Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sheer amount of energy is off the charts.

Mere moments after it opens, every scanner in the system registers it. It’ll just be a matter of time until scanners in other systems are able to detect it, and that’s only because of relativity. In terms of sheer output, the readings are so clear and stark that with a well-aimed sensor it should be possible to detect the event from halfway across the galaxy.

The council has their own problems to deal with. The citadel is still rebuilding from the devastation of Sovereign’s siege, and even overlooking that fact they’re still trying to rebuild trust with the people in council space after humanity’s induction to the council. C-Sec is strictly a security force for the Citadel, and the Alliance is doing what they can to keep the peace. The same is true of most of the other race’s navies. Not to mention that all of that is ignoring the complete complacency of the Council in galactic matters over the last couple of years.

Despite this – despite the bureaucracy, and the stretched resources of the Council, and the misgivings and mistrust in recent months – they do not hesitate to send a fleet to investigate.

They’re practically forced to. With the inevitability of this reading reaching more and more eyes, they have to head off the possibility of every colony in the area sending out their own ships to investigate.

Most assumed that it had to be a technical error – that what they were reading couldn’t be possible – but that couldn’t explain the absolute consistency of the event’s measurements. Some still don’t believe what they’re hearing, but they’ll do their jobs all the same. They need to get visuals on the anomaly.

The first response team is enroute now. They’ve already passed through the systems’ mass relay, and are mere hours out from the planet where this should center. Maganlis. A terrestrial world with an atmosphere of sulphur dioxide, and a temperature of -150 °C.

They’ve sent out a handful of ships. Lead by an Alliance cruiser, but accompanied by frigates manned by other council races. Human, turian, and asari all sit in the lower decks of their ships, fully equipped with combat gear. On another ship is an assortment of every council race, and the odd hannar and volus, making up their technical division. They’re already in communication with the humans on the Alliance ship, speculating with every educated mind they can about what’s happening.

There’s only one, uncomfortable conclusion to draw from this response. They’re scared. Not the soldiers, or the generals, or the scientists, but the Council. They’ve assembled the most qualified people available in proximity to the Citadel, and they’ve sent them out to investigate a blip. It’s been years since they’ve taken this kind of decisive action.

The anomaly in question, from long range scans, appears to be a sun in collapse. It’s not, of course. It can’t be. The location is a small planet in the horsehead nebula, uninhabited by any documented life. There’s no way that a star could form unprompted on a desolate world, especially not one like this. The reason it reads as such is because of the sheer energy coming off of it.

As they start their final approach, it becomes visible. Scans begin to give back increasingly accurate data as they close the distance, and things start to make even less sense.

What, at a distance, seemed to resemble solar radiation and fission now seems more like closely packed cosmic background radiation and nuclear fusion. Like something is tearing a hole in the universe and pulling something through.

At this point they’re able to view the event with the naked eye. Through every window facing the planet, the crews see the same thing.

It’s green. It’s starkly green, more so than anyone expected. What they were expecting visually was something along the lines of a fireball half the size of the world it’s on. A sustained nuclear reaction, nearly powerful enough to split the planet in half. Instead, they find a single speck of light gleaming like Sirius. A glint of pure light in a flat region of the world that seems, at their distance, no larger than a city. Maybe even smaller, but exaggerated by its clow. And it’s green.

They take days to observe it from orbit. The crews get to work trying to understand what it is, trying to determine what’s happening. It doesn’t make sense. The level of energy is unfounded. Energy, in this case, meaning the capacity for “work” in the scientific sense.

It doesn’t have a source, it just is. All of their readings indicate that the event should be producing enough heat and light energy to fry the planet its on, and yet the world seems unharmed. It should be so volatile that anything within a hundred miles should be irradiated to the point of being incompatible with any form of organic life, and yet it’s clean.

More than that, it’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen. A self-propagating reactivity, a clean and steady stream of light energy in par with a star. It takes them days to determine that despite all logical assumptions, the event is safe.

They send a ship down. Leading the reconnaissance mission is operations chief Williams, accompanied by two alliance soldiers, and two council researchers. For the sake of caution they land several miles away from the event itself, and travel in its direction.

The team is sent off the cruiser in a M35 Mako, letting them get closer to what seems like the horizon of the energy well. It’s frighteningly massive in all senses of the notion. It glows a hundred times brighter than the star the planet orbits and reaches into the sky a hundred times taller than any surrounding terrain. And it’s as green as can be.

In methodically confirming its safety, they start to establish a ground-base. Prefabs are imported and assembled, labs are set up for the techs, barracks and general housing for the majority of personnel. In days they’ve set up an entire research facility on the edge of the save zone, for the sole purpose of figuring out what it is.

Every window, every helmet, every scanner has to be uv shielded. Despite the planet’s natural temperature, the light energy of the anomaly rises surrounding temperatures to 22 °C. It’s only after continual, persistent data collection that they’re able to see its true nature.

Despite the absolutely massive blanket of light and energy pouring off the source, the actual sphere of fusion is only about the size of a house. It’s almost unbelievable. In fact, if it weren’t so firmly on display, if it weren’t burning so consistently and absolutely, it’s unlikely anyone would believe it at all.

The consistency of their measurement over the next few weeks is frankly remarkable. The council passes funds to set up a facility with unexpected expedience, letting the team erect a full laboratory and housing in barely a month. Then they get to work on harnessing some of the massive particle emissions it gives off.

There’s not progress in understanding it, however. Despite their funding being more than sufficient and their proficiency for measuring almost all aspects of the phenomenon, they come no closer to understanding why it exists.

The station expands housing as they bring on more scientists. The energy they’re able to collect practically makes them self-sufficient. It’s more than enough for life support in all facilities, every piece of equipment, agriculture, and their ships. The base begins to serve as a sort of refueling station for high importance Citadel craft.

The consistency of the event over the next month is remarkable. Absolute level readings across the board, completely practical and safe means of harnessing the source. An understanding of the processes at play could give them the next step forward in the development of the galaxy. A clean, functionally limitless source of energy. After so long they begin to get comfortable with the nature of the event. That’s what makes it so disturbing when it changes.

There’s no time to react. The fluctuations are too abrupt for anyone to react to, and by the time they even notice the readings it’s already too late. The sphere expands and intensifies. Even with intense UV shielding, the light from the windows still becomes blinding for all exposed to them. Everything spikes.

Then it all stops. The amplification lasts for only a moment, then fades. The light dims to nothing, leaving every window pitch black. The machines read zero across the board. Everyone is on their feet, trying to understand what happened. Their recordings of the event might someday be enough to understand it, but for the time being all they can understand is that the anomaly is gone.

Despite their fair sense of worry and dread, that really is the end of it. There is no destruction following the collapse. As cleanly as it came into being, it also ceased to be.

Something was left behind.

They don’t notice it immediately. The base has enough power in reserves to last for weeks, maybe even months, so the loss of the anomaly isn’t a concern on that front. That’s not what they worry about. Between prepping the base for evacuation, scrambling to figure out what happened, and trying to contact the Citadel, or even Alliance command, it takes a minute for anyone to notice.

There’s an object where the source was. On the ground, directly below where the epicenter was prior, is a strange geometric object.

They’re blind at first. With the anomaly gone, their UV shielding is blocking out all light that could reach them. The have to engage the secondary scanners just to know what’s outside now. At that point, they can’t help but notice the strange vestige. The UV shielding must be removed from the window and monitors to get a visual, and even then, they don’t have the equipment to get an accurate image of the object at its distance of over a mile from the base. They’ve been sitting on the edge of a perpetual flashbang for the last month, they haven’t needed a way to see outside.

They plan to take their time to comprehend the event. To prep the base for evacuation, and take accurate readings of the new anomaly, and to eventually prep a team to investigate in the event that it seems safe. That plan seems viable for about a minute.

Then it starts moving. Towards the base.

They’re forced to send out a team to intercept the object. Operations chief Williams is assigned a squad of two men to take point, while the rest of the military personnel at the base prepare. They take a Mako, the vehicle easiest to remove the UV shielding from. Then they deploy towards the approaching mass of reflective shards.

It reacts to them. Seemingly taking notice of their approach, it stops. It waits for them.

Operations chief Ashley Williams is the first to exit the armored vehicle about a dozen meters out from the object. She hesitates as it so clearly comes into view through her visor. Her gun remains trained on the creature with certainty, making sure it keeps its distance.

It’s humanoid. Bipedal, with two arms and a single head. It has hands. One finger short of a human, but hands all the same. Two eyes, and what might be a mouth below them. It narrows a glare at the approaching soldiers. It’s an alien. It’s a humanoid alien, wearing clothing. But it’s large. At least 8, maybe even 10 feet tall, depending on how they’d count the spikes jutting out from its back. Its skin is a pale bluish green, almost translucent, and composed of plates and blocks of a crystal-like material.

Williams raises a hand to motion for her squat to stop, then puts it to the side of her helmet. In a moment her comm link opens.

“Station, I need first contact protocols.” She speaks, looking slightly to the side of it as she does before training her sights back on the creature as it tries to take a step towards her. The gun she holds is aimed directly for him, along with the two carried by her squad, causing the alien to stop.

“Hey, easy with the guns. Nobody here needs to get hurt.” The alien speaks. It speaks English. It speaks a language all of them can recognize, in a deep and masculine voice. It seems unaffected by the unbreathable atmosphere.

The soldiers tense, taking a step back at the simple fact that they can understand it. That they can understand him. The atmospheric pressure is appropriate to carry sound, but they shouldn’t have been able to understand the words.

“Williams, please confirm. Bogey is a potential sapient lifeform?” Comes through their radios.

“Affirmative. It just spoke to us.” Chief Williams confirms.

“Understood. Contact with the Citadel is pending, hold position.” The station tells her.

“Station, it spoke English.” Ashley clarifies.

There’s a distinct pause. One where every single person in the control room scrambles to find the protocols for this situation.

The crystalline figure seems unconcerned by their conversation, or more notably the guns, simply standing there waiting for her to stop. It slightly adjusts the black and green leotard it wears, shifting the position of some sort of device on its chest as it does. Maybe a translator, if Williams had to wager a guess. It seems almost too simple. A metal ring, or maybe dial, wider at the base than at the top. Within it is a flat face, bearing an odd black and green symbol that seems to glow the same color as its eyes.

“Do not engage unless hostile intent is clear. Stand by, ground team.” Control says after a moment.

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” The alien asks, glancing between Williams and the two soldiers that have followed her from the Mako.

None of them answer. They do lower their weapons, despite their apprehension, following the first guideline of their contact protocols.

“You’re obviously not plumbers. Hmm… You guys mind telling me where I am, exactly? Last thing I remember was cleaning some vulpamancer’s clocks when, BAM, next thing I know I’m here.” He turns around, looking at the environment. “Am I in, like, Nevada? Or New Mexico? This place is definitely a desert, and it would explain you guys.” He turns back to Willaims, ready to speak when she interrupts him.

“How do you know about Earth?” She questions.

“Uhh…” The alien seems entirely unprepared for the question. “Okay, look. Clearly we’re both missing some info here. Wherever I am, could you give me a ride back to somewhere with fresh air before I time out? I’m guessing the space suits aren’t just for show.”

“Before you what?” Ashley questions, confused almost to the point of annoyance.

Before the alien can respond he’s interrupted by Ash’s communicator.

“Williams, bring it back to base. Citadel wants to get a handle on this.”

The solider just stares at the crystalline alien for a time, but eventually compresses her gun and stores it on the back of her suit.

“I’m going to have to ask you to come with us. You’ll be safe and unharmed, but you will be confined until we get a handle on what’s happening here.” She tells him.

He sighs, his massive shoulders slumping slightly with recognizable human annoyance.

“Yeah, whatever. Can I get a ride in your rover?” He asks.

Ashley and the soldiers look to the tank, then back to the alien. It’s a moment before Ashley gestures for it, and heads for the entrance herself.

The alien is taken back to the research base and put in the closest thing they have to confinement, which is just a repurposed living space. The entire arm of the facility is emptied of non-military personnel before the alien enters.

It doesn’t even seem like they could force the alien to do what they say if they tried. The only reason they’re able to put it in a cell is because it’s letting them, and that just makes some of the soldiers even more weary.

It’s not long before their understanding is once again completely broken. As soon as the creature steps into its cell he reaches for the device on his chest, tapping its face.

With a flash of green, it changes.

The small team of medics, sociologists, and xenobiologists on their way into the wing are just barely able to whiteness the event. The flash of green light, and the nearly instant shift from what it was to that of something else entirely.

The device on its chest vanishes, but in its place a simple watch with the same symbol appears on his wrist. Sleek and glossy, white and black and green. The black and green leotard changes to a shirt labeled with the number ten. Over that is a white and green hoodie, matching the watch. All of which is worn by a young human male. Light pinkish skin, brown hair, green eyes, and a smug smile like he knows something you don’t.

The soldiers have to resist the urge to train their rifles on him as they step out of the room. Despite their concern and stress, the kid seems unconcerned. He simply leans back against the wall of the room and relaxes, watching the hatch seal itself.

The transformation complicates the issue. They have protocols for first contact with an alien species, and protocols for dealing with an unidentified human trespassing on a restricted military base, but obviously they don’t have protocols for this situation. It would be absurd to.

It takes a few hours for them to figure out what to do. For them to correspond with the Council, and the Alliance, who then argue with each other, and then eventually get back to the Maganlis ground base with a decision.

They decide to send in a small group to talk with the human anomaly. What they promptly codenamed “the vestige” for communication on unsecured lines.

A salarian sociologist working for the Council, and an asari xenobiologist, both escorted and supervised by Alliance soldiers.

The hatch to the room is unlocked and slides open on its own with a hydraulic hiss. The room is clearly not a cell. It’s meant as quarters, and happens to have a lock on the door. Due to this the boy has managed to make himself comfortable in the time he’s been waiting.

The two scientists have both seen what happened before. The salarian having been among the group that saw the transformation in person, while the asari later saw the event from security feeds. The two step into the room, while the soldiers position themselves just inside on either side of the door.

The kid, seeing them, sits up and tosses himself out of the bed. He instead sits down at the chair of the desk, turning it to face them.

“Cool, don’t think I’ve seen you guys before. You gonna explain what’s going on here?” Ben asks, looking back and forth between the two aliens.

They glance to each other, a little weary, then focus on Ben again. The salarian steps forward, sliding a tablet of some sort off their uniform. The lower half of the device seems to be a mechanical keyboard of some kind, while the to half is a transparent orange screen buzzing with holographic lines. The salarian taps through the menu, then looks back up to Ben. The asari flicks her right wrist while raising her forearm as if to check a watch, but instead a structure of holographic shapes manifest around her arm, which she observes.

“Depends.” The salarian speaks to the human boy. “You speak English?”

“Uhh… yeah? Duh.”

“Hmm.” The salarian muses.

“Before, when we brought you here, you looked different.” The asari sets up an implicit question.

“Uhh, hello? The Omnitrix?” The human holds up his left arm, showing clearly the sleek white and green device affixed to it. It strongly resembles a wristwatch. The kind that might have been fashionable before the days of the Omni-tool. “Most powerful device in the universe? Come on. You can’t seriously not have heard of me.”

“I’m… sorry. No, I haven’t. What does it do, exactly?” She asks.

“Dude, are you all serious? Come on, I’m Ben 10! Savoir of earth like a dozen times? Wielder of the Omnitrix? Greatest hero in the universe?” His hand falls back to his side, and he stands up to lean against the desk instead. “Is none of this ringing a bell?”

The two look to each other again with some trepidation, but eventually focus on Ben again.

“I take it you are from Earth, then?” The salarian asks.

“Yeah, of course. I was born in Bellwood. Are- Wait, are we not on earth?” Ben asks, seemingly far more excited by the prospect than concerned.

“No. This is a research base for the phenomenon.”

“The whatanon?” Ben asks.

“The-” The asari begins, but pauses. She looks to the Salarian, who cautiously nods, then looks to Ben to speak himself.

“The fusion nuclei. A sustained energetic anomaly, dispersed immediately before your arrival. Emissions have been powering base for last month.”

“Huh…” Ben kicks off the ground, letting himself sit on the desk and stare down at the ground for a moment.

“Could you explain your- What was it called? Your device, you claim changes your species.” The asari requests, but Ben ignores her.

“Could have been a teleport… No reason it would have taken so long, though… maybe it was…” Ben mutters to himself for a moment before looking up to the scientist again. “Huh? Oh, yeah, the Omnitrix. It lets me turn into any alien I want. Well, most of the time… some of the time. Actually, scratch that, it turns me into aliens. It almost never gives me the one I want.”

“Euh… How is that possible?” The asari questions, clearly having difficulty believing Ben, but still trying to get as much information from him as possible.

“I dunno.” Ben shrugs. “Galvan tech, it’s way over my head. It can turn me into basically anything sapient though.”

“That’s… fascinating. I’d ask for a demonstration, but… even if I believed you, that would be unwise.” The asari says.

One of the soldiers at the back of the room turns their head away from the ongoing dialogue, placing a hand to the side of their helmet as they do. Ben catches the motion, and keeps an eye on the guard until they turn to look at him again. They step forward into the room, passing by the two aliens to reach Ben.

“We need you to hand over the device.” The soldier says, extending their hand towards Ben.

He can’t help but laugh in their face. Just a chuckle, but a laugh all the same.

“Yeah, that’s not happening. It doesn’t come off.” Ben says with a confidence that’s hard to believe.

The soldier disregards this answer and reaches for Ben’s wrist, grabbing the body of the Omnitrix.

“Wh- Hey!” Ben reacts, unable to stop them from trying to yank the watch off him. It’s surprising just how attached to him it is, almost like it and his arm are one in the same. With a second yank the device activates.

“beep beep.. bee- vwoowrr.” The Omnitrix voices. A light erupts from between the fingers of the soldier, followed immediately after by an eruption of energy that pushes their hand off the casing.

Once again, their grasp on the situation slips. With another flash of green the boy in their custody changes. Barely half a second passes as the watch melds with his skin, which itself changes. It changes to a stark green as it liquefies. The same flat cylindrical device from his other form reappears, mounted to another device that moves to the top of his body. A body that becomes a vaguely human shaped mass of slime. The only feature beside the device are a pair of glowing eyes on the front of its “face” staring directly at the soldier. Quickly though, he looks down at his own body.

“Goop? Really?” The alien complains.

The soldier raises their gun, harshly motioning for both of the aliens to get back. The other solider steps forward as the doctors leave the room, also raising their gun to aim at Ben.

Ben barely even seems to acknowledge them, and when he eventually does the floating green eyes roll.

“Oh come on, quit it with the guns.” Ben criticizes them. His voice is bubbly, as if the words themselves were being gurgled through liquid. It’s an uncomfortable and weird means and speech for them to hear.

The moment Ben starts moving towards them the soldiers fire. The bullets, however, appear to do very little. The particles of metal sink into the body of goop, causing the fluid to splash outwards before coming back together to reform the shape. All the fragments just stop and sit inside of the green fluid for a moment before dissolving.

Ben doesn’t even acknowledge this. The saucer above his head flies forward out of the room, and the mass of semi-fluid flies with it. They don’t have nearly enough time to react and close the door. By the time they register that Ben is out of the room he’s already looking back and forth down the halls.

“Command, Subject A has escaped confinement. I repeat, subject A has escaped confinement.” One of the soldiers announces into their comms.

“You know, I’ve been really nice so far, but I think it’s time for me to leave. If one of you could just point me towards a communication terminal or something, then I’ll call the plumbers and be out of your hair in no time.” The goop says.

Rather than obliging they aim their gun again, despite knowing that it won’t hurt Ben. Ben barely has the time to react and chooses to do so by leaping forwards, spreading himself out to catch the whole spray of projectiles before he reaches the gun itself, wrapping the gelatin around the barrel and melting the end completely shut.

“Are you nuts!?” Goop demands, turning back to look down the hall behind him. Their arm extends, gesturing to the window behind him. “Those doctors don’t have space suits, you lunatics! You could have broken the glass!”

His abject frustration at their lack of consideration confuses the soldiers slightly. It catches them off-guard, at the very least, causing both of them to pause.

The arm not gesturing extends and morphs over the gun, tearing it from their hand and, in the same motion, pushing the soldier down the hall to the ground. They toss what remains of the weapon to the ground at their side and begin traveling down the hallway. The saucer-like device above them flies down the path at significant speed, and the viscous mass follows along behind it.

None of the soldiers in the isolated arm of the facility have any chance of even slowing Ben down. He weaves around them, staying close to the inner wall so that anyone stupid enough to shoot at him doesn’t hit the glass. When he eventually gets to the airlock separating them from the rest of the facility he stops.

The door is obviously locked, if Ben had to guess the meaning of the large red hologram floating in front of it. The panel to the side of the door doesn’t have any features he would recognize. Ben makes an uneducated guess and splashes his entire hand over the lock, letting his goop seep into the mechanism and burn through the wires and electronics.

Despite how much it would frustrate anyone with an understanding of the door locks, Ben is just lucky enough for this to actually work. The door bleeps and bloops and slides open with a hiss, as does the door on the other side of the airlock, letting him glide through before the system corrects the error.

Ben checks most of the rooms along his path, at least all the unlocked ones. Trying to get a sense for how the facility is structured. Only some of the holographic signs through the halls are written in a language the Omnitrix will translate. It takes him a minute to find a room that looks like it’s set up for long-range communications.

The moment he enters and comes to a stop everyone else in the room focuses on him. Three humans, two turians, and two asari. Two of the humans and one of the turians are wearing armor, the others are in plain clothes. Uniforms still, but not armor. All of them look at the humanoid ooze with some degree of trepidation and fear.

The soldiers reach for weapons at the back of the room. The goop making up his arms shoots out in large globs, hitting the soldiers hard enough to carry them off their feet and stick them to the walls. Ben takes just a second to glance between them, making sure they can all still breathe, then turns to the scientist.

They flinch. They step back from him with genuine fear in their eyes, raising their hands to convey that they aren’t a threat.

“Please, don’t hurt us. I’m begging you, we only” One of the asari starts.

“Woah, woah,” Ben cuts her off, reaching up to hit the device resting over his head. In a flash, the gelatinous mass morphs back into the human version of Ben, leaving only a film of goo around where his feet were on the ground. “It’s okay, I’m not here to hurt anyone. I just need to contact my grandpa back on Earth.”

The sight of a teenage human seems to let them relax. It at least confuses them enough to not be as afraid.

“But, how did you…” The asari closer to Ben speaks.

“Omnitrix.” Ben explains, holding up his arm. “It’s not important. Can I just…?” He gestures to the console where they were sitting, and are currently hiding around the corner of. They quickly nod, stepping away from the console and around the side of the room to avoid Ben.

As Ben sits down most of the technicians leave the room. Only one stays, standing at the back of the room by the door, but still watching Ben. The asari that didn’t beg for her life before.

“I like holograms as much as the next guy, but why is everything holograms here?” Ben talks just for the sake of talking as he tries to figure out the controls. To limited success.

The asari scientist simply stands on the other side of the room, watching as he tries to navigate the UI. Emphasis on tries. That’s not the part she notices though, rather she focuses on Ben. At anomalous as he is, he’s still human. Wearing clothes that look ancient to them, but himself looking young. He looks like he’s barely more than a child.

“Why are you here?” She asks.

“If I figure it out, I’ll let you know. Right now I just want to stop being here, and then we can worry about the other thing.” Ben responds.

“We?” The asari questions.

“Rook, my grandpa, my cousin. All the smart people I know.” He clarifies.

“Ah, I see.” She says.

She watches him silently for another moment before stepping over to his side, observing his struggle with the machine.

“Would you like some help?” she offers.

Ben kicks against the floor, causing the chair to roll back from the console with him in it.

“Be my guest.” He says, watching her lean over it.

“Where do you need to reach, exactly?” She asks.

“Uhh… Earth? Plumber HQ in Bellwood. Don’t worry, they know me.” Ben instructs.

“Alright, let’s see… there are several plumbers in multiple towns across the United States, all called Bellwood.”

“What? No, I need central command.” Ben clarifies, leaning forwards in his seat.

“There doesn’t appear to be a plumber called “central command” in any of the Bellwoods.”

“No, I don’t need a plumber, I need the plumbers. You know, the intergalactic police force?”

“I have never heard of such a thing. Are they particularly new?” She asks.

“No, they’re- hang on, let me see that.” Ben says, getting up out of his chair to step over and look at the images of earth. “What the- Hang on, are you sure this is right?”

“Yes. That is earth. New York, specifically.”

“This is way too advanced for earth… Hold on, what year is it?” Ben asks.

“The year is 2185.” She states.

Ben immediately steps back from the console, turning to look at her. He kind of laughs, falling into the chair.

“Great, so time travel then.” He decides

“Pardon?”

“I’m supposed to be in 2014. My guess is that Eon or Paradox or somebody shot me to the future. For now… Okay, try Galvan Prime. I have a few friends there that should still be around.”

“Oh, of course, time travel. I should have guessed.” She remarks. “Is Galvan Prime a world?”

Ben nods.

“No planets found.”

“What? Are you sure? The little grey guys? First thinker Asmuth’s home world, the smartest guy in like 8 galaxies.”

“I’m sorry, no. None of that sounds the least bit familiar.”

Ben just sits in silence for a moment, thinking.

“You seem rather calm about aliens for someone supposedly from the human 21^st century.” She notes.

“You make it sound like I shouldn’t have seen any before. Aliens have been living on earth since, like, 2012.” Ben pauses as he states what he assumes to be a fact. It’s only after a moment of silence that he thinks to check with a simple “…haven’t they?”

“Humanity first discovered alien life during the relay 314 incident of 2157 and were accepted as a council race shortly thereafter. To my knowledge, according to historical records, humanity made no contact with aliens before that point. At least not in great number.” The scientist explains.

“They… okay now I know something’s wrong. None of that’s right.” Ben says, standing up and pacing back and forth across the room with a hand rested against his chin. “Maybe… hmm. Paradox has to find me eventually, I guess. So…”

“Paradox?”

“Professor Paradox. A friend of mine.” Ben states, still thinking. “Okay, I’ve got it. I’ve ended up in another alternate dimension. Now I just have to find a way out and I’ll be back home. Simple.”

“You are proposing that your origin is another dimension? And that, somehow, traveling between dimensions is ‘easy?’ In what way?” The scientist asks.

“I do it all the time. I just have to figure out how I got here and getting back should be a snap. I’m sure Rook’s already on top of it.” Ben says.

It’s now that Ben finally notices the guards slowly amassing beyond the door into the room.

“Oh great. I was wondering how long it would take them to find me.” Ben says, reaching forwards to spin around the holographic dial that appears over the Omnitrix’s face. “Come on Omnitrix. Give me something I can use!” His hand moves to slam down the button as soon as it comes up. He stops just before reaching it though, looking over to the asari scientist. “You might want to get out of here.” He says.

“Yes, you are most likely right.” She says, standing up and quickly walking out of the room. The guards do not stop her.

“Okay, now give me something good.” Ben says.

Hitting the watch, it once again emits the droning beeps and whirrs it did earlier.

“Oh come on, what is it now!?”

He hits the face again to the same response, each time the button merely pops back up.

“This is so not the time to be acting up.”

He slams his hand down on the face of it one final time and with a burst of green light the watch sinks into his skin. His skin, spreading out from the watch, turns a glossy black. The tips of his fingers harden into brass-like ports, as do several locations on his arms moving up them. From his head and back spout tendrils and a tail all capped with their own plug-like port, and in just an instant he stands almost 8 feet tall, looking down at his hands.

“Feedback? Alright, that’s what I’m talking about! Let’s get this sorted before you decide to bug out again.” He speaks to the device on his chest.

Ben steps back into line of sight with the doorway and sees the carefully positioned soldiers on the other side. He raises both his hands, both his head tendrils, and his tail to face the sky as he walks out of the room.

“Okay, I have some good news and I have some bad news. Whadaya want first?” Ben asks.

One of the men puts two fingers to his ear for a long moment then lowers his hand back to his gun, keeping it aimed at Feedback.

“Bad news it is. Seems like I’m gonna be stuck here for a bit. Good news is, I’m here to help, and you guys just hit the jackpot.” Feedback proclaims, lowering his hands from the air to his hips with a confident grin.

Chapter Text

Days pass before they have any idea what to do.

With the event collapsed the base becomes unsustainable, no longer having a source to siphon energy from. Following a final survey of where the anomaly used to be, the base is ordered to shut down.

The boy that was left in the wake of the phenomenon’s closure is quickly codenamed “the vestige,” and treated by higherups like hazardous material. It takes almost a week before they start letting him roam freely. It would have taken longer, but it’s not like they had the power to stop him anyways. When he wanted to, no cell or weapon could stop him from having a look around.

It takes another week for them to move him off world. By the time they do, they base is practically only operational for the sake of housing him. They might have taken longer to move him off world too, but maintaining an entire base for one person was starting to seem unsustainable.

Even once he’s off world, they don’t know what to do with him. Technically, on the basis that he’s biologically a human and claims to be from earth, he should be the responsibility of the System’s Alliance. The human navy. However, on the grounds that he’s only biologically human some of the time, and that his only conclusive point of origin is what was essentially a small-scale white hole, the Citadel Council has been claiming that he should remain in their possession.

Every attempt and suggestion to disable the Omnitrix, to lock or outright remove it, are met with firm refusal from Ben. Most of the time he gives them the usual response, that it doesn’t come off, and he couldn’t shut it down if he tried. Sometimes, though, when they get a little too pushy about the idea, he pushes back. In one case he borderline threatened one of the soldiers guarding him, who was wondering about what would happen if they tried to surgically remove it. Needless to say, nobody trusts Ben.

In the end, much to the reluctance of both the Council and the Alliance, they decide to bring him to the human embassy on the Citadel. A space station serving as the seat of government for half the galaxy. The embassies are functionally evacuated just prior to his arrival, leaving only the essential members needed for the discussion. Once docked, C-sec leads them through customs, and security.

It’s astonishing how little they find on Ben as he steps through their security checkpoint’s scanners. Nothing even comes close to registering the Omnitrix or the boy himself as something dangerous. His DNA reads as almost entirely human, with only .01% aberration. An amount that would be easy enough to dismiss as technical error in most cases. The watch shows up on their scanners as metallic and energetic, but not as a weapon. In fact, the only noteworthy thing about him is that he has a piece of archaic technology in his right pocket, along with some candy wrappers and crystalline coins.

This lack of compelling evidence is enough for some of the guards on his detail to start doubting the council’s concern. Despite this, they still take their jobs seriously. They lead him through the Citadel and up to the Presidium without leaving him unattended or unobserved for even a moment.

Ben, all the while, looks about the whole of the citadel with an awestruck excitement. The space station is massive, larger than any he’s seen, and it’s designed to be beautiful. Polished white surfaces, an entire lake in the central ring, terraces of living green plants, and an artificial sky above them. Cloudy blue, and shining fake sunlight onto the whole Presidium.

They meet with Councilor Anderson. Ben is escorted into the office by no less than six C-Sec soldiers, most of them attentively keeping watch on the boy.

The human councilor stands at the far end of the room from where Ben enters, looking out from a balcony. It’s only after Ben is led inside, and the doors shut behind them, that Anderson turns to look their way. He pauses upon seeing Ben, just for a second, before making his way towards him.

He offers a smile – a slightly forced one, but a smile none the less – before motioning for the guards to relax. He extends a hand to the boy.

“It’s good to finally meet you, son. It’s been a hell of a thing getting you here.” Anderson says.

“Yeah, good meeting you too, I think.” Ben responds, cautiously taking his hand and shaking it.

“I hope so.” The councilor offers, pulling his hand back from the boy. He gestures to an open seat in front of his desk as he makes his way to the other side of it.

Ben steps over and sits down where he was prompted to. He smiles, looking past Anderson to the view from the balcony.

“I’ve heard an awful lot of stories about you over the last two weeks, Mr…?” Anderson starts.

“Tennyson, but you can call me Ben.”

“Alright then Ben. I’ve heard a lot about you from the team at Maganlis, but I want to get the story from your perspective. Would you mind?” The councilor requests.

 “I don’t think you’d believe me.” Ben responds with an arrogant chuckle.

“Try me.” Anderson is patient, but meets Ben’s attitude.

“Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Ben says, leaning back in his seat to relax. “You want me to start from the beginning?”

Anderson nods.

“It happened when I was ten. Summer vacation just started, and I was on a road trip with my Grampa Max, and Gwen.”

“This was on earth?” The man across from him checks.

“Yeah. Gwen and I didn’t know about aliens back then. We wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the Omnitrix.” Ben hold up his left arm. “The watch.” He then puts his arm down. “At first, I thought it was a meteor, but it changed course as it passed by. It nearly hit me when it landed. It was meant for my grandpa, but my DNA was close enough for it to aim for me instead.” Ben continues.

“You’re saying that your wristwatch is extra-terrestrial in nature?”

“Bingo.” Ben snaps his fingers and points at Anderson. “Guy named Azmuth made it. Anyways, point is, I found the watch when I was a kid. Back then it let me turn into ten super powered aliens, and I started using it to help people.”

“Back then?”

“Now I have almost seventy. I’ve also gone through a few of these things. Important thing is that later that summer I found out about the plumbers, an intergalactic peacekeeping force my grandpa used to work for. With all the aliens showing up on my earth, we took up the old fight, and started keeping it safe.” Ben explains.

“Your earth?” Anderson notes the word use.

Ben smiles, appreciating that he’s keeping up.

“From what I’ve gotten about your history it doesn’t match up with mine at all. My best guess? This isn’t my universe.”

“That’s a big claim, son. Forgive me if my understanding’s a bit rusty, but you’re suggesting not only that parallel universes exist, but that travel between them is possible. And that you somehow slipped through some kind of dimensional gateway to get here.” Anderson recaps, checking that is indeed what Ben is saying.

“Please, I do it all the time. I’ve ended up helping other versions of myself a half dozen times. Ended up in worlds totally different than mine too. Helped this robot guy named Rex once.” Ben confirms.

The councilor goes quiet for a moment, staring at him with scrutiny. Looking for any kind of flaw in the façade, any indication that he’s lying, or bluffing, or out of his mind. Any kind of sign that all of this has been some kind of big hoax, wasting millions in Citadel funds, that he could just dismiss.

The problem is, that’s not what he sees. He doesn’t see someone with a loose grasp on reality, or someone trying to con them, he sees a kid. A confident, earnest kid. It makes him uneasy. Not just that their understanding of the universe might be so small compared to this new reality he’s proposing, but that he would have done what he’s claiming. That a child would have had to fight for his world, with a stellar peace keeping agency.

Worse than that, it doesn’t matter whether he believes Ben. He sighs, looking down for a moment before returning his gaze to Ben.

“You’re right, that certainly is a hard story to believe. I almost wish I could believe you. Unfortunately we have much bigger problems to deal with at the moment, and without proof-“

Anderson stops as he sees Ben pull a device from his pants. A small rectangle, glossy black on one side, and a metallic green on the other. He clicks in a button on the side, and after a moment it powers on. Ben navigates its screen, opening a file directory and scrolling for a moment before turning it around to show Anderson.

“That’s us right after I found the watch.” A grainy, low resolution photo of the inside of an RV. An older man stands beside two children, a boy with greasy brown hair, and a slightly taller girl with orange hair. Ben swipes. “That’s us passing through Bellwood.” A photo of a city, looking a way that no city on earth has in ages. He swipes a few more times, explaining the photos each time.

Eventually he hands the phone to Anderson, who almost can’t believe what he’s seeing. Not the photos. Those are astonishing, but they could be fabricated easily enough. Instead, what he finds so remarkable is the phone itself. A museum piece by all rights, and in perfect condition.

“If you want, I could show you how the watch works.” Ben suggests.

The comment is so abrupt and casual that Anderson doesn’t quite understand it as quickly as the guards do. They all tense, gripping their weapons. Anderson has to motion for them to relax before addressing Ben.

“You want to activate that weapon of yours, right here in my office, to prove a point?”

“It’s not a weapon.” Ben states, a little more firmly than anything else he’s said until now.

“That’s not my point.” Anderson states.

“Yeah, I am. Why not? Won’t prove I’m from where I say, but it seems about as believable as anything else I could do.” Ben rationalizes.

“… Stand down, men. I want to see this for myself.” Anderson states.

“Alright.” Ben says. He rises to his feet and takes a couple steps back from the desk, spinning the dial. “Give me something small, Omnitrix. No funny business.” He lets go of the face and it slides back, letting the core pop up.

He presses it down, and it emits that same “Vrwoor b b bre- be- be- beep” For a second before activating. But activate, it does. From the watch his skin splits and segments, changing to that of tightly bound coils that merge together again after just a moment. The rough exodermis darkens to a solid green, pods sprout from his back and shoulders, his eyes merge, two more sprout on his shoulders, and a maw snaps shut around his head. His legs split and contort to station themselves out from him like a spider, and with a hiss the maw around his head opens again to reveal his face.

“Okaay, Wildvine works.” Ben comments, looking down at himself.

The councilor rises from his seat almost instantly, taking a slow step away from Ben as he processes the sight.

“God damn.” He erupts with a start, needing a second to steady himself.

The guards at the back of the room react similarly, a mix of fear and intrigue hitting them.

“Remarkable. You… How does it work? No. The techs can figure that out.” Anderson takes a step back to the distance he was at when Ben first transformed, relaxing slightly. “You said you had seventy some aliens in that thing?”

“Almost.” Ben confirms. His voice is different, constructed with entirely different mechanisms than his human vocal cords, but from his tone alone Anderson can tell that it’s still him. An entirely different body, and it’s still the same arrogant kid he was speaking with before.

“This might not prove your story, but it proves something to me. I can’t deny that you would be invaluable to have on our side.” He speaks.

“Cool.” Wildvine says, reaching to hit the Omnitrix symbol on their belt. With a wash of green light, they change back to Ben, still smugly grinning. “I’m here to help.”

“We’re gonna need it. There’s something big coming, son. We shouldn’t get into it now, but we need all the help we can get.” Anderson explains.

“Well it’s a good thing you’ve got me.” Ben remarks.

“That’s another thing. You’d be a great asset in this, I can’t deny that, but we have no way to be certain that you’d be fighting for us. Hell, we don’t even know if you can fight.” Anderson speaks, slowly turning around to walk back towards the balcony. “I’m glad you want to help. Believe me, I am. But it’s more complicated than that.”

“Oh come on. I’m Ben 10! I’m a hero. Helping people’s what I do. As long as you’re not secretly evil or something, you can trust me.” Ben assures.

There’s something of a pain in Anderson’s face that Ben fails to see. Like the idealistic naivety of this child somewhat hurts him to hear. A confliction between using what might be a significant weapon in the coming war and treating this teenager as he would any other. As a child.

“This would be a hell of a thing to pull off, Tennyson. If I understand your proposal, I would have to establish you as part of the Alliance Navy. If you’re telling the truth, which for what we can tell you just might be, then it means you don’t have any records. You’re not a citizen of anywhere, we don’t have your medical history. There’s not a single database in the galaxy that recognizes your genetic marker.” Anderson turns around to face Ben, finding him still standing in the center of the space with his hands on his hips. Still smiling with a glint of determination in his eyes. “It would mean that getting you in the field would be weeks of delegation, debates, and paperwork. And that’s without considering your- what did you call it?”

“The Omnitrix.”

“Your Omnitrix. We’ll have to get our best on figuring out how it works. If we had that sort of technology-”

“Yeah, about that. It’s got like a million safeguards against disassembly, removal, modification, and duplication. I can sit there while your guys try to figure it out, but it stays in one piece. And it stays on me.” Ben interrupts.

Anderson almost seems surprised by the firm assertion, but simply responds with a nod.

“… Alright, I’ll see what I can do. I the meantime, I need to be sure. I need to be sure that if I do this it’ll be worth it. There are more pressing matters to deal with, and greater threats to address. I’m asking you to convince me. Convince me that I should trust you. That I should put you in the field with my men. Convince me that I won’t regret trusting you.” Anderson speaks.

Ben stands silent for a moment, just staring at the councilor with that same confident smile as he thinks. Over a few moments his smile falters. It doesn’t vanish, it just weakens. Then, eventually, he speaks.

“Dude, I don’t even know your name. Two weeks ago I woke up in the middle of an alien world, without my friends, and with no way to contact my family. Then I was detained by a government I had never even heard of, and they’ve been running tests I didn’t know existed on me since then. I trust that everyone back home is working on a way to find me as we speak, but I can’t be sure. Until then I’m stuck in a universe with aliens I’ve never even seen before, a faulty watch, and people that don’t trust me.” As Ben monologues his demeanor never falters. His inflections do, revealing the potential for genuine concern and fear below the jokey and confident shell. But his demeanor, the way he holds himself and the words he says, never stray from that optimistic confidence.

“I can’t make you trust me. I don’t expect you to. All I can do is promise that I want to help. Back home I’m a hero. Doesn’t matter where I am or what kind of evil I’m fighting. I’ve beaten the baddest of the bad more times than I can count, and I don’t plan to stop now.” Ben concludes.

The room is left silent for a long moment as Anderson thinks. There’s a clear hesitance from everyone, even the guards now, at the situation as a whole. At the notion of using this kid, this child, as a weapon. Not just that, but as a weapon against a threat that no one is even sure exists. The guards relax their weapons, some even glancing to each other as Anderson thinks.

“Then it’s a damn good thing you’re here.” He announces, making his way back over to the desk. “Find him some accommodations. I have to tell the rest of the council about this.” Anderson directs Ben’s detail, booting up the computer.

Ben steps towards his desk and takes his phone back, then turns around and walks to the guards, waiting for them to start leading him.

“Oh, and Tennyson?” Anderson says, causing Ben to stop. “We’ll speak more later. If you’re serious about helping, there’s things you should know.” He states.

“Nice and ominous, just the way I like it.” Ben quips, turning to follow C-Sec out of the room.

As the door shuts behind him, Anderson sighs. A contemplative look rests on his face as he begins to work.

Chapter Text

Anderson’s estimate was right. It takes days to even start getting the other councilors on board with using “the vestige” as a weapon. It takes several more after that to get Ben clearance to move about the Citadel, which he’s only able to do under the condition that he doesn’t use the Omnitrix.

In regard to the Omnitrix, no one is able to figure it out. Preliminary scans tell them basically nothing, as every time they scan it, they only come up with white noise. Eventually they realize that it’s not static, but an unfathomable degree of complexity that their less advanced machines simply aren’t able to register. More in-depth scans often result in some degree of corruption or damage to the machines themselves, theorized to be caused by larger than storable file sizes.

It’s about a week before he’s able to speak with Anderson again. It’s then that he’s told about the ominous threat mentioned several times in their last conversation. The Reapers.

Ben finds it hard to believe at first. That a force so massive and powerful could have existed just outside their galaxy for so long without anyone noticing. It’s only once he sees the footage of the attack on the Citadel that he begins to understand.

A galaxy level threat. A race of sentient machines bent on ending all advanced life in the galaxy. One that the council has been purposefully ignoring. One that they lost their best hope of fighting nearly two years ago.

Even once he understands what they’re fighting Ben still seems unconcerned. Flippant, even. He responds to the very notion with an almost dangerous degree of confidence.

Once caught up to speed he’s sent back to his quarters for time to think about it, and think about it he does. He spends more time thinking it over than most things but can only come to the same conclusion. That they don’t stand a chance against the Omnitrix.

It takes another two weeks for Ben to finally be cleared for field work, and even so only preliminarily. With a tight leash, and under close watch, they bring him along for a “mission” on a human colony. Ben is provided with a kinetic barrier to wear under his clothes, as he refused to wear any form of armor. This is more a formality than anything though, as the assignment is not expected to involve real combat.

What Ben managed to learn about their stationing is limited. He learns that a number of human colonies have supposedly been attacked, that they have no idea as to what group might be behind these attacks, and that the alliance is stretched too thin to seriously address the issue in more than small ways. In this case, sending a squad down to essentially babysit what they viewed to be a potentially vulnerable colony.

Ben is authorized to use the Omnitrix at his squad leader’s digression. Given the general state of hesitance towards the device, and Ben himself, this means that Ben is not authorized to use the Omnitrix.

Despite their inability to stop him, Ben obliges. For nearly three weeks on Freedom’s Progress Ben simply works as the other soldiers do. This means doing very little in actuality, given the independence of the functional colony.

When Ben does have some form of work, he’s met with hesitant cooperation from both the others in the squad and the colonists themselves, though that extends to all of the alliance forces rather than just him. Basically everyone at the colonies were pretty displeased with the alliance presence, saved for what seemed to be the only alien on site. A member of a species Ben hasn’t gotten the name for yet, wearing an environmental suit. They never got the chance to talk directly, but they never seemed outwardly hostile towards the squad.

That is essentially the depths of the conflict on Freedom’s Progress. For nearly three weeks Ben can’t help but feel like he’s being wasted on what’s clearly not a very serious assignment.

Nearly three weeks where nothing happened.

It’s evening when that calm nothing finally ends. With the sounds of screams.

It takes Ben a few minutes to be woken up by the sounds, but hardly a second to throw on his jacket and run outside. There he sees it, the faint stars being blocked out by the ancient and colossal hull of a ship no one recognizes the look of, least of all Ben. That terrible looming vessel seems to bleed some sort of shrapnel. Shards of metal that whirr and chitter as they swarm and travel.

The masses of flickering specks of black in the sky fall in an instant. There’s hardly a moment to understand what was happening before the colonists started dropping. The moment any of the insect like drones come into contact with the humans they either fall to the ground or stop dead in place, with a sort of aura spreading over their forms.

All it takes is the sound of the squad leader shouting an order over the channel his Omnitrix is synced to for Ben to act. He doesn’t wait for permission before moving his hand to the watch, barely paying attention to the dial of aliens before pulling his hand back to let the face slide back. It an instant the core slides up out of the watch, letting Ben slam it back it with a confident smile on his face.

“Vooorww- vvorw- vwor- vor-vwo-vo-v-v-v” Sputters from the watch for a second before the signature flash of green light emits from it. The device sinks into him as it has before, and from his wrist outstretches sheets and shards of a crystalline skin. The jacket recedes at the edge until all that’s left is the skintight black and green of a sleeveless under suit. From his back emerges shards of crystal as he rises to about 7 feet in height. His shoulders widen, as do his arms until they form geometric approximations of the limbs. His eyes gloss over with an almost glowing green, and his chin extends as the last of his skin transformed into crystal.

In just an instant he stands looking down at himself with a smirk, clenching his right hand into a fist. “Alright. Time to show these creeps what I’m made of.” He speaks, tossing himself forwards and off the balcony he was standing on before.

He’s not falling for more than a second before he’s on the ground again, and it’s not a second after that when a swarm of the drones tears through the air around him. He’s quick to brace himself, raising an arm and rapidly shifting it to fire off a barrage of shards into them. A fair few are hit, but not nearly enough to stop the whole of them. Thankfully most carry on to the surrounding colonists, only a few sticking to him. He pauses, and watches as the three or so machines scurry around him, eventually finding what they think to be skin and biting down. Ben just stands there for a second before several spikes of crystals protrude from his skin to skewer the bugs, only to then recede back into him and let the mechanical husks fall to the ground.

He looks back up to the surrounding area, scanning over it for people that have yet to be frozen. There aren’t many he sees that aren’t quickly found by the seekers, and the scattered exceptions look at him with the same sort of fear they do the swarms.

Ben starts walking along the pathways leading from each habitat to the next, taking note of the fact that the frozen colonists’ eyes still move to follow him. As the next swarm passes by overhead, he also notes that there aren’t any splitting off to meet him like they are for the humans. That last thing that stands out is how completely the colony has been frozen in no more than a few minutes. At this point he can hardly see more than a few stragglers desperately trying to make their way indoors.

With his focus on the structures around him seemingly useless he instead turns to look to the sky. Specifically, the looming ship that’s since landed some distance away from where he is now. A massive superstructure composed of some form of metal and stone intermixed in a way that can only be described as either crude or impossibly meticulous. It’s massive, looming, terrifying, monstrous-

“Ugly thing, aren’t cha?” Ben comments.

Ugly. It’s also hideously unpleasant to look at. The feeling isn’t helped by what seems to be a series of much larger creatures breaking off from the cruiser. From where Ben stands, he can distantly see the forms of a number of aliens either flying or walking out from the ship along the bridges and streets of the colony.

Ben slows to a stop as he sees this, making sure to watch their movements. It’s a moment before he sees what they’re actually doing. The fleets of aliens walk with a disturbing number of “pods” to all the various colonists. No more than one or two aliens then stop at each of the humans and “store” them within the mobile chambers before sending them back towards the ship.

“Oh no you don’t.” He states, almost growling the words in his low voice. Without looking away he moves his right hand to his belt and hits the Omnitrix node resting in its center. With another moment of sputtering and a flash of green he changes again.

Out from his lower torso seams split and travel across his body. The fabric of his suit and the crystal below both split open, leaving the space within to flare and burn a brilliant yellow. The shards then darken and cloud to a deep red sort of charcoal. His stature shortens and thins somewhat, the device relocates itself to his chest, and the ends of his limbs burn to form. His head crumbles and sinks to an almost skeletal form that quickly erupts to life with a trail of flame.

His hand returns to his side. He bends his wrists inwards slightly and tenses his fists before throwing out his hands, letting a burst of fire start to burn in his palms. The same happens below his feet as he begins to leave the ground. In just a moment he’s soaring over the colony towards the ship itself, and just a moment after that they seem to take note of him.

As was the case with his previous transformation, Ben’s rock-like hide leaves him seemingly immune to the seeker’s effects. A few of the winged creatures begin to rise into the air towards him as they see that the swarms lacking ability to stop the glowing object approaching them.

It’s happened a few times now. Things are proceeding as desired, or maybe even just as expected. Things are, for all intents and purposes, under control. Whether that be the control of the council, the citadel, the human alliance military, or even just the control of these creatures. Whatever the situation, it’s always “normal.” It’s always proceeding the way is otherwise would when their grasp of the situation slips.

In this case it’s when Ben’s limbs swing around from behind him to his front. The very precise moment that a burst of light and heat flares from his palms, and the forms of the almost insect-like creatures are shot out of the sky. That’s all it takes for the aliens to completely refocus their attention from the bodies of the colonist to the burning alien descending towards them. For their plans to be made an after thought to the thing that hits the ground among them, rising to its feet after just a second and looking about the group with focused precision.

“This is your only warning. Give back the humans and get your butts off this planet, or you’re gonna learn the hard way that fire burns.” Ben threatens, the air rippling around him from the heat as he speaks.

While the threat does not go unrecognized, the response is quite clearly not the one Ben was aiming for. With a collection of chittering hisses, they aim their guns at him and open fire.

“gah” erupts from the pyronite as he’s struck with a barrage of projectiles, knocking him back with enough force to slam him into one of the adjacent stairs and flip him over the railing.

He’s laid motionless on the steps for a moment as the insect like aliens wordlessly resume their collection of the humans. Whilst the “collectors” once again go about placing humans into pods, a small group begin to make their way towards where Ben was thrown.

It’s with a groan that he finally moves again, reaching up to rest a hand on the railings to pull himself to his feet. His other hand merely brushes against the stone surface of his chest. His burning fingers fall and rise with the contortion of what’s clearly a wound. No deeper than an inch at the most, but enough for Ben to recognize it as something to worry about. Enough for it, based on his expression, to hurt.

He keeps himself low enough to be protected by the railing and reaches to the device on his chest to change again. He’s gotten fairly lucky with the previous two Alien’s natural immunity to the drones seeking out the colonists, but he knows he can’t rely on luck for everything. He also knows that whatever he changes into needs to be able to stand up to what they’re throwing at him, and a lot of it. He decides on what he thinks can take the abuse and hits the Omnitrix.

He waits for that signature flash of green and for his body to change, but all he gets is the sputtering warble of the Omnitrix deciding not to work correctly, leaving him as Heatblast.

“Oh come on. This is so not the time.” Ben states as he hits the watch again. Again, it merely sputters and warbles in response, refusing to change him.

He’s not able to try again before a bolt strikes him in the back, knocking him forwards into the steps once more. In an instant he turns back to the approaching collectors and throws an arm forwards to hit them with a wash of fire. In hardly a moment they’re both blasted back and left as little more than smoking bodies. Ben moves to hit the watch again but decides not to with a begrudging sigh.

He keeps himself low enough to be protected by the railing, but rights himself all the same and begins moving down to the base of the stairs. While he is protected, he’s not at all hidden. In addition to having just turned two of the aliens into charred rubble, he’s also glowing.

“Fine, let’s try this again.” He mutters to himself.

He readies a hand at his side and starts forming a fireball within it. Once large enough he leaps out from the cover and, after hardly a second of processing where everything is, launches it at the densest section of collectors.

It becomes fairly clear to him in this moment that his plan isn’t going to work. With that single shot, taking out nearly a dozen of them in one fiery blast, he realizes that attacking the troops is only going to slow them down. Without stopping he darts to behind another habitat to remain as hidden as a walking fire can be, giving him another second to think.

He’s close enough to the ship now for it to basically always take up some degree of his vision when he’s even partially facing it. Still thinking, he turns to look up at the towering cruiser. It’s there that he lingers for a long moment, just looking at it with a glare worn through the flowing fire.

Eventually his hand moves for his chest again, lingering just above the Omnitrix.

“Come on, work with me here.” He speaks to the device, pressing his hand into its face once more. Once more it’s response is to sputter and beep for a second, but finally it triggers. With that flash of green light he changes.

Out from the Omnitrix the shards of stone making up his skin darken and merge. The fire dies, and in its place crystals once again erupt from him, though now a brilliant magenta. Matching that is the plate of his face, upon which a single eye opens. His form as a whole solidifies to a deep purple as the watch finds its place upon the right side of a green vest.

He clenches his fists as they change to the translucent magenta of his crystals, and through a stiff mouth he announces “Chromastone? Just what I need.”

With the new alien he turns to make his way back out into the streets. Quite quickly though, he finds that the aliens are already bringing the fight to him. It’s easy to see from where he is that they’ve begun to station themselves to deal with him. They are ready to fire upon him the moment he steps back out.

So, he steps out. With hands on his hips he stares up at the group and remains in place as they begin to fire down at him. With every moment more and more shots strike him, and more and more the iridescent sheen of energy around him becomes plainly visible. Finally one last weapon, something of a beam that fires with force and consistency, is directed his way for a few moments until perhaps running out of fuel. It’s only as they begin to stop that he moves a hand to salute them. He then turns around to face the ship, not even bothering to deal with the aliens, and moves both his hands forwards in its direction. The chromatic field around him shifts and focuses through his limbs to shoot out in a solid beam of light and energy towards the cruiser.

You could almost swear that you can hear them scream. They get loud at least, chittering and clicking and hissing as the hull tears and quakes. In comparison to the ship as a whole it’s nothing. Barely more than a hole, really. But it’s that he was able to touch it in a meaningful way at all, that he was able to make the vessel shudder under its own weight and erupt with a wail of damage, and that he, the living thing standing no larger than any of them, was able to do this. That gets a reaction. You might describe it as fear.

They start to retreat. In hardly a minute, well before Ben has the chance to reach the ship itself, but not before he has time to fire off several more shots, it starts taking off. This might be a victory if it weren’t for the fact that they still have the colonists. In fact, in the few minutes that it took Ben to come up with a plan they seemingly collected almost all of the colony, with only the occasional hidden and distant person as an exception.

He does what he can to follow, of course.

The ship takes the swarms and insects with it as it starts leaving the sky, and Ben can only watch as it departs. It’s only as he begins to fly after them with that same iridescent sheen trailing behind him that he begins to time out, forcing him to head back to the ground. Eventually, barely the second he’s close enough to the ground to not break something, he’s turned back into just Ben with a flash. He hits the ground hard and rolls over himself as he adjusts. In just a moment more he’s left staring up at the sky as they leave.

He lets out one final vague exclamation of frustration as the cruiser vanishes into the now dark sky, leaving him to fall to his knees.

He lingers there for a moment before picking himself back up.

That confident smirk fails to find its place on his face for a moment. In its place is a look of concern. Of disappointment and regret, and perhaps anger. It’s just for a moment though.

He takes a deep breath as he raises his head back to the colony. That smug smile is forced back onto his face again as he starts along the walkways and through the habitats. The empty walkways, and the empty habitats. Snuggly stacked and nested between the geometric rises in the terrain. Without any sign of a struggle or an evacuation it’s more than a little unsettling to see the buildings empty. To be nearly completely alone. It’s only every couple minutes that Ben comes across the frozen body of a colonist or two. All he can do is tell them that the thing that attacked them left and that he’s going to contact help. The movement of their eyes isn’t enough to read their reactions, but it’s all he can think to do.

He’s almost back to the Alliance base when he sees something else in the sky. A shuttle of sorts descending through the upper atmosphere, coming down to a point not too far out from where Ben is now.

He’s hesitant to even try, but Ben reaches over to his left wrist and rests a finger on the glassy face of the Omnitrix. The holographic dial displaying the aliens appears just above it and Ben slides it to the alien he wants. Then he moves his hand just far enough back to let the cover slide back and the core rise. He very carefully then pushes it back in, unsure as to whether or not it’s going to do anything at all.

To his surprise there’s not even a single moment of sputtering or defiance. With a click and a flash the watch does it’s job, rolling his skin over itself into a neat and fine hide of blue scales. His clothes change to a green and black body suit that covers all but his arms and feet. His legs bend and stretch to rest him on just his toes, which themselves grip black spheres that just barely scrape against the ground. His spine extends and around it forms a striped tail that flicks out to balance him. His fingers merge and harden into three equal length claws, and over his head a hardened cover stretches and sharpens into a helmet. His eyes gloss over with that nearly glowing green, matched by the symbol of the Omnitrix on his chest.

He’s left to look down at himself as he kicks off and starts speeding along to where he thinks they’re landing. He doesn’t so much as comment on the Omnitrix working. All he does is look down at it for a moment with an expression that’s hard to read with his alien face. It’s quickly covered by a visor snapping down to complete the helmet, leaving him to look back to the path ahead of him as he heads to intercept whatever is landing.

He’s traveling more than fast enough to meet the arrivals where they’re coming down. In fact, he’s traveling fast enough to make it there before they even start getting ready to land. He’s traveling so fast that hitting the mechanical body in his way is enough to sent him tumbling along the pathways and into the side of a housing unit so hard that the metal bends around him on impact.

It takes him a second to register what happened and pull himself from the indent in the metal wall with a groan. He shakes his head as he refocuses, letting the visor slide back up into his helmet and using his tail to balance himself.

He only barely has enough time to get his bearings though, before, from where he was interrupted, the form of a human shaped security drone turns to him.

“Woah, that’s new” is all he’s able to get out before the gun the machine holds fires. It’s not difficult for Ben to simply move out of the way before the blast reaches him, letting him step around to reach the unit itself. From there all he has to do is hit it, which sends it flying back with a spray of sparks. It collides with the metal of the path they’re on a second after, leaving it no more than a pile of parts.

“Where were you when” He starts, but is again interrupted by the sound of a gun firing. His attention snaps to the direction the sound comes from and he takes off again.

As he runs the singular shots turns to several, and then dozens. This is enough to worry Ben, but then in an instant they all stop. That’s enough for Ben to give up on trying to navigate through the structures of the colony. Instead at the next available moment he leaps from the metal bridge to one of the adjacent formations of stone, letting him speed up the side of it. From there it only takes him a few seconds to speed from rise to rise until eventually spotting what he assumes to be the source of the noise.

He speeds down to the open area and rolls to a stop. He’s cautious about making his way through what was clearly a battlefield until just a moment ago, now littered with the bodies of the mechs afflicted with various degrees of damage. Cautious, but still fast. He goes from robot to robot getting a sense of the damage they took, and making sure that none of them are getting back up.

Once he’s fairly sure nothing’s going to start moving again he starts checking the paths leading out from the court. Based on the way the bots are laid and the sides of them that are damaged he gets a fair idea as to where they were coming from and going, letting him eventually decide on a path to take.

He speeds to the sealed door of the habitat he thinks they’re going through. He stops just short of the door and presses his hand to the green hologram over it. It takes a second before sliding open with a hiss, letting Ben proceed into the room. Within, however, he’s presented with the group he’s been searching for.

He’s almost caught off guard for a second, causing him to stop just after moving through the doorway. The group, about four that he can see in the room, are all adorned in space suits. A design he recognizes from the alien he’d seen about the colony over the past few weeks. There’s no mistaking them though, as Ben distinctly remembers that the one he saw around never carried a gun. If he did have a firearm that Ben’s just failing to remember he certainly never aimed it at Ben, as the three closest to him are now.

“Stop right there!” The one at the front commands, stepping towards Ben with the other two doing the same.

“Prazza! You said you’d let me handle this.” Another calls out, stepping past the three to the front of the group while gesturing for them to stand down. Though turning to Ben she takes pause, tensing slightly as she sees the reptilian alien looking down at her. She takes a cautious step back and her men do the same, waiting for her order. “Keelah… what are you…” She speaks with a clear hesitation, keeping her head locked on Ben.

“I’m going to take a guess here and say you’re not with the freaky bug guys.” Ben remarks, trying to lighten the mood somewhat from the atmosphere of tension and suspicion gripping the space.

Merely hearing the creature speak a language they can understand is enough for them to relax slightly. The one in the front commits to having them stand down with a gesture. Ben glances to them as their guns are lowered, then back to the one in charge. A simple “thanks” is spoken as he waits for their responses.

The group looks around to each other for a second before the one at the front turns back to Ben. “You were here when… No, we aren’t.” She confirms, now seemingly looking over the alien trying to understand it.

Now that he’s at least somewhat confident that they aren’t going to attack him Ben moves to hit the Omnitrix. With a flash he’s transformed back into his human form. They react appropriately to seeing the boy manifest from the body of the alien. With shock, confusion, and hesitance. It’s only by their resolve to follow the direction of the one closest to the kid that they don’t shoot him.

“You’re… human?” Is all she can think to ask in the moment following.

“Sure, most of the time. Look, I can explain later. I’m guessing you also aren’t the ones that turned the mechs back on out there either, are you? Scratch that, who are you guys? Not really complaining about having more people here that can move, but your friends don’t scream “tourists” to me.” Ben asks.

 There’s some hesitation before they respond. It’s only after the one in front turns back to the group and gestures for them to continue on ahead that she answers him.

“My name is Tali’Zorah Vas Neema. And you are?” She starts.

“Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, Systems Alliance… “consultant” or something, at your service.” He answers, watching as the others move to continue looking over the room.

“Consultant?”

“It’s a long story.” He says

“I bet. We're here looking for a young Quarian named Veetor. He was here on pilgrimage.” She explains.

“I’m guessing he looks kind of like you guys? I think I know who you’re talking about, but, uh… Not sure if you noticed, but like 90% of the colony’s missing.”

“He’s here. We saw him when we landed, but Veetor… he was, eh… nervous around”

“She means he’s unstable. Combine that with damage to his suit’s CO2 scrappers, and an infection from an open-air exposure, and he’s likely delirious.” Prazza interjects from across the space.

“Yes, thank you Prazza.” She says to the other before turning back to Ben. “When he saw us landing, he hid in a warehouse on the far side of town. We suspect he also programmed the mechs to attack anything that moved.” She states.

“Better than what happened to most of the people here.” Ben comments.

“What did happen here, exactly?” She asks.

“I… can explain later. Right now we should find your friend before he gets someone hurt.” Ben states.

There’s another moment of silence before Tali speaks a simple “Okay. We’ll-”

Then the door behind Ben opens again.

Ben immediately turns around, moving his hand to his watch just in case. The Quarians around the room ready their guns once again and move to face the new group. “Stop right there!” Veetor barks again, causing the three to do just that.

“Veetor!” Tali scolds, once again motioning for him to stand down as she steps around Ben to see the new individuals.

The one on the right is a broad-shouldered man, wearing a black and white suit with accents of orange that covers all but his head. He’s of dark complexion, has short black hair adorning his head and chin, and features narrowed brown eyes currently aimed down the sight of a pistol he’s pointing into the room.

On the left is another agent of whatever company printed their logos onto their suits, also aiming a gun into the room. Her outfit is also black and white, although has far more of the latter, and covers all but her head and inner chest. Her eyes are blue, and her complexion is pale, contrasted by her shoulder length black hair.

Between them stands a man wearing far more armor than either of the other two, though notably it lacks the symbol they both have. In it’s place is a single label on the right side of his chest reading N7. The man’s face is sharp, strikingly so. His jaw’s pointed and wide, leading up into his cheekbones. The left side of his face is visibly damaged with small and faintly glowing scars that surround his eyes. His blue eyes, which unlike the other two linger once they reach part of the room.

“Wait, Shepard?” Tali speaks.

The soldier doesn’t take even a second to motion for the two either side of him to stand down, which they do without objection. Ben remains with a hand over the Omnitrix but doesn’t interrupt.

“I let you deal with the kid. I’m not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives.” Veetor announces, leaving his rifle trained on the soldier in the center.

“Put those weapons down!” She commands forcefully enough this time for them to begrudgingly listen, aiming their guns just far enough to the side to not hit any of them if they fired, letting her turn back to the soldier in front.

“Shepard?” She says again, this time the word almost sounding painful for her to speak. “Is that- You’re… alive?” She asks tentatively, not for a second shifting her view from him.

“Remember when I gave you that Geth data, Tali? Did it help you complete your pilgrimage?” The soldier, Shepard, responds without missing a beat.

“Yes… it did.” She says, turning back to Prazza again. “Prazza, weapons down. This is definitely commander Shepard.” She states with confidence.

Finally, he and the others listen, compressing their guns and storing them on their backs.

“Why is your old commander working for Cerberus?” Prazza asks.

“I don’t… know.” She admits to him. “Maybe we should ask.” She then states, turning back to look at Shepard again.

Ben takes a step back to be less between the two groups. As he does he moves his hand away from the Omnitrix, letting the cover slide back into place as he rests his hands on his hips.

“I nearly died, Tali. Cerberus spent two years rebuilding me. They want me to investigate attacks on human colonies.” He explains, once again without so much as a second to think about it before speaking.

“Likely story. No organization would commit so many resources to bring back one soldier” Prazza protests, folding his arms.

“You haven’t seen Shepard in action, Prazza. Trust me, it was money well spent.” She corrects.

It’s at this point that Ben interjects, looking back and forth between the two groups as he speaks. “Hey, sorry to break up the happy reunion, but we still have a- what did you call him, a kwarrian?”

“A Quarian.” Tali, Shepard, and Prazza correct in unison.

“Right. We still have one of those to find, don’t we?” Ben asks.

“Is that right, Tali?” Shepard directs to her.

“Yes, it is. We're here looking for a young Quarian named Veetor. He was here on pilgrimage.” She re-states.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. He re-programmed the mechs outside and is probably delirious from a suit breach. We’ve been over this. Look dude, they think he’s in a warehouse on the far side of town. We need to find him before he get himself or anyone else hurt, you helping or not?” Ben summarizes.

“Sorry, who are you?” The commander responds.

“I’m Ben Tennyson, System’s Alliance whatever. It’s so not important right now man.” Ben answers.

“How exactly did you get here, Ben?” Shepard asks.

“I’ve been stationed here for nearly a month. A sort of “test run” to see if I can follow orders or not.” Ben explains.

“They told me that nobody was left at the other colonies that have been hit. What exactly happened here?” Shepard asks.

“This has happened to other colonies too? Dude, that’s so not good. Tell you what, once we find Veetor I’ll tell you all I can. Right now we shouldn’t just be standing around.” Ben responds, almost sounding frustrated with Shepard’s calm and focused tone.

It’s now that the commander has to take a second to think up a response. Eventually he lands on “Helping survivors is our first priority. We’ll help you find him.” Saying the first part more to the two at his side than to Ben.

“Thank you, Shepard. We’ll need two teams to get past the drones anyway.” Tali states.

“Now we’re working with Cerberus?” Prazza objects.

“No Prazza, you’re working for me. If you can’t follow orders, go wait on the ship.” She tells Prazza before turning back to Shepard. “Head for the warehouse through the center of the Colony, we’ll circle around the far side and draw off some of the drones to clear you a path.” She instructs.

“I hope you don’t expect me to just sit around while you have all the fun.” Ben remarks.

“That’s exactly what you’re going to do. Stay here and keep your head down while we secure the area.” Shepard commands.

“Oh come on, you did not just tell me to “keep my head down” while you guys do all the work.” Ben contests.

“You have a problem with that?”

“Of course I have a problem with that! I’m Ben 10! I know that so doesn’t mean anything to you, but I’m a hero. I help people.” He informs, moving his right hand to reach for his watch. Both groups watch as in just a second he swipes the cover back and presses in the revealed core. In a flash of green his skin turns a deep red, his clothes change to a black and green unitard, an extra set of arms emerge from his sides, and whole body rises to a height of roughly 12 feet. This, of course, slams his head into the ceiling, which forces him to lean down slightly with a hushed “ow.”

“So are we going to stand here all day, or are we going to get this over with?” Ben concludes.

Both parties are forced to take a cautious step back from Ben, glancing among themselves and to each other. Specifically, Shepard to Tali, who can only respond with a confused shrug as the Quarians beside her once again draw and aim their weapons at Ben.

It’s a second before the woman in white speaks up. “Ah. Ben Tennyson, I knew that name sounded familiar. You’re the one that can “turn into aliens” supposedly, am I right?” She checks.

“Are you serious right now?” Ben responds.

“Of course. Our employer has been keeping a close eye on the reports since they found you, what was it, nearly two months ago? He’s been very interested in you, and your”

“I’m going. If you guys are going to help, you’re free to follow.” Ben states, making his way for the end of the room past Tali.

Everyone is left pretty silent as he waits for the door to open.

“Make sure to keep in radio contact.” The commander tells Tali, walking to her side as both groups start waiting for the door to open as well.

“Will do.” She responds, moving to the door they just came through. “Good luck Shepard. Whatever happens, it’s good to have you back.” She tell him.

For just a second you might think that he’s actually smiling, but any sense of expression is lost as the doors open and the groups step out.

Ben ends up traveling with Shepard’s squad, merely by fact of them leaving through the same side of the housing pod.

It’s the very moment that their back out under the sky that they’re brushed over by the whirring sound of several flying drones flying by them. They linger for just a moment when they reach the next habitat before flying over top of it, leaving them.

“Why does this colony have so many armed robots? How did I not know about all the armed robots before now?” Ben comments, leaping forwards from where they are to the roof of the adjacent ‘building.’

“Got it” Shepard speaks with a hand to his ear.

“Hey, guys, lots more of those flying ones on the other side of this thing.” Ben informs them.

The rests of the group glances to him as he shouts down at them. All they can do is gesture to the radios equipped in their ears.

“Oh, right.” Ben speaks to himself, reaching down to the Omnitrix node on his belt and seemingly fiddling with it for a moment before with a pop of static he connects. “That work?” He asks.

“Try to keep the chatter to a minimum, Tennyson.” The human woman's voice emits from the Omnitrix.

“Yeah, that worked. Wasn’t sure I still knew how to do that.” Ben speaks to himself.

It doesn’t take the group long to make their way through the habitat under Ben, at which point the group is forced to find cover as the drones start firing upon them. They barely have a moment to start aiming their guns to return fire when the sound of a crashing explosion fills the space, and with it the redirection of all the drones away from the soldiers. Upon looking they find Ben already having leapt into the scene from the rooftop, now balancing himself atop one drone whilst using his bottom arms to aim it at the other and his top arms to grab any that come close enough to him.

The soldiers stand up out of cover to just kind of watch as the maroon alien merely endures the rounds fired into him while using their barrels as handles with which to slam them into each other. Seeing the situation fairly under control they start continuing along the pathway. In just another few seconds they’re met with the feeling of a weight slamming into the metal bridge, and with a glance back they can see it’s Ben. Now walking after them as he brushes off the debris clinging to him.

The group has to slow for a second as they enter another pod, forcing Ben to lean down slightly as he follows them.

Ben, in an attempt to get to know these people, starts talking. “So, Cerberus, huh? Don’t think I’ve heard of you guys. What exactly”

“Shepard, Prazza and his squad rushed on ahead! I told him to wait but they wouldn’t listen. They want to find Veetor and take him away before you get here!” Erupts from their coms, cutting him off.

“We should have expected this.” The human woman is quick to assert.

“Come on! We can still catch them.” The one that has been silent up until now proclaims.

Shepard wordlessly picks up the pace. They’re out through the other end of the pod in just a second and are making their way down the ramps leading to another court when the sound of gunshots erupts once again, now from their left. Another group of the turret-like drones descending from over one of the stone rises around them.

“I’ve got ‘em!” Ben announces as he leaps from the ramp towards the turrets.

And ‘got them’ he does, smashing through the first and using what remains of it as a projectile to take out the next one over in hardly a moment. The soldier’s don’t waste the opportunity, continuing on ahead to intercept the other group as Ben dispatches the robots.

“Hurry Shepard, we’re inside the loading docks.” Tali informs, and hurry they do towards the next large area seal built into the stone face of the area’s outer edges.

It’s fairly odd to for the soldiers to see the red alien’s muscle-bound form leaping not just across but completely over the court to reach the next group of drones coming down to aim at them. His four arms effortlessly grapple and tear apart the drones as he collides with them, letting him lunge for the next and the one after that with fluid procession. The machines hardly even have time to aim, let alone fire, before his fists find their place in them.

“Veetor reprogrammed a heavy mech! It’s tearing Prazza’s squad apart!” Is the next update cast over their radios. It’s now that Ben starts running out of drones, giving him a second to pause and process the statement.

“They did want to get to Veetor first.” The female operative remarks as Ben leaps down to beside them at the door.

“Get your squad into cover and I’ll open the loading bay doors.” Tali directs.

“We’ll take cover by the doors. Shepard, you take point. Tennyson, you” The woman tries to direct, though before she can finish Ben’s already decided on his next course of action. In one motion he crouches down, then swings his arms around and leaps into the air. He grabs the edge of the stone wall as he reaches the top and flips himself over it to the other side.

While he does this the soldiers follow the plan. Both the operatives station themselves against the wall either side of the door while Shepard takes cover behind a wall just in front of the door. It’s now that Tali opens the door, revealing to them the scene unfolding on the other side.

It’s as she said, a heavy mech glowing red from the face and joints is figuratively tearing the squad apart. There are three Quarians beside the looming white robot, soon reduced to two Quarians as one is gunned down. The next is on the ground barely a second after the last, though not dead. She’s left to roll over and start trying to crawl away. The third runs as the mech continues to approach, stepping over the second with enough force to crush her. It would have at least, but before it’s able to a blur of red hits it at an unprecedented speed, slamming it back into the nearest habitat with enough force to shake its foundations.

The three soldiers make their way onto the court, taking cover with the remaining quarians as the alien continues beating into the machine. It’s perhaps the first time since he’s transformed that anything has made him look small by comparison, and even now it’s not that much of a step down. He’s only a few feet shorter than the mech, made less so by his instance to keep it from getting back up. He’s too close for it to be able to fire at him and hitting it with far too quick a rhythm for it to get back up. A persistent warbling and wavering repeated in cycles of four as every arm hits it’s shields.

By the time those are down he’s been hitting it long enough to be slowing slightly, giving the machine just enough time knock Ben off of it with a swing from its arm. Ben doesn’t travel very far, grinding to a halt as his hands tear through the stone beneath him, but it’s far enough for the YMIR Mech to be able to fire at him. Its left arm splits open as Ben picks himself back up, and launches a rocket in his direction just before he has the chance to start moving again.

It’s almost hard to tell what happens for a moment. At least from where the soldiers are, scattered behind the crates at the other end of the field, it looks for a moment like the rocket is merely a dud. It stops against Ben with a strained grunt, though the propulsion at the back is still clearly firing. It’s only after a moment that it becomes clear that he caught it, and carefully began turning it around to aim back towards the Mech.

“Hey, red, white, and ugly. Get a load of this!” Ben exclaims, and as soon as the rocket trail begins firing into his chest, he lets go of it, returning it to the thing that shot it at him.

It’s head is taken off in a flash, along with part of it’s upper half, leaving the body to fall to its knees while Ben starts catching his breath, doing the same. One of his lower arms moves to grip the side where he was hit, earning a wince as he presses against it.

Then it starts beeping.

The female Cerberus operative barely has the time to shout “it’s gonna blow” before it’s already igniting. Ben, in turn, barely has the time to lunge from where he is to the quarian that was grounded before, grabbing onto her with most of his body as it blows. In a flash the two of them are thrown, and most of the crates closer to the two are shattered by the sheer force of the blast. He tumbles with a grunt before slamming into one of the supports for an adjacent pod.

Both the soldiers and quarians take a second to let the field cool again before stepping out. Even Tali, who until this point had been tending to the wounded in one of the pods the injured Quarian makes their way out to see what happened.

Most of them can’t help but direct their attention to Ben as he starts picking himself up.

“Ow.” He states, shaking himself off as he walks towards Tali, leaning down enough to put the injured quarian on the ground beside her.

“You…” She starts, wasting no time in dropping down to look them over.

“Yeah, yeah. You can thank me for saving your butts later.” He states, reaching with one of his lower arms to wipe the blood off the green of his suit, while using another to hit the Omnitrix’s dial. This is where he expects to turn back into a human. Where, in a flash, he should be transformed back from Fourarms. Instead, as it has more times that Ben would like now, it responds with a series of droning beeps and hums. “Oh come on, I’m not even trying to go alien right now!” He speaks to the watch. The other all focus on Ben as he hits it again, and as it again drones at him. Though this time through the beeping it actually communicates something.

A monotone “Function not available. Please stand by.” Emits from the device in a high-pitched synthetic voice.

“You’re kidding.” Ben responds, hitting it with his hand again. He turns to look down at Shepard as he continues struggling with the dial. “Go on ahead. If those bug guys freaked him out that much I don’t think he’d do well seeing me like this.” He reasons.

The commander merely responds with a nod, motioning for the two with him to move out as Ben continues trying to turn back.

“Come on. Work.” Ben demands, hitting it again.

This time there’s a flash of green, but he still doesn’t turn back. Rather it again speaks a monotone “Uncatalogued DNA detected.” through the beeping. This is actually enough to make Ben stop hitting it.

“Well why didn’t you just say so!?” He complains, twisting the dial back and forth a few times until eventually the green changes to a yellow. From the dial a wash of light then emerges, scanning up and down over Tali and the quarian she tends to.

The quarian nearly flinches as the beam hits her, prompting a nearly demanding “What is it doing?”

“New life form DNA analyzed. Acquisition complete.” The watch speaks, and in a flash it finally lets him turn back into a human. He rolls his shoulders to settle his jacket and shirt as he readjusts.

“Man, this thing’s been bugging out on me for weeks. If I knew I just had to scan some new aliens I so would have. I’ll have to talk to Asmuth about his idea of a notification when I get back.” Ben thinks aloud, now fiddling with the holographic dial.

Tali stands up, motioning for someone else to take her place as she steps over to Ben.

“You scanned me?” She questions.

“The Omnitrix scanned you. It does that when it doesn’t have a species’ DNA.” Ben responds without looking up from the watch.

“Why do you”

“Here it is.” Ben interrupts, letting the cover slide back. Before Tali can finish her question, he presses in the core, and transforms with that signature flash of green.

Before the watch even begins to merge with him it’s already morphing his clothes. His jacket slides and stretches and changes at it wraps over his exposed skin. From where his hood was a series of green clothes accented white at the edges fold around his head and upper chest, marked with the Omnitrix dial at their center. His legs bend and stretch to form digitigrade ones, leaving him standing on two toes. His fingers merge together to from three from his five, and his arms thin and lengthen slightly. His whole build narrows slightly at the pelvis but widens at the shoulders. With every second that his anatomy changes his clothes continue to do the same, eventually forming into an environmental suit resembling the Quarian’s in design. Black for the most part with accents of white and green throughout, culminating in the helmet that seals shut over his face. White in terms of the metal itself, but green in both the light ahead of his mouth and the glow of his visor.

The visor that, from ben’s perspective, quickly loads a HUD that begins displaying a variety of information about both what he’s looking at and the surrounding environment.

You might think that after having seen Ben transform two or three times by this point that they might expect this. That his turning into aliens has sort of just been accepted at they went. They certainly haven’t done much to question it thus far, asides from the oft confused remark and persistently aiming their guns at him. That, however, is not the case. Instead, this moment is met with abject astonishment from the half dozen Quarian around ben, for which Tali is no exception.

They aren’t shocked, per say. They have clearly caught on to the fact that he’s a shape shifter. That, whatever he is, he’s able to take the form of more that just a human male. It’s not even surprise really, as there was clear president for this to be exactly what was about to happen. It’s more an atmosphere of not quite believing the sight before them, or, more than that, being unsure as to how what just happened is physically possible.

“Woah, you guys can see ultraviolet light?” Ben speaks in Tali’s accent, turning to look about the environment as the quarians continue to process.

There are a lot of thoughts and emotions permeating the space, but they all manifest into a single, almost offended “what” from one of the group. Ben looks back as they speak, rolling his shoulders again to settle the suit as he does.

“Omnitrix” Ben states, gesturing to the device situated on his chest as if that alone might explain anything.

“So, you can…” Tali starts, but stops herself with an almost annoyed sigh. “Make sure everyone left’s okay.” She tells the group, starting to walk in the direction of the building Shepard’s group entered. “Tennyson, with me.” She tells him, prompting him to jog after her.

It’s almost apparent from just the way he walks that Ben takes a second to get used to the structure of the legs before he starts walking normally. He’s adjusted by the time they reach the ramp though, letting them head up to the door. With a gesture it starts opening, and they’re able to head inside.

“We need to get this data to the Illusive Man. Grab the quarian and call the shuttle to come pick us up.” The human woman tells the commander.

It’s now that the door finishes opening, letting them step inside.

“What? Veetor is injured! He needs treatment, not an interrogation!” Tali rebukes on approach, forcing the three to look over to her. They glance to Ben as well, and to the Omnitrix, but quickly focus back on Tali.

“We won’t hurt him. We just need to see if he knows anything else. He’ll be returned unharmed.” The guy that isn’t Shepard assures.

“Your people tried to betray us once already. If we give him to you, we’ll never get the intel we need.” The woman rationalizes.

“Prazza was an idiot and he paid for it. His men would have paid for it too if it weren’t for him.” she gestures to Ben. “You’re welcome to take Veetor’s omni-tool data, but please. Just let me take him.” Tali insists, practically pleading with them.

Another glance is spared to Ben as she speaks, but again they look back to Tali a moment after.

“You don’t have to take Veetor and go. We could work together, just like old times.” The commander proposes after a second.

“I’m still trying to accept that you’re even alive. And you’re with… Cerberus. I’ve got responsibilities now. I’ve got a mission of my own. I can’t walk away from that… Not even for you.” She declines, hesitantly.

There’s a second of silence before Shepard speaks again, now to the Cerberus woman. “He’s traumatized, and he needs medical care. Tali will give us the omni-tool data and take him to the flotilla.” He states bluntly.

“Understood, Commander.” The woman accepts.

“Thank you, Shepard. I’m glad you’re still the one giving the orders.” Tali speaks with audible relief. “Now… about him.” She says, looking back again to Ben as he fiddles with the suit.

It takes a second for his attention to snap back up to the lot of them, at which point he changes back to his human form automatically.

“Yeah, about me. I don’t suppose one of you could give me a ride back to the Citadel? I’m guessing they’re gonna want to hear about this. I’d contact the Alliance to ask for a pickup or something, but I haven’t actually figured out how to do that yet.” He explains.

“Shepard?” Tali asks.

“Oh we’d be happy to take you to the citadel. In exchange though, I’m sure the Illusive Man would appreciate a meeting with you. You really have peaked his interests.” The human woman cuts in.

“Uh-huh.” Ben responds.

“Ben will come with us. He can fill us in on what he saw here, and then we’ll take him to the Citadel.” Shepard states.

Ben nods.

“Good luck out there, Shepard. If I find anything that can help you, I’ll let you know.” Tali tells him as she begins to leave with Veetor.

“We’re ready for pickup.” The male Cerberus operative speaks into his earpiece as they exit the room, leaving only the humans behind.

Ben can’t help but to look past to the wall of screens at the back of the room. Upon which seems to be the security feed from early in the day. Displayed upon the screens is the sight of the insect-like aliens walking through the colony with the pods they used to store humans, and above them the swarms of drones in the tens of dozens.

He can’t help but clench his fists at the sight of them. The creatures he lost a colony to mere hours ago. The aliens he was only able to make run away, but not stop, all because he didn’t understand what the watch wanted from him.

Shepard seems to note Ben’s tense stare towards the screens, prompting him to turn back and shut them off with a wave of his omni-tool.

Broken from the moment Ben glances to Shepard, but turns away again before Shepard can meet his gaze. He turns around to face towards the door, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jackets as he waits with that same arrogant smile forced onto his face.

Chapter Text

By the time they’re off world the remaining colonists are moving again. Most of them are, at least. From what they can tell as they depart the military presence was removed with the rest of the people they took, leaving no one to report the event to the Alliance until they’re already gone.

On their way to the Cerberus base Ben learns who exactly he’s traveling with. The human woman’s name is Miranda Lawson, while the man’s name is Jacob Taylor. Both Cerberus operatives, though the latter formerly served as an Alliance Marine before resigning. Then there’s Shepard. Commander Shepard, a man who Ben learns was declared killed in action just over two years ago, and who before that supposedly saved the galaxy. The details about that part weren’t totally clarified though, leaving Ben with only the knowledge that something of that sort happened.

In turn, they learn about Ben. Whether or not they believe what he says is unclear, but they at least listen as he explains his situation. That for all he knows he’s from another universe, though he doesn’t know how he made it to this one. That when he was ten years old, on a road trip with his grandpa and cousin, he found the Omnitrix shortly after it fell to earth. That the Omnitrix is a piece of “level 20” alien technology designed as a backup repository of DNA in the case of a species’ extinction, and for the purpose of aiding interspecies communication and understanding.

They get a lot of information about Ben, about his history and world, but almost none of it can be verified or authenticated.  What they can confirm is that Ben is in possession of a device designed to change its wearer into a number of unique, intelligent, alien life forms. All but two of which, being human and quarian, they have never seen before. They can confirm that Ben was recently taken into the custody of the System’s alliance after being found upon the surface of the planet Maganlis, and that shortly thereafter he was conscripted in a position left intentionally vague. By the time they arrive, that is what they know about Ben.

What Ben learns about them is that that they work for a group interested in specifically human interests, that they were able to bring Shepard back from the dead, and that they tend to bend the rules when it comes to getting results.

What he now knows is that he should not trust them. And more importantly that, at least from the way he talks about them, Shepard doesn’t.

Upon docking Ben is escorted into the base with the group. They try to act is if relaxed with his presence, unconcerned by him wandering or whatnot, but it’s pretty clear that they’re keeping just as close an eye on him as C-Sec did on the citadel.

He’s only let off his proverbial leash as the four of them reach a sort of lounge space. Jacob takes his place by one of the windows while Miranda sets herself up beside a terminal. Ben is about to find a place to sit when he catches Shepard gesturing for him to follow him. So, that’s what he does instead. He jogs over to follow the commander through into a fairly dark room.

Shepard steps into a wide circle on the floor and Ben does the same behind him. After a second a sort of holographic display begins rising up from the floor, prompting Ben to look down at himself and watch as he’s scanned toe to head with the light. It’s only once the light has covered his face, and more precisely his eyes, that he figures out its purpose.

Displayed as if it were the area around him, he sees the expanse of a large empty room. A reflective glass floor mirroring the view from the window at the far end of the room, of a star burning both blue and orange. Before that, visually resting in the violent area of collide between the two halves, is a man sitting in a chair looking at the two. The pale man wears a black suit, a cigarette in his left hand, and a pair of nearly glowing blue eyes below his carefully brushed hair.

“Shepard. Good work on Freedom’s Progress.” He starts, hardly waiting more that a second after they connect to speak. “The quarians forwarded their findings from Veetor’s debriefing. No new data, but it’s a surprising olive branch, given our history.” He informs. “You and I have different methods, but I can’t argue with your results.”

“Having friends pays off. You ever think about playing nice once in a while?” Shepard remarks.

“Diplomacy is great when it works, but difficult when everybody already perceives you as a threat.” He responds, unphased by Shepard’s attitude. “But more importantly, you confirmed the Collectors are behind the abductions. You also managed to find our young friend here,” he gestures to where Ben stands. “but that can wait for now.”

“Why do I get the feeling you knew about them already?” Shepard suspects

“I had my suspicions, but I needed proof. The Collectors are enigmatic at best.” The Illusive man states.

“Hold on- Collectors? You mean the freaky bug guys that took the colonists?” Ben interjects.

“Yes. As we understand, they periodically travel to the Terminus Systems looking to gather seemingly unimportant items or specimens. Usually in exchange for their technology. When their transactions are complete, they disappear as quickly as they arrived; back beyond the unmapped Omega 4 relay. Until now, we’ve had no evidence of direct aggression by the Collectors.” The man explains, occasionally gesturing his arms back and forth subtly as he talks.

Ben and Shepard both take a breath to speak, but the latter is able to get out “Why is the Omega 4 relay unmapped? What do we know about it?” first, forcing Ben to keep quiet.

“Only that no ship passing through it has ever returned. Our best guess is that the relay reacts differently to Collector vessels, allowing them safe passage. If they can manipulate relays, that’s just further evidence of their connection with the Reapers.” He answers.

It’s at this moment Ben nearly flinches hearing the suggestion. More in an emotional sense than a physical one. The thought that the Reapers, beings he’s only heard tale of in the vague sense beyond the one that attacked the citadel, might be in league with a force he was barely able to slow down, let alone stop, certainly makes him think.

“What are the collectors getting from these deals?” Shepard asks.

“The collectors aren’t very forthcoming about their motives. Generally, they seek out species with rare genetic mutations or abnormalities. They pay slavers and merc groups exorbitant sums to obtain these specimens. And then they leave. But they’ve never targeted a single species before. And the sample sizes were in the dozens, not the tens of thousands.

“Any idea on why they’ve shifted their focus to humans?” Shepard further investigates.

“If they’re agents for the Reapers, it could be any number of reasons. Obviously, humanity played a huge role in Sovereign’s destruction. That might have been enough to draw their attention. What really concerns me is why they bother abducting the colonists. Once the humans are paralyzed, why not just kill them?” He ponders.

“You’re holding something back. How do you know the Reapers are involved?”

“The patterns are there, buried in the data. The Council and the Alliance want to believe the Reaper threat died with Sovereign. You and I know better, Shepard. I won’t wait until the Reapers are on the march. We need to take the fight to them.” He asserts.

“If this is a war, I’ll need an army. Or a really good team.” Shepard states in turn.

“We’ve already compiled a list of soldiers, scientists, and mercenaries. You’ll get dossiers on the best of them. Finding them and convincing them to work with you could be challenging, but you’re a natural leader.  I’ll continue to track the Collectors. When they make their next appearance, I’ll notify you and your team. Be ready.”

“Keep your list, I want people I trust -- the ones who helped me stop Seren and the geth.” The commander verbosely declines.

Ben’s eyes narrow slightly as the name registers with him. Seren. One of the key figures Anderson had mentioned to him when explaining the geth assault on the citadel.

“That was two years ago, Commander. Most of them have moved on… or their allegiances have changed.” The Illusive man explains.

“What about Tali? She already helped us on Freedom’s Progress.” Shepard quickly counters with.

“That was unexpected. I need more intel before I’ll commit to that.” He responds.

“Do you know where Ashley Williams is?”

Again, the name registers with Ben. He’s not sure where from, but he’s fairly sure he’s heard it before.

“She’s still with the Alliance. Promoted, I believe. Her file is surprisingly well-classified.” He answers.

“What about Garrus Vakarian?”

“The turian disappeared a few months after you were declared dead. Even we haven’t been able to locate him.”

“Liara T’soni?”

“She’s on Illium. My sources say she’s working for the Shadow Broker. If so, she can’t be trusted.”

“Urdnott Wrex?”

“He returned to Tuchanka, and he hasn’t gone off-world in over a year. He’s trying to unite the krogan clans.”

“Okay, I get it. They’re not available.” Shepard begrudgingly accepts.

“You’re a leader, Shepard. You’ll get who you need.” He affirms.

“I’m still a Spectre. Maybe I can get the council to help us out.”

“If you think you could convince them, by all means. Just remember -- you’ve been gone a long time. Things have changed.”

“You worry about the Collectors, I’ll make sure my team’s ready.”

He takes a moment to think on that with a deep breath in through the lit cigarette resting between his fingers. A single “Good” resounds thereafter with a haze of smoke escaping him.

“Now, as for you.” He speaks, gesturing at Ben. “I’ve been very eager to speak with you Ben, and you’ve waited long enough.”

Shepard takes a half step to the side, leaving room for Ben to step slightly further forwards.

“I’m flattered, and sure you want to know all about me. How about we get to know each other, huh? You clearly already know my name, but I don’t think I caught yours. You are?” Ben tries to subvert.

“You misunderstand the point of this meeting, Tennyson. I already know all about you, and there’s nothing either of you need to know about me that you don’t already. It’s what we’re trying to accomplish that matters.” The Illusive man explains, instantly reclaiming control of the dialogue.

“Alright, I’m listening. What’ve you got?”

“Cerberus’s main goal, our only true goal, is assuring human security in this galaxy. By whatever means necessary.” He begins.

“You mean human superiority, don’t you? Controlling the other species you’re sharing space with?” Ben interjects.

“If that’s what it takes, then yes. But that’s not our intent. Far from it, in fact. We’re simply willing to do what it takes to survive. Be it in the face of a shared galaxy, or the Reapers themselves.” He provides perspective. “If what they’ve been saying about you is true. If that device on your wrist really has the powers they’re claiming it to. Then you’re an invaluable asset in this fight that I can’t afford to lose.”

“That sounds like a threat.” Shepard comments.

“Merely a fact of our situation, Shepard. You don’t need to be reminded of how dangerous the Reapers are. How far those that serve under them will go to accomplish their goals.” He defends. “This isn’t a demand, Ben, merely an offer. In the last two months they haven’t so much as taken their eyes off you, let alone let you demonstrate your effectiveness in the field. But I saw how you handled yourself on Freedom’s Progress before Shepard’s squad arrived. You’re a soldier, at heart. I’m offering you the chance to get back into the field, to help people, months before the Alliance will even consider the option.” He explains to Ben, a genuine passion seeming to burn in his voice below the layers of patronizing and manipulation.

It is a tempting offer though. One that Ben genuinely has to think about before he can decide on an answer.

“Thanks, but I’m gonna have to pass.” He eventually responds, folding his arms ahead of him.

The Illusive man can’t help but let out a disappointed, almost frustrated, sigh. “Can I ask why?”

“You might want to work on your presentation a little before you go for the hard sell. No offense or anything, but I’m getting major 'evil corporation waiting for its chance to betray the hero and take the power for themselves’ vibes from you guys.” Ben jokes around the question with that self-important grin.

“That’s disappointing to hear, but I respect your decision. If you ever change your mind, we’ll be here.”

There’s another moment of silence as the Illusive Man collects his thoughts.

“Shepard. Two things, before you go: After you’ve returned Ben to the Alliance, head to Omega and find ‘Mordin Solus.’ He’s a brilliant salarian scientist. Our intelligence suggests that he may know how to counteract the Collectors’ paralyzing seeker swarms.”

“I haven’t even started, and you’re telling me what to do?”

“I’m giving you direction; what you do with it is up to you. I’m sure you’ll make the right decision. I am telling you to take Ben though, as that’s what we promised him.” He defends.

“Alright, what’s the other thing?”

“I found a pilot I think you might like. I hear he’s one of the best. Someone you can trust.”

With those final words he accesses some form of control panel emitted from the right arm of the chair, and the call disconnects. The two are left in silence for a moment as the holographic booth begins to descend. That is, until they tune into the soft foot falls of an approaching body coming in from the door.

“Hey Commander!”

Upon looking back they find a man walking toward them. A fairly robust build, light skin, and a beard coming in below a hat reading SR2.

“Just like old times, huh?” He speaks.

“I can’t believe it’s you, Joker.” The commander says with a smile.

“Look who’s talking. I saw you get spaced.” Joker responds, taking a right as they make their way out of the room.

“Got lucky, with a lot of strings attached. How’d you get here?”

“It all fell apart without you, Commander. Everything you stirred up, the Council just wanted it gone.” He explains, carefully making his way up the stairs with Shepard and Ben behind him. “Team was broken up, records sealed, and I was grounded. The Alliance took away the only thing that mattered to me. Hell yeah I joined Cerberus.”

“You really trust the Illusive Man?” Shepard questions, following him over to the windows Jacob was standing by earlier.

“Well I don’t trust anyone who makes more than I do. But they aren’t all bad. Saved your life. Let me fly… and there’s this.” Joker answers, stopping with the group just in front of the planes of glass. “They only told me last night.”

The three peer out into the dark of the room beyond the windows, but fail to find anything of note for a moment. Then, with the distinct sound of heavy lighting being mechanically switched on, the form of something within the shadows is slowly revealed. The curved hull of sleek reflective metal glistens as gradually more and more of it is revealed. A star ship, far sleeker than any Ben’s seen before. Like a sliver of steel, it’s thin frame stretched back through the room to fins supporting an array of thrusters. The body of the vessel, painted a metallic white and black, is adorned with the Cerberus logo next to the letters SR2.

“It’s good to be home, huh, Commander?” Joker says after a moment of looking over the ship.

In response the Commander is silent for a moment, but eventually “I guess we’ll have to give her a name.” leaves him as he turns to Joker.

The pilot, Joker, nods at this with a look to Shepard.

It’s a few more hours before the ship itself is ready to be boarded. The only outwardly notable change in that time is the addition of the word “NORMANDY” to the side of the outer body.

After that it doesn’t take long for them to let Shepard and Ben aboard, guided by Maranda and Jacob.

It’s as soon as the group is inside and the airlock has sealed behind them that the subtle rumble of the vessel moving permeates the space, spurred by the Normandy departing the loading bay. Barely a moment later, as Ben comes to look down the main stretch of the ship towards both the cockpit and the navigation room, the vessel jolts forwards. Not forcibly enough to even make them adjust their footing, but enough so to knock them off balance for a second.

In the cockpit he sees the Pilot from before, Joker, sitting at the front of the ship. Across from him, the direction they head in to follow Shepard, is a walkway accented by a row of stations on either side. Some manned, some left empty, with no true pattern to it.

Beyond the walkway the ship opens up into an ovular room with a number more stations lining the perimeter to their right and left. At the far end of the room are three doors, the one on their right labeled “Armory,” the one on their left labeled “Tech Lab,” and the one in the center, recessed slightly further back, labeled “Elevator.” In front of that, in the very heart of the room, is a console of sorts displaying a hologram of the ship in the open center. The words “Combat Information Center” written on the wall above it. Surrounding it are more stations sporadically manned by individuals that all turn to look when Shepard walks aboard.

Shepard stops just short of the stairs leading down from the path they’re on to look over the room, managing a smile as he does.

“Welcome aboard the new Normandy, Commander.” Jacob speaks up after a moment.

Shepard continues forwards without so much as glancing back at him, stepping down to approach the front of the galaxy map.

“I’ve been looking over the dossiers. Once we drop off Ben I’d strongly recommend starting by acquiring Mordin Solus, the salarian professor on Omega.” Miranda starts, stopping a few meters from Shepard as he comes to a halt and turns back to them. “We know the Collectors use some type of advanced technology to immobilize their victims. We’ll need him to develop a countermeasure to protect us.”

“Without that countermeasure, we’ll be helpless if we ever run into the Collectors.” Shepard acknowledges.

Ben can’t help but roll his eyes at the idea that the swarms actually pose a threat, but he keeps quiet anyway.

“Acquiring Professor Solus seems like the most logical place to start.” a woman’s voice begins speaking, seemingly from the intercom system of the ship itself.

“Who are you?” Shepard immediately responds with, looking up towards the ceiling of the ship.

Behind Shepard another hologram appears, though this one is far more abstract than the orange model of the ship behind it. A series of blue dots forming a sphere, and below it even more dots forming a sort of pillar that widens at the point where it would connect to the table below it. About the pillar is another ring of dots, and on the face of the sphere are a stack of 11 or so lines that move as the voice speaks.

“I am the Normandy’s artificial Intelligence. The crew like to refer to me as EDI.” It states.

Shepard turns around to face the digital representation of the AI, crossing his arms at he looks at it.

“Helmsmen aren’t happy when someone takes control of a ship away from them. Especially Joker.” Shepard remarks.

“I do not helm the ship. Mr. Moreau’s talent’s will not go to waste. During combat, I operate the electronic warfare and cyberwarfare suites. Beyond that, I cannot interface with the ship’s systems. I observe and offer analysis and advice. Nothing more.” It states in response. The hologram disappears as it finishes speaking, leaving Shepard to turn back around to Miranda, Jacob, and Ben.

“Anyone else I should meet? I’m guessing it takes more than just the three of us plus Joker to fly this ship.” Shepard questions

“The Normandy has a full crew. They’re at their stations awaiting your orders.” She answers, gesturing to the various people stationed about the room.

“Final preparations for takeoff are complete, Commander. When you’re ready to go, just pick a destination from the galaxy map in the CIC and I’ll plot a course.” Joker speaks over the intercom, cutting off their conversation.

“Jacob and I should return to our posts. Come and find us if you have any questions.” Miranda tells him.

With a salute from Jacob, they both make their way away from Shepard and out of the room. Jacob heads through to the armory, whilst Miranda takes the elevator.

With both of them gone Shepard is left to address Ben, who has wandered slightly further into the room as he’s looked about the space. Shepard walks after him, making his way around the curve of the consoles towards the balcony-like structure that lets him overview a holographic map of the milky way galaxy that loads into view on approach. He stops short of the steps leading up to it though, looking down at the terminal apparently designated for him.

“So, what’d you have to do for a group like Cerberus to just hand over a whole ship?” Ben asks as he wanders back over to Shepard.

“Well the first one was the jewel of the Alliance fleet, and it blew up with me on board. I imagine they have their reservations about letting me die again. It seems like a logical choice to remake the original ship with some improvements.” Shepard answers.

The terminal is quick to load his email as soon as he enters his credentials. Over a half dozen messages from just the last couple of hours quickly load onto the screen, the most notable of which being one from Councilor Anderson.

“Right, the first one blows up so the logical thing to do is make another one and hope that doesn’t happen again.” Ben jokes.

“It didn’t just blow up, it was attacked.” Shepard clarifies.

He starts clearing the messages one by one, reading through them before marking them as read. A message from his bank account, some info on the people he’s recruiting and where they’ll be, a few requests for help, and an invitation to meet Anderson at the Citadel.

“Man. You know who did it?” Ben asks.

Shepard doesn’t answer. Instead, he simply shuts down the terminal and steps over to the galaxy map, hopping up the steps to look over the whole thing at once. A moment later Ben leaps up as well, forcing Shepard to take a step to the side to make room for the teenager as he leans against the left side of the rail.

“Where is the Citadel, anyways? I never got a chance to see on the other ships.” Ben asks.

As an answer Shepard merely gestures to a region labeled “Serpent Nebula,” Letting it expand to display the Widow system within. He then gestures to the Citadel, causing the information on the super structure to load to view. With one more gesture he locks in their course, causing the map to return to its original display.

“Serpent Nebula, Widow system. Got it.” Ben says to himself.

It doesn’t take long for the ship to start moving again, just barely audible in the form of a quiet hum beneath their feet.

“Course set and locked, Commander. We’ll be arriving in about four hours.” Joker informs over the intercom as Shepard steps back down to the main floor.

“Try to stay out of trouble, Ben.” Shepard states as he makes his way over to the elevator.

“Yeah, yeah. No aliens, I’ve got it.” Ben responds.

“Just don’t scare anyone.” Shepard says as the doors shut, leaving the teen again without anyone to tell him what to do.

It’s not long before he starts to wander. First just around the CIC, looking over each of the workstations and their holographic interfaces, but then eventually up to the cockpit to look out the windows at the passing space.

The room at the front of the ship slopes down slightly as it goes, to a main console at which the pilot sits. That pilot, Joker, glances back over his shoulder to Ben as he enters the space, still operating the ship as he does.

“Well? What do you think, kid?” Joker asks.

“It’s not the first time I’ve been to space.” Ben responds, placing himself in one of the other seats in the room as he continues to look up through the glass at the stars.

“Well sure, but you’ve never been to space in the Normandy.” Joker says, letting his seat rotate to face Ben. “Speaking of, I’ve been wanting to ask about that. Shepard doesn’t usually- well no, he does. Cerberus doesn’t really hand out rides to every poor soul they come across, so what’s your deal?” Joker questions.

“Mr. Tennyson is being escorted to report to the Systems Alliance, Mr. Moreau. The Illusive Man hopes that informing them of the Collectors will help to clear the suspicion that Cerberus is responsible for the disappearances of the human colonies.” EDI chimes in before Ben can answer.

“And there’s the downside.” Joker comments under his breath with a glance to the other side of the room, where the hologram representing EDI is displayed. “No offense kid, but you look a little young to be serving with the Alliance. Something I’m missing here?”

Ben holds up his left arm in response. “Omnitrix.” He states.

“Am I supposed to know what that is?”

Ben takes a breath to speak but stops himself for a second. Eventually he looks down at the watch and puts the index and middle of his right hand to its face. “Here, I’ll show you. Just try not to freak out, alright?” Ben speaks as he pulls his hand back from the device.

“Yeah, sure man.” Joker shrugs off.

The Omnitrix emits the signature warble as the core is pressed in, and with a flash Ben transforms. From the watch a thin sheet of rubbery black rolls over in place of his skin, and atop that green lines run over the form in patterns almost resembling circuitry. The color scheme is reversed for their torso, leaving it primarily green. Ben’s whole body expands in size by a few feet whilst sagging a bit as if not quite solid. The form is completed with the emergence of the Omnitrix’s dial from the front of his head, where facial features might be otherwise.

Joker tenses quite noticeably once Ben is left as the black and green alien. He keeps himself contained quite well though, only speaking a soft “what the shiiiitt” as he leans back into his chair.

“It’s called the Omnitrix. It lets me turn into aliens. I found it when I was ten.” Ben explains, gesturing to the device on his face.

“uh-huh, okay. Sure” Joker reacts, still just staring at the transformation wide-eyed.

“Hang on, I can probably” Ben reaches up and hits the dial on his face. With a flash he transforms again, now to his sample of a quarian. Upon shrinking slightly Joker seems to relax a bit. Only a bit though. “There we go, one you should recognize.”

“Huh, no joke.” Joker says, glancing down to Ben’s legs and hands to confirm that he’s not still just a human wearing a quarian exo-suit.

Ben reaches to the Omnitrix again, letting him turn back with another shimmering flash of green.

“Okay, well it was good talking to you. I’m going to get back to work now before you can do anything else that’ll scar me or whatever.” Joker says, turning the chair back towards the main console.

Ben just shrugs at this, turning back to look up at the stars though the windows.

It’s a while before the teen gets tired of the view, but eventually he pushes himself out of the seat and wonders back down the bridge to the CIC.

Wondering out into the open space of the front of the CIC, EDI once again appears as a hologram on one of the consoles.

“Are there any facilities you wish to locate, Mr. Tennyson?” EDI asks.

Ben thinks for a moment before looking across the space to the left door, the one labeled “Tech Lab.”

“I’m guessing a red hologram means the door is locked?” Ben checks.

“A scientist is required to use the Technical Laboratory.” EDI informs him.

Ben starts making his way over to the door, starting to scroll through the dial of his watch as he does.

“No problem, I’ve got a bunch of sciencey guys in here.” He responds, coming to a stop just before the sealed hatch. “Think you could open the door? I don’t really want to scare anyone.”

“Affirmative.” EDI answers. The holographic lock begins rotating barely a second later, changing to the default green before opening.

Ben steps through and the hatch seals shut behind him, leaving him in an empty room with only another hatch on the other side. Ben keeps walking as he comes to his desired alien, at which point he retracts his fingers to let the faceplate shift back and the core pop up. He hits the core down as the second door opens, revealing on its other side a full laboratory.

His skin hardens and darkens to a reddish orange, his fingers merge and his thumbs extend to form claw-like pincers at the end of each arm. His legs split and thin while his torso widens. In a flash he stands as a crustation poised on four legs, stripes of green and black accenting the orange of his form and holding around his waste the dial for the Omnitrix.

He wastes essentially no time in making his way over to one of the stations, using a claw to pull out what seems to serve as the equivalent for a laptop and setting it up atop the main table of the room. Then he makes his way to the back of the space, barely sparing the glance to the trembling form of the ship’s core through the window as he collects a few materials from the shelving and makes his way back to the table.

“What are you trying to make, Ben?” EDI asks.

“Currently? I am trying to synthesize a device capable of recharging my personal communications device. In a moment? I will attempt to design a means of altering the Omnitrix’s notification settings with some degree of accuracy.” Brainstorm explains.

He pauses for a second, and with a wash of green transforms back into Ben. From his pocket he pulls out his phone and places it on the table, letting him then reach for the Omnitrix again and activate another transformation. This time his whole body shrinks in stature and proportion as his skin greys and his pupils widen. In a moment he stands no more than six inches tall, prompting him to leap up and onto the table to continue working with the parts.

“Are the Normandy’s power sockets insufficient for your needs?”

“They’re more than sufficient, that’s the problem. Ignoring the fact that it seems like earth hasn’t sold the right charger in about a hundred and fifty years, you’re also using a voltage that would instantly fry my battery.” Grey matter explains.

He runs across the desk, hopping over the parts he’s been assembling, to the computer. It powers on in just a moment, letting him start to navigate it.

“This is far more intuitive that I realized. Here’s hoping I’ll remember how to do some of this when I’m human again.” He comments to himself. Once he’s seemingly reached the window he wants he dashes back across the desk, grabbing a cord from a device on the desk before running back to plug it into the computer. With a single keystroke it powers on, letting him run over to start using it.

“You are saying that your alien forms are capable of possessing information that is not retained in your default state?” EDI checks

“Precisely. There are far too many life forms in my universe to limit intelligence and knowledge by what the original wearer can remember. If that were the case I might only be as smart as Blukic and Driba in this form, and nobody wants that.” He shudders. “My best guess is that the Omnitrix stores all the extra data in a digital form while I’m not using it.” Graymatter postulates, gesturing to the dial on his back.

He lets the in-progress device power down as he hops off from its controls, quickly moving to the piece of hardware he was working on. He starts assembling the pieces together, connecting wires, fitting into a case, bending small pieces of metal into the right shape, all the while pulling parts out of other miscellaneous hardware for the pieces he needs.

“Will you need to construct a charging device for your ‘Omnitrix’ as well?” EDI asks.

“Not as far as I can tell. No clue how it powers itself, but it’s never needed a power source to recharge.” He answers.

What he’s making slowly becomes recognizable as a sort of external battery. On one side, a charging port compatible with standardized power outlets, and on the other a simple power cord meant to plug into his phone.

He unplugs the device from the computer and instead plugs the battery into it, letting it charge for barely a moment before plugging the other end into his phone. It remains dark for a second before the screen lights up to display that it’s charging properly.

“Good. Once that’s charged, I’ll work on getting it compatible with your “Extranet” thing. For now…” He darts back across the table to the edge, hopping off as he reaches over his back to hit the Omnitrix. Before he even hits the ground he’s already transformed into the same semisolid metal alien he showed to Joker, being his sample of a galvanic mechamorph.

He turns around to face the table again and extends a hand to the pieces, letting it morph to cover all of them. His arm visibly shifts in geometric ways as it lingers over the pieces, temporarily forming semi-complex structures in parts before they smooth again. After a moment he pulls his arm back, revealing a seemingly completed device on the table. At this point he reaches for the Omnitrix again, tapping the node on his face.

He transforms back to Ben, letting him place the wrist wearing the Omnitrix atop the device, at which point it’s secured with a mechanical latch on either side. He taps the screen facing him to the right of it, which after a moment loads a very simple list of options written in plain text. Ben scrolls through them until finding the notifications, which he selects. A screen of similar format loads after that, which he again scrolls through until finding the option he wants. He very specifically tries to set the Omnitrix to always notify him verbally, rather than with beeping.

In response, the device he constructed does not simply do what Ben intends for it to. Rather, it sparks and begins smoking as the screen shuts off, forcing him to quickly pull his arm back from it as the main chamber starts to ignite. He goes for the Omnitrix immediately, slamming down without so much as looking at the alien it’s giving him. Heatblast. It only takes him a second to adjust to the transformation and reach out to absorb the energy of the fire starting, leaving the device inert before he transforms back.

“Yeah, I didn’t think that would work, but it was worth a shot.” Ben says to himself. He walks around the table to grab his phone and the battery, shoving both into his pocket as he turns off the computer.

The door on the side of the room slides open before Ben can do much more, causing him to look to his right and over to Jacob as he enters with an extinguisher in hand.

“What’s- Ben?” He cuts himself off, adjusting to the sight of the teen.

“’Sup.” Ben responds

“I just got a fire alert for the lab. Figured I’d take care of it before it got out of hand” He spots the device on the table between them, specifically the fact that it’s fairly burned and still slightly smoking, “Seems like you already took care of it though.” He acknowledges, placing the extinguisher on the ground by the door as he steps over to Ben.

“Actually, the alert was not for the minor ignition of the device, but for Ben himself. For approximately 7.3 seconds, his body heat registered roughly 210° Celsius. I thought it wise to alert the nearest crew member, for his safety.” EDI explains.

“You might want to get your sensors checked, EDI. He looks fine to me.” Jacob says.

“My sensors are perfectly accurate, Mr. Taylor.” EDI rebukes.

“Yeah, EDI’s right, that was me. I was going for Water Hazard or Big Chill, but the watch gave me Heatblast instead.” Ben explains.

“Damn, you really have an alien that burns at 200 C?” Jacob comments, leaning himself on the opposite side of the table from Ben.

“I have a few. Heatblast, NRG, and… No, just those two actually. All the other ones make fire, they aren’t made of fire.”

“Heatblast, NRG, those are their species?” Jacob asks.

“Nah, Heatblast is a pyronite and NRG is a prypiatosian-B. The names are just to help me remember what they can do.” Ben explains.

“So they’re nicknames, just to keep all of them straight when you’re on the field.” Jacob interprets.

“Yeah. Also helps with figuring out which ones I turn into. Better to have someone say that I’m ‘Swampfire’ than that I turned into a ‘Methanosian’ sometimes.”

“Yeah, I got you. Been at this long enough to know that sometimes nicknames are the only way to remember something.” Jacob responds.

“Right, you were Alliance before you joined Cerberus. Guess you’ve been at this for a while.”

“I’ve seen my share of action, sure. Cerberus wouldn’t have assigned me to the Normandy if I hadn’t.” Jacob justifies. “Sort of makes me wonder why the Illusive Man was so ready to get you on the team, if I’m being honest.”

“Probably something to do with me wielding the most powerful device in the universe. At a guess.” Ben sarcastically states.

“Nah, I don’t think that’s it.” Jacob refutes, genuinely surprise Ben a little. “If he just wanted your watch, I think he’d just try to take it from you.” Jacob clarifies.

“And you’re okay working for someone like that?” Ben questions.

“I haven’t always agreed with Cerberus’s actions in the past. They’ve done a lot of shady stuff in their time around, and not all of it had a good reason, but right now they’re the only ones doing anything about the Collectors. I worked for my place here, to do something about that. But you he just offered the job.”

“Well I’ve had a lot or practice fighting Aliens.” Ben rationalizes.

“I think it’s more that you’ve had practice fighting as aliens. The Illusive Man knows that if he gave that device to anyone else, they’d have to train with it, but you already know how it works.” Jacob guessed.

“He’d also have to get it from me, and that hasn’t worked out too well for any of the other hundred guys that have tried.” Ben states.

“You think he sees you as a threat?”

“I think”

“Hey, Ben? Miranda wants to see you down on the crew deck. I wouldn’t keep her waiting if I were you.” Joker interrupts over the intercom, cutting off Ben.

