A/N: And we're back.

I feel like Shepard is an underplayed character in many Xovers…

XXxxXX

"War, it's something you don't talk about. You don't really want to talk about it with anyone but only with the people who were there or someone who really cared. Other than that, you don't really talk about it. Your partner, your kids, you never talk to them about it, unless they really asked. You just got back home and tried to move on. Our war with the Ceph was heavy but contained. Outside the warzones, life still continued on normally. If you were living in DC, you wouldn't even know about what was happening in New York unless you were listening to the news."
-Colonel Thomas Dans

XXxxXX

PRESIDIUM COMMONS, CITADEL, SERPENT NEBULA

In an attempt to cut off Cerberus reinforcements while clearing out her approach, Shepard had sent her entire ground team – save for Nomad – to advance parallel on the other side of the Presidium. She had noticed his armour had morphed slightly to take on a less conspicuous look. The Nanosuit was still the dominant feature, but with the black colour scheme and red stripe, people would just assume he was an N7.

Alice glided around across the hall and held her position behind a fallen pillar. The N7 program had trained her into an excellent stealth tech savy and sans biotic Operative. She was the embodiment of Alliance tactics. She used drones to support her teammates and distract her foes while slinking quietly behind enemy lines to wreak all kinds of hell.

"Nemesis on the top floor," Shepard gestured. She knew that COMs were an available option, but she didn't want to risk it with the Cerberus engineers going all out.

"I'll take the nemesis, and then the centurion," Nomad signed in return. "I'll handle the grunts while you knock out that turret."

Nodding in agreement, Shepard readied herself. Dunn took up a firing position behind some smouldering crates and got a bead on the unsuspecting enemy sniper.

"On your mark," he waved.

Engaging cloak, Alice vaulted over the pillar and sprinted past the centurion and weaved her way around a milling squad. The moment she reached effective range, Alice sent a powerful overload which fried the turret's circuitry. A quick biotic blast was all it took to destroy the weapon and send the engineer crashing over the balcony.

"There she is!" a trooper roared.

Alice pivoted, raised her weapon and fired. A quartet of Cerberus troopers came to a crashing stop as their heads became exploding crimson fountains. A duo of guardians closed in on her, forcing her to find cover behind an overturned table.

The metal surface screeched and sparked in agony as AP rounds punched through and slammed into Shepard's shields. She rolled out of cover for a split second, just enough time to yank the shields out of the guardians' grasp with her biotics, before finishing them off with a burst to centre mass.

In less than a second, it was all over. Dunn emerged from his position, barrel smoking and surveyed the carnage that lay around Shepard. Nothing she did was in excess; everything was devoted to kill the enemy quickly and efficiently. If she could see his face, she would see an expression of approval from the Delta Operator.

"Garrus, situation," Shepard said into her mic.

"Uh, we're having some difficulty with the platoon of Atlases they've left here," the Turian grunted. "But we'll be fine. Garrus out."

"They must be busy," Alice shrugged. "C'mon."

She turned and jogged briskly down the hall, and made sure her sectors were clear before proceeding. Nomad shadowed her movement and made sure that nothing was to jump them but the jammers were rendering him blind. Prophet had always told him never to rely too much on the latest hardware, but Dunn had always griped that he liked to see well beyond what his eyes could see. And right now, he couldn't see beyond the walls of the corridors. He hated running "blind".

"Something wrong, Nomad?" Alice asked.

Jake shook his head lightly, and continued on.

"Shepard," it was Bailey, "I've managed to link up with Alenko. He says Cerberus is still in hot pursuit of him, and he's running low on ammo."

"We'll be there shortly."

The link was quickly terminated. Alice ran to the balcony and looked around. The layout of the Presidium would work in her favour. The overhanging platforms were arranged in a fashion that a skilled person can easily bypass a fixed checkpoint.

"Nomad, when's the last time you went free-running?" Shepard asked casually.

"Two months ago, ma'am," he answered.

Alice smirked under her helmet. "Follow me."

