehow gotten yourself hurt?" The doctor speaks without looking.

Carmine rubbed the back of his helmet and sighed, "Unfortunately not a social call doc. I messed my hand up earlier. It's already stopped bleeding but I'm going to need you to close it up."

Chakwas shoots the gear a look that makes his spine shiver, "Very well. Come here and let's get you sorted."

Carmine hesitantly makes his way over to the older woman who raises an eyebrow at the cuts on his hands, "Hmm, now how did you manage such wounds while on the ship, and how long ago did this happen?"

Carmine continues to scratch the back of his helmet nervously, "It happened a couple hours ago, and I just held onto my brother's cog tags a little too hard is all."

He noticed the doctor's expression soften as he mentions the means in which he got his wounds. She quickly works to close the wounds and slathers his hand in medi-gel.

"There you go big guy. I hope I won't have to see you again today." She jokes and smiles as the gear laughs heartily.

"Eh you probably will doc. Thanks again." As he goes to leave the doctor stops him.

"Carmine before you go. Would it be alright if I preform an enhanced mental scan on you. It won't take long I promise."

The gear shrugs and flips off his helmet, "Sure thing doc."

The doctor guides him to a seat and begins scanning his head. She snickers at his unruly black hair as it stick out in every direction, "That hair of yours is a jungle Carmine." She reaches out and attempts to pat down his mane.

The big man chuckles at her and shakes his head, "Yeah, but it's my jungle. I hate haircuts."

Chakwas smiles warmly at the gear as pulls her hand back as the scan finishes, "It will take some time for the data to finalize. Thank you again Carmine."

The gear waves to her as he stands and slips his helmet back over his messy hair, "Anytime doc." Carmine makes his way out of the med bay and toward the elevator.

'Huh, I wonder why she wanted to do that?' He shrugs off the thought and steps into the elevator, tapping the large 1.

He arrives at the top floor, Shepard's floor. A part of him is always excited to see the commander, not that he understands why. He sighs as he sees the exposed wiring to his right.

He did say he would help, 'A Carmine never goes back on their word.' He thinks as he kneels and takes the metal into his hand. Thankfully Daniels left a small box full of the necessary screws there for him as well.

Clayton starts fixing the panel back into its spot on the wall. He hears the door to Shepard's room whoosh open and smells the sweet scent of strawberries. A big smile comes to his face as he twists one of the many screws in with his knife.

Shepard watched him, nibbling her lower lip as the muscles of his back flexed. She had a nice view with how tight his shirt was on him, internally praising Kasumi for getting most of his shirts just a bit too small for him.

"Hey cherry, just the lady I was looking for." The sound of his voice makes her smirk. She was never able to sneak up on him, and she found it quite amusing whenever he was able to spot her without looking at her.

"Ah Carmine, just the man I'm looking for." She shoots back, reveling in the small laugh she gets from him. His laugh wasn't rare by any means, but she always enjoyed the joyful sound.

He grunts as he tightly screws another bit into place before speaking, "Ladies first."

Shepard smirks, "What a gentleman. I was actually just about to be on my way down to grab you for breakfast. I know you wouldn't want to miss what the cook has in store for today."

Carmine smacks a hand into the panel, "Piece of shit." He crouches down further to get a better angle.

Shepard laughs as he has trouble fitting in a screw. She makes her way next to him and leans an elbow on his shoulder. His helmet tilts curiously in her direction and Shepard can almost see his eyebrow being raised.

"What? It's not like I'm effecting you in any way. I'm like a piece of paper blowing into you." She jokes with a cocky smirk.

She catches him nod in agreement with her and hum as her eyes turn to his busy hands. If she had the opportunity, Jane always watched him work with his hands. A part of her becomes lit ablaze by watching him do even the simplest of tasks with his large hands, like screwing a panel into place.

She frowned however as she noticed the fresh looking wounds on his right hand. She points at them and looks to him, "What did you do to yourself this time?"

Her rather motherly tone makes him smirk for a second, "Had a nightmare. Woke up, read Benjamin's letter, and ended up squeezing on the chain I keep all my brother's tags on a bit too hard." He spoke simply as his hands worked the second to last screw into place.

Shepard sighed but a small smile danced on her lips, "Well at least I don't have to drag you to Chakwas to get your wounds sorted anymore. Do you want to talk about your dream?"

Shepard shifts from leaning to a gently hand on his shoulder. Carmine is thankful for his helmet as he blushes, 'I'll never get used to how nice some of these people are. Especially her.'

He shakes his head and finishes screwing the last screw in, "No I'll be alright. Thank you though cherry." He let's his left hand come up and rest on hers for a moment before he stands.

Shepard feels the red come to her cheeks but doesn't falter her concerned gaze, "Ok, but I'm here if you need me. Why don't we get out of here and grab some food?"

Carmine nods, "I appreciate it Shepard. You read my mind, I'm starving."

Shepard beams up at him and leads them into the elevator, placing herself cozily next to him. He welcomes how close she is, 'Feels strange being comfortable around someone like I am with Sam.'

It doesn't take long for the pair to get to the mess hall. Plopping themselves down in their usual seats, they noticed the rest of the crew was there too.

"Hey Garrus, been a little since I've seen you. How are you doing?" Carmine says with a small nudge from his elbow to Garrus's shoulder.

The turian smiles at him, "Ah you know me big guy, always staying busy. I do know where we're going to be getting our drink on though."

Shepard's eyes narrow slightly at her old friend and her shoulders tense, "And where are you two heading off to exactly?"

Garrus raises his hands, "Woah I'm not taking him anywhere, yet." Shepard keeps her gaze trained on the turian.

"Whenever we're back to the Citadel I'm taking everyone out for drinks. Minus Zaeed, Miranda, Jacob, and whoever else we recruit that doesn't want to."

Shepard shrugs, "It might be a while before we get back there. The past week was used to gather information on new recruits to gather. Could be another week or two until we have time for that." Shepard explains making Garrus sigh but nod his head.

Shepard's eyes snap to the gear however, "Speaking of a mission. You interested in heading to a colony to kill collectors and hopefully rescue some people?"

Carmine doesn't hesitate to answer, "You know damn well I'm interested in spilling grub blood." He says rather enthusiastically.

Grunt hears the big man and laughs, "Make it messy Carmine."

Carmine reaches past Garrus and extends his fist to the krogan who eyes it warily before bumping it with his own, "You got it Grunt."

Jack speaks up from her spot next to Grunt, "And make sure someone records that shit. I love watching you work big guy." Jack bumps his still extended fist as well.

Shepard raises an eyebrow, "That's not happening."

Jack huffs but returns to her food, not willing to argue. Carmine hears the commander's stomach rumble and he chuckles. He stands and makes sure not to use his enhanced smell, 'Gotta have a little surprise every once and a while. Especially with Patty's cooking.'

"I'll grab us something to eat." Shepard nods appreciatively at him and starts chatting with Zaeed about something involving the negotiations of his contract with Cerberus.

The gear pays no mind to it as he heads over to the counter and is greeted by Patrick, "Carmine my boy! Good to see you bright and early."

Clayton smiles at the Irish cook, "Good to see you too Pat. What's on the menu this morning?"

The Irishman waves a spatula and turns back to his station, seemingly working to put together some plates for the big man.

He turns back to Carmine after a couple minutes and plants two plates in front of him, "We're doing an Opposite Day today. Dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner. Got some burgers for ye today. The commander's burger with the works here. And you my big friend get this absolute monster. I had some spare bacon I saved just for ye."

Carmine feels his mouth open as he lets his nose pick up the scent. The burger might be the most delicious looking thing he'd ever seen in his life, "Patrick I could kiss you right now."

The Irishman laughs heartily and passes the big man a pitcher of water, "Those big arse hands of yours can carry all this, right? Pitcher is for the table, works better with all you feckers over there now."

Carmine doesn't speak, so enamored with the scents and sights in front of him. He nods and mindlessly scoops the plates into one hand, the pitcher into the other, "Patty if you ever need anything ever, I'll be there for you. I will kill anyone you need me to, no questions asked."

Patrick laughs and pats the big man's bicep with a gloved hand, "Don't mention it boyo, I love cooking. Give my regards to the commander." The Irishman winks at him and returns to his stove.

Carmine nods and turns to get back to his table. He sets Shepard's plate in front of her and takes his seat. He places the pitcher of water in the center of the table after pouring himself and Shepard a glass. She decides to dig in, not noticing the gear hastily slip his helmet off.

"Thanks Carmine. What did I say? Pretty great huh?" She looks up to see Carmine devouring the massive burger. She chuckles and shakes her head at the food crazed man.

She focuses on her own food for the time being, checking on the big man every so often. She finds herself smiling at his wild hair, black strands stick out in every direction. A bad mix of bed head, and helmet hair by the looks of it.

"Do you always eat like you've been starved for days Carm?" Garrus asks with a smirk.

The gear works to swallow the last bite of his burger, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he looks to the turian, "You just don't appreciate a good meal when you see it Garrus. Oh and Shepard, Patrick gives you his regards."

Garrus chuckles as Carmine finishes his glass of water. The commander nods and turns to wave at the cook. Patrick smiles and waves back as Shepard turns back to face the gear.

"Oh by the way Carmine, I've been meaning to talk to you about possibly upgrading your armor." The gear cocks an eyebrow and rests his forearms on the table, turning his head fully to meet Garrus's eyes.

"What did you have in mind?" He asks the scar faced turian.

Garrus smiles and Shepard rolls her eyes playfully, "Well I'm glad you asked. You never came for those kinetic barriers, so I thought I could show you how to install them before you head off on your mission later. Technically an upgrade."

Carmine tilts his head in confusion, "Do you just have a bunch of those things laying around?"

Garrus chuckles, "You could say that."

Carmine shrugs, "Alright man, I can go grab my armor after this and head to your room."

Shepard nods thankfully toward Garrus before scowling at Carmine. The gear looks to either side of him before looking back to the small woman, "What?" He asks genuinely confused.

"You never got a set of barriers?" Her angry tone made the big guy nervously scratch the back of his head.

"W-well you see. Heh, I was kind of busy and stuff and I-uhhh." He snatched his helmet and bolted from the table. Eliciting laughter from the rest of the team as Shepard angrily looks toward the blur that Carmine had become.

"How can such a fearsome warrior be scared of a little woman like Shepard?" Grunt asks as his laughter dies down.

Jack smacks grunt behind the head, "Because she's a damn force of nature that's why."

Shepard sighs and grabs at the bridge of her nose as Grunt and Jack start to get into it. Shoving, then grabbing, then punching.

"Alright alright! Break it up! No throwing chairs!" She yelled angrily.

