Chapter 1: Illusive
Mars Prothean Archives. Two hours later.
The Normandy came out of FTL near the planet, and the shuttle launched to the surface.
"I've been trying to reach Mars on secure channels. No one's answering." Joker told them.
"Perfect." Andrea said, loading her signature M392 Designated Marksman's Rifle.
"Any sign of Reaper activity?" Shepard asked.
"Negative."
"EDI?"
"The base appears to be online. It's possible the inhabitants were evacuated." The Normandy's AI told them.
"We'll know soon enough. Be ready, Joker, just in case."
"Roger that. Normandy out."
"We're almost there." James reported as he flew the shuttle.
When the shuttle touched down, James left the cockpit and joined the team.
"Still no contact from the base, but we've got a massive storm heading our way."
"How long we got?" Andrea asked.
"Half-hour, tops. After that, we're gonna have difficulty keeping up comms with the Normandy."
They got out and took a look at the storm.
"That's a big storm." James said.
"That's nothing." Andrea said.
"Glad you're so optimistic."
"When you've been through what I've been through, on top of the Collector shit, a little dust storm ain't so bad."
"Fair enough."
They jumped off a small ledge and found a pair of dead soldiers nearby.
"What's that?" James asked.
"Alliance. Sergeant Reeves. Good guy. Talked too much. Hate to see him dead." Andrea told them.
"He was shot in the back of the head. Inside job. Quick and simple." Andrea's own AI, Cortana, told them.
"Something's not right, here." James said.
"Let's keep a low profile until we know what's going on." Shepard said as they left the scene.
They four made their way to a small depression, where they heard gunshots.
"Down!" Andrea said as they hid behind crates.
The team moved up, seeing unknown troops executing people.
"Holy shit! They're executing them!" James whispered as Shepard and Andrea grabbed their sniper rifles and took up positions.
Andrea had been forced to give up her prized M-98 Widow, and now used an M-92 Mantis, as did Shepard. They both shot at the same time, killing two troopers with clean headshots. Andrea pulled out her MA37, charged the troopers and, gathering her biotic energy around her, slammed her fist into the ground, generating a shockwave which killed most of the troops. Ashley killed the last one with a great shot to the head.
"Those guys were Cerberus, weren't they?" James asked.
"Sure looked like it." Andrea replied.
"What's Cerberus doing here on Mars?" Ashley asked.
"That's the million dollar question."
"You don't know?"
"I told the Illusive Man to basically go fuck himself ten months ago. I think that's a pretty good indication that I never want to see them again, except on the other end of my scope."
"And we're not with them anymore, Ash, if that's what you're asking." Shepard added.
"It wasn't. But you have to admit, it's a little convenient."
A few more troops guarded the entryway, and were dealt with swiftly as Andrea used her biotics to kill them all in one fell swoop.
"Doesn't look like they came here in force." James commented.
"Yeah. Just a few vehicles." Shepard said.
"Kind of suggests they had help… from the inside." Ashley added.
"Good guess." Andrea said.
"You'd need a lot more men and firepower to take this place, otherwise."
They went in and activated the elevator, and the room began to pressurize.
"I need a straight answer, you two."
"About what?" Shepard asked.
"Do you know anything about this? What is Cerberus doing here?"
"What makes you think we know what they're up to?" Andrea asked.
"You worked for them. How am I supposed to believe you two have cut all ties?"
"Oh, hell no. I never worked for Cerberus, or there would be a lot more advanced tech there now. Trust me on that. And if we still worked for Cerberus, why would we go through all this trouble? I've been out of contact with everyone I know for ten months to be in the Alliance. For God's sake, I'm a ranking officer in the Marines. Why jeopardize that to work with Cerberus? Did Shepard ever tell you what happened on that ship when we fought the Collectors? Go to the old briefing room. There's a nice bloodstain there from when I decked a Cerberus operative full-force after the Normandy was attacked by the Collectors." Andrea told the Lieutenant-Commander.
