James just looked at the commander as she approved the weapons locker. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"We're leaving. Going to get back up," Zenna said as she placed her pistol on a workbench before giving it a look over. "At the Citadel,"

"Bullshit, he wouldn't tell us to leave," James argued.

"He can," Ashley nodded.

"And he has," Zenna said with a low growl. "Without help this war is already lost,"

James barred his own fangs. "Then you can you can dro…" he tried to say but Zenna decked him in the face.

He fell backwards looking up at the 6 foot plus minotaur barring down on him.

"Do you what to die?" she practically roared. "Earth is under siege and we are the ones, the ONLY ones who can help. If you want to die for a meaningless fight, I can throw you out the airlock right now!"

James, looking to the side before sighing. He closed his eyes and shook his head before looking to up see Zenna's hand in front of him.

"But if you want to make a difference, take my hand and we can make a major move against the Reapers," she said.

James looked between her and her hand for a moment before taking it and letting the minotaur help him up. Ashley smiled but before she could say anything the vid comm bleeped and Hackett came on but the transmission was garbled.

"Commander," he said.

Shepard walked over to the comm. "Shepard here,"

"Commander I'm seekssckass casualty's the reakssckrce ksscko overwhelming I have Ikssckority missionkssck. Go too the Mars ArckssckT'soni has something. A way to stop the Reapers... the only way to stop them…." It seems that there was more to the message, but the transmission was cut.

Ashley's ears twitched while James looked between the two.

"So, what's the plan?" he asked.

"Joker set course for Mars," Zenna said.

"On it" Joker said through the comm.

Zenna walked over to her armour and began to set it up.

"This is loco," James complained, but in truth he wasn't sure what to do.

"Mars... why send us there?" Ash asked.

"I don't know, but if Liara's there… it's got to be big," the minotaur said.

OOOOO

The Kodiak flew into the atmosphere and landed on the red surface. They spent a few minutes trying to hail the outpost but nothing came from it. The trio then gout out and looked around. There was nothing out of the ordinary but there were no communications coming from the base. As they walked Ash noticed a sandstorm on the way.

"We better hurry, Martian sandstorms are a nightmare," she said.

They moved forward and dropped down onto a ledge then began moving before Shepard pushed them back. She looked around as gunfire sounded. Her eyes widened as she saw several people in white, black and orange armour.

"Cerberus," she hissed

"Now we know why the outpost didn't answer," Ash said, teeth barred.

Zenna nodded and indicated for the two to move up to cover just ahead of them. Once in position, they fried. The first few shots didn't do anything only grabbing the attention of the troopers. They had clearly upgraded their armour and shields. But even under sustained fire, the armour and shields didn't last long and the three cut down the four-man squad with ease. With the area clear, Zenna moved up and scanned the armour. She filed it away to look at it later.

With that done, they then moved to the entrance to find six troop carriers parked. Which caught their attention.

"That's strange if this is all they had then someone on the inside must be Cerberus. Otherwise, you need a lot more fire power and men," Ash said.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," James muttered.

They entered the main entrance lift. Shepard pressed the buttons and began the airlock cycle the lift went up to the main docking area. As it moved the team removed their helmets. Their weapons were out as they looked for trouble. Just then firing and clattering from a vent. They stared at it for a few moments before an Asari in white gear jumped out and threw a warp at where she just came from. Two Cerberus soldiers came out only to be caught by the warp. They hovered as the Asari took them out with a few shots from her pistol.

"Liara," Ashley smiled

Liara turned to see her friends standing there. "Commander, Ashley it's good to see you both again," she said as she approached. "Why are you here?"

"Hackett said that you know what's going on," Zenna shrugged.

The asari took a deep breath and sighed. "Yes," Liara said as she approached window.

"Hallelujah some answers," James said.

"Maybe what I found is a Prothian device one that can take out the Reapers," she said as she looked out the window.

"In the Archives?" Zenna asked moving up to Liara with the other two following her.

The young asari nodded. "Yes,"

Zenna however, just shook her head. "I'll believe it when I see it. How do we find it?"

"It's plans for a weapon," she answered in a blunt tone.

"Well, it's better where do we get it?" Ashley asked.

"We need to use the tramway to get there," Liara pointed. "If Cerberus hasn't locked it down,"

"Why are they here?" James asked.

"They want the weapon what else?" she suggested. "The Prothians came close to defeating the Reapers..."

"And anything that is capable taking out the Reapers is something Cerberus may want," Zenna muttered feeling another headache come on.

Before anyone else could say anything the sound of gunfire came from a door on the forward catwalk all four their weapons out ready for the fight but Zenna needed to plan for contingency, she turned to James.