---

"So you're telling me the collectors just so happened to plan a strike against a colony with one of my former crew mates stationed at it? I don't buy it." Shepard says, suspicion lacing her words as the Illusive Man takes a sip of his drink.

"It's shouldn't be surprising that the collectors have taken an interest in you. Especially if they're working with the Reapers. Oh and it seems the collectors have gotten to the colony a bit early, its crucial that this takes your top priority. The colony is already under siege from what my scouts gather." Shepard feels her anger rise. This was a crucial detail that he had forgotten to mention.

'Hold it together Jane. I hate him but I can't afford to not work with him. Focus on saving those people.' She thinks while clenching her teeth tight, her jaw straining from the pressure.

"Send the coordinates to Joker, we'll head off immediately." The Illusive man looks to her smugly as she stomps out of the room.

The red haired woman sighs and looks to the large dent in the wall to her left. She snickers, thinking about Carmine. Then her thoughts travel to the colony and one woman she thought she'd never see again.

Shepard hoped her old friend was alright, even though she knew Ashley Williams was one tough bitch. The collectors were a different kind of enemy, and the fact they arrived early meant trouble for the innocent people there.

Shepard shakes her head free of her thoughts and heads to the lab, "Hopefully Mordin has something to deal with the seeker swarms."

She enters and is greeted by Mordin typing away next to a container with a large bug in it. She smiles but before approaching she gets a hold of EDI.

"EDI, notify Carmine and Kasumi that I need them up in Mordin's lab, tell them to come geared up as well, we'll be heading out soon." Mordin turns as he hears the commander and smiles.

"Ah Shepard, have just the thing for you." Mordin says with a wide smile while holding up some kind of under armor.

---

"So the strongest barrier I had around here is the same type Grunt is using." Garrus says while holding up a small device. He motions for Carmine to place his chest piece on the table. The gear nods and sets his chest protection gently on the table.

He watches closely as Garrus slips the device carefully into a small section of the backside of his chest piece, "Heh, would you look at that. It fits like a glove. Almost like your armor was designed with this in mind."

The massive gear shrugs, "Not sure. Like I've said plenty of times I'm not too good with tech, just with my hands." The turian rolls his eyes and slaps a hand on the front of the bulky armor.

"Whatever you say Carmine. Go ahead and put it on." The man does as he is told. He slips the armor over his head and tightens it. Carmine is quick to notice a dark blue bar appearing at the bottom of his helmet's hud and hums.

"Besides this little blue bar, how will I know if it-" he's cut off by Garrus who shoots him in the chest with a pistol. The round is stopped by the shield, and Carmine doesn't even flinch. Noticing how the bar went down by a small bit.

"I...guess it works. You've just been looking for an excuse to shoot me haven't you?" The gear asks and he crosses his arms over his chest.

Garrus chuckles, "What? Nah, not me. I'd never."

Carmine laughs and extends his hand toward the turian, "Thanks Garrus, was certain Shepard was going to take my head off it I didn't get this shield thing."

Garrus accepts the extended hand and shakes it, "Oh don't worry about Jane, she's just worried about you. Hopefully this will help stop your arms from getting shot up."

The pair share a chuckle as they let go of each other's hands, "Actually if you have some time I'd like to ask-" Garrus is cut off by EDI.

"Carmine, commander Shepard requests your presence in Professor Mordin's lab. Make sure to bring your equipment."

The gear smiles, "Sure thing EDI. Sorry about this Garrus, we'll talk more when I get back."

The turian waves the big man off, "Don't let me keep you Carm. I'll talk to you later."

---

The shuttle rustles gently, and Carmine shifts uncomfortably, "Hey Shepard, you sure this under armor is going to protect me from those big ass bugs?"

Shepard looked up from her omni-tool with amusement, "This is the fourth time you've asked Carm. If I didn't know any better I'd assume you were scared."

Her response got the proper reaction as the gear's muscles flexed, straining against the tight material of the seeker swarm protection. She decides to tie up her hair into a ponytail as she looks into his helmet's glowing lenses.

"I'm not scared of anything. I just want to make sure is all. You might not know it but I'm not from this dimension." Shepard rolls her eyes playfully and Kasumi giggles to her right. The two women sneak their looks at the confined muscle of the gear.

'I'll have get him in sleeves more often. They really highlight the best parts.' Shepard thinks with a small deviant glint in her eyes as she looks along the tight gray material that covered the arms of the gear. Even his neck was covered in a nice fitting armored shirt collar, the front being unzipped slightly.

"Don't worry Carmine things will be fine. It looks pretty good on you too." Kasumi says with a wink.

He rubs the back of his helmet and snickers, "Heh, thanks I guess. Well if you two think it'll work. I guess I'll just go with the flow."

The two women across from him smile warmly. Kasumi's eyes widen for a moment before she speaks, "Oh! Before I forget, I'm going to need help with something personal. We can talk details later but I just thought I'd let you two know."

Carmine responds fast, "Of course Kasumi. Whatever you need, I'm there."

Shepard smirks at Carmine's willingness to help the master thief, "Same here. I'll get with you after all this and we can discuss it."

Kasumi nods gratefully to the both of them, "Thank you."

Carmine goes back to checking his lancer over, 'Fuck I hope this armor works. I don't trust half the things made in this dimension. But to be fair, Jacob did do a great job with my bullets, so fuck it. Have to focus anyway. There are a lot of grubs that need killing.'

His thoughts are interrupted by the shuttle pilot, "Coming in on the drop zone commander."

Carmine eagerly gets up and plants himself next to the commander. He hears an amused noise come from Kasumi as she takes her spot at Shepard's right, "You always this excited to get into a fight big guy?" Kasumi says with a smirk.

Carmine nods his head quickly, "Always."

The shuttle door pops open and Shepard takes the first steps out. Carmine inhales deeply and nearly gags as a foul stench forces it's way into his nose. He stops to shake his head and cough.

Shepard turns her head back, concern etched on her face from hearing the big man, "Everything alright Carm?"

Clayton quickly gets used to the vile smell that sticks to the air, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm assuming that gross ass smell is the collectors. And that is their..."

Shepard smirks at the big man as his lancer drops to his right hand at his side. His helmet was turned up to look at the massive collector ship. Her expression quickly changes though, "I know it's probably shocking to see Carmine but we have to move."

Carmine shakes out of his stupor and gains his bearings, 'This is an active combat zone, get your head out of your ass.'

The two share an understanding nod, forming up and moving ahead. Five collectors quickly approach them, and Carmine finds the puke inducing scent isn't theirs, although they don't exactly smell like roses. Shepard is quick to get behind something, "Find cover!"

The fleshy rifles that a few of the large bug-like aliens were using fire bright yellow beams, barely giving the three any breathing room. The other collectors fired their rifles as well, one stray bullet clipping the top of Carmine's helmet.

Carmine growls low and his eyes catch the sight of a dead human, the small woman's insides were spilled onto the ground, seemingly gnawed on. He clenched his jaw hard, fighting tooth and nail to not lose his composure.

"Kasumi, cloak yourself and flank them from behind. Carmine I need you to get their attention." The gear excitedly turns to the commander and gives her a thumbs up. He couldn't speak, the rage that burned in his chest was threatening to spill through his skin and melt his armor.

Shepard notices Kasumi is gone and raises up, firing a few shots with her avenger. She catches one of the collectors in the shoulder, "In position Shep." Kasumi's voice comes through the radio.

Carmine takes the time to blind fire, gripping his lancer in one hand as he fired it, the shots kept the bugs in cover for a couple extra seconds. Shepard was surprised he was able to be so accurate with only one hand on the large rifle.

She gets next to the gear as he reloads his lancer. His helmet turns to her, his full attention seemingly only on her now. She pokes the big dent on his helmet's temple with her pointer finger, "Go get em' Carmine."

The gear smiles wide and nods as Shepard retracts her hand and pulls out her sniper rifle. Carmine takes a moment as a couple beams and bullets pepper their cover. As soon as they stop, the veteran gear is out in a flash. He charges them, firing a small burst into the first collector he sees.

It's chest bursts open, a puff a strange looking blood sprays from the gaping wounds. Carmine smiled as he saw Kasumi starting to fire from behind them, the remaining collectors were pinched.

They tried to split their numbers to fight on each front, and unfortunately for them Carmine got within chainsawing range.

Kasumi shot down the two on her side with a submachine gun, and sat back to watch the big man dish out some pain.

Shepard kept her eyes open, and spotted another two collectors up higher. She dispatched them with frightening accuracy as they aimed their guns at the pair below.

Carmine dug his chainsaw bayonet into a collector's shoulder, it's screech of pain driving him further into the deep end as he dragged the whirring blades slowly through the chitin and flesh. Carmine let out a battle cry as he sawed the collector in half.

His sights snap to the last collector, who fires into his armor. The shots do nothing, the barrier he got from Garrus stopping the bullets from doing any direct damage to him. The small bar at the bottom of his hud was decently depleted though.

He clipped his lancer to his back and swatted the gun from its hands. It made an attempt to escape, spreading its wings and turning away from him.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Carmine yells as he quickly snatches the large bug wings and rips them from the collector's body. The beast yelps and screams in pain.

Carmine smiles wide as he grabs a hold of the collector by its throat and pins it to a rock, slipping his knife into his right hand, "Let's see how you like it BITCH!"

Shepard is shocked as he easily guts the collector and throws it to the ground. He pauses, taking a second to look back toward the commander, silently asking for approval. It doesn't take her long to pop from her shock, and she silently appreciates that he waited for her.

"Go ahead. Just make it quick." As soon as the words leave her mouth Carmine smiles wide.

Grabbing a hold of the spilled intestines and yanking them further out of the collector. He shoves them into its mouth, "What? Not hungry anymore!?"

She finds herself disturbed by his brutality, 'I suppose the collectors do deserve it. They're kidnapping and slaughtering people, but Carmine is being a bit...much. At least he waited for my approval this time.'

As Shepard is worrying for his mental health, the gear makes the collector crawl a bit. It doesn't get far before he finishes it off, stomping its head into the ground. It's brains splatter onto his boot and pant leg.

"You don't get to walk away." She hears his voice come out low and gravely.

She shakes free of her thoughts and passes him, bumping his elbow, "Good work you two." Shepard makes sure to step over the mess that Carmine made. The small bit of contact seems to jolt the big man from his rage.

The gear sets his anger aside as his eyes stay stuck on the woman's red ponytail. It sways back and forth as she walks, 'I blame Sam for my attraction to ponytails.' He lets out an unnoticed chuckle as they continue.

The commander decides to gets in contact with the professor, "Mordin, we ran into a couple collectors ground side. They're no doubt going to be looking for us now. Are you sure this armor is going to protect us against the seeker swarms?"

