I'm Nobody

by free man writer

He didn't have anything when he was born. Just a name and number. But over time, what he had grew. He, with his friends began to understand that there was more to their existence then just their name and number. They will prove that they were meant to be real. To exist. To become something more than just a Nobody. Co-written and created with Jebest4781. Fem Shepard. Now on Ao3.

15. Viciously Vivacious Villain on Virmire

To the Reviewer who came on this story, begging me to return to Infinite Wars, you're one of the reasons why I'm putting off Infinite Wars. Aside from me writing this story cause this is a passion project, those types of reviews serve only to annoy me more than drive me to write more. Once or twice is fine. But you left nearly TWENTY REVIEWS just saying update, update, update. Like seriously man, that's annoying. It doesn't encourage me to write, it encourages me to put it off.

Ok, now that I've gotten my rant out of the way, thank you to all the reviews for the excitement to come in the coming chapters. This one is gonna be huge in terms of basically the next in a long line of dominoes that have been set off.

Things are gonna get crazier and crazier and I cannot begin to express the excitement in me and J now that we're getting to the shit we've been wanting to write.

OH MAN, you guys are gonna love it. I promise.

So let's get to it.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

I'm Nobody Chapter 15: Viciously Vivacious Villain on Virmire.

Once more, The Normandy left the Citadel going out into the vast expanse of the galaxy with the ship repaired properly and stocked on supplies.

They were out on the hunt for Saren once again and at long last, they got a lead or at least a possible one.

Shepard had a transmission incoming from the Citadel Council about receiving word from an STG team within the Hoc System of the Attican Traverse. Apparently they had been tracking the rogue Spectre for some time in the background and hopefully pinned a proper location to his last whereabouts.

In all honesty, Shepard wishes she was kept in the loop on this bit of information cause that seemed rather vital to the mission the Council gave her. Yet the Council's argument was that they wanted to confirm the sightings of Saren's possible whereabouts before sending Shepard to the destination. However with the STG team going dark, they had no choice but to send Shepard out to investigate.

Naturally, she would go there.

But first…

A personal matter with a crew mate came first as they were already heading towards the Herschel system of the Kepler Verge.

Garrus had approached her after the little adventure he had gone on with Wrex, Kaidan and Axel in retrieving something personal of the Krogans. The Turian spoke of a genetic Salarian doctor by the name of Dr. Saleon who he had once tracked years ago on the Citadel for black market body parts exchange with the Doctor at the center of it.

So that came first.

And it was on the way to Virmire, look at that.

…

Well not on the way exactly. More like, the ship would be flying, making a quick stop of Saleon's base of operations and then they'd be going over to Virmire.

So… on the way in a convoluted manner.

Upon finding the MSV Fedele as it was drifting through space, Shepard's small team consisting of Garrus, Xion and Axel boarded the vessel to apprehend the good geneticist.

What they believed would be a "simple" enough mission in confronting and apprehending the black market doctor turned to a mad firefight.

Shortly after entering the main compartment of the ship, the four were assaulted by several dozen worth of crazed, mindless clones running around from nearly every species out there in this galaxy. They acted on their instincts and attacked the four Normandy members with the intent to kill.

It reminded Shepard and Garrus a bit like the Thorian Creepers that they encountered on Feros.

The test subjects were disturbing to look at, to say the least.

During this confrontation, a small skirmish of Heartless appeared to make things complicated. Axel couldn't go all out in the confined space, so he had to restrain himself while Xion helped take care of the rest.

With them out of the way, the group searched the MSV Fedele for any possible survivors.

Fortunately for them, they did find one hiding in some sort of lab.

What was more fortunate was that the man they found was none other than Dr. Saleon, who tried to defend himself, proclaiming he was Dr. Heart instead.

It didn't really help on his defensive pleas when the team looked at the lab they entered. All of the medical equipment was stained with a rainbow of colors, signifying them being the blood of many species. Pale blue, violet, orange, green and a couple dark red variants. Even some slabs of meat and organ sprawled about in containers or silver plates.

As much as Garrus wanted to kill the Salarian geneticist right away, Shepard told him to stand down.

Even if Jane wanted to kill the man just as much as Garrus for his actions on innocent life, the Spectre wanted him to be turned into the proper authorities. This caused the Turian to plead for Saleon's death instead.

"Dying is easy, living is harder."

As Shepard said, the man wouldn't suffer for his crimes as Jane wanted the Salarian geneticist interrogated on his activities since his escape and live out the rest of his life in prison.

Just when they were about to apprehend him, Dr. Saleon resisted arrest and tried to fight back.

Yet before he could pull the trigger, a Shadow Heartless did a surprise attack and stole his heart in front of everyone else. From there, another Heartless skirmish commenced.

When things died down, Garrus didn't know what the point for all that was with Saleon essentially dying anyways.

But Shepard stated they needed to take the high ground as they can't just jump to conclusions all too easily. They needed to see how the man acted before they acted in their controlled response.

Besides, the loss of his heart on top of fading away into nothingness and consumed by the torment of darkness seemed like more than enough of an ample punishment for the Doctor.

This earned some more respect from the C-Sec detective alongside the two Nobodies towards the human Spectre.

After that little errand was taken care of, the team was assembled in the comm room on Liara's behest.

Reason being, she had finally gone through her mother's Omni-tool and was able to find some startling information.

From what Benezia wrote down, Saren's ship -Sovereign- was of Reaper design. It had the unique characteristic in having technology that somehow innates indoctrination. Benezia wasn't able to figure out how Saren had it set to have those indoctrinated to follow him.

This only unsettled the others on what they might be dealing with.

-Scene Cut-

Virmire is a flush, frontier world, an ideal place for colonization for any carbon-based species out there. It's vast seas and orbital position on the inner life zone created a wide equatorial band of humid, tropical terrain.

Unfortunately, the political instability of the nearby Terminus Systems have impeded colonization efforts; due to the high risk of raids by pirates and slavers soon made the planet an unappealing homestead.

Drawing closer to their destination, Joker spoke up on the comms.

"Commander, I'm reading a signal. Must be our Salarian infiltration team."

As they drew in closer to the planet's surface, Kaidan spotted something on their sensors. "I'm seeing some defense towers here. We can't risk the Normandy to head straight towards the salarian's origin."

Shepard nodded and gave the order. "Drop the Mako. And Stitch, get into your cruiser. We'll go in hot and take them out. Joker, stay out of range until we take out those AA towers."

The Normandy flew by the surface of the planet, the Mako being flung out and landing on the ground whilst Stitch's fighter took to the skies above having the AA towers target him specifically.

Stitch cackled aloud, the bottom of his ship opening up for his rotating cannon to begin firing upon the enemies defensive towers.

"Don't get too overzealous there, Stitch." Jane ordered from within the Mako. "You're our primary air support right now."

The typical sound of Stitch's version of "yes" came through on the other end of the transmission.

"Joker?"

"I know the drill, Commander." Joker responded smoothly. "Meet you guys at the camp once those AA towers have been cleared. Joker out."

Within the Mako was the assembled team of Roxas, Xion, Tali, Kaidan and Wrex whilst the rest were on standby.

Much as Shepard had the gut feeling of an all hands on deck type of mission, right now, the team of six plus Stitch as air support was enough while the rest was aboard the Normandy.

Pressing on the accelerator, the Mako drove forward on the watery terrain of Virmire passing by various native species of the planet known as Pod Crabs.

"Oh boy." Kaidan said aloud.

Immediately, when rounding about one of the many tall rocky protrusions of Virmire, the team was met with several Geth Rocket Drones that fired upon them as soon as they were spotted.

Kaidan quickly fired back with Shepard evading the oncoming fire.

They were quickly shot down though no sooner than that did new enemies take their place.

"Heartless." Tali said aloud.

"I see 'em."

They were primarily Wyverns, Darkballs and several large Crimson Jazz.

"They look like heavy hitters." Shepard muttered.

"We got 'em" Roxas said, opening the top hatch of the Mako and climbing out with Xion joining him as both called out their Keyblades.

Soon as he walked out onto the top of the Mako, Roxas instantly swung and destroyed a dive-bombing Wyvern.

Xion joined a second later, looking around at the Heartless that surrounded them before pointing at a Darkball and sending out a Blizzard spell, freezing and damaging it. A moment later, she jumped from the Mako and struck down the Heartless.

Kaidan all the while was firing at the Heartless with Tali and Wrex popping in and out of the hatch to assist the two Key Bearers.

Shepard drove around the Mako, occasionally managing to bash into one of the Heartless, stunning it enough for one of her teammates to make quick work of it.

However, the Mako suddenly began to get bombarded with small spheres of fire that appeared and exploded around the vehicle, rocking and damaging the transport.

"The hell?" Kaidan exclaimed, clinging onto the controls of the Cannon as the Mako jerked about.

"Shepard, drive." Roxas said from outside the Mako, destroying several Darkballs.

"What? We're not leaving you behind!"

"We can catch up, Commander." Xion said confidently, whacking a Crimson Jazz out of existence.

Suddenly, three large fiery spheres surrounded the Mako.

"DRIVE SHEPARD!" Roxas bellowed out, running toward the Heartless that was the source of these fire based attacks.

Shepard had no choice but to acquiesce, flooring the accelerator with the Mako's tires screeching against the watery ground until it jolted forward at top speeds. Just in time as the three spheres that surrounded it blew up.

It left scorch marks on the back of the vehicle and a moment later, the smaller fire spheres returned and pursued after the Mako.

"Keelah! This place we're going to must be important if this is what we're dealing with at the start." Tali exclaimed.

"All the more of a challenge for us." Wrex said with a feral grin, slamming his fists together.

There were great numbers of both Geth and Heartless as they traversed through the natural maze of rock formations with the occasional gate-houses. At least they had Stitch in the sky to help guide their way when he occasionally bombarded the AA towers.

As this went on, Tali kept fumbling with her hands as she was worried for the two Nobodies she started getting close to, more so with Roxas.

Seeing this happening, Wrex spoke to the Quarian. "Don't worry, runt. They'll be fine."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I trust them, that's what." Wrex grunted out. "They are tough ones, that's for sure."

The team heard two taps from the top of the Mako and a moment later, Roxas and Xion dropped down from the top hatch.

Tali let out a sigh of relief with Wrex snorting triumphantly.

"See? What'd I tell ya?"

"Good to have you back." Shepard said. "Try not to make a habit out of that."

"No promises, Commander." Roxas said with a small grin, one that Jane returned for a second before refocusing on driving.

The team kept driving with Heartless and Geth around every corner to try and stall them as much as they were possibly able to.

Several times, they had to get the Mako in a defensive position or quite literally ram through both enemy types.

Somehow, everyone in the Mako utilized their weaponry in constant rotation.

Roxas and Xion were the best in making quick work of the Heartless though the others certainly weren't slacking.

Wrex with his explosive shots, Kaidan with his Biotic burst rifle (his new name for his weapon) and Tali with her recently upgraded Omni-Tool.

She had even been able to test out a new special feature that she had been working on.

Once getting to a particularly large fortification of Geth and Heartless, there was her chance to unleash her new special move she dub Overload shockwave.

The usage of the special move caused several Geth to begin jerking about, unmoving from their spot with electrical currents connecting to other nearby Geth and heartless. The overload would overwhelm and create internal implosions that would destroy both enemies after several seconds.

It was quite effective to say the least.

Once getting to the closest AA tower, Shepard made it in time to see the sight of Stitch flying rings around the gun and destroying it with a few well-placed shots.

"Nice going Stitch!" Jane said with a beaming grin, hearing Stitch laugh victoriously with his ship flying ahead whilst Shepard and Kaidan dealt with the stragglers.

Once driving past the first gun, the team was met with a Geth Colossus that stood in their way.

"Roxas." Shepard said, gunning it forward, No. XIII wordlessly jumping out atop the Mako brandishing Oathkeeper.

The Keyblade glowed with light, Roxas swatting aside several of the shots that the Geth sent their way.

Once getting in close, Roxas made a horizontal slash with light exploding off of him. The Geth didn't move for several moments until the head slowly tilted forward and fell from the rest of the body which slumped down a moment later.

"HA." Wrex bellowed out in laughter. "Kid's got quads the size of a cruiser."

"A quad?" Xion asked in confusion.

