A couple of hours passed, where we slowly pushed our way forward through the geth and krogan, taking down their defense towers as we went. In between all the fighting, I snuck quick little visions. Trying to see if I could find anything that would warrant Ash's gut instinct. Nothing. Something still didn't feel right, but there was nothing I could do about it, if nothing showed up.

Finally, finally, we reached the actual research facility.

As we were making our way through the sewers, several salarians ran at us, with the intent of killing us. Yelling nonsense words that I couldn't understand.

"Found the men Kirrahe lost." I frowned, carefully making my way up the stairs and down the hall.

"Indoctrination?" Garrus asked, voice tight.

"Looks like it."

A console stood alone at the end of the hall. My eyebrow rose as I approached, pressing some buttons. Base security, it looked like. I cut the alarms, throughout the entire facility. Hopefully, that made it easier on the other three teams.

"Alright, let's go." I held my pistol at the ready. "Be prepared for anything in there."

More salarians met us inside, their bullets missing in their blind haste to kill us. And then, we came upon the cells. Which were currently holding mumbling salarians. In all but one. That one, the man seemed to be in control of himself.

"I've already told you...Who are you? Alliance, right?" I wasn't, but if he wanted to think that, he was free to. "I knew someone would come. It tried to break me, but it couldn't! I shut it out!"

I discreetly looked him over. He seemed normal, but the feeling I got was... off. There was something not quite right about him, I just couldn't put my finger on it. Could he be indoctrinated and was just hiding it?

"Who are you?"

"Private Menos Avot of the Third Infiltration Regiment STG, ma'am! Captured while on reconnaissance six days ago. Glad to answer, ma'am!" Okaaaay. He was really gung ho. "Never any questions from these bastards. Just whispers and poking and cutting. I'd have said anything to get out and get some payback."

STG didn't talk like that. I felt my expression shift, going blank.

"What did they do to you, exactly?"

"Experiments, but I don't know what for. The effect of incessant whispering on my shortening temper? Who knows? I just need out."

Garrus spoke just above a whisper. "Something's off with him."

"He's indoctrinated." I murmured back.

"Should leave him in there." Wrex didn't bother lowering his voice.

"No! No, I need to get out. This room is too small, and it keeps talking, and I really want to get out of here and get some work done. I need to get out. Let me out."

"Sure." I hacked his door open. Just before shooting him in the head. "Now, you're free."

Systematically, I went to each door. Rinse and repeat.

"Stupid salarians, letting themselves get caught."

I raised an eyebrow at Wrex. But I didn't argue. The STG I've known over the years had all said they had a fallback plan, for if they were ever captured. Couldn't be tortured to give information, if you were dead.

"We've got more to go through, let's go." I said, walking toward the other set of stairs.

We went through the experimentation area, coming across husks being scanned. And husks that weren't so docile. I took as much information as I could, Wrex watching me closely. He knew what I was doing- salvaging whatever I could, to see if it might be useful later in the making of the real cure.

An elevator took us up, to yet another large room with scanning husks and experimentation tools. This one, there was a scientist shouting for guards, her fellow scientists and doctors all taking out their guns. I rolled my eyes- like they would last long against our firepower.

After that, we ran across a walkway outside, to get to a... reception area? From the looks of it.

An asari, cowering behind the desk, called out. Hands in the air. "Don't shoot! Please, I just want to get out of here before it's too late."

"What's your spiel?" I crossed my arms.

"I'm Rana Thanoptis, neurospecialist. But this job isn't worth dying over. Or worse." She approached, expression fearful. "You think the indoctrination only affects prisoners? Sooner or later, Saren will want to dissect my brain, too!" Wasn't exactly winning me over to her side with that argument. Something in my expression made her continue. "This level... We're studying Sovereign's effect on organic minds. At least, that's what I assumed. Saren kept us in the dark as much as possible."

"Sovereign?" Wrex asked.

"The Reaper ship Saren has." I responded. "Right?"

"I- I don't know what a Reaper is, but that's his ship's name, yes."

"Why were you helping him?" Garrus chimed in.

"I didn't have the option. This position is a little more... permanent than I'd expected." Her eyes returned to me. "But I can help you. This elevator behind me goes to Saren's private lab. I can get you in." She rushed over, inputting codes. The light on the door turned green. "See? Full access. All of Saren's private files. Are we good? Can I go?"

