Hello Ladies and Gentlemen! And welcome to Mass Effect: Spade. This chapter is a big one. Where the crew faces off against Benezia. Either than that, I really don't have much to say.

Enjoy!

Chapter 17: Versus Benezia

Adrian's POV

Just to be honest with everyone, I was really hoping that the elevator would go slower for once. I knew what was going to happen, and I prayed that it wouldn't. Anyone who actually played the first game remembers the good Captain Ventralis, and couldn't help but feel bad for the guy. He was just a security officer, trying to keep his men and the remaining employees alive. But the bitch Benezia orders them to kill Shepard. And not a single moment of hesitation either. Just a "sorry Commander, but orders are orders". Load of bullshit really. I made sure to keep my hands on my revolvers just to be safe.

Another thing that was inevitable was the fight with Benezia. It is going to be our toughest fight thus far. And the fact that Liara would be here only complicates things. Yeah in the game she was okay at first, then heartbroken, and then totally fine with it. But this isn't a game anymore, and if she was like any other child, she would rather protect her mother than try to kill her. I thought it over and over and over, but the assassin in me won. If there is anything that will get in the way of you and your target, you would get rid of it before it becomes too big of a problem. Meaning that if Liara tries to be a heroic daughter, I will not hesitate. I can't. I've hesitated before and all that has done was get someone killed. And I will not make that same mistake twice.

The last thing that got me nervous was what Benezia has in this damned place. A Rachni Queen. I know most Paragons will spare the queen and let her be on her merry way. However, knowing that she will be captured by the Reapers and breed an army of Ravagers doesn't sit well with me. Not only that, but I'm looking at the bigger picture. I shouldn't, cause there is a huge chance we will all die, but I am anyway. The queen here, if allowed to live, will not be the one and only. She will be replaced, and we have no idea what that new queen will think. There is a possibility that it will keep the promise of not coming back, or, and I really hate to say it, but it could start another war. Some may hate me for thinking it, but I studied history and the scenario is always the same. One leader will promise happiness and peace, but once that leader is gone and replaced, the new one will completely change things. And in some cases, start a war. Germany in World War II anyone? Or better yet, Russia? Korea? You do the math.

Enough of this thinking, you need to focus Adrian. When the time comes, then I will act, but right now I need to make sure we all made it to Benezia alive. And just to make me shake my head, the elevator stops. The doors open and I could see the Captain and his team, their guns pointed at us. Well shit.

"Sorry Commander, but Benezia ordered to stop you. Team take them-"

His head exploded, a single gunshot ringed in the room. And I pulled the trigger. Call me a Renegade, but it had to be done. His team were shocked at first, and I took the opportunity. I took out my other revolver and fired a barrage of bullets at the other security officers. Taking one more out. The others took cover. I felt Eden glaring at me, but I shook it off. Right now, I had an obstacle in my way to a target, and I was not going to let that stop me.

The four of us charged out of the elevator, and did our own version of a Japanese bonsai rush. Only with loaded weapons instead of bayonets. We took out the perimeter team with ease, and rushed into next room. There were about six or seven officers here. Strange. I was sure there was more people here, unless… I shook my head. I didn't want to get think about something like that. I may be an assassin, a professional murderer some would call it, but killing innocent lives doesn't sit well with me. At least not anymore.

As we charged in I saw a Turian aim his rifle at Liara. I quickly reacted and quick activated my Omni-Bow, firing a charged arrow into the Turian's skull. Luck, that's all it really was at that moment. Still, headshot is a headshot. And when you get to the point where that is all you aim for, I guess it becomes second nature.

"GAAAH!"

I jumped when I heard someone scream, and I turned my attention to Wrex. He slammed an Asari into the ground, which caused the scream. But what he did next will forever be burned into my mind. He took out his shotgun, aimed it at her skull, and fired. Head was completely gone. And the look on her face. Uttermost fear. I hoped Liara didn't see that. She would probably of lost it right then and there.

