Chapter 21

The laboratory

Brace yourselves people. This is going to be long. I am still a bit unsure about it, but let the readers judge at this point. As always, I do not own the characters and do not gain a single penny from all of this.

Planet Trelyn. Illuminated surface. 2 May 2185. 18 41 local hours.

The wind howled and screamed in the air as the flat, rocky surface of Trelyn endured another terrifying onslaught from its cursed environment.

Doomed by a barely working atmosphere that turned anything it met into flat, scorching wastelands, this entire planet, a mere footnote in the galactic maps of all nations, was nothing more than a barren prairie singed by winds strong enough to rip apart steel.

Trelyn was, and still is not, a gentle planet: with no atmosphere worth speaking, temperature low enough to rival the moon back on Earth and absolutely nothing resembling a survivable habitat, most people in the galaxy found some value in this deplorable ball of rock only thanks to its rich deposit of iron. Still not enough to implant nothing more than automated stations here and there for their gathering.

By all means and knowledge, no living creatures roamed on its desolate ash plains. Either sapient or not.

And yet, among this maelstrom of madness and fury, a lone machine dared to move its wheel in the horizon, stuffing and groaning at every attack.

It was a Mako, a long, sleeked wheeled vehicle showing the main battle cannon on the top and a pair of machine guns spurting on the sides as a defence. Commonly used by Alliance's top squads to move across hazardous terrains like lava fields or strong winds, this peculiar transport showed none of the usual symbols used by the System Alliance. Fully painted black, the metal now covered in ash and dust, its eight wheels rumbled under the rocky ground as its stabilizers tried their most damn not to flip over and die under the terrifying enemy that was the yelling wind. And the driver, to be honest.

The target of the unexpected trek was at this point clear and in sight: a massive, square-built metal construction visible at the centre of one of the few depression placed on this planet. One of the few places where structures of any kind could be built. The entire complex, barely visible under the raging storm, looked like a steel box, nothing more. No windows, no balconies, no decorations, only slabs upon slabs of steel welded together into an ugly, but functional case built for the sole purpose of keeping people out, or whatever was inside within.

Technically speaking, such building did not exist. No records could be found anywhere on the galaxy, especially considering that planet Trelyn was, in theory, a dead planet, truly owned by no one but time itself despite being so close to the Citadel.

And yet here, on the darkest side of the planet, inside one of the few depressions on the surface, this mistake, as tall as a three-floor palace and covered in steel bulkheads, stood. Proud and defiant.

And silent.

Guns emplacements had been placed just outside the perimeter, automatic machine guns powerful enough to tear the Mako asunder. And yet nothing attacked the sleek vehicle as the driver quickly jumped inside the depression using a pair of thrusters. The machine whined and grumbled as the driver made...strange manoeuvres to place the vehicle precisely in front of the building's main entrance, despite the wind's constant attacks. From backflips to weird accelerating thrusts that surely churned the stomach of every person inside the vehicle.

When the Mako finally stopped, straight in front of the complex's door, a hatch opened, and scores of figures emerged ready for battle.

The first one was Shepard, in full battle armour and a gun on his hands ready to fire. Garrus, Zaeend and Grunt followed suit, also armed to the teeth and aiming at any blind spots as Tali nimbly darted toward the main entrance and began working with her Omni-tool.

Behind them, Miranda, Jack and Jacob came out. They secured the perimeter as Kasumi, Mordin and Samara came out lastly from the Mako, scanning the surrounding area and covering the rear of the group.

And finally, coming out with brisk movements, Lena came out from the armoured vehicle. Fully suited up in her silver-grey armour and ready to fight. Her sword was tightly strapped with magnetic locks on her back, together with her machine gun and new shotgun. The girl darted quickly toward the entrance, betraying her impatience as the Quarian girl worked with the locks.

"Two minutes!" warned the Quarian girl on the comms as she began working on the massive, dark and metallic door closing the complex from the wind of Trelyn. Weapons were already out and glaring as Tali's Omni-tool squealed and whined as it bypassed the door's security.

Once the door was breached, the squad entered inside as the locks still fizzled and died, aiming their guns at every shadow their visors reported to them. Expecting some form of resistance from someone, anyone! This was a Cerberus secret lab after all.

What they found inside chilled to the core: the first room that greeted their eyes appeared as some kind of hospital wing. Here probably the orderlies of this facility met the incoming patients (or lab rats, as Lena dryly called them) to properly dispose of them in the appropriate rooms. They found chairs, tables, long desks with datapads and computers alongside medical beds and restraining devices scattered all over a steel floor, coupled with pristine white walls that screamed medical hub to anyone nearby. But the sheer state of destruction told a story of utter mayhem to the squad's eyes. Most of the chairs were nothing more than broken twigs on the ground, steel stumps shattered by the fist of an angry god. Many tables appeared dented and scarred, some even split in two by an unknown force. Deep claw marks marked the pristine walls of the room as if massive tigers had used the smooth surface to sharpen their claws. The floor was in even worse shape, with parts utterly shattered and broken apart as live cables since long free snapped back as the wind of outside temporarily snapped them back and forth like whips from a torturer.

