Faith took a final look back, seeing Garrus hard at work organising the defensive line, before turning to face her small team on their platform, floating serenely towards the central chamber of the base. Grunt, as always, was ready to fight, practically bouncing on the spot, causing the platform to shake slightly, clutching his shotgun so tightly she could hear the groaning of his gauntlets and the harsh metal beneath them. He would stand, though. She still remembered the over-eager child trying to attack her as soon as he awoke... in just a few short months he had matured into a true warrior, and would follow his battlemaster into death.
Mordin, on the other hand, could not keep his eyes in one place. He was glancing between the tubes their platform was following, to the architecture of the base, to the controls of the platform itself, all the while muttering under his breath into his omni-tool, recording his thoughts.
At the sight, Faith instinctively pulled off her helmet, and checked her helmet camera for the fourth time since they had began the assault on the base. They were here not just to stop the Collectors, but also to find information about the Reapers... and she would not be denied again. The feed was still being recorded, and the lens was still, despite the scratches, dents and Collector blood covering most of her armour, clean.
Good.
Not that it would make much difference to the officials. They could find another damned Reaper in the chamber ahead and the Council would find a way to wriggle around it.
But it was not for them. It was for Liara's data package... it was for the people of the galaxy. Faith knew with the destruction of Sovereign, the debates she started, intentionally or not, had not just gone away - not all the whitewashing in the galaxy could stop experts, scientists, engineers and more from getting their hands on pieces of the Reaper, and drawing the correct conclusion that it was not a geth ship. Too many millions of people saw the terror Sovereign caused... and believed her over the Council, especially amongst the humans who saw her as a hero.
Shepard knew that many still believed her... and this would, hopefully, serve to increase the pressure on governments to begin preparing for the Reapers' arrival.
She shook her head slightly, and replaced her helmet. That was all in the future... for now, they had to stop the Collectors.
The final member of her team, Miranda, was standing, arms crossed, leaning back slightly onto one foot. Her face was unreadable, but her absolute stillness told Faith that the woman was forcing herself to appear calm, hiding an anxiety they were all feeling.
Miranda had come a long way from the ice cold woman who woke her up on the Lazarus station. Faith had first seen the shell crack when Miranda had, almost timidly, asked for help saving her sister... and from then, the woman had warmed slightly, been seen in more casual conversations, willing to share a little more about herself, her beliefs. It was in her nature to be efficient, but she did not hide behind it any more.
Faith gave the woman a small nod as Miranda, as if sensing the soldier's gaze, turned and looked, piercing blue eyes catching her own deep brown. The operative straightened, and nodded back with a small smile.
Good.
They were ready, for whatever was ahead.
'Ok EDI, try now.'
Tali pulled herself away from the engine, and took place alongside the remaining Cerberus crew who had been helping her with the repairs.
A second passed... then another... and she began to feel despair worm into her.
She had one task: to get the ship working, and instead most of the crew were dead, she had a geth living in her suit, and-
Without warning, the engine roared to life, lighting up the room, and nearly deafening all standing nearby... who were too busy jumping with glee at their success, hugging one another, and shouting loud congratulations. Tali was in no way ashamed that she was amongst them, giving Ken what he called a "high five", and receiving a hug from Kelly, who had tears running down her face, smearing the grime, oil, and blood that had been a permanent feature on all of the humans since they arrived back with Jacob, as well as the dark paint she wore around her eyes.
I am able to fly the ship to a more suitable extraction point for Shepard and her team. Warning: speed and mobility will be drastically reduced until more thorough repairs are complete. Shields are still down. Any engagement will likely lead to our destruction.
'EDI?' Ken's voice called out.
Yes, engineer Donnelley?
'Shut up will ye, an' get us outta here? We dinnah care if we canneh fight, we jus' wanna get the hell outta here!'
Very well. I will take up a roving position that reduces risk of engagement: without shields, even small arms fire might damage our systems. You may wish to arm yourselves and be ready to provide fire support as the ground teams are extracted.
