Cerberus Headquarters II
With nothing left to slow us down, my team charged on until we reached the top level and passed through a doorway that took us into an observation deck that overlooked the Proto-Reaper. The room was complete with dozens of computers and equipment that I was sure even the most in-the-know dignitaries were unaware of. At the end of the deck, EDI pointed out, was the door which would take us to the Illusive Man's private quarters, and the Prothean VI.
"The security measures in place here are highly advanced," EDI said when we reached the door, "The Illusive Man has used Reaper upgrades to secure his quarters."
"You saying you can't get through?" James said.
"It… will take me longer than I expected."
EDI began her work to unlock the door but turned to me,
"Commander, there is data on these terminals that you may find interesting. Activating the nearest console now."
A screen flickered into life not far from us and I headed over, full of curiosity. Before me was a huge series of files, several terabytes worth, compiled together including journal entries, video logs, requisition orders and status updates all dated across a time span of two years. The first entry was dated at the end of Twenty-one-eighty-three and the last was almost a year ago in Twenty-one-eighty-five. My eyes took in all the information as I slowly came to comprehend what it was that I was seeing. The realisation hit me with the force of a charging Krogan as my eyes read over the name of the operation that all this data belonged to.
"Project Lazarus."
The cyber-defences in place were giving EDI trouble and for all her efforts she was taking an agonising amount of time to unlock those blasted doors. While keeping an eye out for Cerberus reinforcements, I was still captivated by the wealth of data in front of me, all about my reconstruction. It was a literal treasure trove of proof that I had indeed been killed and brought back by the efforts of Miranda and Project Lazarus.
"EDI, any chance you could make a copy of this data and send it to my private extranet address?"
I saw this as the perfect opportunity to get hard evidence that would silence all the sceptics out there forever.
"Making the copy now, Commander," she replied while still working on the door's security, "however, I require most of my processing power to break through the locks."
"Let the lady work, Loco," James grinned. Knowing that I should let EDI focus on our true mission, I could not help but scroll through the names of the files, skim reading them and tracking Cerberus' progress as they searched for, found and began work on my broken corpse. I even saw the files where Miranda logged working with Liara when they began their operation, which included Feron, to recover me. However, I came to one file titled "Subject Damage Assessment" and opened it up as Tali and Liara came to see for themselves what I had found.
It was a video log and I saw Miranda and a team of Cerberus scientists, including the would-be-turncoat Wilson, as they gathered around a stasis pod that had just arrived on the Lazarus station with Miranda's ship. I knew that Miranda had only been able to get my body because Feron and Liara had broken into one of the old Shadow Broker's bases and been able to snatch it right out from under the very noses of the Collectors.
"We need to see what kind of condition the Commander is in before we can plan our program for reconstruction," Miranda told everyone. She sent a signal to the stasis pod and after a hiss and a crack, the pod was unlocked. The camera taking the vid was right over my metal coffin and the lid was removed, revealing me underneath.
"Goddess," Liara gasped when she saw what remained of me after my unceremonious crash on Alchera.
"How could anyone ever recover from that?" Tali asked as we all took in the horrific sight.
The mess of burnt, torn meat and fragmented bones in the pod could hardly even be recognised as a person at all. My skin was charred black in places, and dead grey in others where decay had begun to set in before my body must have been found. There were entire muscle groups missing and I could see the bottom of the pod through my own body where there was a gaping hole at my shoulder. My hand flew up to my shoulder instantly as I felt a curious need to see if it was still there. My face was a mangled wreck of bone and twisted flesh with nothing even nearly resembling what I looked like. I could never tell anyone what was going through my mind at this moment. It was simply beyond explanation to watch a bunch of scientists fuss and speculate over my own ruinous self. It actually made me doubt myself as I thought of Tali's words. How could anyone recover from something as ultimately fatal as that?
My entire left foot and ankle was missing from my body and I realised that I had never felt any different to how I was before I was rebuilt. I wriggled the toes on my left foot and then my right to see if I could feel a difference, but there was none. My left foot was obviously one-hundred percent artificial. From cybernetics and metal bone implants to the synthetic layer of skin that fused seamlessly with my real skin further up my leg. Not once had I felt anything strange there, but now that I knew, it really bothered me. Just how fake was I? Whatever bone I could see on my corpse was shattered to thousands of pieces or just not there at all.
