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Description
Love Conquers All CH4

Shepard sat on the edge of his bed looking at his arm thinking about where the human race was a few hundred years ago. They would have been able to deal with the knife wound but it would have taken weeks to heal. Now all you have to do is put on some medi-gel and you could go about your business in three to six hours, if used by a doctor. Of course medi-gel only works on any non-threatening wounds, but if used by a doctor magic happens. If he had put the medi-gel on himself it would have taken a couple of days to heal. He traced the scar with his index finger. He could get rid of the scar but he decided it keep it as a reminder to him and the crew. Joker came on over the com.

"Hey commander."

"What is it Joker?"

"We are two hours out from Purgatory. Tell me again why we are going to get a guy that thinks it's fun to take everything bad in this galaxy and playing patty cake with it to join our team?" Shepard rolled his eyes.

"Keep guessing Joker, tell Garrus, Mordin, Shisk, and Jacob to meet me at the air lock ready to go thirty minutes before we dock."

"Alright, how come you don't tell me anything?" A teasing smile made it to the Commanders face.

"Well, it's not like you don't listen in on every conversation on this ship." The Joker was silent for so long Shepard thought he 'left'.

"Who told you that?" EDI answered the question.

"I did"

"I am so deleting you."

"If you do that Jeff, then even a child could hack this ship."

"I think it would be worth it."

"You can try."

"Joker." Shepard interrupted.

"What?"

"Hop to it."

"Ya, ya, I'm on it."

----------------------------------

The Commander walked up to the air lock to find everybody ganging up on Shisk.

"I know you grew up on Omega but have you ever been in a real battle?" Garrus asked.

"I know how to fight." Shisk answered.

"I know that too, but do you know how to fight with a team?"

"I fight." Garrus let out a huff of frustration. "Human teach me much."

"Human? You mean the Commander?" Jacob asked. Shisk nodded. Mordin nodded in acceptance.

"Yes, the fact the Commander is teaching him increases his odds of surviving by thirty percent in any fight."

"As long as I don't have to watch his back." Garrus muttered. Shepard placed his hand on Garrus shoulder.

"Do you want to go on this mission?" Garrus turned to look at him.

"Mission? I thought this was just a pick up?"

"We are recruiting Jack to join our crew, it's a mission.  Plus anything could go wrong."

Shisk looked at the turian. From what the human said it seems like the crew still had a little way to go before they accepted him. Shepard had told him how the crew from the last Normandy had taken a good three to four months before they started thinking about accepting, this turian, and rest of the nonhumans. Those were Alliance soldiers, these are Cerberus humans. It might take a little longer this time around on top of the prejudice that the galaxy already had against his kind. Then again, while walking around the ship, other than hearing them talk behind his back, everybody had said that they were here for this human, Commander Shepard. Shepard…this human had spilled his blood for Shisk. That meant a lot to his kind, short of being actual brothers. He knew the moment that human had asked him to join his crew that things in this galaxy were going to change dramatically and Commander Shepard is going to be the catalyst.

"Shisk, I want you to stay by me at all times during this mission, alright?" Shepard said bringing Shisk back. He shook his head. It wasn't normal for his kind to do that.

"Yes, Shisk stay by you."

"Good, now Mordin…" The Commander stopped. He turned back to Shisk and started looking over him. "I'm sorry Shisk I forgot to get you a gun."

"Shisk have gun."

"I get my crew the best of the best. For now what gun are you more comfortable with a pistol, a sniper rifle, an assault rifle, or a shotgun?"

"Assault rifle." Shepard pulled the assault rifle off his back and handed it to Shisk.

"Take good care of it." Shisk made no move to take the gun.

"What you use?"

"We can always use another sniper." A muffled sound came from the turian. It sounded really close to laughter. Mordin looked at Garrus.

"Never heard a turian laugh, fascinating. Reaction to what the Commander said. Would say that you think that he can't use a sniper rifle." Garrus coughed into his hand trying to regain a little composure.

"He couldn't hit the ship if he was standing next to it."  Shisk looked over at the human to see his reaction. The human had a smirk on his face.

"That was two years ago Garrus. I think I do have one thing to thank Cerberus for. At this point I think that I'm even a better sniper than you." The turian's mandibles flared.

"Is that a challenge?"

"What do you think?"

"Will go by the number of missed shots. If I win you will buy me a new sniper rifle." The Commander held out his hand.

