Only two Geth platforms were left in the presidium, Saren's army had moved on and pushed the plan into full effect. The citadel fleet was coming under heavy attack from Geth forces and even though the Destiny Ascension had managed to evacuate the council the second a threat had been perceived, it was now under heavy attack from the Geth armada.
The two platform's only directive was to guard the elevator if, on the off chance that he succeeded, Shepard and his team showed up. The only sounds in the war torn citadel were the stuttered ramblings of the malfunctioning Avina until all of a sudden the conduit within the presidium started vibrating. The gyroscope began to spin and the glow became steadily larger and larger, the two platforms approached cautiously. Waiting for the disorientated organics to appear out of the glow, only to come face to face with a large white tank.
They only had time to let out a synthetic screech before the vehicle hurtled into their platforms, crushing them completely under its weight before it flipped over and crashed into the wall opposite the mass relay 'monument'. For a short while the citadel returned to its previous state before the hatch of the Mako was kicked open and Feral rolled out onto his back.
Groaning before he rolled and slowly picked himself up off the floor, helping Tali and Liara to their feet as they crawled out after him. The three stood in the presidium just taking in the sights and sounds, the alarm blaring out, the normal day light replaced by a burning orange glow "Guess Saren's been here for a while then" Feral sighed before laughing as he noticed the two flattened Geth platforms "well at least Shepard's driving got a couple of them at least"
As soon as Shepard and Garrus had wormed their way of the upside down mako and up onto their feet, the unfolded their weapons and slowly headed towards Avina. They could see the dragon's teeth ahead and the husks impaled up on top of the spikes, but they were being careful in case any more Geth platforms were left in hiding.
Luckily for them the husks were the only thing waiting for them and they were easily dispatched by the 5 man squad. Tali had taken one of them down with a carefully placed shotgun blast as it ran towards her and Feral had taken the other two. Grabbing them by the necks as they both ran towards him before slamming them down into the floor, his fist turning their heads into synthetic pate before he stood up again.
Whilst the two techs had taken swift care of their attackers Shepard had stepped up to Avina, it was clearly malfunctioning or at least something was playing havoc with its systems. But it could still provide information on their current predicament, and maybe even where Saren was. He noted that Tali, Feral and Garrus had stepped off towards the elevator, it was the one that lead to the council chambers and regardless of Avina's information. He'd bet his bottom dollar that's where Saren was going to be.
"The presidium is experiencing severe system malfunctions across the entire level. All non-emergency personnel must evacuate immediately." the hologram was speaking surprisingly clearly considering the image was glitching like mad.
"Give me a status report on the damage" Shepard just said as clearly as he could to the VI, he had no idea if it'd even be able to hear him.
"We have lost all primary power to the level. Environmental controls are not responding. Class 3 fires are burning in sectors 2, 3, 6 and 7. Civilian casualties are high." The VI responded "I am also detecting numerous unauthorized synthetic life forms throughout the station. They are believed to be hostile. Please approach with caution"
Shepard didn't even have time to respond before Garrus and Feral laughed from behind. "Please approach with caution? That's Avina's advice for handling the Geth?" he turian clicked in amusement at the ridiculous comment. The pair of them both shut up when they noticed Tali glaring at them playfully.
"Just think of it like this, the more cautious we are. The more likely we are to get them by surprise, and then they get a shotgun shell through the chest." She purred out as she, pretty much, caressed her weapon.
Feral just shrugged before smirking as he tried to push back the fact that Tali had yet again been accidentally sexy, although part of him wondered if she did this on purpose. Garrus just chuckled again as Liara and Shepard came up to join them.
"How are we doing?" the commander asked to them and was answered by the elevator sinking down and the doors opening. "I don't even know why I bother asking when it comes to you two hacking things" he just shrugged in defeat
Feral blinked as he looked back at Shepard "…if by hacking you mean I pushed this button and waited for the elevator to come down…then….sure I hacked the hell out of this thing" he rolled his eyes and grinned as he stepped into the box.
Shepard just stared blankly at the back of his head before he looked over to Tali who just shrugged and giggled and stepped in after Feral. "…I give up with you two" he growled slightly in defeat as the rest of the group filed into the elevator the door shutting behind them.
"If you want commander I can hack it again and get us moving" Feral grinned at the back of Shepard's head before the commander pushed the button "Hey! I didn't know you were a tech specia-Ow! Damn it Tali" he laughed as the quarian smacked him on the back of the head, who just smiled sweetly back at him.
As the elevator moved up, despite the seriousness of their situation, all 5 of the team started laughing. Shepard couldn't help but think that it was the little things that were keeping them going; laughing like this was good for them all. It kept them sane, stopped them from ever becoming like Saren.
Meanwhile in the space around the citadel, the arms of the station began to close. The Ships within its reach moving out and engaging the Geth ships with everything they had, they had to stop any ships entering the citadel. The order rang out to all ships in the vicinity but it wasn't the geth warships that were the problem. Sovereign was barrelling down and shunted its way past anything and everything that stood in the Reaper's path. The Reaper made its way into the citadel just as the station locked close, heading towards the citadel tower and latching onto it. Now it had to do was co-ordinate its efforts with Saren to reverse the signal blocker, the Reaper invasion was imminent.
