Holy God I am so sorry for the long hiatus. I have had no inspiration for Masscreed whatsoever this past while. Well with Christmas around the corner I thought I'd finally work up the nerve to give you all another chapter. The final chapter, actually. There might be a sixteenth "epilogue" chapter but I figured I might as well get this dealt with.

No long author's note today. Charge.

Normandy SR-2, 2185

This was it. The moment the Normandy crew had both anticipated and dreaded had finally arrived. It was time to enter the Omega-4 Relay. "Please confirm destination, Shepard. The Reaper IFF is online, but there is a chance that the Normandy may not survive the Omega-4 Relay. Once we are en route, we are committed," said EDI, whose voice spoke over the comms. John Shepard stood over the Galaxy Map, charting the course carefully.

"The Collectors took my people. Time to go get them back," John replied, smirking smugly.

"You got it, Commander. Plotting a course for the Omega-4 Relay. ETA about 2 hours. I'll let you know when we arrive."

Eyes fluttering open, Kairee quietly woke up, stretching and yawning. She rolled over to see Alexander already out of bed and fully dressed in a fresh set of Levantines. He was sitting at his desk… writing something down in a notebook. No, he was handwriting it. Kairee lifted her brow, propping herself up on her arms. Nobody ever handwrote anything anymore; everything was typed into datapads and the holoscreen had essentially replaced paper. Hell, she didn't even know he owned paper.

Then again this was the same man that actually followed the protocol to wear clothes from the 12th century on the daily and whom owned 15th century ammonia-based smelling salts in Renaissance-era iron phials.

"Sleep well?" He said, startling Kairee. He hadn't even looked back at her. She assumed he heard her yawn.

"I did," she replied. Her subharmonic carried a somewhat sultry, pleased sound to it. "What about you, you seemed rather, erm, what's the word… sensitive, last night after the Heretic incident?" she asked.

Alexander chuckled under his breath, continuing to write down notes and sketch drawings. "I'm fine, now. I just needed some sleep, I haven't had much of it these past few days," he said, completing a small sketch of the Sur'Kesh Apple. "Man, I bet you could just feel the edge. Speaking of which, um. Weird question, I wasn't… last night… while I was all emotional…"

Kairee laughed and blushed, gleefully recalling the events of the previous night. Her talons lightly brushed over her mandible. "You were great, darling. Well, after we got past the awkwardness of all the antihistamines and other stuff,"came the giggly reply.

"Well I couldn't risk hurting you." Alexander set his pen down and swiveled his chair around so he could face Kairee. "You matter too much to me, I couldn't afford to not care, as mood-breaking as it might have been."

"So what were you writing?" Kairee asked, looking to change the topic before the mood died a second death.

Alexander grabbed the notebook off of the desk and handed it to Kairee, who glanced over the pages. Page after page, there were scrawlings she couldn't read, as they were in English, Russian-Cyrillic, and Turkish. Beside the various notes and captions were admittedly well-drawn sketches of Sovereign, then the Pieces of Eden in front of Collectors and First Civilization, which to Kairee looked like the average human. "I've been taking notes and reflecting on the nature of the artifact and its effects," Alexander explained, tapping his index finger on the sketch of the Sur'Kesh Apple.

"And?"

"See, Joker was able to use the Sur'Kesh Apple to repel Collectors and outright kill them, so I thought that…"

"All hands to your stations. I repeat, all hands to your stations. We're preparing to make the jump through Omega-4 in ten minutes. Suit up, arm yourselves, and hold on. Expect heavy resistance once the IFF stops confusing hostile scanners," announced the voice of Jane Shepard.

Alexander half-sighed, half-groaned, taking the notebook back and clapping it shut, tossing it onto his desk. He leaned over to kiss Kairee on the nose, standing up and heading towards the armory to don his equipment. "I'll see you at the briefing. I have to direct the others," he said, just before the door sealed shut behind him.

Kairee sat alone in the silence for a moment longer before leaving the comfort of the bed. Her own Levantines had been torn from the previous night's encounter, but until she could return to her room to change it would have to do. Straightening the scarlet silk sash on her waist she flashed a quick smirk as a very much Piece of Eden related idea popped into her head.

"Shepard. I wish I had more information for you. I don't like you heading through that relay blind," said the Illusive Man, taking a puff of his cigarette, "But we don't have much choice."

"I'm not going alone. Behind me are some of the best, and we're going to make it out alive," John Shepard replied, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. Nobody was actually in the room with him, but the point stood regardless.

"I knew we brought you back for a reason… I've never seen a better leader. Despite the danger it's a great opportunity… the first human to take a ship through, and survive."

"I'm going through that thing to stop the Collectors and end their attacks on humanity. This isn't a field trip."

"Understood," the Illusive Man replied, a bit downcast. "…still impressive. I just wanted you to know that I appreciate the risk that you're taking, here, Shepard. Regardless of your opinion of Cerberus or the Templars. To me, you are a valuable asset. To all of humanity. Be careful, Shepard."

The Relay was a behemoth, no other words could better describe it. A titantic monstrosity of metal and energy, not unlike the other relays spread throughout the galaxy. But this one was different. Instead of an electric blue, this one was an infernal orange, and emanated a sense of dread, of suffering, from the revolving rings that kept its energy flowing. As there was no air in space, there was nothing to facilitate the movement of sound, but judging from the ominous humming and gentle vibration felt all throughout the Normandy as it made the history-making approach, it was as loud as it was intimidating. Still, the crew of the Normandy wouldn't give up so easily. All it was, was the gateway to Hell. This was nothing to them.

"Approaching Omega-4 Relay… everyone, standby," said Joker, as he navigated the ship towards the jump point.

"Let's make it happen," John said from over Joker's shoulder.

"Reaper IFF Activated," said EDI, activating the Drive Core as well. "Signal acknowledged."

Jacob Taylor watched over the activation process. Something about the Core didn't sit well. "Commander," he said, "The Drive Core just lit up like a Christmas tree…"

"Drive Core electrical charge at critical levels."

"Rerouting!" Joker said, a bit panicked, as the ship shook violently, blasting through the warp corridor created by the Omega-4 Relay.

Alexander charged into the room, hastily finishing locking his left gauntlet to his armor, stumbling and recovering just as quickly. Outside the cockpit were the swirling clouds of blue that characterized an FTL jump. "Brace for deceleration!" EDI cried. The black and blue was replaced with a hazy orange and yellow glow.

And a massive field of debris. "Oh SHIT!" Joker cried, as the Normandy came deathly close to the wreckage of a cruiser. He managed to get the ship to brake and bank, pulling the bow up and cruising over the wreckage. The ship flew over the debris field, and they were in the clear for the time being. "Phew… too close," Joker continued, leaning against his seat. John and Alexander looked up, out of the window, to see an unwelcomed, unholy sight – the Collector Base, the largest structure in the debris field by far, orbiting a gigantic black hole.

"Sagittarius A*…" Alexander murmured, mouth parting as he took in the realization that he now stood in the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

"These must be all the ships that tried to make it through the Omega-4 Relay…" Joker surmised, resuming his duties of moving the ship towards the behemoth of a base. "Some look… ancient."

"I have detected an energy signature near the edge of the accretion disk," EDI said.

"Has to be the Collector Base… take us in for a closer look, nice and easy."

Joker did so, not knowing that the defense system was already online.

"Careful, Jeff! We have company!" EDI warned. Scanners indicated said "company" and painted them on the ladar. That was when they fired. Narrow, crimson beams of energy flew past the wings of the ship, and were visible from the cockpit as they sped off toward the black hole.

"Taking evasive maneuvers!" The ship pulled a 180 flip, rolled around, and Joker fired the main guns, destroying one of the drones. Another rolled out of the way and fired a beam down the spine of the ship.

"Shit… as long as that new plating holds, though, we should be alright," Alexander said, looking up at the ceiling as the ship rocked.

"Going for another round?" Joker asked. "C'mon girl… let's give it to 'em!"

Evasive maneuvers continued, with one of the drones getting the upper hand and lasering the ship in the rear. The Core was in danger of overloading, but improvements made long ago fixed that problem before it started, saving the life of Tali'Zorah, who worked as hard as she could to prevent critical failure. Another 180 flip, another drone down… but one went missing.

"Alert, hull breach on the Engineering Deck!" EDI called out, summoning a holomap of the ship with a red circle on the Engineering Deck.

"It's in the cargo hold!" Joker cried, facepalming and shaking his head, sweat dribbling down his face.

"I'll take a team and clear them out. You get the rest of them off our tail!" John cried, patting Alexander's shoulder and sprinting out of the cockpit. Alexander tapped a button on his visor's frame and spoke.

"Lora Baan and Eleria T'Geya to Cargo Hold, ASAP. John's gonna need some help," he said. He stayed in the cockpit with Joker, eyeing the various controls and monitors, Eagle Vision activating to look for any errors he could call attention to. Miranda would join them some time later.

John was joined in the elevator by Lora, Eleria, and the team he picked out which consisted of Grunt and Thane. The deadly quintet was lowered to the Cargo Hold and, guns at the ready, they charged out to meet their foe.

"Oculus spotted, get out of the way of its laser cannon!" Lora screamed, stringing her words together so quickly she didn't even need a deep breath halfway through her sentence. Without asking what an oculus was, the squad heeded the warning just as said cannon struck a crate, burning a hole clean through it.

"The thing's equipped with armor plating and minimal shielding," Eleria said, taking notice of the slight gleam the oculus's armor possessed.

"Taken care of!" Lora cried, firing an overload straight into its eye, shorting its shields for a brief time.

Grunt roared, quite happily, and fired a concussive shot to tilt the oculus off-kilter while Eleria and Thane combined warps to cause an intense biotic explosion, pushing it towards the hole it punched into the hull. John charged onto the top of the oculus and unloaded his shotgun into its armor plating, knocking a few plates off before jumping off of the oculus just as it fired into the ceiling, burning a shallow hole in it. John rolled into cover as the laser came back down, sawing through another metal crate. Distracted, the oculus could not focus as Grunt charged underneath it and fired a round from his Claymore. Lora called forth a combat drone to provide cannon fodder and cover fire.

"It appears we will need heavy weapons to take it out for good!" the raspy voice of Thane observed, as the oculus's shields came back online. John looked around frantically in response. Something… a grenade launcher, a missile launcher…

A Cain.

The best goddamn heavy weapon a man could ask for.

John lunged out of cover and sprinted towards the Cain, which sat precariously on the inner edge of the hole the Oculus made. It must have been thrown there when the cargo was scattered. A laser cut off his path to the Cain, and he was forced back into cover. Seeing an opportunity, Eleria flung herself out of cover with her biotics, vaulted over the oculus, and dashed to retrieve the Cain.

She only picked it up at the last possible second. Another blast from the oculus sped towards her, striking her in the arm of her armor, frying through her shields and causing her to drop the Cain and drop to the floor, wounded. "Eleria! Hold on, I'm coming over there now!" Thane cried, frontflipping over low cover. The ship rocked and another rectangular crate slide in his way. Grunt, John, and Lora kept holding the oculus at bay the best they could manage, as it seemed to understand the concept of fear. Fear of the Cain, that was. Thane leaped into the air, double-konging over the crate as another laser fired, brushing him just underneath his chest. He sprinted over to Eleria, picking her up, kicking the Cain to John, then zooming away with the help of his biotics.

John took the Cain in hand and stood, aiming at the oculus. "Everyone clear out!" he cried.

Grunt was quick to follow up. "You heard the Commander, everyone get out of Shepard's way!" he boomed, lunging into cover. He too knew the power of the Cain.

The oculus… didn't fire, this time, and just seemed to stare in abject defeat. John smirked, pulling the trigger. There was a delay.

"Get the hell off of my ship."

There was a muffled boom as Joker was considering his many options to solve this oculi problem. "We're sitting ducks out here!" he cried. "…I'm going to try to shake them off in the debris field!" he said, taking the ship down and into the heart of the debris field. The ship was jolting as space got tight.

"Jeff, our kinetic barriers are not designed to handle impact with debris of that size…" EDI cautioned.

"Well I guess it's a good thing we upgraded. I'm going in!" Joker replied, accelerating just as the ship passed under a block of debris, which struck an oculus and shut it down for good. The Cargo Bay was charred from the explosion, and the rocking of the ship caused the five warriors to stumble into cargo left and right as they tried to make it for the elevator. The Normandy scraped against the hull of a derelict ship. "C'mon, find some room!"

"Kinetic barriers are at 40%."

"Reroute non-critical power… this is gonna hurt!" Joker said, fully embracing the fate of his ribcage. Alexander and Miranda bolted from the cockpit to go strap themselves in. Joker pulled up on the bow, gliding downwards further into the debris, stressing the engines and lowering the barriers by another five percent. "Haa… take the helm, EDI, and take it slow… make sure we don't get anymore attention."

Another oculus survived. "I've detected another breach in the Cargo Hold…" EDI remarked, a bit tiredly.

"Again? This one's up to Shepard…"

"I said get the hell off my ship!"

There was another thunderous boom, and the alert was cleared. "We're about to clear the debris field," Miranda called from over the comms, summoning Shepard and company back up to the cockpit. Within minutes, John, Alexander, and Miranda were in the cockpit, looking out at the horizon so to speak, beholding the galactic core and the Collector Base.

"There it is… Hell itself," Alexander muttered, crossing his arms.

"See if you can find a place to land without drawing any attention," John said, as Joker followed the command.

"Whup… too late. Looks like they've sent out an old friend to greet us," Joker said, scratching his head and calling attention to the Collector Cruiser, which was deploying from out of the side of the Base. The Cruiser was thought to be gigantic in size, rivaled by no other ship. But then they noted just how tiny it looked in comparison to the Base itself.

"If… the Cruiser couldn't be filled by all the Terminus Systems…" Miranda started, gulping anxiously.

"And it's only so big compared to the Base…" Alexander continued. The two exchanged a look that said it all. Not even the 11 billion people on Earth could fill this base. The entire combined, galactic human population, and possibly the Turian population in addition, was a drop in the bucket for this monster.

In mere minutes the Cruiser was ready to engage with the Normandy. John only smirked. "Time to show our new teeth. Fire the main gun!" Of course, he was referring to the one and only Thanix Cannon.

Two turrets dropped from the underside of the ship's cockpit and charged their payload in seconds, firing a bright blue wave of devastating energy, which burrowed into the center of the Collector Cruiser, breaking its chitinous hull apart. To the Normandy crew, this was payback for the two years ago incident. "How do you like THAT you sons of bitches?!" Joker cried, bucking at the Cruiser, aiming to look intimidating. The Comms were lively, as most of the crew got to see the show.

"Showing our new teeth, alright! Dr. Garrus Vakarian DDS is in the house!"

"Kamehameha you dirty brother-killers!"

"Haha! What dirty fireworks!"

The Cruiser was still standing. John simpered viciously. "Get in close. Finish them off." He didn't get to flash his inner renegade that often, but when he got a chance to live on the wild side without coming across as a thug, he'd take it.

"A-ha-alright! Everybody hold on because this is going to be a WILD ride!" Joker cried, accelerating towards the wounded Cruiser. Dodging a yellow laser blast, Joker performed a aileron roll and zoomed up to the Cruiser, slamming the figurative big red button. Said Cruiser exploded in a series of violent shockwaves and spiraling debris, knocking the ship off course and downing the Mass Effect Field.

"Mass Effect Field generators are offline. EDI! Give me something!"

"Generators are unresponsive. All hands brace for impact."

The ship's wing struck the Base, clipping against it and causing the ship to spiral as it grinded across the hull plating of the Base, sliding into a cavern. It came to a stop soon enough, and all was quiet.

"Joker!" John cried, rushing to the pilot's aid.

"Euagh, I think I broke a rib… or all of them…" he moaned, struggling to sit up. He knew this would happen. He just guessed too early.

"Multiple core system overloads occurred during the crash. Restoring operation will take time," EDI said.

"Well… we all knew this was going to be a one-way trip…" Miranda sighed, holding her head.

"To hell with that," Alexander replied. "EDI can still restore operation, she said it'd take time, and that's all we got right now!"

"Our primary objective," John said, cutting the two off from the inevitable argument, "Is to destroy this station and take out the Collectors. At any cost. Do I make myself clear?"

Joker chuckled, moving past the pain. "Well then we're off to a great start! What's next?"

"How long until the Collectors discover this landing zone?" John inquired.

"I am not detecting an internal security network. It is possible that the Collectors did not expect anyone to reach the base."

"Well that's pretentious," Alexander quipped, dusting himself off a bit more, standing at attention for further instruction.

"Well if we're lucky their external sensors may have been hit like we were – they might not know we're alive."

The Briefing Room was filled to the brim with the galaxy's finest warriors. From soldiers to engineers, to doctors to informants, to psychopaths to bounty hunters. John Shepard walked through the crowd as it parted to let him pass. He stood at the back of the room and cleared his throat. All eyes, all ears, on him. His sister stood to his right, accompanied by Garrus, and to his left stood Tali, who gave him an empathetic pat on the shoulder and whispered words of encouragement to him.

"This isn't how we planned this mission," he started, "but this is where we're at. We can't worry about whether the Normandy can get us home. We came out her to stop the Collectors, and that means we need to come up with a plan to take out this Base! EDI, bring up your scans!"

An orange hologram of the Base hovered over the table. "You should be able to overload their critical systems if you can get to the main control center, here." She highlighted it in blue.

"That means going through the heart of the station, right past this vast energy signature," Jacob said, lifting his Omnitool and highlighting the signature in cyan.

"That's the central chamber…" John replied, continuing his speech. "If our crew… or the colonists, are still alive, that's where they'd be held."

"There are two main routes. Might be a good idea to split up, and keep the Collectors off balance, then regroup in the central chamber," Jacob suggested.

"No good, both routes are blocked. See these doors, the only way to get past would be for somebody to open them from the other side," Miranda replied.

"It's not a fortress, there has to be some way…" John said, leaning forward and wracking his brain for necessary ideas. He noticed a particular piece of the holomap, and nodded faintly. "Here, maybe we can send someone through this ventilation shaft."

