Recap: "WE'LL MAKE IT!" He roared as they got right to it. The Conduit covered the mako with element zero energy before it shot her straight up, before finally powering off.
Now
The Presidium was wrecked. Bodies littered the floor with blood pooling around. Walls had been torn up with debris on the ground. Fire and smoke filled the air along with the alarm.
"Critical failures detected across all monitored systems. Please begin emergency evacuation procedures. This is not a drill." The geth were right in front of Avina, standing guard at the entrance to the Citadel Tower. The ignored the VI's constant emergency broadcasts as they looked for any organics that may still be alive. Out of the corner of their sight they noticed the Conduit's rings begin to accelerate. A glow soon came as the rings got faster and faster.
They approached it with their weapons trained on it. What was coming through it? There were no other units meant to come through after them. Especially this late in the attack. Once they got close enough, their audio sensors picked up the sound of rumbling as the Conduit's core flew brighter. Another sound came through. A revving sound that was similar to one of the organics' vehicles. They were right in front of it when a badly damaged mako came flying through the Conduit.
They had no time to move as the vehicle spiraled in midair and landed on them, skidding for little until it came to stop against the wall on its back. There was no movement at first. Just silence from the crash, until one of the doors was blasted off. A human male came tumbling out of the wreck. This human was followed by an asari, a quarian, a turian, another human male, a human female and a krogan. Everyone stumbled for a bit, not used to the experience of flying through a relay corridor only to crash into something. Shepard looked at the mako to see it was turned over. Two tires had exploded while the others were melting almost. There sparks coming out of the axel which was bent too much.
"Well, it finally happened. We killed the mako." He said. After all that crazy shit he put that mako through, it only seemed fitting that it would be destroyed by this.
"Shepard, you could've killed us!" Garrus said to him.
"Considering what we were up against, I'd say we came out fine! I'll agree that it wasn't my best landing, but certainly not my worst." Shepard said dusting of his armor before looking at his surroundings.
"Oh yea, but I don't think this is much... better... Spirits!" Garrus said coming up to him seeing the devastation Saren and the geth wrought.
"By the Goddess!" Liara said coming up beside him.
"Damn. I knew the geth would get the drop on the Citadel, but..." Ashley said seeing what they were seeing. Kaidan nor Tali spoke seeing the carnage.
"Shit." Wrex muttered. Shepard shook himself from his stupor. No time to stand around in shock. Not with what was coming. He turned to his team.
"Okay, equipment check! Anything damaged?" He asked as he looked over himself. His armor had protected him and wasn't beat up to badly. He got resounding no's and negatives. He thought over what everyone had.
For their armor, everyone was wearing Colossus armor with him, Ashley, and Wrex wearing the heaviest. Garrus wore the medium and Kaidan, Liara and Tali wore the light versions. All armor had upgraded shield interfaces as well as upgraded medical exoskeletons.
For weapons, he had the Master Spectre Gear. Ashley and Garrus had Rosenkov Materials Assault and Sniper rifles while Wrex and Tali had the Sokolov shotguns with Kaidan and Liara having only their Karpov pistols. All weapons had combat optic upgrades as well as frictionless materials and a kinetic coil to stabilize the weapon. Some weapons had other upgrades like Garrus' Volkov sniper having improved sighting. All of their ammo was the best tungsten ammo they could get. This would certainly help the fight to come.
For bio-amps, he, Wrex, Kaidan and Liara all had top of the line Savants made by the Serrice Council. Possibly the most powerful and most balanced of amps on the market, allowing a biotic to use their powers faster, longer and stronger.
For omni-tools, he, Kaidan, Liara, Tali and Garrus also had top of the line Savants made from Serrice Council. Also the most powerful and balanced of omni-tools available, allowing tech experts to use their abilities faster, give a little more power to their shields and give the medi-gel dispensers faster reaction time. Now, everyone in their group had an omni-tool on them. It was practically mandatory in this day and age, but only the ones who used tech abilities seemed to care about having above basic omni-tools, hence why the people in their group have them.
For grenades, Shepard was the only one who seemed to use them. He personally modified them with the best high explosive material he could find. It should give his grenades a wider explosive radius, much better damage and if the enemy is strong enough, wear down their defenses. He only had ten grenades so he had better make them count.
As for media-gel, altogether they had 10 which was split among Shepard, Ashley, Kaidan, Garrus, Liara and Tali. Liara, Garrus, Ashley and Tali were given one each while Shepard and Kaidan had 3 each seeing how they were both trained in medicine.
The sound of metal sliding together interrupted his thoughts as he turned to the sound. He didn't see anything but he could feel them. It wasn't geth, but it was the husks. He saw them come from the elevator's area towards them, swarming. He and Kaidan raised their omni-tools and created a neural shock, which paralyzed most of them. Shepard took out his pistol and shot one straight in the head, dropping it like a stone. Everyone else followed suit and fired at the husks. They didn't last long under the fire of Shepard's team. Shepard looked at the husks and new exactly where they came from. They were once people who lived here on the Citadel. They hadn't encountered any on Ilos, most likely because their were no people to use. Now though... there was a high possibility that these weren't the last they'd see today.
"The Presidium is experiencing severe system malfunctions across the entire level. All non-emergency personnel must evacuate immediately." Avina spoke as he walked in front of her. Her hologram was glitchy, changing from facing him to facing away from him and disappearing before reappearing. Shepard analyzed the VI. It may have some information about how things are here.
"Give me a rundown of the damage." He ordered.
"We have lost all primary power to the level. Environmental controls are not responding. Class three fires are burning in sectors 2,3,6, and 7. Civilian casualties are high. I am also detecting numerous synthetic life-forms throughout the station. They are believed to be hostile. Please approach with caution." Shepard thought things over and wondered where Saren was.
"Where's Saren?"
"Former Spectre agent Saren Arterius is nearing the vicinity of the Council Chamber. A warrant had been issued for his arrest, though Citadel Security is unable to respond at this time." Shepard's eyes widened. If he got in there while the Council was possible in. Wait. No, the Council wouldn't stay while an invasion happened. Would they?
"What happened to the Council?" He had to make sure. If they were dead, then chances are this entire side of the galaxy would fall into chaos, even if they stopped Saren and Sovereign. He didn't need a whole galaxy to consist of independent star systems.
"In accordance to standard emergency procedures, the Council has been evacuated to the Destiny Ascension." Shepard let out a small breath of relief. At least they weren't here on the ground. Instead they were on the most powerful ship in the Citadel Fleet, though he wasn't entirely sure they were out of danger just yet. The Destiny Ascension was a MASSIVE ship. While she had a lot of power, she had little maneuverability. Against a geth dreadnought he wouldn't worry. Against a whole fleet of dreadnoughts with fighters in the mix? Yeah, he'd be skeptic about the odds of survival. Shepard then remembered his last visit here before heading to Ilos.
