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Shepard put her weapon down, advancing on the image of the Illusive Man. "How did you find this place?"

"The Archives. Or did your Shadow Broker miss that one?" He looked past Shepard at Liara, his strange eyes triumphant.

Liara was still holding her weapon ready, and she narrowed her eyes as she sighted down the barrel at him. "Show yourself. I promise I won't miss."

"Stick to your talents, Dr. T'Soni," he replied dismissively. "You've helped uncover the key to subjugating the Reapers."

"You mean destroying them," Shepard corrected, her voice hard.

"Damn it, Shepard, destroying the Reapers gets us nothing!"

"Other than peace," Garrus said, but the Illusive Man ignored him.

"They're just trying to control us! Think about it: If they wanted all organic life in the universe destroyed, they could do it. There would be nothing left. A snap of their fingers and all life, all future, gone for good. But they don't. And why not? Because why kill when you can control?"

"I think you've gotten a little too close to the enemy," Shepard told him.

He blinked, his composure disturbed for a second. "No! I'm saying they've got it right. I know how they think."

Shepard shook her head, looking almost sad. "They're dragging you to their way of thinking. You don't understand them—you're becoming them."

"No. No! I just … I see things differently now."

"Because you're indoctrinated," Liara snapped.

Shepard stepped closer to the hologram, holding the Illusive Man's gaze with her own. "If you truly care about humanity, about organic life in the universe, you'll stop fighting me. You'll join me. Together, we'll win."

"I've sacrificed more for humanity than you'll ever know," he hissed at her. "Don't ever question my intentions! And don't assume you know me. My methods for dealing with the Reapers are simply more refined than yours." His confidence had returned. Shepard had shaken him, but only for a moment.

"Cerberus was supposed to be humanity's sword, not a dagger in our back!"

"Poetic, Shepard, but as usual you miss the point. The world is more gray than you care to admit."

"With the Prothean data in this beacon, I can end this conflict, once and for all. You're either with me or against me—there's nothing gray about it."

"No, I suppose there isn't." The Illusive Man looked over Shepard's shoulder, and Garrus turned to see the man in black, Kai Leng, the one who had killed Thane, standing at the back of the room. "Leng, the Commander has something that I need. Please relieve her of it."

Then the Illusive Man's hologram was gone, and Kai Leng was moving toward them, swiftly and silently, almost as though he, too, was a hologram.

They were doomed from the beginning. Leng wasn't alone—he had a ship supporting him, and the ship was not concerned with the preservation of the temple the way Garrus and Liara and Shepard were. Missiles destroyed columns, and the temple began to fall all around them. Liara was sent skidding across the floor. She banged her head into a sharp corner of one of the pedestals, and lay still. Shepard remained grimly focused on Kai Leng, but with the very floor crumbling underneath her, it was as much as she could do to keep her footing. Garrus tried to follow her, but she was smaller and more nimble than he was, and more determined, launching herself across gaps in the floor even as they opened in her pursuit of Kai Leng.

Leng seemed unconcerned for his own safety amid the rapid destruction of the temple, not even flinching as columns swayed and toppled around him.

At last a heavy piece of floor slid into a hole, carrying Shepard with it as she clung to an outcropping that used to be a lamp.

Kai Leng didn't bother to watch her fall. Over his shoulder as he walked calmly to the Prothean beacon, he said, "Cerberus thanks you for all your hard work." Seeming unconcerned by the rapid destruction of the temple, not even flinching as columns swayed and toppled around him, he downloaded the information from the beacon onto his omni-tool.

Garrus picked his way across the rubble toward the hole where Shepard had disappeared, unspeakably relieved when he saw her hand emerge from the hole, shortly followed by her head. He was still too far away to help her, but he tried to move faster despite the shifting of the floor beneath him.

Kai Leng had finished his download and was walking toward the entrance of the temple as though it was still in perfect condition. Garrus saw Liara try to get up, one hand held to her head. Beneath Shepard the piece of flooring she was climbing up crumbled and fell, leaving her dangling from the solid section by one hand.

Garrus reached her just in time, grasping her hand even as it was slipping off. "I've got you."

He pulled her up, wanting to hold her for a moment just to reassure himself that he hadn't lost her, but all her focus was on Leng, who had reached the gunship by now. She ran past Garrus, raising the gun she had somehow held on to through it all, and unloaded the contents of her clip toward the rapidly receding ship. She kept firing long after it had disappeared, long after she was out of ammo.

"He's gone," Garrus said softly, reaching to take the gun out of her hands. Liara joined them, limping from her fall, and they watched as around them the Reapers descended on Thessia, the great city's last defenders falling one by one.

"It's over," Liara whispered, her voice thick with tears. "We've lost."

Garrus waited for Shepard to disagree, but she said nothing. Her eyes were open but unseeing, tears rolling down her cheeks, and she hummed a piece of a song over and over again.

Not only had they lost Thessia and the Catalyst, but they appeared to have lost Shepard, as well.