Chapter Nine

Cerberus Server Base #4, planet surface of Cyprus, 2204h

This world was definitely given an appropriate name, albeit a homonym, Miranda noted to herself as she and the companions traveled through the thick jungle of vegetation. She glanced at the trees and wondered if they had been brought to Earth long ago from this very planet. The cypress tree was frequently used in perfumes and colognes as well as building construction.

As a matter of fact, there was one particular scent she enjoyed using very much but left it in her apartment in Nos Astra. Miranda had purchased it about five years ago when she visited the Mediterranean back on Earth and applied it only on special occasions. Little did she realize that she would become attracted to her greatest scientific achievement to date and actually have a reason to apply said perfume.

Stop wasting your thoughts on sentimentality and focus.

The bunker did not have the usual appearance of a Cerberus facility, nor did the structure have any resemblance to modern human architecture. There were no markings on it at all. If anything, it resembled…a turian layout? Perhaps Cerberus recently acquired it from the Hierarchy and began to repurpose the building.

Watson held up his left fist to halt the group and turned around to address them all. "All right, ladies and gents, let's split up. Thane, Grunt, Miranda, and I will draw fire from the front of the base. Zaeed, Kasumi, and the two asari mercs will sneak in the back and surprise them with their pants down. Watch for surveillance as you go around the back."

"Gotcha," Zaeed nodded. "Come on, ladies. And what a surprise it will be."

The two parties split from one another.


Normandy SR-2 Debriefing Room, 2208h

After the loyal squad members to Shepard cleared out the CIC and bridge, they all gathered at the table to discuss further action. "Anybody got a clue how in the hell we can reverse the indoctrination process? I mean, I've been trained to do a lot of things, but I'm not a great pilot," Jacob commented. "We may need to get off of this planet in a hurry."

"I can take over if necessary," Serena volunteered. "I may need a bit of time to acclimate myself to the Normandy's systems, though."

"If you would care to travel to the Normandy's cockpit, Ms. Longoria, I may be able to assist you and give you a brief tutorial," EDI chimed in.

"Although you're just trying to be helpful, I forget what your name was; that's really disturbing," Longoria bit her lip and left the room.

"I still haven't gotten used to it, either," Jacob nodded. "But, I'm glad that EDI is back under our control, thanks to you, Legion."

The geth's optics retracted and opened. "As are we. We must offer sincere apologies again, EDI."

"No offense has been taken, Legion…you are welcome to integrate with me at any time."

"Okay, before my mind goes completely into the gutter, back to the matter at hand. Mordin, you got any theories?" Jacob interrupted them.

"Since the current agreement among us is that Dean Watson, human spectre is indeed pawn of the reaper, the logical conclusion would have to be that his destruction would release the indoctrinated crew members from his control," Mordin said.

"Yeah…I wonder if he was a reaper during this whole time. He seemed like a good man."

"Hmm…difficult to say. Reaper technology still a mystery. Still, perhaps will find a way to study it when Watson is dead."

"He's got the rest of our crew on some kind of suicide mission. They're running into that Cerberus base blind thinking that they're going to get the location of where Shepard is," Jacob informed them all.

"Oh, goddess, this is serious. There was a time when my daughter Morinth perverted an entire asari village. I destroyed all believers except for the children, whom I left in the authorities' care afterward. There was no choice, unfortunately. I would not take pride in destroying my fellow squad mates," Samara commented. "I have never taken a human being's life before, either. Is there not another way?"

"Perhaps we might be able to talk them down, " Liara offered.

"No," Jacob shook his head. "When I tried to contact Tali, they all pointed guns at me and Legion in this very room. Words won't work."

"There is some tranquilizer ammunition left in the medical bay, but we may not have a good chance at our own defense."

"Hold on a second. Let's see if I can bring in the cavalry," Jacob retorted and activated his omni-tool. Seconds later, Tali's image floated above the table.

"Finally! Jacob, what's been going on? I've been trying to call the Normandy for three days!" Tali shouted.

"Long story, Tali, but basically, we're gonna need your help."

"That's why I was trying to call you. The debates have been going on for so long now…and both sides are still at a stalemate. We're still trying to elect a new member of the Admiralty Board and-"

"There is a reaper in human form aboard the Normandy, Tali," Samara spoke. "He is currently serving as commander in lieu of Shepard and is dooming Miranda, Zaeed, Kasumi, Grunt, and Thane to possibly their graves. We are in a dire situation here and could truly use your aid."