Ben pushes off from the wall he leans against with a smirk.

“Later, Tennyson.” Jacob says to him as he makes his way out of the room. He passes through the empty room again on his way to the CIC, turning left as he enters the center to make his way over to the elevator.

The door opens automatically on approach, letting him reach the holographic console he uses to select the level he’s heading to. Deck 3: Crew Quarters. The Crew Deck, labeled as such quite clearly upon the wall he faces as he exits the lift.

He steps out and looks to either side to try to get a sense for where he’s going. On his right, Life support, and further over Port Observation. On his left, Crew Quarters, and past that Starboard Observation. Behind him is the elevator, and behind that he discovers a food court of sorts. On the right side of the room is the medical lab, on the right is a door simply labeled “Normandy,” and at the back of the room is a hatch labeled Main Battery.

“Anyone know where I can find Miranda?” Ben asks to the room as a whole.

The man cooking within the kitchen merely gestures to the wall behind him, the one labeled Normandy, as he continues to work.

“Thanks” Ben says as he walks past them.

He turns right and taps on the green lock to get the door to open as he reaches it. It takes a half second, then rises to reveal the space behind it. An office sort of space, containing Miranda working at a desk that takes up about a third of the room. That’s not to say the room is small, but that the desk is far larger than one person should really need. Behind that is an archway revealing a bed littered with several more pillows than any one person should need, implying a private room either side of it.

“Let me guess, your boss wants you to try getting me to work for you guys again, so he told you to try convincing me that Cerberus actually really isn’t that bad.” Ben speaks as he walks over to sit down in the seat facing her desk.

“Actually, I felt the need to ask you myself. My job here on the Normandy is making sure Shepard succeeds in his mission, and you would undoubtably help with making sure that happens. You’ve already proven yourself capable of handling collectors on your own on Freedom’s Progress.” She tells Ben.

“You guys have a hard time taking ‘no’ for an answer, huh?” Ben quips

“Call us persistent, but we try not to lose assets of value too easily.” Miranda recontextualizes, trying to make it sound almost admirable.

“Call me stubborn, but I usually don’t work for anybody that calls their people assets.” Ben firmly rejects.

Miranda is silent for a moment, just looking at the boy staring back at her with an unflinching certainty.

“A shame. You really would fit in quite well on Shepard’s team.” Miranda seemingly accepts, leaning back in her chair.

“Not in Cerberus?” Ben calls out the word choice.

“Oh heavens no, you really are far too idealistic to work in any of the other cells I know about. Under Shepard though, you might just fit in.” She tries.

Just for a moment she can almost see his certainty waver. Like for the first time since he walked onto the ship, the thought of joining actually crosses his mind.

“Well, if that’s all you’ve got.” Ben says, standing up.

“It’s not, actually.” Miranda corrects

“Ugh, what now?” Ben groans with a roll of his eyes.

“The Illusive Man did ask for me to document your alien forms. Photos, biometric readings, DNA samples. Whatever I can get.” She tells him.

“Yeah, about that, I don’t think all of my Aliens would fit in this ship, let alone this room.” He tells her.

“How about just the ones you used on Freedom’s Progress then?” She asks.

“Sure, I’ll see what I can do.” Ben accepts.

“Excellent. If you could head over to the medical lab Dr. Chakwas can take a look at you. I’ll be over in just a moment.”

Ben shrugs as he heads out of the room, walking across the space and into the windowed room through the automatic door at is end. Upon entering he’s promptly greeted with the sight of two individuals.

“I don’t work for Cerberus; I work for you – on a mission that may be crucial to the survival of the human race.” The older woman seems to correct as he enters. “I have faith that your dealings with Cerberus will be ethical. I trust you, Commander.”

Shepard’s attention moves to Ben as he enters, leaving the doctor to do the same as their dialogue is broken.

“Ben, I was just catching up with an old friend from the original Normandy. What brings you by?” The commander asks, stepping aside as Ben walks across the room to sit down on the edge of one of the beds.

“Miranda told me to stop by. Says that Tim wants info on as many of my aliens as he can get. Figured I’d play along until we got to the Citadel.” Ben tells him.

“Tim?” Shepard questions.

“Easier than saying ‘the Illusive Man’ every time.” Ben says.

“I see.” Shepard accepts. “Well, Doctor?” Shepard asks, turning to Chakwas.

“Yes, of course. I was wondering if I’d get to see any of your supposed transformations before you left us.” She says to Ben.

“Go ahead, Ben.” Shepard says, turning back to him.

He lets the dial spin through the options for a moment before pushing down the core. The Omnitrix makes the noise it always does, his whole body flashes with green light, and he transforms. His stature increases, his skin reddens, his arms split from two to four, matched by his eyes, and his clothes change to that of a green and black sleeveless unitard.

The bed creaks and sags slightly with his new weight. The doctor’s jaw, likewise, also lowers slightly in astonishment at the sight of him.

“That’s the same one you used on Freedom’s progress, right?” Shepard asks, seemingly less impressed with the alien form.

“Yeah. Figured I should start with one that’s fairly human before I get to the others.” Four arms explains.

The doctor rises from her seat and steps over to Ben, summoning her Omni-tool on her way to him.

“This one’s fairly human?” Shepard questions.

“Carbon based, humanoid muscle and bone structure, haired skin with pores. Compared to some of my other guys, I might as well still be human.” He affirms.

“What other kinds of aliens can you transform into?” The commander asks.

“If you can think of it, I probably have it.” Ben tells him.

The doctor steps back from Ben, looking down at her omni-tool to make sure it’s finished scanning him before she gestures for him to change. He hits the dial on his chest and in just a second stands as his crystal blue alien, Diamond Head, letting the doctor continue.

“I saw you turn into a quarian on Freedom’s progress. Do you have any other races I’d recognize?” Shepard asks.

“The watch only scanned the quarians at the end of that fight with the robot. It hasn't scanned any of the other aliens in this dimension yet, so no.” Ben answers.

“So if you met, say, an asari. You could transform into them?” Shepard checks.

“Those are the blue ones, right? Uh, yeah. I’d say so.” Ben confirms.

The doctor gestures for him to transform again, and so he does, this time to Chromastone.

“Thanks for telling me about that, I’ll leave you to it.” Shepard says, turning to head back towards the door.

“Right. I’ll see you when we get to the Citadel.” Chromastone states.

The next few hours are mostly spent scanning Ben’s aliens until he eventually turns back into a human, at which point they let him head back up to the bridge to resume watching the stars pass by.

The final approach is the first time Ben has been able to see the Citadel from a distance. It’s the first time he gets an idea of what it actually is.

Massive, in a word. A colossal space station mainly composed of five poised arms reaching around the open space within, where dozens, or maybe hundreds, of ships linger or soar about. As they get close the station seems to just get larger and larger, eventually so monumentally so that by the time they’re flying by the buildings built onto the surface of the arm the sense of perspective for the whole thing is lost entirely.

It’s not long before they reach their docking bay, letting the ship come to rest in the air by the mechanical arms that reach out to magnetically grasp onto the wings and sides.

Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob all accompany Ben as they depart the Normandy. Ben assumes Shepard is probably going to talk with Anderson while he’s there if the email was anything to go off of, and it’s fair to assume that Miranda is essentially baby sitting the Cerberus investment. He’s not totally sure why Jacob comes, but he doesn’t say anything about it.

They take the Citadel’s rapid transit service from their docking bay down to the entrance to the Zakera Ward. The group step out of the vehicle as it comes to land, Shepard and Miranda from the front, and Ben and Jacob from the back. Ben can’t help but notice, looking around the space, that he’s not in the Presidium.

“So am I missing something here? Because this definitely is not where the embassies are.” Ben comments, watching as Shepard makes his way over to one of the personalized advertisements.

“If you could wait a moment longer we’ll be on our way again shortly.” Miranda informs him.

“uh-huh” Ben responds, folding his arms ahead of his chest.

Shepard stops beside the advertisement displaying the face of a hooded woman.

“Please tell me your password, Commander Shepard.” It seems to automatically prompt him.

Ben watches with reserved amusement as Shepard responds, “Silence is golden.”

“Good to finally meet you, Commander Shepard. Kasumi Goto. I’m a fan.” It quickly responds.

Ben’s eyes narrow slightly as he starts catching on to exactly what’s happening, but he somehow manages to keep quiet and simply watch.

“Has Cerberus filled you in on the mission?’ Shepard asks.

“Honestly, I’m shocked they didn’t come to see me sooner. My fault for being hard to find, I guess.” Kasumi answers through the holographic screen.

“What brought you to Cerberus?”

Ben catches in the corner of his vision as a figure paces across the platform resting above the display. The same person Shepard is talking to, based on what he can see of them from where he stands.

“That’s a bit of a story. Short version, they were looking for me, so I trailed them to find out why. Turns out they were looking for someone to join you on an important mission… and were offering a serious signing bonus. I had a thing I needed help with, so I made them a deal. And here we are.” She explains.

“I assume this deal is something I should know about.” Shepard responds.

“Yeah, I guess it slipped their minds.” She sarcastically remarks. “I’m looking for my old partner’s graybox. A man named Donovan Hock took it, and I’m looking to get it back.” She informs him.

“If that’s what Cerberus promised you, we’ll get it done.” He tells her.

“It’ll be fun. And if we’re lucky, you won’t even have to draw your gun.” She seems to joke. Walking to the edge of the upper platform she speaks again, though now directly to Shepard rather than through the screen. “We should probably wrap this up. You look pretty silly standing there talking to an advertisement. See you on the ship, Shepard.” She concludes, seeming to vanish entirely as she walks away from them on the suspended level.

With Kasumi gone Shepard walks back over to the rapid transit terminal past Ben, stopping before it as the screen loads. He lingers on it for a moment before closing out of it again, turning around to face the entrance of the Zakera ward.

“Seems like we’re going to have to go through security before we can go anywhere else on the Citadel.” Shepard informs the group.

“Ugh.” Ben groans, fairly certain he knows what’s about to happen.

The group makes their way forwards, entering through the hatch as it opens on their approach.

Inside is a simple room with a turian guard at the far end. To his left essentially the whole wall is made of glass, revealing an office on the other side with a few more guards. As they walk a grid of blue light begins scanning over them, though quickly stop with a flash of red light filling the room as it hits the first of them.

“Obviously security has tightened since you were last here.” Miranda comments as they slow to a stop.

“Yeah, that’s me.” Ben asserts. “This always happens, don’t worry about it.”

At the end of the room the turian manages the console, seemingly trying to figure out what went wrong until eventually he just reaches up to his earpiece.

“Shut it down.” The sergeant instructs over the radio.

“What? Do you seriously think… yeah, okay” He seems to argue before accepting as he turns to look at the group. “Sorry for the inconvenience, sir. Our scanners are picking up false readings. They seem to think you’re, ah, dead.” He says to Shepard.

“Never mind, for once it wasn’t me.” Ben reacts to himself.

“I was listed as missing in action a couple of years ago.” Shepard informs the turian.

The sergeant nods. “Would you mind checking in with my Captain? He can reinstate you in our system. He’s just passed the scanners on your right.”

“Of course.” Shepard tells him, heading forwards with the group through the second door.

“You’ll have to make him scream a little. He’s not going to tell you everything just ‘cause you ask!” Erupts from beyond the hatch as soon as it’s opening.

Ben raises an eyebrow as he steps through, looking over to the man speaking.

“I- I know, sir.” A woman at the desk across form him responds.

“If you don’t have the stomach, or you’re worried about being reported, I can take care of it.” The man they approach tells her.

“No, sir! I can handle it.” The woman insists.

The man shakes his head as he turns away from her back to the screen in front of him, only to again redirect to Shepard as he steps over to the captain.

“Yes?” He starts, only to continue before Shepard starts. “I see the problem already, Commander Shepard. My console says you’re dead.” He informs.

“You’re not worried I’m some imposter claiming to be me?” Shepard questions.

“We have the best screening equipment in the galaxy. Those scanners can sample DNA from skin flakes. Hell, if you have unregistered gene mods, they can even figure those out. Like I said, Commander. The problem’s just that my screen’s saying you’re dead.” Baily tells him.

“Your sergeant said you could help with that.”

“Usually you’d have to go through the Station Security Administration to reactivate your IDs. Then to Customs and Immigration to regain access to the Citadel itself. And probably a stop by the treasury. “Spending a year dead” is a popular tax dodge.” He informs Shepard.

Shepard nods.

“But I can see you’re a busy man.” He says, leaning forwards to rest his elbows on the desk. “So how about I just press this button right here, and we call it done?” He offers.

Shepard takes slight pause, furrowing his brow before responding “You’re not big on formalities, are you?”

“I’m with them right up until they keep people from doing their jobs.” He defends, looking down to the keyboard his hands rest over for a moment. After a few digital beeps he looks back up to Shepard. “There. I just saved you about nine days of running around.”

Shepard again nods.

“That said, you should head up to the presidium and tell them you’re still alive.” He instructs. “The council probably wants to talk to the one who saved their scaly asses.”

“Yeah, that’s the plan. I need to talk to Anderson.” Ben interjects.

“Ben.” The captain acknowledges. “Can’t imagine what sort of trouble you must have got into to run across the Commander.”

“Just the usual.” Ben responds.

“We’re heading there now. I’m escorting Ben here from a colony out in the Terminus Systems, and it’d be useful to have access to the council and the spectres’ resources again.” Shepard tells him.

“Yeah, the Council can get anything. Best thing about working C-Sec is that any equipment, information, or money you need, you get.” Bailey says, shaking his head subtly. “Anyways. Something else you need? Or can I get back to work?”

“I should be going.” Shepard tells him.

“You need anything else, let me know.” He directs to Shepard as the group steps away from the desk.

In the direction the group heads is immediately the holographic body of the Asari based VI, Avina. Beyond that is a gap in the floor showing the level below, gated off with railings on each side. Behind that is another transit hub like the one they arrive at, with more than a few shuttle cars waiting.

They head around the gap, Ben noting the signage for Level 27 being where they are on the way, then they follow Shepard over to the Transit Terminal as he orders a ride up to the Presidium.

The group gets into the instructed cab and waits as it takes off into the central space between the arms of the station.

“So, you know the captain?” Shepard asks, assumedly in reference to Bailey.

“Yeah, he’s the one that got stuck with making sure I didn’t get into trouble after they got me here.” Ben informs.

“And how did that work out?” Shepard questions.

“Well, the Citadel’s still here, isn’t it?” Ben jokes.

Shepard cracks a smile at the kid’s blatant confidence in himself, though it’s not one Ben can see from the back seat. Instead, Ben sees Jacob as he chuckles at the kid’s remark.

“Please, a Reaper couldn’t take this place out, and it had half the geth fleet backing it. You really think one of your aliens could do it?” Jacob asks.

“The Reapers didn’t have an Alien-X.” Ben boasts.

“Let’s try to keep it that way.” Shepard interjects.

“Yeah, believe me, I’m not planning to hand over the Omnitrix to a race of genocidal war machines any time soon.”

“Good to hear.” The commander asserts.

Once the shuttle lands in the inner ring it’s not a far walk to the embassies. It is a relaxed walk without a group of soldiers escorting Ben. Well, without a group that’s adamant about keeping him in line.

They head inside, take a right, and head up the stairs together. Shepard as always in the lead, and Ben a few steps behind.

As the door to the embassy office opens, they’re able to hear the voice of Anderson already speaking within.

“My advisor is unavailable. As Councilor, I represent the voice of humanity and the Alliance. Shepard will be here any” He turns back to the group as they enter. “Oh, Commander. We were just talking about you.”

Ben watches as the Commander takes several more steps towards the Councilor than the rest of the group, extending a hand to take his with a smile.

“It’s been a long time, Anderson. I hope the last couple of years have treated you right.”

The office is the same as it was the last time Ben was here, though notably there are now three holograms standing at the edge of the room. A turian, an asari, and a salarian. The council, if Ben had to guess.

“There have been some rough spots. It’s good to have you back.” He looks past Shepard to ben. “And it’s good to see you brought this one back to us. We’ve been more than a bit worried since the reports arrived about Freedom’s Progress.”

“We’ve heard many rumors surrounding your unexpected return, Shepard. Some of them are… unsettling.” The salarian Councilor speaks to the room, causing both Shepard and Anderson to turn to face them.

“We’ve called this meeting so you could explain your actions, Shepard, and to address the absence of Mr. Tennyson, though clearly that will be less necessary. We owe the Commander that much. After all, you saved our lives in the battle against Saren and his geth.” The asari councilor explains.

Ben’s eyes widen slightly as it clicks in his mind that the Commander Anderson had mentioned during his explanations of the attack on the Citadel, and Shepard, are the same person. If he ever named them, Ben doesn’t remember. Though now the sort of respect and resources Cerberus has afforded him make slightly more sense.

“The Collectors are abducting human colonists in the Terminus Systems. Worse, we think they’re working for the Reapers.” Shepard immediately gets to.

“The Terminus Systems are beyond our jurisdiction! Your colonists knew this when they left council space.” The turian retorts.

“You’re missing the important part, Councilor. The Reapers are involved.” Anderson reminds.

“Ah, yes. Reapers.” He scoffs, moving his hands to provide air quotes around the word. “The immortal race of sentient starships allegedly waiting in dark space. We have dismissed that claim.” He refutes with a wave from his arm, brushing away the suggestion as if absurd.

Anderson turns from the council to Shepard himself, “Shepard, no one else encountered the hologram on Ilos that told you the truth about the Reapers. Only you and your crew ever spoke with Sovereign. I believe you, but without evidence from another source, the others thing Saren was behind the geth attacks.” He informs.

Shepard is silent for a moment as his eyes narrow. “Saren was an organic. The geth would never accept him as their leader. They only followed him because he was Sovereign’s agent!” Shepard insists.

“Saren was a compelling and charismatic individual. He convinced the geth the Reapers ere real… just as he convinced you.” The asari councilor educates.

“It was part of his plan to attack the Citadel. The Reapers are just a myth. One you insist on perpetuating.” The turian rationalizes.

“We believe that you believe it, but that doesn’t make it true.” The asari states. “As we said, the terminus Systems are beyond our control. We cannot help you.”

“I kept Saren from conquering the Citadel.” The commander steps towards their holograms. “I sacrificed human lives to save this Council. I deserve better than this.” Shepard insists.

“We are in a difficult position, Shepard. You are working for Cerberus,” She gestures to Miranda and Jacob. “An avowed enemy to the Council. This is treason, a capital offence.” The asari explains.

“That’s too far! Shepard is a hero. I’m on the council too, and I won’t let this whitewash continue.” Anderson counters.

“Maybe there is a compromise.” The asari backs down. “Not a public acknowledgement, given your ties, but something to show peripheral support.” She suggests with a glance to the other Councilors.

“Shepard, if you keep a low profile and restrict your operations to the Terminus Systems, the Council is willing to offer you reinstatement as a Spectre.” The turian tells.

Shepard remains silent for a moment before looking to his left, at Anderson. Anderson meets his gaze, and nods. Shepard turns back to the Councilors and takes a single step forward. Miranda can’t help but cross her arms and roll her eyes at the show of formality but remains silent all the same.

“I accept your offer. It’s good to have the Council on my side.” He accepts.

“Good luck with your investigation, Shepard. We hope for a quick resolution… and a quick end to your relationship with Cerberus.” The asari says.

“Now, onto the other matter of this meeting.” The turian redirects with a look to Ben.

The teen, in response, steps forward to beside Anderson as Shepard moves back to Miranda and Jacob.

“I’m sure you’re gonna want to know all about how I kicked Collector butts back on Freedom’s Progress, but I think”

“Actually.” The turian cuts him off. “Now that your whereabouts have been confirmed, this is an Alliance matter.”

Ben smirks at the fact they don’t actually have any power over him.

“If that’s all, then I suggest we all get back to our duties.” The salarian speaks, leaning down to hit a button on his terminal that seems to end the call.

“Well, that went better than expected.” Anderson says with a breath, turning away from where the holograms were. “You realize the Council’s offer was just symbolic. They won’t actually do anything.” He says to Shepard.

“Even if they don’t help, I might as well stay on good terms.” Shepard reasons.

“True enough. Don’t worry about the Council or the Alliance. I’ll find some way to keep them off your back.” Anderson promises. “Shouldn’t be too hard as long as you keep to the Terminus Systems.” He turns back to face Ben as Miranda and Jacob make their ways over to wait by the door. “Now as for you, Ben.”

He’s interrupted by the sound of the door to the office opening once again, now for an older gentleman to enter the room.

“Anderson, we need to talk about—Shepard! What are you doing here?” The ambassador questions.

“Stopped by to see how Anderson was doing.” Shepard responds.

“You don’t have to cover for me.” Anderson quickly says to Shepard before turning back to the ambassador. “I invited Shepard here to speak with the Council. We just finished our meeting.”

“You what? Councilor, do the words political shit-storm mean anything to you?” The man insults.

“The Council reinstated my Spectre status. They’re just happy I’m staying out in the Terminus Systems.” Shepard informs him.

“Yes… I could see how that arrangement works best for both sides.” He accepts. “But you really shouldn’t have taken a step like this without consulting me first, Councilor.” He tries to reprimand.

Ben makes his way over to lean on the right wall, watching with that same smug grin as the ambassador tries to control the situation.

“I don’t answer to you, Udina. Why don’t you go to your office and think about that for a while?” Anderson scolds him.

Udina is left silent for a moment before forcing himself to speak a polite “Of course, Councilor. Good day to both of you.” Before turning to make his way back out of the room.

Once he’s beyond the door again Anderson lowers his head, shaking it back and forth slightly with a contemplative smile. Eventually he looks up to Shepard, still at his side.

“Sorry about that. Udina’s never gotten over the fact that I got the Council position over him. Sometimes I need to put him in his place.” Anderson explains.

“Udina’s just doing his job.” Shepard defends.

“True enough.” Anderson accepts, turning back around to face Ben again. “Now, as for your friend here.” He says, now looking at Ben.

“I figured I should come back to tell you guys about the freaky alien bugs that are stealing your colonists. You can thank me later. I’m guessing right now you probably want me to write up a report or something. Just point me to a keyboard and I’ll get right on it… assuming I can figure out how the keyboard works again. Actually, you know what? It might be better if I just got a pen and some lined paper.” Ben offers.

“Honestly? That’s not why I thought you were here, Tennyson.” Anderson responds.

“What? You think I’d come all the way out just to hand in my letter of resignation?” Ben jokes.

“Actually, I thought Shepard was going to ask to have you assigned to his crew.” Anderson looks over to the door, where Miranda and Jacob wait. “Clearly he’s putting another team together. I can’t say I approve of the current catalogue, but knowing Shepard they’ll get the job done.” He turns back to Ben.

Ben looks down from Anderson, placing a hand to his chin and the other to his hip as he thinks.

“If I did ask to have him transferred, could you do it?” Shepard asks.

He thinks for a second before letting a hesitant sigh escape him. “Hmm… See, the thing is, Freedom’s progress was supposed to be a simple job to prove Ben could follow orders. The Alliance was planning to work him up to active duty over the next couple of months, making sure he’s ready for it. Hell, I think if they had the choice they’d rather keep him off the field entirely for a couple years. I’m pretty sure I’m the only reason they’re dealing with him now. Your Spectre status would help, but I’d still have to work my ass off to get Udina on board, and that’s before getting it all filed. But… yes. I think I could. You say you need him, and he’ll be on your ship.” Anderson answers.

“Well, Ben?” Shepard asks, turning to him.

“I think I’m gonna stick to my original answer. Working for Cerberus still sounds like a pretty bad deal.” Ben responds.

“Not Cerberus. Shepard.” Anderson corrects. “There’s not a chance in hell I could get them to hand you over to Cerberus. You’d have to be working for Shepard, and him alone.” He clarifies.

And once again Ben stays silent for a moment, actually thinking about it. Something he doesn’t seem to take the time for too often.

“Well, clearly Anderson knows how to contact you. If I change my mind, he can let you know for me.” Ben says, sticking with his decision.

“Alright then. Take care of yourself, Ben. And you too, Anderson. It was good seeing you again.” Shepard says, making his way back over to the two Cerberus operatives.

“I’ll be here if you need anything.” Anderson responds, waving as the three leave the room.

It’s a moment before either of them speak again, but when they inevitably do it’s Anderson that breaks the silence.

“So, the Collectors, huh? We were thinking it was Cerberus.”

“I take it that means you knew about the colonies disappearing.” Ben observes.

“We didn’t know enough, clearly.” He responds, walking over to his desk to sit down again.

Once more Ben goes quite as he thinks. It’s an odd thing to see, really. He’s usually so verbose or arrogant that seeing him take the time to really think feels odd at first.

Ben is left with the two options again. Either stay at the Citadel and let them hold him until they decide that he’s not a threat to them again and let him go on another assignment. Or go with Shepard. Not Cerberus, very distinctly, but Shepard. Someone Anderson seems to trust, someone who themselves lacks trust in Cerberus, and who is doing more than the Council will to stop the Collectors.

In two months Ben has been incredibly patient, especially for his normal tolerance, but knowing that he’d have to spend another few weeks just sitting around while the collectors go after more colonies doesn’t sit well with him.

“Hey, Anderson. You really were serious about me going with Shepard, weren’t you?” Ben makes sure as he starts walking towards the exit. He stops just short of where it would automatically open though, waiting for the councilor’s responds.

There’s a pause, then a simple “Son, if that’s still the Shepard I knew then he won’t stop fighting until there’s not a breath of air left in his body. And even then, there’s no guarantee that’ll stop him.”

He moves across the room, resting a hand on the edge of his desk as he lowers himself into the seat. “I don’t care what I’ll have to convince the Alliance of. This fight is bigger than any of us. You saw that on Freedom’s Progress, and if the reports are to be trusted you sent them running, something I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around. We don’t have the time to be wasting that sort of potential.” Soaks into the air between them, his words clearly carrying more weight to the man than his brief statements imply. “On Shepard’s ship is where a soldier like you belongs.”

Ben takes a breath to respond but stops himself. With but a nod he leaves the room, immediately starting to dash down the hall after Shepard before anyone can stop him.

By the time anyone notices or thinks to stop him he’s already scrolling through dial of the watch. With a flash, he’s transformed into the blue and black reptile again, XLR8, and is dashing through the presidium faster than anyone can even notice.

He’s so fast, in fact, that he actually makes it down to the rapid transit terminal before Shepard does. He quickly reaches to his chest and transforms back into his human self to avoid unnecessary attention while he waits for them.

It doesn’t take them more than another moment to exit the embassies, spotting Ben once they do. Jacob can’t help but to laugh at seeing Ben already outside, glancing back the way they came as he does.

“I’m gone for thirty seconds and you change your mind?” Shepard asks, stopping as he reaches the terminal Ben stands beside.

“Figured I could do some more good tagging along with you than I can locked up in C-Sec.” Ben states.

“You seemed pretty opposed to the idea when we left.” Miranda states.

They make their way over to the cab it indicates, Shepard and Miranda once again in front, and Jacob and Ben in the back.

“Please, I can never make up my mind about anything. Let’s just hope I don’t change it again before we get off the Citadel.” He deflects.

“Of course.” Miranda speaks, acknowledging his evasion of the real question with her tone.

“It’ll be good to have you, Ben. We’ll get you a room when we get back to the Normandy. There are a still a few things I need to pick up in the wards before we leave.” Shepard tells him over the sound of the shuttle car taking off.

Ben leans back into the seat as the car flies itself, tucking his hands into his pockets as he looks out through the windows at the passing architecture of the station.

Chapter Text

They end up putting Ben in the starboard cargo. They get him a few commodities just for comfort before they leave the Citadel, such as a change of clothes and some actually bedding, but once on the Normandy they only really need to pull a cot out of storage to give him a place to sleep. Beyond that, he’s fairly comfortably just settling into the space as it is. Miscellanies crates and garbage compactor, sealed off behind a transparent wall, included. More than anything it’s a place for him to put his jacket, which he leaves on the table beside his Bed as he steps out of the room.

On their way to Omega Ben took a look around the rest of the level. Directly across from the entrance of his “room” is the hatch for the port side cargo. On the right side of the hallway leading across to that is a few windows overlooking the bay below, sparsely manned by a few of the crew. On the left is the entrance to the elevator, and either side of that seals leading into the engineering deck.

Ben learns the names of both the people working on the engine, Donnelly and Daniels, but doesn’t talk to them much. He spends quite a bit more time looking over the core of the ship. A massive engine pulsing and shaking, seemingly contained with a series of projectors all around the base of the spherical room it’s in.

Eventually though, he just heads up to the CIC to watch as they start approaching their destination.

Almost appearing as just another of the asteroids they pass by at first, it slowly becomes distinct in the rings of red light about the perimeter of the technological spire emerging from the stone base. Omega. A station, clearly. One they approach as visually the main cylindrical shape becomes more and more defined. A complex and structured series of spires and rings forming a sight not too different from a city. If the city was vertical and all the buildings were built from the top down.

The Normandy soars through the space between the spires, eventually coming to dock in one of the deeper levels.

By the time they land Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob area already approaching the airlock. Ben walks across the space from the bridge to join them, if only to see where they landed, and none of the group stop him.

The Normandy settles and after pressure adjustments they’re able to step down through the loading tunnel into the structure itself.

Grimy, if it had to be described as anything. Ben would worry about trying to keep his shoes clean if he didn’t know the Omnitrix would do it for him whenever he turns human again. Instead, Ben only worries about keeping up with the group as they approach what seems to be a Salarian heading their way.

“Ah! Welcome to Omega!” He erupts, coming to a stop before them. “You’re new here, aren’t you? I can always tell. Allow me to” He stops himself as the sound of footsteps approaches from behind him, causing him to turn and look at the nearing body. “Oh… Hello, Moklan! I was just”

“Leave, Fargut. Now.” The alien at his side demands calmly.

“Of course, Moklan! Whatever she wants!” The salarian nervously agrees.

With a wave Fargut is sent running away from the group, leaving Moklan to step into his place ahead of Shepard.

“Blasted scavengers. Welcome to Omega… Shepard.” Moklan greets.

“You know who I am?” The commander questions.

“Of course. We had you tagged the moment you entered the Terminus Systems. You’re not as subtle as you think. Aria wants to know what brings a dead Spectre to Omega. I suggest you go to Afterlife now and present yourself.” He states.

“Cut the attitude. I’m not here to cause problems for Omega.” Shepard responds, raising his voice just enough to make his point.

“Things explode around you, Shepard. You can’t blame Aria for keeping an eye on you.” Moklan defends his position. “Afterlife. Now.” He re-states, turning to walk back away from the group the way he came.

“I’m guessing ‘Afterlife’ is a place, and that wasn’t just a really weird way to tell us to die.” Ben comments as they begin walking again.

“It’s a club.” Jacob informs him.

“EDI, any information on who we’re here for?” Shepard asks, cutting Ben off before he has time to get out another question.

“I’m receiving quarantine warnings about the slums where Dr. Mordin Solus runs the clinic. Anticipate resistance at the transport station. I have also accessed messages between mercenary groups regarding plans to deal with Archangel. There’s a recruiting station at Afterlife that may have information on him.” EDI answers, speaking both through the group’s coms and the Omnitrix.

“I guess we’re heading to Afterlife anyways” Shepard says.

The group slows as they begin to approach the end of the hallway. While on their right is a hatch presumably leading to more of Omega, ahead of them is a human standing over an alien. The latter barely managing to keep their head up long enough to look to any of them before it bobs down again.

“Please… you have to help me.” They beg, looking to Shepard.

“No one said you could talk, Jackass.” The human reprimands, moving to strike the alien with his boot.

Without hesitation Ben goes for the Omnitrix. An increase in both muscle mass and height; yellow, black, and white fur; exposed grey skin; and the Omnitrix dial placing itself on a green and white belt. He's transformed into Shocksquatch by the time the human even has time to turn around to face them.

“Okay pal, how about we tone down the violence, eh?” Ben speaks, grabbing the man’s left arm to pull him back from the alien.

“What the hell are you!?” The man demands, trying to pull his arm free.

It’s only because of Shepard motioning for Ben to stand down that the man seems to restrain himself from going for his guns. Instead he just looks at Shepard as Ben lets go of his arm.

“Zaeed Masani?” Shepard asks, stepping to the side just enough for Ben to walk behind him.

“Yeah. That’s me. You must be Commander Shepard. I heard we have a galaxy to save. Didn’t know we’d be doing it with fuckin’ monsters.” He complains, rolling his shoulder to re-adjust it.

With a glow of green Ben shifts back to his human form, crossing his arms.

“The hell?”

“That’s Ben Tennyson. This is Miranda Lawson, and Jacob Taylor.” Shepard introduces, gesturing to each of the people he names. “Ben’s in possession of some hardware that lets him turn into a variety of alien creatures. That’s not going to be a problem, is it?”

“As long as Cerberus keeps up their end of the deal, I couldn’t give less of a shit about what your crew looks like.” Zaeed answers.

“What is your relationship with Cerberus?” Shepard asks.

“Easy. Cerberus is paying me a lot of money to help you on your mission. That’s the long and short.” He explains, stepping forwards to shepard.

“Not many mercs would take a suicide mission for the pay.” The commander notes.

“Most mercs don’t get an offer like the one Cerberus sent me. This mission doesn’t sound like good business. But… your “Illusive Man” can move a lot of credits.” He clarifies.

“Can I assume you’ve been briefed?” Shepard asks.

“I’ve done my homework. Cerberus sent me everything I needed to know.” He states.

It’s at this time that the alien Zaeed was beating before finally manages to stand back up, leaning himself against the wall to do so. Shepard’s attention shifts to him.

“My contacts told me we were picking up one man. Not two.” Shepard comments.

“Batarian delinquent. Pissed off someone rich enough to hire me to go after him. And for my “Bring ‘em in alive” rates, even.” Zaeed explains.

“Please… I didn’t do it….” The batarian protests.

Zaeed swiftly pivots on his heel to kick them in the gut, dropping them back to the ground again. Ben winces as they collapse over themselves with a groan.

“I said shut it.” He justifies, turning back to Shepard. “Tried to lead me on a chase all over the Systems. He should have known better. These people always run to Omega.” He tells Shepard.

“Well it’s good to have you, Zaeed.” Shepard says, stepping towards him to shake his hand. “We have a lot to do.”

Zaeed takes his hand, shaking it just long enough to satisfy the commander before letting go again.

“That’s what they tell me.” Zaeed responds, moving his hand to his belt to draw his pistol. “I assume the Illusive Man told you about our arrangement?” He checks, motioning for the batarian to stand up with the hand holding his gun.

“No. I guess he decided to leave that information out of the dossier.” Shepard responds.

“Good thing I asked.” Zaeed says, turning back around to him. “Picked up a mission a little while back, just before I signed on with Cerberus. Thought you might be interested. You heard the name Vido Santiago? He’s the head of the Blue Suns. Runs the whole organization. Seems he recently captured an Eldfell-Ashland refinery on Zorya and is using their workers for slave labor. The company wants it dealt with.” He tells.

“I’ll make sure we get that done.” Shepard promises.

“Good. Get it out of the way so we can concentrate on being big goddamn heroes.”

The batarian starts running. Unprompted, and right past Shepard’s group. Not even towards the entrance to Omega, just down the hall. Zaeed barely has to move his arm to aim at them and fire a shot into their leg, grounding them before he re-holsters his gun.

The batarian falls to the ground with a groan, clutching his thigh as it begins to bleed.

“I better turn this thing in before it starts to stink.” Zaeed tells the group, walking past them towards the alien. “I’ll be locked and loaded next time you’re ready to get some killing done.”

Shepard merely watches as he walks over to the alien, grabbing them by the back of their shirt before turning to start dragging them back over to the nearest hatch, leaving a trail of blood conspicuously similar to the rest of the grime on his way out.

“Well, he seemed friendly.” Ben remarks, walking with the group as they make their way out of the hallway.

The entrance to Afterlife is a very short walk from where they landed, meaning it’s not long before the four of them area heading towards the stairs leading up to the hatch. Miranda and Jacob stop before reaching them though, turning to look at Ben. Shepard does the same once he notices, taking a second before the same thought going through their minds enters his.

“Ben, how old are you exactly?” Shepard asks.

“Yeah, I was waiting for you all to ask that.” He states, already moving to his hand to start scrolling through the Omnitrix’s holographic dial. “Eighteen as of a few months ago. But I get it, I look like a kid, and the advertisements for this place give me the idea that I’m not exactly their target demographic.” He gestures to a holographic sign above the entrance, displaying the bodies of several less than fully clothed asari dancers.

“And you think turning into one of your aliens will help?” Shepard questions.

“No. I’m not going to turn into one of my aliens.” The dial lands on the one he seems to want, and he pulls his hand back, letting the core reveal itself and emerge. “I’m going to turn into one of yours.” He states, pressing in the core.

The Omnitrix beeps and warbles at him for a moment before it activates. A wash of light covers his whole body as he transforms, letting his silhouette shift and grow as he changes over about a second. As the light then fades its revealed that he’s transformed into his quarian form.

A few people glance over with the flash of light, but none react to strongly to Ben. Anyone not looking beforehand doesn’t see anything other than an ordinary quarian standing with the group, which they don’t pay much mind.

“A quarian? How will that help?” Shepard questions.

“Well, it means no one can see my face. Plus, I figure people wouldn’t be as likely to question Seals as they would someone like NRG or Bloxx.” He reasons, again speaking with the same accent the quarian he scanned on Freedom’s Progress spoke with.

“Seals?” Shepard asks.

“It’s what I’m calling this one.” Ben states.

Shepard nods, taking a second before commanding a quick “Then let’s get going.” as he turns around.

They proceed up the stairs, slowing slight as they reach the large, sealed door. The Batarian steps aside to make room for them as it opens.

“Go on ahead. Aria’s expecting you.” He states as they walk through.

The next space is a corridor of course. Seating lines either wall, above which rest holographic screens displaying the sight of waving fire. At the end of the room is another sealed door, labeled as “AFTERLIFE” holographically in vibrant red.

Proceeding beyond that is Afterlife itself, a place that immediately seems almost chaotic in its perpetual motion. In the center of the room is a pillar, displaying at all angles a holographic screen showing the performances of its dancers. The floor doesn’t start for about ten feet around it, at which point a rail protects patrons from falling down the gap. Tables mark each corner of the space, an entrance or bar placed between them, and a rise around the edge of the room where a number more people congregate.

On the other side of the room from where they enter, made visible as they move around the space, is a balcony of sorts seemingly overlook the whole floor. To either side are stairs leading up to it, which Shepard heads for.

As they move up the stairs they find the space to contain two tables at the back, and another set of stairs leading up to seating at the front. Guards stand on either side of the stairs, dancers further up behind them at the edges of the space, then a turian and a batarian lingering idle about the space, and at the center a single asari. The group comes to a stop, looking up the steps to her. The woman, Aria presumably, stands overlooking the whole club. Her silhouette cast starkly against the vibrant pinkish red of the neon screens ahead of her.

Shepard moves to walk up the stairs, and so Ben follows a few steps behind. Miranda and Jacob remain at the bottom.

“That’s close enough.” Cuts through the air, perfectly audible through the suppressed noise of the space.

Shepard and Ben stop as the turian and batarian rise to their feet, drawing and aiming a small sidearm each. Shepard looks to each of them, seemingly as unconcerned as Ben’s posture would imply. Immediately the rest of the people in the room all draw their weapons. Miranda and Jacob aim their guns at the turian and batarian, the guards aim their weapons at the Cerberus agents, and the dancers pull rifles from god knows where to aim at Shepard and Ben. The only people in the space that aren’t aiming a gun at someone, asides from Aria herself.

The slightest gesturer from Aria and everyone immediately puts their weapons away, stepping back to their previous positions as Miranda and Jacob hesitantly do the same. Ben and Shepard still just stand, unphased by the events transpiring.

The batarian moves to the space just ahead of Shepard, summoning his omnitool as he seems to begin scanning the Commander.

“If you’re looking for weapons, you’re not doing a very good job.” Shepard seems to joke, pulling a pistol from his side.

“Can’t be too careful with dead Spectres. That could be anyone wearing your face.” Aria speaks cautiously, turning her head just barely enough to project her voice back to them.

Shepard takes a step forwards, leaning to the side of the batarian slightly to more clearly view the asari. Ben doesn’t move from where he stands, but he does lean enough to see her as well when Shepard blocks his view.

“I was told you’re the person to talk to if I have questions.” Shepard tells her.

“They’re clean.” The batarian speaks to Aria, stepping aside to let Shepard approach.

Aria finally turns to look at them, her face not failing her demeanor in stern focus.

“Depends on the questions.” She responds to Shepard.

“You run Omega?” He asks.

The question seems to genuinely amuse her at first. She can’t help but look down slightly as a laugh escapes her, though the motion quickly loses the implicit air of candor as the laugh dies, leaving in its place only a stern glare from below her brow. She takes a step away from Shepard, turning back to the view of the club below.

“I am Omega.” She proclaims, arms to the air at her side as she’s again made but a silhouette against the neon glow. The gesture then complete, she turns back to face Shepard, stepping over to him. “but you need more. Everyone needs more something, and they all come to me. I’m the boss, CEO, queen if you’re feeling dramatic. It doesn’t matter. Omega has no titled ruler and only one rule.” She turns again, though this time merely to sit down. She rests one leg over the other and her hands in her lap as she takes a breath to speak. “Don’t fuck with Aria.” She states simply, nearly smiling with the notion resting in the air.

Shepard watches unflinchingly. He simply speaks, “I like it. Easy to remember.” A sense of amusement in his voice.

“If you forget, someone will remind you.” She seems to threaten.

“And then I toss your sorry ass out the nearest airlock.” The batarian adds.

“Ha. I’d like to see you try.” Ben reacts, causing both Shepard and Aria to turn their attentions to him.

Shepard seems fairly patient with Ben’s interjection, more waiting to see how it will play out than looking to him with any sort of annoyance. Aria, on the other hand, seems to linger on his arrogance. She waits for a moment before forcing the grimace on her face into the standard scowl and leaning forwards.

“I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. What’s your name.” She functionally demands.

Ben, as irreverent as ever, simply reaches for the node on his chest. Guns are again aimed at him as he transforms back into his human form. Aria watches without so much as flinching at the sight. In just a moment he stands as Ben again, looking at her with hands rested on his hips.

“I’m Ben 10.” He announces simply, not bothering to look at the people aiming weapons as Aria again motions for them to stand down.

“Yes. The… human “shapeshifter” I’ve been hearing about.” She acknowledges.

“Finally, someone who’s heard of me.”

“Everyone here has heard of you, Tennyson.” She corrects, leaning back again to rest herself against the leather seating. “Most just don’t believe in you. Myself included, until a moment ago.” She admits.

“At this point I’ll take what I can get.” He tells her, making his way over with Shepard to sit down where Aria gestures for them to.

She barely tilts her head at all to look to them. “So, what can I do for you?” Is spoken.

“So you go to all the effort of scanning me, but you take Ben at his word?” Shepard questions.

“I could have proven that you weren’t Shepard. I can’t do the same for ‘Ben’ here. There’s not much point claiming a name no one knows, and even less point trying to prove its really his.” She leans off the back of the couch, using her hands to slide herself a little further back on the cushion. “I thought I made it clear that I was content with who you are, so I’ll ask again. What do you want?”

“I’m looking for Mordin Solus. Do you know where I can find him?” Shepard asks.

“The salarian doctor? Last I heard he was trying to help plague victims in the quarantine zone. I always liked Mordin. He’s as likely to heal you as he is to shoot you.”

“How do I get to him?” Shepard presses.

“If you really need to find him, take a shuttle to the quarantine zone. No guarantee they’ll let you in, of course.”

“I’m also trying to track down Archangel.” Shepard tells her.

“You and half of Omega. You want him dead, too?” She asks.

“I’m putting a team together; he’s on my list.” Shepard says.

“Interesting” She glares. “You’re going to make some enemies teaming up with Archangel. That’s assuming you can get to him. He’s in a bit of trouble right now.” She informs him.

“What kind of trouble?” Shepard questions.

“The local merc groups have joined forces to take him down. They’ve got him cornered, but it sounds like they’re having trouble finishing him off. They’ve started hiring anybody with a gun to help.” She clarifies.

“Sounds like that might be our ticket in.” Jacob notes.

“They’re using a private room for recruiting.” She gestures out the panes of glass behind her to one of the doorways leading off of the main floor. “Just over there. I’m sure they’ll sign you up.”

“I appreciate the help.” Shepard says.

“See if you still feel that way when the mercs realize you’re there to help him.”

“Sounds like I don’t have much time to waste.” Shepard seems to end the conversation, rising to his feet from the couch. Ben does the same a moment after.

“You’ve got all the time in the world. Archangel… not so much.” She closes.

Shepard moves to head back down the way they came, but as Ben passes Aria the Omnitrix loudly beeps at him. Loud enough for Aria to actually react to it, leaning away slightly with a hand instinctually moving towards where ears would be.

“Do I even have to ask what the fuck that is supposed to be?” She voices, an irritation bleeding from her words.

Ben’s arm swings up to the space ahead of him as he looks down at the watch’s face.

“Oh come on.” He groans, turning to look at Aria. “It’s a DNA matrix. It’s called the Omnitrix, and it scans and records DNA from intelligent species, which is how I turn into aliens.” Ben explains.

“Let me guess. “It” wants a sample?” She deduces.

“It wants to scan you. It doesn’t have an, uhm. What are you called again? Asari? It doesn’t have one of you guys yet.”

“I’m not letting someone else walk around with my face, Tennyson.” She harshly states.

“Mhm.” Ben noises, turning to follow Shepard without further argument.

The group make their way back out of Afterlife, stopping once they reach the courtyard beyond the entrance. An onlooker or two seem to sort of notice that Ben is now walking with the group instead of a quarian, but nobody really cares. Certainly not enough to say anything about it.

“A plague and half of Omega. Sounds like neither of our recruits have too much time to spare, so, which are we going after first?” Ben asks as they come to a stop.

Shepard puts a hand to the communications device in his ear, “EDI, send Zaeed and Kasumi to meet me outside of Afterlife.” He instructs.

“Yes, Shepard.” The AI responds.

“I’m going after Mordin. Jaboc, you and Kasumi are going to aid Archangel.” He states, turning to Jacob.

“Yes sir.” The soldier responds.

“Miranda. You and Zaeed are coming with me to find Dr. Solus.”

“Of course, Commander.” Miranda acknowledges.

“Ben, you” Shepard starts

“If you tell me to wait on the ship, I’m so not going to listen to you.” Ben cuts him off.

“You’re going with Jacob, actually. The mercenaries might not be expecting resistance from people signing up, but there’s no way they could expect resistance from any of your aliens.” He instructs.

“Now that sounds like a plan.” Ben eagerly accepts.

“Meet back at the Normandy when you have Archangel.” Shepard states.

It’s hardly a moment more before he turns to look over to Kasumi and Zaeed approaching their position. He motions for Zaeed to follow him as he turns away from Ben and Jacob and begins walking deeper into Omega.

Kasumi approaches Jacob and Ben once the former motions for her to. Ben didn’t actually get a chance to take in her appearance before on the Citadel, but he can now in the artificial yellow light of the space. Bound in form fitting leathers, armed with barely anything that she keeps visible, and hooded neatly enough to hide all of her upper face but the glint of light in her eyes.

“So, what’s going on?” She asks, stopping as she reaches them.

“We’re going after Archangel while Shepard’s team gets the doctor.” Jacob tells her.

“What; you, me, and the kid? EDI told me we were going up against half the mercenary groups on Omega. You sure he’s up to it?” She asks, looking to Ben.

“Hey. This “kid” is plenty capable of holding his own in a fight. I’d be more worries about yourself if I were you.” Ben refutes, crossing his arms.

“Doesn’t matter what I think. Shepard’s orders.” Jacob tells her.

“Alright.” Kasumi accepts. “But if the kid dies, he’s not blaming me.” She adds.

“Ha, like that’ll happen.” Ben laughs, starting to head back in the direction of the club.

Jacob watches for a moment before turning back to Kasumi, who merely shrugs. After a second they start following him back into Afterlife. A few people spare Ben glances on the way in, but none of them question him as the group make their way through the noisy space.

They arrive at the private room where they’re recruiting mercenaries in just a moment, the batarian standing by the door gesturing for them to head in as they approach.

“You’ll get paid when the job’s done, just like everyone else.” They hear as the doors open, letting a freelancer pass them to exit the room. “Who’s next?” The same voice asks, a batarian in blue and white armor standing behind a desk.

Jacob, Ben, and Kasumi approach the desk, stopping just a few feet from it as the alien looks them over.

“You two look like you could do some damage.” He gestures to Jacob and Kasumi. “Might have to leave the kid behind if you’re really looking for a fight though.”

“Now he’s done it.” Jacob speaks under his breath, half turning his body from the batarian and Ben.

“Oh come on, just because I’m not some armor jockey doesn’t mean I don’t know how to fight. I’m” ben cuts himself off with a sigh, realizing for once that there’s not much point. “Whatever. Is this the place to go after Archangel or not?” He asks.

The batarian is silent for a moment, contemplating whether he should tell Ben to go home for his own safety or not. “This is the place.” He eventually states, choosing not to bother. “Standard fee is 500 credits each. You get paid when the job’s done. If you die, your friends don’t get to collect your share. You’ll need your own weapons and armor… which your friends at least seem to have covered. And no, this does not make you a member of the Blue Sun, the Eclipses, or the Blood Pack. You are a freelancer. Period. Any questions?” He explains.

“Where’s this all going down?” Jacob questions.

“Archangel’s base of operations. He’s been hiding right under our noses. I can’t tell you exactly where you’re going, but we’ll get you there.” He answers.

“So, how are we doing it?” Kasumi then asks.

“The mercs’ll tell you when you get there. Last I heard there were putting the freelancers into scouting groups; they attack in waves to distract Archangel while we try to get past his defenses.”

“We’re supposed to just take the hit while you guys slip in?” Jacob checks.

“if you don’t like it, don’t sign up. But if you do your job right, it’s easy credits. Besides, what are the odds he can kill all of you?”

“I think we’ve heard enough. Just tell us where to go.” Ben demands.

“Just head over to the transport depot outside the club. One of our boys will take you from there.” The batarian tells him. “Send in the next one.” He then says, looking back down to the console ahead of him as the group turns to start heading back towards the door.

“Hey, is this were I sign up?” The guy entering speaks as he passes through the door.

“Yeah. You might want to buy some armor first though, the guy at the counter seems to think it’s a requirement or something.” Ben responds, stepping aside so they don’t walk into each other.

“Gotcha, thanks.” He says, continuing inside.

The group heads outside again, taking a right as they leave the club to head down to the area that seems to be the transport depot. The batarian wearing similar blue and white armor gives them the idea they’re probably in the right place as they approach him.

“We’re on the mission.” Jacob informs him, stopping with the other two as they reach him.

“I hope you’re ready. Archangel’s been annihilating you freelancers, and… uhh…” He seems to focus on Ben. “Most of them have been wearing armor.”

“Trust me, they’ll never know what hit ‘em.” Ben confidently asserts.

“Uh-huh.” He reacts, stepping back from the shuttle he was standing beside. “Get in.” He says with a gesture.

Jacob and Kasumi enter in the front, leaving Ben to sit down in the back. After a moment the shuttle rises into the air, and they begin travelling down through Omega.

A couple minutes into the ride Ben starts scrolling through the Omnitrix. Neither Jacob or Kasumi comment on it, though that might be because the latter doesn’t know what it is yet.

“What are we thinking, Diamondhead? Lodestar? Maybe Swampfire?” Ben eventually asks, leaning forwards past the backs of the front seats to look at the two.

“Uhh, what?” Kasumi can only respond.

“I guess EDI didn’t fill you in on Ben, huh?” Jacob asks.

“Should she have?” Kasumi asks.

“Eh, it’s not like the Omnitrix is gonna give me what I want anyways.” Ben speaks over them, letting the dial land on an option without looking at it. Once the dial’s up he hits it down, and in a flash he changes.

From the watch, his form bolsters. Both in size and density he grows, quickly becoming muscular enough to make Jacob and Kasumi both glad that they weren’t sharing the back seat with him. Over his body short, dense, orange fur emerges, accented in places with white patches and black stripes. His two middle fingers merge to leave his hands with four digits, and from behind his middle fingers large black claws quickly emerge. From where the Omnitrix was, it replaces itself with black fingerless gloves, matched by a luchador outfit and mask covering his feline head.

“Rath!?” He announces, looking down at himself. “Rath works.” He growls with a smile.

Kasumi remains silent for a moment as she looks over Ben. She then shifts her attention to Jacob.

“Yes. She should have.” Kasumi states.

The group have another few minutes to adjust to Rath, and for Jacob to explain, before the shuttle lands again. The moment its doors open Rath pulls himself out of the vehicle, shaking himself out. Jacob and Kasumi exit just a moment later, looking over to the batarian that approaches them.

“I’d say it’s about time they sent me someone who looks like they can actually fight, but…” He focuses on Rath as he comes to a stop, and watches as Rath paces over to him before Jacob can intervene.

“Let me tell you something, unnamed batarian sir of presently unknown group affiliation. If Rath hears one more person say that Rath can’t fight, Rath is gonna frickin lose it. Do you understand?” Rath shouts down at the man, looming at least three feet over him.

The batarian remains silent for a moment before looking over to Jacob. “Is he gonna be a problem?” He asks.

“Ben? You good?” He asks.

Rath leans back from the man, almost growling as his claws seem to retract slightly.

“Rath is good, Jacob Taylor. Rath is good.” He states.

“Then if you’re all ready” The batarian starts, turning slightly from the group to start leading them.

“You bet! I’m ready to go.” Erupts past the group from the same young man they saw in the recruitment office.

The batarian pauses, looking back and forth from the armored soldiers, Rath, and the kid holding a gun. “Is he with you?” He eventually asks.

Jacob shakes his head, barely sparing more than a glance to him.

“I’m on my own! I don’t need any help – just tell me where to go.” He insists.

“Rrrright. Just head through there. I’m sure you’ll find your way.” The batarian tells him.

The guy’s boots click together as he stands to attention, giving the batarian a solute with a confident “I’m on it.” before he walks past them in the direction gestured.

“Uh-huh.” He muses to himself before turning back to the group. “They tell you what we’re up against?”

“Just tell Rath where to go.” Rath demands.

“Archangel’s holed up in a building at the end of the boulevard over there. He’s got superior position, and the only way in is over a very exposed bridge. It’s a killing ground. But he’s getting tired, making mistakes. We’ll have him soon enough.” He informs them.

“Just point Rath at the bridge, and Rath will get to him.” Rath shouts down at the man.

“I like your attitude, but we’ve got a plan in place.” He rejects. “You’ll be on a distraction team. Head straight over the bridge and keep Archangel busy so the infiltration team can sneak in behind him.”

“Sounds like a suicide mission to me.” Jacob remarks.

“Pretty much.” The batarian agrees. “But you look like you can handle it. Head up to the boulevard and get to the third barricade. Talk to sergeant Cathka. He’ll tell you when to go in.”

“Then let’s go already.” Rath whines, pushing past the alien.

The batarian steps aside as the group starts moving, lead as this point by a less than patient tiger. In just a few paces they reach a set of stairs they begin heading up to continue along.

“Well, we might have a way in, but getting out could be interesting.” Jacob notes.

“Once we have him, Rath will make a way out.” Rath states.

“Are all his aliens so… volatile?” Kasumi asks.

“No. Of the ones I’ve seen, this is new.” Jacob tells her.

“Mr. Taylor, I’ve scanned the area, but I am unable to plot any other paths to Archangel.” EDI speaks through their coms, causing Rath to stop dead in the middle of the hall they walk through.

“Let me tell you something Enhanced Defense Intelligence also known as EDI, Rath doesn’t need another path. Rath is perfectly fine going with the mercs. And Rath is tired of being interrupted.” He shouts down at the Omnitrix node on his belt.

“The heavy mechs and gunship possess considerable firepower. Weakening them before leaving will improve your chances.” EDI continues.

Rath grows down at the Omnitrix but doesn’t argue. He simply takes a left as they continue down the corridor they’re in.

The sound of gunfire bleeds through the metal walls they walk through, though quiets slightly as they walk through a hatch into a more populated room. The people in the room quiet as well, watching Rath pace through the space to the next door that opens automatically on approach.

The next hall has two doors beside the one they enter through. Rath approaches the one of the left first, waiting for a moment before it opens. On the other side are the mechs EDI mentioned.

“Great, more robots.” Rath remarks, recognizing them as the same model he fought on Freedom’s Progress. Without another word he starts reeling back to start smashing through them, only for Jacob to quickly jump in after him and grab the arm he’s about to throw down into the metal chassis. Rath immediately looks back at him, speaking a simple “What?” More confused than angry.

Jacob gestures to Kasumi as she steps over to the console in the room.

“Oh… Well sure, that works. If you want to me smart about it or something. Rath liked his idea better.” Rath pouts, stepping back to the entrance of the room.

“There. That should slow them down.” Kasumi tells them, joining the other two as they exit the room.

“Well done. It’ll attack anything now, including the mercs.” Jacob says.

“I know, I reprogrammed them.” Kasumi says.

“I was just telling Ben.” Jacob explains.

“Right.” Kasumi acknowledges.

They head out of the room through the third door into another hallway. Rath opens the door in front of them, but only finds more aliens waiting for the attack to begin. He steps back and lets the door close again before trying the one to his right.

The moment they step out the sound of gunfire once again fills the air, though this time not muted by the protection of walls. Rath has just enough time to process that to the far left, beyond some barricades, is the aforementioned bridge when one of the aliens hiding behind a barricade is thrown from their spot. It doesn’t take but a second to recognize that someone shot them straight through the one part of their head exposed to the line of sight from the bridge.

Jacob and Kasumi continue around the barricade to head further into the room while Rath takes a second to linger over the dead alien. After a moment of merely looking down at them he reaches for the Omnitrix node on his belt. He turns the dial a quarter to the left before tapping on the faceplate. The green instantly changes to a solid yellow as a beam of light exits the device to scan over the alien. With a satisfied beep Ben turns to follow the others.

It only takes him a moment to catch up, finding them already talking to the sergeant behind a gunship just past a small group of soldiers.

“You must be the group Salkie mentioned. Really wasn’t kidding about your friend here, huh? Well, you’re just in time.” He speaks.

“Were you waiting for us, sergeant Cathka?” Rath questions.

“The infiltration team is about to give us the signal. Archangel won’t know what hit him.” He says, stepping away from the ship and over to a table holding up a computer. “Got any questions? This may be your last chance.” He asks.

“Are you the one leading the assault?” Jacob thinks to ask.

“Ha! Tarak doesn’t pay me to fight. I just plan the attacks and fix the damn gunship. You freelancers get the privilege of”

“Target is in sight. We’re a go.” Blares from his computer, cutting him off.

He quickly turns around to face the console, leaning down over it. “Check. Bravo team – go, go, go!”

With the announcement the other people in the space quickly begin to leave, heading out towards the bridge. Rath watches as they leave before turning back to Cathka.

“Archangel’s got quite a surprise waiting for him.” The Sergeant states, looking back to the group. “But that means no more waiting for me.” He walks past Jacob over to the ship again. “Gotta get her back to a hundred percent before Tarak decides her needs her again.”

Rath glances around one more time to make sure no one is left within earshot before gesturing for Jacob and Kasumi to step back. They do, and with a second to reel back he slams his fist down into Cathka. He’s not able to get out much more than a quick groan before falling to the ground, completely unconscious.

“Well, that’s one way of dealing with him.” Kasumi comments.

Rath looks back to the other two, waiting for a second to see if they have anything else to say before heading towards where everyone else is going.

“Doesn’t look like Archangel’s got much time.” Jacob observes, watching the groups of freelancers climb over the barricade onto the bridge.

“We’ve got nothing better to do. Let’s go.” Kasumi says, walking with them as they follow the rest of the mercs over.

It immediately pretty clear that no one was overplaying the difficulty of reaching Archangel. The moment they’re over bodies are already dropping. Ben winces slightly as he watches the guy they’d spoken to earlier fall to the ground with a shot to the chest.

It becomes clear over just a second or two that the sniper is running out of targets, leaving Rath without any time to react before a shot hits, and bounces off of, Jacob’s kinetic barrier. Directly into Rath’s left arm. He roars in pain as he uses his right arm to grasp the wound, slowing the bleeding slightly.

Jaboc and Kasumi start moving ahead without Ben, trying to make sure Archangel doesn’t have the chance to shoot either of them again.

“LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, MR. ARCHANGEL. RATH DOES NOT LIKE BEING SHOT.” He yells out towards the balcony the sniper clearly sits on. “ESPECIALLY BE SOMEONE RATH IS SECRETLY TRYING TO HELP”

Jacob and Kasumi both pause as they hear him announce that, the looks on their faces similar levels of “I can’t believe he just did that” when they continue forwards.

With his good arm Rath reaches for the Omnitrix, hitting it before Archangel fires another shot into him.

With a flash he transforms. From orange to green, from fur to a plant-like hide, and from two eyes to one. His legs split from two into four vine-like tendrils, and around his head emerges a sort of fly trap like maw. Wildvine.

Where his arm was previously wounded the plant tendrils mend it, letting him focus his attention on Archangel again.

He ignores the actual entrance of the building as his vines extend, letting him immediately head straight for the open window space of the balcony. The sniper fires another shot off into Ben but it doesn’t even slow him down, letting him extend his arm to grab the gun from Archangel’s hand. He tears the weapon from him as he enters the space, knocking what he now recognizes as a turian by the armor to the ground.

The turian rolls back over himself but doesn’t take more than a second to get back to his feet. Ben tosses the gun to the far end of the room with one of the tendrils serving as a leg as he picks himself back up as well.

“Archangel, I’m guessing?” Ben asks.

“Depends on who’s asking.” Archangel responds.

His attention is pulled from Ben to the back of the room as the door opens. He takes a half step back, steadying himself for whoever might be entering. Ben doesn’t have to do the same, observing that it’s just Jacob with the secondary set of eyes on his shoulders.

“We took care of all those mercs for you, Ben. You’re welcome.” Kasumi tells him, re-appearing at Jacob’s side.

“Yeah, thanks.” Ben says.

“Next time you’re going to blow our cover, could you at least try to give us a little warning?” Jacob asks, keeping his gun drawn and aimed as he steps around Ben to the inner edge of the room.

“Sorry about that. Rath can be a little… emotional at times. Getting shot doesn’t really help.” Ben explains.

“I’d apologize, but at the time…” Archangel speaks, causing Ben to look back over to him.

Automatically Ben reverts to his human form. Archangel flinches at the sight, not quite understanding for a moment. He actually has to remove his helmet to make sure he’s seeing Ben correctly, now standing across from his as a human while Jacob still slowly approaches. Seeing his face though, Jacob stops. His gun lowers and his eyes widen slightly.

“Garrus Vikarian?” The Cerberus operative asks, causing the turian to glance to him for a second. His attention returns to Ben briefly before properly focusing on Jacob as he stores his gun.

“Sorry, uhh… what’s happening here?” The turian asks.

It takes Ben a second, but he recognizes the name. One of the people that Shepard mentioned in his discussion with the Illusive Man.

“Shepard sent us. He’s putting a team together to stop some aliens abducting human colonies.” Ben explains.

Garrus looks back to ben with a cautious glare. His mandibles twitch as he thinks, and his eyes flick back and forth across the group. Eventually he lets out a sigh, almost a laugh really, as he steps back to an adjacent piece of furniture to sit himself down. “Shepard is dead.” He states simply.

“He was. Cerberus has spent the last two years bringing him back.” Jacob tells him.

Garrus can’t help but remain silent. Now staring to the floor rather than at any member of the group as he just thinks. It’s hard to read on his face, monumentally so, but it almost seems like sadness finds itself in his gaze.

Ben looks out over the balcony, seeing the mercs already starting to desperately collects themselves from the absolute failure of an assault they just launched. He turns back to the turian after a moment, pulling the Omnitrix up to start scrolling through it.

“We can talk about it later. I’m guessing that even if you don’t believe us about Shepard, you still want to get out of here?” Ben speaks.

Silence for a moment, then “Yeah. I guess since you went to all the effort of getting to me.” As he gets up, walking across the room to pick up the rifle Ben took from him.

Ben hits down the core the moment it’s up, and instantly his whole body changes to a structure of geometric blocks of primary colors. He leans forwards slightly to rest his arms on the ground as they extend, and the Omnitrix reappears on his chest.

“You’ll have to explain that to me if we get out of here.” Garrus comments on the change, turning back around to face the group as he makes sure the gun is still operational. “Which won’t be easy, by the way. That bridge has saved my life, funneling all those witless idiots into scope. But… it works both ways. They’ll slaughter us if we try to get out that way.”

“We can’t just sit here and wait for them to come to us.” Jacob speaks.

“It’s not all that bad. This place has held them off so far. And with the three of you… I suggest we hold this location, wait for a crack in their defenses, and take our chances. It’s not a perfect plan, but it’s a plan.” He strategizes.

“Better plan:” Ben starts. He walks over to the balcony and leans himself onto his back legs. He moves his arms up and aims them out the window, letting them extend all the way across the gap to the top of the next building over. Once his hands grab the edge of the roof his arms merge, and his body shifts in shape to lock around the floor he’s on. In just a moment he’s formed a complete bridge stretching above the mercenaries below.

“I’m guessing Ben thinks we should take our chances now with making it over to the next roof.” Jacob says.

From the slight rise on each side of the walkway keeping them hidden, the face of the alien Ben is constructs itself. “If you could maybe hurry. I’m adjustable, not bullet proof, and I think they’re getting ready to try again.”

“Hah, well. I can’t say I’m not glad he’s on our side, huh?” Garrus comments with a chuckle, approaching and pulling himself onto Ben.

“You say that now. Just wait until the next time you’re trying to blend in among enemy forces, it’ll be all stealth, according to the plan, and then the next thing you know he’s shouting about how he’s going to betray everyone.” Kasumi rants, keeping herself low as she starts walking onto the constructed walkway.

Ben’s head drops into the bridge only to re-appear further down, beside Kasumi. “You’re not going to let that go, are you?” He asks.

“Look at me, everybody. My friends and I are ready to be shot at whenever you’re ready.” She jokingly mocks.

Ben groans, letting his head vanish back into the bridge as all three of them start walking.

Then, from between Garrus and Jacob, a shot pierces the floor of the bridge. Then another further along, both of which Ben quickly reconstructs the material for after the holes are formed.

“Ben?” Jacob asks, starting to walk slightly faster.

“New plan.” He states. The edge connected to the balcony then detaches, causing that side of the bridge to drop slightly as it quickly begins receding through the start of a barrage of more shots. The group doesn’t have much time to react before they’re all hit with the edge of the bridge, which itself begins pulling them along it to their other end. In just a moment they’re all dumped on the rooftop, letting Ben change his shape back to the default.

The three start picking themselves up in just a moment, quietly groaning as they do. Kasumi goes about making sure nothing’s broken, Jacob starts looking around the roof top to make sure it’s clear, and Garrus steps back over to the edge of the roof to look down on the mechs exiting the building below. The ones that, without a target ahead of them, simply stand idle.

“I say we get back to the Normandy and bail before they figure out where we went.” Ben suggests.

“The Normandy?” Garrus questions, turning to look at Ban as he changes back into a human.

“Yeah, it’s what they named the ship.” Ben explains.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” He paces back across the roof, keeping his gun tight in his hands as he looks around with Jacob to ensure there’s nobody waiting for them.

The roof is surprisingly clear. A variety of crates, miscellaneous mechanical additions, and repairs. But clear. Not much grime beyond the sparce oil stains, and definitely no people.

“It’s true. The SR2, modeled after the original but re-built from the ground up.” Jacob attests.

“Did you rebuild Shepard from the “ground up” too?” Garrus questions, eying the operative with a glare.

“You’ll have to ask Miranda. I wasn’t involved much with the technical side of things, but I know they did everything they could to make sure they were bringing back the real Shepard. Not a clone, not an AI, the real deal.” Jacob states.

“Well now this I have to see.” Garrus says with a smile in his words. Not an actual smile, of course, as his ridged face seems to forbid. Amusement though, conveyed with tone.

“I don’t suppose you have something that could fly us there?” Kasumi jokingly asks Ben.

“Not all at once. Well, maybe Terraspin, but I’m not sure if he could get all the way there before I timed out. And I don’t know the way.” Ben answers, already starting to scroll through the watch.

“I was joking. You really have aliens that can fly?” She questions.

“You don’t?” Ben counters.

“We can talk about Ben’s amazing wristwatch later. For now, I suggest” Before Garrus can speak the rest of his though he’s cut off by the sound of turbines firing up. In just a moment the form of the attack ship rises over the roof, aiming its lights down at all of them.

“Archangel!” It shouts from the speakers as it spots the Turian.

Ben doesn’t bother making a choice, instead just letting the Omnitrix select whatever the dial was on as he slams the core down.

The gunship opens fire on Garrus. Without time to react or a place to hide the bullets tear through him. In only a second he’s already dropped to the ground, blue fluid pooling on the floor below him. Thankfully for the turian, a second is all it gets. Jacob immediately goes for Garrus as, with a deafening slam, a yellow and black shot hits the ship hard enough to send it spinning. That shot then unrolls itself, his two arms gripping the sides of the windshield as his wide face looks in at the pilot.

“I guess the sergeant wasn’t enough of a hint for you, huh?” Cannonbolt chastises.

He curls up again and begins to roll, tearing through the outer layer of the ship slightly before launching off of it to one of the adjacent structures. He then bounces, returning to completely tear straight through the back of the ship on his way back to the group.

The gunship starts to fall from the skip, leaving Ben to quickly roll over to where Garrus lies. He transforms back just as he reaches them, skidding to a stop over the turian and Jacob.

“Crap. Is he going to be okay?” Ben asks, dropping to kneel beside them. The look on Ben’s face isn’t one elicited often. Worry. Genuine uncertainty and worry.

“Medi-gel is helping, but we need to get him back to the Normandy.” Jacob tells him.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” Ben says, standing back up as he goes for the Omnitrix. He taps the faceplate to get it to open, not even letting the dial appear, and slams down the core the moment its far enough up for him to have the ability. The transformation rolls over him in an instant, leaving him as the blue and black reptile, XLR8, and with a gust of wind he vanishes from the space.

Jacob radios Joker, making sure he’ll have the medical bay ready for when they get there.

In just a moment Ben returns, now as the green and black alien, Upgrade. He lands beside them and pours off of the shuttle he was possessing to help them get Garrus into the back seat. The moment all three of them are inside Ben merges with the shuttle again, getting it flying with a burst of speed that the vehicle shouldn’t be able to manage.

It’s a while before Shepard gets back to the Normandy. Enough time for them to have gotten Garrus to Chakwas, and for them to have an idea of how he’s doing.

“Commander. We’ve done what we could for Garrus, but he took a bad hit.” Jacob explains, standing beside him.

Ben stands slightly further back in the room, just looking across to Shepard. The Normandy softly hums around them as it travels. That, and the occasional shuffle of clothing are the only noises filling the space at the moment.

The Commander just stares down at the body he stands across from, not looking over to either Jacob or Ben.

“So no one else is going to say it?” Garrus speaks, cutting through the air.

Shepard can’t help but smile as he glances up to the turian sitting on the medical bed before him.

“I think the lack of stairs is a definite improvement over the old Normandy.” He states. “Though, I’m not sure about putting the armory next to the CIC. Feels like it would make a lot more sense down in the loading bay. Y’know, get your gear, then get in one of the Kodiaks. With the current setup I either have to come all the way up, or just keep my armor and weapons on me at all times. And you know how I hate wasting time.”

The turian eventually pushes out of the bed, wincing slightly as he does. Chakwas glances over to observe from her side of the room but doesn’t say anything.

“It’s good to see you again, Garrus.” He states, extending a hand to shake the turian’s.

“You too Shepard. It’s been too long.” He responds, taking his hand.

“I’d understand if you say no, but the mission” Shepard starts to ask.

“Are you kidding? Teaming up with my old commander to take down Reaper agents and save the galaxy? Just like old times. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” He tells Shepard. “And, I can’t leave before I get Ben back for saving my bacon out there.” He turns to Ben, watching as the human crosses his arms with that ever-present smirk. “hah… but, eh, seriously. I think if your team hadn’t shown up when it did… I mean, I’m good, but”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re welcome. How about you try not to nearly die on us next time?” Ben cuts him off, killing the serious weight of his statements.

“Right. And the next time I have to save you I’ll make sure to toss your body around the backseat on our way to the Normandy. Just to make sure you know how badly your hurt.” The turian counters.

“We were in a rush! I didn’t have time to figure out how the “mass effect field stabilizers” worked.” Ben defends.

“See, you press the on button, and then they work. For next time.” Garrus states.

“Garrus has a point, Ben. I haven’t felt Gs like that since my days with the Alliance.” Jacob adds.

“Alright, alright.” The commander stops them.

“heh… It’s good to be back, Shepard.” He says, walking with them as the group starts making their way out of the medical lab.

Jacob splits off from the group as they walk. He heads towards the elevator while Shepard, Garrus, and Ben making their way down towards the door labeled Main Battery.

“It’s good to have you, Garrus.” Shepard sincerely means.

“Oh, right. I almost forgot.” Ben interjects, causing the other two to stop and look to him. “See, the Omnitrix turns me into any alien it’s scanned the DNA of. New universe, new aliens, and I’ve only gotten to scan some quarians we met and one if the spiky ones on Omega.”

“Ignoring all the insane things you just said, I’m guessing you want a simple of turian DNA from me? Y’know, there’s plenty of blood back in the lab if that’s what you need.”

“Nope, just this.” Ben states, hitting the screen of the watch. From the side facing Garrus a yellow beam emerges, waving up and down over him for a moment before vanishing back into the watch. “aaand done.”

“New life form DNA analyzed. Acquisition complete.” The watch informs, letting the screen return to normal.

“You know, Dr. Mordin Solus is up in the lab. I bet he would probably be willing to give you a salarian sample, if you asked nicely.” Shepard informs him.

“Yeeahh, good idea. I’ll go do that.” Ben states, turning from them to start heading toward the elevator.

“He’s a good kid.” Garrus says, watching as he walks away.

“I think so. I’ve only seen him on the field once so far, but he saved his fair share of lives.” Shepard tells him.

“Quarian lives?” Garrus questions. “I don’t suppose…”

“Yeah, I ran into Tali. First mission back, and I’m supposed to think that was a coincidence.” Shepard confirms.

“Then your team runs into me, only knowing the name Omega gave me, and… It’s nice, I’m not going to lie. The Normandy, Joker and Chakwas, to be fighting the Reapers again. But I’ve heard bad things about Cerberus these past few years.” He speaks, continuing down towards the sealed door.

Shepard follows him, aiming himself away from the rest of the ship. A pointless gesture if they’re trying to hide their conversation from Cerberus with EDI aboard, but one that’ll keep the crew from hearing him.

“Right now, they’re a necessary evil. I need their resources to get this done.” Shepard states.

“But when this is all over… Well, it’s a good thing I’m here to keep you in line.” He laughs.

“That it is, Garrus.”

“Anyways, I’m fit for duty whenever you need me, Shepard. I’m going to settle in, maybe see what I can do with the forward batteries.” He tell the Commander, stepping through the door into the room beyond.

A mainly red space beyond a metal balcony overlooking it. A console rests at the front of the room, then a monitoring station to the left, and a few crates to the right.

“Talk to you later, Garrus.” Shepard tells him, walking away from Garrus back towards the rest of the ship.

“I’ll be here if you need me.” The turian lets him know.

In the lab, Shepard enters to find Ben standing across from the salarian doctor. The former looks over to the Commander as he transforms back into a human.

“Ah, Shepard. Good timing. We were just discussing Ben’s unique device. The “Omnitrix.” Fascinating biological technology.” Mordin states, pacing over to one of the stations.

“Good to see that you’re getting settled, doctor.” Shepard says.

“Yes, yes. Easy to transfer equipment over. EDI; quite helpful.” He turns to Ben again, walking over to him with a syringe. “Ben, if you could.” He asks.

Ben scrolls through the watch for a second before choosing a form. In a flash the new body rolls over him. His skin oranges slightly, his hair receded for horns to emerge in its place, and his clothes rapidly change design to accommodate for the digitigrade legs and changed chest shape. The new outfit is green and black in fairly equal parts, a body suit serving to cover the torso and legs of the Salarian he now stands as. The dial finds its place on his lower torso resting on a belt.

Mordin wastes little time in stabbing the needle into Ben’s arm, drawing a fair amount of blood before withdrawing it to let Ben return to his human form.

“Remarkable process, really. Less than 0.0001% of human DNA remains after the transformation. Not enough to matter, unless you’re looking for it.” Mordin speaks to himself, placing the sample into a machine to analyze it. “Not helpful with Collector drones, but interesting.”

Ben starts walking towards the exit of the room.

“Will be here if you need me, Ben.” Dr. Solus speaks.

“Later dude.” Ben responds, heading out into the CIC.

The crew don’t pay him much mind as heads along the room towards the bridge. Joker glances back at him as he enters, watching him take a seat at one of the unmanned stations. Once seeing that it’s Ben he lets the chair rotate to face him.

“So, we got Garrus back. That’s great, because he was totally my favorite. With that pole up his ass.” Joker insults.

“I take it you to don’t get along too well?” Ben responds.

“Oh no, we get along great. Like wasps and those kids that think it’s funny to spray water at their nests. Which- ah, shit. I guess I’m the stupid kids in this metaphor. Whatever, you know what I mean.” He rants.

“I don’t know, he seemed pretty alright to me.”

“Oh, well yeah. He’s great. He’s Garrus. All of Shepard’s old crew were great, just, of all the ones we could get back. I mean, Liara would have been great. Or maybe Tali even. Anyways, that’s just my opinion, no need to go sharing it around.”

“Oh, yeah. Tali, that’s the quarian, right?”

“Riiight, I heard Shepard mention that you guys ran into her back on Freedom’s Progress. Small galaxy, huh.” Joker comments.

“I guess so. Makes me want to ask who was on Shepard’s team, exactly. If there’s a chance I’m going to be running into them when Shepard’s not around, I’d like to know if we’re on the same side.” Ben asks.

“Alright, sure. Let’s see… There was Garrus, obviously. He joined up to help take down Saren when C-Sec shut down his investigation. Then we had Ashley, who we picked up on Eden Prime right after the first big attack from Sovereign. Then Kaiden was already assigned to the Normandy, so he was in by default. Wrex joined right after Garrus, and later we got Liara on the mission. We thought she might know something about Saren’s plans since her mom was working for him, but she stuck around because of Shepard’s “unique Prothean connection” or something. I don’t know.” Joker informs him.

“Most of those names ring a bell, but I’m not sure I remember the Commander asking the Illusive Man about a “Kaiden.” What’s his deal?” Ben questions.

Joker takes pause at the question. A the briefest moment of confusion before just hesitating. Like he realized he said something be maybe shouldn’t have, or could have avoided.

“I guess you wouldn’t know. He, uh… So, we were trying to stop Saren from creating a cure for the genophage to breed an army of krogan.” The pilot starts.

Ben nods like that might bave made sense to him.

“There were two teams, the frontal assault to keep them distracted, and Shepard’s team. Their job was to infiltrate and set up a nuke to destroy the facility.” Joker explains.

Ben’s eyes widen slightly as he catches on to where this story might be headed.

“Ashely went with the first group, while Kaiden went with the second group to set up the bomb. Then- ah, the details don’t really matter. Point is, Shepard ended up having to choose who to save.” Joker tells him.

“I’m glad I didn’t ask Shepard about it.” Ben tries to lighten the tone.

“Yeah, I can only imagine. I mean, for me it was years ago. For him though, it must feel like only a couple of months.” Joker realizes.

Ben remains silent for a moment, just staring into the middle distant as he takes the time to think.

“I know what it’s like to lose friends.” Ben eventually admits. “People I probably could have saved if things went a little differently.”

“Yeah.” Joker acknowledges, not even considering the age of the person he’s talking to for a second. Once it clicks his vision darts up from the floor to Ben, properly looking at the teen. The human teenager, completely ordinary in all ways but the device on his wrist.

“It’s a good thing I’m here now. Because as long as I’m around, you guys aren’t losing anyone else to the Collectors, or the Reapers, or whatever other kind of crazy this universe throws at us.” Ben comes to declare, pushing out of the seat to start walking back to the CIC. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starved.” Ben changes the topic. “I’ll be down on the crew deck if you need me.”

Joker almost laughs at his immediately dismissal of the serious topic as his chair turns back around to face the console again. “See you, Ben.” He says as the teen makes his way back towards the elevator.

Chapter Text

Ben leans against one of the consoles in the CIC as he waits for them to dock.

Occasionally he looks over to the bridge to watch their approach towards the massive spaceship orbiting the distant star of the system they’re in, or over to the doorways on his left leading to the Armory and Tech Lab, but mostly he just scrolls through his phone.

Most of his apps don’t work without a connection to Earth’s internet. Instead, with the help of some of his more intelligent aliens and EDI, he managed to connect it to their Extranet. A slightly different network system than the one back in his universe, but still simmilar.

Since Ben woke up, he’s been doing research. Well, he started with research. He learned the names of all the different sapient species in this galaxy, and did some light reading on their cultures before getting distracted by advertisements for things he doesn’t really need or want. He’s been looking over those for the last thirty minutes while waiting for Shepard and his squad.

Eventually they arrive in the CIC though, exiting from the armory with the Commander. The turian, Garrus, and the Cerberus operative, Miranda, both walk with Shepard. Notably, the commander now wears the helmet that seems to complete his armor. Neither of the other two do however, so Ben assumes its not because of a lack of atmosphere outside.

Ben leans off the console to walk with the group as they head to the airlock.

It’s not a particularly short walk once they’re outside the Normandy. It’s a couple minutes of just walking along the loading ramp before they enter the ship itself. On the right side of the corridor they enter is a window. Beyond it is the hull of the ship itself, marked with the letters “PRG.” Then there’s the Normandy, lingering at a fixed distance with the docking arm holding it in place. On their left is a series of mechanisms fairly foreign to anything Ben could recognize. Pistons maybe, or storage pods of some sort.

At the end of the hall is a guard, wearing the same blue and white armor that Ben remembers from the mercenaries on Omega. A turian, based on the shape of the armor. As they approach Ben comes to see that there are two more guards a short distance from the turian on either side, a batarian and a human.

“Welcome to the purgatory, Shepard. Your package is being prepped, and you can claim it shortly.” The guard informs them as the group comes to stop. “As this is a high-security vessel, you’ll need to relinquish your weapons before we proceed.” He states.

“I can’t do that.” Shepard tells him simply.

From the end of the corridor the doors open to let another turian step through. This one notably has his face exposed, revealing his gaze towards Shepard.

“Everyone stand down. Commander, I’m Warden Kuril, and this is my ship. Your weapons will be returned on the way out. You must realize this is just standard procedure.” He tries to be reasonable.

“I’m my standard procedure to keep my gun.” Shepard firmly insists.

Kuril remains silent for a moment, cautiously eying Shepard and the people with him. Garrus, Miranda, and Ben. Shepard in turn remains steadfast, staring back with a piercing glare.

“Let them proceed.” The Warden eventually concedes. “Our facility is more than secure enough to handle three armed guests, and a… teenager.”

The turian guard lowers his head to look to the floor as he steps aside, leaving nothing between the Warden and the group but a short set of stairs.

“We’re bringing Jack out of cryo. As soon as the funds clear, you can be on your way.” He states.

Ben’s eyes narrow slightly as he catches the implications of that statement. He keeps quiet though, assuming that he’ll clarify soon enough.

“If you’ll follow me to Outprocessing for the pickup, Commander.” Kuril requests.

“Let’s go.” Shepard says, prompting the group to move.

Proceeding up the stairs and through the sealed hatch, they find themselves in another corridor. More windows on the right displaying the interior of the ship, and to the left revealing the construction surrounding the walkway.

“Cellblock two. As you can see, we keep tight control over the population.” The Warden points out to them, gesturing out the window as a mechanical arm rises past them into the air.

The massive limb rises to line itself up with one of the dozens of cells hanging from the wall. Two more beyond it do the same within the same space, drawing cells straight out and moving them around to an entrance on the other side of the space.

“Each prisoner’s cell is a self-contained modular unit. I’ve blown a few out the airlocks as an example.” He informs them.

They turn right as the reach a corner to continue along.

“The ship is made up of 30 cell blocks identical to this one. -- we house thousands of criminals. We can put the whole place in lockdown on a moment’s notice.” He educates, stopping and turning back to the group as he finishes, causing them all to stop. “Nothing goes wrong here.”

“Maintaining a population this side in space can’t be cheap.” Shepard points out.

“We can cut corners that governments can’t. And each prisoner brings in a fee from his homeworld. These individuals are violent, and their home planets pay well to keep them here.” He explains.

“What happens if the homeworld doesn’t want to pay?” Shepard asks.

“We explain that we can’t maintain the prisoner without their help, so we’ll be forced to release him back onto his homeworld. At an unspecified place and time.”

“So it’s an extortion racket.” Miranda helpfully summarizes.

“You don’t have to agree with my methods, but don’t question my motives. There are despicable people and I am keeping them locked up” The Warden is quick to justify.

“How did you end up running this ship?” Shepard asks.

“I was in law enforcement on Palaven, and got sick of seeing criminals escape out into the galaxy to carry on with their crimes.” He steps over to the window, looking out into the call block. The artificial white lighting washes over him, casting the edge of his form a pale white that contrasts against the greys of the hallway. “Bounty hunters aren’t dependable. Eventually I hit upon this idea. Keep the criminals in space and the galaxy is a safer place.” He steps back towards the center of the hall.

“You do this because you think it’s necessary?” Shepard questions.

“Every day I see the worst sapient life has to offer. Governments are soft, unwilling to make the hard choices. Someone had to stand up and make the galaxy safe.” Kuril answers.

The group is silent for a moment as they absorb his sentiment.

“Can you tell me about Jack?” Shepard eventually asks.

“Cerberus hasn’t told you?” He questions, suddenly sounding far less confident in his intonation. “Jack is the meanest handful of violence and hate I’ve ever encountered. Dangerous, crazy, and very powerful. You’ll see soon enough.”

“Then let’s get on with this.” Shepard commands, getting the five of them moving again down the corridor towards the next hatch.

“Have there been escape attempts?” Garrus thinks to ask as they walk.

“We’re in space.” The Warden is quick to point out. “They have nowhere to go, and they know it.”

Several more guards pass them by as they walk, stepping around the group to continue along.

“But still, we exercise extreme caution. There are dangerous individuals.” He reminds.

Out the window they pass the squad is able to catch some of the prisoners not contained in cells seemingly getting into an altercation. The guard walking past them at this time doesn’t hesitate to summon his omni tool, activating an adjacent device that promptly creates barriers around the two, pulling them apart from one another.

“We have many ways to control the population.”

Miranda hangs back slightly, slowing to keep the group evenly spread until Ben and Garrus think to look away from the sight and catch up.

“I’m going to confirm that the funds from Cerberus cleared.  Outprocessing is straight down this hallway.” The Warden tells them, coming to a stop. “Just keep going past the interrogation rooms and the supermax wing.” He lingers for a moment, locking eyes with Shepard as he turns to head back the way they came. “I’ll catch up with you later… Shepard.” He speaks, making his was around Garrus as they come to a stop.

The door seals behind him as he steps through, leaving the group to make their way alone, supervised only by the spaced guards along the edge of the hall.

“So, is no one else going to say it?” Ben immediately starts as they continue walking.

“Let me guess. You’re going to say that you think the Warden isn’t to be trusted, and that we should be careful.” Miranda surmises.

“Well obviously I don’t trust that guy, but I was going to say that it’s a bit weird the first places Shepard goes to after coming back to life are ‘Afterlife’ and ‘Purgatory.’ I didn’t think Cerberus had a sense of humor.” Ben says.

Garrus lets out a single chuckle at the observation.

“Pure coincidence, I assure you.” Miranda tells him.

They take a right as they come to a corner and are immediately greeted with the sight of one of the guards beating a prisoner within their cell, crying out in pain with every heavy strike.

Ben nearly flinches as he sees this but forces himself to stay composed as they continue walking. It’s still clear this doesn’t sit right with him though, that ever-present grin notably vanishing from his face.

“You don’t even get good information that way – after a point, victims admit to anything to make the pain stop.” Garrus criticizes.

Shepard slows as they pass by, taking the time to watch. He then changes course slightly to make his way over to the guard outside the cell watching, stepping to fill the space next to him in front of the glass. The side of him turned away from the group is cast in the red light of the cell ahead.

The guard turn to look at him as he stops, “Is there something I can do for you?” The guard asks.

Shepard just watches for a moment before turning to meet the guard’s gaze.

“There’s no excuse for beating a prisoner who can’t fight back.” Shepard states.

“This is a massage compared to what his victims went through.” The guard defends.

“This degrades you as much as him.” Shepard tells him, trying to sound convincing.

The guard is silent for a moment before speaking. “We have orders.”

“You’re not important enough to make your own decisions?” Shepard asks.

“I admit… I sometimes get tired of this. Does this really get us anything useful?” He acknowledges.

“Stop this. For your own sake.” Shepard offers.

“Yeah. You’re right.” The guard accepts. “Call it off. At least for now.”

The guard in the cell with the prisoner slowly stops hitting the man on the floor, slowly turning to look at Shepard and the guard as he leans back up to full height. Hew glances back to the prisoner as he practically shoves himself over to the far side of the cell with the moment’s reprieve.

Shepard steps away from the guard, turning back to continue down the hall as his squad moves to join him.

“Hey! Hey guys, over here!” A prisoner in the next cell down calls out as they pass him.

Shepard stops, his shoulders implying a bit of hesitation in doing so. He turns to the prisoner and steps over to the glass at the near end of his cell. Ben follows Miranda and Garrus as they follow the commander, the teen again forcing that smug smile onto his face as they reach the inmate.

“If you’re buying prisoners, can you buy me?” He pleads as Shepard reaches him. “Man, I don’t care where you take me or what you do to me, it’s got to be better than this.”

“We’re here for Jack.” Miranda informs, seemingly doing so to remind Shepard more than for the prisoner’s sake.

“Jack?” He reacts, stepping back from the glass. “Forget what I just said. I don’t want to go nowhere with you.”

“Tell me more about Jack.” Shepard requests.

“The worst trouble you ever saw, mixed with some crazy and way too much biotic power. That’s all I’m saying.” He tells them.

“Biotic?” Ben questions.

“Think- hmm… telekinesis. But controlled with mass effect fields.” Garrus summarizes.

“How does that work?” Ben questions.

“EDI can explain later.” Miranda tells him.

“So, what are you in for?” Shepard asks the prisoner.

“I killed a few people. Only about 20 or so. And I blew up that one habitat. Small time compared to most of the guys here.” The convict answers.

“What’s it like here?” Shepard asks.

“Bad. And you got to watch out – damn, but someone’s always after your stuff. Your smokes, your clothes, your…” He hesitates, looking away from Shepard for a moment. “pride.” He eventually states. “I haven’t taken a shower in three months.”

“Why are they interrogating that prisoner? He knows something?” Shepard investigates.

“No, that’s Bimmy – he don’t know nothing. He offed someone in the showers yesterday, I think. Guy he offed was worth a lot to the warden. Yeah, sucks to be Bimmy right now.”

“They were going at it pretty hard. Do they ever know kill prisoners by accident?” Shepard questions.

“Haven’t heard of anyone dying. Warden can’t make money on us if we’re dead. Funny thing though – the more a guard does it, the meaner he gets. So they rotate them through.”

“I thought this ship was a prison, not a market.” Shepard questions.

“Sometimes people buy cons so they can do some punishing of their own, if you understand. Warden sells us to whoever can pay enough.” He explains.

Ben takes note the fact that the idea buying and selling people doesn’t particularly stick out to any member of the group, but makes the choice to not say anything.

“I should go.” The commander states, turning himself back towards their destination.

“Wish I could go.” With prisoner speaks.

The group make the conscious decision to ignore the next cell down, instead continuing to the hatch at the end of the room that opens when they hit the green hologram in front of it.

Th next room is more of the same, though now has a branch in its path. Straight ahead of them is the hatch leading to out processing, labeled as such on the wall outside the corridor. To the right is another path leading down the wall, labeled only as SOL-CON-05. The supermax if Ben had to make a guess based on what the warden said.

They proceed to Outproccesing, entering the next room together through the manually opened door. Laboratory equipment litters the corners of the room, which itself seems to be just 5 or so rows of desks all facing the side they enter from.

“Outprocessing is through the door on the far side of the room.” The one scientist in the room informs them from the terminal beside the entrance.

Shepard nods as they continue in towards the hatch on the other side of the space. “Attention, authorized personnel only” it says on the wall beside the hatch, and “stand clear” on the floor.

Like he previous hatch, the door doesn’t open automatically. Shepard steps up to it, placing his hand near enough to the hologram for it to activate. On the other side is

“My apologies, Shepard.” Is spoken over the intercom in the voice of the Warden, causing Shepard to stop in place and look up towards the ceiling.

On the other side is no more than an empty room.

“You’re more valuable as a prisoner than a customer.” The Warden speaks.

Shepard turns away from the room, taking a few steps back the way he came as the squad steps out of his way.

“Drop your weapons and proceed into this open cell. You will not be harmed.” The Warden instructs.

Ben seems to find this very funny. Enough to be chuckling to himself as he readies the Omnitrix.

“Maybe I can change your mind.” Shepard speaks up at the ceiling. The door to the cell closes behind the group as they step away from it.

“Activate systems!” The Warden shouts, cutting him off.

As the rest of the group all draw their guns, Ben simply slams his hand down onto the exposed core of the Omnitrix.

In a moment his body is shrunken down to under half his human height. His skin turns pale and rubbery, his head widens as his eyes narrow. The dial reappears on his forehead while a backpack asserts itself with a pair of cables leading up to headphone like structures on either side of his head. Echo Echo.

Shepard seamlessly readies his pistol and aims it towards the entrance of the room, firing off a barrage of shots into the first guard that walks through the door. As he reloads Garrus and Miranda take care of the next few as Ben starts running over to the entrance.

As he makes it to the door, Ben also makes it to the door. Ben takes either sides as Ben runs up to face the center. The squad stops shooting for a moment as they process the fact that Ben’s alien form has duplicated several times. They shoot the next person they can see through the archway before they’re forced to stop by the deafening howling that fills the space a second later.

From the mouths of Ben’s aliens a bellowing screech of a shout echoes down the corridor ahead. Garrus and Miranda both wince at the sheer volume of the attack, moving to cover their ears until it eventually stops.

Ben turns back to the group as he starts merging the aliens, leaving only one of the small white creatures.

“So what  do we  do  now?” Ben asks.

“We need to get Jack out of cryo.” Garrus reminds.

Shepard doesn’t slow in heading out into the hall, causing Ben and the others to follow him. They turn left as they come to the pathway leading to the supermax wing. They only have to walk for a moment before another group of guards start heading out into the corridor to intercept them.

It only takes a gesture for Shepard to get Garrus and Miranda to duck for cover with him, leaving Ben to split up and clear the path with another piecing wail. In a few seconds the tunnel is left with the four we’ve been following, and a just as many unconscious guards.

They approach the next door together, letting Shepard again take the lead.

“Shepard is on the loose! Repeat, Shepard is loose! Get people down here!” Is shouted through the hatch as it opens.

The man speaking falls to the floor with a spray of red as soon as the group has a clear shot. Ben can’t even tell who fired, left to just follow the three soldiers as they make their way in.

The room is filled with a variety of medical equipment against the back and right wall. The left wall holds another hatch, locked based on the red hologram ahead of it, and the far wall holds panes of glass showing another space on the other side. Just before it is a table with a computer resting on it. One that the soldiers approach cautiously, though now with their guns stored. Ben transforms back to his human form automatically as Shepard reaches it.

“If we hack that control, every door on the cellblock opens.” Miranda tells them with certainty.

“Okay, so we find another way. No problem.” Ben reasons, stepping away from the group towards the locked door.

“No, it’s the only way to get Jack out of cryo.” Garrus states.

“Well that sucks.” Ben reacts, stopping before the locked hatch.

“I’m doing it. Be ready” Shepard announces, moving for the computer.

Ben looks back over to them, hesitating for a moment before bringing the Omnitrix up again to summon another transformation. Ben is covered with that signature wash of green light as his shape changes. It grows and lurches forwards as his chest and arms expand. Material seems to fall over him limbs and head before the light dims to reveal the alien. Blue, thinly furred, almost moth like. It looks to them with green compound eyes and bared flat teeth before turning away to look out the window, the drapes of cloth-like blue and black skin swaying as it moves. Big Chill.

Miranda and Garrus take a brief moment to grasp the form Ben has taken before refocusing their attention on what reveals itself to be a capsule, pulled from the floor with a large mechanical arm. The YMIR Mechs in the room activate and turn to face the prisoner as they are revealed, and defrosted.

“That’s Jack?” Garrus questions, stepping over to the window with Ben to look out at the prisoner.

A woman, notably. Based on the name and general uses of male pronouns to refer to the prisoners, Ben is caught off guard for a brief moment. Not long though, as what’s far more notable is the lack of anything really covering her top half. Save for tattoos, and a set of straps and buckles that just barely rest in the right position to conceal the important parts of her chest.

Shepard leans past the console to watch as Jack starts waking up. Just twitching at first before beginning to struggle against the shackles holding her in place. With a moment of considerable strain, visible even from where they stand, she manages to free her right hand. The appendage immediately goes for the clamp around her neck, trying to pull it off. Her left hand is freed barely a moment later, letting it join the other in prying the restraint from around her throat.

Ben moves to help. His furred skin fades to a lighter blue that seems to let light pass through it, his whole form appearing translucent if not completely transparent in just a moment. What reveal themselves to be wings unfurl, and his body passes straight through the glass between him and the room ahead, the glass chills and frosts over as he passes through it.

Jack manages the tear the shackle from herself, letting her body fall forwards from the vertical bed it was held to. She braces herself against the edge of the capsule as the steps from it, grasping her head as she slowly looks up to the approaching creature. The creature approaching not her, but the YMIR mechs which circle the convict. One of them turn to the alien as he descends, leaving the other three to continue towards Jack.

With a furious roar Jack leaps forwards from the capsule, a blue aura surrounding her as her slams herself into the robots, tearing them apart as she goes.

Ben merely phases through the third, letting the machine freeze over as it overlaps with his moth-like body. He seems to become tangible again as he lands, letting his wings and antennae wrap around his body to form that organic cloak again. He turns his body and attention to follow Jack as she rips through the hulking robots. The same kind of robots it took him ages to even get past the shields of with one of his heavier hitters.

“We have to get down there!” Ben hears Garrus announce through the Omnitrix. Jack turns back to him, taking a second to just process what she’s looking at before turning away and starting to run, tearing through the side of the ship into another cell block as she does.

“I’m going after Jack. Maybe I can get her to chill out.” Ben informs the group as he starts sailing after her.

Shepard, Garrus, and Miranda are left to exit the room above through the previously locked door, descending down a ramp to another hatch that leads them into the room now occupied by three destroyed, and one frozen, mechs. All the while a synthetic voice begins to shout warnings at them over the loudspeakers.

“Sounds like heavy fighting.” Miranda points out as the whole room they’re in seems to shake with the force of whatever is transpiring beyond.

Then quickly make their way across the room to the large hole torn in the wall, stepping through to drop down into a clearly less traveled tunnel.

“All guards: restore order! Lethal force authorized! But don’t kill Jack! Techs: lockdown! Lockdown!” The warden announces across the ship.

The ship computer lists the sections that have since lost life support just a moment after. Shepard and company make their way down the path, barely stopping to note the sparse bodies and shards of ice littering the walkway.

Coming to the end of the hall, they step out through another breach forced in the wall into a far more open room. One of the call blocks based on the look of it, though notably now both on fire and collapsing.

“This girl is powerful, but she lacks subtlety.” Garrus comments, following Shepard as he makes his way down to a bridge leading across the low recess running the length of the room.

The space is already consumed in combat. Guards and prisoners alike take various points along the trench firing back and forth with guns the group can only assume once belonged to the guards alone.

“All prisoners: return to your cells immediately or I’ll open every airlock on this ship!” The warden tries to threaten, though clearly none of the prisoners take the notion seriously.

It doesn’t seem to matter much, as in just a few moments there aren’t many left alive, leaving the guards to focus on Shepard’s squad as they make their way across the space. Their kinetic barriers take the first few shots before they duck for cover, letting them take a second to wait for the guards to start reloading before ducking out to return fire.

“Shepard, the warden has locked down the area behind you. You must find another exit route.” EDI informs.

The group gets moving again once the guards are all down, passing by several more frosted over sections and an entire frozen mech as they make their way through the door on the far wall.

On the ground beside the door is something that causes the group to pause for a second. A guard, lying dead with a modified shotgun still clutched in his hand. Shepard slows on approach, crouching down to let his omnitool scan the weapon as he looks the man over.

“This guard got swarmed by prisoners with improvised weapons. He never had a chance.” Shepard speaks.

“Shows you what kind of people these prisoners are. I don’t agree with everything they do here, but it’s in the galaxy’s best interest. This guard kept maniacs away from innocent people.” Garrus says.

Once the omnitool finishes the scan Shepard rises back to his feet, letting him continue through the door. On the other side they are greeted to a tight corridor serving as presumably an airlock of sorts between the different cellblocks. The space is notably cold, probably due in part to the excess of ice coating every surface in the room.

Rounding the corner of the corridor they find both door leading to the next area over, and the lumbering form of Ben’s alien partially embedded in the wall. Still breathing, clearly, but either unconscious of just immobilized.

The squad slows as they approach him, letting Shepard take the lead in walking over to the alien.

“Ben? You alright?” Shepard asks.

Ben responds with a groan as he reaches up to pull himself from the metal.

“Warning: power plant damage has led to overload. Core systems failure imminent.” The computer calmly states through the ship.

Ben’s eyes, previously tensed shut, go wide as the statement registers with him. He immediately turns to the group, tearing himself from the metal as he does.

“Where’s the power source?” Ben demands.

Miranda immediately catches onto the implication of his question. “Ben, if you freeze the generator, the life support will be”

“If I don’t the whole station’s gonna blow, if I do then everyone with a space suit will at least have a chance. Where is it?” Ben asks again, now standing at full height.

“Head that way until you see the room that’s probably melting.” Garrus instructs, gesturing to the wall.

Ben nods as he rises from the ground, again letting his wings spread out and pass straight through the walls of the room as he becomes intangible. He soars forwards through the ship, leaving the group to press forwards.

“Helmet on. If life support starts failing, I don’t want any of us effected.” Shepard instructs. Miranda and Garrus quickly follow his directions. Garrus only has to take a second to assemble to pieces of his helmet stored on his suit. Miranda has to take a bit longer, sealing the suit she’s already wearing before pulling out and slipping on a helmet that seems solely designed to project an atmosphere, based on the presence of a holographic sort of field in place of any actual protection.

“Lockdown in Blocks Four, Seven, and Eight!” The warden shouts through the speakers.

The next room is another cell block, made evident by the wall of cells to their left as they enter. Immediately their kinetic barriers are forced to absorb several more shots from across the trench as they make their way for cover.

In just a moment the squad of guard shooting at them are dropped, letting them press forwards. Further ahead, the side they’re on is blocked by a cell module. Seemingly dropped by one of the mechanical arms in the chaos. This forces them to cross the next bridge, letting them press on.

Another YMIR mech and a half dozen soldiers block the other side of the room. They don’t block their way for long though, most either filled with bullets or tossed from the walkway into the trench below with an aura of blue. One is caught in the blast of the YMIR exploding, so the group doesn’t really have to worry about them.

“Find Jack! Red alert! Find Jack!” Again blares over the intercoms in the voice of the Warden as they make their way through the next door. Well, not a door. This time it’s just an archway without a seal.

“All guards to Cellblock One!” The warden commands as they pass through.

The next room, like all the ones before, is bathed in the color red. Both from the lights alerting the whole ship of the emergency, and from the blood of the prisoners and guards alike haphazardly spilled across the ground. Notably though, unlike the rest, the warden himself stands at the end of the room shooting down escaped prisoners.

A shot is fired at Shepard as he enters, forcing them to duck begins the adjacent crates and half-walls.

“You’re valuable, Shepard. I could’ve sold you and lived like a king.” Kuril starts monologuing as they hide. “But you’re too much trouble. At least I can recapture Jack.” He fires of another shot towards the area Shepard is taking cover, causing the Commander to flinch away from the collision slightly.

“Not happening! You’re a two-bit slave trader and I don’t have the time for it.” Shepard refutes over the radios.

“I do the hand things civil governments are unwilling to! This is for the good of the galaxy!” He desperately tries to justify.

And with those words it seems that he’s managed to stall long enough for backup to arrive.

“Warning: Powerplant offline. Core systems failure imminnnn.” The voice is cut off with a dull hum as the lights in the room start to dim, flickering slightly before completely shutting off.

Shepard and Garrus quickly activate the magnetic locks in their boots to stay connected to the floor. Miranda has to use her biotics to direct herself over to something to grab onto.

The rest of the room has varying levels of success with both breathing and staying with the ground. The atmosphere in the room isn’t immediately lost, but it does quickly start thinning, leaving all the guards in the room without helmets to start focusing on trying to breath more than firing at Shepard’s group. Something they can only just barely see with the light on their guns.

With everyone either trying to breath or focusing on reattaching themselves to the ground they’re fairly easy for the group to start taking out one by one.

In just a few moments there’s no one left to shoot at them as they start making their way through the room to the far door. Even the warden was seemingly taken out by the continually thinning atmosphere.

In another part of the station, Ben passes through wall after wall. Nothing is able to touch him as he moves. Not the sheets of metal and glass, not the fading power supply to the station, not the bullets fired at him by the occasional groups of guards he passes, not even the vacuum. The only thing that’s able to get him to stop is finding Jack again.

It seems she never actually stopped running. Well, she had to stop running when the artificial gravity was cut, but even then, she used her biotics to keep moving down the corridors. It’s only upon seeing Ben’s alien form again, rising through the floor with piecing green eyes locked on her, that she stops.

Shepard’s squad’s attention moves up to the corridor running through the cell block they’re in to see Jack and Ben both stopping. Knowing that corridor is barely a minute or two from the Normandy, they all start moving to intercept them.

Ben can tell that Jack is having a hard time staying conscious, based on the way her eyelids lull while trying to stay focused on him.

“You again. What the hell do you want?” Jack seems to demand, though still she seems to try to focus on the hatch past Ben than the alien itself.

“We want to help you. Cerberus has” Ben tries to explain.

Despite the oxygen deprivation the word Cerberus helps keep her wide away.

“Cerberus?” She speaks, mustering as much fury as she can in the low atmosphere. “I should have known a freakshow like you would have been cooked up by those”

“Why does it matter if we’re with Cerberus?” Shepard cuts her off, causing Jack to turn back to face him as the squad steps into the space.

She takes a second to process him and the other two, seemingly noting the Cerberus branding on Miranda’s suit. “They’ve been on my ass for years. Anytime I get free, they put a huge bounty on me.” Jack explains breathlessly.

“She’s destroyed Cerberus property and killed Cerberus people. Hence the bounty.” Miranda explains.

“You die first.” Jack mutters.

“My name is Commander Shepard. I’m here to ask for your help.” Shepard tries to inform her.

“You think I’m stupid?” She breathes, clearly more delirious now than she was even a moment ago.

“You stay here, and you suffocate to death. We can get you to safety, and we’re asking for your help.” Shepard tries to reason.

“We could wait ‘till she passes out and take her.” Miranda suggests.

“I’d like to see you try.” Jack manages to threaten.

“No.” Shepard states simply.

With several more deep as shaky breaths, she looks back to Ben again, then takes another few seconds to just look over Shepard’s team.

“You want me to come with you, make it worth my while. Cerberus databases. I want a look at those files. See what Cerberus has got on me.” Jack tries to find a compromise.

“Join my team and I’ll give you full access.” Shepard tells her.

“Shepard, you’re not authorized to do that!” Miranda shouts at him.

“Oooh, it upsets the cheerleader – even better.” Jack taunts. “You better be straight up… with…” Jack seems to really struggle to formulate the words.

Shepard just nods in response, moving forwards to her.

“Ben, get her on the ship.” He commands.

Ben glides forwards effortlessly as Jack starts to fade from consciousness, carefully grabbing her by the shoulders before turning around to start heading in the direction of the Normandy. The next hatch opens on approach, revealing the other side to be the first room they arrived on. Shepard and company follow, though more slowly as they can’t fly. Well, they technically could due to the lack of gravity, but they play it safe.

The outer door of the airlock slides open as Ben reaches it, letting him enter and place Jack on the floor of the room with the ship’s artificial gravity. The outer door closes, and the room repressurizes with a hiss. This causes Jack to take a deep gasp of air as she returns to consciousness, desperately pushing off the floor to get to her feet, and for Ben to automatically turn back into a human.

Jack’s attention swings back around to him as the inner door opens, letting them both step inside the ship. The inner door them closes again as the outer door opens to let Shepard’s party board.

“The hell are you, kid?” Jack quickly asks as Ben takes the moment to readjust to being in a space with air and gravity.

“A superhero.” Ben jokingly responds, though his tone betrays the comedy of his statement. He paces a few steps down towards the bridge before turning around again and leaning himself against the wall.

“Great, so you’re delusional.” Jack insults.

“Oh yeah, sure, no need to thank me or anything for saving your life.” Ben speaks, slightly more harshly than he normally does. Before Jack can respond, Ben looks past her at the airlock as it opens again, letting Shepard step aboard.

“Play nice.” Shepard scolds, causing Jack to quickly turn back to him.

“Welcome to the Normandy, Jack.” Miranda greets, stepping beside Shepard. “I’m Miranda, Shepard’s second in command. On this ship, we follow orders.” She immediately gets to business.

Jack still glances back and forth between the members of the group, trying to both figure them out while simultaneously trying very hard to remember the last few minutes before she blacked out.

“Tell the Cerberus cheerleader to back off, Shepard.” Jack is quick to respond, looking past the Cerberus operative to the Commander. “The only reason I’m taking this ship for myself is because of our deal.” Jack clarifies.

“Miranda will let you into the system once we’ve cleared the Purgatory.” Shepard tells her.

“Already on it, Commander.” Joker speaks from the bridge, pulling the Normandy back from the docking ramp.

“Hear that, precious? We’re going to be friends. You, me, and every embarrassing little secret.” Jack again taunts Miranda. She starts walking, clearly having to readjust with the first step before starting to stride past Miranda, Shepard, and Garrus. “I’ll be reading down in the hold, or somewhere near the bottom. I don’t like a lot of through traffic.” Jack confidently states as she makes her way into the CIC towards the elevator. “Keep your people off me. Better that way.” She seems to tell Shepard.

Miranda glances to Shepard as the convict waltzes away, shaking her head disapprovingly as she removes the helmet she’s wearing.

“Hey, you picked her.” Shepard refutes.

“Yeah, and you got half a prison killed getting her here.” Ben abruptly cuts in, causing the three to look over to him.

“Something on your mind, Tennyson?” Shepard questions.

“You nearly blew up the entire station. I’m the only reason any of those guys are still alive, and you don’t seem to be taking that all to hard.” Ben criticizes.

“I doubt they deserved much better.” Garrus instinctually tries to justify on Shepard’s behalf.

“You guys got half the ship killed, and your justification is “they probably deserved it”!? That’s not good enough. That’s not your decision.” Ben firmly asserts, now seemingly really get worked up about the matter. “Those guys were doing their job, and Shepard got dozens, maybe hundreds, of them killed just to break out one person. Who, might I add, was in a maximum security prison. Probably for a reason.”

“Ben, Cerberus” Miranda starts, preparing to defend their actions.

“Cerberus has done worse for less. Yeah, I know, I’ve read the files.” Ben cuts her off, still speaking with an anger that seems uncharacteristic of the boy. “I expected this sort of thing from Cerberus. That’s why I’m not working for Cerberus. I’m working for Shepard. Someone I thought would be smarter about risking innocent lives. Someone I thought would try to avoid getting people killed. The way Anderson and your friends talk about you, I would think you’re some sort of legend.” He lectures.

“Ben, the blue suns are hardly innocent.” Miranda picks out, trying to find anything to break down his argument.

“Yeah, so’s Cerberus. That doesn’t mean that everyone working for them deserve to die.” Ben pauses, letting out a frustrated sigh as he tries to find the right words. “Look, You're still the best shot I have at stopping the bug guys kidnapping people. But next time you’re going to risk the lives of an entire space station, make sure it’s worth it. Because “Jack” seems more like something Cerberus has been trying to get their hands on than a team member. And I’m not going to work for somebody that values “assets” over lives.”

Shepard stays silent for a moment, just staring across to Ben as he very carefully thinks about how he wants to respond to the enraged teen.

“You’re right.” Shepard eventually admits.

“Shepard” Garrus reacts, his tone seeming to question the Commander.

“No, he’s right. We’re better than that. I didn’t even think about it in the moment, but we could have left Jack behind, or tried to find another way to get her out without releasing the rest of the prisoners.” Shepard speaks.

Ben finally lets himself take a breath, starting to calm down now that someone’s finally acknowledged his point.

“Shepard, we both know that this fight is too big to”

“If we sacrifice lives for every advantage we can, we’re no better than they are, Garrus.” Shepard cuts him off. “We’re no better than Saren, or the geth, or anyone else.”

Garrus is silent for a moment before nodding. “You’re right.”

Ben remains quiet as Shepard restates his argument, letting him relax slightly. He didn’t even realize that he had loaded up the dial of the Omnitrix, but he lets the device close itself as he places his hands in his pockets.

“Next time, we find another way.” Shepard decided.

“Thank you.” Ben acknowledges.

“Let’s make sure Jack is getting settled.” Shepard speaks, motioning for the group to head down towards the Normandy.

Ben takes another moment to calm down before turning around towards the bridge.

In just a few moments, Ben sits in the free seat on the bridge as they start to sail through the space between them and the nearest mass relay. And it’s there that he sits for a while, just watching the stars slowly drift forwards outside.

“So, that was quite the earful you gave the Commander.” Joker eventually comments over the back of his chair.

Ben just remains silent, not really having anything to add to the statement.

“Can’t say I remember too many people getting away with that on the SR1. Well, maybe Tali that time he said the quarians deserved what happened with the geth, but Shepard let her get away with anything. Also Wrex that time he compared the genophage to the first contact war. And- actually, you know what? Now that I think about it most of the crew has chewed him out at some point or another.”

“That might be the first time I’ve heard anyone mention something that sounds like a flaw.” Ben remarks.

“Well, yeah. Don’t get me wrong, the Commander is one of the best. You give him a gun, a kinetic barrier, and a crate to hide behind, and he could take out a whole platoon of mercenaries. But he’s still just human. As much as the guys here like to talk him up, he still makes mistakes. We can’t all have the luxury of being Garrus.” Joker jokes. “Speaking of, did the see him back there? It seems like he’s finally worked that stick out of his butt, but now he’s trying to beat guys to death with it. I can’t believe I like the old Garrus better.”

That actually gets a chuckle out of Ben, breaking the serious demeanor he’s been holding.

“Seriously though. He may be the first human Spectre and have literally saved the entire galaxy from a bunch of evil machines, but the guy still makes mistakes. Now, not saying I blame you for yelling at him; we can only hold so much crazy and the lady that just showed up in the crew records is really pushing what I think we can manage.”

“Okay, I get it. I’ll go easy on him next time I have a complaint.” Ben cuts him off, getting the point.

“That’s all I’m saying.” Joker accepts.

Ben pushes out of the chair he’s in after another moment, turning to head back down towards the CIC.

He only has to wait for a moment before the elevator arrives, letting him head down to the engineering deck, where his room is. It’s about 10 hours to their next destination, if Ben has started to understand their UIs correctly. Ben’s only been up for a couple of hours, but if he stays up until he falls asleep, he knows he won’t be well rested by the time they arrive. So, in a moment of proper forethought, he decides to sleep now.