Nothing came to me, no vision. Or gut feeling that I should kill her.

I smiled. "Just tell me about the ship, first."

She rattled off things we already knew, and then- "Direct exposure to the signal turns you into a mindless slave, like the salarian test subjects. But there's collateral damage, too. The signal is too strong. Spend too much time near the ship, and you feel it. Like a tingle at the back of the skull. It's like a whisper you can't quite hear. You're compelled to do things, but you don't know why. You just obey. Eventually, you just stop thinking for yourself. It happens to everyone at the facility." Oh, yeah? Not making a good case for yourself, hon. "My first test subject was the man I replaced. Now, I just want to get out of here before it happens to me."

"Tell us about the signal." We needed to know what to expect, in case we happened upon the ship.

"Signal's not... it's not the right word. There's some kind of... energy field emanating from the ship. It changes thought patterns. Over time- days, maybe a week- it weakens your will. You become easier to manipulate and control. But it's a degenerative condition. There's a balance between control and usefulness. The less freedom a subject maintains, the less capable it becomes."

I moved to the side, motioning for my companions to do the same. "There should be a shuttle or something to get off-world, right? You're gonna need it, because we're blowing this facility up. You've got about... probably an hour, tops."

Her eyes bugged out, voice shrill. "What? You can't... but I'll never...!" She let out a scream, running past us.

Wrex full-on laughed. "Damn, Shepard."

"You enjoyed that." Garrus chuckled.

"Oh, yes, I did. That was the highlight of the day."

We didn't get much farther, when we came across a beacon, like on Eden Prime.

"Huh." I muttered, walking over to it.

"Ah, be caref-"

Garrus' warning was cut off by me being lifted off my feet and shown the same message again from that day. When it released me, I stumbled, falling to my knees. Bracing myself with my hands as I pitched forward.

"Shepard!" In unison, one of them on either side of me, helping me to my feet.

I shook my head, murmuring quietly. "Thanks."

Slowly making my way up the stairs, I realized there was another platform- just above the one we'd just been on. Curious, I walked along that walkway. Man, I really needed to keep in mind that curiosity killed the cat.

A hologram of a... It was a Reaper, like what the Cipher had shown me.

"I get the feeling something bad is about to happen." The krogan commented, wary.

"You are not Saren." The deep voice slid around me, filling the room. It felt like the oxygen had been sucked out.

"What is that?" Garrus sounded just as put off as Wrex.

"That's Sovereign. That's a Reaper." I felt them both take a step back.

"Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding."

My eyes widened, and I stepped forward. This was the actual Reaper, not an interface. We were having a conversation with an actual Reaper.

"There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it. I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign!"

"You were right, Shepard." The turian sounded farther away than he should've. Must've been backing up over the course of the conversation.

"You're a Reaper." I looked at it, feeling the wonder of the situation wash over me. Could it indoctrinate us this way? How long would it take for it to start? Rana had said a few days to a week. She'd been researching and studying it, so this should be okay, right?

"Reaper? A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end, what they choose to call us is irrelevant. We simply are."

Wait... "Choose" Choose to call them? The Protheans were all dead... weren't they? Yet, it spoke in the present tense. How strange.

Wrex scowled, sounding far back, as well. "The Protheans vanished fifty thousand years ago. You couldn't have been there. It's impossible!"

"It's a ship, though. A synthetic lifeform, at the end of the day. Who knows how long it can last?"

"Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident."

"Okay, first of all, my feelings." I cut in.

It continued as if I hadn't said anything. "Your lives are measured in years and decades. You will wither and die." Sure, most people would. I mean, my grandma was how old now? Millennia, but I wasn't sure exactly how old. "We are eternal." Same, bro. "The pinnacle of evolution and existence." Okay. What was he, a pride demon? "Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything."

"Second of all, yawn. You sound like a petty toddler throwing a tantrum because your favorite toy was taken away. Third of all, you're a machine. And machines can break. They do it all the time. Fourth, you say you're perfection?" I looked it up and down. "You will be weighed. You will be measured. And you will be found wanting. I guarantee you this."

The prophecy spilled from my lips against my will. Well, alright, then.

"Confidence born of ignorance. The cycle cannot be broken."

The Protheans hadn't been the first to be wiped out. Not if the ship's words were true.

"So, what, you come back every," I let out a hum, tapping my chin. "fifty thousand years and wipe out life?"

"Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance. And at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished. The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. The Protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel. They did not forge the mass relays. They merely found them, the legacy of my kind."

How many of them were there, if they could continuously wipe out civilizations, and still be around? Surely, they weren't created without flaw.

Something it said sparked something in me. "So, you built the relays. To what end? Have the organics advance," The more I spoke, the truer the words felt. "along the path you wanted? To make the harvest easier, since you'd be able to near instantly reach every part of the galaxy?"

"You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it." That as all the answer I needed."

"That's..." I glanced over my shoulder to see Garrus shaking his head, expression horrified.

"Shepard, we should leave." Wrex growled out. "I don't want to be indoctrinated."

"I have all the information I need. We can go." I said, turning my back on the ship.

It did not like that.

"We are each a nation." It wanted to entice me back with its words. Pique my curiosity and make me stay. "Independent, free of all weakness. You cannot even grasp the nature of our existence."

"Okay, buddy." I waved over my shoulder, shooing him away, as I walked to the door leading out. My companions already on the other side, waiting.

"We have no beginning." It was still trying. How cute. "We have no end. We are infinite. Millions of years after your civilization has been eradicated and forgotten, we will endure."

"That sounds nice." I reached the door, close to walking through and shutting him out for good.

"We are legion. The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world. You cannot escape your doom."

"Mhm. Okay. Have a nice night, buddy." The door closed behind me, and I gave the guys two thumbs up. "Okay! Let's get back to making our way to the rendezvous point."

"We've got trouble, Shepard." Joker's voice sounded in my ear.

I groaned. "Is it Saren's Reaper ship?"

"Yeah. It's moving. I don't know what you did down there, but that thing just pulled a turn that would shear any of our ships in half."

"Guess it didn't like being talked to like that." The turian sounded like he was smiling.

I grinned at him.

"It's coming your way, and it's coming hard! You need to wrap things up in there- fast!"

"Well, that's just rude." I sighed, shrugging. "What can you do? Guess we have to go out there and personally give it a talking to."

The rest of the way to the point was fairly uneventful- for me. There were geth there, of course, and the krogan, but between the three of us, they were quickly dispatched.

Joker brought the Normandy down, Kaidan and one of Normandy's crew carried the bomb down to what I assumed was the center of the whole operation.

"We're in position." Kaidan began saying, radioing to the other teams.

"Shepard, can you read me?" Ashley came in a moment later, interrupting him.

"The bomb is almost ready. Get to the rendezvous point, Ash!"

The silence that followed felt like an eternity. That gut feeling was back- something was about to go very wrong. I wasn't sure if I had the time to have a vision, since it would make me an easy target if we were attacked.

"Negative, Shepard. The geth have us pinned down on the AA tower. We've taken heavy casualties. We'll never make the rendezvous point in time."

Dammit! I hit my fist against the pillar I was standing beside, fuming. If they couldn't get here, they'd go up with this place, and I wasn't about to let that happen.

Kaidan approached me cautiously. "It's okay, Shepard. I need a couple of minutes to finish arming the bomb. Go get them and meet me back here."

I looked at him in surprise, before nodding and motioning for Garrus and Wrex to follow me. Responding to her. "We're on our way. Don't you die on me, Williams. That's an order."

A stretch of silence, only long enough for us to reach the far door, but again, it felt like a long time.

"...I'll try, ma'am."

I doubled my pace, shooting down everything in my path.

A few minutes in, Kaidan reported in. "Shepard, Mannovai and Jaeto just got here. Tali and Liara are alright, and the rest of the two teams are accounted for. No casualties."

"Good. Have them all hop onto the Normandy."

Once again outside, we watched as a geth ship flew overhead. In the direction Kaidan and the others were.

"A geth ship is headed your way, LT." Ashley called out.

Kaidan sounded like he in the middle of a fight. "It's already here. There's geth pouring out all over the bomb site."

I closed my eyes, one hand fisted at my side. The other at my earpiece. "Can you hold them off?"

"There's too many. I don't think we can survive until you get here." A pause. Then, before I could speak- think. Anything- he said. "I'm activating the bomb."

"What the hell are you doing?" I shouted.

"I'm just making sure this bomb goes off. No matter what." Another pause. I could hear buttons making that ping sound they do on consoles when you press them. "It's done, Shepard. Go get Williams and get the hell out of here."