The doctor takes a few moments to respond as the trio make their way further into the colony. Carmine clenches his hands tighter around his lancer as they come upon more dead humans. Some dead in their homes, others were strewn about in the open.

Carmine feels a searing sensation in his chest as his body heats up, "I'll kill every last one of these fucking bugs."

Kasumi looks up to the big man with worry, she glances to Shepard and notices she shares her concern. Shepard turns away and stops to wait for Mordin's answer. She motions the others to hold position.

They all hear shuffling over the radio and Shepard snickers, "Sorry, seem to have misplaced notes. Will get back to you soon, best to stay put." The salarian says in his usual stiff manner.

'Need to make them hurt, make them feel this hate.' Carmine thinks to himself as steam slowly rises from his collar.

Kasumi cloaks and smiles mischievously, she works her way over to Shepard and nudges her in Carmine's direction. The commander looks around with a hand on her pistol, before noticing Kasumi was gone.

Shepard turns to face the gear as he stares blankly into the landscape, "Carmine, how are you holding up?"

The big man jumps and blushes lightly. Shepard smirks as she notices the red tint on his neck, "Everything alright big guy?"

He scratches the back of his helmet and lightly tugs at his shirt collar, which releases a small puff of steam, "I'll be fine."

The commander shoots him a skeptical look and rests a hand on her cocked hip. He sighs, knowing she wasn't going to back down.

"These bug grubs are reminding me of back home, and not in a good way." Shepard nods and rests a reassuring hand on his covered bicep, reveling in the fact that he didn't tense up at the contact. His heat soaked into her like usual, eyes widening slightly at the intense temperature. She felt butterflies flutter in her stomach.

The sensation in his chest was being snuffed to a low flame as the commander touched him. He lets out a low hum, "Thanks Shepard." He leaned down a bit to nudge at her armor covered ribs with his sharp elbow.

The commander can't help as she snorts out a laugh and pushes his elbow away rather harshly, "No roughhousing, this is a serious mission." Shepard says, her normal authoritative attitude wavering a bit. A small smile comes to Carmine's face, the expression covered by his helmet.

"Are you ticklish commander?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. All the color drains from Shepard's face as she takes a healthy step back from him.

"No." Shepard mutters quick as her eyes dart away from his lenses.

Her answer is rather unconvincing, which only makes the smile on Carmine's face grow, "Oh I'm going to remember that." Shepard blushes and glares at him as hard as she can muster.

"You better forget it if you know what's good for you." She tries to be intimidating but falls short with the red on her pale cheeks.

'She may be small, but I think I know better than to keep prodding this little bear.' The gear thinks, his smile persisting.

Carmine keeps his mouth shut, simply chuckling as he keeps his gaze trained on her. Shepard feels her face heat up more, 'Lucky, handsome bastard. Why did he have to pick my ribs of all places to poke at?'

Kasumi de-cloaks next to Carmine, "So do you two roughhouse often?"

It's Carmine's turn to blush red hot as he stumbles into a sentence, "N-no! We just spar sometimes, nothing too different than when I train with Jack."

"Mhmm, sure big guy." Kasumi says with a smirk.

Shepard looks smugly up to him, enjoying every second of his embarrassment. The blush on her face fading as Kasumi laughed, "Oh, you two are just too much fun to be around."

They both glare at the master thief, grateful as Mordin comes back over the radio, "Do not worry. Found notes, stuck under other notes. Not important."

Shepard sighs, "We aren't exactly safe out here Mordin, an answer would be nice. Now."

Carmine holds back a laugh, he liked when Shepard got angry. When her anger wasn't directed at him that is, "Don't pop a blood vessel Shepard. With a gear around you two might be the safest people on the planet." Carmine joked, eliciting a glance from the commander.

Kasumi pats him on the arm, "You know he's probably right Shep. The big guy is a force of nature." Her words make Carmine stand a bit taller with pride.

The commander sighed and waved the both of them off. It only took Mordin a few seconds to respond to them, "Certainly impossible. But in limited detection should make us invisible to swarm. In theory."

Kasumi folded her arms and raised an eyebrow, "In theory?"

Mordin continued, "Experimental technology. Only test is direct contact with seeker swarms. Looking forward to see if you survive."

Carmine scowled, "Is that lizard grub serious?"

Shepard ran a tired hand over her face, pulling out her avenger with the other, "It seems that way Carmine. Sorry for doubting your skepticism."

Carmine felt his anger creep up on him. But he bit his tongue to stop the torrent of insults before they could flow toward the salarian professor. He huffed angrily and started moving ahead.

The three made their way further. Carmine kept his sights trained ahead, but was unable to look away from the surprising amount of bodies they found on the path to the colony, 'The collectors aren't just kidnapping, they're killing. This is worse than I thought.' Shepard thinks as her grip tightens on her firearm.

"Command...-we're losi...-massive intefer..." the radio cuts out as Joker tries to reach them.

"Collectors must be blocking the signal. Guess we're on our own for now. Stay sharp." Carmine and Kasumi nod to the commander. Shepard spots a bundle of houses up ahead and the crew make their way down from the higher ground.

Just as they start making their way to the center Shepard spots collectors dropping into the area, "Grubs!" Carmine shouts, unleashing a small burst of bullets into the first one he sees, killing it. Shepard takes cover on the right as Carmine draws their fire.

Carmine sees his shield go down, the rapid fire of the numerous collectors bringing down the protection rather quickly. He snatched up cover in the middle, "Everyone alright?" He asks as he holds his fingers to the side of his helmet.

Shepard answers from her position after taking down a couple collectors, "Shouldn't I be the one asking that bullet magnet?" Carmine scoffs at her teasing and rolls his eyes.

Kasumi pops out from her cover on the left to kill a collector as it tries to flank Carmine, "I'm all for teasing Carmine, but what's the plan Shepard?" She asks as a yellow beam smashes into her cover.

The commander takes a look out onto the battlefield and a bullet whizzes past her head, "Alright Kasumi, flank from the left. Carmine I'm going to need you to head down the middle. I'll support with covering fire when I'm done clearing my side."

Kasumi took the initiative by cloaking and sneaking her way past the unsuspecting collectors. Carmine chuckles, "Covering fire? For me? You spoil me Shepard."

The commander rolls her eyes as the veteran gear vaults his cover and charges the collectors head on. He fires a lead storm toward two collectors, tearing their legs to bits. He laughs as they drop to the ground, writhing in pain.

He finishes them off quickly, popping their heads open with a couple rounds. The familiar click of his now empty rifle hits his ears and he notices the beam weapons that the collectors are using are particularly good at taking down his shields.

One beam breaks his shield, hitting him directly in the chest, and forcing him to pull out his boltok. His armor groans under the heat and pressure for a moment until Carmine blows the collector's leg off at the knee. It drops down to a crouch as Carmine flips the barrel of the revolver into his hand.

He lifts and smashes the gun's grip into the back of the collector's head, a sickening crack is heard as its skull smashes open from the contact. It drops to the floor, dead. In the commotion he notices four collectors have gathered in front of him, "Shit." He mumbles.

The yellow beams and bullets hit the front of his chest armor, and the old, abused metal cracks under the prolonged fire. Carmine feels a hot pain in his chest, and raises his boltok. The hand cannon destroys the remaining four collector's heads. He holsters his boltok and inspects the battlefield with the addition of four fresh, headless corpses.

He catches Shepard and Kasumi both finishing up with their respective sides and smiles as they kill the last of the collectors in the area. He reaches a hand up and pats the crack on the right side of his chest armor. He sucks air through his teeth as pain shoots through his chest.

Reaching under the armor he pats around near the crack. His hand comes out bloody. The wound itself doesn't bother him, and he quickly shakes off the burning feeling. He's had worse after all.

'Just fucking peachy. There goes my armor. Now what are we going wear out in the field?' His teeth grind as he thinks. His ears do catch the sound of shambling footsteps, and he's fast to turn and catch the mystery enemy by the throat as it leaps at him.

"Carmine watch out!" Shepard says just before the husk is caught by the gear. The awful smell from earlier smashes into his nose once again.

Carmine is stunned as the visage of the husk comes into his view. He slams the husk into the ground and backs himself up.

"What the fuck..." he says in shock as the man-like being stands back up and shambles toward him, the slam seemingly doing nothing to deter it. He tracks the terrible scent to the creature as it makes its way toward him.

It looks human, but it's skin is gray, mouth hanging open, blue tubes jutting from its chest, and it's eyes are soulless with a blue glow to them, 'It almost looks like a human. What hell is that thing?'

He pulls out his gnasher and quickly fires a shell into it, completely tearing it in half at the waist. The top half of the gray corpse lands in front of him. It screeches for a moment and reaches a hand out at the gear before collapsing.

Kasumi and Shepard come up on either side of him, the master thief speaking first, "Good work defending yourself Carmine. I knew those enhanced ears would keep you safe."

He shrugged and flipped the top half over. Shepard took a close look and her eyes widen slightly, "Looks like the husks the Geth used back on Eden Prime. This confirms it then, the collectors are working with the Reapers."

Carmine's voice came out deep as he inspected the face of what used to be a man, "Husk? It almost seems human."

Shepard looks to the tall man and catches his hands visibly tightening on his tally marked gnasher. She catches a bit of blood drip onto his right gauntlet and looks to his chest. She sees the large crack in his armor leaking a decent bit of blood, "Carmine you're injured!"

Of course he never even gave off the impression of being hurt, and as Shepard reached back to grab her canister of medi-gel she felt him grab her shoulder, "Don't worry about me right now. Save that for when one of us is hurt bad. If those grubs can get through my armor we'll need it."

She couldn't argue with his logic, and her body shivered a bit at the contact. She didn't like him bleeding all over himself but she didn't make a fuss, "Fine, but you're going to see Chakwas as soon as we get back."

She catches his armor move as a small laugh rustles his armor, "Back to the husk, it's practically all synthetic. The Geth would impale people on these machines with large spikes and it would turn them into husks. It uses Reaper technology to make us into these mindless zombies."

"Reapers." He speaks low, barely audible.

'They're just like the lambent. Turning humans into these mutated freaks and forcing them to fight us.' He recalls all the former humans he had to kill with Cole, Baird, and Paduk a couple hours before the final assault on Azura.

He squeezes his eyes shut and lets out a rough breath, 'Even this place has them too huh? Well I guess I'll just have another set of grubs to kill.'

"Carmine, you ok?" Shepard asks, noticing the big man was extremely quiet, minus his change in breathing. His eyes pop open and he looks to her.

"Yeah, I'm alright. We should get moving." He says rather unconvincingly while taking a few steps ahead. Kasumi and Shepard share another look of concern before following him.