I also noticed that my trigger finger was gone as well. A part of me that I had used a million times since I had been reborn and not noticed anything funny at any time. Was any of this actually real, or was I just some advanced VI that thought it was Commander Gardner?
"Keelah I cannot imagine anything this horrible, Scott. Are you ok?" Tali asked with grave concern as she gazed at my haunted expression.
"I… I don't know," was my honest answer, "I can't even process this! Am I really alive? Is this just some simulation? Look at the state of me, I am completely dead there. There's almost nothing left to even distinguish me as a person."
Liara was pained to see this footage, but there was also a small comfort to be had for her,
"I never supported Cerberus, but I'm glad that I gave you to them. I never saw your remains until now… they were able to bring you back to us, Scott. The first time I saw you again on Illium, I knew that it was really you."
"You are real, Scott," Tali put a calming hand on my arm, "real, and mine."
Feeling like I had literally had a bombshell dropped on me, I let the vid play a little more as the scientists gave their opinions about their new test subject.
"The helmet must have kept the brain largely intact, for whatever good that will do," one man said with a rather doubtful tone.
"You have something to say, Andrew?" Miranda curtly replied.
"Look at him, Ma'am. We cannot overcome nature. It's not a matter of resources like the Illusive Man thinks. Commander Gardner is gone. The cloning project may be our better option."
"It's always a matter of resources," Miranda said, though I felt that it was the Illusive Man's words that she was repeating from a conversation of her own with her boss. "We will do whatever it takes to bring the Commander back. And it will not be a cheap knock-off. The galaxy needs heroes and the real Commander is the best we've got. This is for the good of humanity, for our future survival as a species. The Reapers are on their way and we will need a leader to fight them. Now… if we are done squealing about the task ahead, I say we all get to it. Move!"
The vid ended and the next one was about to play, but I stopped it before I had to see more. I could not physically watch anymore of this right now and when both Liara and Tali tried to comfort me, I gently shrugged them off, assured them I was fine, and returned to EDI. My head was swimming with questions and doubts but this was not the time to try to find answers. This was the time to end Cerberus, finish the Illusive Man and his insane crusade against the galaxy before retrieving the Prothean VI and bringing an end to the Reapers. EDI took a little while longer, but I knew that all of my team had had a peek at my broken body and were astounded that I was even alive. Garrus was looking at me in a new light and I returned my old friend's stare.
"The mess that the Collectors made of you," he said, "and all they did was piss you off! I'd say you got your revenge on them pretty good."
The door suddenly flew open and I ushered my team through before I said to the Turian,
"On the Collectors… yeah. But I'm looking forward to getting revenge on the Illusive Man more!"
Through the door was a path that bridged an empty space below and was flanked on either side by a drop of at least two-hundred metres with no railing to stop anyone falling. The path was only wide enough for two people to walk abreast and we found yet another door at the other end. I feared that we would be stopping for another infuriating pause soon, but the door opened wide as soon as EDI touched it and my team charged on through. This was it!
Beyond the door was the Illusive Man's private office, but there was no sign of the man himself. Javik went through the door as I covered our rear and moved to follow him, only to have the doors slam shut right in my face. I was separated from my squad and I could not get the door open again and neither could any of my friends on the other side.
"Anything, EDI?" I said over the comm, the door being too thick to be able to hear another voice on the other side.
"Negative, Commander," she replied, her voice fuzzy and fading quickly, "the door is completely sealed and I cannot gain access. I am also having trouble staying connected to…"
"…Your signal," another voice said from behind me. I spun around with my Mattock raised to see none other than Kai Leng striding towards me from the first door with his sword drawn. What light there was in the chamber glinted off the cold blade as its wielder twirled it around. The Cerberus assassin closed in on me, his eyes never straying from me and his left hand outstretched ready to block any bullets I fired. He was about to continue talking, no doubt trash talking shit that I had no time for, so I simply opened fire without hesitation. I wanted this bastard dead!