"And besides, if she was working with Cerberus, I wouldn't be here. I would be in a Cerberus lab." Cortana added.
"We joined forces to take down the Collectors. That's it." Shepard concluded.
"And it was almost not worth it." Andrea added.
"They rebuilt you two from scratch. They gave you a ship, resources…" Ashley argued.
"Let me be clear: We've had no contact with Cerberus since we destroyed the Collector base." Shepard said.
"Except for the debrief, where we told the Illusive Man to shove it where the sun don't shine. And I don't think he would like me very much, because he saw the sword, and was told that it would be in his gut the next time I saw him." Andrea added.
"And I have no idea why they're here now, or what they want." Shepard said.
"Me either." Andrea added.
"Not a clue." Cortana said.
"Commander Shepard and Staff Commander Bartus have been under constant surveillance since they came to Earth. No way they've communicated with Cerberus since." James added.
"Sorry, you two. It's just-" Ashley began.
She was cut off as the room finished pressurizing and the elevator started up. Shepard, Ashley and James took off their helmets, but Andrea, as always, kept hers on.
"We shouldn't have to explain ourselves to you, Ash." Shepard told her.
The room above them was big, and open. Perfect for an ambush, as there was lots of cover around.
"Please… trust us."
"I do it's just that-"
Then they all heard gunshots and clanging from the vents. They hid behind a Mako IFV as the clanging continued. A minute later, the grate was kicked out, and an Asari jumped out, followed by two Cerberus assault troopers. She turned and caught the pair in a biotic Singularity field, and then shot each with a pistol. One was still alive, so she went over and shot the trooper twice, killing him.
Shepard was out first, followed by Andrea, Ashley, and James. Andrea had her M6G pistol out, but it was at her side, and James raised his rifle, but Shepard knew better.
"Easy, Lieutenant, she's with us." He said as they went over.
"Shepard! Thank the goddess you're alive." The Asari said as they approached.
"Liara."
"I was worried when the reports came in. They hit Earth hard?"
"Extremely." Andrea answered.
"You're Staff Commander Andrea Bartus."
"I should have figured you'd know me. Yes."
"Why-?"
Andrea tapped the back of her head, indicating to Cortana.
"Oh."
"It was… difficult to leave Earth." Ashley added.
"Ashley, I'm sorry. But, why'd you come here?" She asked the group.
"Hackett ordered us to come. Said you'd know what was going on." Shepard answered.
"I do." She said as she led them to the window.
"Hallelujah. Some answers. Finally." James said.
"Maybe. I've discovered plans for a Prothean Device, one that could wipe out the Reapers."
"Here on Mars?" Andrea asked.
"In the Prothean Archives, yes."
"I guess I'll believe it when I see it. Where do we find this weapon?" Shepard asked.
"It's not a weapon, not yet. It's plans for a device. A blueprint."
"More than we had a minute ago." Shepard said.
"And more hope than Reach ever had." Andrea added.
"How do we get it?" Shepard asked.
"The Archives are just across that tramway. Assuming Cerberus hasn't locked it down." Liara answered.
"What are they after?"
"Yeah, they seemed hell-bent on catching you." James told Liara.
"They want what I'm here for. What we're all here for."
"But why?" Andrea asked.
"The Protheans came close to defeating the Reapers. They had plans to destroy them, but ran out of time."
"And anything powerful enough to destroy the Reapers…" Ashley began.
"Would be just the thing Cerberus would want to get their grubby little power-hungry mitts on." Andrea finished.
"So it's a race to the Archives." James said.
The room shook as the doors above them were being cut open.
"We've got company." Shepard said.
"Bring it on." James responded.
"Not this time, James."
"What?"
"Get back to the shuttle. If Cerberus beats us to the Archives, I need you covering the exits."
"But-"
"That's an order, Lieutenant." Andrea added.
