Chapter 21

Part 3

The laboratory

A bit late I know, have mercy. I wrote and rewrote this part so many times already. It never satisfied me and I doubt it ever will. Hope it will at least satisfy you.

Top of the laboratory complex. Maria's personal room. 22 25 local hour

The quiet sound of dripping blood echoed inside the damp air as a wretched man's cries reverberated like a wailing wind. His lifeblood trickled away from dozens of small or large cuts as his body stood tall, tied like a cross and dangling on the air thanks to a system of ropes and chains, made both of steel and the awakened being's body parts. His clothes were tattered, his Cerberus symbol emblazoned on the security dress a long lost memory, but even now Lena could see the trained body and toned chest. The reason he survived for that long probably.

A blessing during work, a curse on his last breath.

"There, there!" cooed Maria as it jabbed another spike on the dying man's chest. Blood poured even more from the gaping wounds as the end twisted and turned inside the innards, moving them like a spoon move a broth. Another gush of crimson blood was the reward of her work, felling in the open arms of a large cup placed at the feet of the man.

The cup was half full already, to the point that Lena could reflect herself on it. But Maria refused to let it go.

"Almost done!"

The crimson liquid filled the cup to the brim as the man gave his last breath and died, his lamentation mercifully ended. Behind him, tied to bars, an emaciated pack of mostly women and some men watched the scene with empty eyes. The ones still conscious at least.

The latest gain of this macabre collection looked at Lena with closed eyes and chained limbs.

Jacob. Barely breathing, but still alive.

"Finally!" chirped Maria to a stone-faced Lena. Both the Claymore and the monster were seated on steel-bound chairs fashioned from scraps and rivets. One massive for Maria's new and impressive frame, another normal-sized for Lena. In front of the two patrons, a large, onyx like half-broken table stood with four malformed legs, partially repaired with tape and steel, and upon it a large casket made of what felt metal covered in excorticated and partially dried skin.

The sight of many human bones thrown on a pile some feet away from Lena already told her what kind of skin had been used.

"Bottles up!" cheered Maria as a pair of alembics reshaped as glass appeared on its claws. Both were quickly filled with the hot, crimson liquid inside the cup as Maria gleefully handed one to Lena.

It took all of Lena's willpower not to retch as the blood touched her lips.

She drank it. Slowly, painfully, feigning a savouring pleasure that she did not possess. All for the sake of keeping the image.

"Tasty!" beamed Maria, swallowing every last drop, even licking the edges of her teeth with a long, scaly tongue. Lena, on the other hand, made a mess of herself with blood dripping from her chin, lips and face.

"Aaah, you spat it out!" stated Maria ruefully, her spikes and hair moving in unison to mimic her temper. "Was it not good enough? Should we uncork the latest one for this occasion?"

One tentacle quickly moved toward Jacob.

"No!" quickly answered Lena "...No! It was good. Is just that...I lived for months as a mercenary inside a ship and...I kinda forget the taste for a moment."

Maria's eyes came back to Lena as the spike stopped a hairbreadth to Jacob's neck.

"That is sad!" commented Maria "I understand the need to have an image and fools the humans, but not drinking blood? Did it not parched your throat?!"

"A necessary sacrifice, I am afraid." Lied Lena "After some months you get used to it."

"I could never get used to that! Luckily I still have some meat bags left, so let's dig in!"

The chains holding the corpse fell off with a sudden snap as Maria let it free with a snap of her elongated appendages.

It fell, but strong tentacles were quick to catch its descend as they gently put it inside the cup at the centre of the table. Maria tore the body apart like a professional chef, pulling the head away with a gutwrenching sound as the spikes opened the chest and stomach, breaking bones and revealing the still fuming organs inside.

Humming a happy melody, utterly out of place, Maria's tentacles on the back grabbed a small cabinet placed behind the few remaining prisoners as the rest of her body ripped out the corpse's heart, guts and liver. The melody of a lullaby mixed with the clatter of flesh ripped apart.

