The shield around Shepard fizzled but the force of the blast threw him to the ground like a rag doll. With a grunt, he hit hard, skidding on the mud a few feet back. He groaned as his ribs twinged in protest, strained from the shotgun blast to the chest. He heard the chu-chunk of the shotgun's slide being racked back, causing him to sit back up in alarm.

"Tali, wait!" he yelled, throwing out an arm, panic enveloping his voice.

Not listening, Tali fired again but Shepard had scrambled to his feet only seconds in time. The patch of ground burst away, the muddy clump sailing back through the air.

Shepard circled, confusion etched on his face. "Tali, what are you doing?!" he screamed, hoping to pierce the shadowy veil that had been thrown over her. Her only response was to stare back at him with cold eyes, no emotion shining through them. There was no life in those eyes, nothing resembling the plucky, curious quarian that Shepard had come to deeply care for. It hurt, seeing that such a change had washed over her like this.

Right now, Tali'Zorah did not exist.

Taking a step forward, Tali racked the slide again and fired, the recoil shunting her arms upward. Shepard sidestepped the shot, almost reaching for his pistol but stopping the impulse at the last second. He was not going to hurt her. Even with his life in the balance, he would never aim a gun at her.

"Tali!" he cried. "Snap out of it!"

Still she did not listen.

The creature buzzed at her, speaking in its unfamiliar language. The light in front of her was a continuous glare but her visor was working overtime to filter it out. Shadows flitted and merged around her, surrounding her in a continuous smoky fog. She passed through, the vapors dispersing at her presence to reveal her enemy standing directly in front of her.

The humanoid form of the geth trooper continuously clicked and whirred at her, but she could not comprehend the electronic gibberish coming from its vocal emulators.

Strangely, the geth was not attacking her, refusing to pick up a weapon. This only made her more enraged. The damned machine was toying with her, then.

Pulling the slide of the shotgun towards her in a quick and furious motion, she saw the geth making wild hand signals in her direction. Was this some sort of taunt?

Gritting her teeth, she fired her weapon, but the cursed geth dodged it again. Still it did not attack, but why? What sort of gratification could a machine gain from pushing her further and further into fury? Was it a corrupt unit or had they evolved to challenge her psychologically?

But it was a geth, why would it not attack her when every single one she had met had the base instinct to open fire on her before?

The cacophony of noises from the geth sounded again, but she shouldered her weapon and tried to breathe a little more calmly for the next shot. Soon, this geth would pay the price and she could settle for bringing one more of her people's brethren back to the hell they crawled out of.

"NO!" Shepard roared as he saw Tali raise the shotgun again. "Tali, please don't! I'm John, remember? John Shepard! You're the only one who calls me by that name now. I'm not going to hurt you! Please stop fighting, Tali!"

Still, her blank eyes registered nothing, even as she stared at John at point-blank range. Shepard, hands outstretched, slowly began to walk up to Tali. The lightning and rain sullied his vision, and he could feel the steam rising from his scalp, but he pushed all of the uncomfortable stimuli aside, ignoring the sounds of battle in the background to focus on the one person in front of him.

The person it felt like it had taken a lifetime to reunite with.

A little snickt of Tali's finger's slipping on the trigger guard alerted Shepard to what the quarian was about to do. With a yell, he dove to the side, the burst narrowly missing his torso as his eardrums vibrated from the close proximity of the discharge. Hitting the ground hard, Shepard spat as he landed directly on his chest, but he rolled onto his back in preparation to dodge in case Tali recycled her heat diffusion systems.

But he saw that the quarian was looking down at her weapon, confused. Shepard, watching the steam waft off the metal barrel, realized that Tali had finally overheated her shotgun, having fired it too many times in a quick succession without allowing it to cool down properly. Heart in his throat, he leapt to his feet and gave a mighty swipe with his hand. He made a mental sigh of relief when his hand caught the gun in his slap, knocking it out of Tali's hands for it to land safely in the mud.

