The laboratory

Part 4

Stll alive out there people? Hope so. Stay safe, and hope you like this. See ya

Depths of the complex. 31 minutes before the beginning of the counterattack. Second floor.

"Are you sure this is going to work Mordin?" Asked Shepard dubious

"Absolutely!" the doctor didn't even rose his head as he worked on Garrus's sniper rifle. The weapon fizzled and grumbled under the doctor's note so gentle ministrations as he modified some internal circuits. Something that made Garrus rolling next to him. "Creature using fully biological armour as protection. Regenerative abilities also problematic. Turning sniper bullet with unstable warp cores will nullify all advantages. Warp flesh at the molecular level. Prevent any regeneration of damaged tissues. Won't kill but keep down for I think... thirty-three minutes, ten seconds."

"And will my rifle survive the shot?" demanded Garrus unnerved.

"Yes. Yes. Probably"

"Probably..." Garrus's mandibles twitched sharply, not amused.

"By the spirits, if my gun explode, I swear on the spirits that"

"No time for prattling Garrus. We have only one shot at this. Literally, and you are our best eye in the field. Miranda, any luck with entering inside the meteorological control?"

"Some luck, Shepard" grimaced the brunette as she fiddled with her Omni-tool. All around her the dim lights of the armours gave the small room used as command centre an eerie look.

"My universal key is working, but there is so much ruin in the software, even after rerouting the core. And what is left of the complex's hardware is taking its sweet time processing it."

"How long?"

"Twenty minutes? Assuming it keeps behaving this way."

"Then let's hope it will keep behaving. Massani! What about the bomb?"

"Almost done Shepard!" replied Zaeed gruffly "But I need a bit more punch for the last touch. We all saw how tough these motherfuckers are. Anyone got any spare boom?"

"Empty," replied Tali

"Same" echoed Garrus, quickly followed by all the other members inside the room. Shepard sighed and activated a specific compartment of its armour.

"Here," he said as he handed some power cells. "My last shots for the grenade launchers. Is this enough?" An armoured hand quickly grabbed the pieces and cobbled them together with a large, back canister found inside the complex.

"A bit more of this and...done Shepard!" exclaimed Zaeed "This beauty will tear a hole the size of a goddam space ship wherever we place it."

"And what about you, Shepard?" asked Miranda worried "The last part of the plan. It was already dangerous before, but with only one shot...Shepard, Cerberus is not willing to resurrect you. Again."

"So much optimism" murmured Shepard.

"Is not about being optimistic Shepard!" growled Tali in response, the visor covering her face flaring in anger.

"Your idea is...is...Oh Keelah, even fistfighting a Thresher Maw feel trivial compared to this. What if you cannot destroy the wall with only one shot? Or that monster can breathe through space?" No reaction came through Shepard's stony gaze, and Tali snapped at this. "Garrus, says something! Say to this Bosh'tet that he is going to die!" Tali beat Garrus's chest in fright as she uttered these last words. Her Turian friend's mandibles twitched unnerved at this as he looked with his eyes at Shepard. he said not a single word, but the message was clear.

"Tali, I am a soldier. My life is dangerous whether we like it or not. I knew it when I signed myself to the Alliance first and the Spectres later. You knew it when you decided to come with me since our meeting with Saren's agents." chided Shepard gently as he placed a hand on Tali's shoulders.

"But that does not mean that I look blindly for death. This plan is the only one we could think of. The only one that has a chance to save Jacob, Kasumi and Lena. And as the one devising it, I am responsible for pulling it through. I have to try."

"Well, if there is someone capable of pulling such a foolish, idiotic stunt like this" supplied Miranda acidly "is you, Shepard. Just try to not ruin two years of my work."

"Thanks, Miranda," noted Shepard sharply at the jab.

Tali slowly rose up from Garrus's chest, clearing the inside of her visor dimmed by tears and fear.

"Fine." she murmured.

"What?"

"I said, fine! Do it, try to get yourself killed. Again. But let makes one thing clear: everything must be going exactly as planned. Otherwise, ancestors are my testimonies, I will slap your face until the end of time."

Shepard smiled. A tired, genuine smile.

"Well, placed in front of such a dreadful alternative, I think I shall do my utmost to not disappoint you. Let's begin people. We have a job to do."


Present time.

The monster screamed when the bullet pierced her. A deep, piercing howl of pain that hurt Lena's ears with the power of a thunderstorm and almost made her faint. The tangy smell of burning flesh quickly filled her nostrils as Maria's massive frame thrashed and writhed on the floor, the presence of anyone inside the room gone from her mind.

A soothing sound of entering gas accompanied Maria's cries of pain as she suffered on the ground now slick with blood.

"It hurts!" screamed Maria as she swung on the ground. The bed of tentacles writhed in sympathy with her as its lower body oozed melting flesh from the wound. Her elongated hands grabbed the bloody stump in place of her bed of tentacles. Whatever had hit her was not your average fire-modified bullet.