Eden took out two more officers, and I killed the last one. We checked our bearings, and I checked the other rooms. What I found answered my initial fears. The civilians, the employees, were all piled in a mess of corpses. A few Salarians, the Elcor, a Volus, Asari, and Humans. There was one, human, that grabbed my attention. She was young, probably in her early twenties. She had brunette hair kept in a ponytail. Her eyes were open, and I could see dead green eyes looking at me. I felt like I was being judged at that moment. And I couldn't shake the feeling of regret. Regret knowing that she could've been saved. Even though there was nothing I really couldn't have done. I knelt down, and picked her body up and laid her on a cot. Placed her arms on her chest, and closed her eyes. I covered her body with a sheet.

"Wow…" A voice, female, and very familiar. I looked over and saw Eden at the doorway. She probably witnessed the entire scene. She walked towards me, and placed a hand on my shoulder. A face of concern.

"Are you okay Adrian?" she asked. She couldn't see my face, but I was a mixture of emotions. Or better yet, lost of emotion. I felt numb. Angry at first, saddened, confused, regretful and now? Just numb. I looked at the body, and I could see her face. That heartbroken young face. I wasn't okay, but I couldn't tell Eden that. She would worry. Call me prideful.

"I just want to finish this mission," was all that I said. I walked away from her. Probably a dick move, but at the moment, I don't care. I'm sure she would understand, and I know that she will want to talk about it when we get back to the Normandy. And I wasn't lying either. I wanted to get off this planet. Away from the cold, the bugs, and this… slaughter. Am I serouisly feeling this way? This regret? And why? I'm a fucking assassin for Christ sake! For seven years all I ever did was kill. I've seen shit that would scar a man for life. Ever seen a Batarian slave pin? Fucking sick. Downright disgusting. Or an Red Sand tripper who overdosed? Horrible, almost didn't even look human. I've seen the dead, the living that should be dead, and killed those who deserved to be dead. Death was just natural now. And yet, seeing that one girl. A girl I didn't even know, is causing me to feel this way. I wanted to beat my head against the wall. But that will have to wait. For right now, I wanted to kill something.

I got my wish too. Two more officers rushed in the room. Through a door that was closest to me. I didn't even flinch. I withdrew my revolver and in two quick shots, I blew off the head of each one. Okay, maybe not completely, but they were dead. I could feel the others looking at me. One I knew was impressed, and that was Wrex, but the others I felt concern. And fear. Probably Liara.

After that, we left the room. We ran into a few more guards, but they were easy to get rid of. It was two turrets that had us pinned. The turrets just kept firing, not skipping a beat. Even I was to rush in with my shield, there was a chance I would get clipped by a bullet. And I made the personal goal into not going into the med bay again.

Either it was some higher being, or a stroke of luck, the turrets stopped firing. They needed to vent their guns. That is when we sprang into action and took out the turrets. I fired a fully charged Overload which did short work for one, and Eden and Liara took out the other with Biotic combination. Good riddance too. I hate turrets. After Mass Effect 3, I will never love turrets again. Ever!

We exited the hallway, and entered the tram station. Almost there. Just a quick ride on the tram, and Benezia will be a few steps away. One by one, we entered the tram, and with a few strokes on a terminal, Eden activated the tram. We sat in silence. Wrex was in his signature stance on one of the walls. Liara was seated, and I could tell she was shaking. Her nerves were getting to her. Eden was looking out the tram window. And I? I was just seated with my arms crossed. Just counting the seconds really.

As I was seated, I heard the soft footsteps coming towards me. I looked up and saw Eden. Guess I can't wait for the Normandy.

"Adrian. What happened back there? I've never seen you act this way before," she said. I almost held a scoff. We've barely known each other for a few months, how would she know how I acted? Easy, Adrian. Don't let your nerves get to you.

"I just reacted Eden. Pure primal instinct is all," was my response. She shook her head and sat next to me.

"I'm not asking about that. I'm asking about what happened with those bodies." So it's that then.

"Can it wait till we get to the Normandy?"

