"Hey! Hey I got her! Damn though, she looks roughed up!"
"Aren't we all after that stunt? We've all had to use some of our medi-gel. Kaidan still hasn't fully recovered."
Samus felt herself stir, she recalled the blur of light, then smacking into...something...
She was being, moved? She wasn't sure. Her eyelids felt heavy.
Pain, sharp pain.
"Liara! Gonna need a hand here! She's been impaled and her left arm is shredded up!"
"What?...By the goddess! We need to get her out of there! Quickly!"
Things were tugging on her and as they did, something in her abdomen was being moved, each time it shifted it brought fresh pain.
She forced herself to try and move, to try and wake up through this dazed state she felt she was trapped in. "H..Help..."
"Hold still Samus! We've almost got it out!"
She noticed then her left arm wasn't moving...she couldn't feel it.
Finally she had enough strength to open her eyes slightly, enough to see smoke, scrap metal and destroyed wiring.
Before whatever it was in her abdomen, was yanked out.
She screamed as her eyes opened wide, her vision blurred and distorted as she felt herself being pulled somewhere before her body gave up, the pain effecting every sense in her body...
For a moment there was darkness.
Then, pain, pain in her arm, in her legs, her stomach, a stringing, constant rapid pain. It felt like something was moving inside of her...
Soon voices came to her ears.
"The medi-gel we applied to her wound shouldn't make it heal that quickly, should it?"
"Under the circumstances, let's be thankful that it is. We can question it later. What of her arm Tali?"
"The bleedings stopped. We slapped what's left of our stock of medi-gel all over it. The bones in that arm and shoulder are broken and fractured but...Liara you need to look at this."
"What is it Tali?"
"Either my omni-tool is damaged, or her bones appear to be, moving...wait, wasn't there just two fingers on that hand when you guys first pulled her out of the Mako? Garrus?"
"...What the..."
Samus then knew, they had seen it.
"Samus, I need to tell you something very important."
Chakwas was sitting next to her, in the Presidium hospital as Samus was in her room in her gown, with the scars littered over her body sitting up in bed, smiling a little but looking weak and tired. It had been five days since the operation. "What is it Dr Chakwas?"
Chakwas appeared to think about something, before looking at a datapad she had, sighing, then looking at the girl before her. "To be perfectly frank with what I did to you, the amount of muscle, bone, nerves and even a few organs that the X refused to let go of that I had to extract. You should be crippled, unable to use both your arms, unable to feel anything in several areas and should only have one lung."
Samus laid back, resting her head as she took this in. "So I should be unable to feed myself and not feel all this constant aching pain since three days back?" She chuckled a little. "Yeah, okay."
"..." Chakwas then turned the datapad to Samus. "Look at this. It's a compilation of the scans of your body during these days since the operation, the ones I did to you every few hours to make sure nothing had gone wrong."
Samus looked at them, from the one noted as being when she left the operating table, to now, just barely able to use her hand to slide through each image.
And indeed, at first there was, fairly large chunks missing. Even parts of bone were gone, especially from her arms, and her nervous system was mostly torn out, save the central part that the X was confirm to remain.
But as each image showed...bits returned, restored. Her nervous system was the fastest, then the bones, the flesh, the missing lung, kidneys, a chunk of liver they had to remove... "That's, that's some decent experimental medi-gel you're using doc."
"Medi-gel in small quantities can heal minor wounds, while large doses can work on more serious wounds though that takes time and often requires the injured to be safely hospitalized until healed. They don't restore lost organs or bones, or even heal damage like this over a couple days."
"I spoke with Old Bird with the help of Hackett. He confirmed the Chozo require their own version of the substance to recover from these kinds of damage, and it's not a natural occurrence to do so without it. Metroids don't either."
Chakwas waited for a moment, giving Samus a chance to say anything, and when it was obvious the woman wasn't sure what to say, "Samus you appear to be, to be put it plainly, regenerating."
Samus was stunned, looking straight at Chakwas.
"Tell me Samus, did the X Parasite show an ability to, rebuild itself during your time on the B.S.L Station?"
Samus thought back, and slowly nodded. "They, they rapidly multiplied and reproduced, often copying memories and intelligence of those they infect. There was...another me on that station that was labelled SA-X. It managed to copy itself several times. I managed to destroy one and revert it to its more true form, but it later healed and restored itself to an SA-X perfectly."
"I believe that's what the X has done for you. Like the SA-X as you called it, it remembered that form. The X inside you knew parts of its host have been lost and, no doubt for the sake of preservation like it's entrapment onto your central nervous system, is extending itself to restore what has been damaged."
"...It's helping me for its own sake?"
"You said yourself they have a degree of intelligence. Perhaps it knew if you were crippled and with the Metroid DNA greatly slowing its ability to grow and take over after my removal of most of its previous effort, if you died as you were and we know to burn anything connected to it, it knew it wouldn't be able to escape."
Samus eventually opened her eyes, and saw Garrus and Liara looking down at her, both with stunned expressions on their faces as she laid on the ground in, what seemed to be the Presidium of the Citadel. Except now there was alarms ringing out, several fires and smoke.
She forced herself to sit up, noticing her left arm felt especially tender, weak and sore all over. Her stomach was no better, making her feel constantly sick...and she soon noticed there was a large hole at the stomach segment of her armor, and her left arm armor was shredded to pieces. Her left arm and her lower torso were covered in blue scarring now, like veins. She then noticed the Mako behind Garrus, which was emitting its own sparks and fire. "Ugh...so, any idea what the number for the donkey cart is guys?"
