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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, The Last Cycle	By : Veyron722skyhook Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 6104 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or it's characters. They belong to Bioware and EA. No money/profit is made by me from this.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
As promised, I put more effort in to this one and it's come out very good. Didn't' need to amok any changes to what I had planned and it matches my vision perfectly (if you know what I mean)

I dont' want to give anything away, but I will say this...

The chapter does exactly what it says on the tin. So prepare yourself, For the Beginning of a surprise...

Chapter 15

Genesis Revelation

The Normandy was already nearing the half way point of their trip to the fleets that were mobilised to attack the Illusive Man's base. They still had some time though.

Sarah for example had noticed that Traynor was looking a bit troubled as she worked at her station.

"Hey. You okay?" The N7 marine asked as she put a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder.

"Yeah. I'm just… thinking about what happened." Traynor sighed, her mood brightened a tiny bit seeing the love of her life in front of her. "Cerberus bastards. Horizon was my home."

"Hey, it's okay." said Sarah soothingly. "Come 'ere."

Traynor didn't object and she slipped into Sarah's tight, warm hug. Just the mere touch made her feel a lot better. Hardly surprising since a simple touch from Sarah elected feelings of passion and love in her. Plus, Sarah was gently stroking Samantha's back, which only added to making her relax even more.

"Just tell me you're going to take Cerberus down." she said, smiling slightly at the pleasant feelings she was experiencing as Sarah's hands moved back and forth gently across her back.

"They'll wish they'd never been born once we're through with them, love. They're already dead. They just don't know it. And when they're base is nothing more than a smoking crater, remember that you're the one who helped us find them." said Sarah.

"You always manage to cheer me up no matter what mood I'm in." Traynor smiled as she looked into her lover's eyes. What was seconds felt like minutes before Sarah pulled Samantha into a kiss. When they finally separated, Traynor was almost gasping for air. "I love you."

"I love you too." Sarah smiled, giving Samantha another kiss on the cheek.

As the two hugged again, Samantha then suddenly noticed something. There was something very tiny moving around on the floor near their feet, and it was fury.

"Sarah, is that your hamster?" she asked.

Sarah looked down at the small animal. Sure enough, it was her pet hamster, Chester.

Chester had been a little present to Sarah from Samantha a few months ago. When Sarah had been away, Traynor had looked after him. As she had found though, he could sometimes be a bit naughty. It was in a good way though, and it was hard to be cross at the cute creature.

The N7 marine simply smiled and picked up the hamster, who squeaked happily in her hands.

"You naughty little boy. How did you get out of your home?" she smiled as she gave Chester a gentle stroke.

"Oops!" said Traynor, suddenly remembering. "I must've left the lid loose when I fed him."

Sarah simply sighed and smiled.

"At least he's safe." she said. "Don't worry, darling. I forgive you."

Tranyor gave a small sigh of relief. She'd feared her love would be a bit cross with her.

"Just count yourself lucky though that Urz and Ghost didn't find him first." Sarah finished, a bit more seriously.

"Yes. The at was quite lucky." Traynor chuckled nervously

This was it. Though there was some tension and nervousness of what would happen in the next few hours, Alpha was secretly quite excited in their own way that they were finally going to take down Cerberus for good.

There had been times when the Helldivers had come close, but never like this before.

The Normandy was currently holding back while the attack fleet assaulted the base. Alpha would be the infiltration team.

"The strike team is in. We've got our foothold." Said Zartrack over the comm. "Attack Fleet, all forward! I don't want a single Cerberus ship in the sky when we're through."

"Shepard, I should accompany you and Alpha on this mission." Said EDI.

"Why?" Austin asked.

"This is the central point of operations for Cerberus. They will have enhanced security measures. Additionally, the only way to shut down the base and construction of the Illusive Man's crucible will be with my help. With my knowledge of Cerberus algorithms and this body's updated protocols, I offer the best chance to help you and the squad succeed." Said EDI.

"Grab your gear and suit up then." Said Austin.

"Joker, what's our status?"

"We've got a foothold, but it's not much, Major. Lot of fighters guarding the launch bays." Said Joker.

"Can you get us in?" Austin asked.

"Hey, I got us to Ilos. I can do this. Might be a bumpy ride, though." Joker replied.

"Do what you can."

Alaara then walked onto the bridge, all suited up.

"Shepard, we're ready when you are." She said.

"So am I." said EDI.

"Wait, what? Are you crazy? You can't go to Cerberus headquarters! They could have a virus, or a kill-switch, or…" Joker objected.

"I will be fine, Jeff." Said EDI reassuringly.

"Head to the dropship, EDI." Said Austin.

"Fifth Fleet's cut through their line. They're regrouping. Now's a good time as any." Said Joker, risking a quick final glance as EDI left.

"Just get us in there safely. We'll take care of your girlfriend." Said Alaara.

"Well that wasn't ominous. Thanks." Said Joker.