"Vega get back to the Kodiak." she said.

"But Commander..." James tried to say but was interrupted.

"James if Cerberus beats us to the Archives, I need all exits covered," she explained. "GO!"

Being hesitant James did as he was told and hopped back on the lift. As the gunfire came closer so did screaming in fear. The trio lowered their weapons a bit. The door then opened and two Cerberus troopers came out fast. The new trio took cover as fast as they could as rounds began to hit around their feet. Liara smiled and threw a warp ball which sent the Cerberus agents into the wall allowing Kira and Ash to throw grenades taking them out.

The three then got on a lift that took them to the catwalk. They then moved into the room where Cerberus came from only to find a scientist getting shot the four moved up to cover as two Cerberus trooper came into range. As soon as they did Liara threw a singularity allowing all three of them to take them out. But as soon as they left cover two more troops unleashed fire on the squad making them take cover again.

Zenna placed her auto turret on her cover and the device unfolded and began to fire at the Cerberus troopers. That kept them pinned allowing Ashley to move up fast and rip their necks out with her teeth. But once she was done, she spat the foul blood out.

"Goddamn that's gross," she said before looking at one of the bodies.

She looked up at Zenna, who approached before getting down and pulling off the helmet of one of them. Upon seeing what was there, all three of them stopped. The soldier in front of them wasn't human, nor was he demi human. Instead, his face was covered in wire like patters with parts of them glowing blue.

"Oh god," Ash said backing away. "He looks like a husk,"

Liara looked away as she went pale.

"Yeah but no quite," Zenna said walking up and crouching down to get a better look. "They've decently done something to him," she muttered as she turned the head.

Ash looked away in discussed before remembering those two years. "Zenna that's why I'm worried about you,"

Liara froze and looked to the hu-hound with wide eyes. The smell in the air became quite strong with the sent of worry. But it didn't just come from the demi-human, but from Liara as well.

"I looked up to you, then I heard the stories, you died and everything fell apart. Now your back but in those first few weeks I thought Cerberus had done something to you. Even now… I'm still not sure…" the hu-hound looked away her eyes closed; teeth clenched.

"Ash look at me," the minotaur said with a firm voice getting her attention. "I am still me. Whatever they did I'm still me,"

Ashley sighed and smiled. "That's what I needed to hear,"

Liara smiled but shook her head. "We need to gain access to the ped way," she commented as they approached the Security office.

Walking in Liara then when to the command console. "Damn someone's tampered with the system. Shepard see if you can gain access to the ped way," she said pointing out a terminal to Shepard.

The minotaur smiled cracked her neck before typing at the speed of light.

"I can't seem to get access to the live feeds but..." however Ash interrupted her as she saw a woman on one of the monitors.

"Hey you see that? Who's that woman in the vid?" she asked pointing.

Liara walked up and looked. "That's Doctor Eva Core," she answered as she got up. "She started to work here just a week ago. Any luck?" she then asked as she walked to Shepard.

The minotaur shook her head. "Ped way's been locked out, I cannot gain access from here,"

Liara nodded and moved to a different terminal to type. "Ok looks like there's construction nearby we can get out onto the roof. We can find a way from there,"

The minotaur nodded. "Ok let's move,"

The three of them then walked to the airlock and stood there as it did its cycle while fitting their helmets on. Once the door opened, the wind was very hard to ignore.

"Storm's getting closer," Ashley said as Zenna started to go down a ladder.

"Then we better keep moving!" Zenna yelled.

Once she made it down they then noticed lights coming from the trams assuming the alliance was still putting up a fight they continued on but just then James came over the radio.

"Commaksscko you read me?" James said.

"Barely storms effecting your signal," she answered

But it seemed that James had the same problem as the radio cracked even more. "Cannot kssckntact the kssckandy what's ykssckposition?"

"Repeat," but all Kira got was static cursing she climbed up another ladder and hopped over a gap with the other two following. She stood on the platform looking at an open airlock.

"This airlock shouldn't be open," Liara said.

"It looks like it wasn't forced," Ashley noted as she took a closer look.

"No, you have to overwrite security protocols," the asari insisted.

Deciding to leave it for later they entered a large dark room making them turn their flash lights on. They moved around the windows and down the stairs before seeing corpses on the floor.

"Someone vented the air from the room while they were still here," Liara said in horror.

"Looks like they died trying to claw their way out," Zenna commented as she looked at the bodies.

"This is brutal even by Cerberus standards," Ash muttered.

"Something's definitely changed," the minotaur nodded.

