AN: I don't usually do this, but some particularly appropriate mood music for this chapter can be found here: youtube DOT com SLASH watch?v=LlkYz6Il4JM

Chapter 28: Darkness

"We're five minutes out from the Mahavid facility, Commander," Joker said over the comm. "They apparently don't have any airlocks that can handle the Normandy though, so you're going to have to take the shuttle over."

"Understood. Did they say if Dr. Garneau was on station?"

"No, actually... the guy handling their control wouldn't even talk to me. Just gave me a docking bay number and disconnected the line. Jerk. This place looks pretty rough too, Commander. Some carbon scores on the domes and I'm tracking debris in orbit around the main asteroid."

"They sound friendly. You'd think this far out with the Reapers so close they'd be thrilled to see an Alliance warship," Garrus said.

The Spectre shrugged.

"Fear does strange things to people. Maybe they're afraid we'll attract the attention of the Reapers by showing up. Our objective is simple: find Doctor Alex Garneau and get out. Hopefully he can help us with the next piece of this puzzle Bryson left for us."

"Right, find Garneau. Get more clues, keep hunting Leviathan," Garrus summarized. "In all this searching and research EDI's been going through, have we even figured out what Leviathan is?"

"It destroyed a Reaper. Does it really matter?" Tali asked. "We just want it on our side."

"Well... it would be a little strange if it was like, a tiny animal with massive cosmic power wouldn't it?" Kasumi suggested.

"Tali's right, in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter. We find Garneau, we find Leviathan and worry about the details as they come to us. If these miners know where Garneau is and they're already on edge we need to try not to spook them."

This means you would wish for us to remain on the hive-ship?

Kasumi reached out to pat the rachni on its dark, shiny carapace.

"Sorry, Big T, but something tells me 'rachni warrior' and 'put people at ease' aren't usually in the same sentence."

"She's right, I'm afraid you'll need to remain on the ship with EDI. The files we have are out of date but everything indicates this mining colony is owned by a fully human corporation and I doubt they get that many visitors. A turian and a quarian is enough 'different' for one visit," Shepard agreed. "We want to be as friendly as possible."

We understand and will remain on the hive-ship.

"I hope you're not suggesting we also go unarmed?" Garrus asked dryly.

"Friendly, not stupid. Leave the assault weaponry here but sidearms for everyone. Max population for a facility around this size is forty to fifty tops, so unless they all turn out to be murderous pirates in very boring disguises I think we'll be fine."

He could almost hear Tali rolling her eyes when she spoke.

"You just had to say it, didn't you?"

Shepard hadn't expected great fanfare at their arrival, but the complete lack of any greeting was surprising. No station personnel awaited them when the cycle had finished. The airlock was dusty and showed signs of only occasional use. The only indication of any activity at all was a man at the other end of the loading bay welding something that sat across a stack of metal storage crates.

He glanced at Tali next to him but she merely shrugged. For a quarian no welcome at all was likely better than any greeting her people were used to getting. Determined to stick with his plan of 'friendly Spectre' Shepard popped the seals on his helmet and pulled it off as they approached the loading bay's lone occupant. Immediately he noticed how the air smelled stale, like a room that had been closed up for months.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for someone. A researcher that probably arrived in the last few weeks-" he began.

"Welcome to TGES Minerals. Please check in at the front desk," the worker interrupted, not even bothering to lift his protective mask.

Before Shepard could even formulate another question the man had triggered the welder once more, sending sparks showering around him. He tried waving to gain the man's attention back but he was clearly focused on his work. Whatever that work was the Spectre couldn't quite figure out. The item balanced across the crates appeared to be a smooth rod a meter in length with a few open panels that displayed some kind of circuitry. Something told him he wasn't likely to get an explanation from the curt worker about the nature of his project.

"Yep... real friendly," Kasumi muttered.

Ignoring the thief's comment he proceeded towards the archway leading out of the docking area. He tapped the door controls once when they didn't open immediately only to have the panel flicker and go dark. The Spectre frowned and thumped the panel hard with the back of his hand. Lights reappeared and the door hissed open at last.

"The maintenance crew of this station is doing a terrible job. Everything looks like it hasn't been serviced in months," Tali complained.

"Smells like it too," Garrus added. "Sweat, stale air, oil... chemicals. If I smelled more blood and trash I'd feel like I was back on Omega."

Shepard could only shrug.

"With the war it could have been a long time since they've seen a supply shipment. The fact that they're even still here with the Reapers' proximity to this system is amazing. Even if the guy in the docking bay wasn't bothered, most the workers here must be on edge."

Conditions didn't improve when they finally entered what he assumed was the reception area. A few people were speaking in muted tones when the doors opened but stopped to watch the quartet of unfamiliar figures with blank stares. A few meters away a faded sign over a window indicated that they'd located the main desk.

"They're taking this whole war thing pretty well, don't you think?" Garrus said when the trio of workers to their left finally stopped staring and returned to their quiet conversation without further acknowledging their presence.

"So I'm noticing..." he muttered and made his way to the reception desk, rapping on the glass. "I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance. I need to speak with the station's commanding officer."

The man behind the glass looked up and nodded.

"Welcome to T-GES Mineral Works. For the tour please sign in."

"The... tour?"

No one was listening, however, as the worker had already looked back down at the screen in front of him. The other man working behind the glass seemed equally disinterested, staring at his computer screen and tapping out commands in a steady cadence. Shepard frowned and knocked on the glass more forcefully this time.

