Chapter 4

"KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!" Shepard roared, and James ducked down just in time as a barrage of bullets flew at where his head would have been. Shepard popped up and fired, hitting a soldier in the chest and watching him drop.

Shepard had to give the surviving Cerberus group credit, they had no quit in them. They were out numbered and out gunned, but they held on stubbornly, digging in and fighting with everything they had. What was supposed to be a quick clean-up had turned into an hour battle, but he could tell they were getting tired. They were either going to give in or die fighting, and even though Shepard wasn't fond of them, he didn't really want to slaughter them all right here. But why didn't they surrender? Why fight to this extent? What are they fighting for?

Tali answered his question for him. She sprinted over to his cover while James provided cover fire. She slid down besides him just as they returned fire. He smiled. He glad to see she was finally recovered.

"Commander Shepard! I've noticed something. When we arrived, most of the group massed in front of the doors to that room. We didn't notice it because it isn't the main hall, but There must be something important there if they are defending it with this much aggression."

He peeked out from behind cover, and saw she was right; there was a door on the wall behind them. If there was something important enough to lose their lives for behind that door, he wanted to see what it was. He pressed the communication device in his ear.

"Attention! They are defending a room. I don't know what is in it, but we are going to remedy that. This had gone on long enough; let's end this now and see what was worth them losing their lives for!"

"Yes commander!" He heard in his ear, and he popped up, throwing a grenade and ducking back behind cover. He heard a loud bang as it went off, and he popped up again, shooting down anyone who ran from cover. He dropped 3, hitting the last 1 in the throat. The soldier fell, clutching his neck as blood spewed from it and gurgling until he became still.

Shepard had been correct; they were tired, and after a few minutes there was 5 left. Shepard was about to throw another grenade when he saw them throw their guns to the side and stand up, hands in the air. He stood up form behind cover but kept his rifle aimed at them, just in case they tried something funny. He stood there with his gun trained on them until some alliance soldiers came over and took them; searching them for additional weapons and marching them back to the shuttles. Shepard lowered his gun, glad they finally decided to surrender. He walked to the door they were protecting and waited for the rest of his squad, analyzing the door. There was nothing special about it what so ever. If they had not defended it so fiercely, he might have just walked past it, letting the alliance take the time to search it. But now he was curious.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Tali. He smiled, placing his hand over hers, and turned to see everyone else arrive at the door. They stood there in silence for almost a minute.

"It's….a very normal door." Garrus announced obviously. James chuckled, but Shepard wasn't amused. Whatever was behind this door was worth dying for, and he had a bad feeling he wasn't going to like what he found.

"We would have walked past this door and forgotten all about it. What were they thinking? They basically painted a big target on it." Ashley said.

That caused Shepard to rethink about it. She was right, it didn't make sense. If you didn't want your enemy to get into that room, why make it obvious you have something to hide there. It's as if…

"It is as if they wanted us to go into this room." Edi said, echoing his thoughts perfectly. They stood there for a few more moments, then Shepard said, "Well let's get this over with" and opened the door.

It was dark at first, but the lights quickly turned on as they walked in. "Guns hot, we don't know if there are any soldiers in here or not. Be on your guard." Shepard announced.

They all nodded, and went walked in, forming two lines. At first, nothing stuck out. But as more lights came on, Shepard starting seeing things he did not like; pieces of reaper equipment in pods, among other random items he could not describe. He looked around, trying to piece together what it all meant, when Tali gasped.

"Oh Keelah, Shepard, this is where they stored all the data and information they had. All the information on the reapers, on all other species, on the alliance…This is where they stored it all. No wonder they didn't want us in here. They have info on everyone here."

Shepard stayed quiet. While it seemed she was right, there was more to it. Everyone already knew they had this information. There was something else, something they were missing. As they walked through the room, Tali and Davin started looking through the consoles, looking at the information stored within them.

"Keelah, they had information on the entire Turian government, from how they are trained to how they patrol. They even have military strategies that the Turians have used and how to counter them."

Garrus grunted in disgust. "Bastards. Makes me wish those last few didn't surrender."

"Keep your head clear, Garrus." Shepard said. "If there are any left in here, you can gladly take them out." He seemed satisfied with that.

They all turned quickly at a banging sound. They saw it came from Davin, who was bent over a console, and even though Shepard couldn't see his face, he could tell he was pissed.

"What is it Davin?" Shepard asked, walking over to him. He got to him and saw he was correct; Davin was pissed.

"Those…bastards. They had it all along. For months I've been searching for this, and Cerberus had it the entire time."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, but laid his hand on Davin's shoulder. "Searching for what?"

Davin turned to look at him, rage all over his face. "My wife's research. Unlike most Quarians, who spent there time researching the Geth and how to counter them, She spent all of her time researching on how to boost the Quarians immune system permanently. She was so close! When she was killed, I came to get the data, but her computers had been wiped clean, and all of her assistants had conveniently disappeared. To think it was here this entire time…" He was silent for a moment, then stood up and started tapping on his omni-tool. After a few seconds Shepard heard a beep. "There." Davin said. "I have it back. Don't worry about me commander, I'll be fine. Let's continue."

