MASS EFFECT: ENTANGLED

CHAPTER 22

Citadel:

John watched the dark-skinned woman get dressed in front of him. His blue eyes slowly traced her body's outline as he shifted his body to the side in the bed. The cool ocean-blue silk sheets covered up the lower half of his naked body. "You sure it's them?"

The question made the woman in the front pause in her task as her brown eyes stared down at the floor deep in thought. A station-wide alert flashed minutes ago to alert that the Citadel was on lockdown due to a terrorist attack. The extranet was flooded with rumored reports of Cerberus operatives at various key places, some including C-Sec HQ and Huerta. The move was unexpected, and their doubted safety troubled her. Maya had to go deep undercover during her years of servitude for the pro-human organization and hiding all her steps was a basic skill to her now. Brooks was more than wary. She knew that once she had one of the two clones in her care that her destiny would unfold. She was meant for more than dealing with the Illusive Man and Kai Leng. The masculine athletic broad-shouldered man in her room was an opposite-gender clone of Krysta Shepard; a true experiment of the Illusive Man when he had the resources in front of him. Krysta Shepard embodied admirable leadership and was a symbol of humanity after her victory over Saren. Though, the Illusive Man saw her as weak in some of her decisions. He developed a hypothesis that maybe a male would be more equipped to tackle the more difficult choices to advance humanity to its proper stature. When Shepard froze to her death after the Collector's attack, he was able to secure her body for the Lazarus Project. He took it a step further. Miranda would work on reviving Krysta from the afterlife and give insight into his cloning technology. He needed a failsafe should the commander have organ redundancy. What he didn't tell Lawson was that secretly he had a team working on a second clone with a few changes. He would keep that one locked away for safekeeping.

Brooks found out about both clones and decided that it was time to part ways with Mr. Illusive. With planning and caution, she managed to steal the male clone's pod to somewhere far from the MinuteMan. After her transgression against her former employer, she laid low for months until she was ready to proceed with what she planned.

John's psyche was even more perfect than she thought. It didn't take much to persuade him that Krysta was the wrong choice for humanity and that would be Cerberus' undoing. John's hatred towards aliens and Krysta was greater than her own. She unveiled every dirty little secret that she could get her hands on about the blonde hero including her actions on Torfan, the death of Kaidan, and her rumored current partner: Bray Credgarok. To John, Krysta was the personification of a complete disgrace to humans. He was all onboard for Brooks' plan of deceiving Krysta and putting an end to her once and for all. The other races could fall to the reapers' destruction, but humanity would endure. The complete annihilation of the aliens was a small price to pay. Humanity would sustain to its full potential.

Maya remained serene, "It is them."

Huffing in aggravation, John sat up straighter; collected in his thoughts momentarily until he angrily got up from the bed to fetch his armor. "You got sloppy," He hissed.

"We don't know if they are here for us," She countered defiantly. "If they are at C-Sec, then it appears they are wanting to control the station."

John scoffed and rolled his eyes at her point. "Oh well, that makes a huge fucking difference," He sarcastically groaned as he fastened the lower portion of his armor into place.

"If Cerberus is here, then Shepard would follow," Maya debated. "This may be more to our favor than you think."

John stormed over to put himself right in her face. His jaw was clenched tightly as he stared right into her surprised face. "I am Shepard! Not her!"

Brooks stood straighter to face him and calmly replied, "I know you are the real Shepard…or will be very soon." Her voice cooed as she lightly caressed the side of his face before kissing it.

He roughly grabbed her hand to pull it away. "No mistakes. Is that clear?"

"Certainly," She did not fight his grip till he finally let her go. "It's better that we stay here. I have informed our men of the same. If we reveal ourselves now, then it will spoil the surprise."

"I can't wait to kill me," John laughed.

"It's going to be a hot zone going in! We have bogeys all over!" The pilot of their shuttle called to Alivia and the others as they neared the landing site.

Ulana turned to face her team. "We clear the LZ and then move in a staggered approach through the units. Alivia, you and Torsk on me. Rhodes, I want you and Cerak to move to the left flank. Watch each other's backs and save all that we can."

"Med evac inbound for the wounded?" Rhodes asked as he activated his Mnemonic visor.

"Your priority is to clear hostiles. A request for medevac has been sent."

Wayne nodded to her response and then glanced over at his newly assigned partner. The batarian's face showed no expression so he had no idea what the guy was thinking. "You ready for this?"