"I'm not looking for a tour," he said curtly. "I'm a Spectre here on official business looking for a man named Alex Garneau. His last destination was this mining station."

"There is no Alex Garneau here."

He looked to his left. A woman in a dirty gray jumpsuit was staring at him, hands at her sides as she continued to speak. She looked to be in her mid thirties with a name tag sewn onto her jumpsuit but thread was frayed and nearly gone, leaving only the first letter: an 'N'.

"There is nothing for you here. You should go."

"I'm afraid I can't take your word for it. It's possible he used another name. I'll need access to your computer systems and the rest of the station. Are you in charge here?"

"The elevator to the lower levels is broken. You should go," she responded tonelessly.

Apparently considering their conversation over the woman turned and walked away, rejoining another pair of similarly dressed individuals and resuming their conversation in hushed tones. Shepard blinked, looking from side to side.

"Something is very wrong here, Shepard," Garrus hissed quietly. "I've heard more enthusiasm in a room full of elcor."

"Maybe they're just... in shock?" Tali asked. "Joker said there was debris outside, maybe they've already suffered Reaper attacks."

Kasumi shook her head. "No, he's right. These aren't acting like people that are in shock, overwhelmed by emotion and trauma... they're not acting like... anything. I'm pretty good at reading people and I'm not even getting an eye-twitch from anyone."

"All right, we need to get down to the lower levels and see what the hell is going on. Kasumi, I want your omni-tool scanning for any toxins or other contaminants. The first sign of anything I want you and Garrus back on the shuttle and fully sealed up," Shepard ordered. "Tali, see what you can do about this elevator."

As they approached the elevator all eyes turned towards the four of them once more, but no words were spoken by any of the workers. He could feel his muscles tense while Tali knelt next to the elevator's open control panel. Every passing second put his nerves further on edge. His first thought was an obvious one. Indoctrination. But these people weren't raving lunatics or trying to kill him. They were simply blank.

For once he actually tried to hear the scratchy whispers that had plagued his thoughts for months, closing his eyes and relaxing his hold on the walls he had mentally created. But nothing came. He didn't feel the painful pull of the Reapers or even the barest hint of their influence. Only complete silence.

"Shepard?"

He opened his eyes and looked down to see his engineer press a button on the panel.

"What is it?"

"There's nothing wrong with this elevator..." Tali said. "Someone just disconnected one of the fuses. Any soldier that had even completed basic training could have fixed this."

The quarian tapped the panel and the elevator doors opened with a hiss. He glanced back at the lobby but the position of the workers hadn't changed. Each one stood perfectly still, watching them. He gestured for the others to enter the elevator, resting a hand lightly on the pistol at his hip and backing into the lift. He expected someone to pull a weapon, raise an alarm, something... but nothing came.

"Let's find out what's going on here," he said and keyed in one of the lower floors.

Nothing happened. The doors didn't even close. He hit the button once more.

The woman that had addressed him before finally spoke, seeming to stare straight into his eyes even through his helmet. It was then that he realized one of the things that was bothering him. Everyone had been staring at him since they'd entered. And he'd never seen any of them blink.

"You should not have come."

The lights in the elevator flicked and died, replaced by the dim red of the emergency bulbs.

"The darkness must not be breached."

Before he could respond the floor seemed to disappear from beneath his feet. Shepard felt himself falling...


Garrus groaned and rolled onto his side. The acrid stench of burnt oil and electronics filled his nostrils, jolting him abruptly to full consciousness. His pupils dilated in the scant light, searching for clues as to his location. Memory returned. Mahavid. Strange employees. An elevator.

Cursing and coughing he struggled to his feet, activating his omni-tool to shed some light. Kasumi was shaking her head and muttering something that his translator couldn't make out but looked relatively unharmed. Shepard was helping Tali up. They still seemed to be inside the elevator but all the control panels were dark.

"Everyone okay?" Shepard asked.

"Bruises... I will have many bruises," Tali replied. "But no suit ruptures or broken bones."

"Same here," Kasumi agreed.

Garrus nodded and rubbed the plates of his face. "Yea, same just hit my head here. What the hell happened?"

"Elevator dropped but the emergency overrides went into effect before we hit bottom, locked everything down," the engineer explained. "If they hadn't we'd be much more... damaged."

"Shit. Okay, this just stopped being a friendly mission," Shepard said. "Any idea what floor we stopped on?"

Tali tapped at the panel repeatedly and finally opened the control box near the floor. Aside from a single spark nothing happened, eliciting a few select quarian curses from the engineer.

"Pretty sure that's a no," the turian drawled and looked to Shepard, gesturing at the door. "Shall we?"

"Tali, Kasumi: cover."

Both women drew their pistols and took up positions at the rear of the ruined elevator while he and Shepard gripped the doors. One hard yank created a small gap but the doors were clearly resisting either from disuse or from being warped due to the sudden stop. The turian let out a low growl and pulled once more. Something gave way with a screech of metal and the doors opened halfway before stopping cold. Dim, reddish light filtered through the dust but did little to brighten the elevator.

"We should be able to make it through now," Garrus said, jerking his head towards the opening while maintaining his grip.

"You heard the man. Ladies first," Shepard added.