"No." Fuck. I sighed and took a deep breath.

"I don't know Eden." She gave me look, and I put my hands up. "Honest, I don't know," I looked away from her. "I' saw a lot during my work as an assassin. Terrible things really. At first it was disgusting, and I felt terrible, but over time I got use to it. I was use to all the death, which probably isn't a good thing now that I think about it. But, when I saw that girl, when I looked into her eyes, I felt… different."

"What do you mean?" Eden asked.

"At first I was angry. I wanted revenge for what had happened to her. Then, saddened mixed in with confused and regret. And lastly," this time I looked at Eden. "I felt like I was being judged by her. Like she was saying that everything I did was so hateful, so… wrong, that I'll never be able to be redeemed." I shrugged and sighed. "Like I said. I don't know."

Eden just looked at me with a concern look. I guess she was trying to formulate everything I said. It was the same back at the Citadel, when I told her almost everything I've done before I joined up with the Normandy. She just looked at me, concern clearly on her face. Only, at that time it was dealing with my past, and she was probably able to say something, anything, that would help me cope. But this time, the feeling I was getting, was right now. And it was hell of confusing.

She made a gesture that she was going to speak, however, the tram came to a stop and the railing opened. She looked at the doors that would lead to possibly an upcoming battle. She watched Wrex and Liara make their way out of the tram, and then looked at me. I stood up and offered her my hand to help her up.

"We'll talk about this later," I said. She raised a brow.

"Promise?" I chuckled.

"Yeah. I promise." She looked at me for a moment, then took my hand. I hoisted her up and she let out a sigh as she started walking away.

"We are going to have a lot to talk about." And that she was right about. We were going to have a lot to discuss after today.

We followed the hallway, and in a few steps we will be meeting the Matriarch. During all this, I was mentally preparing myself. I've read fic's where they try and save the Matriarch, or try to change the story. Don't get me wrong, I would do the same. Hell, I am with the Mandalorian's. But with Benezia. I can give a shit. And honestly with the Rachni, they can fucking burn. So the way I was preparing myself was like I use to during certain jobs. The only thing was I couldn't tell myself that I could use the credits to by that one modification I always wanted. Or always hit up the bar. Which is always fun.

The only trouble was that this time, it was difficult to focus. Especially with all that is happening in my life right now. I was use to fighting for one, myself. Yeah during a time I was fighting for Stephanie but it was more in a sense of bringing food on the table, which isn't hard in my line of work. But now? Totally different. For one, I'm making sure Eden stays alive, which is an Organization mission and a person mission meshed in one. Two, the Mandalorian's. I'm the only one in the galaxy, that I know of, that actually knows everything about the Mandalorian's. If I die, than that dream dies. Plus, I promised Wrex he would be an honorary member when I get it started. And I don't back away from promises.

As we entered the area we would be fighting Benezia, I froze. The first thing that caught my eye was the big fucking bug in the tube like cell. The queen. I felt chills role up my spin. Oh how I hate bugs. What made it worse was that the thing actually looked towards me. I actually flinched and readied my revolvers.

"Commander Shepard." Enter the busty Asari now. This is when I tune out the epic monologue. I can care less what she has to say. I've played the game so I know. How Saren is an unstoppable force, and that his flagship is the Ferrari of dreadnaughts. Yeah, I know the whole thing. Sort of.

What my major concern was is the movement I was picking up on the other side of the room. From what I could tell, it was the Commandos. Oh this is going to be just like that one time on Illium. I'm already shaking with excitement.

"Have you ever faced an Asari Commando unit Commander? Few humans have," the Matriarch said. And this is when I enter.

"I have," I said in my best outlaw Han Solo voice I can give. You know, cocky and badass and can easily show it kind of voice. The Matriarch, and everyone else actually, (including the queen which was really creepy) was staring at me. Benezia looked pissed, but everyone else looked dumbfounded. I shrugged, causing Eden to roll her eyes.

