A/N: Italics indicate internal thought.

Bold indicates Shepard Reaper speech

Bold Italics indicate Reaper internal speech

Please comment and review

This is my first attempt at a story, so I am open to constructive criticism. Also If anyone has suggestions for the story feel free to give them.

In response to reviews

A13x: It's actually Kaidan, I know he doesn't use a sword in the games but I really liked the idea, so I gave him one.

Malforming Innocence

Location: The Normandy, Captain's Quarters.

Time: 1600 CST

Date: 17th November

Kaidan was dressed in his combat fatigues, his face full of concern as he walked through the door.

"John, we need to-," Kaidan stopped short as he saw his friend.

John was currently facing away from him, but it was still awful to see. Across his body, several patches of skin had turned charcoal black with red veins of energy pulsing through them. They ranged from the size of a hand to the size of a thumbprint. The most obvious was his right arm, from his fingertips all the way to his elbow, the skin had become black and gnarly, with veins running through it akin to magma. Most shocking was the menacing claws his fingers now ended in, as if imitating the clawed gauntlet, he wore. John turned round to face Kaidan, who found himself even more shocked as he saw John's face. There was a small patch of transformed skin under his left jaw. But most alarming was the top right part of his face, from his cheekbone to his hairline had transformed, with the glowing red orb where his eye should had been.

"Give me a sec please Kaidan," John stated, he tensed his body and his left eye scrunched shut in concentration, but his right eye just continued to stare with its red glow. Red lightning began to surge all over his body. And slowly the patches of transformed skin began to recede until eventually they vanished. The glow of his eye vanished as it was replaced by a closed eyelid. Even his hand returned to normal.

John panted heavily as he looked over his now restored limb and rubbed his right eye. Then his legs suddenly began shaking from his exertions. He would have fallen over had Kaidan not moved to steady him, and helped him to sit on his bed.

"Jesus John is that how much it takes to heal you?" Kaidan asked.

"You don't need to worry about it Kaidan," John said trying to alleviate his friend's concerns, "are we headed towards Palamicia?"

"Yeah, we'll be there in a few hours," Kaidan replied, "but first, what happened back there John?"

John looked at him briefly, before sighing and tilting his head towards the floor. "You saw it Kaidan, The Council had sent that force to secure the O.S.I. In all likelihood they were going to transfer the information to another site. I decided to take information that could be useful to us and destroy the rest to deny it to them," he muttered half-heartedly, not even believing his own feeble reasoning.

"But you still could have retrieved information and gotten out of there without engaging them John. I just don't understand, all the previous times we've launched attacks like this, it was planned. Here, you just seemed to decide on your own to level the place. Why?" Kaidan asked.

John clenched his first, "haven't you noticed it Kaidan. I did, when I was going around the Citadel."

"Noticed what?"

"The attacks on the homeworlds achieved the desired effects. The populations are wary, they don't know if we're going to attack again. But the general consensus across the galaxy is that we aren't a true threat. We've had some victories, destroyed some important places, but the Council has got them believing that we will be stopped long before we've done any serious damage to their civilisation." John paused for a second, "when EDI told me about the force massing outside, I guess an…opportunity began to show itself in my head. We could show the entire galaxy that not even the heart of their society was safe from us, and shatter any delusions of security they had," he said, his tone slowly getting more aggressive.

"But if that was the idea, we should've planned that out in advance John, not on a whim like that. If Saren had been even a little closer to the building you could have killed him. And do I need to talk about the fact you almost killed your sister," said Kaidan, his tone getting more forceful.

"You think I don't know that!" John yelled, his eyes flashing red as he slammed his fist into his mattress. Even though the site of John's growing red eyes unnerved Kaidan, he didn't show any outward signs of faltering.

The glow receded and John held his head in his hand, "I know I was stupid and reckless, I know I almost killed her….God, the situation I put her in."

Kaidan's face softened slightly as he saw his friend struggled with his recent actions. "I don't mean to sound insensitive John….. I know that fight must have been awful for you."

"I tried to take her out quickly…but I forgot she can be as stubborn as me." Kaidan couldn't help but nod his head at that, thanks to their sparring matches he knew how hard John could hit. The sight of Elizabeth Shepard getting up multiple times after being knocked down, was to put it simply, very impressive.

John growled again as he tightened his grip on his own head, "Ash was there as well, I didn't want to hurt them again, but if I held back, the aliens watching would have questioned it."

"I saw the exchange you had with your sister, it got pretty heated," Kaidan said.

John let his hands fall limply onto the bed again, "I thought….. I thought that I just wanted to understand why she was opposing us so adamantly, why she believed fighting for the Turians would improve things." He then clenched his teeth in anger, "but for some reason….. whenever she rebutted my statements, my anger just increased. But it wasn't because of what she specifically said, it was like I was angry at her just for having a different opinion to me. Why would I react like that?"

Kaidan looked to the side uncomfortably, "some of the points she brought up weren't completely unfounded," he said.

"Yeah," John couldn't help but agree.

