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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, Alpha Origins	By : Veyron722skyhook Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 6173 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: 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
- 16
- 17
- 18
I am so so sorry about the long wait. I jsut go so distract and so stuck on the chapter.

Anyway, I'm back at last and I finally mangaed to get this done.

Rushed here and there I'll admit, but I'ms till happy with ti overall. Introduces a friendly face, you get the sex scene you've been waiting for (told you I'd include it) and even a surprise ending.

Hope this was worth the wait!

YEAR 5, First Blood

2177: 5 Years after the battle of Elysium

11 Years before the Battle of Arkadia

"It was only a year after Hellspawn revealed themselves that the first attack came. But it was not in the way we expected. This was a new weapon, one that had the potential to wipe us all out without a single shot being fired…

Chapter 17

The Cleanser

3:02 in the morning.

Normally, everyone was still in bed at this hour. Tonight however it was a little different. Having just gotten up after only a few hours' sleep, Sandra had walked out of her room, onto the balcony in Alpha's apartment, and gently knocked on Alaara's door.

It slowly opened, and there stood Alaara in the doorway. The two immediately hugged each other and kissed. It had only been yesterday that they'd last been together intimately, but it felt like far longer to them. There were times when they did wish they didn't have to hide their relationship from everyone else, but at the same time they knew why it was necessary. They just didn't want to deal with telling everyone yet. When the time was right though…

"Guys?"

The very second they heard that, the two immediately separated and attempted to act as though nothing had happened. They even put some distance between each other just as the lights came on. It was Dash who had obviously woken up a bit earlier.

"What time is it?" he yawned.

"Errr, 9." Sandra said very quickly.

"But it's dark out." Said Dash, looking out of the window and noticing the night sky outside.

"That's because you always sleep till noon, silly. This is what 9 looks like." Alaara said off the top of her head.

They wouldn't have thought that Dash would actually believe that, but it was the best they could think of. Rather to their surprise however, it worked.

"I guess I'll get washed up then." Said Dash as he went into the bathroom. "Watch that sunrise."

The two simply smiled as he left. Once the bathroom door was shut, they both sighed in frustration.

"I'm really getting tired of sneaking around all the time." Said Sandra.

"I know. Me too." Alaara agreed. Then she had an idea. "Hey, I know. What if we went away for the whole weekend? We'd have no interruptions… and we could be naked the entire time."

"All weekend? That's a whole lot of naked." Sandra smiled.

"Yeah. We have shore leave coming up anyway, so we can both just make some excuse that we can't spend it with the others. I'm sure they won't mind." Said Sandra.

"You, my love, are a genius." Said Sandra as she gave her bondmate a kiss

"Anyway, shall we?" Alaara suggested as opened her door invitingly.

"Wait, what about Dash?"

Alaara though simply used her bitoics to open the bathroom door, revealing that Dash had fallen asleep while brushing his teeth. They were clear.

The weekend passed. Everyone else had mostly just enjoyed the time off and had stayed at the apartment. Dash was currently in the living room when the door opened and Sandra arrived back. In order to avoid any suspicion, she and Alaara had made sure to both leave and arrive separately.

"Hey, you're back." The Scout greeted.

"Just arrived." Said Sandra. She felt exhausted, and not just from the trip. That whole weekend had been a test for her.

"So how was your weekend?" Dash asked.

"Oh, it was terrible. Pretty much everything went wrong for me." Sandra acted. In truth, it had been completely the opposite. In fact, she was doing her best not to smile too much from the memories or else someone would notice.

"So it was a total bust?" Dash asked sympathetically.

"Not totally. I got to visit a very nice spa place where they do the best massages." Said Sandra.

As the comm expert disappeared into her room to unpack, Alaara then walked through the door as well.

"I'm back, bitches!" She said cheerily.

"Hey, Alaara." Dash smiled.

"Glad to see you didn't tear down the place while I was away." Said Alaara.

"How was your weekend?"

"Fine. Nice and relaxing."

"Speaking of which, that hotel you stayed at called. Said someone left some shampoo in your room." Said Dash.

Alaara immediately froze. If Dash had found out…

"Oh no!"

"Errrrrrrrr, yes that was mine." she quickly said.

Now that she thought about it, that was the worst possible thing she could've said. Dash was many things, but stupid wasn't one of them.

"You don't have hair though." said Dash puzzlingly. "I figured that you hooked up with some girl and she left it there."

"Yes, that was what I meant." Said Alaara.

She was able to relax a bit though. It was clear now that Dash didn't know the details. If he did, he would definitely have said so.

"So, is she pretty?" Dash asked.

"Oh yeah. In fact, I dare say she's probably even the best I've ever had." Said Alaara.

Technically that was true since she'd been referring to Sandra anonymously, and she was indeed by far the best she'd ever had.

The later afternoon of the day was a just clam with Alpha enjoying some more of their shore leave.

"Hey, Alaara. Heard you found this very nice spa while you were away." Said Alexa.

"Yeah. You should try it. They do the best massages." Sandra smiled.

Alaara cast a nervous look at Dash.

He had that look someone often got when they thought they'd heard something familiar. After a few moments however, he simply shrugged.

"That was close."

Sandra was searching through one of her bags. After a quite a few seconds, she started to rummage around more frantically.

"Oh please tell me I didn't… Damn!" she cursed. "Alexa, could I borrow some shampoo from you, I think I lost mine."

"Yeah, sure."

Dash's face suddenly lit up with shock. His mouth fell open and he pointed at Sandra, almost completely lost for words.

"Oh here we go!" Alaara sighed in her head.

"Dash, can I talk to you for a second?!

The Asari immediately pulled Dash onto his head and into one of the rooms. Sandra sensing something was up, quickly followed, leaving everyone else a little bewildered at what that had been all about.

Alaara tackled Dash onto the bed and covered his mouth until Sandra had shut the door behind her and locked it. Finally, she gently moved her moth off.

"Yes, It's true." She said.

Dash immediately sat up, still in shock.

"YOU?! AND YOU?!" he said, pointing at the two.

"Yes, but you cannot tell anyone. No one knows." Said Sandra.

"But… how… when?" Dash asked.

"It happened just before we were about to take on those Batarians." Alaara explained.

"THAT LONG AGO?!" Dash said loudly.

"Shoosh! Look, the reason we didn't tell anyone was because we didn't want to make a big deal out of it." Said Alaara.

"But it is a big deal!" said Dash. "I have to tell someone…"

He tried to get up, but they both stopped him and pushed him back down onto the bed.

"No!" said Sandra. "Please, just not yet. We're going to tell everyone eventually, but we just don't want to yet. Please, Dash?"

There was a long silence before Dash eventually spoke.

"Oh alright!" he finally said. "Can I ask though? Are you two just doing it, or…"

Both Alaara and Sandra smiled at each other and immediately kissed one another. Dash's eyes went wide in surprise. He'd assumed it'd just been sex for them, but this kiss… He'd seen enough television series and movies to know a romantic kiss when he saw one.

"Does that answer your question?" Sandra smiled once she and Alaara had finally stopped kissing.

"You two are really…"

"Yep. Bond mates and everything." said Alaara proudly.

"Wow!" Dash smiled. "Man, this is unbelievable."

He realized however that sounded a bit like he didn't approve of this, so he quickly corrected himself.

"I mean, it's great that you two are together, but…"

"I know." Sandra smiled.

Surprisingly, Dash kept his promise. Alaara and Sandra woke up the next day expecting everyone to be talking about them, and yet nothing of the sort. In fact a different kind of surprise happened. Unfortunately though, it still wasn't the nice kind.

For some reason, Alaara woke up in the morning with a rather bad cough. It was completely unexpected considering that she'd felt completely fine yesterday and hadn't had any indication that she might be getting a cough.

It didn't worry her too much though and she kept saying that it was probably just a cold or something that she might have caught by accident while she was away. That still didn't stop everyone from being concerned though. By the end of day in fact, she seemed to be coughing even more.

"Are you alright, Alaara?" Austin asked concernedly. "You've been coughing all day, and I fear you sound even worse than you did this morning."

"Just a cough, I'm sure it'll be fine." Alaara croaked, pausing again to cough rather loudly.

"If you're sure…"

Admittedly, she wasn't sure. Despite that she'd been drinking so much fluid and orange juice today, if anything the cough had got even worse since this morning. Her throat was in so much pain that it felt like with every cough her throat was on fire.

After downing yet another whole carton of orange juice, the Asari sat down in the chair next to Austin who was currently sharpening his sword. She was forced to make another rather loud and painful cough as she sat down.

It was when she stopped that Austin stopped sharpening his sword and seemed to stare at Alaara. The Asari noticed this.

"What?"

"Alaara, what's that on your hand?" Austin asked worriedly.

Alaara looked down at where Austin was.

"What's what on my…"

She immediately froze and her eyes went wide open when she saw her hand. It was stained with purple… purple blood. More specifically… her blood…

"Oh no!"