The moment she turned around, Shepard literally moved in a line of brilliant blue with Nomad following closely behind. She used her biotically enhanced abilities to jump onto balconies several stories higher, and cushion her free fall jumps. She moved as if it was an art form, gracefully vaulting herself over obstacles and leaping over long drops.

She felt her heart thump and her muscles burn as sweat beaded down her forehead. Alice propelled herself from the balcony and straight through a large window panel on the lower deck, closer to the lake.

"Shepard, incoming!" Nomad roared.

Alice flicked her eyes to the right just in time to see a ball of violet blue barrelling straight towards her. There wasn't enough time to duck, so she threw a biotic shield over herself just in time to take the brunt of the attack. But it wasn't enough. The man of oriental descent crashed into her, the momentum of his attack still carried enough force to send them toppling over the railings and crash onto the final bottom floor.

If it wasn't for her heart thumping in her ears, she would've been able to hear the soft trickling water of the Presidium Lake, though the man with the menacing ninjato sword was very distracting. He had a sinister grim expression, filled with confidence and arrogance. But like all master assassins, he didn't gloat. He raised his blade above his head, and pointed down. Without hesitation, he thrusted.

Alice quickly rolled away, and the blade embedded itself into the metal tile. She flipped back into balance using biotic abilities. She took a moment to quickly analyse the man. He was augmented with cybernetics, dressed in clothing similar to a drell, and was of oriental descent.

"Gun beats sword, pal," Shepard spat.

There was no such thing as playing fair in war. She quickly raised her weapon and fired. But the Cerberus assassin raised his palm and stopped the rounds with his shields. He smirked as the bullet halted in mid-air.

A split second later, Nomad landed to her right. Eldritch tendrils wrapped around his entirety, in his left he held a fearsome kukri knife and a pistol in his right. His stance was angled in a way that his blade was out in front while he held his sidearm over his left shoulder.

"Nomad, good to see you," the man smirked.

"Two against one Kai Leng," Dunn growled, "give it up."

Leng laughed. "No, now it's getting fun."

The Cerberus agent flexed his palm and fired an energy bolt at the Delta Operator. The round splashed and rolled harmlessly across Dunn's shields, but it served as a distraction. In less than it took the time for a heart to pulse, the entire air filled with phasic bolts. Out of sheer reflex, Shepard threw up a biotic shield and felt the impact reverberate through her body.

Nomad emptied his entire Hammer clip into Leng, and smiled in satisfaction as he saw the rounds rip through the assassin's shields and pierce his skin.

"You've got to do better than that," Kai growled.

He attacked with discipline and grace, his blade slicing through the air. But Dunn was just as fast if not faster. He dodged, ducked and parried every attack and stood firm. Leng closed in, but Jake managed to throw the assassin back with a biotic shockwave.

The Delta Operator holstered his weapons and extended two menacing blades from the base of his palms. Shepard wasn't too sure if the blade was him or the suit, maybe both. He charged at Leng, biotic lightning danced along the blade, leaving a trail of blue in their wake. Dunn moved in a perfectly time fashion, fluid smooth and precise. He struck with devastating effect, forcing Leng to go on the defensive.

Shepard turned her attention to the Cerberus phantoms that appeared out of nowhere. They rushed her, palms outstretched and swords raised. This defied every logic ounce of reasoning in modern warfare. But then again, she was a biotic.

Alice targeted the first phantom with a Dark Channel. She waited until the rest were in range, and formed an Annihilation Field around herself. Deep violet tongues lashed out at her opponents. But before the phantoms could realise their fatal mistake, Shepard detonated. The powerful blast ripped everything around her off the ground and sent it off flying. Some phantoms were sent splashing into the water.

However, she was now on the cooldown, which left her vulnerable for a few precious seconds. More phantoms came charging, blades swinging. Shepard relied on her dual Omni-blades to fend off the attack. The orange hardlight instruments arced through the air as she parried the monomolecular blades.

