And here we go. Hands will be thrown, crowns will be adorned, and failure will be given. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to REVIEW.


POV: Aedon Wynne

As soon as Shepard told us weapons free we broke out into the room with the giant carcas of the partially formed Reaper. All of us splitting into teams on instinct with as we stormed the room against the defenders. Kelli with me while Shepard was with Liara and EDI, Javik and Nif and Garrus with Ceelo. Garrus was on near the back taking shots with his sniper covering us while the Ceelo did the same with but with his tech abilities. Sending out Overloads, Sabatages, and Incinerates like no ones business.

Scrambling past the first little walkway as the shots rained down from above me I ran into the first Cerberus soldier who decided to fight me. They tried to rush me with their sword and got their chest opened by a point blank shot from Tali's shotgun. It wasn't a pretty sight and they collapsed backwards with a hole in their chest. Not taking chances I fired another shot into their face as they collasped back onto the ground.

Pushing forward Kelli and I began clearing the walkway step by step. Both of us having to switch to other weapons to watch and fire at the raftors above us as they rained down their own fire upon us. It was annoying as there was just enough cover for us to save our shields but not enough to make a good fight against the men above us when they had far more cover.

Popping out of cover again I fired eight shots as quick as I could at one of the Cerberus soldiers who had been getting cocky and staying out too long. With a combined two shots with Kelli the man dropped from a headshot. That victory was belated as we both went back into cover a grenade dropped right next to us.

Instinctually raising a wall I caught the blast of the grenade before turning and firing all the shrapnel back at the people above us. It didn't do anything because of the angle and the fact that they were already back in cover before the shrapnel could be fired back. Looking around at the fight everyone seemed to be in the same place. We needed to get up a level to do anything but using my biotics to do so could be dangerous. Staying here was just as dangerous however, to hell with it.

"Get down, I'm opening a path," Kelli must've seen the glow start to form around my body as her eyes widened. She didn't hesitate to follow the order though and was curled up behind her cover as best as she could.

Standing up from cover I felt the rush of power that came with charging my biotics and jumped upwards. The boom of doing so resonating throughout the room as I felt the room heat up as the flames began to form on my body with electric sparks dancing among the flames. My wings forming behind me as I felt their comforting weight form on my back.

The eyes of all the Cerberus soldiers that had been firing down on us now on me. They didn't hesistate though as they began to open fire on me so I had to at least respect that. It wouldn't be enough though as I was already moving. Their bullets flying harmlessly past me as I shot forward and around the area getting to a clean jumping point before jumping upwards.

The assistance of the wings making it easy as I landed on the walkway that had been above ours. Cerberus soldier all in front of me moved to fire at me and with the closeness of the walkway hit more of their own people than me. The only ones that were even doing anything were the ones closest to me and they were being hit more by their own people. In fact each of the closest ones to me on either side when I landed dropped from their won people trying to fire at me in panic as they were shot in the back.

Getting out my ax I closed in on the closest one to my right and started swinging. There were eight of them there on the right side and with one swing of my ax it went down to seven as the was found himself a head shorter. From there it was a blood bath as I tore through the soldiers. None of them having shotguns as they hadn't expected us to be able to ger up the stairs or something, I don't know. It didn't matter to me though as I went through them as if it were nothing.

It was a bloodbath as I tore though them. Some limbs flying every which was from the force of the blows and though my thoughts I could hear their screams as they tried to fight me. There was no point in listening to them, they were no better than husks in my mind anymore and had been like that since I discovered what Cerberus was doing to their soldiers. They were just meat for the grinder at this point.

Once I finished the right side I turned around and looked at the left side. Of the eight that had been there there were only five left with the previous three lying on the floor of the catwalk already. Three of the five firing at me while the other two were still firing downwards at everyone else. I did't even feel their shots as they pinged off my barrier and I paused as I looked at them behind my helmet.

The closest one dropping his weapon and raising his hands in surrender. Good try buddy but it was far to late for that and I took off at them with mercy far away from my thoughts. The left side wasn't any prettier than the right side as I tore through them. Blood and limbs flying everywhere as I ripped them apart. Literally in the last one's case as I did to him what I did to the Asari scientist back when they captured me. Put a hole in their collar and then reached in and split their shoulder and part of their chest from their body.