"If I win you have to answer every question I ask you for an hour, honestly and no slipping around." Garrus hand paused midway to Shepards. Betting his personal life for a sniper rifle, ya, it was worth it. He took the Commander's hand firmly.

"Deal." Shisk saw the look that the human and the Turian shared. It was strange to see two, as far as he could tell, brothers not by blood, betting against each other. He learned on Omega to make bets with those you didn't know. That way if you win you win but if you lose you just attack them later and win anyway.

"As much as I love a good bet I would love to leave Purgatory ASAP. ETA fifteen minutes."  Joker interrupted.

"Right," Shepard said. "Back to business, Mordin when we get down there I want you to take point. Wait a minute, are you making progress on the swarms?"

"Yes. Though would like to stay to continue my work. Would like to come next time."

"Alright, you're free to go. Could you tell Zaeed to get up here ASAP?"

"Already here Commander." Zaeed walked up from behind Mordin. Mordin nodded to him then headed back to the lab. Shepard looked at how prepped Zaeed was.

"Expecting something?"

"No, I was going to tail you." Everyone looked at him.

"On a prison ship?" Garrus asked.

"Ya, there's a couple of people I need to visit in there."  The Commander waved his hand in the air.

"You can do whatever you want after we see Jack. You have one hour to get back on board the Normandy after that." Zaeed cracked his knuckles.

"I only need fifteen minutes."

"Should have saved that for the people you need to visit."

"Don't worry your pretty head about that."

"Take point?"

"Sure." Shepard turned to Jacob.

"Hey Jacob you've been quite for a little while, something wrong?" Jacob looked up from his omni-tool.

"Just adding the finishing touches to a weapon I'm working on."

"A gun?"

"No, it's an explosive." Shepard put a hand on his shoulder.

"You are my new best friend." Garrus started chuckling. Jacob smiled.

"Thanks, it's based off what you and Miranda discovered about the heat sinks."

"I think I've talked enough," Garrus snorted a laugh. "Everybody finish your prep we leave in ten minutes."

"Fifteen." Joker said.

"We leave in fifteen."

------------------------------------------------

"With all this fuss going on it should make my visits a lot easier!" Zaeed called over the gun fire.

"Jack first!" The Shepard called back.

"I think this is one time I wish you weren't well known Commander." Jacob said over the com.

"You have to admit that it's never boring when I'm around." A mech dog exploded as a round from Garrus sniper tore through it.

"Haven't missed yet commander!" he called. Before Shepard could answer Shisk started to run from cover right at the enemy. He grabbed Shisk"s shoulder and pulled him back to cover. Shisk turned his rage filled eyes on to the human.

"Why you stop me?" he asked. The human put a hand on each of Shisk's shoulders.

"The last thing I need is for one of my crew to die."

"I not die easy." He said. The human smiled. Two guards hit the ground.

"I know but you're doing it wrong. What you are doing will get you killed no matter how hard you think you are to kill. From my personal experience there are three main reasons to run from cover. First is to find better cover. Second is to act as a decoy. Third is when you have proper cover from your team mates, for example." the Commander hit his com while seeing what was left of the opposition. Nothing but dead bodies. "Well, there goes that Idea. Miranda? Can you send us a route to where Jack is being held?"

"Just finished sending it to Garrus."

"Got it." Garrus confirmed.

After a firefight or two they stood at a terminal that looked down into the room that Jack was being held. The heavy mechs activated the moment the mechanical arm moved to pull Jack out of cryo. The moment they could see Jack everyone went still. Garrus jaw hit the floor. Jack was a she and by the looks of it she was mad. She tore out of her restraints with ease. The whine of several guns charging could be heard as the heavy mechs targeted her. She focused her energy and charged them. The heavy mechs were taken apart like a bullet meeting glass. Shepard turned look at Garrus to find Shisk's jaw had also fallen to the floor. Placing a finger under each of their jaws he closed them. Zaeed grunted.

"She looks like…" Zaeed got out before the floor shook violently.

"What was that?" Jacob asked.

"Jack." Miranda answered. "She made her own exit. I can see why she is on the recruit
list." Shepard let out a huge sigh.

"Let's go find her." A grin lit up Zaeed's face.

"Can't wait to meet her." They continued on meeting little pockets of resistance here and there but with the five of them they made short work of them.