"Come on. Let's go." Said Austin.

"Hey, Shepard… Keep her safe." Said Joker.

"Same to you."

With everyone assembled in the cargo bay, Austin began relaying the plan to them.

"Here's how it'll work. Alpha and I will be team 1. Non Helldivers will be team 2, and in the second dropship. We will head in first and clear the main hanger bay. Once the area is secured, team 2 will join us. From there, we fight our way up until we reach the illusive Man's chamber. No doubt that's the safest point in the station and that's where the plans are being kept." He said. "Everyone understand?"

Everyone nodded or either mumbled slightly.

"Then man your shuttles, and give Cerberus hell."

As the two shuttles departed from the cargo bay, the scale of the battle was now visible. Cerberus didn't have as many ships as the Helldiver fleet, nor were they as big. There were a lot of fighters though, plus the main base was well shielded. The Illusive Man's crucible, known as he Liberator was also visible. Surprisingly and rather worryingly it looked as though it was almost complete. Their timing was opportune.

The dropship with team 2 lingered back while team 1 headed in. Cortez was doing best to avoid the incoming fire.

"Well, that went quicker than we thought." Said Cortez as the dropship shook slightly.

"Yep. Out of the frying pan…" said Alaara.

"…and into the shit." Sandra finished.

"You'd better get ready, Major. We're coming in hot." Said Cortez.

Austin got up from the co-pilot seat and head into the main area with everyone else.

"Okay, you all know the plan. We're heading for the main hanger, be ready for anything." He said.

"So much for a smooth ride." Said Alaara.

"What's the matter? Feeling sick?" asked Sandra.

"I'm not the one who needed a barf bag on a lot of our trips." Said Alaara.

"Funny." Sandra smiled.

The shaking intensified as they ran into even more fire. Still the dropship kept going though.

"Arm up. Here we go." Said Austin.

"Nice gun, mate." Said Hawk as he eyed Griffin's minigun.

Now that Hawk's armour had received all the latest updates and upgrades, he was cleared to go into battle with Alpha. Because he also was around other Helldivers now, he had removed his temporary eye patch altogether.

"Look, but don't touch." Said Griffin, moving his gun away from Hawk's hand and giving him a serious look that definitely said "Back away.".

"If you say so, big guy." said Hawk innocently.

"Here we go! This is it!" said Austin. "Brother Griff, as always… would you mind leading us in a few words please?"

"In the immortal words of Jay-Z:" said Griffin, much to everyone's humours laughter. "Whatever deity may guide my life, dear lord don't let me die tonight. But if I shall before I wake, I'd accept my fate. Hell yeah?!"

"HELL YEAH!" Alpha cheered.

"Hell yeah!" Griffin smiled.

"Opening rear bay." Said Cortez.

The main door on the back of the dropship opened. Once in position, the drop would swing around, almost like the handbrake turn on a car and the Helldivers would jump. From there, they would use their small thrusters to get inside the hanger bay.

"Right! All together!" said Jet eagerly.

"Use your thrusters sparingly. Course correction only." Austin advised. "Jet you're an exception."

"Are you sure these things are safe?" Dash asked.

"Now!"

The dropship pulled a massive turn and everyone jumped, their thrusters kicking in as they entered space. The distance between them and the hanger bay was very short, so the jump was very short as well.

As soon as they entered through the hanger's air shield, all of the Cerberus troops opened fire on them.

Jet was quick to fly ahead of the overs and increased her altitude until she was right above most of the soldiers. Using this to her advantage, the Pilot Helldiver unsheathed her war hammer and threw it at the ground.

The force of the massive weapon hitting the ground created a shockwave that sent quite a few of the soldiers flying. At the same time, Jet landed back down on the ground. As she did, her foot kicked the end of the hammer, forcing it to jump back up off the floor and into the air and the Helldiver caught it.

Not giving the Cerberus troopers a chance for an opening, Je quickly swung left and right, taking down several troops with both swings.

Hawk meanwhile had managed to get to a nearby control panel as was working on accessing it while Griffin kept him covered.

"Ok, where's that security override?" said Hawk. "Come on…"

Despite his best efforts though, Hawk was no techie and pretty soon, he got frustrated with the controls.

"Damn it!" he yelled, venting his rage as he hit the console.

In doing so however, he'd disabled the artificial gravity.

"Uh oh! That's not good." He said. "Hey Guys! Things might get little… floaty.

Sure enough, everyone and everything started to hover off the ground. The Cerberus troopers, who were completely unprepared for this, started flying around wildly trying to balance themselves.

"Everyone, enable grav boots!" said Austin.

Everyone did so and stuck back onto the ground. Dash and Jet though used their thrusters to boost into the air again and continued fighting the Cerberus troops. This seemed to spur the others to do the same. Admittedly it was quite fun.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Dash yelled as he spun in the air and hopped from floating fighter to fighter as he shot all over the place.