Sandra was currently in the middle of adding new symbol to her armour when Austin suddenly burst in.

"We need to get to a medical centre. Quickly!" he said urgently.

"Why? What's wrong?" Sandra asked.

"It's Alaara. She's coughing blood."

Sandra almost immediately bolted right past Austin and out of the room, much to the Commander's surprise.

Alaara's condition only got worse by the time they managed to get her Arkadia's main hospital. She was coughing blood almost constantly now, and was also starting to have breathing problems.

They were met by a grey haired woman when they arrived who immediately had them bring Alaara in for examination.

"So do you know what's wrong with her?" Sandra asked worriedly.

"I have a feeling I do, but it's best we let the Professor Paeoniis have a look at her."

"The Professor Paeoniis?!" Austin asked in surprise.

"Who's he?" Dash asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Don't tell me you don't know who Katrax Paeoniis is!" Austin said in disbelief.

"I'm afraid I don't."

"He's only one the 7 Arkanes who created the Helldivers, and one of the greatest medical minds in the galaxy." Said Sandra.

"I thought he was a scientist." Said Alexa.

"He is, but he's also a medical doctor. Knows more about obscure diseases than anyone in this, or probably any galaxy." Said Austin.

At that moment, the doors opened and a rather tall and slender Arkane walked in. He wore a black lab coat with a few occasional white patches here and there similar to outfit the doctor had as well.

He wore some kind of goggles on his head, one of which had a magnifier one eye and appeared to also be wearing what looked like some kind respirator over his mouth and nose.

According to many of the stories, Paeoniis had been born with some health complications. He'd been born premature, he'd only had one arm and also began to suffer breathing problems in his adult years. He'd fixed this by permanently wearing a respirator to breath properly.

On the subject of the arm, he currently didn't have any at all. In the place of arms, where two very long cybernetic arms. Because of his genius, he'd been the one that had helped the Arkanes discover fully functional cybernetic limbs. In doing so, he'd been able to give himself one to compensate for the arm he never had.

The story behind his other one however, was different. Very long ago, Arkadians had been suffering from a rather bad disease. Paeoniis had sworn to find a cure for it. In his attempts however, his normal arm had been exposed to the disease while experimenting. To stop the disease from spreading and killing him, he'd forced to amputate it and so had replaced it with another cybernetic. On the plus side however, he'd been able to run further tests on his own arm which had allowed him to make tremendous advances. Due also to the fact that since the disease in his arm was new hadn't had a chance to gestate very long, unlike other samples he'd had to work from, it had eventually led to him finding a cure way sooner than expected.

"Another one?" he asked as he slowly walked up to the table where Alaara had been laid down.

"I'm afraid so, Professor." Said the Doctor.

Paeoniis took a close look at Alaara and also scanned her.

"Hmmm. It's the plague alright." He sighed. "Put her on life support like the others."

The doctor nodded and walked off to fetch a life support machine. At the same time, Paeoniis now became aware of the other Helldivers in front of him.

"Pardon my manners. I am Professor Katrax Paeoniis. This is my assistant, Dr Karin Chakwas." He said, also at the same time indicating to the white haired doctor who had just come back.

"Pleasure." Said Austin warmly as he extend his hand.

Chakwas shook it with a pleasant smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Commander Shepard." She said. "I've heard some impressive things about you and your squad."

She then fitted a small mask to Alaara's face. At the same time, the bed also suddenly change into some kind of pod, encasing Alaara inside it.

"This won't cure her, but it will keep her alive at least." He said.

"What's wrong with her exactly?" Sandra asked.

"For the last two days, some mysterious illness has gripped Arkadia." Paeoniis explained. "Almost every non-human on Arkadia is falling sick. First it starts with a cough, then they start coughing blood. It's definitely a plague or virus, but I've never seen one this powerful before in my lifetime and there's no knowledge at all in any galaxy medical records about a plague that doesn't kill humans."

"Why hasn't Arkadia been quarantined then?" Austin asked.

"As of now, it is. The order was only given this morning. All Helldivers who aren't infected have been ordered to oversee the quarantine. We're attempting to control this plague before it ends up spreading too far. Those who haven't bene infected yet are being evacuated as we speak." Chakwas explained.

"Come with me. I need to take your squad member to my lab anyway." Said Paoeoniss.

The pod containing Alaara began moving with him. Everyone followed. They came up to a sealed door which clearly said "QUARANTINE" Paeoniis inputted the code required to open it.

"Keep your helmets sealed and do not touch any of the infected. We still don't know exactly how this plague is spreading, so avoid any contact." He advised.

"What about Karin?" Austin asked.

"This thing doesn't affect humans, but she will be going through decontamination, same as us just to be safe." He said.

At the same time, Karin put a respirator on as well.

Paeoniis opened the door.

A rather shocking sight greeted them. There were pods all over the place, there were a few patients being attended to as they coughed up blood, and a few ones were even being wrapped in body bags due to unfortunately dying from the plague.

"Dear god."

"Yes. Horrifying, isn't it?" said Paeoniis rhetorically.

"This many in just two days?" Leena asked in surprise.

"I'm afraid so."

"No normal illness should be affecting these people so quickly. This plague must be especially virulent." Said Telrass.

"Keep moving. I'll explain further when we reach my lab." Said Paeoniis.

A thought then crossed Austin's mind. If this plague affected aliens as well…

"What about the Council?" he asked with concern.

"As soon as we became aware of this plague, they were taken far out of the city. They should be safe as long as the quarantine stops this plague from spreading." Chakwas explained.

They eventually reached a checkpoint which had two quarantine and riot control Helldivers guarding it.

"Professor." One of them acknowledged.

Paeoniis and Chakwas walked past, but the Helldivers stopped Alpha.

"I'm sorry, Helldivers. We need to scan you first to make you're not infected." One of them said.

"Do we have to, Commander?" Dash moaned. "These scans are rumoured to cause sterility, and I wanna have a little junior calling my Daddy someday."

"That's a scary thought." Said Leena, causing some of the others to snigger.

"Very funny, Leena."

"People, let's just get this over with." Said Austin seriously.

"Yes, sir." Everyone simple said.

They scanned Austin first and the scan lit up green.

"Clean. Next!"

Sandra stepped forward and they scanned her next.

"Clean."

Alexa, Troy and Hawke followed as well until it was just the aliens now. Kraan was the first to step forward and get scanned.

Everything seemed to be going fine… but then the scanner light flashed red.

"What?!"

"But…"

"Keep calm, sir. Your scan shows your stage 1 infectious." One of the guards said.

"I don't get sick!" Kraan objected.

"Is it hot in here, or is it just…" said Ventra. But he was interrupted when he started coughing. "Oh, that's not good."

The others then started coughing as well. They were all infected.

"Get them stabilized! Quickly!" said Paeoniis urgently.

Everyone was immediately placed in pods as well and put on life support. Only Leena seemed to be not coughing. Her scan in fact read green.

"Leena, you feeling anything?" Austin asked.

"No. I feel fine." The Quarian replied.

"I'm not surprised. We haven't had any Quarrians infected." Said Paeoniis. "Their suits filter out every known germ, toxin, parasite and allergen. Unless they're breached, this plague doesn't affect them."

The guards were about to push the pods off to join the others, but Paeoniis stopped them.

"No. Let them through with me. I need DNA samples from them anyway." He said.

"As you wish, Professor."

Next they entered through what was undeniably a decontamination chamber.

"Please stand by. Decontamination in progress."

They were all sprayed, then scanned again.

"Decontamination complete. 0 contaminant factor."

The door opened and everyone walked few. The decon tents then took two turns. One led to another door, the other led outside. Naturally, they followed Paeoniis as he walked up to the door. First he imputed a code, then had his eye scanned.

"Identity confirmed. Welcome, Professor Paeoniis."

The lab was filled with all sorts of advanced science equipment

"It's good that you brought them here now rather than later. If they wasn't stabilized now, they would've been dead in days." Said Paeoniis.

"So how is this plague spreading?" Troy asked.

"We're not exactly sure yet. At first we thought it was air based, but if that's true we'd have all been infected by now." Paeoniis replied. "No. We reckon it's something else. Hopefully, the blood from your friends will confirm that for me."

Paeoniis attached what looked like some kind of syringe to the sides of each pod and it extracted a small bit of blood from all of them.

"Ouch." Said Alaara weakly.

"It's just a needle. Honestly, I've treated children that make less fuss than you." Paeoniis sighed.

He walked up to his main computer console and inserted all the samples, which the computer began scanning.

"Surely there must be something you can do." Said Sandra.

"I'm doing everything I can. And stop calling me Shirley." Said Paeoniis. "The only thing I can do for now is what I've just done for your friends. Putting them on life support and providing them with constant medication stabilizes their condition. It doesn't stop the plague's effects though, it only halts them. Once they're taken off it, the plague resumes right away. Still, it'll keep them alive until I can find a cure."

