SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES
-CHAPTER START-
Eve T'Lesh sighed as she watched people of various species and sky-cars of various models going by below her from her 'perch' atop one of the horizontal struts below the 'ceiling' of the Presidium. The Normandy II would be here at the Citadel for a couple hours to resupply and debrief before heading off to Horizon in pursuit of Kai Leng, so she had a little while free. Instead of staying on the ship, however, she'd chosen to come here for a little solitude, a little thinking. With everything that had happened, she wasn't entirely sure what to think.
"Lovely view, isn't it?"
Eve startled slightly from the new voice behind her. She turned her head to look, seeing a young woman a few physical years older than her, long auburn hair tied off in a side ponytail, her blue eyes seeming to sparkle with a calm, friendly smile. Eve recognized her as Fate's mate – 'Nanoha', if she recalled correctly.
"What do you want, human?" the young Lucavi asked, the last word tinged with some disgust; she tried to sound angrier, but her voice came out as more resigned and tired than anything else.
"I saw you up here," Nanoha replied as she sat beside Eve on the edge, "thought I'd join you."
"It's a free station…" Eve shrugged, feeling uncomfortable having a human sit so close to her but knowing by this point she wouldn't be able to stop her. Besides, sitting this close, she could sense a strange 'warmth' that felt inherent to Nanoha's energy signature and presence, one that was not unpleasant. They were both quiet for about half a minute.
"How's Lanstar?" Eve finally asked. "Out of commission for a couple days with chakra exhaustion, I'm assuming?"
Nanoha shook her head. "Yes and no. She's really worried about missing anything important, so she took the Starshot's translocation portal to Mahora Academy, and she's using Eva-chan's time-displaced resort to recover 'faster'; a few days of recovering from exhaustion there translates to a few hours outside it. She'll be back on her feet before the end of today, I believe. …It's still a bit hard to believe that she actually awakened her Susanō's 'Perfect' form. Her brother and older cousin are really proud of her, as am I."
"…Speaking of Lanstar's brother, I heard he's been doing some missions with Ruin?"
Nanoha giggled a little. "Yep. His mere presence annoys her to no end, it seems, but apparently they work really well together in the field; their skills complement one another, it seems, just like how hers complement yours. …You're pretty special to her, y'know – probably the first person she's ever cared for other than herself, and maybe a little more than for herself…"
"…It's ironic" Eve said lowly. "Not just a human, but one who began 'life' as the cast-off Darkness of a human's Heart, and she's one of the extremely few beings whom I trust. Shepard has earned that honor as well, along with two others – your lover Fate, and the old mercenary Zaeed Massani. For some reason, I like him… mostly because he tells really good stories…" She sighed. "Tiny points of light from an otherwise-dark species…"
Nanoha let out her own sigh. "One of these days, you're going to find out that you were just incredibly unlucky in your first contact with humanity, that people like the monsters who did that to you are a significant minority, and most humans would be appalled and disgusted learning what was done to you."
"Or maybe you're wrong," Eve glared, "and humans like you and Shepard, who give a damn about others and kindness and all that crap, are the tiny minority, with everyone else just pretending otherwise to try and feel better about themselves."
Nanoha looked saddened as she gently grabbed the smaller and physically-younger girl by the shoulders, turning her to face her. "Please, Eve… Just… give it some thought. Try to look at things without looking at them through your preconceptions. Don't completely reject the possibility that you might be mistaken. …At least, try to accept and remember that I'm not like that. I want to help you, Eve. I see this horrible dark path you're on, and I want to save you from it before it completely swallows you up. …For so many years, all you knew was hate. Now, thanks to Ruin, and to Shepard, you've re-learned to feel more than that. Please, don't forget again. …And if you ever need to talk, Fate and I will always listen."
"…Why?" the Lucavi let out a ragged whisper.
Nanoha's smile was as warm as the sun. "Because I'm a Sage, a teacher, and a mother. I'm Nanoha Takamachi, and I never let someone who's scared and in pain go without giving everything I've got to try and help them."