A few moments later they had extracted themselves from what he could only assume was meant to be a death trap. The former C-Sec officer scanned their surroundings. The dull gray corridor looked just as unkempt as the first floor had above: crates stacked randomly up and down the hall. Red emergency lighting cast everything in shadows. From his right the scent of something acrid caught Garrus' nose, faint but definitely there.

"Why would they try to kill us?" Tali asked at last.

The human Spectre shook his head.

"No idea, but something is very wrong with this station."

"I already said that," Garrus complained.

"It bore repeating. Until we figure out what's going on we're officially considering this hostile territory."

"Maybe EDI and Twilight can come get us?" Kasumi suggested hopefully. "I don't think a bunch of miners are going to be able to stop a Cerberus built assassin robot and a brood warrior."

Shepard held up his omni-tool, showing the display that hovered over his wrist. Every communications link displayed red lines except one. Garrus opened his own and realized that the only one that wasn't being jammed was the micro-QEC that Legion had installed in their upgraded armor before the Battle of the Rannoch. Amazingly useful... if all three people linked to said communications network weren't in the exact same place.

"So much for that idea," the thief sighed.

"What's the plan, then? There have to be service crawlspaces. We can probably find our way back to the ground floor," Garrus said.

"Garneau still has to be the plan. He's our only real lead on Leviathan. I can only assume that he has something to do with what's going on here. We leave when we've got our answers," Shepard replied. "And since the locals aren't cooperating, then we have to do it the old fashioned way."

"Snooping, hacking, and ransacking?"

"The classics," his friend agreed, nodding down the corridor to their left. "As much as I hate the idea, we're going to need to split up. There's the risk that the workers here have more planned than just dropping us in an elevator. We can't give them time to try anything else."

"Aw, Shep... you know what always happens in the vids..." Kasumi objected.

"Xeno-Zombies Six isn't exactly a good benchmark for decision making. If you're worried about vid clichés then just remind yourself that the vids don't usually include you having a hundred kilos of combat trained turian as back up. Tali is with me; you're with Garrus. Keep in contact over the three way link. Remember, we need information, but at this point we should assume anyone we meet is hostile."

Garrus nodded and drew his sidearm, double checking the magazine and clucking his tongue.

"I've got six extra thermals on me, plus a full one chambered. Half a dozen reloads isn't going to last long if these miners have actual firepower waiting somewhere."

Something glinted faintly in the dim light as it came sailing through the air towards him from Shepard's direction. The turian snatched it deftly out the air and turned it over to examine it. An Alliance standard issue combat knife. It had seen better days. The handle was worn and there were a few nicks in the blade but he could tell it still had plenty of use left in it.

"I guess you'd better get back to the basics then," Shepard said dryly.

"What about you?"

To answer his question a shimmering blade of blue energy sprang up around the armored human's fist, disappearing just as quickly when he opened his grip. Garrus chuckled and affixed the combat blade to one of the magnetic grips on his armor.

"Point taken. I'll comm as soon as we find something."

Shepard gave him a nod and turned to head in the opposite direction, pistol at his side and Tali right behind. He could see that the quarian wasn't any more relaxed about this situation than Kasumi was, but was trying not to show it. It didn't take long for them both to disappear into the darkness.

"I still don't like this," Kasumi said, gripping her Locust tightly as they began to advance.

"Nobody likes this. We just do it."

He pushed past the thief and moved farther down the corridor. After a few meters the corridor turned and they found themselves staring at a locked door. Garrus took up a position at one side and raised his pistol.

"Deal with the lock; I'll take care of anything on the other side when it opens."

Wordlessly the thief got to work, but after a few seconds she made a sound of displeasure.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"The security suite for this door isn't just too high-tech for a crappy mining facility... it's also custom. I'm not seeing any of the usual trademarks of one of the major software corps," Kasumi explained. "Give me just a minute."

The turian simply nodded and kept his focus on the doorway, resisting the urge to grind his mandibles. He couldn't place a talon on it, but something was just driving him crazy about their current situation. It could have been the oddness of it or the fact that they were cut off. He just didn't know. It was dark, it was cold, and it smelled strange. And he didn't like it.

"I'm sorry about... you know... on the Rayya..." Kasumi muttered long after her 'minute' had passed, not looking up from her omni-tool.

Her sudden change of subject was enough to distract him from the itch under his scales.

"Now? We're talking about this now?"

She shot him a brief look over her shoulder.

"You haven't stayed in the same room with me for more than five minutes since we left Rannoch."

"Look-"

"Got it!" she cried suddenly.

The door opened all at once. It was then that the smell hit him, flooding the corridor like a living thing that had been restrained only by the steel door. Pungent and bitter, layered over the scent of decay. He kept his weapon raised even as he heard Kasumi struggling not to retch. The smell hit him with a flood of memories.

He knew why he was on edge. It was a smell he'd had the misfortune of encountering before. It was the same smell as Doctor Saelon's lab.

"What is that smell?" the thief gasped, finally standing with her weapon in one hand and her free arm covering her nose.

"Nothing good."

He activated the light on his omni-tool and stepped inside carefully, sweeping the room with his weapon.

"Spirits..."

The room was filled not with mining equipment, but with massive tanks, medical scanners, and other assorted equipment that he'd only ever seen in Mordin's lab. When his light played across the nearest tank Garrus almost squeezed the trigger at the sight the rictus grin of a husk looked back at him. At the last second he paused. There was no telltale glow in its dead eyes or beneath its dull gray skin.

"This is... I don't know what this is," Kasumi said in a muffled voice. "What's going on here?"