"Hey, Cerberus! Catch!" said Jet as she used her hammer to smack a fighter, sending it crashing into several troopers before it collided with another fighter and an Atlas mech.

Grabbing onto another fighter, Dash sent it spinning and went berserk as he fired all over the place. All his shots hit targets though, so it was clear he hadn't got carried away.

Jet managed to hit a few more soldier before she once again hit another fighter that was sent flying, this time in other direction.

"Ok. Ok. I got it!" said Hawk as he managed to re-enable gravity. As he did though, he noticed the fighter that Jet had hit was heading right at him. "I got it… holey dooley!"

Just in time, the Helldiver managed to duck, the fighter missing him by inches before crashing into the far wall and creating massive hole.

"Bloody fighters." Hawk cursed as he got up and everyone else landed back on the ground, denting the floor slightly with their weight.

"Well, they know we're inside now." Said Hawk. "So much for coming in the sneaky way."

"You know us, Hawk. We always like to make to entrance… Alpha style!" said Dash.

With the hanger secure, Austin activated his comm.

"Team 2, this is Shepard. Hanger bay is clear. Rendezvous here with us." he said.

Few seconds later, the second dropship joined them. Sarah, Miranda, X-5 and any other members of the team that weren't Helldivers joined them.

"Let's get a move on. We've got a battle to win here." said Austin.

Right as they turned to leave though, a massive holo screen of the Illusive Man was projected in front of them.

"Shepard. My, you are the persistent one. But breaking into my base?! You've overstepped yourself." he said.

"You know why we're here, Illusive Man. You have something that belongs to us. You surrender it peacefully, and we won't be forced to kill you!" said Austin.

"Ha! Predictable as ever, right down to the empty words." said the Illusive Man. "I've come too far for you or anyone else to stand in my way. Before this is over you will kneel before me, begging for your life. Soon, I will take my rightful place at my master's side, and the Reapers will be mine to command. So thank you, Shepard, for all your help."

The hologram vanished and the Illusive Man's voice could suddenly be heard throughout the station.

"To all Cerberus forces! Shepard and Alpha Squad are inside the station. Shepard is your top priority! The Helldiver is to be shot on sight without any hesitation or remorse!"

"Let's go." Said Austin. "We don't leave without those plans."

"What about the Illusive Man?" Miranda asked.

"Well, that depends on whether he's willing to surrender." Austin replied. "Dead or alive."

"Open brackets, preferably dead." Said Griffin. "How of any our kin has he killed?"

"Exactly. I'm certainly hoping he dies too." Said Austin.

"Ditto." Said Miranda.

After fighting their way up through practically the entire station, they soon came across a giant room. To everyone's surprise, it contained something most unexpected.

"What is this thing?" Ashley asked.

"This is the human-Reaper Shepard destroyed." EDI replied.

Sure enough, there were rather large pieces of what was left of the Human-Reaper that the Collectors had been working on two years ago.

"What's left of it. I'm surprised Cerberus recovered that much from the base. Even more of a mystery how they were able to get through the Omega 4 Relay without a Reaper IFF." said Austin.

"I wish I could've helped." Said Ashley.

"You're here now." said Austin supportingly.

"How did the Illusive Man ever manage all this? I mean the funds for all this are practically impossible without attracting at least some attention. Not to mention that his crucible is practically 80% complete whereas ours isn't. It's insane." Ashley asked.

"You heard what he said in the hanger bay. He's working with someone." said Austin. "I intend for us to find out who the minute we stop the construction and secure this station."

"Cerberus is actively using the surviving pieces." said EDI observantly as she surveyed the remains of the human Reaper. "The central core—analogues to the heart—is largely intact. I believe Cerberus is using it for a power source."

Making their way up from the Human Reaper remains, Alpha soon found themselves crossing a long bridge that led up to the door that no doubt led to the Illusive Man's observation room.

Before they could get there though, they had a cross what looked like a small hallway that was lined with plates.

"Pressure plates." said Miranda. "Anything larger than a quarter that touches them will be vaporised."

"I got this." said Xun.

The Chinese Helldiver flipped herself so that she was now stood on her hands. She then curled her legs in to balance herself out and raised herself onto her fingers. From there, she slowly started making her way across the plates. Astonishingly, it was working.

"Nice. Wish I could do that." said Sandra.

"How you doing, Xun?" Austin asked as Xun nearly reached the end.

"Look, I don't mean to be rude, but this is not as easy as it looks. So I would appreciate it if you wouldn't distract me." Xun replied through her comm.

"Sorry."

After a few more minutes, Xun finally reached the end.

"Okay, what you'll have to do is rewire the laser panels brain by carefully..." Leena began. But she was interupted as soon simply took out her folded up metal fan and stabbed the panel. It short circuited and the door opened.

"...or you could just stab it."

"Stay sharp, everyone. This it." said Austin as he and the other gather around the final door. "I have a feeling the Illusive Man won't be alone in there. Execute door breach."