"Yes, ma'am." James sighed.
James got on the elevator back down as Shepard hit the button, and it descended.
The doors opened, and Cerberus troops came through.
"There she is! There's the Asari bitch!" One said.
"Not a problem for those with biotics. Liara?" Andrea said.
"Got it."
She projected a Singularity field, and the Cerberus troops floated in the air. Andrea detonated the field with a Warp attack, killing them all.
"Nice work." Shepard told them.
They tried the elevator, but it was sabotaged, so the team decided to use the vehicle lift to get to the doors.
"This is a secure station. How did Cerberus get in?" Ashley asked Liara.
"Not sure. One minute we were getting reports of the Reaper invasion, the next it was chaos. Didn't even realize it was Cerberus at first."
"Could they be working with the Reapers?"
"Doubtful. But I suppose anything's possible." Shepard answered.
In the next room a civilian was shot dead as he tried to run.
"Cover. Now." Andrea told them.
They all took cover behind a small glass rail and listened to the Cerberus team on the other side.
"Sweep the area. Able's not reporting in. Find-"
The trooper was cut off as Shepard and Andrea grabbed two troopers that were on the other side of their cover and killed them seamlessly.
"SHIT!"
"This is Bravo Team! We've found the-"
He was cut off by Andrea's knife.
"Found what? There's nothing here."
In the next room, there was a small office-like area.
"We'll need access to the pedway. Controls should be nearby." Liara told them.
"Andrea, see if you can gain access to the pedway." She told the Spartan as they walked in.
Liara sat down and tried to access the camera systems.
"I can't seem to access the live feeds, but-"
"Did you see that? Who's that woman in the vid?" Ashley asked as the screen in the corner showed security footage.
"That's Dr. Eva Core. She got here about a week ago. Any luck?"
"Pedway's been locked out." Andrea responded.
"Alright. Looks like there's construction nearby, we can get out on the roof. We can find a way around from there."
"Great. Let's move." Shepard said.
They went through the airlock and left the station, going through a construction area.
"Storm's getting closer!" Ashley reported.
"No shit." Andrea said.
She slid down the nearby ladder right behind the Commander and then saw a pair of trams going across the tramway with bullets flying across.
"What the hell?" Ashley asked.
"Alliance must still be putting up a fight." Andrea commented.
"Commander, you read me?" James asked.
"Cortana, can you boost the signal?" Andrea asked her AI.
"Let… me… got it." Cortana said.
Andrea cut the helmet's external mic.
"What's wrong?"
"It's… nothing. I'm fine, really."
"Cortana?"
"I know it doesn't seem right, but…"
"It's been that long, huh?"
"Yes. I think you remember what Shaun said?" The AI asked, referring to one of Andrea's old friends, Captain Shaun Alexander.
He and a team of ODST's and a pair of Spartans had crashed on Horizon just before the colony was attacked by the Collectors. While Shaun, Sergeant Hal Mendez, and Staff-Sergeant SPARTAN-195, Scott, had made it out okay, Major Donnell Benning, SPARTAN B-015, and Lieutenant Augustus Miller had been taken. When Andrea had found Shaun, he told her that she had been gone for four years, indicating that time was measured twice as fast in her galaxy.
Now, Cortana was falling into rampancy, a condition where after a lifespan of seven years, Smart AI's, like Cortana, would begin to deteriorate. She wouldn't last long.
"Can you hold out? We can get you back to the UNSC, and Halsey can fix this. She made you, after all." Andrea said.
"I won't recover from rampancy, Andrea."
"Maybe not, but it's worth a shot, at least."
"Maybe…"
They had made their way to the other airlock by now, and found it open.
"It wasn't forced." Andrea commented.
"You'd have to override security protocols." Liara told her.
When they made their way downstairs, the blinds in front of them retracted.
"Flashlights." Shepard said, as the room was dark.
"Roger that, Delta Team out." A Cerberus trooper said.