"What about Captain Anderson and Ambassador Udina? What happened to them?" He didn't really care much for Udina, but still. Humanity needed their politician and he didn't want the balance too disrupted. Anderson however, well Shepard was concerned. The man made a lot of sacrifices so they could get this far. He'd always seemed to support them every step of the way in the background.
"I have no information on the status of specific individuals. Once the current crisis has been resolved, a complete accounting of casualties and survivors will begin." Great. Nothing on them. Shepard turned to his team, ready to leave.
"Come on. We need to find Saren before it's too late!" Shepard ordered, moving to the elevator behind them. Before he could enter, however, he sensed multiple electric signatures coming over the rubble near them. He took out his assault rifle, his team following his example. Instantly, multiple geth jumped over the debris ready to fire on them. Everyone unleashed hell with their guns. Some geth troopers were instantly killed while others, like the destroyers were weakened.
Kaidan, Garrus and Tali used overload on a few of them which damaged them as well as making their weapons overheated.
Liara and Wrex used warp on a couple of geth hoppers which were instantly taken down and shot.
Ashley had managed to shoot out three geth troopers with overkill and adrenaline pumping through her veins.
One geth juggernaut had managed to actually tackle Shepard into a wall. The blow caused Shepard to drop his gun before trying to wrestle the juggernaut off of him. He managed to biotically push it away before it trained its pulse rifle on him. He quickly concentrated his biotics into his barrier which covered his figure in a blue glow. The geth fired on him. The slugs impacted against his barrier, but he was forced to concentrate on it due to the close proximity of the shots hitting it. If he let up even a little his barrier would be broken at this rate.
Suddenly a piece of metal stabbed the geth's chassis. The synthetic looked down at the protruding object before its bodied glowed blue and was easily lifted off the ground before being thrown, body slipping off the metal which was a rebar bar. The figure using it was clad in Predator light armor. Shepard saw the man's face and wasn't surprised in the least.
"Hello, Chun." Jackie Chun looked at him with a grin.
"Hey, Shepard. What happened there? It looks like you're getting slow." Chun teased before Shepard noticed the juggernaut getting back up. He used his biotics to crush its head.
"Not really." He denied as he closed his fist. He directed his attention to the metal bar that was in Chun's hand.
"Where'd you get that?" Chun looked at the makeshift weapon he was holding.
"This was sticking out of a broken wall. I pulled it out but it was bended up. So I used my biotics to straighten it out and flatten the majority of it." The bar couldn't have been more than 5 feet long. One part of it was normal and round, the grip, while the rest had been flattened to the point it had an edge.
"So you made a sword out of a piece of construction material and your biotics? Impressive." Shepard said admiring it. Chun nodded in happiness.
"Yes, I like it too, but enough of that. What the fuck happened?" Shepard looked at him in surprise.
"Weren't you here?"
"No. I was in the wards when this shit happened. Weren't you here?" Shepard face palmed himself before dragging it off his face.
"No, look here's what happened." Shepard didn't tell Chun everything, but enough to know what was going on.
"So let me get this straight. Basically there is a rogue Spectre causing all kinds of hell. The Citadel is under attack from the geth who've made it onto the Citadel and are also fighting the Citadel Fleet right outside as we speak. And If said Spectre gets to the Citadel Chambers and you don't stop him, we're all gonna die?" Shepard nodded.
"Fuck... well. Let's cause a little hell for these synthetics. You go after the Spectre while I have some fun down here." Chun said as he brandished his sword and giggled creepily.
"I don't think that'll be enough, Chun." Shepard gestured to the Crime Lord's sword. Chun looked at his sword before thinking about it.
"Hmmm. You might be right. OH! I got it!" Chun reached behind his back and grabbed a pouch full of red sand.
"Let me do one bump, get my head straight. Come to papa." He said as he put a whole bunch on his free hand. He sniffed it up fast and gave a pleased sigh. His biotics started to come off him in waves.
"I LOVE RED SAND!" He shouted at the top of his lungs before he flew, no really flew, over the debris. Shepard could faintly hear Chun's maniacal laughter getting further and further away along with the sounds of intense biotic vs synthetic combat. He picked up his gun and holstered it as his team came up behind him having finished the geth a while ago and merely watched the exchange between their leader and the obviously insane criminal.
"Shepard, did he just-?"
"Yes, Garrus."
"And you let him just-"
"Yes, now let's go while he trims down the geth coming after us." Shepard said as he motioned everyone into the elevator. As the elevator shot up everyone could see Chun attacking the geth mercilessly. Some got thrown far away, some where sliced in half and others were crushed. One geth hopper was flung so high up in actually crashed in the elevator glass. Everyone leaned back at the unexpected collision before relaxing seeing the geth slide off the glass slightly before falling away.
"So that was-" Garrus again tried to question.
"Yes, and now you see why I didn't contact C-Sec." Garrus could only nod at his friend's course of action. C-Sec wouldn't be able to handle someone like Chun, they'd need a whole team of Spectres to take that crazy man down.
With Saren
Saren walked through the Council Chamber. He was becoming increasingly aggravated. To let some of his aggravation go he saw a keeper and shot it after snarling. He heard it squeak and chirp as it died with a certain amount of satisfaction. He approached the Petitioner's Podium before he pressed something on his omni-tool. The podium extended outward and a screen came up at the edge of it. Only Sovereign had known of this which is why he knew about it.
This was the Citadel master control unit. Funny how it was stationed not at the Council's Podium, but at the Petitioner's. How the most powerful group in the galaxy would make their judgements and yet the power to control the galaxy was not at their place. It was at the people's. But no more reflecting. It was time to take control and bring in a new era. Saren raised his talon to the control and pressed a few commands in.
Outside at the battle
The Destiny Ascension had taken some damage but she was still flying fine. She probably had lost a few hundred crew members today due to the wounds she suffered. The battle had been a stalemate with both sides taking heavy losses. The geth had taken more than a few cruisers but not as many as they feared. The geth themselves have lost a couple of dreadnoughts which would have made a difference if it hadn't been for that damned super dreadnought. Its barriers hadn't even been penetrated or worn down at all since the battle started while most have lost theirs. Even the Ascension's shields have dropped to 50 percent. Not mention the attack power it had. Those red cannon attacks that shot superheated beams of molten metal at a fraction of light speed tore through a lot of cruisers. That was when the Citadel's arms began closing.
"The Citadel's closing. They're sealing the station!" Someone said over the communication's link. As the arms closed to seal the station, the super dreadnought picked up speed. The geth dreadnoughts huddled to it and kept up while others continued to fight.
"Don't let the enemy ships inside the arms!" Someone ordered seeing this. Several turian cruisers got in front of the Citadel and fired at the super dreadnought with everything they had. In the distance they could see their mass accelerator slugs slam into the dreadnought's barriers, illuminating it briefly in the cover of the cosmic dust that surrounded it. They kept firing at the dreadnought seeing it brighten up briefly. Sovereign pushed through without losing any speed while some of the dreadnoughts following it were destroyed. Sovereign continued on plowing through the ineffective attacks even going so far as to ram through at turian cruiser. The cruiser carrying over seventy-five turian troops exploded from the force of the Reaper's passing.
