This is it... the final chapter. After this, it will mostly be epilogues and aftermath. Of course, if you enjoy the story, that would be worth reading as well, especially due to certain... events taking place in this chapter.
Hours dark, odds low
Hope itself was made to bow
The red warrior attacked with vigor
Though she herself was all too eager
Lives lost in noble cause,
Lives gained for just a pause
Fire divine would rain from the sky
Threaten that, claimed unable to die
The gods did battle on mortal soil
Upon the fires, they pour oil
Human and Turian
Light and dark, understand
Saren was one, then two, no longer man
Fire was bright, crimson, emerald and dark
As forces of life made their stand,
The loss of it, was in contrast, all too stark
Francis Kitt - "Ode to the Fallen"
Of Men and Gods
Citadel, Serpent Nebula
Presidium, Tower elevator
18:16
The banter he remembered from when they had usually been in elevators, both on the Citadel and on the Normandy, was eerily absent from when they rode the elevator up, up and up towards their final destination; the Council chambers. The mood wasn't lightened in the least by the dying sound of elevator music, sounding like it was being torn apart by a rusty claw hammer. If, there actually was such a thing.
And they couldn't even get the entire group into the lift, no matter how much they pushed. It simply wasn't meant for a group their size. And while they could get everyone bar one person squeezed in, leaving someone alone behind was almost the same as killing them yourself, with how contested the Citadel was. As a result, Ashley and Scorch, being the two most incapacitated by their former injuries, were ordered to remain. Thomas didn't see the logic in that decision, seeing how Jane was walking only with the help of her armor's motorized legs, and was thus by all means the weakest link.
Then again, arguing with a Shepard never got you anywhere…
Having wished Ash the best of luck he possibly could, and borderline threatened Scorch to keep her safe, Thomas had been the last person to enter the elevator. Or, he had thought so. The moment he stepped in, the sound of armor hitting armor in an embrace made him snap around, and almost drop flat on his ass as he witnessed Liara, the timid and shy and awkward Asari, wrap Scorch in what could only be described as a desperate hug.
Something had definitely happened between those two while being on Arcturus.
"You know, there's a certain… symbolism to this, I think." Kaidan said after a while. The elevator hadn't exactly increased speed since Saren invaded, and the talk at least served to somewhat shut out the excruciatingly annoying music.
"We're riding an elevator, probably primed to explode, armed to the teeth and ready to kill a Turian terrorist in the Citadel Council Chambers… what on Earth kind of symbolism is there in that?" Thomas asked, looking at the Canadian as if he had lost his mind. Knowing that Kaidan was by far the most rational and intelligent of them, losing his mind should be a mandatory thing for a person on the Normandy crew.
"Well, it's where it all started." Kaidan shrugged, checking his Katana shotgun; "I think there's a symbolic gesture of some sort to killing Saren in the same room where humanity was tasked with the same job"
"You mean before the Council fucked us in the ass?" Hillary snorted, browsing between different ammunition-types for her Revenant. Thomas sighed. It was probably just the situation, but how could Hillary, the brightest and cheeriest person from Dog-Squad, be the one to be pissed the longest at finding out about Roku? Ashley was Christian, and she had accepted straight away… then again, back then Roku hadn't been walking around in a geth body.
"Yeah, before that…" Thomas said. He glanced at Hillary as he pulled the handle of his Lancer, choosing the incendiary ammo. It just seemed more fitting for him to use something that, to use the words, spat fire. Sighing again, he activated the private comms and chose her helmet; "Hillary, how long are you going to be mad at me?"
His question seemed to take her by surprise, as did the private channel.
"I'm not mad at you, Thomas." She said with a voice that was both honest and confused. Thomas didn't understand. She had seemed angry with him ever since the revelation; "Why'd you think that?"
"Could be the fact that you've all but refused to speak to me since you found out my secret, or the fact that you either disregarded or downright mocked my abilities?" He asked with mounting annoyance. Gods, couldn't this lift go faster, or at least turn out to be rigged? Hillary's eyes widened at that, as if she hadn't even noticed. Sure, that was the truth. Yeah, Thomas wasn't all the way to buying that one yet.
"I… I don't… fuck, listen I'm… not mad or pissed at you specifically. It's just the shit that's going on that has me on edge. I mean, you had fire in your hand, how am I… going there again, right? Yeah… I'm sorry. Didn't meant for it to sound-" She was cut off as the elevator halted abruptly, causing the lot of them to stumble around.
"Finally. Was getting too easy." Wrex said. Jane sighed and hammered the controls, as if that would make the lift continue. It didn't.
"Well, what noooooooooooowwww- Shiiiiiiiit!" The elevator suddenly snapped in its cables or whatever was holding it up, and started a rapid descent downwards. And with rapid, deadly speed was implied in the word. Wrex punched through the wall closest to the elevator shaft. With a bellow of anger and strain, he simply grabbed a hold of the outside wall, roaring in pain as he did so;
"Aquila! Get off your ass and help me!" He shouted, causing the corporal to perform a very rare jump of surprise before she stared at the Krogan as if he had lost his mind. Considering he was trying manually stop a multi-ton lift with his bare hands, maybe he had.
"Are you insane?!"
"Do it or I'll rip your innards out! NOW!" Wrex shouted back, mounting actual panic in his voice. He was shaking with the stress of halting the elevator, and as a result the contents of the lift was jumbled and shaken, stopped and released time and time again. Tequila looked around in doubt and fright, the apparently first trial of fire for her abilities. In the end, she just yelled some Hispanic profanities and screamed, punching the wall next to where Wrex was, going straight through the metal. She was immediately shaken and started crying and screaming in pain, tears rolling down her eyes as the screams became gasps of agony.
However, the lift came to a sudden stop, throwing most of the passengers into the ceiling before back down on the floor. Thomas himself landed with a painful thump as his back smacked him into the floor. He didn't even want to consider how much the exercise had pained Tequila or Wrex. He himself felt like he had been kicked in the back by an Elcor. When he finally got air back into his lungs, while the rest of the group was getting to their feet, he was lying on the ground, exhaling in an audible;
"OW…"
"Get on your feet, Service Chief." Jane said, administering Medigel and field-bacta to a visibly hurting Tequila. Wrex was holding the lift while Tali worked on getting the mechanics back to work, and the rest of the group seemed to still be regaining their senses.
"Anyone else realize that Tequila and Wrex just stopped a multi-ton lift with their bare hands?" Thomas asked as Boss pulled him to a stand.