Kaidan clenched his fist in frustration, it was as if he desperately wanted to tell John something, he began to speak slowly, as if choosing his words carefully, "I've noticed that your powers seem to spike when you get angrier, you think it might work the other way as well?" he suggested.

John looked down at the floor, he knew Kaidan had actually hit the nail on the head. He hadn't told anyone about the second consciousness that seem to reside within him, not even Kaidan or Miranda, and from what he had concluded Sha'ira hadn't told them about it either. He hadn't told them about how the voice had constantly pushed him to become more violent and more bloodthirsty during his time in the pit, and was constantly pushing him towards taking more extreme actions in their goals for liberation. And that the voice was getting increasingly more vocal.

"Possibly," he stated before he held up his hand and a bolt of red lightning surged around it, "but we still need this to accomplish our goal."

Kaidan looked at John again his expression turning to one of concern, "are you sure you're up for this mission John. Not to exaggerate but you took a damn rocket to the face. You should be in the med bay."

"I carried out the medical checks myself Kaidan, my injuries are healed, I'm fine," John stated. Kaidan looked at him unconvinced, "please Kaidan I need to do this."

Kaidan let out a sigh, "you know I didn't know you could launch bolts of electricity like that, you reduced that Salarian to ash."

John didn't answer immediately, "I didn't either," he said simply. "To be honest most of what happened after I was knocked unconscious is a bit of a blur. All I could think about was how easily they had been willing to sacrifice Liz to kill me. How she was just trash they can dispose of, and my anger exploded."

He let out a deep sigh, "My belief was that when we showed our strength, the races of the Citadel would be encouraged seek a resolution that would spare them conflict, but even with everything we've done there's been no sign of that. How much of our strength are we going to have to show? He mumbled, not actually directing the question at Kaidan, "I also believed that there were aliens out there that would see that our only goal is to end slavery, and would come forward to support us, but after all the things I've seen, I'm beginning to wonder if I overestimated the number of people that fit that category?"

"Come on John, we always knew things like that weren't gonna happen overnight," Kaidan said as he made to leave, "we just have to have patience and hope that our efforts will pay off."

As the door closed John frowned, "the longer we wait the more humans will suffer, is it fair to those people to delay their deliverance just so we can spare ourselves more blood on our hands," he remarked to himself.

000

Location: Mysidas system, Palamicia.

Time: 1900 CST

Date: 17th November

Palamicia was a world completely covered in mountain ranges. The steep, craggy terrain made the concept of any kind of construction too costly to undertake. At least that's what most people thought.

In the Normandy's CIC Reaper and Kaidan were in full armour, while Miranda looked over a hologram of the planet, "our scanners still aren't picking up any kind of structure on the surface," she stated. "Then where is the place?" Kaidan asked.

"If our scanners can't find it on the surface, then that leaves only one possibility," Reaper chipped in. Kaidan looked at him slightly puzzled but Miranda only nodded, "I agree, the facility must have been constructed within the mountains themselves."

Kaidan was slightly floored by this, "but if we are assuming this facility is a similar scale to the other ones we've seen. Building something that size inside the mountains, the cost of that would be-," "astronomical yes," Miranda cut off, "the Citadel Council has obviously invested a lot into this project, we must assume they will have invested just as much into keeping it secure."

"Before we worry about any of that we need to find it first," Reaper stated.

"Hey boss," Joker spoke over the intercom, "looks like we might not be the only ones trying to figure that out." A screen then popped up before the three of them, showing a small ship that had landed on one of the exceedingly rare flat mountain ledges. There were two figures stood next to it, one Asari and the other a Turian. The screen zoomed in on the two figures and was able to identify them. Nihlus Kryik and Tela Vasir. "Those two," he said turning to Miranda, "they both work with Sha'ira, correct?" Miranda nodded in reply.

000

A few moments later one of the Normandy's stealth KODIAK shuttles landed on the same ledge and Kaidan and Reaper disembarked. The two Spectres didn't show any surprise when the shuttle suddenly appeared or when two notorious terrorists appeared before them.

Vasir gave a smirk, "well, well, the infamous Reaper, quite an honour," she said playfully.

Reaper immediately crossed his arms, scowling at her from beneath his helmet, he wasn't in the mood for games today. He quickly analysed both of them and could tell despite Vasir's joyful tone, both of them tensed up at his presence. Their hands poised to grab their weapons. "You don't seem surprised to see me here," he stated. "Well following your pattern, we knew you'd immediately go for the most important facility once you'd uncovered the existence. So, we waited for you to come here," Nihlus explained.

Reaper took a second to consider that, "so from that, I assume you already knew about this place. Or more accurately, she did." Both of them nodded, knowing who he was referring to.

"So why haven't you attempted to shut it down yourselves?" he asked, with a hard edge to his voice. "Well I know you make it look really easy, but you've got to remember that, for the rest of us, attacking a military facility guarded by a small army isn't exactly possible. Goddess, Bau tried and he would be dead if not for you," said Vasir. "Additionally, if we had exposed its existence to the public, the ones responsible would have likely purged the facility and any prisoners there, all while blaming it on some rogue faction of their government," Nihlus added.