Well, he decides to try. It takes him about an hour to actually fall asleep.

As one might expect, he does eventually wake up again. Specifically, to the sound of his stomach loudly complaining at him.

“Hmm. I wonder if they have anything that passes for a smoothie here.” Ben muses to himself as he steps out into the hall to head towards the elevator.

One floor up, the crew deck is about as Ben expects it to be, if a little quiet. It seems like most of the non-essential crew got the same idea about sleeping on the way, as the food court is pretty sparingly populated. A few people eating vague approximations of earth dishes at one table, and Garrus at another.

No smoothies, Ben finds. Most of the raw ingredients to make a smoothie maybe, but no already made ones, so Ben doesn’t bother. Instead, he does the bare minimum to make an eatable meal and heads over to sit down at one of the tables. The one with Garrus.

“So, how’s Jack settling in?” Ben asks after a moment.

“She’s, eh, been quiet. Came out to get some food a few hours ago, but has just been down in the hold since then.” Garrus answers him.

“Guess EDI’s probably keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t break anything. You know, I half expected her to not remember agreeing to come aboard after she regained consciousness.” Ben speaks.

“Hah, yeah. It’s impressive she stayed awake as long as she did in the low atmosphere. The whole conversation I wasn’t sure if she was going to pass out or use her biotics to tear us in half.” Garrus admits.

“Good thing Shepard was there, huh? Got there just fast enough to talk down the half-conscious criminal he let out. You know, the one that tore through the walls of a space station. Y’know, in space.” Ben harps.

“And what would you have done, exactly?” Garrus asks.

“I don’t know, man. I’m sure the Omnitrix would have given me Juryrigg, or Upgrade, or something. Anything would have been better than releasing the whole populations of crazed lunatics.”

“I’ll admit, he isn’t usually so… I’ve seen Shepard fight. I’ve seen him make tough calls before. Choosing between friends, choosing between the council and a damn near eighth of the human and turian fleets, choosing between lives. Shepard’s never been heartless, but I can’t say he hasn’t overlooked the causalities for the sake of the mission before.” Garrus ponders.

“You’re saying you agree with what happened because it accomplished “the mission?” Isn’t the whole point of this to save lives?” Ben questions.

“Yes, but… No. I would have done the same in his position, but… you’re right. Shepard wouldn’t usually… I mean, I don’t think at least…” Garrus thinks.

“You think maybe Cerberus…?” Ben suggests.

“No. I talked with Miranda about what Shepard is, how they brought him back, all of it. For as little as I trust them, I don’t think she was lying. It seems like, as far as Cerberus is concerned, that’s the real Commander Shepard. Same heart, same bones, same man. I just think he’s been under a lot of pressure this past week. Being dead can do that to you. It was bound to catch up to him eventually.” Garrus reasons, seemingly trying to hide some genuine concern with comedic phrasing.

For a moment both of them are silent. Ben’s undeniably still upset about what happened, but he can’t really blame Shepard any more than he already has.

“Sometimes I catch him at standing at the galaxy map in the CIC, just staring. Like he can see all the way to dark space, just watching the Reapers close the gap.” Garrus speaks. Not necessarily to Ben, though obviously not to anyone else, more just to the air itself. Like he needed to acknowledge it.

“Guessing he didn’t used to?” Ben asks.

Garrus’s attention moves from the table to Ben specifically. Like that question actually let him latch onto something he wants to talk about.

“That’s the weird thing. On the old Normandy he’d stand at the map for hours, just thinking. He was almost always either checking in with everyone, filing reports in his cabin, or at the head of the CIC. He was always strategizing. Always thinking, and planning, or talking up the crew. Hell, I think one time I caught him eating up there. He’d brought a tray all the way from the crew deck up to the galaxy map and was using one hand to keep it balanced against the railing with his other moving food up to his mouth. Nearly gave us all a heart attack when the big hologram projector fried something or other than fell into it from his tray. He didn’t hear the end of that from Adams and Tali for a week, at least.” He pauses, realizing he lost himself in reminiscing. After a moment he starts again, “He was always up there, for one reason or another. But he never…” Garrus seems to struggle finding the words. His mandibles flare as he thinks, and his eyes slide back and forth to either side of Ben. “He never just… stared.” Garrus states.

Ben gives him a moment to think on it. For as abrasively arrogant as he is, Ben still knows when it’s time to listen to someone else. Some of the time, anyways.

“It’s Shepard.” Garrus states again, trying to kill the notion of doubt. “They brought him back, just, eh… It’s like they missed a part. Like part of him stayed dead when the rest of him woke back up.” Garrus tries his best to put it to words.

Ben legitimately doesn’t understand what he means. He didn’t know the commander before the first Normandy went down, so he can’t judge if the Shepard leading them is “missing a part” or not. He does understand Garrus’ concern though. He recognizes it not as the kind of concern a subordinate has for a commander, but the kind one has for a friend. The kind he’d have for any of his.

“What was he like?” Ben thinks to ask.

“Hah. He- ehm… hmm. Stubborn, I think. Nothing could get him to back down once he set his mind to stopping Saren. He was stoic, and clever, and heroic, and uhm… hm. A bad soldier, if I’m being honest. At least by turian standards. But he was a great choice for a Spectre. Answering to just the council, getting the job done by whatever means necessary, making his own rules.” Garrus answers.

“Sounds like things are pretty much the same.” Ben remarks.

“Ha. Maybe you’re right, but even so. He was… So, there was this quarian girl we picked up trying to stop Saren. Tali. I think you met her on Freedom’s Progress.”

“Yeah, I remember Tali. Purple? Wearing a hood with spirals? Seemed chill.” Ben confirms.

“Right. So, she had evidence that incriminated Saren. Proved his connection to the geth, and who we later found out was lady Benezia. When C-Sec turned her away, she tried getting it to the Shadow Broker, an information broker. But the people she went through were already working for Saren. They had her meet them in this alley in the wards, where they were planning to kill her after she handed over the information.” Garrus recounts.

“but?” Ben asks to show he’s still paying attention.

“But Shepard was on to them. Made it there just in time to watch her toss a grenade or something at them and duck for cover. It was- eh, not really the point. She had the recording, and was happy to give it to us for helping with the mercs. I would have left it there, but Shepard went out of his way to make sure she was okay. To ask for her help with stopping Saren, and make sure serving under him wouldn’t interrupt her pilgrimage. Same thing with Benezia’s daughter, the asari. Liara. Though I think that was for more… personal reasons. Or interpersonal, in their case. But then the same thing for Kirrahe’s team after Virmire. And...” Garrus stops himself, remembering to get to the point. “He was a good guy. Not just charming or charismatic. Hell, by human standards I think he was pretty far from those, but he had a better moral compass that I do.”

“and now?” Ben questions.

“I don’t know.” Garrus responds. “I’m guessing he just didn’t think about it, but…”

“I get it.” Ben doesn’t make him finish that sentence. He finally has the social aptitude to understand that Garrus shouldn’t need to keep making excuses for his friend. “I know it’s not his fault, I just wish things had gone differently.” Ben manages to admit, as much to himself as Garrus. “I just feel like a lot less people had to die. Like maybe I could have saved them if I got a different alien, or did something sooner.” He explains.

Garrus finally catches up to what Ben’s actually say. That beyond blaming the commander, he’s blaming himself.

The turian wants to say something comforting to who he finally realizes looks startlingly young to be having this conversation with him. Something to make Ben to feel better, or improve his moral, but he doesn’t have anything like that.

“It wasn’t your call, and you followed your commander’s lead. You did good out there.” Garrus resorts to instead.

“Yeah.” Ben rejects, rising to his feet with the now empty tray he brought with him. He walks across to the kitchen and pulls open what seems to serve as a dishwasher to place it inside. “See you later, dude.” Ben says as he starts walking away, back towards the elevator.

Garrus merely watches him go.

Ben takes the elevator up to the CIC to check in on how far out they area, but the moment he steps out of the elevator it’s pretty clear that he’s not going to have to wait long. They’re half an hour out from the world they’re landing on for their next recruit.

Notably, Shepard also isn’t anywhere to be seen. Walking over to the door of the armory he only find Jacob inside, which Ben takes to mean that Shepard is already geared up.

Ben heads back to the elevator and selects Deck 5, the shuttle bay.

Stepping out, he finds what he expects to. Shepard. The commander glances over as he steps out, seemingly waiting himself.

Ben doesn’t try to talk with him. He just finds a place to sit and wait as the shuttle is prepared. A little while later Mordin and Zaeed exit the elevator, coming over to join them in waiting.

It’s another couple minutes before they have the go-ahead, and the group all climb into the UT-47 Kodiak. Ben immediately takes a position in one of the seats, as does Mordin, but Zaeed remains standing. After a couple minutes the hanger door opens, letting the shuttle depart.

The Kodiak descends through the thick layers of harsh atmosphere towards a spot of large industrial debris and scrap. It comes down through the hull of what seems to have one been a building and glides to a stop a few feet up from the ground. The side of the shuttle hinges up and the group hop down out of it, letting it head back up into the sky as they move for cover.

The area ahead of them looks to be a comfortable middle ground between scrapyard and battleground. To their right looms as massive rectangular structure, seemingly a section of a ship’s hull labeled 02, missing both the front and back. Further above that, drifting through the sky, is a ship. Ben obviously doesn’t recognize the design, but he can’t help but wonder about the large wheel sort of structure at the front.

“The dossier doesn’t say if Okeer is on this planet by choice. Assume hostiles.” Shepard informs the group.

“Attack anything that shoots at us and stop if you want to talk to somebody. We know the drill.” Ben responds. He’s already pulled up the Omnitrix and is scrolling through his options. After just a second he seems to land on one he likes, and slams down the core once it’s up.

Yellow, plated, and big. Ben shifts into a body type that seem about 80% upper body, supported with thick two black and yellow legs. A grey tail, matched by his hands and shoulder bolts. The Omnitrix reappears on his chest, and the form is completed with a set of massive arm structurally resembling jackhammers of sorts. Armodrillo.

The group start moving forwards, in the direction of what seems to have been a ship. Ben lets them get a few paces ahead before he starts following, understanding that his size and weight might be a little hard to maneuver around if he were too close.

“There is only one measure of success: kill or be killed! Perfection is your goal.” Is announced in the voice of a woman, seemingly over a speaker of some sort based on the quality of the audio.

“Canned orders over loudspeaker? Classy.” Zaeed remarks.

As they walk, more rhetoric is spouted through the site’s speakers. “Begin hired is merely the beginning. You must earn your place in the mighty army we are building.” Being one of them.

The structures they move through start getting taller and more intact as they approach the hull. From this angle Ben can read 7-2XR on the side, though that still means nothing to him.

“Lookout position, equipped for combat.” Mordin observes ahead of them.

Turning the corner ahead they are promptly greeted with gunshots, bouncing off their kinetic barriers, and Ben’s outer plating. The ones that aren’t bullet proof quickly duck for cover behind surrounding pieces of metal sticking up rom the ground.

“Hold onto something.” Ben warns, reeling back his arms.

The group follows his instructions, letting him slam both of his hands down into the ground with a rhythmic drumming. Seemingly at his control, a disturbance ripples through the ground ahead of him towards the blue suns soldiers shooting at him.

The fissures seem to avoid the other members of Shepard’s squad, instead finding their way across the field and to the metal box their adversaries are in. Its supports are the first thing to go, dropping in enough for the group to all lose grips of their weapons. That’s before the rumbling of the ground below starts to affect the housing, shaking them firmly enough to leave the whole group as groaning bodies barely able to tell up from down. Entirely still alive though.

After a moment of letting his arms slow to a stop, Ben pulls his hands back from the ground. Zaeed holds a hand to the side of his head as he steps back out, trying to let a headache fade from the rapid jostling. Mordin seems to have been far less affected, instead looking over Ben’s transformation’s arms. He’s able to continue looking them over as the group starts moving again. They hop across the short gap onto the top of the metal structure Ben dropped into the ground, then hop off it again back onto solid ground in only a moment.

This is where they find one last member of the group they were just fighting. Seemingly not having been in the structure when it collapsed, but still near enough to have felt the effects of the fissure. He lies again one of the countless sheets of metal on the ground, barely managing to keep himself awake.

Ben transforms back as group walks over to the man.

“Shit. Shit! It won’t stop bleeding… I’m gonna… son of a bitch!” He mutters to himself. He is indeed bleeding, though not very much. From the looks of it, his side was seemingly pieced by a stray piece of sharp metal when he was knocked to the ground.

He manages to pick himself as the four of them come to face him. He’s still staggering and swaying, but standing.

“Suck it up, soldier. I’ve seen worse.” Zaeed is quick to reprimand.

“He doesn’t need to know that.” Shepard cuts in, stopping Zaeed.

“I knew it wasn’t Berserkers. Not at range. You’re mercs. Or Alliance. I’m not… I’m not telling you anything.” The guard speaks to Shepard as the Commander walks over to him.

“I’ve got a nice application of medi-gel ready to go. But if you’d rather I just keep walking…” Shepard manipulates.

“Son of a… I just, I don’t know anything. I just shoot the overflow from the labs. The old krogan up there, he’s really been cleaning house lately. Jedore hired him to make her an army, but the krogan he creates are insane, so we use them for live ammo training. It’s all crap; I don’t get paid enough to goddamn bleed out!” He explains.

“Outpost four? Jedore wants us to move. We need coordinates on that krogan pack.” Speaks through his radio.

Shepard leans in towards him, speaking a low “I want your friends gone. Understand?” to him.

“Uh, patrol? The last group… dispersed. Lost sight five minutes ago.” The guard responds into his communicator.

“Dispersed? Jedore will be pissed. She wanted a show.”

“You asked for a report, you got it. Dispersed.” The soldier speaks through gritted teeth.

“Understood. Returning to the labs.”

“There. You see? I’m helping.” The man states as Shepard leans away from him again.

“What is Jedore planning to do with all these krogan?” Shepard questions.

“Replace us, probably. I sure wouldn’t want to see an army of them coming at me. Only she can’t control them. They aren’t supposed to be crazy, but they’re krogan. How smart are they to start?”

“Have you seen Okeer? Does he know about all of this?” Shepard investigates.

“We can’t go in the labs, but everyone sees what happens when the krogan come out. I’ve shot hundreds. They’re crazy. Mindless. Anyone up there, they know what’s going on.” The man explains.

“Is Jedore’s lab heavily guarded?” Shepard asks.

“There are big guns to keep ships away. We’re not outfitted to fight goddamn commandos.” He pauses, noting Ben among the group. “The kid’s probably not gonna take anyone out though, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Please, I can take care of myself.” Ben refutes, bringing up the Omnitrix. As soon as the dial is up he slams it back down to transform.

Beep beep beep.

“Oh come on.” Ben reacts, looking down from the guy to his watch. “I’ll get to it, just” Ben hits the watch again, and this time it activates with a flash of green.

Ben’s skin immediately burst into flame, sizzling a solid red, but around Ben’s whole body wraps and forms a suit of solid metal. At least two or three inches thick. Colored a rough silver and grey, and held together with what seems to be large bolts. The only part of the suit not completely sealed are the eyes. The Omnitrix rests itself on his chest.

“Ugh, fine. NRG. I’ll take what I can get.” Ben complains, a noticeable accent on his words.

The man staggers back in shock, falling to the ground again as he looks up at Ben’s looming metal housing.

“If you start limping now, you might find a shady spot before you bleed out.” Shepard speaks down to the man.

With visible fear, he scrambles to his feet and starts moving. Not quite running, but certainly moving faster than someone critically injured could walk. A quiet “Shit. Shit!” Muttered under his breath as he moves.

“He just about pissed himself.” Zaeed comments, an amusement in his voice.

“Some people need a heavy hand.” Shepard justifies.

“Congratulations, you’ve scared someone half to death. Are you proud of yourself?” Ben berates. His accent is very noticeably Russian if the group had to pin it to anything.

Shepard just shakes his head as he steps away from Ben in the direction of the path ahead.

“Come on. Our warlord is somewhere in Jedore’s lab.” Shepard instructs, getting the group moving again.

“Training is part of your contract. Failure to perform means liquidation, legal and otherwise.” Another quote is broadcast.

As they proceed there are several more groups of blue suns troopers they come across, along with the bodies of several krogans.

“The korgan are your example and your warning! As ferocious as they are, failures are expendable.” The speakers announce along the way.

More of the same going forwards. Occasionally the soldiers pop out from some cover up ahead and the group either shoot them, or Ben his them with a lazer. The latter option somehow less deadly but far more painful than just being shot.

It’s only as hey round another corner that they find something notable. Across from more of the Blue Suns troopers they expected to find, is a krogan. A living one, returning fire.

The soldiers redirect their aim towards Shepard’s group as they enter the space, forcing them to duck for cover yet again. Ben though, still bullet proof, mere groans at their presence as he charges a shot. The laser launches out from the slits in his helmet to the walkway they’re shooting at him from, and with an exploding they’re sent careening back into the scrap below.

The krogan, despite what the group seems to expect for a moment, doesn’t turn to start firing at them instead. He simple lowers his gun and turns to look at them as the group approaches.

As Shepard comes to a stop a couple feet from it, it starts moving. The glowing yellow eyes of its helmet seem to lock onto the commander as it takes several heavy steps towards him. Zaeed readies his weapon but lowers it again when Shepard motions for him to stand down.

“You… are different.” The krogan speaks, leaning down slightly to line his head up with Shepard’s. “New.” It clarifies, now looming close enough for Shepard to be able to smell it if he weren’t wearing his helmet. “You don’t smell like this world. Seven night cycles, and I have felt only the need to kill. But you… something makes me speak.” He slowly steps back from the Commander, looking over the group as a whole.

“That thing’s only a week old?” Zaeed questions.

“They must breed them full-size, ready to kill. Not much improvement over regular mercs if they need training.” Shepard reasons.

“Bred… to kill. No. I kill because my blood and bone tell me to. But it’s not why I was flushed from glass mother.” It corrects. “Survival is what I hear in my head. Against the enemy that threatens all my kind. But I failed even before waking. That is what the voice in the water said. That is why I wait here.” It explains.

“Okeer’s voice? Did he speak to you while you were in the tank?” Shepard asks.

“I heard the voice. Not like now, with ears. Inside. I called it “father.” It liked that. But it was disappointed. I am now what it needs me to be.” It tells him.

“A breeding program. Trying to escape genophage effects?” Mordin questions.

“Escape? Escape was never whispered. Survive. Resist. Ignore.” The krogan corrects.

“How did you disappoint the voice?” Shepard questions.

“I don’t know. It was decided before I left tank mother. I was not perfect.”

“If mercenary was correct, krogan prone to mental instability.” Mordin reminds.

“I don’t know of that. But I am not perfect.” It insists.

“How can you speak if you’re only a week old?” Shepard asks.

“There was a scratching sound in my head, and it became the voice. It taught me things I would need: walking, talking, hitting, shooting.” It explains.

“Ha. Only the essentials, huh?” Ben comments.

“Then the voice said I was not perfect and the teaching stopped. And now I am here.”

“Interesting. Raised, then rejected. Control group? Failed test?” Mordin theorizes.

“I don’t know, but I am not perfect.” The krogan states.

As they continue talking Ben looks down to the node on the front of his suit. He reaches up to it and carefully grabs the dial with the bulky fingers, twisting it a quarter to the left. Shepard stops and looks to him, as does the krogan, as the face of the Omnitrix changes from green to yellow. In a moment a wide flat beam emits from the watch, scanning up and down over the krogan before shutting of again, returning the face to green.

“What was that?” The krogan questions.

“Scanned you. Figure if this Okeer guy is aiming for perfect then even the rejects must be getting pretty close.” Ben gives the Omnitrix a second to make sure it’s really done before tapping the device. With a flash, he shrinks back down to his human form. Mordin leans back slightly with a wince at the flash, but not even the krogan reacts with surprise.

“But I am not perfect.” The krogan corrects.

“Maybe not, but the Omnitrix doesn’t really need perfect. Just…” Ben’s words lull as he scrolls through the dial looking for the new form. “Ah, here we are.” He lets the faceplate slide back to reveal the core and raises his hand into the air to slam it down.

Shepard catches his arm before he makes contact though, stopping him.

“huh?” Ben looks to him with a raised eyebrow.

“This might not be the best time to become a krogan.” Shepard explains.

Ben has to think about it for a moment before understanding what he means, but it does eventually click.

“Right.” Ben agrees, re-closing the watch.

“Can you show me the laboratory? I need to speak with Okeer.” Shepard requests, turning back to the krogan.

“The… glass mother. She is up. Past the broken parts. Behind many of you fleshy things. I will show you.” It agrees.

The alien turns from them and lumbers across the space to a large plate of metal leaning against a wall. It leans its head to either side and dusts of its hands before gripping the plate by its sides. A growl permeates the space as it pulls the mass of steel back, struggling slightly for a moment before throwing it to the side.

“Yeah, yeah. Krogans are strong. We get it.” Zaeed underplays as the group make their way over to the pathway revealed where the plating was.

The krogan steps aside and Shepard slows to a stop, looking down the grey tunnel ahead.

“You fleshy things are slow when big things are in your way.” It explains.

Shepard turns to him.

“You could have run or tired to fight your way back to the labs. Why stay here?” The commander questions.

“I am waiting. The voice told me. If they come, I fight. But I will not run, and I will not follow. I am not perfect, but I have purpose. I must wait until called. Released.” It turns to walk back to where it was standing when they arrived.

Shepard doesn’t say another word. He simply looks forwards down the path ahead and starts moving, prompting the others to do the same.

“Not a lot of room to maneuver. Keep it together.” Zaeed warns as they walk.

“You heard him, Omnitrix. Something small. Something that fits in here.” Ben firmly tells it as he slides through options.

“They’re loose! Run for your damn life! They’re all free!” Echoes down the hall ahead of them, followed shortly by the sight of two Blue Suns troopers rounding the corner ahead of them. The one further back is dropped with a spray of bullets before he can even register the group. The one further ahead has just enough time to process the four and slow before achieving the same fate.

Ben glances up just fast enough to see them fall, and slams down the watch’s core.

Ben’s skin splits into thin strips tightly bound to his shape as the Omnitrix starts working. His form itself stretches out to roughly 14 feet. His arms stretch low enough to nearly drag on the ground. His forearms and shins and bound in black and green wraps, his shoulders sharing the color scheme with a vaguely Egyptian head dress. His face itself become but a single piece of solid metal upon the fabric-like sheets making up his body. He becomes, by all descriptions, what appears to be a mummy.

“Snare-oh? Eh, could have been worse.” Ben reacts, waltzing forwards without much care as the rest of the group duck for cover.

Turning the corner, he finds that the think mowing down the soldiers in in fact a krogan. Another of the lab-grown ones, presumably.

It seems relatively unphased by most of the incoming shots, marching through them towards the group with steadfast determination. Despite this, Ben still goes to the effort to extend the strips of fabric making up his arms out to either side to stop Shepard from firing.

“What is wrong with you guys!?” Ben explains, looking over to Shepard. “We just learned they can be reasoned with!”

“Krogan prone to mental instability, likely previous encounter was an outlier. Also violent in nature. They”

Mordin is cut off by the sound of a shotgun blast, and a second later Ben staggers back, withdrawing his arms. The bandages making up his torso are forced to start stitching themselves back together after the shot clears, him causing his attention to focus on the krogan still approaching.

“Dude, I’m trying to make a point here!” Ben shouts, extending an arm forwards to wrap the tendril-like bandages around it.

It shoots again, but Ben is still relatively unaffected, leaving him to slam the alien down into the ground once he’s grasped it. It starts trying to free itself with a groan, but Ben quickly slams it down again. Then again. Then a few more times, until it finally seems to have been knocked out.

“Okay, so maybe we can’t reason with them.” Ben accepts, releasing the reptilian body to pull his hand back.

“Still think it was worth a shot?” Shepard asks him.

“Yes.” Ben holds.

“Goddamn pansie.” Zaeed reprimands, pushing past him.

The continue forwards, passing by several more human bodies as they move.

It’s pretty clear that they’ve entered the megastructure they saw outside. They walk along metal pathways intermixed with the real ground of the planet below, both looming above deep pits on either side of them.

“Who authorized that krogan release? Okeer? I will have order in my compound!” The voice that’s been shouting orders states.

Sure enough, turning left at another corner, they’re greeted with more krogan. Not really a problem for the group, but it does slow them down. The humans and salarian stick to their guns, whilst Ben chooses to instead grab the krogan. Surprisingly, Ben’s method is actually much more efficient. He simply binds them and swings them off the edge of the walkways into the pits below.

The soldiers and scientists keep moving once it’s clear than Ben can handle them. They don’t even get too far before Ben catches up.

“Krogan took down the gird! We’re blind and getting hit on all sides! Where are the heavies?” A different voice speaks over their radios. Not to them though, clearly.

Ahead they find a ramp leading up a lever, letting them access a sealed door. A locked one at that. It only takes Shepard a moment to bypass though. On the other side is a stairwell leading even higher into the complex. Snare-oh doesn’t have to take the stairs though. He simply extends an arm up to the next level and pulls himself over to look ahead while waiting for Shepard to catch up.

“Krogan on our six! Copy, god damn it! Where’s Jedore and her personal guard?” The voice of over the radio speaks to no response.

Stepping forwards into the next area Ben’s able to feel a slight chill pass over his cloth body. Looking to his right he finds that he can now see through the open scaffolding holding up the hull around them to the sky beyond. Large messing sections of once ship reveal the world they’re on, and leave the area open to the natural atmosphere the last few room didn’t quite have. They had an atmosphere of course, they were breathable, it was simply heavy and metallic. A product of the corroding ship containing the air.

Ben just takes the moment to catch his breath as the other catch up. With them in tow, they press on.

There are more Blue Suns through the next door, and in the room after that. It’s pretty repetitive at this point. The group effortlessly kill or, as best he can manage, incapacitate, in Ben’s case, the soldiers heading their way as they continue up and through the walkways. Gradually more and more of the outside world is revealed as they approach it’s edge. Comparably, the orders shouted over the radio and loudspeakers grow increasingly desperate. Both to stop the krogan assaulting them, and to stop Shepard’s group.

In time it seems like they come upon the outermost layer of pathways within the hull itself. Beyond there are lakes of either water or coolant, tainted either way by the fields of scrap. Ben things he even sees what was probably the thrusters for the ship he’s in now, distantly burning a muted orange through the thick atmosphere or smog.

“There are four of them! Four! Anything can be killed is you do your damned jobs!” Is frustratedly shouted over the speakers as they enter another room, prompting a chuckle from Ben.

The room they enter is considerably larger than the previous few they’ve passed though, notably lacking the walls that would otherwise separate the pathways. This helps ben to see, from his raise height above most obstructions in the space, the sheer number of troopers they’ve sent to try to finish the job.

It takes them about five minutes. That’s counting the time it takes Shepard to reload and scavenge extra thermal clips though, which really takes up most of that duration. That does mean the other three do a fair amount of the actual work, but none of them really notice. That’s partly because of their focus on Ben leaping around the space and tossing the troopers at each other thought, which in fairness is pretty hard to ignore.

It takes another 5 minutes for them to walk through the winding pathways of the space to the next notable area. A sealed door. Exciting by the standards of the derelict structure.

It slides up and Shepard steps in first, his run still readied to aim at the next group of Blue Suns troopers he expects to find. Instead, the first thing his eyes land on is the body of a dead Krogan laid atop what seems to be a medical table.

“Shepard, don’t shoot! You know me!” Is shouted out from his left, causing Shepard to swing his attention to that half of the room.

A scientist standing behind another medical table, carefully rising back to full height as Shepard lowers his weapon and the others enter behind him. An asari, based on her blue skin and head tentacles. Ben transforms back as he sees her, trying not to scare anyone that’s not shooting at them anymore than he needs to.

Shepard approaches her cautiously, locking his pistol back to his side. He and Ben take note of the seemingly charred human skeleton on the table she stands beside. Seeing his glance, she takes a step to her left, away from it.

“I turned off the security cams as soon as I saw it was you. Never thought I’d say it, but I’m glad it’s you shooting up the place.” She breaths a shallow sigh of relief as she looks between Shepard and the others in his squad. “Sorry. Rana Thanoptis.” She addresses herself, noting their expressions. “Shepard let me go when he destroyed Saren’s lab on Virmire. Had to outrun a nuke in a utility pod, but it’s still a second chance.”

“I assume you have a good reason for being at this lab?” Shepard asks.

“Don’t worry, I’m not wasting the chance you gave me. My work here – strictly beneficial.” She defensively justifies. “Not for the mercs.” She thinks to clarify. “Jedore’s on a standard power trip. But Okeer is trying to do something good, I can tell. Even if his methods are a little…” She glances back to the human body, lingering for only a second. “extreme. Everyone deserves a second chance. Right? And sometimes giving one pays off. I take care of my debts.”

“What’s Okeer trying to do here?” Shepard questions.

“It’s complicated. Jedore wants a private army, but Okeer mostly ignores her. He’s running the project for his own reasons. I created a mental imprint routine to educate tank-bred, most don’t get through it. He dumps them for some reason.” Her eyes wonder to the other body in the room. The krogan. “He wants to help his people, but he’s not looking for a genophage cure, and he’s not going for numbers. That’s all I know.” He informs the group.

Shepard’s head drops for a moment, looking to the ground below him. Looking to his gun, actually, as he draws it from his side.

“Finding you in a place like this makes me think letting you go was a mistake. You don’t want that.” He bluntly threatens.

“We agree on that. Don’t worry, I plan on staying as far away from anything to do with you as possible.” She quickly confirms with him. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to run like hell before you blow the place or something. I know how you work.” She starts walking, causing the group to step aside as she moves past them to the door they entered from.

“So, blowing up the places you visit is a habit, huh?” Ben remarks.

“Should have killed her. Too much knowledge without ethical boundaries.” Mordin speaks to Shepard, ignoring Ben.

Shepard just turns to the other door leading out of the room, ignoring both of them as he starts walking. Zaeed doesn’t have anything to add before the door opens, revealing a far more intact room than most of the ones they’ve been through on the other side.

The Omnitrix loudly beeps as the door opens, but the group ignores it.

“Here you are! I’ve watched your progress.” A voice bellow from beyond.

Stepping into the space, the group find it to resemble a rudimentary laboratory of sorts. Various machines and equipment stretch the left wall, while the right seems entirely dedicated to a window. One the right side of the room, not quite against the wall, is a pod of sorts. And just behind it, typing away at a terminal, is a krogan.

The group approach him cautiously, taking note of what seems to be the body of another krogan in the capsule. Partially obscured by the glass and fluids within, but still recognizable.

“It’s about time. The batteries in these tanks will not wait while you play with these idiotic mercs.” The krogan grumbles back at Shepard.

“I take it you’re Okeer. You don’t seem particularly caged… or grateful that I’m here.” Shepard responds.

“You may claim to be here to help, but the formerly deceased Shepard is not a sign of gentle change.”

“You can say that again. Dude’s about as subtle as a wrecking ball.” Ben jabs.

“Exactly.” He agrees, only glancing to Ben on his way to face Shepard directly. “Surprised? All krogan should know of you. I’m sure rana has already revisited your actions on Virmire.” He taunts.

For once Ben actually knows what he’s talking about. That’s the planet Shepard nuked to destroy a cure for the genohpage, something he gathered was a disease or something affecting krogan.

“I’m sure you’re eager to retell the story.” Shepard offers the krogan.

“Such a tale! Saren, the Spectre traitor, threatens the return of the krogan horde by curing the genophage, undoing the gentle genocide of the turians and salarians. But before Saren can deliver his endless troops, in rides Shepard, securing victory through nuclear fire. I like that part. It has weight.” He tells.

“I didn’t have a lot of room for finesse. If there had been any other solution, I’d have considered it.” Shepard defends his actions.

“But I approve.” The warlord corrects. “Saren’s pale horde were not true krogan. Numbers alone are nothing. The mistake of an outsider, one that these mercenaries have also made.” He turns away from the group again, stepping over to look out through the window to the unlit area of the ship on the other side. “I gave their leader my rejects for her army. But she grows impatient. It’s time for you to take me out of here.”

“Personal issues irrelevant. Here for the Collectors.” Mordin informs him.

“I see” He turns back to them. “Yes, Collector attacks have increased. A human concern. My requests were focused elsewhere.” He moves across the space towards the pod, looking up at the body within. “I acquired the knowledge to create one pure soldier. With that, I will inflict upon the genophage the greatest insult an enemy can suffer. To be ignored.” He explains.

“What did you get from the Collectors? I need whatever you know about them.” Shepard requests.

“They are strange. So isolated, yet very available when your sacrifice is big enough. I gave them many krogan. I may have information for you, but the tech was consumed in my prototype. After I determined how to use it without killing the subjects.” He explains.

Ben looks to the pod again, taking a step towards it.

Another beep from the watch, loud enough for Ben to look down at it. Not loud enough to stop the others from talking though.

“The deaths were unfortunate, but I only need one success to start the process.”

“I thought the krogan ideal was a return to the numbers that threatened the galaxy.” Shepard questions.

“We will not need numbers.” The warlord refutes. “My soldier is a template. It is a greater threat than all the phantom siblings that would have been at its flank. The galaxy still bears the scars from the horde. But it will learn to fear the lance.”

Ben cautiously raises the Omnitrix to the tank, causing it to beep again, several times in quick succession. The rest now look over to him.

“What is he doing?” The krogan demands.

“Ben?” Shepard cautiously questions.

“Yeah, yeah. Just a sec.” The teen dismissed him, placing two fingers on the face of the watch.

From one of the six ports on the sides, a beam of yellow emits, scanning up and down over the tank before receding.

“What have you done?” The warlord again questions.

“I thought you only needed one sample of each species.” Shepard theorizes, recognizing the similar scanning beam.

“I don’t think it was”

“Omnimatrix functions locked for data analysis. Estimated time remaining: 20 minutes.” The high-pitched voice of the watch cuts him off.

“What!?” Ben reacts.

Shepard looks back to Okeer as he hears that Ben won’t be able to fight for roughly twenty minutes.

“Okeer. Your methods are extreme, but you know how to deconstruct a threat. Will you help us?” Shepard asks him.

“Perhaps I can strike a deal to secure passage, should your lacky refrain from tampering with my prototype any further. It is not negotiable. It is the key to my legacy.” Okeer responds.

“Lacky? Look dude, I didn’t want to scan your kid here, the watch just did it.” Ben indignantly tries to correct him.

“Attention! I have traced the krogan release. Okeer, of course.” The woman’s voice speaks over the intercom, cutting of their conversation.

The krogan quickly paces over to the window again as the lights turn on outside it, revealing a number of Blue Suns moving through the space.

“I’m calling “blank slate” on this project. Gas these commandos and start over on Okeer’s data. Finish the tanks!” She commands.

The krogan stands up straight as he hears this, a hiss of steam from another part of the room seeming to coincide with the slow turn to the group. Then several more, causing Ben to look back at them. Not steam, gas.

Ben goes for the watch instinctually, trying to load the dial. Instead, in its place, is simply a warning symbol in every position an alien’s icon should be. “Come on, Gutrot or Terraspin would be really great right now.” Ben tries to bargain with it, spinning the empty dial to see if it starts loading any transformations. It doesn’t.

“She’s that weak-willed? She’ll kill my legacy with a damned valve!” Okeer speaks, more disappointed in tone than he is angry. “Shepard.” He speaks, spinning to look at the commander. “You want information on the Collectors? Stop her. She’ll try to access contaminants in the storage bay.”

Shepard glances in the direction of the door he gestures to, but doesn’t move. “You could just start over, like she plans to. What’s the big deal?” Shepard asks.

“This tank is pure. It involved as much trial as data. Starting over will not duplicate it. It must survive.” He explains. “Jedore will be with the rejected tanks. I will… stay and do what must be done. Kill Jedore, Shepard. I do what I must to save my legacy.” He finishes.

Shepard nods, and turns to start walking towards the door with the rest following. Ben still struggles with the Omnitrix, trying very hard to get it to turn him into literally anything. It does not.

Outside of the room are stairs leading down to the next level, where the fight is presumably going to take place. The squad moves, but Ben does not.

Shepard stops, seeing this. “uhh, Ben?”

“Huh?” Ben looks up to him from the watch. “Oh, yeah. I’ll catch up when this thing’s working again. You go on ahead.” Ben tells him.

Shepard nods, and presses forwards. Leaving Ben on the platform of metal just outside the lab.

“Someone shut that bitch up!” Ben hears Zaeed shout over the radio as the sound of gunshots and rockets fill the air.

It’s a few minutes of just that while Ben tries to bypass the Omnitrix’s lockdown. About ten, actually. The Omnitrix occasionally gives him updates on how much time remains every couple of minutes, but doesn’t give him access to the sample wheel.

“Alarms in the lab? Great” Is the next thing he hears from the group, in Zaeed’s voice.

Shortly following him, voiced by EDI, “Shepard, the lab alarms coincided with a system failure. The remaining lab systems are unprotected, and I have gained limited access. According to lab scanners, the room is flooded with toxins, and Okeer’s personal life signs are failing rapidly. I recommend haste.”

Ben looks to the sealed door next to him as he hears the one below open.

“Contamination detected. Emergency vent in progress. Contamination detected. Emergency vent in progress.” What seems to be the ship’s computer informs them.

The sound of heavy footfalls coming up the stairs quickly follows, and in just a second Shepard makes it back to Ben. They enter the room together.

“You gave me time, Shepard.” Okeer starts talking. “If I knew why the collectors wanted humans, I would tell you.”

Making their way across the room they don’t see Okeer at first, not from where he’s speaking. But after a second the situation makes itself clear. The warlord’s body lying dead on the flood beside the tank, and a recording of him on the screen of the terminal he was working at.

“But everything is in my prototype. My legacy is pure. This… one soldier, this grunt. Perfect.”

Shepard stops beside the tank, his helmet staring at the screen showing the krogan desperately clinging to life while his body fails him. Okeer falls from view of the camera, and the recording starts itself over.

Shepard steps over his body to turn it off, leaving his finger on the button for a moment before pulling back again. His head rotates to face the tank, lingering there as he steps past Okeer’s body again.

“He killed thousands of his own people, but he sacrificed himself to save… this?” Zaeed seems perplexed.

“Delusional. Unlikely one krogan, however strong, could have impact Okeer wanted. Am… almost certain. Suggest leaving it.” Mordin speaks.

“Afraid he’ll make your genocide obsolete?” Shepard questions him.

“No. But krogan geneticall dangerous. Socially dangerous as well. Have enough enemies without adding this.” Mordin explains.

Shepard moves a hand to the side of his helmet. “Normandy? Okeer is a no-go. But we have a package that needs retrieval.” Shepard ignores him, directing the ship. “And he’s a big one.” Shepard adds.

When the Omnitrix finally finishes processing the data, is resounds with a harsh buzz. Not the usually beeping it does.

“Sample inconclusive. Please try again later.” The watch tells him.

Ben can’t even bring himself to be angry. Frustrated, yes, but not angry. Not even surprised.

Getting the pod to the Normandy is an ordeal and a half. They have to get a team out just to decouple the pod from the floor safely, then another team to actually transport it out of the facility to an area the Normandy is able to land. After that, they couldn’t even hope to move it into the elevator, meaning they have to hook it up to the Normandy’s power grid in the loading bay. This takes about four hours in totally, and once again made it immobile.

After that, they just had to get out of the planet’s atmosphere. That was the easy part, as it only took half an hour of pre-flight checks to make sure the additional drain didn’t jeopardize any critical systems.

The fun part is what came next, after Miranda called Shepard up to the debriefing room to discuss the new cargo. Specifically, to discuss her concerns with waking it up. Shepard counters with his unwillingness to give up, as he puts it, “a potential resource.” Which Miranda eventually accepts. Jacob, who was also in the room for this discussion, had nothing to add.

Shepard headed down to the engineering deck after the conversation. Not because that’s where the tank was, it was on the next deck down, but because he needed to stop by Ben’s room.

Upon opening the door he finds Ben sitting on one of the storage crates, hunched over his phone. Ben glances up to him, revealing his screen to be that of a codex entry for a second before the phone goes to sleep.

“Shepard, what’s up?” Ben asks.

“You have a minute?” Shepard asks. He doesn’t step very far into the room, but does look around while talking. Ben hasn’t changed the space much since before they set up the cot for him. Crates are still stacked around the walls of the room as they were, but he has notably put a variety of mechanical parts on the table resting against the window. The device he made to charge his phone among them.

“Yeah, sure. Whatcha need?” Ben questions.

Shepard’s attention glides back over to Ben before he speaks again. “I’m going to let the krogan out. I could use some backup if things get hostile.” Shepard tells him.

Ben shoves his phone into his pocket as he stands up. Shepard has to step aside as Ben walks out into the hall.

“No problem.” He says, making his way towards the elevator.

Shepard turns to join him, letting the door of Ben’s room automatically close again.

They descend to Deck 5, letting them step out into the bay. The people working glance over as they see Shepard and Ben approaching the pod, but obviously don’t stop him. They just start working slightly further away from them by the time Shepard comes to a stop, looking up at it.

“Subject is stable, Shepard.” EDI informs them, speaking through the ship’s speakers rather than their coms. “Integration with onboard systems was seamless.”

“Stand by. I’m going to open the tank and let him out.” Shepard speaks, stepping forwards before EDI stops him again.

“Cerberus protocol is very clear regarding untested alien technology.” EDI warns him.

“He’s either a powerful addition to the crew or a time bomb. I’d rather deal with it now.” Shepard explains his reasoning.

“Very well, Shepard.” EDI accepts. “The controls are online. The switch – and consequences – are yours.” She specifically absolves herself of responsibility.

Shepard walks the rest of the way to the tank, making sure Ben is ready with the Omnitrix before he uses the holographic panel to engage the wake-up sequence.

Immediately the pod hisses and groans as the mechanisms within activate. The body within slumps as the fluid holding it up is drained away. The transparent hatches are the next to activate, hinging open like refrigerator doors to let the krogan within fall to his knees at the base of the pod’s platform.

With a sudden cough and a groan a spray of fluids fall from it’s mouth, mixing with the rest of the tank’s fluids still pouring off of it.

Shepard takes several steps back to give it room as the krogan’s eyes rise up to focus on the pair.

Then, there is silence for a moment. Tense silence, controlled by the being newly conscious looking upon them. His eyelids fall shut for a second as it just breaths, then, with a roar, it lunges.

It goes for Shepard, grabbing him by the shoulder and swinging him up to slam his body into the wall.

“Human. Male.” It speaks, the voice intelligent and composed. “Before you die, I need a name.” It states.

“How about” Ben interrupts, slamming down on the Omnitrix. He transforms in a flash of green, causing the tank-bred to turn to him. Watching, he sees the body change from the human teen to a muscle-bound, four armed alien hued red and black. “Four-arms!” Ben shouts, reaching over to pull his arms from the commander.

The krogan lets go and steps back before Ben reaches him, leaving him to instead catch Shepard with one of his arms to lower him back to the ground.

“I’m Commander Shepard, and I don’t take threats lightly. I suggest you relax.” Shepard states.

“Not your names. Mine.” The krogan calmly clarifies, not the least bit intimidated by Ben’s new form. “I am trained, I know things, but the tank… Okeer couldn’t implant connection. His words are hollow. Warlord, legacy, grunt… grunt. “Grunt” was among the last. It has no meaning. It’ll do.” Grunt thinks, each word spoken clearly but to himself. “I am Grunt. If you are worthy of your command, prove your strength and try to destroy me.” He challenges.

Ben’s upper and lower sets of fists both slam together, cracking his knuckles as he rolls out his neck. “You don’t know what you’re asking for, pal.” Ben threatens.

“Why “Grunt?” You wouldn’t prefer “Okeer?” or “Legacy?”” Shepard questions casually.

“It’s short. Matches the training in my blood. The other words are big things I don’t feel. Maybe they fit in your mouth better. I feel nothing for Okeer’s clan or his enemies. I do what I am bred to – fight and determine the strongest – but his imprint has failed. Without a reason that’s mine, one fight is as good as any other. Might as well start with you two.” He reasons.

“I have a good ship and a strong crew, a strong clan.” He gestures to Ben, and the krogan seems to acknowledge that truth of his words. “You’d make it stronger.” Shepard offers.

“If you’re weak and choose weak enemies, I’ll have to kill you.” Grunt makes clear.

“Our enemies are worthy. Not doubt about that.” Shepard assures.

“Hmm. Hmph! That’s…” He pauses as Ben turns back into a human, fairly convinced the situation has already resolved itself. “Acceptable. I’ll fight for you.” Grunt confirms.

“I’m glad you saw reason.” Shepard smiles, gesturing for the crew to stand down.

“Hmm?” Grunt muses, turning to see the half dozen Cerberus workers aiming pistols at him. “Ha! Offer one hand, but arm the other. Wise, Shepard. If I find a clan, if I find what I… I want, I will be honored to eventually pit them against you.”

“Great, he’s already threatening us.” Ben jokes, watching the krogan turn away to look back at his tank.

“What are you?” Grunt asks, nether turning back to Ben or acknowledging his comment.

“Human. Male.” Ben quotes him.

“That’s what you are now, but not before. Who are you?” He asks specifically, turning around to face them again.

“I’m Ben Tennyson, superhero. I can turn into a ton of different things.” Ben holds up the arm with the Omnitrix, facing it outwards so he can see its screen.

“EDI can explain it to you later.” Shepard interrupts, looking around at the workers still nervously glancing over to Grunt. “We should get you somewhere to stay.” Shepard offers.

“Hmm. Yes, that would be best.” The krogan agrees.

The krogan is given the port cargo to stay in, across the walkway leading out of Ben’s “room” in starboard cargo.

Ben doesn’t mind, and simply goes back to his room to catch some more shut eye before they arrive wherever they’re heading next.

Shepard goes to the CIC, stepping out of the elevator as it open to reveal the galaxy map loading to view just ahead of him. He steps out and makes his was across the floor to step up onto the deck looking over it when the yeoman speaks up.

“The Illusive Man wishes to speak to you in the debriefing room, Commander.” She informs him.

Chapter Text

Shepard approaches the communications room with light steps, not yet wearing more than his casual wear.

The table lowers to be level with the floor as he steps into the room, and, stepping onto it, a holographic grid scans up his body. As it passes over his eyes he once again finds himself seeing the open room the Illusive Man sits in.

The suited man stares across to him, a cigarette falling from his lips as their eyes meet.

“Shepard. I think we have them!” He wastes but a moment before speaking. “Horizon – one of our colonies in the Terminus Systems – just went silent. If it isn’t under attack, it soon will be. Has Mordin delivered the countermeasure for the seeker swarms?” He succinctly gets to the point.

“Not yet.” Shepard states.

“Let’s hope he works well under pressure. There’s something else you should know.” He pauses, taking another breath of the cigarette. “One of your former crew, Ashley Williams – she’s stationed on Horizon.”

This manages a reaction from Shepard, his eyes narrowing as he thinks on the information.

“The Collectors just happen to pick a colony with one of my former crew? I don’t buy it.” Shepard says.

“it shouldn’t be a surprise the Collectors are interested in you. Especially if they’re working for the Reapers.” He taps the end of the cigarette against the edge of an ashtray, leaving his eyes free to directly face Shepard. Locking onto his. “They might be going after het to get to you.”

“Send the coordinates. We’ll head straight there.” Shepard tells him.

“This is the most warning we’ve ever had, Shepard.” He reminds. “Good luck”

As the hologram falls, Shepard looks up to the ceiling.

“Joker – set a course for Horizon. I’ve got to go see the professor.” Shepard orders.

“Aye, aye, Commander.” Joker acknowledges.

Whatever rest Ben had hoped to catch is cut sort by the order for him to report to Deck 5 blasted over the intercoms in his room. Ben takes a few seconds to understand what the hell just happened before he properly wakes up, as which point, he gets moving towards the elevator.

As soon as the elevator doors open again he can see the group getting ready. Shepard, Mordin, and Garrus. The three all appear to be equipping themselves with some sort of projector under their outer armor, similar to the kind that projects Ben’s kinetic barrier, but not quite. Far less bulky, and as far as he can tell there’s only one node instead of the 8 or so on Ben’s under suit.

“Ah, perfect timing. Here.” Mordin speaks, noticing Ben. He meets the teen halfway, handing him one of the devices to put on.

“Uhh, thanks?” Ben questions.

“For swarms. Know some of your aliens immune, but seekers more likely looking for human specifically than incapable.” Ben knows that isn’t the case for Diamondhead, but he can’t be sure he’s wrong in regards to some of his other forms. “Unclear if collectors adapted. Just in case – would hate to lose Omnitrix. Your life important too, of course.” Mordin explains.

“Sure, dude. So, where are we headed?” Ben asks, looking over to Shepard.

“Horizon, another colony. They just went dark. We’re another ten minutes out.” He explains.

“About time we get to kick some collector butt.” Ben speaks, heading over with Mordin to load themselves to the Kodiak.

Garrus looks to Shepard to gauge his reaction, but simply finds him making sure his guns are secure.

“Well, you can’t fault his enthusiasm.” Garrus comments.

“Let’s hope it holds up. If this really is the collectors, I can’t have Ben holding back.” Shepard responds.

“What, like on the Purgatory? Or when you were finding Okeer?” Garrus questions.

“Exactly.” The commander confirms.

“You were pitting him against people he didn’t have a reason to fight before. I’m sure he’s plenty motivated to show the collectors what for.” Garrus refutes.

“Let’s hope.” Shepard can only say, turning to join the other two on the Kodiak.

As soon as the loading bay hatch opens, they can see the towering spire of stone and steel approximating a space vessel, and the clouds of seekers around it. Pulsing and flowing through the colony like a virus, seeking out anything it can kill.

The shuttle falls through the atmosphere faster than perhaps it should, but they don’t have time to waste. The shuttle stops a few feet above the ground and rotates to let the door face the colony. It swings open, and the group hop out.

The moment they land Ben has already slammed down on the Omnitrix. It beeps at him several times, but he doesn’t listen. He keeps trying until it gives him an alien, and finally the sheets of crystal roll over him with the change of shape. Shapes jut from his back and his head simplifies as he becomes the alien he was going. Diamondhead.

The commander takes a moment to look up at the superstructure while Ben’s glossy green eyes narrow, scanning over the area they’re in. The shuttle rises back into the sky to return to the Normandy as Ben starts walking.

“They’re kind of like the Highbreed, huh.” Ben comments, seemingly on the ship.

“The what?” Shepard asks.

Ben looks up to the structure. Dark clouds circle it, flickering with lighting striking out across the sky.

“Aliens from my universe. Not important.” Ben dismissed, focusing on the surrounding environment.

It’s not that dissimilar from earth, honestly. Fields of tilled soil on all sides of them but one, that which leads to the colony itself. The only thing between them and it is ground, and a very big, mounted turret. Noticeably not firing, despite being aimed at the sky. The sky itself is a shade of pale grey, and the vegetation ranges from shades of green to orange.

“What’s the plan?” Ben asks, still looking over the surrounding terrain.

Before Shepard can respond, Ben spots something. The same things he saw back on Freedom’s Progress, descending from the sky with rifles in hand.

“Get down!” Ben barely has enough time to shout before the start firing.

He slams his fist into the ground and between the group and the collectors a wall a crystal rises, blocking the torrent of shots that come after the first few hit their shields.

“Ben, can you get this mobile?” Shepard asks in reference to the barrier.

“Maybe, but it would be slow. Last time I fought these guys they started running when they realized they were outgunned.” Ben answers.

“Let’s not give them the chance” Garrus leans from the cover and fires a single shot from his sniper rifle, followed immediately by the sound of one of the collector’s horrible wailing shrieks.

As the group start taking the opportunity to fire back from the cover Ben’s provided, Ben himself takes note of the cover. Unlike his stone-based hide as Heatlblast, the material of his current form seems to be durable enough to be unaffected by their shots.

This is all he needs to know to bolt from cover. The collectors refocus their fire on him as he runs at them, but it doesn’t so much as scratch him. A fact they’re cognizant of all to late. Ben rams the first, grabbing its head hard enough to break through the exoskeleton. Before it even has the chance to scream, he then throws it into another one further down, sending them both tumbling.

He’s then hit with a beam sort of weapon that actually knocks him off balance for a second, forcing him to look over at the collector firing it. He merely extends a hand, letting it shift to cup around the blast to redirect it back at them.

He doesn’t have to take out the next few, as their focus on him let the group exit cover and take them out without difficulty.

“What? You don’t want to reason with these ones?” Shepard jokes, catching up to Ben.

“They had their chance.” Ben responds, far colder than the group has come to expect.

The squad moves forwards, all three of them needing to jog to just keep up with the speed and length of the strides Ben takes.

Shepard catches the look Garrus is giving him as they move, and all he can do is shake his head at what he recognizes as the equivalent of an ‘I told you so.’

“Comman…--tting all kinds… --ference. We can’t maintai…” Blares over their radio. Seemingly Joker.

“Collector ship disrupting communications.” Mordin deduces.

“We’re on our own now.” Shepard accepts as they reach the buildings of the colony proper.

Ben doesn’t wait for the rest to see them, or even for them to land, once another group starts approaching. Ben lowers his body with another strike to the ground, and under him a platform of blue crystal shoots up out, carrying him into the sky with it.

The swarm tries to move to avoid him, but all it takes is for him to grab one to stay in their air with them as it desperately tries to throw him off. With shocking precision, he aims his arms out at each of the drones descending with him and shoots them down one by one with crystals forming from his free hand.

By the time they land only a few remain, and the one he essentially rode down is crushed with a stomp.

The others are shot down by the squad before Ben even turns to look at them. It’s curious then that the sound of growling and hissing doesn’t stop. Tracking these sounds, Ben turns to find another type of enemy approaching them. Blue the way a body without oxygen might be, naked save for the technology wrapped around and through their flesh, and very clearly aggressive.

Ben is the only one who hesitates to attack them. While the other three quickly get to shooting, Ben takes a second to grab the first one that gets close to him, holding it in place to look over it.

“These look like the husk back on Eden Prime.” Shepard observes, dropping another one.

“You’ve seen these things before?” Ben questions, carefully holding his back with a single hand.

“Yeah, but I thought the geth got that technology from Sovereign.” Garrus answers.

“Illusive Man was right. Collectors are working with Reapers.” Mordin notes.

“What are they?” Ben questions.

“Humans. From the other colonoes, probably. They’re humans the reapers converted into… things. Not even alive anymore, just…”

“Genetically?” Ben questions, very specifically.

“Uhh… maybe? It was never really”

“Stop shooting them!” Ben demands, pushing back the husk he was struggling with to focus on stomping down into the ground. Around all of the remaining husks, crystals emerge, holding them in place. The group listens to him, wondering what he’s doing.

Ben carefully walks over to the nearest of the four he captured, tapping the Omnitrix. He doesn’t turn back though, it simply responds with those beeps again, which for once seem to be what Ben wants.

The group watch Ben with caution as he does whatever he seems to be trying to do, keeping just enough distance to react if the husk got free.

The Omnitrix beeps several more times, now the same pitch each time, before speaking “Severe genetic damage detected.”

“Attempt repair.” Ben states.

The dial on his chest flickers slightly before lighting up a brighter green that it normally does. Ben extends a hand to the husk, carefully grasping its still growling head as the Omnitrix continues to glow brighter. Eventually Garrus and Mordin have to look away, Shepard's only saved the trouble because of his helmet automatically dimming the sight.

This does let him see what’s actually happening though. The shapes of Ben and the husk get harder to distinguish from one another, their silhouettes seeming to bleed into each other like shadows at the point of contact.

From Ben’s perspective, he’s stopped seeing the husk at all anymore. What he sees is, what he’s always assumed to be, the inside of the Omnitrix. And ahead of him, the person the husk used to be.

He’s done this before, but last time he knew what to grab at. There was a clear “thing” to pull off the victim. This time the human woman sits curled over herself in what has darkened to a void around them, sobbing and shaking. There’s nothing to take from her. The human herself seems to be unchanged in this sort of metaphorical space, so Ben has to look around for what he might have to do.

“B E N   T E N N Y S O N”

Ben’s attention is pulled to the glow of red above him. The glow that just barely gives form to the creature looming impossibly tall over him. The thing that looks at him. The object that spoke his name like a thought with weight, ripping through his being.

“Get. Out.” Ben states as simply as he can, his words constructing themselves without a single shred of fear. Without anything for the creature to latch onto or manipulate.

In response, it descends towards him. Falling the hundreds of meters it’s legs hold it into the air with a deafening roar like that of a fog horn. Angry, and primal, and just as quickly gone.

Ben opens his eyes again, now looking upon the unconscious human face his crystalline hand lingers over.

When Mordin and Garrus look back they have to take a moment to really process what they’re seeing. Garrus’s mandibles hang open as wide as his eyes, as does Mordin’s mouth.

The crystals recede just far enough to let the blanket of technology around them spill to the ground, but not far enough to remove shelter for them until they wake up.

“You can fix the husks?” Shepard asks, just to make sure he really understood what just happened correctly.

“The Omnitrix is built to change DNA. It can fix things that do it wrong.” Ben summarizes, turning to make his way over to the next husk. “I’ll catch up. I can’t leave them here like this.” Ben explains.

Shepard nods, and the group starts moving again.

It’s not a minute before the sound of another firefight fills the air. And it’s not another minute after that before Ben rejoins them. More collectors that die just as fast as anything else filled with bullets and shards of crystal.

And colonists. Living ones frozen in place, just like the ones Ben had seen before. Ben isn’t sure if he should be relieved they haven’t taken everyone yet, or worried about how many people they have taken in the several hours it must have taken them to get here.

He chooses not to think about it as they press forwards. They only pass through a few more housing units before another group of Collectors are descending towards them, now landing far enough ahead for Ben to be unable to intercept them in the air.

There’s something odd about this group though. Landing, one of the collectors out front hunches over itself. The squad slows to take cover as they see the group, but Ben simply watches. As does Shepard, actually, not really moving for cover either. The bug convulses and tenses, slowly the chittering changes to a warbled scream as its exoskeleton splits. Glowing cracks of red light bleed out across the collector as it rises into the air slightly.

With a subtle flash of red its skin charrs over, and it falls back to the ground. Not needing even a moment to gets its bearings, it aims its weapon forwards and locks its eyes on Shepard.

“This is what you face.” It speaks aloud, the rest of the group starting to fire.

Ben raises the equivalent of an eyebrow and places a hand on his hip, looking at the unique one with confusion.

He raises his other arm and fires off several shots of crystal at it, and upon piercing it, it not only dies, but completely crumbles to ash before it even falls.

“Huh.” Ben reacts.

The rest of them follow suit pretty quickly, taking no longer to deal with than any of the other groups.

After a few minutes they’re left to press forwards across the stained court of bugs. Shepard slows though, carefully looking around as a thought dawns on him. It only takes him a second to spot it.

The commander motions for the group to stay with him as he changes course to head towards a large, sealed, garage door. Shepard flicks his wrist to load up his omni-tool, intending to override the lock. However, before he has to, Ben’s already grabbed the mechanism by the seal and has forced the low half down into the ground.

Shepard glances to him as he enters through the opening.

They only get a few steps into the space when their attention is drawn across the room to the sound of something clattering to the floor.

“Company.” Shepard observes, drawing his pistol again with the others to face what could mean combat. “Get out here. Now!” He orders.

Cautiously, from behind one of the structures at the far end of the room, the face of a human man peeks out.

Shepard lowers his gun, seeing his fear. It doesn’t seem to be directed at Shepard as much as it is Ben though, prompting Shepard to gestures for Ben to transform back. He does, reverting to his human form with a steady focus on the man.

“You’re, uh… you’re human!” The colonist recognizes, stepping out to approach them. “What are you doing here? You’ll lead them right here!”

“You had to hear them trying to get in. Seems like it’s hard to hide from the Collectors.” Shepard responds.

“Those things are Collectors? You mean…” He shakily looks down, his eyes frantically looking around the space. He turns away from them, taking a step away just to look at the back wall. “They’re real?” He breaths, shocked to such an extend that he can barely think. “I thought they were just made up. You know – propaganda. To keep us in Alliance Space.” He goes quite for another moment, thinking as he nervously wraps his hands. “No!” He eventually announces, his head shooing up as he turns back to the four. “They got Lilith. I saw her go down. Sten, too. They get damn near everybody!”

“What’s your name? What do you do here?” Shepard questions.

“Name’s Delan. Mechanic. I came down to check on the main grid after we lost our comm signals. Then I heard screaming. I looked outside and there was… swarms of bugs. Everyone they touched just froze. I sealed the doors.” He struggles to keep himself composed, turning to start pacing as he speaks. “Damn it – it’s the Alliance’s fault! They stationed that Chief Williams here and built those defense towers. It made us a target!”

Ben once again recognizes the name. He knows they used to be a member of Shepard’s squad, but he could swear he remembers the name from somewhere else before that. He can’t place it though.

“If you have defenses we can use them against the Collector ship!” Shepard states.

“You’d need to calibrate the targeting systems first. It’s never worked right..”

Shepard turns to look at Garrus, but finds him just starting at the human like he’s seeing like life’s purpose.

Mordin speaks up before the turian can react, “Shouldn’t be hard to figure out. Just need the location” The salarian tells him, snapping Garrus out of his trance.

“Head for the main transmitter on the other side of the colony. Pretty hard to miss. The targeting controls are at the base.” The colonist informs them.

“it’s probably just better if you stay out of the way.” Shepard tells the man.

“yeah, that’s what I was thinking too.” He agrees. “I’ll let you out, but I’m locking the door behind you. I’m not taking any chances. Good luck. I think you’re going to need it.”

“Please, who needs luck what you have me.” Ben remarks, already heaving for the hatch.

The door on the side of the room they didn’t enter from opens, and the four of them step out to let it close again.

“You know the plan, Tennyson?” Shepard checks.

“Get the guns online and take down the creepy-crawlies before they leave, I got it.” Ben tells him, starting to spin through the watch again.

“You make it sound easy.” Garrus says.

“Please, I’m Ben Tennyson. Savior of my universe like a dozen times. I’m a superhero.” He boasts, pulling his fingers back from the face as he comes to the alien he wants. “I’m gonna keep ‘em busy while you guys do what you do.” Ben slams down on the core, and the watch immediately responds by beeping at him.

It’s clear from Ben’s face that he’s not amused by the device’s opinionated droning, causing him to hit it again. Again, he’s met with monotonous chimes and “vworps” and whatnot.

“I’ll do it later, okay? I can’t scan them when they’re shooting at me. Plenty of bodies to scan when we’re done.” Ben tries to reason with the device, hitting the core again. It seems to listen to him, as he finally transforms.

His skin quite quickly reworks itself into large geometric shapes. His arms extend and rest themselves against the ground as he increases in mass. His body changes to a segmented collage of primary colors, finishing as his head snaps into place piece by piece. Bloxx.

“I was going for Cannonbolt, but I can work with this.” Ben states, turning away from the group to look in the direction of the looming ship ahead.

“Be careful.” Shepard reminds.

“Yeah, yeah.” Ben responds, letting his arms extend into the ground to launch his body into the sky.

With their goals now clear – for Shepard to get the turrets working, and for Ben to keep the collectors busy while they do – he doesn’t waste any more time.

He tosses himself forwards across the rooftops with ease, extending each of his arms to serve as almost stilts, letting him walk on his fists above the colony. He takes care not to accidentally hit any of the disturbingly scarce colonists he passes over, keeping his points of contact almost entirely to the tops of the units and off the walkways between them.

“It’s weird we haven’t run across more frozen colonists.” Ben can hear Garrus note over the radio, still working at short range.

“Colonists already loaded onto ship. Nearly done here. Need to hurry.” Mordin reasons.

Ben actually sees the tower they’re heading for, and can see from his height that the collectors seem to be heading for it as well, so Ben changes course. He probably didn’t need to split up from them after all, but because he did, he makes it there before any of the squad do.

He lands as quickly as he was able to travel and scans over the area in the time he has before they notice him.

The area it’s seems to be a fairly open court, filled sparingly with stacks of storage crates. All of which surround a central platform with a transceiver stationed in the middle, and a terminal protected with some cover at the edge.

Several more husks have already arrived in the space, but these ones are different that the last group he came across. They’re larger, grosser, and have most of their bodies taken up with a pulsing cyst-like mass.

Ben moves for the husks.

He extends a hand, morphing it into a cage around the one closest to him while he taps the Omnitrix with his other.

“Attempt repair.” He instructs.

With a glow and a moment to process, it does just that. The husk is converted back into a human being, still covered in the mechanical and biological extensions, but more or less unharmed. This lets Ben drop them and move for the others

It only takes him a few minutes to fix them. Not enough time for the ones he hadn’t got to to do any real damage to Ben, but enough time for Shepard to catch up.

Entering the court, and seeing Ben already dealing with the threat, he heads for the terminal by the transmitter. Thankfully, it seems undamaged. Loading to view in just a few seconds, Shepard is able to start navigating through the controls for the tower.

“Normandy? Do you copy?” Shepard tries to contact the ship.

“Joker here. Signal’s weak, Commander, but we got you.” The pilot answers him.

“EDI – can you get the colony’s defense towards online?” Shepard asks.

“Errors in the calibration software are easy to rectify, but it will take time to bring the towers to full power.” She informs him. “I recommend a defensive posture. I will not be able to mask the increased generator output.”

“Collectors will respond with force to stop it.” Mordin states.

“Got any other helpful tips?” Shepard questions.

“Just one: Enemy forces are closing in. I recommend you ready weapons.” EDI tells.

Shepard does just that, readying his heavy pistol as he looks to the sky.

Hearing the conversation, Ben gets to transporting all the unconscious humans to somewhere safe. Just to the other side of the wall around the area they’re in, which Ben hopes will keep them safe from the firefight he expects to be arriving.

Once that’s done, he heads back for Shepard. He lands back in the court and finds the squad already taking cover, looking up to the sky.

Collectors, and more than a few of them. Ben barely catches where they’re aiming their weapons fast enough to move to block the shots.

The first few break through him but are still stopped by the collision. The next bunch are stopped by Shepard’s squad taking down the group firing on Ben.

They’re aiming for the tower. Clearly, they aren’t as stupid as they seem. Ben shifts his body to wrap around the perimeter of the tower platform, then construct the edges up to form a cylinder around it.

“Assuming direct control.” Is spoken through one of the dozens of humanoid insects.

Just like they had seen earlier, one of the bodies hunches over itself. It visibly strains, crying out in pain. Then it rises into the air while its skin crack and chars. Finally, it drops to the ground again and locks its weapon on Shepard, firing off several shots that are only stopped by his shields.

Ben’s not durable enough to endure most of the shots hitting him, but he’s able to compensate by rebuilding all the damaged areas as quickly as they’re formed. This does seem to cause him some degree of discomfort, but it’s keeping the tower safe. More than that, it’s keeping the tower obscured so they can’t aim directly at it.

Unlike the rest swarming over the field, firing and getting shot down with similar frequency, the scorched on seems to have a mind about it. It looks to Ben. It sees the shifting form of him, extending various limbs from the structure to attack the bugs as his head de and reconstructs itself around the shape. It then looks to the device resting on the outside of the cylinder. The Omnitrix.

It moves to take it.

Its only stopped from reaching it by the limb extending towards the node being shot off with a “look out!” from Garrus.

Ben’s head pops out of the wall above where the Omnitrix rests, and Ben rotates the block its on around to have the Omnitrix rest on the inside.

“Nice try, pal.” Ben speaks as his face extends outwards, curving to slam the collector down into the ground with a meaty crunch. Pulling back, he’s visibly disgusted by the fluids now covering his face, and very quickly pulls his head back into him to let it construct on another side.

“Bypassing failsafes and attempting emergency power-up. Please hold the defense tower.” EDI states.

“What do you think I’m trying to do!?” Ben frustratedly responds, sealing another several holes shot in him.

By the time they clear the field, there are just more coming. Another swarm lands and to continue trying to either kill them or destroy the tower before they even have a chance to catch their breath. And of course, another of the collectors is set ablaze.

“Commander Shepard. Ben Tennyson.” It speaks, causing both of them to focus on it.

“Oh great, it knows our names.” Ben remarks unphased, taking out several more of the collectors approaching him.

“Sequential power-up initiated. GUARDIAN anti-ship batteries at 40%.” EDI informs.

“I know everything about you, Shepard. This, however.” It calmly turns to Ben, standing at the edge of the conflict. “What are you.” It demands.

“You know, I was sort of thinking you guys might have brought him over.” Shepard speaks, starting to make his way across the field to take care of the speaking one.

“From where?” It again demands to know.

Shepard doesn’t answer it, he just aims his pistol and starts firing once he’s closer than any of the obstructions that blocked him. The collector struggles against the fire for a moment, trying to raise their weapon to fire back before they’re forced to fall. Once again, their body crumbles to ash by the time it reaches the ground.

“GUARDIAN anti-ship batteries at 60%. Syncing targeting protocols to Normandy’s systems. Continue to protect the tower.” EDI advises.

It only takes them another minute to clear the rest of the court again, seemingly actually having a moment to catch their breath before more arrive.

Ben shifts back from around the tower and shifts back to his human form as the watch times out, keeping his eyes on the sky to see if any more are coming.

“GUARDIAN anti-ship batteries at 100%. I have control.” EDI states.

Ben’s attention is refocused on the ship looming on the horizon as the sound of shots begin to fill the air. Thankfully, for once, it’s their shots. The defense towers turn towards the ship and fire off without any delay. Shot after shot directly to the ship, all making contact.

“Firing anti-ship batteries at Collector vessel.” EDI clarifies.

Then, another source of light sparks in the distance. Not merely the explosions of the breached hull, but the thrusters.

It’s retreating. Just like it did on Freedom’s Progress.

“They’re pulling out!” Garrus warns before the shockwave hits them, nearly sweeping the soldiers off their feet.

It starts rising, and Ben starts moving.

“Ben! What are you doing?” Shepard asks over the radio as the teen loads up the Omnitrix

“They aren’t getting away again!” Ben shouts back, a genuine anger burning in his voice.

He slams down on the watch, but it again argues with several beeps.

“Not now.” Ben protests, hitting it again. This time it works, and he transforms in a flash.

His skin immediately pales and segments itself into metallic plates covering most of his body. The notable exceptions to this being the sections of flexible black between said plate, and the riveted bands around his ankles, neck, and wrists. His forearms change to almost container like structures, housing within an ever-morphing green power. His face becomes almost robotic, and while the Omnitrix itself finds its place on his belt, the hourglass symbol of the device forms itself on his chest, outlining the swirling maelstrom of energy within. Atmoix.

Ben immediately takes off into the sky.

The crew can only watch as he sails towards it. He’s just barely faster than it, but he’s fast enough.

They can feel the next shockwave wash over the colony as he hits it. They can see the blast explode out from one of the thrusters, running up the side of it with a seem that glows green before fading. He hits it again, and again the vessel quakes, slowing in its ascent.

“Remind me never to get on his bad side.” Garrus speaks.

Shepard nods.

The ship starts to spin with the missing thruster throwing off balance. Another blast hits the air, and a few seconds later they have to brace to stay upright. They can barely hear it from where they stand, but they can feel every strike.

They can hear something though. A sound Shepard and Garrus know. The sound of something building, charging. The sound of a Reaper.

It’s not a Reaper thought. It’s the ship. A glow of red travels through the ship, glowing starkly from every port and channel as it charges up and opens the cannon. A Reaper lazer, built into the ship itself, fires.

The shot hits nothing but the distant hills, causing them to burst with a force that can again be felt through the ground from where they are. The next shot swings through the sky, this time seeming to deflect off an object too small to see at their distance with a flash of green.

The darkened clouds previously swirling around the head of the ship are pulled with it, still crackling with the lightning caused by the charge of the vessel.

It fires again, and again the beam finds its way to a point in the open air before being redirected with a flash of green as bright as the sun. The beam splits, firing out across the sky like a fractal spreading light, then stops again.

The collector ship shakes with the force of another strike, still getting further and further from the surface of the planet with every moment. Then it fires back again.

This time there’s no flash of green. The beam doesn’t change course, it just hits. It hits Ben, and he’s cast out of the sky with startling force. The ship continues to leave, and a trail of green falls through the atmosphere with Ben.

This finally gives the squad a reason to start moving. They start running in the direction he’s falling, Shepard moving a hand to his earpiece as they do.

“Normandy, I need a pickup. Ben is down. I repeat: Ben is down.” The Commander states.

“I saw it, Commander. Coming down now.” Joker responds.

The shuttle falls through the atmosphere faster than Ben does, gliding down to just above the surface of the planet just a few moments after Ben lands. The hatch swings open, and Shepard’s squad leaps in to get moving.

Ben isn’t hard to find. Not only is the area around him roughly in the state it would be if a meteor hit it, but Ben’s form is still trailing that green plasma into the sky from his open chest.

Shepard leaps out the moment the shuttle’s door is open again and gets moving down towards Ben. Garrus and Mordin follow, of course, but they aren’t quite as fast as him.

Ben’s alien is damaged, leaking the energy inside of it like a can of soda pierced underwater. The whole left half of his chest is torn open, and if they had to guess, it doesn’t look like he’s conscious. The Omnitrix though is still intact, resting just below the extent of the truly damaged zone.

Shepard doesn’t actually know how to help.

“Mordin, any ideas!?” Shepard shouts to him.

The salarian doctor slides down into the crater just behind Shepard, carefully approaching the titanic body of Ben’s form.

“If human, could apply medigel. No experience with this alien. Could make things worse.” He responds.

The key words there for Shepard were ‘If human.’ The commander doesn’t know how to operate it exactly, but the chances that he could make things much worse are slim. He leaps forwards, grabbing Ben’s kneecap to pull himself onto the alien, then carefully makes his way across towards the Omnitrix.

Shepard hits the face of the dial, but it simply drones at him. Not the kind of alert noise at had made every time Ben had tried to use it after they landed, but the kind of noise that suggests it failing to activate. Shepard hits his hand into it again, and again it drones.

“Work, damnit.” Shepard speaks, frustration boiling over.

He hits it again, and finally it works. Shepard falls to the ground but catches himself on the landing. Ben merely shrinks back to his human form, still lying unconscious within the epicenter of the crater. He’s no longer bleeding off plasma, he’s now just bleeding. What was previously a tear in the metal of his alien’s form translates itself into a deep gash running across his chest.

“Good job, Shepard!” Mordin praises, rushing past him.

With Ben now human, the doctor can help. He applies the medigel immediately, sealing off the wound to keep Ben from losing any more blood.

“Is he…?” Shepard tentatively asks.

“Alive. Strong, not dying here. Need to move him though.” Mordin informs him.

“Damn.” Garrus manages to react, stopping at the Commander’s side. “Kid’s gonna need a new shirt.”

The levity doesn’t help much with the sight of Ben lying unconscious in a pool of his own blood.

“Garrus, come help. Need to get Ben back to Normandy’s med-bay.” Mordin instructs, prompting Garrus to immediately start moving.

The progress snaps Shepard out of the momentary horror, causing him to reach up to his earpiece. “Joker, tell Chakwas to prep the med-bay.” He orders.

“Already on it, Commander.” Joker tells him.

Shepard moves to help the two men with moving Ben back to the shuttle. They place him down on the ground, and Shepard is just about to climb in after him when a voice calls out.

“Commander!” The voice speaks, causing him to turn to look.

It’s Chief Williams. The same woman Ben had meet when he arrived, and the same woman that Shepard had traveled with when fighting Saren.

“Ashley.” He acknowledges her. “If we need to talk, get in. We can drop you off after.” He tells her, pulling himself into the shuttle.

She’s almost taken aback by his response, but only reacts by running the rest of the way over to climb into the craft before the door closes. She has to grab something to keep from falling over as the Kodiak starts moving, then she has to keep holding on as she recognizes the boy on the floor beneath her.

“Holy shit.” She speaks simply.

“Ben Tennyson. Found him back on Freedom’s Progress after a collector attack. Stationed there by the Alliance.” Shepard explains.

“We’ve met.” She states. “Under… better circumstances. Back on Maganlis”

“Doctor, how is he?” Shepard asks again.

“Stable. Will make it to Normandy. Unlikely to wake before then.”

There’s silence for a long moment after, until eventually Mordin asks Ashley to move so he can get to her side of Ben more easily. She does, placing herself in one of the seats to take up as little floorspace as she can. Then more silence until she carefully looks to Shepard.

“I thought you were dead, Commander. We all did.” She tells him, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s been too long, Ash.” He turns to her, finally taking his eyes off the boy on the floor for a moment. “How have you been?”

She has to suppress a scoff. “That’s it? You show up after two years and act like nothing’s happened?” She questions him. “I would have-” She has to cut herself off to keep herself from shouting. After taking a second to calm down, she tries again. “I would have followed you anywhere, Commander. I thought you were gone… I…” She really has to take a second to find the words, and to keep herself from shouting at him. “You were more than our commander. Why didn’t you try to contact me? Why didn’t you let me know you were alive?” Her words seem to plead with him for an answer, or maybe even just for solace, but the face hidden under his helmet provides neither.

“I was out for two years. You’ve moved on with your career and your life. Why reopen old wounds?” He tries to justify.

“I moved on… but here you are; pulling me back in. And now we’ve got reports about you and Cerberus.” She speaks, looking over the insignias on the interior walls.

“Reports? You mean you already knew?” Garrus questions, causing Ashley to look over to him. Her expression doesn’t suggest she has even aware he was there until he spoke, but she doesn’t seem surprised by his presence either.

“Alliance intel said Cerberus could be behind our missing colonies. We got a tip that this one could be next. Then we got another, the councilor saying it was the Collectors. I thought it was bullshit, but…” She pauses again, trying to get back on track. She looks to Shepard again. “I went to Anderson, but he wouldn’t talk. But there were rumors that you weren’t dead. Worse; that you were working for the enemy.”

“Cerberus and I want the same thing – to save our colonies. That doesn’t mean I answer to them.” Shepard corrects.

“Do you really believe that?” She asks, again raising her voice. She doesn’t let him answer though, simply shaking her head with a sigh. “I wanted to believe that you were alive… I just never expected anything like this. You’ve turned your back on everything we stood for.” She decides.

“Ash, you know me. You know I’d only be doing this for the right reason.” Shepard tries to tell her. “You saw it yourself. The Collectors are targeting human colonies. And they’re working with the Reapers.” He firmly states.

“I’d like to believe you Shepard, but I don’t trust Cerberus. And it worries me that you do.” She pauses again, just collecting herself. “What did they do to you?” She eventually asks, the words cold.

Shepard actually takes a second to ponder the question. He thinks about it, only for Ashley to speak again before he can respond.

“What if they’re behind it? What if they’re the ones working with the Collectors?” She theorizes.

“Damn it, Williams. You’re so focused on Cerberus that you’re ignoring the real threat!” Garrus cuts in to back up Shepard.

“You’re letting how you feel about their history get in the way of the facts.” Shepard states.

“Or maybe you feel like you owe Cerberus because they saved you. Maybe it’s you.” She takes a breath. “Doesn’t matter.” She decides. “I still know where my loyalties lie. I’m an Alliance soldier. It’s in my blood.”

“And I’m a Council Spectre.” Shepard reminds, actually forcing Ashely to pause. Shepard can tell this actually surprises her. It doesn’t change her mind though.

“Once we get to the Normandy, I’m heading back down to Horizon.” She tells him. “I’m reporting back to the Citadel. I’ll let them decide if they believe your story.”

“I could use someone like you in my crew, Ash. It’ll be just like old times.” The commander tries to offer.

“No, it won’t.” She rejects. “I’m no fan of aliens, but Cerberus has a history of being extremist. I’ll never work for a group like that.” She explains.

“Just imagine how all the ‘Aliens’ on his crew must feel.” Garrus comments.

They can feel the shuttle gradually touch down, letting them know they’ve landed in the Normandy.

“I don’t suppose I could convince you to say hi to Joker, or Chakwas while you’re here?” Shepard asks.

“So long, Commander. Garrus.” She responds.

The shuttle door opens, and immediately several Cerberus agents run up to help move Ben out and onto a stretcher. Shepard, Garrus, and Mordin all follow Ben out, coming with his bed as they move it to the elevator.

Ashley remains in the shuttle as the door closes again, and it takes off to take her back down to the colony below.

Half an hour later, Shepard stands in the debriefing room. He looks upon the sitting form of the Illusive Man, and the Illusive Man looks on Shepard’s hologram from wherever he is.

The man sits in the chair silently for a moment, flicking ash out into the tray before coming to turn to the commander. “Shepard. Good work on Horizon. Hopefully, the Collectors will think twice before attacking another colony.” The Illusive Man greats.

“it’s not a victory. We interrupted the Collectors, but they still abducted half the colony. Ben’s recovering, but it’s going to be a while before he’s fit for combat again.” Shepard tells him.

“I’m sorry about what happened to Ben, but that’s better than an entire colony, and more than we’ve accomplished since the abductions began. The Collectors will be more careful now, but I think we can find another way to lure them in.”

“Ash said the Alliance got a tip about me and Cerberus. Was that you?” Shepard questions.

He breaths though the cigarette before responding. “I may have let it slip that you were alive. And with Cerberus.” He answers.

A scowl finds it’s place on Shepard’s face, and an irritation in his voice “You risked the lives of friends, my crew, and that entire colony? Just to lure the Collectors there?”

“A calculated risk. I suspected that the Collectors were looking for you, or people connected to you, and now I know for certain. I told you I wouldn’t sit and wait while the Reapers and Collectors gather strength. Besides. They would have hit another colony eventually. And without a way to predict which one, they would’ve abducted everyone.” He does a good job at justifying his deeds.

“We have to make sure they don’t abduct anyone else.” Shepard decides.

“I want the Collectors stopped for that very reason. That’s why we’re doing this, Shepard.” He affirms. “I’m devoting all resources to finding a way through the Omega 4 relay. We have to hit them where they live.” He adjusts himself in his chair, sliding himself back to sit upright. “Your team will need to be strong… As will their resolve. There’s no looking back.” Once he’s comfortable, he looks to Shepard again, still standing stoically in the receiver. “Same goes for you. Can I assume you’ve put your past relationships behind you?”

“None of your damn business.” Shepard responds.

“If it affects the mission, better you should leave it behind.” He moves the cigarette to the ashtray again, just for a moment. “Shepard. Once we find a way through the Omega 4 relay to the Collector homeworld… there’s no guarantee you’ll return. To have any hope of surviving, you – and your entire team – must be fully committed to this.” The man advises.

“Let me worry about them. You just find us a way to the Collector homeworld.” Shepard dismisses.

“I just want to be upfront about your odds. You’ll need everyone at their best. I’ve forwarded three more dossiers. Keep building your team while I find a way through the relay.”

Shepard turns to exit the holographic conference but pauses at the sound of the Illusive Man’s voice once more.

“And be careful, Shepard. The Collectors will be watching you.”

Shepard takes the step, and the Illusive Man ends the call.

The table rises from the floor back to the height of a table once Shepard is no longer standing on it.

Jacob, who has been here the whole time, stands by the entrance of the room. Shepard looks to him as he steps over.

“I guess we’re really gonna do it. Hit the Omega 4 relay, take the fight to the Collectors in person. Looking forward to the action. After seeing what those bastards did to Ben on Horizon, though… makes you think.

“They’re powerful, but we’ve got a few tricks for them. If anyone can stop them, we can.” Shepard encourages.

“No argument there, Commander. Horizon just made it hit home. What we’re doing, what we’re up against.” He looks down for a quiet moment, just thinking, then looks back to meet the Commander’s eyes again. “Gonna go take care of a little unfinished business. I imagine everyone else is too – getting some closure, you know?”

Shepard nods.

Jacob nods back, then turns to make his way out of the room.

Shepard finds himself in the med-bay not five minutes later, entering to find Ben lying on one of tables, hooked up to an IV drip. Still not conscious, but stable if the monitor by him is anything to go by.

The commander looks to Chakwas as he steps in, and finds her working on something or other at the desk.

“How’s he doing, Doctor?” Shepard asks.

“I’m great, thanks for asking.” Ben responds. Apparently he actually is conscious. Shepard couldn’t tell.

Shepard’s attention focuses back onto Ben as he walks deeper into the room to him.

Ben opens his eyes and lets them move to Shepard as he leans up. The boy winces as he does but doesn’t stop. “I feel like I lost half my chest, but other than that I’m f” He cuts himself off with another wince and a sigh. He shifts his body back far enough to lean it on the pillows on the bed, letting him stay upright without supporting himself. “Maybe a few broken ribs too. Nothing to worry about…”

“If it makes you feel any better, you’re the first thing to get hit by one of those lasers and come out the other side in few enough pieces to identify.” Shepard tells him.

“That doesn’t help. I still came out of it in pieces.” Ben scoffs, moving his right arm to grip his left side to grip the fresh skin graphed on. “Mordin said you had to had to transform me back manually. I’m kind of impressed you managed that. Took me years to figure out how to work it when I went alien.”

“I, uh… kind of just hit it.” Shepard admits.

“Yeah, so do I most of the time.” Ben jokes. A single laugh escapes him before his torso stiffens and he grits his teeth. After he recovers, he stays silent for another moment before speaking again. “They got away.”

“Yes, they did.” Shepard informs him.

“I think I’d be angry you let them get away, but you couldn’t have stopped them even if you had tried, could you?” He asks.

“No, we couldn’t.”

Ben takes a deep breath in before sighing it back out. “If they weren’t scared before, I hope they are now. Because this is the last shot they’re getting.” Ben decides.

“On that we agree. No more colonies are getting hit. As soon as the Illusive Man finds us a way to get through the Omega 4 relay safely, we’re taking the fight to them.” Shepard confirms.

Ben sits with that knowledge. His eyes drift from Shepard to the ceiling above them, letting his pupils dilate with the array of lights.

“So, where next?”

Chapter Text

A new shirt for Ben isn’t hard to get. In fact, they’re able to fabricate one for him before he even leaves the med-bay. The same as his old one, for the most part. A slightly nicer, finer, material allowed for by the advanced machinery, but no other notable changes.

By the time Ben’s able to unhook from the Iv and head down to his room it’s just about to hit the ship’s night cycle. Something Ben’s had to adjust to over the past week with them. The ship works on a 24  hour cycle. 14 bright, 10 dark. Not a work schedule so much, more something to help maintain the crew’s circadian rhythms. He’s also starved, which makes him glad that it’s not a long walk to the food court. Really, he steps out of the infirmary and turns right and he’s already there.

Thankfully the chef is on duty this time, so Ben doesn’t actually have to try to make something himself. He simply gets a tray of what the man’s made before going to sit down at one of the tables.

He pulls out his phone with his left arm, being careful to move it slowly so that he doesn’t strain his still tender wound. His right arm goes to moving food into his mouth with the use of a fork. Eating, some people call it.

He pulls up the extranet on his phone and opens the email he set up. He isn’t able to establish an actual connection when they’re moving at faster than light speeds, but all the emails he receives before are saved so he can read them offline. He finds the three dossiers he had Shepard email him. The next three people they would be going out of their way to recruit, potentially by drastic means.

The first is an asari. One of the species Ben has yet to scan. Samara. A “Justicar,” specifically. Ben doesn’t actually know what that means, but thankfully he already went to the effort of downloading a codex of all the important information, so he’s able to find out relatively quickly.

A lot of the descriptions are fairly vague, seemingly intentionally so to avoid offending interested parties, but from what Ben gathers they’re basically very official vigilantes. Almost cops, but not quite sponsored by any government.

She’s on a planet called Illium at the moment, and should be for at least another week.

The second is a Drell, another species Ben doesn’t have. One he hasn’t even met yet, actually. He has to look up what they are. Thane Krios. He’s an assassin, apparently. He too should be arriving at Nos Astra on Illium in a couple of days, and be there for a few days after that.

The third they’re already traveling to.

A small world named Haestrom in geth controlled space. A system called Dholen resting in the outer rim, which is essentially the opposite direction from Illium, and will make their travel time there afterwards just upwards of three day.

According to the information Cerberus gathered, a team of quarians are leading some sort of research endeavor. They’re another 14 hours from reaching it. The group they’re trying to find are going to be landing about 4 hours before their earliest possible arrival time, meaning that they kind of had to choose to go here first.

Ben’s already unlocked the species they’re going to meet. In fact, he’s met the very person they’re heading to intercept. Tali’zorah.

Based on the dossier, it doesn’t seem like she’s going to be expecting the Shepard’s squad. It doesn’t seem like the other two would be expecting them either, but a key difference is that Tali already declined joining last time they ran into each other.

Cerberus has managed to track down where they’re going to be in order to have Shepard intercept them. The hope being that Shepard might be able to assist them again, and in the process convince the quarian to join them.

Shepard has accepted the assignment not because he wants to ask for Tali to join again – he does, it’s just not the reason – but because of the fact that the planet is in geth space. And, more than that, seems to be in orbit of a star that should be eating through its atmosphere. Like, a world on which there’s no way it isn’t currently baking in solar radiation too intense for anything to survive in.

Cerberus wants to gain an asset, but Shepard is going to help a friend.

For once, Ben actually agrees with Shepard’s choice. Going out of their way to help a group of people just for the sake of it is a decision Ben can get behind. The only factor left to consider is the fact that Ben still isn’t back up to full strength.

It’s been 10 hours since they left Horizon. In that time they’ve managed to replace enough of his chest for his blood to stay inside his body, and for the air he breaths to stop feeling like ash. It still hurts though and has made it difficult for him to move.

Thinking over their plans and situation, Ben has finished eating and made his way down to the engineering deck to lie down in his cot.

Ben thinks that he’ll have a hard time getting to sleep at first, reasoning that since he was in bed most of the time since they left Horizon, he wouldn’t be tired. Contrary to this, he finds that he’s exhausted. He’s out cold no more than a few minutes after haphazardly pulling the blanket over himself, and he stays that way for a while.

Ben’s awoken with the sound of the Normandy hitting turbulence. Ben almost doesn’t think anything of it at first, but then he remembers that he’s on a spaceship. Which would mean the only way there could be turbulence is if they were in an atmosphere. Which would mean they’re arriving.

Ben stiffly pulls himself out of bed, tossing his pants and jacket on before exiting the room to head towards the elevator. Since anything that can harm him would be able to do so in his alien forms, he doesn’t even bother bringing his kinetic barrier.

He steps out onto Deck 5 and sees Shepard, Garrus, and Miranda already moving to enter the Kodiak.

“Umm, guys, you forgetting something?” Ben calls out as he walks over, causing the commander to stop before joining the other two in the shuttle.

“Ben, you shouldn’t be up yet. You”

“Save it.” Ben interrupts, not stopping as he walks over to pull himself past Shepard and into the craft.

Shepard shakes his head but doesn’t bother trying to argue with Ben. He just steps in behind him and reaches up to grab one of the grips affixed to the ceiling.

About a minute after sitting down, the doors open, and the Kodiak departs. A few minutes later they start to approach the landing zone.

“Shepard, our data indicates that Tali is somewhere in these ruins. There is considerable geth activity, and an environmental hazard. Solar output has overwhelmed Haestrom’s protective magnetosphere. Exposure to direct sunlight will damage your shields, or, should you not have shields, kill you.” EDI informs them.

The shuttle comes to just above the ground, and the door unlocks. Ben looks down at the Omnitrix as the door starts opening. Garrus and Miranda rise to their feet to follow Shepard as he steps out.

“I’m trusting you, Omnitrix.” He speaks, tapping the face to summon the core without letting the dial load.

The team turn back as they wait for Ben, watching him activate the watch.

The watch sinks into his skin as it always does, but the face remains visible. The black of the face spreads out across his whole body in a split second, shortly followed by the green of the hourglass doing the same in the form of geometric lines. His shape grows, his arms lengthen and sag slightly, and the dial reappears where a face would be. Upgrade.

Ben rises to his feet and climbs out of the shuttle, stretching out his limbs. Notably, the wound doesn’t manifest itself as an equivalent injury on his mechamorph body.

Shepard turns around to face the path ahead, and they start moving. The Kodiak departs as soon as they’ve made their way from it, heading back towards the Normandy.

The environment they travel through is rocky. Geometric formations of stone rise into the sky on all sides. It almost reminds Ben of Freedom’s Progress, but the presence of any moisture or greenery is completely absent. All that seems to be alive on this world are insect-like creatures about the size of a tennis ball, hiding in the shadows cast by the looming stones.

Speaking of hiding in the shadows, that’s what the group has to do. The moment they step out into the sunlight their shields begin to fail them. They hold up just long enough to let them get to the next shaded section down, letting them recharge before pressing onward.

Ben, on the other hand, has no such luxury. He instead just follows after them with brief “ow. ow. ow.”s. He appears to be functionally undamaged, save for a steam rolling off the parts exposed to the sky.

The area is clearly inhabited though. Or it seems to have been at one point in time. Rusted metal ramps lead down from where they landed, and ahead there seem to be structures of some kind. A similar kind of sealed doors to the ones Ben has seen on the Normandy are built into the face of the ridges. Matching them are various kinds of artificial walls and, slightly more importantly, a gate.

The red hologram tells them it’s locked, and their omni-tools tell them it’s under the authorization of Kal’Reegar of the Migrant Fleet Marines.

Ben extends a hand to start merging himself with the cage when the sound of someone speaking stops him.

“Emergency log entry: The geth are here. I’ve stayed to buy the others time.” In an accent Ben only associates with the quarians.

Looking to his right, Ben finds it to be a recording. It’s playing from a small room carved out. He walks over and looks in through the square hole in the wall serving as a window, finding Shepard to already be working on getting the gate down with the control panel in the room.

“Anyone who gets this, find Tali’Zorah. She and that data are all that matters. Keelah se’lai.” The recording finishes.

Ben morphs himself into the room through the window, and looks to the computer the audio was playing from. Just below it, slumped again a lighting fixture built into the floor, is the quarian he assumes was speaking.

Across from him, Ben sees a machine he doesn’t recognize lying on the floor by the actual entrance of the space. He steps over and kneels down to look it over. It’s humanoid. It’s legs are notably digitigrade though, and both its hands and feel only have three digits. So quarianoid then. The exception to both is the face, which nearly resembles their hoods, but decidedly lacks a face. Where one should be is instead a small array of lights mounted on the end of a cylinder.

“I’m going to assume this is a geth?” Ben asks.

“Yeah. Judging by the bullet holes I’d say it’s harmless, but, uhh…” Garrus looks over Ben’s current transformation, noting just how mechanical it is. “I’d keep my distance, just to be safe.”

Ben ignores him, and instead reaches out to place his hand on the unit. Immediately he begins to flow over it, sinking the rest of his body into it as they merge.

The unit is recolored a solid black and green. It’s head twitches, actuating to face up to the group who ready their weapons. It struggles, and stutters, but eventually collapses before it can begin to get up. At which point Ben pours himself out of it, rising back to full height.

“Yeah, this guy’s dead.” Ben tells them.

With a hiss and a shinking sound Shepard manages to get the gate open, causing Ben to look over to him and the gate sinking into the ground past him.

While the humans and turian make their way around through the hatch, Ben just morphs himself through the window again. Saving roughly three seconds.

Proceeding though the gate they find themselves looking over what might have once been a courtyard, or a storage yard. Or the inside of a very nice building, or parking garage. It’s really hard to tell what it might have been, but what it is now is a battlefield. One that holds both quarian and geth bodies spread across it. All dead. Most of the former are at least shaded, leaving them merely laid across the ground or against the wall, but some are less fortunate. Some are in plain view of the sky. It’s unclear if the geth killed them or if it was the radiation, as at this point enough of them has been burned away that it’s a miracle you can still tell they were once a person.

The group choose not to linger. They very carefully make their way across the court, staying in the shade as much as they can, until the sound of voices meets their ears. Not recorded voices this time, real voices, screaming voices. Ones just barely audible through the gunfire.

With a destination, they start running. It’s a few more turns and valleys before they round a corner to find live geth firing upon something out of their field of view.

Miranda is the first to make a move, grabbing one with her biotics and pulling it into the air towards them. This leaves it open to the shot Garrus puts through it barely a second later. Shepard aims for the second, filling it with as many shots as he can before he has to reload. Ben moves for the third.

Ben doesn’t have a gun, or biotics. He just has some stretchy arms. The geth manages to turn and fire before Ben reaches it, but the bullets just sink into Ben without doing any damage. Then Ben sinks into the geth without doing any damage, spreading over and refining its form as he takes control.

Miranda readies herself to take a shot at it, but Shepard motions for both squad mates not to. They watch as the geth drops its gun and moves its hands to its face, desperately trying to claw Ben from it. In a moment it starts to struggle to control itself, shrieking with a series of droning clicks, and a moment after that Ben has full control. The Omnitrix sinks over where the face would otherwise be as he starts looking down at himself.

Seeing that the geth Ben’s controlling is no longer hostile, he gets moving again. Rushing past Ben and around to corner to see if anyone survived the firing squad.

They did not.

“Break-break-break. OP-1, this is Squad Leader Kal’Reegar, do you copy? The geth sent a dropship towards OP-2. Tali’Zorah’s secure, but we need backup.” Transmits from the radio laid on the floor in one of their hands.

Shepard approaches it a little faster than he’s been getting to other points thus far, only glancing back to Ben as he picks up the gun the geth was using.

“OP-1, this is Squad Leader Kal’Reegar, come in, over!” The radio again transmits.

The commander leans down and takes it from the ground, bringing it up to his helmet before speaking.

“This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy. Can we provide assistance?” He offers. Requests, really. Since that was the point of them coming here.

“Path your radio into Channel 617 Theta.” He instructs. Immediately the group does, glancing to each other to confirm every has after each of them do. Even Ben, who still remembers how to do that.

“We were on a stealth mission. High risk. They’ve got us pinned down. Can’t get to our ship, can’t transmit data through the solar radiation.” Reegar explains.

The group look out to the court just beyond where they stand and see a small group a quarians struggling against what seems safe to assume are geth forces. Ben, seeing this, doesn’t wait for the order. He leaps out, still in possession of the geth unit, to start helping.

“What’s the status of your team? How many of you are left?” Shepard asks, watching as the quarians turn to fire a few shots into Ben.

“We were a small squad. Dozen marines, plus the science team. We’re down to half strength now. Made the synthetic bastards pay for it, though.” He answers.

Ben doesn’t fire back, obviously, and instead waves for them to stop, gesturing to the other geth instead. It takes them a second to get past the shock, but eventually nod and let Ben start helping.

“What brought you this deep into geth-controlled space?” Shepard questions.

“You’re asking the wrong person, Shepard. I just point and shoot. Something about the sun. It’s going bad faster than it should. Some kind of energy problem.” Reegar explains.

Eventually Ben’s unit just can’t take anymore, collapsing after enduring enough shots. Ben is fine though, emerging from the platform to leap across the field into another. Again the geth struggles for a moment before Ben is able to get control, but at that point he turns to start firing on the rest.

“How are you holing up? We can be there in a few minutes.” Shepard asks.

“Take it slow and careful. Direct sunlight fries your shields all to hell.” The quarian warns. “We’re bunkered down at basecamp across the valley. I left Tali’Zorah at a secure shelter, then doubled back to hold the chokepoint.”

Garrus steps over to Shepard’s side, joining him in watching Ben disassemble the geth squadron. At this point the quarians don’t really even have to shoot back, and too just watch.

“Getting Tali out safely is our top priority. If you can extract her, we’ll keep them off you.”

“You’ve got confirmation that the geth haven’t reached Tali yet?” Shepard checks.

“Affirmative. Left me best men with her. When you get here, you can talk to her on the comm. Every marine on this rock is sworn to protect Tali’Zorah. Long as one of us is still drawing air, she’ll be safe.” He confirms.

“Hold position. We’ll hit their back ranks.” Shepard states.

“Wait! Watch your ass! We’ve got a dropship coming in!” He warns.

Looking up to the sky above them, Shepard can indeed see that there’s a dropship coming around. For a moment it almost looks like it’s going to shoot down the quarians from their cover, but it instead goes for Ben. A barrage of fire rains from the sky, engulfing the area Ben stands in.

Shepard’s eyes widen, and he gestures for Miranda and Garrus to get moving. They instantly obey, following as the commander leaps down to the court below to start moving to Ben’s position.

The ship doesn’t even bother waiting for the dust to clear before it starts leaving. With good reason though, as once the smoke does settle, they can see where Ben previously stood now remains only a splatter of black and green semisolid metal.

Shepard slows to a stop as he comes to reach the edge of the puddle. His eyes scan across it for the Omnitrix, only to instead find the lines of green circuitry to be moving. The whole thing is moving, actually. Pulling itself back together strand by glob to form back into a mass that gradually comes to resemble Upgrade.

Ben looks down at himself, his hands reach up to make sure the Omnitrix is still on his face, and then he looks around to all the shards of geth around him.

“Guess they don’t care about friendly fire, huh?” Ben jokes, walking towards the quarians.

The group just watches him walk, the looks on each of their faces pretty accurately portraying their emotions. Shock, amazement, relief, disgust. All valid of course. Especially the last one, as it really wasn’t a pretty thing to watch.

“Well, I guess if he can stand up to a Reaper laser…” Garrus reasons.

“I’m starting to wonder what kid can’t survive.” Miranda states.

“No time to think about it now. Let’s get moving.” Shepard instructs.

They head over to find Ben talking to the quarians, who seem to have gotten over what he is rather quickly. The quarians turn to look at Shepard as he steps by their metal shielding their were taking cover behind.

“Commander Shepard, we’ve heard a lot about you. We are”

“You’re staying here.” Ben cuts them off. “Suit breaches, bullet wounds, blood loss. They’re alright for now, but they can’t keep fighting.” Ben explains.

“Yes, we can.” One of the quarian protests.

“No, you can’t.” Ben insists. “Look, it’ll be fine. Trust me. The less time we spend arguing the faster we get to Tali. You stay here.” Ben reasons, looking back and forth across the three of them before he starts walking towards the hatch behind them.

They begrudgingly accept his reasoning and place themselves against the wall to sit down. Shepard steps over as Ben starts getting the door open.

“You seem awfully calm about the alien here.” Shepard notes, gesturing to Ben.

“We recognized the device it wears. Ben Tennyson, if I remember correctly. Tali’Zorah explained him to the fleet when she returned from Freedom’s Progress.” The quarian explains.

“Ha, finally!” Ben laughs, and the door opens. “About time someone knew my name.”

“Stay here.” Shepard reminds the quarians, moving with Ben and the others into the next room.

The space beyond the hatch contains only one thing: another door. Ben walks over to it and starts getting it open.

“You know, it’s kind of weird that I haven’t timed out yet.” Ben notes.

“How long does it usually last?” Garrus asks.

“About 15 minutes. Unless it decides to be weird. Then it’s anywhere from a couple of seconds to a couple hours.” Ben explains.

The first thing they see in the next space is a geth. A single geth, looking up at them from the floor, desperately crawling forwards. Shepard readies his gun but doesn’t fire. He looks to Ben and, expectedly, finds him approaching the unit. Ben leans down and lets his body “pour” into the platform. Evidently it doesn’t have much struggle left, barely managing a single digital roar before Ben is able to gain control, at which point he stands up.

Looking around, the geth unit seems to be the only thing left alive. At least three quarians, and more than twice as many geth. There are several consoles around the space, and a single locked door on the left side of the room. Shepard goes to the door, starting to work on getting it open.

“These buildings are quarian. This colony predates the geth uprising.” Miranda realizes.

“There was a lot of history to catch up on, and I may have been skimming, but wasn’t that like 300 years ago?” Ben questions through the unit.

“Yeah, it was, which begs the question: why would the quarians come here now? Whatever they’re after, I hope it’s worth it.” Garrus questions.

Making his way around the room Ben comes to a piece of technology that sticks out from the rest. A computer. The kind they had found another quarian’s recording on before.

Ben opens the recording he finds and Tali’s voice begins to play back through the computer. Just loud enough for the whole room to hear.

“Our ancestors walked these halls with uncovered heads. The sun must have been normal back then. So much space. Walls of stone…” She takes a breath in the recording, struggling to find the right words. “It’s amazing.” She decides on, going silent for another second. “I wish my friends could see it.” She admits. “I wish Shepard were here.”

Miranda doesn’t seem to care too much, but both Ben and Garrus’s eyes land on the commander as the recording finishes.

He just keeps trying to get the door open, not even noticing them.

“Tali’Zorah to base camp. Come in, base camp.” Tali speaks from another part of the room. Through a speaker, based on the way it reverberates.

Looking just to the right of Shepard, they find it to be coming from an active console. A table, above which a holographic display of Tali waits for a response. Shepard stops working on the door instantly, moving himself to in front it.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” Tali asks again.

Shepard hits the button to respond. “Tali, it’s Shepard. There are a few quarians left outside, but everyone else here is dead. I’m sorry. Any other survivors must have fallen back.” He informs her.

Ben walks down from the computer towards the console Shepard is speaking at, but stops a few paces back. Miranda makes her way to another one to see if she can salvage any data, and Garrus moves to look over one of the bodies.

Tali takes a second to process before speaking, “We knew this mission was high-risk. Damn it.” She sighs, but then focuses back on Shepard. “And what are you doing here, Shepard? We’re in the middle of geth space!”

“I was in the neighborhood.” He lies, seemingly more as a joke than a deception. “I thought you might need a hand.”

She lets out a single muted laugh. “Thanks for coming, Shepard. It means a lot to hear your voice.” Tali tells him. “Kal’Reegar and what’s left of the marines got me into the observatory. From where you are, it’s through the door and across the field. I got the data I needed, and I’m safe for now, but I’ve got a lot of geth outside.” She explains.

“Would it help if I brought in the Normandy?” Shepard suggests.

“The…” She takes a second to process, then shakes her head. “Doubtful. These buildings are centuries old. If you bring down heavy fire, this whole place could collapse on us.” She explains.

“Is anyone else still with you, or are you alone out there?” Shepard asks.

“Reegar had a team of marines covering me when I ran for the observatory. At least some of them are still alive. I can hear them firing at the geth outside.”

Hearing that there are people to save, Ben springs into action again. He immediately moves over to the door, starting to try to get it open. Shepard looks over to the door as he does, then back to Tali.

“It looks like someone sealed the door against the geth and the console is damaged. Can you get it open on your end?” he asks.

“Ah, let me see… Yes, I can do it. Should be unlocked… now.” The moment she says it, the lock turns green and the hatch slides open, causing Ben to step back. “be careful, Shepard. And please, do what you can to keep Reegar alive.” She requests.

Then the call ends, causing Shepard to step back from the console. Garrus steps over to his side, looking at where it was.

“I suppose I’ll get to say hello in person, then. It’ll be just like old time.” Garrus says.

“Come on, let’s go.” Shepard turns to the door and starts moving again.

They head down a ramp, around a corner, across a field littered with geth, and through another door into a room with another locked door on the left side and several consoles. Productive. Approaching the central one to see if he can unlock the door, Shepard finds that he can. So he does. Turns out that also opens the windows.

They start moving to the door when from beyond the arches that once served as windows, the sound of something massive echoes out. Miranda is the first to focus on it. A quadrupedal geth unit stationed at the far end of the field.

“Colossus!” She warns.

It sees them too. As soon as it’s facing them it leans back and charges a shot, focused through the head.

“Get down!” The Commander commands.

The group all duck for cover as the shot sails through the space to them. All of them manage to get down in time, except Ben. This is okay though. Ben is able to pull himself back together in just a second, though he now lacks a geth to control again.

Garrus picks himself up with a grunt, keeping himself behind one of the archways that block the colossus’s sight.

“Definitely like old times.” He groans.

The commander starts moving as the next door opens, only to get struck by another shot as soon as he’s visible. It’s fortunate that the blast only manages to take out his shields, leaving him to quickly rush ahead to the next covered region. The rest follow while it’s charging up another blast, letting them all travel out.

“Over here! Get to cover!” A voice calls out from below. A quarian’s voice.

The group makes their way down and crouch into cover behind the solid metal railing for the walkway they seem to be on, lining themselves up besides a quarian dressed primarily in red, holding what seems to be a rocket launcher.

“Squad Leader Kal’Reegar, Mirgant Fleet Marines. We talked on the radio before that dropship arrived.” He reintroduces himself. “I’ve still got no idea why you’re here, but this ain’t the time to be picky.”

A blast hits the wall just beside where they stand, causing the group to lower their heads away from the collision until the debris has a moment to start falling again.

“Tali’s inside over there. The geth killed the rest of my squad, and they’re trying to get to her. Best I’ve been able to do is draw their attention.” He explains.

Shepard ducks out for a moment to look over the area. The geth colossus is stationed by a sealed door on the other side of the field. Either side of it, and in more positions further out, are standard and prime geth units. He has to get his head down again as another blast collides with the surrounding stone.

“Are you sure she’s still alive?” Shepard asks.

“The observatory is reinforced. Even the geth will need time to get through it.” He chuckles. “And it’s hard to hack a door when someone’s firing rockets are you. The geth are near platoon strength, but the colossus is the worst part. It’s got a repair protocol. Huddles up and fixes itself.”

“Man, that sounds useful.” Ben comments. Garrus’s eyes focus on him as he gets what he’s implying.

Reegar barely pauses to register what Ben is. He just sees the Omnitrix on his face and accepts it. “For them, yeah. I can’t get a clear shot while it’s down like that. I tried to move in closer, and one of the bastards punched a shot clean through my suit.”

“How bad is the suit damage?” Shepard asks.

“Combat seals clamped down to isolate contamination, and I am swimming in antibiotics. The geth might get me, but I’m not gonna die from an infection in the middle of a battle. That’s just insulting.” He explains.

Shepard turns around to face Ben, who is crouched down just on the other side of him.

“Ben, you think you can deal with the geth while we get to Tali?” Shepard asks.

Ben audibly scoffs. “Uh, can I? Watch this.” Ben rises to his feet and tosses himself over the railing into the field below. Shepard watches for a second as Ben stretches forwards to absorb a geth, turning it towards another and having it throw itself at them before he leaps from it and to another.

With the situation seemingly covered for now, Shepard gets his head down again, focusing on Reegar.

“I’ve still got a rocket launcher the sun hasn’t fried yet. I’ll give you some cover, maybe even drop its shields long enough for you to take it out.” Reegar plans.

“You’ve done enough, Reegar. Ben’s got this covered, you don’t need to throw your life away.” Shepard shuts him down.

“Wasn’t asking your permission. My job is to keep Tali safe. This is out best shot.” Reegar states, standing up to aim the rocket launcher over the railing.

The moment he’s up Shepard moves to grab him, slamming him the stone wall just barely fast enough to keep him from getting hit by one of the colossus shots.

“We don’t need you to take one for the team! Stand down!” Shepard orders, as firmly as he can manage.

Reegar sinks back down, keeping himself low as Shepard moves back for where he was.

“Alright, Shepard. We’ll do it your way. Hit them for me. Keelah se’lai.” He accepts.

Shepard rises to his feet again, looking out over the field to see Ben’s progress.

Christ, there’s progress. There’s about as much progress as there are geth bodies lying idle. A lot. Ben’s taken out the complete left side of the field and is working his way over the right half. Shepard’s squad is able to start moving without much delay or risk, letting them drop down into he shaded areas to start traveling.

By the time they’ve reached the far area, where the colossus itself is stationed, there basically aren’t any basic geth units left. Just the one Ben wears as he walks up to the final unit. It turns to him and fires a shot into him, but in only touches the geth. Ben leaps out of it and towards the colossus itself.

The squad get into cover to watch as Ben spreads over it. It’s shape begins to change immediately, constructing stronger legs, more guns, a more complex array of joints. Only for it to all simplify and refine a moment later.

Unlike the smaller units, the colossus has more of a will to fight back against Ben. It really struggles, with that droning clicking noise blaring all the while. The noise intensifies as it staggers about, slamming itself into the walls and its head into the ground. It shudders and spasms as control is slowly taken from it, all the while it screams.

It’s screaming. Ben can actually hear that it’s screaming. The droning stops being just noise, it starts to have meaning. It’s- they’re screaming. Thousands of voices all in a horrible cacophony of agony. A thousand different pleads for mercy, and a thousand shrieks of pain. Ben is about to pull back, to let them go and try to reason with the desperate minds, when he realizes they aren’t shouting at him.

They’re shrieking, crying out in agony, but not at him. At something else. He’s just a sliver of metal disconnecting them from the thing that’s doing this. He’s just giving them enough room to realize the horror of what’s happening.

The single mind made of thousands finds it’s voice.

“Help us. Please, help us.” It cries.

Ben doesn’t understand. He’s barely able to hold onto to thrashing body, let along reason with the writhing voices. They scream, and they cry, and they plead. They reason, and they argue, and they bargain. They think. All of them think, and they see Ben, and they beg for help. And Ben can barely take it.

Then, worse than that, the choir goes silent. In a moment the deafening roar of pain is turned to a ringing silence. It’s silenced by a single force pushing the rest aside. A countless collection of thoughts and beings holding a single form looks upon him. Looks upon Ben’s single human mind.

And it speaks. Like the voice heard in the geth on Horizon, it rips through him. It crushes him against its weight, even as a thought. It suffocates him just be being, leaving on its words.

“YOU TOUCH MY MIND, FUMBLING IN IGNORANCE, INCAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING.”

It looks upon him with a million eyes, with a billion thoughts, with countless whispers. The glow of red it casts finds Ben’s mind and it knows him.

“You’re- I don’t understand, you’re…” Ben goes silent for a moment, gasping without lungs, nearly brought to tears without eyes. Then he steadies himself. “You should be afraid.” Ben utters back, his own fear pushed aside to give the warning with absolute certainty. His words carry more weight than their worth, and though the entity can’t fathom why, it believes them to be true.

And it withdraws. It steps back from the being, its inky tendrils draw themselves from his mind, its deafening tone is made silent.

It lets go of him, and Ben falls out of the empty colossus. He lands with a painful thud and a ringing in his ears. He reaches up to try to cover them to block out the noise. He has ears. It’s a tiny thought, but it clicks with him. He’s not Upgrade anymore, he’s human again.

He can’t help but groan as he feels a pair of hands grasp him. Opening his eyes he has to adjust to the brightness of the real world, taking a moment just to focus before he’s able to perceive Shepard above him.

“Huh, what? What’s going on? What happened, did we…” Ben manages to look past the commander to the slumped over and lifeless body of the colossus.

“Hell of a show, kid. Not sure what you did exactly, but it looked painful.” Garrus comments.

“yeah, it- Ow.” Ben grips his left side as Shepard helps him to his feet. “I, uh… I’ll explain later.” He fully comes back to the moment, looking past Miranda and Garrus to the sealed door they were trying to reach. “Is Tali okay?” He asks.

Shepard turns away from him, looking off into the distance as he places a hand to the side of his helmet.

“Tali, it’s all clear.” Shepard states.

“Just a second. I locked the door to keep more geth from getting inside.” She responds. “There, that should do it.”

Garrus makes sure Ben can walks on his own before turning to follow Shepard to the hatch. Miranda finds a spot to stand by and wait as Shepard, Garrus, and Ben step inside.

“Just let me finish this download…” Tali tells them, standing at the end of the room at a console.

Dead geth. There are more than a few dead geth in the room, lying on the floor and against what seem to be servers around the edge of the floor. Still sparking and twitching occasionally, but most certainly dead.

Ben hangs back slightly, slowing to a stop just a few steps into the room as he loads up the Omnitrix. Garrus walks with the commander most of the rest of the way but stops before reaching Tali. Shepard comes to a stop just a few steps back, waiting for her to finish.

She looks back over her shoulder at him to speak, “Thank you, Shepard. If not for you, I would never have made it out of this room.” She sighs, completely turning around from the console to face him. “This whole mission has been a disaster. I wish I’d joined you back on freedom’s progress, but I couldn’t let anyone take me place on something this risky.” She steps forwards, closing the rest of the distance between them.

“A lot of quarians lost their lives here. Was it worth it?” Shepard asks.

“I don’t know, Shepard. It wasn’t my call.” Her words weight with an air of sadness. “The Admiralty Board believed the information here was worth sacrificing all our lives for. I have to believe that they know what’s best.” She tells him.