And among all this destruction laid the corpses. Everywhere. Some beheaded, others ripped apart, others cut in pieces now strewn throughout the scarred ground, others missing entire limbs or even most of the body itself. Some nurses, other mere orderlies, other soldiers and guards, maybe. It was difficult to discern them from the few pieces still standing. All of them showing the Cerberus symbol, or what was left of it. All of them dead by at least one week. All of them, judging by the holes on the stomachs, lacking their guts.

As the whole squad unhooked their helmets and witnessed the scene with free eyes, Lena sighted

"Too late."

"My God!" half whispered Kasumi under her hooded suit as she witnessed the carnage. She was not the only one gaping at the scene; everyone, despite their pasts, looked at the carnage with horrified looks.

"Well" commented Zaeen whistling "I have seen a lot of shit in my time, but this already promise to scale the top ten."

Most gaped surprised at the sizes of the claw marks. Mordin began even analyzing them for clues as Samara quietly prayed for the dead souls. Jacob eyed the corpses, wondering what manner of beast could tear people apart in such ways. Even Jack looked unnerved by all of this.

Slowly, one after another, all the members of Shepard's group unlocked their helmets and breathed the damp air of the room as the doors behind them closed in and the artificial systems reactivated inside the facility. The light was dim, despite Tali's workings. No more than a fraction of the expected lights had survived whatever had hit this room, and what little lighted up only heightened the swirling shadows.

"Secure a perimeter!" barked Shepard suddenly, snapping everyone out of their stupor.

"Samara, you and Jack be on the rearguard and ready to blast anything that tries to attack us! Tali, send your drones away and give me a map of the building. Jacob, Grunt, frontline with me. Lena, now it would be a great time to give me more intel about the enemy."

Lena nodded and closed her eyes as the other party members obeyed Shepard's orders, and opened her mind for the yoki to flow.

It had been so long since Lena had used it to catch the signatures of actual Yomas, not the crazed creatures used by the Reapers. It took precious seconds for her mind to detach herself from her body and feel the black flames of power swirling freely inside the complex, despite already feeling during the travel.

Minutes, maybe even hours passed, it was always hard to quantify time while using the mind, but the Claymore finally caught something in her mind. Presences.

They were weak, slow, and confused, but many. At least three dozens in number. Yoma, all of them of various power and control of their ability, but still dangerous if confronted all at once, especially by an inexperienced team like Shepard'. The kind of enemies that a pair of Claymores taken from the first seventeen numbers would destroy with relative ease.

Until Lena felt one peculiar signature that scared her. One placed in a deeper part of the facility, resting apparently, and radiating power like a lamp in the night. Compared to it, the other flames were nothing more than flickering candles in the dark.

-An awakened being?- wondered Lena fearfully. An awakened being was a creature not to be trifled with even at the best of times, one that needed a whole team of Claymore, single-digit included, to hunt it down and destroy. She doubted that the galaxy would deliver a single-digit Claymore to her just for the heck of it.

-As if I hadn't enough problems already!-

"There are at last thirty Yomas inside this base, Shepard." Began Lena after reopening her eyes.

"Yomas?" asked Miranda puzzled.

"Humans that lost their control of the Yoki energy. My powers" explained Lena patiently.

"The average human, once infected by the Yoki, usually turns into a great, deranged purple beast with yellow eyes taller than your ordinary Krogan. Still, many of them can morph into humanoid shapes, so be careful. Most of them are armed with rending talons and fangs strong enough to pierce steel; some Yomas are winged and can attack from above. Others possess skin strong enough to stop bullets and arrows. Others even regain a part of their cognitive functions to the point of fighting with more than pure animal cunning. But do not be tricked by this: they are all gut-starved beast, even the smartest ones. Do not resonate, do not talk to them whatever they say, just fire at them, no matter what they say. They can all regenerate like me, but at a slower rate, so use incendiary ammo mod if possible."

"Understood!" replied Shepard "Anything else?"

"There is...something else deeper inside the facility," replied Lena anxious

"I think it is something my people call Awakened beings. They are...an evolved form of Yoma that is usually created when a Claymore like me lose control of her Yoki."

"So there is one of your kind trapped inside the facility? A...Claymore, as you call yourself?" Asked Samara

"I said, usually! Not always!" countered Lena calmly. "And this one, as strong as it feels, it lacks the marks of my sisters. No. I say Cerberus managed to create something stronger during the experimentations without even understanding how."

"Will she be like the...thing you almost became on the infirmary then?" continued Miranda, shuddering at the memory. Lena smiled bitterly at this.

"Far worse, Miranda. Mine was an incomplete mutation. This one is not. A fully awakened being is a creature that can span from three meters to entire palaces tall, and strong enough to destroy entire city quarters with a single swipe."

Mordin's eyes bulged at the scale of such creatures, his mind working overtime to find an explanation to have such abnormal grows. The others shrugged and whistled at Lena's words.

"A fucking walking, murdering palace!" muttered Zaeed

"That is just great!" cursed Shepard "If these things are so dangerous, why haven't they attacked us already?"

"Oh, don't worry about that Shepard!" smiled Lena "They know about us and, judging by the state of these corpses, they must be quite hungry. But you have brought with you a team of trained killers, and this is scaring them, for now." Lena muttered something before continuing

"And...I think they are unnerved by my presence. All these Yomas should feel the power inside me, and probably wonder why one of their kind is not killing you right now. We can use it to our advantage. Hell," she cursed lowly "Maybe they feel that the blood flowing inside them is mine."