Shepard nodded and continued onward, seeing Tali squeeze Davin's shoulder. They didn't find anything too interesting until they came to the end of the long room. At the end was a tinted pod, big enough to fit a human in it. They couldn't see what was inside, but it was isolated and the only tinted one. Shepard got a bad feeling; this was what he was looking for.

"Edi, see if you can clear the glass so we can see what is inside." She nodded and went to the console next to it, typing a few keys. They heard a hissing sound, and the glass slowly cleared, revealing the horror within.

"Holy shit." James managed to say, and Shepard could only agree with him. Inside was what appeared to be a tall, bald human, but with a few differences, the main one being that he was completely purple. He had tubes throughout his body, going under his skin, and Shepard only saw a few connected outside, the rest stayed inside of him. He was a giant, at least 7'5, with broad shoulders and a wide chin. His face was pretty normal, except that he had a few bumps on his head, probably something else under his skin.

"Ok, what the fuck is that?" James said. Edi of course responded. "From what my scans read, it is an organic life from combined with synthetics. I detect reaper tech inside of him, and I also detect that it is alive, though in a coma like state."

Shepard looked at it/him in awe. Alive? He didn't like this, not one bit. This is what they were protecting, and with good reason. He didn't know what that reason was, but this time he didn't want to find out. "Edi, if there is anyway to put it down do it. I don't know what it is or what it is for, but it can't be any good. Kill it."

"NO!" a voice yelled behind them. They all whipped around, aiming there guns at a man in a scientist clothes. There was a Cerberus sigil on it. He must have been hiding in the lab when they entered. Shepard saw he was unarmed and was about to lower his gun until he saw something that horrified him; the scientist had his hand on a lever on the wall. They had over looked it, and Shepard knew it was to the purple man they had just uncovered.

"Put your hands in the air and get on your knees, now. I won't ask twice." Shepard said.

The scientist shook his head. "I can't let you kill him. I worked too hard to have you throw it all away. I WON'T LET YOU!"

"PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR NOW!" Shepard yelled, and the scientist responded by pulling the lever.

Shepard heard Garrus fire, and saw the scientist's head explode, some of it actually hitting Shepard on his armor, and saw the body drop, but it was too late. Alarms went off all around, making everyone jump and start looking around. Shepard spun back around to the purple man, and his blood ran cold.

The purple man had opened his eyes, which were also purple, and was staring straight at him.

Shepard heard a very loud hissing sound as the cover to the pod opened, steam floating into the air as it lowered. The purple man reached up and started disconnecting all of the tubes, until he could step forward. He slowly looked at all of them, aiming their guns at his head, and showed no worry as he stepped down from the pod.

Shepard hated when his bad feelings were proven correct. The purple man started looking around at his surroundings, pretending they weren't even there.

Shepard stepped forward. "Hey, can you hear me? Do you have a name?"

At first he didn't think the purple man heard him, but just as he was about to ask again the man whipped his head towards Shepard, surprising him.

"Yes I can hear you. I have no name, so I guess you can call me Ultimate."

His voice was slow, but not mechanical. He continued. "From what data I have, you must be Commander Shepard of the Alliance. Since none of the Cerberus soldiers are here, I will assume you have either killed them, or taken them into custody."

Shepard was at a lost of words. He just woke up and already knew all of that? It must be the synthetics he was combined with. "You are correct. May I ask, what were you made for?"

Ultimate's stare was cold and calculating. "Cerberus made me as a last resort in case complete control of the reapers was impossible. I was made as a last fighting chance. They hoped that I would either be able to control the reapers myself, or destroy them."

Now Shepard was just dumbfounded. "They think you are powerful enough to destroy a reaper?"

He nodded. "They did. But they were missing the final component to have control over me themselves, so they did not activate me."

Shepard did not like where this was heading. "So, now that you are awake, what are you going to do?"

Ultimate looked at his hand and didn't respond for a moment, then fixed his icy gaze on Shepard and said "With the reapers destroyed, I am now the most powerful being in the galaxy. I will assume control, and I will execute any who defy me."

The instant he said that, Shepard fired and his squad followed suit. He watched in amazement as their bullets never reached him; they veered off in all different directions, hitting the walls and consoles everywhere. He stopped, seeing no point in wasting bullets, and saw a small barrier encasing Ultimate, the same color as his eyes and skin. A few consoles exploded, but Shepard barely heard them; he only saw a new threat to the galaxy before him, one that so far seemed untouchable.

Ultimate smiled, and Shepard knew they were in trouble. Before they could react, Ultimate waved his hand. What looked like a wave of energy hit them, knocking them all back and onto the ground. Shepard landed hard with a thud, feeling lightheaded and as if a Krogan had charged him at full speed.

