"Have to take these things out the old-fashioned way," Anderson said as he saw Shepard run out of thermal clips.

Shepard nodded, leaping over his impromptu cover to combat the husks before him head-on. There were only a few of them left now, and for some reason they seemed intent on banging on the walls instead of combating the two humans.

They all required a few blows each, delivered by Shepard banging the butt of his empty pistol against their skulls. None of them attempted to retaliate, yet for some reason Anderson warned him to not let them grab him. A fourth husk started to climb over a nearby balcony, but Shepard simply kicked it off before it could make it over the railing.

As soon as the last husk was sent hurtling towards the ground, a massive Reaper several miles away directed a laser beam at the building Shepard was standing beside. He slid beneath the debris and glass and fire that exploded outward from the building, avoiding being punctured or burned.

Shepard still couldn't believe that the Reapers were here, on Earth. He was one of few people who had long since acknowledged their existence and the fact that someday they would come, but a small part of him had hoped that maybe he was as crazy as people said.

Anderson helped him off the ground and they proceeded into the building through the now non-existent door that'd been locked moments earlier.

"Gotta find a way out of here," Anderson said as Shepard 'borrowed' some medi-gel from a case that had survived the explosion.

Shepard looked over his shoulder. "That's quite the understatement, Anderson."

Despite the situation they were both in, the two soldiers managed to briefly smile.

Pocketing the medi-gel for later, Shepard entered the room to his left and approached another door, this one unlocked. He pressed the button to open it, but it jammed and only slightly parted. A blessing in disguise, as a husk on the other side of the door tried and failed to attack Shepard through the small opening. It trapped itself between them, unable to move forward and unwilling to go back.

Shepard went to beat it with his pistol again, but Anderson told him, "Use your omni-blade."

"My omni-what?" Shepard asked, unsure exactly what the former Councilor was talking about.

Anderson showed him, stepping forward and activating his omni-tool. A transparent double-edged blade erupted from Anderson's arm as he swiped down at the husk in the door. It passed through the husk, fatally slicing it in two.

"How long have we been able to do that?!" Shepard demanded as Anderson turned to him. He slapped his forehead, realizing the answer.

A quizzical look appeared on Anderson's face. "The omni-blade is one of the oldest applications the omni-tool has ever had."

"Then why I am learning about it now? I literally cannot count how many times a freaking sword would have been useful when I was hunting Saren or trying to stop the Collectors!"

"Well... um... I'm not sure."

"I feel like this is a new addition to the omni-tool and you're just lying to me that it's always existed."

"Shepard, that's ridiculous."

"What else is new, Admiral? Can I fly? Am I able to run at FTL speeds? Can I detect the darkspawn?"

"As you've already seen, you can now jump small gaps and climb ladders."

Shepard sighed. "Way to innovate, BioWare," he grumbled.

A/N: Thanks to Nuclearwullfs, h, loopy-loophole, anakinpk200, thepkrmgc, and Libelle Scriptor for reviewing since the last update.

I feel this chapter has more of a Chapters 1,2, and 3 vibe than any other one since then. So let's just pretend that I have two different Shepards for this fic: one that is more serious and more nitpicky about how things run/occur, and one that leans more into the collection of idiots that he feels he is surrounded by (reference to the summary there).

All jokes aside though, I do love the addition of the omni-tool in ME3, especially when playing as a Biotic class.