Book 2, Chapter 23 - Fallen

Miranda had done some digging on my behalf and learned what we might find in regards to Project Overlord on Aite. Apparently, in his infinite wisdom, the Illusive Man thought running experiments on geth was a worthwhile exercise. I swear, for someone who claimed to be a genius, he made some really dumb fucking decisions at times. Maybe it was simple common sense that he didn't seem to grasp. One major rule of anything in the galaxy. Don't go fucking around with geth. Simples.

Figuring out this was going to be a bitch of an assignment, and knowing geth were going to be involved, when it came to selecting a team, my first and obvious choice was Tali. She was always looking for an excuse to kill geth, and this sounded like the perfect opportunity. Garrus didn't particularly like geth either after all our run ins, so I selected him too. Knowing what geth were like, and also intrigued herself as to what exactly was going on, Miranda offered to join and I accepted without hesitation. Kasumi and her cloaking ability was always handy, plus she wanted to work alongside Tali. I wanted muscle when it came to geth, so Grunt would join in, causing havoc with me. Finally, geth can't really withstand biotics, so I asked Samara to join me again. She hadn't really much experience with the geth so was pleased that she'd have the chance to pit her wits against a new enemy.

Arriving in orbit around Aite, it looked like your typical garden world, ripe for colonising efforts. From what I had read, though, it was on borrowed time, as one of its moons was predicted to impact with the planet within a couple of centuries, and that would wipe out all life in an instant. There were small pockets of civilisation, but the planet was effectively lawless. The Cerberus facility was well away from any population centres, and the sort of place those of us on the old Normandy would have dealt with before. Let's just say we were experiencing some déjà vu when boarding the shuttle.

It was quiet during the descent, though Tali twitched with nervous energy. Miranda sat grim faced, no doubt worried about what we were going to find. The rest of us simply checked over weapons and armour for a final time before the shuttle finally touched down, opening the door to be greeted by a large facility, though surprisingly empty of people. I would have thought someone would have been around to greet us.

"Well, if this isn't ominous," Garrus muttered.

As we spread out, a voice suddenly boomed over a loudspeaker, introducing himself as Doctor Gavin Archer, explaining that there was a 'catastrophic VI breakout'. He gave no further details, which didn't exactly impress me, but he at least gave us something to do. The door to the facility was unlocked, and we walked into a scene of carnage and devastation. And a lot of dead bodies, and also geth. Tali was ready to get blasting. She might not like Cerberus but she hated geth with every fibre of her being. We checked for signs of life, but most were long past saving. And, from what it looked like, they'd been slaughtered as they worked. Very few were armed as if they had managed to fight back.

Wandering into an office, Archer must have been following our progress, as his face appeared on a nearby monitor. He was an older gentleman, and the dark circles under his eyes spoke of someone on veer exhaustion and stressed out. He gave us a little more information, though nothing that really explained this rogue VI, and we moved on, directed to find the controls of the satellite dish. Apparently the VI was trying to escape.

Finding the controls, I should have known it wouldn't be that easy, and it wasn't, the rogue VI discovering our intention and putting a halt to that. As we were doing that, Miranda was busy at work, looking for information on the systems, and that's when we had confirmation they were experimenting with live geth. That only gave an excuse for Tali to start yelling at Miranda and I eventually had to split the two apart. "Miranda isn't part of this, Tali," I said.

She looked at me as if I'd slapped her. "You're supporting her?" she spat.

I sighed, as I knew why she would ask a question like that. "I think Miranda has proven… open-minded in regards to what she had learned. And I think it's already clear she doesn't support what was happening here."

"She's still Cerberus, Shepard. She's still one of them, even if you want to fuck her." That pissed me off, and Tali seemed to realised she'd put her foot in it, lowering her head immediately. "Shit. Sorry, Shepard. That wasn't right."

"No, it's fine. I figured it was going to be an issue eventually. What Miranda and I might do in privacy is personal. I believe I have always kept my personal and professional lives separate, and that's what I'm doing. I think accusing Miranda of whatever is happening here isn't correct, that is all I'm saying, Tali."

Tali met my eyes from behind the mask, gave a brief nod, before she turned to look at Miranda. "I apologise. Though you might wear the symbol, you are not involved with whatever these idiots are doing here."

"Thank you, Tali."