Before Eve – unable to articulate a response through the turbulent storm of conflicting thoughts and emotions roiling within her heart and head – could do anything, her Omnitool began to chime, grabbing both girls' attention.
"I guess that's your cue" Nanoha said. "The Commander's getting ready to set sail for the Iera system… Please, Eve, think about what I've said."
-SCENE BREAK-
Shadow Sea cluster, Iera system, Horizon
SCAN: "A temperate world that has hit the 'sweet spot' for carbon-based life, Horizon has a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere maintained by abundant plants and bacteria. Its soil is particularly compatible with Earth vegetation, and so a thriving human community has sprung up. Horizon's population is in flux. A Collector attack in 2185 inflicted significant casualties, but refugees have been streaming to the planet since the Reaper invasion began. Since many land illegally, there is no way to accurately track population. Although many colonists resent the newcomers, others have embraced Horizon's new role. Advertisements for "Sanctuary", its main refugee center, can be seen galaxy-wide."
Five people rode aboard the Kodiak shuttle flying down through Horizon's skies: Shepard brought Garrus and Ashley along, while Theta Team sent Subaru as some heavy muscle, and Galen Marek was taking a break from fighting on the front lines to lend his Jedi skills to something that could have a significantly greater impact on the war's end.
"So what do we know?" Ashley asked.
"The Sanctuary facility was devoted to aiding refugees from Reaper-controlled systems" EDI replied. "The facility went offline recently, and no communications have come or gone since. It is unclear why Kai Leng or Cerberus would be interested in the facility."
"If there's a clue to Cerberus here," Shepard said, "we find it."
"Sir," Cortez called from the pilot's seat, "I'm picking up a signal from the facility. It's weak; I'll try to boost it."
"This is Oriana Lawson. Stay away from Sanctuary. It's not what it seems. Please, you must listen to me! They're using-*STATIC*"
"Oriana?" Shepard said. "That's Miranda's little sister. If she's here, Miranda can't be far away."
"And that's our link to Cerberus" Garrus surmised.
"Approaching the LZ" Cortez announced. "Seeing some damage, Commander, but no activity."
"Alright," Shepard came up to the hatch, "Cerberus does not get the jump on us this time!"
The hatch opened and the team of five leapt out. Small fires burned here and there, and rubble was everywhere, along with bullet marks and the scorches from grenade and rocket blasts. There were also a few shuttles haphazardly 'parked' in various places.
"There must have been one hell of a skirmish here" Subaru remarked.
"But who was fighting?" Ashley wondered.
"Our radios are offline" Garrus suddenly announced. "Something's jamming our signals."
A quick check discovered the Turian was correct. The team cautiously advanced up a set of stairs, moving past the rubble towards the entrance on the far end. Suddenly, there was a bang from above, and they looked up in time to see a Cerberus Kodiak in flames, spinning out of control overhead. It crashed on the upper balcony that was set over the far entranceway, and a second later its attacker – a Harvester – perched on the 'lip' of the open roof overhead for a few seconds and then flew away in pursuit of another shuttle.
Some of the crashed shuttle's occupants had survived, and were somehow already aware of Team Shepard's presence; a trio of Phantoms leapt down to the ground level, engaging cloaking devices as they approached through the rubble, while a Nemesis set up shop on the balcony. Shepard quickly sniped the sniper, while the VISR system in Garrus' eyepiece highlighted the nearest cloaked Phantom, allowing him to gun her down with Phaeston fire, Ashley joining in the moment Garrus' fire exposed the target. Galen moved forward, one lightsaber active, and after a couple seconds he struck with a lightning-imbued Force Push, blasting back the cloaked Phantom that had been about to sneak-attack from the right; he followed with a Saber Throw that separated her head from her shoulders. The implants in Subaru's eyes allowed her to see the final cloaked Phantom approaching from ahead and to the left, and she pulled out the Sangheili plasma-rifle she'd brought along, firing a short burst to trip the Phantom up and weaken her barriers; then, she raced in and struck with a Vibration Shatter, dealing catastrophic damage to the cybernetics woven into the Phantom's vital organs, putting her down.
"It appears they were evacuating" Galen observed.