"What's strange though is that a plague like this has never been seen on Arkadia before. It also acts way too fast for a normal plague. The professor's convinced it's engineered." Said Chakwas.

"But who would be capable of making something like this?" Hawk asked.

"A plague that kills aliens, but not humans? This sounds exactly like the sort of thing Hellspawn would be behind." Said Troy.

"This does indeed seem like their sort of thing, but…" said Austin. "If they have both the technology and knowledge to make something like this, then they're more advanced than we feared."

Paeoniis' computer then lit up with results from the DNA.

"Aha. Just as I predicated." He said.

"What?"

"The DNA seems to narrow things down a bit to the point where I can find the plague's core elements." The Arkane explained. "But each one is too corrupted for me to synthesise a cure."

"You have the DNA from multiple species. Is it that difficult?" Hawk asked.

"If I'm to make a proper cure for this plague that works fully, I need a sample of this thing in its purest form. It's been designed in a way that it corrupts itself with the victim's DNA, thus making it impossible to make a cure from any samples. Hellspawn obviously thought of that." Paeoniis replied.

"So if we were to somehow to find where Hellspawn are making this thing, and brought back a sample… you'd be able to cure everyone?" Austin asked.

"Absolutely. It's like how you humans cure snake bites. You use the venom from the snake that bit them to make anti-venom. It's the same principle here."

"You're sure?"

"100% If I have a pure sample of the plague, I'm positive I can make a cure from it."

"Then we have our next mission."

"Shepard, we don't even know where to begin looking. Hellspawn could be anywhere." Said Sandra.

"Professor, is there anything in these samples that might help us trace the plague to its source?" Austin asked.

Paeoniis checked all the results he had.

"No." the Arkane sighed. "Nothing that'll help you at least."

"Wait. What if we've been looking at this the wrong way? Instead of searching for the plague itself, what if we focus on the manufacturing process?" Leena suggested.

She then typed some commands into the computer. Almost immediately, new results were shown.

"Why didn't I see this before?" Paeoniis said in surprise. "The reaction emits a unique radiation spike."

"Can it be traced?" Austin asked.

"Absolutely. If we use what scanners we have throughout the galaxy, it will help narrow down the search." Leena replied.

"Okay, let's do it."

The scanners had already find quite a few matches, but so far there was nothing that seemed good.

"Hmmm. None of these links seem very likely. The radiation's far too weak in all of them." Paeoniis sighed.

"Hold on, we just got another match. Strong contender." Said Leena.

Another result was highlighted on the holo map. The radiation was the highest they'd seen out of all the results.

"Even for that planet, that's a lot." Said Austin.

"More than that, Shepard. That's the planet where Binary Helix has a huge facility for genetic engineering and biotechnology. In fact, that facility is one of the very few in this galaxy that is capable of making something like this." Said Leena.

"That's not possible though. We've had teams there for years to keep an eye on Binary Helix." Said Troy.

"Hellspawn must've bought them off… or worse." Said Austin. "This is the best lead we've had, so I suggest we investigate."

"Who's going with you then?" Hawk asked.

"All who are able. Don't think for a minute I'm leaving anyone behind for this, especially since we're lacking key squad mates right now. You all know one of the main rules of our code." Austin replied.

"What does "Never piss in a toaster" have to do with any of this?" asked Dash.

"What the fu…?! Where did… Actually, I don't even want to know where that came from." Austin sighed.

"You really are a strange human, Mr Torres." Said Paeoniis. "I wonder if the Arkanes would let me dissect your brain when you die."

"Okay… I'm just gonna stop talking now." Dash simply said, somewhat creeped out at what the Arkane had just said.

Despite the grim circumstances, it made everyone else chuckle a bit. It wasn't' often that someone was able to make Dash fall silent like that.

As everyone prepared to leave the Hellraiser to enter the facility, Austin couldn't' help but feel worried that any second Leena would suddenly fall ill as well. Despite that her suit was keeping her safe from the plague, he still worried for her.

"Are you sure about this, Leena?" he asked. "I don't doubt your abilities, but if you get infected with this plague we don't have the proper medical supplies to stabilize your condition. At least, not out in the field."

"I'll be fine unless my suit gets torn up. If that happens, I'm probably dead, anyway. And if that happens, I'll take Hellspawn with me." Said Leena.

With Telrass also currently infected and in the quarantine, Paeoniis had insisted he come along and had offered to try and serve the role of Overseer where he could. Mostly in the role of monitoring everyone's vitals from inside the Hellraiser.

"I'll be monitoring all your life sings. If I even get the slightest hint that something's wrong, I'll let you know." He said.

"Alright then. Let's do this." Said Austin.

Getting into the facility was pretty easy. Binary Helix had obviously never thought that a squad of Helldivers would infiltrate their facility. It seemed also that Hellspawn didn't have the sort of security that Alpha had expected. Most likely they couldn't increase security without Binary Helix noticing that their facility had been taken over by some anti alien terrorists.

Leena quickly found the facility and immediately worked on accessing it's systems.

"I'm in their systems." She said. "Seems you were right, Shepard. Hellspawn "acquired" this facility about 6 months ago. They've been running it since without Binary Helix ever knowing."

"That explains why they've been so quiet till now." Said Hawk. "Is there anything saying where the plague is being manufactured?"

"Yes. Here it is. They call it the Cleanser apparently…" Leena replied. She suddenly froze however when she saw something else. "Keelah!"

"What is it?"

"They're producing this plague on a massive scale. Arkadia's just the start. They're planning to use this thing across the entire galaxy to wipe out every single species except humans."

"Professor, we're uploading the data to you." Austin said into his comm.

"I'm getting it now. Credit where it's due, Hellspawn must have some really clever scientists to make something like this in just a year." Said Paeoniis.

"Can you synthesize a cure?"

"Having seen this, I can definitely confirm it'll work. I still need a sample of the Cleanser though. I can't create it from scratch."

"Understood. We'll bring a sample to you and find a way to safely destroy all the others." Said Austin. He then turned back to the others. "We need to make sure these samples never leave this lab. Is there a way for us to safely destroy the Cleanser here?"

"Yes. Neutralizing agents should take care of it all and I can wipe all data from their systems. Assuming I'm correct, all the data's here and nowhere else. It's the only way they could keep Binary Helix from noticing." Said Leena. "Wait, they're keeping a constant eye on the system. As soon as I begin wiping the data, they'll know. Same with the neutralizing agents as well."

"How much time will we have?"

"5 minutes max."

"And how long to wipe all the data and destroy the samples?"

"Both should take about the same time."

"Then we don't have much choice. Leena, start wiping the computer, the rest of you get to work with the neutralizing agents. Make sure though that we leave one last sample. We'll need that for the cure."

Leena did what she had to do and several canisters rose out of the floor next to the computer.

"Neutralizing agents deployed." Said the computer.

Everyone picked up a canister each and carried them over to the machines producing small vials of the Cleanser. Liquid flowed out of the canister and into the machines, causing the cleanser to turn colour and the machines to stop.

"Cleanser temperature levels outside optimal range."

"They know something's wrong, Shepard! They're on their way!" Leena warned.

"Alert: Cleanser samples at critical levels."

"Come on! Come on! Terminate already!" Leena yelled angrily, banging her fist on the computer's console in frustration.

"Data wipe complete." The computer finally said. "Alert: Cleanser samples terminated. One sample remaining."

All that was left now was one vial, which Dash picked up.

"Let's get the hell out of here." He said.

Before anything further could be said however, the room became filled with gunfire as round after round flew right at or past them. Hellspawn troopers swarmed into the room, all focusing fire on Alpha.

"Find cover, now!" Austin yelled as he ducked behind a nearby crate.

Everyone else went into cover as well. In his hurry however, Dash's grip on the vial loosened. A sudden shot only made it worse as it impacted very near to his face, causing him to automatically recoil back. In the process, he let go of the vial.

Luckily, it didn't' break, but it did roll out of Dash's reach.

"Dammit!"

The vial rolled even further away and right into the open. Alpha could only watch helplessly and occasionally return fire as they watched the vial roll, hoping and praying that it didn't get shot. Because if it did…

"Hold your fire!" a familiar voice suddenly yelled.

All of Hellspawn immediately stopped, but they kept their guns trained on where Alpha were.

Sure enough, the Commander himself stepped forward, his dark armour and torn black coat still as terrifying as ever for the eyes to behold.

"Alpha. It's been too long. Still, I had a feeling that if the Arkanes eventually found this facility they'd send you. Or should I say… half of you. Your alien friends suddenly fall sick?" he asked mockingly, his dark and terrifying voice still making Alpha shiver with each word.

Behind him also was none other than Shadow, who was keeping her sniper rifle at the ready in order to protect her master. She seemed to be particularly favouring aiming it at where Austin was.

