The epic space battle was… underwhelming from my point of view. The combined galactic fleets are doing their job to distract the Reapers. Joker immediately pulled out of the battle, descending to Earth. Joker gives Edi control of the ship. Shepard is surprised he so easily gave up control. Joker salutes his Commander and asks me to keep him safe. Shepard shakes his pilot's hand for the first time, as before the spectre's enhanced digits ran the risk of cracking Joker's bones.

Cortez has the shuttle ready to go. No sense in wasting time. Liara and Garrus meet us inside then we are dropped. Joker and his baseball cap pops on the screen left of Shepard's head "advanced teams are away. Hammer's in position and waiting for you guys to clear a path. Normandy's rejoining sword."

Shepard orders Joker "Stay safe. I'll be back before you know it."

Joker nods "I'll hold you to that. Normandy out."

Cortez calls Shepard over "we're closing in on the LZ Commander.

Shepard enters the cockpit, asking "how's it look?"

Cortez answers "like hell… take a look for yourself."

Shepard examines the battered landscape. His neck tightens and his shoulders stiffen from frustration.

Liara tries to comfort her love "I'm sorry Shepard. I know how you must feel."

Shepard says "I barely even recognize it."

The gloomy atmosphere of the ruins of London, induced from the smoke of countless burning buildings and countless corpses from the Reaper invasion. The streets have burning military transport vehicles for makeshift cover. I can feel Liara's eyes on me, judging me. My thoughts run to "how is he allowing this to happen?" Gunshots and horrified screams are heard in the distance. Some of them, unmistakable little kids. It makes me feel sick to my stomach. A taut knot below my ribs begs for my response. A hard lesson I had to learn was to balance my empathy. This world had an advanced warning of what was to come. The world's governments could have built a defense system, but they didn't. It should be their fault for their inability to protect themselves, but no number of rationalizations will silence my emotions.

The guilt my soul feels is immense. In a perfect world, with the snap of my fingers, the Reapers would be destroyed, the catastrophe averted, the destruction healed. This isn't a perfect world. Even with the immense scope of my abilities, my range is not enough. Even if I could repair the world, it wouldn't matter. They wouldn't be able to maintain it. My many years have given me the opportunity to ponder on everything, including how to make a civilization without problems… without so many problems I should say. Don't do this. You should do this. I recommend this. They never listen. For so many people, if an idea or opinion that didn't originate from inside their skulls, even if it is a good idea, they'd detest it.

Cortez's console alarm is hectic "Shit. We got a lock. Hold on." A high-powered laser from a Reapers narrowly avoids us but hit the shuttle trailing us.

Shepard radios the shuttle "status?"

Cortez says "that was the squad responsible for taking out that defense turret."

Shepard asks "who's on it now?"

Cortez answers "nobody in the vicinity. All either deployed or shot down."

Shepard immediately orders Cortez to drop us off.

Cortez turns back "Sir?"

Shepard says "we have to take that thing out before the hammer can land."

Cortez replies "understood."

Shepard shouts back to us "Change of plans, people. We're gonna take out that Hades cannon."

Liara asks "how do we do that?"

Garrus asks me "********* could you do it for us?"

I get what he is asking "how big will the explosion be if I decide to cheat?"

Shepard says "too big to risk it. The Hades cannons have a weak spot I'll aim for. That will bring it down."

Cortez informs us "that downed shuttle will be carrying heavy weapons."

Shepard smiles "perfect. You heard the man. Once we're clear, make your way to the crashed shuttle. We'll search the wreckage for heavy weapons." Cortez lands the shuttle as best as he could with no platform.

Liara readies her pistol "right behind you Shepard."

Right outside the shuttle doors are three husks and 2 cannibals. I forgot about this and in my freight, used my abilities to blast them to high hell. My squad stares at me, bewildered I actually used my powers. While Liara's biotics could have taken care of them for us, I still feel guilty. I give Cortez a couple of my grenades to even the playing field a bit. The step incline up the hill made the ascend difficult, but not impossible. I slipped on some dust, taking a knee to a chunk of broken concrete. That's going to bruise up. We proceed to the next area. The smoke signal located in the crash site is our guide.

The area is heavily fortified. 20 enemies at the minimum. Garrus's scope identifies indoctrinated batarians and the brutes. Hideous krogan-turian fusions. This is going to be a hard fight. Our saving grace will be the battlefield. It's a maze built from fallen street signs, bullet torn vehicles, and other decomposing parts of a once proud beautiful city, even if it is in England. We'll split up and use the debris to force the husks to come to us. If 300 Spartans can block the Persians, we can handle a dozen husks. Garrus stays back to alert us from the big boys and takes pleasure crippling their legs. The Reaper horns blaring in several directions disorient me, but not enough to interfere with my battle. Garrus warns me a cannibal is coming from the other side of my cover. My omnitool blade finds a sheathe in its neck. The techno zombified batarian eyes glow with a dangerous energy. Uh oh. I roll away just in time. The chunks of batarian meat and immensely corrosive stomach acid came in inch from touching me. A husk leaps at me, its revolting metal teeth aim for my neck. A zombie or a vampire never injured that area or ever will. The husk's head pops like a ballon. I thank Garrus and hightail it to cover. Garrus says "you're welcome. Also, all the husks are gone but Liara and Shepard need your help from the Brutes."