"Sections D through G have decompressed. No survivors."  The V.I. announced over the COM. Zaeed cursed.

"There goes one of my sources."

"For what?" Garrus asked.

"Locations where the person that shot me in the head could be." Garrus was quiet for a moment.

"Well if Shepard can come back from the dead I guess others can too." Zaeed just rolled his eyes.

"Mech!" Shisk shouted just as something hit the Commander square in the back sending him to the floor. His shields were down and his armor would hold against another hit like that. He made it to cover next to Jacob. He was binding together several used heat sinks.

"That your design?" the Commander asked. Jacob shook his head.

"No this is impromptu." He handed the bundle to Shepard. looking out from cover he saw it wasn't a mech but a heavy mech. Looking down at the bundle in his had he wondered if it would be enough to take it down. He mentally shrugged, only one way to find out. Backing a few feet away from his cover the Commander made sure he had room to throw. He activated hic COM.

"Shisk, Zaeed, get the focus of that mech off of Garrus I need him to snipe something for me."

"Can't do it yourself Commander?" Garrus teased. By that time the mech had its attention on Shisk.

"My hands are full, and Garrus?"

"What?"

"Say pull."

"Pull?" Shepard threw the bundle of used heat sinks as hard as he could at the heavy mech.

"I'm guessing you want me to shoot that."

"Hit it in the air and the sniper is yours." The bundle hit the ground at the heavy mech's feet and bounced. The sound of Garrus sniper was drowned out by a massive explosion. Shepard was knocked to the ground for the second time in less than three minutes. The heavy mech was nowhere to be seen. Where it had been standing before was a cherry red hole.

"Everyone alright?"  Yelling reached his ears looking around for the source he saw Shisk rolling on the ground with his hands on his face. Making his way over to him he pulled away on of the hands to find that Shisk's face had been almost burnt off. As he moved to prep some medi-gel he saw the wound was already regenerating. Not wanting him to be in anymore pain he applied the medi-gel anyway. After a minute Shisk was standing on his own feet albeit shakily. A weak chuckle came from the left.

"Be careful Shisk, you'll end up looking like me." Zaeed was helping Garrus to his feet.

"That was better than my incendiary grenades. What was that?" Zaeed commented.

"Good question. Jacob where are you?"

"Here." Jacob was cradling his arm. A massive amount of medi-gel had been applied to it already.

"What's wrong?" he motioned to his arm.

"Second degree burn. I'll live but it hurts like crazy." After getting a good look at Shisk's face he got up grabbing his pistol with his uninjured hand.  "You going to be okay Shisk?" the Vorcha nodded.

"I think your impromptu needs a little work." Garrus laughed.

"I'll help you."

"Rah! I kill something. Help pain." It was Zaeed's turn to laugh this time.

"I agree with him."

"Shisk look me in the eye." The Vorcha complied knowing what the Commander was looking for. Putting a hand under Shisk's chin he tilted his head so the light was reflecting off of his eyes. Looks like they ether weren't harmed or healed first. "Can you see enough to fight?"

"Yes."

"Alright move out! Miranda where is Jack?"

"Don't worry she's stuck at a reinforced door trying to hack it."

"Delay her if you can."

They carefully made their way around the cherry red hole in to the next room which turned out to be a hallway with a medi-gel dispenser. After they all stocked up on medi-gel, even Shisk when the Commander forced him, they moved to the next room. A gunshot rang out and Shisk dropped like a rock. Another one rang out clipping Zareeds shoulder. Everyone ducked for cover.

"Could have lived like a king! You have no idea how much money somebody is willing to pay for you Shepard!" The Warden. For some reason it didn't surprise Shepard one bit. By the looks of it the Warden was on a platform. His eyes slowly made their way to where Shisk fell.

"He's got a barrier around him! I see three generators supporting it."  Garrus called out. Shepard's eyes never left Shisk.

"Make that two." A shot from Zaeed's rifle knocked out one of the generators.

"I'm moving on the other one." Garrus said. Zaeed followed him.

"I'm with you scales."

"Commander I see the third one." Jacob motioned with his pistol. Looking back at Shepard he saw that his eyes were stuck unmoving on Shisk's body.

"Shisk…Kadian…Jenkins…Pressly…" The Commander muttered

"Shepard if you don't cover me I could die." Shepard's eyes snapped to Jacob's. After a moment they looked around taking in what was happening.