Maria drenched them in the remaining blood, drizzling them with the crimson liquid, as she opened the small cabinet with her hands.

To Lena surprise, she saw inside small bottles of chilli, pepper, salt, all the seasoning needed for a good dinner. Seasoning Maria used to prepare the floating pieces of human meat inside.

"Perfection!" beamed Maria as it tasted a morsel "Thirty-year-old males are the best ones when it comes to this recipe. Their flesh became so tender after the seasoning."

Tentacles fished inside the half-filled cup with reckless happiness, taking out a piece of liver still dripping with blood.

"Come on! Try it!" urged Maria as it gave the grisly morsel at Lena.

The Claymore grabbed the liver with trembling hands, her mind retching at what she was about to commit. If drinking blood had been hard, this was proving to be suicidal.

Frantic eyes scanned the room in search of a way, any way, to grab a weapon and fight the monster in front of her, consequence be damned. But they found nothing: her weapons were safely tucked away from her grasp in the corner of the laboratory, sword, shotgun and machine gun, and Lena knew that she was not fast enough to avoid Maria's spikes ripping her throat.

She had to choose between this and a grisly demise. And leaving Kasumi alone to her.

-Oh Goddesses, forgive me for this!- begged Lena as she gave the first bite.

The liver felt like jelly in the Claymore's mouth. Soft and squishy with a coppery taste for all the dripping blood. It took energetic pressure from her mandible and long, loud seconds, for the Claymore's teeth to rip the flesh asunder and force it inside her throat, and she almost puked as she felt the meat slipping down her gullet.

It tasted awful. Coppery, spicy and raw at the same time.

"So? How is it?" asked Maria with shining eyes.

"It's..." muttered Lena with gnashing teeth. Right now all the Claymore wanted was to puke and scream, but somehow she managed to hide her loath and disgust with a blood-drenched smile.

"Unique! I usually eat on the fly, so I never season my meals." she half lied.

She usually ate without seasoning, after all.

"I used to do the same!" beamed Maria "But with all these free time and corpses, how could I not try something new? I always wanted to become a cook, even before the kidnapping. Do you think your other friends will appreciate it?"

"My other friends?" inquired Lena, anything to keep her mouth away from the horrible dish.

"Yes, of course. Didn't you mentioned them previously?" answered Maria with a hint of curiosity.

"Or were you just lying?"

"You mean the other Cl? I...the word friend is not the first one that comes to mind. Not for most of them anyway. Comrades, more like."

"That bad?! No! People like us must stick together unless we wish to become lab food. Tell me about them. Are they all like you? Or some of them have tanned skin? Are there males among them? I once overheard the lead scientist raving about having all males lose control. Wich piece of meat do they prefer? Do they hunt in the wild or keep some livestock inside like me?"

Lena swallowed a lump under Maria's curious gaze as her mind worked into overdrive for a credible story.

Everything was better than tasting her landlady's dreadful idea of dinner. And besides, she had to keep her occupied to let Shepard devise a plan and save them.

Because Shepard was coming to save them, right?

Right?


The corridor was quiet.

A narrow, long and dark place snaking its way through the meanders of the laboratory like veins inside a body.

It was a maze. One that cost precious minutes to travel. It was a narrow place. One that allowed no more than two people at one time inside the corridor, and hampered the movement of even the nimblest person, but at least it appeared free of Yomas. This did not deter Shepard, Tali and Jack to aim their guns at every light they saw in the tunnel.

Finding it had been easy: with all the destruction wrought by the monsters, the preventive measures used to keep it hidden were gone, and Mordin's hunch proved more than correct. They found an opening just next to the waiting room's main exit toward the planet, the now only half-hidden steel door fractured and dented but still working.

Navigating it, on the other hand, proved to be a chore: the tunnel Shepard's squad found was dim, barely lit by their Omni-tools and allowed only two people at the time inside. Barely.