The elevator kept on moving, the laughter had died out and the entire team was checking their gear. For once Feral was thankful for the long elevator ride, it gave them all time to be ready for whatever Saren had waiting for them at the top. However the ride came to a sudden halt, the squad buckling slightly as the halted ride stopped. Shepard just turned around and looked at Feral. "Can you get us moving again?"
Feral lit up his omni tool and quickly cut away at the panel in the elevator, ripping the metal sheet open and letting the entire wiring tumble out. He worked at it for about a minute before shaking his head and looking up "Sorry Shepard, we are totally locked out. Saren must be controlling the station's systems and I can't override him from here"
Shepard sighed and thought for a moment "Well then…guess we're going outside" he waited for everyone to get their breather helmets in place, specifically him, Liara and Garrus. Feral and Tali were both already behind their hoods and when they were already he raised his pistol up to the glass.
Three rounds flew through the glass shattering it instantly and plunging them all into the silence of the slight atmosphere surrounding the citadel. They could still hear each other and the surroundings but there wasn't a breathable atmosphere, hence suiting up. Shepard was the first to take the plunge into the zero gravity environment, floating out slightly before his magnetic boots drew him down to the side of the tower. He was quickly followed by the rest of his squad.
"Whoa….." it was all Feral could muster when he spotted Sovereign in the distance, latched onto the top of the council tower "that….that is a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be"
Shepard just smiled back at the awed super human "Well it's a good thing we're only going after Saren….for now" he cocked his head as he unfolded his rifle, moving up along the side of the elevator lines.
The squad was moving as quickly up the tower as they could, Saren was within reach and they had an invasion to stop. A few Geth popping out of elevators were barely able to stop them. By this point the team had gelled together well, moving quickly and precisely. Each member covering the other and with Tali and Feral leading the group, they were ripping their way through whatever Saren sent at them.
The team kept moving quickly along the elevator lines, Geth platforms swarming towards them intermittently. They were slowing them down slightly, but the group kept pushing on. Moving up from cover to cover as they fired at the Geth units. Screeching filled the air as the well placed firing tore the machines apart. Shepard was commanding the unit even more effectively than he ever had, the drive to stop Saren pushing him to be better than he'd ever been.
He'd split the team into three separate squads. Feral and Tali were the vanguard, pushing up as fast as they could and hitting the platforms with their technical expertise and assault weapons as hard as they could. Behind them were Shepard and Liara, sitting in a supporting role as Liara knocked platforms back or put barriers up around the forward unit. Shepard was putting rounds over their heads, keeping their flanks clear so they could keep going. Then finally at the rear was Garrus, the sniper was hanging back and making sure that nothing crawled up their asses and then taking shots at units far ahead of the forward position.
Not even Krogan and the larger Geth platforms were really slowing the team down, their shields being almost instantly removed by the combined efforts of Feral and Tali. Garrus' sniper rifle effectively took the organic being's heads clean off and anything that got close enough to Feral instantly regretted it as his knife drove straight into the most important parts of their being. The first real challenge they came up against was the sudden appearance of a Geth drop ship. Shepard lost sight of Tali and Feral, they'd moved up ahead of them and by the time they'd caught up the troops pouring out of the ship had started firing at them.
Feral and Tali were skirting their way along the cover they had found, they could both see the geth shooting at Shepard's location but unfortunately for them the rest of the team were pinned. "Crap…..so Geth drop ship and a ton of the metal bosh'tets….any ideas?" Feral smirked playfully from behind his hood as he looked at Tali.
Tali was peeking around the corner of the cover and saw a turret in front of her, she then turned back to Feral and spoke as clearly as she could over the gun fire "You remember that thing you did with the armatures on Ilos?" Feral just nodded as he tilted his head slightly, wondering where she was going with that. "Do you think you could do something with that?" she jerked her thumb around the corner.
Feral just crawled around and peeked in the direction of her thumb before grinning as he sat in front of her "Oh yeah, I reckon I can do a lot with that. Good catch Tali" he patted her shoulder as he moved as low to the ground as he could as he moved towards the turret. Tali followed after him, luckily for the pair the Geth were far more interested in the rest of Shepard's team and they were yet to be detected.
Shepard was shouting orders across to Garrus, trying as hard as they could to get a bead on the Geth platforms, wave upon wave of the machines dropping out of the drop ship. His shouts were suddenly interrupted by the load explosion, the fireball surrounding the ship. The sudden boom took even the Geth by surprise and a few rounds of assault rifle from the side put a permanent end to some of them.
Rocket after rocket shot out of the turret and impacted straight into the hull of the ship, the sustained impacts causing the drop ship to quickly retreat. That combined with the flanking fire from Feral gave Shepard his opportunity, diving forward from cover he put a few rounds into the platforms ahead of him before sliding into the foremost position. Liara had followed him and a singularity had given Garrus all the opportunity he needed to disintegrate the plating with his high powered rifle.
The battle was over faster than any of them could have anticipated; the turret had been invaluable in ensuring it had been their victory. Shepard could see Feral and Tali high fiving as they stood up from their side position, making their way over towards the exit of the small courtyard. The rest of the squad quickly moved up to their position. "Good work with the turret you two" Shepard said to the pair who looked very happy with themselves behind their masks.
