p style="text-align: center;"strongHello, everyone. I know I have been absent for quite a long time from this and my other stories as well. Many things have happened since I last posted for you and I feel that all of you deserve at the very least an explanation. Close to the middle of last year I became pregnant, something that medically, I was told previously was next to impossible due to various factors. During that time I was very, very sick and by the time christmas eve came about I was hospitalized and suffered through a very painful and emotional miscarriage. I was...well, to put things simply, emotionally shattered. I was unable to function beyond waking up (sometimes), forcing myself to try and hold down food, and basically existing. This continued for a long time in which I was fluctuating between grief, rage, and a listlessness that I could not shake. /strongstrongHad it not been for the love of my life, I very much doubt that I would have recovered. /strong/p
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p style="text-align: center;"strongOn top of this madness, I was also attacked by a man in march, ending up in the hospital with severe bruising and scaring on my left arm. This of course has only contributed to my growing hermit like tendencies. Also not one but BOTH of my computers with a partially written chapter for this story and several others decided to die horrible deaths, one to age and the other because Best Buy's solution for fixing a computer is to apparently take turns shoving it up their asses while yanking each other off. I apologize to any Best Buy employees that happen to read this. But they melted the motherboard of my baby and for that they deserve my ire. Anyway, now that I have a new computer I have been working my ass off as a freelance artist and that has taken the bulk of my time these days. On average I spend close to fourteen hours streaming my artwork a day, depending on the project. /strong/p
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p style="text-align: center;"strongAll of that aside, I am not telling you all of this in order to host my own pity party. Life happens and typically it happens while yelling this: "Bite the pillow bitch, I'm going in dry!"/strong/p
p style="text-align: center;"strongDoes it suck? Why yes, yes it certainly does. But I am certain that it sucks for other people a hell of alot more than it does me and for that I am thankful. I am also thankful to all of you who have read, reviewed, and continued to hit the refresh button on your windows in hopes of an update from me. Do not worry, your waiting is almost at an end. While I am certainly much more busy than in the past, I am in fact writing and I currently have the next chapter almost finished along with the plans for the next etched out. /strong/p
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p style="text-align: center;"strongThat said, in regards to the last chapter and the giant WTF that no doubt echoed across this fandom after reading said chapter, trust me. I have a plan. I really, really do. Truly, this was the direction the story was meant to take from the start, though the Wrex scene was certainly a surprise. This particular Shepard is, while fairly experienced in the ways of the universe, a bit of a prude when letting anyone close, especially after being rejected and don't even get me started on her growing list of insecurities and commitment issues. She is a soldier. Emotions confuse her. /strong/p
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p style="text-align: center;"strongAlso keep in mind that Wrex is the least delicate creature in existence. He wouldn't know the proper way to explain a situation like Shepards with an instruction manual made with shiny colors and pictures. Why? He is all about getting to the point and the response he gave Shepard regarding what she is/ becoming, in his eyes is highly inaccurate. I will allow Mordin to explain things in the next chapter. Now then, because I feel like I have shafted you guys enough for a long while, I am tossing up an in between chapter here for your reading pleasure. It isn't absolutely needed for the story, but it is full of Shep/Grunt interaction and a little glimpse at O'keer the crazy. I hope you will accept my apologies for leaving you all hanging and I offer you my assurance that yes, I will be finishing this story. /strong/p
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p style="text-align: left;"The air was an almost acidic sort of stale that reminded Shepard of the slums on Earth. It was one of many bland, mostly abandoned and then repurposed planets in universe. It really had the red head wondering if she was ever going to run out of mercs to kill because she seemed to be going through an awful lot of them recently. She bounded from the shuttle, not bothering to wait until it had gotten into the usual range for deployment and allowed her new, still unfamiliar body to bear the full impact. It barely registered in her legs and hips that she had fallen a sizable distance and with only a soft grunt she strode away from the heavy imprinting of her boots in the thick rocky terrain. She kept pushing the limitations of her new form, trying to see what they had done, what she could do now that she could not before. Thanks to the mods in her system, apparently she was a hair's breath from being inorganinc entirely. She still felt pain, still grew tired, still had unavoidable moments in which she was one hundred percent squishy, weak, and human. However, it took far longer for her to wear herself out, her skeleton and muscles empowered and though from what she had gathered from Miranda and the reports, they had tried to keep her as much like her old self as possible, they had not been successful. Not entirely. Sure, mentally she was herself despite wondering about it for several weeks. But there was a newness, a disconnected, almost surreal feeling when she did something that she knew that physically her old body could not handle. /p
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p style="text-align: left;"It made her more reckless. Wrex would be proud. The red head strode toward the cluster of buildings ahead, shotgun in hand as she waited for the others to catch up. Garrus trotted up beside her with a huff, looking exasperated. /p
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p style="text-align: left;""Y'know, the idea of getting a new body is not to try and break it, Shepard." He stated with his typical sarcastic flare. She heard the flanging resonating in his tone however and it gave away his worry. She gave him a playful smile and stuck out her tongue at him/p
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p style="text-align: left;""You are just jealous they didn't give you a new face," She jester, earning an eyeroll from the Turian. /p
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p style="text-align: left;""I had to at least give you a chance at getting laid, didn't I?" Garrus snarked and the short female barked out a laugh that made him grin. She was glad to see him smile more. He had been... distant and more than a little reckless since she had found him holed up in the middle of a warzone of mercs. Shepard knew that it would take a long while fore him to recover from losing his team, but it was a relief to see flashes of the old Garrus. He had been so starry eyed and determined to right the wrongs of the world, to follow Shepard to the ends of the universe if it meant taking down the bad guys. He had been so eager. And then, she'd left him. She had gone and died and he had become something...darker. Shepard could not help but wonder if maybe she hadn't died, if she had survived maybe he would still be the optimistic, ambitious police officer that only wanted to help people. Mordin joined them on the low rise as the echos of the merc commander's voice filtered through the ancient speaker system. /p
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p style="text-align: left;""SOmeone liked to hear themselves talk," Garrus said as he adjusted his rifle. Shepard flicked on her own visor, the orange screen covering both eyes and pulling up reading and relivent information. She had a feeling this was going to be a long fight. They picked their the mercs, doing their best to stay under the radar. It appeared that someone on the inside was causing a distraction to help them out. Fighting through mercs and Krogan was tiring work after a while. She was starting to wonder if this O'keer was worth all of the trouble. And then they ran across a Krogan that decided to speak. Covered in typical armor, he seemed physically to be like any other, but his speech pattern was... strange. /p
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p style="text-align: left;""I am not perfect. I am not perfect and so the teaching stopped. And now I wait," He said matter of factly and goose flesh rolled over her. Grown in a matter of days, programmed and then dumped like so much trash. Okeer would be lucky if she didn't just outright kil him for what he had done to thousands of Krogan. Fighting their way to the lab had been...grueling. The mercs had been child's play. The Krogan however, they were something else. True they were not tactical and lacked any sort of guidance. However, they were endless. Group after group had charged along the platforms to take on the trio and Shepard's arms were starting to get sore from the number of times the recoil of her shotgun had jarred her shoulders. When they had reached the outer office, she was hardly surprised to see the all too familiar Asari genetist that had already gotten her bag packed the moment that the intercoms had begun shouting about commandos. Clearly the woman hadn't learned her lesson, but Shepard was in far too uncaring of a mood to deal with her./p

