Chapter Ten

Undisclosed location in the Milky Way galaxy, 2253h

"Uhn!" Shepard cried out as again, the Illusive Man's brutal attacks stung his abdomen and stomach. He was honestly surprised that this man could fight and win for so long. He was definitely no pencil pusher; he had to have had some combat training.

"Come on, Shepard, pull it together!" A familiar turian's voice called to him.

Shepard looked to his left only to see the Illusive Man's fist come crashing towards him in a sucker punch and narrowly ducked away from it. He regained his footing and swung around to give him an uppercut.

"Yeah! Nail that mother fucker!" A woman's deep but disturbing voice shouted.

No, it can't be.

Shepard glanced about the crowd for a few precious seconds while he could and saw Garrus and Jack next to one another. They were the only two cheering for him, but that didn't matter. They were given the option to get the hell out, but they didn't go. Perhaps they refused.

Hearing their positive cries gave him some more stamina, and for the several times that the Illusive Man had gone below the belt, this was one of those times for payback. Shepard wiped the blood from his mouth and pummeled both of his fists across both sides of the Illusive Man's cheeks. He issued the final blow to the combination with an elbow uppercut to the jaw. That caused the Illusive Man's neck to snap back, and he bit his tongue hard enough that it began to bleed.

I cannot falter-I cannot hold back.

Tender moments of both women he cared for swamped through his mind. Miranda's sultry smile…Liara's husky voice…

Even if neither one of them would have me back…I am not giving up.

"You're not gonna win this one." Shepard wiped some blood away from the corners of his mouth and pointed to the Illusive Man.


Cerberus Server Base #4, Third Floor, 2255h

"Still got one floor left, people. Make Shepard proud," Jacob declared triumphantly. "I know I am. Best damn squad in the galaxy."

"Pride comes before a fall," a voice said right next to him. Before he could react, Thane slammed his forearm across Taylor's neck, nearly crushing his windpipe. The soldier began to choke, and thankfully just before Thane could shoot him in the stomach, Longoria threw him back across the room. The bullet only slightly grazed Jacob's side. He ducked as did the rest of his team behind whatever cover they could find.

"I am krogan!" Grunt screamed, fortified himself, and began to charge towards them all.

"Oh shit, everybody look out, he's charging!" Longoria exclaimed.

"I will hold them," Samara cried out and sent a wave towards him.

"That was…effective," the merc noticed as this merely sent their attacker back a few feet. "He's a fuckin' freight train! Somebody put this krogan down!"

Mordin threw out a grenade and the krogan stormed right past it. Longoria tossed out another field, this time to get him closer.

"Hit him with all the tranks you've got!" Jacob ordered.

"That ain't gonna put this idiot down!" Longoria argued as they pelted him with the darts. The krogan floated through the air for a few more precious seconds as Jacob held him, and she did an underhanded toss to land the grenade on his armor.

All of Jacob's squad members doubled back to their previous position, trying to avoid Thane's nearly perfect shots. The grenade went off and knocked Grunt to the ground finally. They sighed with relief.

"Fools. You do not comprehend that your frail bodies are meant for ascension," Harbinger stated as he made his grand entrance. He lifted his arms up and all of the Cerberus corpses that were dead suddenly returned to life. Only they weren't alive-they were abominations.

"Oh Christ almighty, what the hell are those?" Longoria yelled. "How original. Fuckin' zombies?!"

"Accept your fate and kneel before us," the reaper proudly continued.

"Only thing I'm gonna kneel at is your goddamned grave, Watson!" Jacob spat back and prepared his shotgun for action.

The abominations did not stagger; they ran towards the group.

"There's too many of them, ah!" Liara shouted as one hit her in the chest.

"All right these things are not from the Normandy. Permission to split wide open, Taylor?" Longoria screamed.

"Granted!" Jacob returned and threw up his barrier.


Undisclosed location in the Milky Way galaxy, 2302h

Shepard was amazed at how long the Illusive Man was lasting against his attacks. He was a tower of strength and had this fight not turned dirty, at the end, Shepard would likely have shaken hands with him. However, this was an all out battle of rage and nothing more now. It was man against man; blood poured from both of their mouths and noses as the punches still flew at one another. The amount of sweat dropping from their bodies was massive.

