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.

10. The Heist

Warning: There are some pretty fucked up things in this chapter. You've been warned.

Shepard typed away on her private terminal, pulling open Carmine's file. The cursor hovers over the newest addition to the collection of images, clips, and videos. It's been a handful of days since Carmine went to sleep and Shepard has yet to check in on him today. Even as the day passes into the afternoon, 'It'll be the same as the day before. I'll walk in, he'll be sleeping, and I won't help myself from staring at him. Best I just leave him be for now.'

Shepard hums and opens the video she had EDI pull from the security cameras from Horizon. It was more of the same, Carmine tearing through his enemies with no remorse. Her eyelids flutter slightly as she watches him stand over a collector, the alien quivering beneath him.

She feels a warmth spread through her stomach at his display of dominance, 'Hmm I'm not sure I can be trusted with all this material.' Shepard thinks as she nibbles on her lower lip.

Her door opens, and she quickly closes out of the opened file. Kasumi struts into her room and watches as Shepard twirls in her chair to face the master thief, "What do I owe the pleasure Kasumi?"

"Did you have time to talk?" She says uncharacteristically serious.

Shepard instantly goes into commander mode, standing and turning off her terminal, "Of course. Is everything alright?"

Kasumi nods, "Yes, do you remember that thing I mentioned I needed help with?"

The commander nods and folds her arms. Kasumi takes a few steps toward the commander before speaking again, "Good, because the window of opportunity for it is closing. I need your help, and Carmine's help as well."

Kasumi spends the next half an hour explaining her situation to the commander. Shepard listens closely throughout the talk, yet a question bubbles at the back of her mind.

"So I understand why you need me for this little heist, but why do you need Carmine?" Kasumi smirks deviously and circles the commander.

"Well you need a plus one. And unfortunately they know my face. Buuut, we have a seven foot tall giant that nobody has ever seen before, at least not without his armor. And everyone already thinks you're dead. For now at least." Shepard sees what she's getting at and looks at her hands for a moment as she fiddles with them.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea Kasumi. Carmine isn't exactly...subtle." Kasumi chuckled at her.

"Oh you have little faith Shepard. I'm confident Carmine will be perfect for this. And don't worry, I've already arranged a nice suit for him to wear." Shepard blushes lightly and looks to her left.

"We'd still have to run it by him, and as far as I know he's still knocked out. He got pretty beat up out there." Shepard says as her eyes flick back to look at Kasumi.

"Oh he's awake. I checked on him before I came here. He was coming back from the training room. He'll be up here in a few minutes for a shower no doubt." Shepard's eyes widen slightly and Kasumi chuckles.

"It would be best for you to stick around then. We can head out after you explain the plan to him. Tali can wait another day. As far as I know she's not in any immediate danger." Kasumi waggles a finger in front of her and giggles.

"But that wouldn't be nearly as fun. I'd rather watch you ask him to be your date." Kasumi's giggle fades as she does and the commander angrily reaches out to try and grab her.

"God, it's not a date. It would be cover for the mission. Ughhh." Shepard wasn't necessarily opposed to dressing up for a nice date with the large man, but preferably not for a mission.

Shepard quickly notifies Joker of the mission and sends him the coordinates, "Good thing we're in the neighborhood. Be there in less than an hour Shepard." She nods to him through her omni-tool, and she smiles as he gives a half-assed salute.

Shepard closes her tool and sighs. She slips on a more respectable set of clothes, having only been in an oversized t-shirt and shorts. She hears a knock on her door and shakes her head while wiggling into a pair of leggings.

"You can come in helmet head. You don't always have to knock." Shepard chuckles as she hears the gear grumble from behind the door.

Her door opens and the familiar blue shining lights of Carmine's helmet come into view. He's in his usual gym getup, a short sleeved shirt and shorts. His workout is visible on his clothes, the fabric damp and sticking to his skin.

"Yeah well I'm just being polite. I've said it before, I'll say it again. It's more about your privacy than my manners." Shepard rolls her eyes playfully as the gear sets his fresh clothes down in the bathroom. Taking a step back out to sniff at the air.

"Is Kasumi in here?" Shepard raises her eyebrow before remembering just how good his senses are. She wondered if everyone back in his dimension was as special as he was.

"She was, and is probably still hiding in here somewhere. Speaking of Kasumi, I have something to talk to you about when you come out of there." Carmine's head visibly perks up, and Shepard chuckles as she watches him through her glass display case.

"Is everything alright?" He asks as he lifts a hand to rest on the ceiling. Shepard can't help but stare at the recently worked muscles of his arm as they extend and flex. Her eyes rake along the bits of his tattoos that peek around the edges of his sweat coated muscle.

"Y-yeah everything's fine. I'll explain when you get out." Carmine shrugs and takes his leave to go shower.

Shepard lets out a deep breath and rubs her hands over her face, 'Get it together Shepard. It's not even a real date. We're going to help Kasumi and that's it. But...me and him are going to have to act like it's a real date. Oh crap.'

Picturing Carmine all cleaned up in a suit makes the commander's face turn cherry red as she clenches her thighs together. She takes a long breath, closing her eyes as she clears her mind.

She then breathes out, and as she empties her lungs she opens her eyes. Carmine was stood by her fish tank in his normal boots, pants, and no shirt. He is furiously wiping at his hair with a towel. Shepard chuckles from her spot at the end of her bed as her eyes roll down to one of his fresh scars, courtesy of Jack back on the Purgatory.

The metal scrap that he now kept as a memento left a mean looking bit of scar tissue. But to Shepard it was just another scar she felt the overwhelming desire to run her tongue over. She blinks, 'I need a cold shower.'

The gear sighs and shakes his head a bit, thick strands of black hair are stuck together by remnants of water, "I fucking hate my hair. But I hate cutting it more." He grumbles as he snatches a black tank top, throwing it on as he makes his way closer to the commander.

"I like your hair. It's very...you." Shepard says with a small smile. She notices his facial hair was freshly cut, only light stubble danced along his sharp features.

She catches Carmine blush and rub the back of his neck, "Thanks cherry. So what's going on with Kasumi?"

Shepard catches the big man up to speed. Intentionally leaving out the part where they'd have to be going as a pair.

"Huh, I guess that does make sense. Nobody except the crew of the Normandy knows what I look like under my helmet. Smart thinking Kasumi." He hears her giggle quietly from a corner of the room and smirks.

"T-that's not all." The commander speaks rather hesitantly.

Carmine cocks his head to the side like a confused pup. Shepard holds back her raging embarrassment and stands with the gear. Reminding herself of the great foes she had faced in the past for confidence.

"For the mission to go ahead I'll need an escort. Someone to dress and play the part of my date on the mission. That is specifically where you come in." Shepard holds her breath as the gear seems to freeze up.

His dark, steel eyes go blank as his mind races, 'Did she just ask us on a date? No no, aren't you listening? It's for the mission. It's not real, at least I don't think it is...'

Shepard can barely take the deafening silence as Carmine stands completely still. She catches as he starts to straighten out and tense. Her embarrassment comes to bite her tenfold. The sting of rejection she feels confuses her, 'It's not even a real date.' She tries to rationalize in her brain.

"I-I can find someone else to be my escort. I'm s-sorry for asking Carmine. I shouldn't have bothered you with this." Shepard says as she turns away from him to go get her dress clothes ready.

'So stupid to ask him. It's obvious he doesn't want to do it. What the hell is so bad about going on a date, a fake one at that, with me?' Shepard sifts through her neatly folded clothes as her thoughts run rampant.

'Come on man, you really think she'd want your worthless ass? No, you heard her, all she needs is someone nobody knows. And you fit the bill, so hurry up before she actually finds someone else to go with.' Carmine broke from his stupor as he growls at his inner dialogue. He finds himself angered at the idea of her going on a date with someone, and he shakes his head.

"Shepard." The commander stops as she flattens out a nice black dress.

Without looking at him she speaks, "You're dismissed Carmine. I can find someone else to do this. It's clear you're not interested."

The gear grinds his teeth a bit as her anger wafts into his nose, "I didn't say that."

Shepard turns to face him as her anger flares, "Oh yeah? You didn't have to, it seemed like you were real petrified at the idea of going on a date with me, for the mission or otherwise."

Carmine closes his eyes as his hands curl into fists, "I'm sorry. I just couldn't think of why you'd want me as your date. You're an amazing woman, and I don't deserve this opportunity. Even if it's just for a mission." He takes a deep breath to calm himself. Finding it to be easier as her strawberry scent finds his nose.

"Besides, you know I'm not scared of anything." She hears him mutter as he turns to leave.

Shepard's mouth hangs slightly open. She quickly reaches out and grabs him by the back of his shirt. He stops but doesn't turn to look at her, "Carmine wait! I didn't mean...d-did you call me amazing?"

His face turns beet red and Shepard can see the back of his neck follow suit, her own face taking its crimson tint as his compliment sank in.

Carmine huffs a breath out his nose and turns to her, a brave look in his steel eyes, "Yeah I did. Because you are, Shepard. You've been nothing but good to me. Always hanging around me, making me laugh. Trying to make me feel comfortable in this new world. You're a good woman, always trying to do right by people, and do the right thing. I can't imagine why you'd choose to be around me, but I'm thankful for it...and for your information I'd kill to take a woman like you on a date."

Shepard's eyes widen and her face burns hotter than she's ever felt before. She finds herself frozen at his words, the small rant searing into her brain. Carmine runs a hand through his unruly hair before nervously chuckling, "I...should probably go. Sorry commander."

He turns again to leave, and Shepard takes another few seconds to process his honest words. The sound of her door opening catches her attention as she snaps out of her daze and rushes after the man.

Carmine hears her shoes pitter across the ground as he gets himself into the elevator, pressing the button. Shepard sneaks in just as the doors close and Carmine sighs, "You need anything else from me commander?"

Shepard doesn't speak as she walks over to him and stands in his personal space. He can't read her expression, her eyes completely void. That is until she grabs his cog tags, tugging him down to her level.

He drops his helmet and clothes, the bulky head armor being cushioned by his gym wear. Carmine stares into her icy blue orbs and finds himself too surprised to do anything.

Shepard speaks low, "How many times have I asked you to not call me commander?" She revels as an amused look finds his gray eyes. His immense heat soaking into her skin.

The gear catches her playful glare as it shimmers in her eyes. He smirks, "Too many for me to count."

"And how long have we known each other?" The commander asks with small bite to her bottom lip.

"Eh roughly a month." The gear responds with an uncomfortable looking shrug from his hunched position.

The commander pecks his cheek quick before letting him go, "Exactly, so be a good soldier and listen to your commander."

The gear's face lights up bright red, and Shepard can't help but smile proudly at her work as she notices the mild shudder that rolls through him. The elevator bings, and the doors open to Carmine's floor, "You'd better go get dressed, we'll be heading out in less than a hour. Don't be late big guy."

He nods with a goofy smile on his face as he bends over to grab his things. Shepard takes a peek at his impressive behind before he rushes out of the elevator. He pauses and looks back to her, "Wait, I don't have anything fancy to wear."

Shepard smiles warmly at him, "Don't worry. Kasumi has it all covered. I'll see you in a bit Clay."

The doors shut and Carmine blows air out his nose, "Goddamn..." he hates that she has this effect on him. Just like Sam she has him spilling out all kinds of emotions and bullshit. But he can't help but be drawn back to her. And if he's honest, a part of him really enjoys it. Wether Carmine new it or not, this new place was changing him.

He shakes his head clear as he makes his way back to his room, getting a few prolonged stares from a few female crew members as he walks through the deck without his helmet on.

He bumps into Jack as she's on her way back to her area, "Hey muscles, you looking to get your ass kicked?"

He rolls his eyes and Jack smirks as she catches the sarcastic gesture, "Jack we both know I'll wipe the floor with you again."

She quickly narrows her eyes and forces a bit of biotic energy into her hand. She tears back and punches him extremely hard in the arm. "What the fuck Jack?" He says more annoyed than anything.

