Leytradvorstrelundar: Glad to hear it ;)

Kenneth Carmer: It's one of my favorite aspects of the game as well. I used to purely play as a Paragon, but at some point the allure of creating a Shepard that skates that knife edge of hero/anti-hero called too loudly. Now every time I play I end up making the bad ass I see in my imagination lol

murasakibar8: Apologies for leaving you hanging so long! I sincerely hope that this chapter is the payoff I want it to be :D

Olav152: With an insatiable vengeance!

ivandundalov7: Thank you. Good to be back 3

Guest: It's a doozie! Let's hope it hits the right notes that I want it to.

Never Morrison: For a little while I was, but my imagination wouldn't let me just let it go. ;)

darkerego: Thank you! Happy to oblige.

A/N: Just a quick little note. Sorry for the time between uploads. Always seem to be busy, plus since it's been so long I wanted to give a little extra oomph to this one. There's a couple clues sprinkled throughout for you all to get a deeper look at what exactly it is the Commander holds in his hand! Enjoy everyone!

*OMEGA ASTEROID MINING STATION*

Fires burned unimpeded through numerous corridors and side streets. Terrified screams, shouted orders, and the discharge of multiple firearms split the oppressively thick atmosphere. Everywhere chaos reigned as combatants and bystanders alike scattered in every direction trying to escape the ongoing carnage. Literally cutting through the bedlam was a metaphorical maniac wielding a weapon of unimaginable power. That maniac being the one man capable of extracting Garrus Vakarian from the slums of Omega alive.

"Get your ass moving Korick!" The armored Turian shouted back to his Salarian squad mate.

"I *puff* I'm going as fast as *wheeze* I can." The Salarian responded through panting breaths. "Where *puff* is he getting all this?"

Garrus' gaze snapped back to the sword swinging psycho further ahead. "Honestly I'm not entirely sure. He was always a little nuts once he got his hands on that thing, but… this is a little much." He motioned them onward with his rifle at the ready. "Better hurry to catch up before the net closes behind him and we get cut off."

The Salarian nodded mutely as he steeled himself to keep up the grueling pace.

Truth be told while Garrus was incredibly grateful to whatever deity brought his friend back at the moment he needed him most, he was more than a little concerned with the circumstances they were currently in. Naturally he was completely mistrustful of the shadow organization called Cerberus given their past encounters, but whatever they'd done to his friend was on a whole other level. The red eyes coupled with angrily glowing scars splitting the Commander's face was disconcerting to say the least, but now the untold strength and stamina he was demonstrating was almost unbelievable.

Upon leaving the apartment Shepard had promptly taken the lead as was his usual position. Without warning he'd ignited his biotics which the sword hungrily absorbed and vaulted out the shattered second story window to land smack in the middle of a group of mechs. With a single lateral swing he'd wiped nearly a dozen of the machines from existence as the sword's powerful disruption field blasted them to nothing. Within a heartbeat Shepard had rocketed off to plow into the next line of advancing tin cans. By the time both Garrus and Korick had made it down to ground level and outside the bridge was empty save for the few parts of mechs that hadn't been entirely vaporized. Chief among them was the right arm rocket tubes of a YMIR class mech.

In the distance the Turian and Salarian could see the crazed Human hopping the barricade to wreak havoc on the mercenaries still sheltering behind it. Crackling energy accompanied by pulpy thumps denoted the passing of each unfortunate merc that came into contact with the infernal blade's edge. The unnerving cackle the Commander uttered could also subtly be heard through the sounds of gunfire and shrieks of horror. Once Garrus and Korick made it to the remains of the barricade they climbed over to witness Shepard standing alone in a growing pool of his enemy's blood. His normally cobalt biotics had begun to take on a purplish tinge marking the point where he would be approaching his limits. Not long after his overtasked body would put him in a temporary coma. He was also never lucid upon reaching this point.

"What kept you?" He asked with a wild eyed grin.