We moved on, and realised the geth were there in force, as not only did they have the regular troops we'd shot in their hundreds, but also some of the bigger geth machines that could be a real bitch to take down. Tali spent most of her time laughing away, disabling shields, overloading weapons, causing them to attack each other. I charged this way and that, shotgun blasting, the rest doing what they did best.

The facility was bigger than they thought, and they ended up on a tram that took them to the satellite dish. Archer explained that they needed to blow it up to stop the program from escaping the planet. "Shit. It must want to use the Normandy as a launch pad," Tali stated.

"How the hell can a VI do any of this?" I asked, "I'm not technically minded, but even I know VI…"

"It's clearly not VI, Shepard," Tali muttered.

The satellite dish was enormous, and we had nothing to actually blow it up with. I hadn't brought a heavy weapon, though wish I now had my Arc Projector, as that would have caused havoc in the geth lines. And they had taken control of the satellite dish and its surrounding area, dug in, waiting for us. Switching to my assault rifle, I worked in tandem with Garrus as we slowly but surely pushed them back, Samara and Miranda close behind, using their biotics, Grunt taking a different path as a diversion, blasting and stomping any geth he came into contact with.

As we worked, Archer suggested we blow up the struts holding up the satellite dish. I was about to tell him we had no explosives when he suggested we blow up each capacitor. I figured that wouldn't exactly give us a lot of time to escape, but we had no other option. Once we cleared the geth, which took longer than I would have liked, as there were far too many of the larger geth that were a bitch to take down, and we took a few wounds along the way.

But the geth were dead, and we managed to disable and then destroy the satellite dish. We barely survived, having to leap from one ledge to another as the walkways we were on started to collapse. As we almost piled on top of one another, there was more than once chuckle as I got up, helping the others to their feet. Helping Samara, she took my hand and held it for longer than I would have expected, a look in her eyes I knew well. "Life with you is interesting, Shepard. And, I will admit, quite a lot of fun."

"Glad you're enjoying yourself, Samara."

"What we are dealing with is serious, Shepard, but I will admit I have smiled and laughed more since joining your crew than I had in centuries."

"We're staring death in the face, Samara. Can't be serious all the time. Come on, we should see if this Archer is willing to meet face to face. Then we can deal with whatever the fuck is going on here."

Wandering back into the facility, Archer was waiting for us at the tram station. None of us were too pleased to find geth on the planet, and having figured out what the facility was up to, Tali was rather close to putting her shotgun into his gut, demanding an explanation. But we all waited until we arrived back in the control room. I grabbed his collar and threw him into a chair, and that's when he seemed to realise he was surrounded by seven heavily armed and rather pissed off people.

"What is Project Overlord?" I asked.

"We were attempting to gain influence over the geth by interfacing a human mind with a VI."

Tali jammed her shotgun into his chest. "What?" she almost screamed, "Are you people insane?"

"As you can tell, results have been… less than satisfactory." I wasn't the only one to scoff as he added, "There have been some successes, though."

"How do you mean some successes?" Miranda asked, clearing pissed but intrigued by the research. Tali was furious but would at least be curious as to what progress they had made.

Archer looked away, clearly uncomfortable, before responding. "My brother, David, volunteered to be a test subject. Unfortunately, his mind couldn't handle the VI connection."

"How do you mean?" I asked carefully. I didn't believe anyone would just volunteer.

Archer sighed. "Whatever happened, he's like a virus now. He's infected all our networks planet-side and seizing control of any technology he finds."

"I assume that's why we had to destroy the satellite dish?"

Archer nodded. "Imagine if every piece of technology we used was turned against us. It would be the end of days. The sort of thing you used to see in movies"

"Yet you still thought this was a good idea?" Miranda retorted.

"This was to be for the benefit of humankind."

"Bullshit," I growled, "This would only be the benefit of the Illusive Man and whatever he has cooking up in that mind of his." I stepped forward, resting my shotgun on his shoulder. "Rest assured, Doctor. Project Overlord ends today. So, you will tell me how this ends, Doctor. How do we shut this down?"

"The VI… My brother is based at Atlas Station. It's the main laboratory where we carried out the majority of our experiments. But it's locked down."

"How do we get there?"

Archer keyed his omni-tool. "There is a garage nearby with an M-44 Hammerhead. Use that for transportation. You'll need to override security systems at both Prometheus and Vulcan stations. It's a fail-safe system. There are three overrides in total. I can unlock the first one here."