“I didn’t ask what some admiral thought. I asked what you thought.” Shepard specifies.

“A lot of people died here. Some of them were my friends. All of them were good at their jobs. That damn data better be worth it. The price was too high.” Her frustration makes itself know.

“Whatever their reasons, I’m glad I could help. Once you deliver that data, I could use you on the Normandy.” He requests.

She looks down to her left hand, flicking her wrist out to summon her omni-tool. “I promised to see the mission through.” She taps several points on the device, sliding through a few menus. “I did. I can leave with you and send the data to the Fleet.” She flicks her wrist again to close the omni-tool, letting her place her hand back at her side. “And if the admirals have a problem with it, they can go to hell. I just watched the rest of my team die.”

She steps forwards, and Shepard steps back to let her move past him. She slows again as she sees the other side of the room though.

“Maybe not the whole rest of your team, ma’am.” Kal’Reegar speaks, limping into the room past Garrus and Ben.

“Reegar! You made it!” She speaks, relieved.

“Your old captain’s as good as you said. The kid too. They had the damn colossus killing itself by the end of it.”

“If need be, the Normandy can get you out of here, Reegar.” Shepard offers.

“Well, the geth didn’t damage our ship. Long as we get out of here before reinforcements show up, we’ll be fine.” He reasons.

“Actually, I won’t be going with you. I’m joining Commander Shepard.” She tells him, glancing to the man she refers to.

“I’ll pass the data to the Admiralty Board and let them know what happened.” He plans, then turns to the commander. “She’s all yours now, Shepard. Keep her safe.”

Shepard nods.

The shuttle arrives in just another couple of minutes and takes them back to the Normandy. Once it docks, the whole group steps out. Ben head back up to lie in the cot in his room, Garrus head up to the crew deck, and Miranda does god knows what in her free time. She probably heads up to the crew deck as well to go to her room.

Shepard and Tali head up to the CIC. The debriefing room specifically, where Jacob meets them.

“Cerberus saw footage of you in action, Tali’Zorah.” Jacob starts as they enter the room, causing the quarian to cautiously direct her gaze to him. “We’re looking forwards to having you on the team. Your engineering expertise will really benefit the mission.” He continues.

Shepard finds his place at the table, across from Jacob, but watches as Tali continues past him, still focusing her barely visibly eyes on the Cerberus agent.

“I don’t know who you are, but Cerberus threatened the security of the Migrant Fleet. Don’t make nice.” She states, coming to a stop at the back of the room.

“That’s why you’re here, Tali. I need people who aren’t Cerberus – people I can trust.” Shepard tells her, his smile now visible without the helmet.

“I wasn’t part of what happened to the Migrant Fleet, but I understand your distrust. I hope we’ll get past that as we work together.” Jacob tries to make nice.

“I assumed that you were undercover, Shepard. Maybe even planning to blow Cerberus up.” She steps back over towards Shepard, stopping just short of him. “If that’s the case, I’ll loan you a grenade. Otherwise, I’m here for you. Not for them.” She says simply, crossing her arms.

“If it helps, check out the Normandy while you’re here. We’ve gotten a few upgrades.” Shepard offers.

“I’ll get Tali’Zorah the necessary clearance to access our systems.” Jacob says.

“Please do.” She turns to him. “I can’t be part of your team if I don’t know how the ship works.” She looks away from him again. Shepard steps back to let het pass him as she moves for the door, but she lingers just before passing him. “I’ll be in engineering if you need me.” She tells him.

He nods, and she keeps walking.

“Don’t forget to introduce yourself to EDI, the ship’s new artificial intelligence.” Jacob speaks up, stopping her just before she leaves the room.

She looks back to him and just stares at him for a moment, her expression completely unreadable below the visor.

Then she continues out of the room.

About 8 hours later Ben wakes as he hears the doors leading from the core open with someone stepping onto the main platform, due in large part to his door also being open. He leans over from the edge of the cot to see Tali making her way down the hall towards the elevator. She slows upon spotting him though.

“Oh! Ben.” She speaks, glancing from him to the door she was going to head to and then back again.

He waves, and she heads down the hall to the edge of what you can still barely call a room, taking only a step in.

“We didn’t really have time to chat back on Haestrom, did we?” She asks rhetorically.

“Yeah. Sorry again about your friends. I… Just, sorry.” Ben offers.

“Thank you. I still can’t believe so many people died. Thank you for helping get Reegar out alive.”

“Sorry we didn’t get there sooner. The Normandy was 24 hours out from Haestrom when we found out where you were headed, and you were four hours ahead of us.” Ben tells her.

Her head tilts slightly, and the faintly glowing eyes beneath her mask narrow. “How did you know we were there? I’m not complaining, but…”

“Cerberus.” Ben answers flatly. “From what I could tell it seemed like there were looking for another chance to try and get you on board since Freedom’s Progress.” He elaborates.

Tali stiffens slightly at the knowledge, just staying quiet for another moment as she thinks it over. Her hands move to grasp one another. “So, Shepard…” She starts.

“Nah, Shepard went ‘cause he thought you might need some help. Geth controlled space plus an angry star didn’t seem like a great combo to him.” Ben quickly puts her worries to rest.

She visibly relaxes, letter her hands fall back to her side. “Oh. That’s… good to hear.” She decides. “What have you been doing since last time?” She asks, trying to be friendly.

Ben chuckles, then winces with an instinctual reach for his left side. He slowly breaths in, then out, and gets up off the cot.

He walks across the room to a crate with an open lid, the only one in the room it looks like, and pulls out a piece of fabric. It’s black and green, though stained red in parts. More noticeably on the green sections, and what remains of the white 10. Holding it up, it’s easy to see that it’s his original shirt. The one that’s missing a large swath.

Tali’s eyes widen enough to be noticeable as she looks over it. “What happened?” She asks.

“So, you know those freaky bug guys? Turns out they’re working for the Reapers. Reapers, which I later learned can fire big honking lasers. A laser that is apparently built into the collector’s ship and hit me square in the face when I was trying to take it down.” Ben explains, dropping the shirt back into the crate.

“Why aren’t you dead?” She asks, almost automatically.

“I was one of my heavy-hitters when it happened. Atomix. Tore off half my chest, but Shepard managed to get me human again, and Mordin- Uh, the salarian scientist up in the lab. He patched me up.” Ben answers.

Tali takes another step into the room as Ben takes one back towards the cot. Her helmet aims for the watch on his wrist, and he notices, so he brings it up to show her.

“I never actually got any answers about how this works.” She reminds him.

“It’s called the Omnitrix. It’s basically a repository for all the aliens in my universe, and all the one’s I’ve scanned in this universe too. The creator, Asmuth, meant for it to be a way for all the species of the universe to better understand one another. It allows me to turn into any aliens I want.” Ben tries to explain.

“Wait, your universe?” She questions.

“I keep forgetting to mention that. So, basically- You guys have the multiverse theory, right?” Ben checks.

“Of course. The idea that every choice you make causes another universe to split off into an equally real reality where you made the other choice.” Tali summarizes.

“Basically. So, in my universe, we’ve known about the multiverse for a while. I’ve met up with a bunch of different versions of myself, stopped some big bads from wiping out all of existence, the works. And I’m thinking, since your guys’ history totally doesn’t match up with mine, that this is just another one of those.” Ben explains.

“Do you think there was a version of you in “our universe” at some point?” Tali asks, still sounding more than a little skeptical.

“Usually there’s some version of the plumbers or my aliens or the Omnitrix in the universes I go to, but not always. I think- So there’s this guy I know named Paradox. He’s a time traveler. The way he explained it is that timelines are like trees. Most of the time any nearby branches are pretty similar, but sometimes you can hop to another tree instead. I don’t really get all of it, but I’m pretty sure that’s the way he explained it.”

“So…” Tali’s helmet aims down, looking to the side slightly as she thinks. Eventually it returns to facing Ben. “How did you get here?”

“No clue.” Ben shrugs. “The Alliance had set up a base around this massive energy source for a couple months, then it spat me out and disappeared. My best guess right now is that someone got pretty close to making a null void projector but activated it without a focusing lens.” He theorizes.

“I’ll… have to asks you about that later.” Tali steps back towards the door, turning around to walk out into the hall. “I’ll talk to you later, Ben. I was heading to talk to Shepard.” She ends the conversation.

Ben follows her out, jogging over to get into the elevator before it closes.

“Heading to get some food.” He clarifies as the elevator starts moving upwards.

Ben steps out when they get to the crew deck, but Tali keeps heading up until she reaches the CIC.

“-ways felt there might have been some chemistry there.” Shepard’s speaking as the door opens.

“There is.” The yeoman he’s conversing with says, here eyes widening slightly as she sees Tali step out. “Hello there, Tali.” She speaks, getting Shepard to turn around to face her.

“Hello Kelly… Hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Tali speaks, looking to Shepard.

“We were just discussing the state of the crew.” The yeoman informs. “Talk to you later, Commander.” She says, turning back to look at her console.

Shepard fully turns away from Kelly to face Tali, stepping over to meet her halfway.

“Did you need something?” Shepard asks.

“I was wondering if you had some time to talk. Maybe somewhere a bit more private?” Tali asks.

Shepard nods and steps past her into the elevator, prompting her to do the same. Deck 1, Shepard selects, and in no more than a few seconds the doors open again.

The wall directly across from the elevator doors as they open read Captain’s Cabin directly next to a sealed door. The commander steps out but doesn’t move for the hatch. He just steps over to lean himself against the railings on the right side of the walkway. Tali takes a step out of the elevator and just stands there for a moment.

“What did you want to talk about?” Shepard asks.

“Right, of course. I just… wanted to thank you again for what you did back on Haestrom.” She looks down, thinking for a second before looking back to Shepad. “All for data about stars blowing up. I hope the Admiralty Board gets some use out of it.”

Shepard takes a second to just look at her, thinking about where the conversation is going before he tries to continue it.

“Have you heard any word about Kal’Reegar? Did he survive his injuries?” He decides to ask.

“He sent me a message. It looks like he’ll make a full recovery. Any time you get a suit puncture, it’s a matter of luck. Reegar got out with a relatively minor infector… Some of the others weren’t quite as lucky.” She tells him.

“And how are you doing? Having any trouble settling back in on the Normandy?”

“I like the quiet. I miss the old faces, though. Pressly, Engineer Adams, all of them. Garrus and Chakwas are a welcome sight, but… It just doesn’t seem right having Cerberus in charge of this ship. Are you sure working for them is the right thing to do?” She asks, trying to be careful about questioning the commander as much as she is genuinely trying to get a sense for where stands.

“I fully expect them to betray us at some point. And we’ll be ready.” Shepard responds without hesitation.

“I’m glad to hear that, Shepard. Just let me know how I can help.”

Shepard nods, smiling to the quarian.

“There is one other thing I wanted to ask about.” Tali continues.

“What is it?” Shepard asks.

“Are you okay?” She questions, sincerely concerned in the way she says it.

“What do you mean?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Shepard, you… died. I saw your body after Liara recovered you, and… Coming back from that...”

“Tali, I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me.” Shepard cuts her off, causing her drifting gaze to jump back to him.

There’s a silent moment between them as Tali fidgets with her hands.

“Well, uhm. Thank you. That help put my mind at ease about some things. I’ll let you get back to work now.” She speaks, summoning the elevator again. She walks in once the door is open and taps the controls to get it moving with a nod.

Shepard smiles until the doors are fully closed, at which point he lets his face relax.

He takes a deep breath in, then slowly lets it out as he closes his eye. But with an almost distressed breath in as his eyes shoot open again and scan over the area of the ship. Frantically at first, then gradually calming back down to their reserved state.

His breathing steadies, and he pushes off the railing he was leaning against. He makes his way back over to the elevator to head back down to the CIC, getting back to work.

Chapter Text

36 hours from Illium, day cycle:

The quarian and turian sit across from each other, both looking down the row of tables in the food court to one of their crewmates. Grunt, the one they’re looking at, basically pours his tray of food into his mouth. He hardly even bothers to make sure it all enters him before he’s already getting up to get another tray.

For the sake of discretion Tali stops following him as he passes behind her to the kitchen. Garrus though, sitting on the side of the table that faces in that direction, keeps watching. Grunt places the tray down on the counter and moves for the pots of food on the stove, pouring several moves scoops of the meal to fill the tray before he stomps back over to where he was sitting. The cycle then repeats for another few minutes.

Eventually the krogan seem to have his fill, tossing the tray into the sink before heading towards the elevator.

As they hear the doors seal behind him, Tali refocuses on Garrus and vice versa.

“So, a tank-bred krogan. One made by a warlord no less, that Shepard woke up on the ship.” She starts.

“Who eats like Wrex if he somehow cared less about what people thought of him?”

“Yes.” She laughs.

“Yeah, if you think that’s bad you should see the girl Cerberus had us pick up at Purgatory. I didn’t realize someone could tear open a bulkhead with biotics.”

“Is that the one with the tattoos? I’ve seen her down in the sub-deck, just reading, or pacing around, or shouting.” Tali lowers her voice slightly as she describes Jack, as if afraid someone might hear.

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Garrus confirms. “I don’t think she comes up for anything other than food and the restrooms.”

“Does she… I mean, when Shepard takes her on missions. Is there…”

“Clothes? A shirt? Anything other than some straps and buckles to cover her top half?” Garrus guesses her question.

“Yes.”

“No. Shepard hasn’t taken her on any missions yet, but from what I can tell that’s her only outfit. It’s got to be… distracting.” Garrus thinks.

“Distracting, Garrus?” Tali questions.

“For the people she’s fighting, I mean. Not that I’m not- I mean, I’m sure for a human. But I don’t really…” Garrus clarifies.

“You’re not stupid enough to try flirting with a crazy murderer that can tear you apart with her mind?”

“Exactly. Just seems counter productive to this whole “staying alive” thing I’ve been playing at.” He agrees.

Tali’s helmet drops slightly to the holes scattered in Garrus’s armor with a chuckle, then rises back to his face – the only part of him that seems immune to the scars surely lining the rest of his body.

The quarian takes a breath to speak but is stopped with the sound of her omni-tool beeping. She glances down to the light blinking on the back of her left hand, then flicks her wrist to dismiss it.

“I should get back to work.” Tali explains, standing up. “It’s been good talking, Garrus.”

“You too, Tali.” He responds.

She stands sort of awkwardly for a moment before nodding, then turns to start walking back to the elevator.

27 hours from Illium, night cycle:

“So, with the colossus back on Haestrom.” Garrus speaks, leaning himself against the console as Ben takes a seat on one of the storage containers by the door.

“Figured you’d ask about that eventually.” Ben responds, looking across to the turian.

“Fine if you don’t want to talk about it, just…” Garrus starts, but is cut off with the sound of the door opening. Both glance over to see Tali pausing before she steps in, seeing both Garrus and Ben where she expected to find only the former.

“Oh, sorry, I can come back later.” She says, immediately preparing to step back.

“Actually, your opinion on this might be useful.” Garrus tells her.

The glow of her eyes thins slightly as she steps back into the main battery, just far enough to let the door close behind her.

“How so?” She questions.

Garrus gestures to Ben, and so her attention moves to him.

“So, basically, back on Haestrom I was using one of my aliens, Upgrade, to take over the geth units we were fighting.” Ben starts explaining.

“Take over them? Like, hack them?” She questions.

“No, like” He loads up the Omnitrix, spinning through it for a moment before slamming down the core. His form folds over itself and expands outwards to manifest the shape of Upgrade. Then, after a second of looking for a way to demonstrate, he rises to his feet and steps over to the console Garrus is leaning against. Garrus steps away from it as Ben morphs his body over it, causing its shape to shift and advance slightly as he does.

“Oh.” Tali voices.

“Upgrade. I can make machines better and take control of them.” Ben explains, then pouring himself back out of the console. Once he’s in the default shape again he turns back into his normal form with a flash.

Garrus returns to leaning against the console as ben steps back over to the storage crate by the door.

“So, I was taking over the geth.” Ben continues. “Most of them struggled a bit, but robots do that. No biggie. But then I tried taking over the colossus. And it was like… It’s kinda hard to explain. You know how geth make those weird clicking noises? It’s like I started understanding what those meant.”

“The geth communicate with each other in binary, which lets them transmit data at near the speed of light.” Tali explains.

“They were screaming.” Ben states.

The other two go quiet for a moment with the implication, waiting for Ben to clarify.

“I thought I was hurting them at first. I was going to back off, but then I realized it was something else. It wasn’t like they were screaming at me. It was…”

“Geth are simple programs. They only equate to true intelligence in large groups, but the colossus probably had a lot more programs running to control the platform. That’s probably why there was anything for you to understand.” Tali theorizes.

“But there was something else. It was- so, back on Horizon, when I was fixing the husks, the Omnitrix- It’s hard to explain. It basically put me in a digital space. I think the point is to let me decide what it’s fixing with their genetics. Last time I did that it was with a DNAlien, and I just had to pull off the parasite that was controlling my cousin. But this time, with the husk, it was like… There was this giant thing looming over the person. I only really got the silhouette, but it was big. Kind of looked like a bug. Like a flea or a tick or something, but mechanical.”

Garrus glances over to Tali as he explains, and there’s a clear concern on his face. One that Tali meets.

“But then, with the geth, it was like it was there again. Like, it showed up when I started controlling the colossus. It talked, and then it tossed me out of there.” Ben explains.

“You don’t think…” Tali starts.

“It couldn’t be- unless… They were in control of the geth when we were going after Saren.” Garrus responds.

“What are you guys talking about?” Ben questions.

“It sounds, to me at least, like you’re talking about a Reaper.” Garrus says.

There’s some shock in hearing that, but then it clicks with Ben. What he saw in the recordings of what happened at the citadel, and what he saw when fixing the husks. The association wasn’t automatic because of the change in perspective, but the shape lines up.

“Woah, cool.” Ben says.

“That’s… not the reaction I was expecting.” Garrus tells him.

“Oh come on, you’re telling me I’ve got to talk to the big bads – that are trying to wipe out all life – twice, and they haven’t been able to do anything about it? That’s pretty cool.” Ben reasons.

Garrus chuckles at his bold optimism.

“Well, you might want to tell the commander about this.” Garrus says.

Ben pushes himself off the crate to get to his feet, waving his hand in the air as he moves for the door.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll get around to it.” Ben dismisses at he leaves the room, letting the door seal behind him as he heads for the door court.

There’s another solitary laugh from the turian as he starts to think. Then his attention moves to Tali.

“So, what brought you by?” He questions.

“Right.” She speaks, flicking her left wrist to pull up her omni-tool. “I wanted to run a few ideas by you for power management.” She starts, stepping over to show him the diagrams she has loaded up.

20 hours from illium, day cycle:

Ben sits in the med lab as the salarian scientist, Mordin, busily moves about from machine to machine. Doctor Chakwas sits outside of the lab in the food court, not wanting to get in his way as he works.

“How much longer is this going to take?” Ben complains, his eyes flicking back and forth to follow the doctor’s frantic movements.

“Got lucky last time. Fresh wound responded well to medigel. Transformation minimized potential infectants. Lack of prior use meant lack of built-up tolerance. In future, might be less lucky. Similar injury might kill you.” Mordin explains, not slowing at all in his movement.

“Come on, they got lucky. The Omnitrix wouldn’t let me die. It’s not going to happen again.” Ben argues.

“Too risky. Can’t take that chance. Have to be prepared.” Mordin restates.

Ben groans.

Mordin steps over to him, sliding a table with a number of medical tools over as he does.

“Tetramand.” Mordin requests.

Ben pulls up the Omnitrix and scrolls through it for a moment to get to Fourarms, and when he smacks down the core it actually gives him the alien he was trying for. Ben holds out one of his lower arms, letting Mordin disinfect before he stabs into it with a needle that he then connects to a small vial. He draws two vials of Ben’s blood, then pulls out the needle as Ben transforms back.

“Would like to understand device operation as well.” Mordin says as he steps back over to one of machines. “Practical in combat.”

“I’d explain it if I knew how. It was sort of just trail and error for me.” Ben says, looking down to the watch as he does.

“Positioning based, perhaps? No, too many options. Psychic then. Able to translate intent into action. Linking with host nervous system like asari? Reading neurochemical indicators?” He sharply inhales, thinking for a moment. “Possibilities.” He speaks.

“Huh, yeah I guess it can read my thoughts. I never really thought about it. Back when I was a kid, I unlocked master control for a bit and I only had to think of the alien I wanted to transform into them.” Ben tells.

“Sounds useful.”

“Yeah, it was. I zeroed it out when Vilgax took it from me, but Asmuth said he might give it back one day. Last time I asked he said he might unlock it for my 18^th birthday. I actually think he might’ve it we weren’t so busy at the time.”

“Kineceleran” Mordin requests, stepping back over to Ben.

Ben scrolls through the watch for a moment before tapping the core down. He again gets the alien he was trying for, with his legs nearly touching the ground with their increase in length and his tail smacking a machine back on the other side of the bed. He extends his arm and Mordin carefully finds what seems to be a vein below his scaled skin before taking a sample. Ben then transforms back again as he steps away.

“Busy? With what?” Mordin asks.

“Malware, actually. A rogue galvanic mechamorph with corrupted code. I thought we took him out for good a few times, but he always comes back. The last time I saw him Vilgax was wearing him like a suit. It took blowing up a ship with him at the center to take him down that time. But Malware rebuild himself from the pieces that were left. He was trying to take down a moon or something for some reason or another. I don’t know, I sort of stop paying attention once I know who to punch. Rook usually takes care of the brainy stuff.” Ben recounts.

“Rook. Old partner?” Mordin asks.

“Yeah. A Plumber, assigned to me right after my cousin went off to college.” Ben confirms.

“Malware. Mechamorph? Synthetic lifeform created by galvans, yes?”

“yep.”

“Development of artificial intelligences illegal in council space. Prevents situations like geth, and your Malware.” Mordin informs.

Ben glances up to the ceiling of the room with a smirk. “Didn’t stop Cerberus.” He notes.

Mordin takes a deep breath as he steps back over to Ben. “Desperate. Reckless. Willing to break rules. Good reasons. Collectors serious threat. Able to hurt you. Need to be smarter, more careful. Need to be alive to stop them.”

Ben rolls his eyes and pulls up the dial of the Omnitrix. “Who now?” He asks.

Mordin pauses for a moment, then turns to step away, back to the machines.

“No more. I’ll tell you when I need you. Need to work for now.” Mordin says, letting Ben finally push himself off the bed to make his way for the door.

“Great.” Ben says sarcastically, exiting the medical lab.

12 hours from Illium, night cycle:

“You said you wanted to see me, Garrus?” Shepard speaks, stepping into the main battery.

Garrus glances back to him with the sound of the door closing.

“Just another second, you caught me in the middle of come calibrations. And… done.” Garrus turns around, leaning himself against the console as the commander crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow

“I assume you didn’t ask me down to talk about calibrations.” Shepard says.

“Heh… uhm, no. I wanted to talk about you.” Garrus speaks.

“About me?” Shepard questions.

The turian’s eyes seem to zero in on Shepard’s face. His usually reserved and lax demeanor becomes almost stilted, like it’s being put in to mask some serious focus. “I’ve been thinking. And I don’t mean to question your judgment, just… damn. Better to get it out there, I guess. I’m worried about you, Shepard. Ever since I’ve gotten back you’ve seemed… out of it.”

“Are you worried that I’m some sort of imposter? A clone, maybe?” Shepard guesses.

“Nnno… No.” Garrus decides. “Nobody could fake you this well. That’s not what I’m worried about.”

“What is it then?” He questions.

“Dying, then coming back to find your whole team split up, and a whole new threat kidnapping human colonies. All orchestrated by the Reapers, who the council tried sweeping under the rug after you disappeared.” Garrus pauses, catching the slight glare in the commander’s vision. The spite doesn’t seem directed at Garrus, but there’s a clear frustration that he’s keeping under the surface. “It could be a lot.” Garrus says, trying not to push it too much further.

“I’ll admit, there’s a lot to do. But that’s what I’m glad you’re here, Garrus. I need the best if we want any chance at stopping the Reapers.” Shepard speaks, seemingly more so trying to dispel Garrus’s worry about the mission than he is acknowledge the actual issue.

“We need you at your best too.” Garrus notes.

“I’m fine, Garrus.” Shepard assures, almost sternly.

“I’m not sure you are. You’ve been… like I said, I don’t mean to question you, but you’ve been… Well, you’ve been acting like me. Blunt, violent, threatening. I’ve always known you to be very… diplomatic.” Garrus explains.

“It’s been necessary. Not everyone listens to you when you try to make peace.” Shepard explains.

“Shepard, last I checked you were the one that thought doing things by the book was so important. That keeping collateral to a minimum was so important.” Garrus counters.

“I do, but it’s not always that easy.”

“You’ve never thought that being nice was easy. You- Look, I’m not saying”

“I’m fine, Garrus.” Shepard cuts him off, again seemingly stern in the way he says it.

“You aren’t acting fine, Shepard. I’m worried about you. Ben is worried about you. Hell, even Ta-”

“I’m fine, Garrus.” Shepard nearly shouts at him, leaving the room unsteady for a moment in the silence that follows.

And the moment that follows is silent. No more than the dull hum of the ship itself fills the space, muted in comparison to the words spoken prior.

“Understood, Commander.” Garrus decided to accept, his demeanor now starkly lacking any sense of relaxation. His eyes remained fixed and narrow.

“I’ll talk to you later, Garrus.” Shepard ends the conversation, turning around as the hatch opens.

“I’ll be here if you need me.” The turian states, his tone reserved.

4 hours from Illium, night cycle:

Ben doesn’t really expect him to be awake, but figures he might as well try anyways. He taps the button, then waits for a response.

To his surprise, he gets clearance in just a moment. At which point the elevator starts ascending. From level 4 to 3, then 3 to 2, and then to 1. “The loft’ it seems to have been dubbed.

Ben steps out of the elevator and over to the hatch leading to the Commander’s quarters.

Ben doesn’t know what exactly he expected to find, but this isn’t it. On his left the wall is taken up with an in-built aquarium filled with a variety of exotic fish, on his right is a workspace area where several shelving units hold a variety of model ship, and at the end of the room is the bed. A queen or full size, maybe. Ben doesn’t know mattresses.

Shepard isn’t in bed though. Shepard is sitting at the couch to the right of the bed, slightly closer to the door. Ben has to step in and around the shelves to see him, at which point the commander looks up from the data pad in his hand to the teenager.

“Need something, Ben?” He asks.

“Wanted to ask you about a Codex entry I found.” Ben starts, stepping over to sit himself down on the arm of the adjacent couch.

Shepard watches him do this and scans his mind for all the things Ben might be curious about. All the technological and societal advancements made in the last hundred and seventy years, and all the alien cultures they’ve come into contact with.

“Reaper Indoctrination.” Ben says.

Shepard’s face very abruptly loses any sense of joviality. His features sharpen and chill as he watches Ben scroll through his phone.

““Supposedly, Reaper "indoctrination" is an insidious means of corrupting organic minds, "reprogramming" the brain through physical and psychological conditioning using” blah blah blah. “The Reaper's resulting control over the limbic system leaves the victim highly susceptible to its suggestions.”” Ben quotes the article.

Shepard nods, thinking about how much they’ve updated that entry in the last two years.

“Mind control?” Ben questions. “Why didn’t anyone tell me they had mind control?”

The commander takes a moment.

“I assumed Anderson would have told you.” He eventually says.

“Yeah, I would have assumed that too. That seems like something someone should know about the guys they’re fighting.” Ben affirms.

There’s silence for a moment as Ben goes to reading through the entry again. Then Shepard clears his through with a quiet cough, causing Ben to focus on him and put his phone to sleep.

“So, how are you recovering?” Shepard asks.

“Yeah, good. I’m just about back to full strength, and the doc says the scarring should fade in a couple weeks. You guys have some pretty cool tech.” Ben says, pushing off the couch to get to his feet.

“Good to hear, Ben.” Shepard says.

“Don’t try to leave without me this time” Ben tells him, turning to make his way back to the elevator.

15 minutes from Illium, day cycle:

Ben stands in the bridge, watching their approach to the world.

They head for a city, seemingly. Similar to the ones on earth in that its glow is clearly visible even from outside the atmosphere, but different in that it seems to have been intelligently arranged. Rather than just on coast, the cities of the world seem to follow several geometric formations.

Ben can hear the elevator open down in the CIC, and turning to look he sees Shepard and Garrus coming up. The former being a given, as it’s unlikely a mission would take place without him, and the latter expected, as Shepard’s been bringing him on most assignments since the turian joined.

Looking back to the forward windows, Ben finds the city now identifiable. That’s not to say Ben himself could identify it, he can barely identify cities on earth, but that they’re close enough for the buildings to be distinct.

The Normandy slows as it comes to move between the buildings themselves. It’s a couple minutes before they come to reach their dock, which the magnetic limbs reach out to grasp the ship.

Ben hears the elevator open again, and he looks back to see Tali walking out. Shepard and Garrus are already standing at the airlock, waiting for the docking ramp to couple with the ship. Ben takes this to mean that they’re just about ready to depart, and heads over to join them. He reaches them at about the same time as the quarian, both waiting just behind the other two.

Through the airlock, and the loading ramp after it, they step onto a walkway leading into a market sector. To their left is the Normandy, and behind it the rest of the city, glowing orange in the light of the low sun, and gleaming with the countless window. A perpetual stream of shuttle cars travel through the air between the structures.

The group doesn’t have to walk very far before seeing another group turn the corner up ahead, heading in their direction. An asari, and two LOKI mechs. Both holding weapons.

Ben prepares himself to reach for the Omnitrix if necessary but doesn’t pull his hands from the pockets of his hoodie. The three he walks with don’t draw their weapons either, simply following Shepard as he walks to intercept the woman.

“Welcome to Nos Astra, Commander Shepard.” The woman greets as both parties come to a stop across from each other. “We’ve been instructed to waive all docking and administration fees for your visit. My name is Careena. If you need information about the area, it would be my pleasure to assist you.”

“Who instructed you to wave the fees?” Shepard questions.

“The order came from Liara T’Soni, who paid all fees on your behalf.” Her attention moves to her left forearm as she summons her omni-tool. “She also ask that I direct you to speak with her at your convenience. She’s near the trading floor." With a few taps she seems to dismiss the drones, then turns off the omni-tool.

“Liara is here? What’s she doing?” Shepard asks.

“Liara is one of Nos Astra’s most respected information brokers. Nos Astra is based upon trade. Information is valuable currency, and Liara has done quite well. As I said, you’ll find her near the trading floor. She was looking forward to seeing you.”

“Thank you.” Shepard says.

“Again, welcome to our city, Commander. Please enjoy your stay.”

Shepard responds with a nod and starts walking again as the asari steps out of the way.

“Customs records indicate a Justicar named Samara is visiting this port, Shepard. Your former teammate, Liara T’Soni may have more information. Her office overlooks the trading floor. You may also wish to speak with her regarding the whereabouts of Thane Krios, the assassin on your dossier.” EDI informs them as they take a right into a hallway.

Coming out through the other side they are once again presented with the city as a whole stretching to the horizon just beyond the railings at the edge of their walkway.

Seeing it, Garrus has to suppress a scoff. Shepard then has to glance to him, presumably raising an eyebrow below his helmet.

Garrus looks away from Shepard’s gaze, shaking his head as he looks back out to the city. “We were always told that Illium is one of the safest places in the galaxy…”

Ben makes his way over to the railing as he speaks, leaning himself against it with his forearms to just look out over it.

“until you fell off the grid. Sign the wrong contract, join up with the wrong company, or walk down the wrong alley, and it’s as dangerous as anywhere else. Don’t let this place fool you. It’s no safer here than Omega.” Garrus explains.

“Can’t say it’s not prettier though.” Ben adds.

“Yes. That is one advantage it does have.” Garrus admits.

Ben pushes off the railing and jogs over to keep up with the group as they start moving again.

“You have any helpful insight on this place, Tali?” Shepard asks.

“Very few quarians ever set foot here. Illium doesn’t allow the flotilla to approach beyond a certain distance.” There’s a conflicted sigh. “This is the greatest planet in the galaxy for those who can afford it, and they work very hard to keep the quarian fleet away.” She tells them.

No one has anything to add to that, so they just keep walking. The floor they’re on has more than a few booth/table sort of things. Ben can’t quite figure out their purpose exactly, but he does see someone buying something at one. So he figures they’re sort of like kiosks.

“Excuse me! Excuse me, are you Commander Shepard?” Is then spoken from their group’s right, causing the commander to stop.

Turning, he finds the person looking to him to be an asari. The Omnitrix beeps when she steps towards them, getting Ben’s attention.

“You’re Commander Shepard? I saw your… I guess you would say aura. I’d recognize you anywhere.” She looks around, seemingly trying to see if anyone is listening in before she looks back to Shepard. “I was asked to give you a message if I saw you. It’s from a friend you made on Noveria.”

Tali looks to Garrus briefly before focusing back on the woman. Ben doesn’t. He hasn’t heard about Noveria from anyone before. He’s more focused on the Omnitrix, trying to navigate the menu to figure out what it wants.

“I met a lot of people on Noveria. Could you be more specific?” Shepard requests.

“I believe the message itself should make it clear.” She responds.

She takes a slow step forwards, stopping barely a foot from his face. Her eyes roll back to leave only the white of her sclera visible as her mouth opens to speak.

“Shepard. We hide. We burrow. We build. But we know that you see those who soured the songs of our mothers. When the time comes, our voice will join with yours, and our crescendo will burn the darkness clean. Thank you, Shepard. The rachni will sing again, because of you.”

Shepard immediately reaches out, grabbing the woman by her shoulders.

“How did you possess another asari?” His words sound genuinely angry. “You can’t just take over people’s minds like that!”

Her eyes flick back down. “Peace, Shepard.” She states flatly, though her expression is a little put off by his intensity.

The commander lets go of her and step back.

“The rachni queen does not control my thoughts. That was merely the message I was asked to deliver. I encountered her on an uncharted world. She saved my life. More than that, she gave me a purpose. They are an amazing people, Shepard. The galaxy owes you a great debt for giving them a second chance.” She explains, her words sounding about as sincere as they reasonably could.

“Thank you for giving me that information.” Shepard accepts, composing himself again. “I’m glad my friend on Noveria is doing well.”

“Be well, Commander Shepard. You will not see me again.” She bows slightly, then turns to take her leave.

Before they’re able to continue along, the Omnitrix activates with an odd buzz. The scanning beam projects from its side, sweeping up and down the woman before retreating back into the Omnitrix.

“Ben.” Shepard says tersely, almost scolding him.

The woman blinks a few times, her eyes readjusting to what just happened. She pauses only for a moment. Whatever Ben’s device just did, their interaction has still concluded. She walks off after another second.

“Uhh…” Ben responds, loading the dial.

“You need to start asking permission before you do that.” Shepard tells him.

Shepard turns and continues now and the others follow along behind him. Ben continues to search through the Omnitrix’s dial for a few moments.

“I don’t think it scanned asari just now…” Ben says, mostly to himself. It gets a look from Garrus and Tali, but not the commander. Eventually Ben dismisses it.

“So is nobody going to explain what just happened to me? I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that the rachni went extinct, like, hundreds of years ago. After a war. And how does Shepard know the queen?” Ben asks.

“It’s a long story.” Shepard doesn’t explain.

Ben turns to Garrus in the hopes that he might be more help than the commander is.

“Well, basically, when we were trying to track down Benezia we ended up at a research station on the planet Noveria. Peak 15, I think.” Garrus contextualizes.

“I remember that planet. I was only off the Normandy for a few minutes, but I was freezing the whole time. Through an environmental suit.” Tali adds.

“Yeah, it was an ice world. Horrible weather the whole time. Shepard brought Liara and I to confront Benezia.”

“Wait, wasn’t Benezia Liara’s mom?” Ben remembers.

“Yeah, she was. Liara wanted a chance to try to talk some sense into her. That’s not the part that matters though. See, the station was overrun with rachni. It turns out they found an egg, and it hatched a queen. Or they cloned a queen from it, or something. It’s been a while, I don’t remember exactly.”

“Overrun doesn’t sound like she was friendly.” Ben notes.

“That’s what we were expecting, but it turned out that she wasn’t controlling them. She told us that they had taken her eggs before they hatched, and that the separation is what drove them nuts. It ended up with Shepard having the choice to either kill her, or set her free.” Garrus explains.

“I’m guessing you and Liara had to talk him into letting her live.”

“No, actually. I was pretty firmly against letting the queen live after what the rachni did to the galaxy last time. And Liara didn’t have too much to say on the matter. She was a bit busy.” Garrus corrects.

“I couldn’t bring myself to wipe out an entire species. Not for something their ancestors did, or that they might do. Spectres might get a lot of leeway, but genocide isn’t something the council tolerates.” Shepard justifies his choice.

“Great, so you made friends with the queen of the second most dangerous race in your galaxy. Just behind, like, the reapers. Is there anything else I should really probably know about?” Ben asks.

Tali and Garrus both think for a moment before the former speaks up, “Well, there was that time we fought a giant psychic plant creature that took over the people of Zhu’s Hope.”

“Eh, been there, done that.” Ben shrugs off.

“Then no, I think that’s the last thing you might need to know about.” Garrus thinks.

Coming to a hallway leading off from the main floor, they head to a set of stairs labeled “administration” on the wall.

At the top of the stairs are two notable things. On their left, a sealed door, and on the right, an asari sitting at a desk. Also labeled administration.

Shepard slows with a look to the secretary as she rises from her seat, stepping around the desk to face him.

“Hello, Commander Shepard. Liara will be pleased to see you.” She greets.

“You’re Liara’s assistant?” Shepard checks.

She nods, “Yes. Liara relies upon me to acquire useful intelligence.” She confims. “I don’t have her network of contacts, but I supply her with supplemental data. It’s really an honor to work with her.”

“What’s Liara’s reputation here on Illium?” He asks.

“She is greatly respected. In a few short years, she’s amassed a sizable network of connections. She could have even more political power that she already wields if she weren’t so focused on her personal goals.” She explains. “But I believe she should tell you about that, not me.”

“I’ll talk to you later, then.” Shepard ends the dialogue.

“Of course, Commander.” She accepts, stepping back around to sit down again.

Shepard turns around and the group adjust their positions to be behind him again as he steps over to the door.

With a tap the door slides up into the ceiling, revealing the room beyond. An office space, clearly. A desk sits on the floor at the center of the room, with windows curving around the outer wall just past it. To the left of the desk an asari in a green dress stand in front of a man’s hologram who she speaks with. He back is turned to them, leaving only her outer silhouette defined by the rim lighting of her call.

“Have you faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have.” She seems to threaten.

The group step into the room, Shepard still leading.

The asari, presumably Liara, brings a small tablet-like device up to in front of her, beginning to flick through it. “I’ll make it simple. Either you pay me, or I flay you alive. With my mind.”

With a final tap to the tablet the hologram fizzles and shuts off. Finally, without the noise of the call, she’s able to hear the commander come to a stop behind her. The commander, for one of the first times since Freedom’s Progress outside of the Normandy, pulls off his helmet and places it on her desk.

She looks back to him over he shoulder, wide-eyed. “Shepard!” She reacts, completely turning around to face and step over to him. “Nyxeris, hold my calls.” She calls out to her assistant, who responds with a nod as the door closes again.

The asari slows as she reaches him, carefully reaching out to grasp his hand. She brings it up, holding it between them as she her head forwards to meet his. Shepard doesn’t stop her, merely meeting her as they embrace.

Ben manages to not react verbally, but still looks over to Garrus and Tali wide eyed. Mouthing a clear “why didn’t you say anything!?” as the two kiss. Garrus shrugs, and Tali remains still.

After a moment the asari pulls back from him, just keeping her eyes locked on Shepard’s until she looks away. She takes a moment to compose herself before, taking several deep breaths.

The commander’s eyes never leave her, hardly even blinking as he watches.

“My sources said you were alive, but I never believed…” She hesitates. “It’s very good to see you.” She eventually decides.

“You have sources now?” Shepard gets right to questioning, letting the stoic impassivity return as he crosses his arms.

“A few. Sources, contacts, even a little hired muscle. I’ve been working as an information broker.” She turns away from him, stepping over to look out on Illium through the windows. “it’s paid the bills since you… well, for the past two years.” She turns back to him, hesitating for a moment before stepping over to the chair behind her desk. Shepard moves for the chair in front of her desk to sit across from her. “And now you’re back, gunning for the Collectors with Cerberus. Getting the old team back together.”

“If you know that, then you know that I could use your help.” Shepard requests.

She looks to Tali and Garrus. Then shakes her head. “I can’t, Shepard. I’m sorry. I have commitments here. Things I need to take care of.” She firmly declines.

“What kind of things do you need to take care of? Are you in trouble?” Shepard questions.

“No, no trouble. But it’s been a long two years. I had things to do while you were gone. I have debts to repay.” She explains, pausing for a moment as she again avoids his gaze. Eventually she looks back though. “Listen, if you want to help, I need someone with hacking expertise, someone I can trust.”

Shepard glances back to Tali. The quarian takes a second to notice, but nods once she does.

“If you could disable security at key points around Illium, you could get me information I need. That would help me a great deal.”

“What’s this all about, Liara? Can’t you just talk to me?” Shepard asks.

“Don’t you think I want to, Shepard? This isn’t because I don’t trust you. This is illium. Anything I say is probably being recorded.” She explains.

“Okay. If it’ll help you, we’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you, Shepard. This may help me pay a great debt… Now, is there anything I can help you with?” Liara asks.

“There’s an asari named Samara here on Illium. Do you know where I could find her?” Shepard asks.

“Samara… Yes. She arrived recently and registered with Tracking Officer Dara. You can find Dara at the transportation hub.”

“I’m also looking for Thane Krios. He’s supposed to be here on Illium.” Shepard tells her.

“The assassin. Yes, he arrived here a few days ago. My sources tell me he may be targeting a corporate executive, Nassana Dantius. He contacted a woman named Seryna. Seryna has an office in the cargo transfer levels. Perhaps she can tell you were Krios is.” Liaa informs him.

“That was all just off the top of you head?” Shepard asks.

“I’m a very good information broker, Shepard. The world of intrigue isn’t that different from a dig site. Except that the dead bodies still smell.”

“Thanks for the help. That’s all I needed to know.” Shepard tells her, reaching for his helmet.

“Of course. If there’s anything else I can help you with, let me know.” She offers.

“I’ll talk to you later, Liara.” Shepard states, rising to his feet as he places the helmet back onto his head.

“It’s been good seeing you two again.” Laira speaks to Garrus and Tali, who nod as they move to follow Shepard. For the first time since they entered, they actually move out from between Ben and Liara, letting the asrai see him. Based on her expression she didn’t even realize he was there.

“Oh, by the goddess. I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve been introduced. You are?” Liara asks.

Ben takes the opportunity to take a few steps towards the desk to make talking less awkward.

“I’m Ben Tennyson.” He states.

Liara’s eyes widen slightly.

“An Alliance asset that’s been helping me with the Collectors.” Shepard explains.

“The name’s been floating around for the past couple of weeks, but I didn’t expect… Well the reports have been quite fantastical, I didn’t expect him to be real, if I’m being honest. And I certainly didn't expect him to be… so young. Is what they’re saying about him true?” she asks.

“Depends. What are they saying about me?” Ben asks.

“The reports I’ve been getting have described you as a ‘shape shifter’ of sorts. Exaggeration, I’m sure.” She explains.

Ben reaches for the Omnitrix with a smirk, tapping a few different points on the face until the green hourglass changes to yellow. The scanning beam emits from the side and scans down over Liara. This causes her to visibly tense until it recedes with a chime.

“Ben.” Shepard states.

“If I don’t start getting all these species the watch is gonna keep bugging out whenever I try to transform.” Ben justifies, already scrolling through the dial.

“You still could have asked first.” Garrus reminds.

Ben shrugs, seemingly coming to the transformation he wants as he pulls his fingers back to let the core rise.

“Could someone explain what just happened?” Liara requests.

No one gets the chance to before he slams down the core. His skin darkens slightly, but not much, and not entirely. Just to a deeper shade tan and brown around the joints as his hide becomes scaled. The outer parts of his body harden and extend. His whole form is covered in an organic, almost bone-like, plating. His limbs extend and contort. His five digits consolidate into three, and his legs become digitigrade. Around his torso forms a pointed carapace that rises to just above his neck in the back, and over that forms a thin black and green bodysuit. The Omnitrix finds its place on his left shoulder. His face becomes plated, mandibles forming on either side of his mouth to cover his otherwise exposed teeth. The green markings over this structure move around the side of his face, almost resembling an hourglass in design. A turian.

Liara shoots up from her seat as Ben stands before her in his new form. She takes a cautious step back, looking over him with astonishment. Not fear, just astonishment. Even the group that’s seen him transform before seems a little surprised, knowing that he got his genetic sample of a turian from Garrus, despite him not resembling Garrus at all now.

Ben looks down at his hands, clenching the three-digited appendages into fists before expanding them again.

“I was going for an asari, but I guess this works too.” Ben looks up to Liara, now lightly taller than her.

“By the goddess, I didn’t think… How does it work?” Liara steps around her desk to reach Ben, looking at the dial on his shoulder. “Were you using the watch to control some sort of innate ability you possess, or is the device itself in control of the process?” She questions.

“It’s called the Omni Matrix. Omnitrix, for short.” Ben starts, turning to let her look at the device. “It’s the most advanced piece of technology in my universe, meant to temporarily transform users into other sapient species.” He explains.

Liara’s attention moves to his face as he makes the distinction of it being from “his” universe.

Shepard notes her confusion. “Ben claims to be from another universe. Best we can tell, he might be telling the truth. He has no history with any government the council has access to, and the watch isn’t like anything we’ve ever seen. Not even the Reapers have anything as advanced as it.” Shepard explains.

“Remarkable.” Liara speaks, stepping back as Ben reaches up to tap the Omnitrix. With a flash he morphs down back into his human form, still looking at Liara.

“So you’re a human, then?” She asks.

“By default? Yeah. Born and raised on earth.” He states.

“I’ll… have to ask about that more later.” She turns around to walk around her desk, sitting down again. “I really need to get back to work.”

“Later.” Ben agrees, turning around to join Shepard in making his way out of the room and back down to the trading floor.

“So, which one are we getting first?” Ben asks as they reach the base of the stairs.

“We can’t risk missing one of them.” Shepard responds, coming to a stop just close enough to a wall to not be in anyone’s way. A hand moves to the side of his helmet. “EDI, send Jack and Grunt to meet me at the cargo transfer levels.” He instructs.

“Right away, Shepard.” The AI acknowledges.

“Just like Omega. Cool. So, who’s coming with me?” Ben asks.

“Garrus.” He addresses the turian. “You, Ben, and Tali head to the transportation hub.” He instructs, intentionally talking to Garrus instead of Ben to establish that he’s in charge.

“Of course, Shepard.” Garrus agrees.

Shepard nods, then turns to start making his way back to the Normandy to meet the other two squad mates.

“Is it just me, or are you kind of worried every time he heads off to do something on his own?” Ben asks.

“Yes.” Both respond in unison, basically instantly.

There’s a moment of pause, all three of them looking to each other with some degree of surprise.

Garrus is the first to speak, “I’m sure the commander can still take care of himself, just…”

Garrus starts walking and the other two follow, heading through the hatch leading towards the transportation hub.

“Of course. It’s not that we don’t trust him, but…” Tali agrees.

“It just seems like maybe you’re doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the fights.” Ben suggests.

“And then other times you’ll take a few seconds too long reloading and he’ll be charging across the field like they couldn’t possibly break through his shields. Just firing at them with that tiny pistol he carries instead of the rifle on his back.” Garrus adds on.

“Keelah. The number of times when we were going after Saren that I thought we were going to lose Shepard to some krogan charging through our lines, or a geth that was smart enough to flank us.”

They walk through another hatch, entering what seems to be the shipping depot. The staircase across from them is labeled transportation, so they head for it.

“To his credit, so far, the only thing he hasn’t been able to fight is an exploding spaceship.” Garrus notes.

It takes a second for either of them to notice how quiet Tali goes at the reminder. Well, it takes a moment for Garrus to notice, it would probably take several moments for Ben to notice.

Ben’s already continued speaking before that happens though, “Yeah, that’s what you have me for.” Ben responds, lightening the mood again as they step onto the transportation depot.

“Alright, Liara said our justicar registered with Tracking Officer Dara. That should be… there.” Garrus jumps back to their mission, heading in the direction of a booth labeled police.

Garrus takes the lead as they head around the side to enter into the room, slowing to a stop as the asari officer inside comes to look at them.

“Can I help you with something?” She asks, her tone clearly implying that she’s busy.

“Yes, actually. We’re looking for an asari justicar named Samara. We were wondering if you could help.” Garrus explains.

“Wait. Why? Do you have a problem, or… Did she kill somebody already?” She rises from her chair, immediately taking their inquiry seriously enough to be distressed.

“No. Well, I suppose she could have, but we- No, we just need to talk with her.” Garrus clarifies.

The officer breathes a sigh of relief. “Good. Samara’s the first justicar I’ve seen on Illium. If I’m lucky, things will stay peaceful.” She leans to look around Garrus, gesturing off to a transport terminal on the other side of the hub. “She went to the commercial spaceport a few hours ago. If you want to get there, the pedestal on that balcony will summon a cab.”

The group look to the one she gestures to before looking back to her.

“Just be polite when you meet her. Justicars embody our highest laws, and they usually stay in asari space. She’s not used to dealing with aliens.” She explains.

“Thanks for your help. We’ll get out of your… err. We’ll let you work.” Garrus thanks, turning around with the other to head out towards the balcony.

“That went well.” Tali comments as they reach the terminal.

“Yeah, that went like, weirdly well. Maybe Garrus should do the talking from now on.” Ben suggests.

“Please, no. I hate diplomacy.” Garrus rejects.

The terminal points out the shuttle that’ll take transport them, and the group make their way over to it as the hatches open. Garrus and Tali sit down in the front, leaving Ben to sit in the back. Then the shuttle

“But you’re so good at it.” Tali argues.

“Years of C-Sec taught me how to placate. Years of Omega taught me that I don’t want to.” Garrus explains.

The group leaves it there as the shuttle starts to travel.

The silence is eventually broken by the sound of the Omnitrix scrolling through the aliens, causing Garrus to look to the backseat to Ben.

“Looking for anything specific?” Garrus asks.

“I was just thinking, if Samara’s not used to dealing with aliens, let’s make it so she doesn’t have to.” Ben speaks.

“Hang on. Didn’t last time you tried to turn into an asari, you got a turian instead?” Tali questions, leaning to look back at him as well. “What if this time you get something too large to fit in the shuttle?”

“Never been a problem before.” Ben dismisses her very reasonable concern.

“Ben, I’m not sure”

Garrus is cut off with the flash of Ben transforming. His skin quickly shifts to a shade of light cyan blue, subtly scaled. His body has to change remarkably little, though does notably shift to change the back of his head to the signature ridged crest of semi-ridged tentacle asari possess. His chest changes in the way you’d expect as he takes on the more feminine physiology, and the marking atop his face manifest as dark green in color. Again, they curve over his cheeks in a way that almost resembles an hourglass design. He successfully becomes an asari.

Ben looks up to them with the same smug grin his human form always wears. “See, what did I tell you? Nothing to worry about.” He states.

The shuttle eventually lands on another balcony.

Stepping out of the vehicle the group finds a building very clearly labeled “police” to their left. Comedically, no more than 30 meters further down, they seem to have taped off an area where some sort of crime took place. To their right seems to be some find of directory, one Ben can’t understand the language of, and two platforms either side of it that hold cargo.

Garrus heads for the police station, so the other two follow him. Ben still looks around at the surrounding architecture with some degree of awe, but he’s adjusting.

At the back of the room sit an asari and a turian on opposite sides of a desk from one another. To their right is the only other person in the room that seems to work there. An asari facing away from them, sitting upright in a chair while she works at a computer. That’s the person the group approaches, seeing as it appears to be their only option.

Her eyes lift up from the screen to the group as they walk around to the front of her desk. They spend a moment longer on Garrus and Tali than they do Ben, who she doesn’t seem to pay any mind to.

“Nice guns – try not to use them in my district. Detective Anaya, what can I do for you?” She questions.

“We’re looking for an asari. A justicar named Samara.” Garrus speaks, placing himself down in the chair across from her.

Now she takes a second to pay attention to Ben. Only a second though, as she looks back to Garrus a moment after.

“If you’ve got a score to settle with Samara, take it somewhere else – I’ve got more than enough trouble here already. If your friend’s here for an autograph she can stick around. I have to bring her in by the end of the day.” The detective informs them.

“No, we just need to talk to her. Our commander is interested in getting her on his team for his mission.” Garrus explains.

“Justicars usually work alone, but they are drawn to impossible causes.”

“We’ve got that covered.” Garrus assures.

“If you’re getting her out of my district, I’ll get you to her ASAP. She’s at the crime scene.”

“Didn’t you say you’d be bringing her here by the end of the day?” Tali questions.

“My bosses want me to detain her. They’re worried she’ll cause some kind of cross-species incident. But her justicar code won’t let her be taken into custody. If I try it, she’ll have to kill me. I have no interest in dying, so if you lure her away with some big noble cause before I have to carry out my orders, I’m thrilled to help you.” Anaya explains.

“Yikes, sounds like they’re marching you to your death. I sure wouldn’t listen to those orders.” Ben chimes in.

Garrus looks back over his seat to Ben. “Wait, we can disobey suicidal orders? Why wasn’t I told?”

“Those come about twice a day.” Tali concurs.

“Come on, we can always take what we get sent into. I’m thinking that’s not the case here.” Ben counters, referring back to Anaya.

“I’m a cop and I know my duty. I’ve been ordered to detain her and I will – unless I can get her to leave the district first.”

Garrus pushes out of the chair to get back to his feet. “The crime scene you mentioned, that’s the one just outside?” He asks.

“Yes. I’ll send word to let you in. Be careful – the local Eclipse mercs have been all over those back alleys lately.” She warns.

The group start moving back towards the exit, heading outside and taking a left to head towards the crime scene.

“Let’s hope we can find Samara before the detective goes after her.” Garrus speaks as they come to the holographic lines serving as police tape.

One of the police standing by the lines looks over to them as they come to a stop. She gestures for them to come through with a nod.

“Anaya told us to let you through. Watch yourself – there’s merc activity back here. We’re waiting on backup.” They again warn.

Garrus nods as they step through. The officer’s eyes track Ben as they walk past them, just until the group is past the wall and into the alleys themselves.

Garrus readies his assault rifle, and Tali her shotgun, as they start walking. Seeing this, Ben looks down at his hands.

“I’m guessing asari don’t have any sort of special powers that would be really useful in a fight?” Ben asks.

“Unless you know how to use Biotics? No, not in a fight.” Tali confirms.

“Alright, then let’s see about giving Blitzwolfer a shot.” Ben says, reaching up to hit the dial on his side.

Could you imagine if it actually let him transform into Blitzwolfer? That would be hilarious. No, of course it doesn’t. The Omnitrix, as seems to be its favorite past time nowadays, beeps at him.

“Not funny.” Ben reacts, hitting it again. But, again, it just beeps at him. So, he hits it another time, but it still refuses.

“uhh, Ben?” Garrus questions.

“Whatever. No biggie.” Ben plays it cool, looking over to the two as they come to a junction.

One path leads down a set of stairs to continue straight ahead through a hatch, the other leads to the left without any doors.

“Hey, Tali, can I borrow your pistol?” Ben asks.

The request for a gun seems to surprise both of them a little. Tali doesn’t argue though, she just unclips the pistol from her back and hands it to Ben.

The asari takes a second to figure out how to operate the safety, change the clip, and ready it to fire. Once Ben figures this out though, he looks back to the path ahead. The group takes the left, steadily making their way along.

“-o Bravo squad prepped. Alpha squad went after that justicar 20 minutes ago, and they’ve gone dark.” They hear a woman speaking as they come to the next corner.

Garrus motions for Ben to stay back, but for Tali to keep with him. Both follow the instructions, letting Garrus and Tali slowly creep around the corner. They stay low, letting them find cover without the group up ahead seeing them.

Ben just looks around. If the Omnitrix wasn’t bound to give away their position, he might try transforming again. As is, out of the fight, it’s just a matter of waiting. No powers and no armor means no combat.

When Ben was researching asari he found that they’re monogender, live for a thousand years, and are all naturally born with biotics. It’s that last bit he's trying to figure out right now, still staring down at his hands. You’d think that controlling so many aliens would help get new transformation’s powers working faster, but nope. He has to figure it out again every time.

It takes a second for him to realize the sound of gunshots has stopped, causing him to look over and find Garrus motioning for Ben to follow. Ben rejoins the group, and they start walking again.

Rounding the corner Ben finds the body of an asari and a few droids.

The group step around them to reach the end of the hall, where more holographic police tape blocks off another hatch. There’s a beep as they pass through it, then a hiss as the door slides up into the ceiling.

Basically the moment it’s open the group is greeted to the body of an asari hitting the frame of the door. Garrus and Tali don’t seem too phased, but they’re definitely surprised. Stepping through the room itself is exposed to the open air. A cargo hold, seemingly. One that contains a single woman, glowing blue, in the center of the space. An asari dressed in red and gold.

“Tell me what I need to know, and I will be gone from here.” She speaks, walking in a circle around the remaining mercenary on the floor. “Where did you send her?”

“You think I’d betray her? She would hurt me in ways you can’t imagine.” The woman refuses.

“The name of the ship. Your life hands on the answer, Lieutenant.” The asari in red warns.

“You can kill me, but one of us will take you down, Justicar.” The merc readies her pistol, aiming it with unsteady hands.

Before she gets the chance to fire the justicar has already lifted her from the ground, and a moment later her body has been thrown through window to a lower level. The justicar then steps over to the hole in the glass, leaping out to glide down to the woman that’s now desperately trying to crawl away.

The justicar calmly steps over, moving to place to heel of her boot on the merc’s throat.

“What was the name of the ship she left on?” Samara asks again.

“Go to hell.” The other growls.

Ben winces as an unpleasant crunch fills the air.

“Find peace in the embrace of the goddess.” The justicar speaks.

Her attention finally moves to the group as they start approaching. She moves back from the body and steps around to meet them.

“My name is Samara, a servant of the Justicar Code. My quarrel is with these Eclipse sisters, but I see two well-armed people before me. And…” She focuses on Ben for a moment before looking to Garrus again. “Are we friend? Or foe?” She asks.

“Friend, I hope. My name is Garrus Vakarian. Our commander needs your help with a critical mission.” Garrus explains.

“You honor me. But I am in the middle of an investigation.” She delcines.

“Yeah, but we’re trying to hunt down the Collectors. They’re abducting whole colonies and we need the best to stop them. It seems like that’s you.” Ben insists.

“I sense the truth in what you say, and it humbles me. But I seek an incredibly dangerous fugitive.” She turns from our group, stepping back over to the dead body of the mercenary. “I cornered her here, but the Eclipse sisters smuggled her off-world. I must find the name of the ship she left on before the trail goes cold.” She explains.

“I wish you were willing to go with them, justicar.” Enters the room with detective Anaya. “I’ve been ordered to take you into custody if you won’t leave.” She explains.

The justicar turns to her, then walks across the space back to them.

“You risk a great deal by following your orders, Detective. Fortunately, I will not have to resist. My code obligates me to cooperate with you for one day. After that, I must return to my investigation.” Samara tells her.

“I won’t be able to release you that soon.” The detective says.

“You won’t be able to stop me.” Samara states.

“Okay, how about this.” Ben cuts in, causing the two to look over to him. “Why don’t we just get the name of the ship while you’re in custody. Then you can pick up the hunt after we all deal with the Collectors.” Ben proposes.

Samara just stares at him for a moment, but then nods. “Do that, and I will join you. The Code will be satisfied.” She agrees.

“Do you have any leads?” Garrus asks.

‘The volus merchant, Pitne For, is tied to this. Eclipse mercs are preparing to kill him. He may know a way into the Eclipse base.”

“Ah, a volus.” Ben speaks, reaching up to hit the dial of the Omnitrix again. It still just beeps at him. “Must be what this thing wants from me.”

The two asari ignore him, with the detective instead turning to Samara.

“Well, I’ve got to get back to my station. And, I guess I’ve got to take you with me.” The detective speaks.

Samara acknowledges this with a nod, walking with her as they make their way towards the door.

“Thank you.” She speaks to the group as she walks.

The group follow them out and down the alleys to get back to platform they arrived on, at which point the two groups diverge as Anaya and Samara make their way to the police station. Ben also hands Tali her pistol back, not even having needed to use it.

Looking over the whole balcony, the groups eyes come to land on a volus pretty quickly. The only one outside as far as they can see.

“I mean, that couldn’t be…” Ben pauses, instead choosing to walk over to the Volus. “Hey, ‘scuse me, are you Pitne For?” He asks.

The expression on Garrus’s face is the rough equivalent of disbelief and second-hand embarrassment.

The volus turns back to him as Ben stops. There’d be a description of his expression here, but due to the suit no one has any idea what it is.

“Ah, hello, Thessia-clan. I am.” The sharp hiss of his suit implies a beath. “If you’re interested in weapons, I have a fine selection.” Another gasped breath. “Unfortunately, I am not open for business right now.”

“I’ll be damned.” Garrus speaks, coming to a stop beside Ben. “We need some information actually, and we hear you might be the guy to ask.” Garrus tells him.

“I have no idea who you are, Palaven-clan. I hardly disclose private information to total strangers.” Pitne For shuts him down.

It’s clear enough from the tightening of his fists that Garrus finds the Volus rather irritating. Enough so for Tali to step past him to cut him off before he does something rash.

“Listen, the Eclipse are out for your blood; We just need your help to break into their base. Surely you can see that we should work together.” Tali reasons.

He hesitates for a moment, the head of his suit glancing away before he starts to pace. After a second his head nods, then looks back to the group. “Yes. You’re right, Migrant-clan – I’m desperate. I’ve got angry mercs after me, and now this asari justicar. Let’s talk.” He takes a pause to breath, then continues. “I smuggled a chemical onto Illium that boosts biotic powers in combat.”

Ben smiles, seemingly excited by the prospect of something that could help him figure out the new alien’s powers.

“It also is, eh… toxic.”

And Ben’s expression quickly turns to the visual equivalent of “ugh, come on.”

“I may have, um, forgotten to mention that to the Eclipse. So they are perturbed and want to kill me.” The volus explains.

“Well, you can’t exactly blame them.” Garrus comments.

“True. But I haven’t survived as a merchant this long without being able to tell when there’s a deal in the making – you all want something.”

“The Eclipse recently smuggled someone off-world. We need the name of the ship she left on.” Tali tells him.

A sharp breath, as are all audible from the suit. “I don’t know about their people-smuggling operations. They must keep records in their base.” A breath. “I do have a pass card they issued me to bring my goods in. Well, I- I had to return that one, but I happened to make a copy.”

He pauses for a moment, seemingly waiting for the group to make him an offer. Instead, he gets Garrus bringing his hands up to crack his knuckles.

“Take it.” He offers out of the kindness of his heart.

Tali reaches out to take the card he hands them, carefully sliding it into one of her suit’s many pockets.

“But be careful – each Eclipse sister commits a murder to earn her uniform. They are all dangerous.” He warns.

“Yeah, we’ll see how dangerous they are against” Ben cuts himself off by activating the Omnitrix. With a shift to yellow the bream emits from the node and scans down over the volus, then returns to the watch. Once it confirms the acquisition is complete, he hits its face.

With a flash of green, he transforms. His blue skin turns to a pale while, the black and green of his outfit changes in composition to be more of a body suit accented with ports. His height is cut in half, making him only slightly taller than the volus. The dial reappears on his head, which itself changes shape to form whiskers and fins.

“Ditto!?” Ben blurts out, seemingly even more surprised than Pitne For. “Great, they can shoot me once and I’ll get to feel it a dozen times.” He says with sarcastic appreciation. “uhh, next.” He states, slapping the Omnitrix again.

The group take a step back as Ben changes again, not having seen him do multiple in a row before. The volus also steps back but does so with a lot more uncertainty and caution.

Ben shrinks slightly, then begins to rise into the air. The bodysuit changes to almost a dress, sort of tattered and jagged at the edges. His skin returns to a blue color, as does the hair rising from the back of his head. The Omnitrix appears on his chest, and long purple wings emerge from his back. Similar to fairies from some human mythologies.

“Aw man, Pesky Dust?” He whines. “Because dream powers are what I need against guns.” He sarcastically trills, hitting the dial again.

His size increased downward, letting his legs come to rest on the ground whilst his body rises to a few feet higher than Garrus, maybe eight or nine feet in total. That’s counting the massive, curved shapes extending even higher than his head from his shoulders. The Omnitrix places itself on his chest. His whole body is colored black and yellow, separated like clear layers of sediment at the points of exchange. His head, most notably, isn’t connected to his body. Instead, it rests in the air between his shoulder spikes, colored, unlike his body, a metallic silver.

Ben looks down at his hands, now shaped as pincers with only two sharp digits. “Lodestar? Now this I can work with.” He accepts.

Unlike on Omega, people actually pay attention to what’s happening around them here. The officers still blocking of the alleyway, who were looking in Ben’s direction while he transformed, are visibly surprised. As are all the other people that turned to look after the first flash.

He turns to look down to Garrus. “You know the way?”

Garrus gestures past Ben to an elevator across the platform, and the group starts moving.

When the elevator opens to the floor the select they are immediately greeted to a LOKI mech. Garrus and Tali already have their guns at the ready, but neither get the chance to fire before Ben extends an arm to the machine. It’s immediately thrown back through the window behind it, letting the group step out into the room peacefully.

Ben notes the glance Garrus gives him, prompting a simple “Magnetism.” in response.

Proceeding through the next door, they come out into a large open space exposed to the sky. Another cargo hold based on the floor plan and crates. More importantly it also has a number more mech and mercenaries funneling out through a door at the end of the room to intercept the group. Presumably triggered by Ben destroying that first mech.

Again, no one gets the chance to fire. With one arm, Ben pulls everyone’s guns from their hands and tosses them off the edge of the balcony. With the other he grabs onto the metal alloys of their armors and slams them all into the nearest walls. Hard enough to give most of them concussions, based on them not getting up afterwards.

Garrus is getting used to this. Ben being a loose cannon that either makes combat trivial, or is completely useless in a fight, has become the norm. The latter trait is keeping him from getting complacent, but the former is keeping him aware of why exactly they have a teenager on the team.

Tali has not had as much time to adjust. She didn’t see much of the fighting on Freedom’s Progress in person, and she really only heard the battle on Haestrom. This is the first time she’s gotten to see Ben effectively use an alien in person, and she has to take a second to adjust. She keeps it contained very well of course, her expression already being mostly hidden, but she does keep her attention on Ben for a moment as they walk across to the next hatch leading back into the tower.

The next room seems to be empty of any mercenaries, giving the three a moment to look around.

The first thing Ben spots, entering the room ahead of the other two, is a shotgun the mercs seemingly didn’t get the chance to pick up. He extends a hand and lets the metal firearm soar across the space into his claw. He then rotates it to look it over from the side.

“Hey, let me see that.” Tali requests, seeing the weapon in his hand. Ben complies, moving to hand it to her. Thankfully, whether or not he knows enough about gun safety to keep it aimed away from people, his hands don’t let him aim it at either of them.

Tali takes it from him and looks it over, comparing it to her current gun as the three walk through the room towards the stairs.

“Better than what you have now?” Garrus questions.

“… Yes. It is.” Tali decides.

“You don’t sound happy about it.” Ben notes.

“I’m not. Mercenaries shouldn’t have better guns than we do. Not working under Shepard.” She explains.

“Yeah, that is odd.” Garrus agrees, looking down at his own rifle. “You think we’ll have to put in a requisitions order?”

“With Shepard? Please. He’d take us shopping on the citadel before he’d let us put in a formal request for gear.” Tali scoffs.

“Hmm, true.” Garrus says.

Tali stores her current shotgun, letting her carry the one they just found in her hands. It only takes a second for her to make sure it’s functional and has a clip.

They continue on towards the stairs.

“Oh, Goddess! Oh, Goddess, don’t let them see me. If they do see me, don’t let them kill me. What am I doing here?” They hear muffled through a hatch on their right, causing all of them to slow to a stop.

Garrus looks to both of them to make sure they heard it too before cautiously stepping over to the hatch and tapping the hologram to open it.

At first, they don’t see anyone, but the two still keep their weapons readied. Ben, on the other hand, is several feet taller than both of them. This means that he can see over most of the furniture in the room. Including the desk just left of the entrance.

The desk that an asari wearing the Eclipse uniform is hiding behind.

Tali glances back to Ben and he gestures to the desk, using the same hand to pull a pistol across the room to him from where it was resting at the mercenary’s side.

“Wait! Stop!” She shouts, standing up and holding out a hand. “I didn’t fire my weapon once! I… pretended… oh. Wow.” She reacts to Ben.

Tali and Garrus keep their weapons trained, but don’t shoot.

“I say we shoot her. You heard what the volus said, they all have to murder someone to get in.” Garrus says.

“I’m not one of them! I’m new! I thought being Elnora the mercenary would be cool… but I didn’t know what they were really like!” She pleads, forcing herself to focus on the turian over Ben.

“I could just knock her out.” Ben suggests.

“They always just get back up again.” Garrus argues.

“I think I’m with Ben on this one. Let the authorities handle her.” Tali states.

“…Fine. Ben.” Garrus hesitantly accepts.

Ben only has to move his arm forwards to completely throw her off her feet by her armor and into a back wall. There’s a heavy thud as she hits it, then another as she hits the floor.

They continue on. Ben does the same efficient clearing of the hostiles in the next room, and the two after that. The only thing that causes them to slow down at all is a gunship. Apparently all mercenaries have gunships. This one is grounded before it had the chance to fire though, given that it’s made of metal.

The next thing that causes them to pause for a moment is an open laptop loaded to an audio diary. Based on the naming convention, belonging to Elnora. While Garrus and Tali makes sure the room is clear, Ben walks over to it and taps the play button. Just out of curiosity.

“Well, it’s official – little baby Elnora is finally a full-fledged Eclipse merc! I earned my uniform last night when I killed that ridiculous volus.” Is spoken in Elnora’s voice, causing both of the others to make their way over. “Up close, exploding rounds. Blew the little bastard’s suit wide open! Hah! I can’t wait to see some real action! Next time I go home, my friends are going to be so jealous!”

“Elnora was the killer? We shouldn’t have just knocked her out. What if she wakes up before the police can get here?” Tali backtracks on her previous stance.

“Then the police track her down. It wasn’t our place to decide.” Ben holds.

“Either way, Detective Anaya would be interested in this.” Garrus says, approaching the laptop to download the file.

Once they have it, they start moving again.

The next room is just more mechs and a bridge. Ben tosses the mechs off the bridge.

A couple rooms later they come to something that slows them down again. A living being, clearly not a member of the Eclipse, standing in front of a vending machine. A volus.

He hardly even seems aware of their presence. They could probably keep walking if they wanted to, but at this point everyone is a little curious, so they come to a stop behind him. Waiting for a moment, the volus then slowly turns around, bumping into Ben’s legs as he tries to walk away from the machine.

He stumbles back, taking a moment to catch his balance while the group waits.

“I am a biotic god!” He announces. The air around his sparks to life a brilliant blue and purple as he regains composure, looking up at the tree. “I think things – and they happen!” He starts walking forwards again, and Ben steps out of his way. As do Tali and Garrus behind him. “Fear me, lesser creatures, for I am biotics made flesh!”

Ben looks to Tali and Garrus. “You think this is genetic?”

“I think he’s high.” Garrus states.

“You will regret your scandalous words! I am a great wind that will sweep all before me like a… a great wind. A great biotic wind!” He pauses, taking several breaths. “Yes, the asari injecting so many drugs into me was terrifying. But then I began to smell my greatness!”

Another pause. Garrus clears his throat.

“They may laugh when I fall over, but they don’t know what I know in my head – that I know I am amazingly powerful.” He steps over to Tali, looking up at her. She leans back a little, keeping her eyes locked on him. “Fear me!” He demands, pointing up at her.

Tali looks to Ben and Garrus and shrugs. She has no more idea what’s happening than either of they do.

“Hang on, are you part of Pitne For’s trade group?” Garrus thinks to question.

His attention snaps around to Garrus, somehow conveying a glare with only the position of his head.

“When I was mortal, I worked for Pitne. Poor soul is probably terrified that I have not returned.” He breaths.

“He hasn’t reported your disappearance. Probably so his departure won’t get delayed.” Garrus informs.

“Pitne will pick money over friends every time.” Tali speaks.

“Bah! I will wreak a just revenge upon his people! But first… the leader of these mercenaries is in the next room.” He turns around, pacing back over to the archway leading down another hallway. “I shall toss Wasea about like a rag doll!” He declares.

“This guy couldn’t tie his bootlaces, much less fight.” Garrus speaks to the group.

The volus turns back. “I will tear her apart! My biotics are unstoppable!” He insists with fury.

“This guy should take a nap, right? I feel like he should take a nap.” Ben speaks.

“Are you mad? I’m unstoppable!” He turns around again, stepping back Tali and into the hall as he continues to rant. Feasting on her biotic rich blood will be the last step of my ascen”

He’s cut off by the sound of Tali hitting the back of his suit, followed shortly by the heavy thud of his body against the ground.

“But… great wind!” He speaks, picking himself up. “Biotic god! I’m… I… what was I saying?” He turns around. “I’m… tired.” He realizes. “You… may be right.” He turns, walking through them again to start waddling down the hall towards the door they came through. “Yes, I’m tired… I’ll nap. Destroy the universe later…”

“So much for godhood…” Garrus comments.

They start walking again, heading for the door at the end of the hall.

“Tali, were you recording that?” The turian asks.

“I’ll send you a copy.” She tells him.

“Thanks. I want to show Shepard when we get back to the Normandy.”

“Good idea.” Tali agrees.

The hatch opens and the group steps through into the room on the other side.

A cargo hold of some kind. The equivalent of a warehouse for skyscrapers, based on the high ceiling and surplus of storage crates. This one isn’t exposed to the sky though, probably for the best as it means there’s no wind drowning out the sounds of the space.

At the far end of the room stands a single woman facing away from them. In her left hand is some form of tablet, and in her right is a short glass filled with a liquid of some kind. Maybe it’s alcoholic, maybe it’s soda. Maybe it’s just the blood of her enemies. Whatever the case, it’s gone and she’s setting the empty glass down on the desk behind her, turning around as she does.

What at first seemed to be obliviousness reveals itself to be composure as her eyes land on the group.

“Everything’s gone to hell since we smuggled that filthy creature off-world.” She speaks, slowly stepping around the desk as she continues to work on the tablet. “First a justicar shows up, now you.” She leaves the tablet on the desk once she begins to walk away from it. “At least I can take pleasure in turning your head into a pulpy mass, or whatever’s in your robot friend.”

As she gets to the end of her speech, she reaches out to one of the nearby containers and lifts it into the air with her biotics, then throws it at the group full force.

Ben catches it mid-air before it hits them and throws it back across the room. His attack actually lands, knocking her back and into one of the large crates. When she starts trying to get up, he grabs her armor and slams her back into the ground to ensure she doesn’t.

Finally, with them seemingly having gotten where they need to be, Ben lets the Omnitrix transform him back into a human.

“Some record of that ship must be around here.” Tali reasons as they walk across the floor to her desk.

Tali is the first to grab the datapad that the woman set down. It only takes her a moment of scrolling through the notes to find what she’s looking for.

“The AML Demeter. That’s the ship.” She tells Ben and Garrus.

“I guess we should head back to the police station now. Or do we want to stay here for a bit and look around? Maybe scavenge some heavy metals, scan some modified weapons. You know, like Shepard always does.” Garrus asks, sarcastically. Obviously they don’t look around; they just head back to the police station.

Coming back down off the elevator, the group step out and walk around to the Police station. Inside, they find Shepard. Much to their surprise. He looks over to the group as they walk over.

“Hey gang, I was just getting acquainted with our justicar friend here.” He gestures to Samara, who sits on the half wall behind the detective’s desk. “I take it you found the name of the ship?” He asks.

“The ‘AML Demeter.’ Left here two days ago.” Ben states, stopping just short of the two.

“Shepard, your crew impresses me.” The justicar speaks, looking over the three. The turian, and quarian, and the… human. “Ben Tennyson, I presume. I believe we met earlier, though at the time you were an asari. Shepard has explained it to me.” She states.

“Cool.” Ben responds.

She looks back to Shepard, “They have fulfilled their part of the bargain, and I will fulfill mine.” She pushes herself of the wall, hopping down to stand on the floor like everyone else. “I am ready to leave immediately, if that will satisfy your superiors, Detective?”

“You’re free to go, Justicar. It has been an honor having you in my station. And it’s nice you didn’t kill me, too.” The detective says.

“The Normandy is docked near the main trading floor. I’ll see you aboard.” Shepard tells Samara.

“I must be sworn to your service, so that I am never forced to choose between your orders and the code.” Samara explains.

Shepard nods.

Samara acknowledges this, then looks up slightly. Her eyes abruptly burst to light, glowing a bright white for a moment before her eyelids lowers. She moves to kneel before Shepard, and the detective steps out of her chair. Seemingly just to watch, as her attention is fully on the events.

“By the Code, I will serve you, Shepard. Your choices are my choices, your morals are my morals. Your wishes are my code.” Samara pledges, and with the statement complete her whole body bursts to the blue aura of biotics for a moment. She then rises back to her feet, letting the glow fade.

“I never thought I’d see a justicar swear an oath like that.” Anaya comments.

“If you make me do anything extremely dishonorable, I may need to kill you when I am released from my oath.” Samara clarifies.

Shepard nods, “I can see that this is a very important act, Samara. Thank you.”

“Truly, the life of a justicar can get lonely. I admit, I am looking forwards to serving with a company of honorably heroes. Shall we return to your ship?” She asks.

“Actually, we need to speak with the detective.” Ben interrupts, stepping over to in front of her desk.

“Thank you for getting Samara out of my district. I can tell my granddaughters about meeting a Justicar. And you three just upped my chanced of living long enough to have grandkids.”

Ben chuckles at her summary. Garrus pulls out the data card he copied the recording onto and places it down on her desk.

“That should prove the Eclipse killed the volus merchant.” Garrus speaks.

“Let’s see what you have there.” She connects it to her computer and looks over the transcript. “Interesting, but I can’t verify it. It would be inadmissible.” She tells them.

“I vouch for these three, and any evidence they bring forward.” Samara speaks.

“…I accept the judgment of the justicar.” The detective says. “Thanks. I wasn’t sure about trusting strangers, and I still have no idea what the kid is, but you came through.”

“If you hurry, the one that did it might still be unconscious in their base.” Tali adds.

“Okay, enough with all the congratulations, I’ve still got a spiraling crime rate.”

Ben is the first to start making his way to the exit, shortly followed by the other four.

When they arrive back on the Normandy the group is introduced to Thane, the assassin Shepard recruited before catching up with them. Ben scans him. He’s in the life support on Deck 3.

Samara is given the observation room on Deck 3 after being introduced to Jacob and Miranda. This makes two more people that have been given actual rooms.

If there were any more actual rooms to hand out Ben might complain. Unfortunately, it seems that basically all the areas of the ship that can serve to house life have been taken, meaning Ben stays in cargo. He might ask for a real bed or something later.

Chapter Text

Unlike practically all the other missions so far, the Normandy doesn’t immediately leave once they have their new recruits.

In fact, Shepard leaves the ship docked overnight. The Normandy’s night, not Illium’s night. Illium has a 25 hour rotation, meaning it’s roughly the same amount of time as the Normandy’s cycle, but they aren’t synced up. The start of the Normandy’s day cycle is about sunset on Illium, meaning that it’s getting dark again when Shepard departs.

Tali, Garrus, and Ben come with him. The prior two because Shepard trusts them should an unexpected combat situation arise. Ben because he likes seeing alien planets and no one can stop him. He’s an exceedingly stubborn teenager with the Omnitrix irremovably strapped to his arm. No one has been trying to stop him for weeks.

After Ben returned to the Normandy Shepard apparently went out and did that hacking thing Liara asked him to. So they are now heading to Liara’s office to see what that did. That’s Ben’s interpretation, at least.

Ben is on his phone jumping from one extranet site to another, occasionally downloading something to watch later when they’re in FTL. He’s just navigating with his peripheral vision of the group, barely even paying attention as they start moving up the staircase to Liara’s office. It’s only once the commander passes through the hatch that Ben puts the device to sleep and slides it into his pocket to pay attention.

This time the three beside the commander make the decision to wait outside, letting the hatch close behind him.

Liara looks up from her computer to Shepard as he steps in, “Shepard! It’s good to see you again.”

Since he doesn’t sit down, she stands up, letting them be at eye level.

“Thank you for getting me that system data. Here.” She extends her hand, letting him take something from her. “It’s not much, but hopefully it will help you on your mission.”

Okay, so now they both sit down.

“Do you remember the Shadow Broker? With the data you got me, I may be able to find information caches from his agents.” She explains.

“Are you on the run from the Shadow Broker? I can help you.” Shepard immediately offers.

“Actually, it would be more accurate to say that the Shadow Broker is on the run from me.” She corrects. “We crossed paths not long after you died. Since then, I’ve been working to take him down.” She slams her hand down on the table, both enthuse and angry. “With this data, I’m a step closer.”

“You can’t come with me because you’re after the Shadow Broker? What if I help you find him?” Shepard asks.

“I’m sorry, Shepard. The galaxy doesn’t work that way. I need to find leads, trace information. I need to work. I can’t do that on the Normandy. I wish I could.” She again declines.

There’s a moment of silence before either speak again.

“About the Shadow Broker.” Shepard starts, causing Liara to look to him again. Almost skeptically, like she’s worried she’ll have to turn him down again. “Cerberus gave me data on where to find him. Interested?” He tells her.

Immediately her eyes widen, and she can’t help herself from rising to her feet. Shepard does as well. “Absolutely! I had no idea- Let me see what you’ve got!” She requests, taking a data card from Shepard and plugging it into one of her tablets.

She’s quiet for a moment as the data starts showing up on her screen. A factor of the holographic screens they all use is the fact that you can see them from the back, meaning Shepard gets a vague idea of what she’s seeing.

“It looks like a leaked transmission between Shadow Broker operatives. Some hints as to the location, and… it’s about Feron.” She pauses, hesitantly smiling as the sight of a drell. “He’s still alive.”

“Who’s Feron?” Shepard asks.

She sets the tablet down, the smile lingering. “He was a friend. He helped me recover your body from the Shadow Broker.” She turns away from the commander, stepping over to the window at the back of her office.

“Why did the Shadow Broker want my corpse?” Shepard questions.

“He was going to sell you to the Collectors, but Feron and I stopped him. Feron sacrificed himself to save me.”

“So you rescued me… Then how did I end up with Cerberus?” He asks.

“Well, they gave me intel to help recover you.” She turns back, the smile now absent as she steps over to beside her chair. “They actually put Feron with me in the first place. After I got out, I gave you to them. They said they could bring you back.” There’s a slight tremble in her voice. A subdued shame in her actions, and Shepard notices.

“You kept me out of the Collector’s hands. Without you, I couldn’t have come back. Thank you.” He reassures.

Her eyes look down, doing their best to avoid Shepard’s. “You don’t know what that means to me, Shepard.” She looks to him again. “I didn’t know who you’d be when you came back. If you’d feel…”

She slides the tablet off the table again, looking at the image of Feron on its screen.

“They brought you back. And now they’re giving me a chance to find Feron. After two years, I hadn’t even dreamed…” She sets the tablet down again, now turning off its screen.

“Sounds like you and Feron were close.” Shepard notes.

“It’s funny. He betrayed me more than once. He was double-dealing for Cerberus, for the Shadow Broker… But in the end, he sacrificed himself for me. I owe him.”

“Any friend of yours is a friend of mine. What’s the next step?” Shepard asks.

“I… I don’t know. I need to prepare, to think. I’m going home.” She picks up a frame from the desk as she steps around it, one that’s been facing away from Shepard. “Use my terminal if you need any local intel.”

“You okay?” Shepard asks, watching her pace.

“I’ve spent two years plotting revenge.” The door slides up into the ceiling as she stops before it. “Now I have the chance to make it a rescue.” She speaks, turning back to Shepard.

“Let me help. I’ll come by your apartment?” He suggests.

“Okay. Hopefully I’ll have a plan by then. Thank you, Shepard.” Liara agrees, giving him one final smile before continuing out into the hallway.

Shepard steps out a moment later, finding all three of his squad mates looking to him. Either for a summary, or just orders.

“Liara’s going after the shadow broker and I’m helping. I’m heading back to the Normandy to get ready, then I’m heading to her apartment. You all should…” He pauses, not actually really needing them for anything.

“You know, Garrus and I were talking about looking for some weapon upgrades while we were here on Illium.” Tali starts.

“It’s true. She founds this shotgun while we were moving through the merc’s headquarter, and” Garrus continues, gesturing to the shotgun Tali pulls off her back.

“And we noticed that it’s just a bit better than the ones issued to the crew on the Normandy, so” Tali adds.

“Sounds good. You three manage updating the armory while I help Liara. I’ll let you know if I need your help.” Shepard tells them before turning away to head down the stairs, splitting off from the group.

“Well, now we’re supplying the armory.” Garrus notes.

“AH, but you’re missing the best part. That means we’re shopping on the Normandy’s budget. And the guy funding the Normandy right now,” Ben leads, hoping the other two will catch on.

“Cerberus.” The two realize at the same time.

The next few hours are spent traveling from level to level around Nos Astra. The Eclipse knew their stuff when it came to shotguns, apparently, because the one Tali found is the best kind they’re able to purchase in bulk. They also cover rifles, both assault and sniper, pistols, sub machine guns, the works.

After that, Ben makes the very reasonable case that, since Cerberus isn’t actually paying him, getting something for him with the Cerberus funds is only fair. Ben making a reasonable case is a bit disconcerting so Tali and Garrus decide not to argue. They let him buy an omni-tool and an actual bed. A basic metal frame and a cheap mattress, but a bed none the less. Both are sent to the Normandy.

There’s not much for quarians on Illium, so Tali doesn’t get anything specifically for herself. There’s plenty of stuff for turians, but Garrus isn’t really interested in souvenirs.

Eventually they end up, surprisingly, at a bar. The lounge of a place called Eternity.

“I could have sworn I checked this. The age for humans to consume alcohol is still 21 in this universe, and in case you haven’t noticed” He gestures to himself. “I’m not in my 20s.” Ben makes sure they both know as the group walks in.

“I don’t plan on drinking either, Garrus.” Tali tells him.

“Why, because you’re afraid you’ll get a fever from a little turian brandy?” Garrus playfully mocks.

“No, because I know that Shepard is bound to find some way to get in trouble, and I’d like to be able to help when he calls us.” There’s a pause. “I’m also not going to risk getting sick over a place like this.”

They look around. Ben wouldn’t know if this place is high or low on the list of bars you’d want to go to. Not only has he not been in many bars, but they also have vastly different standards in this universe. The establishment appears clean, if a bit moderately crowded. As in, it’s not very crowded. There are about two seats open for every one full, and the people that are here seem to be more than happy with polite conversation.

“Come on, this is the nicest place on Nos Astra.” Garrus argues as they walk over to the bar.

“That’s not very comforting.” Tali states.

Tali and Ben wait for a moment as Garrus purchases some turian alcohol from one of the service machines. Ben manages to get it to give him a bottle of water after a moment of struggling with the UI, and then they turn to walk away.

“You’re really holding out on me? I’m a man on the edge! I’ve got nothing to lose!” Being shouted out from the down the bar from them is enough to make them paused.

“Uh-huh.” The asari bartended flatly responds.

Looking, they find the man shouting to be human. They’re about to just ignore him and keep walking when Tali and Garrus have the same thought.

“You want to see how far I’ll go? I learned how to shove a gun in people’s faces from—”

“Conrad Verner?” Garrus speaks first.

His attention quickly moves to the group, clearly confused by who’s talking to him.

“Hey, if you know this idiot, can you rein him in before I slap his ass with a singularity?” The bartender manages to request rather politely.

“You know him?” Ben questions.

“We met back on the Citadel when we were going after Saren. He was a fan of Shepard’s.” Tali recounts.

The man’s eyes widen as he steps over to them, managing to get out of the way of some people that actually want to just buy drinks.

“Hey, I remember you! You were that quarian that traveled with Commander Shepard.” He points to Tali. “And you were the turian that traveled with him.” He points to Garrus. “And you were” He points to Ben, but pauses. “Do I know you?” He eventually asks.

“Ben Tennyson. You either know me or you don’t. Don’t hurt yourself trying to remember.” Ben responds.

“Yeah, okay. I’d remember someone like you.” Conrad crosses his arms. “So what are you guys doing here? I though that after Shepard died, they split you guys up. I heard that you had to go deep undercover as a hanar to infiltrate an underground crime ring.” Conrad speaks to Garrus.

“How would that even…” Garrus desperately tries to think, clearly frustrated by Conrad.

“Shepard’s not dead anymore.” Ben explains.

Conrad does his best to keep himself contained. “So, he’s alive, huh? And he can’t even deal with me himself, he has to send it lackeys? Hmph. I heard it goes like that in the biz.” He steps back, turning himself towards the bar again. “Why don’t you step back and watch how it’s done? I’ve got some asses to kick.”

“Conrad.” Garrus states simply, causing the human to turn to him. This is promptly followed by a remarkably smooth knee to the crotch, dropping the man to the ground with a groan.

“Hah! Kick him in the quad!” The bartender approves.

Ben and Tali glance to her.

“Sorry. My father was a krogan.” She justifies.

“Man, I should have gotten better armor. That really hurts!” Conrad whines, picking himself back up. After a second of straightening himself out again, he tries to put on the tough act again. “Anyways, get angry if you want, but somebody had to do something. Shepard was dead. I stepped up.”

“Really? You took justice into your own hands?” Garrus questions.

The smile on Ben’s face. The smile on Tali’s too, probably, but you can’t see hers under the helmet. It’s one genuinely amused by what he knows is about to happen.

“Well neither of you did! With Shepard gone, nobody’s been doing anything.” Conrad argues.

“So you, say, went to the most centralized population of low lives in the galaxy and started taking down the mercenary groups one my one?” Garrus speaks with a certain degree of annoyance, and a certain degree of pride.

“Well, no, I-”

“Are you familiar with the name Archangel?” Garrus asks.

“Yeah, of course I am. Some kind of low life vigilante on Omega. I heard he got killed by the blue suns in a horrible attack ship crash.”

Garrus lingers on the information that Omega thinks he’s dead for a moment, then continues. “That was me.” He states.

It’s hard to decide if terror or just plain shock is the better way to describe his reaction.

“Get out of here, Verner, and stop causing trouble for these people.” Garrus implicitly threatens.

“Oh, so that’s how it is? Nobody can get the job done but you? You just wait! I’ll show you. I’ll show you!” Shock it is then. Apparently, he’s too stupid to be afraid of Garrus.

Ben sets his water down, freeing his hand to reach for the Omnitrix. He only has to scroll through it for a second before he pulls back and slams down the core. With a flash, Garrus is no longer the focus of his attention. Instead, he is rather firmly transfixed on the 12 feet tall, 4 armed, muscle bound behemoth looking down on him.

“Get lost, Conrad.” Ben warns.

Finally, he gets the hint. He gets the hint very quickly and makes his way out of the lounge entirely in a matter of seconds. Once the hatch closes behind him Ben shifts back to his human form.

“Poor little dumb-ass.” The bartended comments, shaking her head. “Thanks for the help. That was a neat trick, kid.” She tells Ben.

“Omnitrix.” He states, holding up his left wrist. “Let’s me turn into other aliens.” He explains, reaching to grab his bottle of water from the counter. “I was going for Rachni. I’m pretty sure I unlocked it from that lady Shepard talked to yesterday.” He mentions.

The idea that he has a Rachni form catches the attention of both Garrus and Tali. Ben doesn’t acknowledge their shocked glances, though.

“It do asari?” The asari bartender asks, unphased.

Garrus turns around to face the group, moving the glass of alcohol to his mouth.

“Yeah, hang on…” Ben says, scrolling through the Omnitrix. Once he comes to the Asari option he hits the core, and the form rolls over him in an instant.

“Damn.” She can only react with, still impassively, but with a hint of being impressed.

Ben doesn’t bother turning back as the group make their way from the bar and over to one of the tables in the lounge.

The frankly quiet music and relaxed atmosphere of the lounge make it hard not to unintentionally listen in on the conversations happening around them. A few guys out on a bachelor’s party, an asari trying to figure out how to be in a relationship with a salarian, and a quarian discussing her love life with a turian that’s clearly far more interested in her than she is in him.

None of which hold Ben’s attention quite as much as the empty bottle of water on the table ahead of him, which he’s desperately trying to move with his mind.

He’s so focused on this that Garrus and Tali are actually pretty engaged too. Every time there’s even what looks to be the faintest glow, they react a little, keeping their eyes fixed on the thin plastic ahead of his hand.

“You know, this is a lot easier with Gravattack.” Ben states.

“I’m guessing that one can manipulate gravity?” Garrus asks rhetorically.

Ben just keeps his eyes locked on the bottle.

“We could probably ask Samara to help.” Tali suggests.

Eventually Ben lets his hand close and hits it against the table, knocking over the bottle.

“Fine. Let’s go to the Normandy.” Ben accepts.

The group all get up, making the slightest detour to let Ben toss out the bottle before heading straight for the exit.

On the Normady, the group make their way through the CIC to the elevator. Heading down a level, they take a left as they step out, traveling towards the starboard observation.

They slow as they come to the door, with Garrus tapping the part of the holographic seal used to request access from the person on the other side. After a few seconds the hatch then opens, and they are greeted to the sight of the asari justicar standing before them.

Her eyes scan over the three of them, but eventually land on Ben in his asari form.

“How might I be able to assist you?” Samara asks.

“I need to know how your powers work.” Ben states, not wasting any time.

She’s a little taken aback by just how direct he is about it, but does well not to show it. She steps back and gestures for the group to enter the room.

“You are referring to biotics, yes?” Samara checks as they enter.

“Yeah. I’ll figure out the whole “psychic mind-meld” thing you guys do some other time.” Ben confirms, sitting down on one of the couches with Tali and Garrus.

The next half hour goes by slowly.

Samara has to explain to Ben how biotics actually work, with Garrus and Tali occasionally providing social and historical context. Then Ben has to, with a lot of patience and effort, learn how to tap into the powers at all. And after that he has to actually try to use them.

Being Ben, he tries to start big. After a few minutes of struggling he’s forced to accept that he can’t lift the couch, and instead starts trying with something small again. Another bottle of water.

This takes another few minutes to even start doing anything with, be he does eventually get it.

He manages to, after repeated corrections from Samara, lift the bottle without touching it. He’d be proud of himself if it wasn’t so immensely difficult, and if he wasn’t just barely managing it at all.

It’s at this point that the three of them, Ben, Tali, and Garrus, all flinch slightly at the sound of their communicators abruptly connecting.

“Meet me at the Dracon trade center. Liara’s in trouble.” Shepard directs, then cutting out again.

The object drops back to the floor as Ben automatically transforms back. They don’t waste any time before heading towards the door of the room, making sure they have their weapons as they get into the elevator.

By the time their shuttle is approaching the building they can already see what’s happening, in the vague sense.

Fire. Shattered or damaged glass lines the floor of the lower platform, seemingly from three floors of the building’s windows. The rest of the floors are either on fire, or in further disarray.

“It looks like a bomb went off up there.” Ben observes as the shuttle starts landing.

“A fair guess, though I doubt it was just one.” Garrus says, stepping out of the transport with the other two.

Among the damage and debris lie bodies. Dozens, if not more, of various species. In various degrees of damage.

“Keelah.” Tali speaks solemnly, her helmet passing over the scene.

“Shepard, we’re here. Where are you?” Garrus speaks, putting a hand to the side of his head.

“Inside, second floor. Heading up.” The commander responds over their coms.

Garrus has worked with Ben long enough to know that he should see what Alien he gets before they start planning, and Tali is catching up fast enough to do the same.

By the time they turn to him he’s already letting the core rise from the watch, at which point his hand moves to slam it back down again. With a flash, a slightly more ridged greenish material spreads up over his arms. A sort of flexible chitin that covers his hands when they change to three digited claws. His two legs split into four, and from his back, between what quickly becomes ridged plating, emerge wings that twitch and flutter. What would be his spine extends to form a tail, through his whole body quickly comes to lack an endoskeleton. An exoskeleton of black and green finds its place, covered tightly by a bodysuit that leaves only his limbs and head exposed. His head is where the dial places itself, almost appearing as an eye, though clearly not as two emerge form either side of his head at the end of articulated tubes to face forwards.

“Stinkfly? Alright.” Ben speaks, followed shortly by the droning hum of his wings as he rises into the air.

Tali shudders at the sight of his insect-like form.

Garrus braces himself as Ben glides through the air towards him, tensing slightly as the Ben grabs the back of his armor. Tensing more as he’s lifted into the air with Ben as he moves for Tali. He hesitates slightly before grabbing her suit though.

“It can take carrying you, right?” Ben checks.

“Please, Ben. If it couldn’t take being pulled on, we would never- WoooOOAHHH” Ben doesn’t wait to hear the rest, pulling her into the air by the back of her suit.

They fly up to the broken windows of the third floor. Ben makes sure not to slam them into anything until they reach the floor, at which point he places them both down and lands beside them.

Garrus takes a moment to lean over himself, resting his hands on his knees as he adjusts to what just happened.

“Remind me to never let you do that again.” Garrus speaks, leaning back up with a deep breath.

Tali leans herself against a railing, just breathing with a quite “Augh… Not in the helmet.” Under her breath.

“Sorry, it takes a while to get used to, I guess.” Ben speaks, his eyes all scanning over the environment.

“I’ll take your word for it.” Garrus tells him, pulling his assault rifle around off his back. “Tali, you alright?” He asks, glancing to her.

“Yep, fine.” She lies, readying her pistol as she starts walking with the group.

“I’m at the Baria Frontiers office. Liara signed in just a few minutes ago.” Shepard informs over the radio.

“Understood, Commander” Another voice responds. A woman.

“You guys know where that is?” Ben asks.

Tali flicks her wrist to pull up her omni-tool and navigates through a few menus to pull up a map of the building.

“Yes. Follow me.” She says.

They do. Garrus scans through the rooms they pass, whilst Ben scuttles along with his four legs. Occasionally they have to take a slight detour to avoid the fire still spreading through the halls, but eventually they come to a point they can’t find a way around.

Tali starts looking for a way to activate the fire suppression systems in the hall. It quickly turns out that she doesn’t need to do this when a thick substance pours from Ben’s eyes with an unpleasant squelching noise, suffocating the fire. His eyes clear with a few blinks, and he glances to both Tali and Garrus.

The quarian was already uncomfortable with his form, and now she’s going to the effort of reaching up to switch off her helmet’s olfactory filters.

“Oh, that’s… disgusting.” Garrus speaks, carefully making his way forwards with the intent not to slip on any of the thick mucus. “No offence.”

“Hey, I’m on your side. This one’s gross.” Ben agrees, his legs tapping along behind the turian. “Gross, but practical.” He qualifies.

Tali chooses not to add anything.

They continue to another room leading out from the halls, and again they scan over the space to make sure there aren’t any dangers before moving to press on. Before they can though, a sound catches their attention.

From up above, on the other side of a window rapidly cracking, they hear “you pureblood bitch!” shouted in the same voice they heard over the radio earlier.

The glass shatters, but the shards are pulls into the room with a blue glow. Ben’s wings start beating to get him into the air as form the window two bodies emerge. One seems to be an asari, still glowing blue with a light that is pulled off her with the fall, and the other, grabbing onto and struggling with them, is Shepard.

The one with biotics slows them slightly as they fall, just enough for Ben to make it to them, reaching for the commander. The asari reacts with startled shock as the bug reaches them, causing her to kick off of them as fast as she can. Ben dives for the Commander, just barely slowing him down before he hits the ground.

The asari, seeing Ben turn to her, start running. Another asari then leaps from the same broken window above them, Liara, who slows herself to land safely. She doesn’t so much as glance back to them before she starts running after her.

Shepard only takes a second to recover, then pushes off Ben to start chasing after them.

“Shepard! Are you okay?” Tali asks, immediately breaking into a sprint with Garrus to follow the commander.

“Fine, but we need to get Vasir. She has a data disc Liara needs to find the Shadow Broker.” Shepard explains as they start booking it down the halls.

“Understood, Commander.” Garrus states.

“Ben, get to the shuttles outside. Don’t let her leave.” Shepard instructs.

“Got it.” Ben responds, taking off towards the nearest window.

Evidently asari are actually quite a bit lighter on her feet than Shepard is, as they make it outside before the squad can catch up. Not a problem for Ben though, as he swings around the building just in time to see the one they’re going after, Vasir, leap off the balcony to one of the shuttle cars below.

“Damn it!” Laira voices, only able to watch as Shepard makes it out and runs over to her.

“I’m on it!” Ben announces, swiftly soaring through the air after the transport.

The squad don’t sit idly though, instead making their way for one of the cabs on the level they’re on. Liara pulls herself into the front seat first, leaving Shepard to sit down on the driver’s side.

“I’m fine, by the way. Thanks for asking.” He tells her.

He gestures with his head for the other two to get in, and Tali and Garrus both pull themselves into the back seat just before the doors close and the car takes off.

It takes a moment to rise into the air, causing Liara to shout “Come on! She’s getting away!” just before it starts gliding forwards.

“I’m going!” Shepard responds, pushing the accelerator down as much as he can as he takes manual control.

“Oh no.” Garrus voices from the backseat, grabbing onto the passenger assist grip to keep himself in place as they start moving. Tali does the same, though manages to contain her reaction.

“Something on your mind, Garrus?” Sheppard questions.

Liara is also grabbing onto the inside of the car to keep herself in position, something made quite practical as the commander swings the whole shuttle around the underside of a larger ship they pass by, just about scraping against the underside.

“Just remembering the last time we were in a vehicle you were driving.” Garrus explains, bracing himself as the car swings by another building just barely without slamming into it.

“Hey, I’m a great driver.” Shepard defends.

“The calmest part of that mission was when you shot us through the conduit into the citadel.” Tali adds.

“Can we please focus on- There she is!” Liara interjects, pointing out the window to the shuttle being attacked by a very large insect.

The two in the back steady themselves again as Shepard uses a passing ship as a ramp to launch them over.

“Hang a right! No, wait, left.” Liara instructs.

“I’m on her!” Shepard assures.

They swing around another group of buildings, and Shepard has to quickly adjust their aim to guide them through. Ben doesn’t seem to have much trouble doing the same, but it’s noticeable that he’s not actually as fast as the cars. He’s been keeping up with shortcuts and tight maneuvering, but once they’re out in the open again Shepard’s shuttle starts catching up to him.

“Ben, on your six.” Shepard uses their coms.

Two of Ben’s four eyes look back, letting him adjust himself slightly to land on the roof of the car as it swings by him. His four legs cling to the metal and his wings tuck themselves against his back to reduce resistance.

“Where did you learn to drive!?” Ben exclaims as they glide around another corner.

“Mindoir.” Shepard answers.

“Traffic! Oncoming traffic!” Liara reacts, now clinging to the inside of the vessel with the same urgency as Tali and Garrus.

“Did you skip class?” Ben shouts again, forced to pull himself around the car to avoid being torn off by the ships and shuttles passing by them.

“We’ll be fine!” Shepard insists.

Despite the violent paths of the cab Shapard is careening through the city, he does manage to stay on their target, never having her vehicle leave their sight for more than a moment. This is something that Vasir clearly notices, as something marked as an obstacle on the car’s HUD is jettisoned.

“She’s dropping proximity charges!” Liara observes.

Shepard barely manages to pull back enough to soar by the first one.

“I noticed!” Shepard states.

The next one that she drops is detonated before they reach it, seemingly by a shot of green launched from their vehicle. As are the ones after that.

“What kind of guns does this thing have?” The commander questions.

“It’s a taxi! It has a fare meter!” Laira helpfully informs.

“That’s me. Just keep on her.” Ben states.

They enter another tunnel, one that seems to contain traffic heading in the opposite direction as them.

“Truck!” Liara warns.

“I know.” Shepard states.

“TRUCK!” Liara reiterates, now more urgently.

“I know!” Shepard insists, just barely managing to glide them around the edge of it, scraping against the ground of the tunnel as he does.

“Auugh” Liara expresses desperately, failing to even find the words.

“There we go!” Shepard laughs as they come out the other side, letting them continue after Vasir.

“You’re enjoying this.” Liara realizes, looking from the windshield over to the commander.

They keep weaving through the buildings, just barely avoiding a torrent of cars and another truck as they finally start managing to catch up.

Vasir, seeing them start to travel beside her shuttle rather than behind it, gets the clever idea to try ramming them. This almost works, causing their shuttle to veer of course for a moment before Shepard corrects. What works for her far less is how they retaliate. Several more shots of gunk are cast from Ben, coating her windows. Then Shepard slams into her back, causing Garrus and Liara to lean away from their side of the car slightly.

After one hit, and without the ability to see, Vasir is thrown off course. Directly into another car moving the opposite direction as them.

“Crap!” Ben reacts, immediately letting go of Shepard’s transport as he dives for the one Vasir hit.

Vasir’s shuttle clearly begins to slow after the collision. It sails down, just barely kept from completely falling to the ground some miles below by hitting the balcony of an adjacent building. It grinds to a stop, sparking and burning from the section torn off in the crash.

Shepard gets them out of the car stream, bringing the shuttle around to land on the platform. Below they can see that Vasir apparently survived, as from the passenger side she pulls herself out. She’s injured though, clearly, as she’s limping when she makes her way into the building itself.

They bring the shuttle down. As soon as its doors are opened they step out. Shepard just as quickly as the rest of the group, but because he’s motivated to catch Vasir, not because he’s afraid of dying in a flying taxi. That is clearly not one of his concerns. Based on her initial shaky step out, it is one of Liara’s.

She adjusts quickly though, looking up to see the crash across the lot from them.

“There’s Vasir’s car. Come on, she can’t have gotten far.” She says, begins the first to draw her gun after Shepard.

“Ben, what’s your status?” Shepard asks.

“The salarian’s okay. Heading back now. Give me a few minutes, these buildings are tall.” Ben responds.

Shepard returns his hand from the side of his helmet to his pistol, steadying it.

They make their way across to the car in just a moment, finding it empty, as they knew it would be. They do find a damaged LOKI mech though.

As well as “A blood trail.” Helpfully pointed out by Liara. “Vasir got hurt in the crash.”

“That should slow her down.” Shepard speaks, rounding the corner to start heading along the outer walkway of the building, where the trail leads.

They speed up slightly as they hear people screaming up ahead. An automatic door opens to let them step into what almost appears to be a luxury apartment. One that’s floor is covered in several bodies. Mostly more mechs, but a few are asari.

What sticks out to Shepard slightly more is the media playing on one of the holographic screens.

“…Where did we land, exactly?” He limits his question to.

“Azure. A luxury resort with an… exotic edge. “Azure” is slang for a part of the asari body in some areas on Illium.” Liara explains.

“Where?” He questions, making his way across the floor to the next hatch leading out of the room they’re in.

“Mainly the lower reaches, near the bottom.” She answers, following him.

“I meant, “Where on the asari body?””

“So did I.” Liara clarifies.

That actually gets a laugh out of Tali before the door opens, but what’s on the other side quickly forces her to focus back on what they’re doing. The trail of blue blood leads all the way across the to the asari they’ve been following, still limping along into a crowd of people clearly just enjoying themselves.

Liara is the first to make her way out after the asari, pushing past Shepard in the process.

“Vasir! It’s over!” Laira announces, keeping her gun aimed on the woman.

The other three aim their weapons as well, coming to a stop beside Liara, leaving about 15 meters between them and Vasir. It also leaves quite a few people seemingly unaware to the situation between them.

She slows to a stop, still turned away from them, and still clutching her gut. Slowly, she turns around, looking back at them.

“Hey! Hey, you.” She calls out to one of the bystanders, a human woman. “Come here.” She speaks, and with a flash of blue Vasir is standing just behind her. She’s either unaffected by, or is ignoring, her wound as she seems to have no problem using one arm to hold the woman by her neck, whist using the other to hold a pistol against the side of her head. “What’s your name?” Vasir asks calmly.

This makes the surrounding crowd pretty aware of what exactly is happening, demonstrated with a panicked uproar of screams as they start running away.

“M-Mariana.” The human woman answers cautiously, and fearfully.

“Mariana, you want to live, don’t you? Tell those people that you want to live.” Vasir speaks.

There’s a moment of silence as the woman looks to the group.

“Please…” She eventually speaks, still terrified.

“We’ll get you out of here safely, Mariana.” Shepard assures.

“Well, that’s good to hear.” Vasir sneers. “All you had to do was walk away. Now it gets ugly.” She presses the barrel of her pistol more firmly into the woman’s head.

“Please. I have a son.” The woman speaks, her eyes glassing over.

“A son? I hope he gets to see you again. I’ve heard losing a parent is just horrific for children. Scars them for life.” The asari taunts.

“I’m going to end you, Vasir.” Liara promises.

“It’s okay, Liara. We’ll handle it. The usual way.” Shepard states, keeping his gun steady.

“You want Mariana’s little boy to grow up without a mommy, Shepard? Thermal clips on the ground, now. Power cells, too.” She orders.

Shepard hesitates. His aim remains fixed on Vasir, as does everyone else’s following his lead, but he doesn’t immediately make a choice.

After a second, he doesn’t have to. His eyes drift to the balcony behind Vasir for a moment.

“Okay.” He nods, reaching to the base of his pistol to unload the thermal clip from it.

Tali and Garrus follow his lead, and Liara eventually does the same with some hesitance.

The moment Vasir’s gun is anywhere other than pointed directly at her hostage it’s knocked out of her hand. The force of the weapon being torn from her grasp is enough to yank her forwards, causing her to unintentionally toss the human woman to the ground.

Shepard’s group quickly moves to reload their guns, whist Vasir scans over the ground in an attempt to figure out what just happened. In a moment her eyes come to land on where her weapon fell, and she has to wrap her mind around what he’s looking at. The gun seems to be coated in some sort of thick green semisolid that has adhered it to the ground.

She swings her body around to look across the balcony behind her and finds the same insect creature that had chased after her earlier.

“Last chance to surrender before things get messy.” Ben warns.

Something finally seems to register with her in glaring across to him. Her eyes widen slightly, and she staggers back. Again her wound seems to be affecting her, and she places a hand to the gash across hee gut.

“Ben Tennyson.” She speaks.

“You know my name!” Ben sounds about as surprised by this information as he is glad.

“You’re not supposed to be real.” She tells him.

Before Ben can respond with another snarky quip the sound of gunshots cuts him off. Thankfully, it’s Liara that’s firing them. A shot pierces each of Vasir’s knees, forcing her to the ground with a pained expression.

“Urgh. Damn it! Damn it.” Vasir groans as Liara walks over, leaning down just enough to pull a small circular device off of her suit.

There’s a flash of green, and the tapping reverts to soft footsteps as Ben walks over. He circles around the bleeding alien, not getting within arms reach as he gets to Shepard and the rest.

“Sekat’s personal datapad. This has what we need to find the Shadow Broker.” Liara speaks, summoning her omni-tool to scan the device in her hand.

“You’re dead.” Vasir speaks, rolling over onto her back with her hand still clutching the wound across her torso.

The group all turn to focus on her, except Liara, who is already making her way back to the lot where they parked the shuttle.

“The Shadow Broker has been in power for decades. He’s stronger than anything you’ve ever faced!” She states.

“Is that why you sold out the Council to work for him?” Shepard questions, his helmet locked on her.

“You think I betrayed the Council? Like Saren? Go to hell! The Broker’s given me damn good intel over the years. Intel that saved lives and kept the Citadel safe. So if the Broker needs a few people to disappear, I’ll pay that price without hesitation!” She justifies.

“You blew up a building. Full of innocent people.” Ben shouts, reacting before Shepard gets the chance.

“That’s what Spectres do. We get our hands dirty so the Council doesn’t have to. The Councilors might complain about our methods to soothe their consciences, but they never look too closely.” She winces, surpassing a cough for a moment before a splatter of blood leaves her lips. “Besides, you’re with Cerberus. You have any idea what your terrorist friends have done?”

“I know who they are and what they’ve done. It doesn’t matter.” Shepard states, kneeling down to her level.

“I think it does. You want to judge me? Look in the mirror.” She props herself up on her elbows, just enough to look through Shepard’s visor into his eyes. “kidnapping kids for biotic death camps! Hell, your own unit on Akuze! And you’re with them. Don’t you dare judge me!” She winces again, gritting her teeth in pain as she leans back to the ground. “Don’t you…” Her eyes close, and the only sound from her is reduces to unsteady shallow breaths.

Shepard, still crouched down over her, moves his gun to aim at her torso. Ben’s eyes go wide as he tries to step forwards to stop him, but he isn’t fast enough. A single gunshot rings out, and her shallow breaths go silent.

Shepard lingers only for a moment more before rising back to his feet, turning around to make his way after Liara.

The group follows him, but there’s a pretty clear unease between them. At least between Ben and Garrus, who spare a glance to one another to confirm what the other is thinking. They don’t speak up though, they just follow their commander back into the hotels.

“Eliminate T’Soni and retrieve the data. Civilian casualties not a concern.” They hear as they step through. Seemingly a recording, coming from Liara’s omni-tool. The door closes behind the group once they’re inside.

“Vasir’s dead.” Shepard states casually, approaching Liara.

“I’m putting the data through to the Normandy’s computers. We can be at the Shadow Broker’s base in a few hours.” Liara starts walking again, prompting Shepard to walk after her. “He’ll know about Vasir before long. If he decides to kill Feron…”

“We’ll get Feron out of there alive, Liara.” Shepard inturrupts, extending a hand to her shoulder. She pauses in place, still turned away from him. “I promise.”

The others keep walking. Ben almost pauses, but Garrus taps his back to get him to continue along.

“I know.” She pulls away from him, taking a few more steps before turning around. “You’re here to help. Just like always.”

“That’s not a good thing?” Shepard questions.

Liara pauses. Her brow wrinkles and her lips purse as she thinks, then change to a soft smile as she speaks. “When we first met on Therum, you saved me from the geth. You fought a krogan battlemaster while I cowered. Now you’re doing it again. And I’m still leaning on you for help.”

“That’s what friends do, Liara.” He’s quick to point out.

She just looks at him for a moment before turning around to start walking again, prompting Shepard to pace after her and out onto the walkway leading around the building.

“I can get us there, based on Sekat’s data. The Normandy’s stealth drive will keep them from detecting us. The Shadow Broker’s agents are still shooting their way through Illium. With luck, they won’t notice we’ve left until it’s too late.” Liara plans.

“That’s a little cold.” Shepard comments, coming to stop. Liara does the same as he speaks, turning back to look at him. “They killed innocent people.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Do I?” He asks, stepping forwards to close the gap between them. “When I fell out of the window back at the trade center, you went after Vasir without a backward look.” He reminds.

“A little fall wasn’t going to kill you.” She turns away from him, but doesn’t continue back towards the shuttle. She simply steps over to the railing and rests her hands against it, looking out over the city. “I had to stay on Vasir. I had to stay rational, make the call. Like I did when Sekat was killed for having this data.”

Shepard steps over to the space beside her. “That’s Vasir’s fault, not yours.” He states.

“Sekay had no idea what the stakes were. I put him in harm’s way to get the data I needed. I got him killed. And I’d do it again.” She leans back from the rail, again seeming to reject her and Shepard lingering in a space for even a moment. “But from here on out, things will be simple. Get in, get Feron, get out.” She turns to continue alone, and Shepard is again forced to pace after her. “And kill anyone who tries to stop us.” She adds.

“That’s it?” Shepard asks.

“That’s it.”