"Right, let's move."

"Just took out the second generator. Reinforcements have arrived. Garrus and I have most of them pinned down but a few made it past and heading your way."

"Contact."  Jacob called. Shepard sighted the head of one of the guards in his scope. That's one. Shisk didn't come back. Two, three, four, Shisk is still gone. After a few moments the Commander found Jacob shouting at him.

"There's nothing left to shoot!" some time he had pulled away from the scope and was just firing. He felt dead. It felt like Virmire all over again. No, not again, it was worse. It was another coffin on his shoulders. Motioning to Jacob they both took out the last barrier. All that was left was the Warden and the remaining reinforcements.

"Shepard! You are too much trouble, but Jack, Jack I can capture again. She is not worth as much as you but I can sell her for a fair amount." Jacob saw a flame spark in the Commander's eyes.  Sighting in on the Warden's head Shepard muttered,

"Here's a shot to sell." Just before he pulled the trigger the Warden arched his back. The Warden fell off the platform to the ground below. Standing behind him shaking his hands was Shisk.

"Rah! To hard!" the rest of the guards fled the moment the Warden hit the ground. Jacob and Zaeed went over to check if the Warden was dead. A sharp piece of metal was sticking out of his back.

"You could have just shot him!" Garrus called up to him. Shisk paused for a moment, then shook his head.

"No enough pain." Garrus nodded in agreement.

"Nice show." Everybody's head turned toward the new voice. It was Jack. "I was going to kill the Warden until I spotted a Cerberus ship in the docking bay. Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you all right here."

"We came to recruit you for a mission if you're interested." Shepard told her. She raised her eye brow.

"Recruit me? Though I am interested as to why that's not a good enough reason."

"As for why, we are going on a 'suicide' mission. Also I can give you access to anything you want." Shepard looked at Jacob to see if he would object. He nodded back. Jack smiled.

"Suicide, huh? I like the sound of that. I like the sound of that access even better. If you're lying to me you will be the first person I kill."

"Alright." Jacob looked around.

"Let's take this back to the ship before this place blows." Shepard opened the COM.

"Joker add Jack to the Normady's data base." Turning to Jack he said, "Welcome aboard the Normandy."

Description
Love Conquers All CH4

Shepard sat on the edge of his bed looking at his arm thinking about where the human race was a few hundred years ago. They would have been able to deal with the knife wound but it would have taken weeks to heal. Now all you have to do is put on some medi-gel and you could go about your business in three to six hours, if used by a doctor. Of course medi-gel only works on any non-threatening wounds, but if used by a doctor magic happens. If he had put the medi-gel on himself it would have taken a couple of days to heal. He traced the scar with his index finger. He could get rid of the scar but he decided it keep it as a reminder to him and the crew. Joker came on over the com.

"Hey commander."

"What is it Joker?"

"We are two hours out from Purgatory. Tell me again why we are going to get a guy that thinks it's fun to take everything bad in this galaxy and playing patty cake with it to join our team?" Shepard rolled his eyes.

"Keep guessing Joker, tell Garrus, Mordin, Shisk, and Jacob to meet me at the air lock ready to go thirty minutes before we dock."

"Alright, how come you don't tell me anything?" A teasing smile made it to the Commanders face.

"Well, it's not like you don't listen in on every conversation on this ship." The Joker was silent for so long Shepard thought he 'left'.

"Who told you that?" EDI answered the question.

"I did"

"I am so deleting you."

"If you do that Jeff, then even a child could hack this ship."

"I think it would be worth it."

"You can try."

"Joker." Shepard interrupted.

"What?"

"Hop to it."

"Ya, ya, I'm on it."

----------------------------------

The Commander walked up to the air lock to find everybody ganging up on Shisk.

"I know you grew up on Omega but have you ever been in a real battle?" Garrus asked.

"I know how to fight." Shisk answered.

"I know that too, but do you know how to fight with a team?"

"I fight." Garrus let out a huff of frustration. "Human teach me much."

"Human? You mean the Commander?" Jacob asked. Shisk nodded. Mordin nodded in acceptance.

"Yes, the fact the Commander is teaching him increases his odds of surviving by thirty percent in any fight."

"As long as I don't have to watch his back." Garrus muttered. Shepard placed his hand on Garrus shoulder.

"Do you want to go on this mission?" Garrus turned to look at him.

