Shepard:

Shepard stared at Ty in amazement. He literally climbed out of Saren and was now staring him down without fear. Shepard had to give it to him; he wasn't the guy that was so uncoordinated that he started a firefight with the touch of a button.

"Shepard, I'm going to need your help to take him down."

Shepard looked at his arm and saw the green aura. "You might need to take care of this stuff pinning me to the wall first."

Ty smiled and pulled his gun out. "I got a plan!"

He whipped around and began firing at Saren. Saren took two shots before finding cover nearby. Ty turned back to Shepard and ran full bore at him.

"This might hurt."

"What?"

Shepard's answer was found when Ty jumped hands first into his chest. He pierced Shepard's chest into a green rift that hurt like hell. It took only a moment but soon Ty was fully absorbed into the rift.

"Ouch."

[Sorry, Shepard, but you need an upgrade.]

The green aura that surrounded him dissipated, and he was no longer pressed to the wall. Shepard felt a tingle in the back of his neck, and two omni-tools appeared over his hands. Looking at his arms, he noticed that a blue aura was now over his armor.

"What's happening?"

It took a second but Ty finally replied.

[Shepard, in other games and universes you are a biotic or a tech user. But in this universe… I've just made you both along with your skill with guns. Now, let's kick this blue-balled turian's ass.]

Knowledge flooded Shepard's mind and he knew every move that a biotic or a techy might use. The knowledge gave him confidence allowing him to walk out into the middle of the Council chambers. A bullet whizzed at him, but a barrier flew up over him and stopped the bullet.

Saren stepped out from behind the rock garden with his pistol aimed at Shepard.

"Well, looks like you have had a few upgrades as well."

[And we see that you still look like a grasshopper.]

Saren looked around.

"Where is Ty at, did he take off and run after he freed you."

Shepard kept his voice low and whispered, "Can he not hear you?"

[Shepard, I am essentially a voice inside your head. So, no, he can't.]

"Ty is helping me. But he's not the one that's going to kick your ass; I am. So, if you have any prayers, say them now."

Saren began rapidly firing his pistol, but none of the shots got anywhere near him thanks to the barrier. Shepard pulled up his omni-tool and hit the button for a sabotage. Saren's gun overheated and he froze.

Luckily, Shepard didn't. He sprinted forward with his fist raised in the air. As soon as he was close enough, he took a swing at Saren who came out of his daze. He caught Shepard's fist and pulled him to the side for a swift hook counter.

The hook made Shepard stumble back and recentered himself with his fists up.

[Shit, I forgot you aren't that good at hand-to-hand combat.]

"That's sad, Ty should have given you some of his knowledge in hand -to-hand combat."

Shepard could feel knowledge flood his mind, as Ty's voice was once again heard.

[Kick. His. Ass.]

Saren brought a foot up and sent a roundhouse kick at him. Shepard's body moved without him thinking, and he grabbed Saren's foot. With a quick turn, there was a loud snap and Saren's ankle went limp.

"Ah, you bastard!"

Saren Swung his head forward, and head butted Shepard back.

It didn't take much to see that Saren was struggling to keep his balance with one bad foot. "What's wrong Saren, did I break something?"

Saren snarled and brought up his shotgun with a carnage shot loaded.

"No, but I will."

Shepard moved without thinking again and smacked the bottom of the shotgun. It flew into the air behind him but he rolled backwards to catch the gun. He aimed the gun right at Saren's feet and fired the carnage shot. Smoke bellowed from the shot but there was no sign of him

A gust of wind blew all the smoke away and Saren was standing with his arms behind his back and a smile on his face. Shepard looked him over and could not find any sign that he had done damage to the ex-spectre.

Saren gave a dark smile. "Good job Shepard. You really have gotten an upgrade."

Shepard put his hands up in a defensive boxing stance.

"How about I give you a downgrade?"

Saren moved faster than Shepard's eyes could track, and he picked him up by the neck. With one swift motion, Saren spun and tossed him into the air. Shepard flew into the air unable to control his limbs.

^I got this.^

Shepard felt his arms angle outward and his legs spread to shoulder length allowing him to fall to the ground flat on his back. "How did that help?"

^I moved your body to land on your back so the blow would go through out an entire side of your body instead of your head. Now, quit whining and get up.^

"Thanks", Shepard stopped as Saren picked him up by the neck again.

"You have no idea how many times I have been killed by you, Shepard. Ty would literally go back to previous saves, just to kill me again. Do you know what that is like, to die over and over?"

Shepard tried to say something but it just came out as a cough.

"No, of course not. Then again, neither did I until I found this", Saren pointed to his shoulder pad with a crudely welded sternum piece on it. "Now, I can do everything Ty can do. Even, this."

Saren drove his claw into Shepard's chest and he began to feel all the times he died and the pain. Something broke inside Shepard; it felt like he just lost his will power. Everything led down the road to three choices. It doesn't matter what he does.

"Just three?"

Ty:

I was in a panic when I saw what Saren was doing to Shepard and the effect it was having. His core was written so that he believed every choice mattered and no matter what he did, they all counted. Now, that core was being bombarded with code that said nothing mattered. Worse, it was showing him every possible outcome to every choice and every situation.

I tried to fight it with the reverse of what it was telling. I began deleting everything that was being transferred to Shepard as it came. As I did, something in my head told me that I could not stop and fix this, I had to get Shepard out of Saren's clutches.