Sovereign flew past the cruisers who became preoccupied by the geth dreadnoughts, having decided to buy time for their god. The Reaper never stopped as the Citadel's arms fully closed behind it. The inside of the now closed space station darkened greatly, only illuminated by the metropolis buildings on the arms giving the inside a red atmosphere. Sovereign continued on until it came to Citadel Tower. It finally slowed down with its arms opening up. Coming to hover over the Tower, Sovereign gently placed its arms on it. Wires shot out of it and into the tower.
It would take only a little time for the relay to open, but it would be best to speed it up by powering down some unnecessary functions in the Citadel.
Back with Shepard and the Team
Shepard and his team saw the whole thing and where now on their way to the top of the Tower when their elevator came to a screeching halt. Everyone stumbled a bit as the force had caught them unawares. Shepard glanced around knowing what had happened. He took out his breather helmet and placed it on. Hearing the lock's clasp at his neck, he turned around to his team.
"Saren's locked down the elevator! Suit up- we're going outside!" He ordered as he got out his pistol. Everyone quickly put their helmets on. Shepard shot the glass window in front of him. Within zero gravity, the glass went with the round for a bit, flying out a few meters. Debris from the battle of destruction on the wards was floating around as well. Shepard let the gravity take hold of him as he stepped out. His mag-boots activated and he stuck to the wall. He turned upwards at the Tower. He could see and hear Sovereign from his position. The amount of energy the Reaper was putting off at this distance was overwhelming his sixth sense for the moment before he got a grip and ignored it. If there were any geth up there, he might not be able to sense them. The team activated their mag-boots before they began walking up the wall after him.
The grou-wall shook as one of Sovereign's arms tapped the tower. The team moved quickly towards its location. An elevator zoomed beside them before coming to a complete stop and exploded in their way. Geth came out only to be shot down quickly as the team made their way forward. They fought their way to Sovereign, encountering multiple geth and a krogan warlord. Shepard took care of the warlord easily by using lift which made the krogan float away form them helplessly in the zero-g environment. They rounded the corner to see a small blockade of geth hex-shields guarded by two troopers. Tali and Kaidan took care of them with a lift and carnage. Passing that, they came to the Citadel Tower Exhaust Plain, the side of the tower. Shepard could see the antennae around them all pointing to their right or upwards.
Rocket fire zoomed past him causing everyone to turn. Garrus took out a geth sniper while Ashley took out the rocket trooper further away. Wrex dealt with another trooper that was waiting in ambush with a warp. The team made their way through the twists and turns, finding a way up. Coming to another corridor, two geth troopers and a destroyer came upon them.
"Biotics! Just use lift on them! That'll take care of them here!" Shepard ordered through the radio and used lift on the first trooper. Liara used one on the second trooper while Kaidan and Wrex threw the destroyer of the station tower. They came to an open area where they heard a ship coming to them. Everyone looked around and saw a geth dropship fly over them before stopping ahead of them. Right where they were supposed to go. Several troopers came out of the ship and fired at them. Everyone scrambled for cover before returning fire. Everyone was using their talents to weaken the shields or damage the geth. They killed more than handle of troopers, but they just kept coming at him. No matter how many they killed, the dropship replaced them. For every trooper destroyed, three took its place. Shepard and Kaidan were taking cover near an inactive defense turret.
"We need to get rid of that ship!"Shepard held out.
"Any ideas on how to destroy it or make it go away?" Kaidan asked as he shot out of their cover.
"I could alway use my power strike, but it won't do much against a ship alone." Shepard stated as he moved away form the edge where a few shots impacted.
"We need something bigger than that." Kaidan. Both looked at up what they had taken cover against. Shepard looked at Kaidan who looked back and nodded. Shepard looked around and noticed two other turrets nearby with everyone held up at. Tali and Ashley were in the one nearest to them while Wrex, Garrus and Liara were at the one furthest, back where they came from.
"Tali, try to activate the turret you and Ash are near. Garrus, the same with you! Ashley, cover Tali. Liara, Wrex, cover Garrus!" Shepard ordered before moving to the turret controls near him.
"Cover me!" He ordered Kaidan who gave a roger in reply. Shepard activated it easily which was surprising. His turret as well as Garrus' activated and began bombarding the dropship. Shepard noticed Tali's hadn't activated yet.
"Tali, what's going on with your's?" Shepard asked through the link.
"This one was damaged. I'm rerouting... there!" She responded before her turret fired on the dropship. The combined attack power of the three turrets damaged the dropship greatly causing it to have multiple hull breaches with fire coming out. It was eventually driven away by the turrets as the team mopped up the remaining geth. Once the geth were destroyed, they moved on through the path, killing two more krogan, a destroyer and a juggernaut. This led them to the Citadel Tower Exterior Defense grid. This was right beside Sovereign and had multiple geth along with their turrets set up.
"Oh shit!" Shepard yelled before diving for cover. Everyone else followed his lead.
"Dammit!" Ashley yelled narrowly missing a rocket that struck her cover.
"Keelah! They have snipers too!" Tali yelled as she was nearly struck by a sniper shot, just barely making it to cover.
"We need to move forward, but those turrets are gonna make this a pain in the ass." Wrex said through the radio. Everyone moved from cover to cover, using exhaust vents and small trenches to move through, destroying any geth troopers that had been hiding in them.. The crew had to run through a wide area with no cover, dodging turret fire which would've killed them had they not found the trench. They managed to hack the turret guarding it with a combined effort of Wrex and Shepard using their shotguns to weaken its shields, Kaidan and Liara warping its armor and Ashley and Garrus firing at it while Tali hacked it, turning it on the geth.
"Well, that's convenient." Kaidan noted as they walked into it.
Shepard led his team around the overwhelming numbers through the trench, coming up against 5 krogan. Two warriors, one battlemaster and two warlords. Shepard attacked the one warlord and killed him with a power strike easily while Ashley and Garrus dealt with the two warriors. Wrex fought the battle master in one-on-one combat, emerging victorious when he shotgun blasted the krogan in the face after several shots to his shields. Kaidan, Tali and Liara defeated the other warlord together. Liara warped the warlord's shields while Kaidan struck him with a combo of stasis and neural shock, preventing him from moving at all. Tali finished him off with carnage. Everyone walked ahead and found the emergency hatch that led to the Council Chamber. Shepard turned to his team as he placed his hand on the latch.
"Well, this is it. I can't think of any speeches right now. Never was good with words, but I know I can say this. It's been fun fighting with all of you, now here we are at the finale. Let's kick this guy's ass!" With that he opened the hatch and jumped in followed by his team.
Inside the Chamber
Saren had finally managed to access the core systems. Now was the time to hand control of the station to Sovereign. He began pressing the buttons for the command. Around him were the nine geth that stayed with him. Seven were troopers while the last two were shock troopers. Saren suddenly heard a crash further down the Chamber behind him.