She finds herself cockily smiling at his angered expression, "What you gonna do about it pussy?"

He shakes his head and smiles. Carmine dips his head to the short woman's level, "I'm going on a mission, but when I get back. You're fucked."

Jack feels her core warm up as she looks into his threatening gray eyes. He wasn't seriously angry at her and she could tell, catching the playfulness that danced in his stormy orbs, "I'll hold you to it you big bastard. Now get going before Shepard wrings your neck."

She stares at his ass as he walks away and whistles. He looks back and shakes his head muttering, "Crazy ass woman."

Jack smiles and rubs her hands together, 'Oh don't worry Carmine, you'll see just how crazy I am later you handsome fuck.' She chuckles as she thinks on her plan.

Carmine makes his way back to his room with no more interruptions. When he closes his door he looks to his bed and sees a set of clothes as well as a pair of dress shoes. A deep gray suit jacket, dark blue dress shirt, and matching gray pants lay on the top of his made bed.

"Well, time to see how this feels. Haven't worn dress clothes since prom..." he mutters with a scratch to the back of his head.

---

Shepard can't take her eyes off him as the trio flies through the air in a car. She glances through the rear view mirror every so often to catch sight of him. He slicked back his hair and shaved down what leftover stubble he could with his knife for more of a clean look.

Carmine felt like a clown, but the clothes were relatively comfortable, the first two buttons of his shirt were undone and his jacket was open. He felt naked knowing he couldn't bring all of his guns, but took comfort in knowing Kasumi had smuggled a few of them in. And once everything hit the fan, he'd have his lancer and boltok to protect his team.

He catches Shepard's glance through the mirror and a small bit of red bleeds into his cheeks. To him she was absolutely stunning, 'God she really knows how to pull off the whole fancy party look.'

Shepard wore little to no makeup, simply some lipstick to accentuate her soft lips. She kept her hair in a braid. The decently long bundle of hair was tucked over her shoulder along one of the straps of her beautiful black dress. He hasn't really noticed how long it had been getting until now.

"You ready for this Carmine?" Shepard asks with a smirk.

The gear looks around and notices they're parked on the ground. He sighs and nods, "As ready as I'll ever be."

Kasumi looks to them both before she vanishes, "Just remember to stay in cover. I'll contact you when I need help."

Carmine and Shepard exit the car and the big man pats his groin, adjusting himself a bit. Shepard notices and turns her head, blushing slightly.

"Damn these clothes aren't too bad, the pants are just a little tight in the crotch." He says as he flattens out a crease on his pant leg.

Shepard nervously chuckles, and works to change the the subject while looking to him, "Well, we're here. I guess we should probably act like a couple."

Carmine nods his head, 'Now how the fuck do we do that? Prom idiot, think about the prom. Think about what dad taught us.'

It doesn't take him long to think back on his father's lessons, extending his elbow toward the beautiful young commander. Shepard takes a second to look at him slightly surprised before smiling warmly, feeling her anxiousness disappear as she loops her arm through his.

She tucks herself into his side and sighs contently as this warmth soaks into her bare shoulder. She leans her head against his arm and looks up to him, 'I'll never get used to how big he is, hehe.'

Surprisingly enough, Carmine's rather calm steel orbs gazed right back at her. Their little moment is interrupted as someone wolf whistles in their direction.

"Oh I'd pay t-top dollar for an hour with an ass like that!" A drunken man yells from behind them. Shepard releases a disgusted scoff. Carmine's features run hot with anger at the disrespectful comment, and he stops suddenly.

Shepard catches on quick and tugs on his sleeve, "Don't worry about him. We can't jeopardize the- Carmine!" She whisper shouts at him as he gently separates from her and walks over to the man.

"I just want a word with him." Carmine says with a flash of his teeth. Stopping the commander in her tracks.

The gear taps the drunkard on the shoulder and he turns, "I knew you couldn't resist baby-"

Carmine cuts the man off as he snatches him by the throat. His large hand swallowing the man's neck. The drunk gasps and grabs at Carmine's hand. The gear points back at Shepard and the two look at her.

"You see that? That's mine, and anyone who tries to take what's mine, is a problem." Shepard hears him as he raises his voice a bit, drawing attention to them.

Carmine takes a moment to give the man a good view of Shepard as the big man sleuths his eyes along her dress, catching as it clings to her athletic figure perfectly, "Are you going to be a problem?" Carmine asks with death in his eyes as he looks back to the drunk.

The man violently shakes his head no, "Good." Carmine lets the man go and he falls to his knees, clutching his throat.

Carmine cockily struts back over to Shepard who has a massive blush on her face. More than few guests have caught the display, 'Not exactly what pop taught me, but you can't let another man disrespect your woman. That's how you're supposed to act anyway. Maybe I overdid it a bit.'

She quickly clings back to his arm and drags him into a secluded area just before the entrance.

"What the hell was that!" She whisper yelled at him.

The cocky facade falls as Carmine awkwardly runs a hand through his hair, "Sorry, I was just trying to really sell us being a couple to these snobs. Was that too much?"

Shepard huffs and crosses her arms under her breasts, "You did fine, just maybe be a bit less physical in the future. Alright?"

Shepard rolls her eyes as he fist pumps. A part of her was extremely turned on by his dominant display, especially when he said that she was his, 'I'm yours, huh Carmine? One day you'll be saying that for real. But for now I'll settle for this.' Shepard thinks with devious smile as she clings back to his side.

Carmine wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with his free hand, 'Okay maybe tune it down a bit Romeo. Just stick to the plan and get in there. No harm in enjoying having cherry around.'

He looks down at her and smiles, he always found himself enamored with her hair. Natural red heads were far and few between, even back in on Sera. He kept himself from reaching over to play with the end of her braided hair.

Shepard followed his eyes to her hair and she smiled sweetly at him, "You always stare at my hair Carmine. Makes a girl wonder just what you've got going on in that head of yours."

The gear quickly looks away and chuckles nervously, "N-nothing in particular. Your hair always just looks really nice."

Shepard smiled lovingly at the massive man as they approached the bouncer. A man in a white suit stops them before they reach the bouncer. Shepard let's go of Carmine to stand in front of him. He doesn't pay their conversation much attention, grabbing a few bits here and there. The man is apparently the host, his name is Hock.

Shepard addresses Carmine by his cover name and gestures to him. She feels herself start to sweat as the gear has a blank look to his face. Hock extends a hand to the big man, "My my, you're a big fellow. Pleasure to meet you."

Carmine comes back from zoning out and slips into character, "Pleasure's all mine sir. This is a real beautiful place you have here. Maybe you'd consider my partner and I for security in the future?"

Shepard lets out a small breath she didn't realize she'd been holding in and smiles as Hock lets out a laugh as he looks to her, "All business this warrior of yours is."

The two men shake hands, "Sorry to say I've already got a rather accomplished security team already. I won't keep you two any longer though, please enjoy." Carmine smiles and nods to him. The pair proceed to the bouncer.

He lets them in after checking them for weapons. Carmine sighs in relief, "Well the hard part is over, guess we just mingle now."

Shepard nods but notices a few feminine eyes lock onto him. As he moves to go mingle she roughly tugs him back to her, "I think it's best if you stay with me babe."

Carmine looks slightly shocked but nods his head, "Of course darlin'." He snickers to himself, Sam always hated when he'd call her that. He remembers laughing at how red her face would get.

The pair share glances as they take a seat at the bar. Shepard orders their drinks as Carmine leans and elbow on the counter.

Shepard's eyes sneak a look at him as he observes the social elites with a dangerous glare in his eyes. Some of the men can't stop staring at the commander, and his fists clench as their filthy comments hit his ears.

Shepard's eyes trail down to his opened dress shirt and the exposed flesh catches her attention. His tanned skin gets caught in the light, making the visible muscle practically illuminate.

The bartender lays their drinks in front of them, "Thank you." Carmine's voice snaps Shepard from her little staring session, and she hastily snatches her glass of whiskey.

She extends it to him as he goes to take a sip. He glances down and smirks, clinking his glass to hers. His own eyes slipping past their drinks to her sizable cleavage, 'When did I become such a pervert?'

He catches himself and shakes his head, knocking back the drink in his hand in one go.

Shepard chuckles as she sips her drink, "Careful big guy. I need you fresh and ready for later." She purrs to him with a sultry look in her eye.

Her seductive smile makes him slip out of the facade, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He couldn't tell if she was playing it up for any listeners, or was seriously flirting with him. Before she can continue Kasumi's voice comes through their earpieces, "Sorry to interrupt Shep, but I need your delicate touch for a moment. Sending the location now."

Shepard's omni-tool makes a blip sound and she sighs as she stands. Carmine's gaze flashes to the men who'd been staring at her, he looks to her with worry in his eyes, "You going to be alright?"

Shepard flutters her eyelashes at him and runs a hand from his cheek down to the exposed skin on his chest. His face burns red, 'Yeah this is totally necessary to maintain cover.' She smiles at her thought.

"I'll be back before you know it babe. You know how well I can handle a man when I need to." She winks at him and leans in to full on kiss his cheek. His cheek is scorching hot, and Shepard's lipstick leaves an imprint. Shepard chuckles as she wipes it from his cheek with her thumb. Her hand drifts to his shoulder while she walks away. She can feel him watching, and puts a little pep in her high heeled steps.

Carmine quickly looks away from her swaying rear end and orders another drink. He downs it as fast as he did the other one, 'Christ if she keeps this up I won't be able to get her out of my head. Why the fuck does she always have to smell so good too. She's kind of going overboard to keep our cover.'

Carmine's thoughts run rampant as he wills the blood flow away from his crotch, his already tight dress pants feeling a bit more strained due to the smaller woman's actions.

"That is a lot of woman you got there sir." The older black bartender says as he pours the gear yet another drink. The alcohol was doing practically nothing to the gear.

"Yes it is." Carmine answers, taking a small sip instead of just downing the beverage.

The bartender smirks while he cleans a glass, "How long have you two been together?"

Carmine takes a moment to think on the cover story, "We've only been romantically involved for about a month. I've been a part of her security team for a couple years now."

The bartender nods, "Security huh? Never would've guessed with that woman of yours. You on the other hand, I don't think I've seen someone as big as you before."

The bartender's words reach the keen ears of a woman sitting a few stools from Carmine. The strawberry blonde shifts in her seat as she stands and saunters over to the gear.

"Most people haven't. It's partly why I work in security." Carmine says before taking a long swig of his drink. He chuckles, having half expected Shepard to order some kind of crazy space alcohol. The burn and flavor of the whiskey makes him make a small satisfied noise.

"I'd say the other part is because of that little smoke show you're with. But I heard about what you did to that guy out front, and I know better than to piss off a man like you." The bartender says with a small smile.

Carmine looks him in the eyes and nods, only now taking note of the woman who has taken Shepard's seat next to him. He turns his head to look at her, her amber eyes already staring right back at him, "Sorry miss, but that seat is taken."

The woman smiles at him and orders a drink, "Oh I'm sure she won't mind." She leans forward a bit, her rather large bust nearly spilling out of the red dress she wore.

Carmine's eyes don't falter from hers, narrowing a bit. He bites his tongue for now. The woman knows something. More importantly she knows something about him.

The bartender sets the drink down in front of the woman and she waves him away, "Sorry miss but you don't know that woman like I do." Carmine responds while taking a mild sip. He feels something press against his knee and his head slowly turns back to look at her.

She nudges his knee again with the barrel of her pistol and Carmine sighs, "Great..."

"Follow me, and I'll make sure you and the commander won't be exposed. Refuse, and well." She shakes the gun slightly to emphasize the situation.

Carmine nods and finishes his drink, setting the glass down. The woman discretely holsters her pistol and stands with him, "It's just this way big guy."

He grumbles at the use of the nickname most people give him, 'You know, I have defining characteristics other than being tall.'

He follows the woman to a discrete area within the giant mansion. She closes and locks the door behind them, "Alright, you got me here. Now what?" The gear says rather annoyed at the whole predicament he's been thrown into.

