Chapter 36

Neon Trees: Animal

A sharp beeping right in my ear slowly rouses me from my sleep, as I blink rapidly to try and bring the room into focus…and feel one of my arms draped over Tali lying next to me, who's returning the favour with one of hers.

Of all the things to wake up to, that's gotta be one of the best.

I carefully lift my arm off, reaching over for the light control and trying to gently slide Tali's off me without waking her…which fails miserably, as she slowly starts moving and arches her back into a yawn. Shoot. Ah, well, I'd have had to get her up soon anyway, seeing as Ilos can't be far now. I flick the light control, and glance over at the clock on the wall as a gentle light fills the room. About an hour left until we need to start getting suited and booted proper…good. I don't like being rushed.

"Morning," I grin at Tali, as she rolls over and looks at me, eyes glowing faintly behind the visor. I take a quick glance down as I roll over in the bed…when did I take my top off? Guess I'm remembering other things from last night over that. "And I just remembered that I told you who I am. That feels really good."

"Good morning to you too," Tali says, as I catch the back-end of a yawn as she starts talking. "I just remembered too…and it's still weird. And, erm…you're topless. We didn't, er, Keelah…do anything?"

"I like to think I'd have remembered if we did," I chuckle. "So no. Must have just taken it off while we were hugging. Plus, to put it bluntly, you probably wouldn't be feeling so perky if any part of that suit had come off."

Tali nods, sighing lightly and falling back onto the bed. "Good point. And I'm not complaining it wasn't on, I…uh, I was just a little…surprised." She stops mid-sentence. "Sorry, I'm not used to this. Waking up next to someone else. But…I like it." Her voice gets suddenly warm towards the end, and even though I can't see her face it doesn't take a genius to realise she's smiling.

"Of course you do," I smile, pulling on a t-shirt. "It's me. Who wouldn't enjoy waking up next to that?"

Tali laughs from the bed. "You're in a good mood." She's right, as well…even with Ilos coming, for some reason I just feel…a little brighter than usual. A spring in my step. Spending a night with Tali certainly will have helped, and the fact I'm not totally keeping my secret to myself anymore. It's genuinely like it was a burden that's been lightened now.

"It's from telling you and Garrus, I think," I shrug. "Funny. I always expected to be freaking out if other people knew, worried about what it might change…but it just feels good. Being able to talk about it. Plus I can tell you about what's waiting for us on Ilos."

"It's odd to think you know all this," Tali says, propping herself up on her elbows. "I mean, in a good way, but you know what we'll be facing, the battlefield…"

"Yeah, well, you might be overestimating it a wee bit," I say, laughing a little bit. "My memory of the sequel game is far, far better. And as for combat, well…I always ended up just rushing in. So I don't exactly remember cover, or enemy locations." It's crushingly true…I could never motivate myself to fight properly in Mass Effect 1. God, I hated the combat. It's not like I'm bad with tactics or team strategy, as my Final Fantasy XII and XIII save files will attest to…just couldn't be bothered when shotgun equalled instant win. "Just because I should know what's coming doesn't make me invincible as well. I'm still fighting for my life out there. All it is is a bit of a safety buffer because I ought to know what's coming up."

She nods understandingly. "Ah, right…I might like to hear some of what you know about what's coming up on Ilos, then. I don't think I'd mind a safety buffer of my own." More than acceptable…but my tummy rumbling reminds me of other priorities.

I rise to my feet, glancing over at the door. "Tell you what. I'll grab us both some breakfast, come back down here, and we can talk it over for a bit. Suit you?"

"Now that you mention it, I am quite hungry," Tali admits. "Keelah…more of the paste we get here. I'm not sure I can go back to it after what I had last night."

"You gotta eat," I grin, opening the door and looking back to her sitting on the bed. "You stay nice and comfortable there, and I'll get some stuff down. I'd ask what exactly you were after, but we don't have much dextro choice, like you said…"

"Don't rub it in," Tali sighs, as the door slides shut behind me and I head for the elevator, whistling a tune I don't even recognise to myself as I do so. Probably one of the most dangerous days of my life…but at least I'm going into it with a smile.

##########

It's a little bit of a shock to see Garrus standing in the kitchen as I come out of the elevator, but I shrug it off. Hopefully he hasn't reconsidered his attitude after last night…one fight with Garrus is more than enough. Don't really want to go through that again. The place is deserted, though, so at least we can talk about it.