Tali looked at the small group of humans. They were all clearly exhausted... but not yet beaten. Whatever else Cerberus might be... they chose their people well. They would fight.
'We know, EDI. Give us the warning when we get there.' Kelly spoke quietly, hands trembling a bit, but she still had steel in her eyes.
Current mission status: Shepard is approaching the central chamber. If you wish to see her helmet cam feed, please proceed to the communications room.
'Ahm not sure I wanna see...' came a mutter from Ken, followed by a gentle "oomph" as Gabby elbowed him in the gut.
'Of course you do! Come on, we can go watch.'
The humans filed away, but Tali stayed.
[Creator Zorah, do you not wish to monitor the progress of Shepard-Commander?]
She shook her head, unable to break certain habits of body language when she knew Legion was not organic... or able to see her. 'Not now, Legion, I just... I don't know.'
[We detect your heart rate is elevated above normal exertion levels, but find no evidence of sickness. Are you well?]
Am I well... I just... this is all too much!
'I don't know... I've got a geth living in my suit! What is wrong with me?!'
[Do you wish us to leave?]
'No!' Do I?... 'Yes...' she shook her head again. 'I don't know, Legion. I'm... glad you're, erm, alive, but I'd rather there was a different way to do this.'
[We have already relayed our belief that life without organic interaction is an outcome worse than deactivation.]
'I know, and I don't want you to... kill... yourself, but I just... need to get used to this, until we can find you a new body, do you understand?'
[We do, Creator Zorah.]
'And Keelah... if we're going to be like this for a while, just call me Tali.'
[Very well, Tali.] She shuddered at the word, instantly regretting the decision. This... thing... should not be on first name terms with her... [We believe we can make ourselves of greater use to you by integrating into your combat systems. We have prepared schematics for alterations to your suit to allow for our increased power draw, and with more powerful scanners can provide greater tactical information on your HUD. We believe our partnership can be... mutually beneficial.]
Partnership... this was such a bad idea... as if I needed anything else to show everybody just how un-quarian I've become...
[We also believe we can stimulate your immune system with mimicked virus attacks. In several months, this may allow for you to remove your visor for short periods of time, in carefully controlled environments. In several years, you may be able to live in semi-sterile environments such as the Normandy without it. Further data is hypothesis, but we believe we can stimulate your system enough to allow you a comfortable life, outside of your suit, in certain environmental conditions.]
'W...what? What are you talking about Legion?'
[We wish to improve your life, Tali. By allowing us into your suit we are able to increase your efficiency, and grant you a more comfortable existence than other Creators are afforded. It is our way of... thanking you.]
'I didn't ask for any of that...' she felt like she was in a daze... and actually forced herself to sit down, legs hanging over the railings to the vast open space housing the drive core.
To invite such an enormous change into her life... what was she thinking?
And now Legion, rather than killing her, or inflicting any of the other horrors her people warned her of... was helping her.
Keelah...
We are in position at the extraction area. Now, we must wait for Shepard to complete her mission.
Abomination.
That was the only word Faith could think of to describe the horrific visage in front of her.
Unnatural.
Monstrosity.
Abomination.
The... thing... was hanging in a sick perversion of the crucifiction of the Christian faith: the sacrifice Faith's mother had told her of as a child. The group had been just staring at it for nearly a minute, even Mordin shocked to silence.
Shepard...even EDI sounded hesitant, I believe this construct is the embryonic stage of a new Reaper.
'A... Reaper?' Her voice sounded weak to her own ears, but she could not bring herself to force some much needed strength into it. Standing before the thing made her feel... insignificant.
Yes. The fusion of organic and synthetic parts matches Sovereign's remains. The use of human genetic material suggests each Reaper is a construct made of a race from previous cycles.
Abomination.
Anathema.
Wrong.
'Why... does it look like that?' she asked, mainly to herself.