"Now you take off your jacket and your shirt." He looks at her with a quirked eyebrow. She pulls her gun back out and points it at him.

"I wasn't asking, handsome." He rolls his eyes and complies, knowing he wouldn't be fast enough to reach her before she fired a shot and ruined the entire mission. Possibly exposing Shepard and Kasumi.

He tugs off the gray jacket and neatly hang it off the back of a nearby chair, "Good, now the shirt."

Carmine catches as she licks her lips, her eyes now more predatory than anything. It made him extremely uneasy. Still he unbuttons the shirt and takes it off, doing the same with it as his jacket.

The only bit of clothes he has left to cover his chest is a black, tucked in tank top which hugs his muscular upper body. The woman's eyes rake over his newly exposed muscle with a hunger.

"Good boy." She say while she slowly walks over to him.

Carmine folds his arms and glares at her, "I'm not a fucking dog."

She smiles wide as she presses the gun to his solid middle, leaning up on the tips of her toes to get closer to him, "You sure as hell act like a big, raging pit bull. At least you did back on the Purgatory. Those tats were all the information I needed. Thanks by the way, for helping break me out. I know it wasn't by choice, but I do think you deserve a thanks for it."

Carmine tilts his head a bit in confusion, "Well if you wanted to thank me, and had an idea of who I was. Why the hell do you have me at gunpoint?"

She chuckles and pushes her breasts into his folded arms, "Well all I know about you is that you're the largest man I've ever seen, can take a hell of a beating, and can kill over thirty men by yourself. Had to have some protection. If I had known nearly just how handsome and cooperative you were, I would've been a bit more forward."

He blushes slightly and gulps as he looks away from her, "I guess that makes sense."

He takes a step back and unfolds his arms. Not entirely comfortable with how far she'd come into his personal space. She in turn, walks forward. He backs up until his head bonks off the wall. The ex-convict giggles at him as she presses her body into his, snaking her arms up around his neck.

"Don't worry, I don't bite. Much. How about another scar for that sharp jaw?" She says seductively while rustling the hair at the back of his head. His face heats up further as he tilts his chin down to protect his neck. He'd seen too many gears get their throats ripped out by grubs to make that mistake.

Unfortunately that put his face rather close to hers, and her amber eyes were half lidded as she inched further. Before she could connect their lips, Carmine gently grabs her by the shoulders, halting her from advancing any further.

She separates and lets her hands slide down to his chest, laughing gently as his thundering heartbeat could be felt easily, "Hmm, I know you and the commander aren't really a couple. It's cover right? Well, it's either that, or you don't have much experience with women." She says smugly.

The gear shoots her an annoyed look. Suddenly his earpiece comes to life, "Carmine where the hell are you? I left you here for fifteen damn minutes."

Shepard's worried tone gets Carmine out of his shocked state as his voice struggles to find him as he presses a finger to his ear, "I-I'm all good Shepard, just looking around."

He slowly shakes his head, knowing the feisty woman wouldn't buy the lie, "We should get back to the party."

He moves to grab his clothes and she doesn't stop him. Stepping to the side to watch him, her eyes widen as they find bits of his exposed hook scars.

She unlocks the door and opens it as he slips his clothes back on, "Thanks again. I could never really repay you for what you've done for me. Hopefully you and Shepard can do something like this for real sometime. I'm Scarlet by the way. If you're ever on the Citadel and need black market weaponry, come find me."

He thinks for a moment, 'Would Shepard even want to do something like this again. Go out with me? She's a busy woman and me, I'm a goddamn train wreck.'

"No need to thank me. You can call me Carmine. If I'm ever to the citadel I'll see about finding you." He shoots her a small smile. She had no reason to lie to him, well that and he would've known if she lied.

She leaves and Carmine follows soon after. He makes his way back to the bar and an extremely nervous looking Shepard catches his eye. He take his seat next to her and she quickly grabs a hold of him.

Her hand bites into his pants covered thigh and he looks to her. He catches the small angry glint in her eye, "The bartender said you left with a woman. Mind telling me why you lied to me?"

Clayton could've sworn Shepard wasn't putting on an act here. Her tone seemed genuinely jealous. He smirked at her and leaned closer, "Sorry, was in a bit of a weird situation. Was nothing too important, just someone wanting to thank me. Why, jealous?

Shepard's eyes widen before she smiles back to him predatorily, leaning ever so closer to him. Carmine's eyes snap to the counter and catch the sight of her empty glass.

It's just then that he notices just how close they are. He'd bent himself down a bit to be on her level and their noses were almost touching.

'Fuck, FUCK! Uhh think of something here Clay. Do not kiss her. At least not on the mouth.' He thinks back to when he was a kid, and all the times he'd seen his father kiss his mother on the tip of her nose. He smiles at the memory.

"I'm not jealous, I'm just making sure what's mine, stays mine." Shepard says with an authoritative tone.

Carmine then kisses the tip of her nose. A small peck with his rough lips. Her eyes widen again, processing what had just happened. Clay takes the momentum and runs with it. He lays a hand over her hand on his thigh and looks deep into her blue orbs, 'He...kissed me. Well my nose, but still.'

"Don't worry, nobody can change how I feel. Nobody can sway me away from you." Shepard feels her body heat up from the prolonged contact and his deep, smooth voice as it slips from the rough lips she wished she could kiss.

She snaps out of her shock and huffs like a bull, slipping back into character, an absolutely devious thought coming to mind, "Well it's going to take a lot more than a nose kiss to convince me."

He takes a moment to process her words. He doesn't hesitate to press his lips to her cheek gently, 'Let's hope I'm doing this right. My only experience is Sam and catching glimpses of my parents.'

Shepard feels her heart start to beat faster, and she lets out a small sigh, "Getting closer."

He looks to her, dark gray on light blue. He has an uncertain look in his eyes, feeling that this is crossing the line. However as his eyes gaze into hers, he sees a hunger he hasn't seen in a woman's eyes in a long whole.

"Go on Carmine, convince me." Shepard says barely above a whisper. He starts to lean a bit closer and Shepard follows suit. Her brain was running on overdrive, 'Holy shit this is happening!' Shepard thinks excitedly.

Carmine looks to her blue eyes one last time for reassurance and Shepard slyly winks at him. He feels his hands start to shake, his heartbeat being the only sound drumming in his ears.

Shepard closes her eyes and holds her breath as the pair inch closer. Carmine is about to do the same, but pauses, 'What the hell are you doing? This is a mission, not some personal pleasure party. You think you deserve this? Deserve her? You're not ready for someone to love, never have been, never will BE!'

His angered thoughts burn away his confidence, and he hesitates. He presses his forehead to hers and closes his eyes, releasing an annoyed sigh. Shepard slowly opens her own, and finds the sour look on Carmine's face.

She quickly becomes embarrassed, having felt like she almost pushed him into kissing her, "S-sorry Carmine I-" she gets cut off as the big man lifts his head from hers and presses his lips to her forehead.

Shepard feels the loving warmth of his lips spread through her, smiling like a love-sick fool. He takes a moment to smell her sweet strawberry scent before pulling back a bit, "I'm sorry, I just can't do that. Not even for the mission." He whispers the last bit.

Shepard quickly shakes her hands and head, "No no, don't be sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you."

The two share a pair of nervous smiles and start to laugh. The bartender looks on with a big smile, "Ah young love. Nothing better." The two hear him and blush.

"Alright love birds. I'm ready for you down in the vault. There's a guard outside the enterance but you should have no problem dealing with him." Kasumi's voice breaks them from their little moment.

Shepard looks to the big man and smiles, "Well, duty calls."

He nods with a small smirk plastered on his face. He waved the bartender over and orders one last drink. He downs it like a true gear and places the glass down, "What do I owe you?"

The bartender chuckles, "Nothing sir, everything's already been paid for." His head snaps over to Shepard and she whistles while looking away. Carmine's eyes find the man's name tag and he smirks.

"Well thank you, you seem like a good man Mike. I'd take a half day if I were you." Carmine reaches over with little effort and heavily pats the man's shoulder before disappearing into the crowd with Shepard, who hastily drags him away by his hand.

The bartender quirks his eyebrow and hums, "What an interesting fella." He hears someone call out to him to take his break, and he obliges.

---

Carmine easily carries the limp body of a guard into the entrance to the vault, "You sure I can't kill him?"

Shepard rolls her eyes as her heels click their way into the vault's entrance, "Carmine, that's the third time you asked. You'll get to do plenty killing when we go to recruit another old friend of mine."

He grumbles as Kasumi's voice comes through his earpiece, "This is the holding area, where new goods get processed before being placed deeper into the vault. The big Saren statue should have your gear in it. Sorry again, I couldn't get your armor through Carmine. Was just too big to fit."

Shepard frowns. If there was going to be combat she wanted the big man armored in some way. Carmine presses a finger to the ear piece and responds, "No big deal. Won't be the first time I don't have armor, won't be the last."

Shepard glares at him as he walks over to the large statue and checks around for a hidden compartment. She wonders how he knew what to look for. She had only mentioned her fight with Saren a handful of times with him, 'Must have done some research.'

He find it and slides their gear out into the open. He ditches his coat and shirt, preferring the freedom of movement over fashion. He doesn't leave them behind however. He rolls them up and bundles them together with some spare wire, attaching it to his belt and leaving the bundle to dangle behind him.

Thankfully Kasumi slipped his boltok into his holster. He sighs disappointed that he wasn't able to have his whole arsenal with him. Grabbing a hold of his lancer and a few spare magazines for it, he smiles as he revs the saw a bit to warm it up.

Shepard slipped out of her dress rather quickly, having a strapless bra and compression shorts on underneath. Carmine turns after getting his weapons and freezes as his eyes make contact with her exposed skin. His gray orbs rake hungrily over the exposed flesh. Trailing along her abs and hips.

He quickly turns as the two make eye contact and blush. Shepard smiles cockily as her blush fades, 'Those sexy eyes were doing more than staring, that's for sure.' She takes her turn, admiring the strong muscles of his back.

"Sorry...you uhh, you all good?" Carmine speaks up after a bit. Shepard is about done slipping on her gear and chuckles at him.

"You've seen me in shorts and a sports bra before big guy. No reason to be so bashful. Yes I'm all done."

She snickers as his grumbling reaches her ears. Shepard pulls her avenger into her hands as she takes her place at his side, close to the door.

The vault door swings open and Kasumi greets them, "Funny seeing you here."

Shepard rolls her eyes. Kasumi's eyes look over to Carmine and she smiles, "Who's mister tall, scarred, and handsome Shep?"

Carmine scoffs, "Bite me."

Kasumi chuckles as she turns to lead them. They're able to make their way undetected to Kasumi's prize, a small black box. Kasumi's hand gently grabs a hold of the box and brings it close to her, almost cradling it, "Alright, this is it. Keiji's graybox."

"Wait we broke into some space criminal's super mansion to get a box?" Carmine asks as he scratches the back of his head.

Kasumi looks back to him with a stern look as her hand tightens on the box, "This little box means more to me than anything in this world."

Carmine's eyes soften a bit and he nods to her. Shepard rests a hand of Kasumi's shoulder, "We should get going."

Kasumi turns to them and pockets the box, "Thank you, both of you. You don't know how much this means to me."

Carmine holds up a hand to stop her, "Don't worry about it. I mean it, we're friends. You've already done so much for me. It's the least I can do."

Kasumi smiles up at him. Shepard chimes in, "You're not just under my command Kasumi. Everyone on the Normandy cares about you, and they wouldn't hesitate to help you. All you need to do is ask."

Kasumi nods to the both of them, fearing her voice may crack if she tries to speak. She'd never felt so accepted in her life. For someone who's lived most of her life as a lone thief, it was emotionally overwhelming.

However the tender moment is broken as a massive hologram of a man's head is projected in front of them. Shepard and Kasumi grimace at the sight of him. Carmine narrows his eyes at the familiar man, his hands tighten on his lancer.