"So, you came here and waited for us, hoping that I would actually assist you instead of gunning you down at first sight." They tensed up even more, before Vasir said, "yeah pretty much."

Reaper growled at them slightly, "just because I assisted Bau before, do not make the assumption we are allies. Furthermore, do you think we actually need your assistance to take down this place?" he said forcefully. "No, we don't," Nihlus said, "but this facility, just as the others, does not only perpetuate in the suffering of humans, but other species as well. There are people there who we want to rescue just as much as you do. You can count on that."

Reaper looked into his eyes for a moment, "very well, we will cooperate. But do not get in my way."

"So, do you have a possible point of entry?" Kaidan asked. Nihlus pointed to another flat ledge, several miles away. "There is a hidden hangar bay door built into that ledge, shuttles descend down a shaft to reach the landing bay. We could open the doors and descend down to gain access to the facility, but we wouldn't be able to do that without being detected," the Turian explained. "But we hear you got something which could shut down their sensors long enough for us to get in," said Vasir.

000

A while later the quartet landed on the subterranean landing pad. Vasir had used her biotics to slow both her descent and Nihlus', while Kaidan and Reaper had relied on their own. Kaidan quickly looked at his omni-tool, "we didn't trigger any alarms, there is no sign that they know we've infiltrated," he said. "Then let's get moving," the longer this mission went on the more impatient he was about finding Abigail.

They quickly found a terminal near the landing pad, and as before EDI used it to access the facilities systems and brought up and image of the structures layout, "that was quick," Vasir said, surprised, "what kind of VI are you using?" Reaper didn't respond at first, but he answered, "a model more advanced than anything the Citadel currently has," he stated simply, even if these two worked with Sha'ira, he wasn't going to reveal the existence of the AI that had proven herself to be one of Cerberus's biggest advantages. He turned his attention back to the map. "This seems to be the security station," Nihlus said, as he pointed to it on the map, "we should head there first, we should easily be able to find where they are keeping the prisoners."

Kaidan nodded while Reaper merely grunted in acknowledgement, "so do you two have tactical cloaks?" Kaidan asked the Spectres, who both looked to him incredulously, "what kind of stupid question is that?" Vasir said, "we're Spectres of course we have them, of course ours probably don't measure up to yours that well."

"Yet another reason I didn't think you coming with us was a good idea," Reaper grunted. "Oh come on, I'm sure you're warming up to us," Vasir joked, before immediately shutting up when Reaper turned to glare at her, his red eyes blazing.

An awkward silence persisted amongst the group until they arrived at the door of the security station. Reaper unlocked the door, to reveal four guards of different species. Two Turians, one Asari and a Salarian. They stared at the empty doorway, wondering if the door had malfunctioned. Suddenly one of the Turians was impaled through the chest by a red energy blade as Reaper became visible in front of them. Before the other three guards could scream in terror, the other Turian was felled by headshot courtesy of Nihlus, the Salarian found his throat slit due to Vasir and the Asari was sliced across the chest by Kaidan's katana.

Seeing that was all of them dealt with, they made their way over to the security monitors and began looking among them. "I found them," Vasir said, drawing attention to several screens showing a cellblock area, one containing children of various ages and species, "Spirits where did they get all of them?" Nihlus asked. "Reaper," EDI stated, audible only to him, "I have been going through these files, and I found a manifest of the prisoners here. A large portion of them were kidnapped, some as new-borns. They've practically been raised in this facility," she stated, John could swear he heard a great deal of disgust in her electronic voice, and he couldn't blame her, the sight of all these imprisoned children made him want to vomit. "Street kids, duct rats, orphans, there is no shortage of unsupervised children in this galaxy,"Kaidan stated, offering a suggestion, "I believe that would account for some of the prisoners," Reaper said, desperately trying to contain his anger, "Although I do not believe kidnapping is the most depraved depths the man running this facility would sink to."

Both Spectres gritted their teeth in anger, "Agonius," they both said. "I take it you're acquainted with him then?" "Much to our displeasure yes," Nihlus said, through his gritted teeth. "Him and Saren have butted heads for ages, mostly over the lengths that Agonius is willing to go to," Vasir added, "he also constantly uses his favour with the Council, to pursue his own twisted interests and constantly undermine us."

"Although, we never expected he'd convinced the Council to fund a project as large as this," Nihlus stated.

"Hey guys," Kaidan called out, "you might want to look at this," he pointed to the screen. They quickly assembled around it, the screen was showing what appeared to be a small sparring area, on one side was a preteen human boy facing a Turian girl of similar age. Agonius stood with his arm raised, flanked by several guards, standing off to the side. The Turian Spectre then dropped his arm and the two children immediately charged at each other. The human delivered a roundhouse kick, but the Turian blocked it. The Turian followed up with two punches but the human ducked under them, he then stood back up and delivered a punch to the Turian's chest and another to her face causing her to stagger backwards. The Turian then delivered a right hook to the human's face sending him backwards, then she grabbed the human by his shoulders and kneed him in the face, breaking his nose. The Turian charged forward, the human sweep kicked her off her feet, knocking her onto her back. He delivered several jabs to the Turian's chest, before grabbing her in a chokehold. The Turian child desperately struggled while the boy turned towards Agonius, who merely nodded. And without a moment's hesitation the child snaped the Turians neck.