Kai Leng had predicted my immediate response and threw up his barrier, deflecting even my modded ammunition and sending them pinging off into the walls around us. He stepped one way and my rifle followed, but it was a faint and a spinning kick from the assassin sent my Mattock sailing out of my hands and disappearing into the empty void below us. That rifle had been with me since I been brought back to life by Miranda, and had seen me through the most insane missions that the galaxy had ever seen. That was my rifle, and now Kai Leng had just taken it from me. I had formed a heck of an attachment to my weapons and Zaeed briefly flashed through my mind as he treated his good old Jessie with such love and attention.
My whole body boiled as I wanted to tear this man apart limb from limb. My hate for Kai Leng surging through me. But it was too much and I was not in full control of myself. I launched punches that did not connect or kicked out only to have Kai Leng slink away and come charging swiftly back at me. He got me with a leg sweep and knocked me on my back, my head dangling over the edge of the walkway. I scrambled away from the edge, but Kai Leng was not about to give me a chance to get back to my feet and he lunged at me, blade extended. I turned just in time and the tip of the sword glanced off of my chest-plate, but Leng's fist followed quickly and cracked me right across my face. Dizzy from the impact, I barely saw the second hammer blow coming in and I felt blood explode all over my face and the area around my nose was ablaze with pain.
"This is better than Thessia," I heard Leng hiss at me, "more personal."
"You were… quick to run on Thessia," I gurgled, "gonna at least try to stick around to finish the job this time?"
I knew that he had wanted nothing more than to eliminate me on the Asari homeworld, but had to leave once he had the Prothean VI. The crumbling temple may have been a factor in ending our fight. Now, he was relishing the chance to take me out and as we struggled, he was smiling.
"You're gonna die like your pet Drell," he growled, "he was weak. And that bitch Miranda should have followed him."
That was when my Omni blade flared up and cut the Cerberus operative across the top of his arm as he dodged me. Kai Leng did not scream in pain or come slashing back at me in blind fury as blood ran down his arm. I hoped that he would have been thrown off balance and I would be able to exploit an opening to finish him. Instead, he became more focused and I had to be doubly careful to counter his attacks. He was deadlier now, but so was I. The fact that he dared to even mention Thane, a true friend and a hero, had me absolutely enraged. Instead of consuming me, however, the rage made me sharper and more alert to everything that Kai Leng was doing.
The Cerberus assassin constantly had me on the back foot, on the defensive as I struggled to gauge where his next attack was coming from. Teetering perilously close to the edge at times, I had to bludgeon my way back to the centre of the walkway lest I follow my trusty Mattock down to the bottom and make a nice red splat at the bottom. I was managing to hold my ground and Kai Leng was definitely wary of my lethal Omni blade. The blade made purely of concentrated energy would slice through anything with complete ease. No armour could stop it and his own sword would be slashed in two like paper if he tried to parry a blow from me. While Kai Leng and I battled it out on the walkway, trading powerful punches or trying to force each other off the side my radio was going crazy with static as my team desperately tried to contact me. A couple of times I could have sworn that I heard heavy thumping noises coming from the door into the Illusive Man's office as my team tried to open the doors with raw firepower. They were not getting through those doors. I was going to have to fight this fight myself.
I made an over-head swing but Leng got inside it and blocked me, thrusting his sword at my gut. I weaved aside quickly, but Kai Leng used the momentum of my movement to throw me on my back again. I went with it and rolled up onto my feet again, ready to meet the assassin as he came for me. He took a swing at me with his sword and I blocked him, receiving a knee to my gut. From there, Kai Leng did a back flip and kicked me in the chin as he did so which sent me reeling again.
I was taking a beating and could not match his martial skills, but then I remembered something about him. Anderson had said that he had once shot Leng in both of his legs and the fact that he was so agile could only have been down to cybernetic enhancements. Never-the-less, his knees could still be his weak point and I made them my priority target. I had my Omni blade raised high and when Leng attacked he instinctively poised himself to counter any attack from my arms, but when I suddenly struck out with my foot and hit his right knee with a crushing blow he crumbled instantly. Realising his mistake, he was able to leap back up again, though I noticed now the pained expression on his face and his slightly awkward stance. I had struck a critical hit.
The fight between Kai Leng and I was brutal. Both of us wanted to kill the other without mercy or remorse for our own sides in this war. He wanted me dead for his own sense of self-pride, and I wanted him dead to avenge Thane and all the innocent people who had perished during Cerberus' coup on the Citadel. Both of us were battered and bleeding. My broken nose made my eyes water and my face feel numb which served to seriously disorientate me, but I had to keep going. He had martial skill and agility over me, but I had the advantage in strength and my vast array of cybernetics made me a lot tougher than anything Kai Leng had found himself facing off against before.