"I see!" mused Shepard mulling about the report "Tali, news?"

"Nothing yet from my drones, the entire base is heavily shielded by...something. A new prototype developed by Cerberus maybe. Getting any kind of reading will be a chore here, let alone a map of this base. Wait!" The young Quarian began tapping on her Omni-tool all of a sudden as a stream of intellegible data appeared on her machines despite the heavy interferences.

"I caught something, two hundred meters in front of us, same floor. It looks like...a human child?"

"Why would a child be here of all places?" wondered Jacob, only to hear Jaco's acid laugh

"Children are the best test subject for you Cerberus assholes. Already forgotten this, chocolate?" ranted Jack acidly.

"Not now, Jack. Team, let's move. Maybe this survivor can shed some lights of what happened here!"

And so Shepard's team did so, slowly and carefully, watching every shadow and always staying in formations, the minds of all reeling at the hypotetic images of these Yomas and what they might do to them if caught unprepared.

Only Lena stood behind for some seconds, the girl sighing heavily at the whole situation. Her senses, as untrained and weak as they were, had already warned her about what truly waited forward for Shepard.

"Maybe it is better like this." she muttered darkly "They need to see with their own eyes what Yomas truly are."

Only then, she decided to follow them.


Five minutes later.

The child must have been no more than eight, according to Shepard's eyes. A small boy, dressed in torn rags with short, black hairs, green eyes and discoloured skin revealing far too many skipped meals. Shepard and his team found him huddled inside a pile of shattered tables inside what looked a small storage area, no bigger than Shepard's room on the Normandy and now ransacked and torn apart. The boy was showing all signs of a mental breakdown: crying heavily, quick breathing, tremors, sniffling and deranged mutterings. As the commander and his team approached his hiding spot, he yelped like a wounded dog and dragged itself more in-depth into the ruins.

It was indeed a wretched sign that broke Shepard's heart apart.

"Stay back, people, let's not approach him all together," warned Shepard to his team.

"Shepard, he is traumatized. He might run away even if you approach alone," warned Garrus darkly.

"Part of the N7 training also involved how to deal with frightened civilians in a battle zone." replied Shepard "I should be fine. Hopefully" muttered at the last second.

The commander waited until his team backed off at least ten paces before coming toward the child's hiding spot. He did this slowly, crouching on his legs and making sure to appear as small and calm as possibles. All the weapons were holstered as he approached the child, and once he arrived less than ten paces away from the civilian, he began to speak. Calmly, without rush or any trace of a hurry.

"Hey, little champion, can you hear me? Don't be afraid, I am not one of the bad guys. See? This is my N7 badge! I am a soldier ordered to save you" he said while holding his old badge.

"I know you are scared, you have all reasons to be, but I can help you! My people and I can protect you from whatever attacked this facility, but for this, I need you to come with me and away from this place. Here," Shepard straightened one of his arms as an offering, his hand outstretched and ready but refusing to come closer.

"Take my arm and let's move. Don't worry, I shall wait until you are ready."

Seconds passed, filled with tension as the child eyed Shepard's outstretched hand with fear and suspicion. Shepard could see the doubts coursing through these scared, green eyes, but still kept his face stony and warm, as the instructors had taught him back on the academy. Waiting for the boy to make the first move.

Then, trembling at first, the boy finally reacted to Shepard's attempts by slowly, slowly, slowly moving one of his small arms toward Shepard. The commander smiled and stood still, waiting for the child to grab his hand. The boy was coming so, so close.

And right into that moment, out of nowhere, a flash of silver behind Shepard shone in the weak light, followed by the shrieking sound of a screaming child. The boy's outstretched arm flew on the air as Lena of all people appeared behind Shepard, sword dripping and eyes yellow. Shepard bellowed his rage and turned faster than lightning, grabbing the Claymore and wanting nothing more than break her neck right now.

"Are you insane, Lena!" screamed at the Claymore, a hairbreadth to her face. The girl remained motionless, only a scant trace of amusement twitching her lips.

"Don't you dare to laugh! What possessed you to."

"look at him" snapped Lena unperturbed "Just like they are doing."

Lena was right, Shepard also noticed that now. His team was not joining him in the thrashing, favouring instead of looking at something behind Shepard with fright and awe. Many were already grabbing their weapons and aiming at something despite having Shepard and Lena blocking their aim. Something that was now growling behind Shepard. Before the commander could do anything, he felt Lena's hands swatting him away from her, barely fast enough for the Claymore to then raising her blade and stop one clawed hand aiming at her face. Training kicking in, Shepard rolled on the ground, pistol in hands and ready to fire at the Yoma that must have hidden alongside the now surely dead boy.

What he saw instead chilled him to the core.

The boy, the same crying child he had tried to help mere seconds ago, was mutating in front of his eyes with frightening speed. Gone were the green, scared eyes of before, replaced by yellow slits that looked at Lena with eyes of pure murder. His, no its whole body mutated and grew in shape at once, becoming almost as big as Grunt as the skin became grey and parched. Its last arm sported now claws ready to torn asunder steel and bones alike as they fell down on Lena's unsheathed sword again and again with a jarring sound.

"MIIiiiNnnEeeee!" growled the once child with a sound too hollow to be called human "GggUuuuTtsss...MMIIiiiNnnEeeee!"

