The door slid open with a soft hiss as she approached, granting her access to the observation room within. Shepard's steps faltered for just a second as she recognized the scene that was being displayed on a large monitor dominating the far wall of the room.

"Torfan? Who allowed him to go through Torfan? He shouldn't be doing any sort of training, much less going through that!"

CryNet Phantom Nova Terra turned to look at the Human spectre. "No one allowed him to do anything, but you try saying no to him." She glanced over at one of the monitors where a man in a Nanosuit was ruthlessly laying waste to a group of Batarian slavers.

Shepard grimaced. "When I heard that he was in the training room I thought he would be doing something tame, not Torfan. That's one of the more difficult training regimes in the alliance for good reason."

"Here as well. It's one of the more difficult team simulations. I guess he's decided that there's suddenly an 'I' in team."

"CABAL, end the session, he shouldn't be doing anything nearly as strenuous as that. He was dead a week ago, he needs time to recover."

"I don't think I will." The synthetic voice of CABAL answered. "The operative has been massively outperforming all previous records. His vital statistics are all within normal ranges, I am not about to put a stop to the most glorious display of destruction I've seen in a long time without good reason."

"He's not wrong." Nova sighed looking at the screen "I've never seen an individual phantom take on what he is and win."

Glancing at Nova, Shepard approached the monitor and watched as a squad of ten batarians were butchered at the hands of a single person within the space of as many seconds. "I've never seen him be that direct when engaging a hostile position, usually he likes to use stealth a lot more."

"He already did that. Twice." Nova commented, "I have a feeling he wanted to shake things up a bit."

"He already did two sessions before this?" Shepard asked incredulously.

Nova nodded slowly "Yep. First time he managed to get all the way inside and then took out the commanders without once being detected. The second he fought his way through with less stealth and more mobility."

"And now he's just slaughtering them." Shepard murmured as a batarian head was smashed into a wall so hard its skull caved in, painting the metal with gore.

I stepped back from the batarian, leaving him leaning against the wall, his head split open like a watermelon and hefted my SCAR. My heavy footsteps were accompanied by the distant sound of gunfire and explosions that echoed their way from the surface through the winding tunnels that made up the vast majority of the base. A single grenade, fired from the underslung launcher of my scar sailed into a nearby hallway, vanishing from view as it bounced around a corner and a moment later a concussive blast intercepted the group of batarians that had been rushing to meet me. I stepped around the corner to see a single batarian left standing having been trailing slightly behind his men. I gunned him down before he could even register that I had come around the corner.

The moans of pain from the few batarians who had survived the initial blast caught my attention. One of them, who looked to be around twenty years old, was crying for his parents as he slowly dragged himself away from me. I ended his life with a quick stomp to the back of the neck, snapping it with a harsh crack. The other survivors were executed in a similar manner putting an end to their lives for certain. Without a single backward glance, I continued on my way deeper into the base.

My eyes flicked to a wall ahead of me, through which I could see the hexagon that indicated the locations of multiple people ahead. I scanned each individual marker, connecting to their hardsuit computers through their IFF systems and allowing me to gain valuable information about the wearers. It was amazing what kind of access a skilled computers expert, or someone with an advanced artificial intelligence, could get. Six batarians, armed with a variety of weapons including a mounted heavy machine gun and an automated turret to back them up. Too bad their backup would soon turn sides as SECOND interfaces with it and initiated TRAITOR algorithms.

There was a single beep from the turret, lost in the distant sound of battle, as it acquired its target. Without any further warning it opened fire. Heavy high caliber rounds tore into the back of the first batarian, piercing through his shields in less than a second. Before the other occupants in the room could do little more than gape the turret killed two more batarians. A fourth fell scrambling for cover, leaving only two shouting at each other as they tried to process what had happened. Fortunately, they didn't need to ponder that puzzle for long as I strode up to the first who had stopped looking down the hallway allowing me to walk up to him and twist his neck around until it snapped violently leaving him with his head on backwards.

A shout of rage followed by a series of gunshots sent the last batarian into a wall after he had tried to charge me, having forgotten that the turret was still active. I crossed the room, leaving footprints in the blood that was slowly covering the floor as I continued on my way.

Halfway to the main command bunker, I stopped. In my motion sensor I could see a new, unknown contact moving quickly towards me down a side corridor nearby. There were only a few things that could move as fast as that while being small enough to fit in the varying sizes of the corridors. I glanced behind me just as a figure in heavy Power armor charged in. They were wearing pitch black GHOST armor with glowing red lights gleaming from the multiple optical sensors. A massive burst of speed brought on by my suit allowed me to sprint forward ducking underneath their rifle to send a resounding kick to the operatives midsection, likely completely driving the air from their lungs.

The soldier wasn't brought down however and I flipped over their head smashing my knee into their temple as I went. A punch was easily redirected and with an empowered yank, I pulled them off of their feet. As they hung in midair for but a split second I pulled my combat knife from my harness and drove it tip first between the plating at the neck.