'I'll have to talk to him about it later.' Shepard thinks as they continue forward. She takes the lead as they round a corner and come upon a number of pods.

Carmine pops a shell in his gnasher before trading it for his lancer. He reloads the weapon as they approach a pod. Kasumi analyzes it with her omni-tool before speaking up, "The people...they're gone." A solemn tone to her voice.

Carmine's jaw clenched tight, he knows exactly what the collectors are doing, and he fucking hates it, "I'm going to kill every last one of these grubs."

He is quick to spot four collectors and can't contain his anger any longer, "Carmine wait!" Shepard yells as he charges them.

He doesn't listen, and their beams quickly work his shield down. Unfortunately for them the vengeful gear doesn't want to waste ammo, and works his way into chainsaw range. He impales the first one he sees on his saw, lifting it up.

Blood and chunks of meat splash down onto his armor as his lancer grinds through the squishy insides of the collector. Shepard and Kasumi take his distraction as an advantage.

Kasumi de-cloaks behind one of them, spraying it down with her smg. While Shepard is busy peeling back the skull of another collector with her sniper rifle.

The creature at the end of Carmine's lancer dies well before being sawn in half, it's legs and torso dropping to the ground in a mess of blood and gore. Carmine readies himself for more and spots the last collector aiming at Shepard.

He growls low and clips his lancer to his back. Clayton is quick to rip the gun from its hands and knee it in the stomach. The collector falls to its knees and clenches its middle as Carmine stands over it, his knuckles cracking as he squeezes his fists tight.

Shepard is shocked as the collector quivers looking up at the tall human. Everything she knows about the collectors has proven them to not be afraid of anything, and yet here one is, damn near pissing itself as Carmine looms over it. Shepard smirks, 'I suppose anything is possible with Carmine.'

Carmine grabs a hold of the collector's arms and tears them from its torso with a grunt of effort. A sickening shriek coming from its mouth as blood sprays from the messily torn appendages.

Carmine snatches it by the throat and hoists it up to meet his helmet's eyes, "You hear that bitch? I'm going to kill every last fucking one of you grubs!" Determination and rage lace his words as his fingers pierce the collector's throat.

It gurgles and spits blood onto his covered forearm, he forces it to look at him. He wants to watch the life drain from its eyes. It twitches and writhes in his grasp until it dies. Carmine discards the large bug, dropping it to the ground.

He looks around and huffs angrily as the other collectors already lay dead. Shepard's worry for the man reaches its peak as she watches fresh blood start to flow from the crack in his armor, 'All the activity, it's opening the wound further.'

Shepard ushers her team toward a door, "I'm going to hack this open, stack up."

Carmine trots toward her like he wasn't actively bleeding from his chest. As he gets close he turns away from them and backs his way toward her and Kasumi, keeping their rear covered.

'Good thing Shepard recruited me. I won't let these grubs keep doing this to people. It's just like what the locust did to us.' Carmine thinks as he pulls out his boltok and replaces the spent rounds.

As the doors open Carmine gets his lancer back into his hands and continues to hold up the rear. The storage room is relatively empty, but Carmine tunes his ears and hears scared breathing. He whistle to Shepard and points toward a set of boxes.

She nods and trains her pistol in that direction, managing to hear as someone was moving around, "Whoever's there, get out here now!"

A man slowly walks out, his hands raised in front of him. Shepard correctly assumes he's one of the surviving colonists, "You-you're human!" He exclaims.

"What are you doing here? You'll lead them right to me!" Carmine protectively steps up toward the man. His eyes lock onto the blood stains and Grub Killer paint job on his armor.

"Must be a real stupid if you thought that locked door was going to stop those grubs." Carmine towers over the man who stumbles as he steps back away from the angered gear.

Shepard reaches out and grabs his elbow, making the gear's helmet snap in her direction, "You had to have heard them trying to get in. I don't imagine it's been easy hiding from the collectors."

Carmine takes a hard look at Shepard before shrugging her hand off. He takes a step back to allow easier access to the man. Who at the moment looks extremely distraught at the mention of the collectors, "Those things are collectors...you can't mean. Those things are real?"

Shepard gives the man a moment to process the information before he starts up again, "No! They got Lilith. Sten too. They got damn near everyone!" Shepard understands the man's desperate tone and gives him a reaffirming nod.

Carmine on the other hand was fuming. He takes a step up next to Shepard and juts his pointer finger at the man, letting his lancer dangle at his side, "And you sat in here like a damn coward. Letting those goddamn grubs take your friends without doing a damn thing about it!" He yells at the man.

Shepard glares daggers at the gear and steps in front of him, shoving on his armor, "Carmine stand down! I know you're upset but this man isn't the enemy!"

Carmine's hand drops to his side and he scoffs, "Whatever." Walking off to the far side of the room, he begins inspecting a med station.

'I get where Carmine is coming from, but not everyone has our will to protect others. The everyday people and aliens don't always have that fight in them.' Shepard thinks while looking at Carmine's retreated form. She catches a puff of steam that escapes his collar and frowns.

Shepard sighs and turns back to the man. He looks taken aback by Carmine's words still. But his attention is on the commander, "Look we're sorry about what happened to your colony, but we have to stop the collectors. On our way in I noticed you have defense towers around the area. If they're still operational we can use them against the collector ship."

The man nods slowly, his eyes snapping from Carmine back to Shepard, "You'll need to calibrate the targeting systems first. Damn thing never worked right."

Shepard nodded, "I can figure that part out, just need the location."

The man opens his omni-tool's map and shows Shepard, pointing at a spot, "Head for the main transmitter on the other side of the colony. Targeting controls should be at the base, it'd be hard to miss. I'll send it to your omni-tool."

Shepard nods gratefully and head over to the door where Kasumi and Carmine were standing by. Shepard could tell Carmine was getting angrier every minute they stayed on the planet. With the added damage to his armor she correctly assumed he was absolutely pissed off, 'I'm worried about him, but for now I need him to focus that rage on the collectors. I just hope it's not too much for him.'

The man speaks up when the door opens, "I didn't have a choice you know. Hiding in here was how I survived."

Carmine growls loud enough for Shepard and Kasumi to hear. He half turns back to the man shakes his head.

"Surviving is a curse, you'll see..." He speaks low and stomps his way through the opened door. Shepard and Kasumi follow, leaving the surviving colonist with his thoughts, the scary giant's words echoing through his mind.

---

It doesn't take the trio long to reach the door to the transmitter. Surprisingly they hadn't run into many collectors on their way over. Maybe a handful that found the business end of Carmine's lancer as they slowly approach their destination.

"Something doesn't feel right. Keep your guard up." Shepard says, eliciting a grunt from Carmine and a nod from Kasumi.

Carmine's wound had stopped bleeding on their way over, but the crack in his armor left him exposed. He prodded the fresh wound with his index finger, sticking it in the crack itself. He felt the wound and sighed, 'Chakwas is going to kill me.'

He doesn't get long to think as they approach the large locked door. Carmine takes one look at it, then the console. He scratches his helmet muttering, "Can't force that one open." Before turning and standing guard.

Shepard snickers at the big man and looks to Kasumi, "Open it up. Make sure you cloak yourself for when the collectors show up."

Kasumi nods with a smile as she fades, making her way to the console, "They're on their way Shepard." A sadistic smile comes to his face as he checks his lancer's magazine.

Shepard quirks an eyebrow and gets into cover on Carmine's left, "How can you tell?" Carmine shrugs and takes his own cover on the right side.

"Call it a gear's intuition. Opening doors just sends flocks of grubs toward you." Shepard can't help but smirk at the tall man.

As if on cue the collectors to start raining into the area. Carmine bares his teeth, his weapon shakes in his hands as his anger flows through his body. Shepard sees him and whispers, "Just a little bit longer Carmine."

He looks to her and grumbles, nodding his head. She smiles that sweet Shepard smile at him and for a moment he can't help but stare. That moment ends quickly as his ears pick up the chittering of the collectors. The commander peaks out and her eyes widen at the sheer amount of them

She narrows her eyes as they look upon a new kind of collector, one she hasn't ever seen or heard of before. It looked like it was on fire almost. A bright orange-gold hue surrounded it, and it's eyes glowed brighter than the others.

It spoken rather loudly, "Assuming direct control." Carmine didn't know what that meant, and he didn't care.

Shepard primes an incendiary grenade and looks to Carmine. She nods, popping out of cover and pitching the grenade into a small cluster of collectors. The bomb shatters, spilling fire out and onto the bugs.

Carmine cackles as he raises up and guns down collector after collector with his lancer. Before the collectors can even react Carmine and Shepard have killed nearly eight. The burning insects screech as their flesh is singed, chitin melting, "You never told me you could cook, Shepard!" The gear's joy filled chant is drowned out by the gunfire.

They are fast to respond however, firing their guns at the two soldiers. They duck back into cover, as Kasumi comes cover the radio, "Only a couple more minutes Shep."

The commander is fast to reply, "Got it, just keep going Kasumi we've got this."

As she says that the strange collector uses what seems to be a biotic shockwave. The strong energy wave smashes into Carmine's cover and the man is thrown into the open.

"Holy fuck! Shepard that grub has powers like Jack!" Shepard looks to Carmine with worry as he starts taking heavy fire.

Of course he retaliates as they try to get close to him. Carmine smashes the barrel of his lancer into a collector's face, knocking it back before he revs his saw. The collector holds up its hands to try and block the whirring blades.

"You grubs should know that's not going to work!" He yells giddily as the chainsaw easily tears through both its arms. Carmine doesn't stop there, he digs the blades into its neck and saws it's head off as well.

The collectors take the time to blast down his shields while he's executing their kin. Carmine cackles sadistically as he sees the shield deplete, "Ha! Come on grubs! Shoot me like you mean it!"

Shepard hears him and tries to offer supporting fire as he tears his way through the bug-like aliens. The special collector catches sight of the big man, it starts charging up another blast as it eyes him up curiously.

Shepard is busy keeping the collectors off her, blasting away with her pistol. She's almost killed as many as Carmine. Speaking of Carmine his wound has fully opened back up. Once the collectors smelled the fresh blood they targeted it.

Blood steadily drips down the front of the crack as he gouges his thumbs deep into a collector eyes, the beast writhing in pain underneath him. He pulls back and kicks it to the ground, grabbing it by the top of the head he launches a haymaker that completely crushes its head in. Brain and blood explode onto his armor and arms.

He's hit by a beam in the shoulder, making him stagger to the side. Carmine noticed how open Kasumi was while working on the console, invisible or not, "Kasumi you doing alright?"

The master thief nods her head, "I only need a minute Carmine. Keep them off me!" A few stray bullets whizz by her.

"You got it!" He yells back to her as he fires the last of his magazine into a collector's chest. The creature drops to the ground, drowning a pool of its own blood.