"Hey," I say, giving him a quick smile as he turns around from the counter, munching on something. "I thought you were calibrating the new Mako? Or going to see Shepard?"

"Yeah. Because after finding out my best friend is a dimension traveller who knows the future, I was in a really good place for calculating firing algorithms," he chuckles lightly. "Shepard needs her sleep, anyway…didn't want to wake her. The time we spent together before I went to see you, was, uh…good." Wow, guess Shepard didn't hang about. Though I can't imagine Garrus did either…actually, I don't want to imagine it at all.

Just hope she knows about what Mordin would have suggested, about 'not ingesting'…

Bad thoughts! God, now I feel like I need a shower for just thinking that.

Though I can't resist asking one thing. "Her flexibility good?"

Garrus chokes on whatever he's eating when I say that, coughing a few times to clear his windpipe. "Seriously, what is it with you and that story?"

"I've always found it funny," I chuckle, opening up the fridge. "It's what triggered your romance sub-plot in Mass Effect 2, anyway."

"Whoa, slow down," Garrus says quickly. "I was a romance option?"

"Yeah," I shrug. "For female Shepard. A pretty popular one, at that. I wish I could show you the comments section for some of the videos about that. Back in my universe…people seemed a hella lot more open minded about inter-species relationships than here."

"Really?" Garrus says, sounding surprised. "Was I the only romance option?"

I shake my head, sighing lightly. This isn't exactly how I imagined the aftermath of revealing the shocking truth going… "Well, there was a drell assassin, who people liked quite a bit as well. And a bloke who looked like Kanye West who was cool, but everyone ignored." Poor Jacob. I open up the fridge, grabbing a bottle of juice and glancing towards the freezer section… "Oh, godfuckingdammit!"

The tub of ice-cream I quickly grabbed on the way back to the Normandy with Tali is still there. But the lid's off. And it's about half empty. "Garrus, have you been eating my ice-cream!"

"No," he says sardonically. "You'd probably have noticed if I had, since I'd be undergoing a massive allergic reaction. Or you'd have stepped over my corpse on the way to the fridge." Shit, he's kinda got a point…it was a pretty stupid question. I shut the fridge door a little too hard, reaching into a nearby cupboard for some cereal and paste for Tali.

"You seen anyone come in here for it?" I ask.

"I've not been here long," Garrus shrugs. "And it's just been me. So, no, I haven't seen anyone eating it."

It's like a side-quest now. Find out who ate the damn ice-cream. God, I'm pathetic. "This is really pissing me off now," I say, but I can't help laughing at how much this is annoying me. Then again, this stuff doesn't exactly come cheap…and the fact whoever's taking it doesn't just have the decency to ask is the worst part. "I'm taking this back to Tali, give her a bit of a briefing on what to expect on Ilos for half an hour or so before we start getting ready. You want to come with?"

"Sure. Just killing time, anyway," Garrus nods. "Lead the way."

So I do.

############

"Wait, so the Citadel's actually a giant Mass Relay?" Garrus asks incredulously, as he, Tali and I descend in the elevator towards the garage and equipment lockers, where we're all meeting up. "That's…erm…disturbing." In the past half an hour, I managed to snack my way through breakfast, and explained to Tali and Garrus the basics of Ilos. Enemies, basic idea of what's going to happen…just so they're prepared. Then again, most of Ilos is just shooting a metric ton of geth and trying not to die, so we're all prepared for that anyway. Right now, I'm just kinda psyched to try the new helmet on for reals.

"Yep," I nod. "Tell me about it. Then Sovereign's gonna attack the Citadel, but we'll follow Saren through the Conduit and onto it. Well, provided she can drive the Mako fast enough. Though the jump is going to wreck it." Garrus groans quietly. "Probably should have told you that before you tuned it. Still, don't want to ruin our record for it, right?"

"Spirits forbid," Garrus chuckles.

"The way you describe it makes everything sound so simple," Tali says slowly. "Like it's not anything special."

I shake my head. If only it really were simple… "That's because we don't have geth shooting at us, explosions everywhere, and all the other crap that makes this so bloody dangerous. Words can't do it justice. Trust me, it's not gonna be all sunshine and rainbows." I grin slightly, as the lift doors finally open. "Not that I'm trying to put a downer on things."

"Of course not," Tali chuckles. "See you on the mission, then."

