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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
- 30
- 31
- 32
Hi there!

As a tinylittle treat for you all, and a little apology that this wasn't done in one week (as I hoped it would) I've uplaoded this now.

Would like to make it clear however this does not mean the next (and final chapter) will be up thsi Friday. I doubt I can do the last oen that quickly, especially since it took me more than one week to do this one.

Anyway, this is it. The begining of the final battle.

All I'll say is, don't be too disapointed with some of the character deaths, and also to warn you, this chapter does end in a cliffhanger.

Hope you enjoy though, this was very good fun to do and I am especially pleased with how this has turned out.

Chapter 31

The Battle of Arkadia

Never before had the Arkadian city been so busy and full. The streets were amok with civilians and Helldiver soldiers. While the civilians were heading to evac shuttles which were hoping to get to safety before the Reapers arrived and blocked the path to the relay, the Helldivers were preparing for attack.

Arkadia's defences were formidable, there was no doubt about that, but never before had any truly dared to test how much.

The outskirts of the city were surrounded by two huge wall tall enough to almost deny access and strong enough to withstand blockades for years. Zartrack was already stood up on the top as the massive defence cannons and guns were being activated. Both Helldivers and Arkane soldiers were manning all defences and also preparing front line trenches. It was very likely the Reapers and Takaal would attempt a surface attack, especially when they afield to get past the city's greatest defence.

Several of Arkadia's tallest towers began to fire out a powerful beam into the sky. All these beams soon met and a large field began to form from it and began spreading until it covered the entire city in a massive dome shield.

As the edges of the shield finally reached the ground, it disappeared, making it seem as though the shield had never even been there. This would definitely allow them to last until not only Austin and the army arrived, but also until all other defences could be fully activated. The large mech a suits for example would need time to power up, most especially the biggest ones. It had been true what many said about some Helldiver exo suits being as tall as buildings.

"How goes the evacuation?" Matt asked, joining Zartrack on the top of the wall.

"The last shuttle just cleared the relay. The entire city's empty of civilians."

"Good. I guess now, we wait." Said Matt, looking up at the sky.

"Your son's on his way. You'll see him again." Said Zartrack.

"Sir, we're detecting Reapers and Takaal ships clearing the relay and heading our way." Said another Helldiver.

Both General's looked up at the sky. They were here at last It was about to begin.

"Reroute all power to the energy field. We have to hold until the resistance arrives." Said Zartrack. "Prepare for gun assault."

Both Reapers and Takaal ships cleared the relay began their slow journey towards Arkadia.

Skarlack stood at the bridge of the devastator, the view of the planet visible through the cockpit.

"General. Scans detect and energy field surrounding the entire arcane city. It is strong enough to deflect any bombardment." Said one of the ship's engineers.

"They're alerted to our presence. They knew we were coming." Said Skarlack, slightly surprised that the Helldiver were this prepared for them.

"What are your orders, sir? The Reapers are ready for your command."

Though the Takaal served the Reapers, their masters did respect the advantages an organic mind had over a machine one tactical wise. So whenever ti came to wars or battle tactics, Skarlack himself was put in charge of that and the Reapers followed his strategy.

"Make ready to land our troops beyond their energy field and deploy the fleet so that nothing gets off or on the system. We will do this, as they say... the old fashioned way." Said the General, an evil smile of eagerness slowly appearing on his face.

"Yes sir."

Already, from behind the field the Helldivers could see Reapers and Takaal descending until they touched the ground. Only the Destroyer Reapers were present while the big ones where reaming in space to engage the Helldiver fleet orbiting the planet.

"What's the situation?" Zartrack asked to a sniper who was zoomed in on the landing area as both Takaal and husks disembarked from.

"They're definitely serious about this attack. They've brought pretty much everything they have to this fight." Said the sniper.

"So have we." Said Zartrack, trying to keep spirits up. "Ready all defences! This is it."

The Takaal parted to let their leader and his wife past until they had both walked to the top of a high rock ahead of their army and had a clear view of the city. Through their synthesis vision, they could see the field surrounding the city.

"Ha. They never learn." Said Skarlack. "Such a pity."

"The Reapers and Husks stand ready, General." Said a soldier.