Feral and Tali sat back as the rest of the team took point as Shepard wanted them to get a breather. They'd move with Garrus and provide support for Shepard and Liara. Even with the new position the team moved just as effectively, Tali had to switch to her pistol but she could still throw overloads into the Geth forces. The Krogan proved a little more of a challenge with Feral at the back but Liara's warps and throws managed to keep the reptiles from getting close enough to them.
"That….is why I hate biotics" Feral just sighed from the position behind him, chuckling slightly under his own breath as his rifle thumped against his shoulder and one of the floating Krogan cried out before it died.
Garrus just shook his head as his rifle put a shot straight into the other floating krogan "You're not scared of Liara are you?" even behind his helmet you could hear his mandible's flaring in amusement.
Feral just laughed as the three of them ran up behind Shepard and Liara, moving as quickly along the path parallel to the elevator as they had before the Geth ship "Me scared?...nah, the only thing I'm scared of is Tali's shotgun" he laughed and he could hear the woman giggle from ahead of him.
"Just don't ever me a reason to aim at it either of you." She purred playfully as they ran along "Not that there is much chance of you doing that Feral…..Garrus however…." leaving her sentence purposefully hanging as both Feral and herself laughed even louder. Garrus just chuckled nervously; something about the Quarian's tone told him she was only just joking.
Shepard's team was moving as fast as they could, rapidly progressing up the side of the council tower. Sovereign's looming arms kept getting bigger and bigger in the distance. They were practically sprinting constantly as they moved; covering arcs of gun fire meant that any enemy soldiers were cut down within moments of breaking cover. It wasn't until they reached the next courtyard that they faced a small problem.
There was a line of automated turrets; they'd been hacked by the Geth and were firing rockets straight at the team. But even then, they provided little resistance to the oncoming storm of the Spectre's squad. Feral and Tali took out the shields protecting them within moments and then Garrus' rifle put several large rounds into the turrets, shattering the protective plating and destroying any capability it had to fire at them. Once the turrets were gone it only left Geth platforms and rolling war machine of Shepard's squad destroyed them easily.
This courtyard was the last one they had to cross, the squad moving back down an incline towards the path running alongside the elevator. Ahead of the team was the end of the track and as they got closer and closer they saw the hatch on the floor of the walkway. The group huddled around the square trap door before Shepard looked around
"This leads to the council chambers. Feral and I will take point, Liara and Tali I want you in support behind us and Garrus you do what you do best. Once we get up the stairs it splits off into two sides. Feral and Liara you go down the right, Tali and I will take the left" he looked around his squad and saw them give a collective nod, the split made sense. Shepard wanted a tech specialist on either side to combat the Geth.
"Ok then" he reached down and grabbed the release catch before pulling open the trap door "Let's finish this once and for all" he tore open the panel and dropped down. Landing in an elevator already at the top of the council tower, the door was open and he moved forward out of the box. Tali followed him down, then Feral, Liara and finally Garrus.
The groups moving off up towards the stairs ahead of them, hugging them side of the walkway before they split around the circular pond in the first courtyard. They'd all been expecting immediate resistance but it wasn't until they were halfway around the pond that the first Geth popped up from the top of the stairs. One warp from Liara and an overload from Tali disrupted the Geth enough for Feral and Shepard to disable the units with a quick squeeze of their triggers. Sending a sharp and hard burst straight into the chest of the units, the recoil of the rifle's sending the last few rounds up into the Geth's heads.
The team kept on moving, converging back together again when they approached the stairs before breaking up when the stair way had a row of potted trees in the middle of it. This time the moment they hit the top of the stairs they were hit by a quick burst of fire from across the second courtyard. Feral and Shepard sprinted off to the sides, sitting in the cover that the passages to the side provided.
The three non-humans were stuck on the stair well, sitting on the upper steps and popping up whenever they could to throw a power or fire off a few quick shots. Garrus had gotten lucky a few times, the Geth shielding couldn't do much when a sniper round hit dead on. The three were finally able to move when both Shepard and Feral had moved along the sides enough, using the constantly repeated pillars to move quickly.
Feral's overloads hit the Geth and started forcing them back towards the stairs, the moment the group entered the bottleneck Liara through a singularity straight into the group. Raising the 4 remaining platforms up and into the air and creating what the two humans likened to shooting fish in a barrel. They could just fire repeatedly into the hovering group of machines and with a few extra rounds from Garrus and the two women's pistols, eventually the group just dropped to the floor; dead.
Shepard and Feral waited up ahead for the rest of the group to catch up to them, the non-humans sprinting across the courtyard to catch up to the two. Feral was whispering to Shepard "I can hear something typing up there and it has a heartbeat. Definitely Turian" Shepard had only nodded in response and the moment the rest of his team had caught up to them he stood up and sprinted up the stairs. The last set before the councils meeting platform was ahead of them.
By the time the team reached the top they all had their weapons pointed to the large holographic display ahead of them, at the end of the extended platform. Shepard looked back at Feral "Are you sure you heard him?"
Feral just nodded, concentrating as hard as he could on listening "Yes definitely…..he's still here but there's some sort of humming…." He shook his head slightly trying to get a bead on it.