Shepard prepared to confront Tali and restrain her but she swiftly crouched down and procured her knife from her boot holster. Shepard had to leap back as Tali took a wild slash at him, intent on opening his throat and letting his blood burst into the night.

"Tali!" Shepard yelled as he had to jump back again and again. "Tali, stop!"

She did not stop, but seemed to increase her resolve by stepping in closer and closer, her swings becoming more frantic. Shepard could feel the wind from the blade narrowly missing him each time she slashed, his mind working at different angles to try to find a way to disarm Tali without hurting her.

He was just afraid that she would not leave him any choice.

"Wait, Tali!" Shepard cried as he ducked a vicious blow. "Tali!" He dodged as she kept on pushing him back through the compound, the knife catching the edge of a bolt in the sky above. Rain fell, illuminated from the heavenly light, some of it trailing from the edge of Tali's knife as she continued to swing away.

Shepard still did not grasp for a weapon. He did not move to hurt her. All he did, all he could do, was dodge Tali's attacks. But he knew that he could not avoid her indefinitely.

Tali was panting underneath her mask, but there was nothing but a feral anger underneath. She did not form words, only noises as she advanced, his death reflected in her visor. Her hood was soaked, clinging to her helmet as the water sluiced off her, dripping down the sides of her mask.

"Tali, please!" Shepard tried again. "I will not hurt you, Tali. I need you to focus on me. Forget about everything else, just focus on me! Tali, please stop!"

Why was the geth persisting in not attacking?

Surely it had to know that she wanted it dead. When it had knocked her gun out of her grip, she thought that was the end of her. But, for some reason, it had backed away, allowing her enough time to grab a blade. But no matter how hard she tried to land a blow, it always jumped back out of arm's reach while clattering in that stupid warble of theirs.

Damn it! Was it not interpreting that she was desperately trying to kill it?

Infuriatingly, aside from disarming her earlier, the geth had still not made a move to harm her. Was it waiting until she tired herself out? Was it simply looking for an opening in her stance for it to land a deadly blow?

No, that couldn't be it! Geth were not that smart, certainly not smart enough to analyze fighting patterns in an instant, and they certainly were never programmed for behavior like this.

Just what was this demon?

With a grunt and a final push, Grevel hauled himself over the lip of the hole. The edges began crumbling away so he rolled over to relative safety. He was breathing heavily, not from the exertion, but from the rage at being disposed of so quickly. That was not how this was supposed to happen!

He still held Shepard's knife in his hands and he clenched the grip so hard he almost believed the blade would snap in half. He looked down at his ruined coat, streaked by dirt and grime, and searched for any other weapon at his disposal. No such luck, they had all been dislodged when he had fallen off into the hole caused by the demolition charge.

In the end, it made no difference. Weapon or no, Grevel could still kill and that meant he could still fight. He flexed his jaw inside his mask as he looked around the landscape for Shepard, wanting to seek his prey out again.

To his indifference, he noted that many of the bodies strewn about the place were all batarians. There was still a faint chatter of weapons fire that echoed over the rain, but it was distant and isolated. Guess there were more humans lingering in the jungle than he had anticipated, and they were quite effectively organized too. Still, he was only looking for one human now. No one else could stop him and anyone who got in his way could only delay him. The hunt was not yet over.

A shout carried above the wind and the rain, turning his attention in that direction. From behind a tower of crated weapons, Grevel saw Shepard stumble into view, repeatedly trying to evade a set of bladed attacks from…the quarian, of all people.

This brought a smile to Grevel's face, causing the jaw of the mask to lift in response. This was certainly an outcome he had anticipated but it was exhilarating to watch it play out in front of him. Even though the main effects of the oxidized swarm venom had long passed, it still maintained a long potency without the effective treatment, which he had intentionally failed to provide Tali at the conclusion of their meeting together. He had watched hardened criminals curl up in fear for hours afterward because the hallucinations went through different stages and every person's "trip" was unique to them alone.