"Time to finish Saren," Garrus mutters, as we all stroll out and to our respective lockers. I'm about to say something back…but I notice Wrex sidle up next to me as I reach into the locker for the armour, so keep my trap stuff.

"Ian," Wrex mutters. "You have a good night?"

I raise an eyebrow at him, slightly suspiciously. "Since when did you ask questions like that?"

"Since when did you have a quarian girlfriend?"

"And now I see why you asked." I grab the armour from the locker, dragging it out from the case and releasing some clasps on it so I can actually wear it. "I had a great night, Wrex, thanks."

"Did you…do it with her?" Oh, come on, Wrex…he's not that immature, is he?

I sigh, turning to face him. "We have done many things together, Wrex. We've been to get food, we've talked, hugged. So, I suggest you drop this blatant attempt to annoy me, and talk about more pressing matters." Wrex grunts huffily. Good. "If you want to wind someone up using that, though, try Garrus."

"Might do that," he chuckles. "So, you ready for this?"

I've managed to get my arms into the armour, locking the clasps, as I fiddle around with the leg bits and try to answer Wrex at the same time. "Yep. Blow up some geth, bring Saren down, bask in the limelight and glory afterwards."

"You're optimistic."

"Better than the alternative," I shrug, finally managing to get the suit on as a whole.

"Could be our last mission," Wrex grunts. "So I've got a question. Something you've never told me."

Huh? "And what would that be?"

"What's your surname?"

Really? I never told him that? I never even realised… "It's Shaw," I grin. "Ian Shaw." Alright…now to see if the helmet works. "Now, watch this. You'll love it." Wrex gives me a bit of a confused look, as I press down on the button on my right wrist. Immediately, I feel the metal slide out from the helmet, pushing my hair up against my head at the back as it slides up my chin…the various bits sliding across my face, metal surprisingly warm and the feeling not unpleasant, like I was expecting. Finally, it slides down to my forehead…and the visor descends, low hum as the HUD powers up.

My vision's just as clear as normal, thank Christ…no tinted vision, except now I'm getting small readouts all across it. Bar for weapon overheat, a blue percentage in the lower right of my vision shows my shield status, thankfully at 100%, vitals…oh, and it's got the vitals of Shepard and the rest of the squad in the left as well, though they go transparent if there's someone standing behind them. I know our suits can identify their own readouts…but I don't even know how Laet's made it show up on my visor. The man's a genius…though I don't want to inflate his ego any more by actually telling him that.

There's a low whistle from across the garage, as Shepard walks into my field of vision. "Even I'll admit, that's pretty nice," she smiles. "When did you get that done?"

"While we were on shore leave," I say, voice distorted only a tiny amount by the helmet as it comes out. The little robotic edge to it just makes everything feel even more badass, though. "This is totally my thing, though. I don't want you stealing it."

"Suit yourself," Shepard laughs, walking over to Garrus and giving him a little wink. "Hey."

"Hi," he says a little awkwardly. "How are you?"

"Fine," Shepard says, still smiling at him. "A little disappointed about not seeing you next to me when I woke up, but hopefully we'll have some time to correct that after the mission."

Garrus's fringe flushes an extremely deep blue.

"You realise you said that out loud, right?" I say. "In front of everyone."

Shepard shrugs. "I figured you all knew by now. And you shouldn't be listening in, anyway! Haven't we got a mission to prepare for?"

I lower the helmet away, already feeling a little weird now there's no HUD…damn, I play too many video games. "That's the impression I was under." I grab both pistols and the relevant holsters, breathing in deeply. Funny to think, this is probably the last time I'm gonna need these…at least, for a little while.

"When you're all ready, meet up by the airlock," Shepard says, grabbing her weapons as we all get prepared for action. She's decided to take everyone on the mission, as far as I can tell…boy, this ought to be a fun Mako ride. Just so long as I'm not sharing a seat with Liara. Awkward… "Pressly says he's got something to tell us."

###########

It's actually pretty harrowing looking out of the cockpit window as we all gather around the CIC…since there's way too many geth ships out there hanging around Ilos for comfort. Then again, at least they're not shooting at us. Yet.

"This ought to be interesting," I mutter, as Pressly and Shepard start talking about

"Define interesting," Wrex says back under his voice.

"Oh my God, we're all going to die?"