The gear groans as the back of his leg is shot by a beam, making him take a knee. He puts his empty lancer on his back and grabs his gnasher. He grinds his teeth as pain shoots through his right thigh and chest.

He shakes it off and raises the shotgun in one hand to blast the collector behind him into chunks of meat and bloody mist. Carmine launches himself in Kasumi's path to protect her from the stray gunfire. His large frame was more than enough to fully shadow her, even from a good distance.

He grins as he shoots another shell into a nearby collector, it's skull making that sickly satisfying sound as it explodes, "God I love that pop!"

The gear smirks as he notices the number of collectors have dwindled significantly, 'I guess their little siege didn't work out for them, dumbass grubs.' He jokes in his mind as Shepard forces one of the last two collectors into cover.

Shepard gets the glowing collector in her sights but her gun clicks empty. She looks to Carmine as the shockwave gets sent out, it's headed right for him, 'No! Come on Carmine, move!' Shepard desperately thinks, her voice not finding her as she speedily works to reload.

He won't move though, if he moves then the blast hits Kasumi. He clenches his jaw and hip fires his gnasher at the collector in cover, 'Come on grub, let's see how much pain you can give me!' He thinks as his hands death grip his shotgun.

The powerful blast crashes into the big man, knocking him back a couple feet. He drops to his knee as the upper right side of his chest armor, the part with the crack, falls to the ground. The circular hunk of armor is followed by a torrent of blood splashing onto the ground.

"Carmine!" Shepard yells out. The last normal collector rushes at Carmine, blasting at his downed form with its rifle as the glowing collector prepares another shockwave.

Carmine feels a bullet graze the side of his helmet and smiles, his hand reaching up to grasp at his wound as his own blood steadily spills from the opening. The pain would've been crippling for any other normal being.

He shoots up and grabs the collector by the throat as it gets a bit too close to him. He trade his gnasher for his boltok and smashes the barrel through its teeth and into its mouth. Carmine unloads the revolver, firing round after round through the now gaping maw at the back of the collector's head.

"RAHHHHHH!" He roars as his bullets smash into the special collector's chest, leaving a number of gaping holes behind. The beasts glow fades as it falls to the ground and dies choking on its own blood as Carmine continues to squeeze the trigger of his boltok.

The gun clicks over and over before Carmine realizes it's empty. He pulls the revolver out of the long dead collector's mouth and smiles weakly as the body hits the ground. He looks around and sees nothing but dead bodies, 'Worthless grubs.'

His laugh catches in his throat as he coughs violently, blood spilling into his mouth. He lifts his helmet and spits what came up onto the ground. He breathes heavily, feeling tired for the first time since he arrived in this new world.

'No person can take that kind of damage and be walking afterwards. Fuck I almost forgot about the wound!' Shepard rushed over to him as he slowly makes his way back to his destroyed armor piece. He takes a knee as blood rushes out of the large open gash.

Shepard slides in front of him as he picks up the destroyed chunk of armor, he flips it over, "H...how am I going to remember to practice reloading now?" He jokes to Shepard as he flashes the writing on the armor to her.

She rolls her eyes and glares at him, "Don't know and don't care. Stay still." He did as he was told as the soothing medi-gel is applied to his wound. Shepard feels her face tint red as her hands work over a bit of his chest that's now exposed, the under armor was torn from the shockwave.

"That was extremely stupid Carmine. Fuck, your wound is really bad." She scolds him as she slathers his now sealed wound in another layer of gel.

He lets out a heavy breath and chuckles, "I couldn't let Kasumi get hit by that shit. Especially if it can do this to me." The gear raises a finger to point at the large gash on his chest. She can tell he's starting to get fatigued.

Shepard stood amazed that he would just let himself be injured for his team, 'A normal marine would've been dead already.' She thinks, her worry coming back tenfold. She goes to apply a third layer and is stopped by the gear.

"Thanks but I'm alright now Shepard." Shepard is stunned as the gear effortlessly raises himself back up, unintentionally putting her on eye level with his crotch. She coughs awkwardly before standing with him, sneakily grabbing the hunk of armor off the ground.

"Shepard, it's going to take a lot more grubs and way worse wounds to take this gear down." He gets his lancer out and reloads it, doing so with each of his weapons. Shepard stands dumbstruck in front of him. The sounds of the large door opening snap her from her stupor as Kasumi comes up next to her.

"The door to the defense terminal is open Shepard. Oh and thanks big guy, I owe you." Kasumi says with a wink.

Carmine chuckles hoarsely, "Nah, you don't owe me a damn thing. We're a team out here. Gotta look out for each other." Shepard smiles warmly at his words, her mind still slightly worrying about his injury.

She shakes off her worries, 'We have a job to do, and if anyone can take this kind of beating it's Carmine. Got to have faith that he'll be alright. Not that it makes seeing him like this any easier.'

"Come on, let's get in there." Shepard orders as she raises her pistol. Carmine and Kasumi follow close behind her. They clear the area and come up on the defense terminal. Shepard approaches it and starts talking to EDI.

Carmine can hear them, husks. They're rooting around, waiting for the perfect time to strike. Too bad for them he's itching for a fight still. Shepard breaks his train of thought as she comes up next to him and Kasumi, "Coms are down but thankfully EDI can still reach us. She's going to activate the towers. We just have to make sure the terminal stays in one piece."

As she finishes, a large number of husks start crawling out from their hiding places. Shepard raises her pistol, but then collectors begin to fly in to the area.

"Shit! Carmine deal with the husks. Kasumi and I will take the collectors." Carmine nods and springs into action.

He meets the first husk head on and punches it in the face, sending it reeling backward into another husk. Carmine quickly draws his boltok and blasts a clean hole through both of their head, "Two for the price of one, ha!"

He puts his boltok away and tears a bloody path through another four husks before his shields are dropped and he gets hit in his right thigh by a collector's beam rifle, 'This damn shield isn't nearly as strong as I thought it was.'

It was same leg that had been hit before, and he drops to a knee. He finds the collector and lifts his lancer spraying the last of his magazine into its stomach, dropping it instantly.

A husk claws at his ribs, nicking under his armor, "You can look, but no touching!" Carmine slips his lancer onto his back and grab the husk by the head, lifting and smashing its head into the ground, splattering its skull into bits. He grabs his gnasher and shreds another husk as it tries to leap at him.

He feels a weight on his back as yet another husk has leapt on him and has started clawing at his helmet. Carmine growls and snatches the abomination by the wrist, tossing it over his shoulder to the ground. His free hand finds his knife and he smashes it into its stomach, dragging the razor sharp blade up through to its skull.

Kasumi appears to his left and starts firing away at the collectors as they try to swarm the large man. The two get into cover and Kasumi reloads her smg, "You doing alright big guy?"

The gear laughs a genuine laugh and pats her on the shoulder, "I've never been better. I love this shit." Kasumi shakes her head and sighs as beams and bullets smash into their cover.

"Shepard, the defenses are almost back online. Be wary, I detect a large reaper threat incoming." EDI says through the terminal close to where Shepard is in cover to.

"What do you mean large-" she doesn't get to finish as the collector ship sends down a hulking mass of flesh. It has a face like a husk but a large glowing blue sack on its back. Shepard is stunned by the sight of it, and doesn't get out of the way in time as the beast charges up its eyes and shoots a bright blue beam right toward her.

The beam melts her shield instantly, and rips into her stomach. Carmine watches from his cover and yells out, "Shepard!" He watches her go down and a large pool of steam flows from his armored shirt collar.

He forces himself up but before he charges into the fray Shepard contacts them, "I'm alright, just a flesh wound. Ah. I'll be ok." Carmine's blood boils further at the sound of her wounded gasp.

He grabs a hold of Kasumi's shoulder, "I have a plan."

Kasumi smirks, her visible lower face is speckled with blood, "What did you have in mind?"

"I'm going to rush em' and cause a diversion. You get to her and give her cover from those new Reaper grubs." Kasumi's smirk disappears.

"Carmine, Shepard isn't going to like that plan and to be honest I don't either." The gear smiles wide, a bit of blood flows from the wound on his leg. He pats the small woman on her hooded head.

"Good thing I wasn't asking. Go make sure Shepard's safe." He says before vaulting cover, booting an approaching collector in the face. He forces it to be his meat shield as he charges the new mutated husk creature.

The mutant creature shoots its eye beams at the man, slicing the collector's arm off, 'It hurt Shepard. Make sure it dies screaming.' He shakes the thoughts away and lets out a roar of anger as he flings the collector at the mutated husk.

The body smashes into the sack on its back and it topples backward, it's eye beams shooting into the sky. Carmine is quick to pull out his gnasher, gunning the last four collectors down with brutal efficiency before he hastily makes his way over to the deformed being.

It moans and claws at him as he approaches. It leaps back and prepares its eyes to blast one of the bloodied points on the man. Unfortunately for it, Carmine has quickly caught up to it. He swings his gnasher like a bat and nails the creature in the face, sending it reeling to the ground.

He grabs a hold of its neck and the area between its body and the glowing sack on its back. It screeches in pain as he starts tearing the growth from its back. It claws at the unarmored section of his left side, leaving small bloody gashes in its wake.

That only works to piss off the gear as he works his weary muscles harder, 'Make it suffer. Make it bleed. End it!'

With one last yell of effort Carmine tears the being in two. He's a man of his word, the beast died screaming. He tosses the withered corpse down and lets out a breath. His chest wound reopened in the struggle, and his breathing is rather harsh.

Clayton pushes the pain and exhaustion aside as Shepard and Kasumi make their way over to him. He wipes his blood soaked gauntlets off on his pants. Shepard bares her teeth and charges him, ignoring the biting pain in her stomach. She smashing her small fist into his arm, "That was extremely dangerous Carmine!"

Shepard looks to the giggling Kasumi and punches her arm next. The thief yelps and rubs her future bruise, "Hey! What the hell did I do?"

Shepard rolls her eyes, "Oh please, you let him just go charge the enemy with those wounds."

Kasumi shrugged, "It seemed like a good enough plan to me. Besides, he didn't exactly give me a choice, and someone had to check up on you."

Carmine steps to the master thief's aid, "She's right Shepard. By the look of it you didn't close that wound up yet."

A bit of blood leaked from the scorched section of her jet black armor, "No, because you obviously need it more than I do. Look at yourself Carmine, you're covered in your own blood. I'm surprised you're still standing with all those open wounds."

Carmine chuckles, "Like I said, it's going to take a lot more grubs to put me down. Now shut up and put the medi-gel on your wound before I hold you down and Kasumi puts it on for you." Shepard's face heats up at the prospect of being held down by the big man, she shakes her head and sighs.