"Nothing Xion, nothing you need to concern yourself with." Tali said sweetly, sending a glare to the amused Krogan for him to remain silent.

The Mako continued its drive through the rocky/watery terrain of the planet's surface. They ran into multiple Colossus and Armatures with more flight based Heartless appearing such as Air Soldiers, Wyverns, Water Cores, Surveillance Robots and Rapid Thrusters.

Soon after, the group ran into their second AA tower, this one having not been taken out by Stitch.

Taking out the defensive "infantry" of the gun, the team quickly piled out of the Mako, charging headfirst at the oncoming Geth and Heartless that came out from the structure.

Shepard utilized a new function with her own Biotic based gun that she opted to name spiral storm.

Why may you ask?

It was due to the new function wherein Shepard fired four Biotic spheres that would ascend and float over a cluster of enemies. Once reaching proper elevation, the Biotic spheres would burst, forming into dozens of spiraling arrows that would rain down upon her targets.

Which was what she did just now.

Roxas and Xion fought side by side, Kaidan and Tali providing back up from their blind spots with Wrex and Shepard fighting as a pair.

Eventually, they reached the primary controls of this AA tower and shut the gun down.

Running back to the Mako, the team resumed their drive, passing by a nearby AA tower that had just been destroyed by Stitch making their path clearer.

They had fought through several more waves of Geth and Heartless, occasionally spotting Stitch flying past them with Heartless Gummi ships pursuing him or vice versa.

This went on until they were contacted by Joker.

"Normandy's touched down at the base Shepard, but it looks like we're grounded." The Pilot informed the ground team. "The Salarian Captain will explain once you get here."

"Copy that Joker, sit tight, we're almost there."

"Roger that. Stitch, get your ass back here."

The Mako continued her drive through mountainous range until they saw the Normandy ahead with Stitch's ship flying past them towards the SR1.

"Here we are folks." Said the Commander as she drove closer to the STG base camp.

"Looks like a really good vacation spot." Kaidan commented.

"Sad to say we're not here to soak up some sunshine." Jane added.

Soon enough once they came to a slow stop in the middle of the camp as there was a large opening. Stitch's ship landed beside the Normandy, the little guy hopping out and running straight over to the Mako.

Exiting the vehicle, Roxas took a better look at his surroundings.

"Is something wrong, Roxas?" Tali asked with Xion walking beside her.

Roxas had a slight, faraway look to his eyes. "This place… almost reminds me of Sora's home island."

Xion looked around and gave a confirming nod. "I think you're right. Only problem is, we aren't on a secluded island so far out from the mainland."

"I only remember seeing some little fragments on that accidental mind meld." Tali commented. "I wonder if it's beautiful."

"Maybe we can take you there after all this." Roxas suggested with a smile. "That place is… beautiful."

Tali gazed upon the Nobody with a smile of her own that Roxas was able to see with her eyes.

"I'd like that very much." Tali said kindly.

Xion was still looking around, taking a moment to pick a small round stone out from the water lapping at her boots. She examined it from all sides, a slightly longing expression appearing as she dropped the pebble back into the water.

"Wonder what kind of seashells are kept on this planet?"

"What now?" Roxas looked at her.

"Why seashells?" Tali asked inquisitively.

Xion became a little bashful. "I've… grown a little hobby of collecting seashells from Destiny Islands sometime after you went missing Roxas. I enjoyed the sound of the captured waves inside of them."

"Collected seashells huh?" Roxas murmured to himself, a wave of nostalgia hitting him. He had a brief flash of Sora and Riku hanging out with Kairi at the bent Paopu tree.

"I shouldn't have left my old collection behind." Xion said, slightly dejected.

"Where'd you leave them?" He asked.

"My little collection is split up. Most are back at Castle Oblivion; the others are in my room at the Castle that Never Was." Xion said. "Not sure if I wanna go back for them."

"Come on guys." Shepard said, walking by them. "Let's see what's the situation here."

Walking up to the white sandy area, the last of the Normandy team approached a green-hued Salarian who wore white combat armor. He eyed the rest of them suspiciously as Ashley spoke up.

"-So what are we supposed to do now?" Asked Ashley with her arms crossed as she spoke with the Salarian that appeared to be in charge of this operation.

"Stay put until we can come up with a plan." The green hued Salarian said firmly.

As soon as Shepard approached, she spoke up. "Are you in charge here?"

"I am." Confirmed the Salarian. "Captain Kirrahe, Third Infiltration Regiment STG. And you?"

"I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre." Jane said to the STG captain. "What's the situation?"

"You and your crew have just landed in the middle of a hot zone. Every AA gun within ten miles has been alerted to your presence." Kirrahe plainly stated.

Shepard hummed as she can still use the Normandy and Stitch's craft to help take care of them. Yet that soon made her voice her coming question. "What are we supposed to do in the meantime?"

"Probably have your two ships go back in the air." The Salarian captain then went into detail upon seeing some confused looks. "We need to prepare for an orbital bombardment."

Roxas frowned, looking at the others in confusion. "Is the Normandy even equipped for something like that?"

"I doubt it." Tali muttered out. "If it were, so many missions we went through could've been handled easier."

"Well it's no matter." Said the STG captain. "I imagine the fleet you have nearby will be sufficient to do what must be done."

"...What fleet?" Xion said in utter confusion.

"The fleet my team and I requested." Kirrahe said as if it was the most obvious thing in the galaxy.

This caused the present Normandy team members to look at each other as they bore their own awkward responses.

"Oh boy, this is not gonna be good." Shepard groaned out.

"What are you talking about?" Asked the STG captain.

Kaidan was the one to answer. "We are the reinforcements."

This caused Kirrahe to look at them in utter surprise. "What? You're all they sent? I told the Council to send a fleet to bomb this place to oblivion!"

"I'm sorry, captain, but we couldn't understand your transmission as the Council no doubt lost the part of your fleet request in the static." Shepard apologized. "They sent us to investigate."

Kirrahe's eyes darkened, glaring at his reinforcements momentarily before facepalming. "It seems we are in a repetition. I lost men investigating this place to Geth and those dark creatures."

"Heartless." Roxas and several other members grimly said.

"Heartless?" Kirrahe repeated in confusion. "What is that supposed to be? The name of those abominable monsters I lost half my squad to?"

"The very same." Xion confirmed with a somberly.

"The way your teammates perished…" Roxas looked nervous. "Did you see their bodies vanish with glowing hearts leaving their chests?"

Kirrahe's eyes widened drastically, indicating this to be true.

"Looks like Saren really does have the Heartless on his side like Benezia implied." Kaidan said in a dark tone.

"Once again, I'm sorry." Shepard said. "Should we contact the Council?"

"No." Bluntly said the Salarian. "We unfortunately can't delay any further as I've already waited too long for reinforcements. So we'll have to make do with you and your crew, Commander Shepard."

"What's so special about this place anyways?" Ash asked, looking up at the structure they were situated outside of.

"This is Saren's base of operations." He revealed, drawing surprised looks from everyone else.

"You're kidding, right?" Kaidan asked in astonishment.

"I am not. This base has a research facility here, but it's swarming with Geth and… those Heartless, as you called them, that keep popping up; making it rather fortified."

"What's Saren doing exactly?" Shepard asked.

"I find this place rather odd for Saren to do whatever 'research' he has in mind here." Garrus added in.

"He's using the facility to breed an army of Krogan."

This got a surprised, curious response from Wrex. "How is that possible?"

"Apparently, Saren has discovered a cure for the genophage." Kirrahe said.

Upon hearing this, many of the ground team thought things over on what might occur.

Not only are Geth and Heartless present here, but there's also enemy Krogan to consider. If Saren has all those under his thumb, he'd be almost unstoppable.

Now that they thought about it, it would explain why there were Krogan in Saren's forces. They originally thought they were just hired mercenaries. But if Saren had a possible cure…

"Now you can see how dire this situation is. We must ensure that this facility and it's secrets are destroyed." Kirrahe stated with conviction.

"Destroyed?" Growled out the Krogan Battlemaster. "I don't think so. My people are dying. This cure can save them."

Kirrahe argued back. "If that cure leaves this planet, your kind will become unstoppable under Saren's leadership. We can't make the same mistake again."

This got Wrex to stomp directly towards the STG captain with the biggest snarl he can muster.

"WE ARE NOT A MISTAKE!"

With that said, he stormed off with his biotics flaring with every step.

"...Is he going to be a problem?" Kirrahe said worriedly. "We already have enough angry Krogan to deal with."

"I'll handle it." Shepard assured. "Leave my squad mate to me."

"I appreciate it, Commander. My men and I need to rethink our plan of attack. Can you give us some time?"

"Of course, Captain. Take what time you need."

"Hopefully, it won't be long." Jane murmured underneath her breath.

With Kirrahe departing, the present Normandy members looked at each other.

"Looks like things are a bit of a mess." Kaidan groaned out.

Ashley nodded in agreement. "I wouldn't be so worried if it wasn't for Wrex. He looks like he's going to blow a gasket."

"What should we do?" Roxas asked aloud.

"Let me talk to him." Said Jane. "I'll have to do this rather carefully or else…"

"Or else what?" Xion was a bit nervous now.

Shepard exhaled a sigh. "Hopefully, things won't come to that."

"In the meantime, I'll keep an eye on him if it's all the same to you guys." Ashley volunteered.

Shepard nodded, walking off to speak with Wrex.

As she did, she passed by Axel who was roughly told to get out of Wrex's way since the Nobody was approaching the assembled group. The two redheads locked eyes, with the taller of the two silently asking what Wrex's deal was with the shorter simply shifting her eyes back to the group behind her. Nodding, Axel walked over to them.

"Hey guys." Axel greeted with a mock salute. "What's going on here? Wrexy there looks more pissed than Saix under the moon."

"What the hell are you- never mind, look, let's just say we found out one of Saren's plans here and it ain't lookin' too good for us." Ashley quickly explained.

"Still doesn't explain what Wrex's deal in all this." Axel remarked plainly, crossing his arms.

"The Salarian captain said that Saren is breeding an army of Krogan." Tali revealed a bit nervously. "Saren has created a cure for the genophage."

"What's that supposed to be?" Axel inquired.

"Sterilization of the Krogan race to keep their numbers in check." Kaidan quickly summarized for the Nobody. "It's a bit complicated."

"Sterilization…" Axel repeated in slight disbelief. "You mean to tell me that Wrex's species might die out?"

"What?" Xion said in surprise. "How?"

"Like Kaidan said, it's complicated." Ashley said, looking over to Shepard who was speaking with Wrex. "We might have to make a few drastic decisions if Skipper doesn't calm Wrex down there."

Axel's eyes narrowed at Ash's declaration, shifting towards the direction of Jane and Wrex.

Roxas took a few seconds to mull over Ash's words until…

"Ashley, you can't." Roxas pleaded.

"What?" The Gunnery Chief asked in confusion.

"You know what." Roxas said with slight aggressiveness. "How can you even consider that? Wrex is our friend. He'd never do that."

Ashley gaped at the sandy-blond haired teen, finding herself at a loss for momentary words.

If she were being honest with herself, seeing the look of anger and disappointment from Roxas was an unusually deep blow with her finding a strong feeling of guilt welling up in her gut.

"L-Listen, Roxas…" Ash began, very much unsure of what she was about to say.

"Wrex wouldn't turn against us." Roxas said with complete confidence.

"How can you be so sure?" Kaidan asked.

"Because…" Roxas paused, looking down to the ground. "I just… I just know he won't."

The group was silent, unsure of whether or not they should respond but…

No. XIII's tone had such conviction and belief in this they couldn't really find the means in which to counter his argument. All they could do was hope that Roxas's belief held strong and true.

With the group dispersed amongst the camp, a number of them stayed together, positioning themselves a good distance from Shepard, who was now going up to their Krogan teammate. Said Krogan was swinging his gravity hammer and smashing up boulders left and right.

"How do you think it'll go?" Garrus asked lowly to Kaidan who was by his side.

"I… I don't know." Kaidan admitted nervously.

They watched Wrex and Shepard converse, only hearing mumbles. As this went on, they spotted Ashley carefully walking around them so she wouldn't get spotted by Wrex.

Wrex saw Shepard approaching out of the corner of his eye, the edge of his hammer smashing into the ground while he firmly held onto it.