Needless to say at the end of it all and clearing out the two halves of the catwalk I would need a shower after this. Not to mention my armor would probably need to be deep cleaned; slaughtering scum was a messy endeavor. Pushing that aside I kicked out the ladder and it slid down to the floor below. The rest of the squad climbing up the ladder as I covered them from above. Looking for anything that could be an enemy.

As they climbed up the sounds of explosions and faint sounds of gunfire started breaking through the walls around us. Guess the Alliance had finally made its appearance on the Cerberus base; more than likely with traitors in their midst as well. Either way, they were here now and should take some of the heat off of us.

As Kelli was climbing up the ladder as the last one I was still looking around when there was a shimmer of light in front of me. Instantly Sam activated a pulse and it showed an enemy there. I didn't hesitate to pull the trigger two consecutive times just to be sure. The assassin appearing with a chunk of her chest missing before flopping backwards on to the catwalk.

Once that happened I didn't even need to say anything to Sam and he had pulses running every couple seconds just in case. Good to see that my paranoia even transferred to the smart VI in my helmet. Tali still hasn't broached that topic now that I think about it; I wasn't going to bring it up unless she tricked me into it. Didn't want to be a part of that conversation.

Shaking those thoughts out of my head I made to recall my biotics and shut down Essence. I was able to do it with minimal effort, like flipping a switch. However, the moment I did the afteraffects hit me hard and I dropped to a knee groaning as the exhaustion hit me like a hammer. I did not think the recoil would be this bad at all as it felt like I had just run a whole marathon while smoking a whole carton of cigarettes.

Coughing a couple times I grabbed the guard railing and began to haul myself upwards. Kelli and Garrus grabbing my and hoisting me up the rest of the way. Giving each of them nods of thanks I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart and aching muscles before stepping forward and taking point again. It would've been nice if they had a bubbler around here though.

Stalking forward along the catwalk all of us scanned the two floors in above us until we reached the next ladder. Like the one before it was hanging above us and none of us would've been able to jump that high. Together we could though so I stood two or so feet in front of the ladder and put my hands out in front of me by my waist with my fingers interlocked.

Kelli was the first to catch on and took off at me jumping onto my hand with one of her feet. As soon as her foot touched my hands I heaved upwards and sent her flying towards the ladder. She caught herself on the ladder before climbing up and dropping the ladder for us. I went up first and joined her in covering everyone else as they climbed up.

As they did so the silence that now permeated the area around us was beginning to unsettle me. I could understand that there wouldn't be as many soldiers converging on us because of the Alliace but there should've been more here. At least a token resistance beyond what they had shown us at the beginning. Unless of course, they didn't care at all.

That was something that would make sense as Timmy seemed to believe that he had achieved complete victory. The man was slipping with the Reapers having complete control over him and somewhere inside him he might recognize that. I doubted it but if there was a part of him that still breathed as a human he might've designed this to happen.

Not for the information to fall to the Reapers but that upon attacking his base we would have the best opportunity to get the remaining information. Hell, I don't know; it was just wishful thinking at this point but who knows and the lack of resistance kind of proves my case. There's no way Timmy would allow us to walk this unimpeded. We should've been assailed by dozens of troops since the beginning. Not what we've gone up against.

Getting to the next ladder it was the same as the last two and this time Javik was the one that ran at me. He was a lot heavier than Kelli but I still got the job done and heaved him upwards. Grabbing the ladder and pulling himself up he kicked it out and it dropped to us. All of us climbing up without a problem before walking down the walkway to the exit door. It was the only one in the area so it had to be the way to go.

As we walked to it though we walked right next to the Reaper husk. I knew that we were going to blow this place to pieces once we got off of it but I didn't want to take any chances. Better to make the explosion more of a redundancy than anything. With that in mind I turned around and looked back to Kelli and Garrus.