"I'm ready," Cerak glanced down at his assigned M-55 Argus rifle. There were two notches on the side of the barrel that he marked to represent his mate's and child's lives. He was not able to secure anything else in remembrance of them after he left his homeworld. He placed two fingers over the marks and closed his eyes.

The shuttle shook from incoming fire impacting the craft's kinetic barriers. Alarms blared to signal a decrease in the shield capacitor. "Be ready!" The pilot yelled over the noise.

Ulana, Alivia, and Torsk moved up front first while Rhodes and Cerak moved behind them. The shuttle continued to rock as it began its vertical descent for drop-off. The door swung open, and Ulana's team jumped out first. The colonists' screams of torment were heard in the distance as a barrage of gunfire from the reaper ground troops railed in their direction, pounding their shields. "Move out!" Ulana yelled to her team as she returned fire from her rifle and led them toward the right to face a multitude of enemy husks, cannibals, and marauders. Rhodes flagged Cerak to follow him to his left to search out the first pod. He restrained from looking back at his team.

Hearing colonists being gunned down ahead, Rhodes pumped his legs faster and when they exited the pod on the opposite side, they came across a group of cannibals that were rounding up several colonists in a circle. One of them was feasting on a dead male that tried to fight back. Raw flesh and blood dripped from the mutated batarian's gaping mouth. While those that still lived huddled together and prayed to be saved from the same fate. Cerak clenched his jaw as he saw the fate of his world's population: Deformed and twisted into a shell of themselves. Engaging his biotic implant, he used a lash attack to strike down the cannibal and captured the attention of the others. Rhodes switched on his cryo modification for his rounds and squeezed the trigger on his assault rifle. Several cannibals froze before shattering into a thousand pieces.

Groans of incoming husks grabbed their interest as more ground troops sought to end their resistance. Rhodes eyed the trembling colonists. "Stay behind us and don't go anywhere until we tell you!"

Pulling out two cluster grenades, Cerak chucked the explosives in the direct path of the husks. Within seconds, a duo of booms was heard as the oncoming husks flew into the air.

Rhodes glanced around to check for any ambushes. They were in a bad location since attacks could be made from multiple angles. "See anything?" He called to his batarian partner.

"Negative," Cerak answered.

Rhodes tapped his commlink. "Ulana, this is Rhodes. We have civilians. Area secured and will move on."

"Heavy opposition up here! Stay sharp!" The turian's voice was lost in the gunfire and noise pollution.

"That pod is clear. Go in there and lock the security doors until we are ready for extraction," Rhodes pointed into the pod they just exited. He waited until they were inside before signaling Cerak to move on.

"It's way too quiet back here," The batarian murmured.

Seconds later, a large ferocious roar echoed close by. Rhodes' eyes widened at the strange new sound. "You had to say that…"

Near the upper end of the colony, Ulana and the others were facing swarms of husks and marauders. She already had to switch out a clip. It seemed despite the small transport; the reapers' numbers were more than what she anticipated. Torsk growled happily as he took out another marauder with his warhammer. "I love killing these things!"

Ulana narrowed her beady eyes at the remark. "Is it because they are turians?!"

The burly krogan turned his tan helmeted head her way. She could not see his face but knew he was smirking with glee inside. "Never," He chortled again in amusement.

Alivia couldn't refrain from smiling at her team's banter despite the gloomy situation they were in. It gave her a positive kick as she fought her way through the reaper ground troops. The LZ was littered with dead bodies everywhere. Harnessing dark energy, she used a singularity attack on a pair of marauders, hoisting the 'ascended' turians into the air. She then picked them off with a few rounds off her Eagle pistol.

They were gaining ground deeper within the colony. Where were all the colonists? Her heart sank as she desperately looked around for more life than what the reapers provided. Were they too late? Was their fight in vain? "Negative civilian contacts!" She yelled through her comm.

"They have to be here, or the reapers wouldn't be putting up this much of a fight!" Ulana urged.

Alivia pressed ahead. Her squad later had to be right. They had to keep going and not give up. Tork bounded past her with his warhammer clutched in his right gloved hand. "I'll save the weak humans!"

As they rounded the corner, they saw a group of colonists in a circle with husks, cannibals, and marauders enclosing them in. The marauders picked up first to the team's presence and turned to fire viciously at Torsk.