"This isn't right Shepard." Wrex growled. "If there's a cure for the genophage, we shouldn't destroy it."

"I can't pretend to say I understand Wrex but think about this for a moment." Shepard said calmly. "We came here to take down Saren who we've been pursuing all over the galaxy. The same Saren that you yourself had a bad feeling about who killed an entire team of mercs you were a part of."

"Situations change, Shepard." Wrex emphasized. "Saren has a cure for my people which you and those damned Salarians want to destroy. Help me out here Shepard. The line between friend and foe are becoming blurry from where I stand."

Shepard couldn't help but scoff. "Wrex, you can't be seriously considering this? Think about it for a moment. We're dealing with someone who will use this as a weapon where none of us will be able to reap the benefits of."

"That's a chance we're gonna have to take." Wrex said, getting right in the Spectres face. "This is the fate of my entire people we're talking about. I've been loyal to you Shepard. Hell, you and this team have done more for me personally then my family or race has ever done. But, if I'm going to keep following you, I need to know it's for the right reasons."

Wrex finished by pulling out his rifle which made the team that was watching from afar tense up yet Shepard didn't even budge, her green eyes boring into Wrex's red ones.

"Wrex, these Krogan are not your people, they're Saren's." Jane argued vehemently. "Think for a second, this is the same guy who uses Geth, has the Heartless now under his belt and will continue to pick up whatever tool is useful to him until he disposes of it. Is that what you really want?"

The Battlemaster twitched slightly, with Shepard narrowing her eyes to go in for the kill.

"Think about Roxas, Axel and Xion." She said in a low voice. "They found out they were meant to be tools for whatever Xemnas had originally planned. But they chose to walk away and choose their own lives in their 'non-existence'." Jane used air-quotes upon mentioning that, given she couldn't really see such a concept. "Do you really wanna be like the Krogan of the past?"

That did it.

"No." Wrex said, gun going limp by his side. "We were tools for the council once. Never again. We helped save them from the Rachni, in response they neutered us. Saren won't be any different. Alright Shepard, you've made your point… I don't like this but I'll trust in following your lead."

Jane couldn't help but smile in relief. "That's good to hear."

"Just one thing." Wrex held up a finger. "When we get to Saren, I want his head."

"I could live with that but, first come first serve Wrex."

The Krogan huffed in amusement, returning his gaze to the water nearby. He felt a friendly pat on his shoulder with him silently nodding in return.

As the sound of one set of footsteps trailed away from the Krogan, another came up to replace them.

"Wrex?"

The 700 year old Krogan turned to see Roxas gazing up at him in clear concern.

"What's eatin' ya, Runt?" Wrex gruffly asked, though not unkindly.

"Are you alright, Wrex?" Roxas asked straight away, making the Krogan flinch slightly.

He gazed forward, mind and emotions a mess if he were being honest with himself.

"No kid, no I'm not." Wrex admitted, placing a hand on the teens shoulder before he had a chance to speak. "But thanks for asking Roxas. You… you're a good friend."

Roxas blinked at the Krogan who patted his shoulder before walking away.

"Well that was a lot less tense then Shepards'." Axel said, walking up to Roxas' side. "He alright?"

"I dunno… But I think he will be." Roxas said.

After things calmed down and some time had passed, the Normandy ground crew was gathered in one of the side tents at the STG camp. There, Shepard was updating them all on the assault plan that Kirrahe and his officers had drawn up.

"There's going to be two main teams. An assault team from the front and a 'shadow' team that will infiltrate the facility from behind." She explained. "Captain Kirrahe is leading the assault team while I lead the shadow team. Ashley, Wrex, Liara; I want you three to join the Salarian assault team."

The three chosen nodded.

"No heroics, guys." Shepard stressed. "It's going to be extremely dicey and Kirrahe thinks survival isn't guaranteed. I want you three to stay alive, for all our sakes. Understand? The Captain losing half his team should be more than an incentive."

"You got it, Skipper." Ashley replied grimly.

Wrex was rotating his arms before slamming his fists together with a bark of a laugh.

Liara, meanwhile, was performing some breathing exercises to calm her nerves. This caused Tali to reach over and grasped the Asari's hand in a gesture of comfort. Xion merely gave her a small, reassuring smile, causing Liara to smile gratefully at both the Quarian and female Nobody.

Roxas looked over and noticed Kaidan's mouth was drawn in a tight line. He didn't look all that happy to not be on the assault team for some reason.

Shepard continued. "Axel, Roxas, Xion, Tali, Garrus, Stitch; you six are with me. While they're distracted by the assault team, we'll infiltrate the far side of the base." The aforementioned people nodded, which Shepard returned. "Good. Now as for Kaidan, he's gonna be on the Normandy, prepping the bomb with Della."

"Bomb?" Liara asked, whose curious expression was mirrored on the rest of the crew's faces.

"The Salarians converted their drive system into a twenty kiloton bomb." Jane explained.

"If we have a bomb like that, why don't we just drop it on Saren's base and be done with it?" Axel noted.

"And miss the fun of tearing off Saren's head in person?" Wrex asked with a vicious laugh.

"Gross." Tali and Xion muttered under their breath.

"Wrex…" Shepard warned, which the Krogan accepted with a scoff. With him settled down, she continued her briefing. "Kirrahe's current reconnaissance of the base suggests that it's too well fortified for a nuclear drop. We have to infiltrate the base and strategically plant it by the geothermal taps. That's where the shadow team comes in."

"It's never that simple, is it?" Axel asked rhetorically.

Jane shook her head. "This could very well be a suicide mission. If we're careful though, we can all make it out." Seeing everybody's grim faces, Shepard tried to pump her crew up. "Saren thinks he's researching a cure for the genophage here, so that he and the Reapers can destroy the galaxy. He's in one hell of a rude awakening when we kick his front door and blast this place sky high. So everybody, stay focus, stay sharp and we'll make it all out alive. Got it?"

A chorus of responses were given, some were yelled and cheered while others were quiet and reserved.

Eventually the Normandy ground crew stood on the sidelines as Captain Kirrahe gave his men a rousing speech for what's to come. After that, the Salarian teams went to their positions with the borrowed Normandy members before waiting for the signal to commence the operation.

"I'm not entirely sure about just sending Ash, Wrex and Liara." Shepard admitted, the crew gearing up for the assault on the base in their own separate destinations. "The Captain lost half his crew and now we're dealing with Geth, Heartless and an army of Krogan."

"It does sound pretty bad." Tali admitted.

"Think they'll be enough?" Garrus asked.

Stitch only garbled out some gibberish, finishing with…

"Haf trust."

"It's not that I don't trust them, Stitch." Jane said. "It's just I don't trust the situation they're running into."

"Then what should we do? Call more from the ship to back up our team?" Garrus suggested.

"Oh brother." Axel facepalmed. "I'm such an idiot."

"Axel?" Jane said in confusion.

"Saren has his army." Axel said the obvious.

He then grinned, holding up his thumb and middle finger touching. "But we also have our own."

*SNAP*

*SSHWWEEOOO*

Surrounding them all, plumbs of silver-grey vapors came from nowhere with a couple dozen of Nobodies appearing in their place.

Asides from the Dusks, there was another kind of Nobody present.

They appeared to be dressed in a baggy, light grey jumpsuit with dark grey legs with the lower portions fanning outward as it's feat are nearly featureless, black points. It's arms are very long; light grey and its hands are flat and teardrop-shaped with their heads being of similar shape. The back of each hand sports a white Nobody logo.

"...There's more than a Dusk?" Tali said in surprise.

"Like Heartless, there are various types. And these ones are called Creepers." Axel informed them before nudging Roxas. "C'mon, you should contribute."

Nodding, Roxas merely focused and with a wave of his hand, more Nobodies appeared on the scene.

Rather than calling upon the Dusk or the Creepers, Roxas called upon the special high-ranking Nobodies that were assigned to serve him personally.

Nearly two dozen, distinctly new Nobodies appear around Roxas, all with what appeared to be their heads, inclined in his direction.

They had distinctive cylindrical heads that are a darker shade of grey than most of the rest of their bodies. Their heads bore six diagonal slits on the front, three on each side which appeared to be their eyes of sort. The majority of them appeared to be covered in a grey jumpsuit with bell sleeves and a lighter grey seam going down the front. Each sleeve has the Nobody emblem printed on them, and only their black hands are visible. The black, featureless, pointed feet of the creature sprouts out from each of the legs of the jumpsuit.

There is also a dark grey belt-like pattern that wraps around their waists, though it does not seem to have a purpose. The swords were also bizarrely floating behind their backs or near their hips without any sheath or strap to hold them.

"Whoa, great idea Roxas." Axel said approvingly with a nod. "Should've started with that myself."

Snapping his fingers again, Axel summoned more and like the ones surrounding Roxas, these ones did the same to him.

They had vaguely humanoid bodies that's covered in a purple and grey bodysuit. It's segmented arms are each lined by four blades resembling spikes. Both the blades and segments alternate from silver to purple.

"Every Organization member has their own special type of Nobody that is specifically tailored to work for their assigned member. These Nobodies serve directly under us." Axel said, clapping his hand on one of the empty shells he called upon. "Meet the Samurai and the Assassins, the Nobodies that serve Roxas and I, respectively."

"Does that mean that Xion has ones of her own?" Tali asked in a curious manner.

Xion had a bit of a curious look herself when thinking on the question. "I'm… not entirely sure."

"We can figure that out on another day." Axel waved off, looking to the Nobodies he just summoned. "You guys are gonna help out Ash, Wrex and Liara with their team. Watch their backs and keep their blind spots covered, ya got it?"

The Assassins nodded as they moved over some distance away, either by slinking their way forward with their limbs stretching or bending in ways the others didn't think possible or by quite literally diving into the ground and "swimming" towards their destination.

The Samurai, however, didn't move at all, awaiting Roxas' order.

"Roxas."

"Oh, right. What he said."

This got the Samurai to finally comply and move towards the side with the Creepers and Dusks following suit.

"Keelah." Tali said in wonder.

"So… they can just… do that?" Garrus asked, looking over to Axel in particular.

"Hey, mine are one of a kind." Axel boasted, thumbing to himself.

"Hope the Salarians don't fire on them and cause a lot of confusion." Tali said in a slight grimace.

"I'm pretty sure Ash, Wrex and Liara will be able to tell the difference." Shepard said confidently. "Let's go team, we can't waste the diversion the others are gonna make for us."

-Scene Cut-

Roxas was weaving through the hail of gunfire alongside Axel and Xion, deflecting bullets and swatting incoming rockets from the enemy with Oathkeeper. His two fellow coat-wearing Nobodies were doing the same in their own respective manners; from Xion mirroring Roxas' action with her Kingdom Key Keyblade to Axel merely firing off some fireballs to destroy the incoming projectiles and conjuring a momentary firewall.

The trio ended up becoming somewhat of the shadow team's vanguard as they were able to rush in and take out their opponents while the rest fired and supported from afar.

"Is there an opening anytime soon?" Garrus inquired, his sniper rifle firing off round after round in quick precision to take out the opposition. "They just keep coming."

"They're really eager to defend that tower!" Tali pointed out.

Presently, they were being held back by a number of Geth and Heartless, which were guarding what appeared to be a communications tower. If they destroyed it, or at least deactivated it, it could help Kirrahe and the distraction teams in the front.

Zooming in close, the two Keybearer whirled their weapons and struck down a number of Heartless before casting a volley of spells to help clear the flowing forces. The red haired Nobody, however leaped into the air as he swung his arms to deliver his chakrams at the Geth. His weapons acted like overheated buzzsaws which quickly cleaved them into pieces.

"You know, I should have figured the first time the three of us fighting together would be like this." Axel remarked, catching his signature chakrams back into his hands.

"Oh yeah, we didn't get the chance to back in Castle Oblivion." Roxas recalled, bashing a Heartless away.

They saw a Geth Armature now blocking their path.

"Well, now's the time." Axel declared, charging up his flames.

"Xion." Roxas said, running forward with No. XIV casting a Blizzard spell that morphed into a railing for Roxas to jump and grind forward with increased speed.

Once reaching the end, Roxas jumped forward and smashed his Keyblade over the head of the Armature.

With the Geth stunned, Axel went in for the killing blow, flinging his fiery chakrams into the neck and head of the Armature.