"They're expecting us to show no mercy. Let's not disappoint them." Said Skarlack. "In the human games chess, the pawns go first. Send in the husks and troopers. In the meantime... begin."

All the husks charged while the Takaal and Reaper destroyers began firing their guns at the shield. Each one impacted on it a large crackle of light.

"Fields holding well. Husks are incoming." Said a sniper.

"Be ready for anything, Matt. Said Zartrack.

Matt nodded and took up position while Zartrack was joined by Arnold and Kat.

"Winchester and I will handle this side of the wall." He said.

"Yes, sir." Kat nodded, slightly disappointed that she wouldn't be beside Arnold.

Zartrack though seemed to notice this.

"On second thought, we might need one or two more ones this side." He said.

Kat smiled under her helmet and joined them beside Arnold.

"Tis the quality of one's conviction that determines success, not the number of followers." Said Arnold.

"Who said that?" Zartrack asked curiously.

"Me." Arnold replied, electing small chuckle from Kat. "You okay, Kat?"

"Yeah." She replied.

"Me too." Arnold smiled.

The two Helldivers smiled at one another and took each other's hand in the other.

Zartrack simply gave a small smile.

The husks had almost reached the shield now.

"Here they come."

All the Helldivers up on the wall readied their weapons in case there was a chance the husks and Takaal troopers could somehow get through.

"Hold fire unless they get through." Said the General.

The husks continued to run at the shield. The second several few at the front crossed it however, they were instantly disintegrated. Both the Takaal troopers and other husks stopped.

"We in luck. They can't get through the shield." Said Kat.

"Our turn." Said Zartrack. "Send these foul beasts into the abyss!"

The Helldiver opened fire on the enemy down below. At the same time, the city's main cannons activated and began firing at the Reaper destroyers and Takaal guns.

Several well aimed shots managed to take out a Destroyer and it feel to the ground, squashing a few Takaal in the process. Several more shots meanwhile impacts in various other places, unnerving some of troops.

"Stay were you are." Skarlack ordered.

Several more shots impacted until one particular one shot high up into the air and looked like ti would be coming down on right where Skarlack was standing. Unable to help it, many Takaal soldiers withdrew until only Skarlack and Mirage stood there.

The two Takaal however stood where they were. Right at the last moment, Skarlack threw up a green energy shield around him and his wife which vaporised the shot on contact.

Soon more and more Takaal troopers began to suddenly reappear beside them. They were retreating from the husks where the Helldivers were firing on them from inside the shield.

"What are you doing, you useless scum?!" Skarlack snarled.

"We can't get through the shield! It's too strong!" said one the soldiers.

"Get back and smash through! That's an order!" Skarlack yelled.

"But nothing can breach it!"

"Oh, do I have to do everything myself around here?!" Skarlack groaned.

The General took up his staff and drew a massive amount of synthetic energy into it. He then thrust it forward and massive beam shot forth. As Skarlack concentrated heavily on it, the shield eventually began to slowly fall part in pieces of energy.

"What's going on?" said Zartrack.

"Oh, this ain't gonna be good." Said Arnold.

Skarlack continued to focus on the beam until finally he felt he had no more strength or power left in him. He thrust his staff away and the beam ceased.

For a very small moment, he was sure he'd seen a tiny crack in his staff, but he didn't see anything.

"Okay. Now we're in trouble." Said Kat as the shield slowly began to fall apart.

"God help us." said Arnold, gently holding onto Kat's hand to give her comfort.

"ATTACK!" Skarlack roared.

Almost the entire Takaal army, the Reaper Destroyers, a few Takaal fighters, charged while the husks resumed their attack, this time able to attack directly.

"Stand firm!" said Zartrack. "None have breached Arkadia's defences before. And none shall this day!"

Spurred by Zartrack, the rest of the Helldivers went back to aiming their weapons as the husks got closer. After a few seconds, they were finally within range.

"Open fire!"

Many of the husks were mowed down by a constant barrage of gunfire, but there sheer numbers was too much for the gunfire to kill them all quickly enough and they soon reached the gate. The Takaal were also much tougher and the fire from the Destroyers was even taking out a few Helldivers.

The Takaal then reached the gate as well and there was a loud banging coming from the other side.

