Mass Effect: Loss of Control
Illium
"Aww shit" Richard couldn't see a thing, but he knew that he was badly injured. He didn't exactly knew were he was, but it was a dark place and the air was full of dust. "I need to get out of here" he thought. Luckily, he had a great amount of Medigel with him, so he could atleast stand up and walk. He could see light shining through a little hole, so he climbed up what he believed were the ruins of a building. Finally, a breath of fresh air refilled his body with new energy, as see sun glared his view. Now he remembered everything.
He was on Illium, trying to stop a Reaper attack. He needed to find Miranda, he was with her, when the Reaper destroyed the Dantius Towers with his devastating main canon. Maybe she was trapped under the rubble like he was and couldn't manage to break free. In this moment, he realised how much he cared about her, although he only knew her for a few days now. But that didn't matter right know, he saw the giant Reaper literally shredding the Asari reinforcements.
"This is Council Spectre Armstrong, I need an extraction asap, can anyone hear me? Normandy do you copy? Anyone?"
"Copy Major, Evac shuttle deployed to your position"
"Joker, is everything alright? Where's Miranda?"
"She's fine Rich, I picked her up after the Dantius Towers collapsed: We thought you were dead, man, are you alright?"
"The Medigel cured my worst injuries, I'm okay, thanks."
The Shuttle was nearly shot down by the Reaper, but Joker could manage to pick up the shuttle. Aboard the Normandy, Richard could see the destruction that the Reaper has brought to Nos Astra. The giant towers and superstructures of the city were devastated, the huge Reaper destroyed everything in its path. Smaller buildings got crushed under his huge tentacle-like legs, and even the toughest structures melted under the fire of his advanced Reaper weapons. Although Richard wasn't there when the Reapers attacked Earth, he was sure that it couldn't have been more brutal than what the Reaper did on Illium.
Miranda walked into the shuttle bay of the Normandy.
"Richard I'm so glad that you're fine, I was really worried about you"
"Thanks, It's good to see you're alive Miranda. We won't give up, we will stop this"
"The Council wants to send a united fleet of asari, turian and human forces to destroy the Reaper, but I guess it will take hours if not days to form and deploy the fleet."
"Days? Fuck, have you seen what's going on out there? We need to stop this now."
"Major, I've sensed a signal from the planets surface, that may change the Reapers programming."
"Why hasn't anyone else tracked the signal long time ago EDI? How do you know its responsible for this?"
"Major, my A.I. core is partly based on the Sovereign, and the Reaper parts of my programming respond to the signal. Don't worry, my firewalls are able to hold it back. I assume Shepards control over the Reapers isn't strong enough to withstand it."
"You said you've tracked the signal? Where is it the emitter?"
"The signals source is located at the Trading Floor"
"Then what are we waiting for? Lets get down there. Miranda and EDI, you'll come with me. We'll put an end to this."
The Kodiak brought the squad to the Trading Floor. They slowly walked through the destroyed areas of the place, searching for whatever could send the signal that EDI found, when they found a dozen of Asari corpses.
"They've been shot Richard, and some of them have stabbing wounds."
"I see, guess whoever did this is responsible for the Reaper signal"
Suddenly Richard experienced an adrenalin rush like never before, as he sensed someone behind him. Everything was in slow motion when the monomolecular blade of a Phantom barely missed him. He managed to dodge the attack and kill the Phantom with his Omni-Blade.
"What the fuck is Cerberus doing here? Thought we got rid of these guys"
Seconds after killing the Phantom, the squad got attacked by a swarm of Assault Troopers, Centurions and more Phantoms. Miranda slammed two troopers with her biotics, killing then instantly. While she and EDI fought the incoming Assault Troopers, Richard faced the Phantoms.
"Looks like we're gonna have a good old swordfight" he picked up the Blade from the dead Phantom, and attacked the Phantoms. He fought his way through them, blocking their attacks and killing them one by one. Cloaking and striking them from the Shadows, the Phantoms didn't stand a chance against this N7 elite. He even managed to grab one during the fight and use it as a meat shield against the stabs from another phantom. He saw a Phantom decloaking behind Miranda, but Richard threw his sword at it, right before it could attack her.
"Thanks, didn't saw that one"
The remaining Cerberus forces fled from Richard and his squad, but Miranda managed to stop one Centurion shooting him in the knee. EDI wanted to shoot him, but Richard stopped her from doing so. "Wait, these Cerberus are different, Cerberus troops never flee, yet these do"
Miranda pulled the Mattock rifle away from the Centurion with her biotics to make sure he couldn't attack anymore. The squad pointed their guns at him.
"Alright, if you cooperate we won't shoot you. I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions, and I want then answered immediately."
"Go to hell"
"Listen, I see your leg is bleeding quite heavily, Miranda might have hit an artery. If you want to live, I've got some Medigel for you before you bleed out. Take of your helmet Cerberus, I want to see your face."