"Where is the Normandy? I'm coming immediately, and I'll bring a squad of marines to help."

"Arghos Nebula, Sidon system, orbit of Cyprus," Jacob told her. "Hurry."

"I'll come as quickly as my ship can fly. Tali out."

The ex-Alliance soldier smacked his palm on the table. "That's what I'm talkin' bout. All right, people, let's plan. We took back the Normandy, now let's get the rest of our crew back."


Undisclosed location in the Milky Way galaxy, 2223h

"There's been fights in here all day. You still sure Shepard's gonna fight for us?" Jack yelled to Garrus among the cacophony of the crowd.

"Maybe you're right. Let's wait for another one, then if nothing happens, we should go," Garrus yelled back.

"Good thing they served food in here earlier!"

Some deafening cheers overpowered whatever Garrus just tried to say, and their attention went to the room's entrance. The Illusive Man came through proudly with two companions. One of them was the ninja who had captured Shepard. The other was a female, who carried a bottle of water and a towel with her.

Seconds later, the mood of the room drastically changed as Shepard was led in. Like an animal, he was kept on a chained leash with restraints, and the crowd's stunned silence suddenly turned into jeers. All it took was one, and then the food began to fly towards him. They threw eggs, tomatoes, and some even spat on Shepard.

The Illusive Man stopped when he came to the center of the room, and all cleared out of his way. He removed his shirt and gave it to his female assistant, who gladly received it. He raised his arms in the air, and the throng went wild.

"He could reflect light off of that thing," Jack shouted to Garrus.

"Guess we know who Shepard's fighting. I'm actually impressed," Garrus screamed back.

Shepard was brought towards him, and the sentries removed the chains from his ankles, legs, arms, and hands. He too removed his shirt.

"There's no way we can get him outta here with all these people," Jack continued.

"Nope. Best thing we can do is call his name and what is that human expression…cheer him up?" Garrus asked.

She gave his arm a slight jab and laughed. "Cheer him on, num nuts."


Normandy SR-2 Cargo/Shuttle Bay, 2230h

"Okay, folks," Jacob announced and rallied his fellow squad mates together. "Now, I know Tali said that she's gonna bring in her quarian marines, but the Migrant Fleet is on the other side of the galaxy. I got no clue as to how fast she can get here-I hope it's in as little as a couple of hours, but I don't want to get everyone's hope up. So let's hope that our surprise attack can stun them."

"What're your orders in regards to defense?" Longoria inquired.

All team members were either wearing facial masks or helmets. The air upon Cyprus was not fully breathable for everyone; fortunately, it was below a level one hazard.

"We don't want to resort to killing anyone," Jacob responded. "Mordin, can you distribute the grenades now?"

"Yes, will do," the salarian nodded and opened a trunk. Each squad mate received four of them.

"What's with the special grenades?" Liara inquired.

"I asked Mordin to see if he could recreate the kind of gas grenades that Shepard used two years ago against the colonists in Zhu's Hope. These are filled with nerve gas, and will hopefully knock everyone out like a trank dart," Jacob explained. "If you must use your weapon, please only wound everyone superficially. No powers unless you have a concussive shot, stasis, or overload. These are our team members, people! Only if there's no possible other way for you to get out of the situation should you defend yourself lethally. And even then, before that, call for help! We've got suit radios, let's use 'em!"

"Coast is clear of Watson's squad," Longoria reported.

"Let's move out!"


Deep within the Cerberus Server Base #4, 2233h

Watson was pleased; in as little as thirty minutes, his squad mates had completely cleared all four floors. It was a quick but fierce battle, and the graveyard shift was a skeleton crew. One quarter of the Cerberus technicians, agents, and soldiers never knew what hit them. "Zero contacts," Miranda proudly declared once she was by his side and holstered her submachine gun.

"Excellent. Miranda, come inside the main server room with me, please," he smiled and opened the bypassed door with ease. After they were through, he locked it behind himself.

"What was that for?" Miranda gave him a suspicious glance. "No one else is here."

"Don't want anybody to disturb us."

"Like who?"

Watson did not reply; he strolled over to the main server's terminal and began to hack into it. His motions were a bit too perfect, almost like a machine.

"Since when have you become such a tech expert?"

