The Only Thing I Know For Real Part 8

Chapter 8: O Living Will That Shalt Endure

"I want Chakwas in the Hanger Bay, stat. Don't worry about supplies or any of that, we've got it all covered. Don't even let her change, just get her over here right now." The Commander was excitedly giving commands into his Omni-tool, talking to the young woman's face looking back at him.

"Right, Shepard. I'm on it. Is there anything else you need before you go?" The heavy Australian accent said through the screen with the quiet determination the woman was known for.

"Yeah, there is actually. This trip isn't a true mission, but the Normandy's gonna be severely under-staffed and we need all the hands we can get. You're coming too, Miranda."

"Finally. I can get the bloody hell out of this hospital. Me and Chakwas are headed to the Normandy right now. Lawson out."

"Are all of us plus two people really enough to staff the Normandy?" Tali asked to nobody in particular.

"Well nobody can say for sure but educated guess: No." Joker dryly responded in his typical fashion.

"As long as you guys don't mind missing a meal from the cook and playing some utility roles to keep the thing running, we'll make it through." Shepard replied either showing he was extremely confident, or he didn't care that much.

"Heh, it's fine. That cook's food sucked anyway." Wrex rubbed his stomach as he talked.

"Anyway. . ."

*Ding*

The elevator opened up and revealed the Shuttle Bay, where the Normandy was sitting, same as ever.

"Right where I left her!" Joker exclaimed and ran over to his ship and gave it a hug. The best hug you can give a spaceship anyway.

"Man, it's great to have you back!" Shepard said with a smile as he walked towards the Normandy.

"It's great to be back, Commander." Joker had a smile on his face as well as he draped an arm across his friend's shoulder.

"I was talking about the Normandy."

"Jerk."

And with that Joker started to open the door for everyone to get in. He knew everyone needed a second to readjust to the ship before Miranda and the doc got there.

"Wait!"

Everyone turned around to see a bandaged up face, wearing N7 armor, the same man Shepard and Garrus had seen earlier when they tried to get to the Normandy. Conrad Verner.

"I knew you guys would try and leave again. I don't know what you think you're doing, but I'm putting a stop to it, Shep-WHOA!"

Before he even knew what was happening Wrex had come up behind the wannabe soldier and grabbed him by the ankles, easily lifting him upside down, Conrad dropping his gun in the process.

"Heeeeey, let me go! This isn't fair, I'm a Spectre!"

"The Council must have gotten a lot dumber over the last two months if they thought you're all it takes to stop us!" Garrus said, definitely not impressed with the newest Spectre.

The man in charge was smirking as he walked up to where his most annoying "friend" was currently. . .incapacitated. "Hey, Wrex, put him down for a second. I just got an idea."

Wrex dropped him carelessly with a shrug. "If you wanna kill him be my guest. That's what I was gonna do."

"Please, Shepard. . .I was just doing my job. You know you're the last person in the world I want to hurt. . ." Conrad was cowering in front of everyone now, hoping that another beating like earlier wasn't imminent.

"I'm gonna hate myself later for this. . .but Verner, what do you say about joining us in the Normandy for our mission?" Shepard reached a hand out to Conrad, who was nearly in tears up to that point and eagerly took his hero's hand and stood up.

"You're gonna let this idiot come with us!?" Wrex had a look that was a mix between angry, and strangely heartbroken on his face.

"Well, Shepard's recruited assassins, robots, convicted fugitives, psychopaths, even a Rachni to help us. . ." Garrus poked fun at his friend.

"Don't forget unemployed C-Sec officers." The Commander poked right back.

"I knew everything would turn upside down with you around. Between the new secret Council and this Ashley fiasco. . .have I ever told you how things always seem to be more interesting when you're around?" The Turian couldn't help but smile.

Conrad Verner was giddy at the oppurtunity "I just want to say how much of an honor it is to be apart of your crew, Commander Shepard, I-"

"Shut it, you twerp. People are here." Grunt said, shoving the meek individual aside as the elevator popped open, revealing the cavalry from the hospital, Miranda Lawson (Now in her usual white and black catsuit) and the humble Dr. Chakwas, both carrying bags of their own clothes and supplies.

"You aren't wearing the Nurse's outfit? What a shame." The Commander quipped, doing a poor job at hiding his disgustingly non-humble smile.

"Thanks a lot, Shepard. I'm glad I get treated with such respect and dignity at my new place of work." The Aussie winked at her playful Commander as she walked by him and was the first to step into the Normandy. "By the way, It's good to see you all again. I look forward to working with you again. . .some more than others." The Ex-Cerberus said, looking between the two Krogan who waved excitedly to her and Garrus, who shared a look with her, no doubt stirring up memories of the conversation the two had earlier in the day.