Leng's elbow connected with the back of my neck and sent me spinning around, but I knew that his blade would be following and reactivated my Omni blade in the path that his precious weapon was coming. My weapon seared straight through his and the top half went spiralling down into the abyss below, clanking off the metal walls as it went. Kai Leng was enraged and the remaining half of the sword was flung at my face, the remaining edge still deadly if it had caught me.
"The Illusive Man didn't need to bring you back, Gardner!" Leng spat at me as his foot crashed into my shin and knocked my leg out from under it. "I should've been the one to take down the Collectors!"
"So you're just a jealous fanboy now!" I ripped into him. "Couldn't handle it that the Illusive Man found a new favourite!"
"What's so special about you? You're nothing but an Alliance dog. A pet for the Council! I'm the one fighting for the advancement and purity of Humanity."
"So you and your boss are getting friendly with the Reapers?" I shouted, "is that looking out for Humanity?"
"What do you know?" Leng roared as he hit me in the gut. He tried a follow-up punch but I was able to block it and use his own momentum to force him back. He continued to bellow at me,
"What did you do when Earth got attacked? Cured the Genophage for the Krogan, stopped the Geth from wiping out their foolish creators! You've done nothing for your own kind! We will be the ones to lead Humanity to the next age!"
Kai Leng was growing more emotional, angrier by the second and his fighting was becoming more desperate as he lunged and swung ever more clumsily. All I had to do was wait for that one opening.
"You're slaves!" I shouted at Leng, "you're all indoctrinated puppets doing exactly what the Reapers want."
I dodged an incoming fist, took a step passed him and planted my elbow right into his jaw with shattering consequences. Leng spun around to face me, spitting blood from his mouth as he prepared himself to renew his attack.
"I am no one's slave!" he growled.
"I've seen your files, Leng," I wore a cocky grin now, he would not be expecting this. "You were in the Alliance, hot-headed and thought they should give you everything you asked for. But then you got dishonourably discharged and imprisoned for murdering a Krogan. You escaped, but you were a down-and-out nothing! A worthless loser until the Illusive Man picked you up. Whether you like it or not, he manipulated you into his most loyal subject. You're his bitch!"
Leng roared in fury and threw a flurry of punches, some catching me while I was able to deflect others.
"You thought you were his number one guy… but he still chose me and Miranda over you to take it to the Collectors. And now, to top it all off, you're hearing the Reapers in your head doling out the orders! And you obey… because you have no choice. You always were and always will be nothing more than someone else's mindless slave!"
Leng kicked low and caught me in the side of the leg, bowling me over onto my ass. The Cerberus Assassin leapt on top and started hammering me with his fists again. Until, with a freak suddenness, he came to a complete stop.
The assassin's body jolted at the shock of my Omni blade embedding itself in his abdomen, ripping and burning his flesh with every move either of us made. I withdrew the blade and whacked him with a solid punch that sent him flying onto his back. It took a couple of attempts as my head was still spinning, but I staggered to my feet and slowly made my way over to Kai Leng as he lay there, my Omni blade still active. Leng coughed and spluttered and I saw blood oozing from his mouth and pool beside his head. I knelt beside him and he tried to lift a hand to fend me off, but I roughly grabbed it and forced it back down, brandishing my blade in front of his face. I was going to enjoy killing this man.
Then Kai Leng laughed.
"You don't get it do you…" Leng wheezed, "it's already done. The Illusive Man is ready to deliver us victory. Cerberus will save Humanity."
"Where is he?" I grabbed Kai Leng by his neck. Leng just continued to laugh, bordering on hysterical, until I punched him hard. "Where. Is. He?"
It was too late. Kai Leng was fading fast and I could see him slipping away, but he was not getting off that easily. I pulled him up until I was face to face with him, making sure that he could still see and hear me.
"This is for Thane, you fucking cunt!"
I drove my Omni blade straight up through the bottom of his chin and into the centre of his head, holding it there so that it fried every inch of flesh and grey matter that it touched.