My sniper wasn't messing around. The battleground couple are having a rough time. The barrage of bullets shooting from one direction and biotics from the other indicate who is behind that wall. Closing in the left side are slow moving brutes and on the right a cannibal. I don't have time to kill either. I climb up the wall and offer Liara and Shepard my hand. Once they saw who was coming, they didn't hesitate. I pulled them up. Liara panics and places them in stasis. I use my last remaining grenade and drop it. We roll off the wall. Before we hit the ground, the explosion kills them. The shock of the force rattles the dust and some pebbles off and onto us. We stand, patting the filth off us.

Shepard radios to Garrus "are we clear?"

Garrus says "yes but not for long. Hurry."

Shepard sprints to the rim of the shuttle impact crater. His focus on the cargo blocks him from perceiving the two dead Alliance soldiers. Shepard finds exactly what he needs. The M-920 next generation cain weapon, suited for long range.

Shepard identifies the weak spot, a vent which periodically opens and shuts. The Commander calculates the range and adjusts for projectile drop. Wisely, he waits for the vent to close as the time it takes for the explosive to reach, it should be open, and that's exactly what happens. The blast causes a chain reaction. The result is the battery of the Hades cannon overheating. The shockwave from the blast blows us to the ground. The skyscrapers above us drop hail of glass. Sharp silvery silica hail. Tinkle tinkle tinkle. If the explosion didn't give us hearing damage, the banshee will. Accompanying her are more husks and cannibals then we can handle. I switch from my assault rifle to dual pistols. While normally firing two guns in different directions results in poor accuracy and increased risk of friendly fire, there are so many it isn't an issue. Shepard requests an evac. He says it will be here in a minute. We have to do our best to survive. We pull out everything we have. Liara creates a giant black hole. It lasts 15 seconds, but nearly knocks the wind out of her. Adrenaline is her fuel now. Garrus runs towards the three of us, his machine gun eliminates a close wave, it buys us time, however it will take longer to cool down then we have. The panic sets in. Spray and pray is our only option. It's a miracle we survived. The shuttle came at the last second possible. We don't even wait for them to open the doors before we run for our lives.

Our savior yells "hurry! We are taking fire."

I hit the floor. Immediately turning around to kill anyone thinking of hitchhiking. I nearly shot Garrus thinking he was a brute. Major Coats tells his Corporal to get out of here and introduces us. The elixir of cortisol and adrenaline in our bloods dissipates enough to get our heads straight. We stand up. Major Coats asks Shepard "are you okay?"

Shepard says "I'm alive."

A hopeful voice come from the cockpit "That you are, Commander."

Shepard turns around. Renewed vigor in his eyes and a relived smile. Captain Anderson. The Commander immediately pulls his hand, hugging him "It's good to see you."

Anderson says "and you're a sight for sore eyes."

Shepard returns to soldier mode "how are we looking?"

Anderson says "Now that the heavy air defenses are dealt with, Hammer can land."

Major Coats says "and not a moment too soon."

Anderson continues "What's left of the resistance is holding a forward operating base, but the Reapers are countering already. Once we regroup, it's gonna be up to Hammer to take up the fight."

Shepard says "it must've been brutal here. Cut off from the rest of the Alliance."

Anderson explains "it's been touch and go from day one, but once we figured out the Reapers were focusing on major centers, it became easier to avoid direct contact."

Major Coats says "until London."

Anderson says "Yeah. We held back as long as we could. Sending in recon teams. Lost a lot of good men planning this attack, but with soldiers like Major Coats, and knowing you'd bring us help… we held on."

Shepard replies "without you and your resistance, we'd be dead in the water."

Major Coats says "Yeah, the Admiral's being modest. He's the reason any of us are still alive."

Anderson says "let's not start handing out medals just yet. This fight is just getting started and Hammer better be ready for it."

Shepard says "They didn't start out together, but they're ready to stand side by side and win this war."

Anderson says "Good. That's what it's gonna take."

Shepard assures him "we'll get it done, Anderson."

Anderson, dispirited as he watched the ruins of London pass through the window, tells us "I was born in London."

Shepard asks "really?"

This conversation brings back memories when my hometown changed, and it wasn't my hometown anymore. It wasn't destroyed, but the pain hurts to the core.

Anderson's bravery comes back "the entire galaxy united. Too bad it took Reapers to bring us together."

Garrus says "Shepard is the one that brought them together."

Anderson replies "that's exactly what I meant. I know you didn't like leaving, Shepard, but nobody could've accomplished what you've done."

Shepard says "it's good to be back home."

Major Coats informs us "there is the FOB."

Anderson says "looks good. Give hammer the all clear."