"Shows what some good ol' Krogan groundbreaking does to metal. Still, good job Tequila." Wrex said, having torn a chunk of rebar in a way so that it held the elevator up. Thomas looked between the old Krogan and Tequila before he finally managed to process what had happened;
"Teresa… did you just metalbend?" He asked, completely deadpanned. The question was worded in the stupidest manner possible, but having just had his jimmies rustled to a degree where he figured his brain resembled scrambled eggs, he figured he could get away with it. The Latina in question stared at him when he asked, then looked down at her scared and blistered hands, as if taking something in.
"I… think so. But Christo! It hurt like a Joder!" She groaned as more gel was applied. 'Hurt like a fucker', huh? That was logically enough, seeing what had just happened. Next to them, Tali sighed in annoyance and exclaimed something in Kheelish;
"I can't get it to work again. Not really surprised. Saren probably cut the lines themselves… so, plan?" She asked, looking around with a slightly anxious expression, if her hands wringing was any indication. As a reply, Jane tapped her helmet before speaking;
"Masks and helmets on, we're going for a walk." Sensing that she was going to do something drastic, the rest of the group quickly secured their helmets. True to suspicion, Jane's fist pulsated with blue energy before she punched the glass. While she had no supernatural powers, she had biotics. In her own eyes, that was just as good. The reinforced glass spewed out like a crystal shower, but didn't fall.
Outside the lift, the artificial gravity had no effect, and as such the glass simply floated around in a cloud of shards and crystalline pieces and bits. Jane took the first leap of faith out the elevator, using her biotics to land on the surface of the outer shaft. The rest of the group followed.
When the turn came to Thomas, he did everything he could not to look down. Being afraid of heights really sucked right now;
"Talos be damned, I hate heights!" He groaned to himself as he climbed outside, feeling no tug of gravity at all. When he found footing again, the magnetic clamps in his boots activated on their own accord, and ensured he could walk on the exterior.
"Reminds me of scaling-exercises back in the corp." Tequila grunted from behind him as she swung her legs up and around, landing with a soundless thump on the surface. Liara was next out, floating with the grace of a born biotic. Taking the last place, having helped Tali out, John biotically made his own exit as well, though it was far less graceful, and more rough, than Liara's.
"I bet they didn't make you scale elevators in zero-G." Jane muttered through the team-comms.
"Nope, that was the easy one. Us hardcore marines? We had to scale the Marlow's hull. Sorta like keelhauling, only we did the hauling."
"Damn… how did you get bashed by the Predators again?" Thomas asked, being more than a little impressed.
"Predators?" Tequila asked, turning her helmeted head to look at him. Right, she had never really found out who had shot them down.
"Sort of like alien man-hunters. Jump around in the trees, imitate voices and shoot plasma. They see life as a big game, I shit you not." Thomas said, wanting the banter to continue, as it meant he wouldn't be able to hear his own breathing in the helmet. It always crept him the hell out when he could. ´
"Huh… well, seems like those fuckers did beat us after all. You know, I- whoa!" Tequila was forced to do a backwards bend, only stopped from floating off by her magnetic boots, when a missile streaked just in front of her. It made no sound at all when it passed the group.
"Contact! Geth ten meters front! Lock and load, fire at will!" Jane shouted, and proceeded to hurl a singularity at the two closest geth. Magnetic feet or not, they were torn from their places and dragged into the air. Liara followed up Jane's attack by hurling a splitting throw into the singularity, tossing the two geth into the void that was between the arms.
The rest of the visible geth were mostly troopers and a single destroyer. There was a Krogan as well though, one that was charging their group while firing a shotgun in rapid succession, even though he was too far away to make use of it.
"I thought Saren melted down all those guys?" Wrex said, spinning up the machinegun hefted in his massive hands. The weapon ignited and spat a torrent of tungsten out, spraying the geth and Krogan with metallic death. Three of the geth were cut down before managing to take cover, the Krogan on the other hand, he kept charging at them, even with holes in his armor. Wrex adjusted his aim and focused on his charging kin. The charge was halted when the Krogan in mention was thrown back by the full force of the tri-barreled minigun coupled with a warp, courtesy of John.
"Is it just me, or are these geth a fuck-ton weaker than those on Eden Prime?" Hillary shouted, exploiting the slightly exposed head of a geth to fill it with hammerhead rounds from her Revenant. The geth screamed and died as shields, barriers and armor gave away.
"Sort of. Just be careful, some of them might be biotic." Thomas said, leaning against a support-beam while waiting out a volley of plasma biting into the metal. From her cover behind a large outgoing flat-box, Hillary shot Thomas a disbelieving glance that, because he looked at her in that exact moment, Thomas caught; "…Long story."
"I really feel like I missed out on a lot of- "She started, then leaned out and delivered a new surge of tungsten into the torso of a geth in the same moment as it stood to fire; "- a lot of shit, while I was asleep. Anything else I should know?"
"Well…" Jane said, pulling towards her the last standing geth, the one responsible for the rocket earlier, then punched it in the head with a warped fist; "Saren build himself an army of mutants and shit-heads. Wiped out the Valhalla colony, mutated Batarians, humans, Krogans… I think I saw a few Turians too on Virmire."
"Shit…" Hillary cursed as they came back out from cover and advanced vertically, straight up the outside of a one kilometer tower; "I wonder if we're the first ever to do this stunt."
"Considering we're the first to find out the Citadel is a Relay, before the Reapers come through, I'm willing to bet we're the first species who ever had the chance." Thomas said, feeling thankful that he could walk almost normally now, and not like one would think when walking up a wall.
"Good point. Also… 'Tequila'?"
"Yeah?" The woman said, putting a slug into the head of a geth she passed.
"Sorry I called your abilities 'cartoony'… you really saved our lives back there, and I… sorry." Hillary said. Tequila chuckled, amusement and not scoff in her voice as she looked back between Thomas and Hillary;
"Hey don't sweat it. I think they are cartoony, and I only got them because I tackled Fisher at the exact wrong moment. That was back when- Joder!" Tequila was forced to jump for her life as a new missile streaked past her. This time she lost her grip on the tower and started floating outwards.
"Corporal!" Jane shouted. More geth appeared around the corner, hurling tungsten and drones at the team. While floating, Tequila kept her weapon in her hands, taking shots at the geth as she floated away. Liara took a leap from the tower;
"I will bring her back down!" The Asari called. The rest of the team took that as a cue to focus on the geth. Thomas aimed down his sight, sending a volley of incendiary tungsten at a geth with a shotgun. A purple barrier sprung up across it.
"Biotics!" He called. He wasn't sure if it was understood as him needing a biotic, or if they were alerted to the presence of the biotic geth, but the result was the same as he wanted, which was Jane hurling a warp in the face of the geth, splashing the gravimetric protection all over the area. Thomas took that as his cue to finish off the geth. Without shields or barriers, they had some rather crappy armor.