The spectre's taciturn response made her eyebrows furrow. His back was completely to her; he showed no interest in her at all. She traveled over to his side to gaze upon the monitor interface. "What've you found, anything about Shepard?"

He continued to type furiously; the combination of the digital data he was entering and decrypting was amazing! She'd never seen anyone hack into a server that fast! And Cerberus was known for making particularly hard encryption. "Watson," she touched his shoulder, "is there anything about Shepard in those files?"

Watson shrugged her hand off of his shoulder coldly. "Leave me alone," was all he said.

"What's the matter with you? I've never seen you so focused like this."

"Shut up and guard the door."

"Everyone's dead, Watson. Are you expecting someone else to arrive?" Her heart beat faster and faster every minute as she watched him crack several lines of code. "Where's Shepard? What do the files say? Surely you must have found something."

"Are you deaf? I said shut the bloody Hell up!" he thundered. "You're becoming a distraction!"

"I want to look at that data, Watson." Thankfully, because of her perfect 20/20 vision, she did not need to come close to see what the monitor readout was. The information was schematics that Cerberus had come across, and they looked like mass relays. The next window he pulled up was a memo from one scientist to another discussing different methods of reverse engineering. "Goddamnit, answer me!"

"Pathetic fools stumble around in the dark, fumbling around for the keys when we hold them…" he muttered to himself.

A dark realization just hovered over Miranda; this was not the man she had fallen in love with in college. There had to be only one explanation; this must be a Reaper! No, it can't be!

"There never was any data on him, was there?"

Rage and shock filled her like an empty fuel tank. Lawson withdrew her gun from her hip. "You never intended to free Shepard from Cerberus…you just wanted to use us so you could break into this base."

"Now your finite mind attempts to comprehend us. You were ridiculously easy to manipulate."

She finally lost her temper. "Who the hell are you?!" she yelled.

"We are Harbinger, the vanguard of your race and of all races' destruction."


Cerberus Server Base #4, Ground Floor, 2239h

"Let's move like we've got a purpose, folks!" Jacob encouraged them as they moved quickly through the front door. The mood changed instantly as they looked around. Blood smeared the walls like spattered paint.

"Smell of death never pleasant," Mordin commented with a sniff.

"By the goddess," both asari said in unison.

"Looks like a total blood bath," Longoria observed coldly.

There was but one survivor, who was writhing in pain like an animal near her. He was bleeding profusely from his thigh. His screams got louder as she came closer, and she held her pistol to his temple. "Sorry, buddy. Better luck in the afterlife." She fired the shot without another moment to spare.

"What's wrong with you?" Liara demanded.

Longoria gave her an icy reply. "He was dead anyway...just wanted to stop his suffering."

"You don't know that! We could've taken him to the Normandy's medical facility!"

"Reminder: Dr. Chakwas unconscious from tranquilizer round. His survival unlikely," Mordin nodded. "Could supply him with medi-gel down here but do little else. Better off dead."

"Yeah, and I would've made you carry him there, too. I'm not going back there now," Longoria shook her head.


Undisclosed location in the Milky Way galaxy, 2241h

"No referee. How do you plan to settle this?" Shepard asked his arch enemy.

"You said no weapons and no biotics. The last man standing was our agreement, was it not?" The Illusive Man's eyebrow raised with his query.

"So I did. Let's do this." Shepard lifted his arms and balled his fists up. His first jabs were lightning fast, made directly to the Illusive Man's solar plexus. They stunned him backward, leaving his face wide open for Shepard's hook. His next blow connected well, and it gave Shepard enough fire to try a couple of short punches to his nose.

However, the Illusive Man brought up his fists and blocked his blows. He slipped past the next two jabs, and made a cross punch. Early on, as he figured, this was not going to be an easy fight. The cross punch connected well, stunning Shepard back. The Illusive Man took advantage of this: he next gave Shepard the traditional one, two punch, and as Shepard lost his balance, his next punch landed upon him squarely in the stomach. Shepard doubled over, and the Illusive Man knew that according to the rules of boxing, he should wait until his opponent recovered.

But this wasn't a boxing league; this was a fight to remain standing. He ruthlessly brought both of his fists down onto Shepard's back.


Cerberus Server Base#4, Main Server Room, 2244h

"How long have you had him, you bastard?!" Miranda shouted at the top of her lungs and fired her submachine gun at Harbinger. The shots bounced off of him like raindrops on a windshield. When she saw that her gun was ineffective, she quickly charged up her biotics and fired a warp charge upon him.