"You could say that." Austin replied, racking his brain for some kind of plan for them to get out of this.

"Good. It's no more than they deserve." Said the Commander cruelly.

"Innocent people are dying because of this plague!" said Hawk.

"That's what people DO!"

Somewhat angered by The Commander's uncaring talk, Hawk blind fired a few shot which took out a few Hellspawn troopers. The others were quick to return fire. Shadow even got a shot off that quite literally scratched Hawk's helmet, but the Commander quickly raised his hand.

"I said hold your fire, dammit!" he yelled. "Hit that vial and you'll spray the Cleanser all over the place."

"There it is, Rodriguez. The last of it." Said Austin.

"You realize I can just make more?" said the Commander.

"If that's true you'd have let the vial be destroyed already. You need it to make more, especially since we wiped your computer." Said Austin. "Not to mention also that Binary Helix will want nothing to do with you after this."

"Maybe. But there are plenty more ways I can create the Cleanser." Said the Commander. "You are correct, I do need that sample to make more. But there's also another thing you've failed to discover about my cleanser."

"And what's that then?"

"You've noticed it only affects aliens and not humans. Well… it turns out there's a little secret hidden in the Cleanser." The Commander explained. "You see, I really hate aliens, and the mere thought of humans mingling and… mating with them makes me sick. So I figured out a way to "purify the gene pool" so to speak. The Cleanser does not affect humans automatically, but… if a human has any kind of intimate or sexual contact with an infected alien…"

Austin was about to ask how that could possibly have anything to do with them, but before he could, an unwelcome noise greeted his ears. Sandra had started coughing so loud that even Hellspawn could hear her. The comm expert's hand flew to her neck and she froze as if she'd spotted something.

From inside her helmet, Sandra immediately noticed the red that she had suddenly coughed up as it stained the inside of her helmet.

"Oh no."

From inside the Hellraiser, Paeoniis immediately noticed both the visual and audio feed from Sandra, as well as her vital signs which had immediately spiked.

"Oh no!"

"Did you really think I wouldn't think of that, Alpha?" the Commander asked rhetorically. "I know your kind too well."

Sandra's coughing only got worse and she fell to the floor, now clutching her throat desperately.

Leena, who'd been behind cover very close to her was able to get close enough to help her.

"Sandra."

"I can't breathe!" Sandra wheezed.

"You say you want humanity to be the only race in existence, yet you're willing to kill humans to do so?" said Austin, his heart now beating so strong from fright and tension.

"Just the weak and impure ones." Said the Commander, his voice clearly sounding smug. He then turned to one of his men. "Get the vial. If they try anything, shoot them."

One of the troopers slowly began moving towards the vial. It was then that Austin noticed Dash take the Hellraiser's remote out…

Paeoniis jumped in surprise as the vehicle he was sat inside suddenly roared into life, despite that there was no driver. He then felt it rise up ever so slightly and parts moving as he also heard the sound of mechanics whirring and metal moving as the Hellraiser switched to Battle Mode.

For a moment, he was terrified that it was somehow possessed or had a mind of its own. But then he quickly remembered what Dash had said to him, and it soon became obvious.

The Scout was controlling the vehicle remotely.

"Boys and their toys." He sighed with relief.

The trooper reached the vial and gently picked it up. Before he could bring it back however, a loud sound could suddenly be heard throughout the facility. The sound of concrete crumbling and metal bending.

"What's that noise?!" said the Commander.

"The wall's coming down!"

All of Hellspawn whirled round as the wall behind them crumbled as it was pulled apart to reveal an unwelcome sight for them.

The Hellraiser detached it's winch from the debris and immediately opened fire. Hellspawn did the same and dove for cover. Austin immediately seized the chance while all of Hellspawn were distracted… including the one with the vial.

He quickly grabbed the trooper from behind and snapped his neck. As the trooper's hold over the vial loosened, Austin immediately grabbed it.

"Got it! Let's go!"

Dash nodded.

As if responding immediately to the Scout's acknowledgement, the Hellraiser then fired several smoke grenades, immediately restricting Hellspawn's view. Seizing the chance, Alpha ran through the smoke to their vehicle.

The Commander, being a former Helldiver himself and thus possessing different visions, quickly spotted Alpha as they ran and fired a few shots from one of his sub machine guns which only just missed.

"Don't let them escape!" he yelled.

The troopers and Shadow also opened fire but by the time the smoke cleared Alpha had already got into the Hellraiser.

As the tank sealed itself back up and turned to face Hellspawn. Realizing what was about to happen, Shadow immediately pushed the Commander out of the way. The troopers soon realized as well, but too late.

The Hellraiser fired a charged round from its main cannon which took out every trooper and sent Shadow flying into a nearby wall and burying her underneath some rubble. The Commander was clear, but one piece of debris did hit his helmet, temporarily disorienting him.

With the enemy supposedly dealt with, the Hellraiser reverted to Super Pursuit mode and its engine roared back into life.

The Commander slowly got back up. He could tell already that the troopers were all dead. His only concern was for his apprentice. He immediately threw away as much debris as possible until he found Shadow. She was injured, but alive.

The Helldiver slayer weakly looked her master, half expecting him to say that she's failed or something along those lines. But it didn't come. Instead, he said something different.

"I owe you for that sacrifice, my apprentice. I'm not about to let you die now." He said as he worked on clearing more rubble. At the same time he also gave her some medi gel to at least help her wounds.

"Recommend you hold tight, Professor." Austin advised as Leena set Sandra down on the floor in front of Paeoniis.

The Hellraiser accelerated into a power slide and accelerated. The force of this, Paeoniis was completely unprepared for he literally fell out of his seat.

"Oh I say!"

"Did warn you." Dash shrugged.

What Paeoniis did next took everyone by surprise. His cybernetic limbs actually split, dividing in half to the point where he now had four arms. The upper two of his arms grabbed onto the railings on the ceiling while his lower two were left free.

The gunship soon hovered into view. Just as it began adjusting its angle so it could pick up the Hellraiser however, several rockets shot past and some gunfire actually hit its hull. This forced Alexa to back off.

"Shepard, there's too much firepower. I can't get close enough to pick you up." She said.

"We'll get to a safer zone." Said Dash.

"I'll do my best to cover you from the air if I can."

The Hellraiser once again sped off, this time with the gunship hovering close. As expected, a small army composing of both off pursuit vehicles and tanks appeared and were quick to give chase.

Normally, Dash would just turn the Hellraiser round, revert to Battle Mode and fight back, but with Sandra dying, now was definitely not the time. This time, the Hellraiser was about to have its speed and manoeuvrability put to the test.

The chase was on.

From inside the Hellraiser, Paeoniis had suddenly got hard to work on mixing various chemicals and vials using his free pair of hands.

"What are you doing?" Austin asked.

"She's been infected with the Cleanser too long. If I don't find some way to slow it down at least, she'll die." Paeoniis replied.

Austin simply nodded in acknowledgment. He then turned to Dash.

"Head though the city." he ordered.

"Are you sure?" Dash asked in surprise.

"We have a better chance of losing them, and Alexa may be able to cover us better." Said Austin.

Dash simply nodded.

Troy was definitely regretting sitting in the front passenger seat now. By no means was this his first time in the Hellraiser, but it was the first time he'd been up front. This time he was not only facing forward but he could also properly feel whenever the front leant to the side during a corner, plus he seemed to feel the g force on his front a lot more. Odd considering that Alpha usually didn't in the back, especially considering they were facing sideways. Dash had mentioned something to him about it having dampeners in the back similar to what a dropship and shuttle had, but it didn't have them at the front.

Fearing that he was probably in for a rough ride, he made sure his harness was properly secured.

The Hellraiser sped through the streets with many Hellspawn vehicles right on its tail. None of them dared get too close after the many stories they'd heard about the last guys who dared try that on this monster. Some of the vehicles attempted to fire on the tank, but they predictably bounced off.

When several Hellspawn vehicles blocked the road ahead, Dash was forced to pull a sharp turn. Despite Paeoniis stabilizing himself with his arms, he was still unable to overcome gravity pulling at him. He just barely managed to not spill the contents of his vials.

Dash then pulled another sharp turn which this time caused them to crash right through part of a glass building.

"Agh!" Troy yelled, covering his helmet's optics. "Yep… someone was hurt in that one."

He was exaggerating of course. Dash may have been a crazy driver, but he was not a murdering one. He'd been able to manoeuvre the Hellraiser so that it missed any civilians. In fact, that was why he'd been forced to crash the glass, so that he avoided running anyone over.

Troy suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of flight engines. He pulled up one of the feeds from the Hellraiser cameras to confirm his suspicion. Sure enough, he saw a gunship in the screen… and it wasn't theirs.

Dash noticed too and once again pulled a sharp turn, this time into a narrow street. It was still wide enough for the Hellraiser and the Hellspawn vehicles to fit, but narrow enough that the gunship would have a much harder time keeping a visual lock on them.