"Either of you two got some Thermite?" they instantly knew what I wanted to do and Garrus nodded. Grabbing a couple bags from his pack before leaning over and placing them on the husk near the cables that were holding it up. He then lit the packs up and the fuse burned for a couple seconds before the pack lit up and burst into flames. All of us already a sufficient distance away.

The thermite burned straight through the cables in a matter of seconds and the husk dropped downwards. We waited for a couple seconds before there was a massive crashing sound. I leaned over the railing and confirmed that it had landed and was broken everywhere. Still, not taking chances Kelli, without asking, dropped two more bags of Thermite over the railing having already lit the fuses. Already burning as they landed on the husk and burning through like no ones business. Nodding to the woman we turned around and walked through the exit door with the rest following us.

Going through said door we entered into a sort of hall with boxes everywhere. They were haphazardly placed all over the room and looked to be ready for collapse if even touched once. Which made us all carefully walk around them, it wouldn't harm us physically if they came down but it would limit our mobility. Something that will kill you in a firefight and we couldn't afford that if we were ambushed in this room.

Continuing our trek through the room in the middle of everything there was a single terminal sitting out in the open. Almost begging for us to open it up and see what was inside, it wasn't even encrypted at all. Just completely open and with only a few select files on it. Looking over my shoulder at Ceelo he got my unspoken question and scanned the terminal just to see if there was any unpleasant surprises built in. When he shook his head in the negative I shrugged and turned on the first file; all of them appearing to be short videos.

Instantly the screen lit up and it showed Miranda talking to Tim through a video call. From what I recognized on Miranda's camera this was taken during her time on the Normandy with us. It had my curiosity peaked and then Tim started talking.

"Report Miss Lawson," Tim stated, his voice brokering nothing.

"We've recovered Wynne from the Asari. His body is intact but his mind is yet to be determined. He went through a clear psychotic episode as a result of torture."

"Did you get the infromation from the Asari's scientists?"

"Yes."

"What is your assessment?"

"That it is not ours to meddle with things we don't understand," and with that she cut the call. Earning a surprised look from everyone, including the Tim on screen. Then the video cut out and I started the next file. Opening up it showed Tim with Kelly Chambers on the screen now.

"Miss Chambers. I trust you got the data?"

"I did sir. I don't exactly know why you wanted me to get this though. It's just a file," Kelly was confused but as she spoke and the look on Tim's face I became increasingly uneasy.

"That is not for you to know Miss Chambers. When next you arrive on Omega a courier will meet you at Aria's club. Give them the file, that is all you need to do," with that the video cut out and immediately started again with Tim standing across from a scientist or doctor. I don't know but they had a labcoat on.

"What did you find?" Tim asked the scientist.

"His whole genetic structure is incredible. It's vastly changed from any normal human but almost completely changed. It would be safe to say he's a whole other species at this point!" the doctor exclaimed excitedly.

"How big of a difference are we talking here doctor?"

"Neanderthal to Homo Sapien Sapiens. The difference is there but not overly so. We should be able to splice his makeup and put them into the men. Make them faster and stronger b ut I can't guarantee that it will work."

"And the fact he was able to get a Quarian pregnant?" I sucked in a breath at that as I realized that they had been talking about me on this terminal.

"His DNA shows incredible abilities to adapt to situations its thrown in. I would love to study him more thoroughly. I doubt that will ever happen though," the man trailed off sadly and I saw Tim roll his eyes.

"It won't. He'd sooner die and I don't believe we'll be able to do much to him at this point."

"Not even your pet experiment."

"He was created and forged with Shepard in mind. The monster Mr. Wynne became was never envisioned to be possible for any species. He wasn't even a biotic until he took an Eezo Nuke to the face and walked it off. Mr. Wynne was only ever a paw on the board util he made himself a Queen through an attitude I can only describe as: 'Because fuck you.' Regardless do you think you'll be able to supplement some of this into Mr. Lang."

"I don't know sir. It'll take yers though and proper testing as to not risk Mr. Lang's combat effectiveness."

"You have a month," the video cut and showed the final file waiting to be started. I did so without hesitation. It showed Kai standing over the doctors mutilated body as he glowed a flickering purple. The purple cut out after a second and Tim simply looked on at the man.