Garrus was momentarily taken aback by the question. "We… we stopped for coffee. How's uh… how's it going?"

If the Commander caught the slightly worried edge in his friend's subharmonics he didn't show any sign. "Happy as a clam! Just what I needed to get my head on straight."

"Well I'm sure there's going to be plenty more where that came from. You think you'll be able to handle it?" Garrus asked, still apprehensive of Shepard's condition. The roar of a gunship's thrusters whirring closer served to punctuate his words.

"Haven't even broke a sweat! Just like the good ol' days eh?"

Korick looked incredulously between the two with shock evident on his face. "What kind of outrageous shit could you have possibly done that even remotely compares to this?"

"Tell ya once we're done. Looks like the home team's brought in the second string!" Without further explanation the Commander flashed a genuine, albeit crazy-looking, smile before leaping over the barricade once again to meet the gunship hovering just outside.

Barely a minute later the flying death machine had come crashing down with several sizable chunks missing from it's structure. A bleeding Kraven came down a millisecond later although the aid of his biotics made his landing a good deal softer than the gunship's. Said biotic field was now closer to red than purple. Yet it still appeared that Shepard retained some portion of his faculties as he nodded to the two dumbstruck aliens before motioning them to follow as he sprinted off toward the way he'd come. They'd been trying to keep up with him ever since.

That was until stopping dead in their tracks at the entrance to Omega, the station's premier nightclub and metaphorical throne to it's pirate queen matriarch, Aria T'Loak. That very same Asari who now stood on the steps of her stronghold, arms crossed, flanked to either side by the hired muscle she didn't even need. Directly across from her, standing defiant in the middle of the street, caked with drying blood and wreathed in a sanguine aura of blazing biotic energy was Commander Shepard.

The Asari speared the Commander with an icy stare that could have frozen molten steel, but kept her sultry tone even despite the malice in her eyes. "I assume you have a good reason for wrecking half my station and assaulting my people?"

To his credit, Kraven met the most dangerous woman in the galaxy's gaze with steel of his own. Although if he were in his right mind and not holding what could be the most dangerous personal weapon in the galaxy his attitude might have been a little more humble. "I'm on a mission. They got in the way." He stated flatly.

Her face remained completely passive as she gestured with one hand. "And what would that mission be exactly?"

Shepard planted the tip of his blade in the deck beside him, but the inferno swirling around him and the unnatural blaze in his eyes didn't slacken. "Don't worry about it."
Anyone else might have missed it, but Garrus' practiced eye noticed the almost imperceptible flash of anger that flickered across the pirate queen's features. He nudged Korick with his elbow before nodding toward the street that would take them toward one of the station's docking bays. "This is about to get nasty. Time to see ourselves out." He whispered.

Korick nodded his agreement although he didn't seem capable of tearing his eyes from the scene unfolding before them.

"Want me to teach him some manners?" A mountain of a Krogan to Aria's right asked expectantly as Garrus and Korick started to shuffle toward their escape route.

"Like to see you try." Kraven growled before Aria could respond.

Her eyes narrowed menacingly, but her voice remained completely even. "You're playing a very dangerous game, and I'm beginning to lose my patience. I suggest you tell me what you're doing here and how you plan to do to make this right." Cobalt fire started to dimly flicker around her slender frame. Her gaze shifted to Garrus for a fraction of a second before returning to the madman in front of her.

Shepard took an angry step forward. "None of your damn business. You want some? Come get it bitch!"

Garrus' heart dropped. "Shit..." He groaned. There was only ever one rule on Omega. Don't fuck with Aria. Shepard just took that rule, balled it up, and flushed it straight down the toilet with a deuce as a chaser.

Apparently the Human's misplaced bravado was somewhat amusing to the Asari as her lips quirked into the barest hint of a grin before she casually signaled her men to dispose of the interloper. With eager anticipation plainly clear on every single thug's face, the noose started to advance and close around the lone man who stood stock still staring daggers at the woman in front of him. As the circle tightened around him, the massive Krogan from before reached out to jab the muzzle of his shotgun into the Commander's armored ribs.