As the body fell to the floor, the boy walked towards Agonius and stood at attention, as if he was a soldier. The Spectre, looked down at him, "tell me what you are?" he asked, his tone commanding, "I am a weapon intended to be utilised whenever it is desired," the boy replied, his tone emotionless. "What is your purpose?" Agonius asked again, "whatever you desire it to be sir," the boy replied again, his voice lacking anything. Agonius nodded before turning to two of the guards with him, "take him back to his cell, give him an extra ration for today." While they did so, he turned to the others, bring our newest acquisition, I think the Shepard girl should have another match."

In the security room, Vasir and Nihlus could only stare at the screen in absolute shock, Kaidan's expression can be seen behind his helmet, but his was the same. "Goddess damn that bastard," Vasir growled, as she slammed her fist on the desk, "he's been kidnapping all these kids, so he can brainwash them, turn them into soldiers."

"Boss, what's the pla-?" Kaidan turned to ask Reaper only to discover he was already gone. He stared at the vacant spot for a second before sighing, "well that's to be expected," he said.

John had set off the minute he had heard 'Shepard girl', and was now making his way to the location he had seen on the screen as fast as he could, while remaining hidden. "EDI, you checked all the systems, right?" he asked. "Affirmative, Reaper," she responded, "any failsafes?" he asked, dreading a repeat of what had happened at Klurikon. "I have identified such protocols, and have begun to disable them," she replied, "good."

John soon found himself at some manner of observation platform looking down at the sparring ring. Abigail was already there. Reaper gripped the railing in anger, the metal deforming beneath his clawed gauntlets as he saw the state of his youngest sister, she looked dishevelled and had several bruises and cuts visible on her body as well as a biotic suppression collar, locked around her neck. Other than that, she looked all right, she stood tall and glared at Agonius. Reaper restrained himself from immediately leaping over the railing and rescuing his sister, because if he did so before EDI disabled the fail safes, it would cost the lives of all the other prisoners held here.

A moment later a young Asari girl was pushed into the ring. Reaper guessed she must be less than forty, barely a teenager by her people's standards. Abigail looked at her and her face immediately softened, "we don't have to fight," she said calmly. The Asari only gave a dark chuckle, "you're new here. You still don't understand. If we don't fight, they'll kill us," she explained, her voice broken. "Correct," Agonius stated, "and I think it is time you learnt how things work here Abigail," his tone was that of a teacher disciplining a slightly disobedient student. He raised his arm up and then brought down signifying for the fight to start.

The Asari yelled and charged Abigail, she tried to deliver a biotic right hook, but the human enveloped her own arm in biotic energy and blocked the strike. The Asari tried to sweep kick her off her feet but Abigail jumped over it, she then delivered a punch to the Asari's chest, knocking her back, however Abbie didn't attack further, "I don't want to hurt you," she said. "But they want us to hurt each other," the Asari replied. She then lunged back at the human and delivered a roundhouse kick to her face. Abbie was knocked to the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood. The Asari charged again, and tried to curb stomp her. Abbie quickly rolled out the way, then spun around on her back knocking, the Asari's feet from under her and onto her back. Abigail jumped back to her feet and delivered a decisive biotic punch to her opponent's face. Blood began to pour from the Asari's nose as she lay there groaning. Behind him, Reaper could hear three sets of footsteps, quickly glancing over his shoulder to see that Kaidan and the two Spectres had caught up with him. "Good," Agonius said, even clapping slightly, "I see you share combat prowess with your older brother. Now finish her off," he stated, coldly. Abigail turned to glare at him, "no, you don't get to make my choices for me hinge head," she replied, and spat on the ground.

Agonius narrowed his eyes and walked towards her, he pressed a button on his omni-tool, activating her collar. The biotic glow around her faded as she gritted her teeth and dropped to a knee, as it administered an electric shock. The Turian then drew his pistol, despite the situation Abigail didn't show any fear, and merely continued to glare at him. "This is the cost of defiance girl," John was about to leap down there before the bastard could shoot his sister, but in a fluid moment he shifted his aim to the Asari, and fired a shot at her head.

However, the shot was absorbed by a biotic barrier. Agonius raise an eyebrow in curiosity, the Asari girl was just as confused as to why she was still alive. Turning his gaze forward again he saw Abigail Shepard with her arm outstretched, whisps of biotic energy dancing around her hand, despite the constant shock that was coming from her collar. Eventually she let her arm drop and began panting heavily. Agonius continued to stare at her, "take her back to her cell," he motioned to his guards to take the Asari girl away. As he walked away from Abbey, he addressed the four remaining guards, "teach her that things such as mercy and compassion, will be severely punished."

