The group's humour had faded moments after they entered sanctuary.

The dead on the landing pad had been strewn about, dark shapes one didn't need to look at. Though Michael would never look away from such horrors, there had still been something impersonal about them, their bodies too distant to be anything but a shape.

Within the building though, things were different.

The white tiled floor was practically covered with dark blood, the walls splashed with crimson streaks and hand prints. Within the first few lobbies of the building the bodies lay thickly together, wide eyes staring at nothing and intestines opened to the world from vicious attacks one would expect from an animal.

Yet that was nothing compared to what followed. As the group found the stairs leading down to the next level, and then the next, and the next after that...the bodies grew ever more numerous. Everyone had fallen trying to escape, their arms reaching out for the exit, their numbers growing to the point that the silent group had to walk on top of them to make any progress.

There were far less dead in the rooms flanking the corridors they walked through, living quarters where still unmade beds and ovens on standby spoke of breakfasts interrupted. A few bodies were found within though, many having hidden under their beds, only to be killed by whatever monsters had chased those in the corridors

Behind him, Michael heard James mutter a constant string of curses even as his link with Liara told him the Asari was sick to her stomach with the stench and horrifying sights around them. Tali and EDI were eerily silent, one too shocked for words, the other knowing no words would help.

Silently, Michael led them ever deeper, each new level bringing more dead, more blood, more horror.

Then, at the tenth level, the rooms changed character.

No longer were there living quarters flanking the corridors, but instead there were labs. Their sterile lights were were still on, though flickering as they illuminated desks, tubes large enough to hold a man, gore-streaked operating tables and vicious-looking tools looking more like torture devices than operating equipment.

The rooms weren't the only thing that changed though.

The bodies under their feet were now no longer truly human, nor killed by claws or blades, but guns. Twisted, changed. There were women without skin that seemed to have died mid-stride, their fingers shaped into long claws. Others had still glowing eyes, grey metal welded straight into their skulls, their muscles covered in thin bands of glowing blue lights that were all too familiar. Reaper tech. Michael let his eyes move left and right, noting the various shapes of the dead...creatures...and he knew what they were.

Liara had drawn the same conclusion, her voice low and muted. "These are all in various stages of becoming Cerberus troops...aren't they?"

"Shit, you're right..." James muttered, the marine prodding a dead Cerberus soldier lying in a corner, the claws of a skinless woman still buried in his neck as his rifle pressed into the hole in her chest, a swathe of bodies surrounding him. "...guess they weren't quite ready to obey though, huh? Looks like they rebelled."

"Someone must have let them out before they were ready." Liara softly replied. "Goddess, look at them all, it's enough for an entire army..."

"Yeah, well, turning civilians into an army of drones is about as evil as you can get." James grunted back. "Whoever sabotaged this should get a freaking medal."

"The same person which unleashed these monsters on those civilians above us, you mean?" Liara sharply asked. "There is nothing good that has happened here."

As James grumbled something under his breath, Michael remained silent, hesitating at the sight of the Illusive Man's project...or rather, his own thoughts on it.

It's...monstrous...but so...so smart... The thought horrified him. Would I, have I had the resources and time...been willing to do the same? To turn helpless civilians, something draining our resources and needing protection, into soldiers, something we desperately need now...? The answer was terrifying. B-but I'm not like him...am I? I...I can't be...

He didn't realise he had slowed down until Tali was walking next to him, the glow of her eyes within her visor fixed on him, voice soft. "You're not him."

Michael shot her an appreciative look, yet then frowned, looking forward. Does that mean I'm less dedicated than him in beating the Reapers...? A sharp shake of his head interrupted that line of thought, a low growl escaping him. No, he's a fool who's been sabotaging the galaxy's defences from day one of this war, I will not doubt my dedication in comparison to that! He felt Tali hover around him, wanting to offer kind words even as conflicted as she was...and growled as he widened his steps. "Let's locate Kai Leng before he escapes."