The sneer on the huge alien's grizzled face quickly shifted to stupefied horror as a lightning fast sweep of glittering steel flashed up to impact his left hip. In a split second nearly three quarters of his body ceased to exist as the diabolical sword's disruption field disintegrated the bonds holding his atoms together. As his dismembered upper half cartwheeled away his cohorts hadn't even begun to understand what had just happened.

Their momentary inaction would prove to be a costly mistake as Kraven vaulted into the nearest edge of the circle swinging his blade as he went. In the blink of an eye a Batarian, and two Vorcha were turned into glittering blood mist as the rest of the hapless underlings finally started to react. Weapons started to fire regardless of whether friend or foe was in danger of being hit as Kraven ducked and weaved to bring himself into striking distance of his panicked opposition.

It was all over in a matter of seconds as a slick of blood mixed with various unidentifiable carnage gradually grew to paint an ever larger portion of the street. Shepard once again stood alone amidst the sanguine death but wouldn't be waiting long for company. Garrus tried to shout a warning, but had barely sucked the wind into his lungs before a streak of cobalt destruction pounded into the living chaos before her.

She was fast. Almost too fast for Garrus to even follow. In the span of a single heartbeat she rained a dozen biotic fueled punches down on the hapless chaos who could only give ground as he was pummeled relentlessly. He attempted to create distance so as to bring his blade into play, but destruction kept up her merciless close-range assault to keep chaos squarely on the defense. Garrus raised his rifle to try and intervene but after a few tense breaths lowered it again. The two were moving so quickly, and so hopelessly intertwined in hand to hand combat it would have been completely impossible to hit one and not the other.

He gritted his teeth in frustration at his own powerlessness until more of destruction's minions started to arrive on the scene. Garrus once again raised his weapon until he noticed that none of the newcomers seemed keen on entering the fray. Instead they appeared to be far more interested in betting on who would be the winner of the seemingly one-sided brawl. This realization gave the irritated Turian a splendid idea.

With unrivaled bravado, and a shocked expression from his Salarian counterpart, he carefully skirted the ongoing battle between chaos and destruction to where the knot of destruction's people gathered. A rather loud Human was shouting to be heard over the cheers of his cohorts and the rapid fire *crack-booms* of biotics going off.

"No one wants to take the bet? Come on 10 to 1 odds! Anyone?"

"I'll take it. 10,000 credits say the Human wins." Garrus bellowed over the din.

All eyes snapped to the misguided Turian followed shortly by raucous laughter. The bookie didn't miss a beat. "Good man. Let's see your green, and best of luck my impoverished friend." He chuckled with a sneer.

Garrus ponied up every last credit he had to his name, and turned to watch just as chaos took a vicious left hook to the side of his head. The crowd cheered as the Human staggered backwards and almost ended up on the deck. The blade of his sword sank into the deck to keep him upright as he leaned on the handle like a crutch. With blood weeping into his left eye he glared up into the neutral expression of destruction as she stood waiting for him. It appeared that she was only toying with him by that point, and already knew that the contest was won. She was simply stretching her muscles with a bit of exercise.

And that confidence would end up costing her. As the crowd looked on in smug satisfaction that they would all be going home a few credits richer the crimson aura surrounding chaos began to darken. The unholy fire burning in his eyes, and behind the scars crossing his flesh, started to gain intensity as he straightened to his full height. The blood streaming down his face started to bead, and pull away from his skin, but instead of dropping to the ground it hung suspended. He bared his teeth in a savage snarl as the biotic fire enveloping his frame darkened to light-devouring black.

"What the hell are you?" Destruction wondered aloud as a look of revulsion crossed her beautiful features.