The four guards, one Asari and three Turians, surrounded her, still panting on her hands and knees. One of the Turians delivered a punch to her face, sending her flat onto the ground. All four of them began to laugh, as she pushed herself back onto her hands and knees. The Turian knelt down in front of her, "I got hand it to you Shepard, I know you haven't been with us that long, but most of these kids have already started breaking by now," he said, mockingly. Abigail actually gave a weak chuckle in response, "it's because I know the truth," she looked up at him, "you Citadel races really aren't as tough as you say you are." The Turian then grabbed her hair and pulled her head back, "I'm really looking forward to seeing that light inside you die," he said, sadistically. Abby glared back at him, "feel really brave picking on a little girl, you'd run like hell if I had glowing red eyes and a kick ass suit." The four guards fell silent at that, even Agonius, who had been watching stoically seemed to react slightly, then the guard burst out laughing, "is that what you believe, that Reaper and Cerberus are gonna come and save you?" he asked, between laughs. "Considering the massive number of people, he's already saved, I don't think it's a crazy leap," she said with a grin.

"Reaper, the fail safes are successfully disabled" EDI stated.

The other Turian guard, currently standing several feet behind Abigail, was still laughing, "yeah he'll break in and rescue you any second now," he said mockingly. He continued to laugh, but then he saw that something was suddenly overshadowing him, and that was the last thought that passed through his head as it was splattered on the floor under a metallic boot. "It would seem you are correct, vermin." Reaper stated.

The three guards only stared in shock, still trying to comprehend what had just happened. Abbie also stared at him, although more in surprise. Not wasting a second, Reaper gave primal roar, and charged at them. He delivered a left backhand into another Turian, sending him flying into a wall where he broke his neck. He activated his right blade and drove it into the chest of the Asari on his right. The surviving Turian, got his bearings and immediately tried to grab the girl in front of him, to use as a shield. He did not expect however the girl to actually deliver a punch to his chest, even more so he did not expect the blow to knock him onto his back. Unnoticed by anyone, was the small crack that appeared on his chest plate. Reaper stood over the scum who dared to harm his sister, he contemplated crushing the bastard's skull with his hands, but he had no desire to repeat the mistakes with Molly and have his sister witnessed such a horrific sight, so he merely drew one of his weapons and finished him off with a single headshot.

"Oh my God," Abbie whispered, "it really is you," a grin formed on her face. Reaper glanced at her, he felt a rage boil again as he saw the injuries she had, 'they would make her a slave…. who's only purpose will be to fight and die at their discretion. Make them suffer John…them and all who you would use your kind in such a way.' John didn't argue with the voice this time, or even try to suppress it, this time he couldn't help but agree with it. He grabbed the collar from both sides, "Keep still," he ordered, and in one swift motion broke it off her. She rubbed her throat, while Reaper turned his gaze towards Agonius, who stood there calmly as if an intruder had not just infiltrated his base. Reaper's eyes blazed as he imagined the Turian's expression turning to fear right before he died. "You don't seem surprised Agonius," Reaper stated, pushing Abbie behind him. "That would be because I am not," the Turian Spectre stated, "you have been successful in destroying each of the races most closely guarded secrets. So, when word reached me that the O.S.I had been attacked, I felt it prudent to prepare." He pressed a button on his omni-tool, and a second later Reaper heard dozens of footsteps running towards them. Dozen's of guards entered the room and took up positions in front of Agonius, all of them pointing their weapons at Reaper. But that was not all, as on the level Reaper had just jumped down from dozens of more guards appeared, effectively surrounding him on all sides. "Your accomplishments are impressive, but even the greatest enemy falls when you prepare for their coming," Agonius stated.

"There is correct, but you are making a dangerous assumption vermin. This time I picked up a few strays on the way here."

Suddenly the level above was filled with the sounds of high velocity slugs and the screams of the guards as Kaidan, Nihlus and Vasir made their presence known.

Nihlus held a heavy pistol in his left hand and a submachine gun in his right. He opened fire on the guards, cutting half a dozen of them down in the first volley. The rest began to regain their bearings and returned fire, but the Spectre ducked behind a corner, while the at same time priming a grenade and throwing it. The explosion consumed several guards, while knocking many more off their feet. This confusion allowed Nihlus to charge forward. An Asari was pushing herself back up, when Nihlus ran past her and without looking, pointed his pistol behind him and finished her with a headshot. He kicked a Turian in the chest and finished him off with a burst from his submachine gun. He then holstered both weapons and unholstered a Trennien shotgun. Holding it one-handed, he blasted the head off a Salarian, then quickly spun to his side and fired again into the chest of another Turian, before sending his body over the railing.

Meanwhile Vasir had drawn both her knives and was skilfully making her way through the guards. She drove one into the jugular of a Turian, then sliced the throat of a Salarian. An Asari stood before her, she threw both her knives forward and her opponent raised a biotic barrier in the hopes of defending herself, forgetting that the blades moved too slowly to be effectively stopped, as both became embedded in her chest. Vasir saw two other guards behind the Asari taking aim. She quickly rushed forward and reclaimed her daggers then surrounded herself with a blue aura, and propelled herself forward with a biotic charge, appearing behind the two, her daggers dripping. For a moment they were both motionless, until blood began to pour from their throats and they fell to the ground. A Turian jumped out of cover and was about to open fire on her, but without batting an eye, Vasir through one of her knives, skewering him in the forehead.