"Fine. But you're going to-"

The gear cuts her off, "Chakwas right away. I know." She rolls her eyes playfully. The defense towers activate and start blasting at the collector ship.

Kasumi smirks, "Ha, eat that you overgrown pests!"

Her smirk falls soon after as the ship quickly starts making its escape. Carmine shrugs and pats her on the shoulder, "Ah don't worry. We'll make sure they get what they deserve. Even if that means hunting those kidnapping piece of shit grubs down ourselves."

Shepard nods as the medi-gel reduces the pain in her stomach to a gentle throb, "Even with a few hiccups you two did well today. Especially you Carmine."

Carmine blushes and scratches the back of his helmet with his right hand, he winces at the action though. Fresh blood leaking from the missing piece of his armor, "Ah...what am I going to do about my armor?" Carmine asks solemnly.

Shepard furrows her eyebrows and reaches behind her, grabbing the hunk of armor that he had left behind, "I'm sure Garrus can patch it up for you."

Carmine takes the metal and squeezes it tight, "Thank you cherry."

Shepard nods to him. He tries taking a step forward and his right leg nearly buckles from his injury, "I guess we should head back."

Shepard doesn't see the fresh blood that leaks from his wounds and nods her head, rolling her eyes, "Yes we should."

Just as she's about to make contact with the Normandy, the surviving colonist from earlier comes running out to them, "No! You can't let them get away! They have half the colony in there. They have Egan and Sam a-and Lilith."

Carmine lets out a small groan, 'Great, this guy again.'

Shepard looks to the man with sad eyes, they'd failed to rescue the colonists, "I'm sorry. There's nothing more I can do. They're gone."

Shepard didn't want to admit defeat, but they had certainly lost this battle, "No, they can't be gone! You have to go save them!"

Shepard offers an understanding look to the man, "I truly wanted things to turn out different, I did. I wish there was more I could do. But I've done everything I can."

Shepard hangs her head a bit, and Carmine catches her shoulders slump. He shake his right leg a bit and steps behind her on her left, placing his relatively clean gauntlet covered hand on her shoulder, "It's alright Shepard. If there's anything I've learned over the years, it's that you can't save them all."

Shepard looks up at him grateful for his words and nods to him. He pats her shoulder and lets his hand fall to his side, 'How the hell has her ponytail stayed up this whole time.' The big man ponders with a small squint to his eyes. Shepard finds she enjoys the small pat, and feels her cheeks warm up.

The survivor's eyes snap to Shepard, "Wait I've heard that name before, Shepard...Shepard. The commander Shepard, that big Alliance hero?"

Before she could answer, a brown haired woman in blue armor stepped out from behind a pillar, "Commander Jane Shepard. Captain of the Normandy, savior of the Citadel, and the first human spectre. You're in the presence of a god Delan, back from the dead."

Carmine tenses and raises an eyebrow at the mystery woman. He looks to Shepard, and he bright smile on her face makes him take his hand off the grip of his boltok. He slightly relaxing as the brunette had a smile of her own, 'Must be some friend of Shepard.' He thinks with a hum.

"Ashley Williams, good to see you're still alive and kicking ass." Shepard says as she extends her hand.

Ashley takes her hand and shakes it, "I should be saying that to you Jane. I thought you had died. Hell we all thought you died commander."

Carmine starts to tune out of the conversation, the wound of his chest opening further as he stretches a bit. He groans and feels himself start to grow light headed, 'Oh fuck. Must have lost a lot of blood. Speaking of.'

A fresh batch of blood spills from the open wounds on his chest and thigh. He hated deep wounds, they always bled the most and bleeding just got in the way of him doing his job. He presses a hand to his chest to try and slow the blood flow a bit, 'Fucking hell, let's hope Chakwas takes it easy on me.'

He couldn't deny how bad it hurt, not that he didn't like it. Pain to him was the reminder than deep down a part of him was still human, and he savored every moment of it. He shifted his footing and put his hand back at his side.

He rolled his eyes as blood still trickled from his wound. He decided to tune back into the conversation, which had gone from a seemingly lighthearted reunion to a hostile confrontation.

Ashley's face took a grimace as she looked the commander in the eyes, "I wanted to believe you were alive, I did. But Cerberus? You've turned your back on everything we stood for!"

Shepard winced a bit at that, and Carmine noticed. His fists clenched at his sides, 'What the fuck is her problem?!'

"Ash you know me. You know I would only work with them for the right reasons." Shepard tries to explain, but notices her old friend isn't budging on this.

Ashley shakes her head and crosses her arms, "Doesn't matter now, I know where my loyalties lie. I'm an Alliance soldier through and through, and I'd never betray what I stand for."

Carmine has heard enough and stands next to Shepard. Ashley gazes up at the hulking man, catching a bit of steam puff from under his helmet as he tries to hold the majority of his rage back, "If you're such a proud fucking soldier, where the hell were you? You let all these people get captured yet Shepard's turned her back on what she stands for?!"

"You want to act like she's some kind of traitor while you're cowering away, letting us do your job for you! You're weak, and your Alliance is weak. Yet you have the balls to talk like that to the woman who just saved you and what's left of this colony." Carmine ground out through clenched teeth.

Shepard placed a hand on his right bicep to try and stop him, though she was grateful for his input. He shrugs off her hand and takes a step closer to Ashley, jabbing his pointer finger in her shoulder. The woman takes a step back from the sheer power of the poke, "Who the hell is this guy?"

Shepard takes a more forward approach and stands in front of the big man, making sure he can't advance any further, "How about you read the armor little girl! And you better watch your mouth, because if I don't like what comes out of it I'll make you wish you were dead."

Shepard turned her head to glare at him, "His name is Carmine. He doesn't hold allegiance to the Alliance or Cerberus, and he's a gear. A damn good soldier too, although a bit insubordinate at times." The gears looks down to her and shrugs before his helmet tilts back to stare Ashley down.

Ashley takes a more in depth look at the massive man, finding it unnerving as his helmet's blue eyes bore into her. She saw the open wounds on him, that and the sheer size of the man made her realize she probably shouldn't piss him off any more than she already has. The Grub Killer paint job that comes into view as Shepard shifts to one side reaffirms the thought.

She raises her hands in surrender and starts to apologize, "Alright, I'm sorry. I overstepped a bit, but I still don't trust Cerberus. If you're still the Shepard that I knew then you'll be doing what's best for the galaxy. All I can say is be careful out there Shepard, goodbye."

"Goodbye Ash, take care of yourself."

Carmine's body starts to cool down, appeased by the brunette's response. Kasumi chuckles from behind him, having enjoyed the little show he put on immensely. He glares back at her before his attention goes to Shepard.

She leans back into his armor and sighs deeply, "Thanks for that Carmine." She says honestly as she rocks herself forward off of his battered chest armor. Taking the time to examine the battlefield for a moment.

The big man wipes his blood off on his pants and reaches up with his left hand to scratch the back of his helmet, "Wasn't just going to let her talk to you like that." he sighs and coughs, blood slipping out of his mouth and running down his chin.

"We should probably get back to the Normandy. Chakwas is going to kill me." Carmine chuckles which turns into another cough. Shepard quickly turns to look at him and gasps. Having fully taken in the severity of his wounds.

"Christ Carmine. Joker, send a shuttle, we're finished down here. Tell Chakwas to prepare the med bay." Carmine sighs. Going to see Chakwas twice in one day was going to suck.

"Eh I don't think he looks too bad. Considering the amount of gunfire he took. He had a pretty solid plan at the end there too. I never would've thought of just running at the enemy." Kasumi teases with a smile as she claps the big man on the back, taking a step up next to him.

He smiles and lifts his right hand to pat her cloak covered head, "Don't worry, next time you can go massacre the grubs, and I'll check on Shepard's wounds."

Shepard starts frantically applying gel to Carmine's chest wound to stop the blood leaking from him, "There isn't going to be a next time you crazy bastard. Kasumi, stop humoring him!"

The thief enjoys the heavy head pat, but moves so Shepard has better access to his wounds. Smiling extremely wide as the commander cared so attentively for the gear.

Shepard finishes and anxiously taps her foot as they wait. Carmine feel the relief of the gel once again flush over his body and he smiles. He reaches out and clasp his hand on Shepard's shoulder. She looks up at him with an extremely worried look on her face, "What is it? Is everything alright, are you feeling ok? Are you-"

Carmine cuts her off, "I'm good Shepard. Thank you for bringing me along."

She blushes lightly and before she can nervously tuck the stray bundle of hairs behind her ear, Carmine does it for her, "I mean it. There's nowhere I'd rather be than out in the field. Even all fucked up like this."

The commander smiles a genuine smile up at him, the events of the mission falling apart as his calm, deep, voice rustles her bones. The surprisingly clean fingers that tuck the bundle of hairs behind her ear linger for a moment before jerking away, as if he'd been burnt.

He awkwardly scratches his helmet again and Shepard chuckles at the cute act, "No problem Carm. Now let's go get you patched up."

---

Sam is unlocking the door to her room when she feels eyes on her. She draws her snub and points at the shadowy figure. She'd just come back from her shift at the lab. Since it had been the full two weeks, the cube was fully repaired on Carmine's end. And she was allowed back on watch, within a set schedule.

A blonde, young man steps out in long sleeved shirt, his features seem extremely familiar to the tan woman, "You the cockhead that's been following me about the place for the past week?"

The man takes a step closer and smiles nervously. Sam cocks her pistol and he raises his hands in surrender, "Woah Woah, sorry about all that. I just needed to make sure it was really you. You're Samantha Bryne right?"

Sam narrows her eyes, "Who the hell is asking?"

The blonde gets a more serious look on his face before he answers, "I'm sorry, I realize now how this must seem. I'm private Nate Henderson, you served with my older brother back during and a bit after operation hollow storm."

Sam knew he seemed familiar, he looks almost exactly like his older brother. Her look doesn't soften but she puts her pistol away, "And what do you want private Henderson?"

"I've been looking for the people who served with my brother. Since this damn war is over now I thought I could get some first hand accounts on what kind of leader he was." Nate answers, lowering his hands back to his sides and taking a step closer to Sam.

Sam sighs, grabbing at the bridge of her nose. His brother wasn't a good man nor leader by any means. She starts walking down the hall and motions the young man to follow, "Come on Nate, let's head to the bar. I'll tell you what I thought about your older brother."

The blonde gear perks up, and starts to follow her, "Thank you, I've already gotten all I could from my squad's bot, Jerry. I just felt I should get to know the two surviving people he was recorded to have served with. By the way, where is the Grub Killer?"

Sam winced as she walked, of course she had almost entirely put aside how his older brother died in the first place.