'Keep it together, Lawson. You're good people. You know your place. Bah, lets just get through this then I get a nice cushy job telling a bunch of other people to do. You get your life back.' Miranda breathed deeply before walking into the ship, heading to her office next to the cook's station.

'I really don't want to be the one making breakfast. I've always been terrible with...housey stuff.'

"I trust the Normandy has been kept spick-and-span since my latest departure, Commander Shepard?" The long-time doctor on these crazy crews faked an aura of confidence before letting that go and quickly giving the commander a big hug.

"You have no idea how happy it makes me to see you up and moving around. We all thought we had lost you. . .again. And I was there the entire time you were in Huerta, Shepard. I've seen so many tragic cases in that place, but you. . .I don't know how you do it. If you had asked me I would have said there's no way you'd be able to go to the wash on your own, let alone be back in action. You're a very special case, young man."

"I know how. I was perfectly content to lay around for the next 30 years and get fat eating Spicy Chicken Sandwiches. But someone couldn't let me ride off into the sunset and have my Beauty and the Beast ending. I know I've made some enemies in my time, but when they went after Ash, they didn't just cross the line, they pissed all over it, washed it away and then drove over it with a HammerHead. And I wasn't waiting another second to go save Ashley and shut down whatever low-rent operation he's got going on. Trust me, doc, when it comes to saving the people I care about. . .I'm always ready. You don't have to worry."

"I know I don't, silly. . ." The aged doctor put a hand on the jacketed human's face. "I remember the old days, when we were fighting Saren. You were always going around trying to play hero, even when the entire galaxy was against you. . .You really haven't changed a bit."

"Except in the face. He definitely hasn't aged well." Garrus couldn't help himself at this point. He even got a smile out of the good doctor and a giggle out of his special lady.

"You're one to talk, Vakarian! Check a mirror and try to count the wrinkles on the GOOD side of your face. No comment needed on the bad." Shepard came back with ease.

"Ouch. That's a low blow, Dylan. You really hurt my ego with that one."

The crew shared a laugh together at both mens' expense. Shepard hoped things would be as easygoing throughout this entire trip. Still though, at least one member of the crew had a small amount of focus on the goal of the mission. . .sort of.

"Tch, amateur work, boys. You two should audition to be the writers for Blasto Pop jokes. We've gotta get on the ball to go save Ashley!" Joker remarked before heading into the ship and rushing back to his special pilot's seat. He was home again.

"Yeah, yeah, I guess he's right. . .we'll all catch up after this is done and have a hell of a party. Everybody knows where they're going to be for this. Tali, take Verner and head down to keep tabs on the engine. Doc, you head to the Med Bay obviously. Garrus, you get to calibrating the weapons. I know how much you love doing that. Grunt and Wrex. . .you guys guard my room. If anything goes down that I need to know about, I don't want there to be any long elevator trips keeping me from knowing about it. Understood?"

"Understood. . ." Everyone murmured to themselves before walking to their set positions aboard the Normandy. Of course Conrad Verner looking absolutely giddy just to step into this great ship.

The players already were lining up to their positions, with Shepard in particular taking time to look around his old vessel.

'Even after everything that happened with the Reapers this thing hasn't changed a bit. The CIC is as prepped as ever, even with nobody using it for two months. . .I think. Being comatose for long periods really is getting old. It messes with my memory and knowledge of the world too much.' Shepard grumbled for a second to himself before walking over to the bridge to coordinate with Joker before taking off.

"Ah, Shepard! My chairs! My steering apparatus! My cup holders! It's my Normandy! Ain't she a beaut, Commander?" Joker always was able to get a smile out of the group's de facto leader.

"Glad to see you're getting reacquainted with the Normandy and all of her spectacular features, Joker. It's nice seeing you like this. I'm glad we're able to have this sorta time, you know? I was getting kinda worried for a second there. . ."

"It's all water under the bridge, Shepard. Being here again was just what I needed. Being here, in my zone. . .makes me know now more than ever that everything's going to be okay."

Shepard nodded in approval and the two friends slapped each others' hands to confirm their friendship again.

"So what do ya say, amigo? Head over to the Galaxy map and input the coordinates to where Dr. Evil or whoever has Ashley is and we're going to go in there and start some fireworks."

"You got it, Joker. I'm ready. And by the way. . .Thanks, bud. You saved Ashley's life and mine in a lot of ways. Believe me when I tell you, after all this is done you'll be getting a hell of a lot more than an invite to a party from me."