Based on the fact that the quarian was wielding a knife on Shepard in an aggressive manner, he surmised that she likely thought Shepard to be an enemy. That outcome was better than he expected because the lingering effect was brought about randomly, pulling from the host their worst fears and playing them out for them as if it was coming to life.

Grevel laughed to himself as he saw Shepard duck another nasty swing from the quarian. It was so very satisfying to see the look of ultimate despair on the human's face. Now he knew what it meant to lose all one had.

But, such moments were not meant to be savored for long, unfortunately. Brandishing Shepard's knife in front of him, Grevel growled as he staggered to his feet, finding his balance first before staking in Shepard's direction. The human's back was turned as he was trying to sway the quarian out of her mental predicament by yelling her name over and over again. Grevel snorted at that, because that was akin to trying to wake someone who had blacked out by quietly reciting to them a bedtime story.

Grevel was twenty meters away, his pace increasing as Shepard backed up from Tali. He started to enter into a sideways posture as he approached the human, who was not breaking away from the quarian at all. It would be interesting to note that Tali'Zorah would prove to be Shepard's downfall in the end, her betrayal providing the distraction that would lead to the death of the Council's savoir. The historians were going to just love this.

Just seconds away from the final move, Grevel raised his arm up high, preparing to plunge the knife into the back of Shepard's neck when a shot suddenly rang out, and Grevel found himself knocked to the ground. He growled as he found himself in a sitting-up position, his back supported by a fuel drum. His side was hurting so he pressed a hand over it, feeling his glove go damp. He raised his arm and saw his blood shining on it, causing him to look down in shock to see the slight hole in his side, completely penetrating his armor and his shields.

The slight gurgle of liquid also drew his attention behind him. He shifted his body and saw that the fuel drum that he had been leaning against had been punctured, the liquid spilling out of the hole. Grevel stared at the opening from where the amber liquid was flowing for a good second.

Did a bullet just pass all the way through me and into the fuel drum?

Quickly following the trajectory of the projectile in his mind, Grevel's head whipped around and he had to squint to spot a crouched figure near the wall of the mountain. He blinked as he saw Deborah adjust her aim with her sniper rifle across the way and for a brief moment, he could have sworn that she smiled at him.

He only had time to see the flash before the bullet hit the tank near his head, sparking as it ricocheted off the surface. He was about to roar in laughter at the poor aim of the human but that quickly vanished when the remnants of the spark landed in the spreading pool of fuel, quickly combusting and creating a massive fireball.

The woman had been aiming perfectly straight, he realized too late.

Grevel surged out of the flaming pool, but the fuel had already soaked through his coat, which had ignited after being so saturated with the stuff. Flames ran along his body, making him look more demonic in appearance Frantically, he ripped at the smoldering fabric, tearing it off his armored body. There was a searing sound in the air, like a roast crackling on a spit, and a pungent scent filled his nostrils.

Surrounded by fire, Grevel screamed.

Tali's next charge was so great that she staggered heavily, but Shepard still did not strike out at her. Rather, he stepped to the side and the quarian almost fell over from her powerful blow. Sweat was pouring down Shepard's face and from the sound of Tali's breathing, she was just as exhausted as he was.

"Tali," he begged. "Put the knife down, please. Let me help you, Tali. I'm your friend!"

Tali said nothing, like before, but she started to approach more cautiously, as if she was having second thoughts about what she was doing. Gingerly, she lifted her knife again for yet another slash when Grevel's earsplitting roar from his immolation, dangerously close, bellowed all around them.

Shepard instinctively glanced at a flaming blur to his right, which happened to be Grevel running past a Mako towards someone in the distance at full speed. The mercenary had been set on fire, but was not nearly dead enough to be downed from that.

That monster can't be killed! Shepard thought miserably.

He looked back to see Tali still staring in Grevel's direction, her gaze fixed on the voice of her tormentor. Her head was turned far enough, her positioning slackened, that Shepard knew what to do in the blink of an eye. Silently, he lunged forward and knocked Tali's arm out of the way, causing her to lose her grip on the knife. With his other arm, he hooked it around Tali's chest and tackled her to the ground, spraying mud everywhere.