The blood drive, an operation gone bad. She remembers it vividly as it was the first time she saw Clayton after he found out he was the last living Carmine brother. Only a couple weeks after he was tortured in the hollows.

"Where the hell is the rest of the unit? Ah you know what? Fuck this, come on people let's get moving, we don't have all-" Henderson is cut off as a wretch jumps over the small half wall and sinks its teeth into his leg. He screams in pain and falls, trying to smash the beast in the face. It easily pushes past his guard and sinks its teeth into his neck.

Sam shoots the wretch off of Henderson and rushes over to him. Blood pours from the chunk taken out of his neck.

"Fuck! Everyone stay put!" Sam yells as she attempts to put pressure on the wound. The civilians they'd been sent to rescue are huddled together safely close by.

"This is private Bryne. I need support at the bottom of the steps, sergeant Henderson is bleeding bad and we still have some civvies to evac." She spoke fast into her tac com.

She kept the pressure as a small gang of wretches made their presence known. Sam spots them and grumbles, snagging a spare bedsheet off a nearby stretcher and pressing it to the man's neck, "Hold this here while I save your worthless bloody ass."

The sergeant complies and holds the cloth to his wound, blood quickly darkening the fabric. Sam hastily fastens a tourniquet around his leg and snags his lancer.

Sam aims up at the wretches but is fast to duck back down. Four grinders accompanied the wretches, "Ah fuck. This is bad." She says to herself.

A wretch has managed its way over and pounces over the cover and on top of Sam. She grunts and holds the small beast at bay, "Come on you ugly fucker. Come and take a bite!"

The little beasty is quickly hoisted off her by its neck by a massive man. He snaps it's neck and tosses it to the side before getting a mulcher into his hands. Sam grabs her longshot and takes aim as the large figure starts systematically tearing the wretches and grinders to pieces.

The gunfire ceases and the smoke clears. Sam stands while reloading and walks over to the slightly taller man, "Thanks for the assist. Could use your help with Henderson."

He turns to her and Sam's eyes widen as she recognizes the bullet belt tattoo on his arm almost immediately, "Clay? What the hell are you doing out here, who let you out of the hospital? And when did you get new gear?"

"Nobody let me do anything. I grabbed my gear and hit the streets." He responds void of any emotion.

Sam frowns but places a hand on his exposed arm, "Well I'm glad you're alright. Nice arms, you been working out since I last saw you?"

She smirks as she hears him snicker a little, "You could say that."

"Well you'd have to be as ripped as you are to carry that big ass gun around." Sam says as she nudges the mulcher with her boot as it hangs from his left hand.

He rolls his eyes and moves past her, and toward the gurgling Henderson, who's still holding a blood soaked sheet to his neck.

Sam crouches next to him and checks his pulse, "His pulse is weak but I think we can-" she's cut off as Carmine pulls out his boltok and shoots the dying man in the head.

The blood splashes all over Sam's brass armor and she stands, "What the fuck!"

She glares at her friend as he holsters his boltok and gets the mulcher into both of his hands, "Why the fuck did you do that Clayton?"

He turns and starts walking toward where the wretches has come from, "Better than dying slow." He mutters as the sound of another wave of attacking locust hits her ears.

"Get them out of here. I'll cover you." Sam doesn't know why, but she follows his orders and starts ushering people up the steps toward the evac vehicles. Stopping to grab Henderson's tags. Carmine's mulcher starts firing and Sam hurries herself back into cover close to him.

She looks to her burly friend as his mulcher runs dry. He quickly swaps to his lancer and reloads at a blistering speed, "Get out of here Bryne."

"No, you can't get rid of me that easily. We have to buy them time to get out of here one way or another and I'll be damned if I let you do it by yourself mate." She smirks cockily at him as he grunts and shakes his head.

They don't have time to keep chatting as an incoming wave of drones starts firing at them.

Sam feels her heart ache at the memory. That was the first wave of ruthlessness and brutality that she had seen from him. It was the day she realized he was broken. It took a while, but he slowly started to be more like his old self. There always seemed to be a piece of him missing though, something was lost in his steel colored eyes.

Sam hadn't realizing that they'd almost reached the bar. She shakes her head free of the memories and pushes the doors open. She looks behind her, the young man still trailing her. Sam and Nate took two stools at the counter, "Carmine isn't around."

Nate faked a concerned look, "Is he dead?"

Sam notices the obviously forced facial expression and narrows her eyes slightly, "Nah, nothing can kill that man. It's hard to explain, and it's also not your problem."

Nate is about to push the matter as Dizzy approaches, "Samantha what did Marcus say about being down here?" Sam blushes lightly at the fatherly scolding.

"I'm just here to talk to this kid. Nothing more Diz, I promise." Dizzy eyes her warily before nodding and slides her a glass of water.

She nods her thanks and takes a big gulp, "So how's that whole dimensional whatsoever going?"

Sam pauses and shoots the old gear a stern look, "I have no idea what you're talking about Diz."

Nate listens in with piqued interest, "Oh you know girly, the whole mess with Carmine being sent off through that cube thing to a different world or some shit." Dizzy says, making Nate's jaw almost drop to the floor.

"Dizzy!" Sam shouts at him.

She sighs dramatically and turns her head to Nate who is looking at her expectantly now, "Fuck, alright well I guess that cat's out of the bag now. Yes Carmine was sent through some inter-dimensional thing and we've been trying to get him back for the past two weeks."

Nate can barely believe her, he does of course. The amount of raw emotion she displayed when Dizzy exposed it made him realize she was telling the truth. It also made him realize that there was only one way he'd get to see Clayton Carmine in person, "I'd like to help."

Sam looked at him for a moment, "No. You already know too much as it is. Best to just forget this ever happened."

As she moves to leave he grabs her arm, hard, "You still haven't told me about my brother." He says through clenched teeth.

Dizzy moves for his gun, but Sam is faster. She draw her pistol and puts it under the young man's chin, "Don't you ever fucking touch me again."

He nods and lets her go, "I'm sorry but this is my only chance to meet the people who were with my brother in his last moments. Please, if you aren't going to talk to me about him, at least let me help. I'm pretty good with technology if that's involved in any way."

Sam sees the desperation in his eyes, and her heart aches a bit. It reminded her of Carmine when he first met with Marcus. She sighs once again and clenches her hands, motioning the blonde to follow her, "Fucking hell. Fine, but it's your ass if this goes wrong Dizzy."

The old man raises his hands and shrugs. Nate is overjoyed as he smiles and follows the woman out of the bar.

She stops at her door, "Look Nate, go find Marcus Fenix. Tell him that Sam sent you, and that you're willing to help watch over the cube. He'll explain the rest."

She turns to unlock her door but looks back as the young man starts talking, "Thank you for this. I mean it, I won't let you down."

Sam scoffs, "Whatever, just don't make me regret this." She unlocks her door and enters her room, locking it behind her.

Nate's cheery expression falls, anger bleeding into his eyes. He walks away and mumbles to himself, "So that's where that asshole is. Makes getting to him a lot harder. Don't worry brother, I'll make sure he pays for what happened to you."

Sam cracks her door open and glares at the retreating form of the man, "Over my dead fucking body."

---

Carmine is shook from his sleep by the doctor, "Clayton are you alright?"

The big man looks around frantically for a few moments before calming down. He was drenched in sweat. Carmine sits up properly and gets his feet on the ground, "Yeah, I'm all good doc. Sorry for slipping away on ya there."

Chakwas smiles a knowing smile at the man and pats the healing wound on his chest. As she pulls away Carmine gently grabs her forearm, "Did I move around a lot or say anything while I was out?"

Chakwas kept her smile and nodded, "Yes Carmine, you did. Don't worry I won't ask about it. Just know I'm here for you if you want to talk." She places her other hand over his and he sighs in relief.

'Thank fuck. I really don't feel like having to explain one of these damn dreams right now.' Carmine thinks as he gives the doctor a grateful squeeze to the arm before standing up and redressing himself.

He wasn't naked, but his shirt and pants had been removed to get better access to the wounds, "Do you have anymore tests you need to run on me? Might not be in here for a while." Carmine jokes.

The doctor shoots him a doubtful look and he chuckles, "Carmine you've been a part of a handful of missions and get hurt on every one. The day you come back here uninjured is the day I owe you an apology."

He tilts his head in confusion, "For what?" He asks as he slips his pants and boots on, standing to look at her.

The doctor, without warning, jams a large syringe into his chest. She injects the liquid and Carmine lets out a deep breath from the pain.

"Oh. For that." He says through clenched teeth as the medicine burns his aching chest. The doctor smiles sweetly at him and he shakes his head at her.

"How long have I been out?" He asks as he ties his boots.

"Not very long. You passed out as I was working on Shepard, which was convenient since I had to take most of her upper clothing off to help her."

Carmine's cheeks heat up at the thought. He's seen her in a sports bra before. It was a regular occurrence when they worked out, especially if Shepard was working up a sweat. Carmine feels his pants start to tighten and he quickly shuts his thoughts down, 'No no, shut the hell up. Let's just get the hell out of here.'

Clayton looks around for his gear and finds nothing but the torn up seeker swarm under armor and the majority of his little bits, "Hey doc, do you know where my stuff is?" He asks as he throws on his torn and bloodied tank top.

"Unfortunately I do not." She answers, typing away on her terminal.

Carmine slumps his shoulder and groans, 'Great, well on one hand I get to kill whoever touched my shit. On the other I have to search for it now.'

"Alright well thanks for everything doc." He says with a wave to the doctor.

She turns and waves back, "Anytime Carmine."

Her smile fades as the doors to the med bay shut, she opens a data pad and examines the data, taking a long look. She sighs, "I have to tell Shepard about this."

Outside the med bay Carmine stands, scratching at his helmet before scrolling through his omni tool.

Thankfully his gun belt and boltok were still attached to his pants, and he pats the large revolver with a smile. Then an idea hits him. He gets in contact with everyone's favorite artificial intelligence.

"Hey EDI, do you know where I can find my equipment?" He asks as he walks away from the closed med bay door.

Her sultry voice answers through his helmet, "Yes Carmine. Commander Shepard and Garrus are in possession of it. They are down in your quarters currently."

Carmine feels the anger leave his system, "Oh ok, thanks EDI."

The intelligence isn't finished however, "Carmine, there seems to be a weak, yet strange energy reading coming from your quarters. Should I inform commander Shepard of this anomaly?"

Carmine feels that he knows exactly what she's talking about and rushes to the elevator, "Don't worry about that EDI. Thank you again."

"You are welcome big guy." Carmine quirks an eyebrow.

'Wait is she sentient or just a machine. Can machines give people nicknames?' He shakes off the thought as he stalks his way out of the elevator and into Jack who stumbles backward, and falls.