The hologram of Hock begins to speak, "Ah miss Kasumi Goto, what a pleasure. I see you've brought some friends. Two esteemed guests of mine no less. Whatever she's paying you, I'll offer double to turn her over to me. Now I expect professionals like you to-"

Camrine cuts the man off as he pulls his boltok out and fires a round through an expensive looking piece of art, shattering the vase into a thousand pieces. Shepard and Kasumi look to him, both with amused looks.

He shrugs and spins his revolver. Shepard takes a step forward, "Is that answer good enough for you Hock?"

The big head narrows its eyes before talking again, "Hmph, truly a shame. Chief Roe, make it quick."

The doors at the far end of the room shoot open and Roe enters with a team of mercs, "Hey, you're the red head who's been snooping around! You're the one who killed my men!"

Carmine looks to her with judgmental eyes and she shrugs, "I said you couldn't kill anyone. Never said I couldn't. But I suppose now you can."

He smiles wide, and Shepard finally gets a good glimpse of what his face looks like when he's about to fight. The pure sadistic joy in his steel eyes doesn't disappoint. Carmine quickly turns and unleashed a hail of gunfire toward the mercs, "You've seen what she can do! Now it's my turn grubs!"

His bullets shred two men to Roe's left. Their bodies torn nearly in half by the powerful rifle. The two men shriek in pain as they lay in tatters, "Oh shit! Everyone get to cover! Target the big one!"

Carmine can hear the fear in her voice and only gets more excited. Shepard and Kasumi had already gotten into cover. The big man tested his luck a bit as he stood in the open and shot a couple more flurries into the opposition's cover.

Roe pops out momentarily to fire at him. A bullet clips him near his collar bone. The round ricochets off the bone, leaving a streaking wound upward near his shoulder. He grunts in pain, his smile not faltering, "Oh ho! You grubs are fucked now!"

Before he charges them Shepard grabs his pant leg, "Carmine, get into cover before they light you up. You're still in dress clothes for Christ sake!"

The big man complies as steam rises from his exposed skin. Shepard takes a look at the wound on his collar and frowns, "Can we go on one mission without you getting hurt?"

The big man shrugs and reloads, making sure to pocket his empty magazine, "Probably not. But you know better than to say this is me getting hurt."

The smile he shoots her makes Shepard stare. She enjoyed how expressive he was without his helmet, wishing he'd go without the bulky thing more often. Her eyes can't look away from the sharp, pearly white canine teeth that flash toward her. A bullet flies by her head and she's brought back to the fight.

She peaks out and sees the head of the Statue of Liberty, "How rich is this guy Kasumi?"

Kasumi blindly fires down range before speaking, "About as rich as you'd assume. Guy has a lot of connections too. It's going to be rough getting out of here."

Carmine butts in, "Well, we're getting out of here. No way in hell you two are dying in some snobby shithead's art gallery."

The pair chuckle at him. Carmine looks to Shepard, "Got a plan darlin'?"

Shepard blushes for a moment as Kasumi gazes at her smugly. She shoots Kasumi a death glare, "Carmine, you don't have to talk like that anymore, that was just for the party."

He looks embarrassed for a moment, a nervous smile on his face as he scratches the back of his neck, "O-oh yeah, sorry Shepard. Do you have a plan though?"

Shepard smiled warmly at him, enjoying making him feel flushed. She didn't mind the pet name one bit, but preferred that kind of talk in private and not in the company of a little gossip like Kasumi, "Of course I do. Kasumi is going to strike from the shadows, and we're going to lay into them from here."

He nods, "Perfect. Good hunting you little ninja." Shepard grabs his forearm as Kasumi give the gear a peace sign and cloaks. Carmine was going to charge them and looks to the smaller woman's armored hand with narrowed eyes.

"From here big guy. You're not armored, and don't have a kinetic barrier. You're staying right with me." She orders, making the big man hang his head and groan. She expected him to charge anyway, it was how he fought. Getting at the enemy before they got to you.

She rolls her eyes and chuckles as his hair flops forward, back into its normal position, "Fine."

She pauses and looks to him, a slight pout to his lips as he clenches his lancer tight. He was usually chomping at the bit to get at the enemy by now, yet here he was, relatively calm for Carmine. She smiles deviously and leans a bit closer to him, putting a hand to her ear, "What was that? Carmine following orders? Can't be."

The man looks to her as his lips thin back out, rolling his eyes, "You know I can still charge them. You're pushing your luck shorty."

She bumps into him with a small giggle, making him chuckle in turn, "But you won't, because I'm your darling."

He scoffs and pushes her away gently, "Stop." He says as his chuckle dies down. A small smile stuck to his face.

As she's about to continue teasing him a bullet smashes into their cover and she stops herself. Both of them slipping into the gunfight.

The pair raise up and begin returning fire. Carmine tears chunks out of the security team's cover, and Shepard manages to kill a handful of mercs who get exposed.

Roe raises up and catches the commander on the shoulder. Carmine growls as Shepard grunts and drops down into cover. He pulls his boltok out with lighting speed and aims straight for the security chief.

He growls through clenched teeth, pulling the trigger and popping Chief Roe's head like a watermelon. Her body flying back from the sheer force of the round that decimated her skull.

"Nobody gets away with shooting my friends. Nobody!" His thoughts fuel the fire that burns in his chest and shoots from his mouth. He needs more. Taking aim he finishes off the remaining security with outstanding accuracy. Smoke from the end of the boltok mixes with the steam coming from Carmine.

Shepard looks up to him with a mix a shock and admiration. She stands with him as Kasumi pops up next to her. She notices his jaw is still clenched, the desire for bloodshed evident in his widened eyes. His sadistic smile is no longer present, and the look on his face makes the commander worried.

'Keep them safe. Keep what's ours safe. Kill them all.' His thoughts deafen him. The gray of his eyes becoming brighter as his rage surrounds him. His thoughts full of one goal, protect his friends.

"Good shooting Carmine. It's alright, we're ok, see. Unlike you I have kinetic barriers." Shepard jokes to try and break the man from his rage. She wipes imaginary dust from her shoulder and gives him a thumbs up. He looks to them, the rage starting to fade from his brightened gray orbs.

"Yep, not a scratch on us Carm." Kasumi chips in as she lightly punches his left arm. His lancer hangs from his left hand. The right still holding his raised boltok.

Their voices pierce through the wall of hateful, violent thoughts. He blinks a couple times and holsters his boltok before nodding to them, "Good."

Shepard catches the newfound brightness in his gray orbs but decides not to pry as a small smile comes to his face, 'I'll have to ask him about that later.'

"Well Kasumi, you're the master thief. How do we get out of this super vault." His angered tone has changed drastically, the presence of the two women being enough to help calm him faster than usual.

Shepard smiles and sighs in relief, 'Maybe we are rubbing off on him. He seems a bit better at being able to reel himself in.'

Kasumi hums and opens her omni-tool, "I am not entirely sure now that we'll have to deal with security."

The gear pats his lancer before bumping Shepard's shoulder with his elbow, "That won't be a problem. We make a good team."

Shepard looks up to him and smirks. Their eyes meet and Shepard finds herself enamored in the new shade of gray, now silver in tone. She feels herself question her sanity as the man's eyes glow a faint bit brighter just from looking at her.

Kasumi doesn't catch onto this, simply pointing in a direction as she looks at her omni-tool's map, "Alright we'll need to head that way.

Shepard and Carmine nod and follow her as she starts making her way to the doors where Roe emerged from.

The next few areas weren't much trouble for the three. With the power of Carmine's weaponry, Kasumi's flanking, and Shepard's leadership the trio are able to breeze through the inner workings of the vault, the only trouble being a couple YMIR mechs that took a little extra time to destroy. They find themselves in a garage of sorts and hastily deal with the security that infests the area.

As Carmine finishes a merc, curb stomping the smaller man, he takes a minute to observe the armor and sneers, "Those mechs make sense now. These grubs are a part of that eclipse mercenary band right?"

Shepard walks over to him and pats his arm, "You've been doing some research huh Clay?"

The gear looks away bashfully, "Eh I like to understand as much as I can. Of course there are some things that aren't as informative as I'd like. Like when I tried to learn about the quarians."

"Oh don't worry, one of the next recruits we're going to get is a quarian. I'm sure she'd love to talk your ear off about her people." Shepard says while scanning the room for any leftover hostiles.

Carmine's silver eyes light up with a non-sadistic excitement and Shepard feels her heart beat faster as she watches him. She's happy to see more of his personality coming out, and she finds his curiosity rather cute.

The sound of heavy metal footsteps reach Carmine's ears and he quickly raises his lancer, "Another mech grub is on the way."

A few mercs round the corner first and Carmine easily picks them off, taking the tops of both their heads with precise shots. As the bodies slump to the ground the YMIR mech stomps around the corner and immediately begins firing upon the three.

Shepard is a half a second too late to snap into action and braces herself for the incoming damage. She feels a weight hit her as she falls to the ground, the weight persisting on top of her.

She groans and opens her eyes and finds Carmine's own silver orbs glaring at her, "Get your head out of your ass Shepard."

His words sting a bit but she knows he's right, as she looks to his right arm. He was lucky enough that the round that hit him was only a graze, but he still got hit. A wave of shame smashed into her, but she doesn't let it show.

"You're right, sorry Carmine." Her voice could barely be heard over the mech's guns. The big man smirks for a moment as rounds tear through the cover above them.

"It's alright, at least from this position I can keep you safe. Kasumi is getting positioned behind the mech I think." Shepard blushes as she realizes the placement of their bodies.

He was basically blanketed on top of her. Shepard's legs easily slipped between his. His forearms rested next to her shoulders and his chest was practically stuck to hers. The heat of battle making his exposed skin stick to her armored breasts.

Shepard averts her eyes, knowing she couldn't be trusted with the mental image of Carmine's sweaty body pressed to her. She shivers slightly as she feels the heat soaking into her bust. It easily soaks through her armor, to the point where she even begins to sweat a bit. Her body starting to become a whole different kind of hot.

Carmine tilts his head in mild confusion at Shepard, "Is everything alright cherry? You look a bit flustered."

Shepard sighs, knowing she couldn't avoid looking at him. She looks back to his scarred, handsome face and answers him, "I'm fine."

Her eyes latch onto his, 'Oh fuck. I didn't think his eyes could get any more tempting.' Shepard thinks as she observes his brighter coloration.

Her answer is unconvincing to him but he shrugs. The volley of rounds stop coming and Carmine pulls himself off her, bringing her up with him into a less bullet riddled cover.

Kasumi had decided to take the mech's attention for a moment. Carmine smiled wide, devising a plan that Shepard was no doubt going to dislike.

She eyes Carmine warily, knowing that much happiness on display while looking at the enemy was bound to be no good. And she was right, "Perfect, it's distracted. I have a plan."

Shepard shakes her head, "Nope. No. Not even a chance. Every plan you have involves you putting yourself in harms way."

His hateful silver orbs greet her eyes and she feels like a gazelle being eyed down by a lion, "That's the best part."

The gear laughs a bit and as Shepard is about to deny him again Kasumi breaks her radio silence, "Hey you two, mind giving me a hand here?"

Carmine presses a finger to his ear, "You got it. I've got a plan."

They hear Kasumi groan over the radio, "Not another one of your kinds of plans."

"Hey! I take offense to that. Focus on not getting shot." Carmine barks back to her.

Shepard looks to the mech as it fires at Kasumi as she hides behind a car. She sighs deeply and looks to Carmine, "Alright fine. What's your plan."

Carmine's eyes light up and he flashes his teeth, "I'm going to charge it. Once I have that grub's attention I'll expose its head. That's when you put it down."

Shepard didn't like the sound of him charging it, but couldn't find the strength to argue, "Alright, just be safe you big bullet magnet."

Carmine feels a swell of confidence, "I will be."

He means it too. Of course the desire to protect his team overwhelmed every other non-hateful feeling, but there was a small bit of him that nagged to stay safe for her sake.

Carmine vaults over and sprints toward the mech. He revs his saw, grabbing the metal beast's attention. The mech is too slow to react though and Carmine digs the saw into one of its extended arms. The strong metal blades whir and grind through the metal like it was paper.