Jacob simpered. "Practically a suicide mission," he said, crossing his arms. "I volunteeeer…"

The technologically adept members of the team gave him a look that communicated well what was on their mind; that he was an idiot. Miranda tried to play it nice, however. "I appreciate the thought, Jacob, but you couldn't shut down the security systems in time. We need to send in a tech expert."

"Your call, Commander," Jacob said, a little peeved.

"Here's a thought," Wrex said, eyes on Legion. "Send the Geth in to do it, make him pull his own weight around here." He grinned, half-expecting him to die, half-expecting Legion to be able to actually get it done and survive. Regardless, he wasn't one to forget a grudge, especially after the events that unfolded two years prior to now. Whatever the circumstances, heretics or no heretics, Legion wasn't too trustworthy in the Krogan's eyes.

"He can hack through anything," John decided. "Legion, you're going in the shaft."

"Acknowledged," replied Legion, as he cocked his sniper rifle, holding it up at the ceiling.

"The rest of us with break into two teams, and fight down each passage. That should draw the Collector's attention away from what Legion is doing," continued John.

"I'll lead the second Fireteam, Commander. We'll meet up on the other side of the doors."

Jack snickered. "Not so fast, cheerleader… nobody wants to take orders from you…" she said, snarling at Miranda.

"No offense but she's kind of right," Jane added, raising her hand. "I volunteer. We're both Shepards, right? We all can agree that we have this innate leadership quality?"

"This isn't a popularity contest! Lives are at stake! Commander you need to pick somebody who can command loyalty through experience!" Miranda fired back, eyes on John.

"Ashley, you lead your own squad on Eden Prime, right? Dog Squad?"

"I'm not sure I'm ready for that responsibility, John," Ashley said, shaking her head and waving her hands as she instantly realized where he was going with that.

"Nonsense. Don't you remember what you did on Virmire?" Kaidan said, nudging her shoulder. "You led that team all by yourself and you accomplished your mission!"

Ashley gave it a moment's consideration then smiled brightly. "I'll do it."

Miranda shrugged. "Alright. As long as this isn't a repeat of Dog Squad." Rather than let this get to her, Ashley remained silent.

Alexander was quietly examining the holomap when he felt something. Not an energy signature… something more menacing. Powerful. Familiar. "Wait. This plan cannot work," he said, a bit abruptly, as John was about to make the closing speech.

"And what, pray-tell, is the problem with it?" Thane asked, hands behind his back as he regarded his colleague with a blank expression that still somehow conveyed irritation.

"You can try to overload their systems all you want, but while somebody is up there micromanaging everything that goes on in this facility, their just going to shut it back down or sabotage any devices we plug into their systems."

"A Collector General, then?" Samara inquired, narrowing her eyes.

Jacob closed his eyes, recalling the Collector Cruiser incident, and the mission on Horizon. "Somebody has to be in control of these Collectors."

"That was 'Harbinger.' A Reaper has been controlling them remotely, but he can take one as his avatar whenever he wants," Jane explained, "What does he have to do with this?"

Eleria continued for Alexander. "I can see what he means. Sure, Harbinger gets to control Collectors on a whim, but there has to be some kind of favorite toy, right? Somebody he possesses regularly to maintain the Collector Base or Cruiser as he sees fit?"

At this point, Lora crawled up onto the table and walked to the Holomap, pointing at the very center of the chamber, highlighting a fairly large energy signature in green. "This location here would, ~hhkkt~ likely be where their Collector General, ~hhkkt~ would reside."

Kairee was catching on, and she extended a hidden blade to the green highlighted area. "Alexander and I will lead the Assassins up there to take out this alleged Collector General and the other favorites of Harbinger, so that you can set the reaction in motion and destroy the base," she said.

"But first, I ask that you allow me to retrieve something important first," Alexander replied. "A weapon I've been meaning to try."

John nodded in reply and examined the map for any more anomalies. "I don't know what we're gonna find in there but I won't lie to you; it's not gonna be easy," he said, starting the end of his briefing speech, "We've lost good people… we may lose more." He put his hands behind his back and stood in a digified posture. "We don't know how many the Collectors have stolen. Thousands. Hundreds of thousands. But that's not important. What matters is this: Not. One. More. That's what we can do. Here. Today. It ends with us. They want to know what we're made of?! Then I say we show them! On our terms! So let's bring our people home!"

Cheers went throughout the squad. As John and Jane were about to depart, Jack held up a hand to gesture for them to stop. She sniffed the air. Then again. Repeatedly she tried to pick up some kind of scent. She gave a smug grin to John, Tali, Jane, Garrus, Alexander, and Kairee. "Did all six of you have the same idea at the exact same time?" she asked the blushing couples, who refused to grace her with a response and simply exited the briefing room.

The warriors exited the Normandy, weapons at the ready. The first Fireteam, made up of John, Kaidan, and Mordin, left from the front of the Normandy while the second Fireteam left from the rear, headed by Ashley, and composed of everyone else. John opted to take the path of least resistance and cut a clear route through to guide the vent shaft saboteur through their personal suicide mission, while the majority of the crew would draw out the most Collectors to keep them away from the vents. The Assassination Squad made their way out with the second Fireteam, then ran off in their own direction, following Alexander's Eagle Sense.

After setting themselves up with a squad-wide Incendiary Ammunition Morph, Fireteam Alpha walked boldly forward, into the darkness that awaited.

Fireteam Alpha: We Are Legion

"We are in position. Exterior temperature slightly elevated. No obstructions detected," Legion said.

"Second Team, are you in position?" John asked, fingers on the temple of his helmet.

"Affirmative, Skipper, we're in position and we read you loud and clear. We'll meet you on the other side of those doors," came Ashley's reply. Gunfire was heard just shortly thereafter. As John turned the corner to the next chamber, bullets flew past his head and he fell back.

"They've seen us!" he called out.

Kaidan pulled out an M6 Carnifex and fired a shot into a Collector's head, causing it to explode, which killed the Collector instantly. He fell into cover and began firing aimlessly over cover without looking to provide cover-fire for Mordin and John. They joined him under a wall of chitin. John threw a pushed shockwave, which blasted a handful of Collectors off the platform they were standing on, except for their leader who possessed a barrier. Kaidan fired a warp over cover, which homed in on the Collector captain and detonated on his shield. Mordin stood up with a Locust SMG, spraying the ammo on the Collector, setting it ablaze and watching it burn to ash. He sniffed sharply. "Roast insect. Delicacy in some cultures… not so much in professional opinion."

John stood up and ran along the walkway, drawing out the Revenant he had found on the Cruiser and spraying bullets at an oncoming wave of reinforcements flying in to supplement the first line of defense. "Kaidan, Mordin! Remove that Heat Exchange!" he cried out.

"John-Commander, an obstruction has been detected!" Legion cried out. Kaidan set to work using his Omnitool to hack into the valve, opening it up while John suppressed the Collector onslaught. "Obstruction removed! Proceeding!"

John stopped firing his weapon and fell back in line with the other two in his squad, advancing forwards down a winding hall which led to the next chamber. A crumbled pathway lined the side of the ventilation shaft. Kaidan opened the next valve, running out into the crossfire to do so while Mordin and John provided cover fire with a Locust and Revenant respectively. One Collector dropped, then another. The valve opened. Another Collector dead.

An ominous voice boomed through the chitinous, derelict cavern of a base. "I will tend to this matter myself…"

"Shit, Commander! Harbinger's here!" Kaidan cried, recognizing that voice from Horizon. John gritted his teeth and inserted another thermal clip into his Revenant. He then switched it out for his Claymore.

"Kaidan, I'm clearing you a path. Mordin, cover me," John said. He rolled over cover and disappeared in a biotic charge, becoming a bright blue torpedo that rammed into Harbinger at full speed. He slammed his gun into Harbinger's head, shattering his barrier, before firing a blast from the shotgun, blowing the head off. The Collector's body exploded into ash and embers. Mordin fired an incendiary blast at another Collector about to knife John in the back of the head. It was staggered back as John reloaded and aimed behind his head, blasting the CQC Collector away. Kaidan ran to the third valve.

"John-Commander! External Temperature is increasing!" Legion called, as the valve was opened. After the third valve, the pathway was too crumbled to proceed, so the three fighters had to jump across the metallic platforms to reach the fourth valve. Another swarm of Collectors flew in, one already possessed by Harbinger.

"Direct intervention is necessary," he said, landing in front of Shepard and kicking away his shotgun. Mordin and Kaidan rushed past the two to deal with other Collectors. John threw his fist forward only to be caught, then drew his backup Paladin pistol to fire at Harbinger.

Harbinger gripped John's wrist and wrested the gun away, pointing it at his face, only to have the gun kicked up into the air. The two traded blows, parrying each other's strikes for a count of three seconds before John caught the pistol, juked under and around Harbinger's leg, and fired into the back of his head twice, killing his body. The fourth valve was opened shortly after.

They kept on going, over platforms and through passageways both metal and chitin to open valves, and as they went, Harbinger kept coming back for more, targeting John alone, trying and failing to achieve revenge with the limitations of the bodies he steals.

It was the final valve. The Collectors were numerous, outnumbering them 27:3. Legion was overheating, fast. "John-Commander, temperature reaching critical levels," he said, as Kaidan threw a biotic pull field towards a drone, yanking it off the ground before shooting it down with his pistol.

"Lucky you chose synthetic. Had you chosen organic… would be dead," Mordin remarked. An incendiary blast burnt the armor plating off of one larger Collector warrior, allowing John to swipe it off the platform with a biotic lift and throw. A beige and black-smoke warp impacted John, searing away his shields as a Collector assassin with glowing cracks all over its body came down to battle in CQC. Kaidan attempted to rush the valve, but Harbinger stayed his enemy's hand and struck him in the jaw, pulling out a shotgun covered in rough, chitinous material. Mordin lunged onto Harbinger, pulling his firing arm up and away, causing the shot to miss by a parsec. John ran over, flicking his wrist and revealing the electo-biotic hidden blade, recently perfected. As he was about to ram it into Harbinger's throat, a sharp shard of chitin erupted from Harbinger's wrist, misdirecting the stab into the wall behind his head. Kneeing John in the stomach, he fired a warp at Mordin, blasting him towards the door, then slashing Kaidan across the chestplate before front-kicking him down.

"John-Commander!" Legion said, before experiencing a tic brought on by overheating hardware. He began hitting the obstruction with his closed hand, trying to get it to open. John threw an underhand shockwave, which rode over the platform under Harbinger's legs, then up the wall behind his back. When it exploded for the last time, Harbinger's armor was broken off and his body flew off the platform into the abyss below. Kaidan recovered, jumped over his Commander, then opened the valve at the last possible second. The heat was flushed and Legion, who was ready to die, ran an emergency diagnostics check, fixing the broken hardware and cleaning his software. Legion ran through the shaft to the other side of the door and accessed the console. John, Kaidan, and Mordin kept firing away at the Collector reinforcements on their side.

"Come in, Ash!" John shouted into the Comms.

"We're all accounted for! Legion, get that door open!"

After about a minute, they heard an explosion. "The door has malfunctioned," Legion stated, knelt down on the other side of the door, hotwiring it to open after the console was destroyed. Within seconds the door was open and Mordin was first through, followed by Kaidan, then John, who backpedaled into the room, firing at Harbinger, who took over a standard drone with an assault rifle, firing from the air.

"Form a line and suppressive fire, let nothing get through that door!" Ashley boomed, standing over a kneeling Zaeed and Wrex, who did as told while the door was closing. Not one Collector made it in when it sealed shut.

Raucous hollering and cheering went through the Fireteams. High-fives were exchanged and adrenaline was off the charts. "Nice work Legion! I knew we could count on you!" John said, taking a moment to breathe.

After only seconds though, a shocked and awed Miranda drew his attention. "Shepard… you need to see this…"

A room, misty and fetid, with ceilings that went on for kilometers. Pods, like the ones on the Cruiser, lined the walls and produced a moist, thick, blinding odor that passed through even Tali's olfactory filters. To most, it was a scent worse than that of a pile of aged carcasses. To even Grunt, he wanted to gag, and silently wished he weren't here. Wide tubes went from wall to wall to wall, then off winding through the corridors to some unknown location.

"…Alex, do you copy?" Jane asked, ready to start streaming her HUD's perspective to Alexander and his team.

There was static, before Alexander's voice broke through. "We haven't located the General but we're on the right track. We just finished off a wave of Collectors. Eleria's hurt, but she's alive. Kairee's administering medigel… what I wouldn't give for a little reinforcement… the hell are you guys anyway?"

She started streaming as the group approached the pods closest to the floors. Ashley and Kaidan took note of one pod in particular. An unconscious woman stood straight up, head slumped a little to the side. "Lilith?" Kaidan asked nobody in particular, hand on the "glass" of the pod.

"There's more over here!" Thane called, gesturing to a cluster of pods holding the familiar faces of Ken, Gabby, Chakwas, Gardner, Hawthorne, and the others. Suddenly, steam began hissing from the underside of Lilith's pod.

"God… she's alive!" Jane cried as Lilith woke up. Her sun-kissed skin began to rot away into black and red blotches and gashes as her flesh melted, eyes slowly going clouded and white with blindness. She began hitting the glass, screaming at the top of her lungs while Jane and Miranda scurried to find a release switch. As Lilith beat the glass, it created a splash of blood and melted organic fluids, a thick syrup of base proteins that coated the walls of the pod as she frantically tried to escape and fight through the pain. Her hair fell and turned to dust, her limbs came apart and her legs melted down, dropping her height by centimeters every second. Her screams died down as her organs failed and her brain was liquefied, though her vegetated body continued to instinctually hit the glass, with its last remnants of consciousness, coating the glass with what once was human flesh and blood.

"GET THEM OUT OF THERE!" John screamed, taking out his weapons and battering the glass on Chakwas's pod, wailing at the pod like he was going insane.

Grunt and Wrex took out their shotguns and smashed the glass on Ken and Gabby's pods in one fell strike, catching their intact bodies as Ashley and Kaidan worked together to punch their way into Gardner's pod. The others retrieved the rest of the crewman and laid them down safely away from the pods. Chakwas was first to awaken. "Shepard… you… you came for us," she said as she came to. Kelly Chambers stood up on shakey legs and held onto Garrus for support.

"Oh God… I had a horrible nightmare…" she said, feeling her face and shoulders. Garrus's eyes and mandibles twitched as he and everyone else present heard the hissing of pods throughout the area, and the ghastly, desperate screams of men, women, and children who were all sharing Lilith's fate.

"Holy F-Fuck… this… this is a goddamn slaughterhouse!" cried Alexander's frenzied voice from the other side of the Comms. Never had he seen something that terrible. All the people he killed in different ways, all of his worst enemies he had to assassinate in his career. Nothing was worse than what he and the other Assassins had to witness. He wouldn't wish that on the worst beings in galactic history.

"Am I the only one who just felt a serious shift in tone?" asked Kasumi, sitting down to try and catch her breath, despite not wanting to in the thick of the odor.

"Nobody gets left behind," John replied to Chakwas, helping her to her feet.

Kelly laughed, only for a second, trying to cope with the stress. "Thank God you got here when you did… a few more seconds and we… oh God… soylent grey…" she said, practically squealing out the last two words, clutching her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I could feel it eating at my skin…"

Crewman Matthews held her up, sharing every ounce of her trauma and trying his best to comfort her. Chakwas shook her head. "The colonists were… processed. Those swarms of little robots they… melted their bodies down into some grey liquid and… pumped it through these tubes…"

"Why… why would they do this? What do they need with genetic material?!" Jane cried, trying to keep herself together.

"I don't know. I'm just glad you got here before it happened to us."

"So are we," Miranda replied. "But, we still have a job to do. We've done well so far, let's hope we can finish the job."

"Joker?" John said, into his helmet, requesting Joker. "Can you get a fix on our position?"

"Roger that, Commander. Those tubes lead into the main control room right above you. The route is blocked by a security door, but there's another chamber that runs parallel to the one you're in."

"I cannot recommend that," EDI said. "Thermal Emissions indicate that the chamber is overrun by seeker swarms. Mordin's countermeasure cannot protect you against so many at once."

"Ah, what about biotics? Could we create a biotic field to keep them from getting near us?" John asked, specifically inquiring from the biotics in the group.

"Yes, it may be possible," Samara replied. "I may not be able to protect everyone, but I can get a small team through if they stayed close."

"I can do it too," Miranda said, challengingly. "In theory, any biotic could handle it. Shepard, who do you want to maintain the field?"

John decided that was an easy decision. "Samara and I will take a small team through the swarms. The rest of you provide a diversion by going through the other passage. We'll open the security doors from the other side and meet you there."

Miranda nodded acknowledgingly. "Who leads the diversion team?"

John looked over the squad and pondered for a moment. "Garrus, you got this?" he asked.

"Definitely, John. I'll keep the defenders busy. You slip around the back," said Garrus, hoisting his sniper rifle onto his shoulder.

Chakwas furrowed her brow. "And what about the crew? We're in no shape to fight."

Joker overheard and chimed in, saying, "Commander, we have enough systems back online for a pickup but we need to land back from your position."

"We can't afford to go back, Shepard!" Miranda whined.

John figured they both were right, Chakwas and Miranda. "You won't make it without help. Mordin, go back and escort the crew to the Normandy."

Mordin activated his Omnitool. "Joker, need location of landing zone. Will meet you there."

They all had their assignments. It was time to leave this pit and move out.

Barrier Team Sierra: The Long Walk.

"Stay close, you three," Samara cautioned as John, Ashley, and Jane walked close together.

There was a moment of garbled, static-flooded speech on one end of the Comms. "Damn it," John hissed. "Swarms are interfering with the frequencies… are you three ready for this?" he asked. Ashley nodded and pumped her shotgun, and Jane twirled her akimbo SMGs, catching them by the grips and aiming them forward.

