Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Gears of War/Mass Effect crossover.

This is it. We have entered the final story arc. Thank you for sticking around as long as you have, and I hope that you continue to stick with me to the finish line. We're almost there.

As always, leave a review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Gears of War or Mass Effect franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of BioWare, Electronic Arts, Microsoft Studios, The Coalition, Epic Games, etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.

SSV Normandy

Departing from Sentry Omega March

March 20th, 2183

The interior of the Normandy was silent as the ship flew through the vacuum of space and away from Virmire. Down in the medical bay, Marcus sat on one of the cots as Dr. Chakwas looked him over, while Cole laid down on another cot, the left side of his torso covered with bandages. Baird, for the most part, was just sitting there watching the two.

"My, my," Chakwas remarked as she scanned Marcus with her omni-tool. "The armor you wore certainly did it's job to protect you. Your ribs and bones have no fractures according to my scans, and any stress cracks that are present are starting to fill in on their own, though that is doubtlessly due to Baird injecting you two with the concoction that he and I created."

"Good to hear that we're still OK," Marcus remarked, shrugging his shoulders. "Is Cole going to be OK?"

"Yes," Chakwas reassured him. "I detected no Imulsion in the wounds that Saren's talons carved into his body. In addition, the gashes that he suffered are quite light. My guess is that the body suit blunted Saren's talons. He should be ready for duty within a couple days."

"Sounds about right." Looking up, Marcus could see Baird thinking to himself. "You OK, Baird?" he asked.

"What?" Baird asked. Realizing that Marcus was checking in, he said, "I-I, y-yeah, I'm OK. Too much thinking."

"About what?"

"About what Saren said concerning the Imulsion," Baird explained. "While you guys were talking, I ran a scan of him to see if he was bullshitting us. Now that I've checked the results, I wish that he was."

"Go on."

Sighing, Baird ran a hand over his hair. "The scans revealed that he did have Imulsion in his system, more than enough to turn him Lambent if it was the older strain. In this case, though, the Imulsion wasn't actively attempting to colonize and destroy his body. It was working with his body to make him stronger and to allow him to do what those mutated Krogan could do. Creepy shit." He shivered as he said this.

"Yeah," Marcus agreed. "That was some creepy bullshit there. Kinda makes the Locust look tame, doesn't it."

"It does," Baird rejoined. "It certainly does."

As he said this, Chakwas finished up. "From the looks of it, Marcus, you are still cleared for combat duty. I recommend, though, that you avoid any bouts of fisticuffs if possible. If you go through too many more, you run the risk of causing those bruises and cracks to turn into fractures. If that does happen, you will need two weeks at minimum to allow the injuries to heal properly. You understand?"

"Yeah," Marcus replied. "I hear ya on that. I'll do what I can, but no guarantees."

"That's all that I ask for. Now, I must return to tending Cole. The two of you can go now." With that, both Marcus and Baird walked out of the medical bay, leaving Chakwas to tend to Cole's injuries.

"He'll pull through," Baird reassured Marcus. "I remember that one time we were in Hanover Stadium. He took a direct hit from that bomb blast and it didn't even slow him down. In fact, he got even more excited."

"Yeah, I know," Marcus agreed. Looking around, he saw Carmine leaning against the wall. "You OK, Carmine?"

"Yeah," Carmine replied. "Thanks for allowing me to head with Shepard to go get the others." Standing upright, he cleared his throat and said, "I wanted to tell the two of you something. Ashley and I… uh… we decided to… uh… get together."

"What?" Baird asked. "You mean, you and Ashley are getting it on?"

"Yep," Carmine confirmed. "Ashley and I decided to get together. We had quite a bit of arguments while you guys weren't around, but we started getting those things worked out. I just wanted to let you guys know if anyone tries to tell ya."

"It's all right," Marcus reassured Carmine, patting him on the shoulder as he did so. "It was much the same when Anya and I started getting together. Both of us kept it private, which is why not a lot of people knew about until after the war. Either way, I hope things go well for you and Ashley."