"And it looks like the Reapers were chasing them out" Garrus added.
"About time they started killing each other" Shepard remarked.
They moved to the entranceway, Shepard bypassing the gate so they could pass through. On the other side was what looked like a huge reception area; there were bits of rubble and a couple small fires here as well, more signs of battle.
"Jeez, what happened here?" Ashley wondered.
Suddenly, there was a low rumble, and the team looked up as a few more Cerberus Kodiaks emerged from the massive tower ahead and flew away with all haste.
"They came from the tower?" Subaru remarked. "Why would they even be there?"
"If that's where they came from," Shepard said, "then that's where we're headed."
The quintet moved through the reception area, looking at datapad reports and listening to audio clips. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary so far, but Shepard felt uneasy… They moved right, heading down some stairs and finding an area with at least three shuttles crammed in, all of them showing some damage and none of them landed carefully.
"This must be another landing area," Garrus said, "more official."
"The shuttles outside must've been waiting to get in" Subaru surmised.
"But where are all the people they brought?" Shepard wondered.
Nearby was another reception area, directly below the first. And inside were the bodies of various Cerberus and Husk soldiers. Furthermore, there was a pair of Cerberus Troopers standing by a reception desk at the far end. They were close enough together that Shepard was able to grab and kill them both with a single Biotic Slam attack before they knew what hit them. Two more Troopers emerged from behind pillars, rifles already raised, but Garrus and Ashley gunned them down before they could fire. With the area clear, they looked around and soon found a small, dark passageway to the left from where they came in. A console was playing a distorted recording of a woman's voice; Shepard's technical skills quickly got it playing properly.
"This is Miranda Lawson. If you managed to get this far, you must be desperate… or stupid. Listen to me. This is not a refugee camp. This is a Cerberus facility run by Henry Lawson. Turn back now. There is no help to be found here – all communication is being blocked from the central tower. Sanctuary is a lie. Stay away."
"Okay," Shepard said, "so we've got Cerberus, Reapers, and Miranda's crazy father. Any ideas how this all fits?"
"I'm thinkin' we might not wanna know the whole picture, Commander" Ashley replied.
Heading outside to the right, they came across what looked like a water reservoir or artificial pond. Feeling 'guided', Galen engaged the nearby water pump. In response, the water rapidly drained away, revealing a lower level that led to a now-exposed door.
"What's with the smoke and mirrors?" Ashley wondered.
"They needed to hide something" Shepard replied. "We have a back door into the facility. Let's move."
They headed down the ladder (well, Subaru and Galen just jumped) and over to the door. Inside, they passed through a cramped, dark hallway with angular machinery and quietly hissing black pipes.
"This is gonna get ugly, isn't it?" Ashley remarked.
Suddenly, Galen stumbled, briefly holding a hand to his temple as his breathing grew ragged.
"Marek?" Shepard asked. "What's wrong?"
"This place is wrong, Commander" the Jedi replied. "I can feel the echoes of terror and agony from in there – the suffering of hundreds, thousands of people. …Shepard, when a large number of people die at a single location – a facility, a city, a planet –, especially if their deaths are unnatural and painful, it leaves what the Jedi Order called a… 'wound' in the Force. There's a damn big one here. I think we're about to stumble upon a gruesome and horrifying discovery…"
'I FEEL IT, TOO' Subaru heard Fenris' voice in her head. 'I THINK CERBERUS HAS DONE SOMETHING TERRIBLE HERE…'
Wary from her Tailed Beast's and the Jedi's words, Subaru gulped nervously, readying the plasma rifle she'd brought along; the others cautiously readied their weapons as well. They advanced through another hallway and into a sort of small control room; both were dark with only a few emergency lights for illumination, and the control room had a very large window looking out over a portion of the facility – also dark and quiet.
"A command center by the looks of it" Garrus said. "No power."
Shepard soon found a power switch in the middle of a series of terminals. The nearby lights came on, as did the half-dozen display screens overhead. The team focused their attention on one, showing a few scientists in Cerberus uniforms surrounding stasis/containment tanks of some sort, in which were plain-clothed, terrified people. A strange gas flooded the tanks, and the trapped people banged on the gas and flailed in terror and pain.