Austin and the others set up to breach the door. Austin and Alaara took point while Griffin placed the detonator on the door.

"Stand back." he said as he quickly backed away as the device started beeping.

The detonator exploded and the doors swung open.

"Go! Go! Go!"

Everyone filed into the room single file.

As had been expected, there was the Illusive Man, surrounded by a small army of troopers, Centurions, Phantoms, Nemesis' and so on.

The leader of Cerberus slowly turned to face Alpha, an evil smile on his face.

"How good of you to join us, Shepard." he said. "So tell me, what have they ordered you to do with me?"

"Dead or alive. So either way really." said Austin as he and Alpha kept their guns trained right on the Illusive Man. "Personally, I'd rather we just killed you and called it a day. But let's make it your decision, shall we?"

"Hmm, a difficult decision. I need some time to think it over. In the meantime, my soldiers will keep you occupied." said the Illusive Man.

Before anyone could do anything, he pressed a button on one of his holo displays and a shield barrier of some kind appears in front of him and the troops.

"Kill them. Spare Shepard if possible. I want him to witness his failure." he said.

The army obeyed and seemed to wake right through the shield as they charged at Alpha. This barrier was mostly likely one way. It would keep the outside out, but let the inside out as well.

The fight quickly turned into a free for all as Alpha broke apart, some members taking on certain enemy types. Griffin for example took to using his Iron fist on many of the big Centurions while Ashley stuck close and covered her boyfriend with her assault rifle.

Dash and Jet fought some of the Nemesis' and normal troopers. Jet naturally was showing no remorse and was using her flamethrowers at full blast, burning any soldier the flames touched alive.

Garrus and Ventra meanwhile were keeping some of the new types at bay. There were some new Cerberus soldiers called Dragoons. They had guns, but their primary melee weapon was electronic whips. The only problem was that they could only reach so far with these and so the two Turians were easily able to snipe them before they did any damage.

Leena, Sarah, Alaara, Sandra and X-5 meanwhile were simply fighting any Cerberus soldier they came across, regardless of what type. Xun couldn't help but show off a bit as she practically wiped the floor with a few Phantoms and Dragoons.

Overall this whole battle almost felt a bit like a comedy fight. Alpha was practically carving through the Illusive Man's army like they were clumsy cartoonish robots.

Austin and Liara naturally were once again putting their Union to good use. They were mostly duelling some of the Phantoms and pretty much any other soldier that tried to melee them. They ducked, they dodged, they parried, they swung, the whole thing was almost a blur of silver as their two blades were everywhere.

Hawk and Miranda meanwhile had become slightly separated from the others and they now found themselves surrounded by around 6 Phantoms.

"Sheela, stay behind me."

"I can handle myself you know." said Miranda.

All 6 Phantoms simultaneously did a flip to the left before breaking formation and lunging at the two opponents.

Hawk quickly reacted by drawing another weapon from his belt. He had what looked like some kind of metallic whip. Two of the phantoms retreated back slightly as the Helldiver swung it a few times, the sharp lash just missing them. Unlike the whips the Dragoons used, they weren't' electrified, but they still carried the deadly lash that a normal bullwhip would.

At the same time, two other Phantoms tired a swing and a lunge at Hawk from behind, but they both missed as the Helldiver cracked his whip at them.

Forcing two of the Phantoms back, Hawk turned to the ones behind him and swung at them.

Miranda meanwhile had become separated from Hawk during this little skirmish and found two Phantoms had already focused their attention on her.

She focused on the right one first as it lunged at her. Avoiding the Phantom's blade, she charged her biotics with her right hand and punched the Phantom in the face, knocking her to the ground. She then used that same biotic fist on the other Phantom as it too lunged.

Unlike the previous one though, this Phantom didn't get knocked down. It was able to do two back flips before landing back on its feet.

In desperation, Miranda picked up the fallen Phantom's sword.

"Hawk…" she said nervously.

Just before the Phantom could lunge at her though, Hawk quickly swung his whip at the Phantom's feet, tripping her in the process.

Hawk just managed to notice another 4 of the Phantoms coming up behind him. Relinquishing the hold on his whip that was still wrapped around the downed Phantoms' legs, he quickly ducked under one Phantom as she tried to leap over him. Two of the overs rolled out of the way to avoid the flying as Hawk's duck caused her to lose her balance.

Hawk then blocked the second Phantom's sword arm with his wrist and followed through with two quick punches, one to the stomach and one to the face.

The Phantom that Miranda had knocked down just a few seconds ago then tried to grab Miranda from behind, and briefly succeeded, before the Ex-Cerberus operative managed to break free and delivers a sharp elbow strike to the Phantom's mask before then following that with a punch to the stomach.

Hawk meanwhile was able to counter a strike from one of the Phantoms who had retreated earlier but had now re-joined the fight. He quickly gave the Phantom's arm a twist, sending her head over heels. The second Phantom swung at Hawk but he immediately ducked under it. Before the Phantom had a chance to swing again, the Helldiver quickly brought his knee into her stomach.