Two more vehicles suddenly appeared from around the corner in front, forcing Dash to take another turn, this time into a car lot.

"Dash, what are you doing?" Troy asked worriedly as he held onto one of the handle bars above him.

"Shortcut." Dash replied.

The vehicles pursued the Hellraiser to the top level. Realizing, that Alpha were cornered p here, they formed a roadblock, blocking the only way down.

Troy was about question Dash's logic in doing this as they were not only trapped up here, but also out in the open where Hellspawn's gunship had a clear shot at them. Before he could however, Dash suddenly reversed into a space between two parked vehicles. Due to both the speed, and the Hellraiser's width, the two vehicles were scratched and nudged to the side a fair bit.

"Well, that was smooth parking." Troy commented unimpressively.

With the ramp locked down, the Hellspawn troopers got out of their vehicles and pointed all their guns at the Hellraiser.

"We've got 'em! There's no other way off that roof." One of the Hellspawn troopers said.

"Turn off your engine! Step away from the… tank." Another one ordered, unable to hide the slight nervousness in his voice as the Hellraiser's engine revved loudly a few times.

"Dash…" said Troy worriedly.

"Trust me." Dash smiled from under his helmet.

"Battle Mode activated!"

The Hellraiser once again transformed, it's weapons all pointing directly at Hellspawn. The troopers expected the tank to open fire on them any moment and they braced for the inevitable. Rather than aim directly at them however, the Hellraiser instead fired at one of their vehicles. At shot from the 60mm cannon hit one of the vehicles causing it to flip and explode before landing on it's roof with the back sticking up in the air.

The Hellraiser then reverted back to Super Pursuit Mode and accelerated right at the destroyed vehicle. It was only now that Hellspawn finally noticed that the vehicle was at the perfect angle for a ramp. Right as the massive tank's front wheels touched the destroyed vehicle, its afterburner then activated as well. The Hellraiser flew into the air, right over the gap between the parking lot, and the next building.

Troy was unable to keep it in, and screamed in fright.

"No no no Nooooooooooooooooo!"

Right as Hellspawn's gunship caught sight of the Hellraiser again, it touched back down on the roof. It's searchlight locked onto the vehicle and tried to stay locked on.

"Where are they going?"

"They're on the roof."

Despite the roof's mostly smooth surface, it was anything but. The various pipes and such made the ride unbelievably bumpy.

One particular bit caused the Hellraiser's back to shoot up rather hard.

"Whoa!"

The jump also caused everyone in the back to be flung up since they weren't wearing any harnesses and Paeoniis banged his head really hard on the ceiling.

"Ow! That hurt so much!" he said, rubbing his head crossly.

To avoid the edge, Dash was forced to pull a power slide, knocking several pieces of debris off and onto several Hellspawn vehicles down below.

"You maniac." Paeoniis groaned, managing to pick himself up again after the power slide and still groaning form his soar head.

"What street are they taking?"

"They're not on a street. They're flying on rooftops!"

The Hellraiser once again jumped onto the roof of another building before finally landing back on a road at long last.

"Ow!"

"You know, this is a pretty comfortable ride even though you're hitting everything you see." Troy admitted.

"I don't like this!" Paeoniis groaned.

More Hellspawn vehicles quickly resumed the chase, but Dash cleverly took a right turn down a hill into the underpass. With those roads being mostly straight, he could max the Hellraiser out fully.

Sure enough, the pursuing vehicles had difficulty keeping up as the Hellraiser sped away.

In an attempt to try and slow the Hellraiser down, more Hellspawn vehicles formed a road block up ahead with both vehicles and barriers.

"Got 'em!"

The Hellraiser though once again power slid around a turn and sped off, the vehicles once again giving chase.

"Hmm. They certainly don't give up easy." Said Dash. "This should change their minds."

The Scout pressed a button and several sphere like objects with spikes sticking out of them fell out of the Hellraiser's rear and onto the road.

"Coming up on their rear…"

The trooper's sentence was quickly cut off however when one of the wheels on his vehicle hit one of the many spikes and it instantly burst. The vehicle flipped several times before finally settling, causing a few other pursuing vehicles to crash into it.

The other vehicles managed to speed past. One however got a bit too close to the Hellraiser and ended up alongside the six wheeled tank. He only noticed this too late as the Hellraiser swerved to the right a bit then went left at full charge, crashing right into him, forcing him against a nearby wall, and crushing the vehicle completely leaving nothing but crumpled up metal.

Another vehicle tried the same tactic, but this time stuck to behind, believing that Dash wouldn't spot him. But that too was a mistake.

"Wrong move, pal." Dash smiled smugly.

He flicked another switch and the Hellraiser's afterburner fired a devastating burst of fire which immediately caused the vehicle behind to completely burst into flames. The vehicle swerved, causing another vehicle to crash into it along with another before the fire ignited the vehicle's fuel tank and it exploded, taking out the other vehicles in the process.

"Oh alright. Say it." Troy sighed, having observed the whole thing in his rear view monitor. "I know you're dying to."

"They got a pretty warm reception." Said Dash casually.

Everyone else just sighed at the pun.

"Speaking as a Professor of medical science: He's crazy." Paeoniis mumbled, still continuously mixing vials at a fast ate.

"You have no idea." Austin sighed.

"No offense, Dash. But you're driving… Where are you going?" Troy asked in confusion as Dash took a turn onto the freeway.

"We've got 'em now. They're on the freeway."

Dash though was once again unfazed by this and he pressed several more buttons.

"And for my next trick…"

To the utter shock of every Hellspawn vehicle in pursuit, their target just completely vanished. Even the roar of the tank's engine disappeared too.

"We lost 'em!"

"Commander, we've lost them. Target's vehicle can cloak. I say again, the Hellraiser has a cloaking device."

For a moment, everyone thought they'd gone deaf as the Hellraiser's loud engine cut out and switched to an electric motor while also cloaking.

They'd heard Dash say it could cloak like they did, but seeing it for real was rather impressive.

"Stealth mode activated."

"Stay with us, Sandra." Said Austin, noting how the comm expert's condition was worsening.

The Hellraiser quietly sped past one of the Hellspawn vehicles, but one of the troopers caught sight of the Hellraiser's camouflaged form.

"Wait, there they are!"

The cloak deactivated as the Hellraiser's engine roared back into life and it increased speed again. Dash pulled a hard left which caused him to smash right through the concrete barrier of the freeway. The Hellspawn vehicles, unable to turn in time, ended up crashing into the concrete or completely skidding.

"Okay. That should stabilize her long enough until I synthesize a cure." Said Paeoniis, injecting the contents of the vial he'd been working on into Sandra's arm.

A minute or two passed before Dash was sure they'd finally lost their pursuers.

"Alexa, we've lost 'em." He said.

"I've got a visual on you. Coming in to pick you up."

The gunboat soon flew into view. Before it could get any close however, a missile flew right past it, just barely missing it. It was the Hellspawn gunship from earlier. Seemed it had found them again.

"I can't pick you up until you deal with that gunship. It's too dangerous." Said Alexa, quickly backing off.

The Hellspawn gunship let her go and stayed on the Hellraiser's tail. A familiar voice then emitted from loudspeakers.

"No escape this time, Alpha!" said Hades.

"Alright then, Hades. Eat my dust!" said Dash.

He immediately activated the afterburner and the Hellraiser sped away. The gunship though was quick to accelerate as well and gave chase, opening fire as he pursued them.

"I can hear guns firing!" said Troy worriedly.

"Uh-oh, he's above us!" said Dash. "Turning down here…"

The Hellraiser pulled a sharp right only to find the gunship hovering very low to where they were. It fired a rocket, but the Hellraiser just managed to fire a small burst from it's side. Coupled with the all six wheels rotating to the side slightly, the Hellraiser was able to move to the side just in time and the rocket shot right past it, impacting on the ground behind.

"Holy shit, that was close!" said Dash, breathing a sigh of relief.

The relief was short lived however as the gunship hovered back into view.

"He's above us again!" said Troy.

"Come on, ya son of a bitch!"

The gunship hovered for a while as it attempted to get another lock while the Hellraiser pulled another sharp right.

"Let's go this way."

They finally found themselves in the clear with enough space for Alexa to pick them up, but Dash soon realized to late it was a dead end. Right in front of them was the sea, and another way was blocked by rocks to tall and steep for the Hellraiser to climb. The gunship once again hovered into view.

"Okay, bad idea."

"I have you now!"

The gunship fired several missiles again. Surprisingly however, they all missed. Instead however, they hit the only way out, blocking it with debris. That had been Hades' plan all along.

"Dash, he's cut off our only escape. We're trapped." Said Troy.

"Nowhere to run now, Alpha!" Hades' voice bellowed from the gunship.

"What are we gonna do now?"