Wrex just laughs, Pressly shakes his head firmly at Shepard. "Negative, Commander. Nearest landing zone's two clicks away."

"Oh, you gotta be shitting me!" Shepard growls. "No way we'll make it in time on foot. It's got to be closer than that." Come on, Joker, be a hero…

"There is nowhere closer!" Pressly almost shouts back, sounding pissed. "And even if we dropped you in the Mako, you'd need at least a hundred metres of open terrain to do a drop like that. The most I can find near Saren is twenty!"

"Do we not keep parachutes on board the ship?" I ask sardonically, mainly because I kinda like winding up Pressly. "For this kind of situation?"

Pressly just gawps at me. "Parachutes? Are you from the twenty first century, or something?" Oh, you don't know half of it, mate… "It's a suicide drop, Commander!"

"I can do it," Joker suddenly says from the pilot's seat, not raising his voice, not even turning around, but the sheer determination in his tone making everyone turn to look at him.

Shepard raises an eyebrow at him…but she's smiling as she does so. "Joker? You sure?"

"I can do it," he repeats. I don't think there's anyone in here that doubts it. Then again, Tali, Garrus and I already know he can…so admittedly it's a little skewed already. Whatever.

"Good man," Shepard grins, then turns to look at us. "You heard him! Everyone in the Mako, now! We're gonna drop right on top of the bastard's head."

Ha, drop on his head. Great. Now I'm thinking about Angry Birds.

##########

We all stand in the elevator down to the garage, seeing the wall slowly pass us by. I whistle some lift music.

"They didn't really build these things with urgency in mind, did they?"

"Ian," Shepard says, turning to face me. "Shut up."

##########

We're all finally packed into the Mako, and the seating positions are…well, it's not exactly spacious. 'Cosy', as an estate agent would probably put it. Tali and I are sharing a seat, though to be fair I'm not exactly complaining about that, while Wrex gets a seat of his own, as does Liara. Kaidan and Garrus are sharing, too…which I'm not exactly sure is the best idea, after their 'talk' back on the Normandy. But whatever.

Joker's said three minutes until we reach the drop point…and the final battle begins. Man, it's gonna get obscenely epic, very quickly. The geth fights on Ilos aren't exactly giving me much to worry about, since I'm getting somewhat confident about my geth killing capabilities now (and for good reason), but the frenzied drive the Conduit, actually taking the Relay through to the Citadel, and fighting in zero g…God, I could have done with some thrusters on my boots for zero g movement, couldn't I? Too late now…I'll just try not to jump.

And finally, killing Saren. Or getting him to kill himself. Whatever. At least I'll be able to fulfil Ash's last request…and do something for her. Even if fighting the implanted husk Saren isn't exactly appealing, given how fast the bastard moves in-game. But seven of us should be able to take him down. Right?

"Uh, Garrus…" Kaidan suddenly says, as the turian turns to look at him. God, I hope he doesn't make some kind of scene… "About yesterday. I'm sorry. For blowing up like that."

Garrus doesn't say anything. Aw, and Kaidan's actually trying to apologise! I knew he wasn't a dick!

"I…well, I didn't realise you felt that way about Shepard," he continues, talking quietly, trying not to actually draw the attention of the Commander herself. Which seems to be working, since she's messing around with some of the buttons on the Mako dashboard. "I wasn't exactly in a good place about it, though."

"You were angry at me?" Garrus asks.

"I don't even think I was," Kaidan mutters. "Angry at myself, I guess." Angry at himself? Eh? Why would that be? "I just…" he sighs, then shakes his head, obviously not wanting to explain it. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted like I did."

Garrus's eyes narrow slightly, mandibles widening…then he breaks into a smile. "Apology accepted, Kaidan. I suppose you were just looking out for Shepard, after all, trying to keep her mind on the mission."

"Yeah," Kaidan laughs, though it's a little humourless. "The mission." Aw, Kaidan still kinda has feelings for her, as far as I can tell…but I doubt he'll pursue them now Shepard and Garrus are together. And he's man enough to apologise to Garrus about it. He's a good guy. "Didn't want any hard feelings going into the mission, anyway."

"Hey, I ought to be thanking you," Garrus laughs. "I probably wouldn't have said anything if you hadn't prompted me." For a second, I'm worried that might make Kaidan snap again…but instead he just laughs too, and it's genuine. Yeah. I guess he'll get past it.

