Hunting the Hunter

Arcturus Station, Command Center, 2 Years Later

"So let me get this straight...you want me, just me...to go to the Citadel...and wait near the Human Embassy, and see if Commander Shepard is alive? Do you know how much of a long shot this is and how much bullshit you just said that he is alive right?" I said as I was holding up a data-pad holding information of the findings of the Normandy and how it is a Cerberus vessel.

"How many times must we go over this Captain Zidane, you are still under investigation for joining Cerberus and half of the crew on this station still think you are secretly feeding them valuable information. So just do this for me as a favor to me, and when you find out if he is alive or not, you are allowed to take a leave of absence...after all that rocket you took to the back should have killed you back on Mindoir...even our medical experts are having trouble wondering how you are still alive."

"Well Shepard somehow survived his ship getting disintergrated with him in it...if he somehow survived that than I can sure as hell survive a rocket to the back...same thing in my book on pain." I said while placing the pad onto the table and

"For all we know this could be a trick by Cerberus to get you back into their hold or to assassinate you...but if this is the real Commander Shepard...than Cerberus must have kept him as a captive when his ship was destroyed by the unknown vessel...be warned Zidane, if this is an ambush than you have full authorization to use any means necessary and to get back to Alliance Controlled Space immediately. But if it is him, bring him into protective custody and keep him alive until we can fully prove it is him. Am I understood?"

"Aye...I understand...but remember this, on my leave of absence, try to keep your watchdogs away from me...I almost had to scrape one off the floor when I threw him out the window at Eden Prime...and at least give me a warning that you are going to have your people spy on me." knowing that he will still spy on me but giving him a warning and what I did to the last spy he sent after me was amusing to see him faceplam and sigh before going over to a screen and tapping on it.

As I turned to leave the station I ran into my partner who was waiting for me by the docking bay doors, Hilo'Jaa was busy scanning the door panel for some reason but whatever it is I currently did not care at the moment. Taking a look at her I saw that her enviro-suit was different, it looked like it was made for actual combat instead of space repairs or simple engineering projects, not like any of our past missions or postings were firefight free.

"Hilo'Jaa...please tell me you are not rigging those doors to be locked once we are on the other side...I rather not get another angry call from Hackett saying that he had to remove the bulkhead because of a certain someone sealing it shut."

"Oh come on now Ro, we both know that it is amusing and that we both will have a week of absence and both know that you are going to spend it at some bar or at the gun range. "

"And I know that you will be following me to the bar or gun range because we both know you can't get enough of me honey." as I said that I received a rough hit upside the head as I laughed out loud and took another hit to my head.

Boarding our ship the "Two-For-Flinching" we both found out quickly that this was not a normal Alliance ship but instead it was a cargo freighter and that it was manned by mostly turians and the occasional volus lumbering around.

"Well...better than dealing with my own kind I can tell you that much..." I grumbled as I grabbed my cargo bag and watched as the crew stared at us, one of the volus that I saw was staring right at me and when I saw that on his right shoulder was a slightly blurred out insignia but I knew that it belonged to the Shadow Broker. I knew he caught my gaze at it and he nodded at me slightly before turning to walk off down the halls into the inner layout of the freighter, and I followed after him leaving Hilo'Jaa behind to deal with the captain of the ship.

5 Minutes of walking after him I found out that he had two members of the crew watching out for him as they came out of hiding from the sides of the next set of bulkheads. Both of the turians were holding Phaeston's and were pointed at the ground instead of at me, than when I thought they were just security guards acting like I was at a checkpoint they searched me for any weapons but only found my M-358 Talon, with no thermal clip, and let it be.

"So...what can I help you with today Mr. Zidane...any information you require...or maybe any news that has yet to be released...to the general public." damn this guy is good.

"Well Shadow Agent...yes there is information I do require...and maybe some news. I require any recent information about Commander Shepard being alive and in Cerberus hands, as for news...Anything on the Council." I said while handing him a secure data-disc and a credit chip for the transaction.

Watching him handle the disc he inserts it into his omni-tool, and a few seconds later my credits, and lastly he hands me back the disc but not the chip. "The transaction is complete and I hope...that the information you wanted is worth the price...Mr. Zidane." with a nod of his head he goes back to his path of motion along with the two security guards, while I on the otherhand was walking back to Hil'Jaa who at the time was busy on the E-net looking at ship parts and the prices.

Typical.

"So...what did you get from the volus...was it some advice while we are on this ship or was it a place to go once we are off."