It also snaked in many directions, forcing Shepard to use drones or even pushing the group to split in more than one occasion, only to reunite some tense minutes later. Some parts were only thinly separated from the main rooms or outright open thanks to all the damage. The destruction of the mess hall, for example, had destroyed part of the tunnel system, pushing Shepard and the team to move back to their passes. There were times when they all heard the sound of shrieking Yomas centimetres from them, separated only by a thin layer of steel, and feared to see the tunnels swarmed with slavering monsters ready to devour them. But none of this happened.

Instead, after almost one hour of spelunking and muted cursing, Shepard's team finally arrived on the main room, when they saw Lena and her new chaperone chatting as the few remaining prisoners waited bound in the dark. Scared, half-starved, more scarecrows in lab coats than actual people, but all alive. They still were not inside per se, as the thick layers of steel, although dented by battle. The hidden door was clear to see from their perspective and looked ready to be opened, but Shepard waited. This was not the time to charge in gun blazing, but to look from the shadows in search of intel. As the group quietly circled the corridor, Shepard saw through small gaps on the wall the monster inside, alongside Lena and other bound prisoners. But no more Yomas.

Meaning that his plan could continue.

"Shepard, I followed you through thick and thin during these three years, and I know that you can even take your head inside a Varren's mouth and get out unscathed, but this takes the cake!"

And of course, almost everyone inside the group thought him insane. Again.

Still, they obeyed at least.

"Funny. Garrus said the same thing when I challenged the Thresher maw on a standoff back on Tuchanka."

"Don't remind me of that day, please. I still have the nightmares about it."

"Were you worried about me, Tali? That is adorable!"

"...Bosh'thet."

A bit further from them, eyeing the central laboratory from a crack on the wall, Jack quietly cursed as she heard the banter.

"Sure sure. But enough chit chat Tali. How is the drone doing?"

"Fine. For now. But I am yet to reach the red zone. And with the payload inside it will be a bitch to move. Especially with how limber some of these monsters are."

"I know, but we have only one shot at this, and you know it. Doubt the others could give us more blood than that at this point." absently Shepard touched a fresh scar from his chest, still red despite the medi-gel. "Jack, can you see Lena?"

The young convict, some paces away from Shepard, didn't even move away from her looking spot.

"Yes. I still see Lady Oscar and the rest of the band."

"Are they ok? What is that creature doing to them?"

"I am not sure. It looks like...oh, fuck!"

Shepard saw the young convict moving her eye away from the looking spot, her face green and suppressing fits of vomit.

"What is happening Jack? Speak!" urged Shepard, worried. Jack was not one that fell quickly to squeamishness.

"The tentacle bitch!" murmured Jack between gurgles "She is cooking...a person. And offering it to Lena as a fucking cake! Fuck! I think I will not eat meat for a year."

A deathly silence engulfed the corridor as Jack's weight of her words truly hit the group.

"...Tali. Be quick about it." urged Shepard. "Before Lena, or someone else, snap."


Soft sniffles and moans of fear echoed inside the hall as the lone, cowled and chained figure in the middle fell more and more into despair. Never in her life had she felt so desperate and scared, not even during her most daring raids. The price of failure was, after all, losing her prize, and at worst a sentence of imprisonment.

Not becoming the meal of some kind of crazed Cerberus experiment with a taste for gourmet cuisine.

"Keiji, where are you? I am scared!" mumbled Kasumi as she huddled herself in fear, her mind barely holding up together. Her Gray Box that she now always brought with her was active and working at overtime. And yet even her most treasured moments could not banish the seeping fear inside her. The memories of her past lover filled her mind but failed to remove the chilling fear seeping into her bones. Around her, the beasts controlled by the mutant roused and growled at her mewling, but did nothing more. The command they received held on, for now.

"Keiji!" cried Kasumi again as she hid her face inside her chest, but again, no one answered.

Until she heard the pulsing sound.

Her trained ear immediately recognized for what it was, the sound of an incoming drone entering the room, scanning and looking at something. Her brain refused to even acknowledge its presence: a swipe from a beast, and it would end in pieces, just like the others.