They walked down the pathways and platforms with little resistance except from the swarms. No sign of trouble yet. About a quarter of the way through, however, Harbinger arrived in an assassin body, alone. He tossed two Collector warps and struck the barrier, straining Samara's focus and energy. She took cover behind a pillar while John drew his pistol and fired at Harbinger, who flew up and into the barrier, grabbing Jane by the shoulders. John and Jane both wordlessly shouted at Harbinger, who attempted to hoist Jane from the safety of the barrier. "I know you feel this," Harbinger remarked, a lock of Jane's hair escaping the barrier and being tugged on by the swarms outside. John threw a fist into Harbinger's head, beyond the barrier, and Jane was released. She rolled over and unloaded one of her SMGs, eviscerating Harbinger's body, causing him to release control and detonate the corpse.

With the threat over, they moved deeper into the chamber. The only light came from the barrier, and the lights that dotted the Shepards' armor. Eventually they heard the tell-tale moans of husks and abominations, and crawled into cover. Samara crouched down and continued holding up the barrier as the Shepards plus Ashley poked their heads and guns out to shoot down the husks. Once they saw the glowing barrier, the game was on. An abomination made a rush for the barrier, jumping through and exploding on John, knocking him down. Ashley pulled a fragmentation grenade and lobbed it over cover, blasting away a small mob of husks advancing for the barrier. Jane focused fire on two Collector Drones that were supervising the husks, and as one of them was about to die, Harbinger possessed it.

"Tenacious Dick sighted at our 4 o'Clock!" Ashley shouted, pointing to Harbinger as John got back up and drew his shotgun.

"Let him come here and fight!" John cried, blasting a husk that was about to jump onto his back. The combined might of the three pushed the Collector lines back, with Drones retreating to find a more tactically secure location to shoot from. Harbinger did not dare make the same futile mistake again, especially while that was a job for the husks and cannon fodder Collectors. He commanded the defense well, however, and with each passing moment, Samara was growing weaker.

Scions lumbered out from the darkness and joined the battle. And things went from bad to worse. Repeated shockwaves and cannon fire on the barrier was stressing Samara to no end, and a few shockwaves leaked through the barrier to scatter the team, with Samara just barely staying on her feet. Despite the need to fight with the rest, John raised his hands and supplemented the barrier, shielding Samara with his own body.

A shocked and most grateful Samara stood and limped behind him as he took heavy fire from the Collectors and scions. Jane and Ashley did their best to divert hostile attentions, firing explosives and warps at the scions to take them down first. The first scion fell, then the next, in undignified heaps of synthetic flesh. Tumorous sacs on their backs exploded under the sustained gunfire, and the splatter blinded Harbinger, who stumbled through the chaos to run eyeballs first into Jane's awaiting hidden blades, before the body he was possessing turned into a puff of dust and smoke with a pathetic poof.

The entrance was in sight. Samara began the walk down the final ramp to the team's destination as the onslaught thickened. John was forced to stop holding the barrier with her and drew out his Revenant, laying down a figurative wall of incendiary bullets which lit the armor of the enemy ablaze. "Hurry, Shepards!" Samara cried, nose beginning to bleed. The light of the entrance never looked so beautiful to the Justicar. So the old proverb was true, then. Lights at the end of the tunnel? She smiled and picked up the pace, wanting to desperately to drop the barrier and rest.

"Right behind you, Sam!" Ashley cried, throwing the rest of her grenades out like dice in a game of craps. They bounced and rolled under the feet of the husks and Collectors before detonating, sending synthetic body parts everywhere. John and Jane swept for survivors, backpedaling away towards the door. With one final roar of defiance, Samara turned on her heels and pushed the barrier, sending it away, taking the countless seekers, husks, and drones away and into walls or down into the abyss. With a triumphant sneer, she walked away as Jane closed the door.

"Shepard… John, Jane honey, copy!"

"I copy. What's your position?"

"Down by the door, taking heavy fire!"

Jane broke into a sprint, flinging herself onto the console, cracking the code and sending the door sliding open. Grunt, Kaidan, Jack, and Tali came through the door first, followed by the others backing up and holding down suppressive fire. Garrus came through last, but not before taking a bullet to the stomach. As the door sealed, he fell to his knees. Jane screamed his name and ran over to his aid, throwing his arm around her shoulder to hold him up while she examined his wound.

"Gah, Jane. I'll be fine…" Garrus said, ruffling her cinnamon-red hair. "But I appreciate your concern."

John sighed in relief and raised a hand to his helmet, calling for Joker. "Are you at the rendezvous point?"

"I'm here, Commander. Chakwas and the rest of the crew showed up."

"Mordin's group has arrived, Commander. No casualties."

Everything was going perfectly. John's eyes widened as he realized that this "suicide mission" wasn't suicidal at all. They were just too overpowered to die.

"Excellent, now let's make that count," Miranda said. "EDI, what's our next step?"

"There should be some nearby platforms that will take you to the main control console. From there you can overload the system and destroy the base."

"Commander we've got a problem. Hostiles amassing just outside this door. It's not gonna hold."

Jane hopped up onto a raised platform and turned to face the crew. John followed her up. "A rear guard could hold this position and prevent the Collectors from overwhelming us."

Miranda hopped down to rejoin the team. "Pick a team to go with you, Shepard. Everyone else can bunker down and defend from attack."

John and Jane gave each other one look, and they knew who was coming with. "Tali, Garrus, Ashley, Kaidan, and Wrex. You all were part of the original team. I can't imagine anyone else being there with us when this ends," Jane said.

The two twins helped their choices onto the platform. "Haha! Shepards, let's go put an end to this, once and for all!" Wrex boomed, punching his fists together.

"I'm ready, John," said Tali, lightly caressing her lover's arm.

Miranda smiled and took a deep breath before asking, "Anything to say before we move out?"

Jane cleared her throat. "The Collectors… the Reapers… they aren't a threat to us," she began. "They are a threat to everything. Everyone. Those are the lives we are fighting for!"

John took his sisters hand and stepped forward, continuing the speech. "This has been a long journey. And nobody's coming out without scars," he said, "but it all comes down to this moment."

Both Shepards stood tall and ready, speaking almost in unison, knowing exactly what words were on the other's mind. "We win, or we lose it all in the next few minutes. Make us proud. Make yourselves proud."

John made the closing statement. He let go of his sister's hand and sighed. "And for everyone. Everyone that ever was, everyone that is, and everyone that ever will be. Fight for them. Fight for the lost, and for those not yet lost!" he thundered. The room shook, and the door behind them opened, the platform carrying them away.

The End of the Line

"Alex, tell me you have that General dead!" John cried into his Comms as platforms began hovering in from all directions, carrying fireteams of Collectors their way.

Static.

"Shit… well they found something," Kaidan remarked, warping the barrier off of Harbinger as he tried to yet again rush the Shepards with a shotgun. Wrex rammed his shoulder into the possessed Collector and knocked it off of the platforms to its destruction.

"Hopefully they're still kicking, I need Clarke to get his lackeys to leave my planet when I go back to Tuchanka!" Wrex bellowed, shotgunning a scion in the back-tumor.

Jane Shepard was busy dealing with several assassin-class Collectors at once, battling them in a mixture of hand-to-hand and close-quarters SMG. She vaulted over one, and its ally stabbed it through the neck, creating a Collector shield between the attackers and Jane, who drew an SMG and fired into the enemy squad, cutting down three drones.

Advancing to the next platforms, more flew in packing deadlier opponents than the last. Ashley had long switched to her boomstick and was busy keeping the waves of husks and abominations off of her. "I don't know about you all, but this has been a pretty interesting day!" she jibed, batting one husk away with the stock of her gun, shooting an abomination in the head to prevent detonation.

"It's just like old times. But with more husks and less Geth," said Garrus, sniping Harbinger in the head as his next body's platform sailed in from the left.

Kaidan ducked under a scion's cannon blast, replying by activating his tech armor. "I'll say. I didn't even known husks came in explosive red!"

Tali spawned her combat drone, Chiktikka vas Paus. "You're telling me. I don't even want to think about the process that goes into making one! Go for the optics, Chiktikka! Optics!"

Chiktikka zoomed back and forth, zapping assassins and scions, distracting them from the real threat. John charged into a Collector drone, sending it sprawling out on its back before he fired his shotgun into its chest. He took out his Revenant and twirled around 180 degrees, cutting down three assassins with the hailstorm of bullets. Wrex grasped his pistol in hand and held his shotgun in the other, firing potshots from his pistol at the scions which he wished to challenge himself, firing his shotgun to smite the husks on his tail. He'd handle the recoil by whirling the gun over his finger and letting the kinetic energy fade before grasping the handle again. It was inaccurate, but at such close range, he managed to make it work.

Kaidan threw an overload. It hit a scion, doing little to it, but when he jumped onto the scion's blown-out back and detonated his tech armor, it reacted with the overload and resulted in a large-scale electrical explosion that fried the head of the scion, killing it. Wrex smirked, knowing his kill was stolen, but proud of the little human for being so bold. He whipped around on his heels and jammed the top of his shotgun into the head of an oncoming abomination, batting it clean off before holstering his pistol, performing a Krogan's charge, and ramming the barrel of his shotgun into the neck of another scion.

There was a splatter of synthetic blood as John finished his final opponent, Harbinger again, possessing an assassin with a beam cannon. Taking the beam cannon for himself and kicking the ashes of the Collector into the air, he regrouped with his squad. He found a piloting console and activated it, directing it to the main control room.

"This is it, all the tubes lead to this spot!" John said. "EDI? What can you tell us? What are they doing?"

"The tubes are feeding into some kind of superstructure. It is emitting both organic and non-organic energy signatures. Given these readings… it must be massive."

There was genuine concern in her metallic voice as the platform edged closer to the superstructure. John, Jane, and Wrex stood, mouths agape at the referenced structure, as Jane tapped Garrus on the shoulder. The sense of dread would spread until all eyes were on the atrocity above and before them.

"If my calculations are correct… Shepards. That, that structure is a Reaper."

"Not just any Reaper," John remarked, glancing at the shockingly familiar form of the machine before them. "A human Reaper."

And truly, this monstrosity was modeled after the human form. It was nothing but a torso, two limp arms supported by crossbeams and wires, and what seemed to be three quarters of a skull, with half of the lower jaw missing. On its face were three eyes, something that said the Reapers either could not count or failed to notice two human eyes.

"Tens of thousands of humans have been processed… significantly more will be needed to complete the Reaper," EDI said.

"What… what would they gain by turning humans into this shell?" Ashley asked, gazing at the construct in horror.

"They may be facilitating the Reaper equivalent of reproduction..." EDI replied. "Or, it may serve another purpose. I do not have the data to speculate further."

"Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. And some people say we're gross for using sex to reproduce," Wrex spat. "This thing uses melted humans!"

"It is clear that the Collectors are merely pawns. The technology needed to create this Reaper is NOT their own. It is likely that different species construct each Reaper. In this case, the Collectors provide the labor."

Something came to Jane's mind. "The Collectors are just Protheans, though. Why would they help the Reapers?"

"The Reapers subdued the Protheans long ago… Probabilities suggest that the Reapers attempted to build a Prothean Reaper… and failed. Over time they adapted the Protheans to suit their needs. Changed them. Turned them into workers. Tools for the Reapers."

"But why us? Why make it look like a human?" asked Kaidan, sitting down with his back against the piloting console.

"It appears that each Reaper is modeled after the species used to create it."

"So… what was Sovereign?" Tali asked, suddenly not wanting to know the answer. She decided to ask another question. "Reapers are… machines. So why do they require organics at all?"

"Incorrect. Reapers are sapient constructs, a blend of organic and synthetic materials. The construction methods are unclear, but it seems probably that the Reapers absorbed the essence of the species, utilizing it in their reproduction process."

"Tens of thousands of souls, crying out in agony… only to be silenced by indoctrination," Ashley said, swallowing fearfully. "This, this is the abomination to outclass all abominations, screw whatever the average church thinks about some fellow people. Forget the red husks' codename. We have to destroy that… thing."

"The tubes supporting it are a weak structural point. Destroying them should cause the supports to collapse, and the Reaper to fall."

Another voice rumbled throughout the cavernous construction zone. "If I must tear you apart, Shepard. I will."

"Give us a minute EDI. Time to take care of some old friends, first!" Jane said, inserting thermal clips into her Hurricanes.

Assassination Squad: The Blades In the Dark.

The trail wasn't cold, but it wasn't warm either. Alexander could sense a way up to the control room where the Collector General waited, monitoring the entire station. The success of this mission was entirely dependent on that thing's death.

Leaving the Normandy, he ran ahead of the second Fireteam with his fellow Assassins, jumping up into the jungle of wiring and beams. Over the walkways he scaled, across the walls he seemed to glide as he effortlessly traversed the distances between climable terrain. Behind him were Kairee, Eleria, and Frederico. The latter Assassin was trying to keep up whilst ensuring the safety of Lora, who was having trouble with the freerunning aspect of her line of work. Gunfire sounded from below as Ashley Williams led Fireteam Bravo into battle against the hordes of Collectors none the wiser to the Assassins that loomed overhead. Golden irises could see a trail of misty gold, telling him where to step, where to grab, and what direction to move towards. Up and rightways he went, crawling into a hole in the stations chitin plating and finding himself in a crawlspace. Eagle Sense produced dark vision, so with a tap to the side of his visor, the ruby red, holographic display turned emerald green. Night vision activated. He army-crawled through the vents, quietly signalling for Kairee to follow after. Eleria and Frederico helped Lora into the vent and away they went, following the man who could see beyond sight.

There was a buzzing in the vents. Alex could hear that plain as day. Still, he kept going through the vent, following the misty trail. "Are you certain he knows where we're going? He's never been to this place in his life, has he?" Eleria asked, losing faith.

"If he has, he's a real caralho for not telling us how to get past the Relay earlier," Frederico quipped. Alexander said nothing, instead blasting open part of the wall with a shockwave, revealing a room in the central chamber above the one Bravo Team was fighting through. Crawling out, the Assassins assessed their battle plans.

"There are… over 12 Collectors beyond this door," Alexander said, staring at the metallic door. "Five assassins, seven drones. Kairee and Frederico, you two support Eleria and I as we go in up close to attack with our guns and biotics. Lora, summon a combat drone to serve as a distraction and deterrant."

Lora, who was at work getting the door, flashed a thumbs up. The door slid open with a hiss, and a combat drone, "Irule," was out immediately. Kairee took cover and pulled out her sniper rifle, slipping a thermal clip into it. Frederico advanced with Eleria and Alexander, through a throw field at an assassin, then fell into cover with his pistol.

Alexander vaulted over cover and pinned a drone down, stabbing it in the face with both blades before standing up, pistol-whipping an assassin with his M11-Suppressor, then firing thrice, striking the last three assassins. Eleria activated her tech-armor and fired her M3-Predator pistol to hold the Collectors in cover. One stood up, to shoot, and was blown away by a powerful shot from Kairee's Mantis rifle. Frederico tossed a warp over cover and destroyed the Collector drone captain's barrier, followed by Eleria using her own biotics to pick up and fling the captain into the wall, where Alexander promptly thrust his blade into its neck, pinning it up on the wall for a moment.

Eleria ran to cover, then when the gunfire stopped for cooling and clip exchange purposes, she rolled out of cover with Alexander and they both combined their biotics to create a nova blast, pounding the ground with their fists to force them out of cover.

Irule the combat drone floated over and delivered a powerful electric shock to one, exploding its head. It fired a rocket at the next, blowing it to pieces. Kairee sniped another as it was forced to stagger out of safety, a spray of black and yellow synthetic fluid spurting from its bulbous, blank eye. Finally, the last drones were destroyed when Alexander crushed them against the floor with a shockwave from above.

Proceeding into the next room, they heard a conversation over their Comms. "Come in, Ash!"

"We're all accounted for! Legion, get that door open!"

A bullet zoomed past Alexander's head and struck Eleria in the collarbone, going past her armor. "Gah, I'm hit!" she cried, diving out of the way as a spray of bullets met the Assassins who ran for cover.

"Reinforcements dead ahead and to the left hall! Kairee, switch to automatic weapons, holding them down!" Alexander cried, drawing out his Automattock, leaving the safety of the vertical pillar he called cover and crouch-walking under the line of Kairee's fire, covering the left hall while Kairee suppressed the center hall. He got behind a chitin-covered block of metal and exchanged clips. Standing up, he called for Frederico and Lora to run to him and cover him while he moved forward again. This time, Frederico threw a singularity out to capture and damage the Collector drones in the left hall while Lora directed Irule to attack the drones in the center hall. Kairee fell back and activated her Omnitool, and set to work healing Eleria.

Alexander's Automattock was doing a number on the Collectors, who either fell into cover or got shot down by the powerful rifle. The last Collector bit the dust due to Lora's Phalanx pistol. Blowing the smoke off, she proudly holstered the weapon and there was a peace. "…Alex, do you copy?" Jane's voice said through the Comms. Alexander picked up, looking back at Eleria, Eagle Sense deactivated.

"We haven't located the General but we're on the right track. We just finished off a wave of Collectors," he said, grimacing when he saw Eleria's blood on her armor. "Eleria's hurt, but she's alive. Kairee's administering medigel… what I wouldn't give for a little reinforcement… the hell are you guys anyway?"

A request to broadcast Jane's HUD's perspective appeared, and Alexander accepted. What he saw, would haunt him forever, he was certain of it. Endless rows of pods along the walls, each with a person inside. A living, breathing person. They found the colonist Lilith's pod. The girl from Horizon who was with Kaidan and Ashley. Alexander heard the hissing before Jane looked down to the source of it, and he knew that there was a problem.

Lilith started rotting, then melting, into base genetic sludge. Alexander's throat grew hard as steel as he tried to swallow his spittle but could not do so, as he fought his own gag reflex. He crouched to a knee, and looked around at Frederico, who was slumped against cover, covering his temples with his palms. Lora was doing diagnostics on her mask's filters, and she looked desperate in doing so. Eleria's eyes were closed – she did so intentionally when she saw the first bleeding blotch of ruined flesh open up on Lilith's forehead. Kairee was shivering, forcing herself to watch only because she knew she needed to know what was going on, and why the Collectors were doing this. Eleria was healed for the time being. Kairee's work was done. She slowly crawled away, and towards Alexander, who wasn't doing any better than her in watching the squad scream at each other to break open the pods.