Just then the window shutters started to come down making the three take cover and turn off their flash lights. The Cerberus troops talked about an alliance force being in that room. At that moment Zenna came out from behind cover and fired a heavy concussion round at the troops. The window broke allowing the air to be vented making Zenna curse but she fired on the troops. Ash popped up with assault rifle in hand and fired at the troops while Liara was just finishing them off with her pistol.

As soon as the final trooper fell the three went over the broken window into the next security room. They walked over to the office and pressurised the room allowing them to get their helmets.

"We have access to the labs they can take us to the tram station from there," Liara said.

"Hey looks like there's a recording of what happened here." Ash pointed to a terminal that was still on Shepard turned the vid on.

"Security station?" The soldier said. "We're seeing some odd activity down here."

Liara then put the vid on all the office monitors.

"Our security protocols just kicked in everything's locked down," the soldier continued.

As he finished the sentence Doctor Eva entered. The soldier turned to see her before turning back to the screen. As he was saying something Eva pulled out a pistol and shot a soldier who was near a wall and the soldier who was sitting at the desk. Much to Liara's surprise and horror. Eva then walked up to a terminal and started typing. Alarms sounded on another screen making everyone's eyes turn to see the air venting from the previous room they were in.

"Guess we know how Cerberus got in," said turning off the monitors.

"I should have noticed when I met her. I was just so focused on stopping the Reapers," Liara said.

Zenna patted her on the shoulder. "Stopping the Reapers is the only thing you guys should be focused on. Advent should be focused on Cerberus and the Reapers. It's not your fault,"

But that didn't seem to settle her down. "What if we're wrong? What if there's no way to stop them? What if these are our last days and we screw around trying something we cannot fix?"

"Come on Liara," Ashley said. "We all doing what we can. But we cannot drag ourselves down with what if's,"

Zenna and Liara blinked at what the hu-hound said. It seemed that she had been learning. Liara nodded and sighed.

"I know I shouldn't think that way," she said as she faced Shepard. "But you stay calm in the most terrible of situations. How do you do it?"

The minotaur shrugged. "I don't know to be honest. I've just been living day to day reacting to what there is. But I think part is it is to keep others, the world going. Because if not…." she paused. "… there would be no one left to stop the storm,"

"That's a terrible burden to carry," despite saying that the Asari smiled.

Zenna shrugged. "Someone has to carry it," she smiled. "But we can do it, together,"

"I want to believe you…" she said as she turned to a terminal and typed a few keys. As the door opened, she sighed and shook her head. "Ok door's open we can get to the labs and tram station,"

"Good let's move," Zenna said.

The Squad the moved through the door and went up a flight of stairs only to be met by Cerberus troops. As soon as they were spotted the troopers began firing at the Squad making them take cover. Once they were in Shepard took out her shotgun and fired on close range targets wreaking them and allowing Ash to use her sniper rifle to take out the troopers at long range with Liara's help.

As Shepard took out the final close range trooper she and Ash then moved up closer to get better shots at the other Cerberus troopers. However, some re-enforcements came out with riot shields that stopped laser fire. Cursing Zenna took out a grenade and threw it that the troopers. The resulting explosion took them out allowing he four to move up to the corner. But as soon as they made it, they had to take cover as more rounds hit around them.

Liara then threw a warp ball at the closer ones before picking them off and Zenna threw another grenade pushing them back. But as Ash took them out the door on the other side opened and more Cerberus troopers flooded in. The squad just unleashed round after round of bullets at the troopers and moving up to the next part of the corridor. As the last trooper they walked up to the final section of labs and being met with a foul smell.

"What's that smell?" Ashley asked pinching her nose with Zenna doing the same.

"Cerberus activated decontamination," Liara answered pointing to a lab.

Zenna blanched. "With the scientists still inside?"

Shepard walked up to one of the terminals near a window and tapped it. The decontamination stopped allowing the four to enter. As they entered Ash was curious about what they were doing here.

"What where they researching in here?" she asked.

"Relics from earth," Liara answered.

Zenna walked up to one and picked it up. "What did they find?"

"More than I can say in a short conversation," Liara shrugged. "And they only scratched the surface,

Zenna nodded and placed the item down. They walked through a door at the far end to see the tram line.

"That's the tram line no doubt Cerberus has it locked down. We can overwrite it at the security station. It's just through here," Liara pointed.

They walked to where Liara pointed and then moved into a hallway but immediately took cover as a started to fire at them. Moving from cover to cover, the team managed to get to the control room with only a few bruises. But the Cerberus soldiers moved up to try and take them out, but that didn't last long as they were pounced on by Ashley's powerful jaws. She ripped their necks open before spitting out their guts.

