Leena's POV
"Whatever this artifact is there's no doubt Cerberus will be after it too," I told Shepard.
Before leaving the Citadel the Commander met up with Councilor Tevos about this mysterious artifact. It was located in a temple on the Asari homeworld Thessia. And the entire planet was already getting torn up by the f**king Reapers. We were currently in the shuttle and the ride was bumpy as the transport entered Thessia's atmosphere.
Besides myself, Liara, Javik, Cypher, and Noire joined the group for this particular mission. Liara watched as the Reapers caused chaos on her home planet. Cypher licked his mate's cheek and Liara returned the gesture by kissing his head.
"Liara do you have anything more on this artifact?" Shepard asked hoping to occupy her mind with something else.
Liara looked to the human male.
"These coordinates the councilor gave you are for the Temple of Athame, my mother took me there once, it's several thousand years old and for some reason, it has classified government funding"
Liara then looked back to the screen.
"My people are dying down there"
"Your empathy is a weakness, you must numb yourself to loss"
"Javik with all due respect keep those comments to yourself please" I growled a warning at the Prothean. It annoyed me that he even said that. For crying out loud Liara's home was in ruins and the last thing she needed was some heartless bullshit.
Liara chose to not reply to Javik and instead stood up bringing up files her mother had about the Temple of Athame. By the time we exited the shuttle, the entire area was trashed. My heart broke for Liara as she witnessed seeing her home being burned down. We met up with a squad of Asari troops and we aided them by shooting down different Reaper creatures. Cypher and Noire were already in the air burning anything they spotted.
A few minutes later we met up with Lieutenant Kurin. It was obvious she was incredibly stressed like Liara was with seeing her home being destroyed. She had been expecting us but she was also given orders to hold down her current location.
"I can take us to the Temple of Athame" Cypher volunteered. "My illusions are up and by air, we can get there faster"
The Metal Dragon then flew off from Liara's shoulder and transformed into his larger state. He lowered himself so all of us could get onto his back. Once we were he spread his wings and took flight. Along the way to our target Cypher used his dragon fire to kill any Reapers beings.
Eventually, we arrived at the Temple and Cypher once again lowered his body so we could get off. The temple itself was barricaded but Liara managed to bring the barrier down from a nearby console. Cy then reverted to his smaller form and flew back to Liara's shoulder. We entered the temple with our weapons still drawn. The temple itself was gorgeous but something felt wrong.
"Damn it" I muttered when I found some of the scientists. Shepard was at some sort of console as Javik got a closer look at the dead scientists.
"Their throats have been slit" the Prothean stated.
He was right but who killed them was a mystery. I used my panther sense of smell to see if I could get any clues about who killed the scientists but it was to no avail. Shepard then asked about the statue and Liara explained it was the Goddess Athame. Noire suddenly flew from my shoulder and landed on a wall close to the statue. She eyed the statue with interest.
"What's up?" I asked the black dragoness.
"For some reason, I understand this language"
"Are you talking about Prothean?" Shepard inquired.
"Yes," Noire confirmed before narrowing her white eyes at the statue. "Something here is Prothean"
"Agreed I can sense it" Javik added.
Shepard then closed his eyes and Noire did too. Then at the same time, both the Metal Dragon and the human reopened them.
"There's a Prothean Beacon here" the two of them announced.
"Are you serious?!" I exclaimed
"What? You're sure?" Liara questioned next.
"It's not something you forget" Shepard answered.
Javik mumbled more bullshit and I shot him a look to knock it off. I agreed the Asari shouldn't have hidden this knowledge but it was understandable why they did. Liara approached the front of the statue and began to get to work. When she did something got Javik's attention and mine. The Prothean approached where the red glow got our attention and a beam came out of the rock he stood in front of.
"The activation process has begun" he informed us.
The statue of Athame then began to glow as well and we looked around for other connections. It took a few minutes to find all of them and the activation process was finished. We regrouped in front of the Beacon and a projection came out of it. The projection turned out to be a Prothean VI.
"Obtaining chronological marker, timescale established, post Prothean cycle confirmed"
The VI orb then raised itself above us and sensed the Reapers and it decided it wanted to flee.
"Hold on a second! We need answers!" Shepard yelled.
"To what question?" the VI wondered.