And as if called, one of the many Yomas littering the hall growled in annoyance at the sound and irked its back, pouncing at it like a cat.

But this time, it failed. By a hairbreadth, the drone managed to avoid the hefty swipe, as if controlled by someone, and rose up into the air, safe from another attack. The Yoma growled and snarled, but failed to reach the drone that rose higher in the air as if to taunt it. The spectacle attracted the yellow, beady eyes of many more beasts, in a mix between amusement and annoyance at the sight of their companion, struggled to grab the drone, all of this under Kasumi tear covered eyes.

Until the drone opened itself, and a thick, coppery liquid fell on the ground.

The snarking sounds of laughter and yawning abruptly stopped as the coppery liquid touched the floor, and the tangy aroma filled the air. All the Yomas's head turned sharply upward as the scent filled their nostrils. Their jaws opened in slavering desire as, one after another, they crawled away from their hiding places, moving toward the crimson liquid. Many even started fighting against each other for a taste of it. Claws raked flesh and purple blood mixed with red on the ground.

"Mine!" screamed a Yoma as it tore apart the nearest creature.

"No!" screamed another "I need it."

Move away!"

"Die!"

A scuffle emerged, with slavering fangs snapping at leathery flesh. Claws raked and fangs tore apart. Something fell on the ground and stopped moving.

And in the middle of this chaos, with beasts tearing at each other and a terrified Kasumi trying to appear as small as possible, the drone moved away. Silent and invisible, but still let the crimson trail fell on the floor.

Breadcrumbs that invited the Yomas to move and hunt it down.

"Taaasty!" groaned one of the Yoma, one resembling a crustacean.

"I want more!"

"Mistress demand to wait!" argued another

"Mistress order this, order that, and stay inside with all the best food! I cannot eat that meal?" it pointed at Kasumi "Then I will eat this one! I go!"

"Me too."

"Same!"

The few voices against pursuing the drone were drowned by a tide of growling anger and moving feet. Like one beast, dozens of Yomas rose from their posts and began stalking the drone, following the sweet scent of blood like hounds. They passed Kasumi in the blink of an eye, barely giving her cursory glances. As they reached the door, more than one died under their kin's own feet, trampled as they tried to overcome one another as they followed the alluring scent.

Only a scant group stood still, following their Mistress's orders.

As the overwhelming majority of the beasts trampled their way through the ruined complex, only darkness answered their pass. Dark and the sound of shattered steel and broken plastic as their taloned feet pursued the desired scent.

In the urge to reach their prey, they failed to notice a stream of microscopic machines littered around the ruined complex, small sisters of the drone they were so eagerly pursuing. Or the lone figure hidden in darkness, shrouded from their nose by steel, dust and fully insulated armour. Waiting for them to pass so that she could do her part.

The Yoma's relentless search dragged the throng far away from their original place. Lower and lower into the depths of the facility. As they clawed their way through their destination, mechanical eyes placed before scanned their movements, and a signal moved through the air, warning the rest of Shepard's squad that the moment had come.

As all the members' Omni-tools flared into life, Shepard let out a quiet sight.

"The show is on."


The Justicar waited. Hidden, eyes closed, crouched just outside the Yoma nest in apparent meditation; behind tubes, cables, and rubble; dripping with lime and dust to confound the beast's scent, hers was the most demanding task: to enter inside the wolf's den and save Kasumi from the beasts' clutches. Alone.

A suicidal task if discovered by the awakened one, a challenging one if some beasts refused to chase the drone, and the reason why Samara was the only one that volunteered for this: the Code compelled her to do this.

As the ghoulish procession escaped from the shattered doors, Samara's breathing became quieter, shallower. She quietly repeated the passages of the holy Code and prayers for the Goddess to suppress the churning feeling inside her stomach, and yet this time, the sacred words failed her.

As the monsters passed, she felt fear, not righteousness, and she hated it. Her, a centuries-old Justicar, afraid of mutated beasts, but that was the truth.

