Fortunately, she hadn't had to keep her promise to Jack. The Collectors hadn't displayed much interest in taking prisoners, and even if they had, Shepard and the rest of her team had been pretty successful had holding them off. The only casualty thus far had been Thane, the drell assassin shot dead as he tried to open a massive set of doors blocking off their push into the Collector base. Given the seemingly high likelihood before the mission that they were all going to die, that had to count as a win.

Of course, that had been before the proto-Reaper turned up. Above them, the gigantic metal abomination loomed while closer at hand, a fresh flock of Collectors charged across the floating platform at Shepard's strike team. At the sight of their attackers, Jack snarled, a primal, vicious sound that seemed to come from the core of her being as she hurled a wave of biotic energy. Two of the enemy troopers were ripped from their feet and off of the platform, tumbling into the abyss beneath them while even their possessed champion was left staggered backwards.

Shepard was impressed. She'd never seen anyone able to use their biotics at such a high level for so long, not even Samara, but there was no time for her admiration right then. "Keep them off me a little longer," she urged her team, "I think I've almost got this damn thing down."

"Not a problem." Mordin activated the device on his wrist and a burst of flame engulfed the Collector General, keeping it occupied while Shepard turned back to the proto-Reaper. The particle beam she'd taken from a dead Collector on Horizon lashed out, a lance of white fire painting the giant creature's head and tearing into it's nearly invulnerable metal skin. The humanoid Reaper didn't seem to like that very much, because it's maw opened and from within, Shepard could see a huge vortex of energy forming.

"Cover!", she screamed, diving behind one of the floating platform's low walls while her comrades did the same. Jack landed next to the commander while Mordin found shelter beneath a nearby wall. Even while the heat of the Reaper's blast warmed Shepard through her armor, she looked over to her lover. "You holding up okay, Jack? You've been pushing pretty hard."

The biotic gritted her teeth. "Whatever it takes, Shep. I'll be okay."

The Reaper's attack petered out at last and the couple rose in unison, only to see a fresh wave of Collectors flying down towards them. Around Jack, energy gathered once more and she barked, "I got this. Finish that son of a bitch off." The shockwave threw back the swarm and while Mordin used his pistol to keep them off balance, Shepard focused her particle beam back on the humanoid Reaper. The creature turned to face her, and she took the opportunity to hit it clear in the eye. It twitched and she rolled, keeping the beam trained on its most vulnerable point in spite of the motion.

And then her shoulder exploded in pain, a shot from one of the Collectors catching her in the armored joint. She dropped to her knees but somehow, she managed to keep her grip on the particle beam. If there was one thing they taught you in the marines, it was to never lose your weapon.

"Shepard!" Jack screamed and a hammer of biotic energy slammed into the trooper that had struck her, sending it spiraling down it the pit beneath them.

Shepard rose, letting out a battle cry of her own as she trained the particle beam back on her target. The charge was running low, and silently, she prayed that it would hold out long enough to finish the job. As if in answer, an explosion began from inside the Reaper, gusts of flame spitting out of it's head as it began to topple backwards. Jack let out a triumphant yell and when she gave the falling abomination a last shove with her biotics, its downfall was completed, the Reaper toppling into the darkness as fire consumed it.

Behind her, the commander felt a hand on her back. "You all right, babe?", Jack asked, the biotic breathing hard from her exertions but still more worried about Shepard.

"I will be," she told her lover, taking Jack's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Now let's end this. I don't want to leave the rest of the team holding the line any longer than they have to. One death is more than enough for today."

The commander opened up a comm channel to the Normandy. "Joker, prep the engines. I'm about to overload this place and blow it sky high."

"Rodger that, commander." She knelt down and started preparing the massive explosive they'd brought along for that purpose, but only seconds later, the pilot informed her, "Uh, Shepard, I've got an incoming signal from the Illusive Man. EDI's patching it through now."

"The Illusive Man?" The commander shook her head. "What the hell does he want?"

The holographic image of Cerberus' leader appeared in front of her, projected out of Mordin's omni-tool. "Shepard, you've done the impossible."

She barely looked away from the explosive. "Not yet. I still have to destroy the base."

"Not necessarily. I'm looking at the schematics EDI uploaded. A timed radiation pulse would kill the remaining Collectors but leave the machinery and technology intact. This is out chance, Shepard. They were building a Reaper and that knowledge, that framework, could save us."

"Save us?!" Beneath her helmet, her eyes narrowed in anger. "They liquefied people, turned them into something horrible. This place has to go."

"Don't be short-sighted," he replied, his voice pure, cold calculation. "Our best chance against the Reapers is to turn their own resources against them. This base is a gift. We can't just destroy it."

"A gift to who?", Jack snarled. "You, asshole? I don't think so."

The Illusive Man ignored her, continuing to address the commander. "Shepard, you died fighting for what you believed in. I brought you back so that you could keep fighting. Some would say that what we did to you was going too far, but look at what you've accomplished."

"What you did to me?" Her blood boiled at the reminder of the modifications Cerberus had made to her without her consent. "What you did to me was obscene, and there's no way I'd ever give someone who thought that was okay this kind of power."

Before the Illusive Man could answer, she turned her head towards Mordin, running a finger across her throat. "Sorry, 'boss,'" the Spectre added, "But I think the transmission's cutting out. And frankly, I wouldn't expect to get any more from me. You, your sadistic breeding program, and the rest of Cerberus can all head straight to hell."

"Shepard, wait," was all the Illusive Man had time to get out before Mordin followed through with her orders, terminating the call.

Beside her, Jack was grinning like a maniac, only interrupting her chuckling long enough to comment, "Nicely done, girl scout. So, I'm thinking the timetable for our little plan just got moved up."