He then quickly threw her to the side, causing the Phantom to crash into the one that had Hawk had punched twice. The force of their heads hitting each other knocked them both out.

The Phantom that had tried to jump over Hawk earlier finally amazed to get back and attempted another attack. This time she attempted a simple swing. Once again though, hawk was able to duck under her attack and instead her sword ended up killing the Phantom whom Hawk had countered earlier. The Phantom only had a second to realise her mistake before Hawk then swiftly punched her, the force of the punch snapping her neck.

Having freed herself from the Phantom earlier, Miranda quickly noticed that the one Hawk had tripped up earlier with his whip had finally managed to untangle herself and was getting back up. Miranda though quickly delivered a swift kick to the Phantom which knocked her down for good this time.

"Come on!" Miranda yelled challengingly.

At that moment however, a Centurion suddenly grabbed her from behind. The Ex-Cerberus operative struggled at first to break free, but a sudden stomp on the Centurion's foot seemed to get her free. The special combat armour she wore was certainly proving handy here.

As the Centurion hopped, rather humorously, on one foot while nursing the other, Miranda whirled round and punched him in the helmet with a loud clang.

Slight disadvantage was that Miranda didn't have armoured fists, so her hand was left a bit soar afterwards.

"Ow!"

"Miranda!" Hawk yelled.

"What?!"

Startled by this, Miranda quickly swung. Hawk was just able to duck in time to avoid being hit.

"Not me!" he yelled. "Duck!"

Quickly pushing Miranda's head down, Hawk punched the last Phantom right in the face as she tried to sneak up from behind after Miranda had punched her in the stomach earlier.

The Centurion whom Miranda had punched earlier finally regained balance. He was only able to enjoy it briefly though before Hawk's whip wrapped around his neck. The Helldiver pulled hard and the Centurion's neck snapped.

To the illusive Man's surprise, Alpha soon managed to carve through his entire small army in a matter of minutes. Now it was just him.

"That was an amazing killing spree." Griffin panted.

"Time's up." said Austin as he and the others refocused their aim on the Illusive Man.

"You weren't' supposed to do that, Shepard." he said crossly. "You're forcing me to bring out the big guns."

The Illusive Man pressed another button and several holes opened up in the floor just outside the barrier. Out of each one rose a female figure.

They were crouched down and had what looked like some kind of staff on their backs. As they activated, the female robots slowly stood up.

It was now that everyone noticed that they looked exactly like EDI. The only difference being they had blue visors and looked a bit tougher.

"Crikey! That's a lot of fembots." said Hawk.

"Errr, wrong movie reference." Dash whispered.

"Say hello to my elite guard, Shepard." said the Illusive Man confidently. "You see, Dr Core was just a prototype, and was designed for infiltration. These ones are upgrade models designed for combat, and they have been trained to fight and kill Helldivers."

"Guess you got yourself a field test then." said Austin challengingly as he and the other readied for another fight.

"I thought you would say that." the Illusive Man smiled as the EDI clones drew their staffs and spun them as each end electrified. Their moves were in perfect synch with one another and they seemed to do exactly the same thing. "Destroy them. Make them suffer!"

"You will fall, Helldivers." Said the guards in synch as they charged.

There seemed to be a guard for each Helldiver, so Alpha fought at least one each.

"We don't' have time for this." Said Xun as her Naginata blocked the strike from her guard's staff.

The Illusive Man simply hung back and watched. Though he kept his cool, deep down he was a bit nervous. The Helldiver had taken down his troops so easily and so quickly that it had made them look like bumbling idiots seen a children's show.

So far though, it looked like his guards were putting up a much better fight, and the Helldiver were certainly finding them more challenging.

One or two of them had separated from the main fight and were focusing on the non-Helldivers like Sarah and Miranda. Sarah had resorted to using her omni blade to counter the guard's staff while Miranda used biotic shields alongside X-5 who was trying to smash the guard with his fist. He was having trouble though because he was so big and the guard was smaller and faster than him.

Austin had a at first thought they'd e able to deal with these guards easily. He now stood corrected. The Illusive Man clearly hadn't been bragging when he said these things were trained to fight Helldivers. They moved and fought with speed and ferocity that would easily rival a Helldiver.

"Your flesh is weak." Said the guards tauntingly.

"Your just sexbots with an ego malfunction." said Dash as he managed to punch one of the guards in the face.

"Ooooh! That was a good comeback." Said Jet, countering a lunge with her war hammer.

"I am not a sexbot, Mr Torres." Said EDI, who rather surprisingly was putting on quite a show as she dodged and avoided her clone's staff.

"I didn't' mean you as well, EDI. These are just knock offs of you." Said Dash.

EDI then managed to get an opening as her clone thrust. The AI grabbed the staff with both her hands and pulled so hard that it yanked the weapon right out of the guard's hands. EDI then quickly spun and used the end of the staff to impale her clone right in the chest, the shock of the electro staff short circuiting it's systems and killing it instantly.