"To the gate! Hurry!" Zartrack yelled.

He leapt down from the battlements and several Helldiver and Arkane soldiers massed to the gate, ready to face whatever came through.

The banging started to grow louder and the gate was almost smashed apart by another sudden impact. This did have the effect of unnerving some of the Helldivers as they watched Arkadia's supposedly impenetrable gate start to break.

"Steady. Steady." Said Zartrack. "You are Helldivers! You are soldiers of Arkadia! No matter what comes through that gate, you will stand your ground!"

The gate was completely smashed apart. Rather than the expected Takaal however, a surprise that everyone was completely unprepared for greeted them. Several massive Elcor Husks burst through and almost immediately started swiping at anything in their path, their huge mass and size proving to be too much for some to handle.

"Attack!" Zartrack yelled, managing to overcome the shock.

This seemed to do the same for the Helldivers and they quickly opened fire. Some of the Elcor husks were downed by the gunfire, but other powered on through. At the same time, both Takaal and other Husks swarmed into the city through the main gate.

The viciousness and relentlessness of the Takaal came as a huge surprise to the Helldivers. True some of them had faced them before out in the field, but those had just been small battalions and squadrons. In these sort of numbers however, the Takaal outnumbered them 3 to 1.

Zartrack quickly drew on of his swords and managed to cut down three Takaal before then making a killing blow on a Elcor husk, causing it to fall on several more.

A sudden concentrated shot from several Reaper Destroyers suddenly took out a huge chunk off the top of the wall, sending several Helldivers over the edge, Matt among them.

Fortunately, a Helldiver was built to survive far worse than that. When Matt's head stopped spinning however, he found he was stuck, pinned by a large rock he piece of debris he couldn't' move on his own, and he was still a bit dazed.

A lone Helldiver soldier then spotted the General and ran over to help him.

"Sir? Sir, are you alright?!" he said, helping Matt to finally push the piece off him.

"Yeah. I think so." The General replied as the soldier helped him up. "Thanks. What's your name, Soldier?"

"Verner, sir. Conrad Verner." The soldier replied.

"I've heard about you. You're a fan of my son's." said Matt.

"Yes, sir. Fair to see he's the reason I'm here." Conrad nodded.

Since his more recent success as a double agent, and with Cerberus well and truly gone now, Conrad had finally earned his own Helldiver armour.

"Well then, Conrad. Let's see if my son inspired anything else in you. You're with me." Said Matt.

"I got your back, General." Said Conrad.

The two Helldivers re-joined the fray and quickly opened fire on several Takaal. Conrad took more to using his gun while Matt did the same and also meleed several with his cyborg hand. Some downed ones he even crushed with his cyborg foot.

The General carved through so many that some Takaal were even unnerved by him.

Despite this however, the Takaal and husks continued to pour into the city in huge numbers, starting to outnumber the Helldivers and overwhelming them.

Soon the Destroyers got close enough too and they after a few strikes from the legs, they managed to smash through the city's first defective wall.

"They've breached the wall!" one of the soldiers shouted as the destroyers opened fire, crimson beams blazing.

"We can't hold much longer, Zartrack. They're tearing through our first line of defence." Said Matt, punching another Husk away.

"The city is breached! Fall back. Retreat!" Zartrack yelled to all.

"Move into the city. Kill all in your path." Skarlack smiled to his army.

The Takaal and husks began to swarm in by the thousands and like an evil flood, they washed away all that lay before them.

"Fight! Fight to the last man. Fight for your lives!" said Zartrack as he led most of the Helldivers in the retreat to the second wall.

Before he himself could reach the gate however, a massive form suddenly swooped over them and landed right in front, blocking the path to the door. It was the Draco, and mounted on its back was Skarlack.

"Go back to dark space." Said Zartrack attempting to make a stand as several other Helldivers next to him slowly backed away in fear. "Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your masters!"

"Do you not know death when you see it, old man?" Skarlack taunted as he raised his staff. "This is my power!"

A huge amount of energy gathered in his staff and he then shot it at the Helldivers. The impact of it set them flying, Zartrack included. The Draco moved forward until it now stood over Zartrack, its mouth ready to feast on Skarlack's command.

"General!" Conrad yelled as he got up and aimed his gun.