We only know what one Reaper looks like: Sovereign. If each is unique, their appearances may differ greatly. And as I said, this is still in its earliest stages of construct. It is likely a shell would be built around it to give it a shape suitable for space flight.
Abomination!
She straightened, and turned from the terror.
'We need to blow this thing to hell. Miranda?' She forced a strength, a confidence, that she did not feel into her voice, and the raven haired beauty turned to her, looking almost relieved to be facing away from the obscene skeleton. Shepard nodded her head to the heavy pillar of computers that led directly into the ground beneath them. 'Get EDI access to that, and it can overload the drive core.'
Shepard was turning back to stare at the horror above them when a loud beep distracted her, and Miranda spoke clearly, looking at her omni-tool. 'Shepard... it's the Illusive Man.'
She scowled. The man was probably watching the feed from her helmet cam. 'Patch him through.'
Miranda nodded, and tapped a few keys, before the man's now familiar image appeared above her wrist. Shepard noted that, for the first time, he was not clutching his staple whiskey and cigarette, and was instead leaning forward slightly, hands clasped onto the sides of his chair, a hungry look in his glittering, artificial eyes.
'Shepard, you've done it. I knew I brought you back for a reason.'
She did not like the eagerness in his tone, the timing of his call.
What does he want?
'I'm not done yet. We'll set this place to blow and then we can celebrate.' She pushed past Miranda and opened up the interface on one of the computers herself.
'Don't be hasty, Shepard.'
She paused her hacking procedure, and turned around.
'Hasty? You can see what I'm seeing, right? This thing is...' she shook her head. 'This thing is disgusting. An abomination.'
'It is also exactly what we need to win the war, Shepard. We still know so little about the Reapers... imagine what it could teach us! A timed radiation pulse would eliminate all of the lifeforms aboard the Base, and leave the technology intact: EDI could set it up easily.'
I bet he's already tried ordering EDI to do that... and EDI didn't obey.
She bared her teeth, looking again at the nightmare.
'By "teach us" you mean "benefit Cerberus", am I right?'
'You've thrown in your lot with us, Shepard. You might not like how we do certain things... but you've stayed, because you know that we have the will to do what is necessary. You know that destroying this base is destroying a valuable resource.'
She felt it: that niggling knowledge that though destroying the base would be the right thing to do... what would it gain them? A halt to the Collector attacks: a few hundred thousand colonists saved?
When the Reapers came... there would be that many people dying by the minute. If there was even the smallest chance they could learn something here...
'Potential usefulness of base great but risks...' Mordin drew in a deep breath. 'Problematic. Indoctrination most worrying factor, closely followed by distrust of Cerberus. Outside of purely scientific viewpoint: morally... questionable' she heard the pause in the salarian's words, clearly weighing the benefits against the cost - as he always did. 'to save.'
'But...' The Illusive Man turned to Mordin. 'You think we should keep it anyway, am I right? You worked on the genophage: work many would call absolutely unacceptable, disgusting. But it was for galactic peace; it allowed people to have the luxury of lives with which to judge you. You know what sacrifices must be made. You know morality seems black and white to the outsider, when all they have to do is point fingers, call you evil, when they never have to make the difficult choices.'
'...Correct.' With a sad sigh he turned to Shepard, and she could see the conflict within him. 'Have said my piece, Shepard. Your choice.'
As always...
'This is wrong.'Grunt's heavy voice rang throughout. 'If the coward wants this base, he should have taken it himself. But I'll follow you, battlemaster.'
He will... they all will...
She turned to look at Miranda, who had been quiet throughout the exchange, shooting her a silent question.
'Shepard... I don't know about this.' Miranda spoke gently, still glancing fearfully at the Reaper. 'There's... so much that could go wrong.'
'I'm surprised at you, Miranda. I expected you of all people to know that tough choices, that sacrifices, are necessary. We're at war, or soon will be. You know we need every edge we can get.' The Illusive Man's voice was far too smooth for her liking, but-
He's correct... he's always correct... but is he right?