"Resistance is futile." Ultimate said, walking past them as they struggled to get back to their feet. "None of your meager weapons can harm me"

Garrus was the first to his feet, followed by Davin. Garrus responded to his comment by aiming his rifle and firing his entire clip. As before, they veered off, but this time one bullet veered sharply right, hitting James in the thigh as he was getting up. He yelled in pain, clutching his thigh and falling back to the floor.

"Don't shoot! He can control the trajectory of the bullets!" Shepard yelled, getting back onto his feet as well.

Ultimate smiled at him. "Good observation Shepard. I see why Cerberus saw you as a threat. But you are no threat to me. You-"He stopped talking as Davin charged at him full speed, using his bionic legs and swinging his sword.

It connected with the barrier, and instead of veering off like the bullets did, the sword was repelled straight backwards, sending Davin back with it. But when Davin's sword hit the barrier, Shepard noticed that unlike the bullets, which simply veered off, the sword actually seemed to cave the barrier in a small amount before being repelled. It wasn't much, but Shepard took note of it anyway.

Davin landed on his feet and charged again, this time jumping to a wall and charging off of it, trying to see if hitting him from behind produced different results. His sword hit the barrier again, and was once again repelled. But this time Davin didn't land; he stayed in the air, as if being levitated. Ultimate turned towards him, smile gone.

"I told you resistance is futile, yet you still insist on attacking. Very well, I shall return the favor." Ashley and Garrus charged him at the same time. Ultimate responded by swinging his hand, which made Davin fly sideways into Garrus and Ashley, knocking then down. Then Ultimate swung his hand again, flinging Davin hard into the wall. Davin fell to the ground with a thump, sword flying from his hand and clattering on the floor five feet away.

Tali charged next, taking the knife from her boot and trying to stab him. She was repelled just like Davin was, but she didn't bend the barrier like Davin did, so Shepard guessed that it needed a lot more force. Ultimate turned to look at Tali, and Shepard roared, charging and swinging at him with his omni-tool blade. He hit the barrier, and was repelled like everyone else. He hit the ground and rolled back to his feet, but it seemed Ultimate had had enough with them. Ultimate raised his hand, and swung it down. Shepard was hit by what felt like the ceiling falling on him, and was pushed to the ground. The weight stayed there, and as he struggled to move his head, he saw everyone was in the same position.

"Although I admire your courage and willpower, they will get you no where. I will keep you like this until I leave." And with that he just walked off. Shepard roared and tried to reach for his pistol, but it was useless; it felt like gravity had been multiplied by ten. They could only sit there, feeling like they were being crushed, until Ultimate exited the room, and the weight suddenly lifted. They laid there for a minute, panting, trying to recover. Then Shepard put two fingers to his ear.

"Calling all Alliance ships. Cerberus has created a new weapon in human form. He has just exited the room I went in too investigate. Express extreme caution; he has powers that you do not understand. Attack from a distance and hit with everything you have; missiles, bullets, everything. He needs to be stopped now!"

He coughed and rolled over, slowly getting to his feet. He saw Ashley, Garrus, and Edi do the same, but Tali, James, and Davin had not. Tali was sitting up, checking her suit for any problems. James was holding his leg to stop the bleeding, cussing up a storm and Davin was just starting to stir, groaning with pain.

"Edi, give James a medi-gel to stop the bleeding. Garrus and Ashley, help Davin up and see if he has any serious injuries." They nodded and went to work. Shepard went over to Tali and kneeled down.

"Is everything alright? No broken bones or anything?"

Tali scoffed. "My bones are stronger than yours, Shepard, so if you don't have any fractures, I won't." Her voice softened. "I'm fine Shepard. My suit is intact. Running a small fever from earlier, but no damage from Ultimate. But what about you?"

He smiled, glad she was ok, and held out his hand. "I've had worse. It'll take more than a barrier and hand signs to take me down." She laughed and took his hand, letting him help her up. He looked around. James was on his feet, leaning on Edi for support. Garrus and Ashley had gotten Davin to a sitting position. He had a nasty gash on his head, which was bleeding heavily, but seemed conscious enough to look pissed about being beaten so easily.

Just then Shepard heard multiple explosions and gunfire. It seemed they had found Ultimate and taken his advice, hitting him with all of their fire power. He just hoped it was enough.

Shepard walked over to Davin. "How you holding up?"

Davin grunted. "Besides this damn gash on my head, I'm fine. Just a lot of bruises. Head wounds just bleed to damn much." He shook his head, sending droplets of blood everywhere and causing Ashley to curse. "That bastard kicked our asses. What are we going to do about him commander?"

"Right now, nothing." Shepard replied. "Let's hope he has a harder time deflecting missiles than he did bullets. By ourselves, we can't defeat him. We need to find a weakness in that barrier"

All of a sudden the explosions stopped, leaving an ominous silence in its wake. Shepard waited until he was contacted.

"Commander Shepard….I regret to inform you that we failed to bring down the weapon. Nothing seemed to even touch him, and he disappeared. I don't know if he actually went somewhere, or just camouflaged himself, but we failed to stop him. What the hell is that commander?"

Shepard didn't respond right away. "I don't know general. But it is a threat to us all."