"Okeer!" Shepard had all but snarled angrily and stomped right up to the hulking Krogan warlord. He gave her an unconcerned glance from where he stood at his computer.

"About time you got here. That human bitch has begun flushing the tanks while you wasted your time playing with these pathetic fools. Save my prototype, SHepard, then we will talk about the collectors." He stated bluntly, causing the woman to grind her teeth angrily.

"I don't give a FUCK about your experiments. In fact, I am close to outright putting a bullet between your eyes for what you've done to these clones of yours," She spat, wirling the old Krogan about and getting into his face. A crooked smile lit his rough features, eyes lighting with approval. Krogan always did love a woman that didn't put up with their bullshit.

"Then do it. But save my legacy. The perfect Krogan," He shrugged before motioning to the large tank that hung above them. Her eyes fixed upon the still, muscular figure in the tank, blinking in surprise at his appearance. The difference in him was radical in comparison to any Krogan she had met in the past.

"What, is he immune to the genophage or something?" She asked skeptically.

"Hah! I give the genophage the worst insult an enemy can suffer; to be ignored. I don't want to cure it, not like that. No, for every thousand stillborn, one perfect, strong, unstoppable warrior will be born and climb over the dead. But time is running short. I will help your cause, but my prototype must be saved." He demanded and though his ideals were...frightening, Shepard's patience had run out. She grabbed his outstretched hand in a hard, angry motion to seal the deal, ignoring the almost painful grip of the male before she jerked away to deal with more merc idiots. When were they going to learn that Clone armies didn't exactly work out?

It was hours later when Shepard had finally shed her armor for the day in the cabin that she noticed the hole in the thick material of her glove as well as the healing redness on her palm. Fucking bastard had claws of steel! With a sigh she flopped down in her chair and looked at the monitor, scrawling over the vid to look in on the "perfect Prototype" in the cargo bay. The question now was, how much of a bitching was she going to get from Miranda when she snuck down after hours to wake the ticking time bomb and say hello?

A/N: More to come soon! Also art!