Shepard landed another solid right hook to the Illusive Man's cheek, then jabbed his solar plexus a few times. The Illusive Man lurched over and covered his face for protection. "Yeah! Smash him up!" Jack yelled.

The crowd booed him, and that apparently gave the Illusive Man enough strength to charge at Shepard head first. He flung his head into Shepard's upper chest, stunning him backward, and he thrust his fists several times into his cheeks and nose. With a loud crack, Shepard felt the cartilage separate and more blood seep from it. "I'm not licked yet, you son of a bitch!" he thundered and spat out any remaining blood that was in his mouth. "Just try it again!"

Shepard ignored the massive amounts of pain searing through his face and avoided the Illusive Man's next flurry of jabs and countered with a cross punch. He next threw a crushing blow to his opponent's jaw and swept him off of his feet with a low kick. "You're finished," Shepard announced.

The Illusive Man coughed and shook his head. "No, I'm not. Don't even think about it."

"I believe the agreement was 'last man standing'."

"No, I believe it was 'last man conscious'," came a voice from behind Shepard.

"Look out!" both Garrus and Jack shouted, but it was too late.

The assassin's foot whirled around to greet Shepard's face with a roundhouse. The impact of the blow caused him to lose his balance, and the Asian man's next lightning fast kicks sent him crashing down to the ground. He was out cold. The cheers from the crowd were nearly deafening.

"You goddamned cheat! He had beaten you in a fair fight!" Garrus screamed at the Illusive Man, who slowly rose to his feet.

"I'll kill you myself!" Jack's fury grew as she attempted to pull the Ochrana off of her neck and was sent to the floor in pain.

"Get him outta here," the Illusive Man motioned to Shepard. The guards chained him back up again and dragged his unconscious form out of the room. "And what're you two doing here? I let you go, that was part of the deal!"

"You can't do this!" Garrus brought up his fist and took a step towards the Illusive Man.

"It's time for Shepard to make one final sacrifice for humanity. You two may still leave, but don't try to interfere with the process." He wiped himself with the towel given to him by his female assistant and followed the guards out of the room.


Cerberus Server Base #4, Ground Floor, 2321h

"Where is everyone?" Tali wondered. Kal'Reegar and his twelve other marines cautiously led the way.

"No bodies, hmm…" Reegar noted. He halted everyone to a dead stop with the raise of his fist.

"There's blood everywhere, this doesn't make sense! Are we too late?"

"It could be a Cerberus trap."

"But Jacob and the team are in this base somewhere, they have to be! We saw some parachutes not too far from here!"

"I don't like this."

"Neither do I, Reegar, but we owe it to Shepard."

"Yes, ma'am. Continuing forward. Let's go, marines."


Cerberus Server Base #4, Third Floor, 2324h

"We're losing ground!" Jacob exclaimed. "Everybody, fall back!"

The horde of abominations kept charging at them relentlessly. What made matters worse is that Grunt regained consciousness and picked up his fallen weapon.

"Oh, dear. Situation does not look promising!" Mordin commented to himself. "Am running out of tranquilizer darts. Impressed by utter strength in krogan, but this is quite useless." He tossed away the pistol and got out his submachine gun.

"No!" Jacob yelled when he saw Mordin's actions. "Don't kill Grunt!"

"Will lay down suppressing cover fire. Do not worry!" The salarian backed away from an abomination, spraying it with several bullets.

"Keep at it! We'll get through them somehow!" Jacob growled through his teeth, even as he felt another husk get a lucky swipe in at his wounded side. Longoria kept firing her weapon tirelessly like a machine. They ran down the hallway and down the stairs to the second floor to avoid the undead creatures; however, they kept coming.

"Can't keep this up much longer! I'm gonna run outta clips!" Longoria told everyone.

"Take my weapon," Samara told her after reloading her submachine gun.

"What the, why?" Serena accepted the gun the justicar shoved at her and dropped her assault rifle.

Samara's entire body began to charge up her biotics. Liara took notice of this and dropped another abomination with her pistol before sheathing it. She also started to charge up an energy field.

"Are you two completely nuts?" Serena cried out in disbelief.

"This fight cannot be won with bullets alone!" Samara screamed furiously and sent all of her body's biotic energy at the husks.