"I'm going to show Hades what happens when he messes with us." Said Dash.

"Activating Battle Mode"

As the Hellraiser switched to Battle Mode once again, Hades also primed all the weapons he had. He was going to enjoy this.

"Come on then, Alpha! Let's see if you can keep up with me!"

The gunship almost immediately fired a bombardment of bombs from it's side. Dash resorted to avoiding them by simply strafing or using the thrusters. Not a single bomb touched the tank.

When it stopped, the Hellraiser immediately returned fire it's minigun. Several rounds hit the gunship right on, a few hitting some of the weapons, causing them to explode. Hades though wasn't' worried. They'd just got lucky, and there was more where that came from.

The Hellraiser had made the unfortunate mistake of remaining stationary while it fired at him, more than long enough for him to get a lock.

Two missiles fired from either side of the gunship, heading straight for the Hellraiser. To Hades' utter surprise however, instead of trying to dodge them it returned fire. He'd expected the tank to attempt to dodge them, only to still be hit since the missiles were heat seeking. Instead however, the Hellraiser's minigun fired and shot both missiles right out of the sky.

Despite the surprise and anger it brought Hades, he kept his cool. He would not give Alpha the satisfaction of outsmarting him.

"Nice shooting! That's gonna make this so much more interesting."

Two shots from the Hellraiser's main cannon followed, but Hades managed to managed the gunship o the side and they missed. As he did however it fired a third shot which hit him square on. His shield warning light immediately came on. Hades had to admit now this was not going as he'd planned. If his shield's fell, the gunship would still be able to withstand several shots, but if they shot out all his weapons he'd definitely be dead. Worse still, the Hellraiser was continuously boosting with every attack he tried, never bothering to stop for a second.

"I want that tank destroyed, Hades!" The Commander said over the comms.

"The movement on that thing, it's… it's difficult to get a lock!" Hades groaned.

He attempted another bombardment of missiles, but the Hellraiser once again strafed and avoided them.

"I'll teach you shoot missiles at me." Said Dash.

The Hellraiser returned fire with its own missile barrage. The gunship attempted to avoid, but the missiles stayed locked on. They all hit either side of the gunship, taking out every single weapon that Hades had left.

"Weapons offline! What the hell was that?!"

"The Hellraiser has simultaneous strike capabilities. Think faster!" said the Commander.

Hades kept looking at the damage report, hoping it might change. All of his weapons had now been destroyed. The only one he had left that was still functioning was the bombs he'd used earlier, and as he knew now the Hellraiser was able to easily avoid those.

In the end, he was left with little alternative. It was true that he'd very likely die doing it, but if he retreated, the Commander's anger would be too terrible to imagine.

"Alright, Alpha. Dodge this!"

The gunship lunged forward at the Hellraiser, firing a barrage of bombs as it went. The Hellraiser just narrowly managed to boost to the side. A quick little reflex from Dash also and the main cannon fired.

The round caught one of the gunship's main engine, causing it immediately explode and causing the gunship to start spinning out of control.

It spun for at least a few seconds before finally crashing about a metre or so away from the Hellraiser. As it hit the ground, it exploded.

"How's that for going for a spin?" Dash smiled smugly.

"Shut up, Dash." Hawk sighed.

"Alexa, its all clear. We're ready for pickup." Said Austin.

"Roger that."

The gunboat once again hovered into view and this time gently attached itself to the Hellraiser before lifting off, taking the tank with it.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief once they managed to Sandra stabilized using the gunboat's on-board life support. At least that part was over.

As the dropship flew off, a large piece of the Hellspawn gunship was suddenly thrown away as a rather injured but still alive, Hades smashed his way out of the wreckage. He simply watched Alpha fly away with bitterness. They'd bested him for now, but there'd be many more opportunities. Now he just had to hope the Commander was merciful towards him. The fallen Helldiver was not known for tolerating failure.

The very second Alpha returned to Arkadia, they all rushed back to Paeoniis' lab. The Professor immediately set to work on making the cure while Sandra was put on life support with the others, who'd been left in the care of Dr Chakwas who had managed to look after them well during the rest of Alpha's absence.

"I don't get it though. How could Sandra have been infected? Far as we know, she's never had sex with an alien." Said Austin.

"Well, she must have. There's no other possible explanation." Said Paeoniis, his focus still remaining on the screen as his four arms worked endlessly on the cure.

"Oh Sandra, I am so sorry." said Alaara from within her pod.

"Don't be, it's not your fault." Said Sandra.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" said Alexa in alarm. "You two?!"

"We were going to tell you eventually." Said Alaara "Didn't think you'd find out this way but… Sandra and I are… bondmates."

"You're serious?" said Hawk, also in surprise.

"Well… I don't believe it." Said Troy.

"I'm happy for you two. Admittedly, I did often think you two had an eye for each other." Alexa said after being quiet for a while. "How long's this been going on then?"

"About two years now." Sandra explained. "You see it all started on that night before we were about to take down those Batarians…"

FLASHBACK

The Endeavour was quiet as most of the crew was getting the rest they needed, Alpha especially. There was one however that was not sleeping.

Alaara slowly walked up to Sandra's door, trying to stop herself from shaking. Eventually, after almost five minutes, she finally plucked up the courage and knocked gently on the door.

It opened and there stood Sandra.

"Alaara?" she said in surprise. "I… is everything alright? I thought you would've been in bed or something."

"I couldn't sleep. I…" Alaara said, barely managing to find her words. "I was hoping to talk to you about something. May I come in?"

"Of course."

Alaara walked in and sat on the nearby sofa while Sandra pulled up a chair in front of her.

"Is something troubling you?" the humans asked with concern.

"No. Well… actually yes." Alaara replied.

"You can talk to me about it, Alaara. I'm your friend." Said Sandra.

"I'm glad to hear that, but… well, first of all I'm not sure how to start this." Said Alaara. "And it… concerns you."

"Oh no. I've said something to offend you again haven't I?"

"No!" Alaara objected. "Goddess, no! It's not that at all. I'm not upset at you or anything like that."

"Okay…" said Sandra, now very confused. "Just take it easy and start from the beginning. I will listen."

"Alright." Alaara began. "You remember about a year or two ago when were undercover, and… I kissed you? And then some time after we… did it?"

"I remember."

"Well… oh goddess, how do I say this?"

"Take your time."

"Thank you. Alright… ever since then, I've often dreamed of those moments again. I often wish I would dream about something else more often, but it seems to always be those exact moments every single time."

"I see."

"I can't stop thinking about them. And… I can't stop… thinking about you."

"I think I'm beginning to see where this going." Said Sandra, trying to remain calm.

"You're probably one of the bravest and strongest human women I've ever met. You've been a good friend to me as well. Deep down though, there's a part of me who often thinks of us… being… more." Said Alaara. "Goddess, I'm stumbling over my words here. This is… tricky."

"Don't worry. I'm here for you."

"I can't stop thinking about you, Sandra. Whenever I'm around you, I feel different. I feel, safer… I feel happier, knowing that you have my back and that I have yours… and at the same time I worry every time I see you get shot at." Said Alaara. "I… I care for you… more than I've ever cared for someone before. Whenever I've been with someone else, it's always been just sex. Never feelings, never like this"

"Alaara, I…" Sandra struggled to say. "I had no idea you felt that way about me. I've always been aware of the constant flirting you do with me, and the sex jokes you've sometimes made with me, but I assumed it was just playful flirting, like you often do with everyone else. And we both said the one night stand was just for fun."

A long silence followed.

"Is that why you've stopped recently?" Sandra finally said. "This is why you've been so much quieter than usual?"

"Yes. Whenever I think about trying to flirt with you, I now worry that you'll turn me away, or ignore me. Or that you'll, I…" Alaara struggled to say. "What I'm trying to say is… I… I'm… I…"

"I love you." She finally managed to say. "There, I said it."

"You really mean that?" Sandra asked.

"Yes. I've never said that before, but now I finally have." Alaara replied. "I know you don't feel the same way about me, but keeping this all locked up was easting me from inside. I felt I had to tell you and get it off my chest before tomorrow, seeing how the odds are."

She went to leave, but Sandra suddenly grabbed her arm.

"Wait, you think I don't feel that way for you?" the human asked.

"Well of course you don't. I mean, why would you?" Alaara asked rhetorically. "I'm a 300 year old Asari daughter of two pornstars who's obsessed with sex and used to work for the Eclipse. Not to mention you've always responded casually to my flirting and charm. You deserve to be with someone better, someone who will make you happy all the time, not just in bed."

"But…" Sandra tried to say.

"Anyway, I've said what I came to say. I should let you get some rest." Said Alaara. She once again tried to leave, but Sandra didn't let go of her arm. "What are you doing?"

"I feel I should tell you that you're wrong." Sandra replied.

"I'm sorry?"

"You're wrong about yourself, and you're wrong about me."

"I don't understand."

