Shepard's Loyalty Mission: The Cult of Harbringer (18/3/2011)

Chapter 8: Review Horizon

Pain. That was all Shepard knew. For time out of mind, he had been taken to a dark chamber lit only with the red twilight characteristic of the Reapers. There he had been stripped of his armour, weapons, biotic amps and clothes, his wrists bound behind along with his ankles, and then subjected to a beating most brutal when the cultists filled the room. A beating which he was fairly certain would be fatal if not for his cybernetic enhancements.

It was no simple beating however. Despite their brutality, his tormenters were careful not to actually break or damage anything beyond repair. It was as though they were also aware of his cybernetic enhancements and were deliberately maximising his pain without permanently damaging him.

This was the first time that Shepard had actually been captured by the enemy. Fortunately, his N7 training did provide some psyche training against enemy torture. Right now, he was barely holding on to the training, preventing himself from screaming too loud in order to deny them satisfaction. But he knew that ultimately, time was on their side. No human could withstand torture forever without breaking, not even he. Especially when the torturers also had a close friend nearby.

"Fascinating. Cerberus technology truly blows the mind away. To think that they actually managed to bring back a man back to life, just like the biblical Lazarus. Unfortunately, that would make you an abomination since God clearly didn't bring you back," the beating stopped, allowing Shepard to hear the voice. The commander's left eye was almost completely swollen shut, while the other could barely open a crack. It was just enough to make out the figure of the cult leader, still in his spick and span parish outfit.

"Get him up and clean him. I want to talk with this Beast, this Deceiver that the lord warned us off."

Shepard was dragged unto his feet , unceremoniously dumped into a sitting position on a worn wooden chair and then bound to it as well. Some of his torturers then started to apply medi-gel to the worse of Shepard's wounds. Water was also forced into his mouth but Shepard choked and spat it out as much as he could.

"Now now Shepard, just because you're an infidel doesn't mean I can't extend you common courtesy, after all, the lord says love the sinner and not the sin," the preacher said. The commander spat out what water he could anyway then glared at him.

"He also said to beware false prophets and liars who twists the words of the Bible to their own selfish gains. As you are definitely both," Shepard said sharply.

The preacher was startled then chuckled. "Of course, from the book of 2 Peter itself. I know you are not a god fearing man, so where could you have learnt that? From the fanatic traitor Williams no doubt. Although you should know that Jesus himself is a false prophet, the Moslems got that right at least among their blaspehmies."

Rage threatened to overwhelm the commander as the preacher mentioned Ashley. "Pretty low for someone claiming to be a prophet of God, using an old friend as bait to get to me."

"Ah but my god is full of grace, he'll forgive me this little infraction as long as it fulfils his purpose. That purpose being to save your soul from the alien heathens and elevate humanity to the lord's side," the preacher beamed.

Shepard snorted. "You brought me all the way just to attend your church? Sorry, not buying the whole God thing. All I see is a wannabe Saren with delusions of grandeur, only without the powers of a Spectre and loves to kidnap innocent people for your precious cult."

"Ah but don't you see? They are all willing! We never take any against their choice, my god did give us free will after all. It's not my fault that they lose faith in the process only to discover that once you come in, you can never go back."

"You fucking liar! I saw the cages, your willing flock is nothing but scared people."

The preacher's face soured slightly. "Whether you believe it or not, they were given a choice and were not allowed to go back on it. Now they will all be saved even if unwillingly. So it was during the times of the Crusades, before we were beaten back and forced to appease the heathen Moslems."

"And look how that conflict turned out? A thousand years of warfare until the 21st century culminating in the senseless War on Terror. Now you would start it all again, only this time instead of humans fighting humans, you're turning humans into cybernetic monstrosities to be slaves of the most terrible threat this galaxy has ever seen."

