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The party got separated in another Reaper attack, and Shepard found herself making her way with Garrus and Liara through the buried ruins of the ancient krogan civilization, while Wrex hinted at some last-chance crazy plan that they wanted to try on the Reaper. It frustrated Shepard to no end to be stuck here away from where the plans were being made—if Wrex was going to get them all killed, she wanted to at least be able to try to talk him out of it.
They came out of the tunnels to see the Reaper in the distance, standing firmly in front of the tower they needed to get Mordin to in order to disseminate the cure. Wrex and Eve and Mordin were already there, talking intensely.
"We don't have a plan for this," Liara said, staring up at it.
"I know we've beaten the odds before," Garrus agreed, "but getting to that tower … I don't know."
Wrex broke away from the others. "We're curing the genophage no matter what," he said firmly. "Everything my people will ever be depends on it. You ever try keeping a krogan from getting something he really, really wants? That Reaper will be sorry it ever came to Tuchanka."
"Then I hope this idea you were talking about is a good one," Shepard told him.
Wrex jerked his head toward Eve. "It was her idea, actually."
Shepard felt better about it immediately.
"Commander Shepard, have you ever heard of Kalros?" When Shepard shook her head, Eve explained, "We believe she is the mother of all thresher maws. No one has seen her in a very long time, but she is here—and this is her home, as it is ours. We summon Kalros to the Reaper."
"Would that even work?"
Wrex nodded. "If Tuchanka has a temper, Kalros is it. Nobody's ever faced her and survived."
"Already discussed strategy," Mordin said. "Just need to distract Reaper, draw it from tower while cure synthesized, released."
"Shepard. I mean, we've taken some risks, but this seems crazy." Garrus shook his head.
"We went head-to-head with Sovereign when no one knew what a Reaper was," Wrex pointed out. "This is the only way to get to that tower and release the cure. There is no other choice."
He and Eve explained that there was an arena built to honor Kalros near where the Reaper stood, with massive hammers meant to summon the thresher maw.
Shepard looked at the Reaper, then at Eve and Wrex, then at Mordin. Finally she nodded. "Let's make sure we all get out of here alive. We're going to have one hell of a story to tell."
Leading Garrus and Liara through the rubble, Shepard wasn't surprised to find that the Reaper had brought friends. Not too many—the three of them could handle the onslaught fairly easily—but enough to slow them down. Wrex kept shouting impatiently at her through the comm. Finally she found a moment free to shout back at him, "There's a Reaper in my way, Wrex! Give me a minute, will you?"
"I know!" he bellowed back. "You get all the fun!"
At last they made it through, setting the two massive hammers going. For a long time, what seemed like forever, nothing happened. Then Garrus shouted, "Over there!" and Shepard and Liara looked to see the biggest thresher maw they had ever seen, or ever hoped to see, coming toward them at an astonishing speed. They hurried to get behind the rubble, but they needn't have bothered. With a screech that seemed to shake the planet, Kalros launched herself at the Reaper, and the three of them stood there staring at the titanic combat between the two gigantic creatures. It seemed touch-and-go at first which one was going to come out on top, but at last Kalros managed to wind her body around the Reaper so tightly it couldn't get free, dragging it down beneath the crust of Tuchanka.
With the Reaper down, Shepard grabbed Mordin and hurried with him to the tower. "Is the cure ready?" she shouted as they ran.
"Can be loaded for dispersal in two minutes. Procedure traumatic for Eve, but not lethal. Maelon's research invaluable."
The ground was still shaking underneath them as they leaped from rock to rock. "She's okay?" Shepard called to him. The krogan were going to need Eve.
"Yes. Headed to safety, will recover fully." As they reached the base of the tower, Mordin continued, "Her survival fortunate. Will stabilize new government should Wrex get any ideas. Good match, promising future for krogan." He closed his eyes, smiling, and nodded once. "Good work."
A piece of the tower came tumbling down with the next rumble from the earth beneath them. "Damn!" Shepard said, dodging the debris. "We'd better hurry."
"Control room at top of Shroud. Must take elevator up."
Shepard eyed the elevator unhappily. The tower didn't look all that stable. "You're going up there?"
"Have to. Manual access required. Have to counteract STG sabotage, ensure cure disperses properly."
"Mordin, this whole thing is coming apart! There has to be another way."
He was very calm as he shook his head. "Remote bypass impossible. STG countermeasures in place. No time to adjust cure for temperature variance. No other option. Not coming back. Suggest you get clear," he told her gently. "Explosions likely to be problematic."
The full impact of what he had already understood struck her. "Mordin. This is—"
"My duty, Shepard. Need to do this. My project, my work, my cure, my responsibility. Had to be me," he said, getting into the elevator and watching as the doors closed. "Someone else might have gotten it wrong."
Shepard said it with him as the doors closed and the elevator started moving, then she hurried away from the tower, back to where the others waited in comparative safety. Long before she reached them, the tower had collapsed, taking Mordin with it, and a cool, gentle rain was falling. The krogan turned their faces up to it, feeling the droplets sinking into their skin.
The cure for the genophage. The dream of generations of krogan. At last, a reality.