The Hammerhead was a flimsy piece of shit, armour barely able to hold back bullets fired by a pistol, slow and unwieldy, and barely came equipped with an adequate cannon. I hated it from the start. And that was just the start of our bad day. Vulcan Station was filled with geth and mechs, a hot, depressing, lava filled cavern. It was obviously used to power the entire complex, and by the time we'd reached the over-ride, we were all fed-up, ready to wipe the geth out completely, and I was definitely going to interrogate Archer once we were done.

Heading out of Vulcan, there was discussion about the apparent VI and Archer's brother. Knowing what Cerberus was like, I almost dreaded what they were doing, but the fact his own brother was the lead… And I knew I wasn't the only one with those thoughts in mind as we boarded the Hammerhead.

Prometheus Station was a crashed geth ship. Tali wondered why it had crashed on the planet to begin with, as although it was close the Veil, there was nothing on the planet that could have possibly caused it to crash and she doubted a geth ship would malfunction that badly. Approaching the wreck carefully, the first announcement when walking through the door caused a ripple of nervous laughter.

"Attention visitors. This Cerberus facility contains hazardous AI technology."

"Bunch of idiot fucking bosh'tets," Tali muttered. I stopped and stared at her.

"Shepard, you are a bad influence," Garrus stated.

"Oh, please, language is nothing compared to what we did before I died for two years."

She glanced my way, and her eyes were amused, at least. "Lot of good memories, Shepard, enjoying both male and female humans. Let's just say I spread one or two positive rumours about the human body, particularly men."

I couldn't help chuckle as we moved on. "So, if I ever end up on the fleet, I'll have some fans."

"Definitely."

"That's all Shepard needs, more women to fuck," Miranda joked.

"Don't hear you complaining, Miss Lawson," I retorted.

"I'll only complain if I don't have you in my arse again soon." That brought everyone to a halt, staring first at me, then Miranda. "What? Come on, you all know we've had sex."

"Well, yeah, but you're being so… blunt," Garrus said awkwardly.

She gestured towards me. "Hanging around him too much has that effect. And, what can I say, the man's a great fuck."

Tali simply nodded her head in agreement. Kasumi turned her head and I saw her eyes behind her hood. Even Samara met my eyes and grinned. "If I was a few centuries younger, Shepard…"

"Oh…"

"Do you know how flexible asari can be?"

"Actually, yes. Shiala can get her feet behind her head." I pause before saying, "And I just told you all that. But, fuck it, I've even taken pictures of her doing it."

"Well, at least you know what we can do, Shepard," Samara stated, "And even someone at my age can be remarkably flexible."

"Now you're just teasing, Samara."

"There is a lot of sex on the ship, Shepard. It still holds an appeal despite my vow."

Walking past what seemed like hundreds, if not thousands of docile geth wasn't easy, wanting to just open up and start firing. And it was obvious that some of them either survived the crash, or woke up afterwards, as they had clearly slaughtered nearly everyone at the facility. Can't really blame them, though, if Cerberus did experiment on them.

And, of course, once we reached our objective, and needed to make our way out of the ship, the geth decided that was the perfect time to wake up and stop us leaving the crashed shit. Getting out took us at least a couple of hours. At times like that, having Tali with us was priceless. With her expertise of the geth, and me causing havoc as I charged around, they didn't really stand a chance, though their sheer weight of numbers did mean we moved only by inches most of the time.

We also found more human bodies around, clear evidence that they'd been herded by the geth and the executed, blood stains on the walls and it was obvious that the deaths were recent. It was hard to feel sympathy though I guess no-one deserved death at the hands of geth. My memories of them were not great, after all.

Somehow, we made it out of the ship, one or two wounds being slapped with medi-gel, but nothing major requiring a retreat to the facility for extraction. Boarding the Hammerhead, Archer once again gave us information over the comm, stating the lockdown had ended and we could now proceed to Atlas Station.

"What do you plan on doing with him?" Miranda asked as I drove. Or flew.

"I'm still considering it."

"Worth a bullet?"

"It's an option."

"I'm not sure there is another one. Someone involved in an operation like this…"

"You do realise the Illusive Man would know about this."

"Of course he would. No way something like this would have been funded without his express knowledge. But, as I told you, each cell operates independently. No-one else would have known about Project Lazarus. Sure, there would have been rumours, and perhaps one or two would have put things together considering the credits thrown at your re-build, but that's still no excuse."