Slapping a fresh magazine into her weapon, Alice fell back on her SOCP/Capoeira hybrid martial arts form. The lead phantom struck down, Shepard blocked with her rifle and knee stomped the Cerberus combatant. Upon hearing the sickening crack, Alice slammed the stock of her weapon into the phantom's visor, before back stepping and bringing her gun to bear. The SCARAB echoed in quick succession as the woman's head was reduced to a stew of blood, brain and metal.

Alice pivoted just in time to see another blade come straight for her, she barely sidestepped before she felt the sharp burn of the enhanced phasic blade bypass her shields and cut through the gap between her plates.

"Fuck," she swore as she saw blood gush out from her left shoulder.

Shepard ducked low, and swept the phantom's feet. The Cerberus combatant toppled over, leaving her vulnerable to an execution from the Spectre. Upon finishing the last phantom, Alice slapped medigel and smeared the concealing agent over her wound, before turning to face Nomad and Leng.

The two were at each other's throats, but Leng couldn't land a good hit. Dunn backstepped as Kai swung diagonally upwards with shocking force that it drained the shields completely. Another phase disruptor blast and Nomad was temporarily stunned. Leng stepped in and struck savagely, barely giving Dunn a moment to react. The blade missed his head, but ran home and true on his shoulder.

"Nomad!" Shepard roared.

A slight tilting motion allowed him to see what his CO was going to do. He jumped back, yanking the blade out of Kai's grip. Alice geared up for a full biotic attack. Her cells charged up with dark energy with violet tendrils sparking around her. She barely managed to catch a glimpse of Leng's shocked expression before the entire ground that lay in front of her was torn apart.

Leng flew through the air like a ragdoll, with Dunn playing marksman. He had his Typhoon out and ready to play and sent hundreds of rounds down range. Dozens of rounds scored hits on the Cerberus assassin before he splashed into the water, never to surface again.

Out of Commander's premonition, Shepard quickly jogged over to Dunn and assessed his injuries. His armour was heavily scarred and battered, but already repairing itself in a spectacular fashion.

"He'll be back," Dunn said grimly.

He turned to face Alice and spotted her wounds.

"I'm fine," she said, raising a palm before he could say anything. "You on the other hand." She gestured to the ninjato still embedded in his right shoulder.

"I'll be fine, ma'am," Dunn said.

She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. The Captain wrapped his right fingers around the hilt, and wrenched the blade out of his flesh with a wet shunk sound. Alice watched in amazement as the wound quickly closed while the suit resealed itself. She looked at the blade in his grasp, and saw his blood catch on fire.

Incineration, leave no trace, Shepard concluded.

"Yours if you want it," he offered.

Alice reached out and held the sword. It was perfectly weighted and shaped, optimised for both slashing and stabbing.

"I don't have a scabbard though," Shepard frowned.

"I'll hold onto it," Nomad suggested.

She handed him back the blade and watched in fascination as the suit created a "pocket" for the sword. He slid the ninjato into the temporary scabbard and gave a curt nod.

"On your go."

The two moved warily along the war torn Presidium, and hugged the smouldering storefronts. Shepard had to stop periodically to allow her cloak to cycle through. Thanks to Kasumi, the cloak would be active for a few minutes before needing a few seconds to recharge.

"We're closing in on the Council," Dunn said, hearing the amplified audio of distant gunfire.

"Okay, let's clear out Cerberus."

Shepard landed on the main landing of the balcony first, followed closely by Nomad. Instinctively, he moved in front of her as he knew she "lacked" defensive capabilities. They followed the trail of strewn bodies, both C-Sec and Cerberus alike. Every so often, they would find the body of an Alliance Officer with either a bullet through their head or a stab wound. But the ratio between dead friendlies and dead enemies was heavily imbalanced. Some Cerberus soldiers appeared to be ripped apart by biotics or power kicked into a wall. If Alice recalled correctly, melee battles weren't Kaidan's thing nor was he this strong.

The number of destroyed Atlas's wasn't something that could be ignored either. One was tough, Shepard could barely hold her own at two. Unless the Councillors had a veteran elite infantry company with them, Alenko must've gotten upgrades.

"Something wrong, Shepard?" Dunn asked.

"A lot of dead Cerberus troops here," Shepard said. "Kaidan's not the type to do a suicidal last stand. Something's not right."