Kaidan was also getting up close and personal. He severed the gun arm of a Turian with his katana and then decapitated him, without missing a beat, he then slashed across the chest of an Asari, and impaled a Salarian through the chest. Several of the guards opened fire, but their attacks were futile against both Kaidan's biotic barrier and his armour. Kaidan surrounded his left fist with blue energy and slammed a Turian's head into the wall crushing it. Seeing the rest in front of him, he charged up his sword and launch the energy forward, causing a sizeable explosion that consumed all the guards in front of him and even destroyed a portion of the railing. During the small pause in fighting, Kaidan glanced at the floor below, more specifically at Abigail Shepard. 'John must have been so concerned about her safety that he thankfully didn't notice It,' Kaidan thought, and his expression was one of grave concern, 'dammit we can't let him find out about this.'

While the troops on the ground floor where momentary shocked at what had happened to their allies, Reaper decided to use the window opportunity. 'Kill them all John, make them pay,' the voice bellowed in his ear, and John almost lunged forward in response to it. But at the last second, he stopped himself, he glanced over his shoulder at Abbie, he couldn't let his anger and desire for revenge put her in danger. He spun around and picked her up, seeing him move, the guards in front of him regained their wits and began to fire, but Reaper raised a barrier, protecting both of them. He quickly ducked into a small hallway and set Abbie down. "Stay here," he ordered her. He then turned his attention back to the guards, still firing on his position, it was at this point John noticed that Agonius was no longer there. Resigning himself to track down the monster responsible for this afterwards, he launched himself at them with a biotic charge, sending those in the closest proximity to him sprawling. He ignited both his blades and drove them into the chest of the two guard in front of him and hurled them into the air. Before the two bodies hit the ground, he reformed the blades into massive clawed hands, and began swinging his arms in wide arcs, slicing through several guards at a time. A Turian's headless corpse fell to the ground, an Asari screamed as she clutched her severed arm, the wound cauterised. Another Turian was practically bisected, while a Salarian was shredded. The claws vanished as Reaper grabbed two more guards and drained the life out of them, dropping the withered husks to the ground. Several of the surviving guards stared in horror at the gruesome sight. They lost what little courage they had and began to run. But there was no escape for them, two where downed by knives hitting them between the shoulder blades, others were gunned down, and a few were enveloped by a slash of blue energy, as Kaidan and the two spectres jump down to join Reaper, having finished all the guards on the upper level.

"Well I don't know about you, but I found that rather enjoyable," joked Vasir. Reaper turned his gaze upon her and she flinched lightly, "we are not finished yet," he stated, "Reaper is correct, Agonius fled the fight. We need to find him, we cannot let him escape," said Nihlus. "He could be anywhere in the facility by now, how do we find him?" Kaidan asked the obvious question.

"Let go of me you jerk," they all turned their heads at the sound of Abbie's distressed voice. Racing after it they headed down the hall where John had left her, and turning a corner they saw Agonius holding her in a chokehold, dragging her along. Although for some reason he was sporting a nasty bruise on his face. He paused to stare at the four of them, his gaze lingering on his fellow Spectres, "Vasir, Kryik, conspiring with terrorists now, I am certain that's paramount to treason against the Citadel Council," he said, dryly. The two of them narrowed their eyes at him and gritted their teeth, "true, but so is kidnapping and murder, along with all the other shit you do to get your kicks, bastard," Vasir remarked, her voice full of venom. Agonius growled at her in response, "whatever personal issues you have with me Asari, let me assure you my work here is for the salvation of all who live within Citadel space," he responded. "Spare us your delusions of righteousness, they are merely an excuse to justify your abominable actions!" Reaper yelled. "Indeed," Nihlus joined in, "what threat to the Citadel Council could possibly require course of action such as this?" he asked in disgust.

Agonius sneered at them, "the Councillors are fools. They do not know what it is to fight against the adversaries of the Citadel face-to-face. They fail to see the danger that is already upon their very doorstep." He turned his gaze to Reaper, "humanity assembles an army that continues to expand, yet they are quick to dismiss it as a mere band of irritations, even after successful attacks on the homeworlds themselves," he growled before pausing for a second, "but that is not their greatest folly, no. The greatest folly is believing the Batarian's are content to be equals with them, it is not in the nature of those four eyed Bastards to work alongside others. With them, there is only serving under. They may act like companions now, but they too are making plans. That is the purpose of my work here, to create a fighting force capable of defending the Citadel from any threat," he said the last part with a great deal of pride.

Kaidan and the two Spectres were staring at him in shock, while Reaper had his fist clenched in rage. "You want them to fight….and to die for the institution responsible for all of their suffering!" he roared, "that is why you tore these families apart! Damn you, they are just kids!"