She'd barely uttered the disdainful words before chaos' jaw dropped and the deafening roar of a million voices thundered from his mouth. Everyone within a dozen blocks grabbed their heads in pain from the ear shattering sound. Even destruction couldn't help but be bowed by the terrifying noise as her hands instinctively rose to cover her ears. She doubled over in pain for a fraction of a second before regaining control and rising to finish chaos off. Except she couldn't see him anymore.

It took less than a micro-second for her to assimilate the situation, but even that was barely enough time. She threw herself backward with all her might as a blade wreathed in obsidian flame sailed through the space she had narrowly vacated. Garrus could only look on in disbelieving horror as he tried to understand what was happening.

He had seen chaos' aura shift to a black so deep it was actually difficult to look at. He had seen the man open his mouth to utter the deafening noise. But he hadn't seen him move. Almost by some magic he had simply ceased to be in one location, and miraculously appeared in another. Which just happened to be directly beside destruction who, to her credit, somehow avoided what would have been a death blow for anyone else.

But chaos wasn't done. When his sword strike missed he allowed his momentum to carry his left foot up to impact destruction's spine as she fell. She appeared to turn with the blow to lessen the damage, but still took the brunt of the hit to her ribs. She nimbly rolled with the force exerted on her torso to let it carry her away from her opponent, but as she lightly landed on a hand and one knee chaos was already waiting for her with sword raised.

Sensing his presence, destruction dove to the side to avoid the overhand chop that would have turned her into a stain on the ground. As she did she primed a biotic detonation in her left palm to send it rocketing into chaos' demonic looking face. Except instead of exploding to tear him apart like she expected it to, it hit the broad side of the upraised sword and imploded.

In less than a heartbeat the explosion that was destruction's hallmark was compressed to the size of a marble by whatever forces lay within the accursed weapon. She didn't even have time to blink before the destructive power she herself had created, and which was subsequently empowered by a blade from hell itself, released the stored energy in a titanic detonation directed squarely at her.

Even as she tumbled through the air she threw up her arms to protect her face, and channel every ounce of biotic power she had into her barriers. It wasn't quite enough. The massive pressure wave rumbled through her body tearing soft organ and muscle tissue to ribbons as it went. She finally let out an agonized scream as she was thrown almost 60 feet further down the street from the force of the blast. She gritted her teeth against the pain as she tumbled across the ground until hitting something with her right shoulder that finally stopped her.

She laid there on her back for a few seconds with her eyes closed before finally opening them to see what had stopped her momentum. The blood that wasn't pouring from her nose, and ears turned to ice as she gazed up into the baleful eyes of an ebony shrouded demon. With sword raised he let loose another terrifying roar that sounded for all the world like a multitude of voices all shrieking in unison as he bared his teeth, and brought his weapon down into her chest.

Destruction screwed her eyes shut as she waited for the blinding light of eternity that would never come. For several seconds she lay expecting the end to come at any moment before finally opening her eyes again. The unearthly light emanating from chaos' eyes had winked out along with the black flames that had wreathed his form for the past harrowing minute. Her gaze traveled down to where the tip of the cursed sword hung motionless an inch above her breast.

Garrus stood amidst her men in utter disbelief at what he'd witnessed as no one seemed capable of moving. After Aria finally started to extricate herself out from underneath the lethal instrument he managed to regain his composure.

"Shepard!" He called out without receiving an answer from the Commander who hand't moved a single muscle.

"Boss! Are you ok?" Several of the gathering yelled as they rushed over to help their severely injured queen stand.

She brusquely waved them away even as she clutched her broken ribs. "What the ever loving hell was that?" She asked Garrus as he moved to brush past her.

In all honesty he didn't actually know. Kraven had gone off the deep end plenty of times before, but something about this was entirely different. He'd never seen the Commander move so fast; not even when he fought Sovereign's avatar. To the point where it almost seemed like Kraven ceased to be the man Garrus knew and became something altogether more sinister. And dangerous.

"You made him mad." He finally answered with a shrug.