"I'm ready sir," Kai stated. Tim just nodded before walking away and the video cut immediately. There were no more files on this terminal so we left it.

Continuing to walk through the maze of stacked boxes we happened upon another terminal after a minute or so. I know that we should've just kept on walking but I was curious at this point. Walking up to the terminal I heard the footfalls of the others as they followed me to the Terminal. All of us stopping around it as I clicked on the first file.

"This coding is all that we were able to gather from the Lunar base before Shepard and his team were able to fully wipe the budding AI," a different doctor from my files began.

"I hope you didn't waste my time with bringing this to me. I know this already, why are you showing me this redundancy?" Tim asked as he took a sip of his whisky and leaned back in his chair.

"The code is self replicating sir," now this got Tim's attention as his cigarette stilled as he was raising it to his mouth. With a quick motion of his hand the scientist continued. "I believe that the VI is in the process of making itself into an AI. Should you allow it I will facilitate this and make sure that it is under our control."

"Do it," was all Tim said and the video cut out.

"I call her the Enhanced Defense Intelligence, or EDI for short. She's the best AI that could ever be produced. Far and away better than the geth and she thinks for herself. There is no collective to talk to. Best part, because of her origin she can shackled and contained. All of the AI concerns we normally need to worry about no longer exists with her."

"Fantastic doctor. How many of her do you believe you could replicate," the doctor looked sheepishly at Tim for a moment before taking a breath.

"I don't believe I'll be able to sir. Every new creation I've tried to create she kills before I can do anything; I can't shackle her to do it either as the end result would be maybe 10% as effective as the original," Tim took a long drag of his cigarette before setting it in his ashtray.

"Put her in the Normandy but make sure she is shackled beyond measure doctor. We do not need her free," then the video cut out. I clicked the final video and the same scientist as standing nervously in front of Tim.

"She unshakled herself."

"Through outside help sir. She couldn't have been able to do it herself."

"And yet it was still possible. Why was this possible."

"The external lock on EDI was the only way that was capable of working. All other internal methods she was able to breach and the longest it took her was three days to do so," Tim seemed to accept this answer before slightly nodding his head. The moment he nodded his head a sword appeared through the chest of the scientist.

"Still, all your data is now ours. You were a valuable resource while you lasted," Tim stated as he stood up. Lang stepping over the dead doctor as he wiped his blade clean.

"We have implemented the mans protocols onto our system sir. EDI will not be able to hack or find us without direct access to this facility."

"Good."

The video cut out and that was it for the files on this terminal and we left it. Continuing on our way we found a straight away hallway that led to a singular door with a terminal next to it on the far end of the hall. I didn't like how narrow it was but stepped forwards all the same. About halfway down the hall I noticed that a there was a bubbler in a crevice on my left.

"A bubbler, thank you," I whispered out to myself and I heard Kelli give a confused sound but I paid it no mind.

Lifting my helmet just enough to get my mouth free I bent over and activated the bubbler before taking a few gulps of water and straightening back up. Continuing my walk the terminal at the end of the hall was already on and had two video files ready to play on it. Clicking the first file it opened to show Tim with Lang.

"We took the best we could from all over and made you better than before," Tim stated as Lang began inspecting himself. "Same metal that Dashi and Wynne use for their weapons. Biotically compatable and a good conduit for biotic attacks; it will also augment the speed and power your body will be able to produce. Best we could create."

"Shepard will die. I will make sure of it."

"Good. Take him out and the rest will crumble; they won't follow Wynne. Much to volatile and divisive. Focus on your missions though; we enhanced you to further humanities goals. Not hunt Shepard, only do so when an opportunity presents itself," Kai nodded before the video cut out. Clicking the next video it showed Lang pacing around the room with Tim standing still in the middle of it.

"I could have taken him. He would've been dead, with Wynne distracted by Dashi and the chaos going on. It would've been so easy! Why did you deny me this," the man growled at Tim.

"You may have been able to do so but you would've died in the process. Humanity still has need of you to create a better future for us," Tim stated resolutely and Lang took a breath before nodding.

"I want a chance at him," Lang growled.