The krogan was caught off guard by the sheer number of troops and his shields took a pounding by the flood of rounds. A few broke through and hit his arm and upper chest. He groaned at the breakage of armor and flesh. "Torsk!" Alivia unleashed a shockwave attack and hurled the marauders back from their present spot.

The krogan ignored the injuries and used his war hammer to smash the heads of incoming husks. A red stain covered up the once tanned armor as blood soaked down his body. Ulana picked off the cannibals with well-placed incendiary rounds.

Alivia panted to catch her breath as she used the sights of her rifle to look around. They were out in the open. "Enemies destroyed," she said to her leader.

"Clear," Torsk proudly agreed.

Ulana noted his injury. "You got hit pretty bad."

The krogan gaffed at the observation. "Maybe for a volus."

Alivia did not see any sign of Rhodes or Cerak. "Should we meet up with the others?"

Ulana tapped her comm. "Rhodes, this is Ulana. We cleared out contacts on our end and found civilians. Status?"

Both sets of Cerak's eyes widened as large as they could when he saw their newest foe stalking their way; a mammoth size creature that was not just one species, but two. "What the fuck is that?!" The creature seemed to have a mechanized turian head protruding out by a large thick cable, but its body resembled more of a krogan. Instead of hands, oversized metal deadly sharp pinchers were present. To make things direr, behind it, was another. Both were making a beeline straight for Rhodes and Cerak with the clear intent of their extinguishment.

"Um," Rhodes gulped as he heard Ulana's voice crack in his comm. What perfect timing! "We have some large company! Brutes!" He recalled the hellish beasts from his Alliance intel.

"Spirits! How many?"

"Two! We have civilians here for evac!" He tensely glanced over to the locked pod. If the brutes broke through Cerak and him, there was no way the structure would survive a hit by their power. The line remained silent for a bit and Rhodes gritted his teeth. "Orders?!"

"I'm sending Alivia and Torsk! There are two transports inbound for pickup for the civilians. ETA: Seven minutes!"

"I don't think we have that long," Rhodes whispered under his breath as he took to the batarian's side. "We got backup coming. We can't take them on individually. Let's separate them," he said to him.

"Divide and conquer," Cerak acknowledged and looked at their surroundings. "Let's move to the left and up the ladder to the upper pod."

Rhodes darted over and began to climb up first, then he stopped halfway to look back down at Cerak and then over to the pod where the civilians were. "We may be too far! What if they go after them?"

Cerak cursed under his breath. Rhodes was right. They could not face these things head-on, but their plan to lead them away may backfire if the brutes broke up as well. He had to give them a target for now; to keep them interested. "Go up there and scope them out!"

Rhodes gaped at the order and looked down at the batarian incredulously. "What are you doing?!" Fear crept into the back of his mind. Staying down there was suicide.

"Get your ass up there!" Cerak yelled as he took a few steps back to put further distance between himself and the brutes.

The one in the front glanced up at Rhodes. Cerak fired his rifle at the abomination to keep his engagement. "Over here, you ugly fucker!" The brute snarled as it moved towards Cerak and then rushed at him with his pincher swinging like a giant gauntlet.

Cerak lunged to the ground and rolled to get out of the way and used a warp attack against it. The biotic attack did minor damage to the creature's thick hind. Rhodes clenched his teeth watching as he switched between his rifle to his M-29 Incisor. He squatted down to his knee as he leveled his weapon and peered through the scope. His sights moved away from Cerak to the brute. "Come on, Rhodes, you got this." He pulled the trigger and fired round after round into the monster's skin. The monstrosity roared in pain as it held up its claw to try to block the onslaught.

The second brute eyed Rhodes and moved over just below the ladder. It used both of its claws like giant hammers and began to pound the metal stilts that the pod was resting on. The structure rocked side to side and threw Rhodes' aim off. "Shit!" He struggled to regain his footing.

Cerak unholstered another grenade and threw it at the nearest brute. The beast wailed as the explosion did considerable damage to its skin. Black blood oozed from its large gashes and momentarily, its movement was slowed down. Seizing this window of opportunity, Cerak lifted his rifle and fired at the second brute. The rounds tore up its back and the creature roared in anger as it diverted its focus away from Rhodes and back to the bothersome batarian.

"No, you don't!" Rhodes quickly moved back into place and tag-teamed the brute as he fired more rounds into the creature's turned back.

"Krogan to save the day!" Torsk's familiar shout grew nearer as he and Alivia raced down to the lower levels where Cerak and Rhodes were.