"Humming?...Oh crap" Shepard turned back as Saren floated up into the air, riding on top of his humming flying platform. The rogue spectre shot a few rounds towards the group as he threw a grenade to them.
Every member of Shepard's team leaping out of the way, Feral and Tali diving to the right and everyone else diving to the left. Shepard was lying with his back to the railing and he could see Saren in his periphery. Everyone else was lying flat to the ground, the raised edge barely provided any cover and not even Feral was crazy enough to crouch up. Saren had the advantage and they all knew it. However that didn't stop Feral trying to worm his way around towards a better position but a round flew over his head made him stop.
"Ah, ah, ah. I've heard about you super human but even you can't take too many rounds" Saren just clicked in amusement before he turned his attention back to Shepard "I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time Shepard"
"In time for what?" everyone was listening to the commander talk back to Saren, Feral hadn't been there for the conversation the two had on Virmire but he'd heard all about it. If anyone could talk Saren down it'd be Shepard, he just hoped they were ready for the worst if it came to that.
"The final confrontation, I think we both knew it was going to end like this" The turian clearly loved the sound of his own voice, and completely deluded "You've lost, you know that don't you? In a few minutes Sovereign will have full control of the Citadel's systems. The relay will open and the Reapers will return"
Feral and Tali could only share a smirk at Shepard's response "I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve"
Saren just laughed again "You survived our encounter on Virmire. But I've changed since then, improved. Sovereign has….upgraded me" he growled at that.
Garrus was seething, he hated what the spectre had become. He'd looked up to the man once but now it was unbelievable he ever had. Saren was a disgrace to his kind but he remained quiet. Despite everything everyone wanted to scream at the bastard they stayed quiet, letting Shepard handle it.
"You let Sovereign implant you? Are you insane?" Shepard shouted, perfectly reflecting what everyone was thinking.
"I suppose I should thank you Shepard. After Virmire, I couldn't stop thinking about what you had said. About Sovereign manipulating me. About indoctrination. The doubts began to eat away at me and Sovereign sensed my hesitation. I was implanted to strengthen his resolve"
'Keelah' Tali could only whisper across at Feral, they'd both seen the results of Reaper implantation and indoctrination in the facility on Virmire. Saren was a lost cause, there was no way he was walking away from this alive.
"Now my doubts are gone. I believe in Sovereign completely. I understand that the Reapers need organics. Join us and Sovereign will find a place for you too" Saren concluded his speech, you could hear the pride dripping from his voice.
Shepard had been controlling the level of his voice but now he was losing that control "Sovereign's controlling you through your implants! Don't you see that?" he screamed at the turian "Sovereign hasn't won yet, I can still stop it from taking control of the station! Step aside and the invasion will never happen!"
Suddenly a sound no one expected, desperation in Saren's voice "We can't stop it! Not forever! You saw what happened to the Protheans." Visions of death, organics being torn apart by machines. An endless and useless struggle passed in front of Shepard's eyes. "The Reapers are too powerful"
"Some part of you must realise this is wrong! You were a spectre! You can fight this!" Shepard had picked up on the desperate tone of Saren's voice, appealing to whatever honour he had left was his only chance.
Saren panted slightly, his hands coming up and clutching his head "Maybe you're right. Maybe there still is a chance for….Ah!" his sentence ended in a roar of pain before he managed to utter out some more words "The implants…Sovereign is too strong….I'm sorry…it's…too late for me"
The entire team jumped up at that expecting a fight, their weapons training on Saren before they looked at each other in surprise. A weapon was already pointing at the turian's head. His own pistol. "Goodbye Shepard…..thank you" a single shot rang out as Saren squeezed his own trigger, the round passing straight through his head. The team watched as his body and glider just dropped down to the grass below.
Shepard and his squad slowly dropped their weapons. Feral sighed and looked over at Tali "Is it bad that in the end I felt sorry for him? He was indoctrinated…I mean he was obviously a bastard before this but…this was all Sovereign's doing…..God why can't things just be black and white?" He groaned as he pulled his recon hood off, shoving it under his chest plate.
Tali put a hand on his shoulder "the universe is funny like that….I remember one time I found a base full of dead scientists and soldiers. The man who killed them turned out to be good guy despite what he'd done….and look where he is now. He's stood by my side this whole time" she smiled gently from behind her helmet "Sometimes grey is a good thing as well Feral"
The two started walking around as Shepard stepped up to the holographic terminal "Well….when you put it like that I guess I can't argue" he laughed slightly
Tali squeezed his shoulder gently as they walked "as for whether it's bad to feel sorry for Saren….in the end he stopped himself….he realised what he'd become and took his own life…somehow I agree with you." She shrugged, it was confusing. He'd caused so much pain and suffering but it hadn't been all him. It was the reaper Sovereign "I'm just glad it's going to be over soon" that made Feral grin even more
"Hell yes it is" he smirked as he joined up with Shepard, Garrus and Liara had only just beaten them there and Shepard had his omni-tool up. He was uploading Vigil's data file and after a few moments his omni-tool beeped and flashed.
"The data file worked, I have full control of the systems" Shepard smiled, it was the first really good piece of news they'd had all day.
