"The Collectors, the Reapers, they're not just a threat to us. They're a threat to the whole galaxy. That is the scale of this mission," Shepard said, his voice ringing in the cavern. "Nobody's coming out of this without scars, but in the next few minutes we win or lose it all. This is the last step – one final push and it's all over. We have to stop them, not just for humanity, but for every race standing in front of me right now. Make me proud. Make your people proud. Make yourselves proud.
"The Collectors will be through that door soon," Shepard continued, indicating the door the second team had come through. "Zhar, Miranda, you're coming with me."
Zhar climbed up beside Shepard. "I'm ready," he said, his voice firm and resolute.
"So am I," Miranda declared.
"Everyone else, hold this position until Joker can pick you up," Shepard nodded to the team and strode over to the console that would bring them up to the central chamber. It shook a little as it rose quickly.
"Dr. Chakwas, Mordin, and the rest of the crew are on board," Joker informed them, his voice layered with static. "Mordin's a little beaten up but he seems to be okay otherwise."
"Thanks Joker," Shepard replied.
"You cannot stop us, Shepard. The experiments will continue."
Zhar saw the human's hand tighten around his rifle.
"If I must tear you apart, I will."
The platform slowed, and Zhar noticed a huge metal structure ahead of them. It looked like the top half of a human skeleton, suspended from the roof of the cavern by great metal wires. His eyes followed the tubes that had led from the chamber below, and led straight into the construct.
"They're making a Reaper," Miranda said shakily. "That's why they're abducting the colonists."
"EDI, can you scan this?" Shepard asked, his voice darkening.
"It would appear the Collectors are using the genetic fluid from the colonists to create the Reaper," EDI told them. Zhar watched as four huge syringes filled with fluid and were pushed into the skeleton. "This Reaper is in very early stages of development. It would take billions more humans to complete it."
"Then let's deal with it now," Zhar raised his rifle and eyed the joints connecting the syringes to the tubes. Suddenly, he was hurled across the platform to skid to a halt near the edge, his rifle tumbling over the edge.
"You will know pain, quarian. We are superior," Harbinger was striding towards him, bullets from Shepard and Miranda disintegrated on the barrier of the possessed Collector. "We will end you."
Zhar staggered to his feet and activated his omniblade, then charged the Reaper. He ducked a lightning-fast punch and sliced into its leg, but where other enemies might have fallen hamstrung, the possessed Collector simply shuffled around to face him. On the other side of the platform, Zhar saw Shepard and Miranda fighting off a squad of Collectors.
"There is no stopping us," Harbinger sent Zhar away with a simple gesture, sending him flying backwards. Before he could get to his feet, he was lifted up and slammed into the platform. "You will suffer!"
Harbinger strode forwards and kicked him in the stomach, sending him high into the air, then the Reaper slammed him down into the platform once more. Zhar gasped, trying desperately to get some air back into his lungs. His feet slipped as he attempted to support his weight again, and he fell to the floor once more. His omniblade flickered and died, the battery crushed by the platform.
"Your species was considered due to cybernetic augmentation," Harbinger pulled Zhar up by his throat with one hand, squeezing his neck and tilting its head in an appraising way. It pulled the quarian closer, glaring into his visor as it crushed his throat. "Your weakened immune system is too… debilitating. You are weak!"
He struggled against the possessed Collector's grip, then smiled grimly as he realised the Reaper's mistake. "Are we?"
Zhar wrenched his knife from its sheathe and roared as he sliced upwards. With a shriek, Zhar was dropped to the ground, the hand still clenched around his throat. He pulled the severed forearm away from his throat and attacked again, pouring all his rage and fury into the strike. The knife struck the possessed Collector squarely in the chest, and it scrabbled at his arm with its remaining hand as the quarian dug the blade in further.
"This... changes… nothing!" Harbinger screeched. "Your race will burn! All will burn!"