"Well, thank Christ for that," I grin, trying to lighten the mood a bit more. "I hate seeing people argue. It's like we're all one big, happy family again."

Kaidan shakes his head at me. "You're in far, far too much of a good mood today, kid."

"Is that some kind of bad thing?"

Joker's voice coming through the intercom cuts him off, though, and snaps all of us to attention. This really is it now. "Drop in twenty seconds, Commander." If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's eating something. Goddammit, on the most risky drop ever, he's eating?

"Joker, you might want to save the snackin' until after this goes well?" I suggest.

"Roger that. I'll just move the bowl," he replies, as we heard indeed the sound of a bowl being shifted to one side. "I suppose ice cream can wait until I've proven myself to be a brilliant pilot. Once again."

Wait. Did he just say ice cream?

"Joker…" I say slowly. "Where did you get that ice cream."

There's a slight pause. "From the fridge. I find once I empty it, it magically refills after every shore leave. Why?"

"Right, fuck this," I say, jolly mood evaporating. Joker? The little bastard! I'm definitely making good on my promise to snap the thief now! "I shoulda known it was you! No-one steals another grown man's ice cream and gets away with it!" I can hear Tali laughing quietly next to me, Garrus smirking from his seat next to Kaidan…while the Lieutenant himself and Shepard are laughing full out as well. Even Liara and Wrex are chuckling, for fuck's sake!

"Drop now, Commander," Joker says, a little quickly. "Good luck." Before I can shout anything else at the pilot, the Mako jumps forward just as the garage doors open wide, and the landscape opens up before us.

Ilos looks as hauntingly beautiful as ever…and I can see Saren and the geth walking into the facility!

But Jesus, that's not much room to land at all! Whole landing site is flanked by rocks…and a massive wall in front if we miss.

In the words of Simon from the Yogscast, 'ooh, shit.'

There's a sudden lurch in my stomach as we drop, wall rushing towards us…God, maybe me buying ice-cream and Joker eating it changed canon so he fucked up! No, no, we're going to make it…

The Mako impacts the ground with a solid thud, bouncing me hard in the seat…just as the door closes on Saren. With a curse, Shepard piles on the brakes and we slide to a halt.

Wow. That was intense.

"Damn it!" she yells, punching the steering wheel, then slowly her breathing and calming down. "Say what you will about Joker, he's a good pilot."

"He's a thieving prick!" I shout, but everyone just ignores me.

Looks like we're going on foot for now, see if we can get that gate open." Shepard finally mutters, popping up the Mako doors.

"Right," I mutter. Anger at Joker can wait...right now, we've got something even bigger than ice cream going down. "Time for some thrilling heroics," I grin, then leap out with both pistols drawn, setting the helmet assembling across my head as I do so as we head up to the narrow cut…and two geth charge out immediately at us. They're just troopers, though. Bad idea.

The helmet actually identifies it as a hostile, highlighting the geth as I bring both pistols up at it, sprinting for a bit of cover just to my right, shooting as I go. I'm registering hits to my shields, the value dropping to 73%...but the geth's go down far, far quicker under our combined firepower as I slide behind the cover. Quick tap on my omni-tool, and I unleash an Overload that sends the geth sparking to the ground, accompanied with a curse from Garrus. He must still be counting our kills, then…

Shit, I swear there was two geth, though. I quickly scan the battlefield ahead for it…then feel a rattle of assault rifle fire impact my armour from below, making me reel back. Fuck, the geth was on the other side of my cover! The impact's sent a shockwave up my left arm, numbing it, and part of a round's grazed my right wrist…but it doesn't stop me dashing forward at the geth, placing one hand on the cover and launching into a vaulting kick at it.

Bam. My foot impacts with a surprisingly solid crunch, knocking the geth to the ground…where Wrex finishes it off with a casual shotgun blast as he runs past, moving up the battlefield. Damn, geth heads are solid! That made my foot hurt!

Probably best to snipe now, though, as it looks like a lot of geth up ahead…though Shepard manages to bowl two of them over with a biotic push, the force of which knocks the head of one of them clean off as it hits the side of a crate. I wouldn't want to see that happen to an organic…I press my back against the cool, hard rock, ducking slightly to avoid the geth fire. Visor says everyone's vitals are fine…Garrus's shields are out completely, but thankfully the turian's hiding behind cover for a bit, blindfiring over the top as he waits for them to recharge. Good man. That should let me…

I lean out, quickly bringing the scope up to my eye and nailing one shock trooper with a headshot. Oh yeah! It's becoming second nature now, I swear…

"Geth armatures!" I hear Tali yell above the din of battle. Wait, what? Dealing with them is definitely not second nature! And I don't feel like climbing one and knifing the cords again!