"Ah Shepard Shepard Shepard. Even now you still accept that the coming of times is near and your so-called Reapers are in fact the heavenly host of god. Don't you see? Man's sin against god has finally reached its apex. When that time comes, the lord will finally come down to cleanse the universe of the unclean and save the faithful. I'm merely helping to purify the faithful before the time comes, especially when we will do our part against the unclean aliens of the galaxy."

Shepard snorted. "Charming. I think I knew a guy like you who thought giant monster squids are gods. H.P Lovecraft I think. What happened to him I wonder? Oh yeah, dead in a gutter somewhere alone and abandoned even by his fans."

The preacher's face darkened. "How dare you compare the lord my god to the twisted Cthulu mythologies?"

"They both resemble squids don't they?"

The preacher viciously smacked Shepard's head. "I suppose they do, like your blasphemous Asari allies. Unlike the blue filth which you share your bed with though, my god is the lord of lords, and he will change the galaxy for the better, ushering a new paradise which I'm still willing to let you in."

Shepard spat out blood then chuckled. "Let me see, paradise with a host of squid worshipping zombies or a harem of Asari, which by the way, I have never dated let alone had sex with. I think I'll stick with the Asari."

"Just like you heathen to take the choice of sin instead of the narrow gate to heaven."

The Spectre looked straight into the preacher's eye. Gone were the mirth and amusement used to mock the preacher, replaced by the steel gaze of a man who was an N7 operative and Spectre.

"Listen to me you deluded religious fanatic. You are dealing with a power that is neither omnipresent nor omnipotent. You are not even dealing with a benevolent race of aliens. You are dealing with an evil that has consumed this galaxy beyond time immemorial. You think you're going to be saved by worshipping them? Some of the geth tried to do that and Sovereign didn't give a shit about them. You want to know what it's like to serve the Reapers? The Collectors are what's left of the Protheans, repurposed into mindless drones whose only use is to help the Reapers with the harvesting of all civilised organic life. Do you hear what I said? MINDLESS! Not paradise, just a mindless existence dedicated to a race of synthetics. THAT is your god. THAT is what you are steering our race towards!"

The preacher looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel. He backhanded Shepard so hard that the Spectre was rocked off balance to the ground, still bound to his chair. Then the pain started again, the cultists didn't even bother to unbind him from the chair, they just kicked and punched while he was still attached to it, reducing it to pieces of wood. In spite of the pain, Shepard was somewhat relieved he was dealing with an actual delusional man, not a real Reaper indoctrinated slave. That way, he didn't have to worry if the man was indoctrinated into doing the Reaper's will or not.

Which made the preacher fair game for the kill. If Shepard could get the chance that is. Amidst the beating, the preacher said to Shepard¸ "You will have to excuse the crude methods but it seems that in order to save your soul, it'll have to be purified by pain. After all, we should all emulate our lord who suffered for us."

Shepard spat out some broken teeth. "First you call Jesus a false prophet and now you're saying emulate him? Your followers must be really stoned with red sand to believe your nonsense." He grunted as a particularly hard kick cracked some of his ribs. The cultists must be wearing steel capped boots to penetrate the heave weave of his body.

"Your holiness, his blasphemies knows no bounds. Can't we just end him and the other traitors? They should burn in hell, not be saved!" some of the cultists ranted.

"No my flock. They will serve the lord one way or another. It appears that they'll have to be baptised in my lord's holy blood and light," the preacher said menacingly. "Continue to purify him, I must see to our other guests. They require my… special attention," he made sure Shepard could see his lecherous grin.

"You sick bas…" Shepard tried to roar before another kick interrupted and dislocated Shepard's jaw.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Skipper?"

Amidst the haze of pain, Shepard woke to a voice he had long missed. He groaned and tried to move before realising his body was a mess of bruises. He was however, unbound and his head was lying on something soft. Several of his teeth were still missing and he coughed rackingly.

"Easy there skipper, try not to make sudden moves. They may have used medi-gel but I think you've got some internal bleeding, you're coughing out blood."

