Disclaimer: Bioware and EA own the characters, setting, et cetera, I'm just playing in their sandbox.

A/N: I'm jumping on the bandwagon of "ME3's endings sucked giant nappy elephant nuts!" That said, I was inspired by "The Redo" by redskin122004. Also, my Shepard looks and sounds like Soap as of MW2.


PROLOGUE

Wilbur Shepard had to ask himself, 'How did it come to this?' For all his efforts, every dead friend, every hatred set aside, for it to end with either forcible transformation into cyborgs, a galactic Dark Age, or him becoming a Reaper in order to control them, what good was saving the galaxy from complete doom only to set them back? He couldn't wrap his head around any of those choices, let alone pick one.

The avatar of the Catalyst told him, "You must choose, now. Unless you want the cycle to continue."

Wilbur, burned, blackened, shot, bleeding, running on pure adrenalin, refused the not-child's attempt at forcing a decision from him. "There is always another way, except your faulty logic programming won't let you see that!"

The avatar, obstinate as ever, tried again. "You must-"

Wilbur found a bundle of cables that, if his background as an Engineer told him anything, would end the tirade, growled, "Shut the fuck up and die, you arrogant machine!" Leveling his pistol at the bundle, he fired two shots. As the avatar disappeared, he saw a Reaper, the yellow-eyed monstrosity glaring at him from space with the annoyance of a human who saw a fly impact on their vehicle's windshield.

As Wilbur hobbled back to the elevator, he saw the Reaper powering up its primary weapon and heard a voice he hadn't heard since the Alpha Relay. "SHEPARD, YOU HAVE FAILED. AS ORGANICS WILL ALWAYS FAIL."

Wilbur only had time to think, 'Harbinger,' before the red jet of molten metal punctured the level of the Citadel he was on and finished the job it had begun on Earth, vaporizing Wilbur Shepard and dooming another cycle of organics to being slaughtered by the Reapers.