Zhar wrenched his combat knife out of its chest. "If we burn, we'll take you with us, Reaper."
"You have not beaten us, quarian. You have only delayed the inevitable," he brought the blade down on the Collector's neck, severing it completely. "Releasing control…"
The corpse slumped to the ground, and Zhar started to slow down his breathing. He slotted the knife back into its sheathe and turned back to Shepard and Miranda, who were finishing off any remaining Collectors. He glanced at the unfinished human Reaper, still looming over them.
"Let's finish this," Shepard said, picking up a Collector's rifle and aiming at the syringes. Zhar and Miranda did the same, and he made a mental note to bring the rifle with him. Xen would certainly be interested in it.
The beams cut through the tubes easily, shattering the glass and burning through the metal cases in seconds. The wires snapped, and the Reaper tumbled down the cavern. Zhar walked cautiously over to the edge to check it was gone for good, and was suddenly thrown backwards. The platform shook as though it was on springs. The quarian looked up into the burning red eyes of the Human Reaper.
The Reaper loomed over him and he began to crawl backwards, then scrambled to his feet and ran. The Reaper roared and smashed down on the platform with one giant fist, nearly sending Zhar to the floor again. An energy beam drilled into the eye of the Reaper and it clutched at its eye with its free hand, roaring with pain. Zhar slid over the console of the platform and ducked into cover next to Miranda and Shepard, just as the Reaper's claw slammed down on the platform again.
As the Reaper cleaved through the metal of the platform, Zhar leaned over the console and spotted a gap in the armour at the Reaper's wrist. Through it he could see the intricate mechanisms connecting the hand to the arm, and allowing it to rotate. The metal looked thin, and an idea occurred to him. He slowed down his breathing, raised the Collector rifle to his shoulder and fired. Seeing what he was doing, Shepard and Miranda concentrated their fire on the same spot. The beams melted through the joints and shattered the wrist. The Reaper screeched, and dug in with its remaining hand.
A blast of red light blazed across the platform, disintegrating the front portion in moments. Shepard shouted over the noise. "Aim for the eyes!"
Zhar switched targets, the energy beam boring into the Reaper's exposed eyes. After several moments of constant fire, Zhar heard a crunch as the other claw began to loosen on the platform. The Reaper fired another beam of red energy at them, but it was wild and done in desperation. Instead, it tore across the platform and hit its own hand. With a screech of pain, the Reaper's hold loosened again and finally it let go of the platform and tumbled into the darkness below.
The three of them breathed a sigh of relief. Shepard activated the central console, and began to set the base to self-destruct. The Collector rifle spent, Zhar threw it onto his back and drew his pistol. Using his earpiece, Zhar contacted the rest of the team, and was relieved to find they had all made it back alive. Joker had picked them up during the fight with Harbinger.
"Commander Shepard, the Illusive Man wants to speak with you," Miranda said, activating her omnitool. "Patching him through."
"Shepard," the Illusive Man acknowledged, as the hologram popped up in front of the Commander. "You've done the impossible, well done."
"We're not done here," Shepard replied, looking over his shoulder at him. "This base, the Collectors, they still have to be destroyed."
"Not necessarily," the Illusive Man said carefully. Zhar's ears pricked up and his eyes narrowed, he walked over to the others. "With a timed radiation pulse, we could kill the remaining Collectors and leave the base intact."
"Why would we want that?" Zhar asked, his tone one of total hostility. "Why should we let Cerberus control this place?"
"Ah, the enigmatic Lieutenant Zhar'Nara vas Doranz. Proof that psychological breakdowns aren't always detrimental to skills," the Illusive Man turned to face Zhar, the unnatural eyes boring into him and a cold smile on his face. "Like most of your species you can't see beyond your own race."
Zhar gripped his pistol so tightly that it was a wonder a shot didn't go off. "Neither can you."