"Oh...yes...of course." Tali murmured, sounding worried.

Michael brushed it off, once more focused on his task, on the hunt.

That's when, in the distance, he heard the sound of steel striking steel.

8

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"Get down!" Hissing the order, Michael moved down the last step of the light-less stairs and took cover behind a fallen column that lay in front of the second set of stairs leading to the next level.

Around him, the others scrambled to obey in the darkness, weapons coming to rest on the column as they aimed down at the scene below.

It was a spacious lab, the equipment scattered around the room suggesting something more subtle than turning people into indoctrinated soldiers, though with most of the lights in the lab destroyed, it was hard to see just what the equipment was. And considering that each stair before the current had ended in a corridor, when this entered a lab, Michael guessed they'd reached the bottom floor, the only sign of there being anything but a single lab at the level being a closed door to the far left of the room.

Michael's gaze was fixed on the people below though, the grip on his Revenant tightening at the scene unfolding before him.

Two dozen Cerberus soldiers, most of them Centurions, but two Phantoms as well, were standing in a circle, facing inwards as they watched the duel there unfold.

Kai Leng! Miranda! Gritting his teeth, Michael watched the flash of steel as two blades met over and over before separating, the assassin regarding the ex-Cerberus woman with a cool smile. "I figured your father had taught you fencing, got to have his little girl be perfect...I'm sure he was very proud until the moment you killed him."

Circling to the right, Miranda held her blade pointed at Kai Leng even as the assassin casually lowered his and walked to his right to keep the distance. Come on, separate a little further... Miranda was bleeding, a cut above her collar bone sending a trickle of red blood down the front of her white suit even as her pale face was smudged by filth and sporting a burn over her right eyebrow. She was breathing heavily, but there was a calm in her eyes as she kept her gaze firmly fixed on Kai Leng while continuing her circling. "I'm sure he was very impressed with my marksmanship when shooting him...and I'm sure the Illusive Man is impressed with the way I've sabotaged this little lab of his."

Come on, take a step backwards...damn, should have brought Garrus! A small smirk appeared on Kai Leng's lips. "It's of no consequence, your father did what he was supposed to do, the Illusive Man now has everything he needs, I'm just here to clean up the mess you've made. Really, sabotaging the internal security measures and getting so many civilians killed? And here I'd heard you at least had some morals."

"Better they get a chance at escaping than being slowly consumed by your experiments." Miranda snapped back. "Out there, they have a chance, in this base they don't."

Kai Leng chuckled at that, a dry sound accompanied by a shake of his head. "And here I thought you were more reasonable than that! We're trying to stop the Reapers and you go and take some kind of moral high ground? Shepard must have been a bad influence on you..."

"From your point of view, maybe." Miranda snorted, her back now facing Michael and his team as she faced the ever smirking Kai Leng. "So what now? After you kill me you go back to your master in the Anadius system?"

Michael's eyes widened. That's where he is!? Wait, why did she say it like that...?

Before him, Kai Leng's smirk widened into a grin. "Why yes, I've already forwarded him some important data, but I like to retrieve my reward in person." Then, the man raised his head, looking past Miranda, up to the dark surrounding Michael and his team, his grin never fading. "And now that you've gotten to inform our sneaky Spectre about his location, I think its time for me to stop playing with my food."

No! Michael took his chances and fired, but with Miranda blocking most of the view only two shots struck Kai Leng's shields before the assassin closed the distance upon his opponent. His blade held in reverse behind his back flashed forward in a wide arc as Miranda lunged forward, thrusting her sword at him. Even as she moved though, she was crying out instructions. "Shepard! Check my suit! I have a data disc with-!" No! A clang of steel hitting steel, and Kai Leng's sword knocked Miranda's aside before his own punched through her chest and burst out her back. You bastard!

Roaring, Michael broke cover.