Liara was the first to speak up "Quick! Open the citadel arms! Maybe the fleet can destroy Sovereign before he takes control of the entire station"
Shepard looked over at Feral "See if you can open a communications channel with the Fleet" the super human just nodded and both he and Tali huddled around his omni-tool as they got to work. It only took a few seconds though, one channel was open across the board and the voice rang out into the council hall.
"…the Destiny Ascension. Main drives offline. Kinetic barriers down 40%. The council is on board. I repeat. The council is on board!" the Asari's voice came through loud and clear.
Before Shepard could even think Joker's voice came ringing out of his omni-tool "Normandy to the Citadel. Normandy to the Citadel. Please tell me that's you Commander"
Everyone smiled at the sound of Joker's voice. They'd never ever admit it to him later on but knowing the Normandy was out there made their day even better. "I'm here Joker"
"We caught the Destiny Ascension's distress call Commander. I'm sitting here in the Andura sector with the entire Arcturus fleet. We can save it! Just unlock the relays and we'll bring in the cavalry!" you could hear it in his voice, he was itching for a fight as well.
"I don't want to sound cruel but….what did the council ever do for us? We should hold back the reinforcements and put them all into destroying Sovereign. We'll need every ship we have to take that monster down" Garrus said, it was cruel but simple mathematics and he had a point.
Liara glared at him slightly before turning back to Shepard "John Sovereign is a threat to all species, we can't put humanity first! You can't let all those people die" and there was the second valid point, Shepard had two choices.
"What's the order Commander? Do we come in now and save the Ascension or should we hold back?" Joker needed an answer now and Shepard wasn't ready to give it, he was too deep in thought when he heard Feral talk from the rear of the group.
"Shepard…the only thing you need to look at to make this decision is this group. Turians, Asari, Quarians, Krogan, Humans and….other" he gestured to himself for that one "The simple truth is humanity can't do this alone and this group has proven that. We need them Shepard, and killing the council is only going to push them away. Save the Ascension because the truth is when humanity is left to its own devices….we'll just tear ourselves apart."
Shepard listened to everything he said and Feral laid it out pure and simple, it didn't matter if Sovereign was a threat to all species. It didn't matter if lives were lost because that was inevitable either way. The truth was the decision boiled down to did they need the support of other races, and the answer was yes. Feral himself was proof of his last statement.
Shepard smiled as he opened the link to Joker again "Opening the relays now Joker. We need to save the Ascension no matter the cost" Feral smiled back at Shepard and even Garrus agreed with the super soldier's logic. He'd done it on Noveria and now he'd done it again. In the end the past didn't matter and neither did race, they all needed each other and letting the council die was a bad idea.
High above the Citadel, the Normandy followed by the rest of the Arcturus fleet. Within minutes the Destiny Ascension had been saved, it had cost the Alliance several ships in the process but the surprise attack from the Alliance Navy surprised the Geth fleet enough that the casualties weren't higher. After the Ascension had been cleared, the citadel arms slowly started to open. The black squid shaped form of Sovereign attached the council tower became visible to the entire fleet as the Normandy began its attack run, leading the Alliance and Citadel fleet's attack on the reaper.
Shepard watched as the citadel arm's opened in front of the window, smiling as he could see ships flooding towards Sovereign before he looked down to the bottom of the chamber. "Make sure he's dead" he glared at Saren as he gave the open order.
"No problem Shepard" Feral said from the back of the group, before looking over the edge of the platform. Picking Tali up he then walked off the edge of the platform and landing firmly into the ground below, the metal in his legs combined with his dense muscles taking the full brunt of the fall. It helped Tali didn't weigh a lot as well but after he put her down she hit his shoulder.
"Bosh'tet, you could've told me you were going to do that" she glared at the smiling human as they made their way towards Saren's body.
Feral just grinned playfully as he took out his pistol, he was sure he could hear Garrus making remarks on the way he'd grabbed Tali from up ahead but right now he was more focused on Saren. He certainly sounded dead, no noises whatsoever, but it was better to be safe. "Oh please Tali, you were in very safe hands" pulling his phalanx pistol up and aiming straight at the dead Turian's forehead he squeezed the trigger three times. One bullet into his forehead and two straight into his chest.
Tali just sighed and watched as Feral put three rounds into Saren. She opened her radio link to Shepard "If he wasn't dead before, he is now" closing her radio again. "Feral…you're right. I do trust you but you could still give me a heads up before you walk off a platform that high up" pointing up at the platform way above them "I'm still getting used to the fact you are very difficult to break" she giggled at that, the way he acted you forgot he was practically impossible to hurt.
Feral laughed at that as well, his phalanx was back on his thigh "Fair enough Tali, I promise the next time I leap off something with you in my arms I'll tell you first" he teased as he stepped up towards her, they were under the platform so no one could see them. Gazing happily into her eyes before suddenly the entire tower rocked. Red bolts of energy started streaming throughout the room "What the fu-"
Suddenly the red energy bolts flew into Saren's corpse, the energy making it twist and contort. Feral and Tali stepped back and looked up at the platform above them. Looking for any reason to what was happening but before they could even call to Shepard the energy exploded out of Saren's body. The shockwave blew them both back, luckily for the pair of them it was just a shockwave; no fire, no shrapnel. Tali went off one way and rolled along the grass and Feral went flying into the pillar behind them.