"It hurts!" one of her black eyes fixated on Lena with enough anger to make the Claymore shudder.

"Traitor!"

The spikes on her back lunged with murderous intent at Lena that barely managed to dodge them. What was left of the table splintered and broke, the still flailing corpse fell on the ground and blood washed the floor as the awakened disappeared inside an ever-growing fog. Somehow, the shattered tubes snaking through the whole room were oozing a cold, white gas that threatened to envelop the room like a blanket.

Dazed, her heart still beating, Lena shuddered as she tried to regain some senses. Everything had happened so fast, less than five seconds and the Claymore had never heard an awakened being screaming so much in all her life. Whatever trick Shepard had conjured from his hat, it must have been beyond powerful. A part of her thought about sprinting toward her weapons and end Maria, dangers be damned! But as she moved her leg, the white fog finished his job, blanketing the room and reducing Lena's visuals to no more than mere centimetres. The still conscious prisoners rattled their teeth as their skin prickled and shuddered under the sudden cold, small flashed of breath suddenly appeared as Lena's step froze on the spot. Visibility dropped drastically as the fog dulled the senses. Maria disappeared inside it, leaving only her cursing in the damp air and desperate attempts to rose up from the ground. Lena's silver eyes gazed unnerved at the room, trying to gain some sense of her new and unknown surrounding. Her ears felt the screams of pain and thrashing of Maria, but quickly gandered the soft sounds of passes moving inside the room. Her hands in reaction curled into fists.

She was not alone there.

A hand quickly grabbed Lena from behind, and the Claymore reacted out of pure instinct and grabbed the would-be attacker with a lightning strike. First, the Claymore elbowed her would-be assailant with a quick strike, hitting steel with Yoki-infused strength. Metal buckled under the pressure as Lena heard a groan of pain behind her. She moved relentlessly, getting free from the captor's grasp and launching her fist where she expected to find the assailant's face but this time an armoured hand grabbed her fist in mid-air, stopping it on its track. Her Yoki gave her strength to break the hold, but as she jumped at her assailant, a voice spoke.

"For fuck's sake, Lena! it's me, Shepard!"

Lena's fists stopped a hairbreadth from Shepard's new helmet, grazing the lenses with her knuckles. Now that her blood stops pumping on her brain, Lena quickly recognized the armoured person in front of her. It was indeed him.

"Shepard!"

"Glad to see you are ok. Stick close and don't make a sound."

"Wait!" demanded Lena "My weapons, and the prisoners! We cannot leave them there!"

"We are not, Garrus and Miranda are already working on it. Now move before it is too late."

"And what if."

"Lena!" Shepard turned his head with a snap, his eyes glinting even the inside of the armour.

"Trust me!"

These words clicked something inside Lena's mind. Her preoccupation fell flat on her toes as the trust she felt for Shepard, faith born amid battles, came back to give her certainty.

Shepard had guided her through thick and thin. He trusted her when she unleashed her beast after Korlus. She had to trust him now.

They both began moving away and not a moment too soon because, as soon as Lena moved one foot, a spiked tentacle clawed at the floor centimetres from her position, raking the ground with its barbed tips.

"Come back here you traitor! Come back!" screamed Maria's voice in the fog, followed by the sound of a thrashing body on the ground. The beast was trying to rose up despite the wound on her lower end. Lane felt Maria's yoki surge like a blazing furnace, fighting against the bullet still eating away at her flesh. A roar deafened the place as more and more spikes flew across the room blindly. It was only a matter of time before one of them hit their mark.

"He said she would not be able to move." murmured Shepard unnerved.

Shepard thought the same because he immediately crouched down, moving quietly but swiftly among the ruined floor, Lena quickly behind her. Tense seconds passed as more and more spikes hit the ground, one missing Shepard's head by a fraction. Only after reaching the supposed exit, a secret entrance of some kind disguised as a piece of a wall did Lena's chest stop thumping. The Claymore and Shepard immediately climbed up to the gate when Jack and Tali were quick to give them a hand.

"I cannot believe it worked," whispered Tali as she helped Shepard. The commander noticed that fragments of spikes had entered even there judging by a new dent in the roof.

"We are not out of the wood yet. Jack, Tali, escort Lena where you know, I"

A piercing scream echoed inside the damp air of the place. A scream coming from a Turian mouth.

"Garrus!" shouted Tali

"Shit they got fuckface!" muttered jack

"We have to help him!"

"No!" said Shepard grabbing her. Tali looked at him as if he was insane.

"You want to abandon him?"

"I don't, but we cannot help him!" countered Shepard holding his fear "We do not know if it is just a flesh wound or death, and even if we all charge down we have no chance in hell in defeating that thing. We have to trust the other in getting out of the shit and follow the plan. Otherwise, we are all doomed, no matter what. Besides, we heard one cry and stop. No sound of flesh rent, or other people dead. And Mordin and Miranda would never leave them without trying."

