"Alright, our first step will be finding Vigil and trying to get him back online so he can help us. If anybody knows what Ilos has in store, it has to be him", the Commander said dead serious.

Javik looked from him to the Edi machine that was accompanying them. He didn´t trust it, he never would, but he couldn´t deny that if the VI of his people was no longer accessible, the machine would be able to go through the remaining data with ease. (Name) was in a 'stable' state for the moment. She had fallen into a coma before they had left the ship and was under permanent medical observation as she was getting analgesics and something to try stop the venom from causing any further damage.

The voice of the Commander brought him back to reality:"And you really have no idea what we should look for?"

Javik bristled with anger as his eyes narrowed:"No."

A slight shaking from the shuttle as it landed, interrupted the conversation. The Commander drew his weapon and jumped out of the shuttle as soon as its door opened.

"Then let´s hope this place holds the key to a solution...", was all he said before he moved into the ruins.

Javik growled in a deep, nearly inaudible pitch as he followed the human into one of his people´s lost worlds. Only because he was Prothean it didn´t mean he knew the answers to every question in the galaxy. Why didn´t these primitives understand this simple truth?

It came to his mind that (Name) never asked him any of these questions, she accepted him as a soldier not a miracle that came to save this cycle from the Reapers. He might even say that she understood him in a way no one else did and perhaps could. As much as he didn´t care about it, it felt somehow comforting.

While they moved through the ruins, he took in the view. The buildings were long reclaimed by countless plants; their appearance changed forever and never being able to be returned to their former glory. It was a depressing sight to behold, seeing how the greatness of the Protheans crumpled to dust only because of the Reapers. It reassured him that he was indeed the avatar of vengeance, vowing to see them fall before his feet at the end of this war.

"That doesn´t make any sense at all. How could Cerberus know that this exact poison would kill anyone with Prothean DNA. Something like that is impossible."

"Given the amount of interest Cerberus always had had in (Name), it is highly unlikely they will give up on her that easily. According to files considering her DNA and abilities, she was seen as a new way to ensure human dominance. Therefore Cerberus tried to extract these certain sequences and make them accessible for every human", the Edi-machine responded.

"But why poisoning her then? If she dies she won´t be of any use for them any longer."

Javik bristled with anger, gritting his teeth:"It is obvious."

The human and the machine gave him a look to explain his thought. How primitive of them that they haven´t considered this possibility yet. This cycle was far too strange to comprehend; far too naive to consider such a 'cunning action', as they would call it.

"This Cerberus. It chose a venom we have no antidote for. They will offer only one solution; using it as a bargain chip to achieve their aim in retrieving (Name)."

"It seems your friend finally solved the mystery surrounding your beloved crewmate. Congratulations!"

Everyone raised their weapons at the sudden appearance of the female voice, ready to shoot on sight.

"Now please, not so hostile, dear Commander. If you want to save (Name), I would rather listen than fight. Otherwise someone is going to die a horrible death, and I think neither of us two wants that to happen."

The Commander held his weapon in place, scanning the area:"Well, you seem to know me. How about you tell me who you are?"

A long strange, almost insane, laugh was audible before the voice spoke again:"Me? Oh, I am nobody important. Just someone who wants back what she lost all those years ago. After all, it was my idea to poison my dear subject, so it could reunite with me. Well, the Illusive Man is generous when it comes to secure humanity´s dominance in the galaxy. But I don´t need to tell the subject of the Lazarus project what it already knows."

"We won´t hand (Name) over to you! She doesn´t belong to you and never did it. We will get that antidote without betraying her trust and selling her to you. Consider this the end of our conversation", the Commander said visibly annoyed and moved forward into what looked like a bunker.

Javik and the machine followed close behind him. The further they walked inside the more was revealed of the ancient building and its purpose before the power ran short. Stasis pods were seen, spread across the walls...no hope that they still carried something inside them that was alive. After a while they turned into a small corridor on the right and took an elevator to a lower level. The door opened and they walked out, following the small footbridge to the end of the room.

The Commander holstered his weapon:"Vigil was right here. Edi, get to work and see what you can make of it."

"Yes, Shepard."

The machine approached the VI interface, doing as it was told. Javik turned his gaze to the opposite direction, losing himself in his thoughts. What would have been if his mission on Eden Prime had succeeded? Well, he wouldn´t have to deal with such tasks like fighting for an antidote in the middle of the most important war of the galaxy. He would have forged an empire that could withstand the Reapers and destroy them, leading the inferior species to a new golden age. Not wandering the dead cities of his extinct people at the brink of chaos.

And (Name)?

Perhaps she would never have existed like this. She would likely be a normal human, their paths separated by fifty thousand years. This thought made his heart feel a tiny sting. What was it that finally made him care about her, calling her by her actual name to show that she was seen worthy in his eyes. Did the alterations in her DNA really have that much of an effect on him? He had to admit that there was something about her he couldn´t quite place. She looked like a primitive but she behaved like a Prothean, acted like one, thought like one. Could biology reveal such traits in a being?

The voice of the machine made him turn his head:"I have access to the bunker´s security systems. It appears that several hostiles barricaded themselves further into the facility."

"That was clear the moment we heard that woman. What else can you tell us?", the Commander wanted to know.

"To reactivate Vigil we will need to use the power sources that were brought, and connect them to the one´s that energize the VI."

"Good. A second option for us if that woman´s antidote might not work."


"How is she doing, Doc?"