The two disk-like weapons were spinning as they sliced into the head and neck with the fires quickly engulfing and incinerated the Geth.

"We got our opening! Move!" Shepard barked out.

Garrus was quick on his feet, switching to his assault rifle to fire upon any incoming opponents as they eventually ran up the connecting ramp. Tali tossed a few tech grenades to prevent any Geth present from regrouping. As her shotgun released repeating barks at the synthetics, Stitch leaped off of the Quarian and fired his blasters to help take down the Geth and Heartless.

Once making it to the tower's base, Shepard spotted an access console tucked in the back corner.

"Tali, hack this tower, we'll cover you."

"On it, Shepard." Said the Quarian, already on the console as her fingers flew across the holographic display.

Xion stayed close to Tali whilst Jane, Stitch, Axel, Garrus and Roxas attacked the surrounding Geth, Heartless and Krogan that were hellbent on destroying them.

Soon enough the tower was clear with synthetic bodies sprawled about with white "blood" staining the walls and ground.

"Alright, this is indeed a comms tower." Tali informed them, once stepping away from the console. "They're using this point for triangulation. Soon enough, the virus I uploaded into their system will only disrupt the process for the next fifteen minutes or so."

"Then we need to make this quick." Jane said, motioning everyone to exit the tower and continue onward. "Captain Kirrahe," she said into their shared comm lines, "we've taken out a comms tower nearby that should disrupt the enemy communications on your end."

"Much appreciated, Commander." Replied the STG captain. "Any other assistance you can provide us with would be much appreciated. The Geth and Heartless at the front gates severely outnumber us. But these… Nobodies as you call them, are of some use to help hold the line."

"Hopefully, we'll be in position soon. Just hold on."

"Indeed we will, Commander. Kirrahe out."

Upon leaving the tower, the shadow team rushed through the twists and turns of the cliffs surrounding Saren's base. Along the way, they faced major defenses, but had also taken out a get uplink station and a refueling station for the Geth bombers.

Hopefully all these actions would keep the Geth off of the distraction team long enough for them to make it into the base.

Soon enough, the shadow team came across a small number of Saren's Krogan, who were guarding the entrance to the base from their position.

Roxas and Axel simultaneously flung their weapons forward at the same time, both surrounded by their respective affinities with Xion quickly throwing in a specially made mixture spell of multiple affinities into the mix.

Once the sphere of magic and three weapons reached the Krogan, a brilliant explosion of colors and powers completely and utterly decimated the Krogan guarding the entrance.

"Damn, you three are just doing everything while we're just assisting you." Garrus chortled.

Axel merely gave a cocky smirk. "I'll try not to let it go to my head, Gary."

Garrus groaned at the nickname. "You're the worst, flame brain."

"Pfft, that's what you came up with?" Axel guffawed.

Getting to the entrance, with things settled down once more, Axel looked at the Krogan which were recently slain.

"I get the Heartless and Geth out and about, but where the hell are the Krogan. Shouldn't there be more outside?" he questioned, turning to the others.

"Let's not tempt fate like that, Axel." Tali said with a grimace.

Coming across the access console just outside of the back entrance, Tali went to work.

"Shepard, I've hacked into the alarm system for the base. I can turn them off, but…"

"But what?"

Tali hesitated before answering. "I can also set off the alarms by the distraction team's location. This way, there'd probably be no Geth when we enter through the back."

The others in the shadow team looked at each other upon hearing this, worried about what the Commander would choose.

It took a few moments of self-thought before Shepard gave her answer. "Don't do that, Tali. I don't want to do anything that could endanger the distraction team up front. They already have enough to deal with right now. Just turn the alarm off, we can deal with whatever's inside."

The others nodded in agreement with Shepard's decision. Tali did so as well, slightly relieved.

With a few more keystrokes, Tali spoke. "Okay, I've killed the alarms."

"Good job, Tali." Shepard said right before hailing Captain Kirrahe over the comms. "Captain, we've reached the rear entrance to the base. Head to your designated AA tower while we've got their attention split on both sides of the base."

"Acknowledged, Commander. Aegohr, Mannovai, Jaeto! Rotate. Let's hit these Geth and Heartless hard, and punch through their defenses!"

With the buzz of gunfire, Kirrahe's radio cut out, leaving the shadow team in momentary silence.

"Alright, let's keep on moving, people."

Walking in through the opened pathway, they saw it was akin to a sewer, carefully moving forward.

Shepard took point, having Axel and Roxas right next to her whilst Tali was in the middle with Stitch jumping on her shoulder to support her and Garrus with Xion covering the rear.

They made a left at the hallway followed by a right until they found another door that would give them direct access into the base. The door opened before them and they entered only to see rapid movement coming their way with the "movement" brandishing weapons in their direction.

The group were quick to attack the newcomers, effectively mowing them down with ease with their combined attack and firepower.

When it came to an end, the group drew closer and saw who they just slain.

What they thought to have been mercenaries, yet to their surprise, it wasn't the case as their uniforms reveal that they were part of STG.

"What the hell?" Garrus looked at one of the deceased Salarians wearing said uniforms. "Why would they attack us? I thought they were on our side?"

Shepard crouched down, examining the bodies. "They're STG alright. I'm afraid I don't know myself."

Axel gave the corpses a look over and gave his thoughts. "I agree. They're too equipped to be mercenaries, let alone hired pirates. You think they could've turned at the last minute to Saren's side?"

"I don't know everything about STG, Axel." Said Garrus. "But I can't imagine a group like this to suddenly wanting to switch sides in the middle of admission."

Hearing all this, Roxas put in his theory. "Maybe it has to do with this facility. There could be something more than the whole 'genophage cure'."

"What do you suggest, Roxas?" Shepard asked.

"Well… don't you remember what Benezia said back on Therum? About this weird indoctrination, brainwashing thing that Saren has?"

There was a disturbed feeling that was shared amongst the group at the thought of these Salarians having literally been brainwashed by Saren to work for them.

Stitch snarled aloud in a savage manner, garbling out angry gibberish and proper understandable words at the mention of this concept.

"We have to keep moving." Shepard said, steeling her nerves. "Whatever Saren is doing here, we must put a stop to it."

Upon climbing up a flight of stairs that led deeper into the base, the group entered what appeared to be a cell block. Passing by some closed off cells, they saw a combined number of Salarians held within them all.

"Okay~ either we suddenly entered a nut house or something is up." Axel commented, eying the babbling Salarians behind some of the glass doors.

"What in spirit's name is this place?" Garrus asked, looking at the closed cells.

Stitch hopped down from Tali's shoulder and crawled up to the cell doors. He sniffed a few, shaking his head in irritation and disgust before moving on to the next one. His ears perked up and he made a sound to the others, pointing to the interior of the cell.

The group walked up to the cell coming across one Salarian, who appeared to be talking coherently, albeit rather rushed and worried.

"Who are you? Alliance, right?" Said a Salarian commando with a hopeful tone. "I knew someone would come. It tried to break me, but it couldn't! I shut it out!"

"Slow down, I need to know where you came from."

"Private Menos Avot of the Third Infiltration Regiment STG, sir! Captured while on reconnaissance six days ago. Glad to answer, sir!" The now identified Menos informed the commander before continuing onward. "Never answered any questions from these bastards. Just whispers and poking and cutting. I'd have said anything to get out and get some payback. That's not too much to ask, is it? A little payback?"

"What the hell did they do to you, Soldier?" Shepard asked

"Experiments, but I don't know what for. The effect of incessant whispering on my shortening temper? Who knows? I just need out."

"Somethin' ain't right here, Shepard." Stated Garrus, earning a nod in response from the others.

"Setting him free could endanger the mission." Axel pointed out. "He's not right in the head. We need to keep-"

"No!" Yelled Menos, interrupting her. "No. I need to get out. This room is too small and it keeps talking and I really want to get out of here and get some work done. Please, I need to get out. Let me out!"

"I'm sorry." Jane said with a shake of her head. "We can't do that."

Both Roxas and Xion were greatly confused by this decision, looking to Shepard then each other.

"Shepard, wha-"

"Letmeoutletmeoutletmeout!" The Salarian trapped inside ran at full speed towards the glass door only to slam headfirst and slide down, collapsing in his cell.

"...Okay~ that just happened." Garrus remarked.

"What was that?" Xion asked in concern.

"Must be that indoctrination getting to him." Shepard surmised. "Let's go, everyone. Staying here feels dirty enough as is."

Leaving the present cell block, the group entered through a couple of rooms filled with turned STG soldiers and a number of Geth spread out. Once taking care of them, they entered yet another cell block.

It was upon walking through the area did they hear someone speak up.

"Hello? Is… Is anyone out there?"

Looking down, they saw a Salarian Commando trying his best to peak out from his confinement yet was failing.

Approaching the cell, the shadow team greeted the captured Salarian.

"...Well… you're not a Geth. And you're not wearing a lab coat." Said the commando in an even tone. "I guess I'm glad to see you, hopefully."

"Who are you?" Shepard asked.

"Lieutenant Ganto Imness of the Third Infiltration Regiment, captured during recon. I assume the fleet was called in to destroy the base?"

The fleet is a bit of an overstatement.

"I'm sorry, but the transmission wasn't clear." Said Shepard. "The fleet ain't coming."

Ganto exhaled a tired sigh. "I see. Then you must be the infiltration team. I know the captain; he will want this facility destroyed. My team was… altered, indoctrinated. Kirrahe knew about the breeding grounds. But the indoctrination is a greater threat, and far more horrifying."

Garrus leaned over and spoke softly. "Seems your theory is proving to be true, Roxas."

The Salarian lieutenant continued. "I… I watched good people reduced to mindless husks. There wasn't anything left. Others died during the experiments. I… I envy them."

At the mention of this, Garrus and Stitch broke off and looked at the neighboring cells. There they saw the captured Salarians and saw they weren't themselves. In all intents and purposes, they were walking brain-dead beings.

Seeing Ganto before her, Shepard asked what he knew of the experiments, hoping for a more coherent answer this time. "Do you know anything about the experiments they were conducting?"

"They were studying indoctrination. Symptoms, progress. Saren uses it to control his people, but I don't think he fully understands it." Came Ganto's answer. "I honestly don't know much else. I-I just saw what it did to the others. Turned them into empty husks. I can't end up like that. Please… Please let me out."

In comparison with the Salarian they met earlier, this one appeared to be more sane. And it seems no one appears to be objecting, Shepard was about to consider, but wanted to test something.

"If I let you out, how do I know you won't just attack me?"

"It's obvious that I'm not crazed or drooling like the others. Let me out and I'll stay out of your way." The Lieutenant said as calmly as he was able to though there was a tremble in his voice.

"Sorry, I can't take that chance. I'm not opening your cell."

"No. Don't leave me here! Please!" Ganto said in terror though he remained standing. "I don't want to end up like the others! I saw what those experiments did to them!"

Seeing Ganto not reacting all crazy like the previous Salarian, only witnessing the genuine fear, Shepard went to the nearby console. Typing away on the controls, the confinement opened up.

"W-What?"

"I needed to verify something." Informed Shepard. "Now, I can't do much now, but you're on your own."

Ganto nodded. "Don't look back and hope to outrun the Geth and those things, hmm? A better chance than I had before you showed up. Thank you, human. And good luck, you'll need it."

It was shortly after Ganto's departure did Stitch abruptly pointed to the cell right next to the one that they had just released. He was jabbering about with a growl and teeth bared.

The group looked over to see multiple Salarians within this cell just… standing there. They didn't move or speak nor even make any response towards the team standing on the outside.

"What the hell?" Axel murmured.

"They've just been standing there." Garrus informed them. "Not even aware of our presence."

"They look so… dead." Tali muttered, squirming a bit at how lifeless their eyes were.

She had seen how blank and devoid of emotions certain people can be. That dream of Roxas's first day of existence was one vivid memory she won't be forgetting anytime soon.

But these were different. To her, it looked as though the life had been forcefully ripped right out of them leaving them as empty husks.

"What should we do with them?" Xion asked nervously.

"They must be indoctrinated." Roxas said, not liking the words that came out from his mouth.

"In my opinion, this ain't no way to treat a prisoner after whatever torture they went through." Garrus muttered out. "Kill them, sure, but to leave them like this…"

"It ain't pretty…" Axel began. "But… I can take 'em out quick."