"What I do is for the good of the galaxy," his opponent's voice grew angry. "Where is the quarian Fleet? Where are their Marines? Where are the turians, asari, or krogan? They don't care if humans are kidnapped! If Cerberus hadn't investigated then we would have a Reaper on the doorstep of the Citadel!"
Zhar stayed silent. The Illusive Man smiled coldly again and turned back to Shepard. "The information we can gain from this base will be vital in the coming war. If we can gain an edge over them now, we stand a far stronger chance of winning when the Reapers do arrive."
"Shepard, you can't let them have it. This place was used to torture and experiment on your people," Zhar looked over at Shepard, who had stopped typing the commands into the console, then at the Illusive Man, who was still smiling coldly. "You dishonour the very memory of the millions of colonists that were taken here. Don't tell me you watched them die right in front of you for nothing! Not so he can have some more toys to play with."
"Miranda, you know what's at stake here!" The Illusive Man dropped the smile. His nostrils flared and his eyes widened, the fury evident in his voice as he turned to Miranda. "Tell Shepard, make him understand!"
"Zhar's right…" Miranda said suddenly, looking at the quarian's tight grip on his pistol, then up at the mask that hid any sign of his hatred for the Illusive Man. "Those colonists will have suffered for nothing if we don't destroy this place. Shepard, overload the system."
"Miranda!" The Illusive Man barked, but Miranda cut the connection.
"Safe to say my contract's terminated," she said with a wry smile.
Shepard finished putting the codes in and immediately alarms sounded. Tubes and pipes all around the base began to explode, rocking the platform. Below them, Zhar heard metal snapping and he began to tilt forwards. Shepard rolled past him, and he dived after the human.
"Shepard," he roared, extending a hand. Shepard scrabbled at his wrist, then took a firm grip. Zhar reached out towards a console and just managed to catch it, his arm straining and feeling as if it was about to be wrenched from its socket. Miranda helped Zhar pull the Commander up and they hunkered down as the platform fell. With a crash and a shearing of metal, they shuddered to a halt. A spur of metal flew in from one side and struck Zhar across his face, knocking him unconscious.
When he came to moments later, Shepard was pushing a large piece of metal off of him. The human pulled him to his feet, and they immediately began running – Miranda not far behind – as the base began to collapse around them. Girders and pipes were falling from the roof, and Zhar thought it a miracle that he wasn't hit by anything.
"Stop Shepard!" Harbinger's voice hissed. Zhar looked back as they ran down a long corridor, a chink of light at the end. Behind them, at least two dozen Collectors ran out from various doors. Gone was the uniform attack, this was desperation in the face of destruction. "You escaped us before Shepard, not this time! NOT THIS TIME!"
They had almost reached the end of the corridor, zigzagging to avoid the bursts of fire from the Collectors behind. The Normandy slid into view, Garrus and Thane standing at the open airlock rifles in hand. Bullets whizzed past in the opposite direction, splitting heads and forcing the Collectors into cover. Zhar reached the edge of the corridor and jumped.
For a moment, he was suspended in the air. The world seemed so much slower from here, Zhar thought, reaching out for a hand extended towards him. His waist hit the frame of the airlock and he scrambled up, pulling from its holster to cover Miranda as she made the jump.
Finally, Shepard turned to make the jump. Zhar's heart was pounding as the Commander took off from the ground. He ran to the edge and stretched out a hand to Shepard, reaching out for the human. For a few tense seconds, Zhar thought Shepard had misjudged his run, then the Commander caught his hand, and Garrus helped the quarian pull him up.
"Joker, we're clear," Shepard shouted, breathing heavily and rolling onto his back. "Go, now!"
The airlock door closed on them as a ball of fire began to build at the far end of the corridor they just came from. The Normandy sped off towards the relay, reaching it just as the base's systems completely overloaded and it detonated.
Zhar pulled Shepard back to his feet and tried to think of something to say. Nothing came to mind, however, and the most he could manage was a single nod of the head.