I do not own Mass Effect. Bioware does.


Once the Aran'tar hovered closer to the Presidium, it launched tether lines onto the railing. Seconds later, Garrus rode down the cable while carrying Robin in his arm. After making an entrance, Victus and an assortment of other survivors rushed from their hiding location to greet them.

"Commander, you're a sight for sore eyes. I assume you have a plan for this operation?"

Garrus shifted slightly uncomfortably.

"Well, I figured we'd play this by ear, and improvise as we go," Garrus answered, "I can understand your concern, but all of us are suited to take on the Cerberus presence here."

Victus sighed with disbelief.

"Vakarian, this is not a fight we can win alone."

"Who said we were alone?" Garrus retorted.

Just then, an Atlas mech appeared from the corner and aimed at Victus. Robin pulled out a detonator and tossed it at its weak point while Garrus fired rounds of his rifle at its legs, taking down the mech in moments, with Adrien letting out a sigh of relief.


They were all pinned down at the docks with nowhere to run. Nihlus rolled to a different set of cover where the others were just as an explosion consumed his last location.

"Boy, this escalated rather quickly," he muttered, switching out thermal clips.

"Ah, fuck," Jack cursed, "I can play bowling with these guys all day, but three heavy mechs simultaneously might still be a tall order for me."

Three Atlas mechs were dropped from Cerberus transports, slowly whirling to life. Sidonis ducked from another stray shot.

"Well, it was a good run while we lasted," Sidonis mused.

The four friends gave each other one last hopeless glance, even longer between Ashley and Kaidan as they held each other's hands one last time. Another unidentified shuttle pulled up right above them before opening fire upon the approaching line of Cerberus troops on the ground. More shuttles arrived, opening up to unleash squads of krogan onto the field. The Cerberus soldiers were quick to retaliate, but were short lived as the krogans swarmed them. The Atlas mechs barely lasted any longer as the krogan troops climbed onto them, causing them to topple under the weight. Okeer and a few of his men ran out to meet the group.

"We got your message, and we brought in the calvary," Okeer said.

"What a relief!" Kelly sighed.

Nihlus stood and approached the warlord.

"So, you must be Okeer. Saren mentioned you a few times. What brings you to this mess?" Nihlus greeted.

"What, can't we all enjoy taking the piss out of some power-hungry fanatics?" Okeer joked, "laughs aside, we were all recently given a second chance. A way to completely ignore the Genophage. Even if these bastards don't come for us, which they clearly had an entire lab dedicated towards, this is a chance to atone for the mistakes of our ancestors as much as it is an opportunity to show our gratitude."

Nihlus nodded in agreement.

"Glad to have you with us," he grinned, "now let's get these bastards!"

Even with the rush of krogans through the wards, there were still plenty of pockets with Cerberus troops with human shields at their side. With the rush of krogans, the small group managed to blend in and get the drop on the hostages' captors. Sneaking into a grocery store, Nihlus and the others snuck through the rafters while the Cerberus soldiers abandoned their posts by the hostages. They were clustering the store barricades, keeping the krogans at bay, too busy to look up for possible interlopers. This made it easy for Kaidan and Jack to get to higher ground.

Between the rows of shelves were huddled, scared civilians, still on their knees as to avoid being shot. Climbing down from the rafters, the group crept up behind the Cerberus soldiers, with Ashley cautiously observing them.

"They're still distracted," Ashley said.

"Still, better safe than sorry. I'd avert my eyes for a few seconds if I were you guys," Nihlus ordered, showing a flash grenade in his hand.

Taking cover, Nihlus threw in the flash, leaving most of the opposing forces blinded. Taking down those who weren't as affected, the others followed by picking the remainders off one by one. This allowed Kaidan and Jack to use their biotic to their advantage. Both blinded and suspended in the air by biotics, all of the guards were left vulnerable to their gunfire. With the hostages freed, the group carefully led them outside. Even in the distance, the seven of them could see krogans helping hostages to their feet.

"The way things can change so quickly," Nihlus smiled, "I'd never thought I'd live to see a day like this."