"That wasn't even close this time." Vanyali Shepard wheezed as her faceplate retracted back into her helmet revealing her face, eyes streaming from the kick I gave her.

"Heh, I've gotten an upgrade or two since then. My reaction time is through the roof. Sometimes it feels like I can see the bullets flying past me."

"Not bullets." She chuckled, her gasping slowly giving way to normal, if slightly laboured, breathing.

I shrugged "I find 'shards of metal' too much of a mouthful."

She smiled and reached up to grasp my arm. "You kind of ruined my plans. I had wanted to get you to rest by catching you off guard and beating you, or at least make it a hard fought win. You beating me so resoundingly doesn't really give me much leverage."

I tilted my head "Best two out of three?"

She nodded once and was shrouded in an aura of biotic energy as her grip tightened on my arm. "Sure."

Her sudden attempt at a throw was abruptly cut off as I punched her soundly in the stomach and in the moment that it took her to recover I clasped my hands behind her and with a powerful heave tossed her over her. As she scrambled to her feet I planted my foot on her back and stabbed her once in the back of the neck.

"A suplex? Seriously?" She asked gasping as she turned to face me.

I shrugged "If I see an opportunity to do one, hey who am I to do something else?"

She shook her head in exasperation. "Fine, you win two. Another?"

"Sounds like a plan. CABAL, let's get a change of scenery."

"Score, nine to zero. Shall I reset the simulation?"

"No. Shut it down. We're finished for today."

I glanced at where Vanyali was kneeling, resting her exhausted and likely bruised body. "You go on. I'm going to do a few more runs."

Vanyali looked up at me, green eyes studying me. "Come on. You've been training for hours. You should be resting."

I shook my head "I've been cleared and I need to find my new limits."

A brief look of frustration danced across Vanyali's face before it softened "Look, I've been given a little time off, but that's not gonna last long until either the Alliance or the council are going to send me off again. I'd like to spend as much of that time with you. And preferably not just training." She cut in before I could remind her that we had just trained together.

I pondered her words for a few seconds in silence before acquiescing. "Alright. Just let me do one quick-"

"No." Vanyali interrupted me. "You've done plenty of training already and you will be able to do plenty more later. I nearly lost you before, I'm not going to let you squander any time we have left together training."

I lowered my head slowly and nodded. "Ok."

Vanyali drew herself up. "Well, you don't sound very excited. Was that night after virmire just a one-time thing then?"

I snapped my gaze over to her, eyes wide. "What? No- it's just-" I broke off what I was about to say looking down at my suited hands and arms and tried swallowing heavily only for that to fail as my esophagus muscles had been largely been broken down by my suit, leaving only a hollow tube through which air could flow. I absently raised a hand to my throat as I stared off into the distance.

"What is it?" Vanyali asked her irritation having vanished as she walked up to me looking concerned.

"I'm trapped," I said hollowly. "Trapped inside this suit, unable to take it off. I'm a corpse walking. I'm a zombie."

"No, you're not!" Vanyali grabbed my shoulders fiercely. "Don't believe that. You're still you! You were dead, yes, but now you're alive." She placed her palm on my chest, fingers splayed out slightly. "You still have your heart."

I looked away and glanced to the side where I brought up a hologram of a human body along with all of its inner organs. Vanyali tilted her head to the side when she noticed it and raised an eyebrow.

"That is a normal human body." Then I brought up another hologram next to it. "That's mine. Take note of the lack of a normal heart, it's a nice, efficient motor pump now." I said hoarsely "My right lung is being replaced, it was too damaged. I no longer have human skin, what you see now is my skin, below that, is muscle." I looked at Vanyali who had closed her eyes sometime during my words. "My brain was dead, without oxygen for days. The damage should have been total, there shouldn't have been any coming back from that. Yet here I am. I wonder how long it will take before it replaces other organs."

Vanyali shifted her weight slightly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you back. I didn't quite realize what your suit would do exactly."

I sighed "I would have done the same. And that scares me, because if the Reapers are coming, if there's another ceph outbreak, then we'll need all the strength we can get. If we could prevent losses make it so that it would take an overwhelming amount of force to take down phantoms… Then maybe we just need more than what we just are now. Maybe Hargreave is right." I muttered quietly.

"Hargreave? Where have I heard that name before?"

"Likely a few places. He is one of the lead researchers on the Nanosuit. It used to be Me, Hargreave and Rasch. I dropped out of the lead research position with the launch of the Phantom program. Hargreave did end up losing some friends when he began saying that we needed to remove the safeguards from the N-Suit 2.0. Said that we needed our phantoms to be the best they could be. I wonder if he knew something that we don't or rather didn't."

"Come on. We've been standing here for a while, let's get somewhere a little more comfortable." Vanyali stretched with a groan. "My joints are popping in places I didn't know they could. Either you've improved since the last time we dueled or you were going easy on me then."