The shrieks of agony flooded Alexander's ears, reacting poorly with his current, Bleeding Effect induced state. Lilith had melted down completely, but the crewmen were saved in time. "Holy F-Fuck… this… this is a goddamn slaughterhouse!" Alexander panicked into his Comms. He was on the verge of having an anxiety attack, and he knew it. He minimized the stream to a tab in his HUD, remembering to toggle night vision off while he was at it. He realized in that moment that if he, or anyone for that matter that he knew, had been captured, that was their fate. He moved an arm around Kairee and held her close for a moment, calming himself down, removing the frame of his visor and putting it aside, taking a moment to breathe.

"Sir. Shall I send that stream to the Citadel Bureau?" Eleria asked, picking herself up and walking, a bit painfully, over to the two Assassin officers.

"No, not yet, we lack answers to certain… certain questions," Alexander replied. "Why are they doing this? Where is that paste going? C'mon, let's keep moving." Alex and Kairee stood up, dusted each other off, and hugged out the last of their stress for a few seconds. This wasn't the last time they'd think of this. But for now, they had a job to do.

Alexander's blue eyes flashed into gold, and he could see the trail once again. He walked – no, - marched down the left hallway, Automattock propped on his shoulder, barrel towards the ceiling, with his M11 in the other hand. Eventually the cracked, dusty path became an incline, and that became a spiraling ramp upwards. A horde of husks could be heard shrieking and moaning up above, and the Assassins readied their weapons. Sticking to the far side of the spiral ramp, near the wall to their left, they waited for the husks to descend to their level.

The first husk came, and then the next. Eventually the whole horde was seen behind them. What must have been 20 to 30 husks were sprinting down the ramp. Eager to stay alive, Alexander called a full retreat, holstering his Suppressor and tossing a cooked lift grenade behind him. It exploded, picking up three quarters of the total horde.

Suddenly, in the midst of their retreat, Eleria stopped and whirled around, creating a biotic wall in between her and the husks. "Eleria, what are you doing?! There's too many!" Frederico shouted.

"Shut up and singularity!" came the curt, angered response. Frederico looked over to Alexander, who dipped his head permissively. He threw a sphere of biotic energy that condensed into a point of singularity, picking up the rest of the horde. Alexander, with both hands, launched a shockwave that detonated a biotic chain reaction, vaporizing husk after husk, before resulting in another explosion from the effects of the lift grenade used earlier. The force of his movement jostled his armor and equipment, and Kairee could see a faint glowing emanating from inside one of his utility pouches, which had a strange bulge in it. She thought to question Alexander, but the mission took precedence. The Assassins freeran back up the spiral ramp at full speed, coming to the top and staring down a massive hallway full of seeker swarms.

"Shit, more bugs," Eleria whispered, crouching down. "I don't think we can sneak past with Mordin's countermeasure."

Thus, the bulge in Alexander's pouch became relevant. He reached into the utility pouch and withdrew the familiar object the crew feared. The Sur'Kesh Apple of Eden glimmered in his hands, sparks of light bouncing off, seemingly magnetized towards the seeker swarms. "I told you, I needed to go retrieve a weapon at the meeting."

Eleria eyed the device anxiously and backed away, recalling the dreaded incident in October. Alexander simply shrugged and held the Apple aloft, standing straight and thrusting it up higher. A surge of golden light escaped the Apple and created a barrier around the Assassins. Alexander's hand and facial features were twitching. The experience was painful, that much could be said. He began to walk forward towards the seekers, who upon hitting the Apple-created barrier were deactivated and fell to the ground, sliding across the walkway.

The Assassins found themselves amazed that they themselves were not affected by the Apple at this time, and silently followed behind Alexander, who began to pick up the pace. Seeker swarms continued to malfunction, and eventually retreated entirely, hanging from the walls and ceilings like bats in a cave, trying to stay away from the Apple's effect field. The pathway was tough to walk on, for sometimes parts of it would crumble and fall away, or the occasional husk would try to walk through the barrier and scare one of the low-ranking Assassins, namely Frederico.

Whereas Samara and company moved downward on their long walk, the Assassins were moving upward, in the opposite direction of the main group. Their light at the end of the tunnel came soon enough, but in the form of a gigantic, secured blast door. Collector guards stationed at the door shot at Alexander, attempting to take the Apple barrier down. But before Alexander could fall at the hands of the Collectors, Frederico and Eleria instinctually defended their leader by shooting into the heads of the four guards at the door. Alexander was not in outstanding condition, and he deactivated the Apple, collapsing to his knees and holding his head, cursing in Russian, a thick accent about his voice.

Kairee went to his side, helping him up as Lora walked up to the console and – lifted up by Frederico - got to work on it. "Are you going to be okay?" she whispered to him, lifting his chin to get him to look her in the eyes.

"I'll be fine. It'll take more than headache to deter me from finishing mission," he said, Russian accent and grammar overruling his knowledge of English. It came out a bit sloppy to Kairee's translator but she understood regardless. She pulled his hood back and pressed her forehead to his, ruffling his hair. Alexander took a breath. "Honey. General is behind door. Heavily guarded. Long hallway, General is on end of hall."

"Mmhm. I'm ready. Are you?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, moya lyubov."

"Stop it," Kairee commanded sternly. "Stop using that ability, and stop using this Apple. We can kill the Collectors conventionally, and the Seekers are gone. Just… please, don't hurt yourself."

Alexander nodded tiredly and stood up. He kept his hood down, and removed his visor, collapsing it and slipping it into a pouch. "Gentlemen and women," he said, clearing out his throat, beating his fist to his chest and speaking in cleaner English, with a much lighter accent. "I'm honored to say that our mission draws to a close today. I must give my gratitude to you all; you have remained with me longer than most semi-ranked Assassins would on an alleged 'suicide mission.' And whatever underlying motives you had, you poured every drop of yourselves into the completion of our mission. For that, I am proud of you all. Frederico, Lora, you are both geniuses, invaluable to the cause. In the event we survive I will ensure you are properly placed in the Brotherhood's Science and Research Department, where you belong as fully ranked Assassins. Eleria, I realize that I have grossly overlooked your capabilities. I continue to elevate Frederico and Lora, while you have served me so faithfully and without question. In fact, I noticed that each time you were overlooked you only worked harder. For my inattention I apologize with utmost sincerity."

Eleria knelt and bowed her head. "Assassin Clarke. There is little need to apologize to me," she said. "I'm not as loyal to the Brotherhood as I once thought. That… one Vindicator…"

Alexander dropped his air of professionalism for a fleeting moment. "Skarn is hardly Templar material. I wouldn't be surprised if we found him defecting. And, please do not deflect my apologies. Because, you see, I am elevating each of you to Veteran."

Eyes were wide amongst the three lower Assassins. "S-sir, we are hardly ready for that!"

"Nonsense. If we die, nobody knows I broke a rule, considering you probably weren't actually ready for it. If we live, I never broke a rule at all because you clearly are ready for that promotion. Just understand that, as I am not a Master Assassin, I cannot make you fully-ranked." Nods of acceptance were seen, and Alexander prepared his ending statements.

"Veterans. Today, right now, this is do, do or die, or do and die. Failure is unacceptable now that we have come so far. So remember just who and what you are fighting for," he said, lifting his arms into the air, taking on a stance more familiar on a preacher. "You fight and kill as true warriors. And as it has been said by those far wiser than I, 'the true warrior does not fight because he hates what stands in front of him; he fights because he loves what stands behind him.' So what does stand behind you? Friends? Family? A Brotherhood of likeminded individuals who all are willing to lay down their lives for the cause of securing freedom and peace for the galaxy and all who inhabit it?!"

"Sir, yes sir!" was the cry of the other four Assassins.

"I know damn well who and what I fight for! One woman - and you damn well know who – is standing among you four!" Alexander shouted. A gentle blush crept onto Kairee's cheeks as Alexander continued, "And the other Nthtillion men, women, and children are all around us in every direction, for we stand closest to the galactic core than any human, Turian, Asari, Krogan, Quarian, Salarian, Drell, or Volus has ever stood before! So today, Assassins, we're not here to assassinate some Templars like it's another Tuesday afternoon! We are here, to put the Collectors down like the abominations they are! We are here to plunge our blades into the deadliest enemies this universe has ever known, and become thorns in the sides of gods. How does that make you feel?!"

"Sir, damn proud, sir!"

"Then follow, my brothers and sisters in freedom! Forward, unto a new age! One without the Collectors! Lora, hit the switch!"

The Volus Assassin inputted the final code into the console and the doors opened wide. As they slid open, Alexander drew out from his pouches two grenades – one lift and one cluster grenade.

The lift grenade detonated first, picking up a line of five Collector drones plus the cluster grenade, which detonated second, splitting into multiple grenades which each exploded a half second after the other, eliminating all five drones in addition to three advancing assassins who did not see the above grenade cluster. The five Assassins charged into the fray, taking cover. Frederico and Eleria stood only to grasp the Collectors who stood over their barriers and pull them out of safety, stabbing them in the necks and slashing their throats.

Lora called her combat drone and sent it off to distract the beam cannon assassins who had taken refuge in the limited cover provided by the ribbing of the dark metal walls. Alexander pulled his hood back down and placed his visor frame back on his face, grabbing his Automattock from cover and firing away at a Collector attempting to flank Kairee. A bullet or three pierced the side of its head and toppled the attacking drone, rendering it dead. He reactivated his Eagle Sense to see a golden outline of the Collector General at the end of the hall.

At this point, a station-wide alert had effectively been called; Collectors from every nook and cranny of the station were about to start pouring into this hallway and the main control room, where the Shepards were fighting. Frederico threw a biotic throw bolt, striking a precise point in the side of a Collector drone, knocking it into its allies and bowling them over like dominos. Kairee, taking advantage of the multitude of downed enemies, retrieved a sticky grenade and lobbed it over cover, hitting the drone in the middle of the pile. The resulting explosion took out that group of Collectors. Unfortunately for the Assassins, they were soon replaced by another wave of Collectors hell-bent on preventing the death of their General.

Frederico, Eleria, and Alexander launched shockwaves of biotic energy to make room and time for the five Assassins to advance down the hallwall. They used their sidearms to finish off those knocked over by the shockwaves, then went back into cover, with Eleria holding up a low biotic barrier to create makeshift cover in the middle of the hall. Lora and Kairee took advantage of this while Frederico and Alexander made use of the ribbing in the walls. The two male Assassins relied on each other to keep the opposite end of the hall clean of Collectors, as it was entirely possible to shoot them from the other side, getting around the ribbing. Halfway down the hallway, and the General was visible.

A Collector drone dashed toward the barrier and was quickly shot down by Lora, who stood up to fire her shotgun. Suddenly, while she was standing, a shot from a beam cannon struck her in the forehead, penetrating a layer of her helmet and knocking her over. "Lora?! Fuck! Cover me!" Frederico screamed, recklessly leaving cover to hold pressure down on the hole in Lora's helmet to prevent her suit from depressurizing.

"Get back into cover you idiot!" Eleria shrieked, all too late, as a sniper's bullet rammed Frederico in the shoulder, stopping in the bone. Roaring in pain he collapsed on top of Lora, holding his SMG in a single good hand while his limp left hand covered the hole. Lora's suit worked to repair itself, but the Volus inside had lost consciousness. It was down to Eleria, Kairee, and Alexander to keep pressing the attack. Eleria was forced to stand up, raise her barrier higher, and move forward, cocking her head to gesture for the other two to follow her.

The three came to an intersection of the hallway in which two doors on either side of the hall stood, opening periodically for new waves of Collector drones. "Kairee, take my gun," Alexander said, handing her his Automattock, "Hold off the stragglers, Eleria and I are going to bar the doors with our biotics and collapse the hallway on both sides to cut off reinforcements!"

Kairee only nodded and took the assault rifle. In three seconds' time, Eleria dropped her barrier and Kairee was left to use her skills as a marksman to kill the Collectors firing upon her. Alexander drew his pistol and supplemented the attack, killing three drones before dropping his gun to put up a biotic field, blocking off the door as it opened to another wave of six Collectors. Eleria copied this defensive strategy on the door parallel to Alexander, holding off an impressive count of ten drones and two assassins. Though this was not without its strain.

Kairee was forced to activate a tactical cloak, becoming virtually invisible while she exchanged thermal clips. Her clanging footsteps on the metal walkway kept the Collectors' attention, and they could see her through cloak to a degree, anyways. They continued to shoot in her general direction as she got close enough to deactivate her cloak, grapple a Collector with her hookblade, and use it as a meat shield while she sprayed a clip from the Automattock, hiding behind the body and her shielding.

With a roar of strain and frustration, Alexander and Eleria used their biotics to rip out vital supports along the door frame. Metal beams and chitinous material collapsed from the ceiling and blocked off the doors. Hearing the sound of a successfully choked off rally point, Kairee cloaked again, dropped the very much dead meat shield, and ran behind Eleria's barrier. "I'm going back for Frederico and Lora," Kairee said, tossing Alexander a freshly reloaded Automattock and another sticky grenade.

Setting the grenade to live, Alexander chucked it past Eleria's barrier and stuck a lone scion that had recently arrived to guard the General. It exploded, taking the tumor on the scion's back with it and severely wounding it. A shockwave from the scion dropped Eleria's barrier, and another shockwave fired in succession blew the Asari away, back down the hallway. Alexander, low on barrier, performed a biotic charge into the scion, slashing into its neck with his blades, decapitating the beast. He tumbled back, flipping away before pulling his M11 Suppressor from the holster and firing off four shots in quick sequence, dropping four more drones. From the entrance of the hallway where the Assassins had stormed in, a wave of Collector guardians – until then unseen for the majority of the mission – approached. All that stood between Alexander and the General was a lone Collector. It stood still in the middle of the hallway, staring Alexander down with its head tilted towards his friends. Its body was covered head to toe in fiery cracks and scars, and its already glowing eyes seemed to burn with a flame that gave off no heat. It wasn't doing anything… almost as if it were giving Alexander a moment of respite?

He spat a curse, and turned to run back towards the remaining Assassins. Lora was up, holding her head in agony, taking potshots from behind Frederico's one-handed barrier with her pistol. Kairee was also down to a sidearm, her M11 Suppressor doing little good against the barriers each guardian possessed. A hailstorm of bullets from Collector assault rifles stressed Frederico's barrier. His determination to keep his friends alive was all that kept it strong.

Almost halfway back, Alexander watched in horror as a guardian broke the barrier. Bullets shattered Kairee's shields and pierced her armor. As she fell to the ground alongside the already incapacitated Eleria and Frederico, Alexander let out a scream that managed to stagger the guardians, who stopped firing to look up at the human Assassin who was now covered head to toe in cerulean biotic "flames." Lunging forward, he took to the air and flicked his wrists, blades sliding out. He collided with a guardian, running it through and creating a nova effect that slammed into the wave of other guardians, blowing them off of their feet. He charged again, kicking one Collector up high enough for its neck to be in stabbing range. He was able to kill an additional two this way before the others stood back up and fired their rifles, dropping his barrier. He fired a shockwave, caring little for the immense stress he was putting on his implants and his own brain. Those hit traveled far enough to fall over the sides of the bridge the Assassins crossed to get to this point.

They were finally alone. Alexander fell to his knee, and hobbled to the other Assassins. Activating his Omnitool, he checked the vitals of each of his teammates.

Lora's suit was damaged, but not to the point of breach. She was alive, propped against the wall and wheezing painfully.

Eleria's left leg was misshapen, obviously broken. She was breathing shallow breaths and the ground around her was a bit bloody.

Frederico lay with bullet holes in his chestpiece and pauldron. A bullet was lodged in his shoulder and two had just missed his vitals, but that didn't excuse the threat of bleeding out.

Kairee... Her armor was ruined by projectiles that had torn several of the ceramic-metallic plates off, exposing the bodysuit underneath. Her carapace had stopped more than a few bullets, but her soft stomach and joints had been hit.

Alexander, head beyond pounding, worked to administer as much Medigel as he could manage to his team. He had enough to stop the bleeding in Kairee and Frederico, and managed to set Eleria's leg stiff once the gel hardened. He propped Eleria and Frederico up by Lora and then cradled Kairee in his arms. "H-hey… they're gone. C'mon, wake up. I can feel your pulse," he whispered. She was limp and unconscious, but he could hear soft groans of pain. "Just open your eyes. Say something, please. You're going to be okay, you're stronger than this."

She murmured something under her breath. He could barely make out what she said. He lowered his head closer to her mouth and she repeated herself. "You're not… not well, Alex. Stop… stop pushing yourself too… hard, we need… still need you… stable…"

"To see such a special organic, caring for another so insignificant. This feeling. Amusement. We have not felt it in so long."

Alexander looked up to see Harbinger standing before him, assault rifle raised. "Alex, tell me you have that General dead!" he heard John's voice cry into his Comms. Alexander continued to stare at Harbinger. Questions raced in his mind. What did this bastard want? "Special Organic?" What's so amusing about th- wait. Did he just call Kairee insignificant? He gently laid her down and stood up, stepping around her, cracking his knuckles.

"It amuses me that you haven't shot my ass already. And that you gave me time to patch up my friends. What, do you think we're going to die anyways? Are you revelling in the 'futility of my actions' or are you not entirely machine, there?"

"Your efforts are indeed fruitless. Alexander is your name. Your primitive memory device told us everything about you. You are special. As are the Shepards. We have little interest in merely destroying you now. There is much use for you."

Alexander could hear a gentle humming in the back of his mind, that seemed to feel like it was rolling over his brain, almost massaging his central nervous system. He cracked a smirk, licking his front teeth indignantly. "You're trying to indoctrinate me."

"You fight for 'freedom.' True freedom is salvation, salvation is true freedom. Salvation may only come through destruction and evolution, even if forced. Ascendance to perfection. You understand. You want to help us," Harbinger said, stepping forward. Alexander clenched his fists and stiffened his posture, narrowing his eyes.