"Not all krogan are so content with staring at the past," Okeer acknowledged, walking up to their group, "some just wish for a future. A place in society we can call our own. Not to looked upon as beasts, criminals, or bounty hunters. There are still some of us who see reason in growth and unity."


Miranda and Saren continued to fight side by side, covering the other and even utilizing their biotic powers to exponential improve their efficiency. After Garrus contacted them, they began to fight their way back to the Presidium. After quickly making sure the Council was safe in the wards, they fought to return and fight off the forces still surrounding Brendan's group. Rounding the corner, Garrus, Robin, and other members of the Aran'tar entered.

"Saren, good to see you're alive. We brought help and plenty of it," the commander greeted, "are you still able to continue?"

"All things considered, yes. Unfortunately, Brendan and his squad are all pinned down near the other side of the Presidium by heavy Cerberus forces," Saren noted, pointing not too far up the Presidium path.

Robin fired a round at a Cerberus soldier about to aim his rifle at Saren, taking the soldier down.

"I hope he's still alive," Robin muttered to herself.

"Sir! Enemy gunship! Five o'clock!" a turian soldier shouted.

Garrus turned to see a gunship flying towards them from the distance. Slowing down, the platform launched off two missiles at the building ahead of them, setting it ablaze and cutting off any forward progress they could make towards Brendan.

"Get to cover! Find a vantage point and take that thing out!" Garrus barked, firing his rifle off a few times as he rolled to cover.

He glanced painfully into the distance at the six remaining soldiers under Cerberus' boot.

"Keep firing! We have to get through!" Garrus ordered.

He began to eye a bridge to the other side, that would put the river between them, but would get them close enough to provide cover fire. Still, his squad found cover before searching for a weak point that would take down the gunship.

With Robin taking out some of the gunship's passengers with her rounds, Garrus quickly switched the rounds in his rifle to armor piercing rounds before coming out of cover and shooting one of the engines. Smoking and spinning out of control, he felt an air of satisfaction, before it quickly evaporated when the gunship crashed into one of the aforementioned bridge's supports, sending it crashing into the artificial river below. Never had he felt a hole sink into the bottom of his stomach so fast as dread began to take control.

"I-I…oh shit…" Garrus muttered.

Robin's eyes filled with concern.

"Garrus?" Robin called over.

"We're not going to get over there in time."


Vega couldn't spare the precious few seconds to wipe the sweat off his forehead. He was low on thermal clips, the dead continued to pile up, and there was no sign of help or reinforcements around them. For what seemed like an eternity, they held their position at the control tower behind the crashed skycars, fallen debris, and a handful of crates that Cerberus had brought in. The crates had contained generous amounts of thermal clips for the group to share. Unfortunately, it seemed like every last soldier was converging on their position.

"I'm out! Reloading!"

James pulled a thermal clip out of the crate. Shoving in the thermal clip, he began to hear the distinctive whirl of an incoming gunship from around the Presidium loop.

"Another gunship!" Brendan exclaimed, "James, we've got one more LAW to use. Fetch it and make that shot count!"

Vega rushed near the back to fetch the weapon. Picking it up, he didn't have a chance to utilize it before the gunship unleashed a barrage of missile fire, carpeting the area. James blacked out as one exploded not two meters away from him.

"Vega!" Brendan panicked.

He rushed to the lieutenant's side when a sniper shot slammed into his chest, throwing him into cover against a wall.

Vega slowly came to as someone shook him back awake. His ears rang, his body felt like it was on fire, and breathing felt like he was inhaling molten lead.

"Stand still, Vega!"

It was Hutch. He'd put down his LMG for a moment as the explosion had thrown him out of cover. The world around him blurred like an abstract painting as he was dragged to cover. Hutch continued to fire back until a sniper shot him clean through the head, leaving him out of cover, but visible to Brendan.

Struggling to stay conscious, James could barely make out the forms of the Illusive Man followed closely by two soldiers as they took their helmets off. Each walked through the remains of their unit, shooting dead corpses for safe measure and killing the severely wounded as they continued to close in. Vega struggled in his place, but his arms and body yielded to the white-hot pain each movement induced.