Carmine is fast to catch her though, his large hands wrapping around her bare middle. She shoots him a cocky smirk, "You know if you wanted to touch me you didn't have to knock my ass over first."

He gets her stable and quickly let's go, a crimson blush staining his neck and cheeks. Jack sees this and rolls her eyes playfully, "Sorry about that. Just trying to get back to my room."

Jack pushes him surprisingly hard, knocking him off balance. He hits the wall and Jack pushes herself into him, "Well maybe I want to come back with you. Nice new scar, pretty sexy if you ask me." She says rather sultrily as her right hand trails up the hard muscles on his stomach to the torn opening of his tank top.

Carmine stutters a bit as the woman snakes her other arm around him and grabs a hold of his muscular ass. He flinches and quickly grabs her by the shoulders and moves her away from him, "N-not right now. Maybe...no not maybe."

Jack smiles predatorily, catching his slip up, 'So he might just be interested. Good.'

"I'll see you for sparring sometime soon." Jack catches him mutter as he bolts to the next area.

She snickers and crosses her arms as she gets in the elevator. She was usually very forward when she wanted sex from a man. Carmine is one of the only ones who's ever denied her advances so much. It drove her crazy, but it seemed she was wearing him down.

And unbeknownst to her, he was wearing her down. She felt a strange comfort around him, a feeling she buried and denied whenever it surfaced. But no matter how deep it was buried, the feeling always came back.

Carmine tries to open his door and finds that it's locked, he bangs on the material a couple times, and tries to unlock it. Nothing seems to work as he even tries to hack the door before shrugging, "Fuck this."

He moves to dig his hands into the door like how he opened the one on Omega, but the hologram quickly spins and opens, "I told you not to...Oh hey Carmine." Shepard says with a small, nervous smile. She looked like a kid caught with something she shouldn't have. She's in her normal getup, a tight N7 shirt and jeans.

He returns the smile but eyes her suspiciously, not that she can see it, "Now what are you doing in my room? And how did you lock it to the point that I couldn't even get in?"

Garrus pipes up from behind her, "We were trying to repair your armor before you woke up. But it seems that's not going to be possible anymore." Carmine chuckles.

"Well I was coming back to sleep, but we should probably figure that out before I pass out." Carmine spoke a half truth, his muscles did ache terribly, and his body craved sleep. But he really just wanted to get them away from the cube as to not accidentally activate it.

"No no, it alright. Sorry to have locked you out of your room Carmine." Carmine noticed Shepard was playing with her hands, a nervous glint in her blue eyes.

He places a hand on her shoulder, "It's alright cherry I promise. You were trying to do something nice, I appreciate it."

Shepard sighs in relief that the gear wasn't angry in any way, and smiled up at him, suddenly as giddy as a kid, "Well since you're here now you can help with your armor. Give it that special Carmine touch." She walks to Garrus with a sway to her hips, Carmine's eyes attatched to the tight fitting black jeans she wore.

He takes off his helmet and strategically places it on top of the cube, which pulses violently as he gets closer. He strolls over to his workbench and catches Garrus welding the cracked metal chunk back onto his armor. It wasn't going so well.

"Goddamn thing just won't stay. Hey Carmine, nice new scar." He points at the large tear in his tank top, exposing most of the right side of his chest and the top of his newest scar.

Shepard looks up and her eyes stick to the exposed skin, she feels her mouth water and pinches herself. Her icy blue eyes find his messy black mane, and her fingers start twitching, 'How is he so hot without even trying?'

Carmine rolls his eyes playfully and nudges the turian, "Hand it over, this requires the delicate touch of a five fingered hand." Garrus glares up at the gear before relinquishing the welder.

The two go back and forth for a couple hours, Shepard smiling as she watches Carmine and Garrus argue and joke, even jumping in on some occasions, 'I'm so happy Carmine's managed to fit in so well.'

She then turns to explore around the new-ish layout of the veteran gear's room and finds herself at his beside table.

She checks out his small collection of things. A sad smile finds her face as her eyes find the bloody envelope and his brother's cog tags, 'I always wanted a sibling. I couldn't imagine losing them. I can't even picture how I'll be when mom passes. Yet Carmine has lost nearly everyone he cared about.'

She looks over to him as he laughs with Garrus, 'How is he able to laugh, to be such a big softy around us, when everything I know about him points to him being a mindless killing machine?'

"You're an anomaly big guy." She whispers, his eyes snap over to her. Garrus was welding away and it left him to stand beside the scarred turian. The gear shoots a knee weakening smile her way. Shepard blushes and plops down on his bed.

He raises an eyebrow and tilts his head curiously. Shepard gives him a wink and lays back, barely covering any distance on the large mattress. Her red hair spreads out around her head and she closes her eyes, letting his gunpowdery pine scent come to her.

Shepard feels her insides burst into flames, his weight lowers the mattress next to her as he sits. She's unable to stop herself from sliding into him. She cracks her eyes open and smirks as his steel orbs meet hers.

"Comfy?" He asks with a wide smile as his heat soaks into her.

She lets out a small groan as she stretches and nods, "Very."

Carmine chuckles and shakes his head. Shepard is disappointed when he stands but follows his lead. Garrus bangs the welder down on the workbench and sighs, "I'm sorry Carm but I don't think we'll be able to fix this."

Carmine waves a dismissing hand, "Ah don't beat yourself up over it."

Shepard jumps in, "I suppose we'll just have to get you some new armor then."

The gear shrugs, "As long as it looks and feels like my old chest piece than sure, whatever." Carmine pulls off the destroyed hunk of metal.

Garrus perks up and turns to face them, "There's so many materials we can make your armor out of. Have any preferences?"

Carmine takes a minute and scratches at the stubble on his face. He lets out a low hum before shaking his head, "Nah not really. You two to know what I'm going to be looking for. Doesn't matter to me, as long as it can stop a bullet." Shepard smiles wide at him. Garrus nods and laughs a bit.

"Are you sure Carmine? Wouldn't you like any kind of input in this?" Shepard asks as she folds her arms under her bust.

Carmine shrugs, "I trust you two to make sure I'm protected out there. And I really need to get some sleep."

The three share a small laugh. Shepard and Garrus feel a great sense of pride knowing the large man is entrusting them to make his new armor. Garrus leaves first, waving and saying his goodbye as Carmine follows Shepard to his door, "I'm guessing you're going to be asleep for the next few days."

Carmine rubs the back of his neck, "Maybe, I took a nice beating out there." She shrugs and pokes his hard middle.

"Well I'll be around when you wake up. We'll be heading to get another one of my old crew mates from back in the day. She's a quarian so I recommend doing a bit of research on them before we head out. You might have to wear your old armor for the mission unfortunately." She says with a small frown.

Carmine leans downs a little and tucks a small bundle of hair behind her ear, "You got it commander."

Shepard rolls her eyes and grabs him by the front of his tank top, pulling him down to her level, "Don't call me commander." She says with a sultry grin.

The gear smiles at her but freezes as she pecks him on his right cheek. Shepard instantly blushes and let's go of him, both of them straighten out and awkwardly stand, 'Why did I kiss his cheek!? Oh god look how uncomfortable he is. I think I'm going to die from embarrassment.'

"I uhh guess I'll be heading off now. Sorry for...whatever that was." Shepard says with a frown but before she leaves Carmine catches her around the middle of her arm.

"You don't have to be sorry I-I'm just not used to that kind of stuff. To be honest it kind of surprised me, and I think it surprised you too." He chuckles a bit.

Shepard smirks at him, a cherry red tint on both their faces, "Kind of yeah. Like the first time you tucked my hair back. Not bad, just not sure you like it yet."

He looks down, "If you don't like that I can stop. I just always see you doing it so I thought why n-"

"I do like it Carm. So keep doing it, and get some rest. Those are your orders." She cuts him off and reaches a hand up to grab his chin, tilting it up so their eyes meet.

He smiles and gives her a small salute, "Yes ma'am."

She rolls her eyes and punches him in the stomach. He lets out a small oof and they share a laugh.

"I'll see you later Carmine. Sleep well."

"Yeah you too Shepard."

The door closes and Carmine walks over to his bed and sits, chuckling as he thinks about all that's happened in the span of a day.

He lifts his helmet off the cube as he reaches over to plop his newest memento down, his hunk of armor. He looks at the cube as it pulses a warm blue and frowns, "Do you even still work?" He's touched it before, but never when it had been glowing.

Carmine decides to test fate and pulls out his knife. He get the cube onto the blade and brings in over to him. His hand is deathly still as the cube teeters on the edge of the blade.

He takes a deep breath and lets the cube fall into his open palm. He stiffens, expecting the cube to pop open and reveal the orb, it doesn't appear. It simply stops pulsing.

"Huh? I guess you're broken." He mutters as he pokes it with his bare fingers. He shrugs, knowing he truly was stranded in another dimension. Although to him that wasn't such a bad thing.

He sighs and puts the cube back down where it belonged. A small smile finding his face as he undressed and gets himself under the covers. He uses his omni-tool to dim the lights and rests his head on his arm as it curls behind his head. He scrambles to wrap his brother's tags around his hand and grab his knife. He lets out a relieved sigh and starts to relax.

"Goodnight, love you guys." He mumbles sleepily before shutting his eyes, letting his exhaustion take over.

---

Author's note:

Howdy

Things are picking up. I'm not sure if I'm going to jump right into getting the best girl (Tali) just yet. But who knows. I sure as shit don't. My old schedule of Tuesday uploads has unfortunately fallen to just whenever I can get chapters done. So I apologize for the erratic posts.

Credit for the song lyrics I used in the last chapter: Punching Bag, by Set It Off

I forgot to leave credit where it was due in that last chapter, music will have a certain role to play eventually. I hope you all enjoyed so far. So let me know what you guys might want to see in the future. I may drop my discord at some point just to open interactions with fans of the story, so let me know your thoughts on that.

I'm also going to try and balance along the line of sexually explicit continent. To me, Clayton doesn't think much of himself, and doesn't think he deserves that kind of stuff so it's harder to believe women when they're flirting with him. But he is a man, and he knows what he likes. So bear with him and his antics for the time being.

I do eventually plan to involve more mature themes down the line. And if you all want to read it, I have no problem writing that kind of in depth descriptive type lovin' and such. That'll all be down the line though. Still have characters to develop and new ones to introduce.

Lastly I'd like to know if you all want more flashbacks, and or more flips over to the gears universe to see how they're faring, especially with Nate being thrown into the works. In other words more content not just revolving around the mass effect crew.

As always I love you all. Feel free to comment, like, follow, or don't. I hope above all that you've enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed writing. I've come a long way from my first bundle of chapters and hope you like how I've evolved as a writer.

Sorry for rambling on so long,

Adios