Carmine yells out as the saw slips through, the mech's arm falling to the floor with a loud metal thud, "What's the matter grub, lose something!?"

The mech hastily swings its remaining arm at him, which he dodges, rolling out of the way. As he recovers the mech brings its arm back even faster, smashing into the gear's chest. His lancer hits the floor a good distance from him, and the gear grunts angrily.

Shepard winces as she looks through her sniper scope, 'That had to crack a rib or two. Goddammit Carmine!'

To her surprise though, the gear digs his large hands into the arm and yanks the towering machine down a peg, making it pull its head up to try and resist him.

"Take the shot!" Carmine yells out, the strain of holding the mech evident in his voice.

Shepard takes a calming breath, aims, and fires. The bullet pierces the mechs head and it starts to shut down.

"Hell yeah Shepard, see I told you it would-"

*BOOM*

Shepard's eyes shoot open as the mech explodes. She loses Carmine in the flames as the shockwave throws her and Kasumi back.

Shepard coughs a bit with a small groan as she gets herself onto one knee, "C-Carmine!" She scrambled toward the flames as they lap up most of the blast radius.

She yells out with pain in her voice as she reaches a hand out, slightly burning it. She looks deep into the fiery corpse of the mech with tears in the corners of her eyes.

There's no way anyone could survive that much fire, let alone the blast. As she feared, Carmine's big body wasn't visible anywhere in the wreckage. She shuts her eyes and looks down, "I'm sorry Clayton."

Kasumi comes up next to Shepard and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Shep...we need to get going."

Shepard takes a deep breath, 'Grieve later. I still have a job to do. And there is a rich asshole that needs to die.'

Shepard's eyes open with a new hateful fire burning inside her, "You know the way out?"

Kasumi has a solemn look on her face, clearly holding back her emotions as well, "That vehicle has a mass accelerator cannon on it. I'm sure you could blow a hole in the wall with it."

Shepard nods and does exactly that. Blowing open a hole in the nearby wall. The pair continue on, Shepard takes a long look at the charred metal husk one last time before continuing on. The pain she felt in her heart was almost greater than the anger.

---

Carmine opens his eyes. His arms are chained to the floor. He tests the strength of the metal and grunts as the steel bites into his forearms. The links strain as Carmine nearly pulls himself free.

The butt of a lancer connects with his right temple, opening a deep cut on his head. His head swings to the side before he glances back at what hit him. His hair was a bit shorter but a few strands stuck to his sweat covered forehead. His whole body hurt, he correctly assumed they'd been beating him while he was unconscious to soften him up.

A stranded man chuckled. Clayton took a second to observe his surroundings, "Where the fuck am I?"

His question was met with a pipe to the back. Carmine barely grunted. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as they think.

All Carmine can remember is talking with Sam, then his lights went out. Delta 2 had split up to look for the stranded camp that reached out to them. The promise of a trade partner, especially with how the remnant of the Cog were faring at sea, was appealing enough to discharge a team to investigate.

Carmine and Sam had unfortunately met with them first. The stranded took them hostage by the looks of it. He'd been staring at Sam as she talked, caught up in his thoughts. He curses himself quietly for not keeping his senses keen. Carmine starts to internally panic as he notices the lack of a certain foul-mouthed brunette in the room with them.

Two burly men had stood beside him, watching his every move. Clay tuned his ears but couldn't get a grasp of his oldest friend. He growled in anger and pulled at the chains around his arms, "Where's the woman I was with?"

The stranded to his right tried to smash him with the butt of his lancer again, but as the metal met with his open cut the gear barely budged, being prepared for it this time, "I asked you a fucking question!"

The man takes a step back as the chains strain and creak. Carmine lunges toward him but is pulled back by the chains, "What the hell is this guy made of?"

The stranded on the left speaks up, having full confidence in the chains, "I don't know. The scars on his back make me think regular torture just ain't gonna work."

Carmine just took note that he was shirtless. Besides that he pretty much had the rest of his gear, minus his guns and his helmet. The bulky head protection sat on a table close by.

His ears perk up as the door at the far end of the room starts to open. In walks a man and a tied up Sam. She still has her clothes on so the worst thoughts are dissipated from Carmine's head. He eyes them angrily as the man's grip on her arm is rather tight.

She has a gag in her mouth, her muffled curses and angry eyes would almost make Carmine laugh if he wasn't so angry at the sight, "Get your greasy hands off her shithead!"

Carmine lunges forward as the man sits Sam down on a chair a few feet in front of Carmine. The man caresses the side of Sam's face and Clay can feel the blood trickle down arms as the chains tear his skin. Sam's eyes wash over him and she feels a pain tug at her heart at the state of him, all beaten, bloodied, and bruised.

"So my boys tell me you've got hook scars huh? You were a part of that whole hollow storm bullshit right? The whole COG operation to finally get rid of the locust. Well guess what asshole, you helped destroyed my home." The leader speaks with malice.

Carmine hangs his head, "She has nothing to do with this. Let her go. Do whatever you want to me, I know I deserve it." Sam releases a muffled protest at his words.

The men laugh and Carmine slowly brings it head up to look at the leader, "Oh no pal you've got this all wrong. We need information, we're getting rid of what's left of the people who fucked humanity. And you two are the ones I'm assuming were sent by that ship, right?"

Carmine doesn't answer and the leader sighs, his deep brown hair flinging back and forth as he shakes his head and clicks his tongue. The leader promptly slides his hand from Sam's shoulder to her chest and starts massaging one of her covered breasts.

Carmine immediately responds, "Get your fucking hands off her GRUB!"

The chains lurch and strain, only Carmine hears the small crack as one of the links are weakened. The leader slips his other hand onto Sam's chest and smiles wide. Sam grunts and shakes her head wildly to try and make the unwanted assault on her body stop.

The man gently kisses her head and pulls his hands back to her shoulders, "Don't worry girly, we won't have to go any further if your friend cooperates."

Sam looks to her beaten and chained friend with a look that told him, "Don't say a fucking word!"

But the big gear didn't listen to the non-verbal exchange. All he cared about was her safety, and he wasn't going to let these sick fucks take advantage of her.

" Y-yeah. That's us." Sam grunts and shakes the chair she's sitting on. The leader smiles.

"Very good kid. I just have one more question for you."

Carmine looks him in the eyes, blood running down the side of his face, "Anything, just let her go afterwards." His voice cracks at the end.

Sam's eyes start to tear up hearing Clayton sound so weak. She realized then just how much she must have meant to him. He never was very verbal about any of that. A part of her was warmed, knowing Clayton reciprocated her feelings.

The leader smiled and takes his hands off Sam's shoulders. He flashed his palms to the bloodied gear, "Of course pal. Now, your tags say you're a Carmine. You related to that asshole who sold faulty life insurance?"

Carmine scoffs and chuckles a bit, blood from his face and arms start to drop to the ground beneath him, "I guess that was bound catch up to one of us eventually. Unfortunately yes. He is, or more likely, was my cousin."

The leader smiles and he walks in between Sam and Clay. Carmine stands tall on his knees, not backing down from the man. The leader grabs a hold of his throat and Carmine's eyes narrow at him.

"See, that bullshit got my wife killed. The insurance that promised it could cover her surgery, didn't. Since he's probably dead, and you've been so kind as to deliver this little spicy thing to us. I think I'll let that debt fall to you."

True fear bleeds into Carmine's gray eyes as the man pulls away and in a swift tug rips open Sam's shirt. Her bra contains her ample bust as it bounces gently from the force.

Carmine growls and yells out, "No! I did what you asked now let her go you sick fucks!"

He's met with a pipe to the back of the head, nearly rendering him unconscious. His eyes fade as stars start to appear in his view. He looks up and the leader in kissing on Sam's neck, "I think we can take this off now. I can't wait to hear what kinds of noises you make."

Carmine starts shaking in pure rage as the man slips Sam's gag off. She immediately goes haywire, "Get your slimy, cum sucking hands off me you fucking twat!"

The men on his left and right start to laugh as they hear the chains rattle from Carmine's shaking, "Ha, for such a big guy you're a big pussy."

"Your girl is going to get it good. Then we get a turn."

The leader looks back to them and shuts them up as he continues to lick at Sam's tanned neck. She locks eyes with the gear as his teeth clench hard in his mouth. She whimpers weakly, her body starting to shake from the undesired contact.

"D-don't look Clayton. It'll be ok, just don't look." She knows where this is going, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't scared. Of course Carmine and her had stared death in the face more than a few times, but the idea of being raped in front of her best friend nearly broke her.

'As soon as they see a tear Bryne, that's when they think they've broken you. Stay strong for him.' She thinks as she grunts uncomfortably and closes her eyes.

Her voice snaps the last bit of sanity in him. Something deep in him starts to talk, something he hadn't heard in a long time, 'They will not take what is ours. You will not sit here and let them do this.'

"W-what? Who said that?" Carmine says out loud, his eyes frantically looking around. The men laugh at him.

"Look at that, we might've knocked him up too much. He's starting to hear shit."

'Don't talk to me dumbass. I'm here to help you. I am you after all. I help keep you alive, sure you do all the heavy lifting, but I help. Don't worry, this meeting was overdue anyway. Time to do what we do best. Kill grubs.' The voice pierces his ears again, before an overwhelming amount of rage hits him.

This is due to the man grabbing Sam's face and making her kiss him. His eyes widen and steam starts to rise from his skin. Sam shakes her head away and spits onto man's face, the leader barely stops to wipe his face, his hands continue their perversions on her body. Grabbing a hold of her bra.

He's about to free her breasts when his men start to talk, "Uhh boss. This guy is steaming."

He turns, about to insult them but is met with Carmine's gray eyes, full of rage. Steam in coming off his exposed skin in waves, and the gear is grunting and growling like a caged animal.

Sam looks to the man she loves and can barely believe what she's seeing, or feeling for that matter. She could feel his heat from where she sat. Sure he was always warm, but now it felt like she was sitting in front of a bonfire.

"Well don't just sit and watch him retards. Hit him!" The leader orders. The two burly men shrug and one goes to swing a pipe at his head again.

Clayton ducks it and in one powerful movement rips his chained left arm free, grabbing a hold of the pipe that missed his head and using it to bat the three men away.

Carmine quickly drops the pipe and uses his free hand to help wrench his other arm free. The chains still wrapped around his arms and hands.

"Now it's my turn grubs." Carmine speaks deathly low, a tone Sam recognized immediately. She smiled at her blood covered friend as he hungrily eyed the three men, begging them to make a move.

Clay decides to make the first move as he front kicks the leader, throwing him back into a wall. He then turns to the stranded with the lancer and rears back, throwing a chain-wrapped haymaker.

The punch hits the man and he flies to the ground, his face completely shattered. He spits out teeth and crumples up in pain. Clay makes his way on top of him and pulls his bloody right fist back again. With one swift strike he completely crushes the man's head.

Clay grabs the lancer and easily dispatches the other goon with a few bullets. His animalistic eyes catch sight of the leader and he tosses the lancer to the ground. The steam pours from his exposed muscles in droves as he gets closer and closer to his target.

All the while Sam is yelling to get her out of the chair, but Carmine can't hear her, "You don't get to walk away from me grub."

He easily grabs the man by the throat and raises him up to his level, the man chokes as he is suspended in the air. Forced to look the crazed man in the eyes.

"What..the f-fuck are...you." The leader rasps out as Carmine raises his other hand up to the leader's face.

Carmine doesn't speak, merely bringing his thumbs up to slowly dig them into the soon to be rapist's eyes. The man writhes and screams as Carmine's lips start to tilt up into a sadistic smile. His thumbs slowly going deeper into the man's head.

Sam watches not in horror but astonishment. Carmine broke free for her. To save her no less, and she hated being saved. She wanted to help him kill them but was stuck in her chair, "Clay I'm unbelievably grateful and all, but can you please get me out of this fucking chair!"