"Whoa there, friend, that's making quite a lot of assumptions! I'm afraid I can't help you, because I really don't want to. And I'm sorry, buddy, pal… whatever, but if you take one more step closer to my friends then I'm afraid that I'm going to have to snap your fucking neck." he said, speaking in a saccharine, gentle tone until he issued his threat, his voice instantly dropping to a low, monotone, venom-oozing tone with emphasis on his swear.

Harbinger was unmoved, clearly unafraid of this smartass mortal, but internally somewhat impressed by his bravado nonetheless. He indeed would be a useful proxy in the coming cycle. "If I must tear you apart, Clarke. I will."

"Aw, man! You see, you stole my line!" Alexander said, assuming a defensive combat stance, blades shooting out of their bracers. Truth be told, he has hardly in any condition to give this his full power. His headache was developing, becoming worse by the second. Fighting Harbinger's attempt at indoctrination was not helping at all.

"You are foolish."

It was then Alexander remembered that Harbinger was the one with the gun. The assault rifle, at that. "So, quick question if it isn't beneath you to answer. But, how many are you possessing right now?"

"It is not possession. I have merely selected one being to act as a conduit for my influence."

"This 'platform' in front of me then?"

"You are not facing my platform. You see to destroy it. This cannot pass. You will succumb to your fate or you will die."

"Aaahhh… Collector General. So in theory you could be possessing a whole bunch of Collectors. So, what, does the Good General have psychic powers that you're tapping into or…"

"I will make this prattle cease. Permanently."

"Is it too late to join?"

"You made your choice long ago."

"Here's the different between you and I. At least I'm capable of making choices."

At that point, Harbinger was fed up with Alexander's taunting, to a degree. He lifted his assault rifle and pulled the trigger. A brief spray of bullets hit Alexander's barrier, lowering it by a third of its initial integrity before Alexander had his hand on the underside of the gun, forcing it up to the ceiling and away from his person. He drew his M11 Suppressor and aimed it for Harbinger's head. Suddenly, he felt the resistance on his right hand vanish as Harbinger released his grip on the assault rifle. Striking Alexander thrice in the chest, Harbinger knocked the Suppressor out of his left hand and caught it.

Alexander ducked low, spun, and kicked the pistol out of Harbinger's hand. Upon standing back up he attempted to follow with a left-hook punch to the throat. Grasping a blade made of sharpened chitin, Harbinger stopped the strike, parrying it with his dagger, kicking Alexander in the stomach, then the chest, then following up by slamming his heel down on the back of his head, knocking him down. Alexander was at his mercy for all of three seconds while Harbinger raised his blade and brought it down.

Only to be struck in the torso by Eleria, who had thrown a bolt of kinetic biotic energy. He flew away, further down the hall as Alexander got up, drew his Automattock, and began firing. He succeeded in downing Harbinger's barrier, wounding the Collector in his possession. Harbinger had recovered soon enough to blast Alexander with a Collector warp, beige with a smoky black aura, as he was getting up. Alexander's barriers exploded, pushing him back and onto one knee and casting his rifle away.

"I will make you feel the pain of loss," Harbinger boomed, rather ominously.

The threat was not lost on him, and he flinched as he rose back to his feet. Kairee was slowly coming to, struggling to move through her pain, though Lora and Eleria were trying to help as best as they could. "I don't make idle promises, bastard!" Alexander shouted back, biotic charging forward to recover his barrier and take Harbinger down a level in the same move. Harbinger side-stepped the charge and held out a stiff arm, clotheslining Alexander by his stomach. A sharp burst of pain ripped through his abdomen as he felt something warm splatter out of his stomach, sticking to the inside of his armor. He let out an airless gasp and fell to the ground.

Eyes as wide as they could go, he wheezed and tried to turn on his medigel applicators. Harbinger kicked him away before he could and charged a warp over his hand. "I shall start with the insolent," he said, moving his hand flat out. The warp exploded in a single direction, spreading out and becoming a shockwave, jet black smoke lining the floor, walls, and ceiling perfectly as an invisible wave of kinetic energy rammed into the five Assassins, causing them to tumble down the hallway. Screams of pain erupted from Eleria and Frederico's lungs as they slammed their leg and arm on the cold, hard metal floor. Alexander, who had been blown out into the swarm chamber, applied his medigel, then spat out a mouthful of blood onto the chitin floor, a strand of sanguine plasma dangling from a bleeding cut on his lower lip.

"Surrender. Your resistance is the essence of futility."

"Wh-what a way to rehash an old cliché… I'm impressed," Alexander said, smirking and pulling the strand of bloody spittle from his lip and flicking it away. He got up, back on his feet, but he was hunched over in pain. He figured out what had happened pretty quickly after checking his visor's view of the situation down in his stomach. The shotgun blast he took for Miranda on the Heretic Station had opened back up. The medigel was going to keep him from losing too much blood, but he needed to fight this battle fast if he was going to get his team out of here. "You four. Sound off?"

Eleria, Frederico, Lora, and Kairee all groaned, trying to get back up. Eleria couldn't manage to stand on a broken leg, Frederico was too exhausted to push his one good arm to get himself up off his face. Lora was the only one standing, trying to hold Kairee up as she tried to join in the fight. "I'm… ready when you are."

"Stay down and out of this, all of you," Alexander spat, flicking his wrists again.

"You're going to die if you keep trying to fight him alone!" Lora screamed, all in a single breath. She then wheezed, falling to a knee and needing to take a breather.

"They are not entirely incorrect. I tire of this. My second body has been terminated by the Shepards. Our project has fallen. My full attention is required. I shall prioritize killing you. No further words."

The last weakpoint was shattered. Orange fluids sprayed over the battlefield as the final support broke off. The Human Reaper collapsed, falling into the abyss below, unceremoniously clashing and banging against the walls and supports of the cavern.

Wrex smashed a Collector's head under his foot, then spat into the abyss, rolling his head and neck. "I think we're done here."

John spun on his heels, lifting his fingers to his helmet. "Shepard to Ground Team! Status report!"

From the other end of the line, back where the Shepards and their fireteam had left from, Thane picked up the call. "This is Thane. We are holding but they keep coming," he said. "A quick exit is preferable."

"Alright, head for the Normandy!" John replied.

Jane attempted to call the Assassins' team. "Alex, Kairee, Eleria – somebody respond, what is your status?"

There was only static, and then a garbled response. "KSszshhszAlexkss Harbingjjkkjjjjssshzzz. It's winning, we're wounded. Frederico is-kkssszzzzhhhhzzz…" The light thump of the sound driver shutting off followed after, and the signal was dropped.

"That sounded like Kairee," Jane said, slowly lowering her shaking hand.

"They did what they could," Ashley said, expression dropping to a remorseful frown. "Let's blow this hellhole to pieces," she added.

"Joker, prep the Engines. I'm about to overload this place and blow it SKY HIGH." John knelt over a control console embedded in the platform. He pulled it up out of the ground and opened his Omnitool.

"Roger that, Commander," Joker said from aboard the Normandy. There was a brief pause. "Euh, I've got an incoming message from the Illusive Man. EDI's patching it through."

As soon as he said that, Garrus opened his own Omnitool and held it up, displaying the Illusive Man's holographic image. He spoke. "Shepard. You've done the impossible."

"I was part of a team," John replied, Omnitool deactivated as he pressed holographic buttons on the control panel's interface. "Some of them gave their lives for this mission," he added, sneering at the Illusive Man. Indeed, he assumed the worst for the Assassins. Still, part of him wanted to believe they'd pull through somehow.

"I know. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten. You did what you had to do, and you acquired the Collector Base," the Illusive Man continued. "I'm looking at the schematics that EDI uploaded. There's another way."

"Ahaha, excuse me?" Ashley said, unamused as she stepped into view, arms crossed.

"Oh. Miss Williams. If my hunch is correct Mr. Alenko is there too? Nevermind that. The Assassins are in possession of a device, an Apple of Eden. You may have learned for yourselves or you might have not. Our scientists proposed that the Reapers, and the Collectors by extension, would show adverse effects to these bits of First Civilization technology. If you were to recover the Apple of Eden you discovered on Sur'Kesh and plant it into the Collector Base, it would send a pulse that would wipe out the remaining Collectors," the Illusive Man explained, "but leave the machinery and technology intact!" he continued, clenching his fist dramatically. "This is our chance, Shepard. They were building a Reaper. That knowledge, that framework, it could save us."

John stood up and turned to face the Illusive Man, and Tali went in to continue what he was doing. "It liquefied people. Turned them into something horrible. We have to destroy the base," he replied.

"Don't be so shortsighted," the Illusive Man said, shaking a finger. "Our best chance against the Reapers is to turn their own resources against them. They were working directly with the Collectors – who KNOWS what information is buried there! This base is a GIFT, we can't just DESTROY it!"

"You're completely ruthless," Kaidan snickered from behind the Illusive Man. "We're handing you a loaded gun here. Next thing we know, you're going to grow your own Reaper with this base's tech."

"My goal is to save Humanity from the Reapers. At any cost! I've never hidden that from you! Imagine how many lives could be saved, if we keep this base intact, and use its knowledge to thwart the Reapers! Imagine the lives that will be lost if we don't."

"No matter what kind of technology we might find. It's not worth it!" John cried, swiping a hand through the air, shaking his head sternly.

"Shepard. You died fighting for what you believed in. I brought you back so you could keep fighting! Some would say what we did to you was going too far. But look what you've accomplished! I didn't discard you because I saw your value. Don't be so quick to discard this facility!"

Tali clenched both fists and stopped working on the console. "You leave his death out of this! What is he to you but something valuable? A tool to reach the ends the means cannot justify! He is invaluable to me because he is priceless! I won't disregard the fact that Cerberus brought him back to me, but I will not stand idly by and let you talk to him like that, Bosh'tet!" she cried, rising from the console and jabbing a finger in the Illusive Man's direction.

"We'll fight and win without this base. I won't let fear compromise who I am," John said, heading back to the console and finishing the command to overload the base.

"Shepard, think about what's at stake, think about everything Cerberus has done for you! You!" And cut.

"Sorry, looks like we lost the connection," Joker said. Copious amounts of snickering could be heard from the other end of the line.

"That was juvenile, Jeff."

"Aaw, but you missed the good old days!"

Everyone present in that room began to laugh for a brief moment. John recollected his senses and held his hand up. "Hand me the device… ah, let's bomb this hellhole into the next dimension."

Garrus withdrew a circular, glowing disc and handed it to John, who stuck it into the console and banged his fist on the top of it. "Alright everyone, let's move. We got ten minutes before the reactor blows and this whole station comes apart. Provided the General is dead, that device should overload the systems," Jane announced.

Without any warning, the entire chamber began to quake. Then all was quiet. "Uhh… are you sure about ten minutes, Jane?" Wrex said, stumbling back and regaining his balance as the quaking stopped.

Before anyone could respond, a gigantic metal arm shot up from the abyss, clutching onto a platform, pulling up the Abomination of all abominations; the Human Reaper.

John chuckled. Did you really think he'd leave the Cain on the Normandy for something like this? "I'd been saving this for Praetorians, but those ugly things never seemed to show up," he said, aiming the portable superweapon for the Human Reaper's chest. Platforms of Collectors began flying in, one possessed by Harbinger.

"Here we go again," Kaidan muttered, checking the clip on his pistol.

As the Collectors poured onto the mass of platforms, charging against the bulletstorm, John began warming up the Cain. No sooner than he said "hasta la vista, baby," he fired off a shot, drilling the Human Reaper in the chest. A mighty explosion rocked the chamber, a mushroom cloud forming around the Reaper's head. Its chest had been blown open, though all it appeared to be was furious. Disregarding its Collector creators, it slammed its fist down on a platform to the far right, flipping it through the air like a metal coin. It landed on its side, breaking the second last platform to the left off of the chain, destabilizing other platforms. Everything creaked then tilted sharply to the left. Collectors spilled off of the platforms as though they were leaping lemmings, while the Shepards' fireteam scrambled for something to stand on or hold onto.

"Ah crap! Commander, do you have another shot in that thing?!" Garrus yelled, catching Jane's waist and pulling her close, standing on the side of a platform's wall.

"I packed two in total! I need this thing to cool down!" John shouted back, firing a warp at the Reaper's third eye, which was growing out of the side of the second. It exploded, blacking out the light in the Reaper's third eye, causing it to rear in "pain," flailing its arms around the cavern, shattering the walls and cracking the ceiling.

Aiming for the cavity in its chest, Kaidan, Tali, and Jane combined overloads, shorting out critical systems that weren't damaged by the Cain. Electrical energy coursed through the metal endoskeleton and exoskeleton, reaching the head. It was armored, therefore the overloads were not too effective, but it continued to distract the Reaper from its immediate threats.

Five more seconds, the Cain needed to cool. The Reaper opened its mouth, and fired a blast of energy from its cannon, tearing off another platform. Reinforcements arrived, with Collectors flying in on synthetic wings, landing on the few stable platforms present. Another platform with two scions on board connected with a damaged platform that carried Ashley, Kaidan, and Tali.

Dropping into cover, Tali called up her combat drone once again, sending it after the scions to distract them. Kaidan launched a warp over cover, hitting a scion's armor, destabilizing it. "Everyone focus on the scions, let John take out the Reaper!" Ashley cried.

From a platform dangling by a thread, John aimed the Cain at the Reaper's erratically moving head. "I can't get a clean shot off!" he shouted, aiming back and forth at the Reaper.

"Toss that thing to me! I can get close enough to shoot at its cannon!" said Wrex, who was currently busy fending off Collector drones with his shotgun and pistol. He was taking heavy fire, but he wasn't going down without the fight of his long life. Front-kicking a Collector from his platform, he cried out in delight, "Ha! Had I known this was going to be this exciting I'd have signed up long before I did!"

Jane left Garrus's secure embrace to scale the platform, coming up to the edge. Bullets flew all around her but could never seem to hit her. She reached down and took Garrus's hand, helping him climb up, moving him to better cover with Kaidan, Tali, and Ashley. John himself had to scale the platform as well, but when he got up to the edge and stood to face Wrex, a chitonous blade zipped across his throat, breaking his barrier and cutting into his armor. He stumbled, but reclaimed his balance, parrying Harbinger's next strike with the Cain. He clashed with Harbinger's dagger, then pushed it to the left, causing Harbinger to stagger in that direction, falling off the platform.

Watching Harbinger plummet down the cavern gave John the feeling that if they had been on more stable ground, that fight would have lasted much, much longer. Turning to Wrex, his whistled as loudly as he could manage. With a forceful grunt, John shoved the Cain through the air, hitting it with a shockwave for distance's sake. Wrex opened his arms to catch the unwieldy weapon, proceeding to slam it into a husk's face before aiming at firing at the Reaper's head.

The situation was only slightly improving. The medigel was holding steady for four out of five of the Assassins, and Lora was back in good condition, her armor sealed up. Frederico could now stand, and Kairee was steadily regaining her own stability on her feet. All four Assassins stood back as Alexander and Harbinger dueled, unable to maintain control over any weapons that were strewn about. They were far from evenly matched – Harbinger was wiping the floor with Alexander's blood, almost literally. But the fight had devolved into something more of a game of Hot Potato with the various pistols and rifles laying about the hallway. The Collector General, untouched so far, was frantically toiling over its console, trying to check the status of the Human Reaper.

"This hurts you," Harbinger said, striking Alexander on the inner thigh with his foot, knocking him down.

Alexander, letting out a soundless scream of pain, fell to a knee and just barely caught Harbinger's wrists as he attempted to impale the Assassin's face with his chitinous blades. Alexander only managed to push him back with another shockwave, throwing him down the hallway toward the other Assassins. Just as he did this, his head felt like someone had driven a chisel into the back of his skull.

"Alex, Kairee, Eleria – somebody respond, what's your status?" the voice of Jane called from the Comms.

As Alexander and Harbinger continued to fight, Kairee began to crawl forward, reaching for her Mantis sniper rifle that was blown away from her when Harbinger shockwaved the whole hall. "Alexander is fighting... he's fighting Harbinger. It's winning, we're wounded. Frederico is…" she said, out loud, pulling the bolt on her sniper rifle back.

Her voice and the loud click bought Harbinger's attention, especially after a bullet flew under his arm and burrowed through the Collector General's armor, into its head. It let out an earpiercing shriek and toppled over, struggling to get up. Harbinger pushed Alexander down with a biotic throw and charged towards the Assassins remaining.

Frederico pulled an SMG on him, only for Harbinger to see, and respond by throwing a warp, which exploded on Frederico. His barrier shattered and he tumbled back, hitting his head on the floor, putting him out cold. Kairee attempted to stab him in the throat, and Lora attempted to double-team by stabbing his kneecap. Harbinger gripped Kairee's wrist as hard as he could, then punted the Volus away towards Frederico. He picked up Eleria and callously tossed her aside with his biotics.

Just as Alexander stood back up, watching Kairee wrestle with Harbinger. Behind him, he heard an alarm sound. High pitched, and dreadfully ominous. The Collector General was standing back up, and had an appendage over its console. The Shepards did it. The device is in the reactor, Alex thought. From the looks of the situation, however, he realized with nothing but sheer horror.

It was either Kairee, himself, or the mission.

"Alex! Stop the General!" Kairee screamed. Just then, Harbinger had succeeded in prying her helmet off of her, kneeing her hard in the stomach and knocking the wind out of her.

"Spirit of Humanity. A hint of Turian tenacity. If I cannot convince or indoctrinate, I will use you to build our larva," Harbinger said, grasping Kairee by the throat.

Alexander decided himself was the best course of action. Snarling at Harbinger, he withdrew the Apple of Eden once again. Kairee could be heard croaking in displeasure, seeing the glow of the Apple. "A-Al…ex, n-no."

"You already know how I feel. Bad timing, and sleep deprivation induced angst and edginess aside… I seriously would rather you live on if this kills me." He pumped his fist, roaring in pain as the Apple's power ignited. "Harbinger… go back to Hell."