Tali struggled on the grip, she admittedly did, trying to get free from Shepard's grasp and bolt outside but Shepard's grip was one of iron. Lena looked at her with pity.

"Shepard is right." murmured softly putting a hand on Tali's shoulder. "Whatever your plan is, charging in sword raised won't change a thing. I know it well."

"If you three are done playing this shitty drama" barked Jack already running away from them "Then close that fucking door and run!"

"You are right Jack. Come on, Tali."

They ran, their feet sprinting inside the corridor like wings in the air, the fear of what was behind them enough to give strength to even the slowest runner. Behind them, their ears could hear roars of rage coupled with the sound of shattered halls and broken metal. The beast was hot on their tail, slowed, but still fast.

"How long?" panted Jack as they moved through the maze of dark corridors

"How long before the fucking split?"

"Almost there, Jack." answered Shepard "We have almost reached it!" The commander threw something behind without even turning. A loud bang quickly followed, alongside a roar from Maria.

"So the cursed awakened!" screamed Lena as her senses got overloaded by Maria's power. A quick glance on her back had already confirmed Lena what her aura had predicted: that Maria had reverted to a more human form to follow them. She looked like a young woman now, with white, naked legs sprinting toward them despite one shredded by sniper fire. Her half-opened eyes blazed with gold as she groggily pursued them, and one of her arms turned into spikes as she dashed toward Lena's group.

"Just some more steps."

The sound of spikes hitting the wall deafened the halls as cables and walls groaned under the barrage. One splinter hit Tali square in the back and overloaded her barriers in a flash.

Tali slumped for a split second and threatened to collapse on her feet, the strength behind the blow enough to make her stagger. Lena snatched her from behind and lifted from the ground, running with her in hands. The girl on her boson mumbled in response at this.

"Shepard!"

"Here it is!" said Shepard, and Lena failed to understand what the commander meant in this juncture: her eyes saw only a bifurcation between the road. A crack on the wall that separated the road in two different directions. Nothing more.

"What...?" murmured Lena.

"Follow Jack!" ordered Shepard briskly, and she obeyed.

When the bifurcation arrived, Jack and Tali dashed to the right entrance, and Lena followed.

Shepard turned to the left.

"What?" Lena stopped on her tracks the moment she saw the commander not following them.

"Shepard!"

Behind her, Jack clicked a button.

A loud bang deafened the Claymore as a torrent of dust and debris almost threatened to swallow her. The Claymore closed her eyes and coughed violently as she spat out ashes and cinders. Her eyes cried in pain as the dust settled, revealing broken debris and steel in front of her. Next to her, slumped on the floor, Tali groaned as she tried to rose up. The way was closed now. Neither Maria nor Shepard could reach them now.

"What the hell!" demanded Lena as the enormity of what Jack had just done hit her.

"You foolish bitch! What have you done? Shepard is now alone with the awakened."

"I know this, you dumbass! This is all part of the plan. Now shut up and keep moving. We need to rejoin with the others asap."

Lena's eyebrows arched in uncertainty.

"Plan?"

"Yes plan, Lady Oscar, but later! Now grab the fucking sleeping beauty and move. We are not out of the woods yet."

"I can walk," mumbled Tali groggily as she rose up from the ground.

"Good, because we are moving."

"Moving where?" demanded Lena

"Are you daft Lady Oscar?" grumbled Jack back "Or drinking blood shat on your brain? We are going back to rejoin the others, and then toward the shuttle. Shepard drag the nasty, crippled bitch inside the trap while we get our merry little asses as far away as possible from this fucking place. Got it now?"

"Dragging an awakened being by himself?" Lena could not avoid staring at Jack, unbelieving at such foolishness

"But this is...is."

"Utterly stupid!" concluded Tali with a grave voice. "I know Lena, but that Bosh'tet refused to back down."

"It is not bullshit if it works, so stop whining and keep moving. God! I cannot believe I am saying this, but the sooner we get back to the Cheerleader, the better."


The third floor of the complex. Same moment.

"Great spirits this hurt like hell!" grumbled a wounded Garrus as he trudged along the rest of the group. The cut of his leg was deep. A result of the beast's maddening attempt of hitting anything while engulfed in the white mist. Unfortunately for him, it had worked at least in part, the black thorn lodged inside his right leg and still pulsating blue blood a fitting proof of this. Between the previous slash back on the generator and this, the Turian felt more and more like a slab of meat on the market. All cut and ready to be sold.

Next to him, helping the Turian not fall on his feet, Mordin's deceptively strong hands helped him move one step at the time despite the crippling pain. The aged doctor had done all he could to staunch the damage, but even he could not do miracles and warned quite adamantly that he needed to get back to the Normandy as fast as possible.

"Can't we just ditch those aliens and move on already!?" demanded for the third time Victoria Winsor, the woman next to Miranda with an angry scowl. She was a tall human, almost as Miranda, but with tanned skin unlike her colleague and with deep black hair that barely reached her shoulders. She was dressed in the torn remains of her lab coat, nothing more. Her look was one of a woman that just came back from hell. Still, Garrus couldn't find himself to pity the woman: the way said human gazed at her and Mordin, the scorn, disdain and sense of superiority she exuded with her green eyes made the Turian churn in disgust. She was the perfect epitome of a Cerberus fanatic.