The force from the shockwave and the weight of Feral impacting the tower shook the platform Shepard, Garrus and Liara were standing on loose. Collapsing down and breaking through the rest of the glass before they rolled off. Groaning in pain from the sudden stop of the floor, Shepard looked up and saw for the second time a dead body getting up again. Saren was moving, groaning and roaring as the red energy swirled around his body before his skin and clothing started melting away.
As everyone was picking themselves up off the floor, Shepard just watched as the implants under Saren's flesh were slowly revealed, the metal exoskeleton just stood there staring at him and his team. The red energy crackling inside its metallic rib cage, compared to Feral's metal weaving though instead of shiny titanium was a dark, dull metal. His eyes met the throbbing red balls of energy in the robot's skull before its voice rang out.
"I am Sovereign, and this station is mine!" Saren's voice but with a deeper tone, Sovereign had taken total control of Saren's body. Sovereign's avatar then crouched down and leapt up onto the ceiling firing an energy beam at Shepard's team as they scrambled to their feet, reaching for their weapons.
"By the Goddess what is that?" Liara managed to scream as they dived into whatever cover they could find, grabbing their weapons as the avatar fire rapid energy beams and pulses at them. It was hopping around too fast for them to get a good bead on it.
Shepard and Feral were trying their best though, firing long bursts from their assault rifles whenever they could. But whatever shots they managed to get on the machine just bounced off its shielding before any of them reached it. "It's Sovereign! Liara get a stasis on that thing, stop it from moving. Tali and Feral knock its shields out as fast as you can and Garrus just shoot the bastard!" Shepard barked out to his team and they quickly followed his orders.
Assault rifle fire was coming from the two humans and Garrus, trying to put as many rounds into it as possible. Overloads were being thrown at the machine as quickly as the two techs could muster, but the shields were strong the sustained fire and overloads weren't putting much of a dent on it. Liara was trying her best to stasis the avatar but it was moving so fast she couldn't focus the biotic power onto it.
"I can't get a fix on it Shepard!" Liara shouted across the room.
Feral growled, he was fed up of this thing running rings around them, he primed a grenade and then jumped up out of cover the moment he saw the machine latch onto the roof. Releasing the grenade as a beam connected with his shoulder knocking him back onto the ground as it immediately penetrated his shields. Luckily for him the grenade hit the machine and detonated, it didn't get through its shielding but the force knocked it to the ground.
It gave Liara her opportunity, as the machine scrambled around on its back trying to roll over she hit it with a stasis. Freezing the machine on the floor and allowing Shepard's team to hit it with everything they had. Feral was unable to fire his weapon but he still hit the machine with an overload along with Tali. Finally the machines shields fell and both Shepard and Garrus followed that with as much gun fire as they could, followed by several HE grenades. The explosions kicked dust and smoke into the air, and it obstructed their view of the avatar.
Tali was with Feral as they both watched the smoke swirl around, she was putting medi-gel onto his shoulder. The armour plating had taken most of the beam but it'd burnt some of his exposed skin and he was bleeding a little, the medi-gel was taking care of the pain and Feral's healing was reforming the damaged skin very quickly. "Thanks Tali" he smiled through the pain as it started to subside, stretching out his hand before he picked up his rifle again.
She was about to respond, her fingers tracing along the edges of the quickly healing skin, but she was interrupted by the movement of the avatar as the smoke dissipated. "Keelah you've got to be kidding me."
The avatar was damaged, its shield was still down, but it was still moving. Pieces of the exoskeleton were missing and sparks were erupting from several of its joints. It just howled again before crawling at lightning speed towards Liara, the Asari was its biggest concern and if it took her out. No more stasis. Gun fire was bouncing off its metal body as it quickly moved towards the woman. She was moving back as fast as she could, doing whatever she could to try and slow it down.
The avatar just kept coming and it was within striking distance and it leapt towards her but a shoulder came up and hit it in the side of the head, knocking it down onto its side. Garrus had shunted into its side, the turian wasn't the strongest member of the team but he'd taken the machine by surprise in mid-air. The avatar rolled over onto its side before quickly bringing on of its arms up and brushing the turian away, sweeping its arm into him.
Garrus was thrown off his feet and onto his side, he thought he may have been able to get a shot off into the avatar but it had recovered faster than he'd anticipated. The blow to his shoulder had been hard, shouting out as he collapsed to the floor. His arm felt dead and he was sure he'd probably broken it slightly. When he looked up again he expected to see the Avatar coming to finish him off but instead he saw Feral.
The super human had watched Garrus' charge and he'd followed it up, if it had worked he could've joined in with the follow up attack. Two assault rifles would've torn the machine apart but as he watched Garrus get swiped to the side he released the hold on his trigger, gripping his M-8 tightly in his left hand as he brought his arm back. Unleashing an overload just to ensure the shield was completely dead he threw his fist forward, connecting with the avatar's head dead on before it could move.
The force of his punch was summated along with the speed he had moved, he'd been sprinting to back up Garrus and his forward momentum collected into his hand. The metal of the avatar's head was hard and instead of disintegrating immediately, the side of its face exploded removing the left cheek and sending it reeling into the wall. This time the machine was disorientated, it'd lost part of its left eye and the force had broken some connections in its neck.