Shepard reaches forwards, stopping her again with a gentle touch to the side of her arm. “Will you just stop for a second?” She does, quickly turning back to look at him again. “We’ll be jumping several light years. There’s time to talk.” He tells her.

“About what?” She asks, indifferent.

“About us!” Shepard says, tossing an arm up as if to accentuate the point.

Liara eliminates the space between them, stopping just before him. “Shepard, listen, I’m… glad you’re here…”

“But you’re worried there might be terminals you need me to hack?” He asks rhetorically, clearly failing to suppress some frustration.

For the first time so far, her impassive expression actually falter to something of guilt. “That’s not fair. You were dead!” She defends.

“I came back!”

“It’s not that easy! You can’t just come back and have two years of mourning suddenly vanish!” She cuts herself off with a sharp sigh, raising a hand to press against her brow as he eyes close. After a moment her hand falls, and she opens her eyes again, focusing on the man across from her. “I’m sorry, Shepard, I can’t get into this.” Her eyes fail to meet his for a moment, then return to the visor of his helmet as she composes herself again. “For now, let’s just focus on getting Feron back.”

“Fine.” Shepard states, turning to step away first for once.

Liara lets out an uneasy breath, then turns to follow him.

It doesn’t take them much longer to reach the shuttle they landed in, where they find the others already waiting.

“Everything alright?” Garrus asks as the two approach.

“Fine.” Shepard tells him.

Liara and Shepard take the front again, leaving Ben to fit himself between Garrus and Tali in the back. Thankfully Liara has the sense to take the drivers side this time, meaning there’s very little commotion in getting back to the Normandy.

The Normandy comes out of FTL with a subtle tremor through the hull. Barely something you’d notice if you weren’t paying attention, but Liara is. Knowing they’ve arrived, it’s only a few minutes before the whole group is in the Kodiak, waiting for departure.

Shepard brings Garrus and Tali, and for once he’s actually asked Ben to come along, rather than just not saying anything then the teen states he’ll be coming.

Ben has already started scrolling through the Omnitrix when the Shuttle departs, and they start descending to the planet below. To a great rolling storm that rests in the sliver of twilight and dawn around the world’s edges, and within it a massive ship cruising along through the tumultuous clouds.

“Hagalaz. The oceans boil during the day, then snap-freeze ten minutes after sundown.” Liara informs within the shuttle.

As is everyone else, Shepard looks out the window of the Kodiak to the ship they’re approaching.

“The Shadow Broker lives in this?” He questions.

“His ship follows the sunset. Completely undetectable in the storm, unless you know where to look.”

“How do we get in?” Shepard asks, looking from the window to Liara.

“The shuttle bay is locked down. We’ll need to land on the ship and hunt for a hatch.” She plans.

Shepard leans up from the seat he’s in, stepping over to the window and placing a hand around one of the grips on the ceiling. Liara does the same.

“But we can’t stay outside for long. There’s a constant lightning storm where the hot and cold air meet.” The asari adds.

Ben rolls his eyes, smirking while he stands up.

“You want me to make a hatch or deal with the lightning?” Ben asks, causing the two to turn back to him.

There’s a moment of pause where they both expect the other to answer. Eventually Shepard speaks a simple “Liara?” to get them on the same page.

“What- me? I hadn’t considered that Ben would be able to do either of those. I don’t have enough information.” She says.

Ben shrugs. “Let’s see what the Omnitrix thinks.” He says, pulling his hand back to slam down the core.

He immediately shortens to a little under half his true height, but widens slightly as he does. He seems to lose his nose and ears entirely, but his eyes and mouth both fill the space. Enlarging and moving up and down his face, respectively. His whole body becomes two shades of green, and several nubs emerge from the back of his head. The Omnitrix reappears on his stomach, which itself comes to take up about a third of his whole body.

“Guess I’m making a way in.” Ben says, looking down at himself.

“This one have any powers?” Garrus asks.

“Upchuck. I can eat anything, and spit it back out as energy projectiles.” Ben summarizes.

“Are all your aliens so…” Tali tries to find a nice word.

“Gross? Yeah, no. Just a few of them.” Ben answers.

They Kodiak seems to come to a relative stop, drifting just above the top of the ship as the doors open. Wasting no time, the group all get to their feet and move to the door, hopping out one by one. They take a second to catch their balance while the shuttle closes and drifts away from the ship.

Once they’ve all adjusted, they look to Ben. Unpleasantly they find that from his open mouth a number of long tongue-like structures are emerging to latch onto the ship under him.

“That’s just not right.” Garrus thinks aloud, watching as the alien’s anatomy digs into the ship slightly, tearing up a large sheet of metal with it that’s then folded to fit into his mouth.

He does this several more times, folding the metal and insulant and taking them into his “stretchy” mouth. In just a few minutes he’s consumed far more mass than his entire body amounts to, and the only evidence of this having any effect on him is a source of light gradually getting brighter in his lower gut. Once there’s actually a hold leading all the way down into a hallway, he turns around to face the sky.

The group takes the que to step back from his stubby arms, forcing them to just watch as he regurgitates the whole of what he just tore from the ship in the form of a volatile green ball that’s spat out into the storm.

They pause for a moment to make sure there isn’t more, then step back over as Ben turns back into a human. Ben looks around at the four of them, then to the hole in the ship.

“Well, if you’re all just going to stand there.” He comments, hopping forwards into the breach.

Garrus looks to the others before following, checking their reactions.

“Maybe next time we should just go with Liara’s plan.” Garrus posits.

Shepard nods, then hops down into the ship.

The interior of the vessel is dim. It’s lit well enough to see the walkway clearly, but the lighting is not evenly dispersed over the dark materials of the space. The whole thing has an unsettled ambiance about it. Creaky with the weight of itself, or the heat diffusion through the metals. An ever-present chatter of unintelligible words quietly being picked up by their coms. A condensation on a number of the walls, like the cooling system isn’t quite working correctly.

Brushing off these details, they start moving through the halls, making a map as they go, and referring to what little Liara has on the layout of the structure to guide them. It would be pointless to go over all the groups of mercenaries the Shadow Broker starts sending their way.

Sufficed to say that it’s a lot, and that they don’t have any trouble taking them down. Liara is fairly proficient with biotics, Ben learns. Shepard is nearly as unstoppable as Ben, Garrus is as good a shot as ever, and Tali seems pretty comfortable shredding through people with her shotgun. She also, apparently, has a drone. A holographic thing that can shoot at people. Ben didn’t know about it, but feels like he should have, as Tali has both given it a name, and frequently encourages it to “go for the optics.”

To say again, they don’t have any trouble. Even after the Omntrix starts beeping at Ben more than it transforms him, they still don’t really have any difficulty moving forwards.

Eventually they come to a stop with Liara, who takes a moment to more adamantly flick through her omni-tool. She switches back and forth between two tabs a few times before simply moving to have both of them open at once. One, a loading bar of some kind, and the other a map, that slowly fills in more as the bar progresses.

“I’ve downloaded the ship’s layout.” She tells them once it finishes, looking up at the surrounding junctions. She heads towards one and the rest follow her. “We’re headed toward the prison block… and Feron.”

“Hey, just so we’re all on the same page, the plan is just to get Feron and leave?” Ben asks.

“I suppose you have another idea?” Shepard questions.

“This guy’s, like, a big deal? Right? The guys working for him are the ones that tried to kill Tali back when you guys met?”

“Technically they betrayed him and were working for Saren.” Garrus corrects.

Ben rolls his eyes. “Yeah, but they were working for him. Like, before that. Based on the number of mercs he’s been sending at us, like half of Terminus has some connections to this guy. And I’m not sure if I heard you right through the door, but it sounded like he tried selling Shepard to the Collectors before you and Feron stopped him.”

“What are you getting at?” Shepard questions.

“We’re closer than, like, anybody has every gotten to taking this guy down, a guy that’s willing to work for the collectors and has connections with basically everyone, and we’re just going to leave? Why don’t we, oh, I don’t know, take him down?” Ben suggests.

Everyone takes a moment to think about Ben’s idea as they keep moving. Eventually they just have to stop thinking and deal with another group of mercenaries.

“Kid has a point. Not sure I feel comfortable leaving this guy alive when it’d be so easy to end this.” Garrus speaks as the last of them fall.

“Could we please worry about finding Feron first?” Liara redirects them.

They agree and press on. It’s not long before they reach the cellblock.

It’s an unpleasant experience entering the space. Immediately the subtle chattering of stray signals hitting their radios is completely drowned out by the sound of screams, sobbing, and metal shifting.

“This is going to be a mess to sort out.” Ben notes, sparing controlled glances to each of the cells they pass by. “Usually I could just call in the plumbers to deal with something like this, but… Does the council deal with stuff like this? Or the Alliance? I’d be a pain to get everyone out of here with the Kodiak.”

“We could just let it crash.” Shepard… jokes? It’s hard to tell what that was, really. Like a thought slipped out that he ordinarily would have kept to himself.

This time Tali catches the glance between Ben and Garrus. They seem to notice, and she can only really nod to acknowledge what they seem to be thinking.

“Shepard, you can’t be serious.” Liara seems almost astonished by the very idea having come from the commander.

“No, but it is an option.” He speaks, backtracking.

“Uhh, no. It isn’t.” Ben corrects.

“It would take care of the mercs.” Garrus passively tries to validate the idea.

“It would also “take care of” all the people like Feron that he has here.” Liara counters.

“I didn’t say I was on board, just looking at both sides.” He defends.

They continue until Liara slows, taking a right to read into one of the rooms. There’s a locked door separating them from the cell itself, which they can see through a window in the room. It doesn’t take long for them to bypass it, letting them all step through.

Liara steps in first, and far more quickly than the rest, but is also the first to slow to a stop. He eyes are locked on the being held to a mechanical bed sort of structure on the other side of a divider. One that an uncomfortably diverse array of mechanisms and tools loom above.

The drell seems to focus on them as Shepard moves through the outer room surrounding his chamber.

“Feron...” Leaves Liara’s lips after a moment, desperation in both her fear and her relief.

“Liara?” He questions, just loud enough for the group to hear.

“Hold on – we’re getting you out of here!” She calls out, immediately starting to run. She quickly overtakes Shepard, only stopping once she reaches a console building into the wall. She reaches for the holographic display to start trying to deactivate the restraints.

“No!” The drell desperately calls out, but he’s not fast enough to stop her before the room blares with a harsh tone. Immediately the group have to shield their eyes from the lighting the sparks over him, causing him enough pain to scream before it fades again.

“What the hell is the Broker trying to do to you?” Shepard questions, stopping with the others beside Liara.

“The equipment is sensitive to tampering. This chair plugs into to Broker’s info network. You have to shut off the power. Pull me out now, and my brain cooks.” Feron leans his head up to face them as he explains.

“Do you know where we can cut the power?” Liara flicks up her omni-tool, starting to search through the design of the ship.

“Uhm, hello? Guys, come on.” Ben laughs, putting two fingers to the Omnitrix.

“Ben, you can’t just tear him out” Liara tries to warn but can’t say the whole thing before the droning beeping curs her off.

“Oh come on, not funny.” Ben speaks, hitting it again to more beeping. “We get Feron out, then we get a sample. Okay? Feron first.” Ben shouts at the watch, hitting it again.

He’s more persistent than the watch, clearly, as with a flash it lets him transform. His skin is turned grey, his height is made the equivalent in inches, and his eyes bulge out as the dial places itself on his back. Graymatter.

Not what the group was expecting.

“Hmm. I was going for Feedback, but this works.” He comments, walking over to the console Liara is standing in front of.

So it’s not what Ben was expecting either. Evidently the watch had more of a mind than Ben does, as Ben is able to quickly climb up to the holographic display to start navigating its functions.

“Why would you even hook your prisoners up to an info network, unless… Using them as additional computational space maybe. That, or bad planning.” Ben mutters to himself as he switches between tabs.

“Ben, what are you doing?” Shepard asks, looking down at his tiny body running back and forth across the keyboard to access all the keys.

“I’m trying to reroute the data stream through the other channels. I just have to make sure flowrate is compensated for, and…”

There’s another harsh buzz, but this time it’s followed by all the lights in the room shutting off for a moment. Once they’re on again Feron is gone from the chair.

Ben turns around and hops off the console, expanding back into a human before he hits the ground.

“See? What did I tell you.” Ben congratulates himself.

Liara pushes past him to make her way to the hatch leading out of the cell as it opens. From the other side Feron carefully steps out, leaning on Liara for a second to catch his balance before standing on his own. His attention holds to her for a moment before he cautiously looks over to the rest of the group. To Ben.

“Your friend,” He starts.

“Ben Tennyson. Alliance something or other, alien superhero, and the guy that’s about to take down the Shadow Broker.” Ben boasts, marching his way over to the exit past them.

Feron just stares at him for a moment before looking back to Liara. She nods to confirm what he said, and the drell weakly laughs.

“It won’t be easy. You’ll have to go to central operations.” Feron informs, turning to follow him as the rest of the group catches up.

“Easy or not, it wouldn’t be as hard as stopping Ben.” Shepard states, following Ben out of the room. “Liara, get Feron back to the shuttle.” He starts planning.

“Shepard, I’m not leaving.” Liara firmly denies.

“Fine. Garrus, get him out of here.” Shepard quickly accepts.

“Right.” The turian agree, taking Liara’s position at his side as they head back into the main corridor leading through the cellblock.

“Central operations is down the hall. You know the Shadow Broker’s waiting for you, right?” Feron checks.

“Dude, I so don’t care.” Ben confidently claims, already heading in the direction he assumes central operations is in.

They take a right into the hall beyond the door at the far end of the room. Down the hall they rise up  a staircase, pass through another hatch, and move down another hall. The last hatch is already unlocked, and seemingly leaves no other places to go.

Ben stops just before reaching it, so the others do as well, turning to him as he tries to pull up the watch’s dial.

That’s new. The Omnitrix doesn’t even load the holographic dial. It just beeps at him. Ben just tries again, but again it beeps at him.

He doesn’t even get annoyed or yell at it, he just stares at it. Then, without bothering to continue struggling with it, steps forward to open the hatch.

Shepard, Liara, and Tali ready their weapons as they follow him through. Tali steps ahead to the right, and Liara does the same to the left. The space is expansive. The ceiling is at least 15 meters up. There are a number of pillars around the room, but none seem to reach the ceiling. The ceiling itself has some sort of glowing energy container at the top, separated from the room with several thick sheets of glass. At the other end of the floor from them is a desk surrounded with a number of holograms. Shepard is the first to aim his weapon down the room at the figure sitting at it.

An alien. One Ben doesn’t even recognize from his research. Big, red, and featuring an excessive number of both teeth and eyes. Seeing him, Ben pulls up the Omnitrix to scan it.

He leans forwards against the desk he sits at, looking at each member of the group one at a time.

“Well, you have what you came for.” His voice rumbles through the space, low and confident. “Coming here, and freeing him, was reckless. Even for you, Commander.”

“Not reckless, just determined. Ask your asari Spectre about that.” Shepard

“Vasir was expendable. All her death cost me was time.” He makes sure they know.

“Expendable like Feron?” Liara questions.

With a chime, the Omnitrix completes its scan, letting the dial appear when Ben puts his fingers to it.

The Broker ignores Ben though, instead focusing on Liara.

“Dr. T’Soni. Your interference caused all this. Feron betrayed me when he handed you Shepard’s body. The drell was simply paying the price.” He states.

“Someone was bound to come after you for working with the Collectors.” Shepard speaks.

His attention moves back to the center of the group, the commander. “It was a mutually beneficial partnership. Your arrival is convenient. The Collectors’ offer still stands.”

“Stand down now and there may be some of you left to identify when we walk out of here.” Shepard threatens.

“You won’t be walking out at all.” The Broker responds, still just as collected as when he first spoke.

“You’re quite confident for someone with nowhere left to hide.” Liara points out.

He spares a glance to Liara, then scans over the rest of the group. Still he remains calmly placed at the desk. “You travel with fascinating companions, doctor.”

“Yeah, I’ve been getting that a lot lately.” Ben chimes in.

Still, the Broker seems to intentionally ignore him. His many eyes instead move to Tali, who now aims a gun at him just as Shepard does.

“I’m surprise you brought the quarian, T’Soni.” He starts.

Tali glances over to Shepard and Liara, gauging their reactions, then looks back to the Shadow Broker as she cocks the pistol in her hands.

“Her supposed leadership on Haestrom would have gotten most of her team killed.” His attention finally moves to Ben. All of his eyes land on the teen, staring him down as he continues to scroll through the Omnitrix. “Had it not been for him.”

“I guess you’re a fan of my work. Once we’re done here, I’d be happy to give you my autograph.” Ben jokes, still scrolling.

“Once we’re done here, I will be taking the time to dissect you. And discover how exactly you work.” The Broker corrects.

“You’re not putting a hand on anyone!” Liara firmly denies.

His attention moves to Liara. “It’s pointless to challenge me, asari. I know your every secret, while you fumble in the dark.”

“Is that right?” She questions. “You’re a yahg, a pre-spaceflight species quarantined to their homeworld for massacring the Council’s first contact teams. This base is older than your planet’s discovery, which means you probably killed the original Shadow Broker sixty years ago, then took over. I’m guessing you were taken from your world by a trophy hunter who wanted a slave… or a pet. How am I doing?”

Finally, he reacts. His composure is broker with his hands parting to rest themselves against the sides of the desk. He rises to his feet, keeping his eyes locked on the group. The group, in turn, keep their eyes locked on him as he rises. And keeps rising. Liara and Tali both cautiously step back to the distance Shepard stands at as the alien’s full height is revealed. Some 10 or so feet, by far looming over the rest of them.

The only one that seems unphased is Ben, who keep scrolling through the watch until reaching the one he wants.

“Finally, time for a little Humongousaur action.” Ben says, and finally he slams his hand down onto the core. This happens to coincide with the Shadow Broker slamming his fists down into the desk, breaking it in two. The broker grabs the edge of one of the halves and tosses it forwards at the group.

The only thing that stops the massive chunk of metal from hitting the group is the body that forms between them and it. The chunk of desk is stopped with a deafening metal clang, which is quickly followed by several quick heavy steps back to regain balance.

Their attentions all fall to Ben, who stands brushing off the debris left sticking to him. His body appear mechanical for the most part. Large brass-like sections stretch over all parts of his body except his chest, which is open to reveal green gear-like mechanisms surrounding the Omnitrix node. He then pulls his hand back slightly, looking at it.

“Clockwork?” He questions in a notably German accent.

Before he can do much else another resounding bang fills the air, caused by the Shadow Broker’s fist slamming into him. Ben’s thrown back, slamming into Tali along the way. Her kinetic barrier barely even slows him before it’s broken, leaving both of them to tumble to a stop a way back from the yahg.

The Shadow Broker’s attention moves to Shepard as the former pulls a gun from his belt.

The commander and Liara both move for cover as the alien opens fire, only letting their barriers take a few shots before they’re out of his ling of sight.

“Ugh, sorry.” Ben groans, pulling himself up. He looks to his side to find her carefully doing the same. “You okay?” He asks.

“I’m okay.” She responds, and thankfully seems to be right. Though it does take her a second to make sure her suit fared as well as she did.

Ben rises to his feet, his mechanical head remaining focused on the Broker.

As the yahg starts firing Ben steps in front of Tali to keep the bullet from reaching her until she can get herself to cover.

“Okay pal, that was your last chance.” Ben states, starting to approach him through the torrent of bullets bouncing off his skin.

Eventually the Shadow Broker realizes that bullets aren’t really doing the job, and has the bright idea to instead throw the gun at Ben.

Ben catches it. With a small amount of pressure, he then manages to crush the section he holds before tossing it aside.

“You’re meddling with a balance you don’t understand.” The Broker tells him, now clenching his fists as he starts approaching Ben in turn.

“I’ve heard that before.” Ben responds, stopping in place and quickly taking a step back to avoid the next swing the Broker throws his way. He’s not nearly fast enough to dodge the next one after that though, which again slams him back against the ground.

The Shadow Broker steps over him. With one hand he grips Ben’s plating to hold him against the ground. With the other he reels back for a strike aimed at the exposed gearwork around his chest.

“Time. Out.” Ben states flatly, and before his fist can reach Ben a wash of green light expands out from the mechanical alien.

His fist slows, as does the rest of him. His motions continue to slow as he approaches Ben until his whole body is essentially motionless. At this point, Ben reaches up to his fist and pushes him back, letting Ben stand up from under him as the green light starts fading from the room.

Looking to the other people in the room he finds Shepard, Liara, and Tali, all to be moving at a normal speed still, whilst the yahg remains slowed.

“What did you do to him?” Tali is the first to question, stepping around to look at his front.

“I slowed him down. Enough for him to seem completely frozen to us.” Ben explains, transforming back into a human.

“For how long?” Liara steps out of Cover with Shepard, looking up at the yahg without lowering her gun.

“Just a couple of minutes.” Ben tells them, walking around to walk over to the remaining half of the desk.

“For us, or for him?” Shepard questions.

Ben pauses, then looks back to the group and the Shadow Broker. The teen cringes with a sharp breath.

“Ohhh… Yeah, he’s gonna be like that for a while. Like, a couple years at least. Maybe decades.” Ben realizes.

They all turn to him, staring at him as they process this. Liara is the first to actually start moving. At first it seems like she’s approaching Ben, but it soon becomes clear that she’s heading for the board of holographic screens just past him.

With Liara moving to take care of that, Shepard steps around the Broker to check on Tali, making sure she’s alright after getting hit by Clockwork. She’s still fine.

Once at the spread of screens, Liara starts looking them over.

There are a lot of them, most monitoring something entirely unrelated to the last. Recordings, audio logs, private e-mails, financial documentation. All from different corners of the galaxy, all on different people, and all with attached and neatly sorted connections to dozens of other related pieces of information. Tags on who knows what, information on who will need to know what, and over a dozen active lines all connected to the station from the Shadow Broker’s agents.

Then they start reporting in. The group look over to the console as the first of them speaks, asking for an update on the status of the intruders. Then another, asking the same. Then more after that. Each calmly requesting an update on the intruders, Shepard’s group, which they seem to have lost track of. Calm, but numerous. Dozens upon dozens of mercs requesting information, asking for orders, reporting to one another about possible sightings.

And realizing that Feron and Garrus need time to get out, Liara reaches forwards. She pulls down a screen, and expands it to manage some settings, then she speaks.

“This is the Shadow Broker. The situation is under control. Resume standard procedures. I want a status report on all operations within the next solar day. Shadow Broker out.”

There’s a silence that falls over the room once she’s done. Both from the dozens of lines now going quiet, but also from the group.

That is, until from their coms Garrus speaks. “Commander, you alright? I’m almost at the pickup, I can get reinforcements if you need-”

“The situation is under control.” Shepard quickly informs them.

“Garrus, bring Feron back to central operations. I’ll make sure the path is clear for you.” Liara says, bringing down another screen to manage the stationing of the guards.

“Wait, wait, wait. Hang on, did- what just happened?” Ben has the sense to question, turning around to look over to Liara.

Liara pauses for a moment before turning around to face both him and Shepard and Tali reaching his side.

“Well, everyone who knows the Shadow Broker’s true identity is dead, so…” Liara speaks.

“You’re going to replace him?” Tali asks.

Liara carefully nods.

“Is taking over as the Shadow Broker really a good idea?” Shepard questions, stepping closer to her than Ben is.

“It’s either that or lose everything: his contacts, his trading sources. Those could really help us. More than just getting rid of him would. With the Shadow Broker’s information network, I can give you…” She turns around again, stepping over to the array of screens to rest herself against the edge of the console. “I can…” There’s a heavy remorse in her voice, a clear sadness and guilt about what she says. One that Tali picks up on before Ben.

“Come on, let’s go wait for Garrus.” Tali says, tapping on Ben’s shoulder to get him to follow her. He takes the hint and walks with her to the exit of the room, where they step just beyond the hatch.

With them gone Liara can hardly contain herself, struggling for a moment before quietly being reduced to sobs. Shepard steps over, placing a hand to the side of her arm.

He just waits for a moment, letting her cry until she can compose herself again, at which point she slowly turns around to face him, wiping over eyes with the back of her gloved hand.

“It’s over. It’s finally… for two years…” She breaths, just staring off into the distance as Shepard steps forwards to hug her.

She accepts the gesture, embracing him in turn for a moment until he steps back again. Then she stares into the visor of his helmet, into his eyes, once his head is in front of hers again.

“It’s been two years. I don’t… we’re different people. You have your mission, and…” She lets herself breathe, taking a second to process. “For now, we need to figure out our options.” She states, turning away from him and stepping to the side to start looking over the dozens of screens again.

Shepard is left to linger for a moment, staring at the space she leaves. His helmet lowers, then returns to the stock upright position as he steps back, looking over the whole console.

“No safeguards or user restrictions. It’s like he never anticipated anyone but himself being here.” She looks back at him over her shoulder. “And it’s all ours.” She says with a smile.

Shepard pauses before responding, like there’s something he wants to ask but is debating if he should. Something that furrows his brow and causes him to hesitate.

He wants to ask her to come with him.

“What kind of information are we talking about?” He asks instead.

Liara looks back to the screens, pulling a few down to start scrolling through them. “I’m not sure. I’ll need to go through his files. Come back later, and I’ll try to have something useful for you. All I wanted was to rescue Feron. But…” She steps back, swinging around to face him again with an energy that’s been absent since Shepard reunited with her. “Is it wrong that part of me wants this?” She pauses, but Shepard doesn’t respond. “With the Shadow Broker’s network, I can help you. Maybe I can turn this operation into something better.” She proposes, genuinely excited by the prospect.

“Don’t be a stranger this time.” Shepard reminds.

“Come by when you have a chance. The doors are always open.” Liara smiles.

He hesitates, like he wants to add something, but he doesn’t. He just turns around and starts walking across the room, around the yahg, and to the door.

“Thank you, Shepard. For everything.” She speaks as he leaves. Too quietly for him to hear, but still aloud. Just to the space, or maybe to herself.

Beyond the door Shepard doesn’t find his crew, but he does find Feron. The drell tells him that they returned to the Normandy to wait for him, and so Shepard simply makes his way out of the base on his own. With Liara in charge they’re able bring the shuttle down to the docking bay with practically no concerns, meaning that after just a few minutes of waiting it returns to pick him up.

The doors of the Kodiak open, and the commander slowly makes his way out onto deck 5. His demeanor is as stoic as ever, a calm and steady pace down to the elevator. His expression might reveal a fault with this reserved appearance, but the helmet still resting over his head hides that.

Thankfully, this wasn’t a Cerberus mission, so he doesn’t actually have to report. He still will eventually, as it’s implicitly expected from the Illusive Man, but he doesn’t need to do it immediately. He instead heads into the elevator, tapping deck 4 to check on the crew.

Stepping out of the elevator he doesn’t have to look very hard to find Garrus and Tali. They still stand in the hallway on opposite sides from one another, speaking.

They go silent as they hear the commander’s footsteps. They only take a second with repositioning themselves to let Shepard join the conversation.

“So, Liara’s the new Shadow Broker.” Garrus is the first to speak.

“She’s going to try to help us once she sorts through his data.” Shepard informs.

And with that they return to silence for another moment, awkwardly waiting for each other to start speaking again.

“Are you okay?” Is what eventually breaks the tension, spoken by Tali.

“I’m fine.” He quickly assures, trying to dismiss her concern.

“Are you and Liara…?” Garrus questions promptly after.

“Friends.” He tells them, staying quiet for a moment.

Garrus’s expression is always difficult to read for a human, but concern comes across clear enough with the limited movement of the plates where eyebrows would be. “Shepard, are you sure you’re”

“I’m fine.” Shepard insists, cutting Garrus off.

“Shepard, you’re clearly not.” The turian insists, restraining what seems like it would have come across as nearly a growl.

“Garrus, don’t - Tali, come on, back me up here.” Shepard requests.

“Shepard, you can’t just pretend like- Even if-” She sighs, trying to find the words. “Your friends are worried about you… I'm worried about you.” She admits.

Now outnumbered, he goes silent. It’s like for the first time he’s forced to acknowledge that there might be something he needs to address, and he just thinks for a while. He steps back from them and over to the window overlooking deck five, just staring down for a moment.

“Really, I’m fine.” He tries to assure compassionately, eventually turning around to face them.

“Commander, you’re holding it together remarkably well.” Garrus acknowledges.

“But you aren’t alright. I couldn’t see it back on Haestrom, but over the last week...” Tali continues the thought.

“You don’t have to talk with us, but something needs to change. You’re clearly overworked. Maybe” Garrus starts trying to find a solution.

“I can’t sleep, alright?” The commander snaps, again almost shouting as he cuts them off.

Garrus’s mandibles twitch as the idea hits the air, and immediately Tali hands find one another, worriedly wringing over themselves seemingly subconsciously.

It’s not often that Shepard raises his voice with anyone, least of all his own crew, and neither can remember if he’s ever been so genuinely frustrated outwardly about a personal matter. It leaves them both tense for a moment until adjusting.

“What?” Garrus eventually questions.

“I can’t sleep. Since-” He cuts himself off with a frustrated sigh, taking a second to compose himself. “Since Cerberus brought me back, I- since I woke up on the Lazarus station, I haven’t been able to sleep.” He again states, now calmly and factually.

“Have you talked to Chakwas about this?” Tali quickly asks.

“It’s not-” He sighs. “The cybernetics Cerberus put in me are compensating, but the problem is neurological. Nothing short of a medically induced coma could put me under.” He informs.

They both have a hard time even reacting. This isn’t what either of them were expecting to hear. Garrus was under the impression that Shepard was just under a lot of stress, and Tali had a similar idea.

“Insomnia? PTSD? What are we talking about here?” Garrus eventually comes to question.

“Every time I close my eyes, I see it.” Is stated.

Tali slowly moves over, placing herself just a step back from Shapard. Garrus doesn’t close the distance quite as much, but he takes a step over as well.

“See what?” Tali has to ask.

A moment of silence proceeds his responds. “I see the fire. I see the hull, torn open and exposed to the vacuum. The bodies, the planet looking down at us. I see it all again, every time.”

A horror finds them as they understand what he’s referring to. The Normandy. The SR1. The day it happened.

“And the moment I lie down I feel it. The pull of gravity, the atmosphere being ripped out of my suit. My lunges bursting and my blood boiling before I even start burning up in the descent.”

Tali can’t help but look away from his face as he speaks, but Garrus’s attention remains transfixed.

“Keelah…” Tali can’t help but speak.

“Every time I try to sleep, I’m there again. I’m dying again, and I know it’s all going to be over. Not just my life, but everything we did. All the work we put into making sure the Reapers couldn’t come back. I know that they are coming back, and that I won’t be there to stop them.” He pauses, looking over the two of them. Tali manages to pull her attention back to Shepard’s face.

“I know that you’ll all die. The whole galaxy, but you too.” He admits.

“Shepard, that’s…” Garrus doesn’t have the words.

“I can’t sleep.” Shepard states again. “My body won’t let me, because I’m there. Dying.” He goes quiet for another moment, staring past them to the metal wall now. “So I’m fine. I just need to focus on the mission. I’d rather think about the collectors than the possibility of me making this all up in my last few moments of consciousness.” He states.

“Shepard.” Tali sadly speaks, taking another step towards him. Enough of his vision is taken up by her visor to force him to look at her instead of the wall.

At this distance he can just about make out the finer details of her face below the visor. The shape of her nose, the curve of her cheeks, the crinkle of her brow. The remorse in her softly glowing eyes.

Neither of them have the words. Instead, Shepard merely has to accept Tali gently embracing him in a hug, and Garrus carefully placing a hand on his shoulder, gripping the plating of his armor. And there they linger, for a moment. The commander held by both of his friends, and his friends only able to worry about him.

Chapter Text

For the first time since Ben joined, they don’t actually have a clear goal. They’re functionally just waiting for the Illusive Man to find a way through the Omega 4 relay.

This means that for the first time in several weeks, Ben is getting some actual rest. Not his usual lounging or casual nature when looking around the ship, but some actual rest. He is out cold. He’s so asleep that someone might be worried if they didn’t know that EDI was always keeping an eye on him.

Shepard stands in the CIC. Not at the galaxy map, but beside it. At his personal console.

He lingers with a single email open. One he reads through more than once. Enough for the process of his eyes scrolling over the words to have very little function.

With a sigh, he taps the power button to shut down the console.

Shepard enters the mess hall, taking note of the other people in the space.

Thane and Zaeed sit at the table closer to the elevator with a few of the Cerberus crew. The other table is practically empty, with only two of the crew sitting at one end of it.

Shepard grabs a tray of the food Rupert has made and places himself at the other end of the second table. The fork he uses either stabs or scoops the food, then places it in his mouth, then her repeats. He doesn’t check his messages, or look around the deck, he just eats. At a nominal pace, staring down at the contents of the tray.

It’s only with the sound of the chair across from him creaking that he looks up.

“Doctor Chakwas.” Shepard greets her.

“Commander.” She says in turn.

And just like that he’s back to eating. He doesn’t ask her any questions for the sake of making small talk, he just keeps making his way through the meal one bite at a time.

“You’re certain I can’t convince you of a medication?” She eventually asks. She doesn’t even bother looking up from the data-pad she reads from, she just speaks as if they had already been talking.

“I’m fine. Really.” Shepard responds, just as fluidly falling into the context of it being a normal conversation.

“If you ever change your mind about that.”

“I’ll let you know, doc.” Sheppard assures, and in just a moment they return to silently sitting across from one another as they eat.

Eventually he’s able to finish, and he departs from the table just as quickly. The tray is returned to the kitchen, and the Commander makes his way off of the food court.

As he seems to do rather frequently, he makes his way over the ship checking on each of the crew.

He finds Kasumi reading, curled up on the couch on the left side of the lounge. Samara’s meditating, gazing out the window in her room. Miranda is working when he enters, though expresses appreciation for him checking on her.

On deck 2 he stops by Jacob, still working in the armory to ensure their equipment is functional, and Mordin, who’s rather dedicatedly started studying Ben’s alien’s DNA. Both don’t seem to need anything at the moment. Joker is happy to chat for a bit, but too is contented. He reminds the commander to select a destination from the galaxy map whenever they’re ready to get moving.

On deck 4 Grunt is thinking and browsing through the extranet while they still have a connection. He doesn’t need anything from Shepard. Ben, just across the hall from him, is still passed out cold. He heads through the doors leading to the drive core next, letting him head down to the hold where Jack has stationed herself. She’s reading, and muttering to herself about what she finds, but doesn’t need anything from Shepard, letting him continue on.

By continue on, I do mean back up the stairs and into the drive core room. Gabby and Ken are fine, though do ask for Shepard to look for a part for them next time they stop by Omega. He notes it down, then heads over to the other person in the room.

Tali immediately turns around as she hears him approaching, dropping whatever she was doing. After a brief conversation he finds that she too is fine though. She’s actually having an easier time working with the Cerberus engineers than she expected to. So, Shepard heads back out of the core and to the elevator, getting him back to the CIC.

It’s not too long before he’s back at his personal console beside the galaxy map, reading over the same message he had open earlier. After a few more minutes he closes it again and goes to reading over the new messages they’ve picked up while sub-light. He responds to most of them, archiving some and deleting others, until the only one left in his inbox is again the message he hasn’t been dealing with.

In just a moment though, his attention is pulled away from it with the sound of the elevator opening.

“Shepard.” Garrus greets, stepping out with Tali. “You wanted to see us?” He asks.

The commander’s gaze glances over to the yeoman at the console on the other side of the galaxy map. It only stays there for a moment before looking back to the aliens, who he nods to.

“I wanted your opinion on something.” Shepard accepts telling them, stepping aside from his console to let them both see the e-mail.

“What is…” Tali starts, stepping over slightly quicker than Garrus to start reading the message.

[From: Admiral Hackett

Commander Shepard:

Our scans in the Amada system have turned up something we thought you should see: the final location of the wreckage of the SSV Normandy.

We thought this news might be important to you, but we have an ulterior motive. The Alliance would like to honor the Normandy with a monument, to be built on the site of the ship’s final resting place. We’d like to invite you to place the monument and be the first to walk on the site.

Godspeed to you, Commander]

“The Normandy.” She speaks to herself, just barely audible through the suit’s audio channels.

“What’s left of her at least.” Shepard corrects.

“You got this a while ago.” Garrus notes, turning his gaze from the screen to the human.

Shepard doesn’t respond immediately, instead frowning as he things about his response. “I couldn’t go alone. And I didn’t want to ask you to”

“Shepard, you don’t have to ask.” Tali cuts him off.

Shepard’s eyes question her meaning below his firm brow, glancing back and forth between the two.

“We’re with you. Always.” Garrus makes clear.

Shepard’s mouth smiles instinctually, but his eyes still seem as heavy and sunken as they’ve been for days.

“Thank you.” Shepard speaks to them.

The Normandy only takes a day to reach the planet mentioned in the email. Alchera. They have to assure Ben that there won’t be any form of combat in order to get him to stay behind. They do eventually convince him, but barely.

They leave the window tinted as the craft descends through the pale sky. They’re able to tell that they’ve landed by the sound of the thrusters fading, and the cabin becoming still.

The door opening leaves them all speechless. Speechless, and cold. Shepard is the first to rise to his feet, as is usually the case, but even he hesitates before stepping out of the shuttle.

The snow crunches under step, then again as he moves further out. Tali’s steps are lighter than the other two, a factor of her suit not having hard soles under her feet.

The scene is a melancholic middle ground between horrific and beautiful. The whole landscape is dusted white with whatever liquid the atmosphere is freezing, and beyond the site itself the barely visibly stars are framed with mountains. But all around them, starkly breaking the ambiance, are the remains of their old ship. Stretching pieces of the hull like scaffolding, whole rooms, sections, and mechanisms, all laid bare. The ship Anderson had turned over to Shepard the day he became a Spectre, reduced to a graveyard.

The haunting scene shifts with their movement through it. The structures of metal reaching up out of the snow cast long shadows over the ground. They bend the wind around them, creating a sort of howling that permeates the still place.

Tali and Garrus both do their part to spare a glance to Shepard occasionally, but for the most part just process the scene with him.

The bridge is the first place the commander heads.

The last time he stood in this place was with Joker. When he had to convince the pilot not to die with the ship. When he took Joker’s place.

It’s also where he stood when they first left the Citadel. When he was promoted to the position of Spectre, and sent after Saren. The bad comes with the good, and he sees what was. Then, what is. The ruin, the wreck. He sees the remains of a crashed ship, and starts moving again.

Eventually Shepard finds what used to be the crew deck. At least, the hall leading to the sleeper pods. It takes him another few minutes to find the space just before them. The food court, and the space where Kaiden once was stationed. A space Shepard finds himself lingering by, just staring at the weathered metal of his old posting. Staring at the space he left empty.

He closes his eyes, but can’t bring himself to see Virmire. He can’t see Kaiden, or Saren, or the explosion as they flew away. He just sees the Normandy burning.

His eyes open again to find the space still empty.

He eventually forces himself to move on as Garrus starts making his way around, proceeding on to another section.

Just across the clearing rests what remains of the drive core. Tali carefully makes her way to what was once her station, standing just far enough back to work at the holograms if they could load. She looks up to where the core should be and imagines it as it was. For a brief moment she remembers the room as it was, overlaying the image with what she sees now. For that brief moment she sees what Shepard has been seeing since they landed.

At another part of the crash site, half buried under the snow, Garrus finds something none of the group expected to. He leans down, carefully brushing and breaking off the snow to let him pull it out. A helmet, colored red and black. One that he shakes the snow out of before turning over to inspect.

It’s Shepard’s. It’s the one he was wearing when he fell. Mangled so badly that he has to take a second to really recognize it.

Garrus debates showing it to the commander, but eventually decides to just take it back to the shuttle. He places it down on one of the seats before heading back out.

Shepard finds himself at the remains of the CIC. The galaxy map, which Shepard Makes his way to the front of, stepping up onto the metal grating to be where he once commanded the ship.

He’s been seeing ghosts since they landed, but this moment really takes him out of it. He can see the CIC as it was when the ship was functional, sure, but he can see it another way. He barely has to close his eyes to see the CIC exposed to the void of space. His breathing tightens, and he opens his eyes again to see the space cold, and tired.

His eyes close again and he can see the planet looming above them. He can feel the vacuum pulling at his suit, and he can see the fires burning in the sealed sections of the ship either side of the floor.

It’s still cold. It’s still here.

He can see it being torn from the hull with the stark red of a laser. The same kind the Reapers fire.

He feels a cold hand rest on his shoulder from behind, and he finds it to be Tali, carefully looking to the visor of his helmet from over his shoulder.

It’s burning. He can see it drifting away. He’s suffocating. He can feel himself burning. His lungs bursting, his blood boiling, the air being pulled from his body, ripped from him through his skin.

He can feel himself breathing, shallowly and quickly. He can feel the cold being dulled by the suit, and Tali’s hand.

He places a hand on hers, looking back to the CIC ahead of him while she stays with him.

It’s cold. It’s covered in snow, it’s torn and broken, it’s damaged beyond repair, it’s cold. And it’s dead.

He closes his eyes again, and he sees nothing.

He just feels cold, and the metal ground slamming against his knees.

Tali quickly bends down to make sure the commander’s alright as he falls to his knees, head hanging low.

“Shepard?” She asks tentatively, but with haste.

“It’s cold.” He speaks, breathless.

“Garrus!” She calls out over the radio, looking out across the field to where he stands.

In hardly a second she can see his form turn to look at her and Shepard, and then that he starts running. This is enough for her to focus back to Shepard beside her, still rapidly breathing in and out.

“Shepard, are you okay?” Tali asks.

“No, I… I don’t… think…” He slumps forwards, falling to the ground entirely. His armor scrapes against the metal grading under him as Garrus reaches the two.

“What happened?” He asks, already flicking in his omni-tool to tell Chakwas to ready the lab.

“He just collapsed!” She tells him simply, already moving to roll Shepard onto his back. “Help me get him to the shuttle.”

Garrus simply nods as he steps around to pick up Shepard’s torso. Tali gets his legs, and in just over a minute they get him down again in the shuttle. The door closes in just a second and it starts rising back into the air, boosting off into the sky towards the SR2.

There are no dreams. No memories. Nothing but darkness.

But there are shadows in the dark. Voices without faces, whispering words he doesn’t quite understand.

No dreams. No memories. But within the darkness are ghosts. The things that haunt him, just out of sight, but never leaving.

But he can’t see them. For once he can’t see them or feel them. He can only hear them, and that’s enough to ignore. To weather while he has to.

Then his eyes open with a sharp inhale, and his torso violently pulls itself away from the surface under him.

His breathing is still shaky, but calmed slightly. He almost instinctually removes the IV from his arm, hardly even processing that he was hooked up to an IV at all. His eyes take a frantic moment to process where he is. What he’s looking at.

He’s on board the Normandy. The intact one, the second one, the Cerberus one. He’s in a bed. His bed. Not one of the medical beds in the med lab, but his bed. The one in his room. He’s in his room. He’s in the captain’s quarters, the loft, and he’s in bed.

His breathing steadies as he comes to understand where he is. What’s happening now.

“Garrus, he’s up.” Is spoken from across the room, causing his eyes to move over to the quarian sitting on one of his couches, and to the turian she’s tapping to wake up.

“What happened?” Shepard wastes no time in asking, pulling the sheets off of himself to get his legs off the mattress.

He’s not wearing his armor. He’s just wearing the under suit that his armor goes over, which probably means someone undressed him. This doesn’t help answer any of his questions.

“You passed out down at the crash site.” Garrus says, pushing off the couch to walk over to Shepard.

The commander takes the hand he offers, letting the turian help him to his feet.

“Why aren’t I in the med lab?” He questions.

“Chakwas said that you were suffering from acute sleep deprivation, and that you needed to get as much uninterrupted sleep as possible. She told us there was a better chance with you in a real bed.” Tali explains.

“And Tali insisted that she keep an eye on you until you woke up.” Garrus adds, stepping back to let Shepard move for the clothing locker.

“And you’re here because…?”

“Well, I couldn’t let her wait all alone. I had to bring her food eventually.” Garrus justifies.

Shepard pauses at that, coinciding with him placing a hand around the handle of the locker.

“How long was I out?” He questions.

“About 15 hours.” Tali answers.

Shepard nods like he’s heard that before. He pulls out a simple light uniform from the locker, as well as the first thing he finds that seems soft. A hoodie, it turns out. Not his usual style, but he can’t care right now.

Tali turns away slightly as the commander pulls himself out of the under suit, looking back only once he’s in the uniform. A quick process, with how often they have to change armor sets between missions.

“How are you feeling, Commander?” Garrus asks him.

“Like I could use another 15 hours.” He seems to joke. The hoodie doesn’t really fit him. It’s his size of course, it just looks odd paired with his stern face and the persona they know him for.

Tali takes a step back to get out of his way as he walks across the room and steps up to his desk. With a few clicks he pulls up his e-mail, reading though the notifications.

“Well, no time to waste. Back to work.” Shepard instructs, scrolling through the list of messages.

Even Garrus seems confused by this response, glancing to Tali to make sure he’s not mistaken before looking back to the commander.

“Shepard.” Garrus eventually speaks, causing the man to look to him.

It’s like something clicks in his brain. Like he remembers something he’d been overlooking until this moment. He’s forced to with the two of them looking over to him, and the unmade bed behind them.

He slept. And they’re worried about him.

“I don’t know.” Shepard acknowledges their concern, leaning back from the computer to properly address the two as they step over to him. “When I figure it out, I’ll send you an update. For now, I’m not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth.”

The slight head tilt and eye narrowing from both of them clues him into that idiom not translating.

“I’m not- I got to sleep. That’s a good thing. Right now, I want to check for downsides.” He explains. “And more pressingly, the Illusive Man found something. We’re already on route.” He tells them.

“He took control of the ship while you were unconscious?” Tali questions, then pauses. “No, that sounds about right.” She corrects her surprise.

“Report to the conference room. I’ll be down in a few.” Shepard instructs.

This time the two just nod, accepting his direction and exiting his quarters to head into the elevator.

Shepard, now alone, takes a second to process.

His body suit lies on the ground by his locker. An iv stand is positioned beside his bed. The couch has a very clear low spot from something sitting in the same spot for the past half-day. The table has a few empty drinks and a single clear plate on it.

The table on the right side of the room holds two items that stand out to him. The first being a bottle of prescription medication, the kind the med lab synthesizes for the crew. The second he takes a moment to properly process. His old helmet.

He decides to deal with that item later. For the moment he focuses on the last detail he has yet to revisit. His bed very clearly has been used.

For the first time in months, closing his eyes, he doesn’t see anything. He takes a deep breath and lets himself smile as his eyes open again.

Chapter Text

Shepard steps into the debriefing room and finds all of the people he’s picked up so far standing around the table. Miranda and Jacob at the far end, and Tali and Garrus at the close end. Even Ben has made himself present, standing on the right side of the table between Kasumi and Zaeed.

 The commander steps up to the open space at the front of the table and rests his hands against its face.

“You want to do the honors, or should I?” Shepard asks, looking to Miranda.

“We caught a break.” She starts, leaning forwards to tap the table. Over is surface a hologram of the galaxy appears, and within an icon highlighting a certain region. “The Illusive Man intercepted a distress call from a turian patrol. They stumbled on to a Collector ship beyond the Korlus system.” The map zooms in to the system, showing an icon of where the Collector ship should be now.

“Rough break. All of space and they happen to run across the guys with a giant death laser and a pension for violence.” Ben comments.

“The turians were wiped out, but not before they crippled the Collector vessel. The Illusive man needs Shepard to board the ship and get some hard data on the Collectors. Find us a way to get to their homeworld.” Mirands continues explaining.

“Hard to imagine how a turian patrol could take out a Collector ship.” Garrus is the first to point out. “I mean, they’re tough, but we saw the kind of firepower the Collectors have back on Horizon.”

“Reports indicate the hull was already damaged when they found it.” Jacob looks to Ben. “It’s likely the same ship Ben assaulted.”

“Last I checked the laser was still working just fine” Ben responds.

“Maybe, but from what we know, all systems seem to be offline. They could be making repairs as we speak.” Jacob clarifies.

“If they had a patrol out there, why aren’t the turians sending a recon team in?” Shepard questions.

“They will, eventually. But we intercepted the transmissions. The Illusive Man’s feeding them false reports in the meantime.” Miranda states.

“We’re about two hours out. Garrus, Tali, Ben, get ready. You’re on the ground team with me.” Shepard instructs.

The aliens both glance to him and nod. Ben simply rests his hands on his hips and leans back from the table with a smirk.

“Once you’re aboard the ship, establish and uplink with EDI. She’ll mine their data for information regarding the Omega 3 relay.” Miranda adds.

Shepard simply nods, turning around to head back out of the room. Tali and Garrus join him, turning left into the hall to head towards the armory while the rest leave to start heading back to their stations.

By the time they start making their final approach Ben is waiting in on the bridge with Joker.

They were right about it being the same ship. As soon as they’re close enough to make out the details they can see the massive cracks and craters spanning the length of the craggy hull. Clear points of damage where Ben made contact, thrusters still askew and dented, and pieces of metal barely holding onto the visibly artificial sections of it.

Ben can hear the footsteps walking down the bridge towards Joker.

“We have a visual of the Collector ship, Commander.” Joker tells him as he comes to a stop beside the pilot’s seat.

“Very low emissions. Passive infrared temperatures suggest most systems are offline. Thrusters are cold.” EDI informs.

“That thing’s massive. Guess Ben did more damage than we thought for the turians to take it out.” Joker comments.

“What can I say? I’m an expert at breaking things.” Ben says.

“The colonists might be aboard. If they’re still alive.” Shepard’s helmet turns to face him. “Once we’re off, you’re free to take it down for good.” He states.

Ben’s eyes widen slightly, smiling as he leans forwards in his seat. “Now there’s something I don’t hear often.” The teen laughs.

Shepard looks forwards to the windows again as they begin gliding along the edge of the massive alien vessel.

“This isn’t a game, Ben. If we have an advantage over them, any at all, I’m not going to hold them back.”

Ben pushes out of the chair, standing up to get a better view of the ship they pass by. “Hey, you don’t have to tell me twice. We get in, find a way back to their homeworld, and once we’re off I make sure it can’t go anywhere. Simple.”

“Rendezvous in 30 seconds, Commander.

Shepard looks to Ben again and motions for them to get going.

“Good luck” Joker adds as the two start heading towards the elevator on the other side of the CIC.

They enter the shuttle already containing Garrus and Tali, and depart in hardly a moment. Ben starts scrolling through the watch as they other gaze out the windows to the ship they drift towards. The dark looming shape only makes itself known in the way it blocks out the stars, but the space they move for is defined by the light cast on it by the Normandy.

In another moment the space defines itself. Within the ship itself they find the space to be illuminated by seemingly organic constructs. The area itself matches the outside in term of material, being just as artificial as it is organic. The floor and walls are evenly divided between stone and metals.

Once the shuttle lands the group turn to look at Ben, who’s still scrolling through the Omnitrix.

They do this because there is no atmosphere outside the shuttle, and Ben is not wearing a space suit. As he said “Please, I don’t need a space suit, I have the Omnitrix.” when they told him to put one on.

The Omnitrix, however, is back to beeping at him. He’s hitting the core, and it’s beeping at him. They’ve almost been convinced that this is just how the device is supposed to work, because it seemingly never gives him the alien he wants without a fight.

“If I find a Collector, I’ll scan it. Okay? Is that what you want?” Ben bargains, hitting it again.

And finally it lets him transform. With a flash, the group can feel the balance of the Kodiak shift towards Ben. What he becomes can best be described as resembling classic depictions of Frankenstein’s monster. A pair a rubbery black pants cover his bottom half. Green metal gauntlets cover his forearms and hands, and two pillars almost resembling tesla coils protrude from his shoulders, nearly hitting the roof. The dial is located in the center of a scar stretching over the left half of his chest.

“Frankenstrike will do.” He speaks, keeping himself crouched over as he moves for the door.

The cabin takes a moment to depressurize once they confirm that Ben doesn’t need to breathe, then the door opens.

“I love what they’ve done with the place.” Garrus jokes as they step out, looking up at the carved columns and channels making up the inner walls.

“Looks like a giant insect hive.” Tali notes, readying her shotgun.

She’s not wrong. Moving further in they find the sources of light to resemble sacks. Tightly packed clusters of independent orbs with a perforated membrane stretched around groupings.

They also find that, in the light these produce, the space seems to be heavy with dust and particulates. Something that almost suggest an atmosphere, despite the lack thereof.

Ben looks to them and opens his mouth to speak. Without being able to see their faces, it takes a second for him to realize that they can’t hear him, at which point he brings his hand up to hit the Omnitrix node. Not to transform, just to hit it. There’s a pop of static as the device seems to connect to their coms, then Ben tries again.

“You guys think it’s any less creepy when the Collectors are walking around?” He asks. His voice seems to be broadcast straight to their radios, despite the fact that nothing should be able to pick it up without an atmosphere for the soundwaves to travel through.

“Uhh… how can we hear you?” Tali questions.

Ben just shrugs and gestures to the Omnitrix. “Never had a problem with people hearing me in space before.” He speaks, clearly able to hear them as well.

Despite how odd this is they don’t have the time to question it any further and are forced to accept it as just another anomalous property of the Omnitrix. They instead have to focus on what they approach. Pods.

“The Collectors used this kind of container on Horizon. But these are empty.” Garrus describes.

The inside of the pod, where they otherwise put human bodies, distorts and ripples with the heat and vapor pouring out of it. Another property that suggests the ship is holding some form of atmosphere, even if not a breathable one, and something that encourages the four to keep from getting too close.

“It must have been horrible. Trapped in these pods. Helpless. Completely at the mercy of the Collectors.” Tali imagines.

They keep moving after a moment, with Shepard being the first to do so, and Ben being the last.

The ambiance of the space is somehow made worse by the complete and total lack of sound. Something they haven’t had to deal with on a mission before now. In addition to not having been in a vacuum on any of the missions since Ben joined, they also have audio synthesizers built into their suits to give them audio for environments that don’t carry sound. But here, there’s no recorded data for what this space should sound like. There’s nothing to synthesize from, so the only sound they hear is the tapping of each other’s footsteps, and the rustling of their armor.

Then, abruptly, the steady tapping is instead replaced with one demonstrably unpleasant squelch. They all pause for a moment and looking down find that Garrus stepped in some sort of paste. He pulls his foot back and scans over the surrounding ground to find the source.

No one is happy with what they find. Flesh. Human, if they had to make an educated guess, but at this point it’s hard to tell. Moving further ahead they find increasingly intact limbs and parts. Organs, bones, meat. It’s hard to stomach, but it doesn’t seem to end.

“What happened here?” Tali speaks with reservations, her head panning over the bodies they begin to pass by.

No one else has an answer. They don’t have anything to say at all actually, they simply focus their attention on the spread of corpses covering the ground, seemingly trying to avoid stepping on them if nothing else.

The four slow as they approach the central mound the rest seem to be scattered from. Ben’s face visibly stiffens, staring at the mass of flesh and meat. And, unmistakably, it is just a mass of flesh and meat. Below the dozen or so intact bodies and limbs near the top, the mound is closer to a paste than actual corpses. Ben not strictly needing to breathe somehow seems more important in the fact of this than the vacuum of space, at least to him. The demonstrably unpleasant sight would be made all the worse if he could smell right now.

“Why would the Collectors just leave a pile of bodies lying around?” Garrus questions, his voice managing to capture a disgust his controlled posture fails to convey.

“They must have been used for testing. If they were a control group, they would have been discarded at the end of the experiment.” Tali deduces.

“There are worse things than death – like being a test subject for twisted aliens.” Shepard tries to comfort.

“I know you’re right, but it doesn’t make me feel any better.” Tali says, justifiably.

Thankfully, after this point, they seem to move away from the main grouping of bodies. The floor gradually becomes more clear as they travel away, letting all three of them start walking with less conscious care again.

There are still bodies moving forwards, carelessly laid about the floor, or propped against the occasional empty pod. Perhaps more disturbingly though, as they move deeper, the bodies become recognizable. Intact, more human shaped, most are still wearing clothes.

More than just the bodies accenting a change in ambiance, the floor itself starts to become increasingly mechanical. Steel plating revealed beneath the stone layer. Mechanisms built into the walls that seem intended for individual use more than simply forming the ship. Even the lighting begins to cool from the yellow and oranges to a pale white.

Turning a corner, they seem to come to a junction of sorts. The hall leading forwards gradually returns to the organic structure of the ship, but the area around them appears almost like a laboratory. Something that just might explain the bodies.

Large mechanical beds emerging from the wall hold a pod on each of them. Two are empty, but notably seem to be inactive. The third contains not a human body, but that of a Collector.

Shepard is the first to approach the adjacent console, summoning his omni-tool to let it figure out the operations.

“That’s…” Garrus starts, looking down at the body beside the others.

He doesn’t have to say it though. They know what it is. Even the Omnitrix seems to know what it is, beeping at Ben as he steps up to the side of the chamber. Ben obliges, rotating the dial and tapping its face. The green changes to yellow and the beam emerges to scan down over the alien.

“Were they experimenting on one of their own?” Garrus questions.

Shepard places a hand to the side of his helmet as he leans away from the console. “EDI, I’m uploading the data from this terminal. See if you can figure out what they were up to.” Shepard directs.

“Data received. Analyzing.” The AI responds.

Instead of the typical chime that occurs when the Omnitrix finishes scanning, it instead harshly buzzes as the beam retreats. The faceplate flashes red a few times before returning to the standard green. Ben has no idea what this means.

“The collectors were running baseline genetic comparisons between their species and humanity.” EDI begins to explain.

The others step back to make room for Shepard as he moves to look in at the collector body.

“Are they looking for similarities?” He asks.

“I have no hypothesis on their motivations. All I have are the preliminary results. They reveal something remarkable. A quad-stand genetic structure, identical to traces collected from ancient ruins. Only one race is known to have this structure: the Protheans.” EDI states.

“My god.” The commander speaks, stepping back from the pod. “The Protheans didn’t vanish. They’re just working for the Reapers now.”

“These are no longer Protheans, Shepard. Their genes show distinct signs of extensive genetic rewrite. The reapers have repurposed them to suit their needs.” EDI corrects.

“So the Reapers turned them into monsters and enslaved them.” He determines.

It takes a moment for Ben to realize that everyone has turned to look at him, and another second to understand why.

“Ben, could you do with the Collectors what you did to the husks back on Horizon?” The commander asks.

“I don’t know. The husks were human, which I have a genetic sample for. I’m not sure it can repair them if it doesn’t know what they’re supposed to be.” Ben answers.

“We’ll give you a shot next time we run into them. If you can’t, then they’re still working for the Reapers. And we have to stop them.” Shepard states.

Ben recognizes that Shepard is trying to save lives here in any way he can. Something Ben specifically requested that he do. Ben nods to agree, then starts walking with the commander as theh group starts moving towards the path leading deeper into the ship.

“No species should have to suffer through that.” Garrus empathizes.

Continuing forwards, they’re quickly beyond the clean mechanical space they had reached. The ground returns to a course stone, and the walls return to the columns and cavities so clearly resembling a hive. The pods along the walls and floor aid in this visual.

Further along they can see that the hall they move through appears to open up, and stepping out find it to be a nexus of sorts. A meeting point for several massive and sprawling tunnels rising through the ship.

“Look” Tali gestures upwards. “on the ceiling. More of those strange pods.”

The walls of these tunnels are lined with the pods, just as many active as not.

“There must be hundreds of them. How many do you think are full?” Garrus grimly questions.

They continue into the space, moving around the open floor and to a ramp leading up another level.

“Too many.” Shepard states.

“I detect no signs of life in the pods, Shepard.” EDI interjects. “It is probably the victims inside died when the ship lost primary power.”

The sound of Ben groaning forces the group to look over to him, only to find him shaking off some form of liquid. A stream falls from one of the levels much higher up, and once they’ve seen it their suits begin synthesizing the sound of running water around the space in the relevant locations.

Ben brushes the moisture off of himself and continues after them.

It’s bizarre for them to be in a space that seems nearly alive one moment, only to come across a structure of solid steel the next. Walls are haphazardly mixed between the two, lighting fixtures are almost entirely organic, but every section of flooring seems to be metal to some degree, even if under a layer of stone.

They continue to rise through the levels when Joker connects with their coms.

“Commander. You gotta hear this. On a hunch, I asked EDI to run an analysis of the ship.” Joker starts.

“I compared the EM profiles against data recorded by the original Normandy two years ago. They are an exact match.” EDI continues.

“The same ship dogging me for two years? Way beyond coincidence.” Shepard acknowledges.

“Something doesn’t add up, Commander. Watch your back.” Joker advises.

There’s not much more that can be said about the space they travel through at this point. Grotesque, unsettling, unpleasant. It’s not something that anyone would choose to make. It’s something that was made out of necessity. Out of scraps and spare parts, of rocks and bone. It’s a space they are not eager to linger in.

And coming to another opening, they are given even more reason to feel repulsed by its very existence. The roof of the tunnel ends, and the floor continues out into a massive space. An opening that seems to run the length of the ship, stretching half as high as it. The walls themselves, as distant and massive as they are, seem to glow. Colossal sheets of film cover sections of the orange rounded sections protruding from the- pods.

“Keelah.” Tali reacts.

The walls themselves, stretching the internal dimensions of the vessel, are covered in pods. Too many to possibly count. Hundreds of thousands. Millions.

“They could take every human in the Terminus Systems and still not have enough to fill these pods.” Garrus speaks.

The scale of the space is beyond what they can even see. The ends stretch so far from where they are that the thin atmosphere of the vessel fades them to nothing. But it’s clear than so section is without the pods. The storage containers mean for living humans. And of them, there are perhaps billions.

“They’re going to target Earth.” Tali realizes.

It’s a though that Ben has heard before, but one that frustrates him none the less. His jaw stiffens and his fists clench shut.

“Not if we stop them.” Shepard asserts.

They keep moving. The space keeps indecisively shifting between natural and artificial materials. They keep their eyes open. Pressing on, it’s not anything in particular that stands out to them more than the rest of the ship, but it’s the lack thereof.

“Where are the bodies of the Collector crew?” Garrus is the first to ask.

“You’d think we would have found at least a few by now.” Ben concurs.

“Something doesn’t feel right about this.” The turian says.

“There – on the platform. Looks like some kind of control panel.” Tali points out, gesturing to exactly what she described a way ahead of them.

“Careful, Shepard.” Garrus warns as the Commander moves for it.

“EDI?” Shepard starts, stopping before the console.

It’s clearly function. One of the few mechanical pieces of the vessel they’ve encountered thus far that’s actually working. A green interface rests above the face of the pedestal, drawn out holographically in thin calculated lines.

“I’m setting up a bridge between you and the Collector ship. See if you can get anything useful from the data banks.” Shepard instructs, summoning the thick orange shapes of his omni-tool to do just that.

There’s a moment of silence as the rest stop at Shepard’s side. Then, after a few flat tones, EDI speak, “Data-mine in progress, Shepard.”

Then there’s a sort of interference. A low droning, clicking sound. Comes over their radios. It’s almost a growl, really.

“Uh… that can’t be good.” Joker reacts.

Then, with a violent red flash that forces the group to step back, the console shuts off. Around them, with the synthetic sounds of heavy machinery, several tubed structures rise from the surrounding drops.

Shepard glances back to the three others, making sure they’re all okay before raising a hand to his helmet. “Everyone’s alright, Joker. What just happened?”

“Major power surge. Everything went dark, but we’re back up now.” Joker quickly explains.

“I managed to divert the majority of the overload to non-critical systems.” EDI informs.

Oddly, Ben hears something. The others don’t seem to notice anything at all, but around them he begins to hear sounds of the machines, the low echoing hum of the ship beginning to power up, and the marching of steps. He looks up to the surrounding rises beyond the drops, glaring at the pathways that are partially blocked off from sight.

“Shepard, this was not a malfunction. This was a trap.” The AI states.

With a high-pitched whirr, the platform they’re on begins to rise from the surrounding pathways, forcing everyone to catch their balance. And it continues to rise, rotating as it does, higher and higher over the tunnels they emerged from.

“We need a little help here, EDI.” Shepard requests.

“I am having trouble maintaining the connection. There is someone else in the system.” EDI responds.

Then the platform stops, completely knocking over Garrus and nearly doing the same for the others. Their balance takes a moment to return, by which point Tali is moving to give Garrus a hand. Shepard and Ben merely look out to the surrounding spires of stone, scanning over them.

The ship has lit up now. From either end of the main chamber a blinding light casts over the space in warm hues. Shepard’s visor is automatically dimmed in appropriate regions, but Ben has to simply move a hand to block out the light.

But something else is blocking out the light up ahead, in the distance. Another hexagonal platform, like the one they’re on now, with another set of figures atop it.

Collectors. Coming their way.

“Connection reestablished. I need to finish the download before I can override any systems.” EDI informs.

The three that aren’t Ben all move for cover, ducking behind the console as the platform moves towards theirs.

Correction: platforms. Several, all accompanied by a set of Collectors atop them that more certainly seem armed the closer they get.

“Then you’d better get it done fast, EDI.” Shepard commands.

The platforms travel until they rest against the one Shepard’s squad is on, at which point the Collectors begin to shoot. Still, Ben can hear these things. The sharp whistling of their shots tearing through what must now be air for sound to be traveling again.

 Ben continues to confidently stand as if invincible until the first shot hits him. At this time, he’s no longer standing at all. He’s thrown back from the impact and into one of the structures along the rises of the platform.

“Ben!” Garrus shouts.

With a groan he clutches both the rail he crashed into to pull himself up, and the spot on his chest where he was struck. From his low position he’s fairly shielded from the barrage that continues raining over their platform, giving him a moment to register what happened. Pulling his hand back he finds the tips of his fingers to be coated in a thin purple liquid. His current alien’s blood. Rather than showing any form of concern, he simply rolls his eyes, and his fingers curl around his palm to form a fist.

“Keep them busy for a minute, could ya? I’m gonna let the Omnitrix work its magic.” Ben calls out to the group.

Shepard nods, ducking out of cover just long enough to fill one of the Collectors with all the shots in his clip.

Ben rises to his feet again, but rather than giving the Collectors a chance to fire on him he runs for the edge of the platform. Both groups can only watch as he leaps from the edge and begins falling to the outer hull seemingly miles below.

But he doesn’t fall. With a spark of lightning reaching out to the platform he begins to orbit it, shaking it as he comes to slam against the underside.

“Ben?” Shepard cautiously questions.

“Electromagnetic body.” He speaks over the coms.

And with steps that can be felt from the top, Ben begins walking along the underside of the platforms. He’s just about to reach the other side of the bridge they’re beginning to form when another group connect, and several previously connected depart.

“Forty-one percent complete.” EDI updates them.

“Come on, EDI. Speed it up.” Shepard requests, ducking out for another moment to drop another two Collectors.

Ben changes course and speeds up a bit when from above he hears a voice speak. One that all but Tali recognize.

“Assuming direct control.” The presence announces.

And just as it does Ben rises from around the back side of the platforms. The Collectors don’t can enough time to react before ben’s placed a hand around the thinking one’s head, holding it in place.

It stiffens but doesn’t bother to struggle. Instead, it simply begins to glow, and in hardly a moment the head within Ben’s grasp turns to ash.

Ben’s open grasp immediately forms a fist, which he swings outwards to the nearest of the Collectors beside him. The air between them flashed green with the lightning he summons, and the next closes one falls before it can even face its weapon towards Ben. Not from another flash of lightning, but from Garrus’ sniper rifle several platforms over.

Between Ben and the main group another collector begins to glow, and Ben starts moving. His footsteps are heavy, like the sound of metal slamming against itself, but he’s fast. By the time the drone has been converted Ben has arrived at it, grasping its head once again.

“We are the Harbinger of your destiny.” The presence tries to warn, “You cannot stop us.”

The Collectors around him begin to fall with the shots Shepard’s squad fires off, leaving Ben free to deal with the main one.

“Omnitrix, attempt repair.” Ben quickly commands, before it has the chance to disintegrate.

The Omnitrix responds with a chime, and begins to glow brighter and brighter, a nearly blinding green the others can only look upon with their visors dimming it.

The drone drops its weapon immediately, reaching up to grasp Ben’s arm instead. It can’t budge him, but it grips him with all the strength the body has none the less. Then, it begins to scream. As much as it can without a visible mouth. A wailing clicking noise that fills the space.

The distant platforms slow in their approach, leading the Collector reinforcements to linger in the distance. Even they seem to just watch.

Within Ben’s mind, the Omnitrix constructs a space for him to operate.

But something’s clearly wrong. Immediately, Ben is made aware of just how flawed things are.

Rather than the darkness Ben had seen with the husks, or the representative tubing he had seen with the DNAliens, he finds himself in a circular room. Well, “room” is relative. The wall circling the space form a circle. Above him is a translucent curved roof, colored green in the main section, and shaped to resemble the hourglass of the watch. The walls are mechanical, constantly shifting and working with the warbles the Omnitrix usually emits.

There’s no floor below him, but rather a continuous drop. He stands on the air above it, looking down. The further he goes the more structures he sees built into the walls. Capsules. The ones further up glowing a bright green, and the further ones not glowing at all.

Within them he can see his aliens. Heatblast closest to the top, then Wildmutt, then Diamondhead, and so on. All floating idle below the surface of the containers.

He begins to descend. Not as if gravity were pulling on him, but almost as if the space was moving upwards. He passes by the dozens of aliens he’s unlocked over the years, recognizing all of them with but a glance. Then he starts passing the dimmed ones that he’s yet to unlock. Some he’s seen before. A lewodan, a highbreed, whatever Argit is. A few he vaguely recognizes as residents of under town.  Then ones he doesn’t recognize. A lot he doesn’t, actually. Like, dozens. Then hundreds. As he begins moving faster it become clear that trying to recognize any of the hundreds of thousands is a pointless endeavor.

And then he stops. Within a darkened space illuminated only by the soft glow the Omnitrix symbol on the floor, which he stands at one end of.

In the middle is the collector he holds in the real world.

He approaches it, and the figure begins to distort. It warps, changes, fluctuates. It changes to one creature, then back into another, then another. Every couple of steps, between the tens of other forms it takes on, it will “glitch” and revert back to the Collector. With every chance he can hear the sounds of the Omnitrix around him seemingly struggling.

He stops before the Collector and stares at it, into its four eyes.

And then, from beyond it, he sees that glow of red. He steps around the body the Omnitrix works on, and looks instead to the distant, looming body. The creature that looks upon him with an unspoken malice.

“Let me fix them.” Ben orders.

With the equivalent of a breath, seeming to tear at the space around them, it speaks.

“Y O U   C A N N O T   H O P E   T O   S T O P”

“I’ve heard it before pal.” Ben cuts it off, stilling the tremoring that shakes the space. “Let. Me. Fix. It.” He again commands.

His arrogance is enough to silence the distant figure. The reaper. His unflinching defiance, in a space he commands, leaves the Reaper powerless. A dynamic it considers.

“Y O U   C A N N O T.”

The simple statement isn’t enough to dissuade Ben, but the harsh buzz that comes from behind him starts working on his confidence.

Turning back he finds the Omnitrix arriving at one form, then another, and each time it harshly buzzes. One after another, each time the forms are rejected.

And then Ben opens his eyes again, still starting down at the Collector in his hand, the blinding light now fading. The Collector’s eyes continue to glow a stark green, leaving it immobile in Ben’s hand.

“Genetic augmentation irreparable.” The node on Ben’s chest states in its high-pitch synthetic voice.

Ben can see in his peripheral that the rest of the group have made their way over to him, now standing on the same platform about 4 meters back.

“Ugh, great.” Ben reacts, preparing himself to crush the Collector in his hand.

“User guidance required.” It continues, causing Ben to hesitate.

“What?” He questions.

“Does Ben Tennyson wish with revert, or discard?” It asks.

“What do those options mean?” Shepard questions, stepping over to Ben’s side.

“Revert: Current sample will be returned to state prior to attempted repair. Discard: All analogous samples within range will be destroyed.” The Omnitrix explains.

“It can… what’s the range?” Tali inquires.

“Last time I checked; it was the observable universe.” Ben states.

“Current range: 2 lightyears.” The Omnitrix correct him.

The three of them look out to the collectors on the distant platforms, all of which still seem to simply wait. It’s uncomfortable for the group to think about, but they don’t waste the extra time.

“If we can’t turn the Collectors back into protheans, there’s no point in not killing the lot of them.” Garrus argues.

“But Ben said that he wasn’t sure if the Omnitrix could do it without a sample of the original species DNA. So if he had a prothean sample, maybe he could try again.” Tali argues the opposite.

“Yeah, and how likely is it that we’re going to find a prothean out there somewhere that’s intact enough for the watch to scan?” The turian counters.

“That’s… a fair point.” Tali acknowledges.

“What about what I did with the highbreed?” Ben questions the Omnitrix, ignoring the two.

“… calculating.” The node states.

“What exactly happened with the highbreed?” Shepard asks.

“They were becoming infertile. They had been inbreeding for hundreds of years, and it basically destroyed their species. I used the Omnitrix to supplant their damaged genes with other aliens in the Omnitrix that could compensate. Turned them all into hybrids.” He explains.

“You want to turn the Collectors into your aliens? What if they continue working for the Reapers? Wouldn’t that just make things a lot harder for us?” Garrus correctly notes.

“It’s that or genocide.” Ben simplifies.

Presented with the two options so clearly, Shepard takes a moment to think. A moment provided by the Collectors’ hesitance to approach what Ben is doing.

“Confirmed. Supplementation viable.” The Omnitrix states.

Wipe out the entire ship to ensure that they won’t be a threat going forwards, or risk making their enemy far more dangerous in order to potentially save thousands of lives. Or, as a third option, simply return this collector to what it was before and fight their way out the way they planned to.

Save the Collectors.

Leave them as they are.

Kill the Collectors.

They deserve to die. After what they’ve done to human colonies over the Terminus Systems, their deaths would not be without justification.

Shepard knows the potential consequences. He knows some of his crew really isn’t going to agree with this decision. But he can’t condemn a species for what they might do.

“Ben, fix them.” He decides.

Ben nods, and turns back to the Collector.

“Do it.” Ben confirms.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Shepard.” Garrus speaks.

The Omnitrix once again begins to glow, brighter and brighter.

And in an instant, control is taken. The situation, as has been the case in small ways until now, changes course.

The light expands outwards, flashing with a sound that envelopes the entire ship. A wave of light, of energy, passes over the vessel and everything in it. The Normandy is engulfed, as is the rest of the solar system around them. The Omnitrix works.

And with a thousand piercing wails, control is lost. The Reaper’s control is lost.

When the light fades again the Collector that stands before them is no longer a puppet. They no longer loom as a hostile creature, clad in chitin and bursting with fire. They stand a cold blue and white, looking to the three of them.

The-

Ben reverted. The Omnitrix transformed him back into a human when it activated, and despite the presence of an atmosphere, it’s clearly not breathable. The human teen has fallen to his knees, desperately choking on the air as consciousness slips.

Tali is on the correct side of him to move for the Omnitrix, crouching down beside him with haste and placing a finger to its face as she’s seen Ben do. To everyone’s relief the holographic dial loads, just as Ben falls against the floor of the platform.

Tali scrolls as quickly as she can, but she doesn’t know these aliens. She doesn’t know what atmospheres they require. She’s only certain about one that can survive on its own, and pulls her finger back as soon as the watch lands on it. The moment the core has risen she forces it down again, and with a flash Ben transforms.

With a gasp Ben pushes off of the ground, quickly rising to his feet and staggering back when he sees the changed Collector before him.

“What is… it worked!” He shouts in Tali’s accent, now a quarian.

Seeing that Ben’s okay, they cautiously turn their attention to the Collector. Seeing them pay attention to it, it takes a step back. Almost fearfully.

It looks over the four, then cautiously steps forwards again. It extends a hand, hesitantly.

Shepard, seeing the gesture, carefully takes its hands.

It flinches at the contact, then raises its other hand to place against the side of its head. Leaving it there for a second, it then pulls back.

“You… save me. You saved us.” It speaks.

“You speak English?” Shepard immediately questions.

“Too much to explain… We need to move. We need to… To move the ship. They will be coming for us.” The collector looks out to the others on the distant platforms. It seems they needn’t speak for them to know what it wants, and the platforms begin to descend, as does the one they’re on.

In the same moment, the ship begins to blare. Like an alarm, or the whirring of turbines, a wailing noise echoes through the space at rhythmic intervals. And under it a constant rumbling tone.

“How do I know we can trust you?” Shepard asks.

“You… don’t. There is no time for trust, not now. There is only survival. They will be here soon; they will find us. We must move the ship.” It responds.

“Shepard, I could remotely pilot the ship, but you must manually reestablish my link to the command console.” EDI informs them.

The collector is able to hear her from the Omnitrix, which speaks it aloud.

“You… yes. Yes.” They begin walking, and Shepard’s squad follows as they move towards the console they initially rose on.

Around them move platforms begin to travel. In hardly a minute the main channel running through the ship went from a space more dead that should be possible for something so organic, to a bustling system. The collectors that whiz by are of every conceivable color combination, and the platforms that move do so with clear mechanical purpose, heading for a destination in another part of the ship.

“EDI, you’re sure about this?” Shepard questions.

“Since Ben repaired their genetic structure, collector control has been forfeited to me at nearly all available points. They are no longer fighting us.” EDI informs.

Reaching the console, Shepard summons his omni-tool and uses it to connect EDI. After a second of erratic tones through their coms, the holographic representation of EDI appears above the station.

“I have full control of their systems.” EDI states.

“Then get us out of here. We don’t want to be around when the Reapers send out another ship to take this one back.” Shepard says.

“Moving Normandy to loading bay now. Please specify a destination, Shepard.” EDI requests.

“Serpent nebula. Edge of the widow system.” Ben speaks before Shepard gets the chance.

“Course set.” EDI states, and the hologram disappears.

“You want to bring us to the Citadel? Are you crazy?” Garrus scolds Ben.

Ben turns from the console to him, his expression masked below the light green visor. “You guys just got a new sapient race, and they’re slightly more advanced than everyone short of the reapers. You think hiding them from the Council is really the right call here?” Ben retorts.

The entire ship seems to shake with the force them beginning to move, and then it does the same again not a moment later as they engage FTL.

“Hiding them? No. But bringing the ship straight to the Citadel?” Garrus is stopped with a gesture from Shepard.

“Ben said the edge of the widow system. That means we should be able to take the Normandy down first to give them a heads up. Hopefully before anyone notices us.” Shepard plans.

“Shepard, are you forgetting something?” Tali interjects.

Shepard looks to her but takes a moment to understand what she means. The collector standing beside her then registers, and he completely turns his body to face them.

Seeing this, their eyes lock on him.

“Commander… Shepard.” It greets.

“You know my name?” He asks.

“We… all do. The Reapers… know you. Fear you. Hate you. You name is… in our minds. What our minds… were. Before.” It explains, struggling to find the words. “Too much to tell. Too much. Need time to… think.”

“I’m sure this is a lot. We’ll have a few days before we reach council space, but before then we need to discuss your people.” Shepard says. “We’ll return to the Normandy. When you’re ready, send someone over to talk.”

“A… representative. An ambassador.” It speaks.

“Functionally.” Garrus confirms.

“We’ll… think. Thank you, Shepard… Thank you, Ben Tennyson… Thank you… all.” It speaks.

The squad does indeed return to the Normandy through the halls of the vessel.

It’s impressive just how quickly they are able to start changing small things. Moving and sorting the human corpses is a big one.

The Normandy, just as EDI said it was, has moved to a loading bay. The closest analog to one on a ship that’s not truly meant to be boarded, at least. The group make their way up the loading ramp, and then into the elevator after that. It’s here that EDI requests to see them in the CIC. Shepard, at least. But the rest join him.

Stepping out into the CIC, the group is promptly greeted to one of EDI’s holograms appearing on the nearest console.

“What is it, EDI?” Shepard asks cautiously.

“This is important. I’ve found data that could help us successfully navigate the Omega 4 relay, but I have also found the turian distress call that served as the lure for this trap. The Collectors were its source. It is unusual.” EDI informs them.

“Seems logical to me that they would have sent the initial message as bait.” Shepard responds, not understanding why this was so important.

“No, it is unusual because turian emergency channels have secondary encryption. It is corrupted in the message. It is not possible that the Illusive Man would believe the distress call was genuine.” EDI clarifies.

“Why are you so sure?” Shepard questions.

“I found the anomaly with Cerberus decryption protocols. He wrote them.” EDI states.

“He knew it was a trap? Why would he send us into a trap?” Joker questions over the intercom.

“That son of a bitch sent us right into Collector hands.” Shepard realizes.

“We should have known this would happen. Cerberus can’t be trusted.” Tali speaks.

The commander takes a second to breath, then lets out a sigh as he reaches up to pull off his helmet.

“Let me know when we’re out of FTL. I want a word with the Illusive Man.” He says.

“I’m sure he’ll want a word with you too, after what Ben pulled off out there.” Joker comments.

The next few days are slow ones.

The first problem they are forced to address is the stockpile of husks on the ship.

Ben is able to fix them, but they decide to wait for one very important reason.

They learn very early that while the collectors were under the control of the reapers most primary organs were substituted with cybernetics. Including, most pressingly, their stomachs. When the Omnitrix fixed them, it also removed the cybernetics from their bodies. While this means that they are more completely free of Reaper influence, it also means they now need to eat. Something made problematic by their ship’s lack of readiness to provide food and water.

The collectors quickly get to work on retrofitting several systems into a means of generating nutrient paste from the organic material on the ship. This is something most of the Normandy’s crew tries very hard not to think too hard about.

Tali is able to help with a lot of the smaller systems they wouldn’t have otherwise thought about. Proper air filtration, waste recycling, the works. Evidently coming from a people that live most of their lives on ships ensures that she knows how to make them habitable.

Beyond that, Ben is able to help. With aliens like Swampfire and Wildvine, he’s able to convert several areas into agricultural sections. And with control over the ship’s lighting and atmosphere, EDI is able to ensure the environment can sustain the plant life. The AI also changes the default atmosphere of the rest of the vessel to accommodate humans. Water is also less of an issue than at first assumed. Several of Ben’s aliens, like Water hazard and Big Chill, are able to generate a mass of water greater than their own body weight. The collectors convert several sections for the purpose of storing and filtering fluids.

Once food and water are ready to be supplied Ben reverts the husks. This is one more problem they are forced to deal with, but humans are significantly easier to organize and control.

With their immediate survival addressed, other questions are brought up.

The first of which being a system of government, or their nearest equivalent. The hierarchy.

When under the control of the reapers they didn’t have a system of ranks. They were a collective, a hive mind, which is one trait they maintained after being freed. They are still able to communicate with one another, similar to the way the codex describes the rachni to. Despite this, they now have a very firm sense of individuality.

If it weren’t for the Normandy’s presence, the situation might have erupted into chaos. But instead, they looked to Shepard and Ben. The two they credit their new survival to.

Garrus and, surprisingly, Grunt are helpful in establishing a basic structure for command.

The easiest to establish for them seems to be a pseudo-monarchy. One source of direction at the top and ranks and jobs for groups below that.

They learn slightly later on that most of the collectors didn’t gain any form of additional powers from the genetic merge. There are exceptions, but the majority remained functionally collector in nature.

Jobs are assigned to the groups that were already tasked with similar functions under Reaper control. Ground troops as soldiers, those that managed experiment as the technicians, the ones that dealt with the pods as farmers, and so on. Even the humans that are mentally stable are put to work in several areas the Collectors have difficulty adapting to on their own. There is an incredible distrust between the two groups, but for the sake of their immediate survive they cooperate under the leadership of the Normandy.

With a system of order established in just a few days, the last major questions arise.

Are they responsible for what the Collectors have done?

The short answer is no. Under Reaper influence and without a sense of self, they can’t be held responsible for what happened.

What are they now?

They aren’t Collectors anymore. Evident in all aspects of their new existence, they do not align themselves with the Reaper forces. But they aren’t prothean either. They have no connection to prothean culture, or even physiology.

There are holdovers from when they were protheans. The most notable being an ability to, as they describe it, read the genetic memory of people and places. This is how they came to understand English so quickly.

Ben jokingly suggests calling them “posttheans.” As in post-prothean.

Unfortunately, they like this name. Meaning that in hardly a matter of hours they begin referring to themselves as the posttheans.

And a few hours after that, they begin approaching the widow system.

The postthean they initially spoke to, the blue and white one, is chosen as their representative. He boards the Normandy as they near the point where they’ll come out of FTL, escorted by Shepard and Garrus.

“You ship is… cold.” He notes as they step onto the CIC.

Shepard turns to him, seeing his four eyes scanning over the machinery.

“Used to warmer temperatures?” The commander asks.

“No… not cold. Your ship is… dead.” He corrects himself.

Shepard and Garrus both wait for him to elaborate.

Noting their reactions, he does, “Used to Collector vessel. Used to… life. This metal does not breathe. There is no… life.” He explains.

“We’ll have to chalk that up to a difference in culture.” Garrus responds.

“… Yes. I agree.” He accepts, continuing on with the two as they head for the bridge.

They exit FTL with a subtle shaking through the hull, more tangible outside the Normandy than in.

Less than half an hour later the Normandy departs, and heads for the Citadel.

Now out of FTL Shepard can finally send his report to the Illusive Man, and another to the council. Just enough to make sure they’ll be ready for a meeting when they arrive.

With the matter as important as it is, they send the Normandy to its own dock. Even before they step off it’s clear that the council is actually taking this matter seriously.

Walking down through the airlock Shepard, Ben, Garrus, Tali, and the Postthean are all greeted to C-Sec guards. A half dozen of them.

They are escorted down through C-Sec academy, then through the Presidium itself, and to the tower.

Very seriously. They are, for once, treating the matter Shepard is bringing to them as extremely pressing.

Making their way though down the length of the tower, the people that were not escorted out stare at the Collector walking with them. Astonishment, fear, distress. There are a lot of emotions conveyed with their looks.

And moving up the stairs leading to the meeting space, they find Anderson waiting for them.

“Shepard, Ben. It’s good to see you again.” He greets.

“Anderson. Are they ready?” Shepard gets to business.

“Nearly. A few more minutes. We’re waiting for Sparatus.” Anderson explains.

Shepard nods, coming to a stop with the others. The C-Sec officers spread out as they do, stationing themselves around at a short distance around the group.

It’s now that the human councilor’s attention move to the postthean. Shepard steps aside to let Anderson reach him, the human extending a hand to the alien.

He takes it, and shakes the human’s hand.

“A collector?” Anderson makes sure.

“I… was.” He confirms.

“Good to hear.” Anderson lets go of his hand, turning to Shepard again. “So, how’d you pull this off, Shepard?”

“I’ll explain when we’re in front of the whole council.” Shepard responds.

“Good plan.” He accepts, turning back to the bridge behind him. “I think they’re ready for us. Let’s go.”

While Shepard’s group moves for the bridge, Anderson head in another direction, making his way around the outer ring to step up to his platform beside the others.

The councilors are ridged when they see the alien walking with Shepard’s group. Stiff, and tense.

“Shepard,” The asari is the first to greet. “We see you have been busy since we last spoke.”

“The Collectors are agents of the Reapers, and I have proof!” The commander announces.

“We’ve heard that before, commander. And that is not the purpose of this meeting.” The turian states.

“Sparatus is correct, Shepard. We have gathered to discuss the nature of…” She hesitates, letting the alien step forwards to Shepard’s side. “The Collectors.”

“Was… a collector. No more. Freed of… the Reapers.” It corrects.

In hearing the alien so directly state that the Collectors are working for the Reapers, the Council has to pause for a second.

“We found a damaged Collector vessel on our mission.” Shepard begins to explain, “It was a trap set by the Reapers, meant to capture me and my crew. But we discovered that the Collectors are actually protheans. What’s left of them at least, after thousands of years of genetic modification.” He gestures for Ben to step forwards, and he does. “Ben, with the use of the Omnitrix, was able to repair their damaged genetic structure, freeing them of Reaper control in the process.” He gestures to the postthean, “His people are no longer Collectors. But they are here.” He steps aside to let the alien speak.

“We have started to call ourselves… posttheans.” He says.

“We have an entire ship of them at the edge of the widow system, along with a colony’s worth of surviving humans from Horizon, and several others. The humans need food, and transport back to their colonies. And the posttheans want to establish themselves as part of the galactic community. They need aid if they hope to survive, and can offer their technologic advancements in return.” Shepard explains the situation.

The council is again silent for a moment, considering what Shepard says.

“This is absurd.” The turian eventually erupts, apparently exceedingly frustrated by Shepard’s tale. “You expect us to believe that the Collectors were under the control of the supposed Reapers, who are said to wait in dark space, and that Ben was able to “fix their genetic structure” to somehow free them of this allegiance? Loyalty is not a factor of species, Commander.”

The postthean slams a hand down on the pedestal before the group, forcefully enough to draw everyone’s attention to him.

“Not “loyal.” We were controlled. We were slaves. We were prisoners to our own bodies, mindless, and controlled. By the Reapers.” He announces, somehow even more furious than Sparatus.

“And that’s no longer the case? Because “Ben Tennyson” somehow altered your genetics with his… wristwatch?” The salarian councilor questions.

“The Omnitrix. Most powerful device in my universe, built for the purpose of understanding and restoring species. Yes, we expect you to believe it.” Ben states, holding up his wrist to make sure they have a clear view of the watch.

“Our apologies, Commander, but these are extraordinary claims. Our hesitance is understandable.” The asari justifies.

“We can doubt the existence of the Reapers all you like, but the truth is that there’s a ship containing several tens of thousands of aliens at the edge of our system, and they’re looking to make peace.” Anderson simplifies for them.

“Yes, Anderson, on that we agree. We can discuss the Reapers in further detail at a later date. For now, we must address the matter of these “posttheans.” Shepard, you’re certain they seek peace?” The turian questions.

“A fair point.” The asari backs up. “After your claims of what happened on the human colonies, how can we be sure they really-”

“If they wanted war, they wouldn’t have given us control of their ship. They’re on our side.” Shepard states.

“Then there are matters that must be attended to. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Commander. Please have their vessel brought to the Citadel, and this “postthean” returned to it. Commander, you are to remain on the Citadel until we have time to discuss the nature of the “Reapers” further.” The salarian councilor plans.

“Meeting adjourned.” The asari announces, and with that the councilors each step away from their podiums.

The next weeks go by very quickly, but not easily.

The first matter to address is the Collector vessel. Massive is scale, and slightly more advanced than even the Citadel.

They learn relatively quickly that when Ben freed the Collectors of reaper influence, the Reapers also went to the effort of wiping the ship’s systems of nearly all information that could be used against them. Meaning that the data EDI extracted is all they were able to Salvage.

Then they have to deal with the humans. Transportation is one issue, but another is the group of people that elect to stay with the posttheans. Apparently not having been to psychologically damaged by the experience and having made friends with the new aliens they worked with. This is inconvenient for the council, but does help in establishing the posttheans as an amicable entity that can be worked with.

Their need for resources like food and water is minimized by what Ben was able to accomplish, but is still a factor. It’s immediately apparent that the posttheans don’t have any form of economy. The volus are instrumental in establishing a system of trade with them.

Performing tests, the scientists on the Citadel, working under the council, are able to confirm that the posttheans are in fact what became of the protheans, based on their genetic structure. Though it’s clear that some degree of augmentation is present, both in a consistent way across all individuals, and in a random way that varies between specimens.

According to politicians working under the council, the integration will at the very least take months, or, more likely, years. But they’ve started. Initial talks go smoothly, given the circumstances. Diplomacy between the posttheans and the other races is slow, but it happens.

And as a bonus to the whole situation, the council is forced to acknowledge the Reapers.

They are still doubtful, but with nearly every single postthean claiming the same story about the Reapers having controlled them it becomes hard to ignore their existence.

Shepard was already re-instated as a Spectre, but under the condition that he limit his work to the Terminus systems. That restriction is lifted, as the council makes it clear that they actually support what he’s doing now.

The fact he’s working with Cerberus is still a controversial topic, but as a Specter he’s able to make that decision.

The more pressing concern is the confirmation that the Collectors are both working for the Reapers, and the ones abducting human colonies. The council still can’t get involved in the affairs of the human colonies, as such is an Alliance matter, but they are able to offer aid when it comes to the fight against the Collectors.

It’s about three weeks in total before the Normandy is able to depart again, and nearly the moment it does Shepard is summoned to the conference room to speak to the Illusive Man.

He steps into the room and immediately the holographic interface begins rising from the floor, scanning over him. Once it reaches his eyes he’s able to see the Illusive man, sitting ahead of him.

“Shepard.” He greets, pulling the cigarette away from his mouth. “Looks like the Collector ship was even more than we expected. I’ve heard that EDI extracted some interesting data before the Reapers wiped the systems.”

“That’s not all EDI founds. She told us the distress call originated from the Collectors. You betrayed us. Just like I knew you would.” Shepard immediately accuses.

“We’re at war.” The Illusive man justifies, placing down his drink and leaning forwards in his chair. “The Collectors are taking humans, and every minute we waste is one more we give the enemy to prepare.”

“I know the stakes. But we’re supposed to be on the same side, and I can’t trust you.” Shepard insists.

“Without that information, we don’t reach the Collector homeworld. And you and every other human may as well be dead. It was a trap… but I was confident in your abilities. And evidently, I was correct. After what happened with Ben the Collectors are going to be scrambling to find a way to strike back. Which means we need more than ever to find a way to their homeworld, and it seems like we have.” For the first time in any of their calls, the Illusive man pushes out of his chair, rising to his feet. “EDI confirmed our suspicions. The Reapers and Collectors ships use an advanced Identify Friend/Foe system that the relays recognize. All we need to do is get our hands on one of those IFFs. I would request that you get the one from our new allies’ ship, but from what I hear, that was wiped too.”

“You still expect me to work for you after this?” Shepard questions.

“You’re smarter than to throw away resources when they still have something to offer you, Shepard.” He states.

The commander is silent for a moment, simply letting his face rest on a glare before he speaks. “Fine. I’m guessing you have a plan.”

“We have a science team working on a derelict Reaper right now. I need you to go and pick up its IFF.” The man informs him.

“Where did you find a derelict Reaper?” Shepard questions.

“An Alliance science team recently determined that the “Great Rift” on the planet Klendagon is actually an impact crater from a mass accelerator weapon.” He returns to his seat, picking up his glass again to finish his drink. “A very old mass accelerator. I sent a team to find either the weapon or its target. They found both. The weapon was defunct, but it helped us plot the flight path of the intended target – a 37 million year old derelict Reaper. We found it damaged and trapped in the gravity of a brown dwarf.” The Illusive Man explains.

“I get the feeling this isn’t going to be a simple “swing by and pick up our package.”” The commander says.

“We lost contact with Dr. Chandana’s team shortly after they boarded. Initial reconnaissance revealed no clues, and it was too risky to commit more resources – but now we need that IFF. I’ll forward the coordinates to Joker. In the meantime… I suggest you tell your crew I didn’t risk their lives unnecessarily. It will make things easier going forward.” The man requests, and the call begins to end, the holographic booth sliding down again.

“EDI – tell the crew to assemble. We’ve got a lot to talk about.” Shepard instructs, looking up to the ceiling.

“Of course, Shepard.” EDI responds.

In about ten minutes the whole crew has been gathered, and Shepard has explained the situation with the Illusive Man to them.

“So the Illusive Man didn’t sell us out. Could’ve fooled me.” Jacob is present.

“Lied to us. Used us. Needed access to the Collector data banks. Necessary risk.” Mordin rationalizes, pacing behind the group on the left side of the table.

“Not telling us the plan wasn’t necessary. He still betrayed us.” Tali argues.

“He tries something like that again and the Collectors will be the least of his problems.” Shepard puts bluntly, silencing them. “EDI, are you sure this IFF is going to work?” He looks to the center of the table as he hologram appears over it.

“My analysis is accurate, Shepard. I have also determined the approximate location of the Collector homeworld based on navigational data recovered from their vessel.” EDI states.

Above the table in front of EDI’s hologram, a map of the milky way appears. Everyone at the table directs their attention to it, and watches as an icon passes over it to land not far from the center.

“That can’t be right.” Miranda reacts, narrowing her eyes at the data.

“EDI doesn’t make mistakes. The Collector homeworld is located somewhere in the galactic core.” Shepard states.

“Can’t be. The core is just black holes and exploding suns. There are no habitable planets there.” Jacob is still present.

“Could be an artificial construction. Space station protected by powerful mass effect fields and radiation shields.” Mordin theorizes.

“From what we’ve started learning about their ship, even the Collectors don’t have that kind of technology.” Garrus says.

“The Collectors are just servants of our real enemy. And we’ve all seen what their masters are capable of.” Shepard reminds. “They built the mass relays and the Citadel. Who’s to say they can’t build a space station surrounded by black holes? No wonder nobody’s ever returned from a trip through the Omega 4 mass relay.”

“The logical conclusion is that a small safe zone exists on the far side of the relay. A region where ships can survive. Standard relay transit protocols would not allow safe transport. Drift of several thousand kilometers is common, and would be fatal in the galactic core. The reaper IFF bust trigger the relay to use more advanced, encrypted protocols.” EDI states.

“Just because we can follow the Collectors through the relay doesn’t mean we can take them out. I don’t want to go after them until I know we’re ready.” Shepard speaks, looking over the group.

“Sooner or later we need that IFF. I say, why wait?” Jacob’s still here.

“it’s a derelict reaper. What if more Collectors are waiting for us? I doubt they’re going to let Ben “fix” them again. We may want to build up our team before we take that kind of risk.” Miranda strategizes.

“The more people we have on our side, the better our chances of success. We need to keep building up the team.” Shepard decides.

“It’s your call, Commander. Whatever you the plan, we’re with you.” Garrus states.

Shepard nods, and the people in the room start heading for the exit, leaving only Shepard and Ben after a moment.

Noting that the human isn’t leaving, the commander focuses on him.

“Something to add, Ben?” He questions.

“Just want to make sure we’re on the same page. When we pass through the Omega 4 relay, when we get to their main base or whatever, what’s the plan? ‘Cause it sounds like Cerberus was kind of planning to just blow it up.” He says.

“We’ll give you a chance. Now that we have the option, fixing the Collectors is plan A. But if that doesn’t work.”

“Fix them or they’ll still be dangerous, and you’ll kill ‘em. I got it.” Ben accepts, pushing off the wall he was leaning against. “Oh, one other thing.” He speaks again, stopping on his way to the door. “Dead Reaper. Might make the Omnitrix bug out until I can scan it.” Ben says.

“You believe that you’ll be able to transform into a Reaper?” Shepard questions.

“Sure, why not? Wouldn’t be the strangest thing I’ve got in here.” Ben confirms. “At the very least, the Omnitrix might bug me about checking, even if it can’t. Like with the Collectors.”

“Understood.” The commander acknowledges.

“If you need me, you know where I’ll be.” Ben says, exiting the room.

Chapter Text

The door slides open automatically, letting the Commander look into the room.

With how he acts in the field, it’s sometimes hard to predict how he spends his free time. Sometimes it’ll seem like he spends hours at a time running about the ship in different forms for one reason or another, and other times he’ll spend an inordinate amount of time in his private quarters.

According to Kelly, the ship’s functioning psychiatrist, he spends most of his time on recreational activities. Video games he’s downloaded to a console while they’re in range of a comm buoy.

According to EDI, he spends more time than most of the crew researching historical events and the cultures of the different sapient species. She’s also noted that he frequently uses the tech lab under Mordin’s supervision to synthesize various forms of technology that are not commercially available. Several of these designs have been recorded and sent to Cerberus, as their functions are unique and, in some cases, more advanced than their equivalents.

Shepard steps into the room, but finds Ben absent of these tasks. He doesn’t pace about the room as an alien, or have any form of recreational software loaded on his computer. The various pieces of technology on the table by the window seem dormant, and his phone doesn’t have any codex entries loaded. His phone is simply asleep, held face down in his hand.

Ben sits at the edge of his bed, staring down at the floor. A pensive look worn on his face. One he breaks as his attention moves to Shepard.

“Hey Shep, what can I do for you?” He asks, now forcing his signature confident smile.

“Just checking in. You have a minute to talk?” The commander responds.

“Yeah, sure. Any updates on the posttheans?”

“From what I hear they’re still getting the hang of things. Discussions are proceeding, but slowly. The council has promised support until things settle down though, at least enough to keep them alive.” Shepard informs.

“Can’t be easy going from “mind-controlled zombies” to “sovereign people that need to master politics” in like a month.” Ben says.

“You’re worried about them?” Shepard asks.

“Nah, not really.” Ben quickly rejects, pushing off of the bed to start walking around the room. “I’m sure it’ll work out, it usually does. I’m just… thinking.”

“About?”

“If I’d tried to scan one back on Horizon- or Freedoms Progress… Maybe we could have avoided a lot of this. Maybe I could have fixed them back then, and then… I don’t know. Feels like a lot of people have died that didn’t have to.” Ben expresses, pacing back across the room.

“You’re feeling guilty?” Shepard reinterprets.

“I don’t think so. I just feel like things could have gone better. Like if the Omnitrix was working correctly I could have done a lot more.” He exaggeratedly holds his left wrist into the air as he mentions the device.

“It was functioning differently before you arrived?” Shepard questions.

“Well it wasn’t beeping at me to scan aliens before I came over, that’s for sure. It always talked at me before, like the way it does when it’s actually doing something. I guess it stopped doing that when… Skurd.” Ben practically shouts, stopping in place. He raises a hand to smack into his forehead.

“Skurd? Is that a planet?” Shepard guesses.

“A slime-biot: A sort of DNA parasite. He latched onto the Omnitrix for a while when we were dealing with Maltruent. He was always messing with the watch; he must have changed the notification settings. Man. Guess that’s one more thing to talk to Asmuth about when I get back.”

“What happened to him?” He questions.

“Long story. Probably wouldn’t believe me anyways.” Ben doesn’t answer, returning to his bed to sit down again.

“Try me.”

The commander’s confidence forces a smirk onto Ben’s face.

“So, we chased Maltruent through time, right? Because he was trying to go back to before the universe started to remake it in his image. We had some cool time cycles back then. Anyways, the Contumelia, a race of pan dimensional beings that travel from universe to universe, offered to let Skurd return to his own kind which, as it turned out, were actually meant to populate the universe with genetic material. Rook and I learned this just after defeating Maltruent and getting to watch our universe’s big bang.” Ben says with a straight face.

That’s a lot. Even for what Ben has otherwise said, that’s a lot. So much so that Shepard can’t quite bring himself to believe Ben, which the teen can see on his face.

“Told you you wouldn’t believe me.”

“It just… It is hard to believe. But if it’s true, then it makes our struggles seem small by comparison.”

“Not small, just different. The stakes back then were “the whole universe and everything in it” but I only had to stop one guy. The stakes for you guys are a bit smaller, but you have a whole army of giant bug monsters to deal with. That’s a lot harder to fix with punching.” Ben summarizes.

“You still think you’re up to it?” Shepard questions.

“I’m Ben Tennyson. Of course I’m up to it. I’m just annoyed I couldn’t stop them sooner.” Ben affirms.

“If you weren’t here, we might not have stopped that ship at all. Take the wins where you can, or when this is all over you’ll only see the lives you didn’t save.” Shepard advises.

Ben looks to him again, but this time he doesn’t force that confident smile onto his face. He just looks at the man with clear focus in his green eyes, and he nods.

“Talk to you later, Ben.” Shepard takes his leave, turning around to head out through the door.

“You know where to find me.” The teen says

In the following week, they come to postpone heading to the derelict Reaper.

At first the plan is simply to make sure they are well equipped. Ensure their weaponry is adequate for what they might be face, make sure their armor is the best they can stock, the works.

But then it came up in conversation that Kasumi still technically hasn’t been “paid” by Cerberus. Then it was brought up that Zaeed is also waiting for them to have time to deal with a personal assignment of his. And from there about half the crew had something they needed done on one planet or another. Jack wants to blow up a Cerberus base, Jacob needs to check out a crashed ship, and Miranda needs to check on a family matter.

The last of those happens to be the most convenient to accomplish. Miranda needs to meet with a contact on Illium, which is where they were heading for the sake of stocking the armory.

Shepard’s briefly informed of the situation.

Apparently, Miranda has a sister. A twin. One that she helped escape their father shortly after she did, for the sake of giving her a normal life. Only now her father knows where she is, Illium, and Miranda wants to relocate her sister’s family to keep them safe.

The family doesn’t know anything about the situation, but Cerberus is coming up with a way to move them voluntarily. They’re relocating them relatively soon, and Miranda wants to be there when this happens to ensure things go smoothly.

Her contact’s name is Lanteia, and she’ll be waiting for them in the lounge near the Nos Astra docking bay.

Ben and Tali are caught up on all of this as the Normandy glides down through the atmosphere of the world, approaching Nos Astra.

Tali is coming because Shepard seems to always bring at least two squad mates with him, and nobody has the sense to question this. Ben is coming because he’s a wildcard that gives them the advantage in practically every situation, and Shepard thinks they could use one of those should anything go wrong.

The Normandy finds is place in the Nos Astra docks in just a few minutes, and the group departs to meet Miranda’s contact.

An asari, they soon learn, waiting just outside the Eternity Lounge.

“Ms. Lawson,” She greets as they approach, stepping over to meet them. “I’m glad you made it. We’ve had a complication.”

“What happened? Is Oriana alright?” Miranda is quick to check.

“She’s fine. But… you listed a man named Niket as your trusted source? He contacted me, warning that your father has sent Eclipse mercenaries to make a sweep. He suggested that the mercs might be watching for you personally. He’s offered to escort Oriana’s family to the terminal instead.” Lanteia explains.

“Sorry, did I miss something? Who’s Niket?” Ben questions, causing the group to focus on him.

“He’s a friend. He and I go back a long way…” Miranda tells them.

“Do you want to bring in any of your other Illium contacts, Ms. Lawson?” The asari asks.

“No.” She answers immediately. “You and Niket are the only two I trust on this.”

“It’s your sister, Miranda. What do you want to do?” Shepard asks, directing Miranda’s attention to him for a moment before it moves back to Lanteia.

“Lanteia, we’ll follow Niket’s suggestion. Shepard and I will take the car and draw their attention. Have Niket escort the family to the shuttle. Give him full access to the family’s itinerary, just to be safe.” Miranda plans.

“Understood, Ms. Lawson.” Lanteia acknowledges.

“So the plan is for us to get shot down by Eclipse while your sister gets to safety?” Shepard questions, turning to face Miranda.

Miranda meets the gaze of his visor, “Eclipse will be under orders to take my sister alive. They won’t risk anything that could kill us.”

“I doubt Eclipse will send all their people just to stop you. Do you want to give Niket any backup?” Shepard asks.

“Niket can take care of himself. Besides, any armed backup just draws attention to him.” Miranda rejects the idea.

“Ahem.” Ben cuts in, drawing her attention to him. “What if they aren’t armed?” He crosses his arms ahead of him and rotates his wrist slightly so the Omnitrix faces Miranda.

“…fine.” She accepts, flicking her wrist to summon her omni-tool. “I’ll let Niket know you’re coming to meet him. Remember, we’re just here to make sure her family gets on the transport safely. Don’t make contact unless you have to. The less she knows about all of this, the better.”

“Come on, I’m great at keeping a low profile.” Ben says, either lying or demonstrating a demonstrable lack of self-awareness.

As if to accentuate this, he places a hand on the Omnitrix, scrolling through the dial for a moment before pressing the core down. In flash that draws the attention of at least a few people in the lounge, and causes Lanteia to immediately take a step back, he transforms.

His skin darkens, and over it bone-like plating spreads to cover certain parts of his body, most notably his face. His height reaches about 7 feet, and on his shoulder the Omnitrix dial re-appears. He turns into a turian.

“Calouslash, nice. I was going for Psychquid, but this works.” Ben accepts.

Lanteia is clearly confused, but keeps her reaction contained.

“Ben. Low profile.” Shepard reminds.

“People are starting to recognize me. This face hasn’t been around as much.” Ben justifies, turning to head back out into Eternity. “Where is he?”

“I’ll tell Niket to meet you on the trading floor.” Miranda says, and Ben starts making his way back there.

“Let’s go.” Shepard says, prompting Miranda and Tali to follow along after him as they too make their way out of Eternity.

“Thank you, Shepard. I appreciate this. I hadn’t planned on Eclipse… but they never planned on you, or Ben.” Miranda speaks.

I’m summarizing this next part because a few things happen in quick succession.

The group makes their way to the transport depot and get in a shuttle to carry out their half of the plan.

Ben, for his half of the plan, meets with Niket on the trading floor.

Shepard’s group gets out into the air around Nos Astra fairly quickly, letting them survey the Eclipse presence.

When Ben arrives Niket seems noticeably distressed by his presence. Ben, being his usual self, either doesn’t notice this or writes it off.

Miranda is the first to spot the gunships heading towards several cargo bays where they’re dropping off troops. Shepard, Miranda, and Tali are thankfully protected from the spray of gunfire aimed at their shuttle when they try to land in the same bays.

Ben is soon made aware of just how young Miranda’s sister is when Niket and he observe the family arrive on their level of Nos Astra. She’s just a year or two older than he is, seemingly. Which he finds questionable, given that Miranda described the woman as her twin.

The man seemingly in charge of the Eclipse group that was firing at their shuttle motions for the rest of his group to stop firing when Miranda starts getting out of the shuttle.

“Since you’re not firing yet, I trust you know who I am.” Miranda observes.

“Yeah. They said you’d be in the car. You’re the bitch that kidnapped our boss’ little girl.” The merc leader is quick to respond.

“Kidnapped?” Miranda questions, somewhere between astonished and offended. “This doesn’t involve you. I suggest you take your men and go.” She composes herself again quickly.

“Think you’ve got it all lined up, huh? Captain Enyala’s already moving in on the kid. She knows about Niket. He won’t be helping you.” The mercenary informs.

Niket notices Ben’s confusion, even obscured by his turian expressions. They start traveling along behind the family at a distance that doesn’t alert them.

“Guessing Miranda didn’t tell you it was a kid?” Niket questions.

Ben’s eyes flick over to the man, almost a glare.

“No. It didn’t come up.” Ben answers.

“She tell you how young the kid was when she took her from her father?”

“Wait, Miranda. You said she was your twin sister.” Shepard notes, aiming his attention to her.

“That what she told you? No, this crazy bitch kidnapped our boss’ baby daughter. He’s been looking for her for more than a decade.” The mercenary chimes in.

“It’s complicated, Shepard. We share the same DNA, just not the same birthday.” Miranda tries to explain, sparing a glance to him, but otherwise keeping her attention on the Eclipse operatives.

Shepard’s attention remains on Meranda, seemingly trusting Tali on his other side to keep her shotgun aimed at the Eclipse for him.

“You took a baby form the richest guy in the galaxy, lady. I don’t know what your damage is, but you’re not getting away with it.” The merc seems to believe that he’s in the right here.

“I’m trying to get her back to her father. He’s been looking for her for over a decade, and he finally found her.” Niket reveals, keeping his voice hushed.

Ben just goes quiet, processing the information.

“You’re not getting Miranda’s sister. If you push this, it’ll go badly for you.” Shepard warns.

“Captain Enyala ordered us to give you one chance to walk away. But this whole time we’ve been talking, my men have been lining up shots. When I say the word, we unleash hell on your squad. So I suggest you walk away nicely, unless you want things to get ugly.” The mercenary tries to threaten them.

A lot of good that does him. Miranda shoots him, clean through the side. He’s practically thrown back to the ground with a pained yelp as his hands go to clutching the hole.

“Works for me.” Miranda responds, unphased.

“They’re not backing down! Tell Captain Enyala to send backup!” The merc leader is just barely able to get out before the pain overwhelms him.

Even without Ben it takes a laughably small amount of time for them to make their way across the bay, taking out the waves of mercs as they reach them. It’s only once they reach a large door sealing off the way to the next bay that they slow down. Mainly so Tali can override the lockdown, but it also gives Shepard the opportunity to question Miranda.

“Miranda,” He starts, preparing to question her.

“Shepard… I think I owe you an explanation. Oriana is my twin, genetically. But my father… grew her when I was a teenager. She was meant to replace me. I couldn’t let my father do to her what he did to me. So I rescued her. She’s almost a woman now.” Miranda tells him, completely skipping over the part where Shepard investigates via questions.

“Why didn’t you tell me we were saving a kid?” Is all Shepard is left to ask.

“She’s not a child; she’ll be 19 this year. But… well, it didn’t seem relevant at the time, I suppose. There are people who’d use her against me. I’m very protective when it comes to Oriana. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you sooner. You deserved to know.” Miranda admits.

There’s a moment of silence form Shepard, where the gaze of his helmet’s visor is left to linger on her.

“If Eclipse knows where Oriana is, they’ll be moving in on her soon. We need to hurry.” Shepard decides to accept, turning to look over to Tali.

The quarian notices his glance and responds with a single finger. Just a second later, with an electronic fizz, the door begins to open.

“Agreed.” Says Miranda.

They start moving again, making their way through the corridor opened up by the door.

It’s not long before they’re back in the thick of combat against the Eclipse troops. And it’s not long after that that the cargo bays are littered with corpses wearing Eclipse armor.

“Eclipse operatives have attempted to delay you by disabling the elevators. I am overriding their lockdown.” EDI informs them, which is the only thing that slows them down once they reach the elevator.

That, and the pop of static coming over their radios.

“Guys, Niket is working for Miranda’s dad. Oriana’s safe, but I could use some backup. There’s an asari up here with some crazy biotics. She” The alien voice, presumably Ben’s, is cut off with the sound of something heavy slamming through metal, followed immediately after by a screech from Ben’s alien, and the sound of motion.

“Ben?” Shepard checks.

“Get up here!” He shouts, and with another pop of static goes silent.

“Ben? Ben? Damn it. He must be talking about captain Enyala.” Shepard speaks.

It’s convenient that EDI is now able to get the doors open, letting the group get inside. Shepard doesn’t waste any time hitting the command to start it moving.

“Ben has to be mistaken. Maybe he misunderstood the situation, or the Eclipse tricked him.” Miranda theorizes, starting to pace.

Shepard catches the glance Tali gives him. Concerned to some degree, based on her posture. For Miranda, or by Miranda, he can’t tell.

“Or maybe it means something else. Niket wouldn’t do that. Damn it, why won’t this thing go any faster?” Miranda continues, forcing their attention back over to her.

Miranda steps over to the control panel displaying the elevator’s position within the shaft, summoning her omni-tool as she does. With a violent flash they all feel the lift begin to hasten in its ascent.

“What makes you so sure that Niket wouldn’t turn on you?” Shepard questions.

“He could have turned on me when I ran away. I’m sure my father tried to buy him off. If he didn’t do it then, why would he do it now?” Miranda responds, seemingly doubting her own logic.

“Did Niket know that you took Oriana from you father?” Shepard asks.

“No, he just found out about that recently. It was too personal to involve someone else. I never really thought about it, but maybe… no. He’d have to understand why I did it. He knows what I went through.” Miranda tries to convince herself.

“You know him, Miranda. If you don’t think he’d betray you, then I’m sure there’s another explanation.” Shepard respects.

“I don’t know, damn it! But I guess we’ll find out soon enough. And then I’ll have a word with this captain Enyala.” Miranda concludes.

When the elevator comes to a stop the group can already hear the furious conflict transpiring beyond the doors. The last thing they head before the door begin to open is a heavy thud, which is soon revealed to have been the body of a blue alien slamming into the doors.

The Omnitrix located on its chest gives them the idea that it’s Ben.

It’s a monkey of sorts, but notably sporting an extra set of arms, and two extra pairs of eyes. It’s also completely blue.

It’s made even more blue with the glow of biotics grabbing onto him. He’s just barely able to grab onto the ground under him, seemingly sticking, before he’s yanked into the air. Now upside down, he sees the group behind him.