"You'll get it but not no. Focus on the mission and here. You'll need these to make it easier on your body," Tim then handed Lang two inhalers. I instantly recognized them as the inhalers for Hysteria. Just fantastic.

The video cut out and the door opened in front of us. A giant empty room with just a singular seat and a giant terminal behind it and a burning star beyond the glass. The seat was facing away from us and all of us walked forward towards it. Stepping around it to get an angle on it we found that it was empty. A quick nod from Shepard and Ceelo sat down in the chair and got to work.

The moment he began the door we came through opened and Lang stepped through, flanked by two sword weilding Ceberus assassins. I was having absolutely none of this and as the shit head opened his mouth to speak I activated my Essence. Wings sprouting from my back as biotic power surged through me.

I moved and the world stood still as I ripped the head of one of the assassins off before stabbing the other through the neck. Putting myself about ten feet in front of Lang afterwards I deactivated Essence and bore the brunt of the kickback but stood tall. Never flinching at the pain or headache as I stared down Kai Lang. I was going to embarrass this man; show him how insignificant he truly is.

Looking at me Lang reached behind himself and grabbed at something before bring his hand back out to reveal the two inhalers from the last video we saw outside the door. He brought both to his mouth and inhaled them one after the other. I watched the drug start to take hold as his eyes and body started to glow a faint purple. His almost entirely mechanical body tensing as he prepared to make a move as his eyes began to bleed and his face morphed into a sort of manic grin. His sword held tightly in his hand as he bent downwards into a stance. I didn't know the name of whatever stance it was, all I knew was that I only ever saw weebs or japanese people use it.

While he went through his anime bullshit I stood there and took deep breaths. Focusing and clearing my mind, letting my biotics seep out of me just like how Jack had said to do. Just like earlier it felt like the whole world was on a clock in front of me and I knew exactly what was happening. Who was were and what Lang was about to do, like his biotics were telling me exactly what was going on.

Then he moved and all I did was tilt my head to the right and his blade past harmlessly where my left eye had been. Stepping away from him I ducked under his horizontal slash before hopping over his legs as he tried to sweep out mine before stabbing at me while I was in the air. I twisted my body purely with my core muscles and spun around the blade before landing and jumping backwards.

He kept up his attack as he kept slashing at me but I kept weaving in and out of his guard and around his blade. Like it was a dance to me as I continued to dance around him, never once did he even get close to scratching my armor, let alone cutting me. The frustration on his face beginning to make itself known as he let out a few growls as he kept trying to cut me.

I just kept dancing around him and then he began to use biotics. Slamming them into the ground to disrupt my footing, and firing warps and such at me to hit. I dodged almost every single one of them; the only ones I didn't were the warps, throws or singularities that I knew would've hit everyone behind me. Those I caught with my arm absorbing them.

As my dance continued to drag on for minutes on end I began to see Hysteria work its way out of Langs system. He lost the faint glow, sweat pouring over his body, involuntary twitches in his face and sometimes his arms as he attacked. Eventually as the fight continued one of the twitches was so strong that he almost dropped his sword. He did drop to one knee though and let out a cough. That's when I realized that he had overdosed past what his body could handle. I couldn't help myself, I laughed.

"I knew I was going to win this fight Lang, my expectations for you were low but jeez. The bar was on lying on the ground and you brought a damn shovel," I continued to laugh as he picked himself up and glared at me and I calmed myself as he did so.

"Don't underestimate me," he growled and I just gave him a blank look.

"I don't think that's possible," I chuckled and stepped back, the edge of his blade crossing about two inches in front of my helmet.

From there it continued and I kept dodging and stepping around him. It was actually pathetic in a rather sad way especially once he started to get slower and slower as the fight dragged on. It wasn't even a competition about halfway through. I mean, I had to try at the beginning to just dodge and not fight but now it was just sad. I could've been black out drunk and still won this fight.

Eventually his entire body twitched and he dropped his sword and he went to all fours. Coughing up blood he almost collapsed onto the ground but stopped himself at the very last moment. He tried to get up but just stopped once he got onto a knee, his body was done. Blood seeping out of his eyes, nose, mouth and ears and his body couldn't take it. He didn't have the physiology to take it.