I glanced her way. "It sounds like you might be evaluating certain life choices, Miranda."

She met my eyes, a grim face returned. "Correct."

Atlas Station appeared to be another facility, though this one was buried into a mountainside. Climbing out of the Hammerhead once I'd parked us up, we immediately headed inside and got to work. And what we quickly discovered sent a chill down each of our spines. It wasn't just the fact it was his brother. It was the condition he suffered, added to what it seemed he was being put through. I'm fairly sure I made my decision then and there.

The geth were waiting for us, of course, though in nowhere near the numbers as their crashed ship. We knew they'd be there so had prepared accordingly, Tali ready to unleash all manner of tech attacks at a moment's notice, while I was ready to charge and Samara to rain biotic destruction down on their flashlight heads.

Something weird happened a little later as we made it to some sort of VI interface. It had been watching our progress, of course, and had hacked anything with VI or AI to attack us. But when I pressed a button to do… something, it hacked into my omni-tool and also took control of my cybernetics, and I seemed to enter the world of… I'm not sure.

Hard to explain what I experienced after that. I seemed to see the memories of Archer's brother. And what I saw shocked and angered me, and my resolve hardened even more. But it was what I eventually found in the core itself, what he'd actually done to his brother, it was nothing short of torture. The poor boy was…

When Archer made his appearance, I let the rage flow. He didn't see it coming. He must have thought I'd accept it. Like hell I would. The first punch was to his solar plexus, knocking the wind from him. The next was an uppercut that put him on his arse. Then I calmly sat down on his chest, grabbed his collar, and put my fist into his face again… and again…. and again… By the time I was done, he still lived, but barely. I looked up to see my six colleagues, and they all took a step back. I did wonder what I looked like, looking down at my glove to see it dripping with blood.

Taking the pistol from its holster, I opened up his mouth, now missing a few of his teeth, making sure he could feel the cold steel. "Feel that Archer?" I asked quietly. His left eye was barely open, but I could see him looking. "This is how close you come to death today. I could kill you easily, but no, that's the easy way out. I'm going to make sure the rest of your life is constant agony, as no doubt your brother won't be having it easy going forward."

I hauled him up and used a few moves, ensuring I either broke bones or caused muscles to snap. By the time I was done, he'd barely be able to drag himself out of the facility, and I simply dragged him to a corner and threw him in it.

Then we got to work on getting his brother down. The mental scars alone would have been horrific. But even the physical scars caused a couple of people to turn away. The normally ice cool Miranda Lawson couldn't stop her tears, wiping her cheeks a few times as we finally lowered the young man to the ground. Miranda disappeared and eventually found a sedative so we could knock him out. I called in the shuttle, asking for Chakwas to attend with Mordin, the pair arriving fifteen minutes later with a gurney. She took one look at him and ordered us to carefully lift him then we'd get out.

As we were walking out, I glanced at Archer one last time. He hadn't moved since I'd thrown him. I actually didn't think he'd live all that long. "Should I just shoot him?" I wondered aloud.

Miranda turned back to me, looking at him. "Fuck him, Shepard. What he's done, he deserves to die slowly for it. You're doing the galaxy a favour by leaving him to rot. Should ask Tali to wake up a few geth before we go, maybe they can go hunting."

In the end, we just left him there. I doubted I'd ever see him again.

Back on the Normandy, Chakwas, Mordin and Miranda got to work on David Archer as I instructed Joker to head away, trying to think of where to send him. It was actually Miranda who finally suggested Grissom Academy. I'd never heard of it, but she mentioned it purely because I was now biotic, Jack was a human biotic as well, and it was a school for those gifted either with biotic or those who show higher levels of intelligence than normal. And David was apparently a savant in all things mathematical.

So we immediately headed there.

That night, I was still pissed off about everything we'd discovered, enough that Kelly felt it necessary to take action. Sex was the last thing on my mind, and she seemed to realise that, but still had me join her in our cabin, where she slowly undressed me, then herself, before leading me into the bathroom, where we stood under the hot water and she simply hugged me. I'll admit, I felt a little better within a couple of minutes.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"I'm always here when you need me, Shepard."