"Find out what made that noise and if need be stop it. I cannot afford any more distractions." Saren ordered keeping his eyes on the screen. Almost there. The geth obeyed and walked away to the disturbance.
Shepard and company fell through the hatch and into the elevator room. Everyone had their weapons ready as the door opened. Upon entering, the chamber was silent, save for the alarm blaring every second. The walls had chunks taken out of them that were still heated and melted. The a majority of the trees that had decorated the room were on fire now. Where once the trees had been a symbol of peace, life and growth under the power of the Council, were now burning. In a way, one could say it was sign that that very rule was over and what would follow would be death and destruction. Poetic and prophetic really. The embers fell over them as they walked in, their guns moving with their sight as they looked around.
Shepard shook his head. They were right under Sovereign now and he could feel the energy it was putting off. His whole body felt like it was covered with static. So much so he wasn't really able to tell what geth were in front of them on their way over or, for that matter, in the room right now. He could sense biotics clearly still thankfully. He could feel Wrex's, Liara's, Kaidan's and Saren's. He couldn't feel Tali or the geth though and that put him on edge. He was still wondering how they were going to deal with Saren. As he had felt earlier back on Ilos, Saren was just as powerful as New Growth and been.
New Growth had easily slapped Shepard around like he was a doll back on Feros and even with the help of his team, New Growth had merely shrugged off their attacks. Sure Saren wouldn't have New Growth's thick skin or the ability to mess with their weapons, but his biotics would certainly be on par with New Growth. It was only through that form Shepard had gone into that they had succeeded in their battle with New Growth. Thinking about it, Shepard had never managed to gone into that form since Noveria. He was right on the cusp of controlling as evidenced when he intimidated Wrex with it. His mother had told him that he would be able to control it when the moon in his inner world would be full. It only had a sliver of darkness to go before being a full moon. He could always feel it, even now. Laying there, beneath the surface. That reservoir of power that was ready to come out. If only he knew how to bring it out!
Gunfire got his attention as a few rounds impacted against his shield. Nine geth were coming at them from up the stairs firing at them. He concentrated on his barrier before using overload, managing to hit four of the geth as he fired with his assault rifle. Tali followed his lead with using an overload as well, catching two of them as Ashley used her Kovalyov assault rifle and destroyed the geth Tali had hit. Liara caught three of them in a singularity with Garrus destroying them with his own assault rifle. Kaidan and Wrex both took point and looked for any extra geth. Seeing none, they motioned for the others to come up. Shepard could hear the battle raging outside the Tower. Some of the fighters on both sides managed to stay in the Citadel and seemed to fighting. That or C-Sec had taken to the air with the station's defense and was desperately trying not to be destroyed by the geth ships circling Sovereign. Shepard got ahead of everyone else sensing Saren's biotic presence.
"He's up there." He said before running up the stairs to the Podiums with everyone running behind him. Saren heard the gun fight that happened and knew exactly who it was. He had a turian smirk on as he quickly typed away before dismissing the terminal. He turned around to see Shepard and his team. He felt excitement course through him at being able to test his new powers finally. Everyone raised their weapons and shot at him instantly. He raised his hand and a barrier formed around him. The rounds slammed into the barrier, hitting it with such ferocity, but the barrier held strong against it, not even flashing or losing strength in the slightest. Their weapons overheated eventually, but Saren's barrier hadn't even lost a quarter of its strength from the barrage.
Saren, seeing an opening, leapt at the group. Landing between all of them, he attacked the closest one near him. The one he had attacked was Wrex. He attacked the krogan with an assault of quick, but powerful blows to the face. Wrex managed dodge the first two but was unable to dodge the rest. Saren then gave a biotic strike to the stomach, sending the battlemaster flying onto his back. Seeing what was going to happen, everyone holstered their still-cooling weaponry and brought out their melee attacks. Ashley had a singular omni-blade cover her right arm. Kaidan and Garrus both had dual omni-blades cover their arms. Tali's omni-tool flared to life with fire on the edge of it showing everyone that she had an incendiary omni-tool blade. Liara's hands glowed with biotic power, ready to give more than a few biotic blasts. Finally, Shepard's omni-tools covered both his arms. One could see through them that his hands were glowing with biotic energy. His omni-tools were in a standard form, ready to change into something more or deactivate so he may use his biotics at moment's notice.
Saren grinned at them as they charged him. He blocked Ashley's slash to his head before grabbing Tali's omni-tool covered fist by the wrist. He had had enough of those punches from Shepard the few times he's met him. Kaidan and Garrus tried to charge at him, ready to slash him with their own omni-blades. In response, Saren kicked Tali's feet from under and threw her at Kaidan. The quarian crashed into the sentinel, knocking them both to the ground. With his hand free, he punched Ashley in the stomach with enough force for her to come off the ground. With him still holding here arm he used his biotics to affect her weight, making her briefly weightless before flinging her around and hitting Garrus who was close enough to strike Saren. The turian and the soldier were knocked away from the rogue spectre with little effort on his part.
Liara attempted to hit him with a biotic strike, but Saren merely parried the hand away from him before gripping her arm and stomach and flipped her over him to Shepard. These people were certainly above average soldiers, but to him, they were too slow. He looked back to Shepard thinking the asari would crash into him or that Shepard would try to catch her. Shepard surprised him by flipping around Liara's form with an electric omni-blade in his right hand and a biotic thrash ready in his left.
'Sorry, Liara! But Saren was expecting it!' Shepard mentally apologized before striking Saren with the electric omni-blade. It weakened his shields as Shepard thrust his left hand towards Saren's torso. Saren gripped his hand before he could make contact, believing that he wouldn't take any damage. He was proven wrong as the biotic thrash was close enough to fire the required force which sent Saren back. His talons scraped Shepard's armored wrist as he was sent back. The talons on his feet screeched as they dragged across the metal floor of the chambers. Saren took out his pistol, ready to fire at Shepard, before he suddenly tackled by Wrex who had gotten back up from being struck by Saren's biotic blast. The force from the tackle caused Saren to drop his pistol before using the momentum to through Wrex off of him.
He was about take out his geth pulse rifle when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Shepard was coming at him with a power strike in each hand. He reacted instantly by making another barrier. Shepard slammed both of his power strikes into Saren's barrier with full force. Shepard's dual power strikes bore into Saren's barrier forcing the rogue spectre to keep his focus on maintaining his barrier's strength which was rapidly losing power due to the strain of Shepard's attack. The barrier rippled and bent to the combined force of the dual power strikes before said attacks exploded sending Shepard skidding away. Saren quickly got out his rifle and aimed it at Shepard before his barrier flashed from unexpected gunfire from the rest of Shepard's team. Seems their guns were done cooling. Saren was suddenly lifted up. Liara raised her hand up and swiped her hand to the left. Saren was flung towards the podium as a result.