"Michael! Don't!" Liara cried, but the words fell to deaf ears as Michael ran forward, eyes fixed on Kai Leng as the assassin smirked at him and kicked the dead woman off his blade. His Revenant spat vengeance, but Kai Leng leapt to the side, the close-ranged bullets instead tearing through two Centurions as the man ran for the door on the left.

Around him, Cerberus soldiers leapt for cover, their shots whizzing past him as he charged through them like an enraged bull. A phantom stood in his way, and he simply crashed into her before she could swing, crushing her underfoot as he pursued the man now leaping through the opening doors ahead and into the darkness beyond. "Take care of the troops! I'll handle Kai Leng!"

"Michael, no!" Tali's shriek almost made him pause, almost.

Then he was through the door, a door slamming shut behind him as he slammed the controller...and he stopped, allowing himself to end the façade of rage he'd maintained during his charge.

Ahead, the room was pitch black, though Michael could sense it was almost as large as the lab he'd come from, if less cluttered.

Good.

Turning slightly, Michael took aim and fired a single shot, destroying the controls to the door and making sure any attempts to reach him would take some time.

Then, he threw the weapon aside.

Ahead, a slight tapping sound reached Michael's ears, followed by Kai Leng's voice, tone curious. "And what are you doing...?"

Today, I'm ending you. Michael didn't answer at first, but when he did, his voice was calm, collected, dark. "You're too cowardly to face me without a great advantage, so I'm discarding my weapons, since you don't have enough time to disarm me with my team hurrying to catch up."

At first, silence met him, telling him he'd struck a nerve, but to his credit Kai Leng's voice was calm when he spoke back. "Ah, would you care to indulge me in your reasoning?"

Michael drew his pistol, the Eagle light in his hands...and it barely made a sound as it too was discarded. "As I said, you're a coward, but you're also arrogant. You want to be the one to kill me...so I'm giving you a third chance to do just that, and you've taken that bait. For my part, I don't want to give you even a chance of escaping. Plus, I'm sensing you were about to warn the Illusive Man, no doubt via a Quantum entanglement device, and I can't risk that. After all, when I'm done with you, I'm coming for him and the data you sent him. Also, I really want to kill you."

"Ah." Kai Leng replied, a smirk in his voice. "Thís plan, of course, means you have to kill me...and so far I've beaten you twice...not very smart, Shepard."

"Wrong." Michael countered, reaching up to his bandoleer and pulling free an incendiary grenade. "You fled the second time." He threw it to the right, the explosion sending red flames flying, illuminating the room. "You're all out of tricks."

The room was indeed spacious, and empty of furniture except two rows of large computers a few feet from each wall on the left and right, making for a large open space in the middle as well as two smaller areas on each side. Ahead, Michael could now see Kai Leng, the assassin with his blade drawn and back against a door on his side of the room, the man glancing from Michael to the roaring fire on his left, tone suddenly hesitant. "Those containers are full of flammable liquids..."

Michael didn't even glance at what he was talking of, his gaze fixed on the man ahead as he began marching forward, fists to his sides as he activated his omni-tool, making an omni-blade shoot out from each fist.

Kai Leng turned his gaze from the fire to Michael, hesitating as he met the Spectre's eyes...and then he smirked, his own omni-tool glowing...and a crackle of white light exploded from it along with the stench of ozone as it was deactivated along with Michael's omni-blades. Kai Leng's voice was cool as he spoke."What was that about me being out of tricks?"

Michael didn't reply, nor stop, he simply crouched low mid-step, drawing the serrated knife in his boot, eyes never leaving his target as he continued his advance.

Again, Kai Leng hesitated, then he bared his lips in a snarl. "Fine, then die!" In a flash, he was charging forward, blade a flash of light on Michael's right as it swung for head.