"The Catalyst we need to know what it is to finish the Crucible" the human explained to the VI. The VI backed away before forming into a projection of a Prothean. The VI introduced himself as Vendetta an advanced virtual construct of Pashek Vran, overseer of the Crucible. Vendetta explained that Vran had died fighting the Reapers. Vendetta gave us the information we already knew and he was about to tell us about the Catalyst however he stopped when he sensed an indoctrinated being was coming our way.
Vendetta then returned to being an orb just as the same asshole from back on the Citadel showed up with a gunship behind him.
"You're not getting this artifact!" I spat at the assassin.
"We shall see about that Leena" the assassin sneered.
"You killed the scientists," Shepard said as we all got our weapons out and the Metal Dragons bared their fangs.
"His name is Kai Leng" Noire spoke.
Kai Leng shot Noire a look before telling Shepard someone wanted to speak with us. A few minutes later he activated a device and the Illusive Man appeared. The bastard wanted the artifact to subjugate the Reapers.
"Are you effin deaf?! Your not getting this artifact you asshole!" I roared. "Shepard he's indoctrinated!"
Noire then roared in agreement before transforming into her larger form. Cypher did the same and both Metal Dragons spread their wings and roared out.
"Commander get the artifact! We'll deal with Kai Leng!"
The Illusive Man swore before he disappeared and Kai Leng attacked. Cypher used his tail to smack away the assassin while Shepard got to work getting the artifact. Kai Leng recovered from Cypher's blow and he used a gun to shoot my buddy in a wing membrane. Those were painful areas for a Metal Dragon and Cypher roared before reverting to his smaller form. Noire spat out a stream of dragon fire at the gunship and the transport was destroyed.
Swearing Kai Leng charged at Noire and the next thing we all knew the dragoness was shrieking in pain as Kai Leng had his katana deep in her right wing in one of the membranes. Rage fueled me and I charged at the assassin. I sucker punched him hard in the face and then gave him a good roundhouse kick that sent the asshole flying. Next, I drew out the katana from Noire's wing membranes and I threw it onto the ground. Noire destroyed it with her dragon fire before she finally collapsed and she reverted to her smaller form.
I applied medi-gel to her injured area while Cypher managed to body slam Kai Leng hard enough that it hurt.
"I got the artifact!" Shepard shouted.
Kai Leng shot us a glare and since he was unarmed he fled. I picked up Noire and despite applying the medi-gel she was in serious need of medical attention. At the moment I was keeping pressure on her wound so she wouldn't bleed to death. Though our mission was successful we all watched as more Reapers landed and heard the Asari military suffering. I bowed my head and shed tears as Thessia became lost.
Saren's POV
I held Noire down while Mordin went to work stitching her membrane. When Leena brought her back from the mission my heart broke from seeing my bonded Metal Dragon in such pain. Noire shrieked as the needle and thread went into her wing membrane and she swished her tail in agitation.
"I know it hurts but you must keep still," I told the dragoness.
Noire whimpered before going still and she let Mordin continue his work. But she would whimper or growl whenever she was in pain. Some time passed before Mordin finished.
"She'll be alright but she needs rest" the Salarian explained.
I thanked him before carefully picking Noire up and I carried her to my quarters. I lay her down on the bed and spent a few minutes stroking her until she fell asleep. Afterward, I left the room to find Leena. I found her outside of the infirmary and before she asked about Noire I hugged her.
"She's going to be okay," I told the black panther shifter. "Thanks to you"
I then pulled myself away from Leena.
"Is Cypher okay? I heard he got shot in the same area"
"He'll be fine just sore" Leena explained. "He's already bitching"
I snorted because that was typical of Cypher. Leena then placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
"Noire is strong so she won't be taken down so easily"
That got me to smile knowing she was right.
Leena's POV
"I'm sick of the war," I said. "I'm tired of seeing worlds being destroyed"
Garrus didn't say anything as he approached and drew me into his arms.
"All of us want this war to end my love" he agreed. "And it will"
Now that we had the information for the Crucible hopefully we could find out what the Catalyst was. Garrus placed his forehead against mine.
"The Reapers no doubt are fearful of you my Nightshade"
His comment got me to smirk.
"Maybe"
"Trust me Leena they should be, you are the Science Fiction Tomb Raider, and you are mine"
He then claimed a quick kiss to prove his point.
"As you are my Archangel now and always"
My husband purred when I said that and I felt my face turn red.