"It was on Illium. Had to take out an Asari Matriarch, and their Commando unit got in the way. Pretty easy if you know where to aim." Liara's mouth dropped, but it was Benezia little "Ah moment" that got me.

"So you are the infamous Spade. You are regarded and most feared on Thessia."

"Hold up. I'm famous on Thessia? Alright!" I said. I earned a face palm from Shepard, and a chuckle from Wrex. Liara was unmoved. Still shocked at my badass enigma. Can't blame her.

"More like, infamous. Everyone wants you dead after you killed Matriarch Astra. She was a good friend." I gave my famous shrug.

"Infamous, famous, same thing." That got the bitch to twitch. I saw her biotic's flow. Just the moment I was waiting for. As she was getting ready to throw her Stasis field at us, I took out my revolvers and started firing a barrage of bullets at her. I couldn't hit her, on the count that a Commando put up a Barrier field, but it gave us the chance to get to cover. The fight is on.

Eden and Liara stayed put, and started a biotic duel with a trio of Asari. Wrex and I took cover on the other side and started blasting away at anything that charged at us. Which was only one really stupid Commando. Probably a greenhorn, but she was obliterated by a combo of Warp and an Amp Tech filled arrow. Biotic explosions, so beautiful yet so deadly. Speaking of biotic explosions, Liara and Eden were ripping their way to Benezia. They were about halfway until another wave of enemies came up. This time a mix of Geth and Asari.

This is when I actually respected Liara. She was clever with Biotics. She first threw up a Singularity at an enemies position and fired a set of Warp and Throw rounds, causing a Flare like explosion. I've only seen a Flare once during my time here, and they are hell of scary. But, she was able to push towards her mother. The only thing I could see was both of their Biotic's flared and started a power tug of war. Their biotic energy in a large mass of energy in between them. Eden was holding off a few troops herself. I wanted to head over to her, but if I do it would leave Wrex on his own.

That is when I came up with a plan. If I could get to the end of the room, I could put a hack on the door and seal it, not allowing enemies to enter. Plus, It would allow Wrex and I to give assistance to Eden on the single position. The only thing was actually getting there. Luckily I had a plan for that too.

"Wrex. I have an idea." I looked at him, and he fired a few shots from his Crusader, before he looked to me. "We need to move and take that position if we are ever going to win this."

"And how do you purpose we do that?"

"Remember the maneuver we used at the Reactor core? With my shield?" I asked him. He didn't have to think it over. He smiled and nodded, causing me to do the same. I gave the single for three seconds, at the same time I was activating my omnitool.

Three. Wrex reloaded his shotgun.

Two. I checked over my shields.

One…

With a quick burst of speed we I took off, slamming my shield on the floor. The Geth and Commando's panicked and started pelting my shield. They focused everything on me. Bullet's, Biotic's, and Tech slamming into my shield. I could feel my arm straining, but I was still confident that this will work. Because there was one thing the enemy did not see coming. A Krogan Battlemaster named Urdnot Wrex, behind me with a Claymore shotgun. He blasted the first Hunter that had the balls to charge. One shot, and white Synthetic blood sprayed on his allies. He followed up with another shot, taking out an Asari.

We moved in a rhythmic pace. The tempo from the bullets being fired by Geth pulse rifles. The harmony from the Biotic ripping in the room. The rhythm of the powers slamming into my shield. And the beat of Wrex's shotgun ripping through any unfortunate sole, or program, that tried to take us on. We punched through like we were our own little army. In a matter of a few seconds we were already on top of the position. And that's when things got more physical. There were three Commando's that stood their ground.

I slammed my shield into the one unfortunate enough to be close to me. How my shield lasted this long, I couldn't say, like I was complaining. Thanks to my Cyro tech on my shield, her barriers had to use its energy to make sure she wouldn't freeze. She thankfully slammed into her teammates, and I used a quick Snap Freeze. They were almost frozen and weak enough for Wrex to come in and finish them off.