"In your dreams, Yoma." snarled Lena back as she parried all the swipes. The beast roared and prepared for another attack, focused solely on Lena and her sword.

First mistake.

Still below Lena, Shepard fired his pistol on full auto, hitting the beast in the chest with fire-modded rounds. The creature shrieked and wailed as the burning bullets penetrated its thick hide and burned the flesh within. Jumping at the occasion, Lena slashed once again and ripped the other arm of the Yoma, creating a shower of purple blood. Desperate and cornered, the Yoma jumped backwards and tried to run away from the terrifying duo, its overcharged brain shouting at him to escape and survive.

Second mistake.

Their line of sight now free, Shepard's entire team still behind the commander and Lena rose their weapons and fired all at once at the running beast. Bullets shattered bones, biotics destroyed flesh, electricity zapped the brain and fire burned the insides all at once.

When the beast fell, more than half of his body was gone. And the rest was nothing more than smoking fragments.

"What...how...how" Garrus was the first person among Shepard's team that managed to regain his words. The Turian's claws were still shacking on his assault rifle as he instinctively aimed his weapons at the smoking corpse.

"It surprised everyone" admitted Samara. She looked calm, but even her hands were trembling a bit.

"Even me."

"That is because you refused to take me seriously ten minutes ago!" snapped Lena as she cleaned the sword.

"I told you! Yomas can morph their shapes, and our Omni-tools are still not working properly because of this damned shielding covering the complex. So why you decided to approach this child at random like this?"

"You said all Yomas are at least two meters tall, agent Lena" replied Mordin in a hurry.

"Speculated such creature, even when possessing shapeshifting capabilities, needed to take a form similar in mass and weight to original to compensate. How this possible then? Where they keep excessive mass? How can they"

"This one" interrupted Lena acidly "Must have been the runt of the pack. The rest of the Yomas must have kicked it away from the nest because... I don't know! Maybe too weak, or just annoying. As a result, it starved alone, losing much of its strength. That is why he tried to trick you people, and it would have succeeded without me. You were an inch from losing your fingers, Shepard."

Looking at the looped arm still bleeding on the ground, arm sporting three inches long claws, Shepard did not doubt Lena's words.

"Back on my home once existed Yomas capable of turning into mummified corpses, smell included. Turning into a child is not a problem for them."

"That was a runt?" exclaimed Kasumi almost scandalized. "Good God!"

"Fine." snarled Shepard "Ok Lena, we got the message. Team, from now on we are on shoot first, ask question later protocol. Now, there are multiple objectives for this mission, for this reason, we shall split into two teams. Team one shall be commanded by me and composed of Kasumi, Jack, Zaeed, Jacob and Lena. Team two shall be controlled by Garrus and contain Samara, Grunt, Miranda, Mordin and Tali. Team one, our objective shall be to search and destroy as many enemy targets and making as much noise as possible. Team two, your objective shall be finding whatever is jamming our comms and dispatch of it. Gather any shred of intel you find of this place. Once the objectives are done coma back to us. We shall push toward this -awakened being- together."

"As long as the jammer is in place we shall be unable to communicate Shepard" argued Tali. "My drones failed spectacularly at recognizing the child for what it was, and the comms... best estimate gave them working at a range of thirty meters. That's it!"

"And as long as the jammers are in place, our scanners shall be worth shit, and this is a risk I am not willing to take here: too many dark spots and blind spaces. We cannot either trust Lena's senses in this. I talked with her before, and she admitted that her ability in sensing these...Yomas is spotty at best! We need our Omni-tools working! The faster, the better."

"But...Lena felt the husks on the ship from the Normandy back on the Collector's ship!" interjected Kasumi.

"So why."

"They are different!" snapped Lena annoyed "Whatever link the Reaper have with my power made their pets utterly impossible to miss, even from me. Yomas do not work like that. I cannot sense them well."

Kasumi scowled but said nothing else.

Garrus's mandibles twitched, not amused, but he obeyed and began barking orders. The others called huffed slightly, not liking the idea of splitting, but still obeyed and took their places before starting to move away from Sheèard's team.

"I hope you know what you are doing Shepard," Garrus whispered before moving away from the primary team.

"Me too." replied Shepard truthfully "If they overwhelm you, don't be heroes and run."

"And you do the same, Shepard. Please!." chuckled Garrus, "The only suicidal hero in this merry band, is you."

Shepard smiled bitterly at this. He tried to hide his fear as half of his agents, Tali included, began disappearing from his view, but failed miserably.

-Another reason for Wrex and the others to call me mother hen I suppose.- chuckled Shepard.

"Right team A. Me and Lena in front, Jack middle, Zaeed and Jacob behind. Kasumi, forward in exploration. Twenty meters top, and go back immediately if the comms fail. We will be right behind you. Lena, point us at the biggest concentration."

"On it, Shepard," replied Kasumi but without her usual cheerfulness as the team assembled. Lena, on the other hand, closed her eyes again and stood still for a second, opening her head. After some seconds, her silver eyes reopened, now yellow, and her fingers pointed at a ladder pointing at the upper floors, grimacing slightly.

"That way. Many of them. Thirty, I think."

Kasumi shuddered and trembled for a second before she managed to regain some sense of control.

Shepard sympathized for her. Unlike the young thief, he was an N7 veteran, defeater of Saren. And yet even he felt a churning feeling on his stomachs.