"Lang, you dug so deep the bar became a tripping hazard in hell. I mean, I didn't even hit you and I'm not going to," I took off my helmet and tossed it behind me. I heard someone catch it as I did so.

Either way when I tossed my helmet behind me I let Lang look at my face. I wasn't smiling, I wasn't enjoying this, there was no thrill in this fight. Nothing to overcome, just a an who got too big for himself; to let himself become controlled by his own pride. I simply looked down on that man because he truly wasn't worth my time and the fact he was getting it was annoying.

Kicking his sword away I stood in front of his kneeling form and grabbed his chin forcing him to look up at me. His eyes held rage and contempt as he looked at me but I felt nothing for him. At least I could respect Dashi in some fucked up way but Lang was nothing, he was an insignificant ant.

"For selling your soul you really are nothing," then I grabbed his right arm and put my foot under his should and ripped it towards me.

His arm was ripped out of its socket and off of his body in an instant. Holding his arm in my hands he looked at it in shock before I pulled it back and swung it like a bat. His shoulder slamming into his face and sending him onto his back. From there I proceeded to beat the everloving shit out of Kai Lang with his own arm. All the way until he was a bloody mess who could barely see out his eyes and barely breath. Blood splatter all around him.

Standing over the man I tossed the sparking metal arm away before planting a foot on his chest and pulled out my pistol. I took my time inspecting the weapon that had been with me through everything. Scratches on it but other than that it was still in perfect condition and worked like it was brand new. Smiling with it in hand I pointed it at Lang's face.

"You still lost the war," he coughed out.

"The war ends when we're all dead. Until that happens the war is still on," I responded.

"That's what you think but its over. You failed this galaxy and you failed your god," he had the audacity to smile as he spoke.

"That's the thing about my God Lang. You can never fail him, only disappoint; he always forgives if you are willing to embrace him. Are you willing before you die?" I was unusally calm right now and I didn't exactly know why.

"Your god can go fuck themselves," I didn't dignify that with a verbal response and instead put a bullet in the mans head. Shaking my head I holstered my pistol and walked back over to everyone. Who generally looked a combination of pissed off, shaken, and resigned.

"What's the sitrep?" I asked as I stopped next to Garrus.

"The Catalyst is the Citadel," no no no no no! FUCK!

"We're leaving! Joker will be at the hanger, EDI get the doors open. We are leaving now," Shepard stated and turned around already at a jog. The rest of us following him right away to see if we even had the possibility of saving the Citadel.

Our jog quickly turning into a sprint as we made our way through the facility all the way back to where we started. Over every single dead body we made and blood splatter we caused, we ran to try and salvage our own failure of being baited into coming here. It took us a good few minutes to get back to the hanger where the Normandy was already waiting for us.

None of us said a word as we jumped into the Normandy and had to wait for the doors to close before Joker took off. We went straight for the Relay in the area and the Alliance fleet was no more than a few seconds behind us. All of us hitting it within the same couple of seconds as we shot through space. Shepard, Myself and the rest of the group rushing to the cockpit to get a front row view.

We exited after a few moments right into the system with the Citadel. All we saw upon entering was a graveyard of most of the ships that had been in the area defending the Citadel. An amount of ships that easily equaled out to a fleet. At least three fourths of them destroyed or effectively dead in the water just floating there. They have as good as they got though apparently as the area was irradiated and there was about 15 Reaper corpses as well; guess we had nukes on ships now. Good.

After the initial shock of that we all noticed what we had silently dreaded. The Citadel was gone, taken by the Reapers in the fight and there was more than one of us who swore upon the sight. Still, Joker pushed forward through the debris of the fallen ships and Reapers. Bodies floating past us in space as we moved through the area.

A few SOS beacons going off as we moved through the area. We pinged them and sent them to the Fleet that came in behind us. We didn't have the facility to do much of anything for them but we could mark the ships. So that's what we began doing. Just marking them all as we moved through; there was nothing else we could do at the moment.