She forced herself, again, to look at the monstrosity. Hundreds of thousands of lives, of deaths, went into this... the shockwaves rippling out, affecting millions of people.
Was destroying it avenging their deaths... or rendering them in vain?
Why was she the one to choose?
She thought of Liara, watching her... what would she say? She would no doubt have some intelligent-
Realisation hit her with an almost physical force, and she had to stop herself from smirking.
This might not be right... but it was sure as hell better than what the Illusive Man was suggesting.
'We're saving the base.' She spoke with conviction, then looked to the Illusive Man, jabbing a finger in his direction. 'But not for you. There is proof here, of the Reapers, of everything we've been warning the Council, the Alliance, about. I'll give them the IFF and they can see it for themselves.'
'Shepard, you can't-' The Illusive Man began, his hologram standing up and shrinking to fit in the projected screen.
'You can't stop me. I won't let the people who died here have done so for nothing, but I'm not letting your ambitions get in the way of the war effort. You know fighting amongst ourselves now is damned stupid, so now you've got a choice. Fall in line, or get out of my way.'
He stopped for a moment, clearly calculating. He no doubt already knew EDI would follow Shepard's orders over his own... and Miranda's words earlier had cast doubt on her conviction to his will. Mordin and Grunt were Shepard's crew to the end.
He shook his head. 'You're making a big mistake, Shepard. The Alliance is staffed by fools and the Council isn't to be trusted.'
'And you are? I don't have time to argue. I've got my mission, and you'll either follow or be left alone. You already know you can't stop me, and I'm telling you now if you try to get in my way I'll burn Cerberus to the ground.' She felt her fists clench and forced herself to relax.
'So that's how it'll be... very well Shepard. I hope you don't come to regret this. I'll be in touch.'
At that the feed cut.
Shepard instantly got back to work, and was into the Collectors' systems within seconds, and opened it up to external access. 'EDI, use the drive core to send out a radiation pulse powerful enough to kill every Collector on here, in ten minutes.'
Very well Shepard... Done. I recommend immediate evacuation. I have moved to a more convenient extraction zone, please see updated schematics on your omni-tool.
'Ok, we'll-'
An inhuman, obscenely loud bellow sounded throughout the cavern, forcing Shepard to her knees as her helmet technology struggled, and failed, to dampen the sound. She looked up, and froze.
The Reaper was alive.
'Shepard!' Miranda's call snapped her from her daze, breaking the paralysis that froze her to the spot.
What the hell is wrong with me?
She saw the thing struggling against the tubes holding it up, before another ear-splitting roar echoed throughout the room, and with a mighty wrench its bonds broke, pumping the goop that was once people into the deep chasm beneath them, and it fell, catching itself on the platforms they were currently standing on.
'The eyes! Aim for its eyes!' Shepard hauled out her rifle, as the others did the same, and the four were suddenly pouring disciplined fire into the thing's glowing red eyes, but it did not slow its advance. The spike that was the end of its spine swung up, and pierced straight through one of the platforms. Faith saw instantly what it was about to do, as it used its new leverage to raise an obscene, skeletal hand.
'Move!'
The group broke, and began to flee to the furthest point.
Not fast enough. With astonishing speed, the hand crashed down - Miranda dove to the side with nearly super-human quickness, but only managed to avoid an instant death. Her scream rang out, a terrifying noise that chilled Shepard to the spine.
'Miranda!' Shepard spun towards the sound... and gasped in horror. Miranda's legs had been crushed to a bloody pulp, pinned beneath the enormous claw of the monster.
With a shout of denial, she started to move to her.
'No Shepard!' Miranda suddenly called out, voice so clear... despite the pain she had to be in. Shepard was about to ignore the order, when she saw that the woman had pulled out a couple of grenades.
The mission comes first, to the very end. You won't be forgotten.
With a sad nod, keeping the woman's brilliant blue eyes as long as she could, Shepard turned back as the creature hauled itself further up the platform behind them... until a pair of heavy thuds sounded.