He was not the religious type, but this time Shepard found himself murmuring a quiet prayer. Because his guts were churning like back on Virmire.


Second-floor complex. Containment chambers. 19 21 local hours.

He had a name once. It knew it. Jasper? Jason? There was a J, he was sure of it, but no matter how many time he hit his scaly head on the wall, he could not remember. All because of the hunger, he was sure of it. How long had it been since he had the chance of feasting of some guts? Not since he had escaped from the cell and ate that fucking woman that loved to poke him with syringes like a lab rat. Speaking of which, where she was? He had only the head gripped on its claws right now, half-destroyed by time and bites.

He spat on it.

A disgusting creature, but her guts had been fantastic. The only thing genuinely amazing about her.

Was this why he kept staying here, inside his old cell? Where the now ruined steel bars lied on the floor alongside so many computers? Because putting the bitch on his same medical bed felt so good. Beating her to death as she begged to tenderize the meat? Even better! Just staying here revivified the screams of agony of the bitch! Almost as revitalizing as eating fresh guts.

Or maybe he was just becoming lazy at this point.

Besides, spitting on her corpse was always fun, now if he just...

He rose his head in glee as his nose picked up the fantastic scent of guts. Human guts. Someone was close, oh so so close. A female. Young, feisty, scared.

He rose up from his post in glee. Finally, after days of famine because of that giant bitch, he had a chance to eat. He moved upward, sniffing eagerly in the air, trying to identify the location of the scent. It was inside this room, he was sure of it, but kept shifting away. Invisible maybe? Why not.

He began moving erratically, clawing at the air in unexpected patterns, trying to catch the alluring scent.

"CCccoommMeee Heehreee" he gaped "LLLiiiIttle MMeeAAaal."

He felt the lingering smell of fear in the air increasing tenfold. He could almost taste it: sweet flesh and even more delicious guts ready for him. And he was so, so hungry.

But then he stopped. What was this stench now? It eclipsed everything his nose could feel. It smelled like him, only more rotten, and disgusting.

He had no more time to ponder of this question, of anything else for that matter, as a sniper round exploded his head like a ripe tomato.

The body fell limp on the floor, headless, and showering the floor with purple blood and brain matter. And almost next to it, the light shifted, revealing a panting and very scared Kasumi still eyeing the corpse next to her with fear and disgust.

"Great job with this one Kasumi," said Shepard once reching the forward member, sniper rifle still fuming in hand

"Your eyes are better than any Omni-tool."

"Took you long enough!" scowled Kasumi back, not amused "That thing...I was in perfect stealth, but it... I swear it knew I was around. It must have smelled me somehow. Like a hunting dog. I have never felt more scared in all my life."

"Yomas have a powerful sense of smell, among other things," admitted Lena as she came with the rest of the group, weapons ready.

"It is possible that it felt your dripping sweat." Kasumi cringed at the explanation

"Well, that is nice to know!" she huffed while kicking the sweat away with her hands "Any more pearls of wisdom to share, Lena?"

"Oh hell, chill out, princess! Are you still alive, no? Then what is the problem" grumped Jack as she looked at the room they were inside now. She particularly eyed the beheaded and rotting woman resting near the now headless corpse.

"Looks like one of the eggheads. Little bitch here must have had quite the grudge with her, judging by what little is left. Not that I am complaining: one less Cerberus piece of shit in the galaxy."

"That may be enough for you, but not for me." said Shepard "Jacob, sweep the area. This place looks like one of their holding cells, and I want to know if there is any kind of surviving recordings. Something that might shed more light to this place."

"Working, Shepard." muttered the soldier as he trudged across the small, ruined room. It took some seconds of rummaging before he found a still working computer. Even more to extract some midgets of information. All of this, while nervous eyes scanned the darkness looking for enemies as the sound of rummaging among pieces of machinery echoed inside the room.

"Done!" exclaimed Jacob after few, tense minutes as one of the surviving monitors suddenly came back to life, albeit barely.

The graphic was abysmal, like the sound, but still enough for the situation. Eager to know, the group peeked at the stuttering images moving inside the half-broken monitor.

What they witnessed was an image of the room they were in before the thrashing had happened. Sleek, well lit, white, and showing cabinets full of medical equipment and computers. The camera also showed a woman on her thirties, dressed in white coat sporting a Cerberus insignia and her head covered with a medical mask.

"Test number thirty-six on the seventh test subject for the project -Claymore-. Trying the latest formula created by lead doctor Abigail Kane. The Subject is human, male, twelve years old, caucasian. Already tested three doses containing traces of varying degree of blood gained from Subject Alpha. Relevant side effects: slight albinism, dilated pupils, a slight increase in reflexes. No signs of abnormal growth or increased resilience."

"Please...stop. No more punctures. I want to go home." the camera moved, showing a child strapped tightly on the medical bed with tubes attached on his chest, arms and legs. The woman only huffed in annoyance at this.

"Subject unfortunately still retain vocal functions, despite my request for erasing vocal cords. Doctor Kane desires to observe the reaction of the test subjects in all their functions."

"My name is...Jaimie, not Subject." croaked the boy. The woman snapped at this.

"And shut up already! No one care about your name, street rat!" Another wave of wails was the child's response at the shout. The woman deftly took a syringe placed on a table as the child screamed in fear and injected the content before Jaimie could continue.