Neither could reply. Samus then noticed, close to them there was Tali and Armstrong, looking after Kaidan Alenko who was clearly out cold, propped up against the wall with a small bit of blood oozing from his head and his armor appearing heavily damaged. Wrex and Kirrahe were seen close to an operational lift.
She forced herself up from the ground now. "Hey. Hey what happened to Kaidan, is he okay?"
Garrus finally spoke. "Commander. What the hell happened to you? What was that? You were impaled, your arm was destroyed and yet now-"
"I've never seen any human pull such a feat before Shepard. I've never heard of Metroids being able to heal such wounds. Was it a part of your Chozo DNA?" Liara asked.
"..." Samus gave a sigh as Tali and Armstrong now came over, leaving Kaidan for the moment just to say more about it.
"Keelah. I never knew any race could recover so fast like that Samus."
"You've never pulled this off in front of me before! I had to drag you all the way back to Nest to recover that one time your shoulder got ruined by a trap! That wasted time you know!"
Samus didn't want to look at any of them. She moved past them and noticed her rifle on the ground close to the Mako wreckage, picking it up. Wrex and Kirrahe had now noticed she was active again, and journeyed over to where the others were, listening in. "I...the infection is the reason. I can regenerate with the help of the X parasite."
"Then...Samus, the X parasite is a fantastic healer! We could-" Liara was about to start, but Samus quickly interrupted with an angered tone.
"No. That's the same ideas the Galactic Federation always have with these type of things." She went over to Kaidan, checking him herself. She tried to use her Omni-tool, but it was severely damaged, unable to work correctly. She just had to rely on her eyes. "They always only focus on the benefit, never the damage creatures could do. The X parasite is a useful healer yes. It's saved my life during the blitz, it's helped me recover after my major surgery, and yes it's restored me here when I should be bleeding out and dying."
She noticed he seemed to have no visible life threatening injures, but the impact had left him completely out of it. He won't be helping for awhile. She left him alone and finally faced the four watching her. "But I've seen what they can and will do to me if left unchecked. They'll take control, multiply and mimic their hosts. I'm lucky because of the Metroid DNA slowing the progress. I'm their only way to survive at the moment, that's why they go in overdrive when I'm badly injured. If I die, they die."
"But surely we can find a way to make use of their benefits." Liara tried to argue.
"It's better that they die off. Now we need to get moving. Saren is trying to take over this place remember?"
"But what about Kaidan? Could we really just leave him alone here?" Tali looked at him.
"...Liara, Kirrahe. Stay with him for me. Keep him safe should Saren decide to send Geth down to see about the Mako wreckage."
"Understood Commander. I shall see to it that no harm will come to him. Good luck." Kirrahe readied his weapon and nodded to her, before making his way over to Kaidan.
"...Samus. Please stay safe. Come back to us." Liara then joined the Salarian in keeping an eye on the alliance trooper.
Samus then led the remaining four to the lift, it's glass door lowering down to let them on. She recognized it as the one that leads to the Citadel tower no less. It briefly surprised her, then she finally noticed where they came out from to get here.
There was a 'statue' of a mass relay in the presidium, right close to the lift of the tower. It's never been known to have any power nor as it ever been activated, but clearly this is what the cycle before the Protheans left behind for them.
"Beating the Reapers at their own game...I just hope we can stay ahead of them and not have to leave things behind for the next cycle." Samus mumbled to herself, as the lift started to head upwards.
Saren meanwhile, was already at the tower himself.
There was little standing in his way to the main council chamber, easily using his pistol to depose of any Keepers that lingered here. Whilst the place was evacuated the moment the alarm was raised, the Keepers showed no interest to it all. Sovereign wanted them punished, it's influence in Saren's mind. They would be dealt with entirely once the invasion begins.
He soon climbed the steps and found himself at where he wanted to be, going up the walkway in the middle of the chamber and once reaching the end of it, came to a stop. He was in position. He got on his com-link to the Geth at the operations room. "Seal the arms the moment Sovereign makes it through."
There was several sounds of acknowledgement, before he turned out his link. He could hear Sovereign in his mind, it's powerful voice speaking to him. "Soon the end of this cycle will begin. This station will be mine again. All life will ascend."
"What of Samus? Is she still in pursuit?"
"Samus has escaped Ilos. Samus will soon be at your location. Terminate her. I have little need for a misused project. You are adequate for this task."
"I am more than that..."
Beyond the Citadel, the fight was easily in favour of the Geth. The surprise attack has done its work, allowing the Reaper the time it needed to get by the meager defences and into the Citadel, which began to close its arms.
"That machine vessel got into the Citadel! Where are the reinforcements!?" Sparatus was holding onto the railing of the Destiny Ascension as the vessel shook once again from another hit, whilst close to the ship he saw another Turian vessel explode from several missiles striking it.
One of the Asari officers managed to answer him after checking her console. "The Mass Relay seems to be have been disabled! No one can get here! We're on our own!"
"Get the fleet to gather at our location and prepare to try and break through! We have to deal with these Geth quickly!"
For Sovereign though, this was the moment it had been waiting for. It slowly made its way towards the tower of the Citadel, opening its limbs and out of its body came several massive wires ready to attach themselves to the tower, to grant Saren access to the main controls. To let it have control once again of this station.
It knew Harbinger waited.
It knew all the others were ready in dark space. This was the next galaxy for the harvest, there could be no more delays. All these years of calculating new plans finally were coming to an end.