Garrus grimaced as he tried to hide the pain. Miranda, too busy holding a still unconscious Jacob with her arms, shrugged and kept walking. Lena's weapons strapped on her back didn't help in her movements either.

"Mordin, are the others coming?" she merely asked.

The old doctor rose one arm as he activated his Omni-tool. A tridimensional map of the complex appeared in front of his face as his eyes scanned for movements inside.

"Receiving agent Samara's signal. One hundred meters in front of us. Agent Zaeed and Grunt's signal still far."

"And Shepard's?"

"Running toward the predicated objective. Target still not pursuing."

"Can't believe he is actuating such a plan." murmured the woman "I guess you cannot expect much from a male, even one as remarkable as him."

"Spirits, this bitch!" whispered Garrus as he overheard her words.

The group kept walking, slowly and painfully as they left a light trail of slick, blue blood.

No lights were illuminating the corridors, making everyone on edge. Mordin and Miranda kept one hand free for their pistol, just in case, as everyone's eyes scanned the shadows in search of enemies.

When a black dot in front of them, partially covered by what was left of a set of tables, slightly moved, every free hand moved on their guns, the nerves ready to break.

"Whoever you are, show yourself now!" ordered Miranda as she aimed at the darkness with her machine gun. Her entire body began blazing with biotic as doctor Winsor hid behind her. Mordin silently prepared his Omni-tool for an attack as Garrus cursed himself for his weakness.

"Mi-Miranda?" answered a voice in the dark, one well knows by the group.

"Kasumi?"

"Oh, thanks the Kami is you!"

Two figures emerged from their hiding spot, trampling debris and dust on their way. Samara and Kasumi.

They were not in good shape: Kasumi's face looked ragged, broken, with most of her dress, cowl included, torn and broken. Her eyes looked gaunt as she dragged with her a wounded Samara gushing purple blood from her stomach. The Justicar appeared barely conscious, her breath shallow and her eyes glassy as her lips tirelessly murmured something in ancient Asari.

"Great, more alien dead weights!" muttered Winsor behind Miranda. The operative ignored her as she gave Jacob's unconscious body to the doctor, (alongside a stern gaze about not dropping it) and rushed toward Kasumi.

"What happened?" she demanded as she pulled the last reserves of medi-gel for Samara. The wound looked severe: not as broad as Garrus's but deeper, probably the results of claws tearing at her armour. What little gel she possessed barely managed to staunch the wound.

-We are running on insults and prayers here.- grimaced the woman as she administered the gel.

"Samara...she came after the strange vibration. Killed the monsters but...one managed to hit her in the midriff. We hid behind a pile of rubble for some times, but then Samara urged to move and...and."

"Ok, I took the gist of it!" finished Miranda "Get behind doctor Winsor and me, help Samara walking. We are rejoining with Zaeed and Grunt, and a shuttle is waiting for us outside the base."

"We would reach the shuttle far quicker if we dropped all this useless baggage!" commented Winsor acidly, again.

"You already know the answer, doctor. So keep moving."

"But why?" insisted the doctor. I already told you, I have all the data hidden on me. I am the only MVP there, not these aliens and males. Just accompany me and."

A surge of blue biotic energy trapped Winsor's head in a bubble, making her struggle for air for a split second. The woman balked and almost lost her grip on Jacob but managed to stay on foot, somehow.

"I said shut up unless you wish to suffer a -fatal- incident- along the way, you thrice-damned bitch!" snarled Miranda this time.

She had forgotten just how similar to her father she was. Arrogant, boastful, bitchy and utterly without mercy Had it been for Miranda, she would have left her to the beast, but Shepard had been clear: take everyone still alive and move on.

"Message received!" coughed Winsor in fright as Miranda freed her. "Fucking alien lover..." she murmured sotto voce, but not enough for Miranda that merely rolled her eyes and moved on.

"Mordin, status?"

"Shepard still moving toward the mark, but the target is not moving. Strange. Wonder why?"

22 43 local hour. The peak of the complex

"Cursed rats!" swore Maria as she saw the surprise left for her. A surprise that almost managed to drown her in debris.

Her reflexes had saved her, but now she faced a dilemma. As powerful as Maria was, she could still not split herself in two yet, so she had to make a choice. Follow the man or reopen the destroyed path? And the right direction was so enticing. Maria had just eaten alongside Lena, but then the smell of fresh blood always had such an effect on her, since the time she took the first bite. And judging by the scent, it was blood from a first-grade prey.

But then the aura of Lena overwhelmed her senses and any kind of hunger. Her hatred for her behaviour submerged her still beating hunger as her eyes blazed with pure gold.

-I gave you food, accepted as my friend, left that annoying brat alive, and this is how you repay me?- she blazed in her mind.