"Better than advice or a bar, information on our objective...for now let us go to our room on this floating tub and figure out what I just bought with my three paychecks...this better be worth it."

In truth, the information was well worth the price.

Citadel, Embassy, 2 Days Later

"Are you sure this is even safe Roran...we are ontop of a building in the Presidium, you are using a sniper rifle to see across the lake, and you are hoping that if Shepard does arrive that you are planning to see if he is wearing a Cerberus unifrom that you can shoot him in the head."

"You worry to much...and...wait for it...the hell?" I said while looking through the scope of my Widow, seeing if my target would arrive but instead of what I was hoping for, I instead got something different.

"What is it? Is it him? Is it Shepard?"

"Yeah...it's him alright...not wearing a Cerberus uniform...wearing his N7 armor, I see a turian on his right...cobalt markings, his armor looks it went into a blender with him in it...to his left is...is that Miranda?" looking through my scope agan I saw that it was indeed Miranda, she was wearing her usual Cerberus uniform, a Phalanx pistol at her hip and that she was somewhat looking in my general direction as Shepard was talking to the new human council member, Anderson.

Moving my finger to the trigger, I slow down my breathing as I moved the crosshairs over to Miranda's head and sighed a bit, wanting to pull the trigger and kill my old CO but I know that if she is working with Shepard than something that was not in my info package must have been left out.

"Hilo'Jaa...get to the Embassy...wait outside and if you see the Cerberus Officer...do not engage, instead follow and pursue...I will be watching from a distance."

After a while I heard static before a new voice came over my headset.

"What the bloody hell do you think you are doing?" Oh crap.

"Just doing my job...now shut up and look pretty Miranda...I need to see if that is the real Shepard and not some fake..."

"This is the real Shepard...we are not the enemy anymore Delta...and it is about time you figure that out so get that crosshair off my head."

Damn it...looks like I don't get this chance either...maybe next time....

"How the fucking hell did you let him get away like that! I thought you had your eyes on him!" I shouted while trying to get off the bed and put my uniform shirt back on, not really in the mood for any jokes from anybody since a Geth Hunter is on the loose.

That geth is a freaking killing machine of pure hell and knowing that it is probably the only active Hunter than it will seek out a new target worthy of its full operative status. That thing hunts targets of importance or priority...and being royalty might be the thing it is willing to hunt besides myself...fuck.

"Well Roran, we were busy trying to clean up the mess that you made and also understand how that a machine like it...can even move. In all honesty it looks like nothing more than a skeleton filled with tubes and flashy lights. Also we are still looking at that sword of yours, that black metal that the sword is made of is so far in Equestria's history as the strongest metal ever created." well at least my sword gets some praise for being nearly unbreakable.

"Well thanks for the reward that my sword gets but we have more pressing matters to attend to...such as finding the Geth and pulling his plug before anyone dies, and the other matter is how much did your smart ponies learn from my gear." getting out of bed I looked over at my armor and saw that it has more scars and burn marks than usual, has a dent on the chest piece and that the helmet has a hole where the top of my head would be...piece of crap helmet did its purpose.

Strapping the armor onto my legs first, the plating easily locking onto my legs as the metallic/ ceramic plates latch onto each other and formed a solid barrier between me and the outside world. As I put my armor on I saw that every pony in the room were watching me do it, wondering why it came in pieces instead of a whole suit.

"Didn't you parents teach you that it is wrong to watch someone get dressed...but you ladies can watch, for a price that is." the two mares that were on my bed were slightly red in the face blushing while Shining just turned away after me telling him to turn away, Cadence was just watching, curious on how I put it on. Fair enough.

After my armor below the waist was in place I began to strap on my armor for my arms, letting the magnetic locks attach to my metallic limbs instead of being easily to be yanked off. As I placed the armor on my hands I let the locks to magnitise and securely lock itself, then attaching the plating to my chest, letting the locks attach to the ones for my back, the sounds of metal screws rotating themselves into place as I took my helmet, looked at it and placed my hand inside of the empty cavity until a spark leaped from the helmet to my hand, grabbing a small earpiece and putting it in both of my ears before placing my helmet back on the floor.

"Okay ready to go...now Celestia...my weapons if you will." she just gives me a blank look.