Kai Leng's face was a harrowing image of suffering and blind terror as I continued to inch my heated blade into his brain. Eventually his body stopped jerking and lay still. The feeling of relief that I felt then could never be described. I knew that I had just removed one of the worst people ever to exist from the galaxy. If it had not been for his actions on Thessia, we could have already had the Catalyst for the Crucible and been ready to strike at the Reapers. If not for Kai Leng, then Thane could still have been alive. My killing him was justice for so many souls that, in my mind, it justified the brutal execution that I had just carried out. He had to feel the pain that he had inflicted on so many others in the name of his master.
With the fight over, all my senses seemed to return and the agony returned. It all came from my broken nose and other parts of my body where I had been flipped, kicked punched, kneed and elbowed. I wiped my face, and when my hand came away it was covered in blood and I felt it running down my face for the first time. A slight twinge when I tried to flex my facial muscles told me that my cybernetics seemed to have flared up again and were slowly cooking any flesh that touched them.
Only now, while I knelt beside the corpse of my most hated enemy, did the door to the Illusive Man's office open again and the squad came rushing out to find me. The shock on their faces when I stood up and turned to face them was plain as daylight. Blood all over me, my glowing eyes and still breathing heavily like a predator who had just chased down its prey.
"Keelah! Scott, are you alright?" Tali came rushing over to me. I threw an arm around her and tried to speak but instead accidently drooled blood onto the floor beneath me. The urge to be sick was strong, but my whole team was watching me with grave concern, so I fought the temptation and took large breaths to stabilise myself while Garrus applied medi gel to my worst wounds.
"Thanks, Garrus," I said. We both looked down at Kai Leng and Garrus actually started chuckling,
"Well at least you took care of lieutenant-bastard Kai Leng… now we just need to do the same to his general!"
Suddenly, I remembered what Leng had said, that the Illusive Man was already carrying out whatever mad scheme he had come up with.
"We need to hurry!" I marched back into the office. All the consoles and holo-screens were active but I could see no trace of the Prothean VI or any data mentioning the Catalyst. "What did you guys get while you were in here?"
"I was on the verge of finding what we were looking for when I detected that the door was no longer locked," EDI said. "It must have been hard-locked via Kai Leng's Omni tool and ceased to function when you killed him. We were concerned for you, Commander."
"I'm ok, EDI," I sighed, "but thanks."
I quickly sent an update to Hackett to tell him we had reached our target and were in the process of finding the last piece of our puzzle. The end was near at hand.
EDI got back to work on finding the prized Prothean data while the rest of us either watched the door for incoming reinforcements or gazed out at the last stages of the battle in space. The Cerberus fleet was little more than blasted wreckage as pieces of their ships floated gently by, interrupted by the occasional explosion as another of their fighters was shot down. All of this happening in front of the massive sun that was Anadius. It all must have been such an insignificant fight to such an expansive entity.
"Your nose…" Tali looked scared. "Is it sore? Can I help?"
"I'm ok, Tali," I reassured her. My face felt like it was covered in encrusted blood so I used my water bottle to give it a quick rinse. In truth, it hurt like hell. But none of us needed to worry about that right now with haste being the call of the day. Tali still looked at me, knowing that I was lying about how much pain I was in, but I just smiled and said,
"Remember, I've survived a lot worse."
Tali shook her head but laughed slightly,
"You're an awful man."
From where I stood in the Illusive Man's shiny office with huge windows and reflective roofing and flooring, I could just see Kai Leng's corpse lying where we had left him.
"I…" I hesitated as I looked at him, "I enjoyed killing him, Tali. I know I shouldn't enjoy such a thing but…"
My wife looked back at the body and considered what must have been going through my head,
"You did the right thing, Scott," she said with a soft voice, then she grew sterner. "I would have enjoyed taking him down too. He was our enemy, a slave to the Reapers that would have fought us until the end."
"To think what you were like when we first met on the Citadel all those years ago," I grinned happily, "now you're my badass wife!"
"Well, I did spend a lot of time watching you when you weren't looking," she smiled under the mask, "had to pick up at least some skills."
A fresh dribble of blood ran from my smashed nose and I had to wash it away as Tali looked on with concern.
"Come on," I gently rubbed her back, "let's get this done."