"Something even worse than we thought," Garrus replied and quickly activated his comm. "Shepard, do you copy? What's your status?"

"We're nearing the medical bay. Tali found a record that showed Garneau was here. Something about an artifact. The last log indicated that he was injured and was relocated to their medbay," Shepard replied. "We actually ran across two more workers but... it was like we weren't even there."

"Shepard, you need to find Garneau fast. We just entered a heavily secured room and it's full of... things. I just saw a dead husk floating in a glass tank and it smells... it smells like I'm back on the Fedele in here. Whatever these people are doing it isn't mining."

A gasp interrupted him and he saw Kasumi shaking her head.

"These aren't just dead Reaper soldiers, Garrus."

Following her line of vision he shone his light into another tank. She was right, it wasn't a husk or any other Reaper creation. It looked like it might have once been a turian, but that had been a long time ago. Its body was distended with thick muscles that made it hunch forward and the natural frill had become something closer to spines. And where a normal turian face would have been was something far more disturbing: a quartet of sightless eyes above freakishly long mandibles.

It wasn't alone. He could see dozens of tanks as the room appeared the stretch on for meters. Looking past the first row of horrors he saw other pieces of medical equipment and more tubes. Operating tables and consoles. The floor all around them appeared black and tacky.

"We need to leave."

"I didn't copy that?" Shepard interjected over the comm.

"I think we need to forget Garneau."

"We have a mission, Garrus."

"You're not seeing this Shepard. This isn't crazy miners or even indoctrinated scientists. I don't know what this is but it's very bad. If Garneau is here he's already dead. The things here-"

Shepard's voice cut him off.

"Hold position. I think we found him. Switching to speaker."

"Doctor Garneau?"

"If you are looking for Dr. Garneau... you have found him."

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance. Are you alright?"

"I am... fine. But I am... trapped here."

He heard Tali break in, echoing the same thoughts going through his head. Garneau didn't sound like a man fearing for his life. He sounded like a man that was reading the financial section of the Citadel Weekly.

"Doctor? You don't sound... well. We need to get you out of here and leave the station. Do you know where the artifact is you mentioned in your log?"

"Did I? Artifact. No."

"Doctor Garneau, I'm a Spectre. Classified doesn't apply to me and we don't have time for games. I need to know everything you've learned about Leviathan. To do that we need to secure the artifact and get out of here!"

For a moment there was silence and then, oddly, static. Their communications were quantum pairs. Nothing should be able to interfere with their communications. A low, bone rattling hum filled his ears. When Garneau finally spoke it wasn't with a voice belonging to a man.

"Why do you pursue me?"

"I don't think we're talking to Garneau..."

Things began to fall into place in the turian's head. Puzzle pieces all lining up and painting a picture he didn't like. He could hear Shepard pushing on trying to complete their mission.

"Leviathan? I came here because of you. You destroyed a Reaper! If we work together maybe we can stop them!"

"No. You will not leave this place. You will not take what is mine. The darkness must not be breached."

"If you help us, together we can bring the Reapers down! We can end this once and for all!"

"You bring only death."

The line was filled with a thunderous roar and the sound of shattering glass before dissolving into static. All at once it felt as if the mining facility was moving, the deck plates beneath his feet vibrating. A claxon began to blare and the emergency lights flashed.

"Shepard? Shepard!"

He nothing heard for far too long, but finally a familiar voice spoke over the direct comms.

"We're okay," Tali said. "Garneau... Leviathan hit us with something. He activated one of the consoles here and then fled. I think he's heading for the lower levels and the artifact!"

"Can you catch him?"

"Yes, I think so but... oh keelah. Garrus... you and Kasumi need to run. You need to run now!"

The thief caught his eye, brows raised.

"What are you talking about, Tali?"

"Just go, Garrus!" Shepard broke in. "Whatever he did released all of the 'samples'. The area you're in isn't just listed as a lab. It's listed as a breeding facility!"

That was when he heard the 'tink'. A hard material striking glass, ever so slightly muffled. A slow and steady beat.

Tink.

Tink.

Tink.

He turned slowly with his weapon raised to find himself looking at the same warped creature he had examined before. But its eyes weren't lifeless anymore. Claws beat steadily again the inside of the tube, a growing spiderweb of cracks spreading across the surface.

"Go!" Shepard roared in his ear.

He didn't bother to explain, just grabbing Kasumi by the arm and dragging her with him as he headed back the direction they came. For a moment he could hear her gathering her breath to object, but when the liquid in the tubes around them began to froth and surge she fell silent.

"Can you re-lock this door?" Garrus asked as they reached the exit.

"I don't know, the software is a mess!"

"Try!"

The turian tried to pull the heavy sliding door closed manually, but it wouldn't budge. It seemed the system had two settings: wide open and securely locked. Taking up a shooter's stance he stood over Kasumi and kept his vision fixed forward. The sound of impacts against glass grew in his ears like a drum beat. Or the beating of a heart.

"What's happening?" Kasumi asked, taping frantically at her omni-tool. "I saw that thing moving! I thought they were dead!"

"They weren't dead. They were in some kind of stasis. And whatever Garneau did woke them all up!"

The sound of shattering glass and the splashing of fluid across the floor was the signal that they were out of time. At the edge of the shadows he watched as the 'dead' husk that they'd first passed pushed itself to its feet, staring around it until it fixated on him. The glowing blue lines that traced its entire body stood out starkly against the shadows. He drew a bead on its head and rested his finger on the trigger.