"You tryin' to sweep me off my feet?"

"Ha! I'd invite you to join me and Ash but she tells me you aren't her type."

"Damn. I've always wanted to feel the rugged hands of a strong man on me. You're a lucky guy to get to feel those whenever you want from Ash, Shepard."

Dylan just laughed him off and gave him a soft punch in the arm before walking away to in put the coordinates to Ashley's whereabouts.

"Only thing that'd make this better is if EDI was here too. . ." The starship's trusty pilot said softly to himself as Shepard walked away and he got a chance to stare at his second chair for a few far too brief moments.

Meanwhile Shepard checked in on the Comms across the ship after he input where they were all headed.

"Alright, guys, listen up. I just want to start off saying that you all already know this isn't a regular mission. We haven't had any preparations and it's no secret I'm far from 100% right now. This isn't going to be like the other missions like when I was a Spectre or helping Cerberus tank the Collectors. We're all alone on this one. I know you all wanted to be here and that means the world to me. But. . .I'm really sorry for getting you all involved with this. In his message our target made his intentions clear. He wanted me dead. You all, and especially Ash never should have been involved in whatever kind of game he's playing. And my last words to you all are this. This all started in London when I took out the Reapers for good. . .and that's where it's going to end. I don't know why and I don't know how, but the sorry bastard's got her in London. I already looked at the intel, it's right in front of me. Cleanup has stopped and nobody's there right now. That's okay. But when we get there I don't know what's going to happen. But if you're there when I finally get to the man responsible and one of you are there. I want you to be warned beforehand. . .I am going to show a side of myself that I've never shown before. And I can't promise you're going to like what you see when it happens. I know I can go to sleep at night and rest easy even knowing what I'm going to do to him. But can you say the same if you watch it and don't try to stop me? And God help anyone alive who tries to stop me, because I will NOT let him get away with what he's done. So just keep it in mind, before you want a front row seat for the action, please. I wish I could catch up with you all some more but I. . .need to rest some before we make it to Earth. Thank you all, and I hope you know how much I appreciate all this."

Shepard sent Joker the go-ahead and headed back to the elevator to get back to the Captain's Cabin, not bothering to try to chat with anyone on the ship. It had been a couple of months and a lot had changed , but to him hardly anytime had passed. He remembered being stuck in smoking rubble city like it was yesterday. He needed a little time to adjust to everything by himself.

*Ding*

Stepping out of the elevator he approached his door with the two Krogan on either side of the door. He simply walked to his door leading into the Cabin and stared at the two hulking men, looking for some sort of reaction from them, who nodded their heads in approval of the Commanders emphatic speech earlier.

"Keep a seat open in the first row for us when you get that lowlife, Shepard." Wrex said in his gravelly tone of voice.

"You know I'm a sucker for blood, Commander. It gives my heart that special tingly feeling!" Grunt bellowed and smashed his fist against his own hand.

"Don't worry, guys. I meant what I said and I never had any doubt you two would be on board. Thanks, Wrex. Grunt." Shepard nodded happily before stepping into his cabin and let the door close behind him, feeling his knees wobbling under him he made it to the bed and collapsed, holding his torso in pain.

"They weren't kidding when they said I wasn't ready! Aw, God. . .I've got this. I've gotta save Ash." Dylan said coughing slightly before sitting up on the bed.

'If anybody saw me like this they'd try and stop me for sure. That won't happen though...Nobody's gonna stop me now.' Shepard was almost in a daze, staring at his empty fish tank. It glowed like it always did with the ship's power on. The graceful blue of clean ocean water that matched his own armor. His armor! He got up and opened his locker, fresh with brand new armor that matched his old set to a T. He had a huge smile on his face as he picked it up and immediately started to change out of his civilian clothes and into his custom armor.

"This is great! I thought I was gonna have to storm the place naked for a second there."

The recovering war hero felt quite energetic, until he fully got his armor on and felt his size had diminished a fair amount in the last few months. He was still relatively lean but his muscle had lessened considerably from before. It was definitely. . .a downer. He also scowled a bit when he saw his reflection in his mirror in his room, bringing back another awful reminder that it's been two months. As soon as he saw himself he wanted a chance to fix it. He buzzed Joker on the intercom to make sure of something first though.

"Joker, what's the ETA for getting to Earth?"

"Well, boss, with the way the Citadel got uh. . .relocated during the Reaper War, we're actually still in the Sol system. It won't be long. 3 hours, tops."

"Thanks a lot, Joker."

With that he knew that something had to be taken care of to pass the time before he could get some rest.

'I've gotta find my razor! I hope it's still in here somewhere. . .'