"Screw that! We can handle ourselves. Go back and get Alenko."

"Williams, radio Joker and tell him to meet us at your location." I said, my mind racing.

I was not leaving someone behind. Not again.

Ignoring Ashley's protest in my ear, I turned toward the guys. "You two, go and help Ashley and Kirrahe. I'm going back for Kaidan."

"Shepard, that's suicide!"

I raised my chin, my expression stone-like. Leveled a look at Garrus. "That's an order."

Without waiting to see if they'd obey, I sprinted off back the way I'd come.

Yep, the site runneth over with geth. Kaidan was alone, hiding behind the pillar closest to the bomb. Between my magic and my pistol, they went down fairly quickly.

"I need an update." I called over comms as a fresh wave of geth spilled from the ship.

"We're picking up the survivors right now, Shepard." Joker responded. "There's no way we can get to you, with all those geth around, though. You need to hurry up and get out of there!"

Saren appeared, showing himself. Showing that he was here.

"I applaud you, Shepard. My geth were utterly convinced the salarians were the real threat. An impressive diversion." I wanted to wash his mouth out because of all that sarcasm. "Of course, it was all for nothing. I can't let you disrupt what I have accomplished here. You can't possibly understand what's really at stake."

"And you're doing this, why? Because a sentient piece of metal told you to?"

"You've seen the vision from the beacons, Shepard. You, of all people, should understand what the Reapers are capable of. They cannot be stopped."

He continued his villain monologue for a while longer. I rolled my eyes, but let him be, while I tried thinking of a way out of this. Wait! I could-

"Sovereign needs me. If I find the Conduit, I've been promised a reprieve from the inevitable. This is my only hope."

"Why don't you just join us? In the end you'll just be tossed aside, like everyone else. With us, you'd stand a chance." I shouted. The words felt sour on my tongue, but I felt I had to try and reach him. Whatever was left of him, anyway.

"Do you think you can sway me, Shepard? Do you think I haven't already thought of this? Sovereign is a machine. It thinks like a machine. If I can prove my value, I become a resource worth maintaining. There is no other logical conclusion!" He was crazy. "I'm forging an alliance between us and the Reapers. Between organics and machines. And in doing so, I will save more lives than have ever existed. But you would undo my work. You would doom our entire civilization to complete annihilation. And for that, you must die."

Certifiably insane.

Especially since he thought he'd stand a chance against me. Me. Of all people, he knew what I was capable of, having worked a few times alongside Nihlus and me over the years.

Bastard threw a mountain's worth of geth at me, though, distracting me. I took care of them, but by that time, it was too late. He hit me with a biotic blast and knocked the gun from my hand. Knocked me to the ground, flat on my back. I rolled over, feeling dizzy as hell from my head smashing against the metal flooring, and slowly made my way toward the gun. Which lay a few feet from me.

He picked me up by the throat and lifted me off the ground. High enough so my feet couldn't touch down.

Kaidan moved, trying to get up from where he'd been knocked down, too, and Saren looked over at him. It was enough time for me to think straight for long enough that I could pull my arm back and pop him one in the face when he turned back to me.

I fell with a loud splash and an oof, Saren staggering back and tripping over his own feet. Also falling to the ground. Finally within reach of the damn pistol, I got to my feet and tried shooting him. But I was seeing double, and every shot I fired missed. I would have one hell of a headache later.

If we survived. How long did the bomb have left? Would Joker be able to reach us in time?

I went over to Kaidan, looking him over. He was sitting up against the bomb, holding the side of his stomach. He'd been shot, but it didn't seem that bad.

"Shepard-"

"Hold on, Kaidan." I looked on the bomb, to see how much time was left on it.

Oh. Oh.

"Oh." I said quietly. Then, to Joker. "Get the Normandy out of here."

"Shepard, what-"

"Don't argue with me. This thing is set to detonate in..." I waited a few seconds. "less than a minute, now. Get the hell out of here!"

We watched as the Normandy quickly ascended, pointing toward space.

I pulled one of my necklaces free, the one with the talisman, grasping it tightly. "Akatosh, Arkay, Mara, Stendarr, Talos. Hircine, Meridia, Nocturnal. Altea." I chanted softly.

Wrapping my free arm around Kaidan, I huddled close to him. Surrounded us with my barrier.

"Please."

And then, everything went silent. And dark.

The bomb had gone off.