"Those are… refugees" Ashley said. "They're just killing them?"
"Worse" Shepard replied as the footage was time-lapse advanced to show the horrific end product. "They're being turned into Husks!"
Looking around, Shepard slowly walked over to another console that was right in front of the large window. He hit the button, and the lights in the large, high passageway beyond flickered on… revealing at least a dozen Husks, which scattered like cockroaches when the lights came on. A few seconds later, one dropped in and clung to the armored glass, letting out a metallic-sounding moan as it stared at him. Others emerged, climbing all over the overlook.
"Come on!" Shepard said, leading the team on to another area full of computer terminals.
"I don't get it" Garrus said. "Why go through all this just to make Husks? What does the Illusive Man gain?"
"The Reapers attacked because for some reason they view this place as a threat" Shepard said. "We need to find out why."
In a small security station in the corner of the room, another terminal was playing intermittent clips of Miranda's voice. Shepard got it working properly again, playing the message. On screen, Miranda was working at the nearby terminal.
"Reaper forces have made a mess of the facility. I'm shutting down the power to the processing plant to lock them down. It should keep them out of the entrance as well."
In the recording, Miranda finished her work and walked away. However, the video kept playing, and less than a minute later another familiar figure appeared.
"Miranda Lawson has arrived sooner than expected" Kai Leng said into his comm. "You want me to deal with her?"
"Only if she gets in your way" the Illusive Man replied. "Stay focused on the research data. Find it and get out."
"Yes, sir…"
The quintet hurried down some steps and opened the door… and Shepard had to leap back to avoid a Husk's claw-swipe at his face. He lashed out with a close-range Biotic Push that flattened the cyber-zombie, but a handful more emerged from farther inside. Garrus' assault rifle and Subaru's plasma rifle brought a few down, while Ashley and Galen moved in with shotgun and lightsabers drawn, blasting and cutting a few more Husks. Shepard's SMG took out the last two, and they slowly moved in. There were a few audio logs stored in still-online computer terminals, and when Shepard activated one he heard a man's voice with refined Australian accent exactly like Miranda's – the infamous Henry Lawson.
"I've spent the last week making small adjustments to increase processing efficiency. There is no shortage of subjects; indeed, I am told there is a long line outside the main gate. The deception is an unfortunate necessity. Time is very short."
"We've confirmed the results of Cerberus experiments involving the Husk creatures. A crude, but necessary, first step in decoding how the Reapers communicate. The key is how the Reaper signal interacts with the nanites implanted within the subject's body. It's early yet, but we are making progress."
"This has gotta be connected to their crazy 'control the Reapers' idea" Ashley said.
"But why would they take thousands of people as test subjects for that alone?" Galen wondered. "They'd only need a couple hundred, at most. So what happened to everyone else?"
"I have a feeling we're gonna find out and wish we hadn't" Garrus replied.
They passed through the next doorway, into the large 'processing' hallway they'd overlooked earlier, and the shriek of a Banshee suddenly rang out. As the Asari Husk emerged, so did a handful of Marauders on the left-side balcony, along with a Ravager further down the hall. As the Banshee made a Biotic Charge that brought it within only a few meters of the group, Galen lashed out with a powerful torrent of Force Lightning. The super-Husk's barrier failed quickly, and it screeched as it twitched and writhed, its cybernetic and organic components both taking damage from the assault. Finally the lightning cut off, but before the Banshee could act a lightsaber swing took off its head, removing the greatest threat.
Subaru rushed in next, engaging her Device's jet-powered skates and racing down the hall. She dodged the Ravager's shots as she barreled towards it, her Revolver Knuckle pulled back and spinning as it charged power while her other hand was held out in front with a sphere of blue magical energy gathering. As she reached right in front of the Ravager, she punched the sphere of energy with her gauntleted hand, firing an explosive burst of raw destructive magical energy that engulfed the Rachni Husk, doing more than enough damage to kill it and sending it careening back several meters.