Austin meanwhile managed to get an opening as the guard he was fighting made a twirling lunge at him. Managing o doge it in time, he grabbed the middle part of the staff in his hand and held it firmly in place as he forced it down, leaving the guard's upper portion vulnerable as it tried to wrestle the staff free.

Seizing the chance, he sliced the guard's head clean off.

"Don't lose your head." he couldn't' help but say jokily as he let go and turned to another one that Xun was duelling.

Before he could go to help however, he heard the sound of a staff spinning. He turned to the sound and to his surprise found that the guard he had just decapitated was still functional and fighting.

"What?!"

"Most unexpected. Their backup systems exceed our expectations by far." said the Illusive Man as Austin quickly brought his blade back up to continue blocking the blows from the staff. This new move had taken him by surprise but he quick to put his guard back up.

Liara it seemed had run into this as well. She had managed to ever both of her guard's legs below the knee, which she expected to end the fight. She too was completely astonished when the guard whirled nimbly on one end of her staff and used the stumps of its legs to thump the Asari so soundly she went skidding.

Xun meanwhile managed to get an opening on the guard fighting her as she was able to thrust up, forcing the guard's staff up with it. Reacting quickly, the Chinese Helldiver made a quick swing which cut right through the guard's chest. Unlike Austin's this seemed to kill it. The backup processor these things used was obviously in the chest.

"How many do you have so far, Shepard?" Hawk asked as he blocked a staff low with his axe.

"It's not a contest, Hawk." Austin replied.

The headless guard that Austin was fighting was still spinning with such ferocity and speed that Austin was finding it difficult to get an opening at the chest.

Eventually though, the guard attempted a long spin designed to distract and intimidate. Austin of course was able to time his strike perfectly and he managed to get a swing in-between the spin which cut through the guards chest and arms.

The robot uttered a mechanical howl as it fell to pieces.

"Got no one left to help you now, Illusive Man. It's over!" said Austin as the last guard fell to pieces.

"I will not drop the force field, Shepard. Your efforts are futile." Said the Illusive Man angrily.

"Griffin, blow it!" Austin ordered.

"With pleasure."

The demolition expert took an IME from his belt and twirled it several times before he threw it at the barrier. The IME exploded as it hit the barrier. The resulting explosion though was strong enough to have an effect on the barrier. Plus, that particular IME had also been loaded with an EMP burst. If the explosion didn't take down the barrier, then that would.

Sure enough, the barrier was vaporised with a massive explosion that sent the Illusive Man to the ground in a cloud of smoke.

"This ends now." Said Austin as the smoke cleared.

Suddenly, everyone froze where they were and Austin felt an immense pain in his head which caused him to drop his gun in pain.

"On the contrary, this ends when I say it ends." Said the illusive Man as the smoke cleared fully revealing that the explosion had burnt off large amounts of skin on his face revealing that he had implanted himself with Reaper technology. "I underestimated you, Shepard. Control is necessary, of the Reapers and you."

Everyone was forced to get down on their knees as the Illusive Man's indoctrination gave him full control over them. For some reason though, Austin didn't' do the same. He still stood clutching his head. The pain wasn't as bad now though.

"Why aren't you responding? You are under my control!" the Illusive Man asked worriedly.

Austin could hear thousands of machine like voices whispering in his head. Somehow though, they could not control him. He still had free will. Gradually, these voices started to quieten. They didn't' go away, but they were much harder to hear now.

Then it hit him. The Helldiver remembered something he'd been told.

"You didn't count on everything did you?" said Austin as he relaxed and took a few steps forward towards the Illusive Man.

"How are you resisting?! This is impossible!"

"The Rachni Queen is immune to indoctrination. She must've passed that onto me." Said Austin. "It's like she said. "I hear the voices, but they cannot control me."

It made sense that this was the gift the Rachni Queen had given him. Why wouldn't she try to give the leader of the Resistance some way of resisting the Reaper's greatest weapon. If they couldn't indoctrinate him, there would always be someone to stand against them.

"Then you will die here." Said the Illusive Man.

More holes appeared in the floor, and several more guards rose out of them. They didn't attack yet though. They waited for their master's orders.

"Look at yourself. You've become the very thing the Reapers can control. Your scheme won't work." Said Austin.

"It will work! The Crucible can let me control them, I know it can!" the Illusive Man agued.

"Listen to yourself! You're indoctrinated! You've implanted yourself with their technology. You've practically sold your soul to them." Said Austin.

"Using their technology is a necessary compromise to achieve the required goals."

"More like appeasement!" said Austin coldly.

"I grow tired of this. Take him!" the Illusive Man ordered.

One of the guards started spinning her staff and even did a few acrobatics in the process. Right as she made her first swing at Austin though, the Helldiver ducked under it and quickly delivered a swift punch to her face.