At that point, Liara was floating back down with a cursing Tequila; "Why is it always missiles being shot at me? Seriously, do I have 'shoot me' written on my chest?"
"Maybe the geth just don't like Hispanic women?" Thomas tried. Tequila sent him a glare for that one; "Sorry, just sayin', they do seem to aim at you rather a lot."
"Yeah well, now I can at least tear them apart… I wonder if I can punch the missiles." The corporal wondered aloud.
"Don't." Jane huffed, delivering a biotically- and cybernetically enhanced stomp to the head of a geth Juggernaut trying to get up from her first warp and throw. Jane herself seemed briefly surprised at the power in her new leg, the shrugged it off; "Punching something with a warhead is never a good idea."
The rest of their trek up the lift was remarkably silent, and there came a point where they actually started believing they might get up without further incursions. So, naturally, that was when a geth dropship the size of the Normandy decided to align itself to the surface and start spewing forth geth troopers. Immediately, the geth took up positions at the top of a staircase-like slope. Right before the team started shooting, the geth threw up large hexagonal shields of blue energy.
"The fuck are those?" Thomas exclaimed. To try something out, he pumped a few rounds out. The shields shimmered and pulsated with each round caught, but otherwise didn't do much. The geth though, had no trouble shooting through them.
"Well that brings back memories." Garrus remarked, taking cover behind a raised platform. When the initial barrage ended, the Turian sniper leaned up from his cover, sighted down a geth and pulled the trigger. He hit the hexagonal shield. Though, instead of remaining the placid blue, it changed to an alerting red color; "Alright!"
The rest of the group took the cue and pumped more rounds into the shields, while talking cover when the geth poured plasma at them. Somehow, the geth didn't have the mental capacity to focus on more than one group at a time, meaning when they opened fire on one group, the other, being just Garrus, could pick off a geth before fire was returned.
"You know, I really don't remember the geth being thís easy to deal with." Hillary stated, cutting apart a geth juggernaut with its shields down, courtesy of Garrus. The core in the geth detonated, sending it flying apart outwards, into the ether. This time, Thomas had to agree with her, though it was John who spoke;
"Probably because there aren't a lot of them left here. The fewer geth, the stupider they geth." This was concerning because…
"John, what was that last part?" Thomas asked. The Quarian just chuckled;
"Been wanting to try that one out for some time. Just needed some stupid geth for it to geth going. Geth it?" The Commander kept chuckling, even as he flung a singularity at the geth. Shields didn't stop the gravimetric attack from pulling the geth into the air, followed by Garrus cracking off shots, nailing one geth per round.
"Seriously, in the middle of a battle?" Hillary asked, then added; "Cracking jokes used to be my thing."
"Sorry, sorry… I've just been holding that one since Virmire." John said, then settled back into cover as the corner was riddled with cup-sized holes from plasma eating through it.
"Christo… Wrex, what… are you doing?" Tequila's question caused the team to look at where Wrex was actively tearing up the ground into a massive plate of metal. He then gripped it with his claws, forming a sort of handle in the metal as he curled it into a ball-like lump.
"Give me a few seconds cover." Was all the Krogan said. The team, Thomas included, looked to Jane and John. John shrugged, and Jane shook her head in exasperation;
"Alright, you heard the Krogan. Covering fire!" The Captain ordered, coating herself in a biotic barrier before stepping out of cover, belching slugs from her rifle at the geth. The rest of the team followed her example and opened fire at the geth. With the result being the geth taking cover, Wrex stepped out from his, holding the massive ball of solid metal. The fact that he could even lift it was a tribute either to Krogan strength, or to what was slowly becoming accepted as actual Earthbending.
With a heave of strength followed by a strained roar, Wrex swung the ball of metal a few times around himself before letting go. The ball, weighing at least the same as him, went flying without hitting the ground, courtesy of no gravity on the tower. When it shattered both shields, cover and geth though, it certainly behaved as if it weighed what it would normally. What geth were not outright scrapped, were sent tumbling on their backs from the impact.
"Move up!" Jane called, taking point as they advanced up the slope. Few of the geth were still intact, and none had regained their footing yet. Each was politely told to stay down by a slug through the flashlight. Wrex stopped where his ball had imbedded itself in the wall, chuckling roughly to himself. Hillary stopped next to him, slapping his shoulder;
"I'd say that's one fucking badass strike, right there." She laughed before moving on. Wrex chuckled as well, then followed the group. Watching their six with Tali, Thomas shook his head in disbelief.
"You too?" Tali asked with a mildly amused voice. Thomas sighed, then smiled. It was always nice when Tali initiated their talks, even if it was on a battlefield. Gods knew she had toughened up since the Clinic.
"Yeah… a bit much, don't you think?" He thumbed the lump of metal as they passed it. Tali giggled, an odd thing to hear when vertically traversing the Citadel Tower, fighting geth and Krogan all the way.
"It's a bit extreme, yes. On the other hand, it's never boring on the Normandy." She said.
"Gods know I wouldn't mind a single mission consisting of what the briefing said. Pick Liara up? Sure, also go fight a bazillion xenomorphs and save Jane and Tequila. Relieve a colony from the geth? Alright, you just have to kill a mind-controlling plant while you're there. Find Benezia on Noveria? Nope, sorry. But here's some more xenomorphs made from Elcor, and some Cerberus guys too. Free the colony of Valhalla-" Thomas counted on, idly remembering the messed up stuff he had seen and done over the past months.
"Alright, alright I get it." Tali replied, holding up a hand to stop him, the other never letting go of her shotgun; "We have seen a lot of disturbing stuff."
"Thát we have." He agreed as they moved up with the group. It was funny, how he couldn't get rid of seeing Tali as the little-sister of them all, despite her being a few months older than him. Tali was almost twenty-three by Quarian years. What that was in human ones, he had no idea.
As they followed the group around the corner, they saw Jane had stopped at what looked like a manhole. The rest of them gathered around it;
"Alright, this is one of the manholes used by maintenance. We can go through here to get to the chambers. Just watch your step, it's meant for Keepers." Jane said, then pulled the hatch open and hopped in.
"And here I was just hoping there would be a simple door…" Kaidan muttered as he followed her. The rest of the group followed in, with Tali as the last person to shut the hatch. Immediately, a sharp hiss could be heard as oxygen returned to their surroundings. Not that it was a win-win, seeing how Thomas was now forced to crawl on his knees, looking at Garrus' ass.
"This reminds me of Therum, Thomas." The Turian quirked. Thomas growled;
"Garrus, I swear, one word about how this reminds you of a certain act on Therum, I'm going to test how fire-resistant your plates are." The response was just Garrus chuckling at Thomas's threat. It wasn't an empty one though, Thomas really didn't want to be reminded of the situation, especially because he couldn't remember if Liara knew how they had gotten her out of there, and if she was told she had been butt-grabbed, the shy Asari might very well become slightly annoyed.