The Centurion took of his helmet. Richard knew that these Cerberus troops were different, they fled from combat and were much easier to defeat than any Cerberus Troops he had encountered during the Reaper war. What he saw didn't surprised him at all. He looked at the Face of a young man. A young man without Reaper upgrades, without visible signs of indoctrination, a young man that tried hard to pretend that he wasn't scared of facing his death.
"When I help you, Cerberus will kill me. If I don't, I may bleed to death anyway."
"Richard, he's a waste of time, let him die"
"Wait Miranda, I believe he can help us. The Alliance can protect you from Cerberus, if you provide us your knowledge. What is Cerberus planning? I thought Cerberus ended after we destroyed your headquarters."
"Cerberus is an idea. We don't need no Illusive Man, nor any space station to exist."
"That doesn't help me, what is your plan, why are you doing this?"
"I, I don't know. But the Reaper attacks are part of a plan, a plan that will ensure human dominance in the galaxy. All I can tell you is that my unit brought the sender from a base on Parnack."
"Parnack, wait, that is the homeworld of the Yagh, isn't it?"
Richard gave him the medigel. The wound stopped bleeding and the Centurion was able to stand up again.
"What can you tell me about the base? What is Cerberus doing there. How do you control the Reapers?"
"It's a research facility. I said I don't know more. I appreciate it that you let me live, but I told you everything I know."
"I believe him. That's typical for Cerberus cell-structure. Minimal knowledge about anything other than their primary objective. Only the leaders know the full scale of Cerberus' plans."
"If you say so Miranda. EDI what do you think, a Cerberus base on the homeworld of a hostile sentient species, can we trust him?"
"The yahg are a pre-spaceflight species, their technology is on the same level as the human technology in the early 20th Century. Although they've been visited by a Council delegation decades ago, they have made no effort in reaching space. I doubt they have launched satellites in their orbit, so it could be possible for Cerberus to maintain a secret base on the planets surface without the Yahg's knowledge."
Soon after they left the Centurion, they've found the sender. It looked like a Leviathan artefact, but upgraded with tech. The Reaper was still out there, devastating the city. Maybe the destruction of the sender would bring an end to this, so they attached explosives at the artefact. But even after that thing got destroyed, the Reaper continued his rampage.
"Okay, that doesn't help. Any ideas?"
"The Reaper is heading our way, I recommend a quick retreat"
"I won't give up EDI. Look what this Reaper has done, we need to stop this now."
"Richard we've done everything we could do, we can't fight a Reaper alone."
"Wait, the signal is destroyed. Which means that Cerberus can't control Reapers anymore. We may can't stop this Reaper, but Shepard can."
"A Reaper fighting a Reaper? That's ridiculous"
"I don't care. The only thing that can destroy a Reaper is a huge fleet or another Reaper. EDI, are there any Sovereign-Class ships in this Cluster?"
"Yes currently there is one more Reaper in the area"
"We need to contact Shepard now"
Right in this moment the Reaper got hit by a red beam. Another giant Reaper landed on the Planet.
"Hell yeah Shepard. Okay we need to get out of here, this isn't our fight anymore. Normandy, I need an extraction shuttle, now"
Miranda and Richard looked couldn't stop looking at this Clash of the Titans, as they flew away from the site. EDI didn't seem to care, since she was an A.I. with little care for the tension of this battle.
The Shepard Reaper took severe damage from his Cerberus controlled counterpart, but managed to shoot off 2 of its legs. The Cerberus Reaper then fell, which caused huge havoc to the already devastated city. Shepard finished off the Reaper by shooting his E-Zero core with a full blast of his main canon, which caused a huge explosion.
"That takes care of it, the Reaper is done."
"Any idea how Shepard knew that it was safe for him to attack the Reaper Miranda?"
"No, we don't fully understand the nature of Shepards control over the Reapers, he can't speak through them. I guess he sensed that the signal was gone and was able to stop the Reaper. The Reapers under his control always communicated with us rather through actions than words."
Back on the Ship they took the rest of their day off. Exhausted from fighting Cerberus, Miranda went to her room. Richard went down to Joker.
"Rich, that's was unbelievable. A Reaper killing a Reaper, sweet."
"Aye, although we could have saved more if we found the signal faster. That first trip down was a complete disaster. I nearly got myself killed, and jeopardized the health of my companions for nothing"
"Atleast we could stop him Rich, you did good"
"I don't know. But what really bothers me is Cerberus. If they can control a Reaper now.."
"It's always the same. Geth, Collectors, Cerberus, Reapers. This shit's never ending. Good that we're here to face them"
"Aye"
"So what's next Richard? Any orders?
"We've interrogated a Centurion down there. There seems to be a Cerberus base on Parnack, don't know if it's reliable information. Could be a trap"
"Makes sense for me. Think of it, the Council declared the planet off limits, and Cerberus has Reaper tech. No one would look for them on Parnack, and they can hide themselves from the Yahg. Cerberus were always sly bastards"
"For now set course for Earth. I want a few upgrades for the Normandy before we go down there."
"Aye Major. By the way you got a mail by Archangel."
"Archangel?"
"Go check it out Rich. This guy will come in handy"