It knew this was all because of the Undine. They were a species it did not expect to make a daring strike on it two cycles ago, making it momentarily withdraw, damaged, before summoning reinforcements to end them. It did not figure out they had left something behind. Replicated technology of the relays.
Now though, it could trigger the harvest, it could watch and monitor all communications and mass relays from the Citadel, and when it is all said and done, it could rest once more for the next cycle to come along.
Sovereign finally linked itself to the tower, landing on it. It's wires reached out and latched themselves onto the structure, beginning it's access to the network.
All Saren had to do, was wait for the manual override to be available for use.
Then it all ends.
Soon the holographic screen was in front of Saren. He noticed that Sovereign was bypassing all the security that was in the way. He waited patiently. It would only be a few moments more, then-
"SAREN!"
The turian slowly turned around.
"Samus Shepard..."
There she was, with her rifle aimed right at him, having just come up the stairway.
Saren didn't seem surprised at all. "I expected you to come alone. You always did prefer handling dangerous galaxy-risking missions like this on your own."
"I just felt I didn't need any help in taking down a lapdog to the true form of Mother Brain."
"I am not a lapdog, as you humans put it. I serve it for the betterment of all of us. Something you clearly do not understand." He chuckled a little, looking right at her. "You've lost. You know that, don't you? In a few minutes Sovereign will have complete control of this station."
Samus glared at him, moving her rifle a little to make sure he noticed she was aimed right at his head. "I'm getting to that master control panel Saren. Get the hell out of my way or get ready to join Mother Brain in oblivion when I'm done with you."
"You overcame me on Virmire. I admit I wasn't ready for you. But as you can see, the damage you did-" He lifts his new cybernetic arm up slightly, clenching the fist of it. "-Is easily fixed. Slightly improved too. I've had a few upgrades you see. Enhanced biotics, faster flexes, more strength."
"That fancy hardware isn't going to save you from me. You should ask Sovereign what it's done for it when it was Mother Brain."
"Sovereign, wants you dead."
"No big surprise there."
Saren then slowly put his hand out to her. "But I want to spare you. The Reapers need people like you and me. Sovereign may see you as a failed project, but I see the potential you still have. It's not too late. Join us and we'll have a place for you."
Samus slowly lowered her rifle, looking at him with disbelief. "...You honestly believe Sovereign don't you? You really think it'll spare you and those you try and 'save'. You can't even tell you've been caught in the indoctrination."
"It is a symbiotic relationship. Like you have with the X parasite."
"Yeah, and like the X, Sovereign wants control. Tell yourself you'll let me by, tell yourself and see if Sovereign will let his humble servant move."
Saren snarled a little and put his hand down, but, instead of going for his weapon just yet he chose to try and step aside...
He couldn't. Something told him he must not. He must remain between Samus and the console. He was sure it was just himself knowing Samus will go for it but again, he couldn't step away. "...I...I cannot..."
Samus took a step forward. "And like the X parasite, when Sovereign has used you for what it wants, it'll devour and discard you. You'll be thrown aside once you give control of the station over and remove me."
"I have no choice but to serve it...You saw the visions like I did. You saw what they'll do. You saw what happened to the Protheans!"
"Yeah. I did." She took another step forward. "But I'm still going to stand in their way. I'm still going to fight them. I defeated Sovereign in the past. Maybe not against its true body, but it's puppet. I've prevented them before...and I'll do it again. You know I can."
"Then I must stop you!" Saren quickly pulled his pistol out and took aim.
But Samus didn't flinch at that, she still stared him down. "I've always respected the Turians. They treated me far more like a person then Humanity. Saren Arterius. You may be a Spectre of the Galactic Federation, but you're also a Turian. A people who will fight against these machines against all odds, along with a Federation that'll push on regardless. Salarians, Humans, Asari...they'll keep on fighting, they'll stand with the Turians...Are you going to reject what you are, and bow to the machines?"
She noticed. His gun hand was shaking a little, he slowly looked away from her, and at his weapon. "I, I saw the end though..."
"You saw the past Saren. The only solution to avoid that past repeating is to stop them. Now."
"...Maybe there's still a chance then. Maybe we can prevent-ARGH!" Saren suddenly placed his spare hand on his head as he arched over, clearly in pain. "St-stop it! Get out of my mind!"
Samus was about to move closer, but Saren kept his pistol aimed at her as he was shaking his head, trying to fight off the pain surging through it. Sovereign was clearly not impressed by Saren's attempt to resist.
The commander decided to tap on her com-link a little as Saren struggled, having a feeling that perhaps the surprise was needed.
"S-Sovereign, is, is just too strong for me! The implants! The upgrades! I'm sorry Samus!" Saren looked at her as he shook his head again and placing both hands on his gun now. "It's, it's too late for me! Kill me! Please!"
That's when Wrex, Tali, Armstrong and Garrus ran up the steps, getting into position besides Samus, with Armstrong aiming his arm cannon, Tali and Wrex aiming shotguns and Garrus aiming his rifle.
"I'm sorry, Saren."
All four of her allies fired everything they had. Samus just watched Saren as his shielding quickly failed him and the energy bullets struck, causing him to stumble back as each one stuck, tearing through his armor, wiring and flesh, his blood spilling across the walkway, before eventually all four stopped.
Saren was still standing for a moment, at the end of the walkway, inches from the edge as his eyes which once glowed a brilliant blue, were now flickering as he was focused on Samus. He dropped his pistol, and weakly raised his arm up, his hand out to her. His mouth opened to say something, but nothing besides a final breath escaped as his eyes ceased to be lit.