By the time it could see the super human again, Feral had taken a hold of his rifle again and he'd been joined by Shepard and Tali. The three proceeded to fire everything they had into the machine before it had any time to move at all. Two assault rifles and a shotgun tore into the avatar, Tali was shooting as quickly as she could but the two men were just holding down the trigger. The barrage of small arm's fire only lasted between 10 and 20 seconds but the damage was colossal, the close range power of their weapons had torn apart the machine. They just watched as a final energy surge covered the machine's body before the metal dissolved completely.
The entire group gave a sigh of relief, Garrus groaning in pain as he clutched his arm. Shepard moved over to the Turian and pulled him up onto his feet. Feral just called over "That's what you get for trying to be me Garrus" chuckling slightly before adding when he noticed Liara staring daggers at him, Garrus probably saved her life "But….good job buddy, we couldn't have won without it" he smiled at Garrus before Liara rolled her eyes and went over to help Shepard with the broken turian.
Feral and Tali lead the group back up to the upper level of the council chamber. Feral gave Tali a boost up to the level above before doing the same with Shepard and Liara. Shepard then helped him move Garrus up, they weren't completely sure how bad his arm was but considering the threat was gone and they'd rather avoid incurring the wrath of Karin Chakwas by making it worse. Tali and Liara were walking off with Garrus towards the elevator while Shepard leant down and offered his hand to Feral, who took a running leap up the wall and grabbing the commander's hand.
Feral and Shepard sighed happily as they looked out of the council window, they could see the battle raging on but they had no idea how it was going. "Thank god this is over Shepard…." Feral smiled weakly as he rubbed his hand through his hair.
Shepard could only smile back before sighing "Sovereign won't be the last…..the truth is we've only delayed the inevitable"
Feral just laughed at that, making Shepard give him a confused look "Just enjoy the moment Shepard, we've won the battle. Let's take some joy from that" his face dropped as suddenly a shadow started to cover them. Looking up the two soldiers both saw a large piece of debris hurtling towards them. In the split second they had to analyse the object, it looked like one of Sovereign's arms.
Two things ran through Shepard's mind. One, the fleets had destroyed Sovereign and this really was over for now, and two "Everybody run! Take cover now!" Shepard screamed as both he and Feral started running after the rest of the group, who were already down the stairs. They'd only just reached the stairs when the arm crashed through the window and the council chambers exploded with dust and smoke.
Tali turned back briefly and the last thing she saw was smoke and dust enveloping Shepard and Feral before the advancing debris and smoke reached them. The three of them dived for cover as pieces of the Reaper destroyed the surroundings and threatened to crush them. The last thing she saw before the smoke eventually caught up to her was Garrus dragging her out of the way of a falling piece of metal.
- 10 minutes later –
Captain Anderson had a small squad of C-sec with him. They were just leaving the elevator into the Council chamber; the place was a mess with pieces of Sovereign strewn all over the place. Small fires in the corners of the room and he could taste the smoke and dust lingering in the air. A C-sec officer lead the way, weaving and ducking around and under the rubble and metal, his omni-tool lighting a path for the small group.
Anderson had no idea what to expect, he could only pray that when they came across Shepard's team they'd still be alive. He heard the C-sec officer call back that he'd found a body but within seconds he muttered that it was just a Geth. Anderson smiled at that, no matter what had happened in here Shepard and his team had given the synthetic's one hell of a beating.
They'd finally hit what seemed like a dead end, a piece of the Reaper was blocking their path but the officer had found a small panel he could pull out of the way. He watched as the officer ducked down and immediately looked back with a smile on his face "We've found them Captain"
Anderson was relieved to hear that, ducking down and following the officer he saw three figures ahead of him. The turian, Garrus. The Asari, Liara. The Quarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. But the two humans were missing, Feral and Shepard were nowhere to be seen. He choked out the only question he could muster "Where's Shepard? Where's Feral?" he looked to the group in front of him for answers but all they did was look at the ground and shake their heads. Tali looked towards the back of the room.
Anderson sighed and told the officer's to help them up, he could see Garrus was hurt and favouring his right arm considerably. The two women looked in pain but it was probably for dodging flying metal and smoke. He turned back as the group was dragged to their feet but some scrambling in the distance caught their attention.
Shepard suddenly appeared from the rubble behind him, his forehead was bleeding slightly from a small cut and his right arm looked a little limp. He was panting and the group couldn't believe what they were seeing until their train of thought was broken by a short ragged sentence "I need help, now!" he quickly turn and slid back down the debris he was on.
Anderson just followed as fast as he could, he was joined by several C-sec officers and Tali. She'd shoved the officer helping her off him, she wasn't that hurt and if Shepard was asking for help it could only mean that Feral was in trouble. The group rushed after Shepard and finally they found the source of his plead for help.
Feral just groaned out a laugh "Sleeping Beauty is back with help….about time this thing is getting really heavy" he was panting heavily. He was on one knee with his other foot planted firmly into the ground, across his shoulders was a huge piece of metal debris. Below him was a small rock with blood on it, it must have been Shepard's. Neither Anderson nor the officers could believe what they were seeing, to Tali and Shepard it just seemed so normal, but they were watching a feat of strength that no human should be capable of.