"Me too," Carmine agreed. "I'd best be going now. Take care." With that, he walked off towards the stairs, a spring in his step as he walked away.

"He does deserve to have some good news," Baird said to Marcus.

"He does," Marcus concurred before proceeding along the steps.

A moment later, they heard the 'com crackle to life. "Ground Team, Report to Comms Room Immediately. Repeat: Ground Team to Comms Room." A moment later, the 'com went silent.

"Yeah," Marcus growled. "I heard you the first time." With that, he walked up the steps to the CIC, with Baird quickly following him.

It wasn't long before they entered the Comms room, where the other members of the ground team were at. While they were, for the most part, a little tired from the day's mission, all of them were in good condition. Wrex seemed particularly calm, and it didn't take much for Marcus to figure that killing those mutated Krogan had been a form of catharsis for him.

As they walked in, Ashley looked at Shepard and said, "Thanks for coming back for us, Commander. If you hadn't come when you did, we would never have made it out alive."

"Same goes for me and Wrex," Garrus added. "We were back against the wall when you came, Shepard, and got us out of there. You're definitely a hero in my book."

"Just doing my job," Shepard replied with a shrug. "Any halfway decent commander would've done the same."

Kaidan, who spotted the two coming in, said, "Thanks for keeping us safe when Saren and those Geth attacked, Marcus. Never thought you'd give Saren a thrashing like that."

"Like Shepard said, just doing my job," Marcus remarked. "We're Gears. We always look out for each other."

Just then, Liara spoke up. "Excuse me, Commander," she said loudly enough for the others to hear. "I think I have an idea. The beacon that we found at Saren's base was similar to the one you found at Eden Prime. It may have filled in the missing pieces of your vision. I think I might be able to help you put all of the pieces together."

"Are you sure?" Shepard asked. "What about your injuries. Could your mind meld exacerbate them?"

"No," Liara replied. "The strain is always mental, not physical unless I go too far. This will not cause any trouble with my chest."

For a moment, Shepard thought that proposition over, then he said, "OK. Go ahead." With that, both he and Liara stood up, before Liara began the process once more. For the next few seconds, the two held still, while the others watched.

A moment later, Liara gasped, before grunting as her battered ribs protested the movement. "I… wow… The new images were even more intense than the older ones. I… I need a moment to collect myself."

"Did the vision make any sense to you?" Shepard asked.

"Yes," Liara confirmed. "The vision was a distress signal, a message sent out across the Prothean Empire. A warning against the Reapers, but the warning came too late."

"Damn," Garrus remarked. "So the Protheans did try to warn the others only… time ran out."

"Anything about the Conduit?" Baird inquired. "Did you find anything that suggests what it is?"

"There were other images, locations," Liara added. "Places I recognized from my research…" A moment later, her eyes dawned with realization. "Ilos! The Conduit is on Ilos!"

"I've never heard of that planet before," Garrus noted.

"I'm not surprised," Liara rejoined. "Ilos is in a region of space accessible only by the Mu Relay. But the Mu Relay was lost thousands of years ago. Nobody knows where it is, except for us, given that we recovered the information from my mother, Benezia."

"Exactly," Shepard decided. "We're done here, but just so you know, team, you did good down at Virmire. I couldn't have asked for a better performed mission. Crew, dismissed! Marcus, Baird, I want you two to stay a little while longer so that we can talk with the Council."

"You got it," Marcus agreed as the others filed out.

"There's a comm buoy nearby," Joker informed the trio. "I can link us in if you want to report back to the Council. You know, if you want to warn them about Sovereign."

"I do," Shepard agreed. "Patch us in, Joker."

A moment later, the holographic images of the Councilors came up in the room. "Commander Shepard," Tevos said to him. "I'm pleased to know that your mission on Virmire was a success."

"I agree," Sparatus added. "Saren is formidable enough without an army of Krogan backing him."