Agonius gave a small smile, "and that is the most important thing, because kids…are cruel."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Reaper asked, forcefully.

Agonius' grin widened, "all beings are remorseless by nature, but it is something we lose touch with as we are constrained by the laws and morals of our civilisations. But children can be moulded to commit all manner of despicable acts. They can be made to believe that things such as morality are a weakness." He quickly glanced down at Abigail who was still struggling in a chokehold, "although unfortunately sometimes the most promising talent has already been tainted with such beliefs, therefore you have two put considerable effort into removing them."

"And this…. this makes them your 'ideal fighting force' then?" Kaidan asked the tautly, his voice full of disgust.

"Of course," the Turian replied without missing a beat, "they will be much more effective soldiers, if they have no concept of mercy, no concept of surrender, no concept of failure."

"You're telling me that the armies of the Turian Hierarchy don't already fit that criteria."

Agonius sneered back at him, "not enough," he turned his attention back towards his two fellow Spectres, "That is why my actions, as monstrous as you say they are, are necessary. Someday these children will save all of Citadel space, because of me."

"That's rather amusing," Reaper stated, "coming from someone who is not going to live to see tomorrow."

"You really think I've just been enjoying a monologue in your presence Reaper?" Agonius replied, with a sadistic smirk. Suddenly Reaper registered dozens of footsteps coming from both directions, and soon they were surrounded by figures. All four of them prepared their weapons, but immediately stopped, seeing who their opponents were.

They were all human teenagers, wearing what looked to be combat uniforms, and carrying weapons like pistols and submachine guns. Their faces were set in stone, showing no emotion.

"Soldiers, your assignment is to eliminate these four intruders. Use any means necessary. Failure is not an option," Agonius ordered, as he retreated behind the group still dragging Abigail, who was staring at the assembled child soldiers in shock.

"Yes sir," they all responded in unison, and proceeded to open fire.

The four rescuers, immediately erected biotic barriers, protecting them from the initial volley, but they knew it would hold forever. "We don't want to hurt any of you!" Kaidan called out to them, "we came here to rescue all of you," he pleaded with them to stop.

But one, a 15-year-old, dark-haired boy, simply responded, "we will carry out our mission. Failure is not an option."

Reaper growled in anger at the situation they had been forced into, "disarm them," he told the other three, "do what you need, to subdue them, but try not to hurt them too badly."

He quickly grabs a pistol out of the nearest kid's hand and crushed it, he then ignited his blade, carefully sliced through a submachine gun, rendering it useless. He expected the two kids to back off, but they began to try and engage him in hand-to-hand combat. Reaper actually found their pitiful attempts rather disturbing. The boy who had spoken earlier delivered a barrage of punches into his chest, uncaring of the blood running down his knuckles and the several fingers he had broken against his armour. A girl tried to sweep kicking him off his feet, and he swore he heard a small crack as her shin collided with his boot. Deciding to act before the seriously hurt themselves. He caught a punch aimed at him by another young boy, then delivered a karate chop to his neck, it wasn't nearly enough to seriously hurt him but it knocked him to the ground, groaning. The girl was limping towards him, but he easily sidestepped around her, and struck the back of the head to stun her. He then turned his attention back to the first boy, who charged at him. Reaper delivered a palm strike to boy's chest, sending him skidding across the floor gasping for breath.

Looking behind him, he saw that his comrades had decided to follow his example. Kaidan used his katana to slice through the children's weapons, before striking them in precise positions to temporally paralyse their muscles. Nihlus was using some impressive martial art skills to disarm the kids, then he attacked them with moves that would cause no lasting harm, but left them unable to successfully fight back. Vasir used her biotics to paralyse the children with a stasis attack, then once they were disarmed, she used a shockwave to knock them into the wall.

Reaper looks forward again and made to pursue Agonius and rescue his sister, when the boy he had just knocked down stood back up again. He still wore a vacant expression despite the pain he must've been in with his ragged breathing, "I will... not... fail…my mission," he said between pants. He charged at Reaper again and tried to throw a punch, but the armoured behemoth easily caught it and threw the boy onto his back. Reaper then stepped past the downed boy, "stay down kid, I promise we will do whatever we can to help you," he stated, 'I've already wasted two much time with this, I can't let that bastard escape with Abbey."

"Failure….failure is not an option," Reaper turned around to face him again and saw that the boy had pulled a small knife and was looking directly at him, he expected the boy to attack again but instead he kept talking, "failure is not tolerated," his voice sounded like it was trembling now, "I failed to stop you. I have failed my mission. Failures do not have the right to exist." Reaper's eyes widened behind this helmet as he realised what the boy was talking about, "wait don't!" he yelled, and rushed towards him, but it was too late. The boy pressed the knife against his throat and dragged it across.

Reaper cradled the boy as blood poured out of the massive gash, and he began to choke on it. "Stay with me! We will get you medical attention! We can…." but there was nothing that could be done as the child breathed his last. Reaper held the corpse, showing no reaction. He slowly raised his head, to see the other three staring at the body with the same shock he felt. A second realisation suddenly hit him, one just as horrific, as he saw the other injured children beginning to move. "Stun them! Stun them now!" he yelled.