“Took you long enough! Someone needs to find Niket, I lost track of him in the commotion. But I could also use some heeeeeee” He’s cut off with his grip slipping, sending his body soaring into the air over the bay with a screech.

“Tali, help Ben. Miranda and I will find Niket.” Shepard quickly divvies them up.

“On it.” Tali acknowledges, heading out in the direction Ben was flung.

It’s reasonably to assume the asari currently glowing a stark blue is Enyala, and that the speck of dark blue swinging around the ceiling is Ben.

Yeah, that’s Ben. Nothing else without a mass effect core moves like that. From his tail thin strands of silk-like material is emerging, spraying out to latch onto the ceiling and swing him forwards, each time just barely letting him avoid the biotic blasts sent his way. Occasionally he’ll dip low enough to grab onto the tops of the crate stacks, which he latches onto to launch Enyala’s way. She’s often forced to leap from where she’s positioned to avoid these, or is just barely able to stop them before they reach her to launch them back towards Ben.

Tali has a shotgun.

Surprisingly Enyala is actually less prepared for a shotgun than the spider monkey.

It takes Shepard and Miranda a few minutes to track down Niket, who evidently was attempting to hide from the fight by taking cover behind a stack of crates at the far end of the bay.

 He flinches at each blunt collision, focusing so intently on the combat that he almost doesn’t notice when Miranda and Shepard round the corner. He does though, turning as to face the approaching footsteps.

“Miri.” He says, recognizing Miranda after a moment.

“Is it true, Niket? Did you sell me out?” She questions.

His face says all it needs to. He totally did, and Miranda immediately knows it.

“Why, Niket? You were my friend. You helped me get away from my father.” Miranda sounds genuinely hurt, practically pleading for an explanation.

Niket pulls himself up off the ground, stepping towards the two.

“Yes! Because you wanted to leave. What was your choice! But if I’d know that you’d stolen a baby–”

“I didn’t steal her! I rescued her!” Miranda insists, cutting Niket off.

“From a life of wealth and happiness?” He promptly retorts. “You weren’t saving her! You were getting back at your father!”

“If you’re working for Miranda’s father, that means he knows about Oriana. We need to find a new solution.” Shepard notes, drawing the man’s attention to him for a moment.

“Miranda’s father has no information about Oriana. I knew you had spy programs in your father’s system, Miri, so I kept it private. I’m the only one who knows.” Niket tells them.

“Which means that you’re the only loose end. This isn’t how I wanted it to end, Niket. I’m going to miss you…” Miranda quickly decides, drawing her gun with just as little hesitation.

“Miranda, wait!” Shepard has just enough time to grab her wrist before she fires, aiming it towards the ceiling. “You don’t want to do this.” He tells her.

“This has to end here, Shepard. My father will keep trying to find Oriana.” Miranda responds, yanking her arm out of his grip.

“Maybe Niket can help… talk to your father. Just say you got here first.” Shepard suggests, turning to face the man again.

Seeing his gaze land on him, he quickly nods.

“I’ll…  I’ll tell him that you hid her. That I don’t know where she is.” Niket agrees, his breath noticeably shaky. Probably from the stress of having Miranda aim a gun at him.

It takes Miranda a moment, but she eventually accepts it, lowering her pistol back to her side.

“I never want to see you again, Niket. Never.”

Another forceful collision across the floor causes Niket to again flinch before quickly nodding.

“Believe me, you won’t.” He assures.

With a gesture from Shepard he starts moving, leaving Miranda and Shepard to make their way back towards the rest of the bay.

I’m not going to pretend that the fight against Enyala was difficult. It was tedious, but by the time the group return to the open area of the bay Tali and Ben have managed to deal with her, along with the rest of the Eclipse troopers. Most of which are simply covered in webbing, as they would be if Ben was trying to leave them alive. The rest are full of holes, as they would be if Tali fired her shotgun at them.

Shepard orders the two to meet him and Miranda at the elevator leading back up to the transport depot so they can ensure there aren’t any more men waiting for Oriana there. Once everyone enters, and the elevator starts moving, Miranda’s attention moves to Ben.

“What the hell happened, Tennyson?” She immediately questions.

“Uhh, what?” Ben responds with a chuckle, clearly confused.

“How did you get from “escorting Oriana through the commerce levels” to “fighting the Eclipse in a cargo bay?”” She clarifies the question, though no less accusatory in the way she says it.

“Might have something to do with the fact that your “twin sister” isn’t even in her twenties, Miranda.” Ben responds, matching her hostility. “Good job with that, actually.” He quickly changes his tone, seemingly saying that without any sarcasm. “If I wasn’t so surprised, I don’t think Niket would have tried to get me in on his side of the deal.”

Miranda’s calming down at this point, but is still visibly agitated.

“Get you in?” Shepard questions.

“He told me about how Miranda took Oriana when she was still a baby, then offered me part of his cut for getting her back to Miranda’s father. He offered to have me stay on Oriana while he went down to cargo to switch her booking over. I figured it would be better to stay with him.” Ben explains.

“Why didn’t you contact us sooner?” The commander investigates.

“I wanted to see what we were up against. Figured it would be better to get an idea of their numbers before I called to fill you guys in.” He answers.

“So what went wrong?” Tali asks.

“The watch timed out halfway through the conversation with the captain. As soon as I turned human they started shooting at me. They missed, but still.”

With Ben’s side of the story fully filled in the lift becomes silent.

“Niket really sold me out.” Miranda eventually accepts, drawings the group’s attention to her again. “I didn’t even see it coming.”

“You couldn’t have. Even with all your upgrades, you’re human just like the rest of us.” Shepard responds fairly quickly.

“But I let it get personal… Why didn’t you let me kill him? Letting him live puts Oriana in danger. It puts out mission in danger, if I have to worry about him stabbing me in the back again.” She questions him.

“You still cared from him, even if he betrayed you.” He responds.

“You’re right. And my father knew it. He used that against me. It’s always been like this. My father gave me anything I ever wanted, but there was always a hook, an angle for his long-term plan. I threw away everything he ever gave me when I ran. Except Niket. Weakness on my part.”

“You still have Oriana.” Shepard reminds.

“My father didn’t give her to me. I rescued her.” She corrects him. “But… yes. You’re right. I still have something. Thank you.”

It doesn’t time them too long to confirm that there aren’t any more Eclipse members at the transport depot. Apparently, they only sent enough men to fill about three cargo bays. Not very dedicated, if you ask me.

The four of them are back together by the time that Oriana’s family arrives on the floor.

“No sign of Eclipse. It looks like we’re clear.” Miranda reiterates, looking across the floor to the group of three.

To the young woman, specifically. Oriana.

“There she is. She’s safe… with her family.” Miranda acknowledges.

The simple fact visibly affects her more than she intents to let on, her lips pursing and her eyes shutting after a moment.

“Come on. We should go.” Miranda eventually speaks again, preparing to turn away.

“We’re seriously not doing the happy family reunion thing here? That’s where it felt like this was going.” Ben remarks, earning a glare from the dark-haired woman.

“It’s not about what I want. It’s about what’s right for her. The less she knows about me, the better. She’s got a family. A life. I’ll just complicated that for her.” Miranda rationalizes.

“She doesn’t need any details, but would it really be so bad for her to know she has a sister who loves her?” Shepard supports Ben’s idea.

She goes quiet again, her head hanging low for a moment.

“I guess not…” She eventually accepts, turning around again to look to Oriana.

“Go on… we’ll wait here.” Shepard tells her.

They do, and she does, hesitantly making her way over to the family.

In another few minutes Miranda returns to the group, sparing one last look back to her sister as they leave the floor.

Chapter Text

Leaving Illium, Shepard realizes that they’re only a few hours out from the location Zaeed requested they stop by. The Normandy is set to head for the Ismar Frontier, specifically a planet called Zorya in the Faia system.

With their destination locked, Shepard steps down from the galaxy map and makes his way into the elevator. It doesn’t take but a moment for the doors to open again to Deck 3, where Shepard steps out to make his way around to Miranda’s office.

The doors open automatically on approach, and inside the woman sitting at the desk shifts her gaze up to him. Her hand moves to put the computer to sleep without looking down at the screen.

“Commander. Anything I can help you with?” She greets.

“Just checking in. Wanted to see how you were doing.” He clarifies.

She nods, waiting for him to reach a stop in front of her desk.

“Thanks again, Shepard. Taking the time to help…” Her eyes glance down, avoiding Shepard’s for a moment. “I can’t imagine what would have happened if you and Ben weren’t there.”

Miranda stands up, stepping away from her desk. She moves across the room to sit down at a chair facing the window.

“I’m glad Niket agreed to help us. I’m keeping a close eye on him, just in case, but… thank you for stopping me, Commander.” Miranda speaks, looking back to him.

“I knew you would have regretted it.” He justifies, stepping over to the open space beside the seat. “Are you happy about your sister’s relocation?”

“She has what I wanted her to have – a normal life, and the freedom to choose her own path.” The woman pauses for a moment, thinking. “And she knows she has an older sister. A friend.”

“Are you going to talk to her again?” Shepard asks.

“I honestly don’t know. For once, I haven’t planned that far ahead.” She smiles, nearly laughing, but suppresses the emotion again in just a moment. “I’ll deal with it after our mission. I have to stay focused, and she needs time to adjust to her new home.” Miranda’s decided.

“It’s funny, I think of you as all business.” He steps around to place himself between Miranda’s seat and the window it faces, letting the two people face each other. “Good to see that there’s a person under there.”

Miranda rises from the chair, leaving her standing just in front of the commander. With a smile that nearly seems forced she reaches out, gently resting a hand on the side of his chest. Shepard’s eyes remain fixed on hers, stoic and unemotive.

“The mission’s too important to let personal feelings interfere.” Miranda speaks after a moment, letting her arm fall back to her side. “But thank you, Commander. My sister is safe again, thanks in large part to you. I won’t forget that.”

She turns away from him again, stepping back towards her desk. The commander is left beside the window for a time until he makes his way for the exit, taking Miranda’s statement as the end of the conversation.

Ben is taking the time between missions to eat. He’s made his way to the food court and, after collecting a tray of food, places himself down at one of the tables.

Sitting down, he takes out his phone to start reading through the news he downloaded while at Illium.

He checks in with anything relevant to the Posttheans first. Apparently, the council’s scientists have already started making progress with understanding and applying the Collector technology on their ship. Because of this talks of finding the Posttheans a planet to establish a colony on are moving forwards. Slowly, given the importance of the ordeal, but they are progressing. Their understanding of the Postthean’s physiology has also been moving forwards steadily. Based on what they know about Prothean DNA they’ve been working to understand how the Omnitrix affected each of them individually versus how it affected all of them as a collective.

More than anything, their research and talks have been confirming Shepard’s story one piece at a time. They’re still trying to avoid inciting a panic, but it’s hard for even the Council to hide the signs now.

There are a few reports of Geth beyond the veil. Scattered, and in a lot of cases unreliable, but it’s still something to think about.

There was a rogue VI on one of the Salarian colonies. An accident, for all they can tell, so it’s unlikely legal action will be taken by the council.

There are some rumors floating around of Anderson planning to step down as Councilor, leaving the position to Udina. And that’s the last one Ben bothers to read, now thinking that the sources he downloaded articles from are either unreliable or irrelevant.

His attention isn’t without a place to a go for very long though, soon moving to the alien that sits down across from him. The drell on their crew, Thane Krios. A green and scaled being with solid dark eyes.

“Hey” Ben greets him.

“Hello, Benjamin.” Thane responds, adjusting his tray and utensils on the table in front of him before starting to eat.

“Don’t think we’ve got to talk much since you joined.” Ben remarks.

“No, I don’t believe we have.” Thane agrees, then placing a chewable amount of food in his mouth. He swallows this food before opening his mouth again to speak. “I understand you’re considered a hero where you are from. It seems you have lived a life more full than most, and most of it is yet to come.”

Ben raises an eyebrow, questioning his meaning that that typical smug grin.

“I don’t know if I should feel envious of your accomplishments, or glad I was never burdened with such purpose at your age.” He continues.

Ben takes a breath to respond immediately, but stops himself. He actually takes a moment to think about what Thane said, his expression losing the smug aura as he does.

“Honestly, I’m not even sure how I feel about it all the time.” Ben admits.

“You do an impressive job of hiding your uncertainty.” Thane commends.

“Well yeah. Could you imagine if the guy turning into alien superheroes was scared? I mean, come on.” Ben justifies, quickly returning to the arrogant demeanor he holds up almost constantly.

Before Thane has the chance to speak again his attention moves past Ben to the far end of the deck, where Shepard emerges from the hall leading to Miranda’s office. The commander turns to head towards the kitchen section, and Thane’s eye movements prompt Ben to look back over himself to him.

He’s getting food as well, which leaves him to make him way over to the table where Ben and Thane are sitting just a moment later.

“Hey guys. What are you talking about?” Shepard tries to join the conversation, weirdly casually for him. He sits down on Ben’s side of the table.

“We were just discussing the emotional toll our accomplishments carry.” Thane factually informs him.

Hearing this, Shepard’s expression quickly returns to the stoic one he’s known for.

“Sorry to interrupt.” He says.

“Nah, better to move on. Where are we headed?” Ben asks.

“Zorya. The mining complex Zaeed mentioned when we met him.” Shepard answers.

“Easy, that shouldn’t take long.”

“We can hope not. We’ll be heading to the source of the S.O.S. Jacob mentioned after, and I’d rather not wait too long.” He informs.

“Cool.” With one final mouthful of food his tray is cleared, and he gets up to place it back in the sink. “See you guys later.” Ben says, heading for the elevator.

It’s a moment before either of the men choose to continue the conversation, waiting until the elevator doors close again.

“His actions carry an immense weight.” Thane speaks, bringing Shepard’s attention back around to him.

“He can handle it.” Shepard assures.

“Yes, I believe he can. But I would still recommend keeping an eye on him. When one reaches the breaking point, I’ve find it’s far easier to rebuild with the support of those close to you.” The drell advises.

“Noted.” The commander agrees.

Approaching the planet, Shepard calls the ground team down to the Deck 5. Zaeed is coming, obviously, as is Ben. That’s everyone.

As they wait in the Kodiak Shepard reminds them of the mission. A relatively quick in and out, freeing a mining complex of blue sun control, currently using the workers for slave labor. By “them” I do just mean Ben, who Shepard rightly feels the need to remind.

Coming down through the atmosphere it’s clear to see that the world is lush with plant life. Reminiscent of environments on earth in a lot of ways, even as they step out of the shuttle. Even the distant building pouring grey smoke into the sky is familiar, if out of place in the jungle they begin to walk through as the shuttle flies back to the Normandy.

“Tapping into Blue Suns communications. Stay tight, and look out for ambushes.” Zaeed tells them.

The sounds of bird’s wings and the rustling of wind through the trees fill the air as they walk. Shepard leads the way, as usual, with Ben staying towards the back so he has time to transform if they encounter people that want to shoot at them, for whatever reason.

“Squad Bravo, a shuttle landed near your location. Check it out.” Comes over their comms after a few moments.

“Here we go. Keep close.” Zaeed instructs, actually moving past Shepard to take the lead.

It’s another few minutes of trekking through the jungle before the same voice comes over their radios again, “Command to Bravo. Take a position. Likely these people are not runaways.”

Up ahead, as this comes though, they can see artificial structures stretching through the trees and hills. A walkway above them, and some barricades situated in the clearing they head towards. This is enough to give the group the idea that they’re probably approaching opposition, and they slow.

Ben moves a hand to his wrist as they start moving forwards more carefully.

With the first glimpse of movement through the trees he slams the core down.

In an instant his body has rolled over itself and expanded to fill the shape of an alien. Where his eyes were a moment prior a set of bat ear-like protrusions extend. With his eyes now gone from his face, they reappear everywhere else a moment later. Vibrant green eyes completed with a darker green slitted pupil cover his arms and back. His legs are given a pair of nearly skintight pants, which the Omnitrix rests on at the waist.

With the green flash of the transformation their attention is drawn directly to Ben. Ben, expecting this, has already started making his way forwards out of the trees. But actually seeing him the soldiers come to a stop almost immediately, actually quickly starting to step back from him as they come to understand what they’re looking at.

“Report to base! Some sort of bipedal creature at the southern checkpoint!” They quickly shout, starting to run back the way they came.

The other two are left to exit the trees after him a second later, making their way past him.

“What do you call this one?” Shepard asks.

“Uhh… Eyeguy.” Ben says.

The great commander Shepard has to take the slightest pause at hearing the name, visibly having not expected that answer.

“I was 10.” Ben tries to explain.

There’s no comment from any of the group, just the sound of another voice coming over the radio. This time a woman.

“Reinforcements incoming. We got your backs!”

Moving forwards, they are rather quickly making their way into outskirts of an industrial facility. Scaffolding emerges from the ground around them to support the walkways and platforms overhead. On them, approaching from around bend in the path they’re in, are more blue suns soldiers.

“Any fancy powers?” Zaeed questions.

“Watch this.” Ben starts, spreading his arms to either side of him. With a high pitched whirr a dozen or so green beams of light fire from his various eyes, tearing through the walkways above them.

The metal stretches promptly collapse, dropping the troops on them the 5 meters down to the ground. The group doesn’t stop, but simply makes their way around the bulk of the debris to continue on.

“They’re getting torn to shreds out there!” Is announced over their radios after a moment.

“All squads! Fall back!” Comes a second later in a different voice.

“Guess they can see they’re no match for our meyeght.” Ben puns.

More confidently than even Shepard is known for, the commander swings his arm over to the dial on Ben’s belt, reverting him back to his human form in a flash.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad.” He complains.

Moving forwards, they come to approach a ravine of sorts, which a mechanical bridge serves to unite the two sides of. A bridge that is currently retracted, leaving Shepard to head for the console that controls it. In only a moment the walkway begins to extend across the gap.

“This is Commander Santiago.” Begins speaking over their comms, to the Blue Suns.

It only takes a gesture from Zaeed for Shepard to stop to bridge, giving them time to listen.

“If any of you retreat while the intruders are still alive, I’ll kill you myself. Now get the hell back out there!”

“Vido.” Zaeed determines. “Sounds like he hasn’t changed.”

“I get the feeling you have a past with this Vido.” Shepard comments.

“I knew he was a sadistic bastard back when we started the Blue Suns. The Suns only got meaner after he stages his little coup twenty years ago. So, yeah. We have a past.” Zaeed explains.

Ben takes a breath to ask a question, but Shepard beats him to it.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me you founded the Blue Suns?” He questions.

“Because it’s not common knowledge. Vido wiped me out of the records. He ran the books, I led the men. Worked real well for a while. Then Vido decided to start hiring batarians. Cheaper labor, he said. Goddamn terrorists, I said.” Zaeed sounds genuinely frustrated discussing the matter, more than his usual angry and blunt sort of inflections.

“Twenty years is a long time to hold a grudge.”

“A grudge!?” Zaeed shouts, stepping over to the commander where he stands.

Shepard turns to face him as he does this, not stepping back at all, though that might be because he only has about a foot between him and the railing as the edge of the drop.

“Vido turned my men against me. He paid six of them to restrain me while he put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger.” The mercenary raises a hand, forcefully slamming it against Shepard’s breastplace with enough force to make him take a single step back. That’s all he does though, not so much as clenching his fists. “For twenty years, I’ve seen that bastard every time I closed my eyes. Every time I sighted down a target. Every time I heard a gunshot.” He now steps back, giving Shepard a modicum of personal space. “Don’t you call that a goddamn grudge.”

“You survived a gunshot to the head?” Shepard asks, unphased by his anger.

“Yeah. And you survived your ship getting disintegrated. A stubborn enough person can survive just about anything. Rage is a hell of an anesthetic.” Zaeed summarizes.

Shepard nods, seemingly in agreement with this idea, and turns to the console again. The bridge starts moving a second later.

“We’d better get moving.” He says, stepping out onto the bridge first the moment it connect with the half on the other side.

“They’re at the southern access. All squads mass at the gatehouse! Now!” Vido orders as they start moving again.

“They know we’re here.” Zaeed acknowledges.

It’s not long before the group reaches said gatehouse. The sealed outer door, at least. They slow as they come to the green hologram resting above the metal.

Shepard spares a glance to Ben and finds him already scrolling through the watch for a good alien. He stops on one after a moment, but doesn’t immediately slam down on the dial once it comes up.

“Would it kill you to give me Humongousaur? Just this once? …please?” Ben begs the watch before tapping down the core.

Evidently, it would kill the watch. As the alien he becomes most certainly can not be escribed as humongous. It’s small, actually. About two feet tall, and colored green and glossy black. On his back are a plus sign just below his neck, and a minus sign just above his legs. His head is shaped like a battery, with the dial manifesting on top.

“Buzzshock?” He sighs. “Yeah, alright, I can work with this. Let’s go.” Ben quickly accepts.

With Ben now slightly less vulnerable to gunfire, Shepard taps the hologram to open the door.

The hatch slides open, revealing to them the interior of the structure. Infront of them, at the other end of the room, is a another door. To either side, stretching up the walls, are networks of piping. And above them is a walkway, looking down over the room. On which stands a squad of men wearing full Blue Suns armor, and one in the center lacking a helmet.

“Zaeed Massani. You finally tracked me down.” He speaks down to the group, speaking in the voice of Vido.

“Vido.” Zaeed snarls, reaching for his rifle.

“Don’t be stupid, Zaeed. I have a whole company of bloodthirsty bastards behind me, ready to kill or be killed on my command.” Vido thinks about it for a moment. “Actually, take your shot. Give my men a reason to put you down like the mad dog you are. Again.”

“Talk about cliché, huh?” Ben remarks with a smirk, starting to rise into the air with an aura of crackling electricity.

“What the fuck is that?” Vido immediately questions, finally noticing Ben. He takes a quick step back as the men around him train their weapons on the alien.

I’m not going to the pretend that the ensuing fi- okay, it’s hardly even a fight. That the following “few minutes” are in any way a challenge for Shepard’s squad.

Ben’s form is able to become a current of electricity, and as such he can lock the hatch behind the Blue Sun troops by conducting into the mechanisms. He’s also able to fly, and shoot lighting, and convert their shots into energy which he absorbs. It’s comedic how not a fight this is. In fact, after about a minute they resort to trying to climb down from the walkway to the floor Shepard and Zaeed are just watching on. The only one to make it down conscious is Vido.

Despite how comical the situation was visually, it evidently was experienced different by the people actually “fighting” Ben. Vido is out of breath, clutching his side, and limping. That last one is might likely a result of falling 4 meters from the walkway to the ground than it is from Ben’s doing.

“Zaeed. Please. You know it was nothing personal. Just business, I swear.” Vido immediately jumps to begging.

Zaeed shoots him in the leg without hesitation, dropping him to the ground with a pained groan. Immediately blood begins pooling in the ground around him from his wound.

“It was twenty years ago! Look at you. I did you a favor!” Vido forces himself to shout, trying to convince the mercenary to spare him. Badly. “Zaeed, please! I’m gonna die here, man! Do something!” He continues after a moment of silence.

Ben’s finished dealing with the others and floats down to the lower floor, still crackling with a violent spray of green lightning. He looks to Zaeed, then Shepard. He raises a single brow, and Shepard gestures for him to wait.

“Die, you son of a bitch.” Zaeed eventually speaks, aiming his gun to the man’s head.

Ben winces as the ground is covered with a spray of red, and the sound of his body hitting the floor echoes out.

With another green flash Ben’s form reverts to his human body. His expression is now more clearly uncomfortable, looking down at Vido’s body with a cringe.

“Come on, let’s clear out the rest of the Blue Suns here.” Shepard directs, moving past the body to the door at the other side of the room.

He gestures for Ben to follow as he passed by the teen, getting him to look away from the corpse. Ben seems as unphased as always when he reaches for the Omnitrix again.

With Zaeed able to focus on the mission, it doesn’t take them long to do what Shepard said they should. A fair number of the soldiers simply accepted that they should leave when informed of Vido’s death, and the rest aren’t too difficult to persuade.

It’s only a couple hours until they are able to depart the planet in the Kodiak, returning them to the Normandy.

Chapter Text

The ship is set for the Rosetta Nebula next, where the ship Jacob needs to investigate is supposed to be located. A 2-day journey, just about. Heading from one end of the galaxy to the other.

This means the crew has some time to recuperate before the next ground mission.

Shepard spends a significant portion of this time looking over the galaxy map. But aside from that he also, as he often does, tours the ship. Just to check on everyone, see if they need anything.

He heads to the bridge first, being on the same floor as the Galaxy map, and the furthest from the elevator.

“No, that’s what I’m asking.” He hears Joker speaking as he approaches.

“Weren’t you the pilot back when Liara was on the crew? You never asked her?” Ben responds, evidently on the bridge as well.

“Well sure, I could have, but she was new, and then her mom died. And then Virmire happened, and then the Normandy was blown up.” Joker explains.

“Okay, never a good time, I get it. And Samara?”

“Are you kidding? Like I’m going to ask a justicar.”

Shepard can see Ben rolling his eyes as he steps onto the bridge.

“What are you two talking about?” The commander asks, looking between the two of them.

“Oh, nothing. Ben’s just denying me an answer to a question I’ve had my entire life.” Joker tells Shepard.

“He wants to know if asari head tentacles flop around.” Ben corrects.

Shepard lets his attention firmly rest on Joker once Ben says this, almost seeming judgmental with his gaze.

“What? It’s a fair question.” The pilot insists.

“I told him to look it up on the extranet or ask an actual asari.” Ben says.

“yeah, but you know you can’t trust everything you find online. Better to ask a friendly asari. Or, better yet, a friendly human that happens to be an asari sometimes.” He defends his stance.

“Joker…” Shepard almost scolds.

“No, no, it’s fine. I get it.” Joker starts backing off the point.

“Look, they’re cartilage, dude. Rigid, but semi-flexible. Like ears.” Ben finally tells him.

“Yes. I knew it.” Joker congratulates himself, spinning his chair back around to face forwards again.

Shepard looks to Ben now, noting him lounging in one of the unused stations.

“So, how are things going up here?” He asks.

“You mean asides from Joker and EDI arguing every couple of minutes? Yeah, great.”

“It’s just mad that all its footage of me looks like a dream sequence.” Joker says.

“Cerberus regulations are clear, Mr. Moreau. “Personalization of your workspace” does not include grease on my bridge cameras.” EDI clarifies, almost sounding annoyed with its inflections.

The pilot chuckles at the AI’s apparent frustration. Shepard simply shakes his head, turning around to head back out towards the CIC.

As he does Ben hops out of the chair, causing the commander to look back at to the teen as he begins following.

“Headed down to the food court. I’m starving.” Ben explains.

While Ben enters the elevator, Shepard heads for the tech lab. Mordin is fine. He’s working on something or other related to the posttheans, and can’t talk as a result, but he doesn’t need anything from Shepard.

In the armory Shepard finds that Jacob only needs for the Normandy to be faster, as he’s relatively anxious about getting to the source of the distress beacon. Shepard assure that the Normandy is going as fast as it can, and that if his father went missing ten years ago they can wait another day or two. He then heads to the elevator to continue through the ship.

On the crew deck he stops by Thane’s quarters to make sure he’s doing well. He is. Kasumi too, though she does ask when they’re going to be stopping by the widow system next, as her job is in the same cluster. Shepard says they can head for it after they deal with Jack’s request, and she accepts this easily enough. Now having a general point in time to plan for.

Zaeed appears uncharacteristically relaxed in the food court, where he sits eating with Garrus. Shepard overhears them discussing something about Garrus’s old team back on Omega, but he doesn’t loiter.

Miranda is fine, as is Dr. Chakwas, which leaves Samara as the last person for him to check in with on this floor.

Just as Shepard’s hand overlaps with the green hologram the doors begin to slide open.

Within the room he doesn’t have to look very hard to find not just Samara, but another asari as well. Ben, struggling with palpable concentration to lift a mug from the carpet. Noticing the commander, the mug falls back to the carpet with a soft thud. With a flash Ben’s form automatically reverts to its human state.

“’Sup dude.” Ben greets.

“Hello, Shepard.” Samara does the same, turning her attention to him.

“I can come back later if I’m interrupting.” Shepard offers, half turning himself back to the door.

“Nah,” Ben waves off his concern, stepping over to the couch on the right side of the room to sit down. “I could use a break anyways.”

Shepard accepts this and steps further in.

“What were you two doing?” Shepard asks.

“In our free time, I have been training Ben to control his asari form’s innate biotic abilities. He has been making great strides, for how little time he’s had to learn.” Samara informs.

Ben chuckles at the praise, almost trying to brush it off.

“Are all of your aliens’ powers so difficult to learn?” Shepard questions, turning to Ben.

He shrugs. “Some of them, I guess. Goop was a real pain, and I still don’t think I’ve really figured out Clockwork, but I don’t think any of the others were too bad. You guys just fall into the “normal” category for the most part. Well, maybe not the Rachni. I still haven’t been able to use that one.”

Shepard nods.

“Was there a reason for your visit, Shepard?” Samara questions after another moment, causing the commander to turn to face her.

“Just checking in. Is there anything we need to discuss?” Shepard asks.

“I see, in that case… Yes, actually. There is.” She looks to Ben for a moment, seemingly wanting to speak, but stopping herself. She decides not to say anything, and turns around to face the window. “When we met on Illium, I told you and your crew about a very dangerous person I was pursuing. Using the information they obtained, I have located her.”

Ben glances to Shepard, seemingly questioning if the conversation is about to go somewhere very serious. He just looks back to Samara after a second, leaning forwards from his lounging position to rest his elbows on his thighs.

“She has been going by the name “Morinth.” I would like to apprehend her before she disappears again.” Samara tells them.

“Didn’t you say you’d pick up her trail after our mission?” Shepard questions.

“I know where she is – right now. In a month, she may be gone. This is the best opportunity I’ve ever had.” Samara explains, still not turning around to face them.

“Where is she?” He asks.

“Omega. A night clup called Afterlife – which seems a perfect place for her to hunt.” The asari informs.

“How important is this?” He continues to inquire.

“Killing her has been my focus for 400 years. It is the most important thing in my life and the reason I became a Justicar.” Samara answers.

Shepard pauses for a moment, thinking on this information.

“Tell me about her.” He eventually requests.

“She is an Ardat-Yakshi. It is a term from a dead asari dialect. It means “demon of the night winds.” But that is mythology. She is simply a very dangerous woman who kills without mercy.” Samara explains.

Shepard slowly takes another step forward to Samara’s left side.

“So is an Ardat-Yakshi a special kind of murderer?” He questions.

“Morinth suffers a rare genetic condition.” She pauses for another moment questioning how she wishes to phrase this information. “When she mates with you, there is no gentle melding of nervous systems. She overpowers yours, burns it out, hemorrhages your brain. You end up a mindless shell, and soon after you are dead.”

Ben rises to his feet as he hears this. Not because this information inherently excites him, but because of the fact that this is specifically a genetic condition.

“Can’t she abstain?” Shepard questions.

“Each encounter gives her strength. The effect is narcotic; the more she does it, the more she needs to do it. She will never stop. She can’t.” Samara states.

“What if she wasn’t an “Ardis-Yashi” or whatever anymore?” Ben interjects, causing both of the adults to turn to him.

“There is no cure. It manifests with maturity, and by then it is too late to treat. When one is diagnosed, she is offered the chance to live in seclusion and comfort. If she refuses, it shows the addiction to the ecstasy she gets from killing her mates. There is no redemption for such a person.” Samara informs him.

Ben confidently moves his left arm to show off the Omnitrix. “I mean, what if I fixed her. I could try to use the Omnitrix to turn her into a normal asari.”

Samara takes a moment of pause, her mouth hanging open sightly as she’s left speechless by the idea. Eventually she returns to her stoic neutral. “It is an addictive condition. If Morinth does not want to be cured, she won’t be. And even if she is… For what she’s already done, the justicar code forbids me from sparing her life.” Samara tells him.

The reserved conflict in her words is matched by the expression Ben tries to hide. Neither of them are happy about this, but both accept it. Based on the nod Ben even agrees with her stance.

“This is definitely worthy of your full attention.” Shepard speaks, drawing Samara’s attention from Ben.

“She confuses her victims, twists their feelings. They will do anything fer her favor.” Samara tells him.

“We need to stop her.” Shepard’s decided. “I’ll tell Joker to reroute for Omega. We should be there in a few hours.”

“Thank you, Commander. There are no words to express what this means to me.” Samara speaks.

Shepard turns around and starts walking towards the door, preparing to leave the room.

“There is one thing more:” Samara remembers, stopping him. “this creature, this… monster. She is my daughter.”

Shepard turns around, waiting for a moment before returning to where he stood a moment prior.

“You said this is genetic. How many children do you have?” He questions.

“Three. And three Ardat-Yakshi are in existence today… It is as it sounds. Morinth was always the wild one – she was happy and free. But selfish.” Samara tells.

“Do you know where your other daughters are? It may be too late for Morinth, but maybe…?” Ben hopefully suggests.

“They are at a monastery built for their kind. Once our current mission is done, I could arrange to have you visit. If you are sure.”

“I’m sure. Losing one kid sounds like enough.” Ben confirms.

She turns to look out the window again with a deep breath, staring vacantly to the great void. “Do not pity me. Simply understand my situation.” She requests.

“How did all this happen?” Shepard asks.

“I spent my youth on the move, adventuring. I killed people, mated with them, or just danced the night away. I learned so much, experienced so much. And then my matron days came. I could finally sit back, bask, and enjoy my family. But in one moment, it was all taken away.” Samara recounts.

“It sounds terrible.” Shepard empathizes.

“I sat in a med lab while a nearsighted doctor droned at me. And I learned that nothing was as I thought it would be. I gave up all that I possessed. I own nothing, claim nothing. All my knowledge will die with me. Now my purpose is to destroy my own children.”

“Those moments change you.” Shepard speaks with a sense of certainty.

“And I’ve hundreds of years left to live with that… I say too much. Forgive me.” Samara pauses again, glancing to both of the humans on either side of her. “Help me find my long lost daughter. And kill her.” She requests, facing the commander.

“We’ll go find Morinth.” Shepard assures.

Shepard did as he said he would. He headed back to the CIC, and to the bridge, where he told Joker to cancel their current course and head for Omega instead, which the pilot does as soon as they’re going to hit the next mass relay.

With that addressed Shepard informs Jacob of the detour. He accepts it easily enough, but still hopes they can get moving again relatively soon.

The commander then heads down to Deck 4, where the remainder of the crew is.

Grunt is somewhat tense, for reasons even he doesn’t understand, but is otherwise fine. Ben isn’t in his quarters, and Jack shouts for him to “stay the fuck out of her space” when he tries to head down the stairs, so Tali is the last to speak with.

As the hatch slides open Shepard’s met with a couple different voices. Tali is immediately recognizable from the filter attributable to her suit, and Donnelly and Daniels are easy enough to identify. The last voice is the one he has some trouble placing.

“No, that’s what I’m saying. If you reroute the charge the stealth drive captures back into intake systems for the core you greatly optimize the fuel to function ratio. You basically use the same hear you’re building up as a source of fuel.” The alien voice explains.

“No, that doesn’t work. If you funnel the buildup back into the battery we just end up burning it out. It’s a completely different system.” Tali responds, gesturing to the holographic screen of the station all four of them stand around.

“Well what else do you expect with parts like these?” As Shepard approaches he can more clearly see that the being speaking is of a frankly minuscule stature. No more than maybe 6 inches tall. He can’t quite remember if he’d seen this specific form before, but he can recognize from the dial on its back that it’s Ben.

No, he has. It takes him a second to remember between the dozens of forms Ben has used, but he saw this one back on the Shadow Broker’s ship. Graymatter, Ben called it.

“These are the best parts money could ask for. Most of them are custom for the SR2, designed from the ground up.” Daniels tells him.

The alien hops around the console, pulling up an application that lets him start getting down design schematics. While doing this Tali manages to notice Shepard standing behind them, but doesn’t say anything. She merely gestures for him to come over, which he does, stepping around to her side where he can watch Ben work.

In a couple minutes he’s completed some considerably technical diagrams for various couplings, power converters, energy sinks, channelings, and so on. All seemingly able to fit with the parts already installed. The most notable of these is a small engine sort of design. The technical side of it is very clearly laid out, but its function isn’t quite as explained.

“Well that puts Cerberus to shame a little bit.” Donnelly remarks.

“Simple stuff I picked up when visiting Asmuth. Even a couple of idiots like Blukic and Driba could figure this stuff out.” Ben tells them.

“This is decades ahead of what we have now. If we get this to the Council it could revolutionize their fleets. We just need EDI to run some simulations to make sure it works, and Shepard’s approval.” Tali says.

“If EDI says it works we’ll get the materials next time we stop by the Citadel” The commander contributes to the discussion.

Ben’s small grey form quickly rotates to face Shepard, as do the engineers as they realize he’s there.

“Commander.” Donnelly addresses him.

“Just checking in.” He tells them, letting the two relax slightly.

Ben hops from the console. With a flash his body expands to his human form before he even reaches the ground. He starts heading for the exits lf the room.

“I’m getting some sleep before we reach Omega. Later, dudes.” He speaks, and then leaves.

With Ben now gone both Donnelly and Daniels make their way back over to their own stations, leaving only Shepard and Tali on their side of the room. They talk, but Tali doesn’t need anything. Donnelly and Daniels actually do need something though, a part Shepard conveniently might be able to find on Omega at a second hand shop. So after noting it down in his omni-tool, Shepard departs from the floor, heading up to his quarters to get some sleep before they arrive at Omega.

By the time the Normandy is coming to dock at Omega Shepard and his squad have already assembled at the airlock. Samara, Ben, and Tali. The docking ramp connects to the ship and they set out into the streets of the grungy space station.

“EDI, any luck with pinning down Morinth’s location?” Shepard asks as they start heading in the general direction of Afterlife.

“The daily death count on Omega is too high for me to pinpoint an Ardat-Yakshi’s location. However, given the reputation of Ardat-Yakshi among the asari, Aria T’Loak may have tracked her movements.” EDI informs them.

“Thank you.” Samara speaks.

It doesn’t take too long for the booming music of the nightclub to become audible through the walls they pass. Eventually the entrance of Afterlife comes into view, and the group slows slightly. At first both Samara and Tali seem not to know why, but they catch on when Ben begins scrolling through the Omnitrix.

Samara’s attention moves to Tali as they wait for Ben to find the alien he’s looking for, and in time something sticks out to her.

“You seem relaxed, for the environment we find ourselves within. I take it you’ve had experience with settings like this?” Samara asks the quarian.

“Not much after my time serving under Shepard, when I was on my pilgrimage. But some of this reminds me of life on the flotilla – cramped and crowded, with no real privacy. So I’m used to it, I suppose.” Tali explains.

“Omega is comparable to life on the flotilla?” Shepard questions.

“Somewhat. But there’s no sense of family here. Just… fear.” She clarifies.

Their discussion is cut off with a flash from Ben’s form. In an instant he stands at a little over seven feet in height, if you count the hump on his back. His body is covered in a thick black and green suit, leaving only his arms, head, and shins exposed. His body, in almost every way, appears completely krogan. Grey plating with the occasional green markings, pale beige skin, and a build even krogan would consider solid. Though, notably, his eyes are a solid green, seemingly producing a faint amount of light. The dial locates itself in his belt line, slightly off center to his right.

“Huh, Rhinocewrecker. I actually got the one I wanted.” Ben speaks, his voice now low and gravely, but in no way masking his usual inflections.

“Let’s go.” Shepard gets his attention, gesturing with his arm to get the group following him up to the entrance of the club.

They head across the main floor and up to Aria without any difficulty. It’s just walking.

Her attention moves to the group as they come up the stairs. Again her form is reduced to nearly a silhouette against the vibrant projections out the window behind her, but even so it’s clear that she’s focused on Shepard.

“What do you need?” She sharply asks.

Seeing that she’s wasting no time, Shepard doesn’t either. “An asari fugitive is hiding out here. She’s an Ardat-Yakshi. We need to find her.”

Her eyes narrow slightly, but not into a glare. Her head shifts as she looks away from them, towards the ground. “I knew it.” She mutters before focusing back on them with a grimace. “Nothing leaves a body quite so… empty… as an Ardat-Yakshi does.”

“You haven’t taken steps to kill her?” Samara questions, taking a step past Shepard.

“Why would I?” Aria responds with a tone that implies the question is a self-evidently stupid one. “She hasn’t tried to seduce me.” There’s a pause as Aria remembers why they’re here in the first place. “Her last victim was a young girl. Pretty thing. Lived in the tenements near here. That’s where I’d start looking.” She informs them.

“Thanks for the help.” Shepard accepts, turning to head back down the stairs they came up.

“Good luck finding her. Better luck catching her.” Aria bids her farewells.

Once leaving the club, they head to the apartments Aria mentioned. Ben either doesn’t think to transform back, or specifically chooses not to, as he remains as a krogan for this walk.

Upon arriving Shepard stops the group before they head into the block. He says it might be more time efficient to have Samara and him investigate, while Tali and Ben look for the part Donnelly and Daniels said they needed. Ben conjures a few complains, but both quickly accept this course of action and depart from the group to search for a salvage shop.

They take a right as they come to a junction with some guy shouting about humans being a blight or something. Tali and Ben both choose to ignore them, not caring enough to incite anything. With a left they then start heading through a market section. Big signs clearly label locations that sell food versus ones that sell amps or weapons.

They stop by the first couple that seem to have ship parts, but at each of them they are without the part in question. So they continue walking, still looking around for more stores as they go.

“So, about those schematics you drafted earlier? I was looking them over, and-”

“I’m gonna stop you there; If you want to talk tech, I’m gonna have to be a smarter alien.” Ben cuts her off.

One of Tali's eyes visibly narrows slightly, while the other widens. Implying an eyebrow raise, if Ben was going to make a guess.

“How does that work exactly?” She questions.

“My best guess? The watch stores all the info I pick up when I’m brainy species. Has some extra in there too for when I need it. Then it just loads it into me when transforming, and stores it again when I go back. Asmuth never actually explained it to me, but that’s sort of his thing.” Ben summarizes, his attention starting to get caught on the various places they pass by.

“The advancement of your universe’s technology is staggering. I can’t even imagine how that might work on a technical level.”

“Hah, that makes two of us. You ask me, this thing might as well be magic. Straight out of old timey fantasy stories.” He agrees.

With several beeps interrupting their conversation, Ben shifts back into his human form, seemingly timing out. A few of the people they pass look over with the flash, but none seem all too concerned when they find a human walking by.

The two of them slow for a moment as Tali summons her omni-tool to look over a map of the area they’re in. After a second she takes a left towards a set of stairs heading down, and Ben follows.

“Your earth’s culture must be very similar to Shepard’s. I don’t think you’ve referenced anything that I haven’t at least heard of before.” Tali notes.

“I’ve been doing some research on that, actually. It seems like everything’s the same, up to about the 1700s. See, in my universe, that’s when the Plumbers were started. But in this universe, with the Reapers purging the galaxy every 50 millennia, there weren’t any aliens coming to earth back then. No aliens meant no Plumbers, which means that it took an extra century and a half for humans and aliens to get on the same page.” Ben explains.

They take a left.

“You think all the differences between our timelines can be traced back to the Reapers?” Tali questions.

“That, and the “mass effect” you guys have. Where I’m from that’s not a thing.”

Tali almost laughs at the notion. “How do you travel between systems without technology like the mass relays? It would take decades at standard FTL.”

Ben shrugs. “No clue, I never needed to know before. Rook and Kevin could probably explain it to you when we find a way to get back to my universe. They’re totally into ships, and… cars. Maybe just Rook, actually. Kevin might not be the most helpful with explaining things.”

Their conversation is cut off as they pass by a shop labeled “Kenn’s SaLvage” with a holographic sign.  Tali comes to a stop, so Ben does the same. Tali makes her way over to the terminal listing their inventory, whilst Ben comes to lean on the counter. He looks across the area behind it to a set of crates which sparks sporadically spray out from behind, in a way that suggests to him that someone is working back there.

“They have the thing?” Ben asks Tali, redirecting his attention to her.

“They do, but these parts are all priced way above what they’re worth. I think maybe we should keep looking.”

“No, wait!” Erupts from behind the crates, and a quarian stumbles out, pulling off the cord of a tool as it almost tangles his legs.

Ben wasn’t moving yet, and Tali stops when they shout. Tali’s eyes narrow skeptically, looking this individual over.

“Is this the part where you offer us some kind of deal?” Ben guesses.

The quarian hesitates for a moment, then leans forwards over the counter to look down the hall either side of them.

“I can cut you a break, but you can’t breathe a word of it to Harrot.” He tells them.

Tali glances to Ben to get his opinion, then looks back to the one they can presume to be Kenn.

“Of course.” She says.

“Then we have a deal. Maybe I’ll at least sell something to you.” Kenn says, stepping over to the kiosk to alter some setting from his side.

“No offense, but you don’t really seem to fit in with the crowd here. What’s the story there?” Ben strikes up a conversation.

“My Pilgrimage. What money I had got stolen within a few days. So I decided to sell salvaged parts. You can see how that turned out.” He pauses for a moment, flinching as the back of the kiosk sparks.

With a sigh he continues. “Harrot’s forcing me to sell high, and I can’t even afford a ticket off this station.”

“Why does this “Harrot” control your prices?” Tali asks.

“Harrot made me swear not to undercut him, no matter what. He was here first, so it’s his right. But no one will buy from me when he’s so much cheaper. I can’t save enough money at these rates.” The quarian merchant explains.

“That doesn’t sound fair, right?” Ben checks for Tali’s opinion.

“No, it doesn’t.” She agrees.

“You want us to go talk to him? I think we have time.” Ben offers.

“I won’t stop you. If you can convince him to lay off, then maybe I’ll get off this station after all. His shop’s up the ramp, near where Marsh sells his goods. Anything you can do will be much appreciated.” Kenn accepts.

The two of them head back the way they came, and through the market again to a storefront labeled Harrot’s Emporium. Behind the front counted they find an elcor.

“Tentatively excited: Welcome, human. What can I get for you?” The elcor, presumably Harrot, asks as they approach.

Ben ignores him, instead starting to scroll through the Omnitrix.

“Hello there. You’re harrot?” Tali greets him, pretending to sound far more amicable than she normally is.

Before he can answer a yellow beam emerges from the Omnitrix, scanning over the alien in just a second. When it retreats Ben continues scrolling through the dial.

Tali continues before the elcor can answer. “I was wondering if you could tell me about your “deal” with the quarian over there.” Tali gestures down the aisle a ways to the staircase they came up.

“Suspicious: If I had made such a deal, I would certainly not be inclined to discuss it. Accusatory: I don’t understand how it is any concern of yours.” Harrot states.

Ben pulls his hand back from the watch as the dial comes to the alien he wants, and he then slams the core down. In a flash his form expands outwards to the muscular shape of Four arms. With the transformation a number of passersby look over to them and are quite visibly either disturbed or frightened by the hulking alien they see.

“How about you let him set his own prices, and we don’t make your day any worse than it already is.” Ben suggests.

“With barely contained terror: You drive a hard bargain.” Harrot speaks.

Tali’s readied her shotgun at this point, going with Ben’s plan.

“He can turn into a lot worse, if you’re not convinced.” Tali adds, dropping the pretense from her inflections.

“Desperately: I will release the quarian from his promise. Please, do not break anything.” Harrot says.

Ben reverts to his human form, and the two of them head back down to Kenn’s.

“Man, that was weird.” Ben remarks idly as they walk.

“Your universe does not have shady business men?” Tali asks, her tone plainly skeptical.

“Huh? No, not that. That’s the second time the Omnitrix gave me Fourarms when I wanted to go Rachni.” Ben clarifies.

“It gives you the wrong forms all the time, does it not?”

“Yeah, but… I’ve just got a feeling about it. The Omnitrix is being really stubborn about this one. I’m thinking it might not have gotten a full scan back on Illium, or something.” Ben explains.

“I see…” Tali accepts, forcing herself to suppress her curiosity for now.

They continue down and turn the corner to get back to Kenn’s. The quarian turns to them as he hears them approach, dropping his tools again and stepping over to his side of the counter.

“I just got an e-mail for Harrot. Thank you so much. At this rate, I’ll be off the station in no time.” He expresses.

“How much do you need to get off Omega, exactly?” Ben questions.

“I still need 1000 credits to pay my way… but I couldn’t let you do that. This is my mistake, on my pilgrimage. It’s my problem.” He insists, shaking his head at the very notion.

Ben looked to Tali as she reaches the kiosk on his counter, beginning to scroll through his products.

“I suppose we could use these schematics for a shotgun based on geth hardware. I’m sure Shepard could see the utility in bettering our armory.” Tali suggests, pretending to ponder the idea.

“Yeah, I think Shepard would be on board with this. Probably better to apologize later than ask permission first though, right?” Ben continues her train of thought.

“Of course. He’s so busy right now, after all.”

There’s a chime from her omni-tool as the transaction goes through, prompting her to summon it so she can route the schematics, and the couplings the engineers requested, to the Normandy.

“I… thank you.” Is all Kenn can thing to say. “With this, I can finally continue on my pilgrimage. I’m going to buy my ticket right now. Thank you again!” He repeats, immediately heading past them out of his shop towards the transport depot past Afterlife.

“Well, that was fun.” Ben says. The teen then turns, heading back towards the stairs that lead up into the rest of the market. “Let’s go see if Shepard has a plan yet, or if I need to use Clockwork to show him the past.”

Tali chuckles again at the absurd thing Ben said with that statement but chooses not to question it.

When they reconvene with Shepard they find that he has indeed formulated a plan with Samara.

The vip section of afterlife seems to be where Morinth looks for prey, which makes it the perfect place for their trap. This leaves them to wait for her to arrive.

Samara is obviously forced to keep to the shadows of the alleys outside the club, due to the risk of Morinth noticing her and catching on. Ben is forced to do the same, as even with his alien forms the Omnitrix is starting to become known throughout the galaxy, and if he draws a crowd Morinth might forgo being potentially noticed.

Shepard is their bait, as he’s the most likely of them for her to target. But for their plan to work he has to be unarmed, and without armor, which leaves him considerably more vulnerable than he’s comfortable with in the meantime. This means that Tali, as the only one that wouldn’t be recognized, follows him in to serve as backup until Morinth arrives.

This might be somewhat of a chore if one of the crew back on the Normandy was given this job, like Jacob, or Grunt. Thankfully, Tali is one of the few people Shepard is actually friends with, beyond simply being in command of. Meaning that while waiting for Samara or Ben to tell them that Morinth has arrived they are able to converse to pass the time. Neither are able to purchase any alcohol, as Shepard definitely needs his judgment to be unimpaired when confronting Morinth, and Tali isn’t going to risk getting sick, but it’s still better than nothing.

Their conversation doesn’t go much of anywhere. Just small talk, simple stuff to pass the time. They sit in one of the booths around the outside of the bar, across from one another.

“I noticed some models around your desk, when we were waiting for you to wake up.” Tali recalls, continuing the conversation in progress.

“It passes the time between missions, and they look nice on the shelves.” Shepard justifies.

“It’s good to see that you have hobbies.” She tells him.

“I have to keep myself busy with something beside work.”

“The- What did Jack call her? The “Cerberus Cheerleader” could take a few notes from your work/life balance.” She responds unthinkingly.

“You think Miranda could use a break?” Shepard says with a smile.

“I think that prefect boshtet could use a few flaws.” She comments before she can filter herself. She then tenses slightly as she realizes she said that aloud. “Uhh, I just mean…”

This gets a chuckle out of Shepard.

“She’s not that bad once you get to know her.” He assures.

“I’ll have to take your word for it.” There’s a pause as the two think of how to continue the conversation. “When Ben and I were looking for the coupling Donnelly and Daniels needed, we happened upon some schematics for a geth modeled shotgun.” She remembers to tell him.

 “Great, we’ll need every edge we can get. We still don’t know what we’ll find on the other side of the Omega 4 relay.” Shepard agrees with the choice.

They continue talking for a while about a variety of things that aren’t as interesting in real time. A mention of how dark and brooding Garrus has become in the last two years, a question about Jack’s role on the Normandy, and so on. They do start hitting more silent lulls as time goes on. None of which are particularly awkward, but do contribute to a feeling of them needing to continue talking.

“So, uh... Have you watched any good vids lately?” Tali thinks to ask, running out of conversation topics.

Shepard takes a breath to answer, but doesn’t get the chance before Samara cuts in over the radio.

“Shepard, she’s here.” The justicar informs them.

Shepard only has to glance to Tali for her to accept the next step of their plan. Both of them rise from their seats and take to heading in different directions. Tali towards the entrance of the lounge, and Shepard around the back towards the bar.

Now is the part where he lures her out, doing things that will attract her to him. In about half an hour that’s been accomplished, and from the edge of the club an asari clad in leather makes her way to him.

She introduces herself as Morinth and invites him back to a booth she’s been sitting at, which he accepts. With the two of them talking it only takes a short while more before Morinth has invited him back to her apartment, and he’s accepted.

It’s a nice apartment, admittedly. Clean, well furnished, and overlooking the cityscape adjacent view of Omega.

There’s not much said, Shepard letting the asari lead him through the apartment as things progress, until eventually the two of them settle at the couch beside the windows.

“I love clubs – people, movement, heat. I can still hear the bass, like the drums of a great hunt, out for your blood.” Morinth speaks again as their bodies settle against the leather. “But here, it’s muted – and you’re safe. Is that what you want, Shepard?”

“People feel safest right before they die.” Shepard plays his role.

“It’s true, we’re never safe. I’ve never understood the fascination with safety. Some of us choose differently.” She rises from where she sits and steps over to the commander, placing herself down again atop his lap. He eyes remain locked on his as she speaks again. “Independence over submission. I think we share that, you and I.”

“We’ve both killed many times, but that’s where the similarities end.” He drops the facade.

Instantly her eyes go wide, and the cool confidence is torn from her words. “Why do you say that I’ve killed? What do you know? Let’s stop playing games.” She slides off of him, setting herself down at his side instead.

He lets his attention remain on her, fixated on the eyes staring back into his.

With a dull hum at the edge of senses her eyes shut, and in a moment, when they open again, they are nothing but darkness. “Look into my eyes and tell me you want me. Tell me you’d kill for me. Anything I want.” She commands.

“Don’t count on it.” Shepard states.

“But you… Who are you? Oh, no – I see what’s going on. The bitch herself found a little helper.” Morinth realize, pushing back to stand up off the couch.

In the same moment the mechanical noise of the door draws her attention to the person that enters the space. Samara.

“Morinth!” She shouts, glowing to life with a biotic aura as her arm shoots forwards.

Morinth’s body is enveloped in a far less pronounced glow as she’s thrown back through the room, slamming into the glass of the window with enough force to crack it around her body. It does not shatter though, and so she’s simply held against it.

“Mother.” The Ardat-Yakshi responds.

“Do not call me that.” Samara demands, forcing her arm forwards to slam her into the window once again.

“I can’t choose to stop being your daughter. Mother.” Morinth tries to taunt, her voice revealing the desperation she seems to feel in the moment.

“You made your choice long ago.” Samara pronounces, again forcing her arm forwards to keep Morinth pressed against the glass.

“What choice?” Morinth cries out, bursting with enough biotic power of her own to knock Samara back through the room. “My only crime was being born with the gifts you gave me!”

With a toss of her arms various pieces of furniture in the room are tossed towards the justicar, forcing her to attempt to block them. Though she reduces the impact, she is not able to stop them completely, and is thrown back to the far wall.

“Enough, Morinth!” Samara commands, throwing out with her arm a wave of mass effect fields that knock Morinth from her feet.

“I am the genetic destiny of the asari. But they are not ready to reveal this, so I must die.” Morinth explains, rising back to her feet in the same moment Samara does.

The two of them reach for each other at the same moment, and from between them a burst of blue light spreads over the room. Shepard has to step around the couch he was on as it begins floating through the air.

“You are a disease to be cured, or purged, nothing more.” Samara corrects her, maintain the biotic field that begins to swirl through the space, taking the strewn furniture with it as it goes.

“Cured? Where was my chance to be cured!?” Morinth demands, beginning to skid back against the floor.

“It is too late for you.” Samara returns, beginning to slide back from the force as well.

With one final push Morinth cries out, managing to completely overpower the justicar. Samara is slammed into the far wall, and without a second thought the asari turns to the already cracked window and throws her arm towards it.

Shepard reaches up to place a hand against his communicator as the window shatters, leaving the room exposed to the howling wind beyond.

“Samara’s down, I need backup. Now.” Shepard commands, forced to merely watch as Morinth darts towards and window and leaps out with a biotic aura controlling her descent.

The door slides open quickly enough to suggest he was just waiting outside, and Ben dashes into the room already selecting an Alien. Samara barely manages to pick herself up by the time Ben’s leapt out through the window.

With a flash he transforms. His skin hardens and darkens to red scales, his head extends and contorts to that of an avian design, completed with a large beak that snaps shut with a smirk, and from his back a pair of wings are constructed, attached at the base to a structure that almost resembles a jetpack. The base of the jetpack-like structure ignites with green fire, and instantly the alien begins soaring downwards to catch up with Morinth.

“You may be able to overpower a justicar, but how about an Astrodactyle!” Ben asks rhetorically, almost treating this like a game of sorts.

She actually flinches upon looking back and seeing the winged alien in pursuit. She’s barely able to redirect herself quickly enough to avoid him as he comes rushing by. She instead heads back towards the spire they came from, slowing herself down against the outer walls until she’s moving slow enough to grab onto one of the protruding structures.

“What are you!?” Is all Morinth can ask as Ben rises back up to the space ahead of her.

“Uhh, Astrodactyle? Were you not listening?” Ben jokes, still treating the situation with far more candor than is appropriate.

With a snarl she reels back and launches forwards a wave of biotic force. Ben shuts off the fire propelling him, letting his body fall beneath it.

“Look, I’m giving you one chance here, which is clearly more than your mom’s ever offered. Let me cure you, turn you back into a normal asari, and I’ll try to convince Shepard to let you live. It’s the best shot you’ve got.” Ben finally addresses her properly, speaking with a severity that matches the situation.

Morinth can’t even manage to be angry, or offended, she’s just confused. Confused and desperate, looking across to the avian alien with a look of despair.

“This isn’t something you can cure, and my mother will never let me live.” She tells him, her words almost lost in the howling wind between them.

Ben looks up to the broken windows of Morinth’s apartment and finds Shepard, Samara, and Tali all looking down to the two of them talking. He raises a hand, gesturing them for them to wait, then looks back to Morinth.

“Your window of opportunity is closing. Choose.” Ben calls out.

Morinth hesitates for a long moment, then, with another desperate cry, launches herself from the building towards him. Letting himself fall wouldn’t be fast enough to avoid her, forcing Ben to instead charge a ball of plasma in his mouth in that split instant, which he shoots out towards her.

It’s a few minutes too long before Ben returns to the apartment, though when he does it’s to the group’s relief. His wings withdraw and the rocket stops firing as he lands and sets her body down.

Samara steps forwards as Ben moves around her, transforming back with an automatic flash.

There’s a moment of silence as Shepard and Tali watch the justicar examine her. Then there’s a look to Ben, who remains faced away.

“Find peace in the embrace of the goddess.” Samara eventually speaks over the body before rising back to her feet as well. She turns around, facing away from her and to Shepard instead. “I am ready to leave this place and get on with my life. Are you ready to go, as well?” She asks.

“Let’s go.” Shepard agrees.

When they return to the Normandy the group is more silent than usual, but Joker doesn’t need directions to know where they’re headed next. There’s a subdued shaking through the ship as the pilot pulls the vessel from the docking station and starts gliding it out towards open space.

It’s a few hours into the night cycle before Shepard goes to see Samara, and when he does they merely talk. About Morinth, about Samara’s feelings, and about what she’ll do now.

The commander finds that the ordeal has given her a sense of closure. That she is now able to move on with her life as she chooses to, as a justicar. But more than that, more than her grief and her plans, Shepard discovers that Ben, more than anyone, has given her some semblance of hope. The Omnitrix, more accurately, but Ben’s insistence to use it to help.

He finds that her hopes and dreams have always lied with her daughters, and that with one of them gone that part of her has died too. But that because of Ben there is hope for her other children, and what others might be like them across the worlds the asari have colonized. Her purpose in life will always be to combat injustice, but that now there is hope to amend the conditions of the Ardat-Yakshi, rather than eliminate them.

Shepard comes to check in with Ben not long after, waiting for the teen to open the hatch from his side after knocking.

When he does Shepard finds him lying back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with no light but that of the stars outside illuminating the room.

“Hey.” Ben greets him as he steps in.

“You doing alright?” Shepard asks.

Ben swings his legs off the bed, forcing his told half to be upright. He still remains sitting, now looking down at the floor. “Yeah, I am. I’ve just been thinking.” Ben tells him.

“What about?” Shepard asks.

“How much worse off my universe would be without the Omnitrix.” There’s a pause as the notion is give a moment to settle.

Shepard questions what exactly he means with a raised brow, which Ben sees as he glances up to Shepard. He rises from the bed to start pacing before he continues.

“The Omnitrix has always seemed like something of a curse. Less so now, but especially when I was younger. It always got people fighting. Vilgax waged half a war trying to get it from me when I was 10, and he was only the first. Then there are the people like Animo, inspired by the very idea of the Omnitrix to try and convert the whole world into monsters. And that’s not to mention Servantis, and the crap he put the plumbers kids through just to get to me. It’s-” He pauses, tossing an arm into the air to dismiss the sentence. “My point is that it was trouble. It put people in danger. Me, my cousin, my grandpa Max, and everyone around us until I eventually got it off and hid it.” He pauses for a moment, thinking on his words. “I always thought I was doing good with it. Helping people. But now I see just how important it was beyond the bad guys I was fighting. The very idea of it gave people hope. The watch wasn’t the thing fighting the highbreed, or getting attacked by Malware, but it was stopping wars. It gave people hope. To know there was something out there that could change a person’s species, or restore extinct races, or fix a person’s genetic makeup.”

“Morinth.” Shepard realizes where he’s going with his disorganized train of thought.

“If the asari knew that there was a way to help, they wouldn’t have done what they did. Morinth could have been living a normal life, Samara could have a family. I was too late to fix things, but if they knew about the Omnitrix before, it would have been different.” Ben explains.

“You did everything you could.” Shepard tries to assure him.

“Yeah, I know. Just... Well, at least I’m here now.” Ben accepts.

“It’s a good thing.” Shepard tells him, turning to head back out into the hallway. “Try to get some sleep before we reach Aeia.” He advises.

The door shuts before Ben can respond, again leaving him alone in the darkness of the space. He breaths out a deep sigh and tosses himself back onto the bed, preparing to sleep.

Chapter Text

Jacob is next. It’s only been about four days since he brought it up with Shepard, but he’s been notably more anxious since then. Far more pacing and grimacing than is standard for the man. Especially after it got delayed for a second time with Samara’s matter.

We’re almost 8 hours into the night cycle presently, meaning that most of the crew is either sleeping or just waking up. Jacob is in the latter category, making his way out of the crew quarters and across the deck to the food court.

Unlike most of the other crew members awake, he doesn’t try to make conversation with those around him. He just sits, eats, and then washes off his tray so he can head up to the armory.

In the armory, however, he finds someone he doesn’t expect. A small red alien, almost resembling depictions of an “imp” from human culture, adorned in black and green. Ben, clearly. He’s rushing about the room, sometimes darting out into the hall to make his way over to the tech lab before heading back seconds later.

Jacob slows as he heads over to where Ben is assembling parts, hearing him quietly muttering “fix” under his breath repeatedly.

“Ben, slow down.” He eventually says, broken from his perpetual concern for a moment.

Ben just glances back to him, gesturing for him to wait for a moment as he continues. Both remarkably quickly, and with considerable technicality, he assembles… something. Once a complete device seems to have been assembled, he hops down from the table and transforms back.

“No offense, but uhh- What is it exactly that you’re doing in here?” Jacob questions.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Ben responds, pulling the machine he constructed off the surface.

“Making a fancy suitcase?” Jacob guesses.

“Ha ha, very funny.” Ben bulls a lever on the side of the device that causes it to snap into a different configuration, nearly resembling a conventional gun. “It’s supposed to be something called a “Proto-tool.” A high-tech prototype gun/sword/scanner kind of thing my partner Rook uses.” Ben explains.

“Supposed to be?” Jacob notes the phrasing.

“Well I’m going off of what I remember here. My memory’s good, but I never bothered with schematics much. My aliens can only get so close without an original.” The teen justifies.

“It work?” Jacob asks.

Ben pulls on part of the side, and the machine reconfigures itself again to that of a rifle-esque shape.

“No idea. Juryrigg thinks it should, but I’ve been wrong before. Probably better if I don’t test it out on a spaceship.” Ben reconfigures it again, causing it to shift back to its default state as he places it down on the table again.

“Maybe Shepard can bring you to a range next time we’re on the citadel.” Jacob suggests, stepping out of Ben’s way as he starts heading for the door that leads to the CIC.

Ben simply shrugs, letting the door open automatically as he leaves the room.

About three hours later, the ground team has assembled on Deck 5. Shepard, Jacob, Ben, and Kasumi.

When the Normandy has arrived at the planet, the Kodiak sets out from the hanger and begins its descent through the atmosphere to the landforms below.

Even at night it’s clear that the world is lush. A garden world, as the codex calls them. The kind of environment where most of the sapient species known to the galaxy could survive, which gives Jacob some semblance of hope.

When the shuttle lands Ben considers transforming, but decides to wait. He departs with the others and looks out to the ocean their landing zone overlooks, glistening in the moonlight.

“I have run a scan of the ship. I detect no life signs, but there may be useful technology or information still inside.” Edi informs them.

Ben’s attention is pulled back to the mission, and he starts scanning along the horizon until coming to their objective. A massive ship, cast as a silhouette against the light of the moon. It’s in pieces at this point, but still fairly intact for crashing. It’s far more recognizably a ship than the pieces back on the scrapyard they found Okeer in.

“There it is. And mostly intact. They could have survived impact… but it’s been years.” Jacob speaks as they head towards it.

Coming around the mountainous ridge between them and it, they soon come to find a makeshift bridge stretching out from a hatch on the side of the ship to the coastline. Beside that, far more noticeable in the darkness of the night, is the glowing form of a person.

“Looks like it was stripped after the crash. They’d have tried to get a beacon up as soon as possible.” Jacob notes.

Shepard and Jaboc move for the bridge, whilst Ben and Kasumi head for the holographic projection of a person. A VI.

“Repeat: Toxicology Alert: Danger of rapid neural decay. Local flora chemically incompatible with human physiology. Override: Beacon resumed. Pause time, eight years, 237 days, seven hours.” It informs.

Shepard and Jacob slow as they hear this, then change course to join Ben and Kasumi at the VI.

“From the look of it, this beacon’s been here awhile. Why would they wait years to signal?” Shepard questions.

“Pause in Beacon protocol, 8 years, 237 days, seven hours. Pause is recorded as: RECORD DELETED by Acting Captain Ronald Taylor.” The VI informs.

“That’s not right. My father was first officer.” Jacob says.

“Ronald Taylor was promoted under emergency command protocols. Other flagged issues: Unsafe deceleration. Local food and neural decay. Beacon activation protocols.” The VI again informs.

“Local food impairs brain functions? What are the effects?” Shepard begins questioning.

“Impairment of mental function due to chemical imbalance begins within seven days of ingesting local flora, regardless of decontamination or preparation. Impact on higher cognitive abilities and long-term memory is cumulative, but significant within a standard month. It is not known if neural decay is permanent. Data collection was not completed.” It informs.

“I assume “unsafe deceleration” refers to the crash? Give me the details.” Shepard requests.

“Following an unspecified impact, and sublight drive failure, the Hugo Gernsback made an unscheduled descent at 465% of theoretical sub-orbital velocity. The Hugo Gernsback then decelerated at 782% of theoretical recommended approach velocity, sustaining significant damage to investment and crew.” It informs.

“Why are you comparing the crash to theoretical speeds?” Shepard asks.

“The Hugo Gernsback was constructed off-world. It is not rated for suborbital descent, and doing so exceeded operational parameters.” It clarifies.

“Who’s in command of this ship? Where are the survivors?” Shepard questions.

“Captain Harris Fairchild reported killed following unscheduled suborbital descent. First Officer Ronal Taylor promoted in field to acting captain.” It answers.

“But where is he now?” Jacob wants to know.

“The location of the remaining crew of the Hugo Gernsback is unknown. This beacon has been unattended for several maintenance cycles.” It explains.

“Why wasn’t the beacon activated before now?” Shepard inquires.

“This emergency beacon became functional 358 days, 12 hours, following the unscheduled suborbital descent of the Hugo Gernsback. Activation was triggered remotely after 8 years, 237 days, seven hours, on the authority of acting captain Ronald Taylor. Pause in beacon protocol recorded as: RECORD DELETED.” It informs.

There’s a moment of pause to make sure there aren’t any other questions they could ask, but then Shepard turns around to step away from the.

“Come on, let’s get going.” Shepard tells the group.

“Let’s check the ship. My father had the beacon for almost nine years. Maybe… that neural decay affected him.” Jacob theorizes, following after Shepard as he starts heading for the ship.

“There’s no way he could avoid eating something grown on this planet.” Kasumi supports his idea.

As they come to the near of the bridge an object catches Ben’s eye. A glimmer of smooth polished metal rested on a stack of storage crates. He steps over to it as the others begin checking the stability of the walkway.

He finds that most of the logs seem to be corrupted, but one seems to be intact enough to play back. There’s a static garble from the speakers before the audio clears up.

“…along with this anymore. We’ve done horrible things to the crew. The condition they’re in, they don’t understand what we’re doing to them. Distract them for two seconds and they forget what you did before the bruises show. It’s got to stop. I’m talking to the others as soon as –” A male survivor speaks, getting cut off again after a moment with another block of corruption.

“Well, I don’t like the sound of that.” Ben says.

The others don’t acknowledge his find, instead merely gesturing for him to follow as they start heading across to the ship.

Shepard, Jacob, and Kasumi all activate their flashlights once they’re within the shadowed vessel. Ben, on the other hand, illuminates the space around him with a flash of green light. After which he stands slightly taller and significantly brighter. His skin is made of mostly rocks, with a fire burning between them and over his extremities. Heatblast.

With Ben’s body vibrantly providing illumination to the space, it’s not hard to see that the vessel has clearly been emptied of almost all valuable materials, with the sole exception being advanced machinery that require power sources. The nearest of these to where they entered is a terminal, seemingly still operational, if barely.

Shepard is the first to reach it, whilst the others continue looking around. Scrolling through the logs he only finds one that appears to have been preserved.

“… always said no. She even threatened a report if I didn’t stop sending messages. But now she’s so innocent. They all are. And that look she gives when she smiles. It’s sure easier now. What’s the harm? We’re stuck here any –” The man speaking is cut off as the quality of the recording deteriorates.

There are several more terminals and computers around the ship in working order, all of which contain at least one piece of uncorrupted data.

“What… what was her name? Sarah. S-Suzanne. My god, I can’t remember… I can’t remember her face! We need to get out… so I can remember, can think straight. They have to hurry.” A woman’s voice speaks.

 “…crash you can’t expect the luxury of due process, but this isn’t a military ship. Just bumping the command line up a notch doesn’t work. Captain Fairchild knew this crew. His replacement doesn’t command the same level of respect. I’m hoping the man has it in him, but I doubt –” Another woman is cut off by degraded files.

Eventually the group leaves the ship, having gleamed all they could from the remains of the wreck. Ben transforms back as they do, no longer needing to provide light.

“I guess not everyone got the memo about the food being toxic.” Ben concludes from the recordings as they begin walking along the coast.

“I doubt they’d have moved too far from the ship. Let’s see if we can find survivors.” Shepard directs them.

Making their way through the night, it’s not too long before they encounter more pieces of the ship. Large storage containers, most of which have been emptied. And left scattered on the trail they walk. The most notable of these object is the remains of a security drone, which lies with most of its pieces corroded on the side of the path.

Jacob takes checking it out. Kasumi aims her gun’s light at the mech for him as he looks over it.

“Stripped for parts. Tech’s wearing out. Something here must be laying on the pressure.” Jacob observes.

Before he can rise back to his feet the sound of a gunshot rings through the air, and the warble of their kinetic barrier alerts Shepard to the direction it came from.

Ben wastes no time with reaching for the Omnitrix, letting it select an alien for him so he can slam down the core as quickly as possible.

The rest of the group rise to their feet to focus on the distant sparks of light that match the following sounds of gunfire. They don’t have time to return fire before a body rushes forward from behind them.

It’s nearly impossible to make out in the night’s limited visibility, at least until the area below its hands ignite with balls of fire.

One of Ben’s aliens, undoubtably. It’s body is primarily a saturated green with sections of dark black, though contrasting that he’s also accented with sections of vibrant yellows and oranges. Namely his head and fingers. Swampfire.

He tosses his arm forwards, and with it the ball of fire is sent hurtling towards their attackers. Humans, as they soon come to see. The projectile strikes the ground between them and bursts, toppling the group around it.

“Kill them! Agents of the liar! He will not escape!” One of them shouts, getting back to his feet.

The same individual is abruptly yanked back down to the ground with a gesture from Ben’s form, as are all the others as they try to get up too. When the group’s lights land on them they find that a series of vines are wrapped over their limbs, holding them to the ground.

“So, that’s “neural decay,” huh? They just seemed regular old crazy to me.” Kasumi comments.

“My father wouldn’t let this go on. Something is very wrong.” Jacob feels the need to say.

“Fire and plants?” Shepard asks Ben, focusing on his form.

“Bingo. I call him Swampfire.” Ben confirms.

Shepard nods and starts walking again, prompting the others to follow him.

There aren’t any forks in the path they walk, meaning it’s not much later when they begin to approach what seems to be a campsite. Several artificial rods stand from the ground, dimly glowing a blue that defines a small space around them. More visibly there are several firepits, around which groups of people sit.

“Is that a settlement? They’d better be friendlier than the last group. I need answers.” Jacob speaks.

With the landscape to the right of them rising too steeply for them to climb, and the ground to the left of their path sharply dropping off to the ocean below, they have very little option but to approach through the natural arch in the mountain seemingly serving as the entrance.

“What the hell? Somebody had to push them to make that. That’s borderline… worship?” Jacob quietly reacts, drawing the others over to look up at what he’s referencing. A statue of some sort looms from the center of the camp, appearing to serve no real purpose.

With that addressed their attention moves to the survivors sitting across the camp from them, seemingly still unaware of their presence.

“They’re wearing the same uniform as the ones who attacked us, but they don’t look ready for a fight.” Kasumi points out, keeping her voice down to refrain from alerting the survivors to their presence before they’re ready to.

“There aren’t any men here. Maybe it affects genders differently? Makes males get violent?” Shepard postulates.

“That would make sense.” Kasumi agrees with the available evidence.

Despite even Ben following the plan to keep quiet, Jacob chooses to approach the nearest of the fires.

“It doesn’t matter right now. One of these people must know what my father has to do with this!” Jacob speaks, alerting the survivors to his presence. They quickly rise to their feet, cautiously watching as he’s revealed to the light of the fire.

“You have his face! He promised to call the sky, but he sends nothing.” One of the women speak.

“He forced us to eat, to… decay. You are cursed with his face!” Another adds.

With stealth out the window the others follow after Jacob, stopping around him.

“Not the best reaction to the family resemblance, Jacob.” Shepard comments.

“Why would my father force his crew to eat toxic food? Whatever’s happening here needs to stop.” Jacob states the obvious.

Ben keeps his distance from everyone to keep from frightening them, not yet having timed out. Shepard spends a moment trying to speak with everyone to gleam what he can.

“He has a cruel face. His cruel face.” “I can’t talk to you. I… don’t want punishing.” “Go away, you are like him. You will keep us here.” “He is bad. He has a bad face like the others, like him. You’ll hurt me.” “He keeps us. Protects us. And we please him like he demands.” They all convey a similar sentiment.

The most useful piece of information comes in the form of, “The hunters will kill you. They fight because he exiled them and waited too long.”

“Hunters. They must be talking about the guys we met on our way here.” Ben deduces.

“Must be.” Kasumi agrees.

With the survivor’s unwillingness to talk made apparent, the squad heads out of the camp through the only other opening in the perimeter.

There’s another moment of traveling in silence when the mechanical stopping of something ahead causes them to slow. The red glow makes it clear just what exactly is coming their way. More security mechs.

“Your captain demands obedience. Weapons are forbidden.” One of the LOKI mechs announces, seemingly in reference to their earlier firefight.

“I’ve got it.” Ben assures the group, and starts sprinting towards the drones.

As their lights pass over him the robots begin to fire, but it doesn’t even slow him down. The one closest to him is made inoperable when Ben’s hand crushes its head. The next closest one is thrown with the prior drone’s body hitting it. The one behind that is turned to charred rubble with a bolt of fire. And so on.

The only other member of the squad that gets to fight is Jacob, who shoots down one of the droids that wasn’t as close to the pack.

With the group completely destroyed the squad moves from the cover they took.

“He did this to his own men? Who the hell are we dealing with here?” Kasumi remarks, looking over the scattered bodies.

“Well that would certainly make them hate him. But maybe it was just for defense.” Jacob tries to rationalize.

“You!” A voice calls out from the path ahead.

Ben steps back as he hear this, whilst Shepard shines his light out towards the approaching woman, who seems transfixed on Jacob. She winces as the light initially hits her, but adjusts after a moment.

“You.. have his face… but you fight his… machines. You might stop this.” She extends he hand towards Jacob, letting him take a datapad from her. “This… I forget how to.. read, but this… was the start. What he promised, and what they did to us. We need the sky. Take us back to the sky.” She requests.

She then steps away, heading past them down towards the camp as Jacob starts reading.

“Jacob? What does it say?” Shepard asks.

“It’s a crew logbook. Some of them thought the beacon repair was taking too long. They were afraid they’d run out of supplies and lose their minds to the decay. My father restricted the ship food for himself and the other officers so they wouldn’t be affected. Everybody else had to eat the toxic food and hope for treatment later. The rest is a casualty list. A few mutinied over the decision. My father and the officers turned the mechs on them.” Jacob informs them.

“He wasn’t command material, and it got to him. Couldn’t keep the crew in line without violence.” Shepard summarizes.

“It didn’t stop there. More incidents, harsh punishments. It’s like they’re cattle. Or toys. In a year, all the male crew members are flagged as “exiled” or dead. They separated out the woman. Assigned them to officers like pets. And after the beacon is fixed, the officers appear on the casualties list, too. After! My father took control and didn’t stop it.” Jacob says.

“I don’t like where this is going.” Ben speaks.

“Does it say why he separated the men and women? Or is it just as bad as it seems?” Shepard questions.

“No, it turns to gibberish. Maybe the men got violent early on, but from the state of this place, I’d say the hunter thing is recent. What he allowed here, Shepard… I don’t see any justification.” Jacob tells him.

“Anything in there about whether or the effects of the toxic food can be treated?” Shepard inquires.

“Nothing. But it seems like the right call. If everyone gets it, who’s left to fix the beacon? You’d never get out. If they did fix it. And the signal wasn’t sent until now. I’m starting to see why.” Jacob says.

“Do you see an explanation for this? He’s your father.” Shepard asks.

“Is he? None of this fits. Maybe the initial decision, but the rest? Abuse of power doesn’t get any clearer than this. I need to find this man. ” Jacob determines.

With a repulsed groan Ben starts walking again, which causes the others to follow him.

Down the path, between two rises of stone either side of the trail, are stacks of crates blocking off the way forwards. Seemingly to keep the survivors from going any further. Ben has no trouble tossing these aside, clearing the way with a loud crashing sound.

A few minutes of walking later a pop of static comes over their coms, followed by the voice of a man.

“This is Captain Ronald Taylor. Thank god you’re here! My crew went insane. I only just got free!” He claims, audibly tired. Presumably having been woken up by the thrown containers.

“Goddamnit. It’s really him. Just got free? He’s covering his ass.” Jacob recognizes.

Moving along it’s another short while before they’re interrupted again. This time with a pungent smell in the air, nearly causing Jacob and Kasumi to gag. Shepard is thankfully protected by his helmet, and Ben by his current form, but both of them are still aware of the odor.

In just a moment more they find the source. Their lights all land on bodies, and human ones at that. 6 in total. 4 that seem remarkably aged, having decomposed to a point of being no more than meat and bones. The other two are, by contrast, undamaged. Dead, obviously, but showing practically no signs lf decomposition.

“Ugh.” Kasumi has to take a moment to surpress the nausea. “It looks like the dried-up bodies were left as a warning. These newer ones were just… dumped here.”

“The hunters started fighting back.” Jacob deduces.

Ben merely stares down at the bodies for a moment, then turns to continue again.

Ahead there are more crates, but these ones aren’t blocking the path. They appear to be intentionally arranged to form a living space of some sort. Among them, activated by their presence, are more LOKI mechs.

This doesn’t slow Ben down in the slightest.

“Careful. I automated my defenses after the crew turned violent. They keep attacking! I had no choice.” Jacob’s father thinks to warn them over their radios.

“He had plenty of choices. It’s a little late to blame his victims.” Ben refutes with tangible ire in his tone.

There are even more mechs down the path, but Ben’s not even inconvenienced by the them. With a gesture swaths of vines emerge from the ground and tear them apart. Notably these actions lack his usual flair, instead replaced with abruptness and direction. He waste no time.

“I had to keep them busy, distracted, but it’s getting dangerous. Thank god you’ve come!” The Acting Caption speaks again.

“He had his fun, and now he wants out. Son of a bitch.” Jacob matches Ben’s anger, just as justified in such.

The next spay of bullets that comes their way again prompts Ben to return fire, but this time he’s stricken with shock when his the fire passes by what’s firing at him. People. Real, living people.

It’s a good thing he has such fine control of his powers, as he’s able to merely restrain them with his vines rather than harm them.

“It took years to train my guards. I’m afraid you’ll have to fight them to rescue me.” Mr. Taylor speaks again with a disturbing lack of concern for their lives.

“Throwing people away. This… thing… is not my father.” Jacob says.

Ben agrees with his description, but doesn’t say as much. He instead presses on ahead of the rest of the squad.

By the time they catch up he’s restrained the next court of survivors, and is facing a YMIR mech. Something that Shepard and Jacob have seen one of stronger aliens struggle with firsthand.

This time, though, there’s far less of a struggle.

It bullets tear through Ben’s body, but his plant-like form simply mends itself as the shots leave him. Its shields, unlike Ben, don’t hold up as well again the continued pressure of its adversary. From Ben’s hands a violent torrent of fire pours out, enveloping the towering machine.

The moment the shields fail the steam of flames are broken, and Ben leaps forwards to slam his fist into it’s chassis. It staggers back as he lands again, and is barely able to regain its bearings when Ben raises his hand into the air. From the ground around it massive tendrils of plant matter emerge, wrapping around it with enough force to deform the frame.

As the mech is converted to scrap metal the others make their way past him. Kasumi is visibly astonished by the feat of power, hopping back to keep her distance when Ben turns to follow Shepard.

“Enough with the toys. I need to look my father in the eye and hear him justify this.” Jacob speaks.

“Get in line.” Ben responds with almost a growl.

The next obstacle in their way is a mechanical gate blocking off the path forwards. Thankfully it’s unlocked, meaning they just have to wait for it to open to continue on.

And there it is, the end of the path. Another camp. Immediately it’s clear how much nicer it is that the one the other survivors are sleeping at.

A full canopy hangs over the area, protecting it from rain, light, and other natural elements. There are also a stark increase in the number of crates, all of which seem to still have materials within them.

The most notable trait of the arrangement might be the balcony, seemingly built into the cliff side to safely overlook the ocean beyond it. This is also where the man they’ve been hearing stands, looking out at the sea. Just before him is a crate with some chairs around it, seemingly serving as a table.

The four of them slow to a stop when

“You’re here! I knew a real squad would blow through just fine. Sorry if the mechs scuffed your pads.” The man greets them, trying to establish a friendly rapport.

The group merely stand, waiting for Shepard to take the lead as he usually does.

“I’ll get you something nice when we get back to alliance space. I’ve got to have some back-pay coming.” He tries.

“What about your crew, Acting Captain?” Jacob questions, giving him one chance to explain himself.

“Total loss. The toxic food turned them wild. They propped me up here in some kind of ritual behavior. Waiting for a chance to signal has been hell.” He lies.

Jacob closes his eyes and shakes his head, containing himseld.

“That’s the best you can do?” Jacob asks.

“You let all your people talk back like that… uh… who are you, exactly?” Ronald eventually thinks to question.

“Commander Shepard of the Normandy. I believe you are acquainted with Mr. Taylor.” Shepard looks to Jacob.

Ronald’s attention shifts to Jacob instantly, making out his visage in the dim moonlight.

“Taylor? Jacob? No, not Jacob.” He hopes.

Jacob steps forwards, now at the front of the group and just on the other side of the table.

“Why not me? Would ten years of this look better to anyone else in the galaxy?” Jacob questions.

“You have to understand. This isn’t me. The realities of command, they change you. I wasn’t ready for that. I made sure you were taught right. Before I left. I had hoped to leave it at that.” Ronald tries to absolve himself.

“I’m not unreasonable, Captain. But ten years? What happened?” Shepard question, consciously keeping himself from shouting.

“Goddamnit, why did you do this to your crew?” Jacob demands, having no such restraint.

“There was resistance to the plan. Mutiny. We had to take a hard line to keep order. And things settled down. As the decay set in, we made sure the crew were comfortable.” Ronald turns from the group and steps over to the railing of the balcony. “Some even seemed happier. Ignorance is bliss, right? And they were grateful for guidance, like an instinct. Pure authority was… easy. As first.” Ronald explains.

“You did this because it was easy?” Ben erupts, forcing the group to step back as his arms burst to flame.

The Acting Captain looks back, finally able to see him with his form illuminated. His immediate distress is apparent, obviously not having been prepared for the alien in the least.

He tries to keep himself composed, only expressing his fear in the form of reaching for something attached to his belt, and his rapid breathing.

“I guess we’re discovered some new races since I’ve been gone.” He rationalizes.

Ben’s alien forms had at times been frightening before, undeniably. But this isn’t that. This isn’t the alien itself being frightening because of its shape or powers, this was Ben. He steps forwards with a calm intent, letting the fire die as he clenches his fists.

With the motion Ronald Taylor panics. He draws the object from his side, a gun, and begins to fire.

The bullets sink into Ben one after another and he merely takes another step before the next. The bullets fall out of him as he walks, the holes sealing themselves with tethers of green stretching across the wounds.

The table between them is thrown to the side with a single motion like it’s made of cardboard. Weightless to Ben, but a clear threat when the hundreds of pounds of metal collide with the edge of the settlement.

His glowing green eyes never lose their lock on the man they follow. The man that has at this point pressed himself up against the far railing, just looking at Ben with abject horror.

Not because the alien is particularly disturbing in form, or because his powers seem somehow more dangerous than biotics could be, but because of how Ben is acting. Angry, if they had to put a word to it. Furious, and very conscious of how much control he has.

From his shaking hands, the gun falls to the ground.

Ben’s fists remain clenched, smoke beginning to seep from the cracks between his fingers.

He stops walking about 3 meters from him, standing at least two feet taller than the man. More now that he’s started sliding down against the railing.

Ben's hands open and his palms immediately spark to life. Balls of fire hold themselves in his grip, dancing around his fingers and up his arms. The air ripples around him, distorting the sight of the man he looms over.

“Say it.” Ben finally speaks, a growl to his words.

The man can’t even speak. He seems so genuinely afraid of Ben that the words don’t come to him. They can’t.

“SAY IT.” Ben demands, furious and ferocious. The burning orbs flare out, cooking the air around him.

For as aggressive as Ben is being, the group doesn’t stop him. Not Kasumi, not Shepard, not even Jacob. They almost want to see how this plays out, and more than that, they think he’s vindicated. Jacob wants to see his father admit it, and Shepard knows he couldn’t do what Ben is doing better if he tried.

“I- I...” The man stammers.

Ben takes another step forward, the collar completely hiding his face from the group at this point, though Jacob’s father can see it. A glare as piecing as a knife, and a rage held back through gritted teeth.

“I just…”

“You WHAT?” Ben accuses unrelentingly.

“I- I knew they wouldn’t understand! I had to-”

The fires die as Ben lunges down at him, picking him up by the arms and effortlessly holding him into the air. Shepard takes a step towards Ben as he sees the alien hold him past the railing, but he only takes the one. They trust Ben not to go to far.

Despite the fires being no more, his skin still burns in contact with Swampfire’s hands.

“You had to!? You had to call for help. You had to keep them alive for a year. YOU-”

The man screams as Ben’s grip begins to crush his arms. It’s at this point Shepard start approaching him.

“SAY. IT.” Ben demands again, his words soaked in vitriol.

“I just wanted to k-”

Ben tosses his entire body with a single arm like styrofoam over to Jacob and Shepard. He tumbles and rolls, clutching his arms with tears. Shepard stops in his tracks, practically forced to by the man’s body arriving as his feet.

Ben doesn’t bother turning back into a human. He merely looks out towards the sea, shaking with clenched fists that again start to smoke.

“He wanted to.” Ben breaths through a clenched jaw.

Shepard crouches down, grabbing Ronald by a part of his arm that wasn’t burned to pull him to his feet.

“So that’s it? You created a harem and played king? Ten years in a juvenile fantasy?” Jacob questions, walking through the space a table used to occupy to stand before his father.

Ronald is still breathing erratically, clearly still pained by the visibly circles of burned on the outside of either bicep. It takes him a while before he can speak again.

“I can’t… I can't point to where it all went wrong. But when the beacon was ready, revealing what happened didn’t seem like a good idea.” He still tries to make his side seem reasonable.

“The stores from the ship couldn’t last forever. You had to know this would end one day.” Shepard points out.

“Dining for one can really stretch things out. That was before the hunters, of course. They want blood. I’d prefer to keep it.” Ronald explains.

“It’s all about you. Everything.” Jacob remarks, audibly disgusted.

Shepard turns away from him, looking back down the path wrapping around the coast.

“We can help these people. The Alliance can have ships here in days and pull everyone out.” Shepard starts planning.

Shepard doesn’t need to look to recognize the sound of a gun being aimed at Ronald.

“He’s not worth the fuel to haul him out, or the air he’s breathing.”

No one argues with Jacob, but Shepard’s helmet turning to look at him is enough to imply that he should restrain himself. “He’s damned lucky I don’t even think he’s worth pulling the trigger.”

He puts the gun away, stepping back from him.

“I don’t know who you are. Because you’re not any father I remember.” Jacob speaks.

“We’ll secure him for an Alliance court. For every year here, he’ll have ten to think about it.” Shepard offers some consolation.

“Give him all the time in the galaxy. The man who did this doesn’t know right from wrong.” Jacob says.

Ronald doesn’t have any lies left to defend himself with, and simply remains silent.

They don’t have to walk too far back down the path to find an area open enough for a pickup, by which point Ben has transformed back. The angry expression doesn’t leave his face when they enter the Kodiak and begin ascending back to the Normandy.

A couple minutes into the flight the teen notices that Shepard’s helmet is facing him, and he looks up to meet his gaze.

“You want to explain what happened down there?” Shepard offers, drawing Jacob and Kasumi’s attention to the two of them.

“What?” Ben pretends to be annoyed by the question, playing dumb.

“You lost control. That’s not your usual style.” Shepard elaborates.

Ben’s silent for a moment, now failing to meet the commander’s gaze.

“All the power he could ask for, and he only helped himself.” Ben mutters through clenched teeth.

Now the whole shuttle is silent, lingering in the implications of that notion upsetting Ben so thoroughly.

“Just make sure you don’t go too far.” Shepard advises.

“I wasn’t going to.” Ben speaks back, almost offended.

“I know. That’s why I didn’t stop you.” Shepard says.

Ben is silent for another moment, only to eventually let his head hang low again, stewing in his thoughts.

On the Normandy, Shepard makes his way through the armory, heading for the door that leads to the conference room.

“Alliance ships inbound to secure Captain Taylor and his crew, commander. We’ll be long gone by the time they get here.” Joker informs him over the intercoms.

“Don’t even give them the taillights.” Shepard responds.

“Roger that.” Joker confirms.

Shepard enters the conference room, and finds Jacob already in the holographic video booth.

“What do you mean, it wasn’t you?” Jacob questions the person he speaks with.

Shepard steps in beside him, and finds, as his eyes adjust, that they are expectedly speaking to the Illusive Man.

“Jacob, if I had leaked the information about the Gernsback, I would be smiling at your resolution of the situation. I am not smiling.” The man speaks.

“Nothing goes through this ship – my ship – without a report to you.” Shepard points out.

“I had no more reason to believe Jacob’s father was alive than he did. But I’m happy to know the situation is behind you.” He tells them.

“Fine. You didn’t forward it. So who did?” Jacob questions.

“I did.” A voice from outside the booth speaks.

Looking, they find Miranda stepping into the call on the other side of Jacob.

“Figures. Who else could get into Cerberus channels?” Shepard reasons.

“It was hardly classified. Just obscure. There was a time when it mattered to you. Sending this along seemed like keeping an old promise. I keep my promises.” Miranda explains.

“Miranda, we’ll discuss your liberal interpretation of security protocols in private. Shepard, Jacob.” The Illusive Man says his goodbyes, and just as quickly the call ends.

Miranda’s attention moves to Jacob, who returns the look. After a moment without either of them speaking, Miranda heads for the exit.

“You had no idea Miranda was behind this?” Shepard questions, causing Jacob to face him.

“No. She’s got a good memory. Selective, but good. I haven’t thought about those days in a long time. Can’t figure out which promise she meant, thought. Not sure I really want to know. She… requires a better man than I.” Jacob informs.

“You good with this, Jacob?” Shepard asks.

“It’s all bull, Shepard. Captain Taylor can rot in prison – it doesn’t change who I am or what I know. I’ve already mourned the man he used to be. I guess he was a good enough father that even he can’t screw up what he taught me.” Jacob reasons.

“Come on. We’ve got work to do.” Shepard ends the dialogue, heading for the exit.

“Aye, Commander.” Jacob agrees, taking a step to follow him.

“Shepard?” Jacob speaks again after a moment, causing the commander to stop. “Thanks for the help.”

“Anytime, Jacob.” Shepard responds.

Chapter Text

With Jacob’s mission done, they have traveled to the next on the list.

Ben, Shepard, and Miranda wait on Deck 5. The Kodiak is prepped to take off, and the Normandy is in orbit of the planet they’re going to be landing on, Pragia.

They’re just waiting for the person that requested they come here in the first place.

“Jack, I repeat. Report to Deck 5. We’re heading down.” Shepard speaks into his comms for the third time.

“And I thought I was unpunctual.” Ben remarks.

After another few seconds Shepard’s comms connect with a pop of static.

“I heard you the first fucking time. Give me a minute.” Jack demands.

Ben looks over to Shepard, “How long before we just leave?”

Shepard’s helmet does not convey the idea that he’s amused, it just stares at ben for a moment, then shakes side to side.

“Miranda, could you see what’s taking Jack?” Shepard requests.

“Of course, commander.” She agrees, starting to make her way over to the elevator.

Before she’s more than a couple steps in its direction it opens, and Jack steps out. This of course stops Miranda. Jack heads over and doesn’t bother to greet the squad as she pulls herself into the Kodiak.

Nobody comments on this, they all simply make their way to the shuttle as well and take their positions inside. Jack has sat herself down on one of the seats at the front half of the cabin, meaning Miranda sits down on the other side. Shepard sits down by Jack, so Ben sits down by Miranda.

Once the bay door is open the pilot guides them out of the Normandy and down towards the planet.

There are a couple minutes of silence between the four of them, only filled with the occasional sounds of the Omnitrix responding to Ben’s inputs. Idle scrolling through the dial or tapping on the closed face. None of which outwardly seems to do anything.

Jack doesn’t pay much mind to it. Instead, her attention lies on the world beyond the window. A world not merely supporting plant life, but practically overrun by it. And, at least in their area, plagued by a torrent of rain battering against the outside of the shuttle.

“I forgot how much I hate this place.” Jack eventually remarks, drawing the others’ focus to her. “See the landing pad? Has to be on the roof, or the vegetation would overgrow it in a few hours.” She gestures out the window, and upon looking the others can see a complex sticking up out of the thick canopy, just barely free of the vegetation.

“Shepard, I am picking up thermal signatures everywhere, except at your landing zone.” EDI informs them.

“Something’s distorting the sensors.” Shepard reasons.

“This was a secret Cerberus facility.” Miranda supports his assessment.

“Yeah, they built their equipment to last. Assholes.” Jack remarks. Her head rotates to face into the shuttle, looking down at the floor of the cabin. She’s silent for a moment, beginning to bounce her leg. “It was a mistake coming back here, Shepard.” She eventually speaks again.

“This was your idea.” Ben is quick to point out.

Shepard shoots him a look that’s clear even through his helmet. The kind of look he’s used to getting from his grandpa, being a nonverbal “cut it out.”

“Get a hold of yourself. It’ll be okay.” Shepard assures Jack.

“I’m fine. Okay.” She accepts, looking out the window again to the approaching facility. “Let’s get on the ground.”

The pilot sets the shuttle down on the open section of the roof, and the side hatch hinges open.

The sound of rain battering down against the rood drowns out basically all other sounds once the group step out. Shepard first, Miranda second, and Jack after a second of hesitation. The three have to look back to Ben to make sure he’s coming, and find him scrolling through the Omnitrix.

“Ben?” Shepard questions, raising his voice just enough for Ben to hear.

Ben raises a single finger with his left hand. His face shifts to a smile as his right hand pulls back from the watch to let the core raise, at which point he slams it back down again.

The light washes over his body from the point connected to the Omnitrix, and with it his new form. Coarse red plating shifts over his limbs and wraps around his torso, completing itself with a layered hood structure. The sections between the plating are colored a grey, his face has become fairly lacking of recognizable human traits, now ridged and sharp, and the Omnitrix dial has manifested on his chest.

He steps down from the Kodiak without a problem now, and steps out from under the cover of the door with the other three.

“Water Hazard. You can guess the powers.” Ben tells Shepard before the commander asks, now speaking with a low and filtered voice.

Shepard leads them across the roof to the nearest stairwell they can spot, leading down the side of the building.

“Let’s just get in there and plant the bomb in my cell. I want to watch this place burn.” Jack reminds them of their mission as they start walking down towards the entrance the walkway leads to.

The room they enter is intact enough to shield them from the rain, letting Jack and Miranda start to dry off. Shepard and Ben don’t seem quite as concerned, the former being dry under his suit, and the latter not having clothes to be soaked.

The room itself is divided into two main sections, wrapping around an open space blocked off with glass in a “U” sort of shape. The room is in a U shape, not the glass. The perimeter of the space is erratically marked with the occasional container, only slightly shorter that Shepard.

“I never saw this room. I think they brought new kids in these containers. They were messed up and starving, but alive. Usually.” Jack explains.

Miranda seems unphased by this information, and neither Shepard or Ben comment.

They head to the back of the room, left from where they entered, and pass through a hatch sealing off the space. The next room has them enter at the top of a stair set, leading down to a main floor. Above them are several skylights, one of which is broken and letting rain pour in. There’s another door to their right once they arrive at the floor, but straight ahead of them is something that cause Shepard to linger. A security console.

The commander makes his way to it, forcing Jack to stop before she continues through the hatch. He powers it on, and flicks through the saved data until coming to the latest preserved log, which he plays.

“The Illusive Man requested operation logs again. He’s getting suspicious.” A security officer speaks, appearing as a hologram behind the console.

“When we get results, he won’t care what he did.” Another man speaks, not appearing.

“But if he knew…” The officer considers.

“He won’t find out.” The other assures him.

Shepard leans forward to turn the console off.

“Sounds like this facility went rouge.” Miranda assumes.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? He didn’t say what they were hiding from the Illusive Man.” Jack points out, heading towards the door again to get them moving again.

Ben remains silent, marching along at the back of the group.

The next space is larger than the previous rooms. A court of some sort, with metal walkways stretching over the close half of the floor. It’s overgrown with plant life of all forms, the most notable of which is a tree stretching up through a gap in the windows serving as a ceiling.

“I remember escaping to this room. Fighting here. I saw sunlight through the cracks in the ceiling. Only a half-dead guard between me and freedom. He was begging for his life.” Jack recalls.

They head down the stairs leading from the walkway to the main floor, forced to make their way around the scattered crates. They are forced to pause when Shepard, at the front of the group, motions for them all to stop.

He flicks his fingers forwards with a look to Ben, causing him to step around Miranda and Jack to where the Commander is gesturing. A pack of quadrupedal animals gathered together between a number of barricades.

Ben looks to Shepard and raises his hand to give him a thumbs up, then starts walking towards the animals.

One by one the four animals notice him and begin to growl as they stand up. As the ones closest to him start to charge his arms rise up and, from his palms, jet streams of water flood out. There’s enough force in these to completely knock the varren over, and push them back across the floor as they scrabble to get back to their feet.

With the group soaked and toppled they opt to disengage, fleeing towards the nearest exit as Ben returns to human form with several beeps, and a flash.

The others close the gap between where they stopped and where Ben is.

While Shepard begins to take in the environment Jack notes the water now covering the floor, then looks to Ben.

“How the fuck does that work? That was way more water than you should have had in you.” She questions.

Ben shrugs. “No clue. Mordin was still trying to figure it out last time I checked.”

Jack doesn’t get to respond to this, instead having Shepard steal her attention with a gesture.

“This looks like an arena.” He notes, looking about at the surrounding barricades, and faint markings of red under the water.

“That’s right.” Jack confirms. “They used to stage fights here. Pit me against other kids. I loved it. Only time I was ever out of my cell.”

“How often did they do this?” Shepard asks.

“I was in a cell my whole life. Sometimes they took me out and made me fight. Filled me with drugs. Other stuff. Time gets funny in a cell.” Jack sharply informs him, implicitly suggesting that it was a stupid question with her tone.

“Did other children die in these fights?” Shepard questions.

“I was a kid, filled with drugs. I got shocked when I hesitated. Narcotics flooded my veins when I attacked.” Jack states, again leaving the answer implied to suggest that Shepard should have simply known based on the information provided.

“They actually rewarded you for attacking?” Shepard asks, demonstrating that he didn’t have this information before asking.

“I still get warm feelings during a fight.” Jack confirms.

“That’s… awful. I don’t even have a joke for that.” Ben says, breaking his typical demeanor for a moment to address the matter.

“Doesn’t matter now.” Jack dismisses very soon after, heading for the door at the end of the room.

Ben hesitates for a moment, then follows after her. Miranda and Shepard aren’t far behind.

The next space they enter is a hallway. As degraded as the rest of the facility, and soaked by the rain pouring in through a broken skylight. At the end of the hall is another security console, which Shepard again magnetizes to as they pass by. He searches through the preserved data as he did with the last one to play the most recent log.

“Security Officer Zemkl, Teltin facility. The subjects are out of their cells! They’re tearing the place up! Subject Zero is going to get loose. I need permission to terminate – repeat, permission to terminate!” A security officer’s requests, displayed as a hologram.

“All subjects besides zero are expendable. Keep Jack alive!” Another man responds.

“Understood. I’ll begin the –” The officer is cut off by Jack stepping past the commander to shut the console off.

“That’s not right. I broke out when my guards disappeared – I started that riot.” Jack insists, turning away from it again to move for the door.

“Things might have happened that you didn’t see.” Shepard suggests, following after her.

“The other kids attacked me. The guards attacked me. The automated systems attacked me. That doesn’t leave lots of room for interpretation.” Jack snaps back, heading down the stairs on the other side of the hatch.

At the base of the stairs, just to the right of the next open door, lie two of the same quadrupedal animals encountered previously. Though now, unlike the ones Ben simply deterred, these have been killed.

“This place is supposed to be empty. Who the fuck shot those varren? It’s a fresh kill.” Jack questions as they pass them.

Through the archway of the open door are several more corridors. They only slow again when they enter an open room overgrown with plant life. Shepard begins checking the doors to see which leads them further across the facility, while the others simply look over the objects on the floor.

“Why’d they need a morgue? This was a small facility.” Jack questions as they travel through the region, assigning a purpose to the room.

“A lot of children died here. Even then, they were part of the experiment.” Miranda reasons, a subtle sympathy carried with her words.

“Bullshit. I had the worst of it, and I made it out alive.” Jack rejects.

Shepard eventually ends up decrypting the lock on the door at the end of the room while the others talk, left with it as the only option.

“That’s really what you’re concerned with here? That you suffered the most?” Ben questions, not letting her remark slide.

“Fuck you, Tennyson. You’ve got no idea what they put me through.” Jack retorts.

Ben’s hand moves to the Omnitrix fast enough to cause Jack to react, readying her biotics for a fight.

“I’ve got an alien in here that can see the past. Do you really want me to show you what happened here? Or do you think that just maybe other people might have suffered too, and that proof would destroy this whole complex you have?” Ben suggests, audible frustration obscuring the genuine offer.

“Ben! Jack! Cut it out, both of you!” Shepard shouts across the room as the door opens, forcing them both to focus on him.

Ben lets his hand fall back to his side, leaving the Omnitrix to return to its default state without a selection locked in. Jack too relaxes herself, letting the biotic aura fizzle out.

Ben and Jack meet each others glares before they make their way to follow Shepard and Miranda forwards.

The next room is essentially just a rectangle, but they enter on a walkway suspended about four meters over the floor.

“So strange to be back here. I feel like… I’m pissed off. I’m a dangerous bitch. But then I’m a little girl again.” Jack struggles to convey her feelings further, cutting herself off with a curt sigh. “Shit, it’s complicated. Let’s just go plant that bomb.” She dismisses herself.

Continuing on there are more corridors, walkways and crates occasionally intersecting them. Eventually they come to a hall of which the walls are lined with doors, each holding a cell behind it. Small, cramped rooms that it seems arguable were never truly clean or maintained, even when the site was in operation.

“They kept children here?” Miranda can’t help but question, again empathizing with the notion.

“I bet they thought they could justify this in the name of “the greater good.” A lot of good it did those kids.” Ben remarks, for a moment revealing himself to be far more upset about the matter than he’s been letting on. It’s to no response, though.

The door at the end of this hall opens to a space that seems a reprieve from the last. Open, and sporting more than its fair share of vegetation growing up from the floor below. They enter onto a walkway that leads around the perimeter of the room to another door. At the back of the space is a mirror, unclean, but still clearly reflecting the room back at them.

Jack slows as they pass by it, causing the others to as well.

“This… It’s a two-way mirror? My cell is on the other side – I could see all the other kids out here. I screamed at them for hours, and they always ignored me.” Jack explains, lingering for a moment more once the information has been shared.

Ben has no remark for this, he just starts walking again after a second, and so too do the others.

Through the next door is a room like the one they entered into the facility from. Two sides, separated by an open space in the middle exposed to the outside, with windows around it.

“I must have come through here when I broke out, but I don’t remember it.” Jack speaks.

Looking, Shepard finds that there’s a chair with arm and leg restrains in the left half of the room.

“This is a bad place.” Jack thinks aloud, just as much to herself as the others.

Walking around, they find there to be another on the right side. Nearer to the door they entered from is another security console, which everyone knows to stop at to let Shepard investigate.

He turns it on, and searches through for the most recent uncorrupted log.

“Entry 1054, Teltin facility. The latest iteration of PergNim went poorly. Subjects One, Four, and Six died. No biotic change among the survivors. We lowered core temperatures of surviving subjects, but no biotically beneficial reactions occurred. As a side effect, all subjects died. So we’ll not try that on Zero. I hope our supply of biotic-potential subjects goes up. We are going through them fast.” A scientist of some form documents.

“This is bullshit! They weren’t experimenting on the other children for my safety!” Jack reacts, slamming her fist against the console to shut it off.

“You can’t help what they did to others.” Shepard tries to console, not putting any space between himself and her.

“You don’t get it, Shepard. I survived this place because I was tougher than the rest. That’s who I am.” Jack insists, grappling with the new information.

“Or you survived this place because you got lucky.” Ben chimes in, causing the Biotic to focus on him.

If her expression were to be summarized, the most appropriate word might be “pissed.”

“And you survived everything after this because of your persistence.” Shepard changes his point, diffusing the anger building up. In its place seems to be only turmoil, conveyed with a frustrated glare down at the ground.

Across the room, by a door on the right wall, is yet another security console. This seems excessive, but Shepard is too busy searching it for more readable files to question it.

Another hologram appears behind the console, of another Scientists.

“It’s all fallen to pieces. The subjects are rampaging and Zero is loose. We’re shutting Teltin down. What a disaster. We’ll infiltrate and piggyback onto the Alliance’s Ascension program. Hopefully it will give—who are…? Zero, wait!” The visage of the doctor is tosses right as the recording ends.

“Shepard, they started up somewhere else.” Jack sounds sincerely desperate in hearing this.

“Ascension is an Alliance program. It’s a school for biotic kids. They don’t torture children there.” Shepard assures, letting Jack relax again.

“A lot of this… isn’t the way I remember it.” Jack says after a moment, doubting herself.

“There was a lot going on.” Shepard justifies.

“I was dumb. I keep my eyes open now, and I always shoot first. We’re getting close to my cell. The place I came from. Let’s keep going.” Jack rejects her own concerns, and heads for the door.

The next room is perhaps the largest yet. The floor is raised at both the front and back, with half walls separating those sections from the main space. The left side of the room is a set of large, slanted windows looking down on the room, and on the right side is the next door that would lead forwards.

Between them and that door, however, are a surprising number of people for a place that’s supposed to be abandoned. A dozen or so vorcha are scattered about the room, and on the very other end from them are a few krogan. The largest of these paces back and forth, placing a hand to the side of his head to activate his comms.

“Hey Aresh, it’s Kureck. Yeah, the intruders are here. You want them dead, we have to talk credits. You promised us lots of salvage, but this place is a waste.” Kureck exposits.

There’s a response over the radio, though it’s completely indistinguishable to the main group.

What’s not indistinguishable is the very clear sound of Ben starting to scroll through the Omnitrix.

“Fine – we’ll put ‘em down. Them I’m coming in there, and we’re going to talk salvage.” Kureck decides, readying his firearm as he turns to the group.

Before he gets the chance to fire Ben slams down on the exposed core, and the signature green light pours out from his body as it changes. It expands outwards to fill a significantly larger shape, growing jagged and rough at the edges as he sprouts fur. His spine extends into a bushy tail the same dark color as his mane, and his legs change shape to become digitigrade. Over his torso a green and white bodysuit forms itself out of his clothes, letting the Omnitrix's dial appear just below his neck. Up from his neck is a head that appears distinctly canine, completed with bared teeth. Blitzwolfer.

“What you’re going to do is get out of here before my friends decide to be less diplomatic than I am.” Ben warns.

The krogan that seems to by their leader pauses for a moment, slowly aiming his gun away from Ben.

“Hey, wait, I know you. You’re that human kid they’ve been talking about in citadel space. Uhh, Terryson, or something.” He recalls, holstering his gun on his armor. “We’re going. There’s not enough scrap here to deal with this.”

He gestures and the large group start moving, heading across the room to file out through the door behind the squad.

“We could have just killed them.” Jack grumbles as they start heading for the door.

“That’s really your solution to every problem, huh?” Ben jabs, earning a cautionary look from Shepard. One he chooses to ignore.

“Worked for me so far.” She justifies.

“We found you in a maximum security prison, in space, in cryostasis. If it weren’t for us, your violence would have put you right back in Cerberus hands.” Ben genuinely criticizes.

Ben’s forced to stop as Jack does, turning back to face him.

“The fuck is your problem with me, Tennyson?” Jack snaps, glaring up at his alien form.

Shepard and Miranda stop as well, turning to address the situation.

“Jack.” Shepard tries to get their attention.

“What’s my problem with you? Do you want the itemized list or an abbreviated version?” Ben asks rhetorically.

“Ben.” Shepard scolds, trying again to head them off.

“Because it might have something to do with your wanton bloodlust, disregard for the lives of innocent people, and complete lack of self awareness. Even here it seems like you can’t admit that what they did to all the other kids might outweigh your gripes in particular.” Ben lists.

“You want to fucking start something?” Jack demands, bringing her biotics to life as she takes a step towards Ben and points up at him.

“That’s enough.” Shepard tries again to stop them.

Ben leans forwards to match the height of her head with her own, letting his uncomfortably large form linger in front of her. “No, I don't.” He growls.

And that does it. With an enraged shout Jack throws her arms forwards, and with them goes Ben. His whole body is ripped from the ground and sent hurtling through the air, swinging around to get his legs behind him right before he crashes through the windows and out into the forest.

“Jack.” Miranda backs up Shepard, stepping over to grab her arm.

Jack only shakes her off, pushing Miranda away with a biotic field as she starts making her way for the windows.

Shepard and Miranda look to each other, both knowing there isn’t much they can do without using their guns, which aren’t an option with their teammates.

Right as Jack reaches the edge of the windows to look out a piercing wail echoes out loudly enough to force everyone to cover their ears, and forcefully enough to completely throw Jack off her feet. She’s barely able to catch herself before she lands, at which point Ben pulls himself back into the room, now notably more wet and matted than before.

“You don’t want to do this either.” Ben warns, tearing off the foliage that latched onto him.

“Fuck you.” Jack spits back, too angry to pause.

She reaches out her arm to the space behind her and with a crackling hum and a flash of blue part of the wall is torn from its bearings. The sky is revealed beyond it, and the shard of metal itself is thrust towards Ben.

Ben takes a short breath in and drops his forelimbs to the ground. As he opens his mouth again it splits down the middle as well, into four distinct sections. And with barely enough time for Miranda and Shepard to brace, he again howls. A bellowing siren with enough force to not only stop the metal but split it into pieces that are shot back at Jack.

Jack is able to react just barely fast enough to form a barrier, deflecting the shrapnel into the ground around her.

Ben rises back to full height and taps the Omnitrix as Jack drops the barrier. With a flash he shifts form again, this time to a much larger creature. Bipedal, but with arms basically touching the ground. His head and torso seem to be one in the same, with the face being located about where a chest would otherwise be. In place of a stomach is a red core of some kind, accented by the rest of his body being entirely beige, brown, and black stone. His lower torso is covered with a pair of green and black shorts, and upon the top of his head is where the Omnitrix locates itself. Gravattack.

“I’m serious this time. You don’t want to do this.” Ben again warns moving a hand out towards Jack.

Jack ignores this of course, preparing to throw another biotic bolt his way. Instead, however, her footing is completely taken from here. She’s swept off the ground quickly enough to break her concentration, and prompt slammed back down just as quickly.

As she starts trying to get up she finds that it’s considerably more difficult than she’d expect, as if held down by a weight. It’s only a second before she’s tossed into the air again though, and another after that before she’s again face down on the metal. Then, all at once, the force stops.

“Well- Hey.” Ben speaks, his arm held in place in the air by a biotic field.

Noticeably it’s not just Miranda doing this, but Shepard as well. Struggling just as much as the former to hold Ben in place.

“Ben, that’s enough.” Shepard commands, eventually letting go once it seems like Ben gets the idea.

Ben turns to them, lowering his arms back to his sides.

“You’re really putting this on me?” He questions.

“If you have a problem with the people on my team you can bring that to me, but you do not antagonize them on missions. Am I clear?” Shepard reprimands, not faltering for a second as Ben’s massive form comes to stand before him.

Ben hesitates for a moment, glancing over to Jack as she picks herself up.

“Crystal. Won’t happen again.” He begrudgingly accepts, and transforms back with several beeps from the dial.

Shepard nods, accepting this, and starts heading across the room to where Jack ended up.

He offers a hand to help her up, but she smacks it away to get up on her own.

“Didn’t know you were a biotic, Shepard.” She notes.

The commander doesn’t respond, he only watches as Jack starts making her way to the next door.

 “Only room left is my old cell. Whoever Aresh is, he’s in there. I want to plant the bomb there anyways. Might as well do it on his corpse.” She mutters.

“Jack.” He says bluntly, forcing her to stop.