"What? Burn them to death?!" Tali asked incredulously. "That's cruel!"

"Do you see how responsive they are?" Garrus argued. "Their brains are no doubt fried due to whatever experiments Saren put them through. They probably don't feel anything anymore."

"I'll do it fast." Axel assured. "Instant incineration than just having them burn."

Shepard grimaced but nodded a second later.

"I'm not gonna like this but do what you have to. Better to die than live like this."

Axel gazed at her with a stoic face before sighing.

"Always gotta do the icky jobs." Axel said, eyes trained on the group of Salarians inside the cell.

"Wait, Axel, are you really going to-"

"Xion…" Axel's voice was harsh and rather cold. "I have to do this to them. It's a better alternative than just leaving them to suffer."

"But-"

"Xion."

No. XIV felt Roxas grab her hand and gently tug at it. "I don't like it either. But he's right. Their lives… you could see it in their faces. Their lives are no more."

Without any further comment, Axel concentrated on the Salarians inside, the surrounding area getting heated up until he snapped his fingers.

Instead of screams, they heard nothing. It was extremely eerie on what they were witnessing. The flames died down as fast as they roared to life.

As the flames died down, they saw nothing but charred ashes.

"How could you do such a thing, Axel?" Tali weakly said.

"Do you think I enjoyed doing that?" Axel growled, his question being clearly rhetorical. "In fact, I didn't. I never enjoyed doing that. Doing it to those deserving it, sure, but…"

No. VIII let out an uncharacteristically haggard sigh.

"You know… I wasn't always like this. I'd like to think I was a good person in my previous life before I became… this."

Nobody responded to the Nobody until Shepard placed a hand upon his shoulder.

"Come on. It's best not to dwell here."

That received no arguments from the team, departing to their next location.

Once entering the next room, they came upon what appeared to be a lab. Probably the lab where Saren's genophage cure was being developed.

Walking a bit further in, the group was startled upon seeing a number of things.

Lying on a number of examination tables, they noticed the Krogan corpses with their insides carved open by unfeeling scientists. And not far away, floating in some stasis field devices were Husks.

Shortly after laying their eyes on the Husks, the stasis machines turned off, causing the Husks to drop to the ground. They quickly rose to their feet and charged right at them with some Geth appearing soon after.

The shadow team were quick to action, initiating retaliating force upon them either through gunfire, biotics or bladed weapons cleaving them through.

And it wasn't just the Geth and Husks they met, but whatever indoctrinated scientists that were within the lab. One of them was even a Krogan of all things.

How odd it was to see a being from a war-like species wanting to go into such a field.

But alas, they were wasted into such a state as this, cut down due to being on Saren's side.

Heartless appeared shortly after with Husks, Krogan and Geth all rushing at the team.

"Spirits dammit." Garrus growled out, the team immediately firing and attacking the next wave of enemies.

Tali immediately went for her Omni-Tool, unleashing several Omni-bolts that destroyed the enemies closest to them.

Stitch barked at Xion, jumping up and rolling into a ball with the girl whacking him forward with her Keyblade. The little blue fur ball sailed forward and smashed right through a husk before bouncing off multiple other foes, stunning them.

Axel hovered in the air briefly, holding his chakrams over his head and conjured forth a sphere of fire.

The fire ball exploded into a dozen wisps that flew forward and struck and burned the stunned enemies with Xion throwing in a Thundara for the finishing blow.

Shepard called upon her Biotics though felt a strange feeling of an extra oomph which showed judging by how hard and far she flung a Krogan back into another and they crashed into one of the tables and did not get back up.

After their combined efforts…

"Hostiles eliminated." Garrus said aloud.

Even if no other hostiles were present, the group was still ready to draw out their weapons at a moment's notice.

Doing a brief check of the room, Jane gave out an order. "Tali, Stitch, hack the systems and upload everything Saren has on the genophage research. It could be useful in the future."

"You got it." Said Tali with Stitch quickly saying in his native tongue before scampering to the central console in the lab.

"Everyone else, check the lab for anything noteworthy."

Strolling through the lab, a sick feeling welled up within the three Nobodies. And Roxas was the one to vent out his frustration.

In a moment's notice, he swung Oathkeeper at a nearby console and started bashing it over and over again.

"Roxas, stop!" Axel barked out. "What's gotten into-"

"Everything here is just so damn sickening!" Yelled out No. XIII. "These Krogan, those Salarians! Saren manipulated their minds and-"

"I know." Axel placed both hands on the Nobody's shoulders. "This makes me sick as well, but you don't see me going off the handle like what you're doing now."

"I agree with Axel on this one." Said Shepard, coming up to the pair. "We can stop Saren today, but we can't do that if we're losing our cool. Reign it in and use it when necessary."

Releasing a couple of deep breaths, maintaining a rather tight grip on Oathkeeper, Roxas nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry about that."

As Shepard walked away, Axel leaned forward.

"What was that really about?"

"About what?" Roxas looked up to the Nobody who had a knowing look to his face.

Before Axel could question further, their detective of a teammate interrupted them.

"I think I have an idea how Saren's been getting a whole contingent's worth of Krogan." Garrus said aloud.

"What you got for us?"

Typing away on a console, the Turian pulled up some schematics. "This place ain't exactly a breeding facility as we thought. It's more towards cloning, flash cloning to be precise."

"Hmm… Would explain the numbers." Jane remarked.

"Not to mention how sloppily some of the Krogan we came across here fought." Tali added.

"Then what's said so far on the cure wasn't entirely true with Krogan coming directly here from the outside. In fact, they were coming from here in order to sell a scam." Axel surmised.

Roxas nodded. "Can't wait to tell Wrex this."

"But where are the others?" Xion asked, looking around in case of an unwelcome surprise appearance.

"Deployed somewhere else. Either out front or who knows where." Garrus stated.

Shepard nodded at this bit of information before looking towards Tali and Stitch. "How's the data upload going, you two?"

Stitch jabbered about with Tali shaking her head in slightly amusement, translating for him.

"Just about done. There is some data about the genophage being worked on, but only some groundwork" Said Tali, having her Omni-tool out to download a server's worth of data. "And there are some small files and references I'm copying down about indoctrination as well."

"That's good." Axel commented.

"Take whatever you can and we'll pass this along to the Council when we get outta here." Said Shepard.

As the download kept going on, Tali was quick to notice something. "Okay, seems I've hit a snag. Whatever information there is on indoctrination is classified on this level and I can't access it from here."

"Then we'll need to find that access point somewhere else."

With the shadow team leaving the lab, Axel lagged behind the group with him making sure Roxas did the same.

"Roxas." Axel said slowly. "You never answered my question back there. What was that?"

The Key of Destiny opened his mouth to answer when his eyes trailed over to the group that was slightly ahead of them. He gazed upon one person in particular.

Someone that Axel quickly spotted.

"Ah… Xion." Axel said in a faraway tone. "I understand."

The blond teen didn't even deny it.

"He was treating them just like Xemnas was treating us. Xion especially." Roxas said with a strained voice. "Like we were… expendable."

"Roxas." Axel said, tone slightly disbelieving. "Are you… crying?"

The younger Nobody blinked, realizing that there were indeed tears streaming down his face. Quickly wiping them away, Roxas shook his head in an effort that would clear his jumbled thoughts.

"Come on." Axel patted his back. "We got a mission to finish."

Sniffing, Roxas nodded vigorously in agreement jogging with his friend to catch up with the others.

Vacating the lab, the group went across a walkway with a small number of Geth and Heartless present. Quickly ridding them within their sight, the shadow team entered what looked like an office.

The room was vastly empty. The only thing this room had was a couple of terminals, two large windows with a view of the facility and a desk in the corner.

And from under that desk was an asari hiding from whoever was coming through that door.

"Don't shoot, please!" The Asari behind the desk pleaded, ducking down in case of anyone firing at her. "I just wanna get out of here before it's too late."

"We're not gonna hurt you." The Spectre motioned everyone else to lower their weapons. "Who are you?" Jane inquired in suspicion.

"Rana Thanoptis, neuro specialist. ." The Asari quickly introduced herself. "But this job isn't worth dying over. Or worse." Her tone was frantic and scared. "You think indoctrination only affects prisoners? Sooner or later, Saren will want to dissect my brain too."

"And here we thought this place was just a cloning facility." Axel chortled.

Rana shook her head and explained. "Not this level. We're studying Sovereign's effects on organic minds. At least, that's what I assumed. Saren kept us in the dark as much as possible."

"You were helping Saren with all this and you didn't bother to ask why?" Tali asked incredulously.

"I didn't have the option of negotiation." Rana explained even further. "This position is a little more… permanent than I expected. But I can help you."

"How?"

"This door behind me goes to an elevator which will take you to Saren's private lab. I can get you in." Rana walked over to the door by the desk. Placing her security clearance over the control pad, the door's light turned green. "See? Full access. Saren's private files. Are we good? Can I go?"

Garrus snorted under his breath. "Could've had either Roxas or Xion open the doors."

"Or me blasting right through 'em." Responded Axel, earning a small chuckle from the Turian.

"What were you studying here?" Jane asked a moment later.

"It's that ship Sovereign. It omits some kind of signal. Undetectable, but it's there. I've seen the effects. Saren uses it to influence his followers, to control them; that's where the indoctrination comes from. Direct exposure to the signal turns you into a mindless slave like the Salarian test subjects. But there's collateral damage."

"What do you mean by collateral damage?"

Rana took a deep breath. "Sovereign's signal is too strong. Spend too much time near the ship and you feel it like a tingle in the back of the skull. It's like a whisper you can't quite hear. You're compelled to do things, but you don't know why, you just obey. Eventually you just stop thinking for yourself. It happens to everyone at the facility. My first subject is the man I replaced. Now I just want to get out of here before it happens to me."

"Why is Saren researching this? Isn't he the one controlling it?"

"The signal comes from the ship." Rana confirmed. "It makes us obey Saren, but I don't think he controls it; not exactly. I think he's scared it might be affecting him. Indoctrination is subtle by the time the effects become noticeable, it's usually too late."

Hearing this bit of news was rather troubling, furthering what information they previously knew beforehand.

"But recently… it's gotten worse. Terrifying honestly." Rana said with a genuinely frightened voice.

"How?"

"Those dark creatures that Saren has been working with recently." Rana said. "I don't know if he's seen me but I've noticed this black shroud around him a few times whenever he brings out those creatures from nowhere. They're terrifying. They appear whenever and wherever their powers defy all logic. It might as well be called magic."

"The Heartless." Roxas and Xion said in unison.

"The Heartless?"

"That's the name of those dark creatures you mentioned that Saren seems to command now."

"They are drawn to the Darkness in his heart." Roxas added.

"And he's playing with fire." Axel tacked on. "Sooner or later, the darkness will swallow and consume his entire being and Heart."

Rana couldn't quite understand but it was enough to pile on the growing fear she had in being here.

"So Saren's playing with the darkness and getting even more corrupted." Shepard said in a grim tone.

Garrus released a frustrated moan. "Fuuuck! I don't want to deal with another Benezia."

"Yes, yes." Rana muttered. "Benezia was also having unusual dark shrouds surrounding her a few times when I saw her. I thought they were Biotics but with Saren getting them…"

This was reason enough for Shepard to make her decision. "There's one thing to do now. I'm going to blow this place up to hell and back." She then looked at the asari before them. "If you want to make it out alive, you better start running now and fast.

This got Rana to panic. "W-What? You can't… but… I'll never-"

In an instant she ran off screaming.

Shepard watched as the Asari fled with all her might until she felt a weight upon her shoulder. Looking over, she saw the coy smirk of Axel.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

"I will neither confirm nor deny this scandalous accusation." Shepard mockingly defended herself.

Seeing Shepard walk off, Axel and Garrus soon look at each other and chorused the same response.

"She did."

"I heard that."

"You were supposed to." Garrus retorted.

Stitch ended up releasing a howling laughter with Tali shaking her head in amusement. Xion and Roxas, however, merely shrugged or shook their head as they couldn't really get the joke.

Taking the elevator up to Saren's private lab, the group wondered what they might encounter. There could be some security that not even Rana knew about.

When they entered the lab, they saw it was large enough to house two sets of catwalk balconies. The top row was filled with red illuminated computer panels attached to the wall on one rise. When they looked at the lower balcony-

"Look." Garrus pointed out. "It's another Prothean Beacon."