Clutching her to his body, Shepard was now wrestling the hysterically shrieking quarian in his arms. He pushed with his legs, sitting him up so that his back was pressing against a wheel of a Mako. Tali writhed in his grip, trying to break free, her legs kicking everywhere. Shepard's arms ached as he tried to make Tali hold still, but her panic was beginning to overpower his strength, he could feel his arms starting to slip.

Tilting his head so that her bucking helmet wouldn't smash into his face, Shepard began looking around for anything he could use to stabilize Tali, but he was in no such luck. There was nothing on the ground, nothing hanging to the side, nothing on his person that he could use whatsoever-

Wait a minute… Shepard realized as a faint rattle in his pocket sounded. Oh my god. Is that…?

Furiously plunging his hand into his side pocket, he willed his fumbling fingers to be careful as he procured the long, thin object without sticking himself with it. Turning it in his hands, Shepard stilled his breathing as he positioned the nashi thorn just over Tali's shoulder, her struggling not ceasing any. He stared at the long point for a while, watching it gleam sinisterly while droplets fell off it. Would something like this work? Was the risk too great? Would the venom in the thorn kill Tali before he could act quickly?

Would it bring her back to him?

"Tali," he whispered into her ear. "Forgive me."

Quickly, Shepard shut his eyes at the same time he stabbed the nashi thorn down. He felt it break the outer layer of Tali's enviro-suit and plunge an inch in. With a gasp, he immediately pulled the thorn out of her body, a faint hissing from her suit's omni-foam layer sealing the tiny puncture hole up. He still held the bloody thorn with a trembling hand, still holding Tali tightly to his body.

As the nashi poison began to spread throughout her body, Tali jolted as if she had touched a live wire, her eyes wide in terror. Her limbs stretched out as far as they could go and her breathing became quick and shallow. Her toiling gradually ceased, her movements now sluggish. Tali soon became limp in Shepard's arms, only a faint gasping coming from her vocabulator.

"Come on, Tali," Shepard assured as he now groped for something else in another pocket, dropping the nashi thorn back in. "You're strong. You're the most determined woman I've ever met in my life. Just hold on for a minute longer. Fight it out, Tali! Fight it!"

His hand closed around the object Shepard had been seeking, and with a sob of relief he brought it out and tore off the packaging with his teeth. The antidote syringe, containing the vital medicine, was still intact and ready. Carefully, Shepard traced his hands around to Tali's shoulder and took off the folded flap that covered her mounted injection ports. With abnormally steady hands now, Shepard carefully eased the syringe into one of the ports and depressed the plunger, sending the anti-toxin agent into Tali's circulatory system.

Shepard cast the spent syringe aside and replaced the flap on Tali's shoulder. Feeling her limbs relax, Shepard held her while the medicine quickly did its work. She hadn't gotten that large of a dose from the thorn and she was exposed for only milliseconds to the atmosphere of Anhur. Swiftly, Tali's breathing began to clear and she began shaking as her core temperature varied all over the place.

Still, Shepard held her, running his hands along her arms in a soothing touch. Tali's head lolled back with a sigh and Shepard shut his eyes while feeling the tormented body of the quarian relax in his grip, a tear running down his face.

"Stay alive, Tali," Shepard said, his voice cracking slightly. "It's all over now. You won't be hurt again. I came back for you, just like I promised." He touched the bottom of her helmet in a reassuring gesture. "I now promise, Tali, that I will never leave you again. I care about you too much to put you through this much suffering. A good person like you doesn't deserve this. You didn't deserve any of this."

As the rain fell, Shepard continued to hold the quarian as she stirred feebly. From beyond the purple covering, he saw a faint glow as Tali's eyes cracked open, a familiar spark twinkling within. Shepard's mouth opened slightly but he didn't speak, not knowing what to say next.

"J…J-John?" Tali croaked hopefully. "Is…is it…really…you?"

"It is," Shepard laughed, more tears falling now. "It's me, Tali. I'm here with you now."