In the very centre of the spacious room was that chair that I had always seen the Illusive Man casually reclining in whenever I had reported in to him. The drink holder on one arm and the ashtray, clean and empty, on the other. Now it sat alone while EDI worked on the holographic interfaces next to it. Watching her work, I sat down and felt all the weight and stress being lifted off my legs and I nursed my face while I checked other screens for anything related to the Catalyst or the Prothean VI. That was when I heard that voice.
"Gardner, you're in my chair."
I was on my feet and drew my Paladin as I whirled around to face the direction that the Illusive Man's voice was coming from. However, as I should have known, he was not there in person, just a projection of him as he communicated with me from places unknown.
"This chair is the only thing you have left. Cerberus is finished," I told him. EDI continued to work while the rest of my squad formed around me, some of them seeing the Illusive Man for the first time. He was dressed in a pristine suit as always and puffed away on a cigarette while he eyed us all standing together.
Yet, he had changed. I knew not in what way, but there was something very different about him.
"On the contrary," Illusive Man said quite calmly, "we have achieved everything I ever imagined. Almost everything."
"We all saw what you accomplished on Sanctuary," I snarled, the memory of Sanctuary still bringing me to anger quickly. "but controlling some Husks isn't the same as controlling a Reaper, is it?"
"A significant hurdle," the Cerberus leader said. "But thanks to the Prothean VI, I have everything I need to make it a reality."
"The Catalyst," Garrus said. The Illusive Man simply smiled as he relished this victory, he had reached our goal before us. I was not about to give up.
"What is the Catalyst? And how exactly will it help you to control the Reapers?" I asked.
"You'll have to ask the VI yourself," Illusive Man said, "I'm done helping you."
"Your "help" stopped as soon as you sided with the Reapers," I lashed back.
"You think that because I'm willing to use the enemy's tactics they're no longer my enemy? Everything, Scott, everything I've done has uplifted Humanity. Not only above other species in our galaxy, but above the Reapers!"
"If you're willing to do everything it takes to save Humanity, then hand over the Catalyst," I said to him, "with the Crucible we can end this, we can save everyone."
"It's not that simple…" the Illusive Man started.
"It is!" Ashley suddenly jumped in, "It is that simple. We're fighting each other while the Reapers control the galaxy and occupy Earth. We have to stop."
"Your idealism rubs off on your peers, Scott," Illusive Man smirked, "it is indeed admirable. But in the end, our goals are simply too disparate. I think that destroying the Reapers would be the worst mistake we could ever make. And nothing you could say would convince me otherwise."
The Illusive Man was resolute in his stance and I knew that the indoctrination had a firm hold on him. However, there was a feeling of utter sincerity to his words that made me think that this had always been his way of thinking long before the Reapers ever showed up.
"Even with Cerberus in ruins, you still think that you can do this your own way," I could not believe his vanity. "Kai Leng was your best agent, and I've just finished killing him."
"I'd expect you to say that," he pointed his cigarette at me, "you never truly believed in us. But Kai Leng gave his life knowing the truth. Cerberus isn't just an organisation or the people behind it. Cerberus is an idea. That idea is not so easily destroyed."
Now the Illusive Man cocked his head with an arrogant expression as he savoured his next words,
"Besides, I've already acquired what you're looking for."
My gut tightened and I instinctively clenched my fists as I turned to my AI friend,
"EDI?"
"I've almost got it," she replied.
"EDI," Illusive Man said with a sudden realisation of who this was controlling his old mech, "I'm surprised at you, working so hard to bring about the Reapers' destruction."
"Don't listen to him, EDI," James said, "you're better than them."
"You could have destroyed EVA's body, but instead you chose to control it," Illusive Man said pointedly.
"It was necessary," EDI replied defensively. The Illusive Man's smugness only grew as he looked back at me.
"My point exactly," he said. EDI tapped in a few last commands before a green shimmer grew in the room and I saw the Prothean VI miraculously take shape as it had done so on Thessia.
"Enjoy your little chat, Commander," the Illusive Man said, again remaining confident in his sense of triumph, "but everything you do from this point on will all be in vain."
The Illusive Man faded from view and now all attention was on the Prothean VI as it stood before us. The VI took the shape of a Prothean again and, for a second, I saw a longing in the eyes of Javik as he yearned to converse with one of his own people again only to realise that could never truly happen.
"Online," the VI said as it activated, "security breach detected. You are attempting to recover me from indoctrinated forces?"