"Just like on Eden Prime." Shepard muttered out.

Nearby, the Nobodies looked at what appeared to be a black obelisk, glowing faint green lines with an eerie green mist surrounding it.

"Huh, so that's what a Prothean Beacon looks like." Tali noted.

"Stay back everyone." Shepard ordered, moving forward.

"What're ya doin?" Axel asked, confused by Jane reaching her hands out to the beacon.

Rather than answering, Jane placed her hands upon the Beacons' controls and once more floated up into the air with her mind being assailed with various visions and images.

This time they were harder, sharper and much faster.

Metal tearing flesh.

Flesh being replaced by metal.

Screams filling the air all over as things were forming.

And once more, she was greeted with a darkness covered planet with the crustacean-styled ship she saw back on Eden Prime coming right out of it.

Why?

Why was this happening?

AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE?!

"Whoa, what's happening?!" Axel asked in shock.

"Is she ok?" Xion asked in great concern, moving forward to reach for her only for Garrus to hold her back.

"Don't worry, she's fine." Garrus assured. "Sort of. She just needs to do this."

"Why?"

"We might get clues to what Saren is after." Tali answered, Shepard dropping to the ground a moment later.

The team moved to surround her with Garrus and Roxas assisting her to her feet.

"Are you alright, Shepard?" Roxas asked, helping Shepard to remain stable.

"Yeah. This time it wasn't as bad as the first."

"Did you see anything that could help us find the Conduit?"

Closing her eyes, she focused with all her might, only to find some disappointment. "It's not clear just yet. There seems to be something missing." Opening her green eyes up, she looked towards Tali and Stitch. "Alright, this lab no doubt has the indoctrination data you couldn't get before. Hack it and get what we need."

"Right."

With Tali and Stitch heading towards a nearby console, they began to work. It took about a minute of work, but they were able to retrieve what they additionally came here for.

The moment the transfer was completed, a large and red holographic image materialized over the front of the room.

Spotting this, Garrus voiced his hinted concern. "I've got the feeling that something bad is gonna happen."

"You're tellin' me." Axel muttered out.

The rest of shadow team made their way towards the hologram. It was there that Jane saw it was rather familiar. It was the same crustacean-styled ship she saw back on Eden Prime. Now that they know what this is the actual flagship Saren traveled on with its name being Sovereign.

It was from this very hologram that something unexpected happened.

"You are not Saren." The voice was deep and metallic with a rumble to it.

"Spirits, what is this?" Garrus murmured.

"This supposed to be some kind of VI that you guys have back on the Normandy and on the Citadel?" Axel inquired, squinting his eyes at the squid-like holo transmission.

"Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding."

"I don't think this is a VI." Tali said with an uncomfortable feeling welling within her gut. Stitch crawled up on her shoulder and growled savagely at the transmission.

"There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it. I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign."

"Ah, so he's an asshole." Axel surmised in finality with Garrus snorting a moment later, all pretenses of trepidation and fear being abruptly abandoned.

"A really big asshole." The Turian couldn't help but add.

Shepard ignored the joking banter, which failed to relieve some of the rising tension in the lab. And it was from her did she come to a conclusion. "Sovereign isn't just some Reaper ship Saren found. It's an actual Reaper!"

"Reaper? A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end, what they choose to call us is irrelevant. We simply are."

"Well, guess we could add douche to the growing list of descriptions." Axel deadpanned.

Roxas soon blurted out what quickly came to mind. "But didn't the Protheans vanish 50,000 years ago? You couldn't have been there, right?"

"Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal. The pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything."

"There is an entire galaxy of races united and ready to face you!" Jane declared fiercely.

"Confidence born of ignorance. The Cycle cannot be broken."

The way in which Sovereign said it was rather dismissive.

"Break the cycle?" Xion asked. "What Cycle?"

"The pattern has repeated itself more times than you fathom. Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance. And at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished. The Protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel. They did not forge the Mass Relays. They merely found them, the legacy of my kind."

Shepard shook her head. "Why would you construct the Mass Relays then leave them for someone else to find?"

"Your civilization is based on the technology of the Mass Relays: our technology. By using it, your society develops along the path we desire. We impose order on the chaos of organic evolution. You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it."

Upon hearing this, Shepard remembered her conversation with Liara on what Della gave on her opinion on their galaxy. The odd limits of technology, how young each species were in comparison to each world out there, their odd rates of evolution.

They were good, but nothing too serious to dwell her thoughts into.

But now? Now things started to surface and click together in a horrifying result.

"It's you…" Shepard said in realization. "You're the one's behind it all. Why technology stagnates to a point. Why everything is relied upon the Mass Relays and Element Zero. You've been controlling it all. All of it!"

"Do you now understand the folly of your futile struggle against us?"

"Then what the hell do you want from us? Slaves? Resources? Or are we just going to be harvested? But what for?"

These Reapers seem to let them grow to a stage to their liking and at its peak, they wipe them all out in some sort of harvest. Like breeding livestock and collecting what came from them overtime before slaughtering them for whatever else they could provide.

But was there any further purpose for that?

"We are beyond your comprehension and understanding. Beyond anything you will ever comprehend in your meager short existence. As stated before, organics wither and die. We are each a nation. Independent, free of all weaknesses. We are eternal."

"That is the biggest pot of bullshit I think I've ever heard in my non-existence." Axel abruptly spoke up, voice flat and unimpressed. "What sort of abstract of answer is that supposed to be?"

It was there that the Reaper oddly and somehow gazed at the three former Organization XIII members before addressing them.

"You three… are unnatural anomalies. You do not belong in this galaxy. We are incapable of understanding what you are. You are the ones that have brought forth the darkness of the unknown and have disrupted the cycle."

"Oh~? Have we now?" Axel cheekily asked. "I would say we're sorry but I prefer not to lie to self-aggrandizing assholes like yourself."

"This changes nothing. The cycle will eventually right itself back onto the course that we have always intended."

"Hang on a second, you just said we disrupted the Cycle." Roxas chimed in, a small grin beginning to form. "How can you say that everything is still going according to plan when you just told us we derailed it?"

"You can't take that back." Xion tacked on with a fierce expression.

"We have no beginning. We have no end. We are infinite. Millions of years after your civilization has been eradicated and forgotten, we will endure."

"And we," Axel gestured to himself and his two closest friends. "Stem from the nothingness, the endless void that all eventually return to. How does it feel knowing three Nobodies went and messed up your plans without even trying?"

Shepard narrowed her gaze at the red hologram. "Everything has a beginning and an ending, even you. And I think I know your beginning. You say that organics are a genetic mistake, but we both know that organics had to make you and the rest of your kind."

That was rather obvious now that she thought about it. Anyone could've seen it if they put their mind to it.

"What you both claim is irrelevant. Even if I fail, the rest shall accomplish in my stead."

"Then where are the rest of the Reapers?" Shepard asked a different question. "Are you the last of your kind or are there more?"

"We are endless." Sovereign answered, but his next response was extremely unnerving. "The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world. You cannot escape your doom."

Shepard jabbed a finger at the hologram before them. "You're not even alive. Not really. You're just a machine. And machines can be broken."

"So don't give us that crap on being eternal, you overgrown douche." Axel growled out. "Sooner or later, you'll be a heaping pile of scrapheap."

"Your words are as empty as your future. I am the Vanguard of your destruction."

"Oh my god, enough with that crap." Axel threw his hands up. "You just admitted Xion, Roxas and I fucked up your little Cycle. So that means whatever bullshit plans you got can and will be stopped."

Rather than giving the Reaper a chance to respond, he conjured forth his Chakram and flung it forward, destroying the transmission.

Even with the hologram no longer present, they could still hear Sovereign one last time.

"This exchange is over."

"Jeez, he just couldn't help but get the last word in." Axel said, rolling his eyes.

Suddenly the windows on the far right were blasted out by a powerful force, like an explosion without any flames following.

As the smoke cleared from the lab, Joker's voice blared through their comms. "Commander, we got trouble!"

"What's going on, Joker?" Jane responded straight away.

Joker explained with a hint of distress in his voice. "That ship, Sovereign? It's moving. I don't know what you guys did down there but it just pulled a U-turn that would shear any one of our ships in half. It's coming your way and it's coming hard! You need to wrap things up down there fast!"

"There's nothing we can do here anymore." Tali said.

"Have any ideas, Shepard?" Garrus asked.

"Let's get to the 'breeding facility'." Shepard ordered. "Joker can pick us up after we set the bomb."

"Yeah." Axel added, fire flaring off his form. "And let's send this place straight to oblivion."

As they left Saren's private lab, with the indoctrination data on hand, they encountered more Geth, Heartless and Krogan along their way to the cloning facility. The fight was long and hard, but they managed to make it to their destination.

And through that area resided the intended bombsite.

As this went on, the group occasionally listened in on the comms channel as the distraction team was bringing down the AA guns in order for the Normandy to deliver the intended payload.

"Shepard." Liara called up, voice frantic. "The Geth have turned tail and are headed for the base. You must've done something inside!"

"What's the status of your group?" Jane inquired.

"We're holding out." Liara responded. "Roxas and Axel's Nobodies were Goddess-send. I nearly got overwhelmed by several large Heartless."

The group pressed on, taking on multiple enemies and foes that were proving to be a formidable force in holding the team back.

But the group's teamwork was starting to turn into a well-oiled machine with every member bouncing off each other to effectively take out that which blocked their way.

Soon enough, they had reached the geothermal taps in time to see the Normandy land nearby with the cargo doors opening up. Coming down the ramp, a number of Normandy personnel along with Kaidan loaded off the make-shift nuclear device.

"Alright, this baby is primed and loaded." Della said aloud from within the hangar. "Never thought I'd create something like this before but hey, saving an entire galaxy makes it worth it."

"That's probably one off the bucket list, right?" Kaidan openly joked out.

"Sad to say, but yes." Della snorted out. "Oh if my fellow Woodchuck scouts could see me now." The duck woman then barked out a laugh. "And Huey and Webby, H'boy they'll flip if they hear of this."

As the ground team got the bomb set up…

"You know this place will be swarming with Geth once they find out what we're doing, right?" Garrus pointed out.

"That's what we're here for." Axel cockily said. "Army, remember?"

With a flick of his hand, with Roxas joining in, more Assassins and Samurai appeared and were ordered by their masters to guard the bomb.

"I just need to finish arming this damn thing." Kaidan said. "Rushed job after all."

"Our Nobodies will keep you safe." Roxas assured.

"I'll hold you to that." Kaidan said with an appreciative face.

"We need to get moving." Shepard ordered.

"Bombs in position, we're all set here." Kaidan said, smacking the bomb for added emphasis.

"Commander, can you read me?" Ash chimed in through the comms.

"The nuke is almost ready." Said Shepard. "Get to the rendezvous point, Williams!"

Ashley's reply was not so optimistic. "Negative, Commander. The Geth are starting to pin us down at the AA tower and the Heartless are coming in droves. We're starting to take heavy casualties. Most of the Nobodies are gone and Kirrahe lost a quarter of his men. Liara is injured too."

This got a lot of worried looks from the others present.

"We'll never make the rendezvous point on time."

That single statement filled the entire team with dread. They realized that not one or two but three of their friends and comrades were in mortal peril.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Della yelled out, running back to the Normandy.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting them outta there." Della shouted without looking back.

"But your ship-"

"It's all good. Only thing that needs final repairs and touch ups is my Gummi-drive. I'll get them all outta there, promise."

Shepard nodded on hearing this. "Then do what you need to, Della. We're counting on you."

"Do you think Stitch should go with?"

This got Garrus and Stitch to chuckle a little, a means of lightening the tense atmosphere.

"Something we don't know, Vakarian?" Jane asked, not really in the mood for jokes with how tense the situation is.

"Oh, just something Stitch and I have been doing to her armaments." Garrus said with Stitch vigorously nodding his head in agreement. "Trust us Shepard, Della is all we'll need to send to help out our friends."

"If things go sideways, this is all on you." Shepard said in a sharp tone.

This got Garrus to go serious. "Believe me, I completely understand. Especially when it comes to our friends."

Stitch thumped his chest for added confirmation, a look of complete belief and determination.

Shepard sighed, looking to Della who had stopped and waited on the Commander.