Was it because, after so much time, the galaxy had thrown at her au unknown enemy? Or because she feared death before ending her greatest hunt? Her greatest sin? The question hung in the air as the rabid throng moved toward the corridor.

All these fears disappeared as the rabid beasts disappeared from the corridors, their twisted noise with them, leaving Samara alone with her mind.

The Justicar waited. Still kneeling on the floor, awaiting a signal from her Omni-tool, telling her that the trap had worked. That the rabid hive of claws and teeth had not stopped for some reason, or worse, came back.

As seconds passed, and dust fell, the machine on her wrist sprung into life, and the Justicar's eyes opened.

It was time to move.

"Did you hear that, dear?" asked Maria all of a sudden, making Lena flinch on her post.

"N...no. I didn't hear anything strange. Why?" replied Lena hesitantly as she lowered the cup currently in her hand. Some crimson liquid spilt from it as her trembling hands tried to hide her fear.

"Is just that...I thought I felt them...moving? No, I must be wrong, they would never do something so stupid."

"Are talking about your...pets?" demanded Lena

"Pets, what a terrible name!" exclaimed Maria scandalized "Let's just call them...little friends. Not too bright, but it is not their fault. Still" she frowned for a second "They haven't eaten properly in days, maybe they are just hungry. Maybe I should take a look."

A glint of something behind Maria flashed for a split second, still enough for Lena's trained eyes to recognize it as what it was: the barrel of a gun.

Lena's eyes almost betrayed her surprise. Almost.

"Oh, come on!" she quickly said instead, grabbing Maria on the one hand and stopping her from turning.

"Let's just enjoy ourselves for some more moments."

Maria's eyes became black for a single moment as they looked at Lena. Uncertainty flashed inside the black pools as Lena gave her the most gracious smile she could muster despite the trailing blood.

"At least let's have another sip before going, no?" added Lena relentless as she dipped her cup inside the still fuming bowl of blood, filling it to the hilt. A mouthful of the scalding liquid hit her throat as she tried to keep a straight face.

-Take it by the Goddesses. take it!- she begged internally

"Hhhhm. I guess you are right." finally said, Maria. Another tentacle joined inside the bowl as Maria refilled her cup.

"To a great friendship." cheered Maria "Cheers!"

"...Cheers!" replied Lena as she begged her heart to stop beating.


Garrus's eye stood trained on the back of the beast from his personal perch, sniper rifle ready and charged with the modified round. The barrel of his gun lights hummed in the small confines of the tunnel as a purple light came out from the unique payload loaded inside. Mordin had assured him that the projectile would kill anything it touched. What did he say? "This freshly modified warp payload will destroy living tissues at the molecular level, no matter the regenerative tissues. One-shot only or the gun's internal systems will break." or a ramble like that. Nothing that appeased his old, cynical self.

And he really needs some appeasing right now, because the monster in front of him was the stuff of nightmares.

A bed of writhing tentacles, spikes exuding from its back like grass, elongated flesh and a cascade of hair that Garrus swore were looking at him. The fact that both Lena and it were happily drinking blood coming from a hanging corpse didn't help either.

For once, Miranda had received the easy task. If you can call reprogramme all environmental controls inside the monster's room by herself, without having anyone noticing it. Since then she, Garrus and Mordin had reached their respective places inside the tunnel, the woman had barely moved a muscle, too focused working with her Omni-tool to even glance at Garrus for a second.

-I swear by the spirits- thought Garrus as he kept the gun trained on the beast's back

-If we survive even this, I shall eat the barrel of my rifle, leather included.-

"Nothing new on the radio, Mordin?" whispered Garrus behind him, easing his mind.

"Nothing" replied the spirited doctor "Bomb not yet detonated."

Something attracted the monster's attention for a split second and Garrus saw the spikes on its back move toward the room's exit. Cold sweat fell from his shoulders as he trained the gun toward it.

Had Samara already failed to do her part? Despite the misdirection? Garrus's talons twitched on the sniper rifle's trigger as he waited to fire. The barrel of the gun shook slightly from the small opening left on his hideout.