It wasn't all that surprising that the academy didn't exactly want to let a Cerberus ship dock but I asked the woman in charge, Kahlee Sanders, to contact Anderson and that he'd at least vouch for me. Mentioning his name seemed to do the trick immediately as we were allowed to dock without any further delay. David was still sedated as he was left off and I explained the situation and left nothing back as I explained what happened. "Oh my god," Kahlee whispered once I finished.

"Yeah. Working with them to take down the Collectors already left a bad taste. After this? The only thing keeping me around is the fact we need to beat the Collectors. Once that's over though…"

"Anderson is aware of everything?"

"I keep him in the loop but I obviously don't share everything to cover both our arses."

"Good. I'll let him know what you've done here. Sure it'll be a smile on his face. Otherwise, thanks for bringing him straight to us, Shepard. We'll look after him."

"I would ask for updates, but everything on the ship is monitored…"

"He's in good hands, Shepard. Don't worry."

Ordering the Normandy away immediately, I looked around the CIC as we moved off, and I was eft wondering if there might be more than one defection away from Cerberus after what we'd discovered. I'd come to the conclusion that most of the crew were not card carrying members of Cerberus, loyal to the core, fanatical in their beliefs. Many were recent recruits, joining up to serve on the ship. Now that they'd seen the depths to which Cerberus was willing to plunge, I had a feeling quite a few might end up walking away when I finally told the Illusive Man to do one.

Still, that was for later. I was in a good mood having left Archer in the care of good people, confident that although his recovery would be a slow one, he'd eventually get better and have people who would care for his needs.

As the crew started to unwind at the end of another long day, as it was always amazing how busy the ship could be when we were just transiting from one planet to another, I headed to the lounge for a drink, figuring I might be joined later by some of the others. Grabbing a glass of the brown with some ice, I sat back on one of the lounges and relaxed, gazing out upon the blackness of space, hundreds of stars twinkling in the distance. It was sometimes enough to help me drift off at night, the window above the bed providing a wondrous view of the galaxy, if not the universe itself.

There hadn't been any sign of Kasumi, though she was the first to appear a little later, plopping herself down next to me after grabbing a drink for herself. "We did a good thing, Shepard."

"That we did. I like a story with a happy ending. Doesn't happen all the time."

"Guess that means the Illusive Man is on your naughty list."

"Already on it. That's just set it in stone. There isn't a thing he can say to justify it, though I didn't even bother getting him on the line to rant and rave. In one ear, out the other, claiming it was all to benefit humanity." I scoffed, followed by a bitter laugh. "Complete and utter fuckwit."

"Do you have any regrets about Archer?"

"If you mean letting him live, yes. If you mean what I did to him, not at all."

"I've never seen you so angry, Shepard. I mean, I know there are certain things that piss you off…"

"The only thing that stopped me going completely barbaric was a lack of tools."

"Can I be honest?"

"Sure."

"That looks in your eyes…" She paused so I stopped and looked at her. She looked at me. "I actually kind of liked it."

"Huh?"

"That wild animal you keep caged, Shepard. I think you let it loose for a few minutes. You're dangerous when you want to be."

"Rule number one. Don't piss me off. Generally, follow that rule, you won't need to know the others."

Walking to the bar to grab the bottle, I poured us both another glass, placing the bottle on the table, as I leaned back again, feeling Kasumi shuffle closer and eventually leaning her head against my shoulder, so I wrapped an arm around her too. "Penny for your thoughts?" I asked.

"Do you find me attractive, Shepard?"

"Well, to be honest, Kas, I don't often see you without the hood on."

To my slight surprise, she immediately stood up and looked my way, removing her hood and her jacket, throwing it on the lounge. She wore only a thin white t-shirt underneath, some kind of Japanese character in the middle surrounded by some Japanese writing. But I looked up at her face, and I immediately thought she was gorgeous. Must have shown on my face as she smiled in return. Didn't ask me what I thought as I guess it was obvious.

Then she stepped in front of me before placing a knee to either side of me as she sat on my lap, knocking back her glass before leaning back to put it next to the bottle. The thin t-shirt showed off her slim body. I guess, at most, she was a C-cup, which was generous for many women of her background. "Shepard, can I be honest about something."

"I prefer honesty above all."

"I haven't been with a man since… since Keiji. And that was a long time ago now."

"Going that long without intimacy is difficult sometimes."