With the guard temporarily unbalanced by this, Austin quickly grabbed her and he smashed his fist right through her chest, killing her instantly.

Another guard swung at Austin, but he once again ducked under and brought his elbow under her stomach. He then activated his left Omni blade/shield and severed the guard in two across the chest.

Seeing that two more were ready to fight him, Austin once again drew Excalibur from his back.

The two guards attacked simultaneously in synch with one another. Austin was only just able to move fast enough to block each blow.

Eventually, both guards brought their staffs down. Austin was just able to block the right one with his sword while he blocked just the other with the shield part of his omni blade. Using all his strength, he pushed both staffs of and then performed a fast sweep that cut both guards apart.

Now just the Illusive Man was left. Sighing, he flexed himself and then ran at Austin.

The Helldiver was somewhat surprised at this. A normal man against him?

Austin stood corrected though when the Illusive Man punched him in the head. To his surprise, the punch had so much force and strength that it forced him back.

"These implants do more than let me control." The Illusive Man said.

"Last chance. Let everyone go, or so help me I will tear your eyes out if I have to." Austin demanded.

"You will not interfere." The Illusive Man replied.

"So be it." Said Austin.

The Helldiver dodged The Illusive Man's first punch, but he then used his elbow to smash Austin in the chest.

The Illusive Man swung another bunch which Austin ducked under, but he then delivered a side downwards punch which hit Austin's helmet which was then followed by an upward one and a kick to the stomach.

Austin was quick to recover from this though and he swung a kick which the Illusive Man avoided. He was able to block two more punches, but a third one hit him in the helmet which knocked him back.

The Illusive Man followed this with several more ones before he then attempted a dual stomach punch which the Helldiver was able to block. Turning the tide, Austin threw both the Illusive Man's arms aside and smashed both his fist into the Illusive Man's chest before following that with a kick to the stomach, and finally a swift kick to the face. This sent the Illusive Man to the floor and he found himself too weak to stand.

"You know, for a small moment, I thought you could be helped. I've changed my mind." The Helldiver said coldly, slowly making his way towards the Illusive Man to finish the job. If he wouldn't release the others, Austin would make him.

"I should've let you get sold to the Collectors." the Illusive Man panted, spitting blood from his mouth. "What chance do you think you have? No matter how many Reapers fall, there will always be another to stand against you."

"They will fall as well." Said Austin.

"This is bigger than you think, Shepard. The death of the Reapers will mean the death of us all!" the Illusive Man argued.

"Then prepare for your death, Illusive Man."

Austin immediately grabbed the Illusive Man and head-butted him hard, the force of his helmet worsening he Illusive Man's injuries, which in turn revealed even more of the Reaper technology underneath his skin. The sight nearly made Austin feel sick to think that the leader of Cerberus had done this to himself.

Grabbing the back of the illusive Man's hair, Austin then pulled him up again and swiftly punched him, this time brutally. He followed this with another punch that knocked the Illusive Man to the ground.

The Illusive Man only had a few seconds to recover before Austin then kicked him in the face, causing him to cough up a bit of blood. Austin then grabbed the Illusive Man by the neck and hauled him up. Beaten, helpless and weak, the leader of Cerberus desperately tried to claw at Austin's arm in the vague hope he might let go. No luck.

Austin then smashed the Illusive Man against the side of his chair, which especially hurt since the chair was fixed in place, not moveable.

The Helldiver then smashed his face on the chair gain several times before throwing him to the side.

The Illusive Man desperately tried to crawl away, hoping to escape Austin's brutality. Once Again though, he felt Austin's hand grabbed his suit and throw him into his back.

"Let… them… go!" Austin demanded.

"You'll have to kill me!" the Illusive Man spluttered.

"I'm considering it." Said Austin as he grabbed the Illusive Man's neck with his left hand and held him in place. With his right, he slowly drew his combat knife.

Only too late did the Illusive Man realise what the Helldiver was going to do and he desperately tried to break free as Austin raised the knife and plunged it into his eyes.

The leader of Cerberus screamed in pain as Austin literally cut out his artificial eyes.

This of course didn't kill the Illusive Man. Austin hadn't intended on that. With both implants cut out, he withdrew the knife and slid it back into it's holster. He then looked that the others that had been forced to kneel on the floor.

To his relief, they were moving. Without his eyes, the Illusive Man couldn't control them anymore. He quickly hurried over to Liara and helped her up.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yes. That was horrible." Liara panted, still in a bit of shock over what had just happened.

As the Illusive Man lay in the floor clutching the bleeding holes where his eyes had been, Austin and EDI walked over to the holo control panels. EDI was able to access them almost instantly.

"EDI, shut this place down." Austin ordered.

"My pleasure." EDI replied.

The AI accessed the controls and sure enough the shield around the almost completed Liberator deactivated.

"The shield's down. Focus fire on the Illusive Man's crucible."

The Helldiver fleet focused all their attacks on the Liberator.