There was a brilliant flash of light, and then for Alexander, darkness.

He was still standing. He could feel his feet planted firmly on the ground. Nobody was saying anything. He couldn't hear anything but a gentle, almost angelic humming all around. His eyes were squeezed shut… was he dead? Near death? In a coma? No, no, he felt too real for that, but not real enough to be in the afterlife, if that made sense. He sighed and let the Apple drop. But instead of hearing it clank against the metal floor of the Collector Base, he discovered that it had vanished from his possession. He slowly opened his eyes and was assaulted by bright… silver light. As soon as they adjusted, he discovered that he was no longer in the Collector Base at all, but in a void.

It wasn't the afterlife. It looked too similar to the Animus's memory corridor to be the afterlife, unless God was a cruel comedian to new arrivals. Something about that theory seemed off, as well. He stepped forward, still looking far to his right. Golden polygons and prisms zipped around erratically, teleporting through the air like glitches in a computer's screen. He mumbled to himself about how he still felt pain throughout his whole body. That would have stopped if he were dead.

"I look upon what my body has done over the countless millenia. I see what I am doing now from an outside perspective for the first time in this life and my previous life. I am truly horrified by the things the Reapers have forced us to do."

Alexander's eyes bulged, and he spun around, baring his hidden blades. He turned to face the source of the unknown voice and was greeted by a peculiar being. "And what are you supposed to be? Have I finally snapped?"

"The world has frozen for us. Turn your head around and you'll see 'me' trying to slam the other primitive into the wall headfirst."

There was an odd tone accompanying the word 'me,' one that said that this being's statement was sardonic in nature. Alexander hesitantly looked around, and lightly gasped when he saw Kairee being throttled and forced toward the wall. Her unarmored head had not yet made any contact, but she was supposedly in motion. "Why is everything frozen, what the hell is going on, why didn't the Apple work this time?" Alexander 'asked,' more like demanded.

"Ah. The day a primitive could string together enough words to interrogate one of us. I suppose now that one fellow owes me five hundred units… what was his name… Jaffa? Java? Javi… No, Darvik?" the being chuckled, a bit darkly for Alexander's preference. "Well I suppose you deserve answers I mean… you've made it this far."

"What, are you Harbinger?" Alexander said, disregarding the earlier, opening spiel about the Reapers.

The being groaned and slapped a three-fingered hand to its pale blue-grey face, lightly massaging the gunmetal grey, layered carapace covering its head. It looked like a Collector's cranial carapace, just not as pronounced, and lacking the lengthy growth trailing down its back towards the floor. It blinked its four yellow eyes, directing its pupils… wait, this thing had two pupils that were merged like venn diagrams in each eyeball. "Fuc- NO. I am NOT a damned Reaper! Anything BUT a Reaper! Currently a Reaper's pawn and even that is shaky at best, but NOT and NEVER a Reaper!" it boomed, gesticulating angrily, waving its hands wildly, chopping the air. It seemed deeply insulted.

Alexander kept his blades out, narrowing his eyes. "Then explain, and make it convincing. Are you just an illusion?" It didn't look like an illusion. Covering the being from the bottom of the neck down was smooth, streamlined but archaic looking armor. It was jet black, with bands of golden characters running along the layered edges of the armor. It looked like nothing Alexander had ever seen before. To a degree, it resembled Collector armor, in terms of how it was layered and the position of the many grooves and edges. In addition it didn't look… corporate. He knew that didn't make sense, but it was incredibly aesthetic rather than simple. It didn't have that "this is totally mass produced in an armor cookie-cutter" look to it. That armor seemed so much more… spiritual? Symbolic? Elite? Fantastical? Hand-crafted? What is this thing, Alexander asked himself. He had a thought, an inkling of realization in the back of his mind, but he shoved it away, deeming it impossible.

The being took out from behind its back the Apple of Eden, still glowing brightly, like a miniature sun in the being's palm. "This is Isuan technology. I am impressed. How did you come to acquire this?" the being asked, popping the Apple into the air and catching it, studying it with squinted eyes.

"You know about the First Civilization? How old are you?" asked Alexander, suddenly a bit less defensive around the mysterious being.

It smiled, sighing thoughtfully and letting its arm drop, holding onto the Apple. "Over 50,000 years old. I cannot remember my date of birth, but I am aware that a new Cycle has come. Tsk, they're late. 185 years late," it said, scratching its chin. "You have delayed them for that long?"

"I wouldn't know. I do know that we delayed them for two years… two years ago," Alexander replied, standing straight and dropping his guard. He kept his eye on this being, however, and was prepared to put his guard back up if he had to. Then it dawned on him. 50,000 years old. "Oh my God… you're…"

The being simpered and nodded. "Prothean. I remember that. I will admit, I have never felt stranger in my life. My name, my rank, my interests before this, even my sex. It's gone. I retain semantic memories, and very few episodic memories about life before the Reapers."

Alexander stumbled back, holding a hand to his head, uttering a breathy laugh of mixed relief and terror. "Aha… I've done it, I've finally lost my mind… and if I haven't, then… that, that is one hell of a revelation. I knew the Collectors were once Protheans, but…"

"Our true selves are irrecognizable. We bear merely small similarities to the Collectors as we were the base, and the Collectors bear only a hint of resemblance to us the Protheans. Especially the General back there," the Prothean said, jabbing a thumb over their shoulder, in the direction of the Collector General, who was frozen over a console that was not there. "I have sadly forgotten what they did to them to create such a creature."

Alexander took a better look around. The only beings present in this Apple-created void were him, the Prothean, the Prothean's Collector body possessed by Harbinger, Kairee, and the Collector General. "Well, since you know far, far more than I could ever know about the Collectors… do you have time to tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Words are cheap," the Prothean said, stepping forwards, to Alexander. Without warning, they pressed a hand to Alexander's forehead. It was coming back to them. They needed to communicate their memories before it was too late and the Apple's effects faded. "Good… so it still works."

Haze in the air. Smog of War. It is twilight on a jungle planet. A Prothean city in ruins. Reapers… no, they can only be described as Titans they are so large. Some as big as Sovereign. The deep droning echoes through the valley. Indoctrination signals being sent out under the audible, mechanical roars.

It fast-forwards. A lone Prothean attempts to find refuge in the ruins, pursued by husks. No, not human husks… the word is surfacing… 'Ditakur.' Their mind is open, too open. Made desperate by a deep desire for survival to fight another day. Evacuation was impossible. The colony had been lost. One droning call. A headache forms. Three shots from a particle rifle, two Ditakur husks are dead. Another droning call. They can hear a voice on the other end of the drone. "Survive, put down your weapon, become part of your people again." They ignore it, screaming in anguish, refusing to be taken. Three Ditakur husks die as cover is found inside a cave of rubble. They hide under a slab of metal, and hold their breath. Their bleeding is profuse. They're growing drowsy. A third droning call. They smile and drop their rifle. Everything grows hazy. Not with coming death, but with a lack of recollection of what comes next.

Blackout.

They "awaken" on board a vessel. Protheans surround them. Muffled voices echo, unable to be fully evoked in the memory of them. They are standing up, fully armored, uninjured. They are watching the helmsman pilot the ship. A voice. "Begin the purge."

They did not act alone. Shots ring out, crimson paints the floors and walls.

It flashes forward again. Pain, agony. Parts being removed, and pieces being shoved into place. No anesthesia. They shriek in agony but they smile all the while. They do it for their Gods.

They are a Collector. No longer an individual but a small part of a large whole. It is darkness that grows darker and somehow, darker still, until it is as dark as it can grow. But it is a beautiful, holy darkness. No hunger, no thirst, no lust, no more pain. They are never alone. They can hear the voice of countless Reapers. The collective consciousness of hundreds, maybe thousands of cycles and the races converted into Reapers. Arthenn. Zeioph. Thoi'han. Inusannon. There is a race missing. The Protheans are missing out on such a wonderful experience!

There is nothing but a shred of "Them" left. The Cycle is over. A new directive has been issued; await the advent of the next Cycle's crop. Data available… Asari, Turians, Salarians, Hanar…

Humans. The most intriguing ones.

The Isu. Contemporaries of the Inusannon. Small, and isolated. The Reapers recall an encounter with the Isu… the only race they ever failed to harvest. The Isu controlled areas of the southern half of the galaxy. Earth, their capital. Palaven. Sur'Kesh. Thessia. Kahje. City-States of Isu civilization. A derogatory name given to them by the Inusannon. A badge of honor for the Isu.

They abandoned their research outposts when the Reapers came in for harvest. Harbinger's memories were imparted to the Collectors as a warning. The Isu perished about 21,000 years after the Cycle concluded. Their own star fried them, and they went extinct within hundreds of years after the thread of survival joined the rest in death.

The Pieces of Eden. Developed on Earth, in the city of Eden. Devices capable of manipulating the entire fabric of everything. Devices made to enslave. Primitive humans, especially, were subject to this.

Everything fell apart. The Pieces left to rot. Never truly rotted, did they? The Protheans found them, cast them aside and deemed them "horrid." They could not use them themselves.

The Pieces of Eden. That was the Isu contribution to the solution. They, the Collector, was running out of memories. What was the solution? All they know is that the Pieces pushed the Reapers away. Disrupted the perfected order.

Freed a portion of their mind, just now.

They felt retaliation. A push-back on their psychometric communication.

They saw something new, something that wasn't their own.

They saw Earth. Someplace cold. Harsh. An unforgivable landscape. They heard crying, the screams of an infant newly born. No doctors, no professionals of any nature. Peasants in a shack by a fireplace, shouting for joy in a language that came to Them as "Russian."

The mother perished shortly after. Years go by. A pubescant boy runs through the streets of his home village, pursued by authority figures with maces and swords. He runs far faster than them, and is far more agile. He returns home, having lost the authorities without his face being seen and memorized. He dumps a bag of bread on a table, and his father, brother, and sister partake in a mediocre meal that keeps them alive another day.

It is years later. The boy, now a young man, resents those who rule him. They the Collector tilt their heads, finding rebellion to be a curious futility after so long. The boy desires freedom. He wants to learn, he wants to earn things for himself rather than steal. The ruler of their village is… displeased. It's a blur, but it felt violent.

He is cast out. Shipped away to a shining city in a warm climate. Two seas on either side. One capital, halved between two continents. He speaks not the local language… but there is Isu within him.

An older man with greying hair in blue-grey, furry robes. While he is armed to the teeth he does not appear threatening at all. Too old to move quick, he surely carries weapons he cannot wield to deter the stupid. The young Russian slips a pouch from the older man's robes.

A pursuit. It is practically city-wide before the younger man surrenders the coin pouch, kneeling to the older man for punishment. He is winded, and has been outran by a man nearly thrice his age. He goes unpunished. Foolish.

An organization that educates him, and converts him from a thief into a warrior of the shadows. They say they fight for something… freedom?

Months, then a full year zooms by. Isu technology, conspiracies between those who share the Reaper ideology of order through force, and those who embrace a flawed mankind, desiring nothing more than freedom and knowledge. It ends abruptly.

The Apple is deactivating. There is still a light. They try to reach for it… they find a name.

Alexander staggered back, holding his head and gagging, unable to believe that he just saw all of that. The Prothean too staggered away from him. "You are Isu. Or at least some of you!"

"Long story… I'm not doing that again, how about we do things the primitive way next time you need exposition?" Alexander said, gasping for air.

Entirely exasperated by the experience, the Prothean sat down on the silvery floor of the void. "Animus, you call it. The Memory Machine we raided when you were connected to the Cruiser. You are an intriguing being. Two lives, two minds, in one body. You have much Isu in your DNA. It is unique to me. We have Quad-Strands. They, they have tri-helixes. It's unmistakable. I would say 4% or more. 10% maximum, but I must be wrong…"

Alexander held his head in his hands, sighing deeply. "I'll be honest… all I wanted was to come here, blow this place to hell, and leave. Preferably alive," he said. "So… let me summarize. The Isu are 'those who came before.' But now, they are REALLY 'those who came before' even the PROTHEANS. And they were enemies of the Inusannon. So they refused to help with the Reaper Invasion until the Reapers turned on the Isu, so the Isu used their Pieces of Eden to repel the Reapers and survive the Cycle, only to be evaporated during the Toba catastrophy several thousand years after the Cycle ended? And before that they had research facilities housing Pieces of Eden on other homeworlds? Made humans to provide free labor when the population dropped after the Cycle?"

"I am unsure why you feel the need to summarize to begin with. Heh… non-Protheans and their verbal communications…"

The Apple's glow began to fade. Alexander had a spark of realization and flicked his wrist, a single blade sliding out. He walked over to the Collector General. "You mind?" he asked, placing a hand on the General's head.

"Their time is up. There is no return for them."

A blade punctured the crown of the General's head. No blood emerged whatsoever – time was no longer relevant in this void. Alexander walked around and looked for his dropped items. He found that his guns went with him into the Edenian void. He picked up his Automattock and Suppressor pistol and holstered them both. He glanced at the Collector Harbinger was possessing. "Is this you?" he inquired, looking into the Collector's burning eyes.

"It was," the Prothean said, shaking their head. Their brows lifted. They opened their mouth to speak, "And perhaps it can be again."

Alexander gave the Prothean an amused smirk and said, "What, do you expect me to pull you out of this void when that Apple goes dark?"

"No. That Apple. It has awoken a very small part of me. My name is Tulay. That is all I can recall. It sounds… feminine, I suppose?"

Alexander narrowed his eyes, trying to focus on the Prothean's appearance. Their face seemed smooth, narrow, and gentle enough to pass as feminine in contemporary society. Their voice was low, but higher than a man's voice. A contralto voice perhaps? "I suppose you already know my name, but I also suppose it's… nice to meet you?" he said, still very much confused by the recent series of events.

"The feeling is mutual. You're the first person I've spoken to in 50,000 years. Do me a favor, Alexander."

"Elaborate?"

"With the General's death combined with the influence of the Apple… I can no longer feel Harbinger, or any other Reaper. It was through the General that Harbinger could possess us. In theory, every single Collector in this station may have just defected to your side. 'Woke up,' if you would. I know it does not make much sense to you, but I am asking you to please trust me. When that Apple kicks us out of this void… if I hurt the Turian, kill me. 'Snap my neck,' as you said you would, and free me from my servitude once and for all. If I show mercy, I ask you show me mercy as well."

Alexander immediately went back on his guard, taking a cautious step back. "Hold on, 'if?' Are you saying there's a chance that you are still under Harbinger's control?"

"When the General dies, Harbinger no longer has a direct link to every Collector at once. It is possible he could possess just one Collector and try in vain to reestablish connection with us all. But I doubt he is that dedicated a master. More likely my body will wake up and regain control of itself. If that happens, spare me. The laboratories where our cybernetic 'adjustments' were forced upon us are still operational. It's… a game of chance, but I may be able to reverse some of the damage done to my organic body and rejoin you later."

"Good luck, you have ten minutes. Maybe twenty," said Alexander, shrugging his shoulders.

"Then do not stand in my way. The way I see it, if I fail, then at least I get to die a free Prothean. If I survive, then I get to live to avenge my people."

Alexander took a moment's consideration, looking over his shoulder at Harbinger and Kairee. "Toss me the Apple. Let's end this," he said. As soon as the Apple hit his hands, the void disappeared.

Everything happened at once. The Collector General shrieked again, but the scream died on its "lips" so to speak. It fell over, beginning to die. The Automattock and the Suppressor were still holstered in Alexander's armor. The alarm that sounded off earlier continued to blare down the hallway. Over the console, the image of Harbinger himself, in Reaper Form, appeared. To Alexander, it greatly resembled a gigantic cuttlefish. He took his attention off of Harbinger the Reaper to watch Harbinger the Collector.

Sure enough, the Collector elite had picked Kairee up by her throat and had gone to slam her into the wall. Suddenly it froze, the cracks in its body sealing back up, the fire in its eyes fading away into a gentle glow. Kairee was mere centimeters away from the wall, eyes glued to the Collector, mouth open as she gasped for air. Her eyes then strayed to Alexander, and promptly bugged out when she saw everything that had happened in a literal instant. He was somehow armed again, the General was dying, and he was in a completely different pose and position in the hallway, all in the span of a millisecond. And she didn't blink.

"You have failed. We must find another way," Harbinger boomed, before disappearing from the terminal. "Releasing control…" The gentle glow of the Collector General and Elite's eyes faded away, and the elite began to move its head to look around inquisitively. Tilting its head quizzically at Kairee, it released her and stepped away, looking over at Alexander.

Alexander, all the curious, stepped over to the General, crouching down over it. It squirmed around, still alive, and tried to stand up, looking in all directions trying to find someone to help it. "You were just another pawn, weren't you?" Alexander said, suddenly feeling something he never thought he'd feel for a Collector: concern.

To his surprise, what escaped his mouth wasn't English, or Russian, or the accidental broken Turkish. He recognized it as Prothean. (Ah, shit, if it isn't another language I don't want to speak. Hmph, I guess I've made the transition to full Gary Stu, now haven't I? Damn this psychic nonsense), he mused, shaking his head and wiping his face with his hands.

The Collector General painfully nodded, trying to understand what was happening to it, and what it even was. It wasn't a Prothean anymore, and it wasn't even of the Prothean body type. At this point, Kairee and the other Assassins had their eyes on this brief exchange. Some, like Frederico and Eleria, were left slackjawed by what they saw. Others, like Kairee and Lora, wanted to just shoot the General and be done with it. Alexander continued talking. "I never imagined that's what you were; people trapped underneath indoctrination, taking a back-seat position while you watched yourselves turn into this. I always thought everything was gone, y'know? You were just automatons." The General looked away from Alexander and let its head rest on the metal ground. Alexander sighed again and laid a hand on the General's head. "I'm sorry it had to be this way. I couldn't take the chance, and I had a mission to accomplish. I'll be sure to tell everyone the whole truth about you. All of you."