Before he could take the shot a blood curdling howl echoed through the corridor and beyond. The husk turned in the direction of the sound only to disappear under a mass of flesh. It screeched shrilly and attempted to claw at its attacker, but was silenced almost immediately by a brutal slash that removed most of the husk's face in a single swipe.

The thing that rested atop it was truly something out of a nightmare. Inert in its tube it had been disturbing, but in motion it was far worse. Its scaly hide glistened with the fluid from the tank, dripping onto the motionless form beneath it. Every movement was the efficient, effortless grace of a predator. A hungry one.

"Kasumi, we need this door closed now," he hissed.

"I'm working, I'm working..."

With the husk now dead the creature looked up and saw him for the first time. A wet, croaking sound emerged from its throat and its mandibles spread wide, dripping saliva. Behind them he caught his first glimpse of its maw, a ring of beak-like teeth that gnashed at the air. The spines that stood up on its back seemed to almost quiver in anticipation.

His first shot rang out at the same moment that it lunged. One of the beasts four eyes disappeared in an explosion of dark blood and it stumbled... only to push itself back to its feet. The blood curdling scream he had heard before came again, now answered by a dozens of echoes.

"Damn."

Garrus fired again. Each shot slow and steady. One round through its neck. Another tore through its upper arm. The next squarely center of mass. Even as black blood poured onto the deck plates it continued to advance, trying to lunge forward between each shot shrieking and roaring. Each attempt put it a few steps closer until a final shot caught it square between its remaining eyes. The thing shrieked a final time... but collapsed at last.

He cursed and reached for his belt, producing a flare and throwing it into the room. Half a magazine to kill one and that had been with deliberate shot placement. The turian's heart sank further when the flare sputtered to life, revealing a dozen sets of shining eyes in the shadows. Croaks and growls becoming a constant buzz as they grew closer.

"Forget the door," he said tightly, still not looking at the thief. "You need to go. If you head the same direction that Shepard and Tali went you might be able to catch them."

Kasumi ignored him, saying nothing. One of the sets of eyes moved closer and he responded immediately: feathering the trigger and sending a pair of shots in its direction. As soon as he did, though, he saw eyes on the opposite side of the room surge forward. He swung around as quickly as he could, emptying the rest of the magazine at the charging beast as they all rushed forward, bounding over shattered tubes and fallen lab equipment.

The door abruptly slammed shut in his face when the nearest beast made its leap towards him. On the other side he heard the heavy impact as the creature slammed into the metal. Blinking once the turian took a step back and sucked in a ragged breath.

"That was close," he muttered.

Something slammed into the door again. And again.

"I told you I would get it. You... don't think they can actually get through that, do you?" Kasumi asked.

A screech of rending metal seemed to answer her question. The door's control panel sparked and died.

"I don't think we should wait to find out," he said, ejecting the spent thermal from his pistol and slotting in a new one.

The pair sprinted back down the corridor, past the elevator and in the direction that Shepard and Tali had gone previously. Escape proved elusive, however. The first door was open, but at the next junction the door leading to the medbay was sealed. Kasumi shook her head as she examined the nearby console.

"No, no... damn! I can't get through. It's not just locked. Somehow the entire mechanism is just frozen!"

A tortured groan of metal giving way and a now familiar howl caused them both to turn and look in the direction they'd come. What were these things? Garrus stepped up next to her and tapped the console, bringing up a map. He rested a talon on the other door and drew a line.

"This way."

The thief shook her head.

"It's a dead end. It looks like these were crew quarters at some point. They're just built deeper into the asteroid. Once you get to the last one there's nowhere else left to go."

He tapped his comm again.

"Shepard, we can't follow you. The door is completely sealed and those... things they were breeding are loose."

"Dammit... can you get back to the surface?" the Spectre responded, breathing heavily. Clearly they were still in pursuit of Garneau.

"Negative. Shepard, these things are tearing through a steel door... the only way we could get up from here would be to climb the elevator shaft and something tells me we wouldn't last long."

"Options?"

Garrus sighed.

"I'm going to seal the crew compartments behind us. That's six heavy doors and leaves them only one way in. After that... we see how long the ammo holds out. If they're confined to this level at least maybe they won't try to follow you."

"I'm not going to leave you on this rock, Garrus. Lock it down and hold tight. The cavalry will come. I promise."

He motioned Kasumi towards the first door and shook his head, speaking quietly under his breath.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Boss."


The roar of Shepard's Carnifex drowned out all other sound. Six booms, each evenly spaced. Each finding one of the husks directly center of mass. The synthetic monstrosities were resilient, but not enough to remain functional with a fist sized hole in their chests.

"Why would Leviathan have husks?" she demanded, laying down fire as Shepard reloaded.

"Test subjects," the Spectre replied. "And apparently a security system in a pinch."

A dozen more of the lurching abominations poured out of the adjacent room, hissing and screeching as they charged. Both fired in unison now, dropping one husk after the other, but as soon as one fell another was scrambling over the corpse to reach for them. Her pistol bleated plaintively as it overheated, the thermal magazine ejecting automatically, but two husks were still bearing down on them.

"Shepard!"

Her concern was unwarranted. The husk in the rear was abruptly snatched into the air by biotic energy before being slammed into the deck plating with a sickening crunch while the bestial howl of the first ended abruptly as Shepard manifested his biotic blade through its chest cavity.