With a faint giggle, Tali lightly brushed her fingertips upon Shepard's cheek, a confirmation of his tangibility. "Th-Thank you…f-for coming back to me."

Shepard held her hand to his cheek, not caring about the long-term consequences of the act, instead choosing to focus on the now. "You're all that matters to me, Tali. All of that and more. I could never leave someone like you behind."

Fire! Draped in fire! That fucking bitch had set him on fire!

With his long coat discarded, Grevel was not being dragged down as much from wind resistance, allowing him to travel at a blinding sprint. Parts of his armor were still ablaze and the flames whipped as he ran towards the human woman, the distance between them decreasing rapidly with every second.

Deborah saw Grevel hurtling in her direction and she immediately shouldered her rifle again. She looked through her scope but was hasty in aiming and the first shot sailed past the approaching thug, who didn't even flinch. Cursing, she didn't wait for the rifle to cool down as she aimed a little more to the left, pointing at the center of mass instead of the head this time. As soon as Grevel's body filled the scope, she fired again, praying for a hit.

Unfortunately, Deborah's body had been shaking from nerves and her shot sang only millimeters away from Grevel, who pushed his strained muscles to the limit as he screamed toward the human. Deborah, now panicking, pulled the trigger without aiming but the rifle refused to fire. Her last shot had overheated the weapon and it would be a few more seconds before it cooled down properly.

But those were a few seconds that Deborah did not have.

With a leap, Grevel savagely tackled Deborah, his searing hands grabbing at her face. Deborah shrieked as the still flaming monster burned her skin wherever he touched, her face slowly getting charred away. Grevel roared in the human's face, watching her skin slowly crack and peel away, revealing slick, blistering tissue underneath. The dying flames lapping at his arms spread to Deborah's head, causing her hair to alight, searing her scalp.

"How does it feel, bitch?" Grevel growled as he continued to hold onto Deborah's head, blinding her with pain. "Now you know what the fire does to you, human. Now…you…know!"

Operating on an endless supply of adrenaline, Grevel raised Deborah's head off the ground and brutally smashed her down on top of a rock partially submerged by the mud. There was a knocking sound followed by a rapid splintering noise and Deborah's screams were silenced.

Grevel looked away from the human's brains painting the rock, still panting heavily as he looked around for Shepard. This was not over. His quarry was still alive somewhere nearby.

After two seconds had passed, Grevel spotted the familiar N7-draped form of Shepard huddled over by a Mako with the turian that had initially accompanied him to this place. What was confusing by this was the fact that the quarian was lying in his arms, feebly stirring.

She was still alive, Grevel saw, but Tali was no longer attacking Shepard. It was like she was no longer under the influence of-

The swarm venom… How could she…

"NOOOOO!" Grevel screamed in horror, causing Shepard to turn around, alerted from the yell. "That's impossible! That's just not possible!"

With a dark look on his face, Shepard passed Tali over to Interius to care for before he picked up the krogan war hammer. With a look of malice that Grevel had never seen before on the human, Shepard bellowed in rage as he ran to confront his enemy once again.

Grevel got to his feet as well and met Shepard just in time for the human to level an enormous blow at him with the hammer. His reflexes sluggish, Grevel's head snapped to the side as the mallet smashed into his helmet. He spat blood through his mask, the covering dented. He barely had time to recover before Shepard brought the weapon back around, whipping Grevel's head in the other direction this time.

Momentarily dropping to a knee, Grevel felt the blood pouring down his face as Shepard prepared another blow. With a surge of energy, though, Grevel leapt up and grabbed the staff of the hammer, holding it out in between the two as both jockeyed for possession.

"Give me that!" Grevel screamed, jaw clamping down hard enough to bite through bone.

Shepard just snarled and took one hand off the grip, only using his other to hold onto the hammer. Grevel blinked at this inexplicable action when Shepard reared back and smashed him in the helmet with his free hand. With a cry, Grevel's hands released their hold on the hammer, his head unexpectedly throbbing from the pain.