Her hands turned again into claws and tentacles as she attacked the debris, blocking her way with the ferocity of a tiger. Stone and steel splintered as she raked her way through. Beams shattered, and a torrent of dust covered the room. In less than a minute, the route was open.

"I am coming for you, Lena!" whispered Maria savagely "And once I am done eating your minions, you shall regret being born!"


Same moment

"Oh no!" imprecated Tali all of a sudden, stopping the small group in her tracks. Their swift foot had brought them one floor away from the peak of the laboratory already and was now in a hall previously used as a room to separate prisoners.

"What is it now!" demanded Jack

"The beast, the...awakened being, it is chasing us."

"WHAT?!"

All three women quickly fixated their gaze on Tali's Omni-tool as they kept running, showing the complete map of the complex with bright, yellow lights. The blue dots were Shepard's crew running toward their respected positions, the green one Shepard himself running toward the trap, and the massive, red one represented maria. Currently running toward Lena's position. Far too quickly for the Claymore.

"Why is tentacle bitch is following us!?" roared Jack as she ran with a tinge of fear.

"What the fuck is wrong with her?"

"Not us, me!" the thought flared inside Lena.

Both Tali and Jack's head quickly turned as they abruptly stopped.

"...What?!" asked Tali uncertain.

"She is following me!" repeated Lena as a cold shiver crossed her spine "My Yoki aura."

"Yoki what!? Lena, what is this manga level bullshit now, Lady Oscar?"

"How should I explain it? My power...they...Goddesses! They work like a furnace. They allow me to burn brighter than any human and perform feats that no ordinary person might repeat, but they leave traces in the air. We warriors call it aura. The stronger the warrior is, the greater the aura she has."

"You mean you are a living lantern for the bitch?! And you are telling us this NOW!?" bellowed Jack "Why didn't you told this...I don't know? Back in ships, during all the months we fought together!? Fucking hell! Can you at least switch it off?"

"Because I had no reason to! And no, I cannot -switch it off-! Only a few among my kind know how to suppress their auras, and I am not one of them."

"Fucking imbecile!"

"Instead of staying here and bicker like fools" offered Tali all of a sudden "Should we not run? She is still coming."

"And then what, bucket-face? What do we do now that the trap is foiled? We leave Shepard to die? I don't feel that much of a bitch toward him...yet."

"What is this trap you kept mentioning!" demanded Lena "What trick did you devise for killing Maria?"

"Maria?" sneered Jack "Already on a first-name basis?

Simply put: Shepard drag tentacle bitch across the galleries, then enter inside one particular room we discovered while camping this shitty circus of horrors. A room next to the mess hall that we accidentally destroyed and spaced out. Garrus and Grunt have already weakened one section of the joining wall with their guns and improvised blowtorches while Mordin deactivated the emergency bulkheads of the spaced-out halls. If all goes well, psyco bitch follow Shepard, Shepard waits until she enters, then fire. The missile destroys the divisive wall. Once the deep space envelope the room Shepard grab something and seal itself while mega-bitch get vacuumed into the air. End of the story."

"...That's it? You want to kill an awakened being by shoving it in outer space?" demanded Lena surprise. In all due honesty, the Claymore was not sure if to call such plan foolish or genius. Probably both.

"That's it. Of course, now that we know that the bitch is attracted to you, all of this goes to the shitters. Better call the Cheerleader and warn her about this change of plans."

"Wait!" urged Lena "Is there a way to reach Shepard's position from here?" she demanded. In response Tali began fiddling with her Omni-tool, scanning for alternative routes.

"There is a corridor not far from there that might bring you inside Shepard's target, assuming you follow the map. But it is too far from our position. We would never reach it at our speed."

"Your speed." murmured Lena "Not mine. Tali, give me your Omni-tool. And you Jack, your headgear. Quickly!" surprised by her tone, the two women stood still for a second before Lena silver's eyes, and the sound of something big coming, spurred into action. Both gave Lena what she asked for.

"What's in your mind Lady Oscar?" demanded Jack as Lena donner the new gear

"Reaching Shepard and springing the trap together. No offence girls but, compared to me, you all move like snails. Alone I should have no problem into catching Shepard before Maria, assuming she does not regenerate her leg in the meantime."

"Snails?" asked Tali "And why did we never notice this trait of yours?"

"because I always had to limit myself while fighting alongside you guys. Keep going toward your extraction point, I shall reach the commander and end this madness once and for all."

Tali and Jack looked at each other, unsure about Lena's words. Uncertainty washed her features, dissipated only by the sound of the ever closer awakening being.

"Move, I said!" barked Lena finally "Time is short!"

This spurned the women into action. Their legs freed themselves from uncertainty and quickly moved toward the extraction point as Lena thrust herself toward another route, her eyes already following Tali's calculated road.