"There's more to it than that," Shepard informed them. "Baird?"

"Yeah," Baird replied. "We learned from Kirrahe that Saren acquired samples of Imulsion in order to turn the Krogan into super soldiers. What makes things really bad is that he mutated the Imulsion to work with the host rather than convert them into a Lambent organism. Those Krogan were capable of mutating their bodies into different shapes and forms, and even added on new abilities. Creepy shit, let me tell ya."

"We saw the combat footage for ourselves," Sparatus agreed. "What was Saren thinking when he began toying around with that parasitic… disease?! If he's thinking that it will allow him to create the ultimate super solider, then he's sorely mistaken!"

"It's worse than that," Marcus elaborated. "Saren willingly injected that Imulsion into his own body to make himself stronger. In addition, he said that it would render him immune to Indoctrination. I don't know about you people, but I can say that he's definitely batshit crazy if he thinks Imulsion will do that for him."

"Goddess!" Tevos gasped. "If Saren has injected Imulsion into his own body…"

"… then he's even more dangerous than before," Valern concluded. "From the footage you've shown us, it appears that the mutated Imulsion grants it's hosts the ability to shape-shift as well as a regenerative factor that is on par with, if not greater than, that of normal Krogan. If Krogan were to be infested with this strain of Imulsion, they would be practically invulnerable. In Saren's case, it would make him nearly unkillable."

"I agree," Sparatus added. "If Saren's mutilated his own body with that disease, then he'll be even harder to defeat."

"That's not the worst of it," Shepard interjected. "The Krogan and Saren were serving Sovereign, which we confirmed was a Reaper. It admitted this fact itself."

"Yes," Valern noted. "We saw this in your report. Sovereign, a sapient machine, a true Artificial Intelligence. Given what we've learned from the medical report that was done when you were exposed to the Prothean Beacon, Benezia's account, as well as this new information, it seems that the information is true after all."

"Same here," Sparatus noted. "Given this amount of information, it's clear that Saren isn't playing you, Shepard. From what we can tell, that was the only part where he was being honest with you. It also explains why he sent the assassins to kill you during your initial investigation into him."

"Since it is likely clear that Sovereign is the real threat, we'll do what we can to take the necessary steps to stop it. And Saren," Valern decided.

"Agreed," Shepard concurred. "We'll head to the Citadel to grab one more resupply, then we'll head to the Mu Relay and get to Ilos. We know where the Relay is located at."

"Agreed," Tevos added. "Also, Shepard, be careful when you enter the Terminus Systems. Spectres are not recognized as legitimate authorities there. If pirates come across you, they will attempt to attack and destroy you if they see you ship as a valuable enough target."

"I will, Councilors."

"Then may the Spirits be with you," Sparatus said to Shepard. "May Vortenos, the Spirit of Water and the patron spirit of sailors guide your way."

"Good luck, Shepard," Tevos said in farewell. A moment later, the holograms faded out.

"Well, that went way better than I thought it would," Baird remarked.

"Sounds like the Council decided to get their heads out of their asses and actually get to work," Marcus observed. "From the looks of it, they might actually help us this time around. Certainly would be the first."

"Yeah," Shepard agreed. "From the sounds of it, all the evidence has stacked up to the point where they can't ignore it anymore. Either way, let's get out of here and get back to the Citadel. We've got one more thing to take care of, then we're heading out."

As they left the CIC deck, Marcus went back down into the cargo bay to check on his gear. Walking into the bay, he found Garrus and Tali already hard at work replacing the damaged components in his armor. Looking up, Garrus said, "Marcus. We figured that you might need some help getting your armor repaired, so we decided to get to work."

"Thanks," Marcus replied, sitting down as he began to help the two out. "Damn, I took a beating out there, didn't I?"

"You did," Tali noted. "Saren really messed up some of the armor plating, and your barriers were down half of the time. It goes to show how durable COG armor is when the wearer is fine, while the armor has all kinds of holes in it. I don't think I've seen damage this bad since I left the Migrant Fleet."