"Get them the hell out of there."

Della nodded, resuming her run to the Normandy, re-entering the ship.

It didn't take long before her Gummi-ship thrusted right out of the hangar, soaring in the sky with her thrusters screeching all around.

"In the meantime," Shepard then radioed to Joker. "Joker. Help Della out as much as you can. After that, pick us up."

"You got it."

A moment later, the Normandy returned to the skies, flying over to where the rest of their friends were fighting.

"What now?" Axel asked.

"Up to the AA tower, hopefully we can get there in time. Move!"

However, the team didn't get far at all.

"Look out!" Kaidan shouted.

A large biotic sphere shrouded in darkness came down from above and struck the ground in between the team having them fly back from the small shockwave that came from the attack.

Looking up, the group saw none other than Saren himself coming down via a floating platform. His body was aglow with his Biotics as well as emanating the darkness similar to that of the Heartless. The Rogue Spectre began flinging out more Dark Biotic spheres at the scattered group with the team scrambling back to their feet and barely avoiding the attacks.

Roxas and Xion had managed to even swat aside the spheres with their Keyblades drawing the ire of the Turian.

He unleashed a barrage of Biotics with the duo managing to effectively repel the onslaught until they were both ensnared in a stasis.

The Spectre held a savage grin in place when his platform was rocked by two large fireballs that collided with it from below.

It knocked the Rogue Spectre off though he utilized his Biotics to land safely.

Saren barely turned around in time to throw up a means of a defensive Biotic barrier to defend himself from Axel who had glided around the area to get right behind the Turian.

"BURN!"

Axel flung his chakrams forward, the flaming weapons breaking through the shield and burning Saren's armor.

Letting out a strangle shout of pain, Saren unleashed a darkness powered Biotic wave that sent the fiery Nobody sailing back.

Axel however landed on his feet but was immediately assailed with multiple Shadows, Neoshadows and Darkballs.

"The hell?!"

"He really can control them!" Xion exclaimed.

Saren, in the meantime, turned to address Shepard who had just destroyed a Neoshadow and was now firing at him though it did nothing.

"I must applaud this brilliant ruse, Shepard." Saren called out to her mockingly. "My Geth were completely convinced that the Salarian team was the main threat. Not at all this infiltration team that's about to meet its end."

The Turian let out what was his species version of a sneer. "Of course it was all for nothing. You and your team shall not disrupt what I have accomplished here. You have no idea what's at stake."

"Why do this? Why do any of this?" Jane asked aloud.

"You of all people should already know that Shepard." Saren ranted on. "You know what the Reapers are capable of and they cannot be stopped. You petty revolts and desperate attempts to fight for freedom mean nothing. The Protheans tried and failed, ending in their extinction."

"That was their attempt." Garrus shouted, popping out of his cover only for several Surveillance Robots to appear before him and force him back into cover.

"We will not follow down the path of the Protheans, Shepard." Saren said with a burning passion. "Is submission that much worse than extinction?"

"We just heard from Sovereign." Shepard retorted. "They've been doing this for millions of years. You think other "Cycles" hadn't tried that before?"

"Yeah and in case you haven't realized it yet, but this "Cycle" of theirs has been disrupted!" Axel said allowed, jumping out from his own cover with his fiery Chakrams incinerating the Heartless that surrounded him. "By yours truly."

"And us." Roxas and Xion declared, swatting away the Heartless that were close to them.

"Ah, the unknown elements." Saren taunted. "Sovereign warned me about you. Of course you freaks wouldn't understand. Can you not see it? We are ruled by emotion, fighting an unwinnable battle. But if we were to work with the Reapers-"

"Well that's where I think the three of us are safe." Axel said with a large grin. "We're Nobodies. We have no Hearts, thus no emotions. But stubbornness? You don't need to be alive to have that in spades."

"Your drivel matters not." Saren said, darkness sprouting from him. "Soon, the Reapers will come and when they do, I'll make sure of our survival. I've studied their indoctrination, how they go about it. My mind is still my own and I shall be the one to deliver the Conduit to them and prevent the extinction of this galaxy!"

As Saren spoke, the darkness surrounding him flared up more and more with Shadows now beginning to appear around him.

"You're insane if you think working for the Reapers is gonna save any of us." Jane called out to him. "Haven't you noticed that every Cycle was hunted down to Extinction? For millions of years? I don't think it's impossible to consider the notion that what you're suggesting hasn't been attempted before."

"And if these Reapers don't get to you…" Axel's began to call upon his fire once more. "The Heartless will."

"These creatures?" Saren scoffed, gesturing to the Heartless around him that were joined by Wyverns and Darkballs. "They fought against me but now they bend to my will."

"Then you're really as stupid as you look." Roxas barked out with an intense glare. "The Heartless will consume you no matter what you try."

"Then I see there is no point in reasoning with you all." Saren declared.

-Insert Vim and Vigor: Kingdom Hearts 2 Soundtrack-

The intensity of the Darkness surrounding Saren increased tenfold.

"You shall all fall beneath my boot here and now." Saren said with a crazed edge to his voice.

Behind the rogue Spectre, the purplish-black cloud wafted back and formed into a shape of its own.

It began to coalesce together, two sickly yellow eyes opening within the malleable shadows. Eventually, a proper body was created.

The Heartless that stood behind Saren was one with a dark purple and black body with dark magenta spikes running down its back, as well as a "mane" of dark magenta tentacles around its head. The tail has a dark magenta tip, and the Heartless sports four purple claws on each of its four legs. The Heartless also sports a jagged mouth, blue markings on its face and body, and chains around its forelegs. Its body is rather long and thin yet held a hulking mass to it at the same time.

This Heartless was like a Dark Hide of its creator, a sense of malice radiating off of its form.

And if this new Heartless wasn't bad enough…

"Geth dropship incoming!" Tali shouted, pointing upwards.

True to Tali's words, a large Geth Cruiser flew overhead and in came a rain of Geth falling in from above.

Troopers, Drones, Juggernauts, Armatures, Stalker, Colossus and all.

"You will all fall!" Saren stepped back, a new platform forming beneath his feet.

"Keelah." Tali whispered in utter dread at the amount of enemies they were facing.

"Alright, two can play at that game." Axel growled out and with Roxas, both conjured even more Samurai and Assassins to join the ranks that they had called for earlier.

"Your will to keep fighting is to be admired." Saren taunted, holding his hand out as a gesture for his forces to charge. "Were it not so foolhardy."

The Geth and Heartless ran forward with the opposing side firing everything they had at them.

The Nobodies moved about in their manner, quickly taking down multiple Heartless with them targeting the Geth as well.

The large Dark Hide stalked forward, with its eyes flashing red until it quite literally vanished before everyone's eyes. Water within the area splashed about to signify the Dark Hide had jumped up and landed somewhere to keep itself out of sight and sound from its enemies.

"What the-"

"Focus people." Shepard shouted, firing rapidly at every Heartless and Geth she could target with her Biotic rifle practically exploding with energy.

The others were also utilizing their specially made weapons to their fullest effect as the Heartless and Geth attacked from all sides.

The Normandy Marine personnel that were also deployed along with Kaidan were fighting to their limit. Thankfully, the Nobodies were assisting them.

Until they were abruptly crushed beneath an unseen force, the force in which killed them instantaneously.

Red eyes appeared and soon after, the rest of the Dark Hide materialized.

Roxas immediately charged forward, brandishing his Keyblade by his side and grasped it with both hands.

The Dark Hide turned to its enemy and screeched out in challenge.

Getting close, Roxas instantly went for a sliding dodge as the Heartless swiped at him with his claws. Stopping right below its jaw, Roxas jumped into a rising uppercut slash which struck the Heartless dead on.

It reared its head back before making the snap sudden movement to spin around in a 360 circle with the tail smacking Roxas away.

Roxas grit his teeth in pain but managed a quick air recovery, going in for another attack.

The Dark Hide was ready to counter when Xion cast a powerful Thundaga spell, large bolts raining down upon the Heartless to momentarily paralyze it.

It could only take the hits Roxas delivered until it expunged a wave of fiery darkness that sent Roxas flying back once more.

The Heartless leaped into the air, curled into itself and whirled to the ground into a crushing shockwave. This caused anything within its radius to get sent back with some receiving pain.

With it back on all fours, the Dark Hide coughed out several dark energy balls and fireballs at its present combatants, causing them to either maneuver out of the way or do their best to rebound the attack back to sender.

Shepard was busy concentrating on Saren, constantly trying to bring the bastard down from his flying dark platform. Stitch was assisting her, always by the Commanders side as he blasted away with his specially made weapons until he was tackled away by a dive-bombing Wyvern.

Shepard wanted to turn and assist her small friend but she knew the little guy was strong and resilient so it would only be a matter of time till he gets back to her side.

She failed to notice the gigantic dark fireball headed straight for her.

Axel however intercepted the fire, casually holding up his Chakram and absorbed the flames with ease.

Jane briefly glanced back to Axel and gave him a quick nod of thanks with him just smirking in return.

Looking forward, Axel ran towards the closest Geth and Heartless cluster, several of his Assassins moving to assist him.

Garrus and Kaidan fought beside each other, the latter providing their primary means of defense and crowd control to make sure they had their breathing room.

The Turian in the meantime was able to test out a new trick shot he had been developing with his gun. Utilizing the scope that has been enhanced with synthesis items thanks to Mosh, he had his scope that was connected to his eye piece.

Quickly marking a dozen enemies, he fired a large beam of sorts that struck a Heartless, staggering and damaging it. The shot, rather than dissipating there and then, astonishingly bounced off its first victim and went on to hit a Geth Juggernaut that had also been marked by Garrus.

The beam shot proceeded to move about the area at rapid speeds, hitting every single marked target by Garrus until all twelve were destroyed.

"Nice." Kaidan praised, firing his biotic burst rifle at a cluster of Heartless. The Biotic shot became a large sphere that encapsulated the small bunch and were destroyed by Tali who had unleashed a powerful upgraded set of Omni-Bolts.

Roxas, Xion and Axel all the while tangoed with the Dark Hide that was proving to be a more formidable opponent then they had anticipated.

It was much faster than it appeared to be, jumping about from spot to spot, sometimes leaving trails of fire in its wake. Nothing Axel couldn't take care of thankfully.

The main problem was its relentless nature, constantly on the move or the attack with the trio of Greater Nobodies having to constantly switch up their means in which to fight against the Heartless.

Roxas and Axel ran at it from both sides, Xion coming in from above.

The boys utilized their affinities in tandem, throwing their weapons forward whilst Xion was coming down from on high, Keyblade first.

Tapping in slightly to her more inner power, she unleashed a small variation of her Magic Hour, firing a multitude of tiny spears of light that were infused with Fire, Ice, Wind and Lightning.

The small bombardment coupled with the dual attacks from Roxas and Axel greatly damaged the Dark Hide.

But it refused to fall so easily.

The Dark Hide snarled at the Nobodies, not giving them the satisfaction of defeat though they were undeterred.

"Alright, if you wanna play it like that." Axel said in response to seeing the Dark Hides resilient defiance.

Axel threw his arms up horizontal, Chakrams bursting into flames.

A moment later, Axel threw them forward with the balls of fire circling around the Dark Hides body and burning multiple portions of it.

It screeched aloud in pain, desperately shaking its body about in an attempt to rid the chakrams that were damaging it.

Roxas and Xion then went on the attack once again, the former having his form briefly flashing in a white light as they charged forward in their efforts to bring the rampaging Heartless down.

As this went on, the remainder of shadow team and Kaidan had to switch back and forth between fighting against Saren, the Geth and the Heartless. The lesser Nobodies were of some help to turn the tide to some degree, but with the Dark Hide Heartless fighting the three Nobodies not far away, things started to bleed into one another.

Shockwaves, dark energy balls and fireballs entered their area and were making things rather difficult. The lesser Nobodies came in to defend the remainder of the Normandy party, but were quickly destroyed by the Dark Hide's assault.

It was during this whole bout did their comms flare to life with their avian friend reporting in.

"I've got everyone I can onboard." Della said over their comms. "Ground team and what remains of Kirrahe's men. Though the latter ones are no doubt freaking out on seeing me."

"Then get the hell out of there and into orbit." Shepard barked out. "Tell Joker to come to our location now!"