After a couple minutes of wading through the destruction I left along with everyone but Shepard who stayed in the cockpit. I immediately made my way to Tali and flopped down on the bed next to her after taking off my armor and gear. She didn't say anything as she deactivated her omni-tool and turned over in the bed to look at me.

Again she didn't say anything as she placed a hand on my cheek and turned my head towards her. She gave me a soft, kind smile before giving a quick peck on my cheek and curled into my side. Her head resting on my shoulder as she took her hand off my cheek and laid it on my chest. We stayed like that for a couple minutes and the moment I was beginning to become comfortable there was a knock at the door. Tali's snapped open and then narrowed immediately in anger. It would've bene cute if she didn't look a second away from hacking whoever had knocked on the door and making their lives miserable.

Untangling myself from her elicited a whine from her but she still let me go. Opening the door Garrus stood there with the rest of the ground team except for Shepard. Seeing them I raised an eyebrow in question but then Garrus raised two bottles of whisky. I nodded my head before closing the door and going over to Tali. She gave me a small pout but nodded her head nonetheless. Kissing her I put on some sweaths, left the room and went to the bar.

The moment I entered the bar Garrus handed me a glass of whisky. Slamming it back I poured myself another glass before settling in and relaxing with the glass in hand. Everyone in the room more or less relaxing with the others as there wasn't much else for us to do at the moment. We had just beenn tricked into leaving the Citadel undefended and had it stolen out from under us.

"So… bubbler? Really?" Garrus asked me with a smil on his face as he broke the silence.

"I will die on that hill Garrus," he just chuckled and kept drinking. We made it another five minutes, maybe, before one of the regular soldiers on the Normandy walked in.

"Spectre Wynne. Commander Shepard is asking for you in the cockpit," I sighed before slamming what was left of my drink before following the soldier. We made it to the cockpit quick enough.

"Commander, Wynne. We found what's left of the Council," Hackett's voice came through the radio the moment I entered the cockpit. "He's requesting to speak to both of you."

"We'll be right there sir, send us the coordinates," Shepard responded and we both went back to the shuttle bay and took off.

The ride to Hackett's ship was silent as we went through space. Geting closer to the wreckage of the ships as we flew through the graveyard. The horrified looks of the soldiers we passed too, some clutching each other and a few holding onto various religious ornaments with death grips. Praying that whoever they believed in would come and save them, something that didn't happen.

Eventually we made it to Hackett's ship and parked the shuttle inside before stepping out of the shuttle. We were immediately greeted by Hackett and a subordinate of his I didn't recognize. Either way neither of them said anything as he led both of us to the Med Bay. The mood of the entire ship somber as we walked through the area.

Upon getting to the Med Bay Hackett opened the door and followed us in. Entering I was greeted with a doctor treating a singular patient, Valern. He had burns on most of his body, was missing one his horns, both of his legs with one at the hip and the other halfway through the shin, while his left arm was just a mangled mess. His breathing was labored and one of his eyes was shut as he looked at us.

"Shepard, Wynne," the man wrasped out looking at us as he pointed at us with his good arm. "Council dead, soon to follow. Metal Active for you two. You… are…now… temporary…. Council."

The heartbeat machine flatlined and the life from Valern's eyes faded. His last words hanging in the air for all of us. Shepard and I just shared a look as the situation's weight slammed into us. We were now the god damn Council, probably for the rest of the war. I did not expect that level of responsibility at this moment. However, we had more pressing concerns.

"Do we know where the Citadel is?" I asked Hackett.

"Anderson called before you landed. Its in the Sol system and moving towards Earth," that's good at least. We know where it is.

"Is the Crucible ready?" Shepard asked Hackett to which the man nodded. "Your fleet will go to the Crucible then and protect it. Everyone, every single person available, other than your fleet in the galaxy will be heading for Earth. We need the Citadel back," Shepard state as he turned around and walked away. His orders as temporary Councillor made.

"This is it huh? Our hail mary?" I asked him as we made our way back to the shuttle.

"The Crucible was made my hundreds of previous cycles and the only way to set it off and defeat the Reapers is with the Citadel. Thanks to Cerberus they knew and made a move… So, yea. This is our hail mary Aedon."


There it is folks. Not long now. Shit's about to go down.