The effect was immediate: the boy's sobbing abruptly stopped, and incoherent gurgles of pain began escaping from his tortured throath. The child's movements became strange, erratic. Almost incontrollable as something else was moving inside his body.

"Just like back home," muttered Lena.

"Observing reactions!" said the researcher unperturbed by the apparent suffering as she looked at some monitors with glee.

"Muscle mass increasing. Bone structures changing at promising rates. Detecting new neural pathways. Maybe this is the right one!" everyone on the room heard the hint of excitement, of happiness, radiating from this Cerberus researcher as the child begged and screamed. Lena's fist curled in rage as she watched the whole ordeal, together with Jack's.

"Disgusting...against even basic laws of moral and decency!" scowled Shepard

Kasumi refused to watch as she lowered even more down her cape.

"Blood pressure rising. 10%. 25%"

"Stop it. Stop it. STOP IT!" screamed the child. A growl replaced his shrill, heavy voice, as the beast tried to emerge. To take control.

"STOOOP IT!" And it did. Abruptly.

As quickly as they arrived, the tremors ended. The boy fell flat on the bed, unmoving, as whatever tortured his insides finally had mercy on him.

The woman quickly moved, checking in with her Omni-tool with frantic moves.

"The muscular mass has increased, as his bone density, but it is still not enough. Subject still alive, barely. I am starting to believe that doctor Kane is right, the blood is only part of the equation. We need the full Subject for testing, or at least a piece of her flesh in we want to truly advance. Tomorrow we shall contact the Illusive Man and ask for her detainment.

Computer, close diary entry n. 36. Doctor Foster's file."

The computer died with her voice, leaving only a blank monitor for the squad to watch.

"Bastards. All of them!" cursed Jacob beneath his teeth.

"This is like back on the island all over again!" muttered Lena in both rage and despair

"Why don't they learn?"

"Lena, calm down." tried to say Shepard.

"Calm down!? Calm down!? This shit is nothing new to me, Shepard! I have also suffered under the claws of doctors like this woman. I have bled and died under their scalpels for a foolish quest of power. Now here on the galaxy, you are doing the same, fucking thing!" screamed Lena enraged "Why can't people keep their fucking hands away?! Why?!"

"Hey!" countered Jack, her hands on Lena's shoulders, forcing the Claymore to look at the convict's eyes. "The bitches inside have already destroyed most of this freak show, and we shall do the rest. We will burn this shithole together, I swear."

Lena's breath, still shaking in rage, slowly came back to normal as Jack of all people calmed her down. An understanding passed between the convict and the Claymore, one that Shepard knew would have this entire place collapse on itself before the day would end.

"Anyone saw the data of the registrations?" asked Shepard to derail the mood "I did. 19 march 2185. Two days after New Horizon. They have been doing this shit in quite a while at this point. Can you get more diaries, Jacob?"

"No, Shepard." answered Jacob dejectedly "This was all I managed to save from this one."

"Fine. Gather up people, we still have more rooms to sweep, and more mess to do. The more Yomas we distract, the greater chances team B shall have on their mission. Move out!"


Basement complex. Corridors beneath the first floor. 19 40 local hours.

Garrus's group tiptoed in the bowels of the dark building, following the ever-increasing cracking of their comms as breadcrumbs for their destinations. Everyone was quiet, their minds fixated on their objectives and the road in front of them, barely lit by half-broken lamps.

-Whatever was blocking the signals must be close- thought Garrus in hope. The Omni-tools were not working at all at this point, so strong was the disturbance.

Another explosion rocked the place. Loud and powerful, like the roaring of a beast, it shuddered the entire building as small dots of dust fell on the ground. Followed by another, and another.

"Should we?" asked Tali, but Garrus silenced her.

"No. They are doing their job so that we can do ours."


Third-floor complex. Mess hall 19 41 local hours.

Flames flickered in the dark as Shepard's flamethrower coughed and sputtered gouts of pure flame in the halls, creating barriers of fire that stopped the snarling Yomas from charging. The entire room became transparent in the light as the other members fired their guns and threw grenades. Explosions rocked the thrashed chairs and beds, steel shards flying in the air as they cut both flesh and steel alike.

And yet still the Yomas persisted.

The scene was one from a horror movie. The heroic protagonists holding down a slavering mass of monsters with all weapons at their disposal as the enemies slithered and clambered from everywhere like maddened zombies as blood, guts and flames flickered madly in the air. It looked almost heroic, if not for the smell of burned flesh, slippery, purple blood and the disturbing chants of the Yomas slavering for preys coming from doors, floors and walls alike.

Another explosion rocked the structure, one strong enough that Shepard knew even Team B would hear it. Three more Yomas, small ones, died under a blazing inferno as Zaeed's grenade push them on the fire, but still more kept coming.

Lena snarled in pain and rage as she understood just where she and her team had ended: inside a Yoma nest.

-I am an idiot!- cursed the Claymore as a razor-sharp claw shredded part of her shoulder guard, just a second before lopping it off, together with the offender's head.

-A thrice-damned idiot that cannot sense Yomas for shit!-

Thirty yomas across the whole floor? Scratch that! There were thirty only here in this room, and more were coming. Weak, worthless, many so pathetic that even the forty-seven would dispatch them with ease, but still so damn many!