"What's our orders?"
"There's an Alliance team in here somewhere. We need to keep them from getting to the core."
Andrea pulled out her MA37 and blazed the Cerberus troops. The team handled them easily, and then moved in and found the environmental controls.
"We need to pressurize the room first." Liara told them as she put in the command to do so.
"There we go. We have access to the labs, they'll take us right to the tram station."
"There's a recording of what happened here." Andrea pointed out.
Shepard activated it and saw an Alliance security guard at the terminal.
"Security station… Come in? We're seeing some odd activity down here. Our security protocols just kicked in. Everything's locked down."
Dr. Eva walked into view of the camera.
"Doctor, I'll get you a report as soon as-"
He was cut off as the Doctor pulled out a pistol and killed both guards in the room, and then ran over to the terminal and overrode the airlocks, venting them, with everyone still inside.
"That… bitch." Andrea growled.
"I guess we know how Cerberus got in." Shepard said.
"I should have realized it when I met her. I was just so focused on finding a way to stop the Reapers." Liara said.
"Stopping the Reapers is the only thing we should be worried about." Shepard said.
"It's not your fault, Liara." Andrea added.
"But what if we're wrong? What if there's no way to stop them? What of these are our final days and we spend them scurrying around trying to solve a problem we can't fix?"
"Come on, Liara." Shepard said.
"I know. I shouldn't think that way. I don't know how you do it. You've always stayed focused even in the worst situations."
"When there's so much at stake, I think about what I'd lose if I failed."
"I get to think about that, and then see the consequences." Andrea commented.
"Reach-" Shepard began.
"Is gone. I know. I gave up on the UNSC three years ago. Let's just move."
"Okay, door's open. We can get to the labs and tram station through there."
They went through and found a few more dead bodies, including a Cerberus trooper. They went up the stairs, and found themselves in a series of rooms separated by glass walls, and filled with Cerberus troops. Andrea and Shepard had their rifles propped on a piece of cover, and were taking pot shots before anyone could stop them. They then found a small room, which was covered in gray… stuff.
"What's that smell?" Ashley asked.
"They just activated the decontamination protocols." Liara told them.
"With the staff still inside." Andrea commented, seeing the bodies.
"This is where they studied the various relics unearthed here."
"What did they find?" Shepard asked.
"More than I could describe in a short conversation. And they'd only scratched the surface. There are vaults filled with Prothean data troves that have never been studied."
They left the room, and found themselves looking out a window at the tram line.
"That'll take us to the Archives?" Andrea asked.
"Yes. No doubt Cerberus has it locked down. Hopefully we can override it at the security station." Liara responded.
They walked to another door, and when it opened, they were greeted by a large turret hanging off the ceiling.
"Look out!" Ashley shouted as it started firing and the team took cover behind the glass panels in the hallway.
"No shit, Sherlock." Andrea shot back.
"Is that the only way in?"
"It's the only way I know of." Liara answered.
"We'll skirt around it. Stay out of its sights." Shepard said.
"I'll head up first." Andrea said, dashing out and to the next panel. She kept moving, practically dodging the bullets, until she and the team got out of its firing line and saw Cerberus troops on the other side of a window in the next room.
"Shit." Andrea said.
While Shepard, Ashley, and Liara went into the door, Andrea, impatient as always, simply shattered the glass with her biotics and charged in, guns blazing. She took out one trooper as adrenaline poured through her system.
(Spartan Time)
As time slowed around her, Andrea kicked another assault trooper in the face, knocking him down, as she cut the leg off of a Centurion behind her with her knife. His scream sounded weird in slow-motion, but Andrea didn't care, she just shot him with her pistol, and stabbed the last assault trooper in the neck with her knife, ramming him into the wall as she did.
Shepard deactivated the turret as time began to return to normal for the Spartan. Then the camera feeds came online. They showed Dr. Eva leading a team of Cerberus troops in the Archives.