I didn't see what he was doing to them. I was to focused on hacking the lock on the door. Keeping the flow of reinforcments is always key in a fight. Either it is war or just a hit job. The less enemies, the more likely you can win. It's just not always that cut and dry. I wish it was. The door was simple, almost too easy for me. But when you get that good as I am with Tech, hacking almost becomes second nature. The door locked, and for extra measure I placed my own counter measure in case anyone tries to hack through.

Satisfied I turned, and I noticed Wrex was already finished with the three Commandos. He was now behind a crate shooting at the last position. Geth and a few Commandos were left. They way I see it, we repeat what just did, lock the door to completely cut the flow of reinforcements, end this fight, and get back to the Normandy in time for dinner. Easy? I wish.

A biotic explosion sung in the room like a Banshee on her "special" day. Wrex and I looked and could see that both Liara and Eden were taking on Benezia. Matriarch's are tough son of a bitches when they get down to it. That is why most Justicar's are at the Matriarch stage. Eden and Liara were struggling against Benezia. Wrex and I both knew that we needed to get to them. Two against a Matriarch is almost suicide, but four? Then there is a fighting chance. The only problem was the group of Geth and Commando's that were in our way.

I unloaded both clips in my revolvers, taking down a Hunter before it got to close to us. Wrex took out its partner with two well placed shots. Either than that, we were in a stalemate, and that is not good. The only thing that we had going good was for us was that we were alive, and their own were being killed. Which you know is always good.

An Asari fired a Warp field at me, and luckily the crate I was behind took the damage. I needed to be extra careful. If I get hit by any Biotic power, I'm as good as dead. Being killed by deadly Biotic disease did not sit well with me. Thankfully, Wrex had my back and sent his own Warp field. While he was working on a barrage of powers, I was picking off any with my Omni-Bow. Kill a Commando there, a Geth there.

Then it me. A plan, albeit crazy as hell, but a plan. If I could fire off some arrows at Benezia, I could either to one of two things. One, which I was hoping for, would be to distract Benezia and give Liara and Eden an edge. Or two, I can take her down. Probably not kill her, but at least have her immobile for the time being. Yeah, crazy.

During my planning, two Commando's bolted for Eden and Liara. I had to quickly take them out with Armor-piercing induced arrows. Honestly, the best damn arrows I have at the moment. They can rip through armor like a hot knife on butter. Nice and clean. When the first one dropped, her buddy freaked and started shooting at me. This is when I started hating the Disciple. Damned shotgun had a decent enough range, and in this room, decent was good in those standards. Lucky for me, she had a limited amount of shots she can fire. I, can keep firing arrows as long as I had omnigel. And when you are a Tech junkie like me, you have more than enough.

When I see reloading her shotgun, I took my chance and fired. She dropped with a scream as the arrow pierced her. This was my chance. Seeing as there aren't any more distractions, I might as well bite the bullet and go. I loaded another omnigel fused arrow and aimed for Benezia. I only had so much room to aim for her, that distracting her is probably my only chance. As I was trying to get my line of sight adjusted, I noticed that Eden and Liara are almost burnt out. They both have been using way to many Biotic's this entire mission, and it was taking a toll on them.

What made my heart race though was seeing Benezia practically lift them both and slamming them into a wall. Oh hell no!

With a twitch of my finger, the mechanism that worked the bow went to work. I felt that arrow release from its perch, and I watched the yellow tipped arrow fly off. Time slowed for a bit as the arrow flew through the air. None of our enemies noticed, including Benezia, which made this shot so much more exciting.

"GAAAAAAHHH!" Benezia screamed. The arrow pierced her side. And in good timing too. She was getting ready to unleash some Biotic energy on Eden and Liara. Which probably could have done some serious damage. Or worse, kill them. The two Biotic exclusive team members saw the window and took it. Sending both Warp and Throw fields onto Benezia, she was caught in a barrage of Biotics. She screamed out in pain, and I just knew that this was tearing Liara apart. I just told myself it had to be done.