Her yelling is barely heard over the man's pained screams. Carmine decides he's had enough and finishes him. Burrowing his thumbs fully into the man's head and smashing him against the wall. He lets the corpse fall from his thumbs with a wet squelch and breathes deep.

The steam slowly fades from his body and he looks down at his hands, blinking hard. After the fourth hard blink, his eyes open to stare at the blood soaked into his chain covered arms.

His ears stop ringing and he quickly looks to Sam, "Oh shit!" He exclaims as he rushes to her, tearing her ropes with frightening ease. Sam immediately jumps into his warmth and hugs him tight. Carmine holds his arms up, not entirely sure if he should hug her back with his blood stained hands.

She separates from him with a small blush, "Shit sorry sorry. I know you're not much of a hugger mate just...thank you Clayton. We should get out of here. I know where they're stashing our gear."

Carmine nods, noticing her sharp change of subject and moves to grab his shirt and helmet. Sam stops him from slipping his helmet on and he shoots her a concerned look.

She shakes her head dismissing his charming gray eyes, "Let's get those chains off you big guy. I've got a butterfly suture for that head cut too. It'll have to do for now. Those idiots didn't take any of our gear off our waists, just weapons and armor."

Carmine takes a second to eye her up. Something was clearly wrong, but he shakes his head before nodding. He looks to the human corpses and feels almost nothing. They were grubs to him, nothing less. And they would've done horrible things to Sam, no. He found he didn't care what he did to them at that moment, he simply cared about Sam's well being.

Sam closes the cut on Carmine's head and unwraps the chains from the big man's arms, her eyes still a bit wet from the assault she suffered mere minutes ago. She sniffles for a second, and Carmine raises a hand to rest on her shoulder.

She wants to tell him to fuck off, to stop babying her, that she's more than capable of dealing with this herself. But instead a sob spills from her lips the moment she opens them. Carmine's heart aches at the sight of his friend, and his rising suspicions were confirmed as her tears slowly start to drip down her cheeks.

He slowly moves his hand to the back of her head and fixes his digits softly into her hair. Carmine tilts her head up to look at him and her lip quivers. She notices that his eyes had changed color, his calm silver orbs looking at her with concern. She didn't have the strength to ask about them.

"Come here." He says as softly as he could, gently pulling her into his blood speckled chest. He wraps his arms around her. She latches onto him and cries a good hard cry into his bare chest.

He doesn't know why but he decides to gently shush her and pet her head, whispering sweetly to her, "It's alright. I'm here Sam, I won't ever let anything bad happen to you."

Sam sniffles and looks up to him, resting her chin above his right peck. Her eyes are red, and her tears are still steadily flowing from her chestnut orbs, "Y-you promise?"

He smiles warmly at her and brings his hand from her head to her cheek, wiping away her tears, "I promise. Now where's that tough broad that always beats the shit out of me whenever I'm moping around."

His teasing makes Sam laugh a bit and Carmine squeezes her tighter to him. She shuts her eyes and listens to the steady drumming heartbeat, "Thank you Clayton."

She settles into his warmth for a moment longer, enjoying every second she could of his loving embrace. Carmine shuts his eyes for a moment as he rests his jaw on the top of her messy hair. He feels her shift, and his eyes shoot open at the skin on skin contact.

The pair separate and he blushes as the sight of her nearly bare upper body. He grabs his shirt from the table with his helmet and hands it to her without looking, "To uhh, cover you up."

Sam's eyes widen and she scrambles to slip on the long sleeved shirt. It was extremely loose on her, but she smiled as it smelled like him. Gunpowder and pine.

She picks up the lancer that he had discarded and bumps him with her hip, "Come on Carm, let's get the fuck out of here."

He nods and grabs the snub from the leader's corpse, "Won't be needing this anymore grub." Carmine spits on the carcass.

Sam chuckles as he makes his way toward her. She cracks the door open and is surprised to see nobody had been alerted. To be fair though, gunshots and screams were fairly common for stranded communities these days.

Before they sneak out Sam grabs Carmine's arm and blushes gently, "Hey can we not mention what happened in there." She almost questions her sanity as his eyes had reverted back to his darker gray. She clears her head, 'Must have just been the shock of almost getting...yeah that's it. It was just in my head.'

She looks shy, but maintains eye contact. Carmine shoots her a weak smile and nods, "Of course Samantha."

A wave of relief crashes over her and she starts to open the door. The big gear slides his helmet over his head and follows her.

The pair sneak their way into the stranded camp's armory. Thankfully everyone was asleep. The two gears re-equipped their lost armor and weapons. Carmine clenched his COG tags for a moment before sliding them back on.

He watches Sam as she looked the scope of her longshot, a sharp spike of familiar anger coursing through him, 'This doesn't stop if we leave. If we let them all live they're going to find her again. And who says you can protect her forever. Kill them all, now. Before they threaten what's ours.'

Carmine shakes away the crazed thought but finds himself inclined to agree. He walks over to Sam and nudges her, "We should get rid of them all now. Who knows if they'll try this again in the future."

Sam looks to him with unsure eyes, "You're beat to all hell, and I'm a mess right now. We should get out of here and contact Cole or Baird. I'm sure they're still in the area looking for us."

As if on cue a bang at the door gets their attention, Carmine puts a finger to the front of his faceplate and creeps toward the door, boltok primed and ready, "What is it?"

An angry sounding stranded man responds, "That's a real fine greeting Frank. We got some more COG shit for ya. Found some black dude and a blonde roaming around out there. Probably friends with the other two we got downstairs."

Sam's eyes widen and Carmine nods to her, already reading her mind, "Where are those two at right now?"

The guy's tone starts to get a bit impatient, "We got them locked in the cells for now. Waiting on the boss to tell us what to-"

Carmine swiftly pulls the door open and yanks the thin man inside, fear is etched onto his face as the massive gear presses the boltok to the underside of the man's chin.

"If you even utter a noise I pull the trigger." The stranded shakes his up and down. Carmine shoves him into a chair and Sam works to tie him to him, grabbing some spare tape lying about to place over his mouth. Clayton drags the small cart with his friend's gear on it inside.

"Carm we have to go help them." Clay nods in agreement with her. He wasn't letting anyone on his team die today, and he certainly wasn't leaving them to rot in this stranded camp.

"Stay here and watch this asshole. I'll be back." Sam hesitates for a moment, but nods her head as she catches the light puffs of steam start to slip off his arms.

As his hand grips the door handle he looks back to her, snickering as she anxiously twisted a bit of hair in her hand, "I'll be back." He reiterates.

Sam looks to him and cracks a small smile, "Promise?"

He nods, "I promise."

What she didn't know, was that he once he freed Baird and Cole. Carmine was going to make sure the stranded never hurt anyone, ever again.

---

"Shit that gunship has too much armor on it. We'll have to use those launchers the eclipse mercs had on them." Shepard yells out as bullets rain into the sturdy cover she and Kasumi were behind.

Her heart still ached at the loss of Carmine. An ache that made her fight impulsively, and in turn caused the both of them to be stuck behind a metal barricade as Hock fired down on them from his gunship.

Kasumi had managed to cloak and snag a launcher for Shepard, but had to shake the commander a few times to break her out of her stupor, "Shep, there's nothing we can do about Carmine now. He would want us to get out of here. All he cared about was our safety, so don't lock up on me now."

Shepard gripped the launcher tight and looked at Kasumi, "You're right. I'm sorry."

Kasumi smiled weakly, "It's alright, I can't really believe it either. We've seen him take so much damage, it just doesn't seem possible that he's gone."

Shepard returns the smile, "When his guns are cooling down I'll pop out and crack him with a rocket. Hopefully it'll weaken him enough that we can just shoot him out of the sky."

Kasumi nods and readies her new submachine gun that she acquired in the vault. As the gunship stops firing Shepard pops out of cover and fires the launcher. The explosive smashed into the nose of the ship, engulfing it in flames for a moment.

Kasumi and Shepard start laying into the flying metal death machine as much as they can with their weapons, but as the flames subside there seems to be no clear damage on the gunship.

Hock taunts them from the safety of the cockpit, "Really? The famed Kasumi Goto can surely do better than that. And you, I expected better of someone with so much experience." Shepard grinds her teeth, her anger boiling over.

"I see your partner didn't make it out of the vault. Shame that is, to watch the one you care for die in front of you." Shepard's eyes widen as she bares her teeth, feeling the avenger in her hands whine from the pressure she held it with.

"Shep you can't listen to him, nothing we have can hurt that ship and we're running low on ammo. He's just trying to lure you into the open." Kasumi's words fall on deaf ears as Hock continues.

"You know I expected more from him. From what I saw he was rather monstrous. Well I suppose he's just another beast I've put down." That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

'He wasn't a monster. As much as he thought he was, his actions spoke louder than his words ever could. He was a better man than he knew. And I never told him how I felt.' Shepard felt tears prick at her eyes but she quickly willed them away. Releasing an angry yell as she walked out of cover emptying her avenger into the gunship.

When the gun clicked empty, she replaced it with another gun, and another, until she had nothing but her carnifex. She blasted every last round she had into Hock and it surprisingly did a bit of damage, but not enough.

Shepard stood, pulling the trigger of her empty pistol over and over. Hock's laughter filled her ears and she sneered at the hovering gunship. Shepard couldn't hear much of anything, her focus being only on Hock. She caught a bit of what sounded like Kasumi but didn't pay much attention to it.

"Ha, you really think that would've worked?! You're more foolish than I thought possible. Now it's time for you to-"

*BANG*

Hock is cut off by a loud gunshot, an extremely familiar gunshot. The powerful round easily pierces through the cockpit but doesn't hit the rich man, "What!? How can you-"

*BANG*

The second round finds its mark however and Hock's gurgling can be heard from the gunship's audio system. Shepard watches as the gunship plummets to the ground, missing the landing pad and exploding down below. Shepard feels great satisfaction, but that great feeling is cut off by the weight of the loss she suffered today.

As her hearing starts to come back she turns to see what it was that Kasumi found to take down the gunship. Shepard blinks once, twice, and a third time.

Standing there, holding his smoking boltok up, was a relatively healthy Clayton Carmine. His lancer was held by the carry strap as it was slung over his back. His clothes were a bit burnt, his right pant leg scorched up to his knee. The black tank top had patches burnt off of it, showing off bits of his back and middle. His bundle of clothes was nowhere to be seen.

He had the wounds she last saw him with, no burns, no bruises. Just him. She feels tears start to burn the corners of her eyes, not truly believing that he was there smiling as wide as he was. Kasumi had a hand on her hip, as she looked at Shepard, a smile bigger than she'd ever seen on the master thief's face.

"You aren't dying today Shepard." Clayton says with a smile as he twirls and hostlers his revolver. Shepard doesn't speak, merely marching up to the big gear with tears in her eyes.

He looks down to her, his eyes still the brighter silver color she'd seen before. His smile drops as he notices her teary eyes, "Hey, everything alright? Did I shoot the wrong guy?" He asks with genuine confusion as he glances to Kasumi.

Shepard launches herself into his middle, hugging him as tight as she could. The gear lets out a small oof and lifts his arms up. He chuckles as Kasumi latches onto his side. The two women hugging the friend they thought had died.

"Hey now, I'm not going anywhere. You two alright?" Carmine asks with a blush on his face, not entirely sure how to handle being hugged by two people at once.

"Shut the hell up and let me make sure you're real." Shepard says as she digs her head into his lower chest.

"We thought you died Carm." Kasumi says with an ounce of sadness.

Carmine's eyes widen, "Oh, oh! No I just got knocked out. Woke up on fire. Oddly enough not the first time I've woken up with my clothes on fire. Sorry I couldn't save my fancy stuff Kasumi."

Shepard and Kasumi laugh at the big man. The pair let go of him and Shepard immediately launches a haymaker into his jaw, the sucker punch throws his head back.

He takes a step back and shakes his head, his black locks flopping back and forth, she noticed a couple hairs were shorter from being singed by the fire, "Alright, I deserved that."