Stuffing her doubts away, the two Special Forces soldiers navigated their way through the cafés and store fronts overlooking the lake. It was clear Cerberus had hit hard and fast as there were patrons killed in the very spot they had lunch.

"Cloak up," Nomad whispered.

The two faded from sight and glided down the hall. A distinct sound of a TyphoonMod2 LMG echoed in the distance.

"I've got two engineers on the other side of that door. Five snipers on the floor above," Dunn whispered, looking at his sensors.

"Okay, I'll take the snipers; you take the engineers and provide whatever support you can for the Council."

"Yes ma'am."

Alice retraced her steps back to the stairs, confidant that Dunn would be able to handle himself.

"I've hacked their turrets and communications, Shepard."

She could hear a bit of mirth in his voice, followed by the high-pitch grind of multiple turrets. The Spectre hacked her way through the door of the apartment and gave a sigh of relief when the doors whispered open. Training kicked in and adrenaline flooded her blood streams.

No trip wires, no sensors. Good.

Alice moved to the balcony where a Cerberus unit was firing down on an unseen position which she presumed to be the Councillors. She threw up a singularity field, plucking the troopers off the floor. Rushing in with an Annihilation Field, the unshielded Cerberus soldiers screamed as they were burned to a crisp by dark energy.

She curbed stomped the closest nemesis in the knee and barely heard the joint snap. Alice finished the sniper off with a head shot before moving to lash a Centurion over the ledge. The man toppled over the railing and screamed to his death.

Detonating her Annihilation Field, the rest of the troops on the balcony where slammed into the railings and died on impact.

…

The first thing the turrets had targeted was their engineer "masters". The support units barely stood a chance against their own devastating fire power. Bursting through the doors, Dunn assessed the courtyard below. There were four Atlas Mechs, six Mako tanks sporting Cerberus colours, and an insurmountable number of Cerberus soldiers. They were all gunning in on this one position, manned by a lone soldier.

Sykes?

The former British SAS was wearing riot gear over his Nanosuit, probably to disguise himself or offer additional protection. But from the looks of it, the C-Sec riot gear looked like it had taken on more than enough beating.

"Psycho?" Dunn keyed in.

"Nomad, good to hear from you mate. Could use a hand with these fucking muppets," the voice still had an element of the cockney accent.

"Copy, coming in."

Dunn flipped himself over the ledge and trained his eyes on the Atlas at the rear of the formation. Without hesitation, he propelled himself on a blue beam of light and slammed home. The large mech shuddered under the thunderous impact, the pilot was slight dazed from being bounced around. Jake didn't let any of them recover as he quickly punched through the canopy and ripped the trooper out.

Commandeering the mech, Nomad spun the gun to bear on the Mako to his left and opened fire. The rockets left the launcher and ploughed into the hull section just above the wheel, ripping apart the axel. But the tank was still function as it brought its gun turret to bear. But Dunn already had his cannons trained and opened fire. The Mako's hull groaned as it was ripped apart and showered the area in shrapnel.

Seeing all enemy guns pointed at him, Nomad threw himself out of the mech and biotically charged the next. The air around him sounded like angry bees as bullets whipped all around him. But at least he brought Psycho the precious opening he needed.

Sykes propelled himself in a beam of cobalt, and brought is knee into an Atlas's canopy. Like Nomad, he ripped the pilot out and took over the vehicle to wreak havoc. It was a long process of jumping, bailing and hijacking which eventually allowed them to turn the tide.

Shepard' biotic artillery-esque support was invaluable as she plucked Cerberus soldiers off from the ground and let gravity take care of the rest. All that was left in the courtyard were bloody stains and twisted metal.

Using her biotics, Alice landed onto the artificial grass and jogged over to the two Nanosuit Operators.

"Psycho, Shepard," Dunn introduced, "Shepard, Psycho."

"Nice to meet you," Shepard gave a curt nod.

"Pleasure," Sykes replied in equal fashion.

"Where's the Council?" Alice asked.

