Chapter 25 - Dana

Dana Shepard didn't know when it had happened, but sometime during the chaos of the fighting, she had gotten separated from her squad. The yahg had been relentless. Thankfully, the thorian conditioning process turned them mindless, and they didn't have the tech and shields that she'd faced when killing her first yahg. The fighting had finally calmed, and Shepard blinked away the blood haze, as she emptied a final burst into a nearby yahg. But she didn't take the time to catch her breath; her instincts were screaming at her. On reflex, Dana shot a blast of fire out into the rusted bulkheads above her, as she leapt away. She was rewarded with the sound of a grunt and rustling. Dana raised her rifle, and looked around cautiously.

"I know you're here," she shouted, "stop hiding."

Shepard heard another sound, and turned as a biotic push tore her weapon from her hand. She leapt behind a rock, as several biotic Shockwaves shook the ground where she had been. Drawing her handguns, she fired into the dark ichor and green pustules littering the bulkheads, overloading both weapons' heat sinks as she destroyed the pods around her. Finally, a shadow fell from the pulsating mass that caked the cieling. Dana holstered her guns, and rose up from behind cover, Tech Shield raised. She stepped back as she heard a viscous squirting noise, and another figure fell from one of the few remaining pods.

"Do you have any idea," asked the dark figure, seemingly made of dark sludge and moss, "what you are dealing with?"

"Jesus…Illusive Man?" she grimaced, "letting the Thorian make copies of you now?"

The figure brushed itself off, "just proxies, immune to Saren's Indoctrination. As always, you lack vision…a shortcoming I will now rectify."

Dana arched her eyebrows, "are you going to stand there and talk me to death?"

The two charged at each other, circling around, trying to find weaknesses. The Illusive Man's clone struck first, leaping into the air, leg extended. Dana flipped backward, getting to her feet and delivering a spinning backhand just as her opponent landed. The figure grabbed her outstretched arm, and threw Dana against the wall. She braced herself against the harsh impact, as she let loose a Cryoblast from her omnitool. Caught off guard, the figure fell to the ground, trying to shake the frost from its flesh. Dana didn't allow the copy to gather itself, and she overloaded her omnitool, sending a blast of fire to shatter the Illusive Man's doppelganger.

Dana turned to draw her assault rifle, making sure the heavy weapon attachment was intact. She still had to destroy the thorian, or the clones would keep coming. She was startled by the sound of roars and screeches. Dana looked back and forth, cursing to herself. Looking across from her, she saw the last remaining pod spew out another humanoid figure. The clone sneered at her. A circle of monsters surrounded them both. Beasts of all shapes and sizes, with various assortments of teeth and claws, sat gazing at them, like spectators watching a prizefight.

"Duck!" shouted Liara from behind her, unleashing a flurry of biotic fury.

Dana leapt out of the way as Warp fields flared all around her. Liara's strikes reacted with the Illusive Clone's counterattacks, igniting a blinding explosion. The waves of energy buffeted Dana, but she was thrown clear of the blasts. The beasts were not so lucky. Liara drew to Shepard's side, helping her up. As Dana rose to her feet, Thane charged the Illusive Clone, crying out as he leapt into the air. He wrapped his arms around the figure's neck, then threw his opponent over his back as he landed. The Clone crashed into the ground. Thane ran to follow the attack, but was caught off guard by a foot sweep. He landed with a bone-jarring thud, but twisted his legs in an improvised attack. He cart wheeled to his feet, legs still in the air, then jumped away, fists raised. As the Illlusive Clone was busy with Thane, Liara had drawn it up with a biotic pull.

Thane grinned, "I've had enough fun for one day."

Before the figure could answer, Thane rushed forward with a Biotic Rush, shattering the Illusive Clone.

Dana coughed, "what took you so long?"

Liara scoffed, "yahg go down hard!"

"Did you find the thorian?" she demanded.

"Readouts suggest this way," gestured Thane, as he led them into the nearby alcove.

Dana barely had time to see another figure as a biotic Singularity came flying in their midst. Dana reacted instantly, sending a Cryoblast at the assailant. It bought the squad enough time to regain their feet, and Dana's team staggered away from the vortex before it exploded in a blinding haze. When Dana's vision cleared, the real Illusive Man stood before them, his body a putrid amalgamation of dark ichor, reaper tech, and thorian spores.

Dana shook her head, "you didn't gain immortality…you lost your humanity."

The Illusive Man sneered at them, as a large pulsating mass shifted against the wall. It took Shepard's eyes a moment to adjust to the scale. It wasn't just the far wall, the mass was half a klick away, yet large enough that she could see detail. All too soon, she recognized the familiar horror that had been gnawing at her thoughts.

Thane gasped as the Thorian, a being nearly as large as a Reaper, towered before them. The Illusive Man laughed, his voice echoing off the walls.

"Goddess," spat Liara.

Thane nodded, still speechless.

Dana shook her head, "we are going to need bigger guns…"