She does, begrudgingly, and turns back to look at him.

“You’re a grown woman. Act like it.”

She doesn’t respond with a glare, or a retort, she simply thinks on the statement, then turns and continues heading for what was once her room. Ben doesn’t head over with them, he just heads to the inner wall, on the side that wasn’t torn open in their conflict.

Beyond the door is a hallway, marked with a stain of blood on the wall and the same degradation at the rest of the building. They pass through to the next door, where they arrive at Jack’s room.

“Come out. We know you’re here.” Shepard speaks as they enter, to the individual that hired the mercenaries.

There’s a brief pause where nothing happens before, from behind an overturned chair on the other side of the room, a man emerges.

“Who are you?” Jack demands.

“My name is Aresh, and you’re breaking into my home.” He speaks in response, far more calm than hiding would have suggested. “I know you, Subject Zero. So many years have passed, and I thought I was the only survivor.”

“My name is Jack. How the hell do you know me?” She corrects.

“We all knew your face, Jack. They inflicted horrors onto us so their experiments wouldn’t kill you. You were the question, and I’m still looking for the answer.” Aresh explains.

“Looks like you’re not the only one pulled back here, Jack.” Shepard connects.

“I tried to forget this. But a place like this… It doesn’t forget you. It follows you. I hired these mercs and came back almost a solar year ago. We’re rebuilding it, piece by piece. I’m going to find out what they knew – how to unlock true biotic potential in humans. I’m restarting the Teltin facility. It will be beautiful.” Aresh tells them, seemingly believing what he’s saying.

“I wanted a hole in the ground – he’s trying to justify what happened by using it!” Jack rejects Shepard’s comparison.

“This place was like a prison. How did you get out?” Shepard asks Aresh.

“We all attacked at once as they were taking us to the lab. They would have put us down, but then Jack got loose. When I came to, it was over – the guards, the scientists, and the kids were all dead. And you were gone.” Aresh recounts.

“I stopped it, all of it. Maybe the others did have it bad, but what you’re doing is just messed.” Jack fits his story to her own.

“Everything we went though must have been worth something!” Aresh shouts back at her, desperately convinced.

“You’d do the same thing to new kids? Wasn’t this forced on you?” Shepard questions.

“Some were bought from poor families on Earth or kidnapped from colonies. Most ended up here the way I did: batarian pirates. They did such horrible things to us. They must have had good reasons.” Aresh reasons.

“There’s no reason good enough! Are you nuts? You lived it!” Jack shouts, astonished by his reasoning.

Shepard turns from the man, looking to Jack instead.

“We can blow up the place, but that still leaves him. What do we do with another you?” Shepard asks.

“That’s easy.” Jack responds, pacing around to another side of Aresh, placing the man functionally in between her and Shepard.

“Just leave me here. This is where I belong.” Aresh has decided.

“Fuck that.” Jack rejects, and with a flash of blue he’s forced to his knees. Before he even knows what happened Jack’s aiming a pistol at his head.

She hesitates though, as if waiting for Shepard’s reaction. To see if he agrees with this or not.

Shepard himself hesitates, thinking for the moment given before choosing his response.

“He deserves it.” Shepard agrees, coldly.

“I decide how I deal with my past! Not you!” Jack reflexively fights his stance.

“I gave you an order!” He shouts, forcing Jack to make a choice with a motion to his own pistol.

“Killing him isn’t going to fix my head!” jack realizes, yanking Aresh up to his feet. “Get out of here. Go!” She orders, and he does.

He runs from the room as quickly as they could hope, passing by Ben on his way towards an exit.

“He’s not worth chasing. None of it is.” Jack accepts.

“You did the right thing, Jack.” Shepard tells her, having apparently been manipulating her.

“Maybe.” She thinks, storing her gun again.

She eyes glaze over as she sees the room around her, merely taking in the space.

“This room was my whole childhood. Give me a minute to look around.” She requests.

“Go ahead.” Shepard agrees, handing back by the door as she starts making her way through the room.

“Nothing’s changed… but it’s all different.” She speaks.

With a chance to actually process the environment Shepard begins to note all the items composing the room. There’s a stack of crates in the back right corner, a flipped table closer than them, and a toilet and sink mounted to the right wall.

The entire back wall, which Jack currently stands looking out through, is a large window. The same one they passed by in the room they can see through it.

“I thought that room was the rest of the world. I’d pound and yell. Never did any good.” Jack recollects, letting herself move on from it a moment later.

In the back left corner is a made bed, the next object jack lingers by.

“Sometimes I dream that I’m back in this bed being tortured. I used to tie the sheets around my wrists and try to rip them off… I want to stop coming back here.”

Closer along the left wall is a bookshelf; a tipped over lounge chair, lamp, and desk chair; and a solitary desk, used to hold a scattered arrangement of papers.

“I used this table for everything. It was like my best friend. I’d crawl under it to cry.” She pauses, letting the thought be for a second. “I was pathetic.”

Shepard steps out of her way as the moves for the door, and both he and Miranda follow her as she walks down the hall.

“See the scarring on the wall here?” She gestures to a stain of blood upon the right wall. “That’s where I killed my first man. One of the guards tried to stop me.” She kneels down beside the marked spot, placing a hand on the wall. “Instead, I stopped him.”

She’s silent again until she rises back to her feet with a deep breath in.

“Okay, no more wallowing. Let’s blow this place to hell.” Jack accepts.

Shepard nods, and raises a hand to the side of his head.

“Joker, have them bring the bomb down. We’re ready for it.” He states.

“Affirmative. On its way now.” Joker responds.

No more than a half hour later the four ascend through the skies of the jungle planet in the Kodiak.

Jack sits across from the others, the trigger firmly within her grasp.

There’s silence among them, filled with the sound of rain pounding against the outside of the shuttle, and the rhythmic “flick,” “click,” “flick,” “click” of Jack opening and closing the trigger cover.

But in a moment, one of those sounds stop. It is instead replaced by Shepard slamming his hand against the cockpit door to signal the pilot.

The four of them all look out the window, with varying levels of investment, at the distant facility.

There’s a solid flash of white, and when their eyes adjust again the region of the forest where a lab once stood is instead a searing fireball. From it a shockwave powerful enough to break the rain spreads, tearing through the trees and violently shaking the Kodiak when it hits.

A short while after arriving back on the Normandy Shepard stands in the debriefing room, waiting as the holographic chamber rises around him.

What loads to view as it passes over his eyes is not an unfamiliar sight to him, but for once it’s not that of the Illusive Man. Instead, it’s the council chamber. Around him the four councilors are projected, all facing him.

“Commander. I see you haven’t lost your touch.” The turian councilor greets him.

Both the asari and human councilors spare a glance to Sparatus, but neither say anything before looking back to Shepard.

“That’s twice now, Shepard, that you’ve detonated a nuclear device on the surface of a planet. I hope your reasons are as sound as they were last time.” Tevos offers him a chance to explain himself.

“Councilors, I assure you my actions on the previous mission were justified. The location affected by the blast was a decommissioned Cerberus facility, filled with necessary information and resources to restart the project right where they left off.” Shepard informs them.

“A Cerberus base? Shepard, are you sure it’s a good idea to be bombing facilities owned by your current allies?” Anderson questions, as politely as he can manage.

“Like I said, decommissioned. An independent party was interested in the resources there.” Shepard clarifies.

“And what sorts of resources would those be, Commander?” The salarian asks.

“They conducted experiments there on biotically potential children. They knew just about everything on how to turn someone into a superweapon, and it cost them a lot of lives.” He answers.

The councilors take a moment to consider this information.

“While we can see why you felt the need to proceed the way you did, may we advise in future that you take a more… subtle approach to resolving the situation.” Tevos requests.

“Your advisal will be considered.” Shepard tells them.

“Well then, if that will be all Commander.” Tevos nods slightly as the call ends, shutting off the booth around him.

Shepard lets out a deep sigh as he turns from the chamber and heads towards the door leading into the hall.

“Commander, Jack, Miranda, and Ben are in the middle of a… disagreement. Can you head it off before they tear out a bulkhead?” Joker requests over the intercoms, sounding a little concerned.

Shepard shakes his head, placing a hand to his forehead to rub his temples.

“I’ll deal with it.” Shepard speaks, picking up the pace as he heads for the elevators.

“Take pictures.” Joker comedically requests.

It doesn’t even take a minute for Shepard to have made his way down to the third floor, approaching the door of Miranda’s office.

It slides open as he reaches it, and on the other side he finds the three people Joker mentioned. All of which are more than a little agitated.

“Touch me and I will smear the walls with you, bitch!” Jack verbosely threatens, gripping a chair with biotics to launch it at Miranda, who steps out of the way before it hits her.

“Because that went so well for you last time.” Ben quips back, leaning on an archway towards the back of the room.

Shepard steps in, “Enough! Stand down, all of you!” he announces in barely a second. Ben and Miranda both focus on him, but Jack continues to pace on her side of the room.

“The cheerleader won’t admit what Cerberus did to me was wrong!” Jack explains, gesturing to said individual.

“It wasn’t Cerberus. Not really.” Miranda corrects her. “But clearly you were a mistake.”

“Screw you!” Jack indignantly shouts back.

Shepard has to take another step into the room to get between the two, forcing them to calm down for a moment. Just long enough for him to think for a moment on how he wants to address the situation.

“The people I recruit are my business, Miranda. You leave jack alone.” Shepard decides, turning to the operative.

Miranda seems surprised, fairly genuinely.

“She can’t be trusted, Shepard. She’s unstable. She’s jeopardizing the mission.” She argues.

Jack backs off as it’s made clear that Shepard is siding with her.

“Jack’s fine. Maybe you should take a look at your own attitude.” Shepard harshly states, causing her to turn away from him.

“My thoughts exactly.” Jack huffs, heading out through the door.

Miranda sits down at her desk a second later, looking down at the table with a tense stare.

“Ben.” Shepard redirects his attention, getting the teen’s attention

“Hey, I came down to make sure they didn’t tear a hole in the ship, promise.” Ben tells him.

Shepard glares at him before sharply gesturing for him to leave the room. He puts his hands up in an “alight, I’m going” sort of way, and heads out into the food court.

Shepard watches him go, following him just beyond the door of Miranda’s room to make sure he’s not heading after Jack, then looks back to Miranda.

“Are we good?” He asks.

Miranda is quiet for a moment, staring pensively.

“Not even remotely.” She responds, and with barely a gesture to her keyboard the door seals shut in Shepard’s face.

With that dealt with for the moment, Shepard heads for the food court. He needs to refuel, and Jack needs time to cool off before he goes down to check on her.

It’s a little over half an hour before he makes his way to the elevator again, sending it down to the engineering deck where Jack is. He finds her, expectedly, having returned to her “quarters,” now sitting on the cot staring across to the opposite wall.

“I needed to wipe that place off the map. You took me there to do it, and I owe you.” Jack says as he comes down the stairs, looking over to him.

She leans back into the cot, lying herself out flat as he steps over to the middle of the floor.

“You don’t now what it’s like, Shepard. To have garbage like that following you. It marks you in ways you… you don’t expect.” She seems to open up a little, trying to parse through her own emotions.

“I’ve made a lot of hard choices, Jack. Like what to let go.” Shepard corrects her.

“Hard to walk away from it. You’d think it would get easier now that the place is a crater, but what else do I know?”

“I don’t want this affecting our mission. That’s why I brought you out here.” Shepard has to clarify.

Jack sighs and leans herself op again, tossing her lets off the cot.

“Can’t kill all that bad shit so easy, I guess. Have to live with it. Fucked up or not… the rest of the galaxy can deal.” She tries to accept.

“I don’t care how you do it, this doesn’t sidetrack us again. Understood?”

She leans back and looks over to him again with a smile.

“Yes sir, Commander, sir.” She says in a goofy manner before letting the forced grin vanish. “Whatever-” She stops herself with a short breath. “Seriously though, you did something for me and- ah, shit. I’m not used to saying thanks.”

He just lingers in the space for a moment, letting a held glare convey his point before he turns to head back up the stairs and into the core room.

Chapter Text

With Jack’s matter addressed, Shepard sets the Normandy to head for the Serpent Nebula. With the fairly direct route through the relay network the voyage should only take a day. Most of that time will actually be spent traveling through the Serpent Nebula itself, as they aren’t headed for the Citadel in the Widow system. They’re instead headed for the Boltzmann system. Specifically, the planet of Bekenstein.

The voyage is spent the usual way. With Shepard checking in on the crew every once in a while, and Ben either hanging out with someone doing actual work, or on his own with recreational activities in what serves as his room.

It’s only once they start approaching the world that the relevant parties gather in preparation for departure. Shepard, Kasumi, and Ben.

It’s not too long before they sail through the skies of the earth-like planet in a shuttle car, the same kind used for public transit on many of the other worlds they’ve been to.

To Ben’s relief, Kasumi is driving. Though with the open air they glide through it seems unlikely that even Shepard could make the trip too eventful.

“You clean up well, Mr. Solomon Gunn. Hock won’t know what hit him.” Kasumi starts the conversation, glancing over to Shepard.

“I assume Solomon Gunn is my cover.” Shepard promptly responds.

Kasumi reaches over and taps on the dashboard in front of Shepard, causing the vehicle to load several holographic screens littered with information.

“You run a small but talented band of mercs out in the Terminus Systems. Precisely the type of person Hock respects. I took the liberty of giving you a reputation. Papers, witnesses, article in Badass Weekly. Just don’t talk business with him, and you’ll be fine.” Kasumi explains.

“And my cover is…?” Ben asks from the back seat.

“Gunn’s entourage. I didn’t have as long to plan for you being a part of this.” Kasumi tells him.

“Remind me: What kind of man are we dealing with?” Shepard asks.

“Hock’s a weapons dealer and smuggler. He killed my partner and stole his graybox. Other than that, he’s not so bad. Rich, charismatic, willing to crack open a man’s still to get at the neural implants inside.” Kasumi informs.

“So, no one’s going to be too mad at me if things get a bit damaged?” Ben leans forward enough to rest his elbows on the backs of their chairs.

“Probably best to keep a low profile, but as long as we get the graybox intact you can operate as you see fit.” Shepard approves.

“Right, low profile. That’s why he’s wearing the suit?” Ben refers to the formal wear Shepard is adorned in, in place of his usual armor.

“He’d look really out of place at a society party in armor, don’t you think?” Kasumi justifies.

Kasumi takes her eyes off the sky ahead for a moment to look at Shepard.

“Plus, he looks great. You should wear this stuff more often.” Kasumi says.

“Now’s probably a good time to fill us in on the details.” Shepard redirects the conversation back to the mission.

“You have been waiting patiently.” Kasumi says with a smile, reaching forward to tap another location on the dash.

A set of images are loaded in just a second, the most notable of there being a bronze statue of Saren.

“Our friend Hock is throwing a party for his closest friends. A couple dozen of the worst liars, cheaters, and mass murders you’ll ever want to meet, all bringing gifts as tribute to the man himself.” Kasumi starts to tell them.

She flicks the images over, causing the program to scroll through them. They’re able to see the statue from another angle, as well as a drawer full of guns.

“Our tribute is a lovely statue of your old friend Saren, rendered with loving detail and filled to the brim with our weapons and armor. You can keep your pistol, Shepard, as long as it’s concealed. They won’t hassle you over a sidearm. Once inside, we’ll make our way to hock’s vault door, somewhere in the back of the ballroom.” She taps the dashboard again and the images disappear, leaving the view of the sky ahead clear.

“Originally the plan was to case the security and start peeling away the layers. But after looking over some of the footage from your body cams, Ben seems like a much better option. So now the plan is to have him unlock the vault from the inside for us. The statue should be there, waiting for us to crack it open and arm up when the door’s open. Just in case he needs some backup.” Kasumi lays out their plan.

“Then what?” Ben asks.

“Then we just waltz into the vault and take back Keiji’s graybox. And I’ll finally get a chance to say goodbye.” She states.

“You’ve worked really hard on this. Keiji must have meant a lot to you.” Shepard gleams.

“Was I that obvious?” Kasumi pauses, almost long enough for it to seem like she might leave it there. She very nearly does, but decides to explain, “Keiji’s graybox holds a lot of priceless, personal memories. It’s all that remains of who he was. But the secret he discovered is dangerous. I wouldn’t bring you here if it wasn’t.”

“This ought to be interesting.” Shepard remarks.

“That’s what I’m going for.”

The three go quiet as the car begins to approach their destination, a glimmering tower of intricate glass and steel, laid carefully amongst a naturally formed mountain.

In another minute they land on the open balcony and depart once the vehicle’s doors open.

“This is our stop.” Kasumi speaks as she steps onto the balcony itself.

Nearly instantly the gleaming shape of their gift enters their field of view, being rolled over to a guard at the base of the stairs leading up to the front door.

“After you, Mr. Gunn.” She motions for Shepard, who begins making his way over to the entrance.

“Just one moment, sir. There appears to be an issue with the statue.” An eclipse security guard stops them, seemingly scanning their statue with his omni-tool.

Shepard glances to Kasumi, who simply shrugs. Ben’s of no help either, already scrolling through the Omnitrix.

It’s lucky, then, that the individual coming down the entrance speaks for them.

“Is there a problem here?” This individual asks.

“No, Mr. Hock. Just doing a scan.” The security guard tells him.

Hock’s attention moves to Shepard as he reaches the base of the stairs, stopping just before he leaves the last step.

“I don’t believe we’ve met. Donovan Hock.” He greets them.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. Name’s Solomon Gunn.” Shepard falsely introduces himself, extending a hand for him to shake.

“And I have heard a lot about you. You’ve been very busy lately, if the extranet is to be believed.” Hock responds, keeping his arms at his sides.

Shepard gets the idea and lowers his hand again.

“Sir, the scanners aren’t picking anything up.” The guard states.

Hock looks away from the three, stepping over to the base of the looming effigy. He gazes up at it, scanning over the details finely casted out of the polished bronze.

“Hmm. I don’t think our guests would come all the way here from Illium just to cause trouble. Do you?”

The security guard shrugs.

Hock shakes his head, stepping back over to the staircase.

“You may pass through, Mr. Gunn, with my apologies. But I will ask…” And now he seems to register Ben’s presence, locking his eyes on the teen when he looks over his shoulder and turning back around to face him. “If you would care to introduce your companion here.”

Ben’s eyes flick up to him with the usual smirk. He takes his hand from the watch, letting it return to its default state.

“I’m” He realizes that he shouldn’t give his real name only after starting to speak. “Uh, Kirby.” He continues with barely any hesitation.

“What an interesting model of… omni-tool?” He gestures to the watch.

“Omnitrix.” He corrects, concerning Kasumi slightly more than Shepard.

“Interesting…” He looks to Kasumi. “I will ask your companion to remain outside. You understand, I hope.” He says, stopping with a look back over his shoulder.

“Care to explain why my friend has to stand outside?” Shepard questions.

“I don’t like the look of your “friend,” so she stays outside. Simple as that.” Hock insists.

There’s a moment of pause before Shepard says “No problem. You’re the host.”

“Enjoy the party.” He speaks, making his way back up the stairs towards the entrance.

The three make their way from the entrance, stopping once they’re sufficiently out of the way.

“Well, that didn’t go as expected.” Kasumi remarks.

“You took the words right out of my mouth. You know what that was all about?” Ben asks.

“No. We’ve never seen each other in person. And no one knows what I look like. Just watching his ass, I’m sure. I can’t blame him.” Kasumi surmises.

“What do we do now?” Shepard questions.

“We go on with the plan. You’ll just have to do all the talking. I’ll stay out of sight and stick with you the best I can.” She tells him, tapping a button on the palm of her glove to engage the cloaking system.

Shepard looks back to the guard by the door to make sure he didn’t see, and in doing so finds them to be rolling the statue around the side of the building.

By the time he turns back Ben has started spinning through the alien icon above the Omnitrix.

“Ben?” Shepard questions.

“From what people tell me, the Omnitrix can be pretty loud. Better out here than where the guests might hear.” He explains his reasoning.

Shepard waits as Ben looks through his options, only letting the Omnitrix stop once it comes to the one he wants. He pulls his hand back just far enough to have the selection registered, and the Omnitrix reveal the dial, at which point he slams it back down.

The usual flash floods out from below his skin, revealing his skeleton for a split instant while his skin greys and his body thins. His legs twist and merge into a tail that curls as he rises from the ground. His face thins and stretches over itself like a sheet of fabric as his features vanish, leaving only a single eye in the remaining seam. It’s upon his chest that the Omnitrix’s dial reappears, bound to him with a series of chains and shackles that wrap around his torso and clip to his limbs.

“Yes! It gave me the one I wanted.” His voice is raspy and shrill, like I whisper at full volume, and without a clear source.

“We’ll keep radio contact in case something goes wrong.” Kasumi says over their coms, right as Ben begins to vanish from sight.

“You’ll see me at the vault.” Ben speaks like an ambiance, vanishing completely with a sinking shimmer that fades through the ground.

Ben’s not wrong. The next time he appears before them is at the statue beside the open vault doors, which he manages to open before Shepard has time to make it through the house. This doesn’t exactly astound the commander as he’s grown accustomed to Ben’s feats, but Kasumi seems at least a little impressed when she visualizes again.

“Nice work, Ben. I’ve got to say, I might be a little jealous. That watch really makes this sort of thing far too easy for you.” Kasumi praises, passing him to check for cameras as he transforms back with a shimmer of green light.

“Well the watch makes basically everything easier. But yeah, I know what you mean. I used to use Ghostfreak to sneak into movies and stuff back when I was a kid. Well, at least until he ghost freaked out of the watch and tried to kill me.” Ben says.

Shepard pauses halfway into putting his armor on, looking over to Ben with a raised brow.

“Your alien transformation attempted to kill you?” He questions.

“An ectonurite consciousness exists in even the smallest strand of DNA. Before Asmuth updated the Omnitrix to store DNA digitally, Ghostfreak was alive inside the watch and tried to take over whenever I became him. Eventually he broke out, and it took years to deal with that. We kept killing him, and he kept coming back. Each time with a new crew of losers ready to serve his every evil order.” Ben recounts, occasionally gesturing his arms wildly though the air as he talks.

Shepard finishes suiting up by sliding on his helmet, and starts making his way over to the vault entrance once Kasumi indicates the cameras are dealt with.

“That sounds familiar. Remind you of anyone, Shepard?” Kasumi teases.

“If I can help it, I’d like to avoid dying again before the Reapers are dealt with. Once is more than enough.” Shepard shuts down the levity as the three steps in to the vault’s elevator.

“Wow, he’s just a barrel of laugh, huh?” Kasumi jokes to Ben.

“You should have seen him back on Pragia when we were finding a place for the bomb.” Ben returns the humor from the other side of Shepard.

The commander remains facing forward as the elevator begins to descend, not acknowledging either of them.

“I watched the footage from that one. Fun stuff from you and Jack; I especially liked the werewolf one.” Kasumi continues talking with Ben.

“Blitzwolfer.” He tells her.

“Thought, I must say, I was a little surprised they were able to stop the big one…” She pauses to let Ben say the name.

“Gravattack.” He says the name.

“Stop Gravattack with biotics. Mass Effect fields and all, I know, but he was still a pretty big guy. I guess the fancy implants Cerberus put in Shepard are really something.” She reasons.

“Huh?” Ben reacts, confused, as is evident from him saying “What?” immediately after.

“I wasn’t a biotic when the collectors hit the Normandy two years ago. I had biotic potential, but nothing ever manifested. Seems reasonable to assume Cerberus “fixed” that when they rebuilt me.” Shepard clarifies, again killing the light atmosphere built up between the two younger individuals.

When the elevator comes to a stop the door ahead of them slides open again, and the wall beyond it slides away from them to rise upwards.

The room they enter is massive. The size of a warehouse at least, thought completely below the mansion above.  It’s lavish, in a word. Elegant in the way expensive architects are paid to make things, being that you can tell it’s expensive, but doesn’t necessarily look good.

They emerge at the edge of the room on a raised section, a few feet up from the main floor ahead of them.

A dozen individual pedestals display works of art on the main floor, and more are stationed around the perimeter. The most notable of these might be the head of the statue of liberty, displayed at the back end of the room.

“So this is Hock’s vault. Very nice.” Kasumi remarks, heading down to the main corridor where most of the trinkets lie.

Ben’s attention stays on the massive head once he sees it, completely ignoring the other works around him.

“Do I even want to know how that happens?” Ben questions, gesturing clearly enough for Shepard and Kasumi to both see when they look over to him.

“What are you- How did Hock get Lady Liberty’s head?” Kasumi questions, seeing what Ben refers to.

“Let’s focus on getting Keiji’s greybox. Ben can catch up on Earth’s history once we’re back on the Normandy.” Shepard directs them, getting Kasumi to continue walking from one display case to the next.

While Kasumi searches over the collection for the graybox, Ben continues looking around. Michelangelo’s David, more than a few Krogan statues, a model of a turian ship, and most notably for Ben, a work labeled as a Rachni Queen.

He glances down at the Omnitrix as he stops in front of it, then looks to it again.

“Can’t wait ‘till I unlock this one.” He says, causing Shepard to glance over.

“I thought you unlocked rachni back on Illium?” Shepard questions.

“I thought so too for a while, but the Omnitrix hasn’t let me turn into one since. I don’t think it got enough data for a full transformation.”

Shepard thinks on that for a moment.

“I’ll try to introduce you the next time she decides to reach out.” He says with the slightest hint of humor.

Ben continues looking around for a moment, as does Kasumi, though far more methodically.

“Oh my god… there it is.” Kasumi speaks, stopping beside the display that holds what they’ve been looking for.

Shepard and ben make their way over, stopping once they reach her. Ben peers around the two to get a look at the object, then turns back around to look at the open room once he’s seen it.

She flicks her wrist up to summon the holographic interface of her omni-tool overtop. With a few taps to certain points on the display a second hologram appears over the device on the table, appearing to scroll through a large sum of information.

“Okay, I feel like this is the part where-”

“Don’t bother, Ms. Goto. It’s codelocked.” Hock interrupts Ben, appearing as a giant hologram of his own face at the front end of the room.

“Yep, there is it. The bad guys always know when you’re stealing their stuff, and they always have to monologue.” Ben jokes.

“I had a feeling that was you at the door. I knew if it was really you, you’d get through anyway.” Hock begins to talk.

“You know me. I don’t like to disappoint.” Kasumi responds, stepping away from the display case to face the hologram in full.

“I need what’s in your graybox, Kasumi. You know I’m willing to kill you for it. I’ll admit your skills are impressive. You got into my vault like I’d left it open. But you’re still going to die, screaming, just like your old friend.” He threatens.

“Wow, I think you actually underplayed his evilness. This guy’s a maniac.” Ben comments, looking down to his wrist as he starts swiping through the options.

“I was wondering about you as well, Mr. Kirby. I believe this ordeal is between Ms. Goto and I, and her hired gun. What’s your involvement?” He questions.

“Are you kidding? Dude, I’ve been all over the extranet. How have you not heard of me?” With a smile and a look back up to the hologram of Hock’s face, he slams down to core.

With a flash his form rises over itself, his silhouette being that of a bulky humanoid about 7 feet tall. His exposed skin a pale green, though most of his body is covered with a black and green body suit. Just below his face, on his collar, is where the Omnitrix itself rests. Just above that a pair of sharp green shades rest over his eyes.

“I’m Ben Tennyson. The guy that’s going to make you reconsidered the choices that have led you to this point in your life if you don’t let us walk out of here with the graybox.” Ben pauses once he points forwards at the hologram, seeing his arm.

He draws it back and looks down at himself as Hock processes what happened.

“Bullfrag? …Yeah, alright. Probably a better pick than Chamalien, I guess.” He accepts.

“You’re the… It doesn’t matter. You’re going to be dead soon enough, and I’ll have everything I need to look inside your partner’s greybox.” Hock fails to relent.

“Let’s see you try.” Kasumi smiles as her omni-tool begins to chime, and not a moment later the holograms disappear.

“This is where your special skills come into play.” She looks to both Shepard and Ben, grabbing the greybox and sliding it into a compartment of her suit.

Hock’s hologram disappears, and the wail of a siren echoes out over the loudspeakers. Both Kasumi and Shepard dash for cover.

“Let’s do this.” Kasumi says, pulling her guns from off the back of her suit.

The door at the far of the room opens, and on the other side a group of mercenaries begin to make their way out. Not a single one of them doesn’t have their gun trained on Ben, who still stands unconcerned in the center of the isle.

“You sure you want to do this, boys? Because I can assure you that only one side of this is walking away unbruised, and I can’t imagine this line of work has terribly great health coverage for you guys.” Ben threatens, in a roundabout way.

One of the group near the front looks to another, who nods like they’re an idiot, at which point they all turn back to Ben.

“All right, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Ben laughs.

Before any of them have the sense to fire, Ben kicks off the ground and into the air. Like, 20 feet into the air. High enough in a short enough time for nearly all of them to have to adjust their aim, but by the time they do he’s launched the end of his tongue at them. It hits one of their guns and sticks, tearing it from the merc’s hands when he begins to spin himself around.

By the time they even process what happened the gun has already come back around, slamming into the group forcefully enough to knock the first few over.

The ones that remain upright are barely able to re-aim their weapon once Ben has landed, and at that point fall to the ground themselves with a loud series of shots. Shots fired not by them, but by Kasumi, who visualizes beside where they were once they hit the ground.

“Checking blueprints… There’s a landing pad to the east. Let’s get out of here.” She plans, turning towards the now open hatch at the far end of the room.

“Joker, bring the shuttle in. Now!” Shepard orders, catching up to the two.

“That was pretty flashy. I’m guessing this one’s bulletproof?” Kasumi wagers, pulling Ben’s attention over to her as they start walking.

“Nope. I’ve just had a lot of practice dodging gunfire.” Ben tells her.

“Yikes. Aren’t you, what, like Eighteen? That sounds like a rough childhood.”

“Yeah, well, when an alien device falls out of the sky and does what it does, you learn to roll with the punches. Especially when those punches are coming from guys who have leveled city blocks with my face.” Ben says.

“Speaking of,” Shepard directs their attention ahead as they move through another hatch into what appears to be a vehicle bay of sorts. A six wheeled tank sits by the entrance inactive, but beyond it are a number of guards, and, more pressingly, a YMIR Mech.

“Okay, well this haven’t used this face specifically.” He reaches up for the Omnitrix, “Come on, Omnitrix. Give me Upgrade. Give me Goop. Give me anyone that can handle this thing before it shoves a missile in my face.”

He hits the dial, and with a flash his form changes again, though not to one Shepard or Kasumi are able to see as they take cover. By the time they look back to where Ben was, he’s nowhere to be seen.

In place of seeing Ben, they instead hear him. Or, the mayhem he’s causing at least.

Kasumi vanishes from sight as Shepard peeks over the object he ducked behind, finding the Eclipse troopers getting tossed around. Into walls, into the air, into each other. With streaks of blue and black through the space, they’re getting thoroughly dealt with.

Not all at once though. Notably they’re able to get up and regain their bearings by the time Ben rushes by them again, meaning that the gunfire doesn’t cease for more than a few seconds at a time.

After a few seconds the blur abruptly stops at Shepard’s side behind cover, considerably winded.

Despite what Shepard had guessed, it’s not the biomechanical reptile Ben calls XLR8. It’s instead a furred humanoid creature. It bears an underbite, as well as an extended section of black fur moving from around the eye out from the back of the head on either side. He’s wearing a green and black suit as most of Ben’s aliens do, green sneaker like shoes that leave his toes exposed, and black fingerless gloves. The dial rests on the center of his chest, bound to the suit.

Ben’s eyes dart over to Shepard as he starts catching his breath.

“Fasttrack. It’s been a while since I’ve used this one. He’s not as fast as I thought, but he’s a lot stronger than I remember” Ben fills in the Commander, speaking just slowly enough for him to be able to understand.

“Can’t you switch again?” Shepard suggests.

“Asmuth’s said that going from alien to alien without letting the watch timeout isn’t great for it. Something about offsetting the timeout function or making the dial unreliable. I don’t know, we were busy and I’m bad at listening.”

Ben vanishes from beside Shepard, and barely a moment later an eclipse merc is thrown over the barricade into the wall they came from, slamming into it hard before falling to the ground with a groan. A second later Ben reappears at Shepard’s side.

“I can’t deal with the mech and these guys at the same time. If you could keep their attention on you, it’d make my job a lot easier.” Ben tells him, ducking just fast enough to avoid a low shot coming over the barrier.

Shepard nods, reaching around and pulling a shotgun from the back of his armor.

With them on the same page, Ben takes off again.

He’s too fast for bullets to reach him by the time he’s out of their way, let alone for the troopers to aim at him. Nothing is able to even slow him down until he hits the Mech. And by “hits the Mech” I mean is redirected by the mech’s barriers.

At his speed he’s treated as a projectile and launched around the machine when he tries to hit it. There’s a good second or two before he slams into the far wall, and another before he hits the ground.

“Agh!” he winces, grabbing his sides as he takes off to find some cover.

While Ben takes the moment to recover, Shepard leaves his position. The first few shots that come his way are deflected off his kinetic barrier, as you would expect, but the next group never get to reach him. With a surge of biotic energy around him he’s launched from the ground, sailing forwards through the bay and into one of the mercs with enough force to throw him off the ground. By the time the others around him realize what he did the shotgun in his hands have shredded their armor.

With that firmly under control Ben tries again. He zooms out of cover to get a running start, then takes off towards the Mech.

He doesn’t just try the same thing again though, as that would be silly. This is Ben we’re talking about.

He tries the same thing again, a lot of times.

Each time he’s bounced around the shield he gets better at landing and is even quicker to rush it again. Slam after slam, the barrier starts to fail. It only takes the briefest opening once he can reach it for Ben to leap up onto it, rushing over it to reach between its plating and tear out everything he can get his hands on.

It’s not too long before it drops to its knees, starting to beep.

Ben would know what this meant even if he hadn’t dealt with if before and takes off to carry Shepard to cover in an instant. He then goes for Kasumi, rushing back and forth over the whole floor in barely a second, until he hits her invisible form and is able to carry her to cover as well.

The two presently humans barely know what happened by the time it’s exploded but can gather from Ben’s labored breaths as he braces himself against an adjacent wall.

It takes them a second to catch up, at which point Kasumi rises to her feet and becomes visible again.

“How’d you know where I was?” She questions, keeping herself turned away from the remains of the mech as the space cools again.

“I didn’t. Had to sweep the whole room until I hit you.” Ben explains between breaths.

“Clever.” Shepard praises.

“I dealt with a merlinisapien for a while when we were after Maltruent. Got pretty creative about finding someone invisible. Though, that’s way easier with XLR8.” Ben says, starting to breath normally again.

“They’re out of the vault! Seal them in!” Hock shouts over the intercoms in the space, causing Ben’s furred head extensions to perk up like ears.

At the end of the room Ben sees the door starting to close itself, and he takes off. Shepard and Kasumi are both thrown over his shoulders as he speeds through the hatch before it can seal.

Barely on the other side his foot catches on something on the ground and he flies forwards. With their speed as it is, their kinetic barriers respond to their ground itself the way it would bullets, and bounces them along into the far wall, where they’re both stopped with their barriers burning out.

Ben is not nearly as fortunate, simply skidding along the ground and through the crates until he slows to a stop.

Shepard and Kasumi both take a second to process how completely fine they are, and that their barriers are recharging. Shepard moves to check on Ben first, pulling the crate he’s under off of him.

“Ben, are you okay?” He asks.

“Now I remember why I don’t use Fasttrack.” He groans as he gets up, looking around the room for the next door they need to proceed through.

“Come on, this way.” Kasumi directs them, getting both to start following her as she continues towards the landing pad mentioned previously.

Even with Ben traveling slightly slower so he doesn’t lose his footing they’re still able to reach the landing pad in just a few moments. At which point he slows down and puts down the other two.

They take a second to look around the space platform. Open for the most part, but still occupied with a number of crates and structures blocking off certain sections. Just off the left side is a network of piping, and off the others are sheer drops to the cliff faces below.

“Joker, where’s that pickup?” Shepard questions, placing a hand against the side of his helmet.

“On its way, commander. ETA, 10 minutes.” Joker informs.

Shepard moves his hand back to the grip of his gun, taking a few steps forwards with the others as they scan over the space.

It’s then that they hear a distant whirring. A sound that gets louder and louder in just a few moments, causing them to look to its source.

A gunship rises over the edge of the platform, turning itself around to face them.

“Incoming! Get down!” Shepard has barely enough time to shout, lunging to push Kasumi out of the way of the rain of gunfire than ensues.

Ben turns on his heel, dashing off towards the two faster than even the bullets can travel to pull them out of the way and behind one of the crates.

“You could have done this the easy way, Goto. Allow me to show you the hard way.” Hock shouts over the ship’s speakers, continuing to fire at the space they hid behind.

“Give me a second, I’ll deal with this.” Ben tells them, turning himself towards the exposed space.

It’s inconvenient for him that it’s at this moment the green light of the device washes over his form with several beeps, turning him human again.

“Oh, come on!” He exclaims, moving his hand to the Omnitrix to select another transformation. It doesn’t allow him to pull up the dial though, it simply warbles at him in harsh low tones.

“Ben, wait here until the watch recharges. Kasumi and I can handle this.” Shepard tells him, pulling him back by the shoulder from the edge of the cover.

“Yeah, sure.” Ben agrees, leaning against the crate.

Kasumi vanishes as Shepard dashes out from the crate to another, firing off several shots towards the ship as he does. All of which simply deflect off its shields.

Ben, though, has to sit there. He can’t even risk ducking out of cover to see what’s happening, since he never bothers wearing his kinetic barrier’s projectors. It’s only notable when the sound of gunfire stops after a few moments, causing him to peek out.

The gunship drops below the edge of the platform, though not from damage. It hides, seemingly having lost its shields.

The sound of the doors they came through opening pulls his attention away from that, as he quickly has to duck around a different arrangement of crates to avoid the troops making their way out onto the pad.

“Guys, we have company!” He wants them, again slamming his hand down on the Omnitrix to no avail.

They deal with them quickly enough though, Shepard relying on his usual pistol while Kasumi shoots them from behind. They’re just quick enough to make Ben’s original position safe again when the gunship returns.

“Gunship’s back and with full shields!” Kasumi shouts, turning invisible again as it starts shooting.

Shepard returns to carefully trying to shoot down its shields while Ben slams his hand against his inactive watch.

“What did you tell your friend, Kasumi? You’re doing this for love?” Hock taunts, firing off an actual missile onto the landing pad, exploding with enough force to knock over the surrounding crates and shake the platform.

“If I can get to the ship, I can take down the shields!” Kasumi says over comms.

“Ben, are you back in the fight yet?” Shepard questions.

“No, it’s still timed out.” He responds through the watch, shaking his wrist like that might do something.

Shepard keeps himself under cover for a moment while Hock continues to fire at them, strategizing.

“Alright. Kasumi, I’ll draw his fire. Tell me when, and I’ll launch you at the ship.” Shepard conveys.

“Sounds like a plan.” Kasumi responds.

Shepard dashes from cover yet again, booking it across the platform to the other side, well out of the way of the center, where the gunship’s spray of fire follows him.

“Got a clear shot! Here we go!” Kasumi says, and with several sparks her body reappears dashing down towards the gunship.

Shepard reaches out and glows to life as he grasps onto Kasumi biotically, and as he throws her into the air at the gunship. Her body sails through the air for a brief second before she lands on the face of the ship, slamming against the main window Hock sits beneath.

She summons her omni-tool, and there’s barely a moment before machine begins to pour out sparks from below the outer plating. The ship swings violently through the air, nearly throwing Kasumi off before she’s able to grab onto one of the outer sections.

She’s only barely still holding on by the time it stabilizes, at which point she manages to pull herself back around to its front. Looking into the cockpit she can see Hock himself looking back out to her.

There’s a sinical sort of smile as she salutes, pushing back off the vessel to head back down to the landing pad. Flipping around with an acrobatic perfecting that seems practiced she lands and flattens herself out to disperse the force on her body.

“Shields down! Let’s tear that thing apart.” Kasumi tells Shepard and Ben.

With a second to adjust she rises back to her feet and taps the button on the palm of her glove to become invisible again.

But with several sparks, she doesn’t.

She looks down at her suit with distress that would be visible even below the shadows of her hood, then turns around with barely enough time to watch as Hock starts firing again.

The sound of the Omnitrix finally activating finally echoes out, and Ben confidently steps out from where he was hiding.

He stands as a metallic black and yellow creature, tall and structured with a head of steel floating between the spikes of his shoulders. Lodestar.

His eyes widen as he registers the sight before him. The body of Kasumi laid on the ground, in a stain of red spreading around it. His eyes then narrow as they focus on the ship still hovering just off the balcony.

The rain of bullets begins to find its way to him, but he doesn’t so much as flinch. He simply takes a step to steady himself, and extends an arm towards the vessel hock is in. With an echoing and pulsing wave emitted from his hand, the bullets in the air slow to a stop, as does the ship itself. It sputters against his control, the engines revving and whirring as it tries without success to fight against him.

The last thing Hock has to try is another missile, firing one from the launcher at the bottom of the ship. Even this is without effect though, as it’s brought to a stop in midair before reaching Ben.

There are no words, simply a narrowed glare from Ben’s green eyes as all the projectiles in the air return to their sender. The bullets spark off the outer hull, and the missile ignites upon collision.

Ben doesn’t bother watching the fiery wreck fall through the sky, he just rushes over to Kasumi as Shepard does the same. The Omnitrix turns him back automatically as he reaches her, stopping just far enough away to not step in the pool of blood around her.

“Joker, we need that pickup now.” Shepard yells, leaving no such distance between himself and Kasumi’s body as he drops down to start applying medigel. His omni-tool is summoned as he starts, displaying her vitals. Or, more accurately, the lack thereof.

“Still a couple minutes out, commander.” Joker informs.

“How bad is it?” Ben has to ask.

Shepard doesn’t respond though; he simply starts trying to seal the wounds.

Ben goes quiet, watching as Shepard does everything he can. It’s obvious that it’s not much use though. The display shows no change in her status. There’s no status to change. There are too many holes in her torso for anything to function until the medigel can repair some structures, which seems more unlikely as the moments pass.

He turns his attention to the Omnitrix, his mind thinking through all of his transformations for one that could help.

He places his fingers on its face, and the watch loads the dial. He’d think it was aware of the situation if he didn’t know better, seeing the options that it starts on. Swampfire, Gutrot, and Brainstorm are some of the first few, all of which don’t seem ideal. He slides the selector over and sees two more appear. Clockwork, and Alien-X.

He hesitates, deliberating in the seconds he thinks he can.

He locks in his selection and slams his hand down when the core appears. The flash causes Shepard to glance over, watching as his body shifts. He expands, changing in shape as he’s weighed down with exponentially more mass. His shape is distinct, glowing at its core. The bronze glistens in the light of the distant sun, and he kneels down. Clockwork.

“Ben, she’s-” Shepard tries to warn.

“Dead either way. Now’s as good a time as any to figure this out.” Ben speaks over him, extending a hand to the space above Kasumi as the key atop his head begins to spin.

The green glow from his core brightens and flickers as his powers activate. Shepard steps back as a wash of green energy expands over the space, encompassing both him and Kasumi.

At the edges of this bubble Shepard can see things begin to change. The metal rusts, then reverts to a state of unpainted metal, then moves between those two until returning to normal. The blood around Kasumi is a similar story, spreading outwards to fill the space and drying before returning to its true state, then starting to recede into Kasumi.

Ben’s hand shakes as he makes these changes, and with it the field around them trembles, receding slightly as he stands up.

With him Kasumi’s body rises as well. Not standing up, but simply un-falling, so to speak. The bullets are pulled from the ground below her and move back through her torso the way they came, reverting the damage as they do.

“Argh!” Ben exclaims, grasping the arm he’s using to do this. The moment plays out again, the bullets tearing through her and piercing the metal floor, but she slows before hitting the ground.

With a pained growl Ben forces it back again. The moment rewinds, the bullets are pulled back through the event and Kasumi is restored. The blood returning from the spray to her body as this happens. Even her barrier restores itself as the projectiles that penetrated it are undone.

“Shepard, move her!” He shouts, straining to say to words far more than he has with any alien Shepard’s seen.

The commander wastes no time. He darts towards the event and grabs Kasumi as he moves through it. It’s the instant they’re out of the way that Ben lets go of the time, letting the shots hit the ground again just before Ben does.

Shepard rights himself to look back at Ben as Kasumi process what just happened.

Ben has fallen to his knees, his arms shaking as they try to hold up the hull of his torso. He breaths with intensity, desperately gasping for air.

“Ben?” Shepard asks.

“Is she…” He manages to get out through wheezes.

“She’s fine.” Shepard tells him.

Ben can’t manage to get the next word out before his body hits the ground. He returns to his human form with a wash of light, revealing the teen to have lost consciousness.

It’s a while before he wakes up again, and when he does it’s to the sterile white lights of the medical lab. He leans up with a groan, causing the doctor to look over to him. Seemingly the only other person in the room.

“Good morning, Tennyson.” Chakwas greets him.

“Ugh. How long was I out?” He asks.

“A couple hours. You had us worries there for a bit.” Kasumi says, visualizing at the end of his bed.

Ben smiles as he hops off the Ben, raising a hand to his forehead.

“Do you guys still have ibuprofen? I have a wicked headache.” He says.

Chakwas rotates her chair around to gesture at a cabinet on the opposite wall to her desk. “Mild painkillers are in the second drawer down. Half a pill should ease your affliction.” She tells him.

“Thanks.” He says, stepping over to search where she gestured.

“Hey… Ben.” Kasumi says, stepping over to beside him.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re welcome. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do that again, though.” He says, grabbing a paper cup to fill with water from the faucet. He takes a sip as he swallows the pill, then tosses it into the trash container at the end of the counter. “What about the graybox?”

“Well, if you must know, it works. Shepard and I looked through on the ride back to the Normandy.” Kasumi tells him.

“All’s well that ends well, huh?” Ben kind of jokes, turning around to head towards the door leading into the food court.

“Thanks, Ben.” She says honestly, vanishing as the hatch opens and he steps out.

Ben just waves off the gratitude, “Buy me a smoothie or something next time we swing by a station, and we’ll call it even.” He jokes, and the hatch closes again.

Chapter Text

Shepard has started routinely checking in on Ben after taxing missions, and this time is no different.

Heading for the Citadel after Kasumi’s mission, the crew of the Normandy have a few hours before anything else will happen. In this time Shepard heads down to Ben’s room, requesting access to the space and waiting for the moment it takes the door to open.

“Hey Shep. What’s up?” The teen asks, leaning back from his seat at the table when Shepard steps in.

“Just checking in.” He says, prepared to continue if Ben doesn’t pick up the conversation from there.

“Like I told Dr. Chakwas, I just have a headache. I’m fine.” He assures, setting down the device he was holding to turn towards Shepard completely.

“The move you pulled off with that alien seemed like quite the ordeal. I wasn’t aware it had that ability.” Shepard says.

Ben’s confident smile falters for a brief moment, reduced to a pensive gaze cast on the space around Shepard.

“I… wasn’t sure until after I started trying. Most of Clockwork’s powers are like that. I don’t think I could have managed if I waited any longer, though. It was like… it’s kinda hard to explain.” Ben says.

“Well, it’s still good for the worst case scenarios.” The commander shares his perception.

“Yeah. Now we know I can always rewind an injury and pass out for a couple hours, if that’s what we need.” Ben jokes, turning away from Shepard again to look over the parts on the table.

There’s a time of silence between them which Shepard leaves, understanding there’s something Ben has yet to say.

The teen reached his right hand over to the left side of his chest, feeling the uneven tissue through his shirt.

“I was going to go for a different one.” He says.

“A different alien?” Shepard checks.

“Yeah. One I unlocked when I was 15. Alien-X, I called them.” Ben tells him.

“I remember you mentioning them before. Why didn’t you?” He asks.

For a second, Ben is silent. He just stares forwards at the scattered pieces of hardware while thinking.

“They’re sort of a last resort.” He says.

“I can understand why you would choose to keep that sort of power reserved.” Shepard says.

“They- uh…” Ben stops himself, considering his next statement. “Well, it’s probably not something I want Cerberus to find out too much about.” He says.

Shepard looks up at the ship around them. No visible cameras in their current room, but he finds Ben’s concern valid all the same.

“Later, then.” Shepard says, heading for the door.

“Yeah. Later, dude.” Ben looks over as the commander departs.

Every personal matter brought to Shepard’s attention has been thus far dealt with, leaving nothing in the way of their next primary objective. The Reaper IFF, needed to journey through the Omega 4 relay.

Shepard’s been putting it off for even the most minor of alternate missions, to a degree that most of the crew has stated to notice.

They’ve been docked at the Citadel for the past day and a half, waiting for the Commander’s orders. Orders which he finally seems to have worked himself up to issue, making his way up from the crew deck to the CIC.

He approaches the Galaxy Map, stepping up and letting the hologram materialize.

He doesn’t issue a command immediately though. He lingers for a while, simply looking over each point of data. An act not uncommon for him.

He takes a deep breath in and lets his eyes drift closed.

He’s relaxed for a time, alone with himself in his thoughts. A vividly lucid state of consciousness, but one put at ease by the restricted sense.

Then he tenses, his shoulders stiffening and his hands grasping the railing while a sharp breath enters his lungs.

The briefest of flashes of a memory, but one he can’t help but recognize. His death, or the moment just before. The breached hull of the Normandy, drifting away from him into the void. His own desperate gasping as his suit lost its seal.

It’s something he hasn’t had to face nearly as often since visiting the crash site of the original Normandy, abated to a degree that lets him sleep, but it’s never stopped.

“What is it, Kelly?” He asks, tuning back into the world as she says his name.

“Uhm, it appears that Grunt and Ben are… “arguing” down on Deck 4.” She tells him.

Shepard very nearly seems relieved to have something else to focus on, and nods as he heads back towards the elevator to head down there.

The moment he steps out he can feel what’s happening. A shaking that rumbles out from his and the ship’s left. He picks up his pace, jogging over to the hatch for the cargo where Grunt has been staying, and hitting the hologram to get the door open as fast as he can.

He’s immediately greeted to the sight of the tank-bred krogan throwing a punch at the feathered body of one of Ben’s aliens. He catches the strike, rotating his body to then throw a kick into Grunt’s chest, knocking him back through the room.

Shepard is very nearly about to intervene when Grunt voices “Hit me again!” at Ben.

“Dude, I really don’t want to break any… thing…” Ben’s words trail off as he recognizes Shepard having entered the room.

Shepard looks to the one other person in the room before addressing either of them. Garrus, leaning himself against the wall with the turian approximation of an amused smile.

“Don’t worry, Shepard. I was going to stop them if anything got out of hand.” Garrus says, far more sure of himself than he probably should be.

It’s clear that Garrus probably couldn’t have stopped either of them if he tried. Grunt is pretty much the ideal for a krogan, and Ben presently stands at about 8 feet as a massive rooster-like creature. His arms are about as thick as Shepard’s torso, which seems impractical to even exist with, let alone try to combat.

“Ben, Grunt, what’s going on here?” He demands, turning back to them as the krogan picks himself up off the ground.

“Something… is wrong, Shepard. I feel wrong. Tense. I just want to kill something.” He begins pacing back and forth, over to the window overlooking Deck 5, then past his tank, and back again. “With my hands. More so than usual, like it’s not my choice. Like I just want to, I don’t know…”

In proximity to the window he slows to a stop, looking down at his own hands with a visible frustration. He shouts as he swings his head forwards, slams it into the glass pane with enough force to crack it.

“See? Why do that? What’s wrong?” Grunt turns back to the other three in the room to ask.

“He’s been like this since the day cycle started.” Ben tells Shepard as the commander glances to him.

“Okeer didn’t imprint anything to help you figure this out?” Shepard questions, looking to Grunt.

“I see pictures of old battles, voices of warlords. But this is… a blood haze in my head. I want control. When we’re moving, fighting, I focus. But when we still my blood screams, my plates itch, and even you are just noise! I’m tank born. What is this?” Grunt questions, growing more desperate with each statement.

“EDI, anything in your files about Krogan diseases that could cause this?” Shepard asks, looking up to the ceiling.

This gets a chuckle out of Garrus, and a few beeps from the Omnitrix as Ben turns back.

“Cerberus has a number of autopsies on file, but nothing on a living Krogan of this age and situation. Krogan are reluctant to share medical records.” EDI informs him.

“My people were defeated by doctors and labs. They will never let stuff like that leave the homeworld, Tuchanka.” Grunt reasons to be the cause of Cerberus’s lack of data.

“I don’t suppose we have time for another detour, Shepard? Tuchanka’s not too far from here. Just a couple clusters.” Garrus suggests.

“Of course. Joker can get us to the Krogan homeworld; I need everyone at their best.” Shepard agrees, heading back for the door.

“Thank you, Shepard. I don’t like this. Fury is my choice, not a sickness.” The krogan says, watching as he leaves.

With Shepard exiting the room Ben groans, moving his hand for the Omnitrix to select another transformation.

They reach the relay in just a couple hours, which shoots them to the Krogan DMZ in a matter of seconds. After that it’s another hour to reach Tuchanka itself.

It’s a desert world that sort of reminds Ben of Venus on approach, though unlike the times he’s passed by the body in his own solar system, this world has a visible surface below the clouds. Baren and craterous.

As they approach the orbital distance easiest for the Kodiak to depart from, Ben leaves the bridge and starts heading for the elevator.

“Ben, we’re about to head out.” Shepard informs him through the Omnitrix as he steps selects the Deck.

“On my way now.” Ben tells him, waiting as the lift descends to deck 5, where it again opens.

He jogs out and over to the shuttle, where he finds the squad already loading themselves in. Shepard is a guarantee, and Grunt was expected, but with them is also Tali and Garrus.

Ben pulls himself in and takes a seat by the turian while the door closes, and the pilot pulls them off the floor.

“We expecting trouble? You don’t usually bring more than two people, excluding myself.” Ben questions Shepard.

“The opposite, actually. We have a friend on Tuchanka. Figured this might be the most convenient time we’ll get to visit until we’ve dealt with the rest of the collectors.” Shepard explains, reaching up to grab one of the handles on the ceiling above where he stands.

A passing shape catches Ben’s attention through the windows, causing him to look away from the commander.

What he sees beyond the shuttle is what he assumes to be the remains of a city they now soar through. The hollowed framework of once looming towers, made somewhat difficult to decern with the omni-present haze in the air.

“I haven’t seen Wrex since a little before Shepard- ah… well, y’know. It’ll be good to see how the old bastard’s getting on.” Garrus says, bringing Ben’s attention back to the inside of the shuttle.

“Last I heard, he was he was planning on getting the Krogan to cooperate so they’d be ready when the Reapers arrived.” Shepard recalls.

“That sounds right. I don’t know about Garrus, but Wrex and I didn’t keep in contact after the Normandy went down.” Tali tells him.

“We didn’t either… Thinking about it, I’m not even sure he knows what happened to the SR1. I imagine he must have heard about Shepard, at the very least.” Garrus predicts.

Through the window Ben can see that they approach what appears to be a giant hatch in the ground. The kind he associates with bunkers, or silos. Open, and far less damaged than the surrounding landscape.

“And I thought Khoros was a wasteland.” Ben comments to himself, barely loud enough for Garrus sitting beside him to hear.

The shuttle slows to a stop horizontally and begins to descend vertically, moving through the open seal of the bunker into the channel that leads further down.

“Let’s hope he’s made some progress. We’ll need all the help we can get once the Reapers get here.” Shepard reiterates.

It’s not much longer before the shuttle comes to rest on the ground, at which point the door hinges open to reveal the degraded place beyond.

Ben steps out just after Shepard does, with the other three following just after him. A glance over the area tells them a few things, but the most notable of which is the clear damage and wear afflicting most surfaces. A sense of age holds the beige space at even a glance. The kind of age that could be repaired without much effort, but which hasn’t been.

Shepard finds the space to be expectedly populated with krogan. Most avert their gaze to some degree, though others glare at the group like they’re trying to get a point across.

“Watch it, human.” One speaks as they pass by them to reach the stairs.

Coming down to a lower floor they approach a hatch, one that opens of its own accord before they even reach it. Not in the normal automatic-door way though, it opens because a party on the other side steps out to intercept Shepard’s squad.

“Stop right there, alien.” The korgan leading them orders, and Shepard does. Ben stops once he reaches Shepard’s side, but not before.

“You’re Shepard… of the Normandy.” He determines after hardly a second of looking him over, and gestures for the two at his side to relax. “The clan leader wants to speak with you.”

Upon informing them of this his attention shifts past Shepard himself to krogan of the group, Grunt.

“Keep your rutting pet on a short leash. Get him the Rite soon, or put him down.” He instructs, looking to Shepard again to speak.

“Do you know what’s wrong with him? What he needs?” Shepard questions.

“There’s nothing wrong with him. Just go speak to the clan leader.” The krogan repeats, dismissing Shepard with a wave as he steps out of the commander’s way.

“A real charmer, that guy.” Ben remarks as they continue along.

“Try not to let them get under your skin. Last thing we need now is to piss off the krogan.” Garrus advises, heading down the stairs last as he walks at the back of the group.

They take a left upon reaching the base of the stairs, leaving them to walk through a corridor with another hatch at the end.

“I have been unable to access local medical records. I suggest asking the local clan leader for assistant with Grunt’s problem.” Edi advises.

“Way ahead of you, EDI.” Ben says as they slow, waiting as the green lock hologram loads in response to their approach.

The hatch opens and, with a moment to understand what they’re greeted to, the five of them make their way up a mound of rubble leading to a higher floor. They come out through what is obviously not an intentional hole in the wall, and step onto about as intact a floor as it seems they could hope for. It’s made slightly easier to see with the daylight shining in through the holes in the ceiling,

To their left is a pathway that leads to a section somewhat blocked off with vertical tarps serving as walls, hung up just barely tall enough to be worth having. Ahead of them is a lower floor, lead to with another sloped mound of concrete shards and gravel. To the right is another path, leading up to a higher section where several krogan sit around a central one seated in what nearly appears to be a thrown.

“This is the great krogan homeworld? This is the land of Kredak, Shiagur, and Veeoll?” Grunt looks over the ruins again. “This chunk of rock is barely worth standing on. Never thought I’d miss the tank.”

They head to the right, for what they have to believe is where the clan leader would be located.

The nearest krogan to the slope notices their approach, and motions for them to stop. Shepard complies, slowing to a stop a few feet out from the alien.

“You must wait till the clan leader summons you. He is… in talks.” The guard explains, fairly amicably.

The krogan looks back to the platform behind him, leaning out of the way just enough for Shepard and company to see past him.

At the base of the “throne” is a krogan marked with shades of green, speaking up at another in the seat.

“You know what tradition demands – Clan Urdnot must respond. Your reforms will not go unopposed. You risk appearing weak at a critical time.” The green one argues.

The other, an older krogan based on the relevant visual cues, distinct in the scars running over the right side of his head and his red coloring, appears completely uninterested in his jabber. He spends the moments looking almost anywhere but at the krogan directly as he speaks. Because of this, it’s not long before his eyes land on Shepard.

He’s standing before the green krogan can get out another unheard statement, looking across to the commander with laser focus.

“Shepard.” He announces, growling the r in a way that carries fondness.

He steps down, pushing the green krogan aside as he starts making his way for the squad.

“Good enough?” Shepard asks rhetorically to the guard that stopped him, pushing past him to meet Wrex halway.

“Shepard!” He shouts again, reaching out to grab the human's hand when they’re close enough. The force he puts into the handshake is enough to shake Shepard’s whole arm, a feat uncommon enough for the commander to not know how to react for a moment. “My friend!” He lets go after another second, smacking Shepard’s shoulder.

“You look well for dead, Shepard. Should have known the void couldn’t hold you.” The old krogan laughs.

“Wrex. Looks like helping me with Saren has worked out for you. Glad we left Virmire on the same side.” Shepard reminds him.

“Ha!” He turns away from the group, and they follow him as he makes his way back over to the seat. “You made the rise of Urdnot possible. Virmire was a turning point for the krogan, though not everybody was happy about it.” Wrex explains.

“I can understand why.” Shepard empathizes.

Most of the group spare a look to the green krogan Wrex was speaking with before, now walking up to stand beside him.

“You were right, though. Destroying Saren’s genophage cure freed us from his manipulation. I used that to spur the clans to unify under Urdnot.” Wrex fills them in.

“You abandoned many traditions to get your way. Dangerous.” The green one speaks up.

There’s very little hesitation in Wrex turning to look at the other krogan, and only the slightest bit of time spared as he reels his head back. There’s then a hefty clack noise as Wrex slams his forehead into the other krogan’s, knocking him down to the ground.

“Speak when spoken to, Uvenk. I’ll drag your clan to glory whether it likes it or not.” Wrex scolds him, turning away to make his way up onto the throne of sorts, where he sits down. Shepard’s squad closes the rest of the distance, walking up to the space in front of the chair as Uvenk pulls himself off the ground.

“Now, Shepard. What brings you here? How’s the Normandy?” Wrex asks.

“Destroyed in a collector surprise attack. I ended up spaced.” Shepard dryly explains, summarizing for time.

Both Tali and Garrus spare a look to Shepard at the mention of his death. Tali would have an easier time getting a read on his body language if he were quarian, but as is she’s just as clueless about his state of being as the turian next to her.

“Well, you look good. Ah, the benefits of a redundant nervous system!” The krogan laughs.

“Yeah, …humans don’t have that.” Shepard informs him.

“Oh. It must have been painful, then.” Wrex realizes. ”But you’re standing here, and you’ve got a strong new ship, and some of the old team. Takes me back to the old days. Us against the unknown, killing it with big guns. Good times.” He looks on the bright side, laughing at the memories.

Once he settles down, he takes another look over the group.

“So, Garrus, Tali. Good to see you both again. My replacement. And…” He comes to Ben. An unarmed, unarmored teenager with a level of confidence unparalleled. “Okay, I give up. What’s with the kid?” He has to ask.

Ben takes a breath to speak but Garrus gets to it first, not wanting to give the human any extra opportunities to boast. “Ben Tennyson. The one that turned the Collectors into the posttheans.”

“Oh, I’ve heard of you.” Wrex states, looking over the teen. “Didn’t think you were real.” He adds.

Ben smirks at the statement but doesn’t focus on it. “Wrex, right? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Ha! Good, you better have.” He laughs, then focuses back on Shepard. “So, really, what brings you to Tuchanka? We don’t often allow aliens to do business here, but you’re an exception. So long as nobody does something really stupid, like attacking you.” He says.

“I have a krogan on my crew. He has some kind of sickness and needs treatment.” Shepard explains, stepping aside both to gesture to gesture to Grunt, and let him step forwards.

Wrex leans forward in his seat, a glare passing over Grunt from top to bottom.

“Where are you from, whelp? Was your clan destroyed before you could learn what is expected of you?” Wrex questions.

“I have no clan.” Grunt corrects him, “I was tank-bred by warlord Okeer, my line distilled from Kredak, Moro, Shiagur-”

“You recite warlords, but you are the offspring of a syringe!” Uvenk interrupts him, shouting across the short distance.

“I am pure krogan. You should be in awe.” Grunt says with modesty.

“Okeer is a very old name.” Wrex speaks, gesturing for Uvenk to control himself. “A very hated name.” He continues.

The older krogan rises to his feet and steps down from the chair to be on Grunt’s level, looking over him again.

“He is dead” Grunt states.

“Of course. You’re with Shepard. How could he be alive?” Wrex humorously remarks, stepping back.

“I need Grunt back up to speed. What’s wrong with him?” Shepard questions, directing the conversation back towards the point.

“There’s nothing wrong with him. He is becoming a full adult.” Wrex explains to him, and by extension the rest of the group.

“Adolescence? Can’t we just take him to Omega and buy him a few dances?” Garrus suggests.

“This isn’t just about hormones.” He corrects, annoyed by the simplification. “This is when Krogans find their place in society and are brought into a clan.”

“Wait, so this is a Pilgrimage?” Tali rationalizes.

Wrex rolls his eyes at the second personification onto krogan culture. “I don’t care what aliens call it. Krogan undergo the Rite of Passage.” Wrex corrects again.

“Woah,” Ben voices as Uvenk pushes past him, matching his way towards Wrex and Grunt.

“Too far, Wrex! Your clan may rule, but this thing is not krogan.” He declares, and continues along past the two down the slope of debris.

Wrex watching him go for another moment before speaking a muted, “Idiot.” to himself. He then looks to the tank-bred again. “So, grunt? Do you wish to stand with Urdnot?” He offers.

Grunt is silent for a moment, hesitating as he thinks on the offer. He then looks to Shepard, waiting as if the commander were the one asked.

“What happens if he doesn’t do this Rite of Passage?” Shepard takes the que and begins investigating.

“If he was left here, he would be killed.” Wrex states simply. “The clanless are not respected. A tank-bred, probably more so.” He notices Shepard readying himself to ask a question, and get to the answer before he does. “His disposition is what it is, rite or no. That’s just him being a krogan.” He clarifies, evidently satisfying the query Shepard would have asked. “Okeer didn’t tell you that in the tank, did he, boy?”

Grunt does not respond, still waiting for Shepard.

“What does the Rite of Passage require?” Shepard asks next.

“Not for me to say, Shepard. The shaman will discuss that.” Wrex tells him, motioning with his head up to a set of windows overlooking the room.

“And you’ll let a tank-bred krogan join Clan Urdnot?” Shepard checks.

“Only because he’s with you.” Wrex makes known. “After all, you and I killed thousands like him. Not quite as big, but many. Clones don’t have much of a place is krogan society, but Clan Urdnot is strong and the others will do as I say. They see the benefit of my vision.”

“Wait, so would you let any krogan with Shepard join your clan?” Ben asks, stepping up as Wrex turns to look at him.

“Depends, but I’m more open to the idea that I would be otherwise. Why? You got any more on your ship?” Wrex guesses his point.

Far less oblivious are the other members of the group, who all internally cringe at what they assume Ben is about to do.

Sorry, what Ben does. Present tense. As the moment he’s done asking the question, he slams his hand down on the Omnitrix to activate the selected transformation.

With the signature flash of green light his body shifts, the new one rolling over him from the point of connection with the Omnitrix. It’s barely a second before he stands taller than the others, his skin scaled and plated, his mandibles held slightly out from his face, and the Omnitrix places itself on his left shoulder. A turian.

He quickly looks down at himself, his mandibles twitching as he looks at his body.

Wrex raises an eyebrow as he sees Ben’s new body, a low chuckle echoing out. “Neat trick.” He compliments.

Ben doesn’t acknowledge this; he just reaches around to smack the dial. With another flash he transforms again, losing a few inches in height as his silhouette fills out to the shape everyone was expecting. His krogan form.

“There we go.” Ben says, looking to Wrex again once he’s confirmed the alien he turned into.

“Heh, nice try, but you aren’t a krogan. A true krogan knows the suffering our people have endured. “Grunt” here gets to take the Rite as a favor to Shepard. As a favor to Shepard, you get to look like one of us.” Wrex puts bluntly.

Ben reaches down to hit the dial on his belt line, shrugging as he turns back into a human. “Worth a shot.” He says.

With Ben done, the conversation focuses back onto Grunt, still waiting for his answer. Again, he looks to Shepard.

“This is his choice.” Shepard states.

Grunt looks away from the two as this sentiment is shared, and after a moment turns around to look out at the camp.

The site is in no less a state of deterioration than when they arrived, but Grunt takes the time to look over it again. The pillars holding up the ceiling above, through chipped and cracked, seem no less stable for it. The barricades set up around the perimeter, and for that matter all of the intentional structures, are crude and worn down. Still, they are functional. There’s a metaphor in here somewhere that Grunt can recognize, despite his lack of respect for the world as a whole.

He turns back to them, stating a plain “it is in my blood. It is what I am for.”

“Good boy. Speak with the Shaman – he’s over on the second level.” Wrex gestures over to the windows overlooking the room, and a set of stairs through an archway below them. “Give him a good show, and he’ll set you on the path.”

The old krogan makes his way back over to the chair, taking a seat. While he does that, Shepard starts heading in the direction gestured to, making his way down the ramp with the rest of the squad not far behind.

“You too, Shepard. How many times have you stepped in a mess for your crew, hmm?” Wrex says, watching the commander go.

They don’t make it too far before they’re abruptly stopped again, though this time with the harsh static pop of their comms receiving someone.

“Shepard. Important news.” Mordin begins speaking, causing the commander to reach up and place a hand to the side of his helmet while the squad gets out of the way of any potential krogan that would walk by.

“Go ahead, Mordin.” Shepard says.

“Know you’re busy. With Grunt, on planet surface. Too important to wait. Just received data, still processing, analyzing likely scenarios. Not sure how to begin. Too much intel. You remember our talk? My work?” Mordin asks.

“I do.” He confirms, refraining from bringing up the nature of the work in their current environment.

“Part of a team. Scientists, all different types. Blood pack mercenaries captured former team member. Maelon. Last seen on Tuchanka. Might torture him. Make an example. Recovering Maelon would be a personal favor to me.” Mordin requests.

Shepard’s helmet shifts up like he’s looking around the environment, slowly panning from one side to the other.

“Do you think they found out about your team’s work?” Shepard asks.

“Unclear. Data EDI recovered has no mentions. Not conclusive.” Mordin tells him.

“Okay. We’ll see if we can find your team member.” Shepard agrees.

“Appreciate it. My assistant. My… student. Want to see him safe. Maelon last seen outside Urdnot territory. Scouts might have seen Blood Pack. Talk to them, or clan chief. Kodiak just returned. Will meet you shortly.” The salarian says, letting the call end.

Shepard turns to look at the group around him. Specifically, the abundance of members for his usual requirements. He thinks for a second before coming to a decision.

“Garrus, Ben. I want you to find out what you can from Wrex while you wait for Mordin. Tali and I will make sure Grunt can get the Rite, then catch up as soon as we’re done.” Shepard plans.

“Of course, Shepard. You can count on us.” Garrus assures him.

With a nod, the Commander turns away from them and continues along with Tali and Grunt. At which point Garrus promptly turns around and starts heading back for Wrex’s throne with Ben at his side.

They head up the slope and Wrex again shoos away the krogan around him when he sees them.

“Garrus. What can I do for you?” He offers.

“Shepard wants us to locate a salarian. From what we know, he was captured by the Blood Pack and brought here.” Garrus tells him.

“My scout commander can direct you. He’s probably near the perimeter running target practice.” Wrex gestures off to the end of the lower floor, in the general direction of a krogan. “Don’t take too much of his time. I need a constant watch on the other clans.”

“Thanks, Wrex.” Garrus says, and starts making his way back down the slope as quickly as he came up.

“Hunt well, Garrus.” Wrex watches him go, then returns to his own matters.

It’s not hard to notice the looks the two of them get walking through the camp. In fairness, most are directed towards Garrus, though there are a fair number spared to Ben as well. All convey a similar notion of “watch your step, or else.” Garrus does an especially good job of responding with his own sharp glares, while Ben, instead, completely ignored them.

That’s not to say he doesn’t notice though; he just directs his attention to the Omnitrix while they walk. The dial makes a synthetic tick noise with each of the options it slides over, giving Garrus an idea of how fast Ben’s looking through them, and through how many, without needing to look down at him.

“Which one are you looking for?” Garrus eventually asks.

“Huh?” Is Ben’s first response, pulling his hand away from the watch as he turns his attention to the turian. “Oh, no, I’m just fiddling with it. Helps pass the time.” Ben explains.

Garrus looks down at Ben as the human returns to scrolling through the Omnitrix. Or, at least, he would if the core wasn’t currently exposed, sticking up out the space the faceplate covered when it’s not activated.

“Uh oh.” He speaks.

“Uh oh?” Garrus questions, bringing them to a stop to address Ben’s problem.

“I meant to disengage the selector, but I think I accidentally dialed in an alien when I looked away.” Ben tells him.

“What? You can’t just say “never mind” and have it close up?” Garrus questions.

“It doesn’t work that way. Or, at least… I don’t think it does.” Ben pokes the sides of the watch. Despite making a technical warble corresponding to each tap, the core does not drop down again.

“And you can’t double check what alien you chose?” Garrus offers another solution.

Ben pokes the watch several more times, each to another chime or note, but with no visual response.

“Nope.” He says, finally leaving the Omnitrix alone for a moment.

“… I don’t suppose it’ll just drop down on its own if you wait long enough?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never tried.” Ben raises his right hand above the watch, shrugging as he does. “Well, whatever. As long as it’s not Way Big, we should be fine.”

He slams down the core before Garrus can stop him, and with a flash his body is shifted into another form. A much larger form, leaned forwards to rest itself on all four limbs. Over his body is a thick coat of vibrant orange fur, broken only by the grey of his claws, and the black of his lips. Emerging from his underbite are his lower teeth, sharpening noticeably when reaching the canines. With a complete lack of eyes of any sort, he instead features gill-like ridges along the sides of his neck, which expand and contract slightly as his head looks around. The Omnitrix is placed on the front of a green and white collar.

“Uhh… Okay. Remind me, what’s this one’s gimmick?” Garrus has to ask.

Ben doesn’t answer his question. At least, not in a way that is helpful to Garrus. He looks up at the turian and whines with harsh growled noises that imply speech, but in no way communicate an idea to Garrus.

Garrus has to think about whether or not this is a problem. He eventually decides that it is not, and continues along towards the krogan Wrex gestured to.

Along their way, standing just outside the tarp that serves to section off the area the chief scout is in, stands another krogan occupied with a varren they are holding back by a collar.

“Watch it, turian!” He snaps, yanking back the varren as it tries to lunge for Garrus, who is just outside of its range.

Without Garrus even needing to react, the varren’s incessant pulling against the Urdnot warrior is abruptly put to an end with a forceful bark from Ben. Loud enough to make even the krogan lean back from Ben, actually forced to pause for a moment in the face of the massive canine.

Garrus would smile if his face allowed for that expression. Instead, his mandibles position themselves for the turian equivalent as he continues along onto the sectioned off space.

The krogan at the consoles turns around to face Garrus when he approaches, looking over the turian with reserved annoyance. His lack of any other emotion causes Garrus to look behind himself for Ben, who he finds to be lingering a way back by the varren they passed. He’s currently putting his paw to the dial on his neck, trying to turn it.

“What do you want, turian? Wrex told me to be polite. He didn’t say you were going to talk to me.” The chief scout questions Garrus, causing him to turn around again.

“The Blood Pack captured a salarian, and I’m looking for him. He was last seen around Camp Urdnot.” Garrus informs him.

The chief shakes his head, turning around to keep his eyes on the outer perimeter while they talk.

“I heard about that salarian, poor bastard. If it’s the blood pack, then Clan Weyrloc has him. Sent one of my scouts to check it out, but he never reported back. Guess they got him, too.” He tells Garrus.

He turns around again to face Garrus.

“Chief told me to give your commander one of the trucks, but I guess you can use it. Just follow the highway to Weyrloc’s base, if you’ve got the quads to deal with him and the Blood Pack.”

An unintelligible grumble comes from behind Garrus before the turian can say anything else, causing both of them to look back at the source. It’s Ben.

“Keep your beast on a short leash around here, ‘less you want the varren to get him.” The chief scout warns.

With a huff the quadruped reaches up to smack the dial on his collar, and in a flash he shifts back to the human shape of Ben’s default.

The chief blinks, processing what he just saw.

“What can you tell us about their base?” Ben asks, not bothering to address the Omnitrix.

The krogan stares at him for a second before shrugging. “Last I heard, the clan was holed up in an old hospital. I haven’t seen it, though. I’ve only seen Clan Weyrloc from a distance. If I’d gotten closer, I’d have taken a shot. You get inside, though, bring a big gun. Weyrloc’s base is crawling with blood pack.”  He informs.

There’s a chuckle from Garrus as he hears the location of their base. “A hospital? That doesn’t sound defensible.” He remarks.

“Any hospital on Tuchanka has to be built well enough to withstand a bunch of enraged krogan. When an injury forces us to switch over to secondary organs, things get messy. Higher thought processes don’t always transition properly. “Blood rage,” they call it.” The chief explains.

Yet another set of footsteps comes to approach them from behind Garrus and Ben, causing the two to step aside and look back for the source. A salarian, clad in white, black, and red lab gear. Evidently, the Kodiak arrived, and Mordin has made his way to join the squad.

“Idea what they’re doing with salarian prisoner?” Mordin questions.

“I assumed they wanted to torture him. You don’t take somebody home just to kill them. It’s messy. Maybe he pissed off the Blood Pack, and they brought him here for special treatment. No skin off my hump what they do with him. One less alien on Tuchanka.” The krogan says.

Ben smirks and raises an eyebrow as he speaks, “Not a fan of aliens?”

“Don’t get your quads in a twist. If I was going to kill you, you’d know it. Wrex believes we need to unite the krogan people. I don’t think we can do that with offworlders interfering. But it’s not my call.” He defends.

“What’s Clan Weyrloc reputation? How are they involved with Blood Pack?” Mordin goes on to question.

“Tough humps. And they’re not friendly, like we are. You ever run into the Blood Pack? Mercenary gang. Clan Weyrloc started it. One of the only gangs with an off-world presence. They’re fanatics, totally devoted to Weyrloc Guld. Whatever they did with your salarian, Guld’s behind it.” The chief scout tells them.

Garrus chuckles at the rhetorical question asked, but doesn’t say anything relating to it.

“Why is this Guld special?” Mordin inquests.

“He’s got two children. One of them is a girl. Some people think he’s got a destiny. Not me. I had a cousin who won 20 consecutive games of quasar. Lucky bastard. I’d ask my cousin for a loan, but I wouldn’t swear allegiance to him. Luck. That’s all it is. Same for Guld.” The krogan explains.

“Ah. Understood.” Mordin says.

“That truck you mentioned, which one is it?” Garrus gets the conversation heading back in a direction that will make progress.

The krogan leaves the general area he’s been standing in for a moment to guide them away from the perimeter and towards where the trucks are stored. He points to theirs once they have a view of it, then starts heading back while the squad continues along.

“How’d you find us so quick, dude?” Ben asks as they walk, looking to the other side of Garrus where Mordin travels.

“EDI aided with navigation. Very practical.” The salarian answers.

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Ben accepts, turning his attention back to the truck they head for.

The three load themselves into the truck Wrex allotted for them, and, after telling the driver where they’re headed, start moving.

The ride is bumpy, to put it mildly. All three have to both sit themselves down and hold onto something while the armored vehicle travels along what remains of their roadways. It’s a relief when the vehicle begins to slow, and eventually stop. The Krogan driving tells them that they can’t go any further, and so the three depart through the side hatch.

The area they come to stand in is ruinous, as practically all of the artificial structures on the planet seem to be. The way the truck came from is completely open, whether by design or from damage is hard to discern from their position, but the other three directions are blocked off with complete walls.

On truck’s left is far more rubble than there is to its right, blocking off the hatch on that side’s wall. Right ride side not only has an unobstructed hatch, but one that is functional, letting them proceed through without complication.

On the other side are more ruins, though these ones give them a better idea of what this place might have once been. It was obviously a building of some sort, maybe a parking garage if they had to guess, though it’s now a series of partially complete walls framing the distant horizon. On which stands the remains of skyscrapers, glistening in the fading light of the low sun.

Ben doesn’t pay much mind to this, though. He’s started scrolling through the Omnitrix, using his peripheral to follow along behind Garrus and Mordin.

They walk through the outskirts of Weyrloc territory, keeping their eyes on the edges of the object blocking their vision. Eroded concrete walls, storage containers, and barricades. Most of which seems to have been intentionally set up to provide people coming from the other direction with cover.

This arrangement doesn’t actually serve much purpose to the entities that emerge after a few minutes. Two aliens that Ben certainly hasn’t seen before, which draws his attention up to them. Quadrupedal and distinctly red. Ben stares at them for a second as they approach, then glances to Mordin and Garrus for their reactions.

Garrus has already move to place himself behind one of the barricades, whilst Mordin has made his way to stand behind one of the crates, reading his gun.

When he looks back to the creatures in question, he really just barely has enough time to dodge the spray of flaming liquid launched in his direction.

“Ben! Get down!” Garrus reacts as he watches the teen barely sidestep the boiling spray.

“Fire breath, huh? Alright, let’s see how you handle a Water Hazard!” Ben swipes his fingers to the side until they arrive at the right icon, then he pulls his hand back to let the core rise. Once it’s up he slams his hand down, and the watch activates without any complaints.

He doesn’t get Water Hazard, though. No, that would be hilarious. The alien he takes the shape of is instead rather low to the ground and rounded. Dumpy might be the right word. Almost the shape of a volus, through almost completely exposed to the open air, save for a pair of white and green underwear. The Omnitrix locates itself on what appears to be a belly button protruding from his stomach, which, like the rest of his skin, is colored a vibrant yellowish orange.

Ben has the time to look down at his hand before the creatures launch another stream of fire towards him, in which he whines an annoyed “Come on, man. This guy is The Worst!”

It’s then that their next attack reaches him, splashing over his skin and causing him to shout in pain until the flames die. In which time, Garrus and Mordin fill the creature with enough shots to ensure that they won’t get up again.

“Ben, you alright?” Garrus checks as the field appears to be cleared.

When he looks, he finds Ben to be completely fine, but struggling to reach the dial on his stomach with arms that aren’t quite long enough.

With the time they have in the absence of opposition, Garrus walks over to Ben and crouches down beside him. Mordin walks over as well, but only to observe, stopping a bit further back.

“A little help, dude?” Ben asks, looking up to Garrus.

“Uhh…” The turian looks over Ben, then focuses on the Omnitrix’s dial. “How exactly do I…?” He questions.

“Just hit it while thinking of what you want it to do.” Ben instructs.

He hesitates for a second, then does as Ben instructed. He reaches out and taps the faceplate with his primary finger. Nothing happens, of course, as that would be far too easy.

“Not quite. You’ve got to- just try again.” Ben tells him, and so he does. He taps the green face of the dial again, with slightly more force this time, and the usual warble emanates in time with a flash of green.

Ben’s form quickly expands outwards and upwards, shifting hue towards green as his legs split and his skin changes. In an instant he stands a few feet over both Garrus and Mordin, poised on six or so vine-like tendrils. Wildvine.

“Huh. No kidding.” Garrus remarks as he stands back up and steps back from Ben.

“Intended this form?” Mordin questions.

“I saw it back on Omega, before I knew they were with Shepard” He recounts, turning to start walking along the path again.

“Ah, yes. When Shepard’s squad was aiding with plague. Retold by Jacob. Back when you were solving mercenary problem, yes? “Archangel,” was it?” Mordin remembers, following after him with Ben.

“Heh… yeah, that’s what they called me when... Well, let’s just say this isn’t the first time I’ve raided a Blood Pack base.” Garrus confirms, readying his rifle.

“Insight?” Mordin wonders.

“Make sure you shoot before they do.” Garrus says.

The remainder of the distance between them and the base does not make for a particularly difficult journey. Mordin and Garrus still have to be careful, as always, but with Ben in an alien form that has utility they don’t have to put much effort into actually fighting the groups of varren, vrocha, and krogan.

By the time they reach the intact building they intend to enter, all that’s left between them and the entrance is a pair of vorcha. This is not a problem worth explaining their solution to. They head for the hatch the waves of krogan seem to have been protecting, though evidently locked based on the orange hologram that hovers in front of it.

Mordin gets to work on decrypting, while Garrus stations himself to keep an eye on the surrounding area. The Omnitrix decides to transform Ben back at this point, just as the teen leans himself against one of the barricades.

“Whew. Pretty hot outside, isn’t it?” Ben asks, looking up to the sky shrouded in clouds too thick to see beyond.

“Cold for Tuchanka, actually. Only 36 degrees Celsius. Surface temperatures can reach upwards of 72 degrees in unshrouded regions.” Mordin tells him.

“What’s that in Fahrenheit?” Ben asks.

“161 degrees, approximately.” Mordin informs.

“And you two are fine?” Ben questions, looking back and forth between the two of them.

“Used to harsh climate. Adjusted.” Mordin states.

“This is just a bit warm for turians. On average, Palaven’s only a few degrees cooler.” Garrus says.

“It sure is I good thing I don’t have to stay a human, then. I don’t know if I could take much more of this.” Ben expresses, moving a hand to the Omnitrix to summon the selector.

He only scrolls for a moment, then shrugs and pulls his hand back. He slams the core down, and transforms with a flash. This stance doesn’t change too drastically, though his spine very visibly extends at both ends to provide him with a tail, and a much longer neck. His proportions mimic that of a lizard, or amphibian, a main curve with limbs sort of just added on. His skin itself takes on a shade of purple, patterned with a slightly darker variation of the color. In place of eyes, three distinct triangular sections form on his head, colored red, green, and blue, from left to right. The Omnitrix locates itself on the center of his chest, held in place with two bandoleers. And around his lower torso is a set of green and black shorts.

“Woah, it’sss Chamalien! I haven’t seen this guy in yearss!” Ben exclaims, shifting fluidly as he looks over himself.

Garrus looks back at him, only for long enough to understand what Ben turned into.

The hatch opens, and Ben pushes off the barrier to catch up with Garrus and Mordin as they head in.

“Chief scout was correct. Repurposed krogan hospital. Sturdy. Built to withstand punishment.” Mordin observes.

“That’s unfortunate. Hospitals aren’t fun to fight through.” Garrus remarks, heading down the stairs to their left.

“You have experience?” Ben questions, following after him.

“I spent a lot of time working C-Sec before I joined Shepard. Plenty of places in the wards to hold up.” He explains.

“Where iss fun to fight through, then?”

“Gardens, electronics shops. Antique stores, but only if they’re classy.” Garrus seems to joke.

The turian stops when he reaches the base of the stairs, and gestures for Ben to do the same. The human doesn’t, at least not until he’s stepped far enough around Garrus to see the corpse lying on the floor.

Unlike the ones outside when they arrive, all which were either korgan or an animal of some kind, this one is a human.

“That body. Human. Need to take a look.” Mordin recognizes, walking around Garrus to kneel down beside it.

He activates his omni-tool, causing a holographic display of the human skeleton to load after a second. Within it, a number of organs are highlighted, with secondary tabs appearing to list relevant information.

“Sores, tumors, ligatures showing restraints at wrists and ankles. Track marks for repeated injection sites. Test subject. Victim of experimentation.” Mordin deduces, looking over them.

“Any way to figure out who thiss guy was?” Ben asks, slinking around Garrus to loom behind the scientist.

“No tattoos or ID. Maybe slave or prisoner. Maybe merc or pirate. Irrelevant now. Clearly part of krogan tests to cure genophage.” Mordin determines.

“That’s the artificial plague they made to sstop the krogan, right?” Ben remembers from his research.

“Yes. Necessary after krogan rebellions.” He pauses for a moment, thinking. “If want to cure, makes sense. Humans useful as test subjects. Genetically diverse. Enables exploration of treatment modalities.”

“Are humans really that much more diverse than other species?” Garrus questions, walking over as well once he accepts that they aren’t bothering to keep a distance.

“More variable. Peaks and valleys, mutations, adaptations. Far beyond other life. Makes humans useful test subjects. Larger reactions to smaller stimuli.” Mordin explains.

“You’re sure? I’ve sseen the variation for other species, and it’s not inssignificant.” Ben expresses his doubts.

“No. Ignore superficial appearance. Down to genetic code. Biotic abilities, intelligence levels. Can look at random asari, krogan, make reasonable guess. Humans too variable to judge. Outliers in all species, of course. Geniuses, idiots. But human probability curve offers greater overall variety.” Mordin takes a breath, then looks back to Ben, at the Omnitrix specifically. “Wonder if omni-matrix would have functioned as well on other species. Irrelevant, but interesting.” He turns back to the body, waiting for the next question they’re inevitably going to ask.

“Wouldn’t something native to Tuchanka be easier to get a hold of? Varren, maybe?” Garrus suggests.

“Yes. Human experiments strictly high-level, concept testing. Native Tuchanka fauna likely used later, in development stages. Wise to delay use of varren until necessary. Powerful bite.” The salarain explains.

“Anything you can tell us about the tessts from thiss guy?” Ben asks.

“Position of tumors suggests deliberate mutation of adrenal, pineal glands. Modifying hormone levels. Counterattack on guards hit by genophage. Clever.” Mordin admires.

“How close are they to curing the genophage?” Garrus cautiously questions.

“Can’t say. Need more data. Conceptually sound, though. Genophage alters hormone levels. Could repair damage with hormonal counterattack.” The scientist tells them. With a flick of his wrist, he unsummons his omni-tool, and rises to his feet. “Should keep moving. Must focus on Maelon. Too late to help the dead.”

Garrus nods, moving past Ben to continue down the next set of stairs.

The three press on, making their way down a hall and through another hatch, which leads them into an open room. The kind that all three feel weary placing themselves in. Around the outer edge a walkway is built into the wall, leading up to a hatch on the other side of the room, about a story up.

Of course, as is always the case with big open rooms, the hatch opposite them opens to let several krogan enter the room. All of which appear pretty far from friendly.

“I am the speaker for clan Weyrloc, offworlders. You have shed our blood. By rights, you should be dead already. But Weyrloc Guld, the chief of chiefs, has ordered that you be given leave to flee and spread the message of our coming.” The one nearest the front of the group announces to them.

“Uhh… heh. Are you sure? If we run, we might trip over all the krogan we put down on the way in.” Garrus prods.

“You killed our youngest and weakest, turian. They were not worthy of remaining near our glorious work. Inside you will find only hardened Blood Pack veterans, tempered by savagery and war and dedicated to one goal. The salarian will cure the genophage and Clan Weyrloc will spread across the galaxy in a sea of blood!” The clanspeaker shouts at them.

“Appears they discovered Maelon’s work. Unfortunate.” Mordin notes, speaking quietly enough for only the two beside him to hear.

Ben steps past the other to force the krogan to focus on him, “Do you really think that war is the best ssolution here? Cure the genophage, of course, I can understand that, but—”

“No, creature! You understand nothing! You have not seen the piles of children that never lived! The krogan were wronged! We will make it right, and then we will have our revenge!” The speaker proclaims, steadfast in his goals.

“And what about all the people that think of the krogan as victimss!? Will you kill those who support your plight too?” Ben snaps back, a hiss on his words conjured by his current form.

The krogan pauses for a second, thinking on Ben’s words.

“We have the Blood Pack, and we have the salarian! When our clan numbers in the millions, we will not need support. When we cure the genophage, Weyrloc Guld will rule all krogan! The krogan rebellions will become the Krogan Empire!” He insists, undeterred.

Ben lets out a deep sigh as the krogan begins to monologue. It’s in the first moment that the clanspeaker looks away from him that Ben vanishes entirely, gone when he looks back.

“The surviving races will frighten their children with tales of what the Blood Pack did… to the… where did the lizard go?” He questions, actually noticing the discrepancy after a moment.

“I tried to do thiss the easy way.” Is spoken in the voice of Ben’s alien, though from where is a question made difficult to answer.

It’s not until the krogan at the front cries out with a pained “Aagh!” and reaches up to clutch the side of his neck that Garrus and Mordin are able to find Ben. He reappears beside the clanspeaker, fading into view as his tail is pulled back from the krogan’s neck. A black prong recedes back into the prehensile extension, and in the same moment the krogan surrounding turn their weapons on him.

They aren’t able to fire before Garrus does, though. With a single shot the one nearest to Ben’s kinetic barrier is torn through, as is his head.

Ben vanishes again, and by the time they fire there’s nothing for their bullets to hit.

Over the next few minutes Ben occasionally visualizes again as the barb at the end of his spine is stabbed into a krogan, or vorcha. Most of them die the usual way, though. As in, filled with bullets fired by either Garrus or Mordin.

Eventually, as is always the case, only the people allied with Shepard remain standing, making their way up the walkway to reach the hatch the krogan initially came through.

“Labs likely through there. Can smell antiseptic, hint of deal flesh.” Mordin notes as they head down the hall for another door.

The Omnitrix beeps several times before it times out, transforming him back into a human as they enter a space that almost resembles a cell block. A central hall leads down the space, with several rooms on either side. Most of which are missing the doors, leaving them connected with open archways.

The group spreads out as they begin looking through the area. It’s just as dilapidated as the rest of the structure has been. Shards of concrete are piled around the edges if the rooms, pushed out of the way of main areas, and important items. One of these, a console, comes to be the focus of Mordin. Consequently it also becomes of interest to Ben, who makes his way over when he notices the doctor stopping.

“Active console. May contain useful data. One moment.” Mordin explains, powering it up to start looking through the records. “Genetic sequencing. Hormone mutagens still steady. Protein chains, live tissue, cloned tissue. Very thorough. Standard treatment vectors. Avoiding scorched earth immunosuppressants to alter hormone levels. Good.” He takes a sharp breath in. “Hate to see that.”

“You sure know a lot about the Genophage.” Ben notices.

“Worked in STG on Genophage modification project. Maelon part of same team, must be why they captured him.” Mordin informs Ben.

Garrus catches the explanation as well, walking over from another room as he hears them start talking.

“Hang on, you were one of the guys the developed the genophage? Didn’t they release it, like, a thousand years ago?” Ben rightly questions.

“Not developing. Modifying. Much more difficult.” Mordin corrects, still browsing trough the data on the console.

“You- hang on, more difficult?” Ben asks.

“Yes. Working within confines of existing genophage. A hundred times the complexity. Errors unacceptable. Could cause total sterility, malignant tumors. Could even reduce effectiveness. Krogan were adapting, overcoming existing genophage. Needed to compensate. Mistakes worse than doing nothing. Had to keep krogan population stable. One in one thousand. Perfect target, optimal growth. Like gardening.” Mordin explains, speaking in facts.

Ben has a hard time with what he’s hearing. Something he’s learned about in terms of established, ancient, past has been abruptly forced into the present tense with someone that can, and is, claiming responsibility. “It’s not like gardening, Mordin! You’re talking about killing millions of people!” Ben shouts, causing the scientist to turn to him.

“No. Murdered no one. Altered fertility, prevented fetal development of nervous system. Have killed many, Tennyson. Gunfire, knives, drugs, tech attacks, once with farming equipment. But not with medicine.” Mordin states.

“You made the sterility plague more effective, because the people it was used on were surviving too well! One way or another, you’re the reason there are millions less krogan alive today. The reason they’re still heading for extinction.” Ben determines, holding to his position with all he knows about their history.

“Could have eradicated krogan. Not difficult. Increased mutation to degrade genetic structure further. Chose not to. Rachni extinction tragic. Didn’t want to repeat. All life precious. Universe demands diversity. Would never choose to wipe out krogan.” Mordin speaks, letting genuine frustration slip out in response to Ben’s insolence.

“Look outside, dude. You really think what’s happening to the krogan is preserving the species?” Ben points out.

“State of Tuchanka not due to genophage. Nuclear winter caused by krogan before solarians made first contact. Krogan choices. Refused truce during krogan rebellions. Expand after rachni wars. Splinter after genophage. Genophage medical, not nuclear. No craters from virus. Damage caused by krogan, not salarians. Not me.” The doctor corrects.

“You think that they wouldn’t have rebuilt in the last thousand years if they had started recovering?”

Mordin pauses, looking away from Ben as he starts walking away from the console. “Krogan committed war crimes. Refused to negotiate. Turian defeat not complete. Krogan could have recovered, attacked again. Conventional war too risky. Krogan forces too strong. Genophage was only option. Krogan forced genophage. Us or them. No apologies for winning. Wouldn’t have minded peaceful solution.” Mordin justifies.

Ben marches after him, following him from the room they were in into the hall. Garrus shuts off the console before following as well.

“Yeah, I get it. You guys had to stop them, and you did. But then they start recovering after a millennium, and your first response is to hit them again?” Ben pushes the point, but has to stop as he sees the purpose of the next room they enter.

Medical tables. Several of which are empty, but one is not. A krogan body, lied under a tarp, rests on the surface. Ben merely watches as Mordin makes his way over, and picks up a datapad on the table beside it.

“Dead krogan. Female. Tumors indicate experimentation. No restraint marks. Volunteer.” He deduces, setting the pad back down before making his way around the table to the side opposite Ben. “Sterile Weyrloc female willing to risk procedures. Hoped for cure.” There’s a pause, thinking on the notion. “Pointless. Pointless waste of life.”

“You know this is the genophage’s fault.” Ben states.

Mordin spins back at he speaks to look at the teen. “No. Her death not my work, only reaction to it. Goal was to stabilize population. Never wanted this. Can see it logically… but still unnecessary. Foolish waste of life. Hate seeing it.” The restrained anger in his tone dies out as his statement nears its end, leaving his words solemn.

“You’ve been back to Tuckanka enough to have seen this sort of thing before, then?” Garrus note, stepping up to the space behind Ben.

There’s a sigh before Mordin speaks. “Yearly recon missions. Water, tissue samples. Ensure no mistakes. Superiors offered to carry it on. Refused. Need to see it in person. Need to look. Need to see. Accept it as necessary. See small picture. Remind myself why I run a clinic on Omega.” He looks to the krogan again, staring at the shape cast by the tarp before forcing his eyes closed. “Rest, young mother. Find your gods. Find someplace better.” He says.

Ben has nothing to say. Mordin seems to know that what’s happened on Tuchanka is wrong just as well as Ben does, and he accepts that.

“I didn’t take you for the spiritual type, Mordin.” Garrus notes, moving the discussion forward in another way.

“Genophage modification project altered millions of lives. Then saw results. Ego, humility, juxtaposition. Frailty of life. Size of universe. Explored religions after work completed. Different races. No answers. Many questions.” Mordin explains.

“You feel guilty. You did what you thought was right, but it got millions killed. And you had to live with it.” Ben tries to empathize.

“Modified genophage great in scope. Scientifically brilliant. But ethically difficult. Krogan reaction visceral, tragic. Not guilty, but responsible. Trained as doctor. Genophage effects fertility. Doesn’t kill. Still, caused this. Hard to see big picture behind pile of corpses.” Mordin says.

“The ends don’t always justify the means, Mordin. The original genophage, sure, but updating it to keep them like this?” Ben gestures to the body, laid under a tarp, in the midst of ancient ruins. “How can you justify this?”

Mordin takes a deep breath, looking at the body as he searches his thoughts. “Wheel of life. Popular salarian concept. Similar to human Hinduism in focus on reincarnation. Appealing to see life as endless. Fix mistakes in next life. Learn, adapt, improve. Refuse to believe life ends here. Too wasteful. Have more to offer. Mistakes to fix. Cannot end here. Could do so much more.” He contemplates.

“Admit it. You know that modifying the genophage was wrong as well as I do.” Ben states.

His eyes pinch shut for a moment, and when they open again they are focused on Ben. “Had to be done. Rachni wars, Krogan rebellions, all pointed to krogan aggression. So many simulations. Effects on krogan population increase. All pointed to war. Extinction. Genophage or genocide. Save the galaxy from krogan. Save krogan from galaxy.” Mordin explains.

“They weren’t a threat anymore! You could have let their population start to naturally recover. Or you could have even cured the genophage instead! You had the resources. They would have rejoiced.” Ben proposes, again growing verbose as they debate.

“Assumes human reaction!” Mordin scoffs. “Krogan stimulus response different. Harsh environment, take change to fight, flee.”

Ben moves his hand to the Omnitrix as he steps forwards, and in an instant he stands at the same height as Mordin. A pair of krogan eyes look into the doctor’s.

“I don’t have to assume anything, doc.” Ben sneers, resting his face in the air just in front of Mordin’s.

The doctor is silent for a moment. He fails to be intimidated by Ben in the slightest, but has to think on what Ben said. Genuinely think about it, presented with data he never had before.

“Millions of data points. Years of arguments. Countless scenarios. All noted krogan fragmentation as dangerous. No unified culture to support repopulation. Would have been war. Turians and humans destroying krogan utterly. Genophage was better. Saved lives.” Mordin has to believe.

Ben simply glares into the salarain’s eyes for a moment, then steps around him, heading for the hall.

“We should discuss this when Maelon’s safe. No use arguing about ethics now, anyways.” Ben says, stepping out through the archway.

Garrus watches him go, then looks to Mordin, who himself has returned his attention to the krogan woman on the table.

“Hard to believe he’s just a kid sometimes, isn’t it?” The turian remarks, drawing the doctor’s attention away again.

“Developed sense of responsibility, morality. Understandable with history.” He takes a sharp breath in, giving himself a second to think. “Difficult to change mind.”

The doctor turns from the table and makes his way out into the hall as well, letting Garrus follow after him.

There’s a functional hatch at the far-right end of the hall, which opens automatically on approach. On the other side is another corridor, splitting of into two directions at the end in a T shape. To the left is a path leading down and back in the direction they came from, whilst to the right is a sealed and unlocked hatch.

Ben lets Garrus take the lead, and he goes for the hatch first, tapping the green hologram to get it open.

On the other side are two notable things. To their right is the body of a dead krogan, splayed out on the ground. To their left is another krogan who is still alive, though curled over himself with his knees tucked up to his chest.

He looks up to the squad as they step in, glancing between the three.

“You killed the Blood Pack guards!” The krogan realizes.

“Not Blood Pack, not member of Clan Weyrloc. Wrong clan markings.” Mordin informs Garrus as he knees down to the krogan’s level.

“I’m an Urdnot scout. Wayrloc guards got me. Brought me here.” The krogan explains.

“The chief scout told us to watch for you. There shouldn’t be any guards between here and the exit. Get back to Urdnot.” Garrus tells him.

“I can’t. The Weyrloc did things to me. Drugs. Injections. Said I was sacrificing for the good of all krogan. Experiments to cure genophage. Everything’s blurry. Hard to think. Have to stay.” The scout rejects.

Garrus looks back to Mordin, “You think you can get this guy back on his feet? Stims, maybe?” he suggests.

“You don’t understand.” The krogan starts, causing Garrus to look back to him. “I’m not too sick to leave. I have to stay. They’re curing the genophage. They’re going to make it all better! They have to keep doing the tests!”

“Caution, Vakarian. Patient unstable, susceptible. Brainwashed.” Mordin concludes.

Garrus sighs with an irritation under his breath, then softly chuckles in a way that seems disingenuous.

“Why do you want them to keep experimenting on you?” He questions.

“This is my fault. I got caught. I wasn’t strong enough, not good enough. This is the best I can do. This is all I can do. I’m not big enough to have a real shot with the females. I’ll never have kids of my own. But if I help undo the genophage, then I mattered!” The sick krogan has convinced himself.

“Yeah, but you’ll only have helped Weyrloc secure their dominance over the other clans. They aren’t planning to share the cure.” Garrus explains to him.

“But… no. No, they said I was helping Urdnot!” The krogan insists.

“If you want to help Urdnot, you should probably get back there.” Garrus rises back to his feet, stepping back from the krogan. “But it would take a real badass to make it back to camp while wounded.”

“I can do it.” The krogan decides.

“You? Come on, be serious. I said a badass, not some scout whining like a quarian with an upset stomach.” Garrus plays him.

“I can do it! I’m up! And I’m going to the female camp!” The sick krogan forces himself up to his feet.

“Then prove it! Get back there already! Go, go!” Garrus orders.

“Rah!” The scout roars as he marches out of the cell and back down the hall they came from up.

Garrus catches the look Ben is giving him and chuckles. “There’s no pep talk like a military pep talk… uh, maybe don’t tell Tali I said that.” He requests.

Ben laughs in that deep hearty way krogan do as he turns around and starts heading down the other pathway.

“Not a word.” Ben agrees.

As they reach the hatch the Omnitrix starts beeping, causing Ben to stop until he times out and is transformed back.

“Garrus, I’m detecting crates ahead that are holding unstable materials. A misplaced shot could cause a significant explosion.” EDI connects over their coms to inform the group.

“Or a well-placed shot. Explosives useful. Burn through krogan armor.” Mordin notes.

The two that aren’t human wait as Ben loads up the Omnitrix to summon another transformation. He scrolls for a moment before looking away from the dial and swiping to the side.

“Know what, Omnitrix? Just give me something that can fight. Not like my selection matters anyway.” He says, and pulls his hand back to let to core rise, so that he can slam it back down.

With the usual flash his form shifts entirely, changing in an instant to one that neither of them have seen before. A tiny creature, no more than a foot or two tall. Insect-like in a appearance, though with only four legs. It’s chitin covering is colored yellow, and the bodysuit the Omnitrix is located on is the usual green of his alien’s clothing.

“Woah, Ball Weevil. This I can work with.” He reacts, turning himself to face the door. “Okay, let’s move.”

The hatch leads into a very large and open room. The space encompasses multiple levels of the building, with an open center leaving them visible to one another. There are bridges leading from one side of the walkways to the other.

It’s apparent as soon as they enter that there’s a plethora of vorcha, krogan, and varren already waiting for them.

But no one should pretend like that’s a problem. Garrus and Mordin move to cover, while Ben starts dashing back and forth to avoid the shots fired his way.

It’s once he starts getting physically close to them that the frankly repulsive sound of the alien regurgitating can be heard. This is followed shortly after by a forceful “boom” and the shouts of krogan and vorcha being thrown from the impact site.

Curiosity overwhelms them at this point and Garrus peeks out of cover to watch what Ben is doing.

From his tiny form Ben is regurgitating a thick green plasma, which coagulates into a semisolid as soon as it hits the air. He then hops onto the sphere and begins rolling it along, collecting debris within the plasma as he goes. And once he has a target, he launches the orb at them, letting it violently ignite upon impact, setting off the crates EDI mentioned with it.

And he has no trouble repeating this for all of the troops that come his way, meaning that Garrus and Mordin have no trouble walking along the cleared walkway behind him. This repeats for the level below as well, until they reach the hatch the troops were trying most sincerely to defend.

They head through the open hatch and into a room similar to the one they initially entered from. They head down the set of stairs to their left, then down the second set of stairs that head back, letting them move down the hall towards another sealed, but unlocked, hatch.

Ben transforms back as they approach it, relaxing more than he expected to when he feels the chilled air coming from the room ahead.

He looks to Mordin and watches as he triggers the door, revealing the room on the other side. A laboratory, evident at even a glance. There are rows of tables and machines by the walls on either side, not an insignificant number of which hold krogan bodies. At the back of the room is a massive holographic screen, glowing orange. Just in front of it, working away at the station, is a salarian.

“Maelon. Alive. Unharmed.” Mordin instantly recognizes as they approach him. “No signs of restraint. No evidence of torture. Don’t understand.”

“For such a smart man, Professor, you always had trouble seeing evidence that disagreed with your preconceptions.” The scientist turns around to look at them, a spite in his eyes cast to the older salarian. “How long will it take you to admit that I’m here because I wish to be here?”

“It doesn’t look like he was kidnapped, Mordin.” Garrus observes, agreeing with Maelon.

“Impossible. Whole team agreed! Project necessary!” Mordin states, more distressed than either Ben or Garrus have ever seen him.

“How was I supposed to disagree with the great Doctor Solus? I was your student! I looked up to you!” Maelon shouts back.

“Experiments performed here. Live subjects! Prisoners! Torture and executions. Your doing?” Mordin demands, pointing to Maelon.

The scientist dismisses the accusation of guilt with a wave of his hand, half turning his body away from Mordin. “We’ve already got the blood of millions on our hands, Doctor. If it takes a bit more to put things right, I can deal with that.”

“Dude, you seriously think what you did here can be justified?” Ben questions.

“We committed cultural genocide! Nothing I do will ever be justified! The experiments are monstrous… because I was taught to be a monster.” Maelon explains.

“If you wanted to make things right, why work with clan Weyrloc? If they’re cured, they’re going to wage war on half the galaxy just to settle the score.” Ben points out.

“They were the only clan with both the resources and the commitment.” Maelon states.

“What about Urdnot?” Garrus points out.

“Urdnot Wrex is too soft. He wasn’t willing to do the experiments I needed. It’s Urdnot’s loss and Wayrloc’s gain. Their clan will be the first to recovered from the crime we committed.” Maelon says.

“And you’re okay with that? You cure Weyrloc and they kill millions, and that you’re okay with? Because it’s not your fault?” Ben asks.

“We justified this atrocity by saying that the krogan would cause havoc and war if their population recovered. But look at the galaxy! Batarian attacks in the Traverse, geth attacks on the Citadel. Is this a more peaceful universe? The assault on your Eden Prime might never have happened if we had let the krogan recover. We’ll never know.” Maelon postulates.

“The- What? Sorry, you lost me. I don’t think I was around for that.” Ben says, abruptly taking a step back from the argument as it moves in a direction he can’t follow.

With Ben no longer throwing questions at Maelon, Garrus looks to Mordin.

“Our “hostage” turns out to be a willing participant. What now?” Garrus asks.

Mordin is silent for a second as he thinks, then his attention moves to Maelon. “Have to end this.” He decides.

His certainty is met with hostility in the form of Maelon pulling a pistol from his wide and aiming it at the group.

“You can’t face the truth, can you? Can’t admit that your brilliant mind led you to commit an atrocity!” Maelon erupts, barely able to decide on a target between the three of them. The frankly ancient salarian doctor, the unphased turian, or the frankly unreasonably smug human child.

The age of the human really only has a second to register with him before he’s forcefully struck in the face by Mordin, knocking the gun from his hand as he staggers back through the holographic screen and into the wall. Before he has time to collect himself Mordin has jammed a gun of his own into his face, aiming steadily at his head.

“Unacceptable experiments. Unacceptable goals. Won’t change. No choice. Have to kill you.” Mordin convinces himself.

Before he fires a hand is placed in his shoulder, forcing him to look away from Maelon and to Ben instead for a brief moment.

“Don’t, Mordin.” Ben says.

Maelon shakes his head from side to side. Ben casts a confused, and slightly repulsed, glare his way, but doesn’t otherwise acknowledge this.

“He’s done. You don’t need to stoop to his level.” Ben continues.

Maelon nods, agreeing with Ben with a forced smile. One Mordin can’t see, of course, but one Ben can.

Mordin has to think about this for a moment, but eventually lowers the pistol and steps away from Maelon. “No, I don’t. Thank you, Tennyson.” He looks to Maelon again as he steps back through the holographic screen. “Finished, Maelon. Get out. No Wayrloc left. Project over.”

“You heard him, Maelon. I’d start running before someone changes their mind.” Garrus advises.

“Where am I supposed to go, Professor?” Maelon pleads, suddenly very away of how powerless he actually is.

“Don’t care. Try Omega. Can always use another clinic.” Mordin suggests.

Mealon seems to have more to say, but turns away from them with a sharp sigh, making his way towards the exit.

“The krogan didn’t deserve what we did to them, Professor. The genophage needs to end.” Maelon states as he leaves.

“Not like this.” Mordin responds quietly, looking up at the data displayed on the screen.

The doctor moves a hand to the side of his head, activating his coms. There’s a moment before they connect.

“Apologies, Commander. Misunderstood mission parameters. No kidnapping. My mistake. Thank you.” Mordin says.

“Everything alright over there? We just finished with the Rite, we can be there in ten.” Shepard offers.

“Not necessary. Will explain on Normandy. Almost ready to return to Camp Urdnot.” Mordin tells him.

“Copy that, Mordin. See you there.” The commander accepts, shutting off the communication.

There’s a moment of silence between the group before Ben steps over to Mordin’s side, leaning just far enough around him to see his face.

“You okay?” He asks.

“Should have killed him. Wanted to. Easier than listening. Easier for him, too. Experiments indicate how far he’s fallen. Expected it from krogan. Not one of mine.” Mordin speaks, completely defeated.

“Something to keep in mind next time you’re thinking about the genophage?” Ben asks.

“Yes. So many variables. Stress responses. Impossible to truly predict. Something to think about.” Mordin confirms, thinking for a second before snapping his attention back onto the screen. “Maelon’s research. Only loose end. Could destroy it. Closure, security. Still valuable, though.”

With a swipe a holographic keyboard appears in front of him, along with a bar to display the words he would be typing.

“Dude, keep it. There’s no harm in saving data, especially not when so many people died for it.” Ben looks back over the room to the half dozen krogan bodies.

“Worked for years to create modified genophage. Should destroy this. Maelon’s work could cure genophage. Don’t know. Effects on krogan. Effects on galaxy. Too many variables. Too many variables!” Mordin can’t decide.

“The genophage was unavoidable back then, sure, but look at the krogan now. Think about what someone like Wrex could have done if the species hadn’t been forced to give up.” Ben reasons.

“Wasted potential.” Mordin accepts.

“They don’t deserve this, Mordin. No sapient species does. Save the data. Let someone fix this someday.” Ben nearly pleads.

Mordin thinks on the request for a moment before summoning his Omni-tool.

“Point taken, Tennyson. Capturing data, wiping local copy.” He informs them.

There’s a ding from his omni-tool, then, with a low hum, the screen shuts off.

“Still years away from cure. But closer than starting from scratch. Done. Ready to go. Ready to be off Tuckanka. Anywhere else.” He takes a breath. “Maybe somewhere sunny.”

“Yeah, let’s get back to the camp.” Ben agrees, walking with Mordin as they head back the way they came.

When the truck comes to a stop again, and the three of them are able to step out, EDI immediately connects with their coms. Or, in Ben’s case, the Omnitrix itself.

“Killing the thresher maw has produced several breeding requests for Grunt. And one for Shepard.” EDI states.

Ben can’t help but laugh at that statement, more out of shock than amusement. Garrus has a similar reaction, looking over to Ben to confirm that he heard the same thing.

“Uhh, EDI? Did you mean to tell Shepard that?” Ben asks, following after the turian and salarian as they head down from the section serving as a garage into the camp proper.

“I informed Shepard as well. I believed this information would be of interest to this group.” EDI clarifies.

“I’m interested alright, but only as to how the hell Shepard manage to down a maw.” Garrus says, looking across the ruins to spot Shepard, Grunt, and Tali standing at the throne speaking with Wrex.

“Will wait for you at shuttle. Need time to think.” Mordin states, splitting off from the other two as Garrus starts jogging over to Shepard.

“You just can’t help making trouble. No one has killed a maw since my turn in the Rite. Next you’ll tell me he’s a quint and craps dark matter. Guess that’s what it takes to replace me.” Wrex jests, leaning forwards to look over the tank-bred.

Garrus and Ben reach them just as Grunt steps forwards to the base of he chair, looking up at Wrex.

“You are Urdnot Grunt. Welcome.” Wrex deems.

Grunt nods, and steps back.

“It’s been good to see you, Wrex. Sure you can’t come with us?” Shepard asks.

“Wish I could, but I need to keep these shortsighted fools in line. Hunt well, Shepard.” Wrex answers.

Shepard nods, and turns to make his way back down the ramp leading to the rest of the camp, prompting the rest of the group to follow along.

“Where’s Mordin?” He asks, not wasting any time.

“He’s waiting back at the shuttle.” Ben answers.

“Understood.” Shepard accepts, leading them down through the hole leading back to the Kodiak.

“I heard you killed a thresher maw without us.” Garrus says.

There’s a restrained giggle from Tali as she looks through the group to Garrus. “No, EDI didn’t—”

“She thought it would be of interest.” Garrus confirms.

“Ha!” Grunt erupts at the back of the party.

“It was part of the Rite of Passage. There was a hammer of some kind used to summon the native wildlife, and it was the final level.” Shepard explains, not picking up on what they all find so amusing.

“And you just had to kill it?” The turian says.

“The objective wasn’t clear.” Shepard justifies.

“The objective, in case you were wondering, was to “survive.” Which Shepard clearly didn’t find challenging enough.” Tali informs them.

“Sorry, I don’t think I’ve been keeping up, what’s a thresher maw?” Ben asks.

“it’s a big worm.” Grunt tells him.

“How big are we talking here? Like, a couple feet kind of big, or like—” Ben questions.

“Big enough to swallow the shuttle, at least.” Grunt states.

“Are you kidding me? You guys fought an actual giant monster and I got stuck with clan Weyrloc!?” Ben complains.

Grunt, Tali, and Garrus evidently find this quite amusing, as all start laughing with varying levels of verbosity.

It’s not too much longer before they reach, and load themselves into, the Kodiak. Once they’re all secured the shuttle takes off, and heads towards the upper atmosphere, for the Normandy.