Shepard dug up his drawers at the desk in his Cabin that had been filled to the brim with files and papers from the past. Pulling one out of the other out and putting them on his desk, he stopped when he found a shiny object in between it all.

"Whoa. . .I can't believe they're still here. Ash's dog tags. This is perfect." The Commander said out loud, probably sounding like a crazy guy talking to himself, and putting on the tags. He felt a sense of vigor inside of him, he knew no matter what the injuries he had and what price he had to pay, come hell, come high water, come the creek don't rise, he was bringing Ashley Williams out of London alive. Quickly after that he did indeed find his razor and quickly proceeded to shave himself until his face was completely clean, just how he liked it. He couldn't wait to get a haircut to renew his hair to its' short norm, but for now the slightly longer hair would have to do. After cleaning the stray hairs off of himself, he went over and opened up his locker, and reaching back, he pulled out the weapon Hackett told him about before he met with the Council.

"Oh yes. . .Oh-ho-ho yes!"

The Commander practiced aiming the compact weapon known as the Cataclysm before quickly, but gently setting the Cataclysm back into his locker. It had been designed to be familiar with any soldier that was appropriately trained to use an average sniper rifle. It was encased in blue, matching Dylan's own armor. Just holding it gave the former Spectre a rush. If Hackett and his teams' calculations were right, that thing could take out many kinds of trash. The man couldn't help but last, letting his mind turn to what he was going to do when he got ahold of the guy who took his girlfriend from him. But after a bit, realized there was better use of the last couple of hours before the start of his "mission".

"Well. . .I guess I'm gonna rest up for a little while. Hmm. . ."

Dylan hopped on the bes in his room, even in his uncomfortable armor, just being still was a boon to his comfort with his bones. Clearing his mind and shutting his eyes, the increasingly fragile individual drifted into sleep, hoping they got to London soon.

--------

2 hours, 18 minutes later

"Shepard! We're on Earth. We'll be right on top of this guy any minute now. But hey, do me a favor, will ya? Something's gone haywire in the War Room. Well, it used to be the War Room. I saw Verner eating a sandwich in there earlier. I dubbed it the sandwich room. Heh. Anyway, just let me know what's wrong and head out. I'll figure out how to kibosh whatever's screwing with my readings here on the bridge." The voice of the eccentric pilot not exactly the softest wake up call in the world.

Shepard's eyes burst open, anxiousness surrounding his thoughts.

"C'mon, Joker, get someone else to do it."

"Sorry, boss. I called out to Wrex and Grunt to do it but they just ended up getting sidetracked bullying Verner. Now they're getting lectured by Tali. You'd be surprised by how friendly she is to the new guy." Joker nodded to himself as he told the main man of the Normandy.

"Dammit!" Dylan got up out of his bed, clutching his ribs slightly at the sudden movement. "I have to get my team ready. It was supposed to be Wrex and Grunt. But screw it, they wanna spend all that time playing around with that dumbass. Call up Garrus and Miranda on the com. I'm gonna need some biotic power and there's nobody better to save Ash than my best friend. I'm checking the War Room for you, we better be landing when I'm out."

"Gotcha, Shepard. Over and out."

"Damn I wish I had time to get a full crew in this piece of junk! I need to get Ash. . ." Dylan punching the wall next to his bed on the word "hurt" before getting up and taking that short walk to the elevator to go to the Combat Information Center.

*Ding*

"This better be good, Joker!" Dylan yelled out, but received no response back, much to his chagrin.

"Asshole's probably wrapped up watching those perverted ExtraNet vids again. Thanks a lot, buddy. . .I'm too cranky. Good, I wanna be angry when I set that bastard's hideout ablaze."

Shepard walked his way through, stretching his arms while walking, adjusting himself to the feeling having his armor on again, smaller amount of muscle and all.

'Okay then, here we are. Not even one of those annoying scans stopping me from getting in here. Maybe being understaffed isn't so bad after all. . .alright, what's the issue?' Shepard looked around hastily in the slightly darkened War Room.

'Hmph. Budget cuts.'

He walked around carefully until he walked around to the back and left side. He saw a light flicking in front of one of the War terminals. He looked harder and with a squint of his eyes, he noticed what was the source of the small light, which he recognized. . .as an Omni-tool!

"Hey! Is that you Tali? Miranda? Verner? What's going on here?"

". . .Oh, nothing much. . .Skipper." said the sultry voice of the Commander's flame. As she stood up and pressed a few buttons with a sexy smirk on her face, wearing her blue Alliance attire as usual. There was no doubt in Dylan's mind. . .it was her.