Shepard crosses her arms and looks up at him smugly, "You're Goddamn right you did! You scared the hell out of us Carmine!"

The big man chuckles and shrugs his shoulders, "You should know by now that it's going to take a lot more than that to take this gear down." He says with a small smile.

Shepard rolls her eyes angrily but turns away as she tries to hide her smile. She pulls up her omni-tool, "Normandy, we're done down here. Send a shuttle to these coordinates. Oh and tell Doctor Chakwas to prepare a spot for the bullet magnet."

Carmine dips his head, "Hey I'm not that hurt, th-that won't be necessary." Shepard revels in the mild fear that slips into his tone.

"Oh yes you are. You got knocked unconscious from an explosion and were set on fire! And you got shot twice!" Shepard exclaims.

Carmine sighs and rubs the back of his neck, his wounds had stopped bleeding a while ago but he shrugs as he looks to the opened wounds and nods, "Fine."

Shepard shakes her head, "Well I'm your commander and I say...wait what?" She'd been so used to Carmine's resistance to heading to the med bay. Unless of course he was seriously hurt. She hasn't expected him to be so willing and she stares at him with suspicious eyes.

He groans and reloads his boltok, "I said fine, I'll go see Chakwas, although I personally think it's a waste of her time."

Shepard is flabbergasted and stutters for a moment, "W-well good. Thank you."

Carmine smiled at her, "Oh shut up, you love sending me to her so she can poke and prod at me. Admit it."

Shepard folds her arms as she regains her composure, "I will do nothing of the sort you injury prone giant."

His silver eyes widen slightly, "Oh so we're name calling now huh? You short, abusive, red head."

Shepard gasps, and rests her hands on her hips, "I'm not abusive or short! I'm taller than most people!"

Kasumi chuckles as the pair tease each other for a bit, the shuttle arriving not too long after they settle down. She internally questions the change in Carmine's eye color but shrugs, 'Probably just another Carmine thing.'

As the three take their seats Carmine nudges Kasumi's knee with his, "So what's the deal with the box?"

Kasumi smirks, "Well I'm about to find out. My partner left this to me before he..."

Carmine understood and hung his head, empathy written on his face, "I get it. I'm sorry for your loss."

Kasumi thanks him and starts to access the box with her omni-tool, "I might be unresponsive for a little bit." Carmine nods and looks to his lancer, making sure it wasn't too banged up from the explosion.

Shepard smiled warmly from her spot across from the big man, 'See, how could a monster be capable of caring for other people like he does? Checkmate Hock.'

She took a sneak peek at his face, more precisely his eyes, and the new color that took the darker gray's place. His eyes shimmered with a metallic silver now, and she found herself captivated by them. Shepard wondered what caused the sudden change.

As she thinks about it Carmine blinks, his eyes reverting back to his normal gray, "How the?" Shepard mutters, grabbing the gear's attention.

"What?" He asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Y-your eyes they changed color back in the vault and just now." Shepard said with mild shock. Carmine rubbed the back of his head and nodded.

"Heh, yeah. That can happen sometimes. I remember Sam saying something like that. Only ever happened around her though, weird." He says with a small hum at the end.

Shepard smirks at him, 'Does that mean he sees me how he sees that Sam girl? Interesting.' She mirrors the hum and looks to Kasumi, catching as a tear gently falls down her cheek.

She looks to Carmine and he nods to her, having caught it as well. He speaks softly, "Everything alright Kasumi?"

The master thief nods and smiles as she wipes the droplet from her face, "Yes, I do believe so. Now that I have what was left to me, I'm not sure it would be wise to keep his box. Crush this for me."

She hands it to Carmine and Shepard watches closely as he doesn't move, the box sitting in the palm of his hand, "This is all you have left of him though, right?"

Kasumi nods, "Yes but I don't think it would be wise to keep it around. If someone gets their hands on it-"

The gear cuts her off, "Did he leave you a nice message?"

Kasumi freezes as a small blush comes to her face, "I-I suppose you could say that."

Carmine reads her expression and smiles. He gently takes her hand and slips the box back into it, "The last thing I got to remember my brothers by was their deaths. No heartfelt goodbyes, just the constant replaying of their final moments."

Kasumi looks up to the big man and sees the pain in his eyes even though a small smile has taken its place on his lips. She looks him in his pained gray orbs and he continues.

"I don't know what he left you, and I don't need to know. If it's enough to make you shed a happy tear then keep it. At least when you're at your lowest you'll have a good way to keep yourself grounded. To remind you of the good times, not the bad. And hey, I don't think anyone could steal something so precious from a master thief like you."

Shepard smiles sadly at the gear, standing and walking next to him to place her hand on his shoulder. She thought of his brother's tags and the bloody letter he had on the table next to his bed, 'That truly is all he has left of his family.'

Carmine looks back for a moment and nods before turning his sights back to Kasumi. She smiles at him and lets another tear fall, "Thank you Carmine. I'll keep that in mind."

Her voice cracks a bit but she keeps herself in check, pocketing the box. The gear smiles proudly at her decision to keep the box. Shepard holds a fist in front of him and he raises an eyebrow, "Don't leave me hanging." Shepard says as she shakes her fist a little.

The gear smiles wide and fist bumps her, the pair both making explosion noises as their hands separate. The three share a nice laugh as the shuttle rumbles onward back to the Normandy.

---

"I truly don't know how this is possible Shepard but Carmine doesn't have any visible burns, mild or otherwise. He's also showing no signs of shockwave damage from the explosion. Besides his other wounds he's perfectly healthy." Chakwas says while running another scan over the big gear's body.

Shepard's mouth hung open, "B-but you said you woke up on fire Carmine?"

The gear rubs the back of his neck with a nervous smile, "Yeah I did. Maybe I just wasn't on fire long enough? I've been burnt before, the grubs had these scorcher wielding flame grenadiers. God it sucked getting lit on fire, but if you managed to hit their fuel tanks those fuckers popped." His laughter slightly worried the commander but she shrugs off the feeling as Doctor Chakwas sticks the gear with a needle.

"Hope you don't mind me pulling more blood samples from you Carmine." The gear hadn't even noticed she stuck him.

"Oh sure, I don't really care. I lose so much blood on missions anyway, I would rather it go to something else." He replies nonchalantly.

Shepard sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose, "Is there any way I could get you to tone it back out there? I've seen you lose so much blood, I doubt it's healthy for you."

Carmine shakes his head, "Unless the doc says I can't be pushing myself then I'm going to do everything I can to keep you guys safe out there. Never hurt me before, and I didn't have this crazy space medicine to help back then."

Shepard desperately looks to Chakwas for some kind of help. The doctor sighs, "It wouldn't be good faith to lie, and I doubt it would get past him. Carmine is a healthy 26 year old man."

Shepard sighs loudly and hangs her head. Carmine pats the now disheveled red locks on the top of her head, "Ah don't sweat it too much. It's not like I'm going anywhere."

Shepard grunted and swatted his hand away looking up to him angrily, "You don't know that. You need to start taking your own safety seriously or I'll have no choice but to start leaving you behind."

Carmine's teeth grind as he processes what she's said, "What?"

"I'm not asking you to fight differently, just tone it down. Stop being so impulsive when you're wounded. There's already been a handful of times where I wasn't sure if you would've made it out alive or not." She stops to calm herself, fearing she may break down if she continues to rant. Shepard closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

Carmine takes a moment to let her breathe watching her extremely close. She seemed genuinely bothered by his lack of self preservation, 'Shepard...really seems like she cares about us. Maybe, we can take it a bit easier out there. Unless anyone's in danger, then it's all or nothing.'

Carmine nods to his inner dialogue and reaches out to Shepard. His hand weighs heavily on her shoulder and her eyes open up to see a very attentive look in Carmine's eyes, "I'll try to adjust out there. As usual, I'm not making any promises. But I will try."

Shepard's lips curl into a small smile and she leans her cheek onto his scarred knuckles, "Thank you Clay."

He nods and takes his hand back. Shepard looks to the doctor, who had placed a vial of blood into a machine near her desk, "Alright I'm going to head out Chakwas, let me know if something happens with this big oaf."

Carmine rolls his eyes and stands up, towering over the commander. She looks up at him with a cocky gleam in her eye. Chakwas stops Shepard before she leaves however, "Actually Carmine is free to leave. I need to speak with you for a moment, in private."

Carmine shrugs, "Whatever you say doc. I'll be around if you need me cherry. See ya later."

Shepard waves to him as he goes and she sighs softly, making her way over to the doctor as she sits at her desk. Chakwas presses a few buttons on her omni-tool and the shutters of the med bay go down. Shepard looks to her rather confused.

"Uh Karen what's going-" Chakwas holds a finger to her lips.

"Doctor Chakwas, Carmine just went into the elevator." A woman's voice reports to the doctor.

"Thank you Daniels. Sorry Shepard I couldn't risk Carmine hearing this." Shepard instantly has a worried look to her face.

"What's going on Karen?" The doctor pulls a glowing yellow vial from her desk, and snags the fresh tube of Carmine's blood before looking to the commander.

"Two things. Firstly-" she pulls open her omni-tool and shows it to Shepard. The red head gasps lightly and takes a second, even a third look.

"Karen I knew he was pretty messed but...how is he alive?" Shepard asks as she looks at the mental scans Chakwas had showed her.

"That leads to the second thing I must discuss with you." She motions to the yellow, bubbling liquid and Carmine's blood.

Shepard is about to ask what the yellow liquid is, feeling as though it was awfully familiar to her. She watches in mild horror though as Carmine's blood slowly starts to fade into the yellow substance. Eventually both tubes are full of the bubbling yellow liquid.

"I believe this is the parasite that Carmine has referred to on multiple occasions. Imulsion. It is somehow able to mix with his healthy red blood cells, but as Carmine's cells die the parasite becomes exposed. It's using him as a sort of camouflage." Shepard looks with mild fascination at the tubes. Chakwas continues.

"The parasite doesn't work to consume him however. If it did then he would no doubt have already succumb to it like the lambent he's talked about." Shepard's eyes widen with panic.

"Wait, does that mean-"

The doctor quickly shakes her head no, "He would've already been turned by the parasite, but instead it hides in his blood. I believe Carmine is more special than even he knows. This is just a theory, but I think that the parasite has bonded to him much like it does to all organic material it's exposed to."

Shepard rubs her chin inquisitively, "Why hasn't it tried to take over his body then? If it's a parasite wouldn't it want to just take over its host? And why hasn't all his spilled blood resulted in an imulsion outbreak?"

"The cells work as his own until left in a controlled environment. When his blood is spilled it dries and kills everything, including the imulsion."

Chakwas then looks to her with a raised eyebrow, "In all the years I've known you I hadn't realized you were interested in these kinds of things." Shepard looks away with a light blush.

"I digress. That's what's so fascinating to me, and precisely why I've been asking for so many blood samples from him. In all the tests I've run with this imulsion, it takes over the host and uses them as a puppet of sorts. Morphing the host past recognition as the imulsion gains a more able body." Chakwas pulls up a video of the imulsion being injected into one of the captive seeker swarm bugs.

The video starts to speed up as the imulsion quickly works to morph the insect into a gruesome creature. Fresh imulsion spilling from its mouth as large rock-like growths cover its outside. Cracks in the organic rocks glow a faint yellow.

"Jesus Karen this stuff is seriously dangerous if it can infect anything. We need to get rid of it." The doctor nods to the horror stricken commander.

"I agree. I've been safely terminating the imulsion samples after I'm finished with them, purely off the record. But in Carmine's case the parasite has seemed to form a symbiotic relationship with him. I believe it's partly the reason he's so resistant to fire, and his enchanted healing. It may also be the source of his enhanced senses." The doctor takes a second to breath.

"However that's where the enhancements stop. His strength, the intelligence he hides, pain tolerance, and general personality are all his." Shepard nods along with Chakwas. Thankful that the man she's grown to care about is truly his own man, and not some parasitic puppet.

"We need to tell him. It feels wrong to hide this from him." Chakwas holds her hands out to stop the commander as she partly turns to leave.