"I think it's obvious we fancy each other, right?" I nodded. "I'm aware of the lifestyle you lead and I guess you should know it doesn't bother me. All I want to know is if you're interested?"

"Have been since the day we met."

That made her smile before she playfully slapped my shoulder. "Then why the hell haven't we been together yet?"

"Because of Keiji."

Her face fell slightly. "Oh…"

"You were still grieving, Kas, and the last thing I'm going to do is take an advantage of a grieving woman. I'm a bastard but not that much of a bastard. So I resolved to wait until you were ready to perhaps want to be with me, knowing what I'm like. You've told me about the relationship you had with him. I know I can't offer that. Yes, I can be romantic. I'm sure Kelly has already spoken of what I do for her, but that's because she's special to me. Not to say all my other lovers are not. I don't sleep with women I care nothing for… any longer…"

"So what am I, Shepard?"

"Kasumi Goto, I think you're a fucking knock-out. Obviously gorgeous. Talented. Intelligent. Funny. And I want to see you naked."

That made her grin immediately and I knew what was coming as she leaned forward to kiss me. I met her kiss, leaning forward to put the glass down on the table, before leaning back, hands immediately running down her back to her arse, which caused her to grin as I kissed her. "Been waiting to feel your hands there," she whispered.

"I apologise for any delay in the current service." She cracked up laughing at my announcement. "Please be aware that the expected service is now arriving. Please be aware that we really should lock the door."

"Already done."

"Ah, methinks someone has had this planned, Ms. Goto."

"Just had to get you alone, Shepard."

So I made her squeal by easily picking her up, her legs wrapping around me, continuing to make out as I carried her across to her bed. Soon as I had her down, shirts were quickly removed, as was her bra, her fingers immediately grazing my back as I looked, didn't touch her body, instead focusing on just making out, simply because she was a great kisser, and I didn't want to rush it. She liked romance, and while it wasn't going to be anything like she was used to, I wasn't just going to 'pump and dump'.

"EDI?"

"Yes, Shepard?"

"Let Kelly know I won't be in the cabin this evening. She'll know why. If she asks, you can tell her where I am."

"No problem, Shepard. I'll let her know now."

"Thanks." I looked back at Kasumi. "So, how does that sound?"

Kasumi Goto is a beautiful woman when she's smiling, but add a little shyness to that smile, and she becomes fucking adorable at the same time. The next kiss was far softer as I held her close to my body, feeling her hard nipples against my skin as I ran a hand down her back, giving her arse another gentle squeeze. She giggled again. "Someone likes it."

"I've had more than the occasional look."

"I know. That's why I perform certain moves. It distracts the enemy."

"Distracts me too."

Trousers were eventually discarded, quickly followed by underwear, until we were both naked. She was rather pale, I guess not a particular surprise, rather slim but I was more than attracted immediately. And once I had her naked, that's when I thought we could move on from kissing to other things just as fun.

My entire focus was on her, giving her all the attention she needed. That meant using all the tricks I'd learned over the years, finding the erogenous zones of her body and focusing on them, while also fondling her more better known parts of the body. My mouth and fingers were very busy as I made her gasp, moan and giggle as I explored her body. Very smooth skin. Definitely used some sort of scented body wash. Her perfume or deodorant she wore was also refreshing, a light scent on the nose.

She loved it when I spent time playing with her breasts, teasing her nipples as they were hard enough to cut ice. While doing that, I'd move up to her neck, moving her head as I'd made her gasp when I might give her a tiny bite, but just kissing her there provoked a response. When I moved a hand down to check how she was reacting, she immediately spread her legs as I felt how wet she was. The constant attention was working.

"Shepard," she breathed, moving her face towards mine so I could kiss her again.

"You're beautiful," I whispered.

"Still with the compliments."

"I have no problem continuing to compliment my lovers even when we're naked and I'm fairly sure this is guaranteed."

"Shepard, you're not leaving here with making love to me." I raised eyebrows at that as she ran a hand through my short hair. "That's what we're doing. I like a good… fuck as much as the next girl, but I need… I need it to be special. In my mind."

"This isn't a one-time thing, Kasumi. Trust me. I've just been waiting until you were ready."

"And I thank you for that, Shepard." She kissed me again before whispering. "Can you move down my body and pleasure me?"

"Oh, absolutely, Ms. Goto."