"I haven't made it this far to be killed by some husks," he said coldly. "How many rounds do you have left?"

The quarian frowned, reloading her pistol and checking the ammo pouch at her hip.

"Two more reloads."

"Here."

Shepard holstered his pistol and pulled a bundle of thermal clips from his armor, tossing them to her.

"And what does that leave you with?" she asked pointedly.

"The fresh magazine I just loaded and plenty of biotics. Let's move before more of these damn things show up."

The rooms that they passed through all looked similar. Utilitarian, with large banks of computers and holographic displays. Physical paperwork was scattered everywhere as if the residents cared for nothing but their research. Tali was coming to realize that was exactly the case to a degree that even the most obsessive salarian wouldn't strive for.

"Oh no..." she muttered as they entered the next corridor.

Three bodies lay strewn across the floor with their throats torn out, blood pooling around them. Other than the arterial spray from what could only have been the claws of husks there didn't seem to be any other disturbance. She shook her head.

"It looks like they didn't even try to run..."

"I don't think they did," Shepard said quietly. "I think whatever hold this thing has on them is so complete that everything is just gone. Even instinct."

They pushed ahead. Garneau, or whatever was controlling him, had done everything possible to slow them. Doors were locked. Husks seem to emerge from every lab. The few times they saw a living person that had managed to be located somewhere secure, locked in a lab or examine room, there was no spark of recognition. Emotionless eyes simply followed the pair's progress until they passed out of sight.

"I think I know where he's going," she said finally, managing to access a terminal that hadn't been completely locked out. "The last mine shaft that was drilled in the asteroid. Keelah... ten years ago. It shows it was only worked for a week and then sealed. That must have been where they found the artifact in the first place."

"And where this all began," he agreed. "Come on."

He slammed his fist against the door release and stalked forward, Tali following behind. She could see the stiffness in his movements with every step. Some of it was fatigue, she knew. He had been lashing out with his biotics constantly for almost an hour. The quarians didn't have many biotics but Kaidan had once told her that the average Alliance biotic soldier was treated like a heavy weapon. They were only meant to operate a peak efficiency for a short time.

But there was a tightness in his voice as well that went beyond fatigue. Their mission had been to find Leviathan, a weapon or an individual that could help defeat the Reapers. What they were seeing, though, was beginning to make her wonder if what they were searching for was any better than what they were fighting. She knew the same thoughts were going through Shepard's mind.

They found the workers' killers in the next hallway, a trio of husks each covered in blood. Shepard apparently wasn't interested in caution any longer, simply wading into their midst and dispatching each with a cold brutality before she could even fire a shot.

"John, you have to slow down!" she urged. "If you just keep charging in you're going to burn yourself out!"

"This only ends when we find Garneau. That artifact is the only explanation for our loss of comms and until we can contact the Normandy we're on our own... and so are Garrus and Kasumi."

She didn't object again.


"I'm out!" Kasumi yelled.

Her Locust traced a line across the charging creature's chest, causing it to tumble forwards and slide across the floor. A last gasp before the weapon hissed and ejected a smoldering magazine. Another creature jammed its head through the opening in the door and hissed, catching the last two rounds in from Garrus' magazine straight to the head for its troubles.

Four doors down. The first had held for quite a while as the beasts slammed into it, tore at it with their claws, and howled in fury. Eventually they had simply battered it until it was knocked from its track and pushed aside. With each retreat the doors fell faster. The things were learning. Their attacks had become targeted, tearing away at the edges until they could begin to warp and peel away the steel to make an opening.

Once they had that opening they were relentless. They had tried to time their reloads precisely, alternating fire to create a steady barrage. By the third door the things had wised up to that tactic as well, trying to draw their fire. Garrus' left side was stained with black ichor after one had slipped past their guard and charged. Kasumi had gotten a few shots in but it had managed to close the distance. The only reason he was still alive could be attributed to the blade that Shepard had handed him, now buried in the skull of the dead monster at this feet.

"Fall back!" he ordered.

Wordlessly the thief did as he said, backpedaling until she reached the next door. Garrus followed after yanking the combat knife free from the dead beast, only to stop at the threshold. He reached into his belt and produced a triangular device. A simple button press activated the proximity mine's triggered delay and the universal adhesive on its back. He slapped it at the edge of the door frame and stepped inside. The moment he crossed the threshold Kasumi slammed the door shut.

"Keep going," Garrus said, gesturing towards the other end of the room. "We don't have the ammo to make a stand here too."

"An undefended door isn't going to slow them down much."

He shrugged.

"Maybe not, but they're not the only ones that can learn. They've been adapting, probing our defenses. We just gave them two new variables to deal with. It should at least buy us a little time."

"An empty room is a variable?" Kasumi asked skeptically.

There was a loud boom and howls of pain from the other side of the locked door, causing the turian to crack a dark smile.

"An empty room immediately after their first introduction to proximity mines."

The final room looked just like the previous ones. Bunks and footlockers in various states of disarray. He made a quick inspection out of forced optimism while Kasumi locked down the last door, but turned up nothing of use. Pads, clothes, various personal items. It had been too much to hope that some paranoid miner had stashed a shotgun and a few boxes of thermal clips.

"Don't suppose you have any more of those?" Kasumi asked after she finished.

"No, the only reason I had that one is because it was still with my gear from the last mission," he said, shaking his head forlornly. "When Shepard said sidearms only I didn't think to restock. Amateur mistake."