"Try to not die, Lady Oscar. If someone has to kill you, I want it to be me," screamed Jack before they disappeared. Lena smiled at the words as she pumped all her remaining Yoki inside her legs. As raw power coursed through her legs, the Claymore ran as she had never done before, smashing rubble and iron with now steel-made legs.


"Mordin, give me good news, I beg of you." said a very distressed Miranda as she kept moving toward the extraction point.

"Tali's squadron split at junction J-33. Agent Lena moving toward Shepard. Agent Zero and Agent Tali moving toward our objective."

"They did what!?" roared Miranda as she felt another headache coming.

"Good God, what went inside our head this time? And what about the enemy target."

"Heat trace shifting, challenging to read at this distance. Curious, it appears following agent Lena. Personal vengeance? Instinctive call? Interesting development. Should ask agent Lena after the mission."

"If we manage to get out alive." grumbled Zaeed "So what now boss? We wait for the last two and then jump for it?"

Miranda swore loudly at the whole predicament. This entire mission had been a disaster after another, and now, after somehow managing to almost get out of this cursed place without anybody dying, here that another hurdle threatened to destroy two years of her job. Alongside probably the best hope for humanity.

"We keep moving." announced Miranda to the rest of the group "We cannot afford to come back, not with so many wounded. But I will be damned if I will let Shepard and Lena enact this suicide plan alone without a back-up strategy." her hands went to the earpiece placed on her headpiece.

"EDI" commanded as she attained the ship's channel "Tell Joker to send crewman Hawthorne out of the Normandy alongside shuttle number two. I have a mission for him, just in case."


Ambush's location 6 minutes later.

The place chosen to spring Shepard's trap was unremarkable in all aspect. An old, quadrangular room once one storage and now devoid of most of the most basics comfort expected from a modern place. No beds, no couches, no chairs, only rows of now empty cupboards and smashed cabinets now turned by Shepard as an impromptu fort.

Not that it mattered much for Shepard, considering that things were finally escalating.

Something was coming. Shepard could hear the deep steps crushing the broken floor echoing in the air.

The commander panted in the air as he allowed the tension to escape from his lungs. The headpiece on his face felt constricting, Zaeed's size being not exactly of his measures, and the commander felt the compelling urge to rip the red piece from his head and threw it on the floor. But endured it.

On his arm, the missile launcher, filled with his last shot, waited patiently to be fired toward his target. The commander made and remanded once again the computations previously done about the weakened wall, hoping to not find any flaw in his analysis. It felt right inside his head, on the other hand, engineering class had never been his strongest matter back on N7 training so...

-It will work.- Shepard reassured himself once again -Even Mordin gave his approval. So it has to work.-

The ringing sound of passes came ever closer to the room, sprinting Shepard into action. The commander hid behind a set of ruined crates as he checked once again the hardiness of his future saving grace. A steel bar deeply lodged inside the floor. Part of the roof now partially collapsed. His Omni-tool had assured him that it was far too deeply embedded inside the ground to be ripped away by the outside air, and his own enchanted strength seemed to confirm it.

-Just some seconds- he repeated himself -A few more seconds.- the finger on his trigger became restless as he aimed the gun at the wall.

Then, him Omni-tool flared into life and warned him about the true identity of the person arriving: Tali.

Raw fear destroyed his steely concentration for a split second as the worst possible outcomes filled his mind. Why was she here? Why now? His Omni-tool barely managed to recognize the signals a few meters away from his position, let alone communicate. Had the group failed? Had the awakened being reached them somehow? Or maybe decided to hunt down the others? Was she the last surviving member of her crew?

This and even worst question appeared inside Shepard's mind as a lump emerged inside his throat.

But when someone opened the door, slamming it with great force, what Shepard saw in front of him proved not to be Tali, but Lena. Dishevelled in hair, bleeding from many cuts and holding on a death grip Jack's headpiece of all things.

What the hell...

"Lena?" asked a Shocked Shepard.

"No time for explaining Shepard." Lena silenced him as he slammed the door back on its place, covering it with as many debris as possible, and put Jack's helm on her head. "I know about the plan, and it would have failed had I not came here."

Both of Shepard's eyebrows rose in suspicion inside the helmet.

"And why would it be that way?"

"Because!"

A claw raked the barred door with enough strength to shatter the bars. Lena and Shepard recoiled as a large, grey claw made its way inside the hard tissue of the entrance, splitting and pulverizing anything on its way as the metal groaned under pressure.

"Ok, tell me later."

"I hope you are ready for this, Shepard."

"You too. The moment I fire at the wall, grab something sturdy and hold it with all your might."

"Roger Shepard."

A second claw made its way inside the door, and then a third. A fourth. A gaping hole appeared inside on the steel frame, and from it, a pair of burning eyes looked at Lena.

"Hello, traitor!" chided Maria sweetly. Too sweetly.

A second later, the room exploded, and She entered.

Her body was only partially mutated now: her arms had already turned into claws, even longer than Lena's Claymore. Her eyes shone in gold as the spikes behind her back hissed at Lena like living snakes. Her hairs moved like a whip, but her legs were only partially changed. The bed of tentacles was gone, replaced by a shifting, bleeding mess of half-made limbs and oozing marrows that made Lena retch.

