Chapter 7… 7 is one of my favorite numbers, and because of this I'm going to try extra hard here. There will be action. There will be death. There will be everything you expect from an adventure! (At least I'll try to make it this way, if I fail that'd be embarrassing XD) Hopefully I've built my little world up a bit with the previous chapters, and I truly hope you enjoy what is to come… I did! As usual, Mass Effect is owned by Bioware, now enjoy this and Keelah Se'lai!

Ch. 7: The Crucible

Citadel

Commander Shepard

Shepard stopped walking to listen to the Crucible dock. He had done it, he had saved everyone in the galaxy again, and hopefully permanently this time. He was so filled with satisfaction that his mission was finally over he didn't look out the window to see the gigantic Reaper known as Harbinger barreling towards the Council Chambers. Anderson had also turned his head from the window at the sound of the Crucible docking, not noticing the colossal abomination readying its weapons…

Harbinger fired into the Council Chambers. Anderson turned to the sound, and saw for only a moment the bright red Reaper laser. He saw nothing else; his death was quick but assured. Shepard, who was near the Illusive Man's Mech, saw his mentor, friend, and surrogate father disintegrate in an instant, and the control panel as well as half of the Council Chambers explode apart at the seams in the fiery blast. The Citadel maintained the atmosphere as it had when Sovereign was destroyed, but the damage was much more significant than that time.

Shepard's heart was smashed to pieces, but his inner soldier reacted quickly. He didn't know if TIM's Mech could hope to stand up to the strength of a Reaper, but he had to try. He lifted a biotic fist and slammed into the Mech's face shield, breaking it open and finally opening the Mech. He pulled TIM's body out and Shepard threw the body to the side and climbed inside. The inside of the Mech was splattered with brains and blood, but Shepard simply ignored the slight discomforting smell and feel because he had more pressing concerns, like the Reaper of all Reapers preparing his laser for another blast. Shepard got into the Mech and lifted it to its feet with his biotics. The Mech was fully operational, and was hardly damaged, so he hoped the odds were in his favor. Harbinger then fired his beam at Shepard.

Shepard saw the bright red laser flash towards him. His life flashed before his eyes in an instant. He saw everyone he had ever known all turn to ash in his mind. The pain inside of him was far worse than the pain he felt on Mindior; he had failed not only Tali, but everyone in the entire galaxy. The emotions were unbearable, and he couldn't think; his body simply reacted. He pressed the button for the security shield and the blue orb formed in front of the Mech.

Harbinger's laser slammed into the blue orb the Mech had created, deflecting off in two directions. The laser destroyed another fourth of the Council Chambers, and blasted into other parts of the Citadel, but Shepard was still alive. The orb that had once held him as a prisoner had just saved his life.

Harbinger fired again, and again the Mech's orb deflected the laser. Harbinger screamed its Reaper scream with anger.

"Shepard, you cannot resist us! Stop this fighting! We are your genetic destiny!"

Shepard glared at the gargantuan Reaper and simply said with a determined look. "I don't think so."

Harbinger screamed again. "Shepard, you do not understand! You cannot understand! You need us as much as we need you! Stop resisting, and you will know perfection!"

Shepard kept his glare on the Reaper of all Reapers, wondering a small amount in his head about the Crucible. But the immediate fight had his immediate attention.

"And why would I need you? Why would anyone need you!? You've killed countless TRILLIONS because of your selfish cycles! No one has ever needed you, and no one will ever need you in the future! You're the one who can't understand!"

"The cycle must continue Shepard. The cycle always continues. There is no alternative. We understand that. We know that. You have been deemed worthy of ascendance! You could taste perfection! Your species could taste perfection! We are the culmination of all organic life! We are your genetic destiny and evolution cannot be halted!"

Harbinger raised itself a bit, almost as if it had opened its arms wide. "Do you not see our power? Do you not see our perfection!? You are one of the worthy, Shepard, and your mind could lead the next evolution of humanity and give humanity its true form, the perfect form of a Reaper!"

Shepard glared at the monster. "No, all you talk about is perfection, but perfection is impossible! There is no perfect life, and there is no perfect species, organic, synthetic, or both! You're nothing but an abomination! You're just a sick experiment by an insane AI to create 'peace!' I've met the Leviathans! I know their failure caused all of this! Don't you see you're nothing but a pawn to a twisted AI creation!? Don't you see you are not perfection! You're a mistake!"

Harbinger roared and fired its laser at Shepard. The orb again deflected it, but warnings began to beep. The Mech's batteries were draining rapidly.

"YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND SHEPARD! You will join us or die, you have no choice! Your mind cannot perceive our perfection! It cannot know what it has not witnessed!"

Shepard shook his head. "No, I have a choice! I have the choice to fight, and I will fight just like everyone has, as every cycle before has! I will never allow myself to join you! I will not fall to you or any Reaper! The cycle ends today!"

Harbinger fired its laser again with another Reaper scream, and it looked like Harbinger put in as much of itself as it could into the blast. Instead of using the orb, a new idea came to Shepard. He summoned all of his biotic power and distorted the orb to look like a U. The laser hit the U, and then flew right back at Harbinger. The Mech's batteries beeped once more and then died, and the Mech's systems shut down, completely exhausted from the incredible amount of energy needed to defend against the Reaper's blast. The blast, which Harbinger had put so much force into, hit and damaged Harbinger severely, crashing the abomination's shields and caused some severe surface damage, and Shepard then noticed several dreadnaughts firing at the Reaper from behind. There were Turian, Asari, Human, Quarian, Geth, and Salarian dreadnaughts letting all of their weapons rain on the Reaper of all Reapers. Harbinger was severely weakened but tried in a sort of desperation to attack the dreadnaughts firing at him. He clawed a Turian dreadnaught apart, and blasted a Human one, but the other dreadnaughts were too fast and were firing too many shots for the Reaper and with a final blast to the center of the Reaper's body Harbinger exploded apart in an inferno of fire and steel. The last thing Shepard heard from the Reaper of Reapers was "This form… Is… Irrelevant…" before the final blast destroyed it.

Shepard got out of the Mech and watched the pieces of Harbinger fly in all directions. Shepard had killed another Reaper, and now the Crucible would kill the rest. Then he noticed the Crucible was doing nothing. It was docked, and some mechanics could be heard, but there was no Reaper shut down signal coming out of it. Shepard activated his comm.

"Admiral Hackett, what's going on?"

Admiral Hackett returned the call in a voice filled with static. "Something's wrong, Shepard! The Crucible isn't firing, and everything is perfect over here. It must be something on your end."

Shepard looked around at the ruins that were once the Council Chambers. "Um sir… The control panel has been destroyed, as has most of the Council Chambers. I don't know what I'll be able to do."

Hackett returned, with more static but in a very determined voice. "You'll figure something out Shepard, you always do. We'll try to buy you some more time… But hurry!"

Shepard turned off his comms. What could he do? The control panel was destroyed, Anderson was dead… Shepard looked down and closed his eyes at the pain of knowing Anderson had lost his life, and he would never see him again. Anderson had helped him through so much, and always supported him. To see him die like that… Shepard shook his head and opened his eyes with a determined look. He had to figure something out; like Hackett said he always did, and he knew he had to get the Crucible activated or the entire galaxy would be destroyed.

Shepard walked up to one of the dead Cerberus soldiers lucky enough not to get hit by Harbinger's laser. He picked the helmet the soldier had on off of his head, and then Shepard put the helmet on his own head. He didn't know how much longer the mass effect fields would hold, and after the damage Harbinger had done he wasn't sure how much longer the tower would remain standing.

Shepard then heard a voice on his comm. "Commander, I have found something. It is in the Earth language you call English, I think you should come see it." Javik's voice said over the comm.

Shepard immediately responded. "I'm coming Javik, hold tight."

"Alright commander, but I should tell you the others are still saving civilians and won't be here."

"That's fine Javik, I'm coming."

Strange Keeper Chamber, Citadel

Commander Shepard

Shepard walked up to Javik with the Cerberus helmet still on his head. Javik was wearing his helmet as well, as the room was depressurized. A large hole, most likely caused by Harbinger's laser, was blasted out of the right wall and ceiling.

Javik turned to Shepard, "You are the Avatar of this cycle, Commander. I think it must be you who does what needs to be done."

A single panel sat in the back-center of the room next to Javik, with a single word written largely and plainly in English on the holo-pad.

The word was: Activate.

Author's endnote: YES, I AM THE EVIL MONSTER THAT LIKES GIVING YET ANOTHER CLIFF-HANGER! :D But seriously, I liked this chapter and I hope you did too. I was almost tempted to continue but… This is such a good cliff-hanger I had to stop. Hopefully you feel frustrated, which will mean you will come back (my evil mission has been completed! :D) Sorry to those who thought these were short, but I can't always write 3000+ words in one night when I've got work, college, a social life… Ha, funny joke, what's a social life? XD Anyway, rate, review, don't hit me, etc. and I hope to see you next chapter, where I promise I'll stop with the cliff-hangers and finally spill the beans of my plan… maybe…