Michael's right hand moved automatically, his knife blocking the swing of his foe mere inches from his neck, looking down at it, his eyes narrowed at the sight of not only Miranda's blood on it, but something green and sticky. Poison. "Ah, more tricks, I guess you can't win without them." He didn't recognise his own voice, it was cold, hard, emotionless. In front of him, Kai Leng grunted as Michael's free hand shot out and crashed into his solar plexus.

Then the assassin leapt back, free hand clutching his chest as the other pointed his blade at Michael."I use anything I can for an edge! You would do the same if you had the same dedication to the cause! But you don't, you're an alien-lover, weak!"

"Spouting mindless propaganda won't help you now." Michael coldly replied, feeling his anger simmer deep within him as he once more advanced on Kai Leng. At the last instance he broke into a charge, left first smashing aside Kai Leng's thrust as he swung his knife at the man's face. Kai Leng ducked under the swing with a snort...only to gasp and fly backwards as Michael's right knee crashed into his chest. "Though I suppose a Cerberus dog is all bark and no bite."

Rolling into a crouch, Kai Leng raised his blade in a defensive posture, his chest heaving with his breathing as he stared back at Michael. With his eyes concealed it was hard to tell...but Michael could feel the first strands of fear sneak into the assassin's mind. "You say that now...but just you wait...you won't survive this!" Then, a small gush of fire from the right made him flinch, his gaze darting from Michael to the raging fire. As I said, coward.

Michael slowly advanced, gaze fixed on the man he above all others wanted dead. "Show me then."

A roar, and Kai Leng charged forward, his overhand slash meeting Michael's gauntlet before the assassin leapt back and thrust towards the Spectre's head with his sword, just barely scratching the visor of the man's helmet with the tip. Michael advanced, crouching low as he ducked under Kai Leng's swing...only for his own thrust to miss as the assassin leapt to the right, putting Michael between himself and the raging fire. "Ha! And you think you can beat me!?"

"I know it." Michael calmly replied, straightening as he faced his opponent, the intensity of the fire behind him growing with every passing second, making his skin prickle.

"Fool!" Charging, then leaping high, Kai Leng came at Michael with a high swing, only for his foot to strike the Spectre first, sending him crashing back into the line of computers behind him, stopping him short of the searing heat behind them. Nimbly landing in a crouch, Kai Leng's movements were smooth as water as he lunged forward, sword thrusting forward as Michael moved to block.

A small twist of Kai Leng's wrist changed the target though, and Michael grunted as the sword struck his wrist, sending his knife out of his hand before with a clatter it landed in the centre of the room.

Pulling back for but a moment, Kai Leng's face split into a grin. "How did you even think you could beat me?" He lunged forward once more, blade a blur as it hurtled for Michael's chest.

A growl, and Michael's hands slammed together, catching the blade between them. Kai Leng grunted in surprise, both hands gripping the handle as he pushed forward...but Michael didn't resist, instead he twisted his wrists, the exoskeleton of his armour enhancing the power of the movement a hundred fold.

The sword broke in two.

Twisting the blade in his hands around as Kai Leng came stumbling forward, Michael watched the man's mouth open in shock as he ducked under Michael's thrust, then grunt as Michael's knee knocked the remains of the sword out of his hands. Growling, Michael slashed down with the broken blade in his hands, only for Kai Leng to drop onto his back to escape the attack, his foot shooting up to kick the poisoned blade out of Michael's hands before the assassin nimbly rolled back towards the centre of the room, hand finding Michael's knife.

Michael didn't leap for either of the two pieces of the sword though, instead he charged at Kai Leng, sensing the assassin's nervousness and intent on exploiting it. His swinging foot made Kai Leng duck and lunge forward, only for his thrust to fail to connect as Michael caught the man by the wrist, his voice a low growl in Kai Leng's face. "You killed Thane." His head shot forward, helmet crashing into Kai Leng's face with a wet crunch, making the assassin howl as he wrenched himself free and stumbled backwards.