It was then that he managed to open his swollen eyes and finally saw the source of that beautiful voice. Ashley Williams was looking down on him. His rage was rekindled when she saw her once beautiful face marred by the same savage beating he had just endured. She appeared to be wearing extremely tattered remains of her marine fatigues, which barely covered her modesty.

With some difficulty, Shepard managed to mouth, "Hey. Fancy meeting you here."

Ash smiled grimly. "You know, I specifically told you years ago that I don't need a knight in shining armour to save me. Yet for some reason, people keep using me as a damsel in distress to get to you. Can't say that makes me happy Shepard."

"Not my fault. I'm willing to bet that if Kaidan were here, everyone would have used him to get to me as well. Wherever he is, I think he's glad that he doesn't have to be bait all the time," Shepard replied.

She laughed softly. "I don't think the LT would have put your head on his lap Skipper. But yeah, he would hate being the damsel in distress waiting to be rescued."

"Some rescue this is huh? Instead of sweeping you on my horse with my loyal knights Garrus and Tali at my side, I skulk the sewers of New York city with a cop and a vigilante instead," Shepard said sadly.

"Yeah, where are those two? Not to mention the other Cerberus lackeys that were assigned to you?"

"They're not Cerberus lackeys anymore Ash. They're loyal to me now, dedicated to protecting the galaxy from the Reapers. They trust me to the ends of the Earth now, especially since I saved them all from being liquefied into Reaper blood," Shepard retorted a little sharper than he wanted to. Unbidden, the memory of Horizon came up.

Ash winced at Shepard's reply. "I guess you've always had that effect on people."

"So why didn't it affect you? Why is it that in the end, the only ones who trusted me without doubting my sanity was the so-called alien members of my team? Why didn't you trust me when we met on Horizon? Garrus and Tali joined me in a heartbeat trusting in my judgement of working with Cerberus. Even WREX said nothing of my Cerberus crew and happily gave me an armshake that nearly ripped it off when I met him on Tuchanka."

"Look Shepard, I was sorry I went down on you like that! As I mentioned in my e-mail…."

He snorted. "Oh yeah, you really think you can mend the rip in my heart with a little e-mail and poetry from a long dead philosopher," he said as he forced himself into a sitting position.

"What was I supposed to say Shepard? You think life's been great for me while you were gone? You think it was easy hearing about you getting spaced from Joker? You think it was easy attending your funeral? You think it was easy splitting up with the first crew that ever gave a shit about me and in turn I gave a shit about? And by crew, I do mean Wrex, Garrus, Tali and Liara. After all our talks, I had just warmed up to them. And then the Collector's attacked. The Council forced the Alliance to hush everything up and the Alliance kowtowed to them, just as I warned you it would."

"I'm not buying your sob story Williams. Garrus, Tali and Liara went through hell as well and they didn't call me traitor. Garrus spent a year at Omega fighting criminals before they wiped out his team and nearly got his hide. Tali's been running missions for the Migrant Fleet since her Pilgrimage, given by her bloody perfectionist of a father. And Liara's been truly alone the last few years. We killed her mother, remember?"

Shepard looked at Ash. "So yes Ash, I do know that the past two years wasn't a cakewalk for any of you. By the way, waking up from a coma and discovering that two years of my life is gone isn't exactly a cakewalk as well. Nice to know the galaxy still doesn't believe in Reapers and that my old squadmates have been split up. And guess what? I owe my life to a human supremacist organisation hell bent on human dominance in the galaxy, the same bastards who made me the Sole Survivor of Akuze. God I hate that name."

"Tell me Ash, what was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to do when I discover that the Alliance left the Terminus colonies to suffer a fate worse than death and only Cerberus was taking action? How do you think I felt, forced to deal with the devil when the Alliance, the Council, hell, even God all but abandoned me in my hour of need?" Shepard shouted his heart beating fast as he railed at Ash.