The human still said nothing, as he was breathing too hard for him to form words. With a twist of his arms, the butt end of the hammer surged upwards and battered Grevel's head once more. Grevel staggered back with each blow, too wounded to properly defend himself now. Shepard was ignoring the steady ache in his arms from all the swinging, but he kept at it anyway, vowing not to fall until Grevel fell before him. He whaled on the mercenary, striking blow after blow on his helmet, never at the body.

Grevel's diode in his right eye winked out from an impact, leaving him half blind as glass crumbled around him. He coughed, spraying the ground with blood still too dark to make out in the current lighting. It felt like his body was held on by tape, everything hurting around him. The pain was beginning to register again, the steady throb a most unwelcome feeling. Grevel still refused to go down, choosing to stand up and grin at Shepard with his mask.

It was like he was daring Shepard to hit him.

With a scream of rage, Shepard locked his arms and hurled all of his weight into the most ferocious blow of the night. The enormous edge of the hammer caught Grevel's helmet at the perfect angle, shattering the locks and propelling the covering to fly off the mercenary's head in pieces. The jaw of the mask sailed away to bounce on the ground, glinting sinisterly in the rain.

Shepard's body was turned around from the sheer force of the swing but he recovered in time to see Grevel move shakily back to his feet. The human panted, the rain glimmering off of him, his body too exhausted to lift the hammer one last time. He dropped the weapon at his feet, drawing on any reserves of strength his body still carried to get him through the night.

Grevel's hands dropped away from his face, revealing a blood-stained expression so horribly engrained with anger that it made Shepard stop in his tracks, all his strength leaving him at the sight of the terrible look. The mottled face immediately registered on Shepard, having seen the species many times before. But this was something different. The fringe on the head was shorter and slightly curled inward, there was a distinct lack of face paint applied to the appearances, and the forming of the avian carapace made the overall features seem less severe than the species' male counterpart.

But that was not the only shock given to Shepard. One of Grevel's eyes was completely bloodshot, a blue orb as opposed to the other clear one. That was most likely from an old injury which was apparent by the long scars running along the top of the brow, highlighted by spare patches of missing carapace all over the face, revealing a white epidermis underneath. Little twinkling cybernetics shone on top of the head, regulating and repairing the damage, tiny metallic strips covering the face. But the most horrifying look was the fact that the mandibles on Grevel's face were completely missing, exposing the lower row of teeth on the turian's face. A patch of scar tissue on both sides of the head gleamed white, evidence where they had been cut off previously.

The female turian breathed in and out, blue blood dripping off her face liberally. Without the mask covering her face, Grevel's voice was a lighter pitch, her flanged speech coming out unfiltered. She seemed to realize that Shepard was just standing in front of her, looking dumbstruck. With an edge approaching her voice, Grevel screamed and launched herself at Shepard, having called up a reserve dosage of epinephrine to surge throughout her bloodstream.

Startled, Shepard raised his arms to ward off the crazed turian, but Grevel struck back with a blistering speed. Her first punch was to Shepard's torso, causing him to double over in pain. Her next punch was a hard uppercut, cracking Shepard's cheek and almost laying him out on the ground. Bloodied, Shepard spat out the blood in his mouth as Grevel continued to viciously attack him. He countered with a clumsy punch that she easily avoided, using his weight to pull him in and batter him once more.

Shepard was thrown against the front of a Mako, causing its tow hook to unspool in a heap at his feet. He leaned against it to catch his breath but Grevel, still yelling unintelligibly, approached and rapidly laid into him with a flurry of punches. Shepard thought that his rib cage would give at any second, allowing the insane turian to punch straight through him. He held his arms over his face and willed himself to stay conscious, each blow from Grevel producing less and less pain. The female turian carried on, throwing her entire body into her blows as if she could pound him out of existence. Shepard felt faint, like his body was teetering on the edge of giving up. His legs buckled and he fell after one final, brutal punch from Grevel, causing Shepard to throw out a hand, accidentally dislodging the wheel chock placed underneath the enormous tank. Unencumbered, the Mako began to roll ever so slightly, almost crushing Shepard's head as it slowly crept forward.