"May I please have my guns back...before I end up being covered in something else besides Geth blood." I said while extending out my omni-blades, not even liking that she is holding onto my tools of the trade with even an explaination. Our little stare-off only lasted a while until a loud bang went off and a statue outside exploded into a shower of melted marble and dust. After that little show was seen by us I just gave her my stare that everyone alive knows it as the 'Just do it already.' and as she turns to look outside again the remains of the statue finally rains down near her, the head of her statue hits the floor in front of her hooves and with that she tosses at me only my Typhoon, my Avenger and lastly my Talon but as soon as she gave me my pistol she very quietly pulled me closer to hear what she has to say.

"If My little ponies get harmed by that machine...their deaths will be on your head." her voice filled with ice and venom that I thought she sounded like my old CO in bootcamp. I just snort a bit before leaning closer to her, my head next to hers and everyone in the room tried to lean in to hear what I had to say.

"I can care less if any ponies die...you brought it back when it should have stayed down there...their deaths will be on your head, not mine...and also...you smell nice." with that just to piss her off or to get a five second head start to run like hell I kiss her on the cheek and ran out of the room, unfolding my Typhoon and slapped the clip into its home and ran like a duct rat with a stolen omni-tool.

Canterlot Gardens, Morning

'It has been a few days since I last spoke to that human....I know he is still alive since I placed that tracker spell on him...and I know he is close since the beeping is getting louder...oh wait there he is...and why is old Sunny butt chasing him?...And why is her face red? Wait...is that a smug on her cheek....oh...oh this is funny....he actually kissed her?'

'Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!'

Canterlot Palace, Halls, Early Afternoon

"Get back here Roran and face your pain like a man!" was all I heard while I ran like a bat out of hell and while trying to not get caught by a very flustered princess and her guards.

"Fuck that noise! There is no way in hell that I am allowing myself to get caught without a chase! And besides Celly you seemed to have enjoyed it since you didn't throw me out the window or hit me in the gut like the others!" I said while sliding under the railing of the stairs, falling down two floors before hitting the ground will my full weight and resumed my mad dash away from an angry royal horse and a shit-ton of guards that are most likely angry that I did such a thing or jealous that I succeeded in my bold yet stupid move.

Her response was to levitate a vase from a small table and threw it at me from behind, it shattered against my shields but the impact felt like I was kicked with the handle of a Claymore that just went off. I fell over into a roll but used the momentum to get back up and kept running until I came upon a fork in the halls, and always following the rules of the Goonies...man that movie is old as fuck but funny as hell. Sticking to the left I ran past a few servants who were dusting pictures or cleaning windows but as I ran by I unknowingly ran into Blueblood who was walking with two random mares I have never seen before in my few days conscious in this era.

"Watch where your going knave." he said while sneering at me as if I was a freak of nature.

"Watch where you are going ass-goblin." I said while sprinting past him, dropping to my knee's to avoid getting clothes-lined by two ponies holding a large tray holding a triple layered cake. That cake to me at the time was so good that if I was not being chased by a pissed off royalty, hunting down a rogue geth, and also trying to figure out what to do with my life since I am alone, I would have taken a small piece of it off, and eat it right there but since the chase is still on I had to take a mental photo of it and think about the cake at a later point of time.

After running past the cake I somehow found myself in the Royal Archives and realized that this was probably all the knowledge the ponies had and it probably had their history as well. Knowing that I have only so much time I ran towards a sign that said 'Equestria's History and Origins', ran to the nearest books and scanned two at a time with my omni-tools, coping them and storing them for later to read and as soon as I finished with two stacks Celestia, who was still flustered, and her guards who were trying hard not to snicker at what I did were blocking my seemingly only exit here.

Looking around I saw that the windows were high up and that it lead to the gardens, the statue of Discord was looking right at me and I can clearly hear his voice in my head. 'You know I thought it was very amusing to see you running away from Old Shiny Butt and her army of armored foals. So what are you looking for? A book.....why read a book when you can just watch the history!'

'Because Discord reading occupies my mind and that I can use the book as a weapon in case someone annoys me...also that I am looking for a skeleton filled with metal tubes, you seen it or are you going to give me a riddle about where to find it...'

'No, I was just going to tell you that he is outside in the gardens...when I turned to look at the thing it vanished, that thing is running on chaos energy and even I can't seem to find it...'

'Well...at least I know that it is in the garden area for now atleast, all I have to do is not get caught and beaten to near-death by ponies...any advice?'

'Jump the window?'

That was possibly the smartest thing he has ever said to me.