"Yes," I said in earnest, "we need to know what the Catalyst is."
"Security protocols have been overridden, I will comply," the VI said. "The Catalyst enhances dark energy transmissions and coordinates the entire mass relay network. In your cycle, it is known as the Citadel."
"You've got to be kidding me," Garrus said in disbelief.
"The Citadel is the Catalyst?" Liara exclaimed.
"So together the Citadel and the Crucible can stop the Reapers?" I asked the VI.
"That is correct."
"But… the Citadel was built by the Reapers."
"The plans for the Crucible were passed down to us from the previous cycle, and countless cycles before that. At some point, it is difficult to pinpoint when, the Crucible plans were adapted to incorporate the use of the Catalyst. Presumably, the Crucible was not sufficiently powerful enough to defeat the Reapers."
"So we use their own technology against them," EDI said.
"Precisely," the VI replied.
This was almost too much to take in. The Citadel was the blasted Catalyst that we had been looking for over a costly span of months now. How many battles had been fought, how many soldiers died making every effort to buy the Normandy time to find the key to our single hope of defeating the Reapers. Millions upon millions of lost souls, and we had the Citadel in our grasp the entire time.
"Why couldn't you tell us this before?" I recalled how the VI had abstained from telling us this when we had first activated it on Thessia.
"It was feared that if the Reapers were aware of the Catalyst's intended use, they would retake control of it. I am programmed to withhold that information until the Crucible is complete."
"It's as ready as it's gonna be," I told the VI.
"We have to get it to the Citadel as soon as!" James said.
"That may no longer be possible," the VI's monotonous voice rang around the room, its words repeating themselves as we all felt their gravity. "The one who broke through my security protocols, the one you call the Illusive Man, has fled to the Citadel and informed the Reapers of our purposes."
In a fit of rage, I grabbed the Illusive Man's chair and launched it across the room and roared out. Kai Leng's words played again in my mind, taunting me as his life left him,
"It's already done. The Illusive Man is ready to deliver us victory. Cerberus will save Humanity."
The others were equally as angry and for a moment we all felt like we had come all this way for absolutely nothing, for the Illusive Man to be one step ahead as he always seemed to be. However, it was not only the Illusive Man's actions that concerned me, my family was all on the Citadel. What would happen to them when the Reapers took control of the station? Would all life support be shut down and every being on the Citadel suffocate to their deaths? Would they be rounded up by Reaper troops and harvested? What chance did they have at all?
"Do the Reapers have the Citadel?" I asked the VI, the lump in my throat almost preventing me from speaking.
"Correct. They have moved it to Reaper controlled space."
"That could be anywhere," I stated, "I need to know exactly where!"
"To the system you refer to as Sol."
Time seemed to slow around me as Ashley and James also heard the VI's words and all the colour drained from their faces, realising what the VI meant.
"Earth."
"Correct," the VI said. "Reaper forces will now consolidate power around the Catalyst and protect it at all costs. The odds of accessing it are remote."
I stared at the VI for a while as I was totally lost for words. What did we do now? My team were also looking at me, or looking to me to make a decision. They relied on me to guide them forward in these dark days and see them through to the other side. Knowing that, I had no choice but to carry on no matter how dismal I thought our chances were now.
"Don't count us out yet," I told the VI, "we've come this far and we'll finish this! We'll get the Crucible to Earth."
"I hope you find success," the VI said.
"Come on," I said to the team, "we need to get back to the Normandy ASAP. Hackett needs to know what's happened."
"The Citadel is in position," the VI continued, almost as if worried that we were going to continue the fight. "The Reapers are preparing to complete their harvest of your species."
"We'll stop them!" James said.
"It is too late. I recommend investigating a way to conserve information for future species. Perhaps you will succeed where we failed…" the VI was still speaking when I abruptly stopped it.
"You didn't fail," I told it, "you gave us a chance. And we're not done yet."
We began to head out of the office when I heard Javik speak to the VI as he passed. His words were sincere and meant from his heart as he told the reflection of one of his own people,
"I swear I will avenge our lost empire and all of our people. The Reapers will hear the last voice of the Protheans before they die!"
That was it. Cerberus was finished as a fighting force and now nothing lay ahead of us except for one, final battle.
Earth.