"Same here," Garrus added. "You guys made the right choice when you decided to stick with the armor architecture that the COG developed. Any other hardsuit would've failed catastrophically if exposed to the same stresses as your custom armor. Goes to show that those two engineers really knew their stuff."

"Yeah, they do," Marcus agreed. "Wouldn't have made it through were it not for Cole, Baird and Carmine helping me out. They did most of the work."

"But you led them into a crucible and out again," Garrus countered. "That says a lot about you, Marcus. You got them through alive and well. That's better than most could've done. Plus, you've already survived one death world. A few Lambent Krogan wouldn't have stopped you then either."

"Yeah."

As they worked, Wrex came over and sat down on the sturdiest crate that was present. "Marcus," he said a moment later. "Things got heated back at Virmire… You and the others did what you had to do. I want you to know that I respect that."

Marcus nodded. "I'm glad you do, Wrex. Hell, I've made even more difficult choices before, especially when it came to sinking Jacinto to end the Locust War. Either way, I appreciate what you did."

"Same here," Wrex agreed. "Just make sure it was worth it. Saren has to pay for what he has done."

"We'll have him soon enough, then we'll make that bastard pay for every crime he's ever committed."

Wrex smiled grimly. "He'll do more than pay if I have anything to say about it, especially with what he did to those Krogan there. Mutating them with Imulsion? That is too far."

"No argument here," Garrus added. "Saren's insane if he thinks that Imulsion will help save the galaxy. I've seen firsthand what it does to innocent people. I won't let his madness infect the galaxy."

"And neither will I," Tali agreed. "Also, I thought I heard Cole giving a speech when we were at the facility."

"He did," Marcus confirmed.

"Hah! That was hilarious!" Garrus laughed, his mandibles spreading into the Turian equivalent of a smile. "I was hearing Saren's prerecorded message saying, 'only through strength will you become victorious,' then Cole's voice bursts onto the loudspeakers. Let me tell you, a lot of those Lambent Krogan were looking around with an expression that was saying, 'What the fuck?' Hilarious!"

"That it was," Tali added as she snickered in agreement. "I even hacked the base's security to see Saren's reaction. Ho, boy was it worthy of slapstick comedy! I've never seen a Turian turn as blue in anger as him."

Wrex laughed, a deep, rumbling sound that echoed in the cargo hold. "I wish I had a recording of Cole's speech so that I could play it whenever going up against the Geth. Even the most hardened Krogan would be laughing their quads off if they heard such 'enlightened' words."

"You weren't the only ones laughing," Ashley added as she came over. "I was trying not to laugh my ass off when I heard his speech. You gotta hand it to Cole; when he wants to say something to insult the enemy, there's no one better."

"The same thing goes here," came Kirrahe as he walked over. "It was an honor working with Shepard, and the rest of you as well. Despite our losses, the mission was a success. My superiors will duly honor your actions. Your valor and heroism has earned Humanity a great deal of respect from my people."

"We did what we had to," Marcus agreed.

"Of course," Kirrahe noted. "A grim reality that every soldier must acknowledge eventually. Rest assured, Sergeant, my men and I will not forget what you and Shepard accomplished there. We'll leave as soon as the Normandy reaches the Citadel. Perhaps we will have the opportunity to work together again someday."

"Maybe," Marcus remarked.

. . .

The rest of the journey back to the Citadel was spent in silence, with the crew leaving to have one more period of R&R before heading out on their mission. As he walked along in the Wards, Marcus thought he saw someone following him. Turning into an alley, he had his hand on his sidearm, ready to fight if necessary.

That proved to be unnecessary, though, as the individual, while following him into the alley, removed a hood from his head as he walked in. "Councilor Sparatus?" Marcus asked. "I didn't know you were following me. Why is that?"

"I wanted to speak to you in private," Sparatus replied.

"You sure you can protect yourself?"