"Where is it?" I shout back.

"To the left! And not it, they!" They? No…but that's plural! I steal a quick glance around the corner, and true enough…two geth armatures.

For fuck's sake. It's like BioWare want me dead. I wish I remembered ME1 as well as I remember 2...pistols are gonna cut it better than the sniper here, though, since I should go for damage per second rather than raw power. I spin out of cover, quickly pressing the triggers…only to get knocked off my feet by the shockwave from an armature's cannon shot which impacts the ground next to me. Ow, fuck! I land clumsily, pretty much on my head…but fortunately the helmet takes the impact for me and I convert it into a forward roll behind a crate. Well, hopefully if people were looking, that seemed deliberate.

How to take care of these, though? Should require some careful planning, thought…

There's suddenly an enormous explosion on one of the armatures, and its head goes flying off into the distance. What the fuck? I whirl around…and there's Wrex, wielding a rocket launcher and one huge grin.

Actually, screw planning. A krogan with rocket launcher solves all of life's problems. The second armature turns its head towards Wrex…just as he readies a second shot.

Yeah. Sorry, mate, you're screwed. Wrex pulls the trigger, and that geth follows exactly the same fate as his friend.

Actually, this raises a question… "Where the hell did you get a rocket launcher?" I yell over to him.

"Where do you think?" he shouts back. "From one of the geth rocket troops! You think I pulled it out my ass or something?" I sigh, turning back to the battlefield. Can always trust Wrex for an informative, mature answer…but plenty of time to talk to him later. Right now, there's a lull in the storm, but if we're ever gonna get that gate open we ought to throw ourselves back in.

#################

Tali expertly shotguns the last geth's head off one handed, the other used less than a second previously to Overload its shields. Impressive.

"Think that's the last of 'em," Shepard mutters, "at least, for now." Fighting through the geth to reach the elevator was way harder than I expected. I mean, it wasn't any different to how we normally deal with things…just the sheer volume of the bastards caught me by surprise. We've all got a few scratches to show for it, as well…I can't see it particularly well under the armour, but I know I'm gonna have some cuts on my arms, and a flesh wound from a round to the shoulder. That one fucking stung. "Ian, Garrus, Tali, head down the elevator and see if you can find anything to get that gate open back where we started!"

Huh? That's not how this is supposed to go! "You sure? Who knows what we'll find down there?"

"That's why I'm sending you, to find out," she replies, a little sarcastically. "Tell me if you find anything, but I expect Saren isn't just going to let us poke around here until we find something. We'll hold off any geth that followed us here! Now go!" Fuck, no point arguing with her…and she's not exactly going to miss much. Just that Prothean VI thing, but I already have a vague idea of what it says, so we'll be fine. And crossing Shepard is generally a bad idea.

"Alright," I say, giving her a nod. Kinda nice she trust me enough to take a small team down, though. Then again, Tali and I are an item, and Garrus and I are best mates. It's not exactly like it ought to be a massive challenge commanding loyalty from them.

I lower the helmet as we walk into the elevator…and just as we start to descend and the doors begin to close, I hear a yell of 'more geth!' from Shepard, and the sound of gunfire. Shit. We'd better make this quick, then.

Garrus fixes me with a look as we descend. "You didn't mention this back on the Normandy."

"That's because it didn't happen exactly like this," I sigh. "But it doesn't matter. Shouldn't change canon too bad. At least we'll be able to open up the door through to Saren and the Conduit from here. So, this prove I'm not bullshitting?"

"Yeah, it does," he nods, smiling. "Not that I thought you were lying at first, of course."

"Of course."

"So, what kind of resistance can we expect to find down there?" Tali asks. Thank Christ this elevator ride is taking so long…we can at least talk rather than being shot at.

Though, that is quite a question. "There'll be geth," I say unsurely. "But other than that I don't really remember. Sorry. Just get ready to shoot."

"Nice and helpful, Ian," Garrus chuckles, as we finally reach the floor, and draw our weapons.