When they came upon the exit of the tunnels, cramped and dark as they were, Jane lay on her back and kicked out the grate between them and the Council Chambers. Keeping her biotic barriers up, the captain was the first out of the tunnels and on the ground, making little sound as she rolled from the fall. The next out was Kaidan, then Tequila who likewise rolled from the fall. Wrex though, made a noise. When he hit the ground, the metal curled beneath his weight, echoing the halls with a metallic shrieking.
"Sorry…" He muttered, hefting his minigun, waiting for it to unfold after the trip through the tunnels.
"Are Krogan ever taught the word 'stealth'?" Tequila asked as Liara soundlessly hovered down, followed by the rest of the group. When it was Tali's turn, John caught her falling, obviously exploiting the possibility to hug her. Wrex chuckled, being the only one aside from Thomas who had noticed.
"I wonder… why haven't we been shot at yet?" Jane muttered, almost sounding annoyed. If Thomas had a say in it, he would very much prefer to not be shot at. All his mind was focused on Saren now, and trying to find out where the Turian was. Preferably before said Turian found them.
"I know, it's boring." Wrex said, stating what he apparently saw as a fact. Thomas stopped and gave the Krogan a flat look, opening for regular air to come into his helmet. The occasional shudder and tremble went through the tower when something went nuclear on the outside, in the battle of giants. They were in the lower atrium, looking up the stairs that would under normal circumstances take them to the Council.
"Then allow me to make this more interesting, Krogan." Saren's voice caused Thomas to freeze on the spot, Lancer pointed around the room to find the source of it. Saren was nowhere to be seen, but he could hear what sounded like flames burning, the sound being cast back and forth in the hall.
"Get out here Saren! You can't win this time!" Jane shouted, her own rifle pointed around in a similar manner.
"Oh? But don't you see it? If I win, we all win. If you win, the Reapers still win, but we won't be spared."
"The Reapers will slaughter us all if they come through that Relay! Nazara is controlling you!" Thomas shouted, stepping forward. He could already feel the energy building, his vision getting a faint tint of green.
"So this is who Roku chose for his host? I am a little disappointed not to feel him in you. What happened to your aspect, Human? Did he abandon you? Leave you with promises of help?"
"Shut it Saren, I know what's going on around here." Thomas shot back, staring around, desperate for a target. There was nothing but Saren's voice in the great hall; "You think Nazara will allow organic life to continue, but guess what, Nazara doesn't want to spare anyone. She's going to kill everyone to fuel her fight against the Master, and you are just helping her along!"
"Of course, the words of a Host. However, I know the truth. And for the truth to be finalized… you must all die!" The sound of fires burning suddenly grew louder, and as Thomas snapped his head around, Saren was coming straight at him, dark fire blazing behind him the tail of an unholy comet.
"What the Fu-" Saren collided with Thomas, pulling the marine with him away from the sudden shouting and hesitant gunfire. Of course, they didn't dare shoot, for fear of hitting Thomas. They were in the air, Thomas struggling to breath from the chokehold Saren's three fingers had on his throat. Even as he tried clawing at the hand, Thomas was tossed aside, flying through the air before he hit a solid surface. Only, it wasn't solid, but instead the glass floor between the podium and the Council chairs.
Now, gunfire filled the air, rounds burning away as they hit Saren's burning visage. He ignored them, in favor of descending through the shattered glass-floor, towards Thomas who was just regaining his breath.
"See? Your aspect is as empty in his promises as he is in power. Nazara will fulfill her promise, and I will be hailed as savior of the galaxy. The others are mere pawns, we both know that. You, are the only one really standing in my way, you and that painstakingly stubborn sister of yours." Saren proclaimed as he landed on the grass, his feet scorching away the grass where he stood and walked. Getting the air back in his lungs, Thomas realized he had lost his helmet at some point. A warm liquid was running down his forehead, most likely blood.
"Nazara's going to betray you, asshole." He spat out, feeling a bubble of blood stick to his face. This was not good, he knew that much; "And yeah, she's pretty annoying. But Anna's still going to rip Nazara apart." Saren simply gave a ghostly, arrogant smile at that, before he planted a metallic foot on Thomas's chest.
"I must admit, I am disappointed. I knew Roku was a weak pretender, but I was certain you would at least provide me with some fight. The War of the Gods ends today, and I am going to make sure your names are forgotten. Only I will remain, standing as salvation and messiah on top of my fallen foes."
"You…" Thomas coughed, feeling his throat clench up. Fuck, fuck! This was really bad! There was no way he was just going to let Saren win. Thomas spotted something behind and above Saren; "You really like to talk, don't you?"
"Why of course. A victory should always be topped off by a speech, don't you think?" Now, Thomas grabbed Saren by the foot and held on, the ghost of a smile on his face as he himself became encased in emerald flames;
"I do." He smirked, and Saren started turning his head, even as the sound of a rocket was heard. When it hit, Saren had no way of avoiding it, because Thomas held on to his foot for those short seconds needed. Saren had, in either arrogance or stupidity, focused all his defenses and attention on Thomas. As a result, the Carnage launched from Tali's shotgun caught him by surprise. What would have erased the head of a Krogan, only caused him to be lurched to the side, giving Thomas just the chance he needed to get back to his feet.
"Got you, Bosh'tet." Tali shouted from atop the hole. Saren sneered, metallic mandibles snapping as he looked straight up at her, making Tali disappear from the edge.
"Can't have any interrupters. I'll be right back." Saren smirked, then launched himself from the ground. Thomas launched forward, intent on grabbing the Turian's leg. The second's hesitation proved to be what Saren needed to get unhindered to the edge again, instantly receiving a fresh blast from a Carnage missile. This time though, he swatted it aside.
"NO!" Thomas yelled, desperately pouring energy into his feet. Fuck, why hadn't Roku taught him to fly? Come on! Come on! Come on, I beg you! Nothing came though, and so Thomas was forced to find another route from the hole.
In the meantime, Saren had flared up again, and was aiming for Tali. The Quarian girl screamed in fear as the demonic Turian came at her, utterly undeterred by the onslaught of biotic energy John'Shepard launched at him. He was confident that he was unstoppable. He knew he was, because Nazara had told him he was. After he had been injured on Virmire, she had upgraded him, assured him of what was right and wrong, true and false. Now, he was the Harbinger of the ascension.