A massive loud roar from the Draco however stopped him dead in tracks, frozen with fright.

"You have failed. Your precious Helldivers shall fall!" said Skarlack.

The Takaal General raised his staff, ready to deliver the final killing blow. Just before he could however, he was suddenly hit by an enormous amount of mental pain. He then looked up to the sky.

"Shepard!" he snarled. "This isn't over, Arkane!"

With a massive flap of its wings, the Draco flew off into the air, giving everyone else a chance to recover.

"General, hundreds of ally ships are clearing the relay!"

Flash after flash after flash occurred from the mass relay as the entire fleets of the Reaper Resistance, the Alliance Fleet, the organic Takaal, the Leviathans and pretty much every single fleet in the entire galaxy cleared the relay.

From the cockpit of the Normandy, everyone could already see the massive Reaper fleet engaging the Helldiver fleet. Their allies were holding, but they could only keep it up so long. Now however, that was about to change.

"All fleets reporting in, Major. Ready to engage on your command." Said Joker.

"This is it everyone! Be ready on my signal!" said Austin. "Fire!"

The entire fleet opened fire and hundreds to thousands of shots flew towards the Reapers most hitting their targets dead on.

The sudden appearance of the fleet from behind came as a surprise to the Reapers, but they quickly reacted. Both some of the Takaal and Reaper ships now turned their attention to the second fleet while the rest still concentrated on engaging the Helldiver fleet.

"Helldiver fleet to Normandy! Do you read?"

"We read you." Austin replied.

"Damn good to hear your voice, Major Shepard. We could only last so long. We're reengaging all Reaper forces."

"Alert! Takaal fighters are incoming." Said EDI.

Sure enough, the hundreds of specks that were Takaal fighters began to slowly fly ahead of the fleet and in their direction.

They were small, true, but they were most deadly. With a massive structure resembling a Takaal head and with loads of long mechanical tentacles trailing from behind, they seemed to glide through space like a mechanical octopus.

"All fighter squadrons, do you copy?" said Austin into the radio.

"Copy, Gold leader."

"Mark our position. Form your squad up behind us." Austin ordered.

"We're on your tail, Normandy."

"Locking S-foils in attack positions." Said EDI, jokingly making a Star Wars joke.

"Oh EDI." Joker sighed, but still grinning.

Hundreds of Alliance fighters began to form formation behind the Normandy. At the same time, the SR3's engines and thrusters slowly shifted position until they were in attack mode. Many of the guns and auto turrets also slid out of their slots.

"This is where the fun begins." Joker smiled.

"Here they come!"

Both sides opened fire on one another as the whole battle became tangled mess of fighters all over the place. The Normandy dodged and spun as it powered through. There were explosions all over the place as fighter after fighter was shot down or either side.

The Alliance fighters it seemed though were taking more losses. The comms were ablaze with calls that were suddenly going dead.

"They're all over us..." one of the pilot said before his comm went to static.

"I'm gonna go help 'em out." said Joker. He was about to manoeuvre the ship, but Austin stopped him.

"No. Stay your course, Joker. They're doing their job, then we can do ours." he said.

Several more Takaal fighters suddenly took out another Alliance one. One particular Takaal fighter then turned its attention to the Normandy. Bringing its multiple tentacles forward, it fired two projectiles from them.

"Missiles, Jeff! Pull up!" said EDI.

Joker almost immediately manoeuvred the Normandy to the right, causing the missiles to miss them and shoot past.

"They overshot us!"

"They're coming around." said EDI.

Obviously locked onto them, the missiles pulled a sharp turn and began to follow their exact movements.

"Alright, Joker... No,no,no! No, nothing too fancy!" said Austin as he hold onto Joker's chair while the pilot was essentially throwing them all over the place with his flying.

"Everyone hold on!" said Joker, suddenly pulling a literal 360 barrel roll several times. He then pulled a snap roll causing the two missiles paths to cross and the missiles themselves to crash into each other, exploding upon contact.

"That got 'em." Joker chuckled.

"We're all clear." said EDI. "Breaking off. Prepare for descent."

"Everyone down to the cargo bay. This is it!" said Austin.

The scenes visible throughout the dropship's visual links were quite a sight for the Helldivers. To see the planet the planet they had lived on for more than 10 years, their home... in this state.

