Chapter Text
They let me pick. Did I ever tell you that?
Choose whichever I wanted.
You know me. I did my research.
Watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be.
Like the others you were strong, and swift, and brave. A natural leader.
But you had something they didn't. Something no one saw... But me
Can you guess?
…
Multiple voices blasted on the comm.
"Contact! Contact! Contact!"
"Right there! Lay down fire!"
"Shepard!"
"I can't reach him!"
"I need medi-gel now!"
"Normandy on deck ready to provide assistance!"
"We're almost there! Come on!"
"Storm is reaching! We're running out of time!"
"I can't see him! I can't see him!"
"Reapers inbound! You're running out of time!
"We're not evacuating! We're staying!"
"Shepard!"
A hand grabbed him by the shoulder, dragging him out of the rubble and into the open Mars sky. The sun is setting on the horizon. Auroras of golden and crimson shimmered over the Martian hills, and shadows lengthened under arched canyons and rocks.
Night is falling.
Weapons-fire streaked overhead. Vivid blue streaks of pure eezo hit the scarlet Mars rocks right above the Commander. The hand dragged him to balanced ground. He turned, found Liara's face as she kneeled over him as she opened up her Omni-tool. She waved it over his body.
A stray round had pierced his armor, going right through a reinforced plate on his far-left abdomen. Shepard felt pressure applied as the wound slowly healed and the medi-gel went to work. The blood that was trickling out immediately dried up
The Doctor brought out a package from a hard case along her leg. Gauze. She stuffed the rest into the remaining opening. Shepard gritted his teeth as shockwaves traveled from the wound to the rest of his body.
He saw Ashley in the corner of his vision lay down fire from adjacent cover. Cerberus soldiers are slowly advancing. Shepard and his team are only a dozen meters away from the archive room. They're so damned close.
The medi-gel left a dull, aching pain. Nothing Shepard hadn’t fought through before. He reached down and grabbed his simple M-3 Predator and tried his best to lean out of cover. Liara pushed him down and clutched onto his armor's collar, dragging him into the archive room.
Ashley dislocated from cover, turned around and provided retreating fire. Liara, with all her strength - biotics included - dragged the Commander through the Archive Room doors.
"We're in! Close the door!" Liara screamed. Ashley sprinted to the door control and locked them shut right as the first Cerberus soldiers were about to approach. The room went dead quiet as muffled pounding on the reinforced door began.
Liara panted, on her hands and knees as she looked to the Commander.
"You okay?" She asked.
Shepard thought about what to say for a moment. Always a path of carefully chosen words to ensure the best outcome, that his team held together. He slowly nodded, "I've been a lot worse."
"I think we all have been," Liara said between the heavy breathing. She got on her feet and reached down to help Shepard up.
The Commander grabbed Liara's hand, careful of his wound, and stood up. The stray Cerberus eezo round seemed to more or less skin him. He'll live, and hopefully, he'll recover quickly.
Just before them was the Prothean archive. It’s surrounded by dirty, stained glass, forming a cylinder around the electric green and dull gray archive beacon.
Damn, Shepard hoped he wouldn't have to connect with it again like with other Prothean beacons in the past… The images he saw of the death and horror as lives were ripped apart and melted in Reaper DNA tubes….
And in turn, the roars of the Reapers drowning out all of the Commander's screams.
"Ash, you okay?" Shepard said, turning to the newly promoted Lieutenant Commander. Behind her visor, her eyes looked tired.
Ashley looked at her Omni-tool and took off her helmet. She took a deep breath, "airlocks activated. Pressurized atmosphere. We're safe."
She didn't answer his question.
Shepard sighed but didn't say anything. The rest of the team took off their helmets. Liara slowly approached the holographic terminals that lined up along the glass wall. Next to the main archive is a holographic projection of the physical archive.
Shepard stood behind her as she got to work, quickly downloading all the information she could… There’s a flash of light behind the Commander. Then a voice.
"Shepard…"
Liara is the first one to turn. Her pistol drawn out, aimed a few inches right past Shepard's head.
"Illusive Man," she whispered.
Shepard turned to face the hologram of the Illusive Man... to face the electronic blue eyes and a stern face dressed in an extremely expensive suit. The grey, cool eminence consumed the whole room by his presence. He already had a cigarette in his hand, and willows of holographic smoke surrounded him.
Liara slowly lowered her pistol. Shepard crossed his arms. The Illusive Man took a long drag of his cigarette before he spoke, "fascinating race, these Protheans. They left all of this for us to discover, but we've squandered it.
"The Alliance has known about the Archives for more than thirty years, and what have they done with it?"
The team didn't respond. Even with her suspicion, Ashley stood by the Commander's side. Shepard balled his fist, "what do you want?"
The Illusive Man looked past him, to the smooth pieces of the Prothean archive, etched with straight blue electronic lines.
"What I've always wanted," he merely replied. "The data in these archives hold the key to stopping the Reaper threat."
"I've seen your solution - your people are being turned into monsters," the Commander retorted.
"Hardly. They're being improved," the Illusive Man said in a dismissive tone, preoccupied more with the sight of the Archive.
"Improved?"
The Illusive Man took another drag, and sighed. "The Reaper threat… It's only the tip of the iceberg, Shepard."
"Oh, God, here we go," Ashley muttered.
"You're forgetting the big picture here!" Shepard said. "What the hell happened? You and I both know there's only one threat here! One enemy! The Reapers!"
The Illusive Man finished his cigarette. He brought out an expensive lighter and lit another one he took from a table off screen. "If only that were true, Commander…"
"What are you talking about?"
The Illusive Man didn't say anything for a moment. He inhaled a large amount of smoke before speaking, "you were merely a tool, an agent with a singular purpose and nothing more. In that you were successful…. Once you left our organization, our general success didn't stop… We learned, we gathered intel. You may believe the Reapers are the invasion. But our fundamental understanding of them is...incorrect."
"And that means?"
"There's a bigger picture, Shepard. Bigger than you, than the Reapers… Something that can threaten all of Humanity."
"I don't know what you've been doing, but we're here to stop it!" Shepard yelled.
"This all pales in comparison to what is to come," the Illusive Man said. He took another drag of his cigarette. "Controlling the Reapers may be the key to stopping it…"
"We're on the same side here!" Shepard said. "Join me, we can fight the Reapers!"
"I don't think we are," the Illusive Man said. The Illusive Man quickly finished his second cigarette and flicked it towards Shepard, "what I do, Commander, is all for Humanity. I intend to make humanity endless. To save Humanity from all threats it will ever face."
Liara turned towards the terminal. She began to input commands, "Shepard! The data is being erased!"
"This responsibility belongs to me, and in turn the responsibility of the galaxy belongs to Humanity - don't interfere with my plans. I won't warn you again." With that he walked off screen, and Shepard barely caught a 'Goodbye, Commander.'
…
Was I wrong?
Were they wrong?