"You say I deserve someone better. Someone who will make me happy all the time. And yet, here you are and I've never felt happier."

"But…"

"Let me finish, please." Said Sandra. "You seem to think I don't feel the same way about you, that I see you as a friend only."

"But you do."

"No, I don't." said Sandra. "I will admit, I probably haven't been feeling this way as long as you have, but recently I've also started thinking about you."

"You have?"

"You're one of the most beautiful Asari I've ever met. You're often funny with your little sex talk, and you've put that to such good use. Not to mention that you're flirting was actually quite flattering for me. The fact that you consider me pretty enough to flirt with me like that… it makes me think that perhaps I see you as more than just a friend. And I definitely see more than just an everyday Asari who thinks she's no one special. You're special to me. You've often protected me at times with your biotics, and you even kissed me to save both our lives."

"Sandra, you don't need to say this to make me feel better."

"I'm telling the truth, Alaara!" said Sandra sternly. "You think there's better people for me out there? Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong. But that doesn't matter to me anymore. I don't want anyone else. I want you. You pretty much just poured your heart out to me and told me that you loved me. You told me something that I didn't think I'd ever hear. Not because I wasn't interested, but because I thought you weren't interested. I didn't know you felt this way about me… when I feel exactly the same way."

"Goddess, Sandra…" Alaara said, a tear of happiness lowly trickling down her cheek. "Do you really mean that?"

"Alaara T'onrack… I love you too." Said Sandra as she took the Asari's face in her hands. "Now just kiss me already."

Unable to resist, Alaara threw both her hands around Sandra and pulled her right into a kiss.

It felt completely different to the last time they'd kissed. This time it was like they could feel the love and affection in each other's kiss. Unlike previous times when they'd kissed, it felt real, like they were actually kissing because they wanted each other, not because they were trying to fool people. They felt like they belonged in each other's arms, like they were finally were they were meant to be at long last. After all they'd been through, they felt true peace for the first time in many years. Nothing mattered to them now, no more fighting, no more war, no more struggling to work with one another… just them, and all the time they could ever want to spend with each other.

After almost a minute, they finally broke apart very gently. If anything, Alaara seemed more lost for words about this than Sandra was.

"I can't believe we just did that… for real." Said Alaara "It's strange. I've kissed you before, and yet… that felt like our very first kiss to me."

"Well technically, it was in a way. Besides, once you say "I love you" a kiss has to taste differently." Sandra smiled.

"Yeah, I suppose that's true." Said Alaara "I still can't believe this is actually happening though. I love you, and you love me too? This has to be a dream."

A sudden shock came to her when Sandra spanked her.

"There, I think that proves it's not." She said.

"Never thought I'd ever see you do that to me." Said Alaara, somewhat surprised.

"Believe me, I've wanted to do that for a long time." Sandra smiled cheekily.

The two once again kissed and then hugged one another for a long time before Alaara eventually broke the silence.

"So… what happens now?" she asked.

"Well now… I know exactly what happens next." Sandra smiled. "What will happen next is that you are going to push me down into this bed, you are going to tear off my clothes and we are going to make love like there is no tomorrow."

"You're serious?! You want us to have sex this soon?" Alaara asked in surprise.

"Yes. I've never been more ready for anything else." Said Sandra. "I won't lie, I too am also worried about what will come next. If this is to be our first and only night together, then I refuse to let us not make the most of it."

"I… I love you." Alaara said again.

"I love you too. Now please make love to me before I lose my patience." Said Sandra.

"I hope you're prepared then, my love. I've had over 300 years of experience to know exactly what to do to make a human woman you like you pass out for pleasure." Alaara smiled confidently as she pushed Sandra on to the bed and got on top of her.

"I'm gonna hold you to it then." Said Sandra.

The two saw no point in taking it slow. They almost immediately started kissing each other furiously as they tore at each other's clothes, desperate to get everything off as quickly as possible.

Alaara took a lot more time to admire, Sandra's body. Previously she hadn't taken a huge look, but this time she did. Previous times, she hadn't realised just how much muscle Sandra had. She was nowhere near as big as Leena, but she still had enough muscle to give some of the men some competition. Most notice of all though was her core, which Alaara noticed didn't have six abs… she had eight. Yeah, this woman actually had an eight pack.

Up till now, Alaara had only known Shepard to have that many.

This almost made Alaara a little jealous. She had plenty of muscle herself, but she was nowhere near as fit looking or as well toned as Sandra.

This became Alaara's first point of focus as she began kissing Sandra's stomach, running her hands over the human's abs. After some time, she began moving up Sandra's body until she reached her breasts. In Alaara's eyes, they were pretty much perfect. Big enough that they certainly drew her gaze, but not too big to the point where they'd become impractical.

The Asari's mouth latched onto one and began to gently suck. Sandra's head lay back in ecstasy and her hands moved to Alaara's crests, feeling the smoothness of the skin on them.

After some time, Alaara then finally moved up again. She kissed all the way up Sandra's neck until she finally reached the humans' lips. Both locked into a kiss with each. At the same time, Alaara's left hand massaged Sandra's breast while her left slowly slid lower and lower until it reached her nether regions. Two fingers gently slid in, causing Sandra to moan into the kiss. She really did think she was in heaven this time.

"… You're good." She moaned in-between kisses.

"I do try." Said Alaara. For a long moment, she looked into the human's eyes. She loved this woman more than anything and she wanted them to become truly one. "Sandra… will you… Will you Join with me? Let our bodies and minds unite?"

"I'd love nothing more." Sandra smiled. "How does it work though exactly?"

"Simple, really." Said Alaara as she moved her head up close to her love's. "Like this. Embrace Eternity."

Both the Asari's eyes turned completely black.

Almost immediately, Sandra felt a completely new experience that she'd never felt before. Memories of completely different life poured into her head, she felt different sensations that she'd never felt. So many memories of various different partners Alaara had been with, the Asari's earliest memories of when she'd been just a child, the sun and spring breeze of Thessia where she grew up, her former life as an Eclipse merc, it was almost overwhelming.

Mind you, it was the same for Alaara as well. Even for one as promiscuous as Alaara, Asari took Joining and Unions very seriously. For them, there was nothing more intimate. Although Alaara slept around on a very regular basis with many different species, both male and female, even she knew better about the meld, and how much it meant. Despite that she was at least 300 years old, she'd only so far had Union with about 3 or 4 partners, all of which she had sadly outlived. Still, wanting to take such a step like this meant a lot to Alaara. She'd sleep and have sex with anyone, but she'd only meld with those she loved.

"This… this is beyond anything I ever imagined." Sandra gasped, almost feeling like she might orgasm right now.

"And it gets better." Alaara smiled seductively. "You won't have heard of this, but it's something that all Asari know about."

The Asari slowly sat up and took both her breasts in her hands. She immediately became surrounded by a blue aura as her biotics activated. To Sandra's utter shock her breasts then slowly started to grow and enlarge. Sandra was speechless as Alaara literally went from already having fairly large breasts to having simply massive tits the size of a matriarchs. Finally after a few seconds, Alaara finally let go of her breasts and they stopped enlarging. The biotic filed shimmering around her also dispersed.

"How did…" Sandra struggled to say, almost lost for words. "Didn't know you could do that!"

"It can only be done during a Union." Said Alaara, bouncing her now massive breasts in her hands slightly, the sight of which made Sandra lick her lips slightly. "They'll revert back to normal after tonight."

Unable to resist any longer, Sandra gently sat up and began sucking on one of Alaara's nipples.

"Mmmmmmm. That's it. Suck on 'em." The Asari moaned as she began grinding her azure against Sandra's pussy.

At the same time, Alaara's hands also snuck down to Sandra's tits and squeezed them firmly. With a small smirk, she once again activated her bitoics.

"Oh, Alaara! What are you doing to me?!" Sandra moaned blissfully into Alaara's massive tits. It was when she finally opened her eyes and looked down that she suddenly noticed that Alaara had somehow enlarged her breasts as well. "What the…"

"Works for the partner as well." Alaara smiled naughtily. "Not that there was anything wrong with your tits to begin with, but I thought you might like to share the experience."

"Alaara."

"Yes, love?"

"Please lick me."

"With pleasure."

The Asari moved lower and lower until her face was right up close with Sandra's pussy. She immediately began to lick, enjoying the taste. It was hardly unusual for her. She'd tasted plenty of humans enough to become acquainted with the flavour.

Sandra only moaned in pleasure is she felt the Asari's tongue constantly licking at her. Occasionally, she even moaned in her native Russian language due to the sheer pleasure, something which Alaara's translator didn't seem to understand.

Spurred on by this, Alaara stuck her tongue out as much as she could and plunged it in as deep as it would go.

This finally drove Sandra over the edge and she literally screamed, before finally falling back onto the bed, almost in exhaustion.

"How was it?" Alaara smiled smugly.

"Amazing." Sandra panted.