He fell back, and Samus' allies watched from where they were as he smashed through the glass beneath the walkway into the small garden area that was within the council chamber. Samus just heard the glass break.
There was silence for a moment between them all, only the alarms were heard ringing in the place.
Samus turned to them. "...Good job."
"You tried reaching him Samus. But he was too far gone. That was evident enough on Virmire." Wrex said to her.
Samus knew he was right, but still to have that moment of him trying to resist...She had hoped he could be redeemed even after all this. "...Wrex. You and Armstrong better go down there and make sure Saren is truly gone. If there's a hint of life Sovereign might take control. I'm going for the main control."
They nodded and moved, leaving Tali and Garrus with her as she walked to the end of path, which extended slightly further revealing a new holo-screen and console after Sovereign broke through the final security system. "Just in time...Alright, now to open the arms and get the Federation fleet to attack the damn reaper."
She noticed looked carefully at the controls and saw what she needed to access the arms and open them up, as well as access to the Mass Relays and communications, which she noticed were both set to isolate this star system.
She decided to first re-establish the com systems, right away her com-link triggered. "Commander! Commander do you copy! Come on you gotta have got to the Citadel by now!"
Joker. She quickly answered. "Joker? What's the problem?"
"I got in contact with Admiral Hackett, and we've got a whole fleet of Alliance ships a on standby to get to the Citadel. Minor problem though, the mass relay isn't exactly letting us come through. We've tried contacting other Galactic fleets and the station itself, but everything was dead."
"That should be resolved. I'll sort out the mass relays in a moment, first I need to find out where the councillors are to make sure they're-"
"Commander we're just picking up an emergency transmission to all open channels." Joker interrupted with.
It was an Asari voice. "This is the captain of the Destiny Ascension! To all available ships, the Citadel is under attack! We repeat the Citadel is under attack! We have the councillors on the Ascension but shields are failing and we are unable to escape! Please send reinforcements!"
The comm channel then returned to Joker. "Well good thing we're ready to come to the rescue then. Can you get the mass relays working again?"
Samus quickly accessed the holo-console, and within moments had the mass relay activated. "Pour on through Joker. Get the Destiny Ascension out of trouble, that's the top priority!"
"Aye ma'am."
She then got on her omni-tool, changing her comm frequency to the emergency channel the Destiny Ascension captain had used. "Destiny Ascension this is Spectre Samus Shepard!"
On the Destiny Ascension, there was just panic as fires were erupting across the ship, systems were failing and with each moment that passed another energy shot struck the ship.
The captain had thought that emergency call was pointless. She was ready for her ship to be destroyed when she heard the voice of Samus. She was shocked for a moment as she quickly turned to the councillors who were gathered nearby in the midst of the chaos, looking at her after they heard the commanders voice. "Samus?"
"Reinforcements are about to come through, hang tight and keep yourselves alive! We can't lose the council! I'm currently in the Citadel, Saren is dead and I have access to the main controls! Once you're safe I'll open the arms! Send all ships you can spare to target the reaper inside!"
"Thank the goddess! Understood Samus!"
Around the relay, a massive wave of Alliance vessels suddenly appeared, in the midst of them was the Normandy as they advanced forward, towards the Geth fleet and the surrounded remnants of the Federation fleet and the Destiny Ascension.
Within a mighty hail of disruptor torpedoes and energy cannon fire, the number of Geth warships rapidly dwindled down, giving the capital ship and its remaining forces vital time to recover, as the remaining Geth vessels turned their attention to the reinforcements, returning fire.
Samus waited for the councillors to be safe, she wanted the confirmation all was well. Then they could bring this Reaper threat to a close.
But something felt wrong in the tower, something felt off.
Then she heard Armstrong from below. "What in the hell-"
Before an eruption of red energy came out from the garden area, and both Wrex and Armstrong were heard yelling out, then two smacks into metal, before they fell silent. She looked over behind her and saw Garrus and Tali quickly jump down to the area, as, something, was heard yelling out in agony.
She ran back down the walkway to get a better look.
Saren was back up. Stumbling around as he was screaming in agony, covered in a red, violent energy, bursting forth seemingly from his mouth and eyes. She saw Tali and Garrus slowly move in, and spotted Armstrong slumped against a nearby wall, knocked out, and Wrex at another wall, seemingly the same.
Saren suddenly shot his hand up aiming at Garrus, and a surge of red energy struck the Turian, running up and down his armor and body, before he feel to the ground. Tali fired her shotgun, which the bullets seemed to bounce off whatever energy was surrounding Saren, before he did the same to her as he did to Garrus.
Then...he began to transform, to mutate. This was when Samus jumped down, rifle at the ready.
His flesh was being seemingly burnt off, his arms seem to extend as his hands grew into claws. He seemed to grow taller, at least double his height, his legs becoming much thinner and agile. Soon the red glow had died down, showing all that was left was the armor...and all the cybernetic implants Saren had gained over the years, virtually an exoskeleton, with only the eyes retaining the red light that had once covered the seemingly dead Turian.
His focus, was on Samus, and despite his lower jaw being destroyed entirely , he spoke. "You. You once again stand before me!"
Samus knew right away. She knew what controlled this corpse. "Mother! This is the end!" Straight after, she opened fire with her weapon.
Saren leapt from the ground to one wall, then to the underneath of the walkway, easily avoiding the bullets, quickly moving each time Samus took aim and tried again. Going to different walls and different parts of the garden with lightning fast speed. "This is the beginning, project! You have delayed me long enough!"
Samus stopped using the rifle and armed a few grenades, tossing one at Saren which made him leap away to one of the metal walls again. Samus knew this was coming and already threw two others towards the undead Turian, impacting and exploding the moment they made contact.