"For Shepard!" Liara shouted and also sent her own wave of singularity at them.

For a few seconds, it looked as if the two mighty asari had the upper hand. Their throws and energy fields knocked back and swallowed the husks whole.

"Rar!" came a mighty roar. Grunt came once again charging down the stairs at the team, particularly towards Mordin, as if he had a personal vendetta to settle. "You're dead!"

"Retreat is my best option!" The salarian panicked and broke into a sprint.

"Somebody stop him!" Jacob yelled and fired off his last shotgun shell at the Krogan clone. "I'm out!"

Just as the krogan was about to close in on the salarian, a massive concussive shot hit him in the face. He was down for good this time.

Jacob's squad turned to see Kal'Reegar and his marines push forward. "Take that, you worthless animal!" the captain thundered. "Marines, take 'em down!"

"Keelah se lai!" the quarian marines all shouted and obeyed their commander.

Jacob's squad took these few precious moments to recover. Tali crouched down beside him. "Need one of these?" She held up her omni-tool with an application of medi-gel.

"Thanks, Tali. You're a sight for sore eyes," the ex-Alliance soldier groaned. "I just ran outta those."

"Keep going, men! Clear 'em all out!" Reegar incited his men, and the husks' numbers soon began to dwindle down to nothing.

Jacob felt his strength come back as they took back their lost ground.

Liara trapped Thane in a stasis field, while the marines riddled the remaining husks' bodies with bullets.

"It is time for action," Harbinger observed as his eyes glowed.

"Uh-oh, everybody get down!" Jacob warned them. "He's charging up!"

"Not yet! Break down his barrier!" Samara pointed to it.

The Normandy's squad and Reegar's quarian marines threw out energy drains, concussive shots, and overloads. The barrier finally fell after this massive barrage, and the shots finally broke through. The gunfire riddled Watson's body backward, now ripping through his suit shields and ultimately, his flesh.

"Pathetic form, releasing control," Harbinger declared.

Watson's body fell to the floor in a heap in an empty shell.

"Whew! Glad that's over with!" Tali smiled. "Keelah sa lai!"

"Keelah se lai!" the other marines cheered and raised their guns.

"Where's Miranda?" Jacob yelled. He put his shotgun back onto his belt clip and ran towards the server room.

Liara released her stasis field and took a few moments to rest, while Mordin and Samara followed their commander. Longoria wiped some blood from her face, and hobbled over to her unknown employer. "Got some medi-gel for me?" she breathed, to which Liara nodded.

"Oh, no," Jacob muttered to himself when he opened up the door. Miranda's practically lifeless body lay not far away, and he bent down to examine her. Mordin activated his omni-tool, gave her some medi-gel, and checked her vital signs. "She's not, is she?"

"Hard to say. Let's get her back to the Normandy ASAP. Will do what I can. Hope Dr. Chakwas will be up," Mordin replied gravely.

The teams recovered their wounded members. Thankfully, Joker was conscious and brought the Normandy down just outside of the base just as the heroes exited it.


Undisclosed location in the Milky Way galaxy, 2322h

The Illusive Man shoved a medical technician away from himself as he stared into the next room where Shepard lay. "How is he?" he spoke into a microphone.

"We're doing our best, sir. His body needs to heal," one of the surgeons replied. "We would suggest for the best outcome of this procedure that you give him some time."

"How much time?" He lay an ice pack upon his very sore jaw.

"Can't say-he's still human, sir."

"Give me an estimation."

"Ah…" the surgeon paused to think. "He needs a good night's rest."

"The sooner we start this, the better," the Illusive Man's tone became impatient.

"His body may not be able to withstand this technology in his current state, sir!"

For the first time in a very long while, the Illusive Man raised the volume of his voice. "Then fix him up so that it can! There's no more time to waste! This will be humanity's best weapon against the Reapers and secure our dominance in the galaxy afterward!"

"We'll do our best, sir," the surgeon replied uneasily.

"You'd damn well better or else!"


Outside the operating rooms, 2324h

"Our best bet is to contact the Normandy," Garrus whispered to Jack, who was kneeling down beneath the windows beside him.