John bit his lips to blood as his biotic barriers and attacks grew weaker and weaker, all of them unable to halt Saren in the least as the Turian went for his love. Finally, having exhausted himself against the Turian, John grabbed the combat-blade in his bandolier and charged the Turian. He didn't care if he was going to die over this, there was no way in hell he would let Saren touch Tali. Tali, who even when she was just a timid, shy little girl, had had a fire inside her. A fire of creation, of courage. She kept firing blasts and drones at the Turian, avoiding when he came too close. John knew she wasn't going to escape him, so he did the only thing he could.
He tackled Saren.
With a bestial scream, John'Shepard vas Normandy nar Rayya rammed Saren sideways, digging his knife into the Turian's shoulder. Saren yelled in protest, but not in pain. There was no feeling of a knife sinking into flesh, not even into Turian skin. Instead, John felt his blade snap as Saren turned on the spot, grabbing him by the leg. John was hardly aware of what was going on, only that he had failed, as he was hurled into the wall, headfirst.
Tali ran. She ran, screaming and with tears flowing freely down her cheeks. Saren was too strong. He was too strong. John had launched everything, even himself at the Turian, and now he was on the ground, slumped against the wall. He might even be dead, and she couldn't do anything about it! Tali turned the moment her shotgun was ready, blasting Saren in the face. Of course, to her growing fear, he just shrugged it off, grabbing her shotgun with one hand. Tali simply let go, knowing she couldn't hope to keep her weapon now. So she turned and ran…
…right into the corner of the room. Slugs filled the air, and biotic attacks slammed against Saren every few moments, but he didn't pay it any heed. His cold eyes stared straight into her own, disregard for life meeting fear. Tali tried to find a way, to find a means of escape, but there was none. Her eyes, streaming with tears, snapped back to Saren's.
The Turian launched forward towards her, dark fire surrounding him as he prepared to end her.
Saren's clawed fist went through flesh, and out the other side again.
Citadel, Serpent Nebula.
10th and 15th fleet.
SSV Hammer of Vengeance
"We're getting torn apart!"
"Sovereign's too strong! We have to fall back!"
"Taking fire, we're taking-"
Anna slammed her fist into the console, glaring hatred at the gigantic machine, tearing her ships apart one by one, pointedly ignoring her, as if to insult her. She was shooting everything she had at the thing, every missile, every gun. Even the main guns couldn't get through Nazara's shields. The plasma torpedoes only caused a new, golden shield to appear, and there were no more torpedoes left. She had exhausted all ten tubes, what was close to a hundred torpedoes in total, ignored in favor of tearing apart dreadnoughts and cruisers. In her mouth, Anna felt a tooth break from the gritting she was forced to keep up, as she would start screaming would she stop.
"Keep shooting! If we fall back we all die!" She yelled into the comms, watching as nuclear fire once more bathed Nazara. Apart from causing the monster to shift focus to the offending ship, and for its actions to grow a little more sluggish for a moment, there was little effect.
"Admiral, we can't win here. I'm trying to contact the rest of the Alliance for support, but I'm completely locked out of the systems." Price said in her ear. Anna felt like screaming as she saw Nazara descend on the remnants of the 6th Raiders.
"Do something! I can't let this cunt win! I WON'T!" She wanted to come up with more nasty descriptions, but in this moment, all wit failed as she watched Sovereign land on the hull of the Caucasus, Oleg's flagship; "All stations, prepare to get up close to the bitch!"
"Admiral, what are-" Price started.
"Get us close enough to fire every single weapon we have! I don't care if we die trying, I am NOT letting that thing kill Oleg!" She yelled back, cutting Price off.
"Understood…" The AI muttered. Anna looked over her wavering crew, the start of a desperate plan forming in her mind.
"Divert all power from the main gun to the beams! As soon as we're in range, divert all engine-power to shields!" She yelled. The crew hesitated a moment, the jumped into action. The Hammer of Vengeance soared through the skies of the Citadel, headed for the hulking monster that had started gutting the Caucasus; "Price, get me a one-way to Nazara!"
"The last time-"
"Do it or Xen gets you!" Anna yelled back. Price promptly shut up and opened for a message. Anna started the moment the signal was through, and the red beam started from the bow of the dreadnought;
"NAZARA! LET GO OF HIM AND TAKE ME ON, YOU ROTTING CUNT!"
"That's sure to leave an impression…" Price muttered as he closed the channel.
And, world of wonders, it did. Nazara stopped cutting up the Caucasus, even as debris and dying crewmembers were streaming from the long hole the monster had carved into the body of Oleg's ship. The squid-like being seemed to hesitate, the let go of the Caucasus, starting its progress towards the Hammer.
"All stations. Full power to shields! Full power to plasma-beams and GARDIAN-systems!"
Frightened affirmatives were shouted back, and the shields of the Goliath dreadnought went back to 100%, as did power for the repeating beams. The engines died down, and the main guns went silent. The turrets kept up the pummeling, sending shells with nuclear warheads for tips flying at the approaching monster.
"All stations, fire weapons on my command!"
The monster drew closer, and lasers and plasma alike tracked its progress as it neared the ship. Its intent was already known to Anna, who had seen what it did to the bigger ships. The whole plan hinged on Nazara landing on the hull, and gave them just enough time to kick her from below.
In the time until Nazara's gigantic appendixes touched onto the hull, Anna felt and saw her entire life pass before her eyes. She saw her childhood, both in the past and this dimension. She saw her own every birthday, with friends growing fewer and fewer at each celebration, until only three remained at her sixteenth and forward.
Jack Harper, Eva Coré and Ben Hislop.
She saw Hislop dying, yet still being alive. She saw Jack get his inhuman eyes as the electrical arcs hit him. She saw Eva dying, bleeding out.
She saw pain, then joy. Amata, Lucy, Joan. Her daughters.
She saw Mindoir, Eden Prime, Therum, Thomas in person for the first time, then Feros and Noveria, the confrontation with Jack. More pain. Zaeed, first worry then relief. Megan and Gilbert, joy and pride, yet shyness too.
"Admiral! Orders!" One of the crewmembers called out. Anna shrugged the stupor off, looking at where the monster was now.
Nazara was just about to settle down on the hull of the Hammer, the Reaper actually bigger than her own vessel.
"Ready to fire!"
"Ready!" The call came back. All guns were aimed at the monster. Power levels up, ammo loaded and lasers fully charged.
Just a few more seconds...
"Admiral!"
"Send the cunt to HELL!" Anna shouted. On her word, the lasers and plasma beams released their deadly energy, splashing onto Nazara's barriers. They remained there, with blue and golden energy pressing back as Nazara opened her maw, and a red energy was visible; "Press everything! This is it!"
From everywhere on the ship, power was directed into the lasers and plasma-beams. Whole sections went dark, without light, heat or gravity. Systems shortened out, others downright melted as technicians attempted to save their electronics. The lasers grew in intensity, the plasma in heat and force.