Cerak glanced over his shoulder to see the pair and smiled. "About damn time." As soon as he looked away, the first brute seized the deadly opportunity and swung its large claw around. Cerak was caught in its path and the impact sent his body slamming at a high rate of speed up against a pod with a sickening thwack. A loud groan of pain came from his mouth as his body slumped down onto the dirt.

"Cerak!" Rhodes felt like his body was moving in slow motion from witnessing the horrible account. He switched back to his assault rifle and fired heavily at the offending brute. Alivia joined in with her shots. Both sides were tearing the creature apart. It yelled in rage before slumping down dead.

The remaining brute turned to take on the new joining opposition. Now, Alivia, Torsk, and Rhodes encircled it. Torsk remained transfixed with his warhammer in his hand. "Transports are here! Get the civilians to the LZ!" Ulana's command came through their comms.

Alivia troubledly looked over at where Cerak was thrown. His body was hidden behind a barrier, but so far there was no movement in that direction. Gunfire pinged off their shields and the trio scurried to take cover. More cannibals were approaching from the rear! They couldn't stay pinned down with a brute lurking so close to their proximity. "Rhodes, cover fire!"

"Got it!" He redirected the barrel of his rifle and fired upon the approaching six cannibals.

"Torsk! Keep that thing busy!" She chewed her lip as she hurried over to get into the civilian pod.

The brute roared at the challenge and Torsk elevated his rebuttal even louder. He moved swiftly with the swing of his hammer, hitting the side of the beast. The brute moved to hit the krogan with his claw but missed! This only gave the krogan a victorious burst of laughter. "You are too weak like a hanar!"

Using her omni, Alivia bypassed the security on the door and went inside. The noise of the violence behind her sent the colonists into a flurry of emotions. "We need to get to the transport! Go that way! Don't look back!" She glanced at Rhodes and Torsk. "I'm escorting them to the transport! We need to get out of here! Give me two minutes!"

"Where are the civilians, Lieutenant?!" Ulana's voice yelled through the comm. "We have inbound in twenty minutes! Another reaper transport is on its way."

"On their way! I'm with them now! Rhodes and Torsk are holding back the oppression. Cerak is down! I need to get to him!" Alivia motioned the civilians to follow her as she led the line out of the pod. Her eyes darted around nervously for any ambushes. They were not out of the woods yet.

"Negative," Ulana argued in her ear. Alivia could now see her waiting by the hovering craft. Their shuttle was docked near it. "We don't have time to fight off those things and pick up a casualty."

"We can't leave him!" The directive mortified her, and she halted in her tracks. Her silver eyes glared hard right at her commanding officer ahead.

"The civilians are the primary object. That's an order!"

Alivia's stomach knotted out by the definitive directive. Akuze was happening all over again, and she wasn't about to let it happen twice. Motioning the civilians along, she gave one final look to make sure they had a clear shot ahead before darting back the way she came. She would deal with the consequences after.

Just as things couldn't get any worse, insect chattering was bearing down their way. Rhodes followed the noise with his eyes to see two transformed rachni drones scurrying their way with their sights already aiming their way. Behind them was a formidable-sized group of cannibals. "Crap!" Rhodes dove behind the wall as artillery from one drone's weapon impacted the side of the pod, he was in. Debris scattered everywhere.

Torsk arrogantly moved around the brute to pick him off piece by piece. Though, the krogan's speed was sluggish compared to a less massive alien. He was slow to react as the brute caught him and nailed him with the claw. The krogan slid into the dirt twenty feet away, nearly colliding with a barrier. Alivia stared down the remaining savage creature and gathered dark energy. "Okay, ugly. It's down to me." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tork regaining his footing.

Suddenly, the brute howled in pain, and she redirected her attention to see someone was firing on it. She followed the shots to see Cerak standing from where he landed. There was an open gash on his head and the blood drained down the side of his face. He favored the left side of his body. Seeing him alive gave her new hope. Alivia unleashed a shockwave attack and the biotic energy hit the brute three times in a row by the waves. The last hit was the finishing touch before the creature whimpered and fell to the ground dead.

"Little help here!" Rhodes yelled from where he was as fire from the rachni drones relentlessly pounded the pod he was in, keeping him from returning fire.

"Civilians secured! We need to get out of here!" Ulana yelled into their comm.

Torsk rose from the ground but was favoring his right leg. Cerak looked Alivia's way. "I'll keep them busy. Get Rhodes and Torsk out of here!"