The smoke was clearing when Samus saw two red eyes looking at her, and a third red part began to glow. She rolled to the side as several red spheres of fiery energy launched from Saren's mouth, each one bursting on impact with the ground, one just touching her shields causing them instantly to fail.
Samus tried to quickly access her Omni-tool to get her shields back up, but now it was completely dead. Whatever Saren had used, it finished off that system entirely.
She decided to then arm the last grenades she had, the glowing eyes giving her an idea, and threw them all in a wide arc towards where Saren was, who jumped as each one blew up, leaving smoke across the garden.
What she wanted.
She readied her rifle, and looked carefully, waiting for that one moment...
And it arrived.
Saren's eyes were there, glowing in the smoke, showing he was hanging on underneath the walkway. She quickly aimed upwards and opened fire, the way the body was shifting and making growling sounds, she was certainly hitting her target before it fell from the walkway to the ground before her.
But it certainly didn't seem no worse for wear as it lunged at her.
Samus had to quickly jump back as Saren made his move, landing where she once was. Samus aimed her weapon again, but Saren lunged out, grabbing the rifle with one talon whilst grabbing her by the neck. It discarded the rifle to the side, yanking it out of her grasp, before tossing her backwards, sending her colliding into the wall that was connected to the walkway above her.
The impact made with the wall to her head dazed her, her focus was gone as she slumped to the ground, long enough for Saren to close in the gap quickly, now standing before her. She pushed herself up from the wall, panting and reading herself to fight it again, pulling out her pistol. That just made it strike her in the already tender and sore stomach with such a force she dropped the pistol, fell to her hands and knees and vomited up a some blood, coughing violently. Saren simply looked down at her after taking a step back. "I recall this scenario before. The Chozo's other project will not come to your aid again."
Samus glared up at the undead creature, trying to get herself back up as she spoke, spitting out some of the blood. "I'm not, finished yet..."
"You are."
From its mouth, the red energy began to build up again, aiming right for her.
When from the right side of Saren, smacking into its head, was the butt of a sniper rifle before the one who was carrying it stood between Saren and Samus, and aimed the weapon for Sarens skull, making the undead Turian stumble back and screeching out after the shot fired.
Garrus was now standing there. "No, she isn't. Not with me around."
The machine soon recovered and was about to jump at the Turian before him, but he then found himself being shot in the back by a charged power beam shot, coming from Armstrong. "Nor me! We're her partners!"
Saren turned his attention to Armstrong and did think of trying to attack him now, but then he found his body going into a brief shock as a wave of electric struck it, momentarily halting his moment. Tali was on her Omni-tool, and had used overload on the machine. "We're all with her!"
Then the machine was smashed across the face again, this time with a shotgun, knocking it nearly to the ground before he quickly righted himself and jumped away onto a nearby wall, looking at his attacker, Wrex. "She's got a team to back her this time!"
Saren dived for him, but the Krogan used its biotics to hold the undead turian in midair, letting both Tali and Armstrong open fire on the thing, striking it's torso and limbs before it managed to escape the hold and land on the ground, quickly leaping away as it avoided another bullet from Garrus.
He then tried to go for Armstrong, but the power armor user was just constantly firing his arm cannon, the energy shots, though not effective in doing much damage, were distracting. It gave Tali time to once more use overload, pinning Saren down, shaking and unable to move.
Wrex used this time to ready his shotgun and along with Garrus, both shot at him, their bullets doing some damage, destroying pieces of the armor as Saren turned to them and was trying to ready himself to attack. He was still being shot at by Armstrong, and Tali was now firing her shotgun. He was being struck in all directions, pieces of his cybernetics broke, one of his arms were blasted off, and one of his eyes shut off, damaged by a shot from Garrus.
Saren stumbled and fell to the ground, looking face down at it when the firing stopped. It heard footsteps, and as it used its remaining arm and strength to get back up, growling as it did, before it suddenly stopped.
It found the tip of a pistol inside its mouth, as Samus now stood before it. "Mother-No, Sovereign. The cycle ends, TODAY!"
A quick burst of rapid flashing blue light emitted from the pistol as several rounds were fired. Then Saren fell back, hitting the ground, it's other eye gone dull, the internal system inside the skull destroyed.
The corpse slowly turned black, then dissolved into ash.
Around them, a loud machine-like groaning sound was heard.
Sovereign had focused its energy on controlling that lifeform, and it knew what was happening like it did when Mother Brain was destroyed on Zebes.
With the gift of control, there was a feedback effect on destruction of the one they directly controlled. Harbinger was built to easily subdue the effect, let it flow through its system and only slightly weaken it whilst it compensated, but Sovereign and many other vanguard Reapers like it were not.
It's systems were unable to handle the flow of power surging through it. It couldn't stop it from striking it's vital areas. It felt segments of itself begin to shut down to enter a state of repair.
Like the other times.
This is why it took Sovereign so long. Each time it's direct control of a subject was terminated before it could release control, it fell into repair stasis, which would take months before the reaper was active again.
It could feel that occurring now. At such a moment as this.
It knew it had failed.
It could not complete its primary objective. It chose to send a final long range signal out, allowing the rest of its kind to know what has happened and who or what has stopped it.
They must now find another way.
The cables it had latched onto the control tower were released, as it slowly began to fall off.
The last thing it had detected before it shut down for internal repairs were the Citadel arms were opening, and to greet it beyond them, was the joint fleets of the Alliance and the Federation.