There was a blinding flash, enough so that everything electronic not EMP-shielded was killed on the spot. Nazara audibly howled in wrath as the barriers broke. Plasma started carving into her metallic flesh, and lasers followed. As retaliation, the monster unleashed a torrent of hellfire centered in a single, red beam of accelerated metal, straight onto the barriers of the ship.
"Admiral! Shields draining rapidly!"
"How much?"
"50%- 30-10%... We're without shields!" A Quarian ensigns yelled, panic dominating his voice.
"Keep shooting! If we go down, we're fucking hell saving the galaxy in the process!" Anna commanded.
"We're going to die here!" A human yelled, starting to rise from his station. In a flash, Anna had her sidearm out. The man simply screamed; "I wanna live!"
"Where do you think you are going?" Anna demanded coldly, pointing the gun at his legs. The man stared at her with fright and desperation shining from his eyes;
"I'm getting out of here, you crazy bi-" Anna cut him off by firing a concussive shot into his chest, knocking him back across the floor, out cold...
She would deal with him later.
"I said keep shooting!" She yelled as the rest of the bridge hesitated for just a moment, then went back to carving up the squid seated on them, currently in the process of returning the favor. Nazara stopped shooting to cool down for a few seconds, doing its best to shrug off the constant barrage from the rest of the fleet. A new charge was ready, and the payload was delivered in the form of red fire, centered at the same spot.
"Barriers going fast! 40% - 10% We're without barriers!" A new ensign shouted, desperation and panic mounting in his voice. Anna kept her sidearm out.
"Keep shooting! If the next one goes through our armor, we're fried!"
"Lasers overheated!" Thát one made her cringe, looking upon the screens showing Nazara recharging its weapon. The red crackles had already started appearing.
"Aim the beams at the firing chamber!" She yelled, then watched as the next red beam cut into her ship, this time only armor protecting them. She closed her eyes, awaiting the explosions that were going to consume them when the beam made it through.
"Armor holding! I… it's HOLDING!" One of the ensigns shouted, utter disbelief in the voice. Anna dared opening her eyes and looked at the screens. Sovereign's attack hit the armor alright… but something was wrong. It almost looked like… what the hell was going on?
"Price? Why are we not dead?" She demanded as Nazara, it too obviously in disbelief, recharged its weapon. Meanwhile, the beams were ceaselessly carving long scars into her armor and hull, bright explosions accompanying many of the cuts.
"I honestly don't know… the SOSNSA is holding, but… I am not sure why." The AI admitted, obviously dumbfounded like her. Despite the fact that she wasn't dead, Anna growled;
"You're a supercomputer, get me a reason."
"I don't even know what Sovere- Nazara is shooting at us. The reaction almost makes me consider if its fluid in nature, though that would raise more questions than answers…"
"Jesus Christ... Just keep shooting at it, and we might just actually live through this!" Anna shouted. It wasn't like she needed to, seeing how the shooting hadn't stopped, but she felt she needed to, and that was reason enough.
Nazara shot again, bathing the hull in bright, crimson light as the weapon discharged into the armor. While the SOSNSA held out, the surface was starting to liquefy under the immense heat, and the hull beneath was starting to feel the consequences of this, as more and more of the applied pressure made it through.
Nazara charged the weapon again, but was stopped dead. Carving through its dark skin, the bright azure plasma flowed into its firing chamber, wrecking havoc on its delicate electronics and systems. An animalistic howl resonated as she lost the ability to make use of the main weapon, and move and more armor was pierced by slugs, hammering into the depleting barriers. She had never expected this, not this amount of firepower levied against her divine form. She would have to flee, and return, stronger than before. With more slaves.
On the bridge, Anna gaped in surprise as Nazara took off from the hull, fires burning in multiple places as plasma carved through the armor, and thousands of kilotons worth of kinetic force was applied to the monster's skin. She pulled up the fleet-comms;
"All ships, focus fire on Nazara's underside and wounds! We can end this now! We're saving the galaxy, and we're doing it with some fucking STYLE!" She shouted, then turned to the bridge; "Recharge the main guns, turrets and everything we have. Send the Sabot-slugs through her belly! Gut the bitch!"
The plasma ceased to carve and cut, and a dull, blue glow of energy surrounded the main guns, as the remaining five functioning 600mm Everest class guns came online as well. As Nazara attempted to carve a path through the opposing forces, trying to escaped, the Hammer of Vengeance positioned itself behind the squid-like vessel and finished recharging the main guns. On Anna's command, the ship lived up to the name it had been given, and delivered.
Council Chambers, Citadel Presidium.
19:52
Saren was spat on, blue blood of dextro make dotting his face, his eyes shining in slight surprise as he looked what his fist had gone through, still burning with dark fires as it had torn through inner organs.
Garrus Vakarian gasped, coughing up blood as he felt unnatural pain, his hearts gutted most likely. He didn't care, in his mind. He had stood between Saren and a girl he had come to think of as a sister. Family, his father had always told him, was the most important thing in the world, in the galaxy, as it would later be expanded to. Duty, was important, and whomever abandoned a mission was trash. However, whomever abandoned friends and comrades, were worse than trash. Garrus had never seen himself as being a 'good Turian', but that was one rule he could abide by, one code he could follow.
Outside his inner thoughts though, he was panicking as he felt his legs start giving away under him. He could hear Tali behind him, crying out his name, maybe in denial, maybe in grief or just simply surprise. He didn't know… for once, he was not sure what was going to happen with the others, with the people he cared about.
"GARRUS!" Right... There was Shepard too, Jane that was. He forced his head to turn, to look in the direction of the paling woman as she stared at him, eyes wide in shock and fear. Truthfully, it didn't hurt that much anymore. He just started feeling… numb. Intellectually, he knew this was his body trying to preserve his brain by stopping the flow of blood to his legs, directing it to his brain. Only, with at least one heart now gone, he just saw a lot of blood pouring out of his chest. The armor hadn't helped much there, in this regard. He looked back up as a scream of primal fury suddenly came from the right, and a form impacted on Saren, who's whole arm was still buried in Garrus' chest. As a result, Garrus was hurled to the ground as a shape of green fire charged into Saren.
He could hear running feet outside his field of vision. There was something, or someone coming closer now. He could only see the floor he was facing, and a hint of movement in the corner of his eye. Damn, having evolved from predators wasn't the best thing here. If he… had been a prey, like Wrex, he… could probably… could probably see what was… tired. He was tired. His legs were cold, and he couldn't rub them against each other to get warm, couldn't move them even.
He was turned over, quite roughly so as well, and came to look into Jane's helmet. He knew it was her, even with the helmet on. It was just the way it looked, plus the fact that only she was a woman who wore the more bulky armor.