The team moved to the main terminal an activated the camera feed for the other side. Eva and a Cerberus soldier appeared on screen.

"Set up a perimeter no one comes across," Eva ordered.

"What about the teams on the other side?" the trooper asked.

"No one. And shut down those cameras," Eva said before shooting the camera losing the vid feed.

"Looks like they made it to the Archives," Liara said.

"And it doesn't look like they'll be sending a tram any time soon," Ash muttered.

Zenna frowned before trying something into the terminal. But after a moment she slammed her fist on the terminal.

"Is there any way to overwrite?" she asked.

"Negative the Archives are on a separate network we're completely locked out," Liara said as she looked at the monitor

"Fuck," the minotaur growled.

"Not totally what if we find a short-range radio. Helmet to helmet we can contact the others at the Archives and say that the Alliance have been taken care of," Ash said.

"Good idea see what you can find." Zenna said.

Ash walked off to find something while the minotaur turned to see Liara smiling at her.

"What?" she asked.

Liara turned back to the terminal. "Ashley has become very capable,"

Zenna smirked and rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, both of you have,"

"Err we got the transmitter," Ash said awkwardly as she entered the room.

"Well come on we don't have all day," Liara said.

Ash handed Zenna then held the transmitter to her mouth and said: "Hello this is Delta team anybody there?"

"Where the hell have you been?" the leader asked. "Never mind what's your status?"

"We're at the tram station all hostiles terminated," she said.

"Roger that Echo team will come over and secure the station," she said and the alert sounded.

"They bought it hook line and sinker," Ash smiled taking out her sniper rifle.

The team then positioned themselves with Ash on the catwalk providing sniper cover while Zenna and Liara hid behind crates with close range weapons in hand. As soon as the tram arrived, they opened fired on the troopers. But as Zenna came out of cover a large trooper jumped on her. They rolled into a stack of crates that fell on them. They recovered fast but before Zenna could react the trooper was on her again this time with a blade in his hand.

Zenna growled as she looked up and down at the trooper seeing that it was a minotaur. The two growled at each other before they pounced grappling with each other and growling. Locking horns, they pushed each over before Zenna broke and slammed her foot into his gut. But that did little as his armour absorbed a lot of the impact. He then grabbed her foot and tossed her into a bunch of crates.

He began to approach, but Zenna burst out at him and slammed him into a wall before aiming for his neck. He stopped her but, thanks to her enhanced jaws, she bit down so hard that she snapped his arm. He cried out in pain before she pulled way, grabbing his head and breaking his neck. To ensure that he wouldn't get back up, she used her omni-tool to remove his head before spitting on the corpse.

Zenna then looked around to see the rest of the Cerberus troopers dead. The squad then made their way into the tram and slid their helmets on as she activated the tram.

"The archives are just on the other side," Liara said as the tram moved.

"With a lot of pissed off Cerberus troops," Ash commented as she and the others slid their helmets back on.

As the tram reached the halfway point the side of the rails exploded and the other tram came towards them with Cerberus soldiers open firing on them. Zenna and the other two took cover as they picked off the soldiers one by one. But as the tram stopped next to them two Cerberus soldiers jumped across before Ash kicked them in the chest sending them to send them into the pit below. Leaving no more Cerberus to deal with.

"They're putting up a good fight," Ash commented.

"It confirms my suspicions on the importance of the data," Liara said.

Zenna then jumped to the other tram with the other two following before activating it to head to the other end. After the tram stopped and the air filled in the three removed their helmets as the blast doors opened. They were met with gunfire from a smokescreen as they took cover while they fired back, taking out a few and moved to the crates smoke appeared on both sides of a security office. When the smoke cleared two teams of six appeared with riot shields in front.

They opened fire on the squad and the squad did little due to the riot shields. Figuring it was her only way Zenna took out a grenade and threw it at the right-hand side team. It exploded sending the team all over the room. Liara did the same with the same result. The squad then moved up to the Archive door end entered weapons up. They saw the Archive for the first time.

Ash then raised her rifle and moved to the left while Zenna and Liara moved to the main terminal. Behind the two the hologram of the Archive itself disappeared and TIM appeared.

"Shepard," he said making the two turn round.

Zenna turned with pistol in hand. "Illusive man,"

"Now we know why Cerberus is here," Liara said.

"You don't know the half of it. The Prothians left us these Archives the wealth of information and it's been squandered," TIM said.