"You attacks are primitive and an insult," he smugly responded. A barrier quickly surrounded his mortal body. "Try them again, and your form will be crushed into the insignificant nothing that you are."

"If we're so worthless, then why does your kind so desperately need us? We're not as easy of a race to wipe out as you think!" She reloaded her magazine, fired off her entire clip, and sent another warp field toward Harbinger.

The Reaper's eyes glowed an ominous golden hue. The warp field sent him backward a bit, and he unleashed his true power. "If I must destroy you, then I will." He lifted his hand and sent a shockwave so forceful that it knocked Miranda across the room and sent her into some of the palladium servers. Harbinger crossed over to her while she was cowering on the ground and smashed his booted foot onto her hand. She howled in pain and relinquished her hold over the gun.

"Feeble and weak. You are more trouble to us than you're truly worth," he growled.

Miranda tried once more to use her biotic powers, but he lifted her up from the ground with his own energy field and slammed her down so hard that she lost consciousness.


Cerberus Server Base #4, Second Floor, 2246h

Jacob led the way up the stairs and threw up a barrier around himself. The others stayed well behind him, except for Samara, who was right by his side. "Are you ready?" he whispered. She nodded. "On three, we're gonna look around this corner, got it? One, two, and-"

"Three," Zaeed Massani finished for him. "Hello, Jacob. Welcome to the party."

"I'm gonna give you a chance now, Massani. Throw down your weapons now, and we'll all go back to the Normandy for a drink."

"Over my dead body," the bounty hunter laughed.

"That can be arranged," Longoria spat back and tossed one of her grenades forward.

He moved surprisingly fast for an older man; he vaulted over a post and hurled himself away from the non-lethal blast. "What the hell are those, kiddie toys?" he smirked.

"Oh, he is all mine." Longoria rushed forward, and before Jacob could grab her, Massani launched an inferno grenade at her. "Shit!" Thankfully, she put up her own barrier field just in time to avoid the full brunt of the blast.

"Everybody down!" Jacob yelled. "Nobody move forward unless I tell you!"

"Understood," all teammates responded.

A barrage of bullets sprayed mercilessly towards them as Kasumi, Zaeed, and the two asari mercenaries fired their assault rifles and submachine guns.

Mordin and Liara blindly tossed their first grenades after waiting for the first onslaught to end. One thankfully hit Kasumi and sent her to the ground.

Jacob's team began return fire, and Samara wounded Zaeed in the shoulder. "You're gonna pay for that!" he shouted and began to run towards her.

Serena launched a potted tree towards his path. As he avoided it, Liara fired a round from her tranquilizer gun. She hit him in the leg, and he still kept running towards them with the ferocity of a tiger. "AH!" Zaeed let out another round of fire.

Jacob knew that he was coming dangerously close-he hopped over several boxes and slammed his shotgun right into Massani's chin. The merc stumbled back, and Jacob next forced his knee into his groin. "That's just playing…dirty," Zaeed groaned and crumpled to the floor.

"Don't make me do it, man," the ex-Alliance soldier held up his shotgun to Massani's chest. "I don't wanna kill you."

"Eat this, you asshole!" cried one of the asari. She was about to fire a throw field but instead found herself in a stasis bubble.

The other fired her gun rapidly, but Longoria shielded Jacob and herself from the bullets. She threw the asari backward, and Samara used this opportunity to advance upon her with Liara.

"You got me good, Taylor, I'll admit that," Massani tried to recover himself but felt the pain come back. "Ooh, hell no. No commander like that's worth dyin' for." He passed out.

Liara knew that her stasis field on the other asari would not last much longer. She tossed her next grenade onto the floor. It went off and caught the first one. The second asari mercenary had gotten much more clever. She fired her gun again and this time hid behind a wall. Samara continued to advance after she heard the gunfire cease. She hit the asari with an arc, weakening her small body, and caused her to drop her rifle. "I do not wish to kill you," the justicar announced. "If you continue to fight, I must do so, even though you are unarmed."

"Die!" The asari threw all of her might into one last throw, which did hit Samara but did very little damage. The justicar walked forward and grabbed her attacker by the throat. "Find peace in the embrace of the goddess." Her eyes glowed with a powerful white saturation, and she ended the still struggling asari's life.