"Garrus! Lie still, please just… Oh god!" He couldn't see her face, but… but he could hear her voice was pained. He wanted to lighten up the mood a little, maybe ask how bad it was, but… but he knew it was bad. He could hear the tears in her voice saying it was bad. He really wished he had pulled himself together and told her before… before… right, this was it, wasn't it?
"Ja… Jane… Ja…" He coughed, more blue bloods splattering out, most of it ending up on Jane's visor. He found it funny that a small system immediately wiped the blood away from the glass. Dammit, he had never thought it was going to happen like this. Maybe a gunship, or a long, desperate standoff against an army of bad guys, all on his own, a cool nickname as well… no, no that… that would have been a dream, maybe… but…
"Garrus, please don't speak! Kaidan, help me please, please, please…" Jane was crying now, her head and shoulders trembling with each invisible but audible wave of grief, causing Garrus all the more harm as her hands tried covering his wounds.
"Jane… Jane, I..." His vision went black, as did his world, only the sound of crying growing weaker and weaker, his only ties to the world, maybe. Was this death? If it was, he was going to head back home and tell that theology teacher a thing or two, because there were no Asari maidens here from what Garrus could see.
"KAIDAN! HELP ME, PLEASE!" The voice. The voice of the woman he… no, she loved another. He had tried already, joking back then though. Still, her voice held him; "GARRUS! GARRIS NO! DON'T YOU DO THIS TO ME! Please! Pleaaaase!"
His world snapped back open, cold, unfeeling. He couldn't move or feel his hands, only his head, and he was feeling… light. More blood came up, his throat wet and hard to breathe through.
"Jane! Ja… Jane… I… you…" He wanted to scream 'I love you' out loud, but his voice wasn't working. Every word came out through blood and with blood, wet and almost unintelligible. She probably hadn't heard him, and he couldn't get more air down. Dammit! Dammit, not like this, I can't go like this!
Those were his last thoughts, as the world vanished.
And Jane screamed.
Thomas had come out of the hole, but too late. He had come out, and come out only to see Saren with his fist through Garrus's body. There had been fire, and blood. So much blood running onto the floor, covering Garrus's feet while he used his own body to shield Tali.
Had Garrus loved Tali?
Thomas didn't know. He only knew Hate. Wrath. Vengeance. Anger. Fury… Fire.
His world went green, energy coating his entire body in a flash, and he surged towards Saren faster than humanly possible, grabbing the Turian devil by the throat, trying to pour fire into his body by the simple act of holding, strangling the demon. He held Saren in a burning chokehold as they both smashed into and through a wall, into the adjacent room. The room had been an office, and Thomas cracked Saren through the large table in the middle of it, holding the momentarily startled Turian by the throat with his left hand, as his right hand burned with fury and pummeled into the plated face.
There were no words spoken, nor shouted, as he kept pummeling the Turian. Each hit seemed to scrape more and more skin from the Turian's face, revealing dark and gleaming metal underneath. Saren didn't say a word, didn't plead for his life. He just took the punches until the point where his hand, still coated in Garrus's blood, shot out and impacted on Thomas's chest, flinging the human backwards through the air, back through the hole Thomas himself had made. He hit the ground, the smooth metal of his armor causing him to skid across it before stopping. There was no pain.
There was only Hate. Wrath. Vengeance. Anger and Fury.
Thomas got back on his feet before Saren had a chance to pummel him down again. As the Turian charged forward, so did he, and met the demonic alien face on. His whole body was on fire, green flames licking his form and scorching the floor where he stood, pressing against Saren who powered himself towards him. The Turian pressed harder, and Thomas pressed back, his feet burning through the metal in his boots as he withstood Saren's onslaught. He didn't feel the floor as his skin burned down to it.
Hate. Wrath. Vengeance. Anger and Fury
He glared up, into Saren's ghostly, possessed eyes. He didn't see a Turian. All he saw was a demon, possessing a corpse. Saren kept pressing, forcing Thomas backwards even as his bare feet melted tracks into the floor. With a sudden motion, Saren's foot shot up and kicked Thomas in the chest, sending him backwards once more, landing flat on his back as the Turian was on him, ignoring the barrage of slugs Wrex poured at him, as well as whatever else was sent his way. Thomas somehow felt it when Tequila ripped a chunk of steel from the floor and hurled it at Saren. The metal curled and melted as it hit the Turian, doing little more than throwing him off, unbalancing him. Still, it was enough that Thomas got a foot up and planted it between Saren's legs delivering a shattering kick to the Turian's groin.
Except it wasn't shattering, and Saren did little more than to lose a meter as he was pushed off Thomas. There was nothing organic where the kick had landed, but as Saren was about to retaliate in kind, a biotic attack hit him face on, courtesy of a Jane Shepard more enraged than she had been since the last one she cared for had died. Thomas watched as he got to his feet. Jane kept her distance, having learnt from Virmire. But she kept up a biotic pummeling that would have crumbled a tank, hitting Saren with every biotic punch she could force into being, before he suddenly lashed out. The floor curled beneath her, and the fire he sent in her direction was stopped only by the biotic Barrier Kaidan threw up, a rare expression of hate on his face, unseen as it was through his helmet.
Saren scoffed and focused on Kaidan next, leaving himself open to the moment where Thomas was back on his feet, delivering a flaming kick to the Turian's jaw. What would have killed most, sent Saren stumbling backwards, his eyes once more settling on Thomas.
"Good. Good, this is much better, much more…" He said, savoring the last word; "…Personal"
Thomas didn't say anything. The ability to speak was lost to him. He didn't even know how to utter words. He knew not the way of speech now.
He knew only Hate. Wrath. Vengeance. Anger and Fury.
He surged forward again, intent on something as simply as tearing Saren's jaw from his head, then pour fire into his eyes. Saren waited, ready. When Thomas came at him, on fire and with blazing flames shooting behind and around him, Saren caught his hands, forcing them down by using the very momentum Thomas had intended on Saren's own head. As Thomas himself snapped back up, Saren grabbed him by the throat and turned around before Thomas could react, hammering him into the wall. Repeatedly, bashing the marine headfirst into the metal surface. The flames in Thomas's eyes started to wane as his consciousness grew weaker with each blow.
Hate. Wrath. Vengeance. Anger and Fury. Those were emotions, sensations that gave him purpose, but not strength. He needed the strength now, not the purpose. The fire left his eyes completely now, leaving him with the white of his eyes on display before his iris settled back in with a dilated pupil. Saren smirked a cruel smirk as he saw this, knowing he had beat the one other mortal who stood a chance to stop him. He held Thomas into the air, triumphantly displaying his victory, not hearing the shatter of glass, nor the loud crash from the impact of an object in the room. Saren only looked at Thomas, watching as the breathing became labored, more difficult and the skin became red, not glowing green.