"But-"

"NOW DELLA!"

Shepard was then knocked back, courtesy of Saren's biotic attack.

"You need to stop this, Saren." Shepard gritted out. "There's still time to help us!" She rolled out of the way from another biotic attack. "Just tell us what the Conduit is!"

"The Conduit is the key to your destruction and my salvation. Sovereign needs my help to find it." Said the rogue Spectre, firing his assault weapon at the N7 marine. "That is the only reason why I have not been indoctrinated."

"That's bullshit and you know it!" Shepard retorted, throwing some grenades as a little distraction before firing her biotic shots at him through the cover of smoke. "You've already been indoctrinated! The minute you joined him, you lost whatever free will you had!"

"NO!" Saren argued, shields flaring from Shepard's recent attack on him. "Sovereign needs me. If I find the Conduit, I and those who I chose will be promised a reprieve from the inevitable. Join me and-"

"Will you shut up and listen to me!" Shepard kept running all over to avoid the fight commencing around her with Garrus giving her supporting fire. "You were a Spectre, one of the best. You helped protect this galaxy from so many threats out there. You can do that again here and now and fight the Reapers off before it's too late!"

Saren, however, shook his head as he threw a darkened biotic strike at her and Garrus.

"The visions I have cannot be denied. The Reapers are too powerful. The only hope of survival is to join them." He said, backing away to analyze his present surroundings. "Sovereign is a machine. It thinks like a machine. If I can prove my value, I become a maintaining resource. There is no other logical conclusion!"

"This isn't about logic!" Garrus barked out, tossing some grenades near Saren's location to hopefully get him off balance from the eventual explosion. "Can't you even see what you're doing?"

"Of course I do. I'm forging an alliance between us and the Reapers, between organics and machines. And in doing so, I will save more lives than ever have existed." Saren thrusted an accusing finger at them. "But you and your crew are undoing everything that I'm accomplishing here! Dooming our entire civilization to complete annihilation. And for that, you all must die."

Nothing else was said as their fight continued throughout this chaotic battlefield.

As the fights went on, Tali was doing her best to avoid getting hit considerably by what remained of the Geth and the smaller Heartless. She had recently helped Kaidan out in taking down a couple of attackers pinning him down. And she was about to move elsewhere when her gut was struck by the Dark Hide's tail whip, sending her flailing into the air and crashing into the watery ground helmet first.

Kaidan, who saw this, yelled out in alarm.

"TALI!"

Upon hearing Kaidan's yell, the two Keybearers broke their attention away from their larger opponent and saw what became of their Quarian friend.

Seeing their reaction, Axel called out to them. "Go to her, I can hold this bastard off!"

Neither of the younger Nobodies gave a verbal response as Xion was instantly by her side with Roxas being there a moment later.

Flipping her over to her back, Roxas gasped in horror at the sight of seeing Tali's helmet with a very large and noticeable crack growing exponentially.

A piece of her helmet fell away for Roxas to be able to see her slightly dazed but very much terrified eye as she began to regain her bearings, realizing what had happened.

"R-Roxas… X-Xion." her voice was strained and weak.

From what they could see from her exposed face, her skin was extremely pale. No doubt due to a lifetime sealed away from the outside world. Her soft yellow eye with a black sclera was rapidly looking between the pair. And her breathing was accelerating as her air filters are not working due to her helmet's present condition.

"Don't worry, we're getting you out of here." Xion assured with her tone clearly showing she was rather distressed.

Roxas on the other hand was silent, his eyes wide and body completely frozen with his mind a blaze…

And without question he felt his "heart" skip a beat.

The sound of battle momentarily broke Roxas out of his stupor, the Nobody slowly turning behind him to see Axel fighting the Dark Hide head on whilst Kaidan supported him from afar. As for Stitch, he was still focusing on what remained of the present Geth as the last of the lesser Heartless were destroyed for the time being.

Slowly, Roxas's vision began to turn red as light began emanating off of him in a much more intense and erratic fashion.

He felt power beginning to erupt from his very being and without even realizing it, he was already sprinting forward.

By the time he reached the Dark Hide, Light was practically exploding off of him.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" Roxas roared aloud, completely overtaken with rage.

His Oathkeeper was enveloped in Light but the saber it produced was twice as large then usual with the energy practically radiating off of it in small wisps.

Roxas unleashed a torrent of endless slashes and strikes that left visible gashes of light upon the Dark Hides body. It was screaming in complete agony as not only was it being assailed with Roxas' storm of attacks but after every slash came explosive pillars of light that added to the damage.

It was being beaten back and whittled down with it thrashing about in a vain attempt at escaping the Keybearer who was relentless in his attack upon the Heartless.

He eventually, with one mighty blow, destroyed the Dark Hide at long last.

In the air, Roxas thrusted his Keyblade out and concentrated on the Dark Hide's form, which was spasming with odd overlapping colors of red, green and blue as it was rapidly trying to take him down. His form was encompassed with an aura of light, an orb of brightened light appearing at Oathkeeper's tip. Once at its capacity, he fired off whatever Shotlock attack he conjured.

Instead of what he normally saw with his Ragnarok Shotlock with its multi-colored orbs, this one was of pure light and formed odd ethereal arrows.

The arrows pierced through the Dark Hides body and at last, the Heartless was no more.

However…

It left one parting gift of its own.

As this went on, the Dark Hides tail struck the nuke, sending it a good number of feet away from its planted placement.

"Shit, the bomb!" Kaidan exclaimed in fear.

Axel, who saw this happen, quickly came to the same conclusion that the Dark Hide's recent attack could've started the counter somehow.

"Is the bomb okay?"

Kaidan scrambled over to where the make-shift bomb was now at. Looking at the display, he paled upon what he got from the readings.

"No, it's not! The timer started!"

"Can you shut it off or at least delay it?" Axel questioned him.

"I can't! It's on the emergency countdown now! We need to leave immediately!"

"Where the hell is Joker with the Normandy?!" Garrus shouted.

On the other side of the battlefield, Saren was stomping towards Shepard, who was scrambling towards her feet. She wasn't able to get up in time as the rogue Spectre ensnared her throat with his hands. She struggled to get free while being dragged through the water, even continuing once hoisted into the air.

Saren was about to kill the human Spectre right then and there if he didn't feel this searing pain on his back.

"GAH!"

This caused Saren to drop Shepard as he stumbled forward. Whirling around, he saw Stitch quickly holstering his weapons before leaping right at him.

The rogue Spectre was barely able to catch him yet was having an utter struggle holding him back. The little blue fur ball was snarling, thrashing and biting. It got to the point that he was overwhelmed as Stitch clenched onto his synthetic arm with all four of his arms, crushed it and ripped it off of his body.

Saren's painful yell was heard within the vicinity.

To add more insult to injury, Stitch was whacking Saren with his own arm a good number of times before one last one sent him flying back to the nearby wall.

Gritting in pain, the rogue Spectre was glaring at Stitch with murderous intent as he was getting back onto his feet.

"You little abomination!" Saren snarled, clenching his stump where his synthetic arm used to be.

Stitch, however, spat out a response with a growing smirk. "Stupid head."

It was then did Saren hear the beeping.

Snapping his head towards the source, his eyes bulged upon seeing an explosive placed on his organic arm.

"No no no no!"

With no other arm to help pry the explosive off, he whacked his remaining arm against the nearby wall in hopes of breaking it. Yet that soon failed as it exploded, causing flesh, bone and armor to splatter all over.

"GAAAAAAAAAAH!"

With losing both arms, Saren was now bleeding from his bloody stumps and no longer had a proper means to fight back and defend himself effectively.

Not wanting to be captured here and there, he willed a number of Heartless to appear and distract his attacker so he may make his proper escape onto his hovercraft.

"Dammit!" Shepard cried out, being forced to fight off the Heartless that were summoned then being able to pursue Saren.

It was at this point did the alarms flare to life.

"Shepard!" Kaidan shouted from his position. "We need to get out of here now! The nukes been set to blow and I can't turn it off."

"Fucking shit." Shepard growled, destroying the Heartless with Stitch moving to assist her. "Joker! We need your ass down here now! The whole place is set to blow!"

She looked over to see Roxas with Xion around Tali with the sandy blond haired Nobody picking up the Quarian in a bridal carry. The Spectre's eyes widened in shock and fear at the sight of the slightly exposed face of Tali with her scared eye being visible to see for all.

She didn't have time to dwell on it when she saw the Normandy come in from overhead, quickly lowering itself and the entry ramp for the team to run into the ship at full speed.

Once in, the ramp closed up from behind, Shepard telling Joker to get them the hell away from Virmire whilst also telling Roxas to get Tali to Chakwas ASAP.

The Nobody could only run with Xion right behind him and the Commander going straight to the cockpit, Garrus, Kaidan and Axel in tow. Stitch opted to go with Roxas and Xion.

As they flew further and further away, the pilot of the Normandy received a horrifying notification.

"Shepard!" Joker said in alarm. "I'm getting large radiation spikes!"

The Spectre was looking over her pilot's seat, face becoming ashen.

"No…" She whispered.

"What's happening?" Axel asked, clearly nervous about the Commander's tone and expression.

"The bomb's about to go off prematurely!" Kaidan informed, face falling. "We… we're not gonna make it."

Axel was looking between the three humans, mind ablaze.

"Seriously?! There's no way out of this?" Axel asked, getting no response.

"Dammit." Axel threw his arm forward and concentrated though he was having a bit of a hard time. He was trying to open up a large Corridor of Darkness that would get them the hell outta here but to no avail.

For one, Axel would be hard pressed in denying that he was feeling slightly exhausted from the mission they had just undertaken especially in fighting that large Heartless.

Second, he had never created a Corridor so large that it would encompass an entire ship filled with people.

And lastly, a nagging small voice of doubt made him hesitate as really, there was the serious chance of the Normandy and her crew being taken in by Darkness.

So really, they were facing a no-win situation.

Joker, recognizing their plight quickly spoke into the intercoms.

"Everyone, hang on!"

Roxas was standing in the Medbay, being right next to Tali as she was being given multiple immune boosters by Chakwas in an attempt to keep her healthy and stable.

Xion was seated at her own table, slightly bandaged up herself with Stitch in her lap. Though she acquiesced to the bandages, once she knew Tali would be alright, a quick Cura spell would handle the rest of her injuries.

They had heard the message from the intercoms and could only stand there and wait when suddenly.

"What the-"

Roxas' Keyblade abruptly flashed into his hand.

Bewildered by its sudden appearance, Roxas felt the Keyblade suddenly shift about and then pointed in a random direction angled upward.

But this random direction wasn't random at all.

The Oathkeeper was pointed directly in the direction of the Normandy's flight deck and it's intended flight path.

Chakwas was bewildered by this sudden action.

"Roxas, what-"

The doctors question was cut off as the Keyblades form started to brighten, to the point of becoming blinding.

From outside of the Normandy, what appeared to be a Corridor composed of white and blue swirling light, suddenly formed some distance away from the ship.

"What in the world?"

Seeing this, Joker didn't have a proper response time as the Normandy went right through it just as the Nuke went off.

The resulting blast wasn't able to reach the Corridor of Light in time as it quickly closed itself off. The blast wave soon went past where the Corridor disappeared from and traveled onward.

From Virmire's orbit, those within the Spear of Selene SR-2, who had witnessed all this, could only wonder what happened to the Normandy and her crew as they weren't able to see what became of them.

All they could wonder was whether they were able to make it out alive or not as the Alliance ship wasn't seen for a long while afterwards.

While most would ask what in the world that was, the pilot of the Spear of Selene recognized the phenomenon immediately and only had one question on her mind.

Where in the galaxy was the Normandy sent off to?

Alright, another one has been taken care of with a cliffhanger to boot.

Where oh where could the Normandy have gone?

Well, that's for all of you to find out come the next chapter of this story cause I think you guys are gonna love it.

Jebest4781: We won't spoil it here and now as it would be a dead giveaway. So unless you can quickly pick up on the written clues, you readers could probably guess on what occurred.

FMW: Yeah, let's just say it's a special place in a manner of speaking that's really gonna expand the mind of all those involved save for a few. Next chapter is gonna be exciting to say the least cause it's one J and I have been waiting to do for some time. We planned it out from the very beginning. So boy and girls, tutorials over. Now we're getting into the madness of it all.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.