The expression on Aria's face plainly betrayed her dissatisfaction although she chose not to pursue it further. "Whatever it was I want it gone. Get the fuck off my station."

Garrus nodded. "Don't have to tell me twice." He glanced over to the bookie who stood dumbfounded a few yards away. "Right after I settle up with your man there."

"You have 10 minutes." Aria responded with pure venom before gracefully walking back to her club to lick her wounds amidst an entourage of fawning thugs.

Garrus watched her go for a moment before turning back to his friend who still hadn't moved an inch. "Damn Shepard you better not be dead." He grunted as he raised his omni tool. "I'll take my winnings my poor impoverished friend."

The bookie made no reply as he continued to stare at the Human who had managed to best Aria.

"Unless of course you'd like the second round once he wakes up?" Garrus prodded.

The Human shook his vehemently as he snapped out of his stupor, and frantically transferred the credits to Garrus' omni-tool before turning tail to practically run back into Omega with the rest.

"Pleasure doing business with you." The Turian called over his shoulder. As he neared his friend he caught sight of a knot of people hurrying toward him from the docking bays. A voluptuous brunette led the pack in a white cat-suit that looked about 3 sizes too small.

"Bloody hell." She growled with an alluring accent as they neared, and pointed to the inert form of the Commander. "There he is. Grab him, and let's go."

Garrus instinctively stepped up to bar their way. "Something I can help you with?" He said making a point to wrack the slide of his rifle.

The woman looked somewhat annoyed by the gesture, but he'd be damned if he let some pack of strangers anywhere near his friend. "Archangel?" She asked pointedly.

He was momentarily taken aback at her use of the monicker. "Depends. Who are you, and what do you want?"

She stepped up in front of him, but didn't offer her hand. "Miranda Lawson. I'm Commander Shepard's second in command on the Normandy." She put a hand on her hip. "And the person responsible for bringing him back to life."

Garrus remained unmoved. "So you're the one who turned him into..." He glanced back at his motionless friend. "That?"

She craned her neck to look at the Shepard statue. "In a manner of speaking. I can explain once we're under way."

"And if I decide I don't trust you?"

She huffed in irritation. "We don't have time for this." She raised two fingers to her ear. "Joker. Care to join the conversation?"

The name sparked an instant reaction in the Turian's mind, but he kept it from showing on his face. At least until the surly pilot's voice crackled over the com.

"Sure. What can I do for you sweet cheeks?"

She ground her teeth. "I told you if you didn't stop calling me that..."

"You'd pull my teeth out through my ass with a singularity. Get in line." He chuckled.

She looked ready to absolutely light into him until Garrus finally relaxed, and stowed his weapon. "Alright. I'm convinced."

"At last." Miranda grumbled as she severed the feed to the Normandy to cut off any further snark from it's pilot. "What happened?" She asked waving her team forward.

Garrus stepped aside as a Salarian he recognized as a doctor from the slums scuttled past followed by a dark skinned Human man. Korick came up to them a moment later. "I honestly don't know. I've seen what he can do when he gets ahold of that thing plenty of times before. This was something different."

Miranda crossed her arms over her ample bosom. "Different how?"

Garrus shook his head as he recalled the logic-bending encounter. "When he goes too far he starts to go a little nuts, but he still moves like normal. Just a lot faster, and with a much bigger punch. This though... It's like he wasn't even Human anymore, and the black biotics and that spirits awful noise…"

Miranda studied his expression carefully as he spoke before looking off into space as she contemplated his words.

"What did you do to him?" Garrus asked with a hint of challenge in his voice.

She shook her head, but didn't look at him. "We regrew his body and added a network of cybernetics to enhance his natural ability. Our instructions were to make him as close to himself as we possibly could. Which we did. Whatever happened here certainly wasn't a result of anything I did..."

Both of them turned to look at the man who had finally crumpled to the ground in a heap and thankfully could be seen breathing. "No... That definitely wasn't because of me." She reiterated in a cryptic tone.