Shepard and Garrus used Overloads to strip the Marauders' shields, and they & Ashley gunned the now-unprotected Turian Husks down, with Galen using a Saber Throw to take one out as well. Once they were clear, they advanced down the passageway. Near their next door, they found two more of Henry Lawson's logs:
"Dr. Nuri's legacy work with subject Paul Grayson provided a key element to our work here. Using the addictive drug 'red sand' to break down the will was inspired, but proved unreliable for general application. We've proven that adrenaline – and its cross-species equivalents – is the most effective and efficient."
"The pursuit of efficiency has revealed an important fact: the Reapers' use of 'Dragon's Teeth' to create Husks is ingenious. The Reaper nanites attach themselves to the adrenaline released and quickly move through the body to speed conversion to the final Husk state."
The next door led to another small, darkened room, with another terminal playing garbled clips of Mirand's voice.
"Terminal's damaged" Shepard said as he knelt down and removed a panel. "Hang on…"
"The Reapers wanted this place shut down" Ashley said, scanning the area with rifle ready. "Maybe we'll get some answers."
"It doesn't make sense" Shepard said as he worked. "I thought Cerberus and the Reapers were leaving each other alone. What changed? …Ah, got it."
"I'm heading to the tower to disable the communication scrambler" Miranda said in the recording. "I have to get word out. Some refugees are turned into Husks. Some are indoctrinated, mind-wiped and shipped to the Illusive Man to become workers or soldiers. Whoever's left is used in experiments. The data indicates that my father is trying to figure out how Reaper Indoctrination works."
"Tricking refugees with food and shelter only to turn them into test subjects. And for what?"
"This guy is someone's father?" Ashley said with shock and disgust. "I can't believe what I'm hearing."
"She mentioned shipments" Garrus added. "Could lead us to the Illusive Man."
"Good catch. Come on; Miranda said she was headed to the tower."
"So…" Subaru said with dawning horror. "All those Cerberus soldiers we've been killing since the war began…"
"They're not who they once were, kid" Garrus replied. "Indoctrinated and mind-wiped… they can never return to who they used to be. We're putting them out of their misery."
They headed up the room's steps, passing through a door that led into another hallway divided into two sections down the middle; the right-hand/upper section had desks, terminals, and other machinery, while the lower/left-hand area was lined with the pods used in creating Husks from refugees. And both sections were occupied by Cannibals with Marauder support. Shepard, Ashley, and Garrus drew their sniper rifles, using the terrain to their advantage as the enemy was funneled toward them, with Subaru and Galen using Rune Shields and lightsabers to protect them from return fire. The Marauders were dealt with first, with the Cannibals falling soon after. With the way clear, they advanced down the left, finding two more Lawson logs:
"Creating these Husk creatures was our first success. While not 'true' Husks, they still respond to Reaper signals. More work ahead, but we are moving forward."
"We're very close. Understanding the indoctrination process is one thing; however, turning it to our advantage is proving to be quite another. This is assembly-line science. The sheer brute force of numbers and repetition is doing the thinking for us. Effective, but discovery happens at a pace."
Toward the end of the hallway was another vid-console; Shepard got it working again, and the screen showed Miranda, now looking and sounding rather harried:
"Heavy resistance outside the tower! If you're receiving this, I've got evidence you can't ignore: confirmation that my father is working for the Illusive Man."
She keyed something in, and the image changed to a recording of a man with slightly-graying hair in a fancy suit speaking to a hologram of Cerberus' leader.
"I have your report on the process, Mr. Lawson. Cut to the chase. Can you do it?"
"Theoretically, control is possible, yes. The Reaper subjects we converted are responding, but it's difficult to maintain."
"I thought that might be the case. Not to worry, Henry. With Sanctuary's help, we'll get it sorted."
"He's talking about controlling Reaper forces, right?" Ashley asked. "Is that possible?"
"I don't know" Shepard replied. "I'll play the rest of it."
"We've done it" Henry Lawson said in the next clip. "We've found a way to co-opt their control signal. As long as the Reaper troops remain in close proximity to our signal, we can maintain control indefinitely."
"Excellent news. And how could we extrapolate this technique to apply to the Reapers themselves?"