Daring a glance over her shoulder, she saw the thing had reared up, the red light in the centre of its chest cracked and leaking what looked like red hot, liquid metal. The noise it was making was horrific, screams of pain that rung with the same pure malice as the voice of Harbinger as she killed the Collectors it was posessing, the enormous formless noise that Sovereign made as the Alliance Fifth and Citadel fleets tore it apart.
Thank you Miranda.
'Grunt, the Cain, now!'
With a low chuckle, the krogan unshipped the weapon from his back, looking huge even in his enormous hands, and began to charge it up.
As the weapon started to whine, she grabbed the salarian's shoulder 'Mordin, get out of here!' He instantly obeyed, and she turned back, pulling out the M-100 Grenade Launcher she had taken from the Lazarus base so long ago. Grunt's weapon continued to whirr, the noise constantly higher and louder, as she pumped heavy shots towards the Reaper's head, keeping it from recovering its balance.
The Cain's noise suddenly stopped with an unusually quiet thunk.
'Away!' Grunt shouted, throwing the single-use weapon to the side.
'Run!' She yelled towards the krogan, firing one last grenade at the Reaper's head even as she saw the bright yellow shell of the Cain soar past. She finally turned to run herself, and Faith felt her body flush with the familiar power of Cerberus' nanites responding to some internal command, swiftly closing in on the two figures ahead of her.
Can't have long...
'Down!'
Grunt could survive just about anything, but Mordin... she quickly caught up to him, tackled him to the floor, and covered him with her own body.
Just in time. Even through her clenched eyes the world became immeasurably bright, burning her eyes through shut eyelids and heat seared across her back from the immense power of the Cain's shot just before a huge wave of pressure hit her with enough force to push both her and Mordin, still beneath her, several feet away from the blast.
She clenched her teeth, knowing her armour was melting away, knowing she could only survive a few seconds like this-
The heat ended with a suddenness that seemed unnatural. Her enhanced eyes quickly cleared from the blinding light, and she looked over her shoulder, rolling off Mordin into a cloud of foul smelling smoke from her own burning armour.
Grunt's shot had impacted the thing directly in the wound Miranda had caused, tearing the creature apart as an explosive round would do to a real person. It was not crying out any more... and she felt the air around her cool.
A dead god...
Arms splayed, it fell backwards with an agonising slowness, toppling from their platforms with an enormous crash, leaving just a gruesome smear of flesh that used to be Miranda.
Shepard, the station will become uninhabitable within five minutes, immediate evacuation is required!
'Move!'
Come on Shepard!
Garrus had pulled his squad, still miraculously all alive, if not unharmed, to the extraction zone, and they had set up a killing ground in front of the Normandy, the Collectors falling before their entrenched position like bottles at a shooting range.
She will make it!
He nailed a Collector just beginning to show the telltale glow with a shot between the eyes, its head exploding like fruit, and the voice rang out, as it always did. The pain made him flare his mandibles, and dig his fangs into the flesh of his mouth.
KILL ONE AND ONE HUNDRED WILL REPLACE IT
Then I'll kill one hundred of you bosh'tets
He smirked a bit at the thought... he had been spending too much time with Tali.
Or not enough...
Another dropped as his scope found them. He did not even need to give orders any more. The team knew what they were doing... what they had to do. The bodies were a literal carpet in the hall before them, the Normandy their serenely hovering beacon of safety behind them, human crew and Tali firing from the opened port airlock, ready to accept their retreat when it came, Kelly and Ken simply running between the armoury and airlock, carrying as many thermal clips as they could and tossing them to the ground behind the firing position.
Advance notice: Shepard is approaching.
'Ok people, no shooting her after we got this far!' He shouted out, somewhat unnecessarily, but unable to keep the joy from his voice.
They were so close, to doing what everybody thought was impossible!
And they were there, the wall literally exploding from one of the sides of the killing ground, Grunt entering shoulder and shotgun first, followed by Shepard and Mordin.