At least they were not pinching them from the same room Shepard and the squad had come out, content to merely flood them from another entrance placed at north of the mess hall, and the kitchen. The same room where a disgusting smell of rotting flesh hit everyone's nostrils.

"A little help here!" screamed Kasumi in fright as she frantically dodged strike after strike of a particular nasty Yoma. Jacob moved his hand for a split second and hit the creature with a biotic attack, making it float in the air. A second later, Jack's shotgun shredded it to pieces.

"Jack, Jacob, biotic on the main group," shouted Shepard as he directed the flamethrower

"Weapon almost out!"

"Fucking damnit!" cursed Jack. Still, her whole body flared blue in power as she prepared herself to let loose together with Jacob. The air, still bright for the fire, shimmered blue as their ability accumulated and lashed for release.

Three other Yomas dared the firewall. One died immediately, the other got picked by a frantic Kasumi and her pistol, but the third leapt forward toward Shepard. Lena's blade cut the slavering beast in twain before it could snap at Shepard. It fell on the ground, showering the commander with purple blood as he kept dousing the area with flames.

"Guys?" asked Shepard in dread. The weapon was spluttering now, begging for more canisters, with great joys of the Yomas judging by how their eyes light.

"Almost!" grumbled Jacob "Almost!"

The flames stopped coming right at that moment. The weapon stopped its whooshing sound, replacing with a loud whine and the noise of an ejecting vessel.

"Shit!" cursed Shepard as he dropped the weapon for his gun. It took less than three seconds, but the beasts were already on him.

He sprayed one at point-blank with the machine gun, ripping it to shreds. Faster than lightning he moved the still firing gun to a lunging Yoma, exploding its head in mid-air. A third one received a blast on the chest but survived as the thermal clip ejected from the weapon. It tried to grapple Shepard, but the commander kicked it away with the butt of the gun, only to have two more beasts clawing at his armour from the bottom. The commander screamed as he felt the greaves failing under the claws and his blood seeping out of it. Still, he grabbed his pistol and fired wildly as his red blood mingled with purple.

Next to him, Lena swung her sword with quick strikes, turning her weapon into a web of steel that cut any claws that dared to come closer. One, two, three, four Yomas fell on the ground, their flesh torn to ribbons. But the fifth, just as it died bisected by the blade, managed to plunge its taloned arm on Lena's stomach. Steel ruptured as flesh fell and blood exploded on the air.

"Gaaaah!" screamed Lena as the sword fell from her hands. The Claymore fell on the ground, the bisected Yoma falling with her as she tried to ignore the pain. Instead of the sword, now far from her grasp, her trembling hands found the shotgun. The same shotgun she had received on Tuchanka and never used. Frantic fingers grabbed the heavy weapons as she tried to unholster the damn thing from the armour as Yomas moved and salivated all around her. Kasumi was running stealth for her life, trying to disturb as many Yomas as possible in a mad catch and run dash that always risked ending with a swipe of the enraged Yomas. Zaeed chuckled madly as he laid headshots over headshots with his dear gun on any Yoma that dared to come, barely keeping with the tide. He killed one, two, three, four. He lost count as he racked kills with his trusty rifle.

"Definitively in the top ten! Maybe even the goddamn first!" he chuckled madly. Corpses piled next to him as the slavering mass tried to overwhelm Zaeed with the sheer weight of number. The old merc's survival was numbered by the thermal clip's capacity.

Lena tried to position her gun in a proper position but failed as a Yoma tried to claw her face. Groaning, her stomach churning in pain, Lena grabbed the shotgun with one hand and fired, stability be damned. The kickback almost dislocated her wrist and sent the weapon wildly off course, but it worked. The nearest beast was cut in two and sent another close sprawling back on the floor, its face mashed into a pulp.

Of course, now the weapon was empty, but the Yomas were not. Another came for Lena, trampling the shredded remains of its falling kin and salivating for fresh prey.

Lena rose her hands in defence...

But right into that moment, a wave of blue energy washed away the broken room, sending the raging beast flying on the place like flies. Gravity rebelled against the Yomas as they wailed and thrashed in rage as their limbs suddenly flayed uselessly on the air, trying to claw the preys with them. Panting in pain, a bloodied Shepard turned back as he witnessed both Jacob and Jack glowering in power as they directed their power on the beasts.

"About bloody time!" commented Shepard as he tried to stem the gashes on his legs with medi-gel, his body finally free from the weight of Yomas.

The Yomas flew on the air, like bullets from a massive gun, and hit the windows of the room. Many bodies hit the floor one after another, the windows cracking and groaning under pressure.

Finally, it broke, shattering the windows into a storm of glass and allowing the atmosphere of Trelyn inside the room. Corpses flew away as the air began to escape from the new exit. Fading alarms blared as Shepard's team frantically tried to place their rebreathers on. Jacob, Jack, Zaeed and Kasumi quickly did it, their hands relatively free and so easy to handle. Shepard fumbled a second because of his wounds but still managed to keep the hands of the helmet and pull it on his head. Lena failed.

Groaning for the Yoma arm still lodged on her stomach, her hands shaking in pain, the Claymore lost grasp on the helmet as it flew away from her. All her efforts ended with holstering her sword and shotgun before the murdering winds took them away in the air. When she tried to grab the helmet, it was already too late.