As we walked away toward the exit I shook my head "Sorry. But I wasn't going easy either time. The improved connection to my suit has directly increased my combat and tactical skills. Reflexes, speed, and battlefield awareness have all increased. I don't even need to look at my HUD, I just know everything on there. Thermal capacity, Enemy locations, friendly locations, ideal firing solutions-"

"Alright, Mr. Supersoldier. No need to list all the ways us mortals are inferior to you." Vanyali said with a smile elbowing me lightly in the side as we exited the simulation room.

"So what's with all of the swords?"

I glanced over at the woman who was currently examining my collection of medieval weaponry. "They're fun, a hobby of sorts. I learned sword fighting when I was younger, before the entire nanosuit thing, out of interest and a way to get some exercise. My interest only grew the more I learned and I got Nova and a couple other phantoms into it as well."

Vanyali arched an eyebrow at me "And then you bought an entire armory worth of Swords, Axes, maces…?"

I walked up beside her to view the wall that had my collection on display "Course. It's one thing to train with replica's in the simulator, another thing entirely to train with steel in reality."

She glanced at me "You train with these? Isn't that dangerous?"

I nodded "Sure, you can break bones if you get hit hard enough, but we only train with unsharpened blades and protective gear or with synthetic blades where one would have to really try to severely hurt someone, or smash someone with the crossguard."

"You use the crossguard to fight?" Shepard echoed softly.

"Do we use it in general practice?" I shook my head "No. But the Mordhau is a very valid method of attack, especially if the opponent is wearing heavy armor. A good way to pierce plate armor is to just say forget it with a blade that isn't going to be doing much and just grab the blade with both hands and smash them with the heavy end." I said drawing a longsword from its sheath on the wall. "That or half-swording where you grasp your blade by the hilt with one hand and the blade with the other and use it in a manner similar to a very short staff. In honesty, we only really ever use the Mordhau as a joke or when we're doing exaggerated moves. Half-swording is far more commonly used."

"Mordhau, is that german?" She asked testing the word and glancing at me.

I nodded "Yeah, I learned from a german, extremely talented, very good at all sorts of martial arts, but the longsword was his specialty. All the terminology I learned was in german and I kinda just never changed that. Here." I extended the sword hilt first to her.

She hefted it taking a few experimental swings with the blade. "Interesting, I guess this explains your knowledge of sword fighting. Well, this has definitely been used quite often." She said running her gaze along the battered edge.

I chuckled "Yeah, that's what happens when it's used against another blade. They get damaged, but that just means that they've been used."

"That kind of damage looks like you use the edges against each other, wouldn't it be better to block with the flat of the blade?"

I shrugged "There are schools that teach you to do just that and while I am loath to just discount certain styles of fighting in my experience blocking with the flat doesn't protect you nearly as much as edge to edge. Then again, we generally don't try to just block, it's better to immediately have the threat of your own attack there for your opponent to either get hit by or worry about. Some people may know things I don't but we've never seen any reason to sacrifice your own safety for going easy on your sword."

"Well, I'll take your word for it. I know how to fight with a knife, fists, and baton, but I think that I'll leave the antique weaponry combat to you." A soft chime sounded from her omni-tool and she grimaced when she glanced down at it. "You'll have to show me your skills and teach me all about it later. Unfortunately, that later will likely be quite a bit later. I just got a message from Joker; apparently Admiral Hackett has an assignment for the Normandy."

I raised an eyebrow "Already? Doing what?"

She shrugged "I don't know. Apparently, he is waiting to brief me."

"Do you want to use my communicator? You can have Joker patch him through to my room."

Vanyali sighed "While that would be nice, the orders may be confidential. I'll take it on the Normandy."

"That's probably true. Classified information and all that." I said with a smile.

"I'll be sure to see you before we leave. It's probably going to take some time for preflight checks." She stepped in front of me.

I nodded silently as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. I held her close as she rested her head on my shoulder. "I'll miss you." I murmured.

"Don't worry. I'll be back before you know it." She was silent for a second "And when I get back I have something that I think we should discuss, now that CryNet is becoming an official branch of the citadel."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what might that be."

She pulled back slightly and looked at my visor, I mentally cursed my suit. "I'll tell you when I return, since we won't have to make the decision for at least another year."

"You just love teasing me don't you?" I asked with a smile.

"Absolutely." She said with a grin "It's so fun."

"Alright, well you let me know when it's time."

"I will."

I stared into her eyes and cursed softly. "I hate that I can't take my mask off, I feel so-"

I trailed off as Vanyali placed her hands on my shoulders. "Don't you worry about it Martin. Right now I just want you to get better. Maybe when I get back then your lungs will be healed to the point that you won't need it." She tilted her head slightly "And maybe if you take it easy they will heal a little bit faster."

I chuckled glancing down at the floor. "Maybe. probably..."

"You're not going to take it easy are you?" She asked me with a smile.

"No," I admitted shaking my head.

"Somehow I didn't think you would. Tell you what, I'm going to go talk to the Admiral, then you come and wait for me outside while it does its preflight checks."

I nodded. "I'll be waiting."