Suddenly, the General looked back at Alexander and slowly reached out for him, pressing the tip of its scythe-like appendage to his forehead. Alexander closed his eyes, expecting to see something. Three seconds passed before he realized that nothing was coming. "I'm sorry. I guess without… hands, or the Apple amplifying whatever it is you used to be able to do…"

The General took its shivering appendage off of Alex's forehead and gradually lowered it down to the floor. It had been denied its last words.

Alexander cocked his head to the side, regarding the General with… pity, remorse, and just a bit of empathy. As the General laid his head down, he looked objectively heartbroken and confused, letting out a soft trill before going limp. Alexander grumbled a short "Requiescat in Pace," and slid his hands over the General's eyes, "closing" the nonexistant eyelids. You died free. Rest in Peace.

It was then that he rose, wincing from the pain in his gut. He brought a hand to his visor frame and spoke into the Comms. "This is Alexander to Normandy Teams, report. How much time do we have before this station goes straight to hell?"

There was a pause. "Oh thank Jesus you're alive! What the hell did you do? Some of the Collectors just dropped their weapons, but now there's a whole horde of Collector Guardians who are all possessed!" Ashley Williams explained.

"It looks like you only have a few minutes. I suggest you hustle, Assassins!" John shouted through the Comms.

Alexander looked to his right, down the hallway at the Collector elite, nodding knowingly to it. "Let this one pass. We'll be seeing them again," he ordered. As soon as he said this, the Collector broke into a sprint, out of the hallway, swiping Frederico's SMG off the ground along with a thermal clip, much to the Assassin's chagrin.

Alexander ran over to Kairee and picked her up, bridal style. "We're getting out of here, I'll explain everything at the debrief," he said, jogging out of the hall to collect the other Assassins.

"Sir, leave me behind. Get Frederico and Lora out of here, I can't walk on a shattered leg," Eleria said, cringing in pain, tears coming to her eyes.

"No," Frederico spat. "Lora, Alex, help me up. Eleria, do you remember the three-legged teamwork exercise back in the Bureau?" he said.

Eleria attempted to recall the events. She was paired with Frederico and their legs were tied together, forcing them to run in synch to avoid tripping and possibly breaking their noses. "How is that relevant?" Alexander asked, squinting his eyes at Frederico in disbelief.

Lora gasped in surprised delight. Maybe Frederico was good for some great ideas. "That's a perfect plan. ~Hhkkt~, Fred's left arm is shot. Eleria's right leg is broken. ~Hhkkt~. So Frederico will be Eleria's ~Hhkkt~ right leg and Eleria will be his left arm!" she elucidated, making curious gesticulations with her hands as she pointed to Frederico, then Eleria, then to their damaged limbs, and their undamaged limbs.

Kairee nodded weakly. "Th-that sounds sensible… let's go?"

Alexander opened his mouth to say something. He simply gave the three Veterans a look of high expectation. Without words he seemed to say don't let us down, do your best. His irises became golden, and he took off with Kairee in his arms, over the bridge, backtracking to the Normandy as quickly as humanly possible.

Lora pulled Frederico to his knees and he was able to stand alone. With his good arm, he reached for Eleria's hand and yanked her up off the ground, throwing his bad arm around her shoulder, shouting when he felt the inevitable pain that came from that action. Eleria hissed through her own torment, her right thigh pressed to Frederico's left thigh. They hobbled forward, eventually transitioning to a light jog, moving their legs in synch to simulate running. Lora followed behind, secretly proud of Frederico for saving the day.

The only thing in their way now was the eight minute timer.

The Human Reaper, face blown open, let out a sky-sundering screech before collapsing forward, slamming chest-first into the chain of platforms. All hell broke loose in that moment. Any remaining Collectors perished in the chaos, falling to their demise in the pits below. A platform tilted and fell away partially, knocking Tali, Ashley, Kaidan, and Garrus off balance. They each cried out as they began to slide down the platform toward the abyss. Without thinking, John and Jane threw themselves down the platform, sliding on their bellies with arms outstretched, grasping the hands of their companions. The Human Reaper slipped off of the platform chain and into the abyss, illuminating it with the flames that now coated the metal exoskeleton.

The twin Shepards yelped in fear of what may happen next, as the top halves of their torsos passed over the edge. Suddenly they all stopped. Looking up, they saw the face of Urdnot Wrex, with an expression of sheer determination. The Krogan Warlord pulled them up as far as he could before the Reaper exploded. A kinetic shockwave blew a metal support frame up into the bottom of the platforms, throwing it back the other way. They rolled over down the inverted slope, only stopping near the edge due to being docked with another horizontal platform. Rising to their feet, they looked on as a spiraling platform careened into their platform, and everything went dark.

…

…

John could feel nothing but heavy metal weighing him down. He managed to get to his knees, and his cybernetics kicked in. Alongside him he could see Wrex's krogan strength saving his life as well. The two warriors tossed the rubble aside with a strained grunt, directing their attention to their friends. John naturally went for Tali, while Wrex pulled Jane out from under a sheet of metal, tossing it into the abyss. Tali was breathing, and she wordlessly signaled her survival to John, who picked her up, set her on her feet, then rushed over to Ashley, repeating the process. Jane rushed over to Garrus while Wrex recovered Kaidan from under a cross beam.

Everyone was okay, but they'd be feeling this in the morning. "Do you copy?!" Joker's voice cried over Comms. "C'mon Shepard don't leave me hanging, do you copy?!"

"I'm here, Joker!" replied John, an hand to the side of his helmet as he gazed out at the galactic core. "Did the ground team make it?"

"Everyone is alive and onboard, we're just waiting for you!" The moment this was said, clouds of Seeker Swarms appeared, followed by a squad of four possessed Collectors. "Human. You have changed nothing," Harbinger said, his voice thundering throughout the base. John and his team broke into a full retreat, only turning around to shoot at the possessed Collectors. As they ran, they encountered groups of Collectors without any glow at all. Most peculiar, was that whenever the unpossessed Collector groups saw the Commanders and their comrades, they dropped their weapons and continued running. The Shepards and company continued their retreat, putting away their weapons and resorting to freerunning.

"Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation though destruction.

Suddenly, another channel rejoined the Comms network. "This is Alexander to Normandy Teams, report. How much time do we have before this station goes straight to hell?" Alexander's voice asked.

Ashley laughed out loud, looking positively, pleasantly shocked. "Oh thank Jesus you're alive! What the hell did you do? Some of the Collectors just dropped their weapons, but now there's a whole horde of Collector Guardians who are all possessed!"

John, who did nothing but run for the Normandy, had this in reply. "It looks like you only have a few minutes, you need to hustle, Assassins!"

…

…

Seven minutes. They had dodged Collector fire long enough, but they were still far from the Normandy. They could not afford to turn around and fight back, despite the damage their shields and barriers were taking. They turned a sharp right corner as John spun in a 360, throwing a shockwave down to push the Collectors back.

Seven minutes. The Assassins were down the spiral ramp, running through the winding halls once again, following in Alexander's footsteps. Collectors harrowed their escape. Frederico and Lora used their sidearms and biotics to make way for their escape.

Seven minutes. The Collector Elite was strapped into an automated operating table, with systems set to their demand. The first mechanical arms and scalpels burrowed into their chitin. They remained as still as possible, only craning their head to the left to see a tank of organic compounds sitting above the table. Reaper preservatives lasted forever, they mused, looking straight up once again.

Six minutes. The Shepards' hopes were dwindling as they kept finding themselves cut off by more Collectors, plus a praetorian, which finally decided to join the fray. Bright blue lasers cut across the battlefield and hordes of husks piled over each other trying to sprint towards the organics that threatened the station. To their dismay, Kaidan tripped over an unexpected ledge of chitin, knocking Tali down with him. Turning with their weapons drawn, for a moment, just the tiniest moment, even John considered continuing the retreat without them, seeing the fine mess they had kited. Before they could carry out that dark fantasy, gunfire from behind could be heard. Bullets zoomed into the possessed Collectors and their minions, holding them back. Garrus ran to pick Tali and Kaidan up, arms around their shoulders as he got them back into a sprint before letting go. Turning around, the squad saw countless, friendly, Awakened Collectors giving them cover fire. Deciding not to question their salvation, they continued running.

Six minutes. The injured Assassns found themselves joined by Awakened Collectors holding them up and helping them run from the Base, occasionally shooting at the Possessed Collectors still under Reaper influence. Assuming that they were aligned with the Elite that took Frederico's gun, the Assassins took the blessing as it came to them and offered them biotic and tech power support.

Six minutes. The Collector Elite was now submerged in organic fluid, being constantly sliced open and prodded by machinery any sane member of the galactic community would call inhumane. Slowly, their original skin, their original organs, were being restored. They wondered if they had enough time. Then, everything grew dark.

Five minutes. The Shepards and company had nothing more in their way but an uphill charge. The slope was steep, and the path was wide, but up they marched, breathing heavily and picking up the pace, pushing their limits beyond what they thought they were capable of. The seconds ticked away.

Five minutes. The Assassins were almost there. The Collectors had guided them down an alternate route to the first tunnel where the second initial fireteam had marched through. Now following the ground team's steps, they could see the Normandy dead ahead, floating just outside, getting ready to take off. "This is Alexander Clarke, I have Kairee and the Assassins are just behind me! Let us onboard!" Alexander cried, seeing the doors close too soon.

Five minutes. They could feel it. As chitin was removed, fluid rushed to flood the cavity. Metal bone coverings and cybernetics dissolved, flushing from the pod through filters. Marrow regenerated from scraps left on the sides of the interior bones, cells began to be born. Soft and hard tissue strengthened. Muscles, long deteriorated from millenia of disuse, changed slowly from a putrefied black to a robust red. Four minutes, cybernetics continued to be dissolved and washed away. Those that stuck around were cut out by the machines that once were responsible for creating Collectors. Organs, once replaced by tech, slowly found themselves being recomposed, rejuvenated, reactivated. Passageways throughout their body opened up, fluid rushing through to reawaken the dormant cells that had been restored. Then the nervous system reactivated. Three minutes, they screamed at the top of their now responsive lungs, bubbles shooting up to the surface as a sharp, strongly burning agony engulfed their body. It slowly crept up from their toes to envelop their calves, up to the thighs, then hips, then the entirety of their torso, their arms and hands. The only place they couldn't feel it was the inside of their head within seconds of that. Still, they tried not to move too quickly, clenching their fists and trying to focus on other things. Their eyes regained their sight in intervals. They were blinking. Cybernetic implants in their brain were being flushed out, and the fluid that surrounded them was soon integrated into the blood, the concentration lessening until naturally produced substances – plasma, blood cells, platelets – were the only thing left.

Three minutes. The metal arms and blades that pulled and sliced lifted away. They bolted upright, splashing a wave of fluid out of the pod as they gasped for her first breath of air in millenia, coughing and sputtering, as a new infant would do to clear their own lungs. She fell out of the pod and onto their hands and knees, crying, yet laughing at the same time at just how good pain of all things felt after thousands of years of not feeling anything at all. In a way, they had just been born a second time. They stood up, reaching for the nearby table where she had laid Frederico's SMG. Nude they may be, they had no time to remedy that if they wanted to make their rebirth mean something.

Re-. Again. Implying a second time. A second chance at life. A second chance to fight the Reaper threat. A second Cycle.

Two minutes. Her name was Tulay. She would aid this new cycle in defeating the Reapers, in finishing the Solution. She would take her new freedom and crusade in the memory of her fallen people. A people that would appoint Avatars to embody a specific virtue. She grinned. That said, she knew exactly what she was. Correction and addendum; she was Tulay, Avatar of Justice.

One minute. The Shepards' team had made it up the hill and were approaching a dead end. A massive, ribbed chitin tunnel leading out into space, away from the Base. The Normandy rose from the abyss, doors sliding open to reveal none other than Joker with an M8 Avenger. He took aim at the Possessed Collectors and opened fire, the recoil cracking his bones. He cared little, only for the survival of his family. One Collector down, then two more in succession. A column of metal grazed the cliffside adjacent to the Normandy's door, sliding away and into the abyss. Tali, Ashley, Kaidan, Garrus, and Wrex climbed aboard and entered the Normandy. A much larger boulder of debris fell, shattering the cliffside and cutting the Normandy off from the Shepards. "John, launch me!" Jane shouted. John, without question, picked his sister up and fired a shockwave, propelling Jane through the air and into the Normandy.

One minute. The Assassins were forced to take a detour. The Normandy's priority was always the Shepards. So Alexander and company had to go up a steep incline via freerunning to trail the Normandy close behind. As it parked next to a cliff, Alexander could see members of the crew pile in, shortly before the cliff was destroyed, creating distance. "Alright, Joker, out of the way, we're going to have to jump it!" Alexander called. Joker fired a few more potshots at the Collectors and ducked back into the Normandy as Jane flew in. Alexander, still carrying Kairee, used his biotics to push himself off the ground, sailing through the door. The Collectors who had severed the connection to the Reapers carried the wounded Assassins uphill, then helped them into the Normandy. Frederico used his biotics to yank Eleria off the ground and float her into the Normandy, doing the same to Lora before throwing himself, shoulder first, over the edge. He barely made it, slamming his bad shoulder into the floor and crying out. When the pain subsided, he laughed and cheered at his survival.

Twenty seconds. She was moving as fast as she could, and when she saw the Normandy in all its splendor, she praised whatever power that existed. She could see Alexander with his Automattock, aiming out of the door and firing at Possessed Collectors, who had all but overpowered the Awakened Collectors. He saw her running, and he shouted something to his crewmates. The door stayed open as he switched to his pistol and held his hand out. John was still running for the ship, slowed down by the constant gunfire. Not willing to be die so close to victory, she charged forward, brilliant, peridot green biotic energy swirling around her. She slammed into a Collector's spine, snapping it and casting it off the cliff, using it as a launch pad to jump into the Normandy. She was promptly welcomed by the barrels of the crew's guns. She fell to her knees and gladly surrendered.

Fifteen seconds. It was John's last ditch effort. He felt the sole of his feet on the corner of the ledge. What may very well be his last action, and it had to be taking his first leap of faith. Funny how that works, he thought as his feet left the ground, arms swinging through the air. He caught the ledge just barely, everything below his elbows hanging off the ship. Tali arrived to offer her hand, and she used all of her remaining strength to pull her Commander and lover back onto the Normandy. With that, the door closed.

"Detonation in ten, nine, eight," EDI cried, sounding genuinely worried.

"Yeah I get the gist of it, EDI!" shouted Joker. "Hold on!"

The Normandy sped through a tunnel of chitin spires, zooming out of the side of the base, performing a barrel roll and zooming downward, towards the Mass Relay as the first of many explosions rocked the Collector Base.

Observing from any available windows or external camera viewing screens on the Normandy, the crew watched the fruits of their flawless labor.

…

Onboard the Collector Station, combat between the Possessed and the Awakened Collectors continued to the very end, when the Reapers released control over all Collectors remaining, knowing now that they cannot at least pull the Normandy down with the Base. The recently Possessed looked about, finally tasting a sliver of freedom. Turning their heads, they saw blinding fire rushing their way.

One Collector raised his arm in salute to his long defeated Empire, laying his other hand to his chest. Others followed suit as they saw this. One final rite as a free people to honor their true home. As the fires engulfed the Base, the Protheans enslaved there died, truly free at last.

…

There was a extraordinary blaze of light and fire, accompanied by a shockwave that dissipated in the vacuum as soon as it formed. The entirety of the base detonated into a magnificent explosion that grew by the second. Already larger than some stars and still spreading, the intense, vaporizing heat struck the debris field, resulting in further explosions and the destruction of much of the debris. The Normandy was forced to ride the wave to the Omega-4 Relay, blasting off into FTL.

It was all over.

The Collectors were a threat no longer.

The battle had been won.

Moving into the briefing room was a chore. There were several sparking wires and fallen beams in John's way as he climbed into the briefing room to broadcast a call to the Illusive Man. Figured he might as well flip the bird one last time before he took the Normandy along with EDI, the crew, and the Apple of Eden.

The scanning system executed perfectly, and the two were broadcasted to each other. John was soon joined by Alexander and Miranda, who each had something to say to the Illusive Man. "Shepard," the Illusive Man said, tapping on his cigarette. "You are making a habit of costing me more than time and money."

John smirked. Not-so-paragon thoughts ran through his mind. "Heh, I'm sorry, I'm having trouble hearing you. I'm getting a lot of bullshit on this line." Joker's giggling could be heard from the Comms.

"Don't try my patience," the Illusive Man replied, narrowing his eyes and blowing smoke from his mouth. "The technology from that base could have secured human dominance in the galaxy. Against the Reapers and beyond."

"Human dominance?" Alexander asked, stepping forward threateningly, "or just Cerberus?"

"Strength for Cerberus is strength for every human, Assassin. Cerberus IS Humanity!" the Illusive Man growled, standing up from his seat and walking closer to the three. "I should have known you'd choke on the hard decisions. Too idealistic from the start, and you've wasted your time with those Assassin dreamers!"

"We know what you are, Illusive Man. We know the price of dealing with you, too," Miranda said, jabbing a finger towards her now ex-boss.

"Miranda! You would betray everything we stand for? You would betray your own people? I gave you countless opportunities, Lawson! I have elevated you to such high standings in the ranks of Cerberus! You are a Templar icon!" the Illusive Man boomed, swinging his cigarette around, leaving smoke trails. "And now, this is my thanks? You let the Shepards destroy the one thing that could have secured our safety against the Reapers?"

"This isn't who I am. This isn't what I wanted to become, or what I wanted to do. After seeing what happened in there, no amount of technology is worth tens of thousands of souls," Miranda explained, rubbing her hands together anxiously.

John picked up from there. "We do things our way from now on. Are we clear? Harbinger is coming. He's not going to be alone. So I'm going to make sure we're ready when they get here. You can fall in line or step aside but don't get in my way."

"Don't you dare command me that way, Shepard! You cost our entire race the surest chance of survival! Like hell I am falling in line with you!" the Illusive Man spat, crushing his cigarette in his fist, his cybernetic eyes twitching as his hand burned on the ashes. "This is insubordination! From you and Miranda both!"