"Told you I'd make you scream."

After only just a few seconds, Sandra then got on top of Alaara.

"My turn now." She smiled eagerly.

"Good luck then." Said Alaara. "I've had sex with three Matrons together and they all failed to make me to cum in 4 hours for two nights."

Alaara's cockiness however as it turns out, took a major blow. Sandra almost immediately attacked Alaara's Azure with such aggressiveness that Alaara let out a surprised moan of pleasure.

"OH GODDESS! YOU'RE SO GOOD WITH YOUR TONGUE!" she moaned.

How the hell was this human doing this? She was giving the Asari enough pleasure to rival not just the three matron, but possibly even an Asari matriarch. The Asari was in so much ecstasy that she was unable to keep her hands off her enlarged breasts as she pinched both her nipples while moaning in pleasure.

And after just about one minute, she felt it. That imminent feeling that she was going to orgasm.

"UH! I'M SO CLOSE! YOU'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO MAKE ME CUM!" she moaned in surprise and pleasure.

Spurred on, Sandra only intensified her licking. At the same time, she also inserted three fingers to help speed things up.

"GODDESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

The two lovers, now bond mates, both fell onto the bed in exhaustion. Alaara stroked Sandra's hair affectionately as she looked lovingly at the human's beautiful face.

"I don't know how you managed to do that… but it just made me fall in love with you all the more." Said the Asari.

"I could probably get used to this much sex if it's going to happen on a regular basis." Said Sandra.

"You bet your pretty ass it is." Said Alaara eagerly.

They both looked at the time. It was quite late and they probably only had about 5 to 4 hours left.

"We should get some sleep now while we still can." Said Sandra. "Much as I enjoyed that immensely."

"Well, don't think it ends when you fall asleep." Alaara smiled suggestively. "Did I tell that Union stays active even when you're asleep?"

Sandra didn't reply, but her raised eyebrows said everything.

With that, the two finally drifted off to sleep, happier than they'd ever been in a long time.

END OF FLASHBACK

"That's pretty much it." Sandra finished.

"So… I take it…" said Alexa.

"Well, technically she's the one who's been taking it." Said Alaara.

Dash tried his best to hold back his laughter, but a slight snort and giggle did slip out.

"We're dead serious about this relationship and fully intend to continue. I assume that isn't a problem with anyone?" Sandra asked seriously.

"No."

"Not at all."

"A surprise, I'll admit…" said Austin. "But not a problem at all. I think I speak for all of us when I say we're very happy for you both."

"Well of course you'd approve, Shepard. From what I hear, you and that Azure Angel have been seeing each other a lot recently." Said Dash as he nudged Austin encouragingly.

"We're seeing where it goes for now." Said Austin calmly.

"Well at least I don't have to keep this a secret anymore and we can all talk about it." Said Dash, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Wait, you knew?" Alexa asked in surprise.

"He kind of found out by accident. It's a bit a long story." Said Alaara.

"I'm surprised you haven't tried to press for the details, Dash. It's the sort of thing you usually do." Said Leena.

"If they were just doing it, then yeah. But they're in a proper relationship and everything. Even I know this is something to take seriously." Said Dash seriously.

An hour passed before Paeoniis' computer suddenly beeped.

"Well?"

"The cure's finished and I've run every possible simulation." Said Paeoniis. "It's now or never."

Alaara was the first to be injected to see if it worked. As the cure was injected into her she felt a slight tingle throughout her body, but nothing out of the ordinary.

"Any change?" Austin asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure. My throat still feels very soar, and it's difficult to tell with this mask on." Alaara replied.

Austin simply nodded to Paeoniis and the Arkane removed Alaara's respirator.

The Asari slowly sat up and took several deep breaths.

Suddenly one hand flew to her mouth as if she was trying to stop something coming out. Her other hand flew to her stomach.

"Give me something quick! I think I'm gonna be sick!" she managed to say.

Austin immediately scooped up the biggest container he could find and handed it too her. An unpleasant amount of retching and coughing came from Alaara as she seemed to spew something out of her mouth and into the container. Austin worried for a moment it was something serious due to it's green colour

Paeoniis however looked rather calm, as though he'd expected this.

"Ah. I had a feeling that might happen." Paeoniis admitted. "Not to worry. It's just the body clearing the cleanser out. Perfectly normal."

Once Alaara had finally stopped throwing up, she coughed a bit and managed to clear her throat before once taking several deep breaths.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, actually. I feel much better." Alaara panted.

"May I?" Paeoniis asked.

Alaara nodded and allowed the Arkane to scan her.

"Hmm. The cure appears to have been successful." He said proudly. "There's no trace at all of the cleanser left in your DNA, and you appear to be completely healthy again."

"Thank god for that." said Austin, breathing a sigh of relief.

With the cure proved to work, it was immediately given to Alpha and Paeoniis sent Chakwas off to give the cure to all the other infected. Once Sandra had recovered herself, she and Alaara immediately hugged one another.

"I thought I was going to lose you." Said Sandra, unable to hold back a tear.

"So did I." said Alaara.

"Well, this does explain why you two have been so happy these past few years." Said Kraan, giving a slight cough after having just cleared the cleanser out of his own system. "I'm going to guess that the weekend you were away, you spent it together?"

"Of course. That's probably also how Sandra got infected." Said Alaara ashamedly.

"It's not your fault." Sandra repeated.

"Speaking of which though, there's one thing I still don't' understand. How did Hellspawn manage to unleash the Cleanser without us ever knowing? Was it food or something else?" Troy asked.

"Aerosol." Paeoniis replied.

"Once again though, how'd they disperse it without us noticing?" Austin asked, gazing out the window as he tried to find an answer.

It was then that he noticed the outside weather of Akadia. It was still only January at this time and it was rather cold. There was no snow, but quite a bit of fog and mist.

Fog, and mist… The revelation struck Austin so hard he cursed himself for not thinking of it sooner.

"The fog."

"What was that?"

"The cleanser's in the fog. They waited for the exact right time to unleash it when we'd start getting cold weather and fog." Austin said.

Paeoniis walked up to his computer and ran a scan of the weather. The results were positive.

"I'll be dammed. He's right."

"Well, at least now we know how we can clear it. This is gonna make of a heck of a dinner party story one day…" said Austin. He was interrupted though when he spotted Dash examining and fiddling with some of Paeoniis' science equipment very closer. "Dash, what are you doing?"

The Scout then picked up a jar and very nearly dropped it when he realized what was inside.

"Are these human eyes?!" he asked in shock.

"Put those back!" Paeoniis demanded.

"You had these in a microwave."

"It's an experiment."

Dash reluctantly did as he was told.

"And they say I'm crazy." He muttered to himself.

Reports from Hellspawn's spied already confirmed that the infected were being treated and the plague was already being cleared from Arkadia's atmosphere.

Today had been a bitter blow for the Commander. Not only had he lost one of his most powerful weapons, but his apprentice was also injured and Hades had lost a perfectly good gunship. Not to mention that Binary Helix had also been alerted to Hellspawn taking over one of their facilities, forcing the terrorist group to evacuate.

The fallen Helldiver had shown mercy on his second in command this time. After all, he understood all too well how powerful that tank of theirs was. It was clear now that this, Hellraiser was as much a problem as Alpha had become. He had already instructed Thornton, Elsa and his scientists to start new research along the lines of making Hellraiser equivalents. If Alpha were going to play hard to get, then so would they.

Right now however, the Commander's mind was on something else. The Cleanser had now been made redundant, but there was one last use it could have.

Through his many dealings, the Commander had become aware of a rather strange species. A very isolated race that periodically travelled to the terminus system looking t gain unique items or specimens, usually in exchange for some of their technology, which was said to be incredibly advanced.

It was true the Commander hated all non-humans, but that didn't mean he hated their technology. After all, much of the technology used today by all species was derived from the technology left behind by the Protheans. So the Commander was perfectly happy to make deals with aliens in the long term, and use their technology. It was temporary after all, in the long run he'd wipe them all out. The technology was just another tool he could use to exterminate them. After all, if someone was to give him a weapon he would not complain that it was dirty, he'd use it.

He opened up a secure comm channel. His many dealings with tech and information had allowed him to know how to get in contact with these… Collectors.

After a few seconds, his holo screen changed to show an insect like head staring it him with four glowing eyes.

"You know who I am, yes?" the Commander asked calmly.

The insect didn't reply, but simply nodded.

"Let's talk business." The Commander suggested, holding up a datapad contain everything on the Cleanser.

Finally, the insect spoke.

"We are listening…"

I'm definitely proud of including that little cameo.

I apologise if the sex scene was short. Got stuck on that multiple times.

Now I'm certain this time the next one won't take as long. I've long had the next in the planning, so it should hopefully go smoother.

See you soon. Hope to hear some good thigns from you. :)

Sorry again for the long wait.
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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, Alpha Origins