But right into that moment, Lena acted, grabbing the monster's arms and...Garrus had to blink twice before believing what her comrade did. She grabbed her glass and offered a cheer. A cheer of blood.

-Spirit damnit Lena! You have quads of steel.- thought Garrus ruefully

-Just try to not break them before we can move.-

"How long still!?" demanded Garrus again as he witnessed Lena's new attempt of distraction.

"Horde almost reached point zero. If all goes well, explosion shall begin soon," assured Mordin as he checked the Omni-tool. Garrus swore in his language as his scale straightened. He hadn't felt this unnerved since the battle on Virmire.

-I only hope we all survive after this mess.-

Third floor of the secret complex. 22 31 local hour.

The chase was finally done. After passing one full floor, a dozen of ruined rooms and broken hallways, the drone had stopped, allowing its slavering followers to grovel in happiness at the prospect of a free meal after days of hunger. In their drunken run, they had destroyed steel floors, shattered walls, crumpled remnants of pieces of furniture and works of glass. They had passed hallways, rooms, hangars and shattered remnants of almost half the complex without even noticing, hurting themselves in frustration, tried to grab in mid-air the drone, or even trampled to death one of two of their members, just so they could touch the sweet, delectable liquid.

And now it was gone. The moment the drone finally touched the earth. Most of the Yoma pounced on it, the small machine disappeared, and the crimson liquid fell on the floor, burying itself deep inside a little heap of rubble and debris placed at the centre of what was once a dormitory for the guards, its trampled beds, shattered lockers and scarce posters proofs of its past use.

As the Yoma charged the last place known of their lunch, beams shattered, and rubble disappeared in a whirlwind of claws. Purple blood flew in a frenzy of hunger.

"Give to me! Give to me!" pounced one as it clawed a Yoma next to him out of hunger.

"It disappeared!" raked another as it frantically dug on the ground.

"It was there a second ago, the smell is still there!"

"You took it away, you thief!" accused another as it swept a Yoma's face with its claw. The offending beast snarled and roared as blood flew from its front.

"Dig down! It must be hiding down the rubble. Dig! Dig!" urged the third one as it clawed the floor with its fingers. The prospect of flesh spurred the squabbling Yomas into a new craze of activity, and soon dozens of claws raked the heaps of rubble in search of the elusive machine. The floor shuddered under pressure as pieces of debris flew on the air as its foundation laid bare.

"Found something!" exclaimed one of the Yoma after seconds of research

"What? Prey?" asked a Yoma next to him "Food?"

"No, it looks like..." the Yoma carefully uncovered the hidden object he had just found, removing the dust and shards still covering its frame. It was a boxy thing, as tall as a Yoma up to its chest, angular in shape and onyx coloured. Trained ears could hear the faint sound of a ticking clock inside. The box was heavy, filled with something, but the claws failed to find any kind of locking mechanism.

As the Yoma's eyes focused on the object, many felt great disappointment at the sight.

"A box?" roared another "A mere box?"

"Maybe it is filled with flesh."

"And maybe you hate your brain."

"Open it, open it already!"

"I am doing it, one moment!" Claws raked the steel box with increasing frustration, but the object failed to give in. Tempers flared once again, ready to become a brawl.

No one noticed the minuscule drone-camera attached on the roof, spying every move.


In a room previously hidden by debris and rocks, Grunt and Zaeed waited with their Omni-tools active and weapons ready. Once a storage room, now an impromptu fortress was the pair had decided to hide until the time to strike. The dim lights of the Omni-tools the only source of light illuminated a couple of dour faces, ready to snap at any moments.

"Now?" asked Grunt restless.

"Almost" answered Zaeed checking the Omni-tool "Almost, a second more."

A smile appeared on the old, scarred merc's face as he saw the brawl from the camera.

Now was the time

"Burn bitches!" snickered Zaeed, and clicked a button.

The box held by the Yomas, filled with grenades, heavy weapons supplies, gasoline found on a storage room and anything explosive found, detonated.