The gunship watching the area exploded brilliantly, causing the Cerberus leader and his two lackeys to turn and look. Above, a geth dropship with geth units and quarian marines hovered above, firing down at the Cerberus soldiers.

"James…"

Vega painfully turned to look at Brendan, now bleeding profusely from his injury. With one last effort, Brendan shoved his arm along the ground, passing his side arm to James. Without second hesitation, Brendan picked up the pistol and killed the two body guards, and ended the Illusive Man with a well-placed shot to his head, before the indicator on the pistol's side showed it was empty. James went slack, flopping on the ground from exhaustion and pain. Struggling to simply breath now, he looked up one more time to see if the Illusive Man had really died. As his eyes slowly adjusted, he could see more geth dropships overhead. With their doors opening, geth units and quarian troopers jumped down, using jet thrusters to slow their descent to the ground, before moving to defensive positions. Being among the first to touch down, Captain Reegar rushed to the base of the security tower where Brendan and Vega were.

"We've got two live ones here! Don't worry, you're going to be alright!" the captain informed before rushing to Vega's side.

He could still hear the quarian captain barking orders as he looked over to a geth unit and quarian woman attending to his commander's injuries. As he himself was put on a stretcher, he looked up at the geth unit and captain looking down at him as they put him on a stretcher.

"This should keep you stable until we can get you proper medical attention," Kal informed as he injected him with some unidentified serum.

Now at the end of his rope, his eyelids slowly shut, with the pain finally subsiding.


In the meantime, Garrus, Robin and their squad searched for a shortcut. All the while, Robin accessed a control panel that activated a bridge, allowing a few C-Sec officers to move several hostages to safety.

{Commander, do you copy?} Kal reported in on Garrus' omni-tool.

"Loud and clear. I just saw you and your men pass overhead. Is everything alright over there?" Garrus and the others had to backtrack to a bridge further down the opposite direction away from Brendan to get over to the other side.

{We managed to clear out the surrounding forces around the commander's team. Commander Shepard and Lieutenant Vega were the only ones left. They took a beating, but they still might make it,} Reegar answered.

A dead silence passed.

"Thanks. We'll be over there as soon as we can."

Satisfied with the info, Garrus ended the transmission.

"Brendan survived. Barely, but he's alive," Garrus told Robin.

"Oh, what a relief!" Robin smiled softly, "I'll bet the Alliance will want to hear about this!"

Miranda and Saren guided Garrus and Robin to the conference room they used to communicate with Earth before Cerberus attacked. Using the same frequency as before, they managed to raise Anderson's office.

"Anderson," Robin called, "can you hear me?"

{Ambassador, I heard the Citadel was under attack. Is the situation under control? Where's the commander? I had sent a scout party to investigate. They barely made it back,} the admiral answered.

"My brother is hurt, but we're getting the situation under control," Robin answered.

{And the Illusive Man, where is he? Did he escape?} Anderson was desperate for any information regarding Cerberus' current status.

"Shepard Ambassador."

The four turned to see a geth unit with a body slung over his shoulder.

"We have identified and found the deceased form of the individual you identify as the 'Illusive Man'. What would be your preference for dealing with the body?"

Unceremoniously, the geth unit walked in and slumped the body onto the projection table, slightly distorting the ambassador's projected image.

Robin's eyes widened while she blinked.

"Anderson, I think we have an update on the Illusive Man," Robin informed.

"We have…what's left of him," Garrus added.

The wound from his forehead was relatively cauterized, but some blood still seeped onto the projection table. Anderson stared at the Illusive Man's corpse intently.

{I'd rather have seen him face justice, but the commander probably didn't have the option of doing so amidst the firefight. Also, the process for Toby's impeachment was going to start next week, however, the now former president made his way onto a shuttle and left planetside. Intercepted coms indicate he's on his way to the Citadel. You may want to pick him up during cleanup,} Anderson nodded.

"Not to worry, Admiral Anderson," Garrus grinned, "I think I have an idea."