The Alliance Marine was shocked at Shepard's tirade. This was a new side of Shepard she had never seen. Shepard, who had always been diplomatic to everyone, had never once raised his voice and ranted his own feelings. The mask of invulnerability and heroism that characterised Shepard had been cracked, revealing a very human soul, upon which had been thrust the responsibility of saving the galaxy.

It was then that Ash truly felt ashamed of her actions.

"Skipper, I know nothing I say can take away what I did at Horizon. You're right, I had no excuse to call you traitor, not after everything you did, for the Alliance and for me. I'm… God this sounds pathetic, but I am sorry for what I said. If I could turn back the hands of time right now, there's nothing I would rather do then join you again in sailing the stars."

Shepard sighed. "What's done is done Ash, and nothing can be done to undo it. Even if you had turned up in person to apologise, I still wouldn't have accepted you. You tore a hole in me that day Ash, and you also appeared to be as xenophobic as when I first met you. I don't think you would have gotten along with the team."

"That's where you're wrong Shepard. If I had joined your team, sooner or later, you would have shaped me up into the team. I just wish I had that chance again," Ash said softly.

"My so called leadership is overrated. I was always a part of team, whether it's the Normandy SR1 or the SR2. I didn't take down Saren alone, I did it with you, Tali, Garrus, Wrex and Liara. I didn't take down the Collectors, it was done with 14 of the craziest bastards in the galaxy including myself."

Ash shook her head. "And you think I have issues in self-esteem. Shepard, you are great and are destined for greatness one way or another. I for one no longer believe it was Cerberus who brought you back. They may have used science to rebuild your body but only God could have brought your mind and soul exactly the way you are two years ago."

"Somehow I don't think discussing God is appropriate here, considering the mad church we're in."

Ash bristled. "Don't call it a church. It gives a bad name to all the rest of us God fearing people."

"Fine, temple of crazed Cthulu worshippers then."

"You know the works of H.P. Lovecraft?" Ash said in surprise.

"Read a little of it during my Alliance recruitment program. I never thought there could be real intergalactic squid monsters until I saw Sovereign. Hit a nerve with that idiot preacher though, he looked like he was about to burst into flames when I called his god a giant squid."

Ashley laughed. "Glad you scored one on him. Wish I could have seen his face, would have been worth having him touch me with his filthy hands."

Shepard's attention was suddenly brought back to Ash's body. His earlier anger ebbed away. "Ash, what did they do to you? And where's Sarah?"

"How did you know about Sarah?"

"Your mother and sisters were so worried and desperate that they sent me a message shortly after you disappeared.. That's why I came to Earth to investigate."

Ash lowered her head. "So even after all I've done, you still came for me?

"Yes," Shepard said softly. "As strange as it seems, I think I still loved you. Before going through the Omega 4 Relay to stop the Collectors, you were the only thing I could think about. I thought to myself, if stopping the Collectors and Reapers meant that you and your family could live in peace, then it's a good enough reason to save the galaxy."

"I loved you Ash. And I think I love you still."

"Skipper… Shepard, God, I've missed you," the walls finally broke down and the two of them instantly closed the space between them with a warm embrace. Tears ran down Ash's cheeks and for the first time since the Normandy SR1 was destroyed, the two marines felt that all was well. For Shepard, he was actually overjoyed and was even tearing up a little as he felt the warm embrace. It was ten thousand times better than the initial hug on Horizon which ended so badly.

Eventually they broke the embrace and kissed each other gently. When they broke off, Ash sighed. "Looks like you haven't lost your touch Shepard. You didn't happen to practise with Tali or that Cerberus woman did you?"

Shepard chuckled. "No I didn't, and believe me, it wasn't for their lack of trying. Miranda did try to come on me but that was because I saved her sister. As for Tali, well, let's just say our little Tali blossomed into a fully mature woman. Mature enough to flirt with me directly."