"Yeah, and since it looks like we're near a science wing or something, maybe I could find a way to get this thing off," Jack replied, pointing at her collar.

"I think I saw some soldiers coming out of that room. Don't know what it is, but do you want to check it out with me?" He motioned with his head across the way.

"Can't hurt," she shrugged.

Garrus crouched down below the door's window and turned the handle slowly. It was a surveillance chamber with a huge amount of security cameras. The two sentries that sat behind it watched the multiple angles. One operated the camera controls while the other kept his eyes peeled on as many monitors as he could.

"Did you hear about the fight between Shepard and the Illusive Man?" one asked the other. Their backs were turned to the door; they did not hear Garrus nor Jack creep inside and stay in the shadows.

"Hear it, I saw it!" the other one burst. "Wish I'd had some money on it. Came really close to the end…almost thought that the boss was gonna lose!"

"Wasn't really all that fair."

"Let's face it, life ain't fair. You gotta play dirty sometimes."

Shepard's two squad mates sneaked closer to the desk. Garrus held out his fingers.

"Yeah, but, he-"

One, two, and on three he and Jack knocked both of the guards out.

"Quiet, just the way I like it," Jack whispered. She and Garrus took the guards' pistols as well as as much spare ammo as they could find around the office. Garrus studied the security monitors for a few seconds.

"There, looks like a lab just two doors down to our right. Ready?"

She locked a clip into her pistol. "Locked and loaded," she agreed.

Garrus scouted the corners, found that they were completely empty, and they made a break down the hall for the lab. Once inside, it was relatively easy to scare the scientists. "Don't move!" Garrus ordered. All three threw up their hands, but one edged back towards his table and began to go for a gun.

"Touch it, and your hand is gone," Jack barked and held up her pistol to his face.

"What do you want?" a red-headed male in his thirties panicked.

"First of all, you're gonna take this thing off of my neck," she motioned to the Ochrana collar. "Then, you're gonna tell us where your communication office is."

"Please don't kill us!" another male scientist whimpered.

"That depends on how fast you're willing to do what I want."

"You'd better do as she says. She was a convicted murderer. I'd hate to see what would happen to you all if she went nuts," Garrus shrugged.

"Can I do it without the gun in my face?" the young scientist inquired. Jack backed off slightly but did not go too far.

"Don't try anything stupid either."

"What is that thing?" the third scientist, who could not have been more than twenty-one or twenty-two inquired.

"It's an Ochrana device. Dr. Jeffrey Harms invented it," the first one explained. "Protection against biotics. The subject that wears it cannot use his or her biotic powers, and anytime he or she tries to do so, they are struck by neural pain inducers."

"More work, less talk," Jack got impatient and waived the gun around.

"I need my assistant's help. May I ask her to do something?" he questioned Jack.

"It'd better be fast, and she doesn't leave the room."

"Lindsay, I'm going to need that wand over there on the wall. Do you see it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Bring it to me and stand by at the computer terminal." The assistant did as he asked. "Now this wand has a connection that must be made by a wi-fi point. On the terminal, you'll see a list of devices. Select 'minotaur' for the network."

"This better not be a trick," Jack started to get restless. "You've got thirty seconds left before I pull the trigger on any of ya."

"We're doing what you asked, I assure you," the lead scientist patronized the ex-convict. "Now, I need to calibrate the wand." He pointed it towards the terminal until it glowed green, and the LEDs on it signified that they were ready by flashing rapidly. "Good. I need for everyone to stand clear of me and the subject." The scientist lifted the wand towards Jack. "I must insert this into the collar manually to deactivate it."

"Time's running out. Act fast." He crept towards her and affixed it. Suddenly, the collar's seals broke, and Jack tore it off. "RAH!" She let a shockwave loose and threw the scientist who helped her off of his feet. She unloaded three shots into his head and took aim at the other one.

"Jack, don't!" Garrus pleaded, but it was too late. The rest of the magazine fired off into the innocent scientist. After she reloaded her clip, she recognized that only the young woman was left. She was cowering behind a workstation but not before Jack found her.

"You…get up."

"Please don't-"

"If I wanted you dead, I would've shot you down already. Now you're gonna show us where that communication office is. We're all gonna walk there like we're good friends on a tour of the place. Then we'll see."