"Mission? I thought this was just a pick up?"

"We are recruiting Jack to join our crew, it's a mission.  Plus anything could go wrong."

Shisk looked at the turian. From what the human said it seems like the crew still had a little way to go before they accepted him. Shepard had told him how the crew from the last Normandy had taken a good three to four months before they started thinking about accepting, this turian, and rest of the nonhumans. Those were Alliance soldiers, these are Cerberus humans. It might take a little longer this time around on top of the prejudice that the galaxy already had against his kind. Then again, while walking around the ship, other than hearing them talk behind his back, everybody had said that they were here for this human, Commander Shepard. Shepard…this human had spilled his blood for Shisk. That meant a lot to his kind, short of being actual brothers. He knew the moment that human had asked him to join his crew that things in this galaxy were going to change dramatically and Commander Shepard is going to be the catalyst.

"Shisk, I want you to stay by me at all times during this mission, alright?" Shepard said bringing Shisk back. He shook his head. It wasn't normal for his kind to do that.

"Yes, Shisk stay by you."

"Good, now Mordin…" The Commander stopped. He turned back to Shisk and started looking over him. "I'm sorry Shisk I forgot to get you a gun."

"Shisk have gun."

"I get my crew the best of the best. For now what gun are you more comfortable with a pistol, a sniper rifle, an assault rifle, or a shotgun?"

"Assault rifle." Shepard pulled the assault rifle off his back and handed it to Shisk.

"Take good care of it." Shisk made no move to take the gun.

"What you use?"

"We can always use another sniper." A muffled sound came from the turian. It sounded really close to laughter. Mordin looked at Garrus.

"Never heard a turian laugh, fascinating. Reaction to what the Commander said. Would say that you think that he can't use a sniper rifle." Garrus coughed into his hand trying to regain a little composure.

"He couldn't hit the ship if he was standing next to it."  Shisk looked over at the human to see his reaction. The human had a smirk on his face.

"That was two years ago Garrus. I think I do have one thing to thank Cerberus for. At this point I think that I'm even a better sniper than you." The turian's mandibles flared.

"Is that a challenge?"

"What do you think?"

"Will go by the number of missed shots. If I win you will buy me a new sniper rifle." The Commander held out his hand.

"If I win you have to answer every question I ask you for an hour, honestly and no slipping around." Garrus hand paused midway to Shepards. Betting his personal life for a sniper rifle, ya, it was worth it. He took the Commander's hand firmly.

"Deal." Shisk saw the look that the human and the Turian shared. It was strange to see two, as far as he could tell, brothers not by blood, betting against each other. He learned on Omega to make bets with those you didn't know. That way if you win you win but if you lose you just attack them later and win anyway.

"As much as I love a good bet I would love to leave Purgatory ASAP. ETA fifteen minutes."  Joker interrupted.

"Right," Shepard said. "Back to business, Mordin when we get down there I want you to take point. Wait a minute, are you making progress on the swarms?"

"Yes. Though would like to stay to continue my work. Would like to come next time."

"Alright, you're free to go. Could you tell Zaeed to get up here ASAP?"

"Already here Commander." Zaeed walked up from behind Mordin. Mordin nodded to him then headed back to the lab. Shepard looked at how prepped Zaeed was.

"Expecting something?"

"No, I was going to tail you." Everyone looked at him.

"On a prison ship?" Garrus asked.

"Ya, there's a couple of people I need to visit in there."  The Commander waved his hand in the air.

"You can do whatever you want after we see Jack. You have one hour to get back on board the Normandy after that." Zaeed cracked his knuckles.

"I only need fifteen minutes."

"Should have saved that for the people you need to visit."

"Don't worry your pretty head about that."

"Take point?"

"Sure." Shepard turned to Jacob.

"Hey Jacob you've been quite for a little while, something wrong?" Jacob looked up from his omni-tool.

"Just adding the finishing touches to a weapon I'm working on."

"A gun?"

"No, it's an explosive." Shepard put a hand on his shoulder.

"You are my new best friend." Garrus started chuckling. Jacob smiled.

"Thanks, it's based off what you and Miranda discovered about the heat sinks."

"I think I've talked enough," Garrus snorted a laugh. "Everybody finish your prep we leave in ten minutes."

"Fifteen." Joker said.

"We leave in fifteen."

------------------------------------------------

"With all this fuss going on it should make my visits a lot easier!" Zaeed called over the gun fire.