I did take a moment to sit back on my knees and just appreciate her body. Some women get a little embarrassed when you gaze at them like that. Not Kasumi, who simply lay back with her legs spread wide, chest rising and falling a little quicker from her excitement. Her pussy glistened in the light of the lounge. If I inhaled through my nose, I could even taste her scent, which simply made me harder. Nothing matches the scent of a woman's excitement, and if you're the man who is doing it, the self-confidence skyrockets.

She moaned loudly when I finally started. So did I once I tasted her, left thinking I might get a little overexcited myself. Once I was in my groove, she leaned forward to grab her legs, wrapping hands under her knees, and I couldn't help smile as I stopped for just a moment and looked down. And the gaze in her eyes told me…

"Now?" I asked softly.

"Please, Shepard."

While I would have enjoyed bringing to her orgasm with my mouth, I think she was going to orgasm no matter what I did. Her eyes lit up as I teased her for a moment before placing the head of my cock at her entrance and ever so gently started to slide it inside her. The smile that quickly appeared on her face simply made her even more beautiful. I buried myself entirely before I leaned down and gave her another kiss. I think she wanted to hug me but kept her hands under her knees.

"Fuck," she moaned.

"Good?"

"I'm going to cum really quickly. Don't you even think about stopping when I do."

I must have only been going for five minutes, not even that long, as I wasn't going too hard or fast. But she was either incredibly turned on, my cock hit the right place or it was a combination of a million thing. Because she was soon squeezing my cock and when she cried out, she had to let go of her legs to wrap her body around me, holding on as she shuddered underneath me. I did stop moving as I gave her time to let it pass and to calm down, eventually feeling her relax as she met my eyes. "I have felt that since…"

"I'm glad I made you cum."

She giggled again and kissed me, a soft kiss that spoke of her affection for me. Then I restarted, and what followed was definitely what I would call making love. It was incredibly sweet and tender, our lips rarely apart, and she knew how good just eye contact could be. I watched her face for reactions whenever I changed angle slightly. I loved her little moans and gasps. She was rather complimentary about me in return, which is always nice to hear.

Only when I felt my own orgasm approach did I even think about going quicker, and she must have read my face and body language, as all she said was, "I'll hang on," as I started to thrust into her a little faster. That provoked a reaction from both of us, her eyes filling with desire, filling her fingers start to dig into my back as she moved her legs from around me.

"Fuck me," she breathed. I kissed her hard, feeling her fingers really did into my back, forcing a whimper into my mouth though when we broke apart, needing a breath, she told me to keep going. No chance of me stopping now, and I didn't last much longer before I enjoyed an orgasm of my own. It was… spectacular, to be honest. The sort that travelled throughout my body, made me see stars, and I groaned particularly loudly before I needed to just do nothing except relax on my forearms, feeling her light kisses on my cheek.

"Worth the wait," she whispered.

I grunted a response, hearing her chuckle as I needed to move, lying down on my side next to her, though she immediately turned onto her side and cuddled into me. "Sorry for making you wait so long. I'm definitely thinking we could have done that earlier."

She giggled again as I wrapped an arm around her, feeling one of her hands caressed my chest. "Hope you like Japanese girls with a dose of kleptomania, Shepard."

"Considering we've just had sex…"

"Oh, I meant you're not getting rid of me easily."

"Definitely not planning on it now."

"Can I ask what might seem like a weird question, considering what we've just done?"

"Shoot."

"Do you prefer me with a little hair like now or shaved?"

"Oh, I definitely like now."

That made her smile. "I always worry because, you know, asari don't have… and…"

"Okay, I'll let you in on a secret. Kelly? Natural redhead. She sometimes leaves a little hair there, nicely trimmed, sometimes she'll shave. It's up to her but I love it when she leave a little bush. More womanly. Miranda? Shaved, which isn't a surprise. Chakwas? Natural brunette down below. Not a full bush but I could sort of run my fingers through it. Jack? She was shaved the first time but has since grown a little hair. Ashley? Neatly trimmed. Emily? Not trimmed, not full bush, almost like Chakwas. Gianna? Landing strip of hair, rest shaved when we first met, trimmed since then."

She started to laugh. "You remember all that off the top of your head?"

"I know women worry about it sometimes. I honestly don't care. It's your choice, Kasumi."

"I notice you keep yourself tidy."

"Of course. New body doesn't really promote much growth of hair in certain regions, my groin being one of them."