"…That's a much bigger challenge."
"Now we know why the Reapers attacked this place" Shepard said.
"They found out exactly what the Illusive Man was trying to do," Galen surmised, "and how much progress he'd made toward doing it. They tolerated his interference to a certain point because it disrupted the war effort, but he overstepped his bounds as far as Harbinger is concerned. Bad news for him."
"But it's good news for us. We finally have our link to Cerberus."
He triggered the nearby access ladder to lower, but before they could leave the terminal recording showed Miranda diving out of the way just as Kai Leng leapt in with a shockwave punch to the ground where she'd just been standing. The recording ended.
"Damn it…" Shepard hurried for the ladder. "I hope she's ready for him…"
As they scaled the ladder up into another long passageway above, they were set upon by a Marauder, a few Cannibals, and a Ravager. The Marauder was right in front of them, and Shepard's shields absorbed the shots it got off before he zapped its shields away and head-shot it with his pistol. As Ashley's assault rifle and Subaru's plasma rifle handled the Batarian Husks, Galen Force-Dashed in toward the Ravager, dodging its fire and leaping high. He landed blade-first, ramming a lightsaber deep down into the Rachni Husk's body. It screeched and fell to the floor, and he finished it with a large slash outward that nearly bisected it.
Hurrying down the hall, they reached another section lined by a few tanks, some of which were broken open. Attached to one was another, more recent audio log from Henry Lawson:
"We have underestimated the strength of the Reaper signal. They are here. The Reapers somehow know what we have learned about them, that they have a weakness. I'm compiling our research data to archive before it's too late. Cerberus has sent troops to defend the facility against the Reapers."
They headed right, through a door that had been damaged and stuck half-open. They came out on an upper balcony of the initial large, high passageway. Fortunately, a large overhead transport crane was within easy jumping distance; after hopping aboard, they rode it down the passageway, jumping off further down on the other side.
As they entered the next area – another long hallway split into two parts, with some stasis/containment tanks lining the far wall – a Brute emerged from the right; it immediately caught sight of them, and growled as it started stalking toward them. A second Brute approached from the right, visibly preparing to charge. Lastly, far off to the right at the end of the hallway-like area, a third Brute and a Banshee was seen trying to break through a door on that end; it wouldn't be long before the two additional super-Husks noticed them, too.
As the two Brutes approached, there was suddenly a powerful flare of blue chakra from and around Subaru. Her body was wreathed in blue chakra that looked like flickering flames that contoured to her body, with black symbols at different points, including along her arms and stomach. Above rectangular whisker-like marks on her cheeks, her eyes – now blue with slit pupils – opened. The two Brutes paused their approach, apparently confused.
"That's…" Shepard started, a bit shocked.
Subaru nodded. "A little while ago, I went to the shinobi world, and Naruto-kun led me to the Falls of Truth. I faced off with my Heart's Darkness, and now…" She pounded her fists together, releasing a small shockwave. "Fenris and I can fully synchronize, without anything getting in the way of us combining our power!"
The Brute on the right charged at Subaru, lashing out with a claw-stab from its massive arm, but she caught the limb by the 'wrist', and then lashed out with a supercharged blow, Revolver Knuckle surrounded and empowered by Fenris' chakra, which took the Brute's main arm off. As the Brute staggered back, Subaru tossed the huge arm aside, hitting the other Brute in the face and knocking it back, and rushed at her original target. From the chakra shroud around her right arm, two chakra arms partially extended and curled forward, working with Revolver Knuckle to compress and rotate chakra in her held-out palm. She reached the wounded Brute and thrusted her right arm forward just as the Rasengan finished forming, slamming it into the super-Husk's head which was obliterated by the strike.
At the same time Subaru was dealing with one Brute, Shepard and Galen moved in toward the other. A quick burst of Force Lightning briefly stunned the beast, and an Incinerate weakened its heavy armor. Galen leapt over a horizontal swing of the monster's claw, and lashed out with a Force-strengthened kick that nearly took the Brute's head off, destroying the right side of its head and its right eye. As it was stunned from that, Shepard leapt onto its back and drove his Omniblade through its neck, decapitating it.