Kaidan and Nihlus immediately aimed their weapons, switched to stun rounds, and soon rendered all the children unconscious. Reaper gently laid the boy down, before he sprang to his feet and turned in the direction Agonius had gone, "restrain them," he ordered the two Spectres, before turning to his friend, "Kaidan, relay this to Miranda. When releasing any prisoners, watch for signs of hostility and more importantly self-harm." He then belted down the hallway. "Reaper, wait…" Kaidan said as he started after him.

While sprinting down the hallway, Reaper asked EDI, "do you have a location on Agonius and Abbey?" "Yes," the AI responded, "he is entering an elevator, down the hallway on your right."

"You are still in control of the bases systems correct?" "Affirmative," "then disable it," "acknowledged."

Turning the corner, Reaper saw Agonius trying to activate the elevator, still restraining his sister in a chokehold. Upon seeing him, Agonius quickly pressed his pistol against her temple, causing Reaper to stop. The Turian chuckled at him, "you know everyone talks about what an unfeeling monster you are. But the truth is, your soft."

"I suppose you would know about unfeeling. Ripping families apart. Twisting those children until…. until…." he couldn't finish. "Failures have no worth. But I will be sure to learn from them when I restart this project."

'The fool believes he will leave here alive,' the voice whispered in his head.

"Restart?" Abbey asked, her voice weak.

"Indeed, when I show the preliminary results to the Council, they will be more than willing to fund a new facility. One way or another my work will prevail, my army will come into being."

Reaper clenched his fist in anger, he prepared to draw one of his weapons and kill Agonius with a headshot, but then something unexpected happened.

"No, it won't," Abbey said, "you're not going to hurt anybody else!" she yelled. Her hand became covered in a blue biotic aura, and with an incredibly fast movement she grabbed Agonius hand and shoved his pistol away, causing it to fire over her head. The Spectre was so surprised by this that he failed to notice the girls other arm become covered in the same blue aura and elbow him in the chest. For some reason the blow sent him staggering backwards. Not giving him the chance to recover, she delivered a biotic punch to his chest, sending him crashing through the elevator doors and into the elevator itself. unseen by either of the other two, was the faint blue glow emanating from the girl's eyes. Abigail gave several pants, before exhaustion finally overcame her and she fell forward. Thankfully Reaper was able to catch his sister before she hit the ground.

For a moment he just held her, thankful beyond belief that he had been able to save her. He tightened his hug around her slightly and cradled her head.

He heard groaning and narrowed his eyes as he saw Agonius coughing up blood inside the elevator, he slowly laid his unconscious sister down and made his way over to the monster responsible for her suffering. The Turian was still slumped against the back wall of the elevator, clutching what John assumed were fractured ribs, despite that he glared defiantly at the human, "my plan will not be stopped. I will create a force capable of defending the Citadel. I will save this galaxy," he raved like a madman. Reaper wanted to reach out and drain the life out of this deluded monster, but even though Abbey seemed unconscious right now, he didn't want to run the risk of her witnessing it. So instead, red energy crackled around his palm forming a small red sphere, the size of a ping-pong ball. He then lowered it until it rested on the floor of the elevator, just at Agonius' feet.

"Humans have a saying. Pride always comes…" as he spoke, he slammed his claws into the elevator control panel and channelled a large amount of energy into it. Cutting out the mass effect field generator which helps move the elevator and its emergency brakes. "…..before the fall."

Agonius' eyes widened in horror for a second, before he screamed as the elevator rapidly fell to the bottom of the shaft. Reaper looked down the shaft watching it vanish from sight, until he heard a resounding crash echo upwards, deciding not to take any chances Reaper clenched his fist, and an explosion could be heard from the bottom.

He immediately turned his attention back to his sister, and once again pulled her unconscious form into an embrace.

Meanwhile Kaidan stood watching them, his eyes fixed on Abigail, having witnessed what she had just done. 'This will be really bad if he finds out,' he internally voiced his concerns.

000

Several hours later, the facility had been successfully evacuated of all prisoners. Thankfully there had been no more casualties, but a considerable number of the prisoners had to be kept restrained and sedated.

Reaper was currently looking out of the shuttle, that was hovering high above the mountains where the facility was located. "So should we commence an orbital bombardment?" Kaidan asked. "The facility was built under mountains. The bombardments would take a few days to do any meaningful damage. So, I've already taken care of it." With that he clenched his fist, several muffled explosions could be heard and suddenly it looked like several mountains began to cave in on themselves.

000

Location: The Normandy, CIC.

Time: 2200 CST

Date: 17th November

Miranda was looking at the information they had recovered from the base, hopeful that they would be able to return some of these children to their families.

"Miss Lawson," EDI said, "I believe there is something you should see."

Miranda turned her attention to screen the AI had brought, up playing a vid, as she watched her eyes widened in horror, "damn them," she said to gritted teeth.