Alivia shook her head as she moved to where he was and then motioned Torsk to start heading toward the transport. "We all get out of here."

Cerak grimaced and then gave a weak smile as he moved his left arm to reveal the immense swelling on the upper torso. He then spat out blood. "I'm done for. Just go. I got ya."

"No! Go with Torsk. I can do this." Alivia fought.

The rachni drones moved toward where Cerak and Alivia were. Seeing them, he shoved her out of place. "Move your ass! I want to do this!" Rhodes saw the opportunity and switched back to his assault rifle. He managed to take out one of the drones with a carnage blast.

Fighting back the roller coaster of emotions, the lieutenant fired at the remaining rachni before moving to Rhodes. The creature reared up with a threatening hiss as the ammo pounded the pink bulbous sac in front of it. The vulnerable spot was punctured, and green putrid acid splattered everywhere. Three more shots and the creature crumbled. All that remained was the cannibal horde.

With her providing cover fire, Rhodes slid down the ladder to Alivia's side at the ground. Torsk was limping ahead toward the transport. The cannibals lumbered after them with their canon fire mercilessly pounding their shields. If no one held them back, they would be on Torsk and the transport in a matter of seconds. Rhodes paused in his steps to give one final look to their companion with a silent look of gratitude.

Cerak looked down and touched the notches on his rifle with his fingertips one last time. Lifting his head to confront his enemies, he released a primal yell as he charged at them. Squeezing the trigger on his assault rifle, he used incendiary rounds to ignite the closest twisted batarian monster first. The creature wailed from the blazing torment before succumbing to its injuries. Its companions clambered over its corpse soullessly while a few stopped to feast upon its remains. After risking a chance to make sure his team had plenty of distance between themselves and imminent danger, Cerak further engaged the cannibals. He kept the trigger held as he expired a fresh clip, taking out several in his wake. There were at least seven more. Warnings rang from his shields as they were taking a dangerous toll. A few more direct hits and he would be fully exposed. Switching to his pistol, he moved into closer combat and dodged as one tried to swipe at him with its sharp claws. He returned fire to its deformed head until it exploded. One caught him off guard and gave him a hard shove from the back. It caused him to lose his balance and collide hard with the ground. His pistol left his hand and tumbled upon the dirt a few feet from him.

Dazed from the strike, he lifted his head groggily to look at his pistol and moved to reach it, but his body slammed back down to the ground as two cannibals grabbed his feet. He winced as he felt their pointed claws digging into his armor cracking the material. The weapon was just inches from his fingertips and now he was fully enclosed. Growling, he relentlessly kicked one in the face with his boot until he finally broke free from its deadly vice. One cannibal lurched onto his back, pinning him as the foul breath from its mouth made it difficult for Cerak to breathe through his nostrils. The heavy weight kept him in place and away from his weapon. He knew the others would be on him within seconds. Maneuvering his arm down into the utility pocket of his armor, he felt the sweet relief of knowing he had two remaining cluster grenades in his reserves. With the proximity, the sheer force would take them all out including himself.

Alivia watched as Torsk and Rhodes loaded up with Ulana. Her silver eyes then desperately panned back in the direction that Cerak remained. "Lieutenant," Ulana warned her.

"The transport can wait a few more seconds," Lykaia growled as she raced back. She needed to see if there was still a chance for him!

Before the turian could protest, Rhodes jumped off the craft as well to follow his squadmate. He cracked a smile as he left their CO in the distance. Taking to Alivia's side, they came to the hill right above where Cerak and the cannibals were. They saw that they swarmed him, and their numbers made it difficult to know if he was still alive or not.

Cerak ignored the cannibals biting at his back and legs to break his armor as he managed to hold a grenade in each hand. Closing his eyes to take one final breath, his mind turned to the thoughts of his mate and his unborn child. There was peace within him. Snapping his eyes back open, he pounded both grenades as hard as he could against one another. The impact ignited the triggering mechanisms inside and a massive boom was heard before flames engulfed where his body and the cannibals once were. "No!" Alivia screamed as her body heaved forward as if there was some miraculous protection for him away from the fate.

Rhodes looked on in disbelief before grabbing Alivia. "He's gone, LT." The colony was barren. All colonists were previously evacuated or were on the ships. The reaper ground troops were annihilated. "He's with his family now…"

Turning her head away from the charred site ahead, Alivia struggled to overcome the great sadness that hit her. "He is."