"Not exactly insubordination. Consider this my resignation," Miranda quipped, shrugging lightly.

"If it hasn't occurred to you already, Illusive Man?" Alexander said, stepping in front of John. "We just essentially aborted a Reaper fetus. Pumped full of the gene sludge of tens of thousands of humans who went flailing and screeching in untold levels of agony. We watched a woman melt into slop, all while she kept pounding on the glass screaming to be let out. These are images I will never forget. This is what they did to our people. And for you to come in and say 'oh, well, oops, that's just collateral damage for the greater good!?'"

The Illusive Man grew exasperated in his impatience. "Their sacrifice would have been well noted when we vanquished the Reaper threat! What you did, was make the deaths of those people in vain, Assassin! All for your moralistic fallacies you let tens of thousands of people die, and ultimately go unnoticed!"

"THEY WILL NEVER GO UNNOTICED! THEY DIED AS MARTYRS!" Alexander screamed, at the top of his lungs. There was silence. For several seconds, nobody said a word. He continued, holding his head and stumbling back, inhaling through his teeth. "Maybe we won't have the technology from the base. Maybe we did make a mistake. But how dare you assume that we won't tell their story to everyone who will lend an ear? How dare you even think that we won't remember the horrors we saw here today, and prevent them from happening again? What the hell gave you the idea that we won't think back to this day and smile, when every last goddamn Reaper lay crushed in a heap of scrap metal?"

The Illusive Man didn't even bother to engage and feed the Assassin's ego. He redirected the conversation back to relevant topics. "And what of the Apple? You didn't use it to spare the base. Where is it?"

Alexander fished the device from his pouch and grinned slyly. "In the hands of the Assassins Brotherhood, now. Burn in Hell, Illusive Man."

He stepped out of the call, his hologram disappearing from view. Miranda, having nothing more to say herself, did the same, leaving John alone with the Illusive Man. "I made you, Shepard. I brought you back from the dead. Are you just going to blatantly throw that away? And disregard everything Cerberus fights for?" the Illusive Man said, making one last effort to reason with the Commander. "Are you turning your back on me?! Do NOT cut me off like last time! I failed to find it amus-"

"Whoops!"

The call dropped. There was deafening silence, broken periodically by the crackling of electricity from damaged wires. "Ah... that never gets old, does it?" Joker said from the bridge, wearing a pleased grin on his face and lightly grazing his index finger over the "end call" button on his console.

Dr. Karin Chakwas and Mordin Solus looked over their work. The first and second fireteams had come through for minor patchups for maladies ranging from burn ointment administration (Jacob) to bruise drainage (Grunt), from bandaging (Zaeed) and bone-setting (Joker) to immune diagnostics (Tali).

The Assassins however were a trip. Eleria now stood straight, sporting a braced cast on her leg, leaning on a metal crutch for support. Frederico tenderly nursed his wounded shoulder, his arm held up in a sling. Lora had taken the least intense beating in the Collector Base, and sat on a table, off to the side, kicking her legs up and down and waiting for Chakwas's final statements. Kairee had long since passed out from exhaustion and minor blood loss, and was laid out on a less-than-properly cushioned operating table. Fortunately however, Chakwas had removed all projectiles and bandaged her up. For each of the Assassins with long-lasting injury, Chakwas had provided medicine of Mordin's design to speed the healing process. Beyond that, Mordin was of little help, due to him constantly oggling at the Normandy's surprise guest, holding back the desire to dissect her. For science.

"Alright. I am glad you all made it," Chakwas said, hands behind her back. "Well most of you. Besides the one person who decided to skip medical attention to yell at the Illusive Man," she added, having earlier heard Alexander's earth-shattering roar from the Medbay. She cleared her throat as she heard the door open behind her, speaking of the Devil. "None of you are the picture of health, I cannot lie to you about that. But, thanks to your quick thinking and our medical resources, you will all make full recoveries. Please, do rest, and avoid strenuous activity. Eat healthy and get plenty of sleep, and you two will be out of your restraints in no time."

Alexander began to remove pieces of his armor, laying them down on the closest operating table to the door, adjacent to Kairee's. He flipped his hood off of his head and removed his visor, setting it aside and continuing with the process of taking off the armor that adorned his beaten body. Chakwas stood behind him, her arms crossed as she petulantly tapped her foot and drummed her fingers against his elbows, biting gently on the inside of her cheek. Alexander heard the patter of boots on metal behind him, and froze up immediately. The Good Doctor was Good and all, redundancy aside, but she was also a serious individual. "Oh, go ahead, Mr. Clarke, don't let my presence stop you. I want to see how much damage you accumulated."

Rolling his eyes, Alexander peeled the snow-white bodysuit off, rolling it down to reveal massive bruises on his back and right shoulder. Giant blotches of black that faded into purple, bordered by red and "dirty gold". He hissed painfully as he moved his bloody, battered arms to roll the bodysuit further. His legs were in only slightly better shape, but there was one huge, Collector foot-shaped bruise on the inside of his thigh. Wearing nothing but athletic boxers, he turned to the doctor to reveal even more damage to his torso, in the form of cuts, lighter bruises, and shallow bullet holes from projectiles that made it through his armor.

Tulay, who was sitting in the back of the Medbay in a bathrobe, nursing a mug of coffee courtesy of the Gardner primitive, looked over at Alexander and took note of each of the wounds she was forced to inflict on him. With each one she counted she winced. She felt Kairee begin to stir, assigning two eyes to watch the Turian, keeping the other two eyes on Alexander and Chakwas.

Kairee opened her eyes to see Alexander's damaged body and fully awoke, gasping and trying to sit up. Mordin and Eleria held her down and tried to keep her calm as Chakwas sat Alexander down in her chair, wheeling him over to the medical diagnosis equipment. "How do you feel?" she asked, knowing he'd reply with something like:

"Well, I feel more tender than filet mignon right about now, and my entire head feels like it's in a woodshop vice that's on really tight. If it were actually a vice, part of my skull would be fractured by now," he said, in oddly great detail for describing a splitting headache. He was even more strangely poker-faced about the whole ordeal.

"...Mr. Clarke," Mordin said, narrowing his eyes and placing a hand on his chin, cupping his elbow in the palm of his free hand. "The Sur'Kesh artifact. How many times did you use it and for how long?"

Chakwas supplemented this question with another. "Yes, and how often did you use your biotic abilities this time around? Or your Eagle Sense? Or anything taxing, really?

Alexander kept quiet for a moment, looking at his fellow Assassins expectantly, as if they'd try to bail him out. After a long silence and a stern look from Chakwas, Alexander answered honestly. "Twice used the Apple. Once for a few minutes, twice for a few seconds, but it felt like longer. I lost count of how many times I used biotics. I used Eagle Sense for almost three quarters of the mission for navigational purposes."

Mordin sniffed. And not just the usual "catch my breath" sniff, but a long, deliberately-paced, drawn out, absolutely nettled sniff. "Mr. Clarke."

"Yes?"

"You are an idiot."

"Ah."

Chakwas walked over to her desk and popped open a drawer, fishing out a blindfold used for sleep-aid, and tossed it to Alexander. "Wear that. Give your eyes and mind rest. Headache or migraine sufferers can often be sensitive to light. I will remedy the cuts and try to drain the hematomas. Mordin, please retrieve a bag of O- blood from our mini-bank."

Alexander applied the blindfold while Chakwas set to work on the open cuts. She dabbed a cotton pad in isopropyl alcohol. There were easier, more modern ways of dealing with sterilizing wounds. This was effective and punishment for Alexander's arrogance and near-suicidal approach to the mission. She simpered as she applied the pad and felt Alexander tense up, but sighed when he didn't say a word of protest or otherwise make some kind of pained sound. So, it was just effective. The man was stoic, she'd give him that. After rubbing the cuts, she took a needle and punctured Alexander's considerably large bruises. "These hematomas are too large for simple Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. I'm going to drain them instead. I can administer RICE along with some painkillers afterwards. Just tell me how you're feeling so I know if this was a bad idea."

That last statement worried Alexander, who for a moment thought he was being Robin Hood'ed. "Still hurting, but I feel fine in the way of balance." Chakwas cleaned the blood that oozed from the puncture mark, noting that it left the body fairly quickly.

"Your blood pressure is rather high," she said.

"He's going to be okay, right?" Kairee asked, worried beyond belief for Alexander's well-being. "Can you see without the blindfold? You didn't go blind, did you? How much blood did you lose earlier? Oh spirits, you won't have a stroke will you?!"

Mordin tapped her on the shoulder and held a finger over his lips.

The process was a bit tedious, but his bruises faded over the course of the drainage procedure, especially once a coagulant was introduced. Replacement blood had been introduced halfway through, when Alexander reported dizziness. After draining was complete, Chakwas took an ultrasound wand, waving it over Alexander's stomach, loosening the medigel that had binded to his cut. She took sterile gauze bandages and wrapped them tightly around his abdomen, tying it off at his back. She then ran further medical diagonistics, and after dealing with the bruises and open wounds, Alexander had no further problems aside from the headache that would naturally subside. As soon as Chakwas put down her tools and disposed of her gloves she clapped her hands together. "You're good to go! Do as I told the apprentices earlier and you'll be fine. Now, care to explain to us how our stowaway got here?" she asked, gesturing to Tulay, who was very much Prothean.

Alexander and Tulay's eyes met, and instantly they knew that whatever that Apple had done was far from illusion. "Words are cheap?" he said, and Tulay smirked, nodding in return.

"Cheap can also mean inexpensive. They deserve a speedy summary," came the ironic response, followed by a brusque sip of coffee and a mild grimace at the foreign drink.

Christ, first thing you drink in the span of time only measurable by K's and you still feel disdain? Is Rupert that bad, Alexander mused to himself, before addressing Chakwas. He explained to her what the Apple had done. It had activated, and sent him into a white void, he said, similar to what he saw in the Animus Cerberus had installed below Miranda's office. The Collector he had been battling was freed from Harbinger's influence for a moment, and the Prothean had spoken to him, and showed him visions of how she came to be a Collector. He explained in brief that he had proceeded to kill the Collector General and freed most of the Collectors in the Base. Tulay, as the Prothean called herself, ran in Collector form to some unseen location, and must have come out as a Prothean again.

Tulay clarified in perfect English, saying that she had visited the conversion facilities that had since laid dormant, and reversed the synthesis process, using organic material from the Base to restore their former body. She expressed surprise that it even worked, and laughed delightedly when she remarked on how she had made it to the ship in time. It seemed impossible, probably because it was.

That was when Kairee reminded her that they had previously thought they had gone on a suicide mission, only for nobody to actually die.

With that, Mordin was first to welcome Tulay aboard, and requested private conversation after everything had settled down. With their injuries patched for the time being, the Assassins took their leave, heading out to assist in recovery in any way they could. "We're free to leave?" Alexander asked. Chakwas thought about it for a moment.

"Are your rooms completely devastated, unlike the Medbay?"

"No?"

"…you're looking through your blindfold aren't you?"

"I might be."

"…fine, go. Sheesh, Mordin must be right," Chakwas said, taking her chair back and sliding over to her terminal to fill out some documents to record the incident.

Epilogue

The ship was on a cruise course for the Citadel. Fireteam members worked diligently to move debris aside or remove it entirely to tidy up the ship. Commanders John and Jane Shepard walked with each other, greeting Thane as he ran by to help Crewman Hawthorne move a beam of ruined metal back into the ship while Samara held open a biotic barrier. The two proceeded, and were followed by the eyes of the countless members of the crew and ground squad that took notice of them. Respectful nods and salutes went their way. Joker, of all people, spotted John and had a double-take, standing up with a datapad in hand. Without a word, he handed it to John, who along with Jane noted that they were schematics on Harbinger.

The First Reaper, the largest Reaper. Surely, if he were as this information said he was, then the Reaper Armada had to be similar. A thought crossed their minds. How many Cycles before this one? How many Reapers had been constructed from the remains of ancient civilizations? What were they facing?

Their eyes caught a glimmer of light from the closest star the Normandy was passing. The black expanse of space, dotted with cosmic lights. Gargantuan, but ultimately nothing special, in the eyes of the Reapers. Ever determined, they stared out into that expanse, ready for whatever the future had to throw at them. Not just the two twins. The Normandy, and all who served on board, and all who would join them down the road. They weren't just friends, but family. And family is fated to stay together throughout any tribulation.

So shall it be, they would face them together.

Oh thank GOD. I'm going to be frank with you, I didn't think I'd ever get around to this! I'm going on 30,000 words here, and I'm probably going to surpass it by the time I'm done with this note.

That about wraps up Mass Effect: Creed's first saga! Now, before I say "I need a break," I want to apologize for the unofficial one that I took just before 2015's summer vacation ended. I wanted to work on other things. I had no inspiration to keep going with Masscreed at the time. I had school and family business to attend to.

But no further excuses. I should have at least said something to the few people who actively watch me. You know who you are.

I wanted to say thank you to the couple of people who voted anonymously on my poll earlier (way earlier) last year. The number one result was of course, nobody, but I think the idiotic comment about bandwagoning may have set up bandwagon bias or pity vote bias.

If it is of any consolation, Jacob and Miranda, the two Cerberus Cheerleaders, got voted to die by a couple of people. Frederico and Lora (aka Assassin Jacob and Miranda) had one vote each, and then somebody actually voted for JACK of all people to die.

Alright. Poll aside. Just another thank you to everybody who favorited and followed this story. An another thing! If you want me to rewrite some unsatisfactory chapters, please leave a comment/review telling me what chapter should be targetted and tell me why.

I will be posting this on Archive of Our Own shortly after publishing on FanfictionNet.

I may come back and write a sixteenth celebration chapter to make up for all of the holidays that I missed, since it is indeed December by the time the Suicide Mission was launched in Masscreed canon. But for now, take one last bonus scene in which I explain my recent justification for the names I used for the original characters.

And by the by. Mini-game time. I am writing another fanfiction. This one is about another thing I loved deeply. Scattered in this chapter are numerous references to it. Different references, same source. In a comment/review, see if you can spot them all and then tell me what they are referencing!

Extrapologue

There was a silence in Kairee's cabin, one of the few rooms that had not collapsed partially or sustained visible damage. Alexander opened the door and carried the fatigued Turian inside, laying her down softly on her bed, underneath her comforter.

As Alex turned to walk away, with full intent to find some spare clothes and to go assist in the reconstruction, he felt Kairee's hand grasp at his fingers. He stopped, looking over his shoulder. "No," she said. Alex's eyebrow lifted inquisitively, and she continued. "Please, just stop it. You're using Eagle Sense after Chakwas told you not to. You're seeing through a damn eyemask, you're carrying me around with wounded arms on sore, shaking legs. You're not fit to work like the others are."

Alexander couldn't say anything in reply. Words wouldn't leave his lips. He knew it was a pride thing. He didn't want to look weak in front of Kairee. He supposed that was a little bit of Eldar leaking through. Sighing heavily he shook his head, Eagle Sense fading. Everything grew dark again.

He heard the covers shift. "Lay down with me. Quit working for once. The Collectors are gone, and we've won."

"There's still the Reapers to deal with. I've seen the last Cycle. We're not ready, I can help, the Shepards and I both can-"

"Will we ever be ready?"

He had to concede to that point. Hand tightening around Kairee's fingers, he crawled into bed, slowly wrapping his arms around her waist. Kairee gently pulled his head to lie on her chest, running her fingers through his hair. They stayed like that for several minutes, drifting towards sleep until suddenly, with Kairee deciding that she didn't want to miss a thing, spoke up. "Alex?"

He jolted awake. An affirmative mumble could be heard. "…say my name."

Alexander furrowed his brow, trying to understand the meaning behind that request. "Kairee?"

She smiled and hugged him just a bit tighter, breathing slowly and deeply. "Does that name mean anything in your languages?" she asked, genuinely curious.

He had to give that one some thought. "Greek," he said. "K-y-r-i-e, meaning 'Lord.' As in 'God.' I think… Kaire, that means 'Grace.' Then K-a-i-r-i means 'song' or 'melody,'" he explained. He chuckled and rubbed her back. "So, very loosely, combining all those meanings? I could call you 'song of God's grace.'"

Kairee tensed up for a moment, prompting Alex to ask what was wrong. "It's nothing… just, my mother. She had that same idea in mind when I was born," she said, sniffling. "When I was a little girl, before dad… y'know. People liked to pick on my for my name, said it was funny. I asked my mom why she called me Kairee and you know what she said? She told me, 'Kairee? I know it doesn't sound very Turian, because it's very old. There's this ancient spirit of love and grace, named Kairios. She let me have you when I didn't think I could have a baby. You're my little miracle, and you're named after the spirit who allowed you to come into being. You're my little 'Song of Kairios'.'"

She was tearing up. Alexander patted her back, carefully caressing her. She quickly regained her composure. "What does your name mean, Alexander?"

"It's also Greek. It means 'defender of men' or 'defender of the people,'" he said.

Kairee nuzzled his cheek. "It's very fitting," she remarked. "Fitting of a man like yourself. Someone who's stronger than titanium that would do anything and everything at once if it meant protecting people. And you joined the Assassins to basically be a protector of the people, right?" she explained. She chuckled, "And as an added bonus that I'm unsure about the relevancy of… you're handsome."

Alexander closed his eyes, not that it mattered with the blindfold. He traced little circles on Kairee's lower back. "I think your name's fitting as well. By the human meanings… you're definitely a godsend to me. I don't think I'd ever have pulled through this mission if I didn't have someone who's got my back the way you do. By the Turian meaning, 'Song of Kairios?' You are like a song to me. A beautiful, inspirational song." He grinned. There was a pause. "And you're kind of like a bird, right? Can I call you 'Songbird?' Like how Ashley calls John 'Skipper' and Kasumi hands out nicknames like candy in a classroom?"

Kairee barely understood any of that except for the fact that her lover just called her a bird outside of British Human context. And that he just gave her an adorable nickname. She was about to slap him on the shoulder and play faux-offended, but she remembered his injuries and settled for a completely false grunt of frustration. "I love you, Alex."

"Love you too, Songbird."