She was a wounded awakened, and this made her even more dangerous.

"I trusted you Lena" whispered Maria as she slowly moved inside the room.

"I trusted you, and you only stabbed me in the back by distracting my eyes from your damned minions."

Spikes from her back suddenly sprinted on Lena, missing her head by millimetres.

"I am going to kill all your friend, devour your corpses in front of you. Then I shall cut your stomach open and let you die slowly, like a pig on a slaughterhouse. Maybe this will tenderize your meat."

"Shepard," whispered Lena as Maria kept approaching.

"Wait for it. Wait for it."

"If we wait for it she will rip me apart!" groaned Lena

"Oh, Leeeena?" chided Maria as she made another step "Are you scared? Want to fell on the ground and beg for my forgiveness. I might even accept it, you know?"

"Sorry, Miss, but we have to refuse," exclaimed Shepard as he aimed his gun.

Maria laughed heartily at it.

"Want to kill me with that, human? Do you really think I shall give you the time of firing more than one shot?"

"All that I need." and he fired.

The missile roared as it escaped from its barrel, a small comet inside the dark air. As suspected by Lena, Maria easily dodged the murderous projectile with a twist of her body. The warhead hit the wall behind her with a booming sound, shattering steel and stone with contemptuous ease and almost deafening the people inside thanks to the confined space.

But did nothing else. No rupture, no shattering, no nothing.

And a murderous smile appeared on Maria's face.

"Are you sure, human?" smiled Maria. Shepard kept a stony face but started sweating bullets at sight.

Why wasn't it working?!

Next to her, Lena began to shiver in utter fear. It was the first time the commander saw the grizzled warrior woman trembling in fear. Not even while fighting the Thresher Maw she had shoved such emotions.

Shepard moved slightly from his post, only to have a spike ending a hair breath from his foot. Lena gasped as another clipped her face. Both could have killed them but didn't.

Maria was toying with them.

"Any last words?" demanded Maria gently as she slowly moved toward her preys. Lena stood paralyzed, hoping for a miracle.

And, as if called, something happened. A loud crack echoed inside the room like thunder in the sky. Another quickly followed suit, and another, and another more, together with the sound of groaning metal.

Shepard's calculation had been wrong, but only just. And now, in front of his eyes, the commander saw the divisor wall buckling and groaning as the cold air of the outside crept inside the room. First, a whiff, then a breeze, and then a tornado. Enough to make even Maria pause.

"Just three, demon." smiled Shepard "About fucking time!"

Maria snarled as she sprinted toward Shepard. But it was too late. As Shepard and Lena both grabbed their respective poles and held with all their might, a loud bang resounded in the room as a torrent of deep space invaded the hall, shattering the nearest walls and sucking away everything inside. Debris flew, beams rumbled, and steel bulkheads ripped themselves away from their places as the cold void reclaimed everything for itself. Mordin and Miranda had done a great job reopening the emergency bulkheads from the mess hall, and now a saraband of tables, metal and stone gasped in the air as it tried to escape from the void's icy grasp.

Maria's charge stopped a few steps away from Shepard, the claws dangerously close to rend Shepard's face as a force far stronger than any Yoma or awakened threatened to suck her away. Panting and swearing, Lena witnessed Maria hammering her claws on the ground in a desperate effort to stay in place as she began gasping for air.

For some, tense moments, it appeared almost as if this last, desperate gambit had worked. Maria stood still on the floor, screaming in pain but with claws embedded so deeply that not even the chilling wind could dislodge them, something that left Shepard astonished: he had a steel beam to hold too, and magnetized boots helping hold his footing. She had none of this, only her prodigious strength.

Then the first claw failed her, snapping away from her wrist with a sound of shattered bones. A second followed, and the third as Maria screamed in utter pain. As she lost more and more holding strength, Maria's frame began moving backwards toward the gaping hole to the void despite all her effort. Metal cracked as the last claws frantically tried to keep her in place. Her hair hissed like a demon in utter fright.

"No!" screamed Maria as she came closer and closer to her doom. The stumps in place of hands bled profusely as she became weaker and weaker. "I cannot die. I cannot die!"

"Wanna bet, demon?" grinned Lena. Her and Shepard were holding quite well thanks to both their armour and knowing what was going to happen.

A murderous scowl appeared on Maria as she came closer and closer toward her doom. Lena felt a surge of yoki as she had never felt before as Maria's hair began acting as if possessed.

"If I have to die, then you shall come with me!" she screeched all of a sudden.

The last claws failed her, but as she spiralled out of the room, her spikes on her back elongated like ropes of flesh, aimed toward Shepard and Lena. The Claymore, feeling the looming threat, managed to avoid the spike, barely.

But not Shepard.

Maria's spike shattered Shepard's support alongside her footing and all of a sudden, the commander found himself under the void's embrace. A squeal of surprise escaped from his helmet as he understood the gravity of his situation, but the cold void grabbed him in seconds.