"She always did look up to you Shepard, and it wasn't always from a hero worship perspective. I wish she were here now, she would hack this place's security in seconds. By the way, why did you come without crew?"

Shepard sighed. "For the same reasons I just ranted to you. Believe me, the two of them were quite pissed off at you and didn't feel I should go help you. Plus there's a Geth-Quarian peace summit that I'm supposed to chair but I felt Tali and Legion (a Geth on our side) was up to it."

Ash was amazed at the mention of a Geth and was about to comment about it before biting her tongue. "I should have guessed that only you can talk a Geth into peace talks."

"There's more to the story Ash, and I wish I had the time to tell you all about it. Right now though, we've got to get ourselves out of here. Where's Sarah by the way? Is she alright?"

Ash's face fell. "I honestly don't know Shepard. I haven't seen her since I came into this madhouse, but that bastard priest keeps comparing me to her when he…. touches me. He's a sadistic son of a bitch, I think he's keeping us all alive to prolong our despair. Now that you're here though, I don't think he has any reason to keep us from turning into husks now."

Shepard growled. "We'll tear him a new one before he gets the chance. Any moment now, the entire NYPD and National Guard should be coming down on these cultists."

"I do not think so Shepard, especially not since we picked up all your little breadcrumbs," the sickly voice of the preacher entered the cell. Instinctively, Shepard placed himself in front of Ashley as the cell door opened.

"I must admit that this Lieutenant Taylor is very resourceful in planting his transmitters. Unfortunately, he is Alliance trained and I happen to be ex-Naval intelligence, so I know all the latest toys the Alliance has for Intelligence gathering."

Shepard and Ash's heart fell at the revelation but still remained defiant. "You better run while you can asshole, we already sent the transmission before we stumbled on your lair. It shouldn't take long for them to come down on…."

"It would Shepard, if Lieutenant Mac Taylor's subordinate actually relayed his coordinates to the police commissioner. Unfortunately, Taylor's subordinate Sergeant Chris Metzen is in fact a valued member of our congregation. So no, I'm afraid that help will not be coming from the NYPD," the cult leader said sinisterly.

The N7 cursed himself for his stupidity once more and knew that his luck finally ran out. There would be no rescue. He would die on the city he hated and cause his loved one and her family to suffer.

"So Shepard, now that everyone has been purified with pain, I guess the next logical thing I can do for you is to introduce you to the lord and become one with him. And just to show you that I'm truly merciful and in line with my lord's teaching, you, your friends and this whore of Babylon can all be baptised together!" he said joyously.

"You bastard, we all know I'm the one you want, let the rest of them go," Shepard said desperately, despite knowing such a plea was futile.

"And spare you all the glorious salvation? No Shepard! You will all be one with the lord forever!" he shouted and then red hooded cultists flooded the cell. Shepard and Ash put up a terrific fight as they came but were eventually beaten into unconsciousness.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

"The Beast and the Whore of Babylon will be saved tonight Chris Metzen. Do not be late for this glorious event. You have done the lord proud indeed. I will pray for you safe journey here."

"Thank you your holiness. I will make my way as soon as I can. The salvation of the lord be upon all of us," Sergeant Chris Metzen said to his master inside his private office in the precinct. He then hung up and then tried to engaged a scrambling program to mask the origin as well as the destination of the transmission.

Before he could press the button to scramble the signal though, the shadows lengthened. A pair of arms came out of the shadows and wrapped itself around Sergeant Metzen's mouth and neck. The corrupted cop could only squeak in terror before his life was ended with an audible crack. As his body slumped to the floor, the same hands which ended the life went to the communications console and attached a small device to it. Those hands then returned to the shadows.

"The Lamb is about to be sacrificed. The Lord will provide for Isaac," a thin rasping voice spoke even as sunlight shone through the window, illuminating the dead body and dispelling the shadows where the hands came from to reveal nothing hidden there.

To be continued…