Canterlot Gardens, Afternoon

It was a beautiful day out in the gardens, the birds were chirping, the wind was lightly brushing the grass, the gardeners tending to the wildlife and the plants. As the ponies went along their daily routines a class was on a field-trip to Canterlot, talking about the statues and what they meant and their importance on Equestria's society. As the fillies and colts ran around the statues, talking about how pretty a few were, how ugly the others were but when they came up to a new statue that has been placed next to the statue of Discord they gathered around to see who or what it is.

"Okay class and can any of you guess what this statue represents?" said the teacher, a mulberry mare with a cutie mark of three small flowers with smiles in the center of them.

One of the fillies raised their hoof into the air. "Yes Pip?"

"Does the statue mean Courage?" a few of the fillies and colts begin to giggle amongst themselves as Pip slowly lowers his head.

"Not entirely wrong Pip but from what the Princesses tell us that it means Retribution and Defiance. This is a non-equine or species that we have ever seen or heard of, only in very old legends and myths. These beings are called human and they are now an extinct race, from what we have learned from the only one alive today, they were made extinct in a battle over their rights to be alive...a very sad tale I was told it was, they are also known for being highly advanced in many fields that we know of today and others that we do not know of."

"By why it this statue represent Retribution and Defiance Mrs. Cheerilee?" said a round colt named Snails, and he earned a few confused or wondring stares, trying to figure out why he asked that question.

"Well Snails, it represents Retribution because from what he has told us that he served as a soldier and when his people went to war he fought to protect his friends and loved ones, and as for Defiance....he has defied his enemies by being the last one alive and by defying death for staying alive longer than his species can normally live...I wonder how old he really is..."

As she was thinking on my true age the sound of glass shattering in the distance was easily picked up as I jumped into the window, breaking it, and rolled onto the grass near the school ponies.

Looking at them for a while I saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon with her classmates and when they saw me they began to gallop towards me before jumping into the air to hug me. Educational Note: Ponies of any size running at full speed and jumping at you while you are unbalanced will equal to getting knocked onto your ass.

As soon as the two fillies launched themselves at me I was busy looking behind myself to see a very pissed of Celestia throwing shards of glass at me which only turned to ashes as it hit my shield but when I was flat on my back I saw the two familiar fillies sitting ontop of me before breaking into a hug which I thought at the time, would have been *shudder* adorable but being chased by a goddess is not the first thing to do in the morning...unless your me, I tend to piss everything off.

"Little fillies...now is not the right time for hugging...and maybe later about my explaination of myself." I scooped both of them up in my arms, ran to the teacher, dropped them onto her back and kept on running, their faces were confused as hell, seeing me running about when my statue was right there...

'Wait a minute, I have a statue? How fucking long was this here?' As I realized I had one I stopped, turned around, went back to the statue and inspected it. They had everything right about me, the armor, the dents and scratchs in the armor, my weapon and shield...except it was not wearing a helmet....and I don't remember my nose being that....pointy.

'How rude...my nose was never that pointy or my head that freakishly large...imma have to talk to Celly about this....my head is not that large...'

'Yes it is you just don't want to notice it and also, your nose is like a jagged rock.'

'Go fuck yourself.'

As I was in deep thought about why my statue needed to be shipped back to be fixed I felt a pair of hooves wrap around my head as it pulled me to the ground and once I snapped out of my stupor I saw that Shining Armor got the drop on me somehow and that ten of his guards were around me with spears pointing at my head, which sadly was not protected by my helmet that I left behind. Taking a glance around I saw Estoc right above me to my left, Daisy Cutter to my right and Celestia at my feet, who by the way can easily give me the worst cause of crushed nuts if I was not wearing my codpiece.

"Just let me get up before you arrest me and also Celly...that statue of me needs to be fixed...my nose is definitely not that big or my head that large. So stop trying to make me look like another Discord cause I ani't having it." pointing at the statue's ungodly large nose and freakishly huge head.

'I take great offense to that you know.'

'Yea I know, but still your statue is you in your last moments so your perfect but me on the otherhand looks like someone beat the shit out of me with an ugly stick.'

"I can hear everything you are saying Roran...and I somewhat agree with you on that but before we get off-track. Roran Zidane, you are under arrest for...the destruction of royal property, attacking a royal guard, disorderly conduct, drunk in public, resisting arrest,and just to further the punishment, kissing me. How do you plea to these charges?" oh she is gonna hate me for saying this.