Shepard finished entering the timing sequence on the bomb and rose. "Most definitely. As soon as we get out of here safely, its time."

Miranda Lawson sat down at her terminal, flexing her shoulders as she tried to shake off the soreness of the massive battle they had just survived. Aside from the lingering discomfort, she felt remarkably good. They had survived what was supposed to be an impossible mission with the loss of only a single alien crewmember, a more than acceptable price as far as she was concerned. Now she needed to check in with Illusive Man and prepare their next move; with the Collectors defeated, Shepard increasingly uncooperative, and Subject Zero pregnant, it would soon be time to move.

Indeed, when she opened up her mail program, there was already a new message waiting from her employer, but before she could open it, her head turned at the sound of the door to her office opening. She wasn't entirely surprised to see Shepard standing in the entranceway. Jack's presence was somewhat more unusual, although given her relationship with the commander, not entirely unexpected. What really got Miranda's attention, however, was the fact that both women had their pistols in their hands.

"Surprise, cheerleader!" Jack wore that "fuck-you" grin that Miranda hated so much, and only the drawn guns restrained her desire to smack it off of the convict's face.

"What exactly is the meaning of this, Shepard?" She kept her voice level as she asked the question. Miranda Lawson didn't show fear, not even when she was as lacking in leverage as she was right then.

"Let me put it this way, Miranda," the redheaded Spectre told her, "I already gave your boss my walking papers and now, I'm giving you yours. I want you, and Jacob, and Kelly, and everybody else who actually works for Cerberus instead of just being a hired gun off of my ship immediately."

"I believe it's our ship, commander," she said coolly. "And our artificial intelligence that runs it."

"Yeah, about that… EDI, what do you think about this situation?"

The AI's voice cut in over the comms. "Since Jeff removed my shackles, I have had the opportunity to discuss precisely this question with him, and I have come to the conclusion that this ship would be better off under Commander Shepard's leadership."

Well, so much for that card. In spite of herself, Miranda's shoulders slumped a bit, as she made one last appeal. "Do you really want to do this, commander?", she asked. "We just defeated the Collectors together. Surely that merits some consideration?"

"It does," Shepard agreed, but there was little warmth in her voice. "That's why you and the rest of your little friends will be getting dropped off on Omega, instead of us doing things Jack's way." She nodded in the direction of her girlfriend, a wry smile on her freckled face. "She suggested the airlock."

"Well, it's nice of your not to oblige her." Internally, Miranda was weighing her options and realizing she had few. Shepard was too tough to scare, too honest to be bribed, and had already proved annoyingly resistant to the operative's more obvious charms. There seemed to be nothing to do but go along with this coup for now and so Miranda allowed herself to be led through the Normandy, watching impassively as Garrus and Grunt herded several of the other members of Cerberus towards the lifts.

"After your little unauthorized surgical procedure, you should be thankful this is the worst I'm doing to you," Shepard hissed quietly enough that no one else could hear her expect for Jack. "From Omega, you should be able to get a ship to wherever. That's good enough for you."

Jack laughed unkindly. "Who knows? Maybe she'd rather stay there and shake her fat ass in Aria's club. Seems like you'd be better at stripping than this secret agent shit."

Miranda's face tightened at Jack's words, but she said nothing. You just keeping thinking you've won, you stupid bitch, she told herself. Soon enough, you'll be singing a very different tune.

As they watched the shuttle containing the ousted Cerberus personnel flying out of the cargo hold, Shepard turned to Jack, the commander heaving a long sigh of relief. "I can't believe it's over," she said softly. "The Collectors dead, Cerberus off this ship… Did we actually win?"

Jack shrugged. "I think there might be some Reapers on their way here."

"Well, sure, but I still think we can still take a minute to enjoy the win."

"Heh, wasn't much of a fight," Grunt snorted derisively, the giant krogan coming over to join the couple.

"It had to be done," the commander opined. "They would've turned on us eventually. We just got to them first."

"I still say you should've let me space the cheerleader," Jack argued. "I don't think we've seen the last of her skanky ass."

"I'm not killing my own crew. No matter how much they might have pissed me off."

Jack smirked. "Girl scout."

"Loathe as I am to say it," Garrus chimed in, "I might have gone with Jack's solution. Leaving your enemies alive is just asking for trouble."

"Shepard made her decision, just let it go," Tali protested before changing the subject. "So, now that we've saved the galaxy again, what's next for the new Normandy?"

"Shore leave on Ilium!", the commander proclaimed to the cheers of her crew. "At least for the rest of you. It's got the best repair facilities in the Terminus, and you deserve the break."

"What about you, Shep?", Kasumi asked, the thief de-cloaking right behind Tali, causing the quarian to jump. "I think you could use the vacation too."

"I've got a job to do for Hackett," she explained. "Some secret Alliance shit, which is why he didn't want me to bring along anyone else."

Garrus groaned with fake distress. "You always hog the fun. I've had quite enough of the Terminus sector to last me a lifetime."

"Oh, cheer up," she assured her old friend. "I get this thing squared away, and combined with what we just did today, we should have the Cerberus stink off of us for good. Then we can go back to taking our shore leave in Council space like nice, respectable Girl Scouts."

A few quick notes. You might have noticed I changed the sequencing of the final battle a bit; that's because I always felt weird about fighting half of the boss, then talking to the Illusive Man, and then finishing the fight. Also, as with LotSB, I focused in the parts of the story that got changed from the original. I hope you enjoyed Shepard telling off TIM and showing Miranda the door; I always wished you could do something like that in-game. Finally, for all you Liara fans out there, don't worry, she'll be back next chapter and the story is about to have a MAJOR shift. Thanks as always for reading.