It was quite shocking to ally hem as they never would've thought that such a heavily defended planet could ever be spoiled, yet here the Takaal were, starting to overwhelm their brethren.

"Goddess! They've already broken through the wall. It doesn't look good." said Alaara.

"Well we're about to turn the tide." said Austin. "We've come this far! I am not about let all of this... all that we have accomplished... go up in flames. Not now. Not when the Reapers have dared to invade our home."

The mood was a little low, especially when everyone was taking a few deep breaths. Considering that they were about to fight in the greatest battle of their time, they had a right to be a little nervous.

"Though I walk through the valley and the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil." said Griffin.

"Well said, Griff." Ashely smiled as she held her boyfriend's hand.

Griffin now noticed that he wasn't' the only one trying to find some comfort, so he decided to try and brighten the mode up a bit.

"Or… as the good reverend would say... "Why we on this particular mission, we will never know. But I do know that, hear to date, the Alpha dogs, will emerge victorious once again." he said, far more enthusiastically.

That had the desired effect and it seemed to brighten everyone's mood a good amount.

"Now you're talkin!" Dash cheered.

Standing back with his army, Skarlack could now see the many dropships slowly descending from the sky. Several fighters and the Normandy were also joining the battle, but they mattered not to him. Shepard was his prime target. Without the Helldiver, any resistance would be annihilated by him.

"You're too late, Shepard." he smiled evilly.

He then looked to several Takaal fighters who stood ready for his command. He indicated to the dropships with his staff.

"Tear them out of the sky!"

"Fighters incoming!" said dropship's pilot.

Normally Cortez would be flying them, but Austin had entrusted him with flying the dropship that the non-Helldiver members of the crew would be in, such as James and Sarah and anyone else not able to jump from a great height and survive.

"Lock and load!" Austin ordered.

The dropship's doors slid open, now letting in the noises of gunfire and constant explosions. Almost immediately though, hundreds of Takaal fighters began to swarm them, literally pulling the dropships out of the sky and into their arms and crushing them like insects caught in the web of a spider.

Soon Alpha's dropship suffered the same and they started to spin out of control as a Takaal fighter took out one of the stabilizers.

"There's too many of them! They're swarming us!" said the pilot. "Get everyone out!"

"Jump!" Austin yelled.

Everyone leapt from their dropships, letting gravity pull them down as they glided.

"Woo! Now this is fun!" Dash cheered.

"Check your six! Check your six!" said Jet.

The Takaal fighters had abandoned the dropships and were now chasing them directly. Some even fired and managed to take out a few Helldivers directly.

The others however were to quick to take action and dodged and wove as best they could. Jet even managed to return fire and took out several fighters single handedly, all while still int he air and free falling.

Zartrack, Arnold and Kat had fought as best they can, but in the end they were being boxed in, with very little chance of escape.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the only way they could've retreated was suddenly blocked as the ground burst open to reveal a massive Thresher Maw husk, otherwise known as a Tunneller.

"Not another one." Zartrack groaned.

Just before the tunneller was about to attack however, a large mass suddenly shot towards it at high speed. Hitting it square in the neck, it cut the husk completely in two.

Several more masses suddenly hit the ground, sending dirt and rocks all over the place. Once it cleared, it revealed a most welcome sight to the three Helldiver. It was Alpha!

The whole squad immediately surrounded around the three of them defensively. Caught off guard by this, the Takaal and husk halted their advance. To try and hide the slight nervousness they had, some even roared at them intimidatingly.

"About time you showed up." said Arnold.

"Good to see you too." said Austin.

Skarlack suddenly pushed past all his soldiers until he stood before all of them, his attention focused right at the Helldivers.

"Shepard. Nice of you to drop in. Too late though I'm afraid." he said. "You will surrender, or be fired upon."

"This is our planet, and it isn't big enough for the two us. You will either leave this place, or we will make you!" said Austin defiantly.

"Ha! Don't make me laugh, Shepard. You drive us off this planet?" Skarlack laughed. "You and who's army?!"

"My army… and this army!"

The second the last word left Austin's mouth, Meeralack and he entire army of organic Takaal suddenly emerged joined also by the resistance army and they almost immediately broke into charge.