"Set up a perimeter, no one else comes across."
"We still have teams on the other side." A Centurion argued.
"No one. And shut down those cameras." She said as she shot out the camera.
"Looks like they made it to the Archives." Liara said.
"And like usual, we're cut off." Andrea added.
"Can you override it?" Shepard asked Liara.
She tried, and failed.
"Cortana?" Andrea asked.
"Hm… Nope. Separate network. I'd need access to the mainframe to override it. We're cut off." The AI responded.
"Maybe not. What if we could find a short-range transmitter? Helmet-to-helmet." Ashley suggested.
"And?" Shepard asked.
"And then, we convince them that we're with them, and that the Alliance forces have been taken care of."
"Good idea. Let's see what we can find." Andrea told her.
Andrea led Ashley into the next room, where they found a dead Centurion.
"Shepard! We've got something!" Andrea called back.
When he joined them, they indicated to the Centurion.
"He's got a transmitter in his helmet, if I can…" Ashley began as she peeled back the helmet.
"What the fuck?" Andrea gasped.
The Centurion's face looked… weird. His eyes were just white circles, and his face had blue-ish white lines running down it.
"Oh, God. He looks like a Husk." Ashley said, disgusted.
"Yeah. Not quite. But they've definitely done something to him." Shepard said as he knelt down and tried to find the transmitter.
"Engineered? By Cerberus? They claim to stand for humanity, and they do this to their own people?" Ashley asked.
"Yeah, real bunch of characters. We found that out when we blew up the Collector base." Andrea added.
"That could have been you, Shepard. Or you, Commander. For all I knew, that's what Cerberus had done to you two."
"How can you compare us to that thing?" Shepard demanded.
"I don't know what you are, not since Cerberus got their hands on you. Is it really you? Would you even know if they were controlling you somehow?"
"That's not fair, Ash." Shepard said.
"Sure as hell is, especially now." Andrea said.
"I'm just talking out loud. I don't need you to answer. I doubt there's anything you could say to convince me. I guess I just need some time to get to know you again." She told Shepard.
"I'm the same person I always was. Time won't change that. But if that's what you need, I understand."
"Thanks… for understanding."
"You bet."
"Now, how about that tram?" Andrea said as she grabbed the transmitter.
"All units, this is Delta Team. Anybody there?"
"Where the hell have you been? Never mind, what's your status?" A Cerberus trooper on the other end asked.
"We're at the tram station, awaiting extraction. All hostiles terminated."
"Roger that. Echo Team will ride over and secure the station."
"Think they bought it?" Ashley asked as Andrea threw the transmitter away.
"I have ammo, and my armor has power. Think I give a shit?" She shot back.
"We should get in position. Flank them when they get off the tram." Ashley said, pointing to a pair of crates that were in a perfect position to flank the tram.
"Good thinking, LC."
The team moved to position, and Andrea steadied her DMR on the crate as the tram arrived. The first Cerberus assault trooper out was dead before his boots hit the ground, with a hole in his head.
"It's a trap!" Another shouted.
"No shit!" A Guardian yelled.
They were all taken care of before another word was said. The team got in the cablecar and Shepard started it up. They put on their helmets as the car started moving.
"Storm's getting bad. We need to make this quick." Shepard said.
"The Archives are right on the other side." Liara said.
"That and a squad of pissed off Cerberus troops." Ashley added.
"Wait…" Andrea said.
Then they heard it, a bomb, ticking away nearby.
"BOMB!" Ashley shouted.
It blew up, stopping the cablecar dead in its tracks. The team was thrown to the ground, and Andrea was the first up, with her DMR at the ready.
"Man, I wish I had my Widow right now." She said as another cablecar came to greet them.
When it stopped next to them, Andrea was instantly across, massacring the Cerberus troops with her knife and shortsword. She ran her sword through the gut of one trooper while she stabbed her knife into the throat of another. She then took her sword out of the trooper's gut and cut the head off of the next trooper, as two more charged her. She biotically slammed one into the other, and then threw both out of the car.