"No!" screamed Lena as she saw the only safety between her and death from asphyxiation disappearing outside the room, claimed by the hellish winds now raging inside. The Claymore felt her body moving away from the floor, the armour unable to clamp itself with its magnets beeping uselessly from her boots.

A pair of strong hands grabbed the Claymore as she struggled for move and breath, Jack and Shepard's hands.

"Move people. Outside, now!" screamed Shepard as they dragged her away. The pillars of the ruined room began creaking, groaning.

The squad managed to escape at the last second. The supports holding this section of the complex together snapped all at once and buckled down like paper.

The moment Shepard and Jack threw Lena outside the room and Jacob sealed the door with his biotic, the entire mess hall, and two corridors were ripped away from the complex. They fell on the ground outside, missing the Mako for mere centimetres.

The echo of the falling debris haunted Shepard's squad for many seconds, seconds where only Jacob kept his posture, too busy keeping the door sealed as all of his team members huffed and sighed.

"Too close. Too damn close!" concluded Shepard for everyone as he finally regained some composure.

"You tell me?" gnarled Lena as she tried to rose up, and failed. Still groaning in pain, the Claymore grabbed the still lodged arm on her stomach and began to push upward. A squelching sound of rippled flesh echoed in the halls as the scaly appendage fell off Lena, alongside most of her current blood. Lena coughed and spluttered as she called her reserves of Yoki in aid as Kasumi helped her not falling flat on her face down. Much to her chagrin as the Claymore was still putting out blood like a fountain.

As Kasumi's gloves ended up covered in blood, the young thief saw the gaping wound closing in with frightening speed, flesh knitting together and bones mending back into shape.

"Still disgusting to watch. No offence Lena." snapped Kasumi as she helped Lena rise back.

"None taken."

"Fuck, I feel so spent!" grumbled Jack as she massaged her temples. The convict looked pale, more than usual, and a trickle of blood was escaping from her nose and eyes.

"Don't ask me to repeat a stunt like this for an hour Shepard. No way in hell I can do it."

"Noted Jack, and you, Jacob?"

"I had better days!" admitted the soldier while taking away sweat from the head "But I used less power than Jack. I'm good."

"Lazy ass!" muttered Jack acidly.

"That was better than a goddam turkey shoot, Shepard," commented Zaeed happily as he checked his guns.

"Definitively worth of the top ten, but let's avoid a resume if possible. I am running low on thermal clips."

"Noted Zaeed. Others?"

"Almost empty!" chirped Kasumi as she tried to spat the blood away from her dress. "Three more on the pistol, I think."

"Seven last," muttered Jack tired.

"Still eight. And enough juice for another big attack for my biotics." replied Jacob

"And I have thirteen clips and five power cells for heavy weapons. Enough for another big battle but nothing more. Let's hope we shall reunite with the rest before it happens." muttered Shepard while counting her supply.

"At least we sent to hell a whole lot of them."

"Just how many they people used for experimentation here?" wondered Jacob out loud.

"Far too many, I am afraid!" replied Lena as she tried to stay still, her eyes fluttering for the pain.

"Back on my places, my masters had a habit of keeping a steady supply of fresh meat in the cells, in case they needed a quick change of eyes."

"Disgusting!" muttered Jacob

"Practical" countered Lena.

"Stowe it, you two!" barked Shepard. "Let's find another road and sweep this floor. We have a job to do."

The group moved away from the ruined door, still groaning and muttering, but right into that moment, a flash of pure power hit the Claymore like a mallet. Lena fell on the ground, crying, as she felt the strongest Yoki in the entire complex rousing from its slumber.

"What now!?" huffed Jack annoyed. Kasumi quickly helped Lena not fell on the ground as she looked at the Claymore in fear.

"Lena?" asked Kasumi, worried.

"The awakened being...Shepard. It is...is."

"What? What is happening now?" demanded Shepard briskly.

"...Moving. It is moving. Toward us! We must run, now!"


Zan Zan zaaaaz.

Black Magic, for your question this time I wish to wait for the end of this small mission before answering, so please be patient.

However, a few words. I honestly think that Lena and Kelly both grew considerably already: Lena, from a stone-cold killer to a more open girl willing to speak even with strangers, read and have fun. True, her reaction with Kelly was...hard as fuck but, after considering her past (something I already knew and planned before the story) that had to be expected. This is a betrayal of the worst kind for Lena, especially considering that Lena and the others do NOT KNOW that Kelly disobeyed in the end, and now risk her neck. They haven't interrogated her, yet.

At least this is the logical conclusion I reached after mulling for days.

And Kelly, from a mere henchwoman obeying Shepard's orders (let's be honest she does not get that much development in the game) to someone willing to stand for what she believes is right or wrong. They are all developing! At least in my eyes. Yours? Or am I the only one deluded here? Might be eh!

I assure you this: it will change them all, for better or worse, but in the end, this is only another phase of their development.

About the Shepard/Lena "battle for the 1 place", I guess this is what happens when you try writing a 200 000 words worth story for the first time. I doubt it can be changed at this point. Sure as hell, he will not be the main character at this point. The story is mostly from Lena's point of view, and I fear it will stay here at this point.

Maybe the sequel, assuming people still want to read my stuff after this monster. Perhaps there I will make fruits from these lessons.

Still, I hope you all liked it, boys and girls!

See ya!