The sudden appearance of their organic brethren came as a huge shock to the Takaal, most especially to Skarlack who was left momentarily. Finally he managed to snap out of it and gave and angry growl.

"SLAUGHTER THEM ALL!" he roared.

His entire army cheered and also cheered, the husks close in tow.

"There's plenty for the both of us. May the best man win." said Kraan.

"I plan to." said Ventra.

Both sides clashed into one another and the entire battlefield became a literal free for all.

Both Skarlack and Mirage were quick to join the fight.

Dodging an attempted attack from an organic Takaal soldier, Skarlack was quick to attack back, impaling one his own on his staff.

A Helldiver soldier then lunged at him, but he managed to grab the Helldiver by the neck and threw him to the floor. At the same time, he paused quickly to shed his cape with a simply pull from his hand.

Mirage meanwhile let nothing hold her back as she carved down any in her way. She even managed to pin an Alliance soldier's weapon down and bit into his neck, almost immediately tearing his throat out with her teeth.

Another spin from his staff took out two more enemies before it seemed to clear up a bit and Skarlack spotted someone among the countless fighting masses. Someone he had not seen for more than 65 million years.

Meeralack saw him too as she cut down a synthetic Takaal with her dual swords. The two leaders glared at one another. Skarlack in particular looked at with distaste.

"You!" he snarled.

Both synthetic and organic Takaal seemed to gather around, both sides simply remaining vigilant as they began to observe this confrontation, which was likely to turn into a duel.

"Surprised, General?" Meeralack asked.

"Hardly. I knew you couldn't stay out of this forever." Skarlack replied. "You're a fool to take us on though. We are superior to you in every way."

"Then fight me alone. Prove your really are the greater worrier. If I win, your army leaves. If you win, my people will surrender to you." Said Meeralack.

Skarlack didn't even need to consider this.

"I have always been greater than you." he said.

At the same time, his second set of arms detached from his torso and all four of his omni blades flared into life.

Meeralack immediately brought up both her blades, keeping her cool and remaining unintimidated by Skarlack's four spinning blades.

She waited for him to make the first move. Sure enough, he did. The General slowly began to advance towards her, all fours blades spinning in a blur of green. Then it all stopped and he attacked.

Meeralack almost immediately jumped back to avoid a swipe then attacked herself. Skarlack however only had to back away or dodge to the side to avoid her strikes. He then parried one of them and lunged. A quick head movement to the side however allowed the blade to miss Meeralack by inches. She then used this to attack and delivered a swift kick to Skarlack's midsection, sending him flying back.

Skarlack though used both his omni blades and one end of his staff to stop himself by digging them into the ground. He then leapt in to the air in a spinning attack that Meeralack spun back to avoid. She then stopped her spin with a dual attack from her sides which Skarlack parried.

Meeralack was quick to fools this with a kick from one of her feet. With Skarlack momentarily dazed, she thrust forward with both blades.

Skarlack's second set of arms however came up in time, both their omni blade's blocking her attack. With incredible strength, they then forced her blades down, leaving her upper body vulnerable to attack. One of Skarlack's clawed feet quickly came up and latched onto Meeralack's face.

He then threw her over him until use hit the ground. The Takaal Queen was just able to get up as Skarlack started spinning his blades again, each one scraping the ground as he moved forward. He then brought down on Meeralack which she was just bale to block, struggling against the General's immense strength.

"Enough of this!" said Skarlack, suddenly delivering a swift kick to Meeralack that knocked her back.

The Queen however shook it off and resumed her attack, her blades pushing against Skarlack's

"You think you can defeat me? You're nothing!" Skarlack taunted.

The fight became a blur of silver and green as both opponents fought back and forth, the constant battle around them somehow shifting automatically to accommodate their movements.

A sudden spin from Meeralack's blades missed their mark and so Skarlack's defence ended up begin in the wrong place. Unintentionally however, the Queen's blades did hit their target. In a move that Skarlack did not see coming, both swords carved right through both his smaller arms, severing them completely.

The blow knocked Skarlack off his feet and he fell to the ground. Meeralack stood over him, ready to deliver the final blow, but the General had other ideas.

"Kill her!" he yelled.