The last few moments were a quick blur. From what I could tell, there was a fierce Biotic explosion coming from Benezia's position. And Wrex unloaded all his grenades on the remaining group of enemies that stood in our way. I just Overloaded a Geth during that process. Wrex then said it was clear, and we took off to Eden and Liara.

Liara was… well let's just say she was both pissed, and sad all in one. She was holding her mother, screaming something. I knew that Benezia was dead, and she probably knew it too. But she was still heartbroken. Hell I would be too if I had to kill my own mother. In a way, I'm thankful that I never have to worry about that anymore.

Eden on the other hand was on the border line of passing out. She was exhausted, and that is the least of it. She was injured too. Not enough like me on Feros, or Therum, but she will need to check in with Doc when we get back to the Normandy. I handed her a ration to help boost her energy and keep her awake. Someone needs to drive the Mako, as messed up as that sounds. She smiled up at me and started to nibble at the ration.

As for Wrex. Well, let's say he was making sure all the corpses we left were actually dead. It was sort of disturbing in a way, and also kind of hurt. I always go for a kill shot, so seeing Wrex making sure that a body I know I shot was actually dead, kind of hurts my feelings. What can I say, I'm a sensitive guy.

And me? I was still numb, almost on a different wave length than everyone else. Eden was exhuasted but I could tell she was saddened at what happened to Benezia. Liara… well you get the idea. And Wrex was starting to get frustrated with the giant bug in the tank. Can we kill it now? My wavelength was more like I didn't give a shit at what happened. Which worried me. I know I don't attach myself with jobs, but I feel something when I kill. This time? I was just cold, numb, not even feeling what was going. It was weird.

I shook it off, and walked up to the tank. Maybe if I find the controls, I can kill it before it-

"You have won…" I jumped and took out my revolvers. Everyone else did the same, only not take out their weapons. They rushed to the tank and looked at it. The queen was staring at us.

"You have won…" Same voice, female, and… detached? Almost monotone, lifeless. I heard footsteps coming behind us, and we turned to see a Commando struggling to stand up. This is when I tune everything out again. To me, this wasn't important even when I played the game. I just get pressing the blue X button on my xbox controller, skipped through the scene, and kill the queen. Not one question asked.

"Will you free… us? Will you let us… Sing again?"The queen asked. Here we go.

"What!?" Wrex. "You can't be considering this Shepard. Millions of Krogan died to end the Rachni wars. Just fry the damn thing and let's go."

"We can't do that!" This time Liara. Always found it freaky how she recovers that quickly from losing her mother. "We will be putting a species through extinction. Plus she promised she will not attack. She will hide herself from the galaxy. We wouldn't have to worry about her."

Oh for the love of-

"You can't be that naïve Liara," I spoke out loud. Everyone looked at me. "You really trust it to honor its word? It's a bug, and its children killed so many lives on this station. And even if she remotely honored its promise, you think future generations will?"

She didn't answer. I crossed my arms. "Your silence is your answer. Just fry it Eden." She looked at us, then at the queen. Time slowed again as they locked eyes. I swear if this is like the movies where the hunter and the hunted lock eyes and have a revelation I'm going-

"I'm going to free it." FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKK!

"You can't be serious!" I yelled out. Eden looked at me surprised. "Eden, its species almost wiped out everything in the galaxy. What makes you think, for a second, that this one wouldn't try it?"

"I don't, but I will not end an entire race because of it." I clenched my fists. Yeah, I was angry. I turned and walked off. I didn't want to see the thing walk away. "You don't trust me Adrian?" Eden asked. I stopped for a moment. Only to keep walking.

"Don't come running to me when they start invading," was all I said. Yes, I hate bugs that much.

Alright! Well, this was sort of difficult to write. But, alas, it was finished. I really don't have any authors note to add. Probably because I'm almost burnt out with school and writing. Don't worry, I wont disappear again. If anything, I'm ready to finish this and get on to the sequel.

Did I say that out loud? Oops!

I'm out! Have any questions feel free to ask!

Keep reading, and stay sexy.

KD