Across the comm system Admiral Hackett gave the order. " The ship is clearly disabled! Everyone, open fire on Sovereign!"
There was a brilliant display of firepower, a mixture of yellow, white and blue striking and exploding on the hull of the reaper, tearing small chunks of it repeatedly, before a wave of disruptor missiles were dispatched from a majority of the Alliance ships, tearing straight through the hulking mass of a vessel, finally causing it to break apart and detonate, several fragments flying towards the control tower and colliding with it.
The Reaper was no more.
Admiral Hackett was at the control center of his ship when several of the Alliance vessels confirmed the kill. "Reaper is gone sir! Target destroyed!"
He gave a small smile. "Good work everyone. Joker, establish contact with Commander Shepard, tell her fantastic job well done."
Joker was heard on the comm system "Aye sir. On it now. Samus did you get any of that?"
...
"Commander do you copy?"
Admiral Hackett soon lost the smile. "Joker is there a problem?"
"I can't raise her Admiral...I think something's happened down there. She was last in the control tower of the Citadel."
"Then we need to contact the Citadel to deploy rescue teams at once."
Samus was back in Chozodia. She recalled getting back up on the walkway in the tower and opening the arms, noticing that Sovereign was powering down and alerted the fleet to be ready.
She took this time to help her team get back up from the ruined garden area before noticing a flash of an explosion, spotting the remains of Sovereign coming their way. She ordered her team to run. Then, darkness for a while, before seeing all this again.
The shadows were gathered once more, but their whispers were faint. This time, they block her path to the temple.
She looked at herself. She was in her ruined armor, the blue scars evident on her body.
She looked ahead, down one of the roads of this place.
Saren was there, his eyes were blue once more. He stared at her, and slowly turned away, walking down one of the alleyways of this place.
She chased after him as fast as she could in this place, which felt more like a walk. She noticed the shadows followed her.
As she turned around the corner into the alleyway, it all changed.
She was now in a dulled out version of the Citadel tower. Wreckage of a ship littered the place, fires in several locations, the beautiful fountain was struggling to function...Saren was there, looking at it. She heard him speak. But this was nothing that she heard from him before like those in the shadow.
"I killed my own brother, Samus. I watched him die, along with a secret project that related to the Reapers. I wanted to know more. I blamed mankind. I chased after research that led me to Sovereign. I fell for the false hope of salvation. My fears for the future allowed it to take over."
He moved on, heading up the stairs.
She again pursued him, and soon found him standing at the control panel for the rapid transit system, it's faded glow reflecting on his face as she approached.
"No. I wanted it to. I believed I could be its equal. But the Reapers are beyond us. Beyond all organic life. Perhaps beyond all artificial life we are able to make. I saw it as Mother Brain too, Samus."
He then walked over to a pile of the wreckage, turned and faced Samus and she walked up to him.
"When Nihlus said your name. I could feel Sovereigns irritation. I knew I would face you in combat. When you tore off my arm...doubt came into my mind. Now, I am free, and will join those here until it ends."
Behind him, the wreckage seemed to move aside, opening a way into the middle of the pile...
And there, on the ground, was her. Samus.
"You must continue."
As Saren, from the feet up, began to change, morph into a shadowy figure, Samus found herself being flung by an unknown force into the wreckage, into the same spot her other self was, looking out of the opening at Saren, as all that remained of his original form, were his glowing blue eyes, which started to fade. All behind him were the rest of the shadows.
"They will come for you. You are one of the ones who have the chance of standing in their way. Goodbye Samus."
In a flash of white light, Samus found herself in darkness, taking rapid breaths and coughing. She was surrounded by metal parts, and could faintly hear alarms still going off...and could also hear the final whispering words of a certain turian.
"And thank you."
Anderson was leading the rescue team.
The moment that it was declared safe for everyone to get out of the emergency bunkers, he rallied a team to head to the Citadel tower after getting an update from Joker on what's happened to Samus.
On the way he encountered Kaidan who had now fully recovered, Liara and Kirrahe, who joined him on the journey in order to see what had happened.
The place was a complete mess.
Anderson never thought he'd see the day somewhere like this could be transformed into a remains of an apparent warzone. Pulling through the debris safely was a difficult task. The constant sound of the metal bending seemed to threaten everyone with the chance it could collapse at any time.
Then, one of the men who joined the rescue team called out. "Captain Anderson! We found some of them!"
He rushed over, with Kaidan hot on his feet. Both arrived and found who were being helped out of the wreckage.
Wrex and Tali. The Krogan just seemed annoyed at needing a hand to get out of such a tight space and Tali appeared dazed, with a few small cracks in her visor, but her suit was not badly damaged.
Anderson approached them. "Are you both alright? Where are the others?"
Liara now called out from another pile. "Anderson! We've found another two!"
Anderson decided to go and check again. "You two stay here and take a moment!"
"It's gotta be her this time!" Kaidan was heard saying as he was off ahead of the captain this time as they headed to the next bit of wreckage.
Liara and Kirrahe had helped pulled out two people from the mass of wiring and scrap. Garrus and Armstrong, who certainly seemed relieved at being rescue, while Garrus, the moment Kirrahe got him out of the wreckage, was looking around, clearly concerned.
Kaidan quickly asked him. "Garrus, where's Samus?"
"She, she was behind me! I know she was!" He got on his com-link whilst moving further away from the metal he had been trapped under. "Samus! Do you copy? Please respond!"
There was nothing. Wrex and Tali had now rejoined them, with Tali slowly walking over to Garrus. "She'll be alright. I know she will be. They'll find her."