I tried to pull myself away from Shepard's core but it wasn't working. I felt a headache coming on which did not seem possible considering I was on a different plane of existence that I didn't believe gave me an actual body. The headache cut into my very soul, and I felt myself splitting. Even my vision doubled. I felt a snap and then the headache was gone.

I looked around and didn't see anything but a mirror image of myself. It took me a second, but I realized that there was no mirror in Shepard's head. There was two of me. I could split myself off into different segments and have them take over different functions.

"Go to the memory file and start deleting everything that Shepard is receiving… now."

The other me nodded and flew off to another part of Shepard's core. I watched Shepard's reaction as it slowed and then changed as all the information he was given was deleted. Taking advantage of not having to delete incoming data from saren, I took over Shepard's motor control and made him give Saren a shot to the chin.

Saren stumbled backward and pulled his hand out of Shepard's gut. I looked over to his memory and saw that none of the future info that Saren had sent to him was there anymore. I looked over and saw that the other me was moving to his biotic control and allowed me to take tech control.

"Good, I see that Ty is still fighting. Of course, it is still too late."

Shepard charged forward, but was met with a roundhouse kick to the face that sent him flying through the air. Immediately after hitting the ground, warnings began to blare, letting me know that he was bleeding. It took only a second but I was able to patch up his cuts without medigel and keep him fighting.

I looked at Shepard's screen, but I did not see any movement. He had his hands in a purple liquid, and they seemed to be shaking. Pulling up my comm, I called him through his own mind.

[Shepard, is something wrong?]

He took a shaky breath and then looked up.

"You tell me."

The moment I saw what he did, I wanted to do as Layla had told me and let go of my emotions. Anger, rage, regret, self-loath, and sadness all ran through me at once. Tali was pinned to a wall by five giant swords and he blood had ran down to where we were laying.

Shepard looked down into the pool that we had landed in, and I saw Layla instead of Shepard's reflection. All she did was mouth the word let go, and then she vanished.

I was so desperate to win, and so angry, that I took her advice. I closed my eyes and imagined every emotion I had- and let them go. I felt nothing within a second, and all I had was logic.

I repeated the trick I did before, and split myself into three more people and directed them all to different powers and abilities that Shepard had. Next, I took up his motor control and had all of his bodily functions under my command.

"Alright Saren", I heard Shepard say. "You want to win. Then let's see you beat me when I am a User."

After standing him up, I let go of his motor functions. I needed to make something big to defeat Saren and no weapon could do it. Focusing on Shepard's right hand I began sifting through the program files that Shepard had within him that could possibly help us.

Everything in it was just file after file of combat moves, no format, delete, reset or reboot functions to be found. I took a quick glance through Shepard's eyes and saw that he was punching Saren back into a corner.

I looked back to the file and noticed something glowing with a gold aura. I brought it up and it was just a mass of code but after a couple seconds it revealed the words format and reboot. It was exactly what I needed. A correction function that the game would use if Shepard was stuck in a wall, or waist deep in the floor.

[Shepard, I found what we need to beat him. Just give me a few minutes and we will have him.]

I looked at the screen, and saw Saren grab a square gun out of his side holster.

"Hopefully, we live that long."

At one glance I knew it was the lancer.

[Get that away from him and if you can just do that and rip my piece of armor off his shoulder that will buy you more time.]

Shepard rolled into cover and grabbed out his pistol.

"Yeah, cause that's so easy."

I blocked Shepard out and began pulling apart the code by its base, and rewriting it so that we could use it as a weapon and not just a momentary fix. Luckily, it looked to have already been situated for it. My suspicions pointed to Chakwas being the culprit behind its creation and my luck in finding it.

[Done.], I said, as I looked through Shepard's eyes and saw that Saren was holding him by the neck again.

Okay, fan mail first:

WhiteDawn,

Thanks

LordCybot,

*Gaze set* Oh, I did. I ,sure as hell, did. Now, what can words not even describe? That part confused me.

,

Why does it have to be this exact chapter? Are you saying I should sacrifice story for fan service?

Guest,

Shock value and there is an actual reason for it… I just can't explain it yet. But this has been one of two things I was going to have in this story. The other thing was cutting Kratos in half. That was just awesome.

Coduss,

That's cool that you are a necromancer and a Talimancer but you can't bring her back to life… in a way that involves magic. You see, Ty is in a cyberworld and as we all know, true magic cannot affect technology. Now, I commend your efforts but I am going to have to ask you to go sit in the back of the class now.

Now, who all wants me to go back to a story that's only slightly different from the next one? In other words, do you desperately need Tali back next chapter so that your life will go on or can you accept she is dead for now and trust that I have a plan?

Now an update on the collaboration I am currently involved in. Two Sis find out they aren't a random occurrence in the universe. The both meet and have to fight through Mass Effect… again. That's right; Ty not only has to go through this shit once but twice. And let's just say that some key events will happen twice, just in different ways.

Well, that's all I can say about it without getting the other author upset or displeased or whatever he would be if I told you who it was, who the other SI is, or what Shepard is like in this. Honestly, can't really get a feel for his reactions yet. I assume he is going to act one way and he takes a ninety-degree turn on my making me be like "WTF, I was not expecting that."

Anyway, that's all for this week. I had to break this chapter into two because it was so epic, exhausting and long as the racing streaks down you underwear.