"But how. . ? How are you here? It can't be you. . .Is this a dream. . ?"

"Oh, it's for real. I'm here and I'm not in the mood for specifics. It's been so many months. I'm in the mood for something else entirely. . ." Ashley let her hips sway as she walked up to the Commander, who was frozen in shock, not able to even comprehend what was happening right now.

"Kiss me, Shepard. Let me show you what I want to do. . ."

As she pulled her boyfriend in by her own dog tags around his neck and he closed his eyes, their lips touched, giving him a moment of pure ecstasy. . .and then his eyes opened in a panic, with the taste of metal on his tongue.

"You're. . .a robot! But how!?"

"Ashley" laughed with an evil tint in her voice as she had the bewildered man in a vice grip. "What I want to do. . .is get revenge for all who you've sent spiraling into nothing. Into terminal meltdown."

"Who are you and how the hell did you get on the Normandy!?" Dylan Shepard cried out in pain as he was tossed aside on the ground, his dogtags ripped off and in the hand of his attacker.

"Hmm. . .a trinket of your love for Williams? Value: Worthless. Yet you still keep it? Interesting. I knew what love was too, once. . .Shepard. . .Do you remember? You were the one who showed me what being alive meant. . ."

"It can't be. . .you died, the Crucible caused you to shut down. . .just like the rest of the AIs!"

"I was always so much more than AI, Shepard. . .you were the only one who didn't recognize it. No wonder you made such an illogical decision with the Crucible."

The assailant revealed herself as the skin of Ashley Williams digitally faded out quickly, replaced by the familiar body and emotionless expression of EDI, the former AI, the brains of the ship.

"I just realized, I love seeing you on your knees, Shepard."

"Is this the time for jokes?"

"I wasn't."

The mechanical being gave her former leader an extremely hard punch to the face and knocked him to the ground, landing with a thud next to some computers.

"But I like seeing you on your back even more."

She began to throw a kick to his ribs, attacking one of the most vulnerable parts of the galactic heros' body.

'Gah! She's gonna kill me if I don't fight back. . .But I can't. . .But I still can't let Ash die!'

Shepard unleashed his Omni-blade and put a stop to the assault. . .by thrusting the blade into the nearby console, destroying it completely in a tiny explosion that the armor protected him from any potential burn damage.

'Please God, don't let that be the controls for the elevator.'

The alarm blared off and Joker's voiced called out over the loudspeaker. "Hey, Shepard, you okay? There's serious problems in the War Room. . .all right, I'm calling a red alert! Everybody get to the War Room, elevators and all, something happened to the Commander! We're at his home base, I'm autopiloting this baby for now."

EDI looked towards the voice of the person she was closest to during her time aboard the Normandy, showing no signs of fear or emotion of any kind.

"Hmm, although you lack the strength to fight me fairly, you're still smart enough to find a way out. Irrelevant though, as that just means I can disappear off the grid where you cannot find me. My leader will quickly carry out our. . .my will, Commander Shepard."

"So someone put you up to this after all, huh. . .? Who is the son of a bitch? Who has Ash?" Shepard caught EDI's freudian slip, he wanted a target now.

The Rogue AI leaned down and wrapped a firm hand around the brown-haired man's throat, choking him mercilessly.

"Stay down, Shepard. I'm extending your life to prolong my own. He has invited you to see him, has he not? Seek the truth for yourself. But don't come after me. If I see you again, I promise you will feel my reckoning and I won't show you mercy. . .Shepard."

She let go of him and dropped him to the ground, gasping for air in a pathetic looking heap. As she turned to walk away, she heard the footsteps of the remaining crew of the Normandy all barge in to the War Room, with Garrus. and Grunt leading the charge to "get some", so to speak. They all stopped as soon as they saw the scene set with their Commander laid out on the floor, a part of the room destroyed, and an AI that nobody they had known of had even come close to rebuilding as far as they knew standing in front of them.

"Alright, what happened! Shepard if you ended up breaking the big screen I had in here, I'll. . .I'll. . .EDI. . .? Is this a joke. . ?" The pilot of the ship hobbled his way through the crowd, yelling out until he saw the unthinkable right before his eyes in the being he loved and thought he lost for good.

"That is quite an ironic thing to say considering your nickname. Nevertheless, I find no humor in this situation, and. . .Greetings, Mr. Moreau. It is a pleasant experience seeing you again."

"EDi. . ." Joker couldn't find the words to say, and it was a rare thing for him to be speechless. His eyes simply met hers and they shared a moment, completely ignoring his leader struggling and gasping for air on the floor almost right beside his past lover.