They heard the shriek of the Banshee, along with the low growls of the remaining Brute, as the two super-Husks finally took notice of the melee and began making their way toward the group. Subaru moved into their path, staring them down, and as the Banshee launched an unstable Biotic blast at her she formed a large chakra-arm and swatted it aside. Noting the slight difficulty she'd had in doing so, she decided to turn it up a notch. Her flame-like aura grew a little, her appearance changing – the symbols along her blue-chakra-shrouded body changed and spread, while the semi-solid chakra formed into the shape of a longcoat; Galen, being the only one of the group currently knowing how to sense such things, could feel as Subaru's already-high power level climbed even higher as she 'transformed' further.
Subaru focused on the Brute first, dodging a piece of debris it threw at her and then punching the air forward, releasing a focused shockwave that almost knocked the beast over onto its back. She dodged a swing of the Biotic-Charging Banshee's claws and moved toward the Brute, leaping high and then coming down with a Vibration Shatter attack so boosted by her transformation that it shattered the floor paneling beneath the Brute for nearly three meters in every direction. The Brute itself seemed to come apart, its synthetic components all but obliterated. It feebly tried to attack again, but a stomp to the head put it down for good.
Turning her attention to the Banshee, Subaru grinned as she held her hands together in front of her, cupping the fingers toward each other. Tiny spheres of two-colored energy formed and gathered, merging into a roiling black and dark-purple sphere a little smaller across than her palm. The Banshee shrieked a war-cry as it Biotic-Charged at her, but Subaru dodged its incoming attempt to stab her, and with one hand she rammed her new attack upwards into the Banshee's midsection:
"Super Mini Bijūdama!"
The tiny Tailed-Beast Ball produced a very large explosion, engulfing and obliterating the Banshee and also causing significant damage to all the machinery and structure supports within several meters. After a few seconds, a chakra arm swept away the cloud of slowly settling dust, clearing the path for the rest of the team. Subaru grinned as she let Fenris' chakra recede, returning her to normal.
"Damn…" Ashley said, still in shock. "And that was a 'super-mini' one?"
"The really big ones can take out mountains" Shepard replied. "Come on, let's keep moving."
The quintet moved on down the hall, heading right and up to a door. They entered the elevator, riding it up the tower. Once they arrived and exited, beyond the next door they could hear gunshots and Biotic discharges. Moving through the door with guns drawn, they found themselves in an office with a large window overlooking a 'processing' passageway.
"Shepard…" Miranda called from her position behind a desk; she looked quite tired, and there was a still-bleeding scratch on her right cheek.
"Commander Shepard," Henry Lawson said from his position near the window, Oriana as a hostage in one hand and an M77 Paladin pistol in the other, "excellent timing."
"Put the gun down" Shepard said in a low, dangerous tone.
"I think not. Oriana tried to shoot me – Miranda's poisonous influence, no doubt."
"I'm sorry she missed. Where's Kai Leng?"
"I don't know. Gone. He took my research and left us here to die."
"…Miranda, can you hear me?"
Mirana slowly struggled to her feet, revealing herself to be closer to Henry than Shepard was, though off to the side.
"That's close enough, both of you!" Henry shouted. "Kai Leng didn't finish the job, but I will."
"This ends here" Shepard said.
"On the contrary. Now that the Reapers are taken care of, we have a way out."
"Let her go."
"Shepard…" Miranda said, pleading. "Don't let him take her…"
"You try to leave with her, Henry, and you die. Let her go, and maybe you walk."
"I've done nothing to you" Mr. Lawson said.
"This isn't about you and me. Let her go, and walk away. I won't say it again."
The man was quiet for several seconds. "…All right" he finally said, releasing Oriana from his hold and letting her scramble away, keeping his gun pointed at Shepard. "Take her. But I want out alive. Deal?"
There was a sudden burst of bluish energy as Miranda slammed her father with a Biotic Throw so powerful it shattered a third of his bones. It also shattered the window as he was sent flying through it, falling to his death nearly 200 feet below.