"Up with Prophet and the Alenko chap," Michael gestured. "They've headed to the landing pad. I offered to hang back and cover the rear."

Shepard looked at the two men, then back to the carnage and pursed her lips as a sign of approval. Readying her weapon, she gestured for them to move out.

"I don't about you mate, but that back there is fucking flawless," Sykes grinned.

Dunn looked back at the courtyard before entering the elevator. "I guess," he shrugged.

"Wasn't talking about the courtyard, mate," he whispered.

It soon dawned on Nomad what his friend was saying. "No, just… no."

Sykes laughed, "Still got it."

"Got what?"

"Being able to crack that stoic exterior of yours."

Dunn felt the elevator lurch as it climbed to the upper floors. The glass doors slid open upon reaching the destination. Jake assessed the situation. It was a skycar port, most of the vehicles had been destroyed and were still smouldering, shattered glass and bodies were strewn over the pavement.

"Cerberus Gunships did a flyby 'ere," Psycho said. "Before we got here."

"Can you raise the others?"

"I'm tryin' Nomad… okay, I got a signal," Sykes opened the network so Dunn could join in. "Prophet, sitrep?"

"Shuttle's destroyed," came the reply, "Alenko and I have moved the Council into an apartment room. Meet us there."

"Copy that, we're goin' to ya."

"We?"

"Nomad and Shepard."

The link was promptly terminated as the three soldiers moved towards the vulnerable council. It looked like Prophet had done a significant amount of work keeping Cerberus assassins at bay. There were at least a dozen phantoms and dragoons all with some kind of grievous bodily wound.

"Prophet, it Psycho," Sykes called out, "open up!"

An apartment block door opened at the end of the hallway, Prophet decloaked and revealed himself to group, beckoning them to come hither.

…

Upon entering the apartment – turned makeshift mini fort – Shepard felt a bit overwhelmed by the presence of three Nanosuit Operators. Apparently Prophet and Psycho had been keeping a low profile and shadowed Alenko until things got a bit to hairy for the lone Spectre to handle. She felt like she was in the presence of gods, and the tired look on Kaidan's face said the same.

"I ran into Leng, sir," Dunn said.

"Shit," Prophet swore. "Bastard still alive?"

"Probably," Jake gestured towards Alice, "she blasted him into the water, but I don't think he's dead."

"We'll worry about the little shite later," Psycho interrupted, "let's get out of here before more Cerberus bastard show up."

It was clear to Alice already that the former SAS Commando had quite a "colourful" vocabulary. He was a stark contrast to Nomad whom she found to be quiet and reserved. Still, it was a bit discomforting to hear a deep computer-synthesised voice swear with so much emotion.

"Alice, good to see you again," Kaidan smiled. He had that tired and wild look in his eyes, as if he couldn't care less that there were three Hunters of Shanxi standing in the same room as he is. The Turian Councillor on the other hand continued to eye the grey-black clad men suspiciously.

"You too," Shepard sighed in relief as she eased her helmet off, "I thought…"

"It's going to take a lot more than that to kill me," Kaidan joked.

Alice's COM squawked, it was Garrus. "Shepard, we've cleared out all Cerberus troops on our end. Spirits you two move fast… anyway, C-Sec is inbound to your location."

"Copy that, keep me posted. Out."

"Garrus?"

Shepard nodded.

"Oh, good," Kaidan smiled, "think I'm going to join you. Last I heard, Spectres don't play full-time bodyguard."

Alice chuckled. Post-combat talks were always the most hear warming… and the strangest at times.

"I'd be happy to have you back on board."

"Just like old times, huh?"

XXxxXX

"The Turian Military follows a code of honour which makes them excellent fighters though unbelievably predictable. But at least they don't strap bombs to mothers like batarian pirates."
-Lieutenant Phillip Gazeau, N7

XXxxXX

A/N: If you haven't noticed it, I'm hinting that Leng is a former Nanosuit Operator.

And no, Udina is nicht traitor… because Earth hasn't been taken by the Reapers (I think I've mentioned that earlier though, or at least hinted at it).

Anyway, please leave a review… the whole lot of you.