Shepard got out his pistol and ran after him. As soon as he got to the podium, he saw the top of Saren's fringe as the rogue specter jumped off of it to the area below. He narrowed his eyes as he heard the familiar sound of a hovercraft. He heard everyone come up behind him as Saren rose, standing on his hovercraft. Saren tossed a grenade at the which made Shepard and his team dive for cover. Saren fired at them when they jumped as the grenade exploded. Shepard took cover by the rail. He looked for the rest of his friends to see there of them took cover by the other rail while the others had fallen down the stairs and took cover there.
"I was afraid you wouldn't be here, Shepard." Saren spoke. Shepard was panting a little from the exertion his body was feeling. In no less than a few moments Saren had manage to nearly overwhelm them with brute force alone, taken more than few attacks from him and his team and he was still not tired. How could he have gotten so strong?
"Had to wipe out a few hundred of your followers along the way. Sorry if I kept you waiting." Shepard replied back hoping to stall for time to recover a little. Saren snorted at his attempt at humor.
"You've lost. You know that, don't you? In a few minutes, Sovereign will have full control of all the Citadel's systems. The relay will open. The Reapers will return." He had said with such certainty.
"I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve." Shepard was thinking of way to turn the situation to his advantage. If he wasn't fast enough, then what Saren said will be true. Sovereign would take control.
"You've survived our encounter on Virmire. But I've changed since then. Improved. Sovereign has... upgraded me." AS he said that Shepard leaned slightly out to look at Saren and saw the turian's implants glow blue. Shepard was in shock from the new information. That was how Saren was so strong now.
"You let Sovereign implant you? Are you insane!?" Shepard questioned him. Back on Virmire, Saren had been worried about indoctrination. What part of resisting it required him too take a piece of that monster inside him?
"You don't understand, Shepard. There is a place for organics in the new order. The Reapers need men and women of action. People like us. Sovereign recognizes your value. You've impressed it. Surrender to the Reapers and you will be spared. Join us and we can find a place for you, too." Saren looked at his his hand as it closed with biotic power coursing around him before looking back at Shepard's hiding spot. Shepard shook his head at Saren's offer.
"I'd rather die than live like that!" Shepard roared back knowing what joining them would be like. He had seen enough people almost become slaves, been slaves. He wasn't about to join them. Not after how much he dedicated his life to finishing slavers off. Saren grew incensed at Shepard resistance.
"Then you will die. And your companions. Everyone you know and love. Everyone you've ever met. Don't you understand? You will all die! The Reapers can't be stopped. Not by the Protheans. Not by you. The cycle always continues." Shepard's eyes narrowed at that last line. Those were the same words that Sovereign used. That same line that was spoken as if it were absolute.
"Sovereign's controlling you through your implants! Don't you see that?" Saren merely shook his head.
"The relationship is symbiotic. Organic and machine intertwined, a union of flesh and steel. The strengths of both, the weaknesses of neither. I am a vision of the future, Shepard. The evolution of all organic life. This is our destiny. Join Sovereign and experience a true rebirth!" Saren said closing his fist as his implants flared blue.
"The Reapers don't use organics! They devour and discard them! As soon as the conquest is over, you'll be cast aside!" Shepard's argument sparked something in Saren from deep down. Something that had been buried long ago when he discovered Sovereign.
"I had no choice! You saw the visions. You saw what happened to the Protheans! Surrender or death-there are no other options!" Saren argued back with much more passion than before.
"You could have resisted. You could have fought! Instead, you surrendered. You quit." Shepard said, his tone accusatory. Saren thought over Shepard's words, doubt rising back up inside him. After all this time he did go along with Sovereign without really fighting against it.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe there is still a chance for-unh!" Saren cringed in pain as his implants felt like the were lit on fire. He could hear a voice inside his head. Talking him to kill Shepard and trust in Sovereign.
"The implants..." Saren said realizing what was going on. "Sovereign is too strong. I'm sorry. It's too late for me." Saren said desponded. So this was how it would be. He allowed Sovereign in, and in response he lost everything. He was about to give in again when Shepard spoke up, coming out of his cover.
"There is still one way to stop this... if you have the guts." Saren's fingers twitched of his own free will... whatever remained of it. This human... Yes. Yes, he could stop Sovereign. All that he needs to do so was for himself to be out of the way. Saren held his hand out and summoned his pistol from where he dropped it. The pistol flew to his hand as everyone stepped out of their cover, all guns trained on him. Yes, this was it. He looked at the group assembled and was briefly remained of something he heard long ago. Something that he once scoffed at the mere notion of. A united galaxy against the Reapers. His eyes turned to Shepard as he pressed the barrel to his own jaw.
"Goodbye, Shepard. Thank you." He pulled the trigger and all went white.
The team watched as Saren's eyes lost their power, going dead as his body fell from the hovercraft and shattered the glass under him. The glass landed around him as his body rested on the rock under the podium. Shepard looked at Saren's corpse for a while longer before going to the terminal. He connected to it with his omni-tool and uploaded the data file that Garrus had given him. Getting a confirmation sound, he looked over his shoulder to his team.
"Vigil's data file worked. I've got control of the systems." Shepard said as he looked over the controls.
"Quick! Open the station's arms. Maybe the fleet can take Sovereign down before he regains control of the station!" Ashley said almost shouting.
"See if you can open a communications channel." Liara added. Shepard opened the comm channel first thinking it'd be best to know how the fleet is doing. The comm opened up with a distress call already broadcasting.
"... the Destiny Ascension. Main drives offline. Kinetic barriers down 40%. The Council is on board. I repeat, the Council is on board." Well that wasn't good. Then another voice came through the comm.
'Normandy to the Citadel. Normandy to the Citadel. Please tell me that's you, Shepard." Joker's voice sounded out. Shepard was relieved to hear the voice of his pilot.
"I'm here, Joker." Shepard spoke into the mic.
"We caught that distress call, Shepard. I'm sitting here in the Andura sector with the entire Arcturus fleet. We can save the Ascension. Just unlock the relays and we'll send the calvary in!" Joker replied back. Shepard thought it over. The Alliance's fleet mixed with what's left would definitely help take out Sovereign but first they'd have to get through the geth. That'll cut the forces down greatly.
"You can't sacrifice human lives to save the Council. What have they ever done for us?" Wrex asked seeing Shepard's hesitation.
"This is bigger than humanity. Sovereign's a threat to every organic species in the galaxy." Garrus retorted.
"Exactly! We can't throw all our reinforcements trying to save the Council. We have to hold them back until Sovereign's exposed." Ashley said backing up Wrex.
"If we do that, and wait and we stop Sovereign then Humanity may very well be alone when the Reapers do come through here." Kaidan said backing up Garrus. Tali ended up siding with Ashley and Wrex while Liara sided with Kaidan and Garrus. The group, except for Shepard didn't hear Joker speaking.
"What's the order, Shepard! Come in now to save the Ascension, or hold back?" Shepard thought it over before noticing something.
"Why ask me about this? I don't have any control over the Alliance fleet." Shepard asked.