"I can," Sparatus replied, showing Marcus a pistol customized to his specifications. "I was a soldier long before I became a politician, Marcus. Besides, you're a Gear, and no one will think about attacking a Councilor when a Gear is around."

"Fair enough," Marcus conceded. Walking into the alley a little more, he asked, "So, what do you want to talk about?"

Sparatus' face became darker at those words, though it was clear that he wasn't angry. If anything, he looked slightly ashamed of himself. "I… I wanted to apologize for my… previous dismissal of the evidence before myself and the other Councilors. What makes me angry at myself is that I thought that Shepard was lying about the Reapers, even when I saw the medical report. Shows how foolish I am to dismiss evidence like that."

"To be honest, it sounded far fetched to me as well," Marcus reassured the Councilor. "I believed Shepard, though, because I've been through similar myself. Being swallowed alive by the Riftworm was one notable example."

Sparatus chuckled. "That it is. In addition, I wanted to tell you that, ever since Benezia came back, I've been talking with the Council of Primarchs back at Palaven. They've seen the evidence and they agree that the Reapers might also exist. I've asked them to send a few of their fleets to the Citadel in the event Saren decides to attack it."

"Why not tell the other Councilors?" Marcus asked.

"Because they might think that's a step too far," Sparatus explained. "I'll admit it, Marcus, the long peace we've had since the Krogan Rebellions has made us soft and complacent. Our military isn't as strong as it needs to be, and I'm ashamed that we've bought into the lie of invincibility that we've crafted around ourselves."

"So why tell me all this in an alley?"

"Because the others are too scared to admit it in the same way, Marcus. You, and the information on your past, opened my eyes to the truth: that the galaxy is dark and full of terrors. It's men like you that do the things that people like me are either unwilling or unable to do. Your actions, however, have shown that we need to be stronger. How can we protect the galaxy if our own military is unable to stop incursions by the Geth and pirates? It's time that we took off the rose-tinted glasses of complacency and open our eyes to the reality of things around us. It's time that we acted to end any and all threats to the galaxy, regardless of what we think of them."

Marcus was surprised to hear those words coming from Sparatus. "That… that says a lot, Councilor. So, what do you plan to do about Saren and Sovereign?"

"Like I said, a few fleets will be coming here to protect the Citadel," Sparatus explained. "In addition, I spoke privately with Admiral Hackett and the Alliance Admiralty. If all goes well, when Sovereign attacks, we'll be ready to defeat it and Saren."

"Smart plan," Marcus agreed.

As the two began to leave, Sparatus said, "Marcus? Thank you, for helping me open my eyes."

"Just doing my job," Marcus remarked as he left the area.

. . .

About two hours later, everyone was quickly getting back aboard the Normandy. As he moved to board, Shepard spotted Nihlus coming over. "Nihlus, need anything?" he asked.

"Just came to tell you that we've got another Spectre coming aboard," Nihlus explained as a younger Turian approached. This one had black facial paint, as well as dark brown eyes that scanned the area. "Shepard, this is Avitus Rix, another Spectre that the Council is sending with us on the mission."

"Good to have you aboard," Shepard remarked as he shook Avitus' talon. "You know of our mission?"

"Yes," Avitus replied, his baritone voice resonating strongly in the air. "We're heading to Ilos in order to find the Conduit and stop Saren's madness."

Hearing that, Shepard noted something in Avitus' voice. "You know Saren personally?" he asked.

"Yes," Avitus growled. "He was my instructor, but he was never crazy. Part of me wants to ask him why he went rogue and decided to work with the Geth? I don't understand."

"We'll find out once we bring him to trial," Shepard decided. "Let's go. We've got a traitorous Spectre to catch and a Reaper to destroy."

(Author's Q&A)

Mashot Tito: Possibly. We'll have to wait and see.

edboy4926: Thank you.

Guest: I know. It's about time.

Just a Crazy-Man: Thank you, and no need to apologize. Better late than never.