"We can't! If he knows what's inside him then I doubt he will respond well. You saw the chart of his brainwaves, he shouldn't even be able to function let alone act how he does with us. I fear he might shut down if he knows what's residing inside him. Not even mentioning the mental episodes he seems to have on a frequent basis." Shepard doesn't want to keep such a thing from Carmine, but as she looks to the dangerously erratic brainwaves she sighs.

"I guess you're right. I'm assuming the war and his obvious PTSD have caused this level of brain damage." Chakwas's eyes gain a sad look as she looks to the chart.

"Unfortunately yes. I've seen so many soldiers fall apart from this affliction. I haven't been able to get a solid answer from him as to why, but he barely sleeps unless he needs to heal and recover. The most I've ever gotten from the stubborn man is that he, and I quote, saw a lot of terrible shit."

Shepard chuckles lightly, "Sounds just like him," Shepard sighs and rests a hand on Chakwas's shoulder, "Thank you for sharing this with me. I thought I was worried about him dying out there. But if he's had that thing in him since the war, its been helping him stay alive through far worse. You should go clean up and get some rest Karen, thank you again. I'll see if I can get him to open up to me sometime soon."

Chakwas smiles warmly at Shepard, "No need to thank me Jane. Oh I've forgotten to mention, the imulsion only exposed itself if his blood is left in a controlled environment. Getting his fluids on or in you won't result in an infection since they're still bonded to his blood. Much like I said earlier."

Shepard nods, blushing gently from the implication, and the pair wave to each other as she leaves the med bay. Shepard makes her way to the elevator and heads up to her room. She goes and shrugs off her armor and her boots, plopping onto her bed wearing nothing but her strapless bra and compression shorts.

She rolls onto her back and sighs, "What am I going to do with you Clayton? Well at least I can kiss him without the threat of turning into a monster."

She clutches her covered heart and grumbles as she pushes her face into her covers. Feeling the day's exhaustion fall over her. The memory of how the pair acted during Hock's party filling her head as she blissfully slips away into sleep.

---

Carmine had made his way to his room and put his fresh memento with the others. He had grabbed a piece of the mech that exploded next to him, the charred metal making him wonder how he didn't get burnt by the fire.

'Probably nothing important. I wonder what Shepard and the doc had to discuss. Hopefully nothing too serious.' Carmine thinks as he slips into some gym clothes. And with the change in clothes and returning of his weapons the gear heads off. Quickly snagging his prized head gear and slipping it on as he leaves.

It was relatively late, so his floor was empty of the normal engineers and other crew that he'd grown accustomed to. However as he opens the elevator door he hears someone creeping up on him. His instinct kick in and he rockets from his place by the door, grabbing the ambusher by the throat.

As his eyes process who it is, the angry woman starts speaking, "Goddamnit you're a hard fucker to sneak up on. Now let go of me you big pyjack!"

Jack throws a kick toward his groin, one that Clay easily catches. He loosens his grip on her neck, but doesn't put her down. Leaving her to dangle from his strong grip.

"Hey! Put me the fuck down Carmine!" Jack yells at him again.

The gear chuckles and raises her to his level, letting go of her foot, "What's the magic word little girl?"

Jack's eyes start to glow blue as her anger starts to boil over, "Oh I'm so going to kick your fucking ass when we get to the gym!" She growls out at him.

Clay shrugs and drops her, "Eh, close enough I guess." Turning to walk into the elevator.

Jack rubs her throat for a moment with a little smile, 'Oh I'm going to have fun with you, muscles.'

She keeps her angry expression and waltzes into the elevator with him. She was wearing a sport's bra instead of her usual nearly half naked look. Besides that her clothes were what he'd usually see her in.

"How'd the mission go? Heard you had to get all fancy and hang out with some rich pricks." Jack says as she folds her arms under her small bust.

Carmine tilts his helmet covered head over to her and nods, "It went alright. I didn't get fucked up so that's a first."

The pair share a chuckle and Carmine realizes this is probably the most time he'd spent alone with Jack in a few days. The two of them usually only see one another when they spar or Carmine goes to take his post workout shower. Even then it's simply Jack trying to piss off the big man, and drop subliminal hints.

The gear and biotic arrive at the training room not too much later and Clayton sets his things down on the bench. He looks to Jack and smirks, "Ready?"

Jack sighs loudly and cracks her knuckles, "I've been warming myself up for hours of course I'm ready pyjack!"

"Helmet on or off?" He asks with a small tap to his dented temple.

"Keep it on. I want to pry that fucking thing off your smug face." She says with a challenging smirk.

The gear cracks his neck and a sadistic smile creeps onto his face. He had to remind himself to pull his punches or surely Jack wouldn't last a minute, "Whatever you say."

The two circle one another. Feinting punches and kicks for a moment. Carmine grows impatient of the monotonous back and forth and throws a right hook. Jack predicted his impatience and easily slips it, pushing her biotic power into her foot as she throws a spinning back kick to his middle.

The gear eats the boot and stumbles backward from the force. He goes to move but finds himself frozen in place, "What the fuck?"

His confused words are met by a smirking Jack and she saunters over to him. His body was surrounded by biotic energy, holding him in place, "Seems like I have the upper hand big guy. Now time for a little payback."

Carmine rolls his eyes as she slips his helmet off dropping it next to them. She then pulls his arms apart, exposing his body. Jack throws a handful of biotic infused punches his way. He eats them and grunts as her small, powerful fists nearly crack his ribs.

"Gah! So this is how you beat me huh? Using that blue bullshit!" Carmine yells out to her from his frozen position. She circles him and places him on his knees, arms spread wide. She hears him growl a bit and comes back around, sliding her small, calloused hand onto his cheek.

She runs a thumb over one of his scars and licks her lips, "You don't know how tempting you are Carmine. You and this sexy ass face. All scarred up from fighting and killing. Oooh I've been real hot and bothered thinking about you."

Carmine's annoyed look turns to one of confusion as he raises an eyebrow, "Uhh, what?"

Jack runs her thumb over his lips, her other hand trailing down to his chest to grab at his solid muscles, "You don't have a goddamn clue what you do to the women on this ship do you? Of course not, you're not some asshole looking for a quick fuck. That's what makes you so much more...enticing."

Carmine's eyes widen, "W-w-what?" He stutters and Jack rakes a hand through his messy black hair. A shudder rolling through his body as she slips a hand past his tank top, and touches his bare chest.

"Holy fuck, every part of you is rock solid muscle. I wonder just how big that cock of yours is." Carmine can smell her arousal and for a moment his brain shuts off. He lets out a small strained grunt as she plays with his hair, her other hand working along one of his thick biceps.

She stops her fondling for a moment to lean down and whispers huskily into his ear, "You've made me so goddamn horny. And now you've got a debt to pay." Before kissing and licking at the side of his neck. A part of him enjoys the attention, but an overwhelming sensation comes over him.

His mind reacts rather violently to her words as bad memories come flooding back. He closes his eyes and an angered growl spills from his lips as he tries to force the memory down.

He isn't able to warn Jack as Sam's assault fills his vision when his eyes open. Steam starts to rise from his skin and Jack pulls back to take a few steps away from him. Her eyes widen as he starts to move, his eyes now completely void of the man she'd just been talking to mere seconds ago.

She realized he was having an episode, and she was the one who caused it. She is about to release him when he starts growl like a feral beast. His eyes were full of rage, looking at her like she was prey, "Carmine? You in there pal?"

"I did what you asked, answered your questions! Now keep your fucking hands off of her!" He yells out, teeth clenched extremely tight.

Jack doubles down to try and contain the raging man. If things didn't go south she figured she would ask about what had happened to him. It seemed her plan had backfired in the worst way possible. The only saving grace being that he seemed to like her advances at first.

The gear starts to wrench himself free of her biotic hold. Jack looks on in horror as the rampaging gear starts to stand. She back up, the steam starting to really flow from his body. He takes a step toward her and she raises her fists, "Well come on then! If you don't want to fuck me then fight me!"

Carmine blinks hard, his face contorting painfully. He releases a strangled gasp as he drops to a knee, clenching his head in his hands, "It's not real. I saved her, I saved her!"

Jack inches over to him as he groans, grabbing handfuls of his hair, 'Is it weird that I'm still turned on?' Jack thinks as she looks at his flexing muscles.

He takes a few deep, ragged breaths as Jack makes her way next to him. She doesn't have to lean far down to be eye level with him, "Carm are you alright?"

Her genuine tone makes the gear smile weakly and look up to her, "Y-yeah I think so. I'm sorry it's not that I didn't like it I-I can't do this. I don't deserve this."

Jack looks at him with a raised eyebrow, "What are you talking about? You're one of the sexiest men I've ever known."

The gear chuckled weakly but winces, sucking air through his teeth as memories flash through his mind, "I don't deserve affection. I'm a monster." Carmine rasps out as he tries to find a steady breathing pattern, failing miserably.

Jack rolls her eyes and hesitates before sinking her hand into his inky black hair, "Just breathe ya big pyjack. You're ok."

Jack was surprised as the gear seemed to calm down with the added head rubs. She kept going, finding herself enjoying the warmth of his head and texture of his hair. She twisted a bundle of thick hair and felt her body react rather strongly.

She barely noticed that Carmine had tilted his head up until he spoke, "Enjoying yourself?"

Jack's hand shot from his head and she sneers at him, throwing a punch into his jaw that makes his head snap to the side for a moment.

She smiles as the gear's laughter finds her ears. He stands with her and immediately apologizes, "I-I'm sorry for losing my shit. I've just had one too many bad experiences being held down like that before."

Jack waves him off, "Ah it's no big deal. At least I know what not to do now. You should go get some sleep, you look exhausted."

She was right. The gear's eyes had bags upon bags under them. His small mental episode seems to have drained him. Ge nods appreciatively at her, "Yeah, maybe you're right. Don't worry though we'll spar tomorrow for sure."

"Yeah yeah, go on. You're right though, we do have some unfinished business to attend to." She says with a sultry tone as she runs a hand down her front, pulling her sports bra down a bit.

Carmine wasn't looking however and simply chuckled, "Hell yeah we do. I still have to beat your ass."

Jack raises an eyebrow before rolling her eyes, the gear was oblivious to her extremely forward advances, 'God he's really thick in the head. I basically said I wanted him and he thinks I still want to spar. Ugh whatever you sexy fuck.'

She stops him before he leaves, a sudden emotion swelling in her chest as she looks to the ground, "Hey Carmine. We all have things that keep us up at night. No reason to let it fuck with you so bad."

He goes and grabs his helmet, nodding appreciatively toward her, "I'll keep that mind. Goodnight Jack."

The two wave goodbye and Carmine finds himself alone in the elevator. His mind ran a thousand miles a minute as he thinks about what just happened to him.

"I-is Jack interested in me? Nah can't be. She's just trying to rile me up, get me off my game for sparring. Just like Sam does." He says, trying to rationalize the biotic's strong advances. Clay sighs as he slips his helmet back on.

"Let's hope I can get some sleep." He says while running a hand over his face. As he does he closes his eyes and can't help but think about Shepard in her dress. How it stuck to her figure. The creamy white skin that on display. The feeling of her skin on his lips.

Then he thinks to how nice Jack's voice sounded in his ear. Her hands working along his rough muscles. The words he simply tried to pass off as messing with him.

'I wonder just how big that cock of yours is.'

Carmine feels blood rush to his crotch and he tries his best to push his arousal out of his systems. He opens his eyes, now the shimmering silver.

He rushes to his room and locks the door, looking down to see a massive tent in his shorts, "Oh, wonderful." He says with a deep sigh.

---

Author's Note:

Howdy,

I didn't intend for this even be as long as it is. I meant for this to be a bridge for the next chapter but I got to writing and really sunk into this one. I apologize if the missions don't go exactly how they are in the games, I'm human and remember things wrong pretty consistently. Especially since I've been awfully sick for the past few weeks now.

That'll be it for today though folks, I appreciate all of you and hope you've enjoyed my silly little story.

Adios