"What do you want?" Shepard asked. "My time is quite precious,"

TIM looked at the Archives before answering. "What I've always wanted. The data in these artefacts are the key to solving the Reapers,"

Zenna rolled her eyes. "I've seen your solution you're turning your people into monsters,"

"Hardly. They're being improved, with the technology that you tried to destroy," he explained taking another puff.

"Improved?" the minotaur scoffed.

"That's what separates us apart," he shrugged. "Where you and the rest seek to destroy the threat, I seek to control, to dominate the Reapers power. Imagine how strong humanity would be if we controlled them,"

"YOU THINK THAT'S GOING TO WORK?" Zenna yelled with confusion. "Look at what has happened with anyone who has gotten close to the Reapers. They become indoctrinated puppets. The Reapers will kill us all,"

"I didn't think you'll understand Shepard and nor am I asking for your approval," he said his tone become little more than arrogant. "I needed your help just like you needed mine. But just like the rest of your insignificant species your time is over,"

"Like I'm going to listen to a mass murder. Liara," she ordered

Liara moved to the console and began looking for the info.

"Your time is done Shepard," he shot.

"Says the dead man," she growled.

"Shepard," Liara then called, her tone worried.

"What?" Zenna asked as she turned to her.

"The data it's not here. It's being erased," she said as TIM's hologram disappeared.

Zenna looked to the now gone hologram with a curse before moving towards Liara. "How's he doing it?"

Liara's eyes widened. "It's local, someone's uploading the information."

Ash moved slowly around before hearing someone in one of the pillars she moved round fast and aimed her file at a white and black body suit scientist.

"Hey step away from the console," she said.

The woman didn't move.

"Now," Ash said.

The woman then knocked Ashley's weapon away before kicking her and driving an omni-tool into the console and running away.

"She's got the data!" the marine yelled getting everyone to look at the running scientist.

The Squad then started to chase after Eva who was, with respect, fast to the point that even Ashely couldn't catch up. As Eva ran into the next room the air started to get sucked out making everyone get the helmets on. Entering the security room Shepard was met by a blast that sent her stumbling back. When she looked again Eva was gone.

She then moved up to the shutter switch and pressed it. As the windows opened Eva dropped down and ran to the side room and up a ladder. She was inhumanly fast. The squad moved up the ladder onto the roof where Eva took a few shots at them before running. That when they noticed that Eva wasn't wearing any kind of breathing apparatus. They chased after her as a Cerberus Kodiak came in.

The troopers on the Kodiak took pot-shot at the squad but they mostly paid no attention to it. But Ashley did throw a grenade at it which exploded and made the transport lose control and fall. As the team ran down a ramp Zenna called up James.

"James, do you read me?" she yelled but was met with static. "Cerberus has the data," met with more static. "Get the Normandy down here now,"

Eva ran to another ramp and up a ladder but was closely followed by Zenna and the others. Making it to the top Eva ran to the edge of the building as a Kodiak came in with its door opened.

"She's getting away!" Zenna yelled and she fired her rifle.

Eva jumped onto the Kodiak and was about to take off but she noticed a blue streak coming their way.

"I got this one," James said over the comm.

James's Kodiak it into the Cerberus one sending it flaying near Shepard's team who knocked over from the explosion. James then circled round to pick up the team as they got up. As Zenna waved down James, Ash moved over to Liara and helped her up.

"We need the data," Liara said.

Ashley nodded and ran over to the wreck, picking up the drive. Just then several bangs on the Cerberus transport made the three look in its direction. The door exploded of its hinges to show a robotic woman with a blue visor over her eyes. It turned and grabbed Ash by her collar.

"Ashley!" Zenna yelled making James move round the Kodiak with weapons ready to see what was happening.

"Orders?" the machine asked.

"Finish her," everyone heard over their comm.

Before the machine could do anything, the marine slammed her arm onto the machine's causing her to lose grip on her. As soon as she landing, she moved quickly by punching her in the gut before doing a spinning roundhouse to the head causing it to go down. But her luck didn't hold out as the machine turned and hit the marine in the gut and slammed her fist onto her helmet knocking her out. It then grabbed her head and slammed it into the vehicle a couple of times.

"ASHLEY!" Zenna yelled.

The machine turned to Shepard and ran towards her but the minotaur fired fast with each round hitting. The machine could do little as its programs started to fail. Then after the fourth shot it shut down. As it did Zenna ran over to Ashley's body and picked her up.

"Bring that thing," she called to James.

"Commander, we have Reaper signature's in orbit!" Joker called out.

With a curse, Zenna carried Ashley as the Normandy came in and so did the Reapers. Once the Squad was on the Normandy took off out of the Martian atmosphere.