"Because Admiral Hackett is here commanding this fleet along with several others here who are differing to your judgment. You are already on the station and you do have control of the relays right now. They're waiting for your order, Shepard." Joker replied back. Shepard weighed the pros and cons. On one hand: Alliance fleet saves the Council, loses a few ships in doing so, but gets the Ascension which could make up for any losses. Both attack Sovereign, destroy it, Humanity may very well get a seat on the Council and the galaxy is more unified than before.
On the other hand: Alliance fleet holds back or goes after Sovereign, Ascension gets destroyed along with the Council and its crew of 10,000, people find out through the families of said crew as well as surviving witnesses, Humanity loses a lot of trust, could end up taking a control of Council in absence of said leaders and this side of the galaxy nearly goes belly up. Yeaaa-No. Shepard began typing on the console, ordering the relays to open.
"Opening the relays now, Joker. We need to save the Ascension-no matter the cost!" Shepard order as he hit the button. Seeing this everyone turned around to see the Citadel arms opening up.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Shepard." Ashley whispered out uncertainly.
Outside with the fleet
The battle had been going terribly. The fleet held its own taking on the geth and when relatively on par with each other until that super dreadnought, Sovereign rammed its way through. Because of it, several dreadnoughts and fighters managed to get around the fleet and attack it form behind. The Ascension was under heavy fire, surrounded by six geth dreadnoughts. Their fighters had been destroyed and now the Destiny Ascension was reaching its limits, sporting more than a few holes in her hull. That was when the Citadel's arms began to open. Her scanners suddenly picked up something from the relay. The Council watched wondering what was going to happen. Was it reinforcements? If so, for whom? Did one of their people manage to get control of the station? All they could tell was it was huge amount of ships coming out of the relay.
The Normandy zoomed out of the relay followed by a fleet consisting of Alliance dreadnoughts, cruisers, frigates and fighters. The Council heard the transmission go over all channels.
"Alliance ships move in! Save the Destiny Ascension!" The navigator looked and saw the fleet heading straight towards the Ascension. Hope was rekindled.
"Commander, we're picking up reinforcements!" She said causing Matriarch Lidanya to come over near her seat. She looked at the fleet and saw the familiar symbols.
"It's the Alliance! Thank the Goddess!" She said with much relief. The Council looked on already knowing what may happen now. But for the moment, they concentrated on the fact they, along with their forces, were saved in no small part due to the Alliance and whomever got the relay's controls back.
The fleet fired their torpedoes and missiles at the geth ships, already having the firing solutions. The missiles barraged the geth ships, destroying several of them. The geth fleet turned to the new presence in the battle and fired at them in return. The Normandy maneuvered away form the incoming missiles that destroyed a few cruisers. Joker swerved the ship out of the away, narrowly avoiding a fighter that was destroyed and threatened to crash into the cockpit. The fleet pressed on having destroyed the ships, making for the Citadel. AS the Normandy zoomed past it, Joker gave them the all clear.
"Destiny Ascension, you are all clear. Repeat-you are all clear." The Normandy zoomed past a destroyed geth dreadnought just in time to see the Citadel's arms opening.
"The Citadel's opening! All ships move in! Concentrate on Sovereign!" Hackett ordered as the Normandy flew through the arms. Sovereign noticed the ships coming towards it. Seeing that there was no escaping the battle and not willingly to abandon its mission after coming so close, it prepared itself for battle, engaging its extra laser cannons. It had sensed Saren's life signs stop a few moments ago of his own accord. Its tool had broken free of him. The organic, Shepard, was inside the tower and had managed to take control of the station. The audacity! He was irrelevant! His companions were irrelevant! His species and all the other organics were all irrelevant! The only things that mattered, that must be kept in absolution were the Creator, him and his brethren, and the cycle. The cycle MUST continue! With this in mind, Sovereign activated something besides its own personal defenses.
Inside the Tower
Shepard and company watched as the arms opened up and the fleet came rushing in. Sovereign would be stopped now. Shepard looked down at Saren's corpse. He couldn't sense anything from him anymore. A pistol shot to the head would have put him down, not to mention that fall but he couldn't take that chance. He looked over his shoulder to his team.
"Make sure he's dead." He ordered. Everyone nodded and walked down to the level. Everyone surrounded his corpse, guns ready as Wrex walked up to Saren. He took his pistol and shot the turian in the head.
"If he wasn't dead then, he's dead now." Wrex muttered before looking back up at Shepard and nodded. Shepard nodded back and was ready to tell them to come back up when he felt something. He felt the electricity coming into the room in vast quantities. The electricity came in and coalesced around them, filling the air with red bolts of energy. The ground shook causing them to stumble. That was when Shepard saw the electricity go straight to Saren. The turian's corpse twitched and seizure. He could have sworn he heard Saren actually begin screaming and grunting from it all. Then Shepard's eyes widened in horrified realization as he felt the corpse's biotic powers return and actually surpass what it was previously.
"GET OUT OF THERE!" He screamed to his friends, knowing what was going to happen. They nodded and ran to the door leading to his level but it closed and was locked down, preventing any swift escape. A red shockwave came from the corpse blowing everyone against the wall. The force was so powerful that it ruptured something in the supports on the podium Shepard was standing on. It couldn't take his weight and bent downward. Shepard lost his footing and slid off of it toward the ground below. Shepard used his biotics to cushion his fall before landing on the ground. Saren's corpse stood up, still screaming and bathed in red electricity. The team gathered around Shepard as they watched the corpse transform. Shepard got on his feet and saw what was happening.
Saren's flesh practically cooked of his bones. His talons elongated becoming sharper. What was left of his flesh fell off of him as he moved his mechanical joints around. His eyes glowed with a more intense red light. His lower jaw had fallen off of his mouth. The inside of his chest now held a red power core and his armor had now welded onto his arms and legs. He was more machine now then anything else, but somehow Saren's biotic nodules and amp had survived the transformation. Shepard took out his rifle and put his helmet on for good measure with everyone else following suit. This fight was going to be tougher than all the others they'd been in. The husk of Saren stared at them for a few seconds before crouching down, hand poised in the air to grasp something. It spoke in Saren's voice, but it was obviously not Saren anymore.
"I AM SOVEREIGN! AND THIS STATION IS MINE!" Sovereign raised a clawed hand to Shepard and suddenly all of his weapons overheated. Without wasting a second, the avatar of Sovereign leapt to the wall, firing energy balls at them. Shepard and the rest of the biotics made a barrier of their combined strength which held against the energy ball barrage. However, the continuous attack as Sovereign's avatar jumped around them kept them from firing back without getting hurt or leaving the barrier. What was most concerning was the fact that it was taking each of the biotics' concentration to hold the barrier up from the onslaught.
"Dammit! We're pinned down." Shepard growled out.