"Come on commander...you gotta come back to me..." Kaidan looked over at the destruction before him, his heart was sinking with dread.
Anderson felt the same feeling. He feared the worst. He tried his com-link. "Samus. I need you to answer me. You need to be alive."
Once again, nothing, as the rescue team were starting their search. "...Get back to us Samus. That's all you need to do." He gave a weak, sad chuckle, and finished what he was saying with "As Adam would say, 'Any objections lady'?"
He got an answer, to everyone's surprise, beyond a large pile of the Reaper's remains further back from where they were. "No, objections, sir."
Everyone looked over to the collection of destroyed parts, and could hear bits and pieces falling off it, as if something was dislodging parts of the metal.
Then, climbing to the top of the wreckage, looking no more worse for wear then she did fighting Saren, looking down at them, was Samus Shepard.
She gave a wide smile, as she spotted her entire team. "We did it guys. We made it." She slowly made her descent, now focusing on a very happy Anderson. "Contact the council for me Anderson. Tell them the mission's completed."
It had taken a few days for things to start recovering.
The Galactic Federation had been left in shock at the surprise attack, and was now reorganizing its forces to improve its reaction speed to a sudden attack, especially against the heart of it's organization.
The death toll from the defence fleet of the Citadel was still being tallied, as was the losses experienced by the Alliance fleet once the Geth counter attacked before making a retreat.
The Destiny Ascension was now out of commission for the time being after the heavy damage it took. But compared to the alternative of what could've happened to it and the councillors on board, having the pride of the Federation being placed in for repairs is a minor issue.
The Geth had fled through the Mass Relay, and appeared to have divided themselves up to several different star systems. The Federation scouting force was still currently looking into their precise whereabouts, but without Saren and Sovereign, the general feeling is they won't attack again anytime soon.
The main control program for the Citadel had been given several new layers of security to make sure no one can access that again.
The Citadel tower was closed off for repairs, as were several small sections of the station that the remains of Sovereign collided into, including Chora's Den, much to the disappointment of Samus.
The Normandy at this time, was docked and being given a new Mako, as the remains of the previous one baffled people for some time on how it even got into the Presidium, until Samus explained it.
A part of the crew of the ship though, were right now in the Presidium. They all had gathered into one of the spare ambassador offices which the council members now resided in. All three councillors were there, and standing opposite them was Samus, to her right Udina, and to her left Anderson. Behind her was Joker, Kaidan, Garrus, Wrex, Tali, Liara, Kirrahe, Armstrong and Chakwas. Their armours had been repaired since the incident. Especially Samus', which covered up alot of the scarring she now had.
To the side of both groups of people, were Old Bird and two other Chozo.
Tevos soon spoke to them all. "We thank you all for coming. It has been some time since the Reaper attack on the Citadel. An attack we still regret not being prepared for, but was thankfully halted by your timely actions, Commander Shepard."
Valern was next. "We also want to acknowledge the rescue effort of the Alliance, who were the majority of the forces who came to our desperate aid, and lost several ships in the process, along with many lives."
Tevos gave a small smile. "The Alliance, and humanity itself has given a consistent strong contribution to the Galactic Federation since it was first brought into our fold, and that day when all seemed lost, they had shown us the willingness and loyalty that we would expect from our bravest officers."
"That is why we have now decided that they have rightfully earned a position on the Citadel Council. They have proven a valuable defender to the Federation, and to the galaxy."
Udina was beaming. "Councillor Tevos, Sparatus, Valern. On behalf of humanity and the Alliance we humbly accept this honour and position."
Valern nodded. "Of course. But we now need someone from humanity to join us. A discussion we can have for another time, perhaps."
Sparatus agreed. "Indeed, for we now need to focus on the one who brought this day about. Samus Shepard."
She stood to attention, as Tevos once again talked. "We had doubted you despite the warning you tried to give us. We failed to act on it. If it were not for you, we would have seen the whole of galactic society wiped out by an early onset of the end of our 'cycle'."
Valern spoke next. "We were afraid of one thing, but failed to spot the real threat. We turned to others for guidance, and yet all it did was make things worse. You came to our aid, a shining light in the sudden surrounding darkness. You truly have retained your title of galactic saviour."
Sparatus then talked. "I doubted you. We, doubted you. All that we can do is ask that you accept our request for forgiveness, and that we owe you a debt that can never be fully repaid."
Samus looked to Anderson, who gave her a brief nod and motioned to her to step forward. She did so, looking at the councillors. "You had reasons to doubt me. My past has left a mark that is difficult to clear in people's minds. I already have forgiven you all. Especially the one who was willing to take the risk of letting me go." She focused on Sparatus. "Though you lot feel you owe me, I owe you a debt of my own...thank you."
Sparatus acknowledged it by bowing his head a little.
She then looked at them all again. "But it is not just me. My team behind me were key in helping the fall of Sovereign. Every one of them played a part, including the deceased Ashley Williams. Without her sacrifice, We never would've stopped Saren and Sovereigns other plans and granting me the vital last piece of information to hunt down the conduit."
Valern understood. "We shall make sure her name is placed within the archives along with all of your team."
Now someone else was ready to talk, his walking stick clicked on the ground a few times as he stepped forward. Old Bird. "Now I feel I must speak...and apologise for the Chozo's failings. We did not know fully of the conduit, and indeed, did not know of what it could truly do. We simply expected Saren to be using trickery and forcing the Federation into war with the pirates again."
He gave a sigh. "We did not know of how the reapers are summoned. We did not know the Citadel was the key to it. We were arrogant in denying Samus the chance to chance after Saren. We are, sorry."