"Shepard didn't see this coming either. It's not your fault. What do we do now?"

He stared at the closed door for a few long moments and sighed.

"I don't have anything else. We've killed what? At least a dozen of them but they just keep coming. There could easily have been fifty, sixty tanks in that room. If my estimates are right we've got maybe... fifteen minutes before they make it through the door I mined. Then they'll go to work on this one."

"And then it's over."

"I'm sorry, Kasumi."

He took a seat on one of the bunks, resting his pistol on the mattress next to him. The darkest part of his mind wondered if he shouldn't save a round or two. He had seen what the creatures were capable of. Whenever they'd brought one down the others had turned on its corpse and reduced it to scraps of flesh in moments. As an afterthought he reached over and disabled to comm link on his omni-tool. The last thing Shepard needed to hear was their final moments.

"Like I said... Shepard didn't see it coming either. There was no way anyone could have seen... you know... all this. Not unless they were insane."

The turian laughed bitterly.

"Not for that. I'm sorry for what I said on the Rayya. I asked you to stay... maybe if I hadn't you wouldn't be here. You could have left with Miranda and the others."

When no immediate reply came Garrus looked up to see Kasumi studying him. After a long silence she pushed back her hood, dark hair spilling free. He watched curiously as she pulled something from one of the lockers, a towel, and approached him. Before he could object she knelt and began to wipe away the dark blood that stained his arm.

"The two of you are entirely too alike to be different species, do you know that?" she asked out of the blue.

"You mean Shepard?"

"Who else? You're both determined to take responsibility for everything. You asked me to stay. I'm the one that chose to do it."

"It doesn't change the fact that if I hadn't you might not be here," he pointed out, not even trying to fight it when she gripped his arm to clean the ichor from his talons.

"I might have never met Keiji if I hadn't taken a job to steal a certain painting. Then I would never have gone to Cerberus trying to find his grey box. Never have met Shepard, Tali, you..." she trailed off for a moment and smiled sadly. "So you're right: things might have turned out differently. But I don't know if they would have been better."

"But this..." he gritted his teeth. "You don't deserve this."

"No one deserves to die. But that's also one of the things I figured out after what you told me on the Rayya. Everyone dies. I don't want to, not now... not with so much left to do. But at least if I do I'll know it meant something."

Garrus stared at the petite human meticulously cleansing each trace of blood from him, the clothing in her hands used with the same efficiency as if he was one of her hacking programs or a particularly complex lock. She wasn't looking at him directly, but he could see the hint of tears in her eyes. Oddly those bothered him more than the things clawing at the door.

"Kasumi..." he began, reaching down to brush the side of her face.

She immediately sucked in a ragged breath and spoke.

"It's okay, big guy. You don't have to humor me..."

"I'm not 'humoring' anything," Garrus said firmly, taking hold of her wrist with his now spotless opposite hand. "I wasn't lying when I said I trust you with my life."

"There's-"

He cut her off with a low growl.

"Not finished. I... don't know how to... deal with people really, Kasumi. For most of my life I've treated everyone as either a suspect or a superior. Even Shepard was a mentor before he was a friend. I wanted so badly to be just like him. What I'm trying to say is... you're one of the few people I've ever met that makes me feel like... like I'm worth more than just what position I hold or the job I do. And the one person who lets me forget all the things I've seen, even for a little while."

There were actual tears in the thief's eyes now, causing Garrus's mind to spin. He was stumbling in the dark trying to find a torch, confidence swiftly abandoning him. He was trying to form the right words and all he was doing was making her cry more. How was it he could command a battlefield but couldn't manage to string a sentence together correctly outside of one?

"I'm... sorry?" he stammered. "Ah... don't cry?"

Kasumi laughed and wiped her eyes.

"You should know by now that humans cry for all kinds of reasons."

"I know but I still haven't figured out how to tell the difference. What I'm trying to say is that you're not the only one that... reconsidered things after the Rayya. I've never been one of those turians that was... ah... into humans..."

He kept his talons against the side of her face when Kasumi tried to turn away, continuing to speak quietly.

"But this isn't about humans and turians. This is about just one woman that happens to be human. And if she's willing to put up with one scarred turian..."

Kasumi was a blur of motion and for the second time in his life he felt human lips pressed against his own. This time he was a little more prepared, however, and appreciated the experience far more. Human lips were by far softer than those of his kind and so very dexterous.

A few seconds passed before she pulled back and blinked, smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry, I just kind of thought about the fact that turians probably don't do much kissing. And for the record... she is. Very willing."

A low chuckle escaped his lips.

"I don't know why, but I won't complain. I just wish I had figured it out earlier..."

As if to punctuate his regret, a resounding thud against the door caused them both to jump. A menacing howl filled the room outside. The predators had found their prey. He felt the shiver that passed through Kasumi from the hand against her cheek. Slowly she rose from the floor and pulled herself into his lap, placing her weapon on the bed on the opposite side of his.

"If life on the Normandy has taught me anything it's that every moment is precious."

The thief rested her forehead against his and closed her eyes. To his surprise it seemed to drown out the bays and howls from outside. Garrus closed his eyes and followed her advice. He enjoyed the moment.


"Is it dead?" Shepard asked.

"Very, Shepard," EDI confirmed. "Very few species in the galaxy are capable of surviving temperatures in excess of a thousand degrees Celsius and massive cranial trauma."