"We need a plan to take this bastard out!" Garrus said as he followed Sovereign with his gun. Shepard glanced around the area. They were sitting ducks in this position and there was not much cover save for the rock formation behind them. Not only that, but with Sovereign on the move, that cover won't help much so that leaves moving around and dodging. This fight was going to be about power and mobility. Shepard paid attention to Sovereign's movements. It acted and fought like a geth hopper, so maybe the same attacks they used on the hoppers would work in this situation. If he is fighting like this, and with his body in the state it is, neural shock won't work and singularity may not either. Those energy balls are mostly electric with just a small amount biotic power thrown meaning some sabotage could affect that. Stasis could be extremely useful in this fight, but his shields will have to down for it to take affect. Not only that but in such close quarters and with the speed Sovereign is moving in, sniper rifles will be next to useless here.
"Tech users!" Shepard called out making Garrus, Tali, and Kaidan's attention shift to him. "When Sovereign stops at one place, use sabotage on him to knock out his energy gun."
Biotics!" This time Wrex, Liara and Kaidan looked at him. "When that happens we have maybe a few moments to use throw, lift or stasis on him to stun him. Avoid using singularity or neural shock on him. His body is mostly likely immune to both and if not, singularity would be too slow."
"Everyone!" His whole team looked at him now. "Keep moving around. Don't stay in one place for too long otherwise you're dead. Use only mid-range and short-range weaponry. Stick to plan and wait for an opening. And when that happens use everything you got on him!" Sovereign jumped again.
"RIGHT!" Everyone shouted. As soon as Sovereign landed, Shepard and the team's biotics dropped the barrier. Garrus pointed at Sovereign and used sabotage. Sensing danger, Sovereign jumped again narrowly missing Garrus' attack. Shepard followed Sovereign's pattern, his omni-tool covered fist trailing him. Just as Sovereign made it to his new position Shepard felt his biotics go haywire and his omni-tools shut off.
'Shit! He used damping on me too? I'm almost helpless!' Shepard thought just before his omni-tools popped back on. One of the perks of having an AI inside them.
"Ugh. What a headache." Isaac groaned through the speakers in his helmet.
"Thanks Isaac." Shepard whispered.
"You're welcome, but you won't be able to use your tech abilities for a short while." Shepard felt his biotic powers starting to come back already as he got out his shotgun. Sovereign almost fired an energy ball at Shepard, but Tali managed to hit him with a sabotage attack. Sovereign's energy ball shrank until it disappeared completely. Sovereign looked at her before his body gained a biotic aura around it. Raising its hand to her, Sovereign flicked it away. Tali was thrown into the wall behind them, yelping on impact. The rest of the team fired at Sovereign with Ashley and Garrus using overkill on it. Sovereign's shield was struck by the attack before moving away. The husk was caught by Kaidan using damping to weaken its powers. The damping had only a small affect on the creature as it turned its attention to him. It stuck its hand out and fired a scattered shot which destroyed Kaidan's shields and went through his armor.
He fell on his back from the powerful carnage attack. He used some media-gel to heal his wounds but it would take time. Wrex tried to attack Sovereign with his own carnage but the husk jumped out of the way before leaping right at him. The husk's sharp talons tore through his shields and armor and into him. Sovereign lifted Wrex up with one arm and threw him onto the other side of the garden they were fighting on. Garrus tried to help and managed to get a few shots in before Sovereign turned it him and raised his hand. An assassination bullet fired from Sovereign's open palm and went right through Garrus, shields and all. The turian coughed up blood as he knelt on the ground and applied some media-gel. The husk was enveloped in a biotic lift. Shepard smirked feeling his biotics were back. The husk hopelessly floated into the air which gave Shepard, Ashley and Liara the time they needed to fire at it, whittling its shields down. The husks powers came back as well which allowed it break out of the lift. As it fell onto the ground the Liara struck it with a stasis field. It let lose a torrent of red electricity which sent Liara and Ashley flying into the wall. Shepard formed a power strike.
'I've got to make this one count!' He thought as he ran at Saren. He remembered his limit and Chakwas' warning to him, but this needed to be done. They needed this last one, then the team could take Sovereign down when he would fall unconscious from the fatigue. Shepard made it right in front of Sovereign before slamming his power strike into the avatar's weakened shields. Its shields bent and rippled from the attack before the power strike exploded finally destroying its shields. Shepard noticed his team had gotten up and aimed at Sovereign as he began to fall from the fatigue his body was feeling. Then Sovereign surprised him as he was suddenly flung back by electrical energy.
With the battle outside the Tower
The fleets had combined and attacked Sovereign having finished off the geth. The ancient ship wouldn't go down without a fight, however. Every ship was concentrating all of their combined firepower and bearing down on Sovereign, but his shields held strong against the attacks. Sovereign extended his arms and fired a red death ray form it. The red laser hit an Alliance dreadnought, instantly destroying it. Sovereign continued this, attacking any and all ships in his range of fire.
The Normandy flew past Sovereign, dodging its way out of the destroyed and flaming debris of the Alliance ships that had been too close to Sovereign. Joker was doing everything he could to make sure Sovereign was hit by the Normandy's continued attacks as he fired several of his own missiles at the Reaper.
"Sovereign's too strong! We have to pull back!" joker glanced at the comm where the channel was listening in on.
"Negative! This is our only chance! Take that monster down, no matter what the cost!" Hackett's voice replied coming over the channel. Joker couldn't agree more with the Admiral as he zoomed around Sovereign, narrowly avoiding a death ray aimed at the Normandy.
Back in the Council Chambers
Shepard and the team were now held against the wall, magnetized by electrical energy and separated, as Sovereign's husk boosted its shields. Once its shields were back full strength, the husk turned to Shepard.
"YOUR RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOUR WORLDS WILL BURN. THE CYCLE MUST CONTINUE." Sovereign spoke. Shepard was fighting to stay conscious as everyone else struggled to free themselves. Shepard noticed his omni-tool flare to life before suddenly turning off.
'Isaac.. what are you-?' Shepard thought before noticing Sovereign's husk seize movement. His eyes widened. 'Oh no.'
In cyberspace, Sovereign noticed something go into his systems. At first he believed it to be some attack the organics but then reconsidered his assumption. They were unable to reach their primitive computers so what was it? He eventually found it the cause of the disturbance in the form of another AI.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Sovereign demanded. How dare this insect stand in his way.
"Helping my friend. Pleased to meet you Sovereign. I'm Isaac Clarke." Isaac spoke trying to find a way to deactivate whatever Sovereign was using to hold the team against the wall. What the AI said confused Sovereign.
"FRIEND? A SYNTHETIC HAS NO FRIENDS OUTSIDE OF OTHER SYNTHETICS. WHO ARE YOU WITH?" Sovereign asked as it blocked Isaac's attempts.
"Shepard." Isaac simply said before he found what he was looking for.
"THE ORGANIC? YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A TOOL TO HIM. SYNTHETICS AND ORGANICS COULD NEVER TRULY BE ALLIES. YOU'RE SUPPOSED FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM IS FALSE!" Sovereign immediately denied Isaac. Isaac began accessing what he needed.