"And asari are just bald down there?"

"They are, but it's something they simply don't have to concern themselves with. Don't compare yourself to them."

"Can be hard sometimes."

I hugged her closely. "True, but remember. I'm here with you right now, and I'm thinking we should definitely continue certain activities that we both enjoyed."

Pushing me onto my back, I knew what she wanted immediately, and I watched with a grin as my cock disappeared inside of her seconds later. Then I watched a nubile Japanese woman ride herself stupid on my cock. She would sometimes lean forward, wanting me to kiss her, run my hands over her body, otherwise she's sit back and grind herself against me. The noises she made simply turned me on even more. I did tease her, licking my thumb and gently rubbing her clit, which tuned her on more at the same time.

She enjoyed another orgasm while riding me, then kept on going afterwards, wanting more, and she wanted me to enjoy another too. I was happy watching her ride me, hands running up and down her body, occasionally dragging her down myself for a kiss, but I simply didn't have to move. She was doing all the work but she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

"Your cock is magnificent," she groaned, and I think she was on the verge of another one.

"I'm glad you like it."

"I love it already, Shepard. You'd better come down here and keep me satisfied."

"Quite the demand, Ms. Goto. I think I can meet that."

She giggled. "The tiny Japanese woman can be rather bossy when she wants something."

"At least I know what you want. Men still haven't really figured it all out."

She enjoyed another orgasm a few minutes later, and she was starting to tire now, leaning forward and a last kiss before she whispered, "Want to really fuck me now?"

"Ms. Goto. I thought you'd never ask. How?"

She actually showed me, which is even better. She hopped off and lay down, bringing her legs back and as I leaned forward, she put her legs over my shoulders. Sliding my cock inside her, I definitely grinned as it was very tight. And she was incredibly flexible, as I could bend down and kiss her, legs remaining where they were. "My pussy is now yours to own, Shepard." I definitely had a look in my eyes as her eye slit up. "That's just what I wanted to see, Shepard. Fuck me."

Kasumi Goto got fucked. No way I was going to last too long doing that. She absolutely loved it. They must have heard us out in the mess. I soon had her squealing or moaning loudly. I was groaning, grunting and my language was rather vulgar, though she loved hearing all the things I had to say about her pussy.

When I was about to cum, she quickly moved her legs, knowing I would need to lie down straight away. She rested her arms around my neck as I buried myself a few final times, then leaned down to kiss her as I came. When I was empty once again, I needed to slump down, resting on a forearm as I felt her legs around me, her fingers caressing my back with one hand, the other stroking my cheek as I looked at her.

"Well, that was definitely worth waiting for, Shepard."

"And we're definitely doing that again, Ms. Goto."

We needed a shower after that. She had a dressing gown at least. I wrapped a towel around my waist and followed her to the showers. I asked EDI to close the door and give us some privacy. A little weird showering downstairs, but we still had fun, and they would have heard her giggles from me washing her. Heading back out, we earned more than once glance as we headed back to her room, locking the door again, sitting on the lounge again as we shared a last drink before bed.

"How will this work?" she asked.

"I don't know. I'm just going with the flow at the moment."

"We all know Kelly is… You love her, we all know that. But what about those other women you care deeply about?"

"I make it work as best I can. And if it doesn't work for both of us, then we keep trying or we agree it's best to end it."

"Okay, best we just see how things go."

"But you'd like this continue?"

"God yes, Shepard. I'm already addicted to you."

Finishing our drink, we headed to bed and, as she spooned into me, I realised how much smaller she was than me. I'd noticed as we made love, but when curled into my body, she was just… small. Almost Jack small. Wrapping my arms around her, I felt her shudder and I wondered why. Then I heard a sniff and I gave her a squeeze, pulling her close.

"Sorry… just… first time since…" I gave her another gentle squeeze, leaning forward to gently kiss her cheek. "You would have liked him. Obviously a thief, but a good man at heart, just like you." Then she paused. "But he's gone. And now I'm with you, Shepard. I think I've come out of this rather well."

"Well, I'm glad I've got you too, Kasumi."

"I loved our first night together."

"So did I. And we'll have another one soon. I promise."

"Good. I'll see you in the morning."

She shuffled and settled down, feeling her relax rather quickly. I always waited a bit longer to go to sleep, just enjoying her presence next to me before I finally closed my eyes and joined her in slumberland.