Anderson quickly moved forward and the officers joined him, the captain kneeling between Shepard and Tali as they tried to help hold up the beam but he knew they truth. Shepard was hurt and the few officers he had didn't have the combined strength to help lift it up. But that wasn't the most major concern. Protruding from underneath Feral's collar bone, just next to his shoulder, was a thin, circular spike. Even if he did still have the strength to move the debris, he was connected to it.
Feral was still panting, groaning as he tried to get into a comfortable position but it was difficult. The metal was pushing him into the grass beneath him and the spike in his shoulder meant he really couldn't move a lot. After watching Tali and Shepard and a couple of the officers try but fail to relieve the pressure on Feral Anderson just asked him "What do we need to do? How can we help?"
Feral forced a small laugh in between panting "Is Wrex over there? I could really use him right now" he sighed when Anderson just shook his head "Ok…..I need you to cut through the spike but I need you to cut between my shoulder and this thing " nodded his head up towards the debris. The spike was going through at a diagonal angle and there was no way he could push the spike out of himself.
"If we do that you'll be burnt!" Tali tried to stay calm but her voice betrayed her, she was starting to panic. The spike was stopping Feral from bleeding too badly but if the pain made him drop this thing on top of him he'd be crushed.
Feral looked up at her as best as he could "That's why you'd have to cut quickly….don't worry I can take the pain. I didn't come this far to die now" he grinned up at her, his infectious smile.
Damn that smile of his "Keelah…." She sighed before nodding "Ok then Feral" she punched up her omni-tool and got the cutting mechanism ready.
Shepard and Anderson just looked at each other, Shepard nodded towards the captain but Anderson had to ask "Are you sure about this?" he stared straight into Feral's animalistic red eyes. The gaze he found in return showed nothing but a will to survive he'd only ever seen in the best marines he'd ever served with, including Shepard.
"Yes" Feral said simply, his voice as calm and focused as possible as he gripped onto the debris however he could, bolstering his shoulders and legs.
Anderson ordered the officers he had to help him hold it, they wouldn't do much but if the super human did start easing off because of the pain they could help take any slack. They took a second to move into position grabbing onto it anyway they could. They nodded over to Anderson and Tali nodded as well. They were all ready.
"You know Shepard…if you hadn't tripped and hit your head on that bloody rock this never would have happened" Feral just laughed as he looked at the commander
"So this is all my fault?" Shepard smiled back at Feral as he joked
"Well…..yeah it is. You're the one who released me remember" Feral took a deep breath "I had to pay you back for that somehow didn't I? And catching this huge piece of Sovereign is my way of saying thank you….now can we please get it off me?" he was breathing slowly, waiting for Tali to start cutting.
Tali had pushed one of her hands down onto Feral's shoulder, moving the joint down slightly so she could cut as far away from him as possible. She lit up the cutting torch on her omni-tool and started burning through the piece of metal, in her periphery she could see the molten metal bubbling on Feral's shields before they dripped through and burnt through his clothing. She couldn't see Feral's face but she could hear him holding back as the smell of burning flesh started to fill the air.
Anderson and Shepard could only watch as Feral's face starting contorting in pain, luckily for him one of the C-sec officers had taken the initiative and was swiping as much of the metal of him before it seared too badly. But it was still agony, he was biting down on his lip as hard as he could and was trying to focus on other things. He'd been in this position before, it was practically torture all over again, and he could take a 'light' burning.
Shepard grabbed the side of his head and pulled him up to look at him, his sudden action was caused by the steady constant stream of blood pouring down the sides of Feral's chin. His canines had pierced straight into them and he needed Feral to concentrate on getting through this "C'mon Feral, it hurts I know but you can do this. You've been through worse and instead of scientists you've get friends around you" he smiled as he saw the look of determination rise in Feral's eyes again.
Feral roared out finally as he felt his shoulder come free, Tali had finally cut all the way through and the moment she did he pushed himself up onto his feet. Holding the debris on his shoulders as best as he could, Tali and the officers quickly moving out of the way as they watched him lift the metal up. Finally letting it drop behind him as he fell forward onto his knees, panting and groaning as he grabbed the rest of the spike and pulled it out of his shoulder. He nearly collapsed from exhaustion but Anderson grabbed him in mid fall.
Anderson slowly pulled the panting man to his feet and slung his right arm over his shoulder. His left arm was burnt and still bleeding from the spike, but it was starting to heal quickly. Feral was mainly just exhausted, holding the debris for so long had taken it out of him and every muscle in his body was aching. "Well done son, now let's get you all patched up"
Feral hanged off the man's arm, smiling until he felt another figure gently prop his other side up. Tali had checked his burns and she could see them quickly started to heal over again before she took his left arm and wrapped it over her neck. "Thank you….both of you. As for patching up I'll be fine in a bit….I'm just really tired" he laughed breathlessly, small trails of blood trailing down his chin, as they started to all make their way out of the council chamber.
Shepard was walking in front of the group before turning around "Considering what we've just accomplished…I'd say we've earnt a little rest" he smiled back at the super soldier. After everything they'd gone through. Saren was dead, Sovereign was destroyed. The reaper invasion had been stopped for now and the Geth were in complete disarray. They'd have to spend a few months cleaning up the last of them but for now, the battle had been won.