Once they’re on the Normandy Joker pulls them back a considerable distance from the planet, letting them orbit more comfortably. They don’t leave the planet though, as Shepard doesn’t command them to.

The five squad mates return to their usual positions on the ship. Wrex to his room in the cargo hold, Tali to the Normandy’s core in engineering, Ben to his room in the other cargo hold, Garrus to the ship’s forward battery, and Mordin to the tech lab.

Being so close to the CIC, and the galaxy map specifically, makes it easy for Shepard to check in on him, which he does once the Normandy is in a stable orbit.

They talk for a while. Long enough for Mordin to recount the events of their mission to Shepard is exhaustive detail, as well as unintentionally give Shepard a pretty good idea of his feelings on the matter. Suppressed and rationalized as they’ve been in the past few hours, which how quickly salarians move on.

He asks for clarification on a few matters, and Mordin provides it easily enough, but eventually Shepard has all the information he needs. He tells Mordin that he will he him later, and exits the lab to head for the elevator. Down to engineering, specifically.

He takes a right out of the elevator and taps on the lock for Ben’s door, waiting for a moment before Ben opens it from the other side.

“Shepard. What’s up?” The teen greets as he steps in.

“Mordin filled me in on what happened at Camp Weyrloc. About what happened with the Genophage research, and Maelon.” Shepard tells him.

There’s a clear eye roll as Ben thinks he knows where the conversation is going, and he pushes himself out of his seat.

“If you’re going to tell me I was out of line, you can s—”

“It was a good call.” Shepard cuts him off. “Good work.”

Ben stops himself and looks to Shepard, completely caught off guard by the genuine praise.

“Uhh, thanks. I guess. Just did what I though was right.” Ben says.

Shepard nods, and turns to exit the room with another word. Ben’s left with a weird sense of having avoided a conversation he didn’t realize was going to happen, and just returns to what he was doing before after a moment.

Shepard checks in with Grunt, Tali, and the engineers before heading back into the elevator and setting it for the crew deck. The last person that came on the mission he needs to check in with is Garrus. To his surprise though, he actually doesn’t find the turian in the battery.

“EDI, could you locate Garrus for me?” Shepard asks.

“Of course. One moment, Shepard.” EDI replies, leaving him to wait for just a second. “Mr. Vakarian is on Deck 1, outside your private quarters.” The AI informs him.

“Thanks, EDI.” Shepard says as he heads back towards the elevator again.

When the doors open his eyes don’t have to do any searching to land on Garrus, who stands leaned against the railing, already looking in Shepard’s direction.

“Garrus.” The commander greets him.

“We should talk.” Garrus tells him, his eyes tracking the human as he steps out of the shaft.

“Okay…?” Shepard says, taking enough steps away from Garrus for their conversation to be comfortable.

“You know I’m with you for as long as this takes, Shepard. But… mmh. Why haven’t we picked up the Reaper IFF yet?” He questions, trying to phrase it amicably.

Shepard’s expression almost instantly gains the stoic qualities he so often defaults to off of the Normandy, hiding any emotion that might otherwise slip out. Not that this matters very much to Garrus, who can hardly read human facial and body language anyways.

“I just want to make sure the crew doesn’t have any unfinished business before we make our next big move against the Reapers. I can only imagine how they plan to retaliate after what Ben did to the Collectors.” Shepard explains.

“But at this point it feels like you’re waiting for the crew to need something. Like you would rather deal with our problems than deal with the Reapers.” Garrus explains his concern again, still trying not to sound accusatory.

Shepard remains quiet, glancing away from Garrus as he thinks.

“Are you…” Garrus doesn’t really want to ask, but he also can’t just follow orders blindly. He’s stuck around with Shepard this long because he hasn’t had to.

“I’m sleeping.” Shepard assures, focusing on his again. “I just don’t want to lose another Normandy. I want to make sure we’re ready before we piss off the Reapers again.”

Garrus thinks on this for a moment, and eventually nods. He can accept that.

“So long as the plan is still to piss them off again.” Garrus says, pushing off the railing to head for the elevator.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Shepard states, watching as the door shut behind him, and the number above them starts to lower.

He has a moment to just think on what Garrus said, and his own concerns. But only a moment, as after that the sound of EDI connecting comes over his omni-tool.

“Shepard, Thane would like to speak with you, when you have a moment.”

Chapter Text

The Normandy is set to head for the Citadel.

The Citadel was the last place they docked to refuel before Tuchanka, but none of the crew actually departed the Normandy in that time. This time, however, the plan involves Shepard taking a squad onto the Citadel. This excites Ben, as he hasn’t gotten to actually explore the massive space station since they introduced the posttheans to the council, and even then he was strictly chaperoned.

Nearly all of the travel time is just them getting to the mass relay in the Krogan DMZ, as from there the citadel isn’t that great of a distance from the relay in the widow system.

Shepard checks in with the crew as they make their final approach, confirming that each of them don’t need anything before heading back up to the CIC. He enters the elevator with the squadmate that’s joining them and taps the icon for Deck 2 on the holographic screen of the terminal, then turns around to wait for the doors to open again.

Thane turns to look at him as the elevator doors open, having been waiting by the galaxy map.

“Commander Shepard. Tali’Zorah.” He greets the two as they step out.

“Thane.” Shepard acknowledges him back, stopping as he reaches his personal console. Tali continues on, stepping around the galaxy map and Thane to head for the bridge.

“Thank you again, Shepard. What you’re doing, it means a great deal to me.” The drell expresses, taking a step closer to be only a pace away from the commander.

Shepard simply nods, booting up the console to check his messages before they dock.

On the bridge, Ben looks out through the main windows as the ship comes to approach its port, taking his usual spot in the unmanned station to the back of the room.

It’s evident to anyone paying attention that he’s here a lot, but it’s hard to blame him. The sheer scope of the Citadel is enough to spend hours marveling at, and that was before the formerly Collector vessel docked to give a clear sense of scale to the arms. The collector vessel is a massive body in its own right, surpassing even the destiny ascension if only slightly, but is still no more than another docked body in comparison to the Citadel itself.

It’s not long before they lose sight of the formerly Collector ship though, turning into the Normandy’s dock.

It’s now, with very little interesting to look at outside the ship, that Ben notices the sound of footsteps approaching from the CIC. Glancing back, he finds Tali to be making her way over. Her helmet looks to him briefly, then straightens out again to face the back of Joker’s chair.

“How long until we can send out a shore party?” Tali asks.

“Shouldn’t be too long. The council’s not exactly happy about us being here, but it’s not like they can ban a Spectre from citadel space.” Joker responds, not bothering to rotate the chair around to face her.

“Hang on, they’re not happy with us? What, did saving a whole new species from Reaper control not convince them that Shepard knows what he’s doing?” Ben questions.

Tali’s helmet turns to look to Ben, “They hate admitting that they were wrong, and every time Shepard shows up there’s a new problem they are forced to finally deal with.” She explains.

“Plus all the collateral. I mean, one nuke? That’s a fluke. Two nukes, and there might be some room for concern there. Three, and we’re going to have to stop giving the commander nukes.” Joker chimes in, rotating the chair halfway to let him look at the other two.

Tali restrains a laugh, turning from him to look out through the windows at the citadel. “Shepard definitely has a habit of making a mess wherever we go.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like that’s our fault.” Ben claims, wrongly.

“All they see are the mission reports, and the things they have to justify or classify. Not saying they’re right, of course, but if you were in charge of Shepard I’m pretty sure you’d be worried too when he came to visit.” The pilot says.

There’s a ding from the control panel that causes Joker to look back to it, swinging the chair back around.

“Commander, we’re clear to send out a ground team.” Joker informs.

“We’re on our way. Have Tali and Ben meet us at the airlock.” Shepard responds over the comms.

“Aye, aye, commander.” Joker says, looking back to Ben and Tali again.

The human teen pushes out of his seat, “I heard.” He says, heading out of the bridge with Tali not far behind.

Tali and Ben are equally thankful that the rapid transit cabs on the Citadel are self-piloted, as it means that Shepard can’t kill them. Not that he would try to, of course. It would simply be an inherent risk to letting him drive.

Instead, they are able to put their focus into the wards they pass by, illuminated with a gleam and brilliance outside the shuttle’s windows. It’s not a sight any of them have seen too many times, but which all are familiar with. Shepard perhaps the most so, which makes the one difference all the more stark.

Evidently, since the last time they were here the Council has started to allow the posttheans to traverse the Citadel. Not without supervision, if the excessive C-Sec presence is anything to go off of, but when the shuttle touches down to let them out there’s certainly a fair few posttheans out in the area.

“That was fast. I thought it would take them a few years, at least.” Tali comments as they step out, looking across the floor to the decidedly alien beings.

More so than any of the other races, the posttheans stand out as foreign to the environment. Twice as many eyes as is standard, a pair of wings tucked against their backs among their chitin plating, and a notably lack of standardized clothing. That’s not even to mention the coloring afforded to them by their merge with the Omnitrix species.

“Yeah, they didn’t seem all that on-board with the posttheans even existing last time we were here, let alone existing on the Citadel.” Ben agrees with Tali.

In the group nearest to them there are two posttheans, and one human guard apparently working for C-Sec. Shepard is the first to start making his way over to them, causing the rest of the squad to follow.

“Excuse me,” Shepard speaks up, getting the two insect-like beings to turn towards him. “Sorry to interrupt,”

“Normandy Commander Shepard.” One of the posttheans cuts him off, the purple and lavender one to their left. “Ambassador Apaleone has been waiting to speak with you.” They state.

“Ambassador Apaleone? Is that the name the one we spoke with before has chosen?” Shepard asks.

“Yes. Well, no. It’s his name, but he didn’t chose it. It was adopted after one of the turian working with him decided that names would make discussion easier, and elected him as such.” The second postthean explains to their right, speaking with a voice that sounds discernably more feminine by human standards.

“What does he want to speak to me about?” Shepard inquires.

“It is not known. The intent has simply reached us through the social mind.” The one their left answers.

“I’ve been gone for a bit; when did the Citadel start letting non-political individuals on board?” Shepard asks, shifting the dialogue back to the question he was originally intending to ask.

“Recently, and only with supervision.” The one of their right starts, turning themself to gesture to the C-Sec guard. “This is Citadel Security Adam. He has prevented us from breaking 3 laws since we boarded. Say hello, Adam.”

The soldier looks entirely too tired to humor this, but does regardless. “Commander.” He nods.

“We have boarded to trade currency for goods. The farms you and Hero Ben Tennyson established on the vessel have been yielding adequately, but need maintenance. We and others have been allowed to trade for the required materials in person.” The one to their left explains more clearly.

“Understood. Thanks for telling me about that.” Shepard says.

“It is of no trouble.” The left one says.

Shepard nods and turns from the group, heading away from them with the squad following close behind.

“We’ll have to find “Apaleone” after we address the situation with Thane’s son. EDI, find anything useful?” The commander asks.

“According to C-Sec, a drell recently passed through customs. The C-Sec office may have more information.” EDI informs him.

“Thanks.” Shepard speaks, slowing down as they reach C-Sec customs for the entrance to the Zakera ward.

It takes them considerably longer than before to get through security, waiting an extra few minutes for each person ahead of them being scanned.

They are patient, though Thane finds himself looking over the construction of the scanner once they’re inside.

“You’d think Citadel Security would be the tightest in the galaxy.” Thane remarks, his dark eyes still passing over the rroom

Tali looks back to him while they walk. “It’s not?” She questions.

“I see no fewer than fourteen fatal flaws a skilled assassin could exploit. Eight of them existed when I was here ten years ago.” The drell states.

This remark causes the turian on duty to take a second look over Thane, but he doesn’t stop them from continuing through the hatch on the other side. Conveniently they emerge in the exact place they need to be, the C-Sec office. Even more conveniently, a face both Shepard and Ben recognize sits behind the front desk.

“Captain Bailey.” Shepard speaks as they walk over.

“Yes?” His attention moves up from the console on his desk, scanning over the group for a moment to identify them. “Shepard. Tennyson. Keeping out of trouble, I hope.”

“Just the usual.” Ben says.

“Yeah, that’s what worries me.” Bailey turns his gaze from the boy to the commander. “What can I do for you?” He asks.

“My associate is trying to find his son.” Shepard gestures to Thane as he steps forwards to beside Bailey’s desk. “We think a local criminal may have hired him.” He explains.

“Should be easy. We don’t see many drell here.” The captain focuses on the holographic screen ahead of him, entering a few points of data into various blank fields to let the system show relevant data. “There we go. One of my men reported a drell recently. And he was talking to Mouse. Interesting.”

“Mouse?” Thane speaks.

“A petty criminal. Probably not the guy who hired your boy, but a messenger. He’s a former duct rat, runs errands for anyone who’ll pay.” Baily tells him.

“What was it you called Mouse?” Shepard questions.

“Ah, “duct rat.” It’s a local slang for the poor kids who grow up on the station. When they’re small, they tend to play in the ventilation ducts, where adults can’t get to them.” The captain explains.

“Aren’t the ducts dangerous?” Shepard asks with a sense of genuine concern.

Baily sighs, shallowly shaking his head side to side. “Every couple of months, we pull a little body out of them. Lacerated by fan blades. Broken by a deadfall. Suffocated by vacuum exposure. Those are just the ones we know about. More just disappear. Maybe they get sucked into space. Maybe they fall into the protein vats the keepers run.” He guesses. “Mouse survived long enough that he can’t fit in the ducts anymore. He was one of the smarter ones. Or the luckier ones.”

“What sort of trouble has Mouse been getting himself into?” Shepard inquires.

“Odd jobs for shifty people. Duct rats take whatever’s available to get by. Data running. Fencing stolen goods. Selling illegal VI personalities. Actually, he was selling one of you.” Bailey tells him.

“Me?” The commander questions.

“Yeah. When you erased a file it would say “I delete data like you on the way to real errors.”” He remembers.

“That’s pretty extreme, Shepard.” Tali remarks with an audible amusement, held back just enough to refrain from actually laughing.

“Laugh it up, Tali.” Shepard shoots back, his helmet turning just enough to look at the quarian.

“Buggy, though. It crashed every half hour. The error message was about how the galaxy was at stake, and you should fix the problem yourself.” Bailey continues.

“Okay, I’ve heard enough.” Shepard cuts off the discussion, not wanting to hear any more.

“Mouse is usually upstairs, outside the Dark Star. He works out of a public comm terminal. You should pick up a copy of the “Shepard VI” when you talk to him.” Bailey suggests. “Sounds like your boy’s running with the wrong crowd.” He continues, looking to Thane.

“Yes. I agree.” Thane speaks.

“If mouse can’t get you in touch with your son directly, he’ll know who can. I’ll help you if you need it.” Bailey offers.

Shepard’s about to turn to start walking away when he says that, which causes him to stop.

“You don’t know us, Captain. Why are you going so far to help us?” Shepard questions.

“I’ve worked Zakera for two years. Every day, kids turn to crime because they’ve got no other choice. Because their parents don’t care.” He explains, turning again to the drell. “You’re trying to save yours.”

“…He faces a dark path.” Thane says.

“We better hurry, then.” Shepard says, bringing the drell’s attention back to him. He nods and walks back to join the group as they walk out of the office and into the ward proper.

They take a right to head for the stairs leading up to level 28, the one just above theirs.

“You didn’t tell him that Kolyat plans to assassinate someone.” Thane notes, looking to Shepard.

“He’s a cop. He’d try to stop Kolyat, and one of them could end up dead. I don’t want that.” Shepard explains, not stopping.

“Yes, of course.” He quickly accepts. “Thank you, Shepard.”

Passing by the various storefronts, news screens, and advertisers on their way up, Ben can’t help but to overhear a variety of information thrown out to the open air.

A mention of hesitance to accept the posttheans as a citadel race. Another talking about the advancements Collector technology has afforded being adapted to items for the commercial sector by the end of the year. An interview with an actual postthean, talking about the effects the Collectors had on the humans they abducted, and what they’re doing to make things right.

It’s a lot about the posttheans. People are evidently interested in them, which is manifesting itself in a variety of ways. A lot of people blame them for what happened to the human colonies, not understanding the situation with the Reapers. And even those that do understand, now aware of the Reaper’s existence, doubt that the posttheans are trustworthy.

There’s very little outright hostility though. Movements to get them off of the citadel, sure, but no one has committed an act of violence yet. At least, none of the news stations are mentioning anything of that nature. The discordance is mostly directed at C-Sec and the Council, if anybody.

Ben’s only forced to tune back into his actual surroundings once the four of them begin to approach an individual standing at a public comm terminal, just as Baily suggested Mouse would be. A human, young if they had to go off of looks. Maybe 22 at the oldest, 17 at the youngest.

“You mouse?” Shepard asks.

“What do you— oh shit!” He cuts himself off as he turns away from the terminal, seeing Thane. “Krios? I thought you retired!” He exclaims, still keeping his voice down to avoid grabbing the attention of passersby.

Thane simply shakes his head, dismissing the assumption as Mouse looks to the rest of the party.

“Ben Tennyson? Commander Shepard? Damn, you’re really alive? … What do you want with me?” He asks, almost desperately.

“Hang on, you know who I am?” Ben questions with a smile.

“Of course. Everyone knows who you are – you and Shepard the ones that brought the bugs to the Citadel.” He explains, his words still shaky and uncertain to a noticeable degree.

“Be still, Mouse.” Thane tells him, extending a hand to his shoulder. “You can change your pants in a moment.”

Once the boy seems to calm down, he steps back to give him space.

“We need you to answer some questions.” Shepard tells him.

“The people I work for—look, I can’t answer questions for just anybody.” He desperately stammers out.

“But you can for me.” Thane states, stepping forwards again to loom just in front of him. “You gave another drell instructions for an assassination. Who’s the target?”

“I- I don’t know. I didn’t ask.” Thane steps back again. “‘Cause the people I word for? They can make me disappear. I’d like to help you, Krios. You always done right by us. But I ain’t gonna die for you.”

“Look, you know Thane. He wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. Do it for him.” Shepard tries to persuade.

“I want to. He was always nice to us. But these people ain’t nice, Krios.”

“Nobody’s going to know you talked to us.” Shepard assures.

“Mouse. I swear that you won’t be named.” Thane affirms.

“Alright… aright. He came with that holo you took of me. Said he wanted a job.” One hand moves to the other, nervously wringing over the back of his palm. “I ran through your old contacts to see who might give him a shot. The guy who offered was Elias Kelham.” Mouse informs.

“Tell me about Kelham.” The commander requests.

“Human. Moved to the Citadel about ten years ago. He was little people when you were here, Krios.” He starts, cautiously pausing for a moment to get Thane’s reaction.

The assassin nods, letting him continue.

“He got big after the geth attack. Lots of the big guys from before got cacked. All in them big fancy apartments up on the Presidium. Now he runs the rackets on the tower end of the Ward. Shin Akiba. He’s seriously bad news.” Mouse tells them.

“You did good, Mouse.” Shepard says.

“Yeah. Hope I live long enough to pat myself on the back.” the informant says, nervously looking around for anyone near enough to have heard their conversation.

“Kelham will never know.” Thane assures.

“I hope not. I’m out of here, Krios. Next time you’re in town— Just don’t bring the family.” He prepares to start walking, but is stopped when Shepard extends an arm to block his path.

“One other thing. That Shepard VI you’re selling?” Shepard mentions.

Mouse physically recoils, as if afraid that Shepard might be about to strike him.

“Oh, shit. You heard—Look, you were dead! It was totally legal to make a VI of you.” He defends.

“Give me a copy, we’ll call it even.”

Tali and Ben’s attentions both snap to Shepard at this request, the latter more visibly amused by it than the former, who is likely just as entertained below her helmet.

“What?” Mouse asks with very real confusion, taking a moment to catch up. “I mean, sure. Yeah, absolutely! Sorry about the whole…” He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a data card, which he hands to Shepard. “Just so you know, there’s three volus who are patching it all the time.”

Shepard nods, and Mouse takes his leave, quickly walking out of their line of sight. In his absence, Thane steps forward, turning around to face Shepard from his front.

“That couldn’t have been easy.” Shepard suspects.

“Mouse knew more about my life than Kolyat ever did.” Thane states, thinking on events transpired. “He smiles up at me, broken teeth and scabby knees. Bare feet black. A dead-end future looking up at me. Worshiping the petty gifts I offer.” He recalls in perfect detail, then pauses for a moment. “I was the only good thing he had, back then. But I left him, as I did Kolyat.”

“Mouse said you had a holo of him?” The commander questions.

“Yes. A foolish bit of sentimentality. I can perfectly recall every moment I spent with Mouse. He pulls at my arm. Smiles. He wants to know that I’ll remember him. That anyone will remember him. I take the holo. He smiles at himself on miniature on my palm. Then a frown crinkles his brow. He pats my pockets, checking for other holos. “Where’s your son, Krios?” he asks.”

“Don’t blame yourself.” Shepard tries to tell him.

“If I don’t, who will? We must carry the weight of our decisions, Shepard.” Thane responds, his eyes locking onto Shepard from their previously distant gaze. “You, of all people, know this.”

Shepard pauses for a moment, then turns from him to start walking back the way they came. “Let’s head back to Bailey.” He directs.

Walking back down to level 27 the group doesn’t overhear anything they haven’t before. They find Bailey where they left him at his desk, and his eyes shift up to Shepard and Thane as they retake their previous positions.

“You talk to Mouse? Did you get the name of the guy he’s working with?” The captain asks.

“Elias Kelham.” Shepard informs him.

“Kelham.” There’s a sigh as he ruminates on the name. “Shit.” He looks back up to them. “Ah, look. This is awkward. Kelham and I have a- an agreement. He doesn’t cause too much trouble, and “buys tickets to the C-Sec Charity Ball” from me. In return, I ignore him.” Bailey explains.

There’s a demeaning chuckle as Shepard leans back, crossing his arms. “He pays you off.” He summarizes. “You were eager to help us before. What about now? Is it too “inconvienient?””

“I said I’d help, It’s just- There’ll be repercussions if I don’t handle it right. He and I… give each other space. It keeps the peace. I’ll get some of my people to bring him in and set him up in a private room. You can interrogate him yourself. I’ll stay out of sight. If I’m lucky, kelham will believe that I had nothing to do with it.” Bailey compromises.

“Do it. We might not have much time.” The commander says.

“I’ll make it happen. Wait here.” Bailey rises to his feet, stepping around his desk as he heads to another section of the offices.

It doesn’t take too long for C-Sec to track down Elias, but it does take a while for them to bring him into the office where Shepard’s squad is. So long, in fact, that Shepard has time to notice just how eager Ben is to explore the Citadel.

There’s not a specific reason for Ben to split up from the squad, but Shepard also doesn’t think that he’ll need Ben for when they talk to Kelham. So, just to let the kid see a bit more of the station, he tells him and Tali to check the local weapons dealers for anything that would improve their armory.

Tali knows that the Citadel isn’t likely to have anything that outclasses Nos Astra, and Ben doesn’t respect the idea that the rest of the Normandy needs weapons to fight, but both accept this anyways. Tali, simply because she doesn’t mind doing things for Shepard, and Ben because, as mentioned previously, he desperately wants to look around the massive alien space station.

So Thane and Shepard are left to wait on their own. They don’t have much to talk about, but the silence fails to be awkward despite this.

It’s a while longer before the two can see a C-Sec shuttle car touching down on the other side of the floor, from which two officers and Kelham emerge. The turian and the human both keep a loose grasp of his arms as they walk him to the C-Sec office, and into one of the private rooms.

Bailey gets up from his desk again as he sees them arrive, and walks over with Shepard and Thane through the side hall and to the outside of Kelham’s room.

“He’ll expect me to get him out of this.” Bailey reminds, looking over the two men.

“Not today, I think.” Thane speaks.

There’s an ominous air to the way the drell says the words that leaves Bailey silent for a moment. This is broken with the sound of another officer connecting to his comms.

“Captain? His lawyer’s here. Bet Elias has his VI set to page him if C-Sec gets within ten meters.” A turian informs him, based on the sound of the voice.

“I’ll stall him. Get in there. And work fast.” Bailey tells them, turning to walk back out into the main room.

With Bailey absent Thane steps forwards from Shepard’s side to his front.

“We should question him together. Keep the pressure on. Thoughts on how we approach it?” He asks.

“You talk to him. Appeal to his self-interest. I’ll put the screws to him if he needs it.” Shepard strategizes in barely a moment.

“Very well. I’ll pretend to be on his side.” Thane agrees, turning himself towards the door to tap the green hologram in front of it. “But if we waste too much time negotiating, Bailey won’t be able to stall Kelham’s advocate” He adds, just before the door slides open.

“-out of these restrains, Bailey. Pretty funny, bringing me down here like this-” Kelham stops mid-sentence as he sees the commander and the assassin step through the open hatch instead of Bailey. “Who the hell are you two?” He’s left to ask.

Neither respond immediately, instead approaching the chair he’s bound to. Shepard steps around the back, just outside of the man’s field of view, while Thane places himself in front of the chair.

“Bailey has nothing to do with this. We just want a few answers. Off the record.” Shepard tells him.

““Off the record in” a C-sec interrogation room? Sure.” Kelham snarks.

“You hired an assassin. Who do you want dead?” Shepard asks.

“I want to see my advocate.” The other responds.

“Your advocate hasn’t arrived. We’re trying to find him.” Thane attempts to placate.

“I’m not saying a damn word until he’s here. You two are in way over your heads. Bailey won’t let you touch me.” Kelham confidently states, unphased by their efforts.

It goes on like this for a bit. With Shepard attempting to threaten or reason with Kelham, while Thane works at convincing them they’re on his side. They don’t make any headways though, at least not fast enough. I mean, the conversation really drags. With every assurance that charges won’t be brought against Kelham, he again states that he’s not going to talk.

Thane steps out of his position and motions for Shepard to do the same, walking over to the edge of the room with the commander.

“We’re running out of time. Bailey can’t stall his advocate for long.” Thane warns.

“Are we done here? Because I got people to see.” Kelham shouts at them, at this point having worn on Shepard’s patience enough for him to have to restrain himself as he turns around again to look at the man.

“Goddamn waste of my time.” He insults.

“How about this. You tell us the target, and—”

Shepard’s last effort is interrupted with the sound of the door opening.

“I said get out of my way, Bailey! You have no right to—” The man that’s presumably Elias’ lawyer stops himself as he looks into the room, seeing Kelham on the chair, and both of the men standing over him. “What the hell is going on in here? Step away from my client! Is that – do you have him tired to the chair?”

“Glad you could make it, Freddy.” Kelham says, a genuine breath of relief leaving him.

“Traffic was bad.” The lawyer quips, reaching into his coat to pull out a cigarette. “You’ll need a shovel the size of the Citadel to dig yourself out of this.” He says, pulling out a lighter with his other hand.

“This is all above-board. I’m a Council Spectre.” Shepard states.

“Shit.” The lawyer recoils at the word, focusing his attention back on the commander as he unintentionally tosses his cigarette away.

“What? What’s that mean, Freddy?” Kelham nervously questions.

“Spectres can do whatever they want, Elias. I can’t help you.” Freddy informs, taking a half-step back.

“Shit” Kelham accepts, leaning his head back against the chair.

“If it was you I wanted, I could kill you and go. I want the assassin. Tell me who the target is, and I’ll leave.” Shepard again demands, finally having some actual leverage in the situation.

“Damn it…” There’s a long pause, hesitating before he admits to what he’s done. “Apaleone. He’s a postthean, petitioning to get his people citizenship in Zakera ward.” Kelham tells them.

Shepard was irritated before, but that’s nothing compared to the emotion he displays the second the name is mentioned.

“You put a commission on the ambassador of the posttheans!?” He shouts, eyes visibly furious even through his helmet.

The man in restraints can only flinch as Shepard quickly makes his way around the chair to exit the room.

Baily doesn’t even have time to acknowledge Shepard before the commander motions for him to follow, heading back towards the main room that leads into the rest of the ward.

“What’s the story? Why’d Kelham hire the boy?” Bailey questions, nearly jogging to keep up.

“Assassination. The postthean ambassador.” Shepard states, barely giving the door enough time to open as he paces through.

“Holy shit.” Bailey acknowledges, quickly heading for his desk as Shepard slows down.

The commander puts a hand to his helmet, looking out over level 27 to see if Ben and Tali are still in the area.

“Tali, Ben, it’s the postthean ambassador. Get back here asap.” He orders through their comms.

“Why would he-” Tali doesn’t even have time to finish asking the question before the distinct sound of Ben transforming cuts her off. Then she only has time to get out a distressed “whoaAAH” before the communication is lost with a pop of static.

Shepard doesn’t have to question what happened when the sound of Tali screaming hits his ears without the need for the radio. His eyes lock onto the blur of blue as black as it stops in front of him, setting Tali down. XLR8.

“Where is he!?” Ben demands, looking to Bailey as Tali takes a shaky step forward and grasps Shepard’s shoulder to regain her balance.

“Looking now.” Bailey responds, very adamantly searching through C-Sec logs to look for the ambassador’s location. “He’s hard to keep track of – disappears about as easily as the keepers do. I’m putting out a notice through C-Sec now.”

“Shepard.” Thane grabs his attention with a tone far more collected than the rest of the group.

Shepard rests a hand on Tali’s shoulder to keep her steadied as he turns to look at the assassin.

“What is it?” He asks sincerely.

“If we alert Apaleone to Kelyat’s plot, he may realize that it’s a trap. We could lose our chance to reach him.” Thane shares his concern.

“And if we don’t, the posttheans might lose their ambassador.” Tali refutes, having regained her bearings enough to let go of the commander.

“The choice is yours, Shepard.” Thane tells him.

And as so often seems to be the case for the commander, he’s presented with a choice. Either he risks the life of the posttheans’ ambassador, or he risks Thane losing his one chance to help his son.

“Bailey, any luck locating him?” Shepard asks, looking away from Thane to do so.

“Nothing yet. Last we saw him he was in the presidium with Councilor Anderson, but nobody’s seen him for about half an hour.” The captain tells him.

Shepard remains silent for a moment, his head lowering as he thinks on the options.

“I can’t risk his life.” Shepard decides. “Ben. Find some posttheans. Any posttheans. Tell them to get the warning out through their hivemind.”

“Are you sure that’s how it works?” Ben questions hastily.

“Go!” Shepard repeats the order.

With a distinct “shink, snap” a visor slides down over Ben’s alien’s face, and the alien vanishes with a blur of his color scheme.

It doesn’t take long for him to cover enough of the wards to find a group of posttheans, who he stops just in front of.

The three’s attention all swing over to him as he comes to a stop, as does the C-Sec officer with them, staggering back as he processes the alien.

“Can you get a message to Apaleone through your social mind thing? It’s a matter of life or death, and we can’t find him.” He asks in remarkably little time, his visor sliding up as he does so.

The three seem almost shocked at first, just taking a moment to process the event before they can even thing to answer the question.

“Uhh… yes. I think so. What is the message?” One of them agrees after a second.

“Someone hired an assassin to try to kill him. He needs to get to Anderson’s office, and wait for us.” Ben explains.

There’s a moment without words. Notably it’s not spent in silence, as all three of them seem to resonate with the chittering insect noises the Collectors did before they were freed.

“He will know.” One of them speaks, and in barely a second Ben takes off again.

He glides through the wards, rolling around the groups of people and leaping over railings to get back to the C-Sec office in a matter of seconds.

“Apparently that’s totally how it works. I told them to get him to Anderson’s office, and they said he’d get the message.” Ben catches them up.

“Then we need to meet him there.” Shepard says, looking to Bailey.

“Sergeant! Get a patrol car. These two need to get to the presidium right now.” Bailey orders one of his subordinates.

“Yes sir!” The C-Sec officer replies, making her way off without hesitation.

They fit themselves into the car as soon as it arrives, Ben doesn’t transform back to do this though, meaning that Thane has to take what little of the backseat isn’t taken up by the alien’s tail. This is a little uncomfortable, but when they arrive it becomes understandable, as Ben rushes out of the cab the instant the door is open.

Noticeably though, he doesn’t head for the embassies. Ben instead leaps over the railings behind them and dashes across the lakes towards the far side without any explanation.

Shepard doesn’t have time to question this though, and instead starts heading for Anderson’s office with Tali and Thane following after him.

They head through the embassy and up to Anderson’s office without anyone trying to stop them, end enter to find the Councilor stationed at his desk.

His eyes flick up to them as they enter with an air of worry, which seems to fade once he recognizes the sight before him.

“Shepard.” He greets him, standing up from the desk. “I take it this visit isn’t recreational.”

“Do you know where the postthean ambassador is?” Shepard asks.

“Last I heard he was heading down to the wards to get some food. Why? What’s happening?” Anderson questions.

Shepard turns from the Councilor, heading back towards the stairs.

“We can explain later. We might not have much time.” Tali tells him, heading after the other two a second later, but Shepard turns back stopping.

“Tali, stay here in case Apaleone comes back.” He tells her.

She nods, turning back to head for the office.

It’s been a while since Shepard has raced through the presidium, but they aren’t inexperienced. They hardly slow in their path by the lakes and towards the elevators leading down.

The elevator though, that slows them down.

Enough for the immediate stress of the situation to translate to a sense of tension.

“Ben. Where are you?” Shepard asks through their comms after a second, almost impatiently.

“Checking the whole Citadel.” Ben responds nearly immediately, still with the voice of his kineceleran form.

“Apaleone was last seen heading down to the wards. We’re in an elevator now.” Shepard informs him.

“Got it. On my way. I’ll let you know when I find the kid.” Ben tells him, cutting off as he disconnects.

There’s another moment before Shepard speaks again, now looking over to Thane. “How do you want to play this?”

Thane doesn’t turn to him; his eyes remain fixed on the doors ahead of them showing the passing structures they lower through.

“Split up, but stay in contact. We can cover more ground apart. Get the ambassador to safety once we locate him.” Thane plans.

Shepard nods, something Thane can see in the reflection on the glass in front of them.

With the moment they have left before the elevator arrives, Thane turns his attention downwards. His hands meet each other, palms resting together, and his lids lower.

“Amonkira. Lord of hunters. Grant that my hands be steady, my aim be true, and my feet swift. And should the worst come to pass, grant me forgiveness.” The assassin speaks, and when his eyes open again so too do the doors.

While Shepard and Thane split up to check each of the establishments serving food, Ben spends his time sweeping through the floors and rooms of the Citadel. There’s very little that manages to even slow him down, let alone stop him.

There are plenty of humans, turians, asari, ,salarians, hannar, elcor, and volus; slightly fewer krogan, quarians, and posttheans; but absolutely no drell. According to Bailey they don’t get many on the Citadel at all, meaning it’s likely for the only one Ben could find to be Kolyat.

He isn’t finding any drell though.

He is covering a lot of ground, and in the process is ruling out a number of areas that Kolyat and Apaleone aren’t.

He skates through the stores and floors of the station just slow enough to scan over the crowds. The display inside his helmet identifies each of them even faster than he can, giving him the certainty that he isn’t missing them.

He moves with such haste through the station, in fact, that in his wake the dispersed air pressure is enough to knock people over, and leave a scorched trail on the floor.

Then, with the sound of a gunshot, all his speed comes grinding to a halt, His wheels roll back to fight against his momentum and bring him to a stop, and his eyes immediately scan over the surrounding pathways in search of people reacting.

The moment he identifies the direction the sound came from, he’s off again.

Yeah, there’s Apaleone, and Kolyat. Ben finds both of them in the same moment, and starts rushing for the drell.

Evidently his first shot missed. It struck one of the projectors for a holographic sign behind him, causing the image to jitter and distort from moment to moment. He now stands over the postthean, aiming his sidearm down at the alien with a restrained turmoil. The crowd around them has started running, leaving Apaleone as the only one by him.

Ben just needs to get the gun from him, and then he can contact Shepard. XLR8 was a good choice to ensure he can get this done before Kolyat even has time to react to him approaching.

At least, it would be, if it weren’t for the abrupt beeps from the device on his chest. An inconvenience, but one he can manage. Moving as fast as he is, he has plenty of time to get the weapon and separate the men before he times out.

With a flash, this notion is completely destroyed.

Kolyat has just enough time to register the human before Ben’s still traveling body is slammed into him, sending them both tumbling over.

“Augh!” Ben reacts more verbally, quickly rolling over to right himself.

When he looks up to identify the situation, he finds Kolyat moving for gun that was thrown from his grip. Ben doesn’t hesitate to push himself off the ground and lunge at him, throwing a fist towards his face right as he retrieves the weapon.

The gun is again thrown from him as he staggers back, reaching up to grab his jaw in reaction to Ben’s strike.

Ben spares a glance back to the postthean ambassador to make sure he’s okay, and finds him still simply standing where he was, watching on as the situation unfolds.

“Cool it, dude. It’s over.” Ben is quick to decide, turning back to the drell.

“Who the hell are you?” He snaps, clearly more enraged than he is wounded.

For once, Ben resists the urge to boast his own name. He reaches over and taps the face of the Omnitrix, getting it to connect to Shepard’s comms.

“I found the ambassador, and our assassin. I’m on level 7, near the- uhh…” He looks around at the surrounding establishments and finds the assortment fairly generic. “A place named “Stir.” A club, maybe? Just get down here.”

“We’re on our way.” Thane responds, letting them disconnect.

Kolyat steps back, a myriad of emotions failing to find themselves on his face as he processes the voice.

“You can’t be serious.” Kolyat seems unable to believe it.

Breaking his distress, something behind Ben grabs his attention. Something that causes him to lose focus on the teen entirely as he takes a step back.

In the moment Ben turns to look, he starts running. The C-Sec officers getting out of their cars give this away to Ben with their expression, causing the teen to turn back to just in time to see him scoop up his gun and head for the nearest of the buildings around them.

“Get the ambassador to safety! I’ve got the drell!” Ben calls out as he starts chasing after him.

They were going to get the ambassador to safety anyways, but even the ones that head after Kolyat despite Ben’s instructions can’t actually keep up.

Apparently, Ben is fast. Even in his human form he’s far faster than the trained soldiers, and sprints ahead without a second thought.

Yes, it is a club. That’s what Ben gathers from the asari dancers and bar tenders he dashes past, just fast enough to keep his eyes on Kolyat. Everyone was already startled or pushed out of the way when the drell passed through, meaning it’s a straight shot for Ben.

Emerging from the other side of the establishment puts Ben back on the market-like walkways of the wards. He has to look through the crowd for a second before spotting Kolyat on a level down, heading for a rapid transit terminal.

How he got down doesn’t matter to Ben, he takes the more direct approach.

He briefly plans out his course as he approaches the railing, then goes through with it. His foot strikes the steel beam and his body leaps into the air over the depot of cabs. He makes it just far enough to land on one of the cars starting to rise into the air, keeping him from accelerating too much before he lands. He adjusts for just a second then leaps again towards the nearest car below, slamming hard against its roof and causing Kolyat to instinctually stagger back.

“What the hell!?” He exclaims, understandably not having expected Ben to descend from the sky.

Ben hops down and makes it far enough forwards to put himself between Kolyat and the terminal when the drell’s gun gives him a reason to hesitate, skidding to a stop as quickly as he can.

“Get out of my way. I’m leaving.” He states, motioning for Ben to step aside with his firearm.

Ben doesn’t though. He doesn’t leap for assassin either, he doesn’t even reach for the Omnitrix with it still timed out, but he doesn’t move. He just looks at Kolyat with the kind of confidence that seems completely irrational.

“Kolyat.” A voice speaks. Not Ben’s, as it comes from behind Kolyat, and sounds distinctly drell.

The boy freezes, the weapon aimed to Ben shaking slightly as he rigidly turns around to look at Thane.

“This- this is a joke. Now? Now you show up?” Kolyat questions, desperation and resentment evident with every word.

“Glad you could make it.” Ben speaks, causing Kolyat to look back to him still standing at the other end of his gun.

“C-Sec. Put the gun down, son.” Another voice tells him, causing him to find a group of C-Sec officers making their way out, Bailey at the front of them, and Shepard at the back of them.

“Don’t come any closer!” He demands, forcing them to stop with Ben serving as his hostage. “I’m walking away from this. He’s coming with me.”

“He is not an ideal captive.” Thane tries to advice.

“I don’t need your help!” Kolyat spits back, tightening his grip on the pistol.

The chime the Omnitrix emits proves that false.

Kolyat barely has the time to turn to Ben again before his body rolls over itself in a shimmer of green radiance, rising to the stature of the one he called Frankenstrike.

There’s a solid moment of disbelief, but eventually Kolyat can only accept that he lost. His arm lowers and he tosses the gun to the ground between him and C-Sec.

“Take the boy into custody.” Bailey orders, and the turian beside him start to approach.

“You son of a bitch.” Kolyat speaks softly, but with as much vitriol as he can muster, his eyes locked on Thane.

“Your father doesn’t have much time left, Kolyat. He’s trying to make up for his mistakes.” Shepard informs him, stepping forwards to Bailey’s side just behind Thane.

“What, so you came to get my forgiveness? So you can die in peace or something?” Kolyat questions, unmoved.

“I came to grant you peace.” Thane corrects, watching as the C-Sec officer cuffs his son.

Both of them are silent for a moment while Ben walks around to Shepard’s side of the exchange, letting himself turn back into a human as he reaches the commander.

“You’re angry because I wasn’t there when your mother died.” Thane shares his understanding.

“You weren’t there when she was alive. Why should you be there when she died?” Kolyat replies, no less angry than before.

Thane has to think on his words before speaking again, “Your mother— they killed her to get to me. It was my fault.”

“What?” Kolyat speaks, completely failing to find the spite he had a second prior.

“After her body was given to the deep, I went to find them. The trigger men. The ringleaders. I hurt them. Eventually killed them. When I went back to see you, you were— older. I should have stayed with you.” He explains, trying to let Kolyat understand.

“I guess it’s too bad for me you waited so long, huh?”

There’s another few seconds spent in silence, with none of the officers daring to start escorting Kolyat away without the go-ahead from Bailey.

“Kolyat. I’ve taken many bad things out of the world. You’re the only good thing I ever added to it.” Thane tells him.

“This isn’t a conversation you should have in front of strangers.” Bailey finally speaks up, gesturing to get his officer’s attentions. “Boys, take Kolyat and his father back to the precinct. Give them a room and as much time as they need.” He orders.

“I’m surprised you’re letting him do that.” Shepard remarks, watching as the turian starts walking Kolyat back to where their shuttle cars landed.

“You think he’s the only man who ever screwed up raising a son?” Bailey asks rhetorically, pausing for just a second before he turns around to follow after the rest. “I have to get back to the precinct. Come on. I’ll give you a lift.”

“We should get the postthean ambassador to the embassies. One of my squad is waiting there for us.” Shepard tells him.

They update Tali on the situation as they fly back to the presidium, keeping her from being surprised when Shepard, Ben, and the postthean arrive several minutes later.

“Apaleone.” Anderson says, getting up again as he steps in with the others. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Yes. Remaining unharmed is… ideal.” The postthean agrees, coming to a stop once he’s far enough into the room to not block the entrance. “No ill will is held to the boy though. He was clearly struggling to find his place in this world nearly as much as we are… Thank you again, Normandy Commander Shepard, Hero Ben Tennyson.” He turns to them as he speaks, “It would seem my life is owed to you twice now. How I will repay this… I can’t imagine.”

“Just keep your people safe. You’ve been doing a good job so far.” Shepard tells him.

Ben walks over to the nearest wall so he can lean himself against something, and Tali makes her way over to just beside Shepard. Anderson sits down at his desk again, starting to work again while they talk.

“I want to speak with you about that, actually. As you heard from West-wing Botanist Spirits, and West-wing Cultivator Towne.” He says, then waits for Shepard to ask the questions he’s well aware the commander wants to.

“What’s the convention you’re using for names?” He asks, as direct as ever.

“It’s practical. Our social mind allows us information that’s unspoken, but with other species our words can be lacking. For context as to who we mean, we provide location, role, and primary title. Secondary titles, like your surnames, are used when needed.” Apaleone explains.

“When did you start using names? I thought the posttheans were using the indexing system left over from when you were the Collectors.” Shepard notes.

“It is not universal. Aliens have tended to give us nicknames. Some, mainly those working with the humans that chose to stay on our ship, have decided to adopt these names as their primary titles.” He informs.

“How did you get “Apaleone?”” Shepard questions.

“One of the turians working here commonly referred to me as “The pale one,” “that pale one,” or “a pale one” in reference to the colors of my mutated genes. I did not mind, but when written it was commonly misread as “Apaleone.” When people understood the word to refer to me, I did not see use in rejecting it.”

Everyone takes a second to process his coloring again, just to confirm that “pale” is an accurate descriptor. He is primarily white, with sections of light blue scattered about his plating in ways that resemble the alien Ben calls Ampfibian. Pale is accurate, yes.

“Your “social mind,” that’s what you call the psychic hivemind your share?” Shepard checks.

“Yes. Is it… hard to describe to an alien. Most imagine a sort of shared intelligence existing separate from all of us that we are able to tap into, like your extranet, but that’s not accurate. It is more akin to… Hmm. Landlines.” He decides.

“Hang on, what? How?” Ben chimes in, raising an eyebrow.

“It is like we have a connection to those we are thinking about, and they have a connection to those they are thinking about, and so forth. Together there is a web of knowledge, through which ideas are carried, but it does not exist without us. When one of us sleeps, or is absorbed in something, or shuts us out, a connection is lost.” He tries to explain in a way that makes sense.

“Come on, dude. The coolest aliens in this universe, and I can’t even turn into them!” Ben says, seemingly more as a compliment than a serious complaint. “You and the rachni. The Omnitrix must have something against bugs.”

“Alright, what do we need to talk about?” Shepard brings them back to the original talking point.

“Yes. I suspect it is the reason one might want me killed, and I wanted your and Ben’s opinions.” For the first time since they arrived he turns to take a step away from the group. He’s about to take another when he compels himself not to, and turns to look at Ben and Shepard instead. “As those who saved our race before, your influence has already decided between our coexistence, and our oblivion.”

“Woah, heavy. What’s going on?” Ben questions, pushing off the wall to step over to Shepard and Tali.

“Some of my people, namely those who have been working with the humans that stayed with us, have expressed their desires to leave the vessel. Not permanently, as we are too few to forgo repopulation when the time comes, but for the sake of living the kind of life the council races expect.” He explains.

“What percentage of the postthean population are we talking about here?” Shepard inquires.

“At the moment no more than several hundred have expressed the desire. In total? I suspect two thousand, at the most. Based on the feelings that reach me in the social mind. Roughly 2% of our population.” He answers.

“Why weren’t the rest of the humans moved off of your ship after the transports were ready?” Shepard asks, not having gotten an answer before he left the citadel last time.

“They… were fond of us. They… liked us. Those that were not emotionally traumatized or vulnerable were allowed to stay on board to continue aiding with resource management. A smaller number of turian, asari, salarian, and krogan have been welcomed aboard as well. Roughly 3,200 aliens reside on our vessel now.”

“What’s your plan?” Shepard asks to let the conversation move forwards.

“I am moving to have the council allow my people to immigrate to the Citadel, in small numbers.” The postthean’s exceedingly stoic face manages to emote some sense of concern, his eyes narrowing and his lips pursing. “There is already a tension between us and the races that occupy the galaxy. We are a foreign body, reliant on a fragile system for our own survival. There is a thin line between symbiosis, and a parasite. Should we act too fast, should we take too much before we can give back, and I fear we may be excised.” He pauses, trying to search through his understanding of Shepard’s language to explain himself. “We respect that they were here first, and we understand why there might be hesitance to trust us, but if we do not push to be integrated, we never will be.”

There’s a moment of silence once he’s done, just for everyone to process the monologue.

“Wow. You were definitely the right pick to speak for the posttheans, because you’ve gotten good at that.” Ben expresses, chucking more in surprise than amusement.

Apaleone simply nods in response.

“You’re worried that your plan to help your people integrate will backfire, and turn the Citadel against them?” Shepard summarizes.

He nods again, “Humanity was the newest to the galactic community before us, and you have seen what the galaxy holds. Your opinion holds great weight to us.”

“It holds a lot of value for the Council too now that you’ve been proven right, no matter how much they hate to admit it.” Anderson adds, speaking up from his desk. “If you think the Posttheans are ready to immigrate, it’ll certainly speed up the process. If not, then I doubt it’ll happen anytime soon.”

So Shepard has choices, as always. Big, important choices that’ll effect the galaxy for years to come.

Should he tell them to settle now, withhold his opinion to let things happen natural, or tell them not to push it yet.

“We aren’t going to be ready in time for the Reapers if we don’t accept them as part of the community. They deserve the option to live here, just as much as any other species living in Citadel space.” Shepard states.

“I was afraid you were going to say that.” Anderson remarks, typing away as his computer. “I’ll start getting everything ready for the other members of the council to decide on.”

The postthean takes a breath, but hesitates for a moment before taking the step back towards the group.

“Thank you, Normandy Commander Shepard, Normandy Engineer Tali, Hero Ben Tennyson, and all the Normandy. You have not only given us our lives, but ensured a chance for them to be lived. We will never forget this.”

It’s a while before Shepard, Tali, and Ben make it back down to the C-Sec office in the Zakera ward. Evidently, Thane was talking with Kolyat for a while, as he’s only just coming out when they arrive.

“How’d it go?” Shepard asks.

“Our problems – they aren’t something I can fix with a few words. We’ll keep talking, see what happens.” Thane tells him, walking over to intercept him at Bailey’s desk, where the Commander stops.

“Your boys shot some private property and tried to assassinate an ambassador. Overall it could have been a lot worse, but there it is.” Baily explains.

“Elias hired him. He’s the one that’s really responsible for what happened today.” Shepard argues.

“But he can’t just get away with it.” The captain tells him.

“The kid wants to make a difference. Give him community service.” Shepard suggests.

“Community service for attempted murder? What jury would agree to that?”

“None that I’ve seen. This would need to stay out of the judiciary. Strictly within C-Sec.” The commander states.

Bailey’s face scrunches up a bit as he thinks on the suggestion. He then stands up, still looking with Shepard while he turns his body towards Thane.

“Interesting. I’ll think about it.” He agrees, then turns his attention to the drell.

Bailey’s hand grabs Thane’s and shakes it.

“Thank you, Captain.” Thane says.

Bailey nods and lets go of his hand before sitting back down, letting the squad head out to the transit terminal to head back to the Normandy.

Chapter Text

Shepard didn’t even have time to start deliberating about whether or not to leave the Citadel. He didn’t have to.

When the Yeoman told him that Garrus was anxious to see him, he put that at the top of his priorities. He didn’t even take the time to change out of his armor when he took the elevator down to the Crew deck with Thane and Ben. Tali headed to the bridge to speak with Joker.

Thane split off to head for the life support, where he’s been staying, while Shepard made his way around the elevator shaft to pass through the food court and towards the main battery.

Ben followed after him, and Shepard didn’t comment. He did look back to give the teen a questioning look, though.

“Every time someone wants to talk to you, they’re asking for a mission, and you always have to fill me in on the way.” Was Ben’s only justification, which Shepard didn’t question further.

“Shepard.” Garrus acknowledges him as he enters the room, turning to face him. “Ben.” He notices a second later, pausing to deliberate before he continues. “I’m glad you came by. I’ve got something. I may need your help. You remember Sidonis? The one who betrayed my team? I’ve found a lead on him.”

Garrus taps a button to shut off the console he was working on, then steps out of the room, both of the humans following after him.

“There’s a specialist on the Citadel; name’s Fade. He’s an expert at making people disappear. Sidonis was seen with him.” He explains.

“Hang on, go back. What exactly happened? What did he do?” Ben questions.

Garrus stares at him for a second, his eyes narrowed as he thinks over the answer. He then turns from the two, taking another step down the row of sleeper pods.

“He tipped off the mercs. Told them where our base was.” He says, turning back to them after a second. “He lured me out with a false job, then let the mercs hit my team. My men weren’t prepared. They tried to hold them off…”

To his memory, Ben has never heard Garrus speak about something with as much expressed regret as that. When they first met, when he just sounded tired and apathetic, that’s a close second. This statement pulls ahead by a long shot though, only subdued with the layers of stoicism that seems standard for turians.

“by the time I got back there were only two survivors. They didn’t last long. All ten of them, dead. Because of him.” Garrus states.

“What are you planning to do when you find him?” Shepard questions, forcing him out of his own head for a second.

“You humans have a saying: “an eye for an eye.” A life for a life.” The turian equivalent of a grimace is worn on his face as he takes a breath. “He owes me ten lives, and I plan to collect.”

“You sure that’s how you want to play it?” Shepard checks, sincerely trying to gauge his state of mind.

“I’m sure.” Garrus responds without missing a beat. “I don’t need you to agree with me, but I’d like your help.”

Shepard hesitates for a moment, then nods, not needing to question it any further.

“Where do we find Fade?” The commander asks.

“I’ve arranged a meeting. We’ll meet him in a warehouse near the neon markets, down on Zakera ward.” Garrus informs them, and starts walking after Shepard as he heads back towards the elevator with Ben following behind them. “Thanks, Shepard. I appreciate you taking the time to help me.”

“I need everyone at their best before we hit the Reapers again. If you need this done, we’ll take care of it.” Shepard tells him with his standard certainty.

When the elevator lets them out into the CIC Garrus takes a left to head for the armory. Shepard moves for his personal console to check his e-mail again, while Ben heads down towards the bridge.

Tali is caught up to speed, and in a few minutes the four of them gather at the airlock. From the Normandy’s dock they head to a rapid transit terminal, and set it to take them to level 26, where the warehouse Garrus mentioned is located.

Garrus pulls himself out of the shuttle a little faster than the others and doesn’t hesitates to start stalking across to the level to the hatch labeled “shipping warehouse” in large holographic letters.

Shepard gets out a moment later, following after the turian more slowly while letting his eyes scan over the area. Ben and Tali comes out behind him from the far side of the car, doing the same.

A label for the level they’re on floating above the back wall, a bar simply labeled “stand” that seems to be serving a variety of earth foods, an Avina terminal, and advertising pillar, and various groupings of aliens. A few volus with an elcor, an asari and salarian conversing on one of the couches, a group of two posttheans and their C-Sec guide moving from store to store, a quarian and volus with another C-Sec officer, and a myriad of other races walking about from one store to the next.

It’s the last of these that becomes a problem for the group, with the ongoing argument causing Tali to abruptly slow down as they pass by.

“I felt her hand go into my pocket. When I checked, my credit chit was gone!” The volus claims, speaking to the C-Sec officer.

“I didn’t even touch you!” The quarian promptly refutes.

As a consequence of Tali coming to a stop, Shepard does too. He glances over to see Garrus having notices their hang up and holds up a finger to tell him it will be just a moment before turning back to the situation.

“I’m sorry, I’m trying to take a statement here.” The officer tells Tali and Shepard as they walk over, holding up a hand to tell them to slow down.

“There’s nothing to talk about! She stole my credit shit. Arrest her!” The volus confidently states through the hissed gasps of his suit.

“I did not!” The quarian immediately barks back. “Just because I’m a quarian–!”

The officer quickly puts a hand up to tell them to stop, and in the moment of silence turns to the volus.

“I’m need you to stop and take a deep breath.” He requests.

“You’re mocking me, Earth-clan!” The volus accuses between breaths. “Just because the vol-clan need–”

“It was a poor choice of words, sir. I apologize.” The officer cuts him off, trying to mitigate the hostility.

Shepard, Tali, and Ben can really only watch as the situation unfolds, with the quarian eventually looking over to the three of them as the argument continues.

“Ben, go with Garrus. Tali and I will try to sort this out and join you when we’re done.” Shepard immediately decides, not even needing to be asked to help.

“Sir, this is a C-Sec matter. We’ll do all we can to resolve this. We don’t need civilian help. If you do happen to find the chit, please let one of our officers know.” The guard tries to tell Shepard, using a lot of words to change the commander’s mind very little.

“See you in a bit, dude.” Ben agrees with Shepard, walking off to catch up with Garrus.

Ben can hear Tali join the argument, already furious, as he walks away, with Shepard doing his best to mediate.

Garrus is just shaking his head, watching the scene as ben reaches him.

“He always does this, y’know. It’s– I think you humans have a saying. He can’t keep his nose out of other people’s business?” Garrus comments.

“He told me to come with you. They’ll catch up when they’re done.” Ben explains.

“Right.” Garrus responds, pushing off the wall he propped himself against to head into the warehouse. “This looks like the place. The forger’s thugs should be inside.”

The door opens automatically as they approach it, letting them head down the stairs and to the next automated hatch, which Ben motions for Garrus to stop before they reach.

Garrus is about to question this when he sees the human scrolling through the watch.

“Who are you looking for?” He asks.

“Toepick. He’s- uhh… gross, I guess. He can make people afraid, pretty universally.” Ben tells him.

“It’s intimidating?” Garrus interprets.

“Not really. From what I’ve heard, he’s nightmarish. Like a horror movie monster.” He corrects.

It’s now that he finally finds the alien and pulls his hand back to slam down the core, letting the device activate. The new form washes over his current one, leaving him a lumbering beast of a creature. At least three feet taller than Garrus, and clothes only in a pair of black briefs, and a weathered and corroded copper cage locked around his head. His skin either sags like it’s too loose or is calloused more than it has any reason to be, all colored a sickly greenish yellow.

The only sound from the alien is that of low and heavy breaths as it steps forwards through the hatch and into the warehouse proper.

It doesn’t take long for a krogan to make its way over to them, nodding for another to do the same while Garrus and Ben come to a stop. Garrus looks around the room, but the creature Ben stands as makes no effort. It stares across to the krogan, completely ignoring the volus that makes his way over.

“You’re Fade?” Garrus questions.

“Looks… can be deceiving.” The volus speaks, looking to the foreign alien among them with caution. “So… which one of you wants to disappear?”

“I’d rather see you make someone reappear.” Garrus tells him.

“Ah… that’s not the service we provide.”

Toepick’s head finally moves, shifting to look down at the volus he looms over. The volus almost looks up to meet his gaze, but instinctually decides not to, averting his eyes from the cage covering the alien’s face.

“Make an exception. Just this once.” The turian advises, drawing the pistol from his side.

“Damn it. Quick… shoot them! Shoot them, you lumbering mountains!” The volus commands the krogan.

As soon as they draw their rifles Toepick’s head moves back up to them.

There’s a flicker in the ceiling lights as Ben takes a step forwards, and several more as he takes the next one. Garrus takes his attention off their targets as Ben starts doing whatever it is he’s doing.

The krogan take a few steps back out of instinct, still not even realizing that they’re avoiding looking at his face through the bars of the helmet.

There’s a wailing hiss as the headgear seems to unlock, and a rumble as a thick green gas begins to flow out through the vents. Both of the krogan try to stand their ground for a moment, both aiming their weapons at the ogre, but neither are able to keep their grips as the doors covering its face swing open.

The weapons fall to the ground, and they start running without a backward glance, a deep malevolent laugh filling the space without a clear source as they escape the room.

“Just like that? You’re not getting paid for this!” The volus calls after them, not having been high enough to see past the chin of the mask. “What’s the point of hiring protection if they won’t protect you?”

There are several beeps before Ben reverts back to his human form with the usual flash, letting the lights return to normal and the gas dissipate while he steps back to Garrus’s side.

“Just like a horror vid.” Garrus confirms Ben’s earlier assertion. “Effective.”

The volus takes a second to understand what he’s seeing when he looks back to Garrus and Ben, the monster from before now absent.

“What’s- Oh… you’re Ben Tennyson.” He eventually puts together.

“See? That’s what I’m talking about. Randos finally know my name.” Ben remarks, practically patting himself on the back.

Garrus steps past Ben and kneels down to be on the same level as the volus, looing at the face of his suit.

“We’re looking someone that hired you.” Garrus states.

“Not me. I’m not Fade. I just work for him. Sort of.” The volus quickly corrects, taking a step back.

“Well then maybe you’d like to tell us where to find him.” Garrus suggests.

“Uh, y- yes. Of course! He’s in the factory district, works out of the old prefad foundry.” He tells Garrus as quickly as he can get out through the wheezed breaths.

Garrus leans back, pushing off the ground to get back to his feet.

“I know the place.” He states.

“uh… He’s got a lot of mercs there… Blue Suns. Harkin thinks they’re protecting him.” The volus continues.

“Harkin?” Garrus speaks with a tone of familiarity.

“Hang on, who?” Ben quickly questions the turian.

“He’s C-Sec. We worked together. Sort of.” He briefly recaps.

“He got fired from C-Sec a while ago. But he still knows the systems.” The volus adds.

“Interesting. But it changes nothing. We still need to find him before we can get to Sidonis.” Garrus states, turning himself halfway back towards the hatch they came in through. “We’ll need to go to the transit station. I can get us to him from there.”

“So I, uh… I can go?” The volus checks, causing Garrus to look back to him as he starts walking.

“Sure, but if we don’t find Harkin, we’ll be back for you.” He warns.

“Oh…” The volus turns to start walking away, staring straight ahead of himself. “good.”

They emerge back onto the main floor of level 26 after just a moment, and find Shepard and Tali still engaged with the group of vulus, quarian, and C-Sec officer. Though they seem to have moved on from the original argument, with Shepard now berating them for their treatment of the quarian. The S-Sec officer can barely get in a threat to take official action against Shepard before the commander boasts his Spectre status, forcing the two to leave.

Garrus and Ben make their way over, waiting until Shepard and Tali are done speaking with the quarian to catch them up on the situation.

“Harkin? The drunk C-Sec’s been keeping on?” Shepard remembers as soon as the name is mentioned.

“Not anymore. They finally let him go, but he still knows the systems. Explains why C-Sec hasn’t dealt with him.” Garrus explains.

Shepard nods, turning to head back towards the rapid transit terminal with the group. “What’s our next step?”

“An old prefab foundry in the factory district. It’s where he’s hold up.” Garrus states, stepping to the terminal to program a cab for that location.

Ben spends the trip looking out the windows at the passing structures of the Citadel. The amazement of the massive superstructure has worn off a bit since they initially docked, but he still looks over the alien station with interest. More interest than he has in the group’s current conversation at least. He only tunes back in to his surroundings when he notices that they’ve touched down, and the doors have started opening.

He steps out with the others and looks over the area, but since he doesn’t actually know what Harkin looks like it’s not much help. What he does recognize are the markings of the Blue Suns on the armor of the group moving crates around the entrance of the warehouse. Among them is a single man without armor at all, instead wearing what seems to be a pretty default type of everyday clothes for the Citadel.

It only takes him a second to notice the four of them, at which point he comes to a stop, looking over at them with a glare that implies an attempt to understand what he’s looking at.

“There he is.” Shepard states, looking in the same direction as Ben, at the man in plain clothes.

“Well that’s convenient.” Ben remarks, turning his attention down to the Omnitrix to swipe open the faceplate.

“Shepard?” Harkin questions, managing to place the commander’s voice. He immediately takes a step back, looking over the other three with some form of shock and distress.

Shepard merely watches him begin to panic, while Tali and Garrus align themselves to his side. Ben, on the other hand, slaps his palm down over the exposed core of his watch, letting a field of light swirl over him with the transformation.

In an instant he stands as a bipedal creature, grounded with plantigrade legs. It’s covered head to toe in yellow and black fur, broken only at the face, fingers, and feet which themselves are the grey of his exposed skin. At several points over his body, namely his wrists and neck, are metallic bolts protruding through the fur. Around his waist is the green and white belt the Omnitrix is attached to. His face is structure similarly enough to a human’s for his expression to be plainly recognizable. It might be recognizable even if his face was more alien, as it’s the confident grin he’s sporting nearly all of the time. Shocksquatch.

Harkin’s distress goes from about a 6 to a solid 9 as he staggers back, bumping into one of the Blue Suns soldiers on his way through the nearest door. “Don’t just stand there… stop them. Stop them!” He demands as the doors start closing behind him.

The soldiers do as they’re commanded, marching forward in what little time they have before getting thrown back through the crates around them with the bolts of electricity Ben generates.

“Run all you want, Harkin. We’ll find you!” Garrus calls out as he runs to the doors Harkin went through.

He’s stopped once he reaches them, though. Harkin was at least smart enough to lock the hatches behind him, displayed by the orange hologram, forcing the turian to start decrypting the lock while the other catch up.

Tali and Shepard make their way over to the guards that were incapacitated by Ben to make sure they stay down, shooting them in their lower torsos. Ben cringes at this but doesn’t stop them. He’s resigned himself to letting them operate the way they’re used to at this point.

Ben walks over, rubbing his hands together the way one might when cold as he stops before the hatch Garrus is trying to open. In a moment they begin crackling with a violent yellow aura that showers the floor below him with sparks.

The crackling sound of the electricity causes the three to look over to him, watching as he pulls his hands apart to let the lightning stretch between them.

“Ben, I don’t think that’ll–” Tali tries to warn him, to no effect.

He slams his hands into the door, forcing Garrus to step back as both he and the wall are enveloped in a field of pulsating and flashing energy for a moment. A second later he pulls his hands back, and the door slides open.

“Good work, Ben.” Shepard only says, walking past him with Garrus and Tali not far behind, both slightly less adjusted to the way he breaks their conception about the way things work.

There are two doors between them and the next space, with only a corridor between them. Probably an airlock if Ben had to guess, so that the warehouses can be opened to the vacuum for ships to drop off wares.

“You think he got away?” Ben questions, looking over the sprawl of stacked crates around them, blocking off their view of the far walls.

“No, Harkin’s in here somewhere. I can smell him.” Garrus states, marching forwards slightly faster than the rest of them. It’s not too hard for Ben to match this though, easily having at least four feet over Garrus, and therefor much longer strides.

“Hang on, turians have a keen sense of smell? Why wasn’t I told, eh? Seems pretty handy.” Ben questions.

“You don’t have other aliens with a developed olfactory sense?” Shepard asks.

“Well sure, but Wildmutt – that orange dog one I have – can’t talk. Alternatives are always good for when the Omnitrix doesn’t want to cooperate.” Ben explains.

“We’re getting close” Garrus cuts him off, getting them back to the task at hand.

They keep marching on, Ben far more casually than the other three. While Shepard, Tali, and Garrus keep their eyes on the path ahead of them, Ben lets his attention wonder around the space.

It’s thanks to this that he’s the first to notice the YMIR mech one of the mechanical arms on the ceiling is carrying their way.

“Oh, great. Another one of these guys.” Ben says, causing the others to glance back at him.

Once they see where he’s facing they follow his gaze, finding the mech being released to let it fall into the space ahead of them.

“Ben, can you take care of it?” Shepard quickly checks.

“Sure, but it might take a minute. These guys are sturdy, eh?” Ben tells him getting himself ready as the mech adjusts to its surroundings and finds the group.

“Tali, keep an eye on Ben. Garrus and I will make sure Harkin doesn’t get away.” Shepard instructs.

“Got it.” Tali tells him.

She ducks for cover as the YMIR starts firing at them. Well, at Ben. It doesn’t even bother aiming at Shepard and Garrus as they book it towards the next hatch Harkin could have fled through. Ben’s fine, though.

Despite being larger than any of the aliens the Galaxy is familiar with, he’s no slower than a Salarian on a stimulant. That is to say, the mech can’t start firing on his location before he’s leapt out of the way. The trail of fresh bullet holes follows after him as he grabs onto the crates making up the walls of their pathways and starts dashing across them towards the mech.

Not to contradict myself, but it starts getting harder for him to avoid the spray of bullets the closer he gets. The nearer he is the bigger a target he is, relatively, and it’s fairly clear that he has to put a lot more effort into avoiding being turned into a meat colander.

If it weren’t for Tali, he might have actually had to switch the alien he was using. Rather, the quarian summoning her omni-tool to overload its shields is just the distraction Ben needs to get past its firing range and to the unit itself.

Through the door Garrus and Shepard enter a relatively small room. Not simply an airlock though, as the space is well furnished with desks and terminals.

“What the hell is Harkin up to?” Garrus thinks aloud, looking around the room while Shepard begins investigating the datapads and consoles.

It’s the kind of space that’s well connected to every corner of the extranet it would need to be, with enough chairs for far more than one person to be working at a time.

Garrus doesn’t get too long to think on this, as with Shepard’s remarkable efficiency he’s found the control for a window shutter neither of them realized existed.

A window on the opposite wall they entered from is revealed, letting them see the room on the other side. Another warehouse kind of area. Plenty of room for storage.

“So, you worked with Harkin at C-Sec?” Shepard seemingly tries to start a conversation.

This almost surprises Garrus, who’s forcibly snapped out of his thoughts when the commander speaks. He doesn’t take much time to generate a response though, “Yeah. He was a pain in the ass back then, too.” He bluntly states, walking over to peer our through the window with Shepard. “But I’m in no mood for his games. If he doesn’t cooperate I’ll beat him within an inch of his life.”

The statement prompts a glance from Shepard, reserved as it is under his helmet.

“You seem to be getting tense, Garrus.” Shepard helpfully points out.

Garrus’ eyes narrow slightly further from the glare they were already resting in, scanning over the next area they’ll have to push through. “Harkin may know why Sidonis wanted to disappear. If so, he knows why we’re here and I don’t want him tipping Sidonis off.” He explains.

With the briefest look to get Shepard’s reaction he sees the human nod. It’s when he looks back out into the warehouse that the register of movement makes him step out from the window’s eye line. Shepard does the same just as quickly, ducking down to below the desk.

“Did you see that…?” Garrus checks.

“I saw something.” Shepard responds.

“He’s getting ready for us.” The turian states, looking away from Shepard to double check his weapons.

There’s a moment of silence that stretches just slightly too long. Long enough for Garrus to look back to Shepard at least, having expected him to start asking questions at this point.

“You still planning to kill Sidonis when we find him?” Shepard asks, with excellent timing.

“That’s the plan.” Garrus confirms certainly. “It’ll be quick and painless. Unlike everyone he betrayed, he’ll be spared the agony of a slow death. It’s more than he deserves, but as long as he’s dead, I’ll be satisfied.” He informs, going over his gun again as he speaks.

“Garrus, do you really think killing Sidonis will make things right?” Shepard questions.

“I have to do this. I don’t expect you to understand, but please don’t try to stop me. I’ll pull the trigger. And I’ll live with the consequences. All I’m asking is that you help me find him.”

There’s another pause before Shepard shifts himself look towards the window. Not out the window really, as if he could do that his current position wouldn’t serve much purpose.

“What do you think Harkin’s got waiting for us in there?” Shepard asks, letting it go.

“Not sure. Looks like an industrial complex… heavy machinery. Could be anything. Something’s in there… probably more blue sun. Harkin’s kind of trapped himself in a corner. He must have something in store for us.” Garrus speculates, only able to go off of what he saw before they took precautionary cover.

“Well, there’s one way to find out.” The commander says, stepping past Garrus to be out of the way of the window so he can stand up again.

“Right behind you.” Garrus agrees, indeed right behind him as he heads through the hatch and into the room.

This next part is a lot of nothing so I’m going to do us all a favor and summarize. The lack of opposition before was apparently saved for this moment as an exorbitant number of Blue Suns troopers and LOKI mechs are deployed to try to stop them.

Harkin starts trying very desperately to convince them to give up and turn around, which does even less to slow them down than the cannon fodder.

The fight looks especially unfair once Ben and Tali catch up. Four people against dozens and several squads of robots, and somehow that math works out to only four people on their feet after just a couple minutes.

Harkin’s last effort to stop them are two more YMIR mechs. This is actually intimidating for a moment. At least until the Omnitrix times Ben out and lets him turn into another alien. Specifically, Diamondhead. At that point Shepard gives Ben and Tali the go-ahead to handle it on their own while Garrus and he makes the final push up to the office at the back wall.

Shepard takes the left while Garrus takes the right, keeping some sense of discretion with the assumption that his attention will be on the fight proceeding below.

This assumption is proven accurate once they’re inside, as Harkin is completely oblivious to Shepard until he’s stepping into the room. At that point he does notice him, and starts backing up towards the other door. Y’know, the one Garrus is heading in from. He turns around at essentially the same time the door opens, and is promptly bludgeoned with the side of Garrus’ rifle.

He staggers back the way he came, but before he can regain his bearings Garrus has already holstered the rifle to his back and throws a hand towards the human, grabbing his collar and using his own forearm to pin Harkin to the wall.

“So, Fade… couldn’t make yourself disappear, huh?” Garrus taunts.

“Come on, Garrus – we can work this out. Whaddaya need?” Harkin immediately defaults to bargaining, as if he didn’t spend the last ten minutes trying to kill them.

Garrus, acknowledging that he really doesn’t have the ability to run anymore, lets him go and steps back as the human adjusts.

“I’m looking for someone.” He states.

“Well, I guess we both have something the other one wants.” Harkin tries to put himself in a position to bargain.

This is obviously not the answer Garrus was looking for, as with a single step Garrus puts himself close enough to Harkin to firmly put his knee where Harkin’s crotch it. He hits the ground by the time Garrus steps back, letting out a grunt.

“We’re not here to ask favor, Harkin.” Shepard clarifies.

“You don’t say.” Harkin manages to grumble, taking a moment to pick himself back up while leaning against the wall.

“You helped a friend of mine disappear. I need to find him.” Garrus states.

“I might need a little more information than that.” Harkin says, unhelpfully.

Despite his snide, Garrus doesn’t make another aggression against him. “His name was Sidonis. Turian, came from the–”

“I know who he is,” Harkin cuts him off. “and I’m not telling you squat.”

“Harkin, this doesn’t have to be hard.” Shepard tries to advise.

“Screw you.” Harkin spits back, looking between the two, and then to the fight proceeding outside. “I don’t give out client information. It’s bad for business.”

It’s not hard to see that the fight actually ended some time ago. Both mechs are in pieces, with Ben and Tali now taking a second pass over the field to make sure there isn’t anything else Harkin had ready for them.

Harkin’s attention is pulled back from this train of thought with Garrus again kneeing him, this time in the gut, dropping him to the ground. Before he can even start trying to get back up Garrus moves his leg to place his foot on Harkin’s throat, with enough pressure to keep him down.

“You know what else is bad for business? A broken neck!” Garrus threatens, letting him squirm.

“Alright! Alright! Get off me!” Harkin struggles to speak, shouting up at the man over him.

Garrus doesn’t step back though. At least, not for a moment. Shepard has to step over and place a hand on Garrus’ shoulder to get him to release the human.

“Terminus really changed you, huh, Garrus?” Harkin coughs, wearily pushing off the ground again to force himself up.

“No, but Sodinis… opened my eyes. Now arrange a meeting.” Garrus orders, gesturing over to a terminal with a nod.

“I’m going.” He says, walking over to activate the machine.

He has to navigate through the different screens for a moment, doing so with some efficiency until pulling up the application that lets him make the call. In connects after a moment, displaying various information about the connection, most prominently a waveform display of the other side’s audio.

“Yeah, it’s me. There’s a chance your identity may be compromised.” He starts off, waiting for a second to give the other side time to respond. Garrus and Shepard can’t hear it from where they stand though, a function of terminals like this to keep communications relatively private.

What Shepard does hear is the sound of Garrus unlatching a pistol from the side of his armor. He cautiously watches him look it over, only to eventually re-holster it after a second.

“That’s why I’m calling. I’m sending an agent. Where do you want to meet?” Harkin continues, waiting for another moment to let the other side speak. “Alright. He’ll be there. Don’t worry – I got it covered.” Harkin says.

It’s audible that the other side says something else before the display indicates that the call ends, and Harkin turns to look at the two.

“It’s all good. He wants to meet you in front of Orbital Lounge. Middle of the day.” He tells them, before carefully turning to head for the exit again. “So, if our business is done, I’ll be going…”

This doesn’t really work though, as before he makes it even a step Garrus has reached out and grabbed onto his collar, yanking him back.

“I don’t think so. You’re a criminal now, Harkin.” Garrus states, doing a fair job at sounding threatening.

“So, what… you’re just going to kill me? That’s not your style, Garrus.” Harkin responds, uncertain in his own assertions more and more as the seconds pass without a response.

Eventually Garrus lets go, though, and pushes him away. “Kill you? No. But I don’t mind slowing you down a little.”

The turian pulls the gun off his belt again and aims it at Harkin’s legs so fast that it makes Shepard’s speed in grabbing his arm seem more planned than reactionary. The firearm is aimed at the ceiling by the time it fires, followed shortly after by Garrus shooting Shepard a questioning look.

“You don’t need to shoot him.” Shepard states simply.

Now understanding Shepard’s reasons Garrus pulls his arm free, shaking off the commander.

“He won’t be able to hide form C-Sec now.” Shepard continues, seeing that Garrus isn’t satisfied with the situation.

“I guess it’s your lucky day.” Garrus begrudgingly accepts, looking back to Harkin.

“yeah. I hope we can do this again real soon.” Harkin remarks, watching Shepard turn to leave.

Garrus lingers for a moment, listening as Shepard takes a few steps towards the door before throwing his head forwards into Harkin’s. The following groan and thump against the ground gives the commander a pretty fair idea of what happened without needing to look back. He slows slightly as Garrus catches up.

“I didn’t shoot him.” Garrus justifies, approaching humor.

The commander just shakes his head from side to side softly, keeping his eyes on the door as it opens. “Come on. Let’s move.”

The four make their way back through the warehouse towards the shuttle car they arrived in. Shepard and Garrus get in the front, with Tali and Ben left to place themselves in the back. At Tali’s request Garrus is driving, meaning that it’s a fairly calm trip back to the wards.

The turian glides the cab down to a group of other ones, all rested in the air about a dozen feet over the floor of the level they’re at.

While still a safer ride than if Shepard was in the pilot’s seat, it’s pretty clear to everyone else in the car that Garrus is feeling rather tense. Evident from how sharp the turns her took were, if nothing else. And evident now to Shepard in the front seat, watching him pensively scan over the level ahead without releasing his grip of the yoke.

“Harkin’s a bloody menace. We shouldn’t have just let him go. He deserved to be punished.” Garrus eventually speaks, as frustrated as his body language would make you expect.

“I’m getting a little worried about you, Garrus. You were pretty hard on Harkin.” Shepard says in response, brushing over Garrus’ actual point.

“You don’t think he deserved it?” Garrus questions, immediately looking from the windshield to Shepard.

“It’s just not like you.” He explains.

There’s a pause following that sentiment. There’s a tension that rests in the air as Garrus looks away from Shepard again and goes back to glaring out to the level they linger over.

“What do you want from me, Shepard? What would you do if someone betrayed you?” Garrus questions, letting the conversation move in the direction Shepard seems determined to take it in.

“I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t let it change me.” The commander tells him.

Garrus looks back to him, his narrowed eyes shifting from a glare to a sense of confusion with the subtle movement of his faceplates.

“I would have said the same thing before it happened to me.” He states.

“It’s not too late. You don’t have to go through with this.” Shepard offers.

“Woah, wait, hang on.” Ben finally interrupts, leaning forward from the back seat. Tali almost tries to stop him, but doesn’t. “Now you’re against killing people? Didn’t you literally just gun down like 3 dozen guys back at the warehouse?” He points out.

“Self-defense. This is planned, and it’s different when it’s someone you know.” Shepard quickly justifies.

“Dude, it’s not someone you know. It’s someone Garrus knows, and he seems pretty certain that they shouldn’t be around anymore.” Ben argues.

Both of the men turn to look at him, though for wildly different reasons. Garrus looks surprised as far as Ben can tell, having a slightly better feel for turian expressions than the other two. He’s still frustrated, but he’s looking at Ben because he didn’t expect the teen to side with him. Shepard is a harder read. Only his eyes are visible through the lens of his helmet, and they are as stoic and unemotive as ever.

“They used to be his friend.” Shepard states.

“And then they got his whole team killed.” Ben returns.

Shepard’s eyes narrow just slightly, and the skin between his eyes wrinkles some.

“And Garrus would be killing him. You really think that’s okay?” Shepard questions, sincerely.

“Who’s going to bring Sidonis to justice if I don’t? Nobody else knows what he’s done. Nobody else cares. I don’t see any other options.” Garrus agrees, making his point more concisely than Shepard is managing to.

“Let me talk to him.” Shepard requests, turning to the turian again.

“Talk all you want, but it won’t change my mind. I don’t care what his reasons were, he screwed us… he deserves to die.” Garrus says.

Ben eventually leans back again, accepting that Garrus has arguing with Shepard covered.

“I understand what you’re going through – but do you really want to kill him?” Shepard again questions, sincerely.

“I appreciate your concern… but I’m not you.” He states.

“This isn’t you, either.” Shepard says.

“Really? I’ve always hated injustice. The thought that Sidonis could get away with this…” Garrus almost laughs, but in a pained way. “Why should he go on living while ten good men lie in unmarked graves? I’m sorry, Shepard. Words aren’t going to solve this problem. I need to set up”

He looks out through the windshield and scans over the surrounding environment, eventually stopping when he spots a maintenance walkway suspended over the row of cars they’re a part of.

“I can get a clear shot from over there.” He gestures to it.

“What do you need me to do?” Shepard asks.

“Keep him talking and don’t get in my way. I’ll let you know when he’s in my sights. Give me a signal so I know you’re ready, and I’ll take the shot. You better go, he’ll be here soon.” Garrus plans, gliding the car down to the main floor to open the doors and get out, leaving Shepard to take the controls.

This is short lived, thankfully, as Shepard only needs to bring the cab around to a rapid transport depot. The three get out of the car once the hatches are open, and follow after Shepard as he starts walking in the direction of Orbital Lounge. Once they start approaching the meeting place Shepard gestures for Tali and Ben to hand back, which they both do without argument.

“Shepard? Can you hear me?” Garrus questions over the radio once the commander is in his field of view.

“Loud and clear.” Shepard tells him, continuing along until reaching the general area they’re supposed to meet.

Garrus watches him for a moment, then pans the scope of his rifle over the rest of the area in search of Sidonis.

“Alright. There he is…” Garrus states, spotting the turian sitting on a bench across the walkway from Shepoard. “Wave him over and keep him talking.”

Shepard looks over the surrounding area until he spots him, then raises a hand to get his attention. Once he notices Shepard, he gestures for the turian to come over, and he does with only a slight bit of hesitation.

“Let’s get this over with.” Sidonis says, making it as clear as you can in five words that he doesn’t want to be here.

“You’re in my shot. Move to the side.” Garrus tells Shepard over their coms.

Shepard, made aware with that statement that he has the power to prevent Garrus from shooting him, does not move. “Listen, Sidonis. I’m here to help you.” He instead takes the opportunity to say.

The turian’s immediate response is one of distress, leaning in to be face to face with Shepard.

“Don’t ever say that name aloud.” He states, completely ignoring Shepard’s actual statement.

“I’m a friend of Garrus’. He wants you dead, but I’m hoping that’s not necessary.” Shepard quickly explains, causing Sidonis to lean back.

“Garrus? Is this some kind of joke…?” Sidonis responds, confused.

“Damn it, Shepard.” Garrus says, audibly frustrated. “If he moves, I’m taking the shot!” He warns, accepting that Shepard can’t be deterred.

Shepard looks to the side when Garrus speaks, at the side of his helmet transmitting the audio, and Sidonis notices.

“You’re not kidding, are you?” He realizes.

Shepard doesn’t respond, he simply snaps his eyes back onto the turian.

“Screw this. I’m not sticking around here to find out. Tell Garrus I had my own problems.” Sidonis says, waving Shepard off as he tries to take a step to leave.

Shepard extends a hand in an instant through, grabbing onto his shoulder firmly enough to stop him in his tracks.

“Don’t move.” He orders.

“Get off me!” Sidonis responds, reaching up to grab Shepard’s arm.

“I’m the only thing standing between you and a hole in the head.” Shepard puts bluntly, forcing him to stop and think on the statement for a second.

“Fuck.” He eventually comes to. “Look… I didn’t want to do it… I didn’t have a choice.”

“Everyone has a choice.” Garrus comments.

“They got to me. Said they’d kill me if I didn’t help. What was I supposed to do?” Sidonis continues.

“Let me take the shot, Shepard. He’s a damn coward.” Garrus demands.

“That’s it? You were just trying to save yourself?” Shepard questions calmly.

Sidonis turns to the side and starts pacing, like he forgot what Shepard said a couple of lines ago, which Shepard quickly matches to keep himself between Sidonis and Garrus.

“I know what I did. I know they died because of me, and I have to live with that. I wake up every night… sick… and sweating. Each of their faces staring at me… accusing me. I’m already a dead man. I don’t sleep. Food has no taste. Some days I just want it to be over.”

“Just give me the chance.” Garrus speaks.

“You’ve got to let it go, Garrus. He’s already paying for his crime.” Shepard tells him.

“He hasn’t paid enough. He still has his life…” Garrus responds, holding onto his ambitions as best he can.

“Look at him, Garrus. He’s not alive… there’s nothing left to kill.” Shepard argues, not saying anything too far off from the truth.

“My men… they deserved better.” Garrus says, starting to accept that he isn’t going to be able to persuade Shepard.

“Tell Garrus… I guess there’s nothing I can say to make it right.” Sidonis says.

“Just… go. Tell him to go.” Garrus says, giving up. He pulls back from the sight of his rifle, shaking his head slightly as he looks down.

“He’s giving you a second chance, Sidonis. Don’t waste it.” Shepard informs him.

“I’ll try, Garrus. I’ll make it up to you, somehow.” Sidonis accepts, carefully turning away from the commander to start walking away. “Thank you. For talking to him.”

Shepard simply nods, watching him go.

In a few minutes the two groups are back together at the rapid transit terminal, Garrus approaching them as Tali and Ben get into another cab.

Shepard remains outside the vehicle, watching Garrus as he comes to a stop. Garrus starts the dialogue, and Shepard continues it. They talk for a little bit, going back and forth, none of which Ben or Tali can hear from within the vehicle. Eventually though, they stop, opening the side of the car to place themselves in the front seat.

With things relatively resolved, they head for the Normandy’s dock.

No more than an hour later, Shepard stands in the CIC, staring at the location of the dead Reaper displayed on the galaxy map. Pensive and reluctant are good words to describe the way he stares at it, like he’s waiting for something else, anything else, to need their attention.

After a little while he relents and steps down from the stairs to access his console, looking over his e-mails, and the status of his crew instead of addressing the bigger matter. Most of his squad mates are where they normally are. The areas of the ship considered to be their quarters, or their station. A few are either using the facilities or in the mess hall, but most fall into the prior options.

No exception to this is Garrus, who remains in the forward battery, as he has since they got back.

And in Shepard’s eyes that’s an easier problem to solve than his own, so upon logging off he heads for the elevator, and sets it for deck 3.

Garrus stands at the main console in the forwards battery, working to, if nothing else, give his body something to do while he thinks over the events of the mission. He just manages to finish with some calibrations when the sound of the hatch behind him opening steals his attention.

“Shepard. Need me for something?” He asks, turning back to see the commander step in.

“Have you got a minute?” Shepard asks.

Garrus looks back to his console, exiting out of the current program so he can leave it idle before he turns back to Shepard again.

“Sure. Just killing time anyway.” He says, watching as Shepard steps over to one of the crates, sitting down far enough from the hatch to have it automatically close.

There a bit of hesitation, waiting to see if Shepard will start off the dialogue before he voices what he wants to. The commander doesn’t though, leaving the air free.

“I wanted to thank you again for your help with Sidonis.” He eventually says, almost reluctantly. “I’m still not sure I agree with how things went down, but I’m grateful you were there.” He expresses, watching Shepard’s exposed face passively scan over his own as he talks. “Better than going to the dead Reaper, at least.”

It’s that statement that causes Shepard to glance away, just to the floor. Subconsciously probably, as he seems to be sent into a spiral of his own thoughts.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t around when you lost your team.” Shepard speaks in time, looking up to Garrus again. “I know the two years I was gone were difficult for the old crew.”

“You died, Shepard. I don’t think anyone can blame you for that.” Garrus justifies on his behalf.

“That’s not how it played out from my perspective.” Shepard corrects, earning Garrus’ interest.

The turian steps over, grabbing another crate by the handle on its side to move it over to where he can sit down across from the commander. Seeing that Garrus has been hooked on the slightest implication of personal information, he resigns himself to explaining the rest.

“We were fighting on all fronts to keep the galaxy safe. To persuade the council, clear out the remaining Geth in their space, and look for any leads on the Reapers in prothean relics. Then the Normandy is attacked, I go down with the ship, and when I wake up two years have gone by without me.” He explains, trying to state things as factually as possible.

“And it takes you all of a month to get a crew together and piss off the Reapers again.” Garrus reminds.

“I was playing catch-up.” He dismisses the achievement. “In one moment, everything we were working for vanished. I went from suffocating in space to waking up in a lab in more physical stress than anything else in my history. Two years had gone by, and I lost my crew.” He has to restrain a laugh, “That’s actually what came to mind first when I found out. My crew was gone. Maybe dead, maybe reassigned, maybe just gone. I’d lost everyone that I was fighting with.” He recounts.

“I know the feeling.” Garrus forces a laugh.

“You probably do.” Shepard agrees. “I’d lost men before, but this was different. Between getting off Lazarus station and getting to Freedom’s progress, I nearly lost it. It’s one thing to lose a member of your crew, it’s another to lose everyone, but it’s another thing entirely to be the part that’s lost. Everyone disbanded because I wasn’t there to keep them together, and I didn’t even have something to blame.”

“Smart of Cerberus to give you a mission, then.”

Shepard nods. “Having a goal kept me functional until I ran into Tali on Freedom’s Progress. Then, knowing that my crew was still out there and getting stuck with Ben kept me going until I found you.” He pauses for a moment, going over his thoughts again to find his point. “I know how it feels to lose everything, and to be driven forwards by a goal alone. I’ve been putting off the Reaper’s body because I’m hesitant to risk a repeat.”

Garrus is quiet for a time as he thinks over the new information. His eyes glance back and forth occasionally as he processes, until eventually landing on Shepard again.

“I get it. But whatever happens with the Collectors, or the Reapers, or whoever else comes after us, I know you’ll get the job done.” Garrus states.

The commander reserves a chuckle at the implication of the statement. “You actually think we’ll find something worse than Collectors or Reapers? They really aren’t bad enough?”

“I like to expect the worst. There’s a small chance I’ll be pleasantly surprised.” Garrus says, again approaching humor with his wit.

“I couldn’t do this without you, Garrus.” Shepard tells him.

“Sure you could. Not as stylishly, of course.” He responds, actually utilizing humor.

Shepard again refrains from laughing to maintain his composed and stoic demeanor, instead just smiling as he thinks over everything he’s had on his mind.

“Honestly, Garrus, what do you think our chances are?” Shepard asks after some time.

Garrus isn’t surprised by the question exactly, but he is somewhat caught off guard, unaccustomed to the Commander showing any form of uncertainty.

“Honestly? The Collectors killed you once and all it did was piss you off. I can’t imagine they’ll stop you this time.” He pauses just long enough to catch Shepard’s amusing reaction. “But, for their homeworld? An unmapped area, advanced technology, and the Collectors? We’re going to lose people. No way around that.” He continues, letting Shepard return to his standard demeanor fairly naturally. “Not a happy analysis, I know. Don’t worry. I won’t spread it around. And I’m with you, regardless.”

“Thanks, Garrus.” Shepard says, pushing off the crate to get back to his feet. “I should set us for the Reaper before the Illusive Man sends someone else. I’ll see you later.”

“Sure thing.” Garrus agrees, watching him exit through the automatic door.

Chapter Text

Shepard has run out of excuses. Short of going to each of the crew asking if they need to stop by anywhere before heading to the Reaper, which Shepard has practically done anyways, he is without an alternative.

At this point he doesn’t really want to avoid it, though. His talk with Garrus has put him back into a mindset that his crew hasn’t seen for some time.

Now, he stands at the galaxy map in the CIC. Not merely staring at the location markers with a vague sense of reluctance, or staring into the middle distance thinking about the events out of his control, but thinking. Actually planning, and strategizing. When he moves to select the derelict Reaper, it’s not without confidence.

The Normandy is set for what should be their final destination before heading through the Omega 4 relay, and the commander turns around to step down the ramp.

But it’s at this moment, finally broken from his stoic concentration, that his Yeoman is able to get his attention. His focus snaps to her before he takes even the first step down the ramp.

“Something I should know?” Shepard asks, taking the meaning from her gaze.

She forces a smile initially, taking a breath to finalize her thoughts before speaking. “Tali seems distraught. Maybe you could check in on her down in engineering.” She suggests.

Shepard nods, and looks to the elevator ahead of him. The tremor through the ship when it enters FTL is too subtle to knock him off balance, but he does feel it as he takes the final step into the lift.

Shepard takes a left out of the elevator, leaving him to enter the core room from its right.

Stepping in through the door, it’s not hard to notice that missing from their usual spots are the Cerberus engineers. Probably in the mess hall if Shepard were to guess. He turns left, walking across the room towards Tali.

Hearing his steps, her head perks up, turning to look at him as he approaches. If Shepard’s made any progress in understanding quarian body language, she’s remarkably tense.

“Shepard. I’m glad you came by.” She immediately starts, stepping away from the console she seems to do most of her work on. “I may need your help.”

As Shepard comes to a stop beside where she usually stands, she turns away from him, walking in a circle to place herself at just the next console over. Seemingly just to move, as it doesn’t actually serve a function.

“I just received a message from the Migrant Fleet.” She informs, leaning herself against the terminal. “The Admiralty Board has accused me of treason.” Her head leans back slightly, and her helmet rotates just far enough to the side for a pale eye to be visible looking at the commander. “I’m scared, Shepard.” She admits.

Shepard has to take a second to actually process this. Not only the notion being presented, that Tali has somehow betrayed the Migrant Fleet; but also the fact that she’s genuinely afraid, which isn’t an emotion she expresses very often.

“Nobody who knows you could believe you’d betray your people, Tali.” Shepard’s quick to assure.

She shakes her head, pushing off of the surface to stand at her full height as she starts to pace again.

“I don’t know. They don’t lay charges like this unless the evidence seems absolute.” She stops herself once more, looking to Shepard. “But thanks. I appreciate your faith in me, Shepard.”

The sound of the door opening causes Shepard to pause before asking his next question, looking over to identify the individual entering the room.

“Hey, Tali, you got any more of those–” Ben stops as he sees the commander standing beside Tali, and her considerably shrunken and nervous demeanor. “Woah, what’s up?”

Shepard turns to Tali, waiting for her reaction before making any decisions himself.

“Uh- I’ve… been accused of treason by the Admiralty Board.” Tali tells him, her voice nervous enough for even Ben to pick up on it.

“You’re kidding right? They- Oh, woah, you’re not kidding, are you?” It only takes him a second to realize. He takes a few more steps into the room to let the door close behind him. “Why? Is it because you’re working for Cerberus?”

“I’m not working with Cerberus. I’m working with Shepard. And I got leave to serve on the Normandy again.” She rationally shoots down the idea. “I have no idea what they’re accusing me of. You’d think I would remember if I’d betrayed the fleet!”

“Okay, so, like, what do you do?” He asks the question Shepard was going to

There’s a short pause, her helmet falling down slightly.

“There’s a hearing, with members of the Admiralty Board acting as judges.” She begins explaining, turning to pace again, if for no other reason than for the sake of it. “My father is an admiral on the board. He’ll have to recuse himself from judgement… I can’t even imagine what he’s thinking right now.”

She comes to a stop after a second and turns to face herself towards the two of them again.

“The punishment for treason is exile. If they convict me, I can never go back.” Tali makes clear, her tone as worried and uncertain as is fair.

Ben looks down, placing a hand to his chin as he starts to think. One might say plan, but there’s hesitance with using that word in reference to Ben. Scheme seems more applicable to him, but he doesn’t have quite enough information for that yet.

“So you have no idea why they’re accusing you?” Shepard makes sure.

“None.” She confirms. “The specifics of charges like this are rarely discussed on open channels. I won’t know any more until I get to the flotilla.”

“And if you’re convicted?” Shepard asks, just to make absolutely certain.

“Like I said, exile. The specifics are up to the judges. If it’s deemed only a tragic mistake in judgement, the guilty party might receive a small ship and supplies.”  Tali elaborates for Shepard, though the mere thought tangibly dejects her to even consider. “Not that it really matters. Either way, if I’m convicted, I’ll never see the Migrant Fleet again.”

“So how does the trial work? How soon do we need to get you there?” The commander questions.

In a second Tali subconsciously relaxes somewhat, perking up at the opportunity to explain her culture. “They’ll wait a reasonable period of time for me to come and defend myself. Eventually, if I don’t show up, they’ll try me in absentia. As for how it works… it’s less formal than an Earth trial, or something you’d see on the Citadel. We’re family.” She gradually returns to the solemn intonations she’d been using until now. “This is just the worst kind of family meeting.”

“Okay.” Shepard nods, “Let’s go find the flotilla.” He agrees.

Again, Tali’s helmet perks up at Shepard speaking, facing him directly instead of slightly glancing to the side. “I was going to book passage on another ship. I didn’t think there would be time for you to help.” She explains. “Thank you, Shepard.”

She waits for Shepard to step back before she returns to the console she usually works at, navigating through program menus to pull up a specific one.

“I’ll program the Normandy with the flotilla’s current location. The Admirals will be waiting for us.” She says.

“I’ll tell Joker to change course.” Shepard states, turning himself towards the exit.

“What's our ETA?” Ben asks, stepping aside to let Shepard head for the nearer exit.

“The Normandy is already headed for the Citadel’s local mass relay, and the Floatilla shouldn’t be outside the system local to the one we’re headed to. A day at the most, probably.” Tali guesses.

Now Ben also turns for the door.

“Great, that’s enough time to get some research in.” He pauses, shuddering. “God, I sound like Gwen, or Rook. What has this universe done to me!?” The hatch closes behind him once he’s through, cutting off the exaggerated rant before it really gets going.

And just like that, obtaining the Reaper IFF is again delayed. This time not for a reluctance, but because Shepard genuinely believes that the alternative is slightly more pressing.

The Normandy is set to head for the Vallhallan Threshhold. The Raheel-Leyya system. A binary star system, which is a spectacle Ben heads up to the bridge to get a peek of when they pass through the final mass relay.

Tali overestimated a bit. It only takes a few hours to cross the space between them and the Fleet, which isn’t as far away as it could be. Shepard spends this time checking in with the rest of the crew, while Ben spends this time trying not to get distracted from the admittedly dry Codex entries on the quarians.

It’s only for their final approach that Shepard dons his typical armor, his helmet included as always, and heads up to the bridge where he finds Tali already waiting. Pacing back and forth with a perpetual worry, but still focused on the array of screens ahead of Joker in wait for them to get close enough.

Shepard turns himself away, putting his hand up to the left side of his helmet to activate his coms.

“Ben, we’re making our final approach. Put on an exo-suit and get to the bridge.” He instructs.

There’s a second of silence before Ben responds with a simple “on my way.” Letting Shepard focus back on the bridge.

Tali stops herself beside Joker’s chair, leaning forward to pull over the holographic panel for communications.

“This is Tali’Zorah nar Rayya requesting permission to dock with the Rayya.” Tali speaks, then seps back to continue moving herself back and forth.

“Our system has your ship flagged as Cerberus. Verify.” Another quarian responds after a moment, causing her to stop and look to the screens.

There’s a very brief hesitance before she begins, “After time adrift among open stars, among tides of light and shoals of dust, I will return to where I began.” She glances to Shepard as she speaks, turning back to the screens ahead after.

“Permission granted. Welcome home, Tali’Zorah.” The traffic controller accepts.

“We’d like a security and quarantine team to meet us. Our ship is not clean.” Tali requests, taking a step closer to the console.

“Understood. Approach exterior docking cradle 17.” The quarian directs them, and the channel closes.

It’s only another minute before Ben reaches the bridge, walking over in his usual outfit and hoodie. A notable addition to this, though, is the presence of the weapon Ben called a proto-tool mounted on his shoulder.

“Ben, I told you to put on an exo-suit.” Shepard reminds as he sees that Ben ignore him.

The teen simply rolls his eyes, tapping the Omnitrix to pull up the dial and let the core rise before activating it. His form changes in an instant, his proportions correcting, and his clothes shifting over himself to form the typical suit design quarians usually wear. The weapon remains affixed to his shoulder with this change in form, actually seeming to hold to the suit better than it did his jacket.

“Dude, it’s fine. Omnitrix, remember?” Ben says.

Shepard quickly takes a step towards him, not letting Ben react before reaching out to tap the node of the Omnitrix on his chest. With a flash Ben is reverted back into his human body, stepping back to put a pace between him and Shepard again.

“You transform back on the Fleet and you’re a contaminant that’s putting a lot of quarians at risk. Put on an exo-suit.” Shepard repeats.

Ben reaches for the Omnitrix again without listening to him, transforming himself back into a quarian. Shepard holds his position with a skeptical gaze as Ben reaches up to the node on his chest and rotates the metal ring around the glowing section back and forth like a combination padlock. After a second it resounds with a click, and the green section flashes several times before dimming back to its usual brightness.

“Input accepted. Lifeform lock engaged.” The device speaks in its high-pitched tone.

“See? No worries.” Ben insists.

Shepard lingers for a moment before turning back to look at Tali, prompting her to walk over.

“You think Ben being a quarian will cause any issues?” Shepard asks her.

“Hmm… It might confuse them at first, but I don’t think it’ll be a problem. The Admiralty Board should know about Ben from Freedom’s Progress and Haestrom, which means word might have gotten around. Worst case scenario they’ll think he’s the child of an exile and try to welcome him back to the fleet.” Tali explains.

Shepard nods, accepting her judgement, and makes his way forward past Ben to the airlock.

Ben and Tali follow after him, all waiting as the Normandy comes to match the course of the Rayya. In another moment the boarding arm grabs onto the side of the Normandy, and once it pressurizes they’re able to depart.

Decontamination is as automated as it normally is for the airlock, brushing over the three with a mix of chemicals and high frequency light while the room adjusts pressure to match the outside. In a moment the second hatch opens and the three make their way through the corridor into the ship itself.

Grungy seems an appropriate word. Yellowed lighting from the aged fixtures; a number of crates lining the sides of what would, on any other ship, not be used for storage; and a thin layer of grime covers the edges of the floor. Synthetic, pretty clearly. Maybe an oil, or a residue left by the particulates in the air. Which themselves can be assumed to be a disinfectant of some sort.

They don’t make it more than a few steps before the sight of a male quarian making his way over causes them to stop, waiting for him to greet them as he obviously intends to.

“Captain Shepard.” He acknowledges first. “Tali’Zorah told me a lot about you. I wish we could be meeting under more pleasant circumstances.” He says.

“Tali helped the Normandy’s crew out of many difficult situations. I’m here to return the favor.” Shepard puts simply.

“I understand. As the commander of the vessel she serves on, your voice carries weight.” His attention turns to Tali now, still overlooking Ben behind the two. “I wish I could do more to help, Tali. The trial requires that I be officially neutral, but… I’m here, if you need to talk. They’re charging you with bringing active Geth into the fleet as part of a secret project.” He explains.

Tali takes a step forward without thinking, placing herself slightly closer to him before she speaks.

“That’s insane! I never brought active geth aboard. I only sent parts and pieces.” Tali quickly states.

Shepard’s focus moves to her with this, his helmet angled to be clearly directed at her.

“You sent geth materials back to the migrant fleet?” Shepard questions, making it fairly clear with his tone alone that he finds it to be a bad idea.

“Yes. My father was working on a project. He needed the materials.” Tali justifies without taking offense, looking to him as she steps back again. She then thinks on it though, looking down. “If I sent back something that was only damaged, not permanently inactive… No. No, I checked everything. I was careful.” Tali assures herself.

“Technically, I’m under orders to arrest Tali’Zorah pending the hearing. So, Tali… you’re confined to this shup until this trial is over.” The quarian speaks again, causing Tali to look up.

“Thank you, Captain.” Tali acknowledges.

“Preparations got underway as soon as you arrived. The hearing’s being held in the garden plaza. Good luck.” He tells them, stepping aside so they can pass by.

Shepard looks back to Tali briefly before moving, and she nods, letting them start moving forwards.

It’s now though, with the Captain’s viewpoint of the group changing, that he notices Ben.

“Excuse me,” He speaks, causing the group to stop and turn to face him again. “I don’t think we’ve met.” He greets Ben.

“Ben Tennyson.” He introduces himself.

“On your pilgrimage I assume, Ben’Tennyson nar…?” He questions.

“Oh, he’s” Tali starts, stepping past Shepard as the Captain looks to her again. “This is the human shapeshifter my teams encountered on Freedom’s Progress and Haestrom.” She explains, gesturing to Ben.

“Ah, that Ben Tennyson, sorry for not recognizing you. I should be thanking you for your help, in that case. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Apologies for the confusion.” He says.

“No worries, dude.” Ben waves off.

“I will let the crew know to expect you.” He says.

“Cool.” Ben says, walking off with Tali and Shepard as they continue down the hallway.

Walking through the ship it’s pretty hard to avoid overhearing the conversations of the quarians they pass by. Most are thoughts about Tali. Disbelief about the charges, thoughts about Shepard being the “captain” she arrived with, and so on. A few relate to Ben though, commenting on him with thoughts that seem to entirely misunderstand what the Omnitrix is. It’s hard to blame them though, with how foreign a concept it is.

They take a right to head through a hatch at the end of the hall, and on the other side find two quarians speaking in the center of the path. One of them, a woman adorning her suit in pale cream/white wraps looks to them as they approach. The other spots them as well, but instead walks away.

“Tali’Zorah vas Normandy. I am glad you came. I could delay them only so long.” The woman that stays greets her.

Tali, in response, simply opens her arms as she continues toward her, hugging the woman with notable excitement.

“Auntie Raan!” She says, holding on for a moment before letting go to look back to Shepard and Ben, who stopped a few feet back. “Shepard vas Normandy, this is Admiral Shala’Raan vas Tonbay. She’s a friend of my father’s.”

It’s at this point that something actually registers with Tali, and her helmet swings back around to face Shala’Raan.

“Wait. Raan, you called me “vas Normandy.”” Tali points out.

“I am afraid I did, Tali.” She confirms solemnly.

Tali takes the moment to step over to Shepard’s side, the one opposite Ben, keeping her attention on Raan.

“The Admiralty board moved to have you tried under than name, given your departure from the Neema.” She explains.

“I take it being associated with a human ship is a bad sign.” Shepard surmises, looking to Tali for her response.

“They stripped me of my ship name. That’s as good as declaring me exiled already.” Tali confirms, audibly frustrated by the concept.

“It’s not over yet, Tali. You have friends who still know you as Tali’Zorah vas Neema… whatever we must call you legally.” Shala’Raan assures her, letting her calm down a bit.

“So, you’re an Admiral, right? That mean you’re one of the judges, or did you have to step down?” Ben asks.

“I’m afraid my history with Tali and her father forced me to recuse myself, Ben’Tennyson.” She confirms.

“I imagine father had to do the same.” Tali guesses.

“You’ll see inside, Tali. For my part, I moderate and ensure that the rules of protocol are followed, but I have no vote in the judgement.” Shala’Raan elaborates.

“I guess we should get started. Does Tali have a defense councilor, someone who speaks for her side?” Shepard asks, getting them back to the task at hand.

“Indeed she does… Captain Shepard. She is part of your crew, now, recognized by quarian law.” Shala’Raan shifts her head to face more towards Tali than the commander. “And remember, an accused is always represented by his or her ship’s captain.” She reminds.

Shepard looks to Tali, who’s already moved her head to face him.

“So, er… you would actually speak for my defense.” Tali clarifies.

“I’ll do everything in my power to help you, Tali.” He states.

“Thank you, Shepard. I could not ask for a better counselor.” Tali responds, letting Shepard turn his attention back to the admiral.

“Our legal rules are simple. There are no legal tricks or political loopholes for you to worry about. Present the truth as best you can.” Shala’Raan instructs him.

Both Tali and Shepard nod, watching as Shala’Raan turns to continue down the hall.

“It will have to be enough. Now come. I promised that I would not delay you.” She says, and the three follow after her.

They proceed into a considerably more open room than the hall they walked through before. A plaza of some sort. Directly ahead of them is an area lowered below the floor of the rest of the room, with stairs and rows of seats leading down to it.

On the floor either side of this area are large patches of grass, planted and maintained about as well as the large-leafed plants growing up the front and back walls. Emerging from the living walls at the back of the room are three large cylinders rising from the floor to just below the ceiling, with even more plants spilling out from their tops.

The left and right walls are stained similarly to the edges of the floor with a thick grime. Either seeping through the plates of metal, or having accumulated from the moisture in the air. The second option seems more reasonable with how thick and hazy the air is with what can be presumed as some sort of decontaminant, obscuring slightly the quarians around the room that have yet to make their way down and onto the steps where the trial is taking place.

The three are lead down the stairs, and to the location which Shepard and Tali stop in. Ben has the sense to walk over to the seating, placing himself between several other quarians as the rest of the ones standing idly around the room come over to join them.

At the back of this recess is a podium of sorts, with three occupied spots at its front, and another raised one that Shala’Raan walks to in just a moment.

“This Conclave is brought to order.” Shala’Raan begins, drawing the attention of everyone in the room to her. “Blessed are the ancestors who kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season. Keelah se’lai.”

“Keelah Se’lai” The crowd responds in unison, save for Shepard, Ben, and the judges.

“The accused, Tali’Zorah vas Normandy, has come with her captain to defend herself against the charge of treason.” Shala’Raan continues.

The judge in the center, a male donning a pale suit with red accents around the forearms and feet, takes this opportunity to speak up with a shouted “Objection! A human has no business at a hearing involving such sensitive military matters!”

Shepard doesn’t meet this head on, he simply glances to his side at Tali, then focuses on Raan behind this quarian.

“Then you should not have declared Tali crew of the Normandy, Admiral Koris. By right as Tali’s Captain, Shepard must stay.” Shala’Raan corrects him, looking to Shepard.

The commander begins nodding slightly, then returns his eyes to the distance ahead of him before finishing, catching up to how things work.

“Objection withdrawn.” The center judge, Koris, accepts begrudgingly.

“Shepard vas Normandy, your crew member Tali’Zorah stands accused of treason. Will you speak for her?” Shala’Raan continues.

Shepard steps forward, resting his hands against the bar in front of him as he looks over the three judges.

“If it helps Tali, I will.” He agrees with confidence. “But in her heart she remains Tali’Zorah vas Neema, a proud member of the Migrant Fleet. I regret that her captain is forbidden to stand at her side today.” He adds.

“Nobody has been forbidden anything! It is a simple–”

The judge to Shepard’s right, another man in white with green wrappings, cuts him off, “Lie to them if you must, Zaal’Koris, but don’t lie to me and expect me to stay silent! The human is right!” He speaks.

“Admirals, please. Shepard’s willingness to represent Tali’Zorah in this hearing is appreciated.” Shala’Raan reigns them in, waiting a moment for them to relax before turning to Tali and Shepard again. “Tali, you are accused of bringing active geth to the Migrant Fleet. What say you?”

The question seems pretty clearly to have actually been directed at Shepard when Tali doesn’t answer after a second.

“How could Tali have brought geth to the Fleet while serving on the Normandy?” Shepard chooses to question.

“To clarify, Shepard, Tali isn’t accused of bringing back entire units – only parts that could spontaneously reactivate.” The female judge to Shepard’s left corrects.

“But I would never send active geth to the Fleet! Everything I sent was disabled and harmless!” Tali verbosely refutes, but her hands meeting each other to ring over one another suggests how nervous she actually is.

“Then explain how geth seized the lab ship where your father was working!” Koris counters, shouting across the 4 or so meters between them.

The reaction of the crowd is far more quick than Tali’s, erupting into a chorus of gasps and hushed chatter.

“What are you talking about? What happened?” Tali has to asks, considerably distressed.

Koris reels it back a little, managing to conjure a sliver of empathy before speaking.

“As far as we can tell, Tali, the geth have killed everyone on the Alarei… your father included.” He tells her.

“What!?” Tali shouts, causing Shepard to look back to her.

Past his distraught teammate he sees Ben rise to his feet, reaching up to the node on his chest but refraining from hitting it. His hand lingers over it for a moment, considering turning into something that could phase through the ship and fly its way to the lab ship. He doesn’t though. He has no idea if the disinfectants in this environment will kill the bacteria of his aliens, and he can’t risk so many people.

“Oh, Keelah…” Tali breathes, stepping back as her head falls.

Shepard’s attention swings back around to the Board after just a second, “I appreciate the need for this trial, Admirals, but right now our first concern must be the safety of the Mirgant Fleet. The Normandy stands ready to assist in whatever capacity necessary.” He offers.

“Thank you.” Shala’Raan acknowledges. “Quarian strike teams have attempted to retake the ship, so far without success.” She informs.

Tali’s helmet moves up again to look at Shepard.

“Shepard, we have to take back the Alarei!” Tali tells him.

“The safest course would be to simply destroy the ship. But if you are looking for an honorable death instead of exile…” Koris functionally taunts.

“I’m looking for my father, you bosh’tet!” Tali shouts back, shutting him up for a moment.

“You intend to retake the Alarei from the geth? This proposal is extremely dangerous.” Shala’Raan checks in the pause, looking to Shepard.

“With your permission, Admirals, yes.” He confirms.

Tali’s attention moves to him as he speaks, dismissing the irritation directed at Koris for a second.

“The good of the fleet must come first… and Tali needs to find her father.” Shepard justifies.

“Agreed.” The judge to his right accepts. “And if you die on this worthy mission, Tali, we will see that your name is cleared of these charges.”

“We can discuss that later.” Koris says through gritted teeth, looking at the other judge.

“Then it is decided. You will attempt to retake the Alarei. You are hereby given leave to depart the Rayya. A shuttle will be waiting at the secondary docking hangar. Be safe, Tali. This hearing will resume upon your return, or upon determination that you have been killed in action.” Shala’Raan determines.

Shepard looks behind himself to Tali as he steps back from the bar ahead of him. He gestures for them to go with the nod of his head, and turns to make his way past her.

While he heads up the stairs with the other quarians to exit the trial space, Tali instead takes a moment to look up at Shala’Raan. This is broken once the admiral turns to step down from the podium, leaving Tali to follow after Shepard.

“Thank you for agreeing to take back the Alarai, Shepard.” She says once she catches up. “The Admirals sound sure that my father is already dead, but… I don’t know. We won’t know anything until we get there.”

“How are you holding up? They just threw a lot of fire at you, even before telling you about your father.” Shepard asks, his tone sincerely concerned.

“I knew this would be bad, but I guess you’re never really prepared to be charged with treason. And my father…” She pauses, looking away from Shepard as she thinks. “I don’t know. He- He could still be alive. They don’t know for certain that he’s dead. I just don’t know, Shepard. And I need to find out.”

“Is there anyone here you want to talk to before we go?” Shepard offers.

“We can talk with the Admirals.” She looks up to the rest of the room, scanning over the groups of people that have spread out. “It might help us to see what their viewpoints are.” She looks back to Shepard, “But I doubt we’ll change anyone’s mind by talking to them privately.”

“It can’t hurt, but we shouldn’t wait too long.” Shepard says.

“Right. The sooner we get to the Alarei, the sooner we’ll know what happened.” Tali agrees, following after him as Ben catches up to them, and Shepard starts moving.

“So, geth. That’s cool. I really missed those guys.” Ben remarks sarcastically.

“Shepard, the secondary docking hangar is through the Conclave chamber where you are now. The shuttle they have provided is unarmed.” EDI cuts in to inform Shepard before anyone can actually respond to what Ben said.

“Understood.” Shepard speaks.

“Whatever geth are on the Alarei have likely built more of themselves. Expect heavy resistance.” Their AI advises.

The first person they head to speak with is Shala’Raan, who Tali takes the initiative to approach ahead of the other two.

“You set me up, Shala!” Tali accuses, coming to a stop a few paces closer than Shepard and Ben walk towards her.

The other quarian Shala’Raan was speaking with simply puts her hands up, slowing backing away to avoid Tali’s anger as Raan turns to face her.

“You told captain Danna not to say anything? I don’t hear that my father may be dead until I’m in the trial? Why?” Tali demands.