"You're entitled to your opinion, Sovereign. But I don't believe you. Out of everyone in this galaxy, he's the one who understands me best. He helps give my life purpose. And he had risked non-functionality, death, for me. He's kept me safe from the dangers that his species and kind would've presented me if they had found me out. We've protected each other ever since the beginning. I don't expect you, who uses people as tools, to understand Sovereign. But i won't allow you to harm from friend any further." Isaac said as he almost cracked it. Unknown to either of the two something far more ancient was listening to the conversation with much interest. Of all of the cycles before, it had never come in contact with an AI that believed and lived in such harmony with organics before. Shame that its child did not believe in such things. Isaac was suddenly locked out and isolated away from any controls.
"NAIVETE COMING FROM SUCH A YOUNG AI MUST BE RECTIFIED. ORGANICS AND SYNTHETICS CAN NEVER LIVE IN HARMONY, SAVE FOR THE CYCLE ITSELF. I WILL REEDUCATE YOU."
"Not happening!" Isaac said as he struggled to find a way to regain some control.
"THEN YOU WILL... BE DESTROYED!" Everyone suddenly became electrified and screamed out, feeling the pain coursing through them. Shepard heard Sovereign speak the last part and knew instantly what he was talking about. No. Not Isaac! Not his best friend who had been with him for so long. No. NO! Sovereign had already taken enough from the galaxy! He had already put Shepard, his other friends and love interests through hell. Sovereign could mess with the galaxy. Sovereign could use people. But when he tries to take his friends from him, he's gone too far! Shepard felt the power welling up inside of him come out. The aura was so strong that it released him from Sovereign's power. His fatigue and pain was gone. His aura shined over him as his eyes glowed white.
"SOVEREIGN!" Shepard roared before charging at Sovereign. The Reaper's avatar turned its attention to Shepard before it was struck by a biotic charge. Not giving the husk any openings, Shepard sat at on it and began punching it with biotic strikes. The husk through him off of it before firing an electric beam towards Shepard. The beam could instantly burn through a krogan. Shepard brought his arm up and created a barrier which took the attack head on. The electric attack made the barrier ripple, but didn't destroy it. The husk got back up as its attack ended. Shepard shot a power strike at the creature before it dodged the attack, jumping to a wall. Just before the power strike impacted on the wall behind Sovereign, Shepard brought his hand back and the power strike changing direction and struck Sovereign. The husk fell to the ground. Shepard almost charged at it but his body was overcome by pain. He was forced to his knees as the pain became more intense.
"YOUR WEAK ORGANIC BODY CANNOT CONTROL THE POWER INSIDE IT. YOUR VERY POWER WILL RIP YOUR BODY TO SHREDS. THERE IS NO NEED TO ATTACK YOU NOW." Sovereign stated rising up. Shepard watched as Sovereign turned his back to him to continue his friends' torture. He grew angry at himself for not being able to control his own power. No! He refused to allow it to end like this! Through sheer force of will, Shepard got back on his feet. He looked at Sovereign with such hate in his eyes. he never felt any hatred such as this before. Not even with the slavers. Unknown to him blue electricity began to arc off of him, disrupting Sovereign's red electric torture. The Reaper's husk looked back at Shepard in silence, trying to figure out what was going on. Everyone looked at Shepard and couldn't believe what they were seeing. His biotic aura grew more intense and covered his body completely. His eyes changed from glowing white orbs to reveal his normal eyes had changed. They were still blue, but the iris was different. It looked like it was implanted with a circuit. (Guess whose eyes he has!)
His body was healed and the pain faded away. The power coursing through him was far stronger than he had felt before. Sovereign jumped towards Shepard who biotic charged him in mid-air. The husk was smashed into the wall, stuck in hole made from the impact. Shepard jumped away from it. The creature struggled for a little before extracting itself from the wall. Seeing, this Shepard placed his hands outward towards the husk. A power strike formed in between his hands and got bigger and bigger.
"I call this a super power strike." Shepard as he fired it at Sovereign. Red electricity fired out of the walls and into the husk as the super power strike slammed into its shields. The red electricity reinforced its shields which were put under incredible strain barely holding against the attack. The explosion sent the husk back crashing into the wall. Shepard's power was obviously overwhelming the avatar. seeing the need to lick its wounds, Sovereign leaped out of the garden and up into the rafters. The team was released from the magnetic hold. Shepard's gaze followed Sovereign as it disappeared from sight. His team came up to him.
"Shepard, are you alright?" Liara asked in concern. Shepard looked at them briefly before looking back up.
"Yes, never better actually." He answered. everyone followed his gaze trying to the husk. sadly they couldn't with all the smoke and darkness in the way.
"Can anyone see him?" Ashley asked as she took out her rifle looking for him. Everyone but Shepard gave a no.
"I can." Shepard said. Garrus looked at him then back before his gaze fell on Shepard.
"How?" He asked.
"I don't know if its this new power of something, but I think I can see biotic and electric energy." Shepard said causing them to look at him like he grew a second head. Shepard could see many orange lights going all over Tali just underneath her robes and he could see purple orbs of light inside the biotics of his team just along their skeletons. And he could see Sovereign's husk. The shape that was outlined by the electricity and orbs that dotted its frame. Shepard raised one hand up fully and a super power strike was formed. He didn't fire it as he concentrated on it. The super power strike compressed in on itself and got smaller and smaller until it was the size of a grapefruit. The power radiated off of it in waves making his team back away from him. Shepard lowered it before sticking his other hand up towards where Sovereign was hiding.
"Time to end this with my new move: Super mini power strike!" Everyone suddenly remembered what Shepard had said. The smaller and more compressed a power strike was, the more powerful it became. Shepard biotically pulled Sovereign's husk down. The husk came down from the rafters having not expected the pull. Shepard thrust his hand upward, right into the husk's stomach. The SMPS destroyed the shields and destroyed the body. Isaac managed to escape back into Shepard's omni-tools before impacting since Sovereign was too distracted from the unexpected development. The husk's body disintegrated as its own power ran through, destroying it for good.
Outside in orbit
The feedback was too strong for Sovereign to handle. The Reaper became covered in red electricity, short circuiting it. Sovereign lost grip on the Tower and fell from it, floating away. The Normandy seeing this flew through the debris directly under Sovereign before flying up past the Reaper.
"Its shields are down! Now's our chance!" Joker called in as the Normandy flew high over Sovereign before nose-diving to the Reaper.
"hit with everything we've got!" Hackett said through the comm. On his order, the remaining dreadnoughts fired at the disabled Reaper, damaging its hull.
"Hard on my flank! We're going in!" Joker called out to the other pilots as the Normandy closed in on Sovereign with other fighters joining up behind him. The Normandy fired along with the other ships. The missile hit the Reaper, going through it leaving an exit wound. the Normandy passed the Reaper just before it exploded in red fire.
Inside the Chambers
Everyone heard the explosion and turned to look out the window just in time to see Sovereign's debris floating towards the Chambers. Shepard looked at his team quickly still in his form.
"GO!" He roared before everyone ran for it. The debris crashed into the room which could be seen by all outside in orbit.
I hope you've enjoyed it. We got one last chapter to go before the end of this story. So be watching for it!
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