Samus gave him a smile, and walked over, bending down to his level. "I already guessed that Old Bird. It's okay. We stopped the end. Hopefully now it'll actually be far, far in the future as it should be."
His face showed he was obviously relieved by her acceptance of his mistakes. Samus meanwhile stood back up and looked to the councillors. "Speaking of, I do have a request, as a Spectre."
"Go ahead." Sparatus answered with.
"I wish to hunt down the Geth that had sided with Sovereign. I need to make sure they don't try and pull another Reaper in or that they have any backup plans on standby. I spoke with my team yesterday, and we're all in agreement that it's better to make sure then to leave them be."
The councillors looked to eachother for a moment, before turning back to Samus with Tevos giving their answer. "Of course Samus. We will await for reports from you on the Geth you encounter."
"Great. Well if there isn't anything else, can we get started?"
"How long do you think this'll take commander? A couple of weeks? A few months?"
"I dunno Joker, maybe a year or two? We don't honestly know how many of the Geth were actually following Sovereign. But hey it's a job. Better than sitting on our asses."
"That actually sounds kinda nice after that Mako ride Shepard. I swear I still got a headache from that incident..."
"Oh sure, blame me for your headaches Kaidan."
Samus and her crew were now on the elevator, heading up to the docking area of the Normandy. They had been buzzing the moment they left the office, chatting about their whole venture, mostly telling Kirrahe how things went down before he got caught up in it all on Virmire, and still choosing to tag along for the ride now.
As the elevator door opened, they all stepped off and heading towards the airlock of the ship, when Samus spotted Anderson close to it, smiling at her and the others. "You know I expected you all to be quicker on the way here then you were. You took the longest route possible."
"We're here now Anderson." Samus went up to him and shook his hand. "And we're leaving shortly. You wanna tag along?"
Anderson chuckled. "I think I need to hang around here for awhile. I got a message whilst waiting for you here...I'm one of the potential candidates for becoming the human councillor. As is Udina."
"You can always put him out of the race with another punch."
"I don't think that'll help this time...So, what about your condition?"
Samus let go of his hand, and gave a small sigh. "I think I got a month or two before I have to go under the knife...My crew can handle things while I recover, I'm sure of it. I trust them."
"As do I. Take care of yourself out there."
"I will." Samus then turned around, facing her crew. "Are you all sure your ready to follow my lead again?"
Kirrahe spoke up. "It's been fascinating so far commander. A few months certainly won't hurt any at this point."
Wrex looked at the Salarian. "Won't hurt? I doubt that. I expect trouble left right and center if we follow Samus. I'm more than willing for that though."
"Well I can always learn more from Samus. So I'm game." Garrus added.
"And we may find new Prothean sites or even locations where Reapers have been before!" Liara certainly seemed excited.
"With us facing the Geth, I might find ways to help the Quarian fleet in dealing with them." Tali pointed out.
"And just think if we help out folks with the Geth! We could get some credits out of this! Maybe find some rare technology we can salvage off!" Armstrong seemed glad.
Chakwas gave a chuckle hearing all of them. "And you certainly need myself and Jeff commander, so you can't go without us."
Then there was Kaidan. He just gave her a sweet smile. "And I need you commander, as you need me."
"That I do Kaidan. That I do." With that, she turned to the airlock of the ship and went inside, with them all following, leaving Anderson to stand there and watch, along with Sparatus and Udina, who had both just arrived.
They joined Anderson as the ship was released from the docking clamps, and slowly reversed out. "There she goes already. Hopefully she can keep a good image up after this." Udina mentioned.
"You certainly chose a good choice for the first human spectre, I wish her well on her venture against the Geth. This day marks a new age, you know." Sparatus leaned on the railing a little, as the Normandy was turning around.
Now Valern and Tevos had come and joined them.
"The only thing we must do now is keep up our vigilance." The Normandy powered up its engines fully, and begun flying away from the Citadel as Anderson spoke. "With all four of our species as well as those that follow us, we must do our part. The Reapers are still out there. They're real, and they're waiting beyond our galaxy. I know they signal an end, but the victory over Sovereign proved it doesn't have to end. We can fight them, and perhaps united, we can prevent that end."
The Normandy reached the mass relay, and the energy from the massive device connected to the ship.
"No matter when or how, we have to be ready. This is the chance she's given us."
The Normandy catapulted off into the stars.
Old Bird meanwhile, had returned to his ship with his fellow Chozo. He walked into his private chambers, filled with old Chozo relics and ancient texts.
As the door closed behind him, and the ship was readying for takeoff, Old Bird walked to the middle of the room, then bent down to his knees, placing his talons on his legs, as the room darkened, and a yellow orb of energy slowly floated out of the ground before him.
All around the room, were whispers.
He seemed to respond to them. "Sovereign has been destroyed."
The whispers seem to fall silent. Then one spoke again.
He nodded. "Samus had defeated Sovereign. She had destroyed the one that it controlled. The human fleet finished the job."
"Yes. Yes has proven her worth. Despite her illness, she persists with effective results. Had she not acted, the cycle would have come full circle."
"...Of course. I shall inform the others. As you will no doubt yourself. She now intends to chase after the Geth. We shall watch, and wait."
The whisper became louder, and more clearer, as the yellow glowing orb divided into six. "She has merely delayed the inevitable. Watch the project closely. She is more successful then you expected. She is a viable possibility."
Old Bird bowed deeply, as the six orbs faded away, the lights came back on. "Untill the day we are all collected..."