He was surprised, by the three-fingered, metallic hand that suddenly gripped his wrist, snapping both bone and Reaper-implanted metal in it. Shouting in pain, he snapped around, finding himself face to face with the cold, green and burning iris of a geth.
"What is-" The geth cut him off, backhanding him with enough force to tear off a mandible. Before Saren could retaliate, he was hurled across the room, over the edge of the podium, and into the space beneath. The geth instantly followed, flying on green, intense flames as it gave him no rest, landing on his chest with the kinetic power of a Krogan.
"This has gone on for far too long, Saren, Host of Nazara! Your benefactor has lost the battle, a fleeing coward as she is. Now, you will join the dust! This ends NOW!" The unbridled fury of the Fire god came through in full force, grabbing Saren's face. Even as the Turian attempted to strike back, Roku burned his face, scorching all organic matter from it.
What remained was the synthetic skull of a Reaper slave, an indoctrinated servant of Nazara. Saren cried in anguish and pain, kicking the geth that held him. Roku let him go, in the manner that involved hurling the Turian against the wall. Saren partially cushioned the impact with his biotics, before tearing a chunk of the wall out, forcing it into a spear before flinging it at the geth. It impacted.
Roku was thrown backwards, having not expected Saren to still be able to use the powers of Kalros, now that Nazara was no longer winning. He cursed himself for being arrogant, too sure of himself. Now, he was impaled through the torso. He ripped the make-shift spear of steel from his body, but not before Saren was on him, delivering a punch of dark fire into the head of the geth, through the green flames, cracking the iris of the flashlight.
"So, you yet remain, Roku. I shall purge you from existence, and I will still rule supreme over this meager galaxy!" It was no longer Saren's voice, which did not truly surprise Roku, seeing just how much Nazara had implanted him. For all intents and purposes, she had in Saren a contingency plan, in case of the destruction of the Reaper-form. It made sense. Before entering the tower from the shuttle now hanging outside the large windows, he had seen the Hammer of Vengeance carry out its task, spearing the fleeing Nazara from behind, sending its torrent of slugs and plasma through the unshielded, unprotected and poorly armored underside of the Reaper ship. He had believed that the end of Nazara, but evil died hard, as he now knew.
"You will rule nothing, as long as I remain. I will cleanse you with fire, even if I have to take myself out with you." Roku bit back, tearing the other mandible from Nazara's host with a burning fist, then proceeded to hack the appendix into the artificial eye Nazara so enjoyed implanting in her hosts.
"Bah, you are a weak pretender, nothing more. I saw the weakness in you and your precious pantheon. The Harbinger is the true master, and he will deliver onto me rewards unfathomable when I bring him your desecrated soul!" Nazara spoke, then grabbed Roku's right arm and pulled. Roku couldn't feel pain in the organic understanding, but he felt his form being torn just as much as a human would, and so he shouted and yelled in pain and outrage when the arm was torn from his body. Nazara held the arm for a moment, one working eye appreciating the trophy; "Perhaps I shall start by bringing him this lowly form of yours."
Suddenly, Nazara was torn away from Roku's body, a shout of surprise and outrage accompanying her. Thomas was standing behind them, eyes back to normal, but skin glowing with bright flames of emerald color. He had his bionic hand closed around the throat of Nazara's body, which was what he had torn at. To say that Roku was surprised, and proud, was an understatement.
"Not… before you go through me, YOU PSYCHOTIC BITCH!" Thomas yelled, slamming Nazara into the bright and pristine wall that supported the podium Anna herself had been yelling from, only a few days ago. Thomas slammed Nazara into the wall with enough force to leave an impression of a Turian face in the metal. Nazara herself pushed out and hit Thomas in the abdomen, hard enough to make him lose his grip and stagger backwards, the emerald glow pulsating as he regained the air.
"How amusing. Roku, your little pet still believes itself capable of doing battle with a god. So like that sister of his… How annoying that she managed to destroy my optimal form. No matter, I will return from this, stronger…" Nazara paused to kick Thomas again, the clawed foot gashing across his face as he was sent backwards onto the grassy floor; "and better, than before. And I will be without equal, because you are right, this does end today…" Thomas was dragged into a chokehold, held in the air. It was, to him, becoming a really painful habit. Summoning what power he had left, he grabbed the front of Nazara's face, and with the bionic hand, punched what would be the temple of a human.
As a result, Nazara threw him into the wall, snarling in anger at the interruption. Roku launched himself from the wall, grabbing the spear as a weapon of his own. Nazara was still looking at Thomas when the geth started, and only managed to avoid being speared through the head by slapping the spear aside in the last possible moment. Roku instantly let go of the metal and instead curled his three metallic fingers into a devastating, fiery punch that was levied at the Turian head. However, instead of going to hit Nazara square in the face, which was immensely tempting, Roku slipped the fist just above Nazara's waiting grip, and went over the Turian's head. The start of Nazara's smirk vanished when Roku grabbed the long fringes on the head, and pulled Nazara to the ground with it. It was Reaper-metal, which meant he couldn't just snap it like thát.
Nazara was on the ground now, and Roku planted a solid geth foot on the throat of her form. No matter how much the form scraped and scratched and hit, Roku was now the stronger one;
"I believe this will be the last time I have to say this Nazara: You really always were a cunt." Had Roku had a mouth, he would have smirked as he brought down the one hand he had left, caving in the Turian's head. Instead of the squishy, squirming noise one might have expected from crushing a skull, there was only the sound of electronics and hardware the aspect brought its hand up, and then down again, gripping the upper part of the skull, while Nazara still twisted. With a heave, Roku split the skull in two, tearing the upper head straight off.
The twitching stopped, and Roku found himself looking into the now dark, cold and dead eyes that had once belonged to Saren Arterius, then to Nazara, and now to no one.
Alas, it is done. Saren is dead, Nazara is dead, the forces of life stand victorious... but what cost had to be paid?
I pray that this chapter feels as thrilling to read as it was for me to write, because by the Gods, this was a chapter I have been planning for practically more than a year. The details have changed over time, but the end result was the same.
And... I'm most likely to lose some readers due to Garrus. I know, I'm a swine, a scumbag with no heart and a bastard who should rot in Oblivion for doing this to one of the most awesome characters ever made by BioWare ever in the history of ever... but... it is what it is, I suppose is all I can say.
This chapter held the last true combat of Book 1, and it will be some time before I start working on Book 2. We still have a few chapters to clean up the mess, aftermath and short epilogue to bridge the gap between ME1 and ME2. So, we have yet a chapter or two in this one.