With the geth units, krogans, quarians, asari and turian soldiers clearing out the rest of Cerberus, Garrus checked with C-Sec and enlisted Decian Chellick for assistance. They and Robin waited at the docks with Kaidan, Kolyat, Ashley and a few other C-Sec officers standing nearby. Decian took a long, uncomfortable glance at the body.

"Uuuuh, Vakarian? You sure this plan of yours will work?" Chellick asked.

"I'm sure of it," Garrus nodded, "he's mostly an idiot."

"Well, if he really is the type of individual who…and correct me if I say this wrong…can't tell the difference between his head and his ass, then do what you think will work, commander," Chellick motioned his men into position across the deck, "get the bait into place. Alenko, Krios, and Williams get ready to work on disabling the shuttle once it touches down. Remember your roles, and remember to keep out of sight, Krios."

"Will do, Chellick," Kolyat nodded.

Chellick opened his omni-tool to set the final piece.

"Flight control, what's the status on the Mass Relay?"

{Increased activity has been detected. The shuttle will arrive in approximately five minutes,} flight control responded.

"Good. Make sure those Alliance troops are in full uniform and quickly. Toby Dunn will be expecting a show."

Upon cue, the C-Sec officers began preparing the setup. Back at flight control, two of the Normandy crew dressed up in the gear of fallen Cerberus personnel for when Toby would inevitably call to confirm arrival with the 'Cerberus' forces present on the station. A beeping from one of the screens caught the attention of the C-Sec officers present followed by a request to dock.

"The shuttle just came through. Show time."

The two 'Cerberus troops' walked up to the console and accepted the call, getting a vid projection of none other than Toby and a single pilot.

"President Dunn? We've been expecting you," one of the soldiers greeted.

{Good. Unfortunately, the situation on Earth hasn't improved. I assume Mr. Harper has the station under control?} the former president replied nervously.

"Yes sir, the station and its populace are under control. By the situation outside, we did lose quite a few ships coming in, but we otherwise do hold plenty of aliens and their VIPs in secure locations. I'll direct you to dock four-oh-four. In fact, the Illusive Man is waiting there himself. He wants to discuss how we'll make a comeback," the other nodded, before ending the call.

{Sir, the shuttle is approaching and is heading to your dock,} one of the officers informed Chellick.

"Good work up there. Might want to get those uniforms off before those soldiers confuse anyone," Decian ordered.

"Yes, sir," the soldiers nodded in unison.

Toby walked past the trio as they got to work sabotaging the engine, as he was too busy with his own worries. Would he be disposed like all the others? The Illusive Man did have a very fine line as to when he would consider any of his assets 'useless'. Just down the empty dock, he noticed his superior, standing in shadow, without a cigarette, and his arms crossed. This wasn't good.

"Mr. Harper, I did everything I could. The minds of the US are relatively easy to control, but I can only do so much to control the other powers, and those afar. Please understand that I still have limits."

The Illusive Man stood silently. In full gear, Robin walked into the open and stood alongside the now deceased leader of Cerberus. Upon laying his eyes on the corpse, Toby's eyes widened in shock and horror.

"You!" Toby exclaimed.

"Well," Robin snarked, "if it isn't the Former-President Slutty Butthole! Mr. Harper is dead-tired right now. Galactic domination is a tiring business; he needed a rest."

Toby Dunn glared at Robin and clenched his fists.

"Well, listen up, you pathetic excuse of a traitor," Toby began to threaten.

"Of all this shit you pulled off during your administration, and you call her a traitor?"

Toby turned around to face Kaidan, Ashley, and Kolyat after they had successfully sabotaged his shuttle.

"That's bold," Kaidan continued.

C-Sec officers began to come out from hiding behind the numerous crates around the dock.

"Besides, maybe you'd feel better about other species when I say that Earth should still handle your trial," Decian added, directing his men to arrest the politician.

With the former president about to be taken into custody, Robin stepped over to Garrus.

"Shepard?" Garrus paused.

"I do know one thing," Robin said, "we do have a huge mess to clean up."


Oh, and this is for Nemi Almasy: I hope you enjoyed Decian Chellick's cameo appearance in this chapter, since you like him! ;)