The entire complex shook under the blow as the Yoma inside the room, survivors of the rebellion of the facility, died in an inferno of flame.


Maria rose from her post almost immediately, shattering the table down her tentacle and showering both her and Lena of the remaining blood. Her eyes became black as her mind tried to understand what had just happened.

"Your friends?" she asked. Lena stood quiet.

"Answer me, dear guest," repeated Maria, this time moving her spikes toward the Claymore. Again, Lena stood quiet.

In her mind, she prayed that Shepard knew what she was doing.


The explosion had rattled the few remaining beasts inside the entrance all still guarding Kasumi. They all rose from their hiding posts as if hit by whiplash and moved incoherently for precious moments.

"What happened?"

"Someone warns the Mistress!"

"What are those idiots doing?"

"Check the"

A biotic flash tore one Yoma asunder before they could even understand why. As the ghoulish eyes turned toward the sudden light, a burst of precise fire found its mark on another Yoma's head, exploding it like a balloon showering the area with purple blood.

"Intruder!" warned a surviving Yoma pointed at a new figure inside the room, a tall Asari in red armour. Samara. The Yoma lunged at the enemy, but Samara nimbly avoided the sharp claws at the last second and emptied her pistol on the beast's back. The Yoma howled as the bullets shredded its spine; a quick biotic sphere ended its torment, alongside most of its head.

"Behind you!" shouted Kasumi all of a sudden. Centuries of training kicked in, and Samara ducked the claws aimed at her back throwing herself on the floor. The sharp claws clipped her armour, leaving three long dents, but failed to pierce and the Yoma lost focus for a split second. Enough for Samara to focus her power in one, devastating blast. The Yoma flew backwards like a bullet, hitting the walls ten meters away from it with enough strength to bend the bulks. It didn't move after that.

But the last Yoma found its mark. Using the death of its comrade as a shield, it attacked Samara as she jumped away from the ground, too quick even for her centuries-old training to avoid it. Rich purple blood flew from Samara's pelvis as the claws shattered the armour and dug deep inside her. She didn't cry, she only grunted in pain, but still the Justicar fell once again on the ground, covering the rubble with blood. The beast slaved in joy at the sight of blood and rose the other arm on the air, ready to strike at the still squirming enemy.

But as the Yoma swung its arm at the supposedly hapless victim, something stopped him. The claw stopped an inch from Samara's eyes. Eyes that now glowered with biotic power.

"Stop...squirming!" roared the Yoma as it strained its muscles, to no avail. As Samara's purple blood fell on the ground, her eyes shone with azure power and tendril of energy snaked from her outstretched hands.

The Yoma felt its body lifting from the ground as gravity around its flesh refused to work as intended. The beast snarled and groaned, snapping its fangs in frustration but to no avail. The claws still embedded inside Samara's lower body came out with a grisly sound and trickles of blood, but not even for a second did Samara lost her focus. As the beast moved higher, Samara's entire body shimmered with power, her usually serene face turned into a scowl.

"Find peace, in the embrace of the goddess." groaned Samara, and then closed her fist. Gravity around the Yoma's skull tightened like a vice until it exploded in the air, showering the Justicar with bone shards and offals.

Only twenty seconds had passed since the first death.

Samara collapsed on the ground, exhausted and wounded, but refusing to give in to the pain.

"This body is...only an instrument...of the Goddess. Its duty is...to fulfil her will. And her will is...to protect the innocents." she repeated softly as in a mantra. A growl of pain escaped from her tired lips as her body screamed in utter misery, but she still had the presence of the spirit of activating the Omni-tool and send a single signal.

-Now it is up to you, Shepard.- groaned Samara as she moved toward the still trapped Kasumi.

-Don't fail us.-

The signal reached Shepard just as Lena grabbed Maria by the arm, stopping her from these precious seconds he had hoped for.

-Time to dance.- he thought

"Shepard to Miranda and Garrus. Begin!"

What is about to begin, I wonder. We shall see.

Until next time boys and girls! See ya!"