"No deal" she growled. She turned to Oriana, helping her up. "Did he hurt you? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine" Ori replied as she hugged her sister. "I just… want to get out of here."
"We will. Give me a minute, okay?" She turned to the hero of the day. "Commander Shepard. Fancy meeting you here."
"We caught a break" Shepard replied. "Are you all right?"
"I'll be fine. Really. I don't know how you managed it, but I'm grateful you're here."
"How did you do all this?"
"Finding my father didn't take long once I confirmed he was working for the Illusive Man. I just had to follow the lies. Once I saw what this place really was… I couldn't just walk away."
"Of course."
"Things got really complicated when Reaper forces showed up, and Kai Leng."
"You survived. Not many people could do that."
"When you mentioned Leng was involved, I took a few precautions. Probably saved my life."
"Miranda, this whole thing was a huge risk. You should have told me."
"You have a war to win, Shepard. This was my fight. It's been a long time coming."
"You did it. It's over."
"Yes… I just wish my sister didn't have to see all this."
"About your father…"
"I'm glad he's gone, Shepard. I'm sorry if that sounds cold."
"No, I understand."
"…It's finally over. For both of us. We can stop running."
Shepard nodded, and then turned to where Garrus and Galen were going over a terminal. "What's our status? Any intel we can use from this place?"
"The research data's gone," Galen replied, "but there's basic information for the facility – shuttle arrivals and departures, including Cerberus'. It's not a direct link, but it'll get us started."
"Grab anything you can off the computer. We'll take it back to be analyzed."
"I can do better than that" Miranda interjected. "Before Kai Leng took off, I planted a tracer on him. If you act fast, you'll track him right to the Illusive Man."
"A tracer? Sounds like you thought of everything."
"Not quite, but… nobody's perfect."
"Thanks, Miranda. This is… exactly what we need."
"Thought you might need some good news."
"Damn right. What's next for you two?"
"Get Oriana someplace safe, and get this scratch cleaned up."
"Okay. I've got to follow all this up."
"I'll be in touch, Shepard, and soon." She turned to her waiting sister. "Come on, Ori. We've had enough of father's hospitality."
Watching the two sisters go, Shepard disabled the communication scrambler, and Miranda's warning began to broadcast through space. "Cortez," he radioed, "we need a pickup at the tower. I've had enough of this place…"
-SCENE BREAK-
Normandy II, Deck Two, QEC Room
"I wasn't in favor of your diversion to Sanctuary, Commander" Hackett said. "There were too many unknowns. But I was wrong. The Cerberus lab you raided hinted at something big, but we never expected this. All those refugees, all that… slaughter… just to study indoctrination."
"What they learned about the Reapers wasn't worth all those lives" Shepard said.
"It's useful intel, Commander, but you're right; the cost was far too high. Do we have a location on the Illusive Man?"
"Yes. Miranda planted a tracer on Kai Leng, and it was still online when he reported back."
"Good. That gives us a fighting chance to take Cerberus out of this war."
"Agreed. We need to end Cerberus and focus on the Reapers."
"My thoughts exactly. Shepard, it will take us a few days to get a fleet ready to assault Cerberus' headquarters. Use that time wisely. Hackett out."
As the comm. closed, Shepard went off to make his rounds through the ship, checking on people. Once that was done, he went up to his quarters. But there, on his private terminal, he found a message waiting from Adm. Hackett:
"Commander, there's an Alliance researcher working on the Citadel named Dr. Garret Bryson. I need you to meet with him right away. Dr. Bryson has uncovered important new information about Reapers that could have a direct bearing on the war. I'm officially directing you to support his efforts at the first possible opportunity. Please visit Bryson's laboratory on the Citadel at once."
-CHAPTER END-
Next Time: Leviathan
The next chapter will probably take a while, for two reasons: one is that it's a big chapter, encompassing the entire DLC storyline in one. The other is that soon I will be getting an X-Box One, depending on how long the chapter takes I might get Halo: The Master Chief Collection before the chapter's done, and I might (money is really tight) also be getting Super Smash Bros 3DS. They will eat up a lot of my time.