"For the moment she is as fine as she can be, Garrus. But I´m afraid that if Shepard doesn´t find anything on Ilos, she will have to face the worst..."

"And how much time does she have left?"

"As long as I have immune serum. However the effect grows weaker with every injection."


"Alright, let´s go. We can´t effort to lose any time", the Commander moved to the elevator, his hand gliding over the consol to open its doors. Nothing happened. He frowned and repeated his action. Again nothing moved.

Suddenly the doors slid open, revealing a large mech that fired immediately at them. Everybody jumped out of its range, down the footbridge and hid underneath it to avoid its rockets.

"I am sick of dangers in elevators", Javik growled while leaning out from under his shelter to aim for the pilot´s cabin. First the homeworld of the lizard people and now one of his people´s former worlds. This was becoming foreseeable as well as tiresome...

"Not only you. Take it out!", the Commander yelled with anger in his voice.

This fight was taxing Javik´s patience as they were wasting precious time. He scanned his area for something of use, before his gaze finally rested on a part of the roof that had fallen down. Within mere seconds he lifted it with his biotics and aimed with the pointy end for the pilot. With a single gesture he sent it flying. A huge crash, metal met glass, and the mech was sent against the wall behind it while the human inside was pierced, blood running down its body.

"I see you could handle the mech with ease. Well, sadly this little game must come to an end. My forces will capture you sooner or later. And then we can finally talk about lovely (Name), or however my subject calls itself."

"I´m beginning to ask myself who she really is. It almost sounds like she knows (Name) for a very long time", the Commander climbed up the footbridge and headed for the elevator. The machine followed him, but Javik stopped, looking back at the pilot with narrowed eyes. He walked back to the dead enemy and searched for a trail of blood.

"Javik, what are you doing?", he heard the Commander´s voice from up the footbridge. He didn´t respond to him. He wanted to know what kind of primitive they were facing. This whole obsession with (Name) made him suspicious, so perhaps he would find something in the memories of this dead human.

"Javik?"

"There it is", he nearly whispered, finally having discovered a clean trail of blood that wasn´t too difficult to reach. He detested it to touch something without being able to wash his hands afterwards, especially when it was any kind of liquid. But he had to put the needs of the mission before his own. After all, it would increase the chances to save her...


"So, I will be doing what exactly?"

"You will take the Atlas and face the enemies. But don´t kill them! The Prof will rip your head off if you do that."

"Yeah, I know it. That bitch is crazy as hell. All this time and effort for what? Some stupid girl that slipped her grasp? I tell you, the Illusive Man should fire her. Can´t use people who constantly kill others for every little mistake."

"You do not need to say that, I saw her shooting a guy in the belly before giving him a shot in the head. That´s not only killing, but torture. Only because she is one of the best, doesn´t mean she is allowed to do anything she wants."

"True. I better be going now. Don´t want to meet her and end up being the next on her list to bite the dust."


Javik was gritting his teeth in enragement as he saw how little the memories of this human had told him about this female human- this Prof- as they called it. If he would get his hands on her he would snap her neck with pleasure. All this trouble with (Name) because of her. The Reapers were waiting for him out there and he was here, playing hide and seek with this primitive.


The cameras she installed showed the Prothean how he stood in front of the cannon fodder she sent to get them. His hand had reached out to touch something and as he pulled away, his body language told her that he was losing his temper. Oh, this was becoming more marvelous with every second! Not only had her lost subject these abilities, but now she could be death certain that this alien had them as well. Now she had the possibility to take him as a subject, too! She would be able to compare the sequences, decipher the alterations that made it possible for a human to use such great gifts of nature and in the end improve humanity with them.

"Ma'am?"

She turned around to look at the man who had addressed her:"What is it?"

He shifted a bit, uneasy in the way how her eyes bored into his body, letting a grin appear on her face.

"The intruders are heading for our camp right now. What are your orders?"

She put her hands behind her back and walked across the room to a table. One of her hands touched a pistol that lay in front of her.

"Give your men the order to capture the Commander and his squad mates at any cost."

"But that would mean a lot of my men lose their lives. Wouldn´t it be easier if we just kill them?"

She took the pistol in her hand, regarding at first one and then the other side of it. He couldn´t see what she was doing, she was blocking his view.

"Give them the order. We have enough of them to spare."

Silence followed her voice, before he finally gave the order via the comm-channel.

"Is there anything else you need me to do?", he asked, a hint of fear lingering in his voice.

She turned her head slightly towards him, as if she was persuading him to repeat himself. He wouldn´t move, no, he wouldn´t.

Within a heartbeat she turned around and shot his leg, the pistol still aimed at him after he fell to the floor, groaning with pain.

She walked up to him:"You proved unsuitable for your position."

Pulling the trigger, a bullet found its way in his upper arm; another scream was heard.

"I already told you what you had to do and still you do not obey me. Asking questions where yet you are not allowed to question me."

A third bullet entered his body, right under his ribcage.

"Ahhhhh!...you...are insane...all...for what?...Because you want...revenge?...You...deserved...that she...tried killed you!"

Her pupils went small and her face blank, then her eyes started to sparkle with joy:"Sadly, you won´t have as much luck as I had. Now you asked what I need you to do", she aimed for his head:"Die."


A/N: I am sorry for the long waiting! I had to handle quite a few things in the past two months, but the fact that many of you like this story so much, motivates me to keep writing =) Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think, reviews are always welcome ^^