His face plastered in the mud, the rain beating down was like a soothing shower, the only thing keeping him afloat in this ocean of agony. The steady grinding noise from the Mako's wheels merged with the rain, a soundtrack for the night. With a squishing sound, he groggily opened his eyes to see Grevel step towards him, her jaw opening and closing to her breathing. Blood trickled out of the sides of her mouth, the lack of mandibles meant that the flow was unable to be halted. Her lone clear eye gazed at him, a massive amount of blind hatred undiluted in her gaze. With a racking cough, Grevel lifted her foot to smash over Shepard's face, struggling to maintain her balance.

Before she could do that, there was a strangled yell and Grevel was soon tackled to the ground, Interius grabbing at her. Shepard spluttered in shock at the courage of the medic, watching the two turians roll around, locked in a fight to the death.

"Shepard…go!" Interius yelled. "I'll hold her…just grab the quarian and get out of here!"

"N-No," Shepard mumbled, fighting his way around a mouthful of blood. "C-Can-t…leave…"

Grevel was howling while on the ground, caught off guard by the medic's brazenness. Interius remained on top of her, fighting to hold down her flailing limbs. However, Grevel's bearings returned to her and she glared at Interius with malice. She thrust her head forward, causing blood to splash between the two as their skulls collided. Interius, not being used to such pain, flinched first, allowing Grevel to throw him off, allowing her to take the top position this time.

"Rrrrrraaaagggghhhhh!" Grevel screamed, throwing her fists down on Interius' face. More blood flew as Interius' skull cracked under the sheer force of Grevel's overloaded blows. Shards of teeth tumbled from the male's broken mouth while the deformed female roared in triumph. Wanting to finish this as soon as possible, Grevel flicked her wrist and plunged her hidden blade into Interius' throat. The male turian gave a startled gurgle and lay still, blood pooling around the gash in his neck.

Grevel had little time to savor her small victory because a pair of arms suddenly snaked around her throat, Shepard yelling at the contact. Grevel bucked, trying to throw the human off, but he remained persistent, not letting anything stop him now. The female turian threw her head back, intent on breaking his nose with a ferocious headbutt but Shepard dodged, fumbling for something in his pocket while he held on for dear life.

The turian twisted in his grip, intent on skewering him from the top down when Shepard retrieved the nashi thorn again from his pocket. Shepard was not a spiritual man, but never in his life did he pray so hard for mercy at the apex of the moment when he thrust the thorn deep into Grevel's neck, so desperately wishing for the night to be over and for him to find at least a small measure of peace.

The thorn found an opening between the carapace and pushed itself all the way in with a satisfying thunk! The effect was electrifying. Grevel retched as the entire toxin remaining on the thorn, the entire dose, rushed into her arteries. She immediately began foaming at the mouth, a bubbly mess tinged with blue from her blood. Because the thorn remained lodged in Grevel's throat and that it still contained enough toxin to neutralize a horse, the female turian began to convulse, her limbs twitching helplessly as she spluttered horribly, coughing up blood all over herself and the ground.

Shepard, relieved, released his grip on Grevel and pushed himself backwards. He gazed at the seizing turian for a few seconds and quickly became impatient that she was not dying as fast as he hoped.

She probably just needed a little boost in the right direction.

Spotting the tow hook to the Mako lying underneath Grevel as she spasmed, Shepard watched the tank slowly inch toward the cliff edge when an idea popped into his head. But he realized that he needed to move now if this was going to work.

His natural energy all used up, Shepard was operating on pure fear and adrenaline, leaping to his feet to grasp at the tow cable. He quickly threw it around Grevel, who was still rolling on the ground, and quickly fastened it to itself. He pulled on the cable to tighten it around Grevel's waist, hooking it over her wide hips.

"For Tali," Shepard hissed to the turian.