Shepard started up the tramcar and it moved into the Archives accessway. They found more Cerberus troops waiting for them, guns at the ready. When Andrea and Shepard ran out, the former was already tearing into the troops.
"Holy shit, that's Andrea! Concentrate fire on Andrea!" A Centurion yelled.
"Shepard's with her! Take 'em down!" An assault trooper added.
"Keep the helmet intact! The Illusive Man wants the AI!"
"Fuck you." She whispered as she flared her biotics and charged at the Centurion who had identified her.
She rammed into him with enough force to kill him with just the blunt trauma, and then she turned and snapped off a pair of shots with her DMR, killing two more troopers. Shepard and Liara took down the Guardians together, and Ashley shot the last trooper through the head with her sniper rifle.
"Now, let's find this weapon." Andrea said as she jogged towards the locked door at the end of the room.
Cortana unlocked the door, and the team went in, weapons up in case someone was here. Finding no one, they relaxed a bit and went to the terminal that housed the Archive's data.
"Ash." Shepard said, telling her to sweep the room.
As Ashley walked away, and Liara accessed the archives, they all heard a very familiar voice. A voice that made Andrea instantly take out her long-unused energy sword.
"Shepard. Andrea."
They turned around and saw the leader of Cerberus, the Illusive Man, on the comm pad in front of them.
"Or should I call you 'Staff Commander Bartus'?"
Liara whipped around, brandishing her M-3 Predator pistol.
"Illusive Man?"
"Or should we call you 'egomaniacal asshole'?" Andrea said as her biotics flared and took on a slight red tinge.
"You don't scare me, Andrea. I know a great deal about you, and I know how to use it."
"I don't need to scare you. I just need to run this sword through your gut." She said, her plasma sword blazing to life.
"Fascinating race, the Protheans. They left all this for us to discover, and we've squandered it." He began, ignoring Andrea.
"The Alliance has known about the Archives for more than thirty years, and what have they done with it?"
"What do you want?" Shepard asked.
"What I've always wanted." The Illusive Man responded, looking at the superstructure of the Archives.
"The data in these artifacts holds the key to solving the Reaper threat."
"We've seen your 'solution'. Your people are turned into monsters." Andrea rebuked.
"Hardly, they're being improved."
"Are you serious? 'Improved'?"
"That's what separates us. Where you see a means to destroy, I see a way to control. To dominate and harness the Reapers' power. Imagine how strong humanity would be if we controlled them."
"Earth is under siege, and you're hatching a scheme to control the Reapers?" Shepard asked.
"You've always been short-sighted. Hasty. Your destruction of the Collector base proved that."
"That base was an abomination. Hundreds of thousands of people died there! If we had kept it intact, we would have been pissing on their graves." Andrea said.
"This isn't your fight any longer, you two. You can't defeat the Reapers, even with the Prothean data."
"Work with me. Give me control of your resources, and I'll stop them." Shepard said.
"You did not just say what I think you just said." Andrea told him.
"You'd do better than most, but the odds aren't in your favor."
"And I guess they were when we went through the Omega-4 Relay?" Shepard rebuked.
"They weren't. But now the odds are even longer."
"More importantly, I don't want the Reapers destroyed."
"Of course not, you want to use them to make Cerberus the dominant power in the galaxy." Andrea said.
"We can dominate them, use their power, harness their very essence to bring humanity to the apex of evolution."
"You've gone too far. The Reapers will kill us all if we don't stop fighting each other." Shepard told him.
"I don't expect you to understand, Shepard. And I'm certainly not looking for your approval. You two were tools. Agents with a singular purpose. And despite our differences, you were relatively successful."
"I'm sensing a big 'but' here." Andrea commented.
"But like the rest of the relics in this place, your time is over."
"Enough talk. Liara." Shepard said.