Advancing without pause, Michael batted aside Kai Leng's blind kick before his own struck the man in the thigh, sending him staggering back and into the line of computers on his side of the room. "You killed Javik." His foot came down upon the assassin, who with a gasp rolled to the right as Michael's armoured boot smashed deep into the computer it struck. "You killed Kaidan."

Pulling his foot free, Michael's hands moved to block Kai Leng's hurried slash, his arms crossed over his head as the assassin did the same in an effort to push his blade downwards. Michael's face was but inches from Kai Leng's...and he could now feel the fear take hold as he coldly looked into the man's synthetic eyes, his tone calm and collected. "You killed Samara."

A grunt, and Michael pushed his opponent backwards, and as the assassin tried to regain his posture, he smashed his left into the man's chest, driving the air out of his lungs. "You killed Miranda." His left foot came down even as his right shot up for a murderous kick at Kai Leng's head...and the assassin caught it with his free hand.

"So what!?" Roaring in anger, Kai Leng moved to his left and forward as he released Michael's leg, his left hand shooting forward in a quick jab at Michael's face.

Pain!

Gasping as much in surprise as in agony, Michael found his back pressed into a computer as Kai Leng pressed down on him, the assassin having used the jab to hide his thrust at Michael's chest. Looking down, Michael felt oddly absent as he saw blood well up from his chest where the knife, buried to the hilt, was twisted around by the assassin pressing up against him. Grunting, Michael's hands moved up, gripping Kai Leng's hand and the knife, pushing it outwards...only for the assassin to put his free hand down on the blade, pushing it back down with a gleeful grin. "You really thought you had me, didn't you!?"

Looking up, Michael found Kai Leng's lips spread in a mad snarl of anger and blood lust. Behind the assassin, the fire from Michael's grenade had spread, turning into a burning inferno as one of the many cylinders attached to the wall burst, making the fire consume the line of computers on that side of the room.

It was like looking into hell.

And Kai Leng was the devil.

"You never had a chance!" There was madness in the man's voice, pride and an inhuman rage boiling to the surface as what remained of his cool burst like a dam. "You pathetic fool! You've failed!" Michael stared at the man even as agony shot through him as the assassin twisted the blade, his spittle striking Michael's face. "Did you really think your dead friends would drive you to fight better!? To magically make you able to defeat me!?"

"N-no..." Michael gasped, his left hand releasing its grip on the knife before it moved downwards, searching while he held Kai Leng's gaze. "B-but it me-means...if I c-can't beat y-you..." Then he found what he was looking for, pulled it free, primed it. "...th-that I'm wi-willing to t-take you w-with me..." With a clack, the frag grenade fell to the floor between their feet.

"Wha...?" Kai Leng looked down...and his mouth widened in horror at the sight as he suddenly pulled back, trying to throw himself out of the way.

No. Michael's free hand moved, gripping Kai Leng's shoulder, stopping his retreat even as his foot brushed the grenade, making it roll but a few feet forward. Kai Leng looked back up at him in horror, desperately trying to pull free even as Michael smirked at him. "Shall we call it a draw?"

Pain!

In front of him, he caught a brief flash of Kai Leng's face splitting in two as the explosion tore through the assassin. Then his vision was filled with white light, followed by seeing his limbs stretch forward as he was hurled backwards before crashing into the wall behind him.

For a moment, white light filled his vision.

Pain!

Groaning, Michael managed to open his eyes, though his vision was clouded by sticky blood, his own and the assassin's. Ahead, the fire raged, bellowing forward as more cylinders burst, hurling their content out in great fireballs and making it spread with the speed of an avalanche as it consumed the room, the heat radiating from it unbearable even before it reached Michael.

And then it did.

Pain!

Writhing in agony, Michael cried out, vision swimming as whiteness and darkness coiled around him like living entities, strangling his cries as his entire being boiled and burnt within the fires of hell itself.

A cry reached him, distant, horrified.

And darkness took him.

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Thanks to Abydos Jackson for being such a diligent zombie.