True they could've kept it, but for all they knew it had Reaper technology built into it that could indoctrinate them. Plus, the Cerberus technology had probably been used to murder millions. It was tainted.

This was like the Collector base all over again in a way. Could've had an advantage, but the risks were too great and it felt wrong.

The fire from the fleet tore through the liberator like tissue paper and it exploded into pieces.

"NO! YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING!" the Illusive Man yelled, only to then be punched hard by Griffin.

"That was for every single person you've killed, and not just Helldivers." He spat. "Sorry, sir. Been wanting to do that."

"I don't blame you." Said Austin.

"Shepard, I have reacquired the plans for the Crucible and have wiped it form Cerberus systems." Said EDI.

"Good work." Austin nodded. He then activated his comm. "General, this is Shepard. The control centre is secure and we have reacquired the plans."

"Copy that, Shepard. We'll cease attack on the station. Is the Illusive Man… still with us?" Zartrack asked.

"You could say that." Austin replied, glancing down at the illusive Man.

"Then take him alive if possible. He may still be useful." Said Zartrack.

"Understood, General." Said Austin, slightly reluctantly. "You're finished, Illusive Man. Cerberus is finished."

"I have powerful friends, Shepard. This is just the beginning." Said the illusive Man as he slowly got up, struggling slightly due to his blindness. "Soon I will command forces beyond your comprehension. I have achieved what you could never do. The galaxy will forever thank…"

But before he could finish, something very dramatic indeed happened.

Some kind of blade like object suddenly burst through the Illusive Man's chest, causing blood to spray everywhere.

"Me…" the Illusive Man managed to finish as he gazed in horror at what had just impaled him. It was clearly a blade, but he couldn't see it. It was almost like it was…cloaked.

The blade then withdrew from the Illusive Man's bod and he fell to the ground, clutching the opening in his chest.

The invisible blade that was no stained with the Illusive Man's blood hovered for a minute before there was the unmistakable sound of a cloak deactivating and a tall figure materialized out of nowhere.

Everyone was left speechless at what they saw.

This figure was unlike anything they had ever seen before. Whoever he was, he clearly wasn't human, but nor was he any species they had ever seen before.

He was thin and insect like in appearance, standing at 2.6 meters which essentially made him tower over everyone except probably from X-5. Most noticeably, he walked on four digitigrade legs, all of which clearly looked cybernetic and had claws on the feet. A battle dress with openings in it surrounded them.

The figure worse some kind of armour that seemed to simply hover in place without being physically attacked to him around his arms and shoulders. In addition to this, a torn cape that reached down to his wait was fastened around his neck.

Most noticeably, his face was something that could not easily be described with words. It looked like something mirrored a child's nightmares. He had two crests of some kind sticking out form either side of his head and he had teeth that aligned the outside of his mouth. The main mouth undoubtedly had teeth and fangs, two on the top and two on the jaw.

It almost looked like some kind of tribal mask, but this was definitely not a helmet. Even though the figure was wearing a metallic mask, it only covered the main part of the face, leaving his mouth, outer teeth and upper crests to stick out.

Most noticeable of all though was his skin and eyes. His skin was a very dark insect colour, but at the same time it had what looked like green data liens running along it, almost like veins. It was almost unusual sight. The eyes were completely green too since the mask had openings for those as well. They the most unsettling effect of having no pupils, they just glowed. Only a simple light glare seemed to give the appearance of a pupil.

The weapon that he had just stabbed the Illusive Man with was some kind of alien sword.

The figure sheathed his weapon and stepped over the Illusive Man uncaringly. He then looked down at the human and spoke.

Without a doubt, this figure's deep snarling voice invoked terror with each word. He almost sounded like a Vorcha, except that his voice was much, much deeper and he spoke in a more intelligent way than a Vorcha. There was also that unsettling synthetic sound to it which it made even scarier to hear.

"You're part in this is over, Illusive Man…

To be continued...

And in case the description was difficult for some, I've down a picture which is now up on my Deviantart page, so I recommend you check it out immediately.

One or two other things I want to say quickly. If there's anyone who thought that Indoctrination theory could be applied to my story, you can drop it now. As you just saw, Shepard is immune.

Also, I don't want anyone to complain about the Hawk/Miranda fight being a bit silly. It was intended to be humorous.

And one final note. I trust you all noticed Sarah has the space hamster? Pretty cute, I'm sure. Like to quickly say that I gave him the name Chester as a little tribute to the hamster my family once had. Died of old age many years ago sadly, but he had a good life with us, I can assure you of that. So yeah, Sarah's hamster is named after my family one. :)

That's about it. I'll say now that I hope you're anticipating the next one. Trust me, it'll be worth the wait.

Plus, I look forward to seeing if anyone very cleverly spotted something about the General.

Hint: It concerns his skin.

For now "Hold your families close, and wait" for next week, The Takaal shall rise...
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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, The Last Cycle