"Jack first!" The Shepard called back.

"I think this is one time I wish you weren't well known Commander." Jacob said over the com.

"You have to admit that it's never boring when I'm around." A mech dog exploded as a round from Garrus sniper tore through it.

"Haven't missed yet commander!" he called. Before Shepard could answer Shisk started to run from cover right at the enemy. He grabbed Shisk"s shoulder and pulled him back to cover. Shisk turned his rage filled eyes on to the human.

"Why you stop me?" he asked. The human put a hand on each of Shisk's shoulders.

"The last thing I need is for one of my crew to die."

"I not die easy." He said. The human smiled. Two guards hit the ground.

"I know but you're doing it wrong. What you are doing will get you killed no matter how hard you think you are to kill. From my personal experience there are three main reasons to run from cover. First is to find better cover. Second is to act as a decoy. Third is when you have proper cover from your team mates, for example." the Commander hit his com while seeing what was left of the opposition. Nothing but dead bodies. "Well, there goes that Idea. Miranda? Can you send us a route to where Jack is being held?"

"Just finished sending it to Garrus."

"Got it." Garrus confirmed.

After a firefight or two they stood at a terminal that looked down into the room that Jack was being held. The heavy mechs activated the moment the mechanical arm moved to pull Jack out of cryo. The moment they could see Jack everyone went still. Garrus jaw hit the floor. Jack was a she and by the looks of it she was mad. She tore out of her restraints with ease. The whine of several guns charging could be heard as the heavy mechs targeted her. She focused her energy and charged them. The heavy mechs were taken apart like a bullet meeting glass. Shepard turned look at Garrus to find Shisk's jaw had also fallen to the floor. Placing a finger under each of their jaws he closed them. Zaeed grunted.

"She looks like…" Zaeed got out before the floor shook violently.

"What was that?" Jacob asked.

"Jack." Miranda answered. "She made her own exit. I can see why she is on the recruit
list." Shepard let out a huge sigh.

"Let's go find her." A grin lit up Zaeed's face.

"Can't wait to meet her." They continued on meeting little pockets of resistance here and there but with the five of them they made short work of them.

"Sections D through G have decompressed. No survivors."  The V.I. announced over the COM. Zaeed cursed.

"There goes one of my sources."

"For what?" Garrus asked.

"Locations where the person that shot me in the head could be." Garrus was quiet for a moment.

"Well if Shepard can come back from the dead I guess others can too." Zaeed just rolled his eyes.

"Mech!" Shisk shouted just as something hit the Commander square in the back sending him to the floor. His shields were down and his armor would hold against another hit like that. He made it to cover next to Jacob. He was binding together several used heat sinks.

"That your design?" the Commander asked. Jacob shook his head.

"No this is impromptu." He handed the bundle to Shepard. looking out from cover he saw it wasn't a mech but a heavy mech. Looking down at the bundle in his had he wondered if it would be enough to take it down. He mentally shrugged, only one way to find out. Backing a few feet away from his cover the Commander made sure he had room to throw. He activated hic COM.

"Shisk, Zaeed, get the focus of that mech off of Garrus I need him to snipe something for me."

"Can't do it yourself Commander?" Garrus teased. By that time the mech had its attention on Shisk.

"My hands are full, and Garrus?"

"What?"

"Say pull."

"Pull?" Shepard threw the bundle of used heat sinks as hard as he could at the heavy mech.

"I'm guessing you want me to shoot that."

"Hit it in the air and the sniper is yours." The bundle hit the ground at the heavy mech's feet and bounced. The sound of Garrus sniper was drowned out by a massive explosion. Shepard was knocked to the ground for the second time in less than three minutes. The heavy mech was nowhere to be seen. Where it had been standing before was a cherry red hole.

"Everyone alright?"  Yelling reached his ears looking around for the source he saw Shisk rolling on the ground with his hands on his face. Making his way over to him he pulled away on of the hands to find that Shisk's face had been almost burnt off. As he moved to prep some medi-gel he saw the wound was already regenerating. Not wanting him to be in anymore pain he applied the medi-gel anyway. After a minute Shisk was standing on his own feet albeit shakily. A weak chuckle came from the left.

"Be careful Shisk, you'll end up looking like me." Zaeed was helping Garrus to his feet.

"That was better than my incendiary grenades. What was that?" Zaeed commented.