"Nooo!" screamed Lena in utter terror as she saw her commander swept away by the same, murderous wind that had just overtaken Maria. A desperate hand clawed the air to grab him, in vain.

Without a sound, flailing wildly, Shepard disappeared into the void.


The commander felt himself flying into the ether as weak punches, and long spikes threatened to shatter the slim, metal shell protecting his body. The full, bleak vision of Trelyn filled her eyes as his arms fought for his life, its bleak mountains and dust flats mocking him and his attempt of survival. Because he was not alone in the void: Maria was with her.

Dazed, holding her breath as much as she could, her flesh literally flensing away from her bones, but still refusing to die as her spikes tried to shatter Shepard's helmet.

Shepard snarled as another strike hit him in the abdomen, a punch where once there were claws that almost made him puke on his helmet. Maria was dying in front of her: her limbs were freezing in the still air as the monster kept her mouth shut, trying her hardest to not breathe. The very flesh that had just hit him was becoming more and more crystal-like under the atmosphere of the world. Her lower limbs were already dead, paralyzed by the chill now coursing through her spine.

And still, she had enough strength to attack him!

-Can't fucking believe it!- thought Shepard as another strike hit him in the head, dazing him and his eyesight for a second

-And I thought Tuchanka to be the height of my insanity.-

Frantic hands looked for any kind of weapon only to find empty scabbards where should be guns. Shepard had nothing, no missile launcher, no main gun, not even the pistol.

Desperate, Shepard mauled and punched Maria's face with all his might, but it was like trying to kill a boar with a toothpick, and all his blows landed harmlessly on her armoured skin.

Maria's eyes blazed to gold in vindication. She was about to die that she knew it, but death would be far sweeter if she brought with her at least one enemy.

Things were looking dire until Shepard's hand grabbed something. An object so long used to wear that the commander had forgotten it even existed, tucked into a half-forgotten place of his armour.

His combat knife.

Shepard memories flew back on his training days on the N7 programs, when he learned hand to hand combat. His teacher, old Mack they called them back in the day, (and he called them his kids in response) always loved to drill them hard in preparation for the future, to the point of using live blades and reinforced gloves during training.

Good times, far simpler, but most important of all, Shepard remembered the day his class passed his final test and received a gift from old Mack in exchange: a long, straight combat knife for each trainee.

So many people, included Shepard, had snickered at such gift. To what use is a knife in this era of FTL drivers and mass accelerated guns, of biotic and tech attacks apart from showing off?

But his teacher remained unfazed at their peals of laughter, and merely told them these words.

"You may laugh at it kids. You may despise it. But like it or not, close combat will exist as long as war shall plague the universe. You think your fancy gun shall work as a club once it overheats on your hands? Or you shall be totally out of juice for even the smallest biotic? Trust in me this time, kids: always keep a knife with you. It will be your most trusted friend, and the last line of defence, once all is lost.-

This was the last line of defence, and Shepard's instinct reacted like on fire.

The knife, carved with the N7 symbol and made of the strongest steel, fell free from its scabbard and plunged itself deep inside Maria's throat. It barely pierced the skin but did precisely what Shepard had hoped: surprised maria, that opened her mouth.

All the residual air inside her lung escaped in seconds, and all of a sudden, the awakened being gasped for air that was not here to be found. Her mouth opened, like a fish out of the sea, and her skin became grey and mottled. Her strength escaped from her now boneless fingers and Shepard, using his legs, simply kicked her away. He met no resistance. Maria merely looked at Shepard with empty eyes, and it took some seconds to understand that she was already dead. The cold void had claimed her almost immediately, once all her air reserves were gone. She still had those golden eyes aimed at Shepard, and a strange, sardonic smile plastered on her now dead face.

A reaction of Rigour Mortis maybe?

-No matter. Mack- thought Shepard as he tried to regain his senses -I am still floating in this cursed atmosphere, but at least this time the Normandy is not exploding. My air reserve should last one hour, so better calm down and-

A hissing sound coming from the back of her head recalled Shepard back to reality as Zaeed's visor blared in alarm. He was losing air, there was a leak at the back on her suit!

-What!- he screamed, but no one could hear him. Frantic hands touched the back and found the reason for this damage: a scratching of claws, the result of Maria's relentless assault.

-Fucking bitch!-

panic overwhelmed Shepard as his reserved disappeared from under his eyes. A tear escaped from his eyes as his breath became shallow, and his movement even more erratic.

-No, please!- he begged, for the second time of his life -I don't want to die like this. Not again. In the void.-

But once again, no god answered, and all Shepard could do was flay his limbs until the lack of oxygen made him faint.

He didn't even notice the shuttle coming at full speed toward his position.

And so another arc end. Curios, I thought the pandemic would have spurred me into even more action. Instead, it almost numbed me.

Ah well, my apologies.

See you next time for the epilogue of this part.