His lips curled in a snarl and he hefted the flamethrower in his grip.

"Good. Let's get to work."

The entire mission had become a disaster. Garneau had been dead before they arrived and the man that had claimed his name had killed himself to destroy the artifact that Leviathan had been so desperate to protect. The destruction had cleared up communications, but now he couldn't raise Garrus.

He wasn't outgunned and outnumbered anymore, though, as the first of the creatures they had encountered had quickly learned. Its attempted ambush had failed when Shepard had bathed the thing with liquid fire that was followed up by a point-blank shot to the head from the Claymore in EDI's grip. The Spectre didn't know what they were, they looked like some kind of spined, insectile gorilla, but he knew they weren't invincible.

"We are approaching the crew quarters. I am detecting a large number of unknown biosigns," the AI cautioned.

Gore stained deck plating made a path through the crew quarters. The damaged doors, shredded from the creatures attack were easily forced wide open with the proper application of biotics.

It had no song, no name. They are only blackness, Twilight sang into his mind. And they have detected our presence. They come.

All at once a swarm of the mutated beasts poured through the mangled doorway ahead. But here, they were not the hunters, they were the hunted. Sheets of flame washed over the center of the pack while a blast from EDI's shotgun nearly bisected one of the remainder. Tali's geth-made plasma shotgun was equally effective at piercing their thick hides.

The few that passed through the firestorm quickly found another brutal revelation: there was always a bigger predator. Half a ton of rachni brood warrior reaped a deadly harvest, tearing into the creatures with the wicked claws at the end of its pedipalps and shattering bone with well-placed biotic fields. It felt like forever, but in truth the slaughter barely lasted minutes.

"Are we clear?" Shepard barked.

The songless things are no more, the rachni assured him.

Stepping over the charred corpses Shepard approached the final door. Deep rents covered the metal and even the panels along the walls had been torn free in the fury of the beasts. He tightened his grip on the flamethrower and swallowed against the tightness in his throat.

"Twilight? The door."

A biotic field wrapped around the door and yanked it open with raw force against the protests of its ruined mechanisms. Without hesitation he stepped through the smoke left behind, flamethrower primed.

"Garrus?" he yelled.

His flashlight cut through the smoke to reveal a pair of figures. Shepard felt a smile cross his lips. Leaning against the back wall with one hand around Kasumi's shoulders and his pistol in the other was Garrus.

"Took you long enough, Boss."

The Spectre shrugged and gestured with the flamethrower.

"You know me. I like to make an entrance."

Garrus raised his pistol in a lazy salute.

"Was one of your better ones, I'll give you that. Now... can we get the fuck off this spirits-forsaken rock?"


Many hours later Shepard sat down at the conference table. Garrus, Kasumi, and Tali were all looking more than a little shell-shocked. He couldn't blame them. The implications of what they'd found were disturbing. Dangerous, even. But they also showed just how powerful Leviathan was.

"You're telling me this... thing, whatever it is, just turned a mining colony into its own research facility with no one the wiser?" Garrus asked.

"Most of the data was destroyed when it used its proxy to initiate the fail-safe... but from what we were able to recover? Yes," he confirmed. "There's data here on long term starvation rates after a collapse of the relay network. Research on techno-organic viruses... even data on how to grow organic hunter-killers from recombinant DNA."

The Spectre saw Kasumi shudder.

"We saw the results of that research first hand."

"But why? Maybe it was planning on building some kind of army?" Tali theorized. "If so how was it planning to do it? The facilities on Mahavid weren't big enough for anything large scale."

"You are correct, Tali'Zorah, that the entity known as Leviathan was attempting to design an army," EDI said as an image appeared over the table. "But it never intended to actually create that army. Not in this cycle at least."

Garrus leaned forward.

"This cycle?"

The AI's physical avatar nodded.

"From the recovered data we have found dozens of different research branches, almost all completely unrelated save for the fact that they are directed against a single target: the Reapers. Organic weapons to destroy their ground forces. Viruses to wipe out large scale populations to prevent harvesting. Devices to expand the power of the artifact like the one used to control the miners on Mahavid. It does not appear this is the first such experiment. Some of the information references races uncatalogued in any known database."

"This thing was literally just using us as guinea pigs to test theories," Shepard said. "Which means that whatever it is, it's not just powerful, it's old. Old enough that it can wait thousands and thousands of years to achieve its goals."

There was an uncomfortable silence around the room.

"Are we sure we actually want to find this thing?" Tali asked finally.

Shepard sighed.

"I don't think we have a choice. One way or the other we're going to have to face the things waiting in the darkness."


And they said I was dead... nope! Still kicking. This was a long gap in updates and for that I do apologize!

But this time there's good news to accompany the update! Due to illness, travel, and other difficulties I didn't always have the time or concentration to write. In that down time, however, I was able to do something else... check out my profile page or direct your browsers to www DOT wulversden DOT com

That's right, I have a website now. There you'll find not only the current Razor's Edge chapter but the first 2/3rds (and counting!) of the original Razor's Edge for your viewing pleasure. Edited and cleaned up by excellent chassan1! As I get the chapters cleaned up I will continue to update them on the website and I'll be updating Requiem in the same fashion.

The fun doesn't stop there, however, as the website also includes forums. Ever wanted to ask a question beyond the usual review? Drop in and start a thread. Others might have had the same question!

As always thank you all for your readership, support, and reviews!