Liara went back to the terminal and tried to find the data.
"Don't interfere with my plans, you two. I won't warn you again."
"And stay the fuck out of ours. There won't be a first warning, just a pair of plasma blades sticking out of your chest." Andrea said as she raised her sword, just as she did on the Normandy when she and Shepard broke off from Cerberus.
"And that's a promise." She said as they walked away.
"Shepard!" Liara called.
"What?"
"The data, it's not here. It's being erased."
"Damnit. How's he doing it?"
"It's local, someone's uploading the information."
"And I bet that someone's name starts with Doctor." Andrea said as Cortana put a marker on her HUD of the upload location.
Ashley got there first.
"Hey! Step away from the console!"
Dr. Eva Core did not.
"Now!" Ashley demanded.
Ashley took a few steps forward, and Eva slammed her elbow into the Lieutenant-Commander and then kicked her to the ground. Andrea ran into her and tackled her as she tried to run, but Core's omni-tool flared and sent an electrical pulse into the Spartan's armor that froze up the armor for a few seconds and allowed the Doctor to throw her off and keep running.
"Go! I'll catch up!" Andrea shouted to Shepard as he ran over to her.
"She's got the data!" Ashley shouted as she got up.
Andrea shot to her feet the second her armor unlocked and ran full-tilt after the team, straining her armor to the limit to catch up. When she did, they were already outside the facility and climbing a ladder up to the Doctor, but she was already running to a Cerberus shuttle that had stopped nearby.
"She's getting away!" Shepard said as Eva jumped into the shuttle.
"Damnit! Normandy? James? Anyone?" Andrea asked.
A blue shuttle, identical to the Cerberus one, shot in from nearby.
"I got this one!" James shouted into the comm.
He rammed the shuttle into the other one, sending the Cerberus shuttle crashing to the ground. The team had to dive to evade the wreck. James regained control of his shuttle and landed it behind the team as they recovered. Ashley and Andrea helped Liara up as Shepard got up and met James.
"Normandy's en route. They'll be here soon." James reported.
"We need the data." Liara protested as the two Commanders helped her get back to the shuttle.
Then something banged on the door of the Cerberus shuttle, and the door was kicked out by Eva, still alive, and apparently a robot.
"Go! I got this." Andrea said, letting go of Liara and grabbing her M6G.
As Core started running at her, Andrea dumped her clip into her, and when it ran out, she dropped the pistol and met Eva's charge. She swiped a punch at the cyborg, but Eva dodged it and hauled the half-ton Spartan off the ground by her helmet. With one hand.
"Andrea!" Shepard shouted from behind them.
Eva quickly overloaded the armor's systems, making Andrea go limp as she raised a fist to punch the mech.
"Orders?" The Doctor asked the Illusive Man.
"Finish her, but leave the helmet intact. I want the AI for study."
Core whipped the Spartan around and slammed her headfirst into the shuttle three times. Then she was smashed into the burning hull a fourth time and the mech dropped her. Shepard and Ashley withered the mech with bullets, and it went down. The team rushed to Andrea.
"Andrea! Andrea!" Shepard pleaded.
She was out cold. Liara used her biotics to help James and Shepard haul her aboard the shuttle while Ashley grabbed the mech.
"Shepard, we got Reaper signatures in orbit!" Joker told them as James sat at the controls and got them the hell out of the Mars Outpost.
"Get us the hell out of here, Lieutenant! Now!" Shepard told him as Reapers touched down on Mars and the shuttle flew away.
Ooooohhhh. Cliffhanger. I love these types of endings.
Well, while you're on the site, I have another book up, The Shadow War. And I'm accepting OC's for it. So if you've got the time, check it out.
On another note, this book's going to take a little while to write, because I have no ambition to play ME3. I'm busy with Dragon Age Inquisition, and an associated fanfic. So don't expect a lot of updates. this was a Christmas present for everyone from me.