No Miranda... damn...
The small team looked around briefly, before turning to run full pelt towards Garrus' position.
'Go!' Shepard called out, and the team began to fall back as Garrus had already instructed them to: Kasumi and Thane first as the team in the airlock fell back, leaving just him and Samara, who was still somehow ravaging the enemies with powerful biotics, despite the fight having been going on for hours.
A few more seconds, Shepard and her squad getting ever closer, then -
'Now!' Trusting his team to know what they were doing, he simply turned and leapt across the chasm, caught by an exhausted looking Thane, Samara the same by Kasumi. The first group fell back, and Garrus readied his rifle-
To see Shepard was already before the hatch, facing away, pouring gunfire around the other two into the Collectors approaching from behind.
'Dammit Shepard, move!'
She ignored him, each shot from her rifle downing another Collector with a deadly... scary... accuracy.
Grunt was first, launching himself across the breach, caught by both him and Samara, and hauled into the bay. He could see the krogan was wounded, and bodily pushed him towards the main deck, where Chakwas was waiting to assess the crew, and give appropriate instructions to those unhurt enough to assist those seriously injured.
He himself had taken at least three bullets... but he did not have time to think about that.
His duty came first.
He had failed his own team on Omega: he would not fail Shepard's.
Mordin reached the line, and the human, rather than letting him jump, actually hauled the surprised salarian from his feet and tossed him across the gap, where he too was safely caught.
Debris warning. Retreating to safer distance.
Dammit!
'Move Shepard, now!'
She fired off a single shot, before turning to the Normandy, already floating away from her position as a huge chunk of ship fell from above into the place they had been just seconds before. He raised his rifle and brought down another Collector closing in on her, wincing as he saw a spray of vivid red erupt from her hip.
She bent over temporarily, before the beast that shot her, and several others nearby, were lifted into the air, flailing helplessly while surrounded by a blue glow.
Now or never Shepard!
As if reading his thoughts, she took two steps backwards, then ran towards the gap, jumping off with an impressive leap towards them.
Garrus felt as if time was slowing.
She was not going to make it!
The Normandy had floated too far away, and her arc would not allow her-
A blue haze surrounded the human, an uncharacteristically vocal cry coming from Samara next to him indicating her actions, and he almost collapsed in relief as Shepard was pulled towards the Normandy, finally reaching out and grabbing his arm.
'That's everyone, go gogo!' He shouted out almost hysterically.
Retreating to the return Relay.
The airlock closed, and he slumped against the wall in relief, letting the cheers of the crew wash over him.
They had done it.
Galactic heroes.
Saved so many people... struck such a blow against the Reapers...
Justice.
He closed his eyes, feeling some fingers, species unknown, probe his wounds.
If he was badly injured, they would drag him to the med bay, no doubt.
For now...
'I never blamed you. I'm sorry if it ever seemed like I did.'
He opened his eyes at the odd words, and saw Shepard crouching by Samara, who was lying against the wall as he was... but with much less strength in her posture. She had collapsed against it, her body screaming exhaustion, from her limp arms to unnaturally folded legs.
Shepard reached out a hand, her gauntlet nearly entirely burned off, and gently caressed the asari's chin. 'Rest in peace, Justicar, your duty is done.'
Samara's eyes looked so... relieved... for just the briefest second, before life left them, and she slumped.
He stayed silent, not knowing what to say, mood instantly deflated.
Not another...
Shepard's head dropped, before she reached up and pulled off her helmet, tossing it to the side. Her face was a horrific visage of red scars, her skin stained with blood, hair plastered around her cheeks with a mixture of unknown fluids.
She continued to stroke Samara's cheek, almost harshly despite the life being gone from the asari.
'I'm sorry... all of you... I'm so sorry...'
Garrus respectfully looked away for a second, before Shepard slumped back against the hatch and took her head into her hands as silent shudders wracked her body.
A/N: Thank you Jay8008