"Good question. Jacob where are you?"

"Here." Jacob was cradling his arm. A massive amount of medi-gel had been applied to it already.

"What's wrong?" he motioned to his arm.

"Second degree burn. I'll live but it hurts like crazy." After getting a good look at Shisk's face he got up grabbing his pistol with his uninjured hand.  "You going to be okay Shisk?" the Vorcha nodded.

"I think your impromptu needs a little work." Garrus laughed.

"I'll help you."

"Rah! I kill something. Help pain." It was Zaeed's turn to laugh this time.

"I agree with him."

"Shisk look me in the eye." The Vorcha complied knowing what the Commander was looking for. Putting a hand under Shisk's chin he tilted his head so the light was reflecting off of his eyes. Looks like they ether weren't harmed or healed first. "Can you see enough to fight?"

"Yes."

"Alright move out! Miranda where is Jack?"

"Don't worry she's stuck at a reinforced door trying to hack it."

"Delay her if you can."

They carefully made their way around the cherry red hole in to the next room which turned out to be a hallway with a medi-gel dispenser. After they all stocked up on medi-gel, even Shisk when the Commander forced him, they moved to the next room. A gunshot rang out and Shisk dropped like a rock. Another one rang out clipping Zareeds shoulder. Everyone ducked for cover.

"Could have lived like a king! You have no idea how much money somebody is willing to pay for you Shepard!" The Warden. For some reason it didn't surprise Shepard one bit. By the looks of it the Warden was on a platform. His eyes slowly made their way to where Shisk fell.

"He's got a barrier around him! I see three generators supporting it."  Garrus called out. Shepard's eyes never left Shisk.

"Make that two." A shot from Zaeed's rifle knocked out one of the generators.

"I'm moving on the other one." Garrus said. Zaeed followed him.

"I'm with you scales."

"Commander I see the third one." Jacob motioned with his pistol. Looking back at Shepard he saw that his eyes were stuck unmoving on Shisk's body.

"Shisk…Kadian…Jenkins…Pressly…" The Commander muttered

"Shepard if you don't cover me I could die." Shepard's eyes snapped to Jacob's. After a moment they looked around taking in what was happening.

"Right, let's move."

"Just took out the second generator. Reinforcements have arrived. Garrus and I have most of them pinned down but a few made it past and heading your way."

"Contact."  Jacob called. Shepard sighted the head of one of the guards in his scope. That's one. Shisk didn't come back. Two, three, four, Shisk is still gone. After a few moments the Commander found Jacob shouting at him.

"There's nothing left to shoot!" some time he had pulled away from the scope and was just firing. He felt dead. It felt like Virmire all over again. No, not again, it was worse. It was another coffin on his shoulders. Motioning to Jacob they both took out the last barrier. All that was left was the Warden and the remaining reinforcements.

"Shepard! You are too much trouble, but Jack, Jack I can capture again. She is not worth as much as you but I can sell her for a fair amount." Jacob saw a flame spark in the Commander's eyes.  Sighting in on the Warden's head Shepard muttered,

"Here's a shot to sell." Just before he pulled the trigger the Warden arched his back. The Warden fell off the platform to the ground below. Standing behind him shaking his hands was Shisk.

"Rah! To hard!" the rest of the guards fled the moment the Warden hit the ground. Jacob and Zaeed went over to check if the Warden was dead. A sharp piece of metal was sticking out of his back.

"You could have just shot him!" Garrus called up to him. Shisk paused for a moment, then shook his head.

"No enough pain." Garrus nodded in agreement.

"Nice show." Everybody's head turned toward the new voice. It was Jack. "I was going to kill the Warden until I spotted a Cerberus ship in the docking bay. Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you all right here."

"We came to recruit you for a mission if you're interested." Shepard told her. She raised her eye brow.

"Recruit me? Though I am interested as to why that's not a good enough reason."

"As for why, we are going on a 'suicide' mission. Also I can give you access to anything you want." Shepard looked at Jacob to see if he would object. He nodded back. Jack smiled.

"Suicide, huh? I like the sound of that. I like the sound of that access even better. If you're lying to me you will be the first person I kill."

"Alright." Jacob looked around.

"Let's take this back to the ship before this place blows." Shepard opened the COM.

"Joker add Jack to the Normady's data base." Turning to Jack he said, "Welcome aboard the Normandy."