"Well...guilty on the destruction of property to escape being arrested and to find the rogue Geth, guilty on attacking the guard, he was in my way at the time, drunk and disorderly? Oh come on I was just tripping over my self and was acting like a complete idiot with the guards. Resisting Arrest? Not the first time with me Celly and besides, those guards of yours looked like they enjoyed the exercise. Kissing you? It was rather that or flick your wings, and from what I learned while talking to Estoc and Daisy, you ponies wings are sensitive...in more than one way I can half-assly guess." I looked over to Estoc who is now looking away from me while Daisy was blushing a bit, her wings seem to me have been spring-loaded since they are fully flared up as if she was threatened. I just point and laugh, the rest of the guards snicker amongst themselves but Daisy just huffs, takes her spear and hits me upside the head with it, cracking my neck which felt great since that kink was getting on my nerves for hours.

The look that Celestia was giving me was 'Are you Kidding me' and sorry to say I wasn't kidding at that moment, I always got drunk off my ass at the bars, when I am drunk I mess with the soldiers and police force around, and when I run from the law I go all out when running from them by throwing tables, chairs and even people at them. The destruction of private property is not new to me since I once set a mans private car on fire before blowing it up all to hell with a demolition charge.

"Just get him out my sight..." as she says that I hear the faint sound of a Javelin sniper rifle charging up, and in that moment everything went into slow-motion like in those old fashioned movies I was forced to watch since I was bored out of my mind as a statue. I ran towards the princess, grabbed her by the neck, turned her around to where I was and I to where she was, and when I heard the sound of thunder going off, a sharp and enormous pain in my chest, than watching as my blood just splatters all over her face, mane and chest, than looked down to see a hole the size of a softball in my chest before falling over like a sack of hammers. As I watched my world go blurry I saw that Celestia was yelling at the guards, the Geth was than ripped in half by magic from an unknown pony, and I was rolled onto my back as a stretcher of sorts was pushed under me.

Barely conscious I saw Celestia by my side, well my eyes were probably at that point just looking around cause the things I was seeing constantly shifted to shitty blur to perfectly clear and I saw that Shining Armor was indeed covered in some of my blood and was holding in a strange levitation aura of his parts of my ribcage and my chest armor. Looking down I saw that I could see my intestines bouncing around, the smell of burnt meat was strong and the aroma of blood was all it took for me to realize that I got shot by the Geth and got fucked up badly. Before blacking out I only had this to say...

"Gerere sine me Solarem Filia Reginae." and than I closed my eye hopefully for the last time...

...but knowing these ponies, they won't let me die...just yet.

"So Shepard....how the hell did it come down to this again.?" I said while pointing my shotgun at his head while he has a heavy pistol pointing at my dick.

"To tell you the truth, I have no idea. So just lower you weapon and I will lower mine." we were both standing in front of C-Sec and the security force wasn't taking any sides since it was an Alliance force standing against Cerberus force with Shepard at the front.

"No man you first cause there is no way in hell that I am lowering this shotgun until you get that damn pistol away from my mini-me, in fact just point it at my foot so I don't have to worry about never being able to have children in the future." neither of us willing to lower our weapons since Miranda was pointing her M-9 Tempest at my hand, Garrus was pointing his M-97 Viper at my head while Hilo'Jaa was pointing a Geth Plasma Shotgun seemingly at one of the two.

The stand off lasted for only two hours until we both realized that this was getting us no where and that I had an appointment with a bottle of Captain Morgan and a shot of Jack Daniels at Purgatory. "Lets just get this shit over with, are you the real Shepad?"

"Yes I am, so who are you, Alliance?" I lowered my shotgun and a moment later he lowered his pistol. 'Thank you god for allowing Mini-Me to continue to exist.'

"Yeah, you can say that." I kept a hold on my weapon, not entirely trusting Garrus or Miranda.

"And who told you to spy on me?" Well this is gonna suck but my week off of working is so close I can smell the scent sweat and shame.

"Admiral Hackett...he heard you were back and working for Cerberus, so he told me to find you, execute you if you are working for them, or to leave you be if you are not and since they are working for you I get to go to my bar and enjoy my down time." I hoistered my beauty of a shotgun and nodded at Hilo'Jaa to do the same, she did after giving me what I hope was the middle finger....if they can even do that.

After our confrontation was over I turned to call for a taxi to Purgatory but was stopped as Garrus tried to ask me something.

"Have I seen you at Omega?" Oh this is gonna be awesome.

"Yea you did, you shot my Merc boss in the head and gave me a pay raise, thanks for the credits." he just shook his head and went back to Shepard.

"Maybe I will be seeing you three around...or maybe not, and Shepard..."