The Mako was seconds away from tipping over now. Shepard began to back up when Grevel screamed a clear, "NO!" Her voice was still terrifying, even without the mask. It had a low, secondary pitch to it, unnaturally deep from the flanging effect. Shepard wiped the blood off his face in shock when Grevel rolled on her stomach, her wild eyes focusing on the human, and began to crawl forward.

Shepard watched the turian fight past the poison infecting her body, clawing herself forward with her talons. She scraped against the muddy ground, flecking her face with dirt. Grevel was snarling like an animal, spittle and foam spewing out of her mouth with each labored breath. Shepard backed up in astonishment as he watched the mutilated creature continue on in her quest to destroy him.

Grevel did not cease her fixation on Shepard as she dragged herself along the ground and was therefore surprised when she felt a tugging sensation on her lower torso. She frantically looked behind her to see the last of the Mako tip over the edge, the tow cable taut and reeling in. Wordlessly, even as she was beginning to be pulled backward, she resumed her hateful stare at Shepard, silently inflicting upon him the most terrible of fates in her mind.

Right before she went over the edge of the cliff, Grevel frantically dug her hands and feet into the earth, eventually finding purchase on the edge of a rock, her body dangling over the lip. But the Mako, still in flight, had more kinetic energy to overcome Grevel's grip. And the cable was still hooked about her waist.

As the giant tank's cable went taut from its journey to the bottom of the jungle half a mile below, it projected a force so great and so fast around the cable that it didn't take Grevel with it all at once. Rather, all of the energy was projected on the cable wrapped around her hips, resulting in a violent rendering of solid matter. The effect was literally too quick and too great to perceive all at once. The cable ripped through Grevel so violently that she was bisected in half, her lower torso tumbling away down the side of the mountain. With a lasting expression of shock, Grevel coughed once, only the upper half of her body hanging from the edge, before she gave a sleepy blink and let go.

She did not make a sound as she fell.

The battlefield finally quieted, Shepard stepped around the dead to make his way to the person still lying against the wheel of another Mako. The batarians were all dead, as were most of the humans, but he didn't care about any of that at the moment. His pulse still racing, he knelt down next to Tali and gave her shoulder a light shake.

"Tali," he said softly. "Tali. Are you awake?"

"Hunh?" she mumbled, her glossy eyes blinking a few times before she saw Shepard in front of her. "Oh…hello, John," she said in a rising tone of happiness. "Did…did you get him?"

"Yeah," Shepard smiled. "I got her."

That caused Tali to stir in confusion. "Her?"

"I know, I'm just as shocked as you are."

Tali made a noise of acceptance. "Huh. I suppose it doesn't matter, though. I'm glad she's dead."

"As am I," Shepard agreed. He eyed the plumes of smoke rising around them before turning back to Tali. "Do you feel well enough to walk?"

"I might need some help, but let's see." Tali raised her arm and Shepard threw it over his shoulders, pushing off with his legs to haul the quarian to her feet. Her knees buckled and her breathing hitched but she remained standing tall.

"Good job," Shepard assured her as he took a small step forward, helping her limp all the way. "Come on, Tali. Let's get you someplace safe where we can treat you. I can't imagine that you're feeling all that good right now."

"No thanks to you," she laughed weakly. "You're the one who stabbed me with that damn thorn, after all."

"You were shooting at me!"

"Uuuhhh," Tali groaned, her hand feeling around her helmet. "I…I don't even have a response to that."

"We can call it even, at least after we get you all fixed up."

"Deal, then. But where are we going, John?" she asked him, only to receive a grin in response.

"Home."

A/N: Heh...heh... I certainly did my damnedest to pull out all the stops for this chapter. I've never really outlined a battle so large that I had to split it into two parts before. Man, it was a brutal effort to write these things but incredibly fun as well.

So, what did you think? I know that this story has never been all sunshine and butterflies, but that was kind of the point. I meant to have The Disengaged exhibit an uncomfortable tone throughout and I hope that I succeeded. At least, uncomfortable in the sense that there wasn't any angst but just pure suspense.

There's still a little more to go but I hope everyone has enjoyed it so far. Got to get that heart rate going somehow!