Leena's POV
While driving we heard Juliana trying to call for help. But that asshole I knocked out earlier was trying to do something and the transmission went out. Lizbeth had us stop right outside of the refugee camp and she got out of the rover first and we followed behind.
Inside the refugee camp, the idiot was obviously up to something and he almost had Juliana be taken away.
"Get away from her you son of a bitch!" Lizbeth roared out and she ran towards the men who had her mother.
Juliana broke free from the men and rushed over to hug her daughter. The asshole swore before demanding we come out.
"Hold it right there Commander this is an ExoGeni project and I'm taking over"
It was obvious this human was deeply under the Thorian's control.
"Are you gonna tell them about the Thorian or should I?" Shepard asked.
Juliana wondered what the Thorian was and Lizbeth explained what the creature was and how it controlled people as well as ExoGeni keeping things quiet. The asshole made another comment before I had enough and I shot him before he tried to do something stupid. The armed men held their hands up in surrender.
"Sorry but he was pissing me and Cypher off" I apologized to Lizbeth and Juliana.
"We need to find the Thorian and deal with it" Shepard added. "And find out why the geth after it"
Juliana shook her head saying the infected colonists wouldn't let us get near the Thorian but she did suggest some grenades with a nerve agent could be used to neutralize the colonists under the Thorian's control. The women wished us luck and we were shortly back in the rover. This time our destination was Zhu's Hope.
The drive had been uneventful except for the few times geth had to killed.
"What the frick?" I said as something that resembled a zombie was hanging around a closed gate. The zombie-looking creature noticed us when we got out and it came in our direction. Cypher immediately brought the ugly ass thing down with his dragon fire.
"I can't wait until we kill this Thorian" Garrus mumbled.
"I agree with you on that one" Shepard responded and he opened the gate. Inside we dealt with more of those zombie things and used the nerve grenades on some colonists. The grenade only made the colonists go unconscious.
We rode through the elevator and like before when it opened more of those zombie things attacked as well as several colonists. During the fighting, Shepard found a crane and it wasn't until after we cleared out the area of the zombies and use the grenades on the colonists could the crane be activated.
The crane moved a large piece of machinery out of the way and before we moved Fai Dan came out from a doorway. He was struggling against the Thorian's control. Not wanting to harm us or anyone else the human male took his own life. Shepard muttered a prayer before giving us a nod.
"Ow! Cypher don't dig your talons into my armor" I scolded him.
"Sorry I'm just uneasy," the Metal Dragon said.
"We all our" Garrus reassured him.
The hidden passageway seemed to lead to an underground chamber of some sort.
"What the f**k?!" Cypher and I exclaimed as we came upon the Thorian.
It was an ugly ass thing with tentacles for a mouth!
"This was not covered by my training manuals" Garrus joined in.
"We're gonna need bigger guns" Shepard finished.
The Thorian suddenly opened its tentacles and it spat out a green Asari. Well, it was actually a clone and the clone looked at us before speaking.
"Invaders your every step is a transgression"
The clone was obviously under the Thorian's control. Shepard demanded what Saren wanted from the Thorian but the Asari clone only spoke more nonsense. She then attacked and our group separated. I shot down some zombies while Cypher burned some. Garrus and Shepard were on the other side of the chamber dealing with more zombies and the clone.
"Hey, I found something!" Cypher called to me.
I found the Metal Dragon flapping his wings above what appeared to be part of the Thorian.
"Burn it!"
"Gladly!"
Cypher let out a stream of fire and as the plant part burned the Thorian shrieked. With this new information, I hauled ass back to Shepard and Garrus. As I told the men about the nodes Cypher burned another but he returned to us.
"I can't burn anything else I'm exhausted," the Metal Dragon said as he collapsed into my arms.
"Just rest buddy, we'll deal with this ugly ass plant"
Taking down the rest of the nodes wasn't an easy task. Whenever our group found a new node we would have to deal with another Asari clone as well as zombies. The task was tiring but eventually, we found the last node and Garrus had the pleasure of destroying it.
"Good shot babe!" I praised my boyfriend as the Thorian's nodes all fell loose and the ugly ass plant fell. Below something broke apart and we went to get a closer look. On the ground was an Asari but this time she was blue. I'm pretty sure this was the Asari the clones resembled.
The Asari thanked us and introduced herself as Shiala. She then explained how she used to serve Matriarch Benezia and eventually worked with Saren. But now Shiala no longer worked for Benezia or Saren. The Asari continued talking about Saren and mentioned his ship "Sovereign". The ship seemed to dominate the minds of Saren's followers. Over time those under Sovereign's control became indoctrinated and Saren had brought Shiala to Feros to communicate with the Thorian and learn its secrets.
Whatever Saren was after it was called the Cipher.
"What's the Cipher and why did Saren need it?" Shepard inquired.
"The beacon on Eden Prime gave you visions but the visions are unclear, confusing, they were meant for a Prothean mind, to truly comprehend them you must think like a Prothean, you must understand their culture, their history, their very existence, the Thorian was here long ago before the Protheans built this city, it watched and studied them, when they died it consumed them and became part of them"
"That's just messed up" Cypher growled.
I agreed with him.
Shiala then offered to show the Commander the Cipher in question through mind transfer. The human nodded and closed his eyes in focus. Shiala approached him and instructed him what to do. Garrus, Cypher, and I watched as Shepard once more had his vision and the Cipher was transferred over to him.
"Just out of curiosity do you know why Saren is so intent on having my girlfriend?" Garrus suddenly brought up.
I shot the turian a glare and blushed.
"So your Leena" Shiala stated looking at me.
"Unfortunately yes but I'm just confused why Saren wants me so damn bad"
"He wants the woman he loves"
My eyes widened as did Shepard's. Cypher swore and Garrus snarled. I hadn't expected to hear that.
"I see you were unaware of Saren's feelings for you" Leena continued. "He's not pleased you are no longer on the Citadel and with your current group, he will be determined to have you and kill whoever stands in his way"
"That's not going to happen" Garrus hissed and he wrapped a possessive arm around me. "Leena chose me not Saren"
"Then you'll need to protect her"
"He's already doing that" I pointed out.
Back on the Normandy
It would take time for Feros to return to normal but things looked promising. Shiala decided to stay behind and aid with the rebuilding of the colony. After a group meeting both Cypher and I took much-needed showers.
Afterward, the Metal Dragon demanded to be taken to Liara. Liara was quite happy to be in Cypher's company and she thought it was cute the male dragon liked her.
"Damn that bastard" Garrus growled.
I found my boyfriend pacing back and forth in my room when I came back to it. Rolling my eyes I went over to the annoyed turian and I shut him up by kissing his mouth plates. The kiss got him to relax and when I pulled away he growled.
"I was enjoying that"
"Yeah, I could tell" I chuckled. I then placed a hand on his face. "I know what Shiala said upset you but Saren is not the one I love, you are Garrus Vakarian"
The turian placed one of his own hands over the one that caressed his cheek.
"Which reminds me when this whole thing is over would you consider moving in with me?"
"Gladly, though it will take some getting used to"
"I should warn you though I'm grouchy in the mornings and need my coffee"
"Then I'll keep my distance until your grouchiness is gone, I'm the same way only it's food"
"They'll be plenty of turian food for you so don't fret"
My beloved chuckled before removing our hands away from his face. He then placed his forehead against mine and I closed my eyes enjoying the moment between us.