"I do my best," I grin, though the smile quickly vanishes when I see what's ahead. Geth primes, shock troopers…bloody hell, that's not great. And a load of armatures lining the walls! But they're deactivated. And the terminals next to them are glowing rather invitingly.

Idea…

We all break for cover, helmet sliding up and over my face. Looks like having a squad of three tech people is gonna be pretty damn useful. "Those terminals by the armitures are hackable!" I yell over the din of gunfire, opening up omni-tool. True enough, I can get remote access to the terminal addresses with in the room. Awesome! "Remote access them! We can turn them on these guys!"

"Got it!" Tali shouts back, Garrus saying nothing, just opening his omni-tool and staring at it intently, obviously starting the hack already. Here goes nothing…I can hear the geth getting closer, as I start off an automated hack module.

Not working. Shit. I take a quick glance around cover, and there's about fifty or forty metres between us, three geth primes and some rocket launcher guys. I don't fancy those odds.

Alright, there's firewalls all over the place here…but the technology's not exactly high on power, since it's a mobile device. So, if I just assault every firewall at once, it should weaken their integrity enough to slip under the radar. At least, in theory.

I set a basic module off at almost every angle, leaving myself one route in, while the firewall steels itself against my assault. Need time for it to work, though…

"How's it going?" I shout over, Garrus frowning at his screen and Tali typing furiously away. Neither reply. Hopefully, that's a good sign…don't know how, but I can hope. Only fifteen or so metres now…and a bullet clips my helmet as I look out, whipping my neck around slightly as I leap back. Damn it! Gotta try it now, else I'm gonna be all out of time.

I send the advanced module down my one route, just hoping. The display remains as emotionless as ever, as I work my way through…geth steps getting closer by the second. Then, suddenly, there's a bleep, and a whole range of options fill my screen. That's it, I've taken control! I hear a triumphant noise from Tali nearby, so she's obviously in too. Right, set the friend/foe thing to attack geth, remain stationary…use the cannon. Time to unleash hell on the fuckers.

I take a look around again, just in time to see one of the Primes blown off his synthetic feet by a cannon blast, a rocket trooper torn to pieces next to him by the one she's controlling. Oh yeah! Garrus finally shouts something in turian, sounding happy, as one more armature comes to life.

There's a series of explosions and gunfire, as the geth turn to their attention to the armatures, which lasts about thirty seconds. And we definitively come out on top.

"The hack module is mightier than the gun, it would seem," I grin. "Took down about six geth without firing a shot. That's gotta be worth something."

"Yeah, but how often do we get to hack an extremely powerful war machine?" Garrus points out. Sheesh, such a downer. "I think I'll stick to guns, thanks."

I shrug. "You might have something, there. It's just good there's more than one way to go into a fight, though. Kill with skill, rather than just shooting people over and over again. Come on, the security station should just be up here."

We walk up the ramp into the security station…though it's a far cry from what it probably used to be, seeing as it's covered in exotic flora. Still, it's nice looking. Unlike the creepy Prothean statues scattered around this place. Ugh. Hopefully the security station ain't dulled with age, though…I walk up to it, pressing the solitary button on it.

"Will that open the way to Saren?" Tali asks.

"Yeah," I nod. "But it's gonna spawn this Prothean VI thing too. It's fine, I've got a vague idea of what he says, since we won't be able to understand him. He's talking Prothean."

"That VI?" Garrus says, pointing behind me. I whirl around…and true enough, there it is. Alright, time to pretend to hear some warning about the Reapers.

"Unable to…invading fleets…no escape…"

Shit. That definitely just came out as English to me.

"Uh, guys…" I say slowly, turning around. "We may have hit something I wasn't expecting."

Garrus cocks his head to the side slightly. "What?"

"I understood everything that thing just said. Which means I've had a Prothean Cipher in my head for two and a half years."

Well. Wasn't expecting that.

A/N: Woo, back into action! Which is nice, after all the interactions we've been having so recently…even if I do enjoy writing them quite a bit.

So, with that bombshell, it's the end of the chapter. Next time, more progression on Ilos! And a conversation with Vigil…but it won't go quite like how you probably remember it. You'll see.

Oh yeah, and Ian's official canon name now (full name) is Ian Shaw. Finally relented to people saying starring out the surname sucks, hahaha.

So, thanks for reading, reviewing, and I'll see you next chapter! The final parts of MtM2 are upon us!