Almost immediately, all the synthetic Takaal opened fire, resuming the fight between the two sides. Meeralack refocused her attention on using her blades to block and shots aimed at her. The organic Takaal also resumed their attack, some swarming around Meeralack to protect their Queen.

In all the chaos, Austin had stuck close to Liara and the two were using their union as much as they could. Both Takaal and Husk were cut down by their blades as they worked in synch with one another.

In all his life, Austin had never seen a battle this fierce. The whole battlefield was filled with gunfire, the sound of blades clashing, explosions going off, even the sound of fighters and the Normandy flying by. Austin could even make out the sounds of Skarlack as he carved a path through any who stood in his way using his synthesis powers.

He could not see the General though. There were so many organic and synthetic Takaal on the battlefield; it was hard to distinguish anyone.

A large nearby explosion then threw up several bodies as Jet fired two missiles from the air. Fortunately, she didn't' take out any allies. She obviously had good aim. The Helldiver pilot then swooped over, her flame-throwers fully on as she coated a whole battalion of synthetic Takaal and husks in fire.

That was when Austin spotted him.

Skarlack suddenly leapt from out of the massive crowds. As he landed, he mashed his fist into the ground, creating a massive shockwave that took out several allies.

Austin almost immediately pushed several husks aside to reach the General as he cut down two more Helldivers. He then instinctively attacked the Helldiver running at him. Austin brought his shield arm up and it blocked Skarlack's attack, metal grinding against metal.

Skarlack didn't say anything, but instead pressed the attack, his attack's fierce and violent.

Austin was able to avoid most of them before Skarlack suddenly kicked him, sending him flying backwards. Fortunately, he was able to use the flight thruster upgrades to right himself and he skidded on the ground, at the same time cutting down two synthetic Takaal as they tempted to attack him from the side.

Skarlack then threw his staff, which Austin was just able to leap over. As he was still in mid-air however, Skarlack suddenly hit him with a telekinetic push which sent him flying again, this time causing him to crash through some rubble.

As his staff came back to him, Skarlack then leapt over the rubble and thrust downwards as he came down.

A quick burst from his thrusters narrowly saved Austin's life as the staff embedded itself in the ground where he had just been. A she he landed, he now drew his omni blade as well in conjunction with his shield cannon.

The two opponents simply stood where they were, glaring at one another, all the while the rest of the fighting going on around them.

"So, you came back to die with your city." said Skarlack.

"No. I came back to stop you." said Austin.

Skarlack resumed the attack, bringing his staff down only for it to meet Austin's shield which was then followed by a punch in the face from Austin's blade arm.

All the while, the final dropship carrying the non-Helldiver members of the crew was finishing its decent. The doors opened, revealing he scope of the battle to all of them. There was fighting as far as s the eye could see.

"I'll get as low as I can." said Cortez.

"Lola, over there!" said James, indicating over to where Austin was fighting Skarlack.

I see 'em." said Sarah.

Cortez pulled the shuttle to the side so that Sarah and James could get clear shots.

The two N7 soldiers opened fire just as Skarlack had Austin's neck locked under his arm. The Takaal General quickly threw his opponent the floor and aimed his staff at the dropship. A flash of green lightning burst forth, hitting the cockpit square on and causing the dropship to start spinning wildly out of control.

"I can't stabilize her! We're going down!" said Cortez, trying as much as she could to try and regain control but it was no use.

Angered by this, Austin picked himself up and charged into Skarlack, tackling him to the floor.

Everyone held on as best they could as the dropship spun fast enough to pull them out. It was starting to descend too.

"Jump!" Sarah yelled.

No one hesitated at all and everyone inside jumped out just as the dropship got low enough. As they all landed however, they noticed someone missing.

"CORTEZ!" Sarah yelled.

The dropship crashed into the ground in a massive explosion. When the flash cleared, it revealed a completely flaming wreckage and the cockpit was completely destroyed.

As much as it pained everyone to believe it, they knew that it was impossible for Steve to have survived that. There was no other possibility, he was gone. They were almost left for words. Cortez had flown into some of the worst hotspots and yet they had always come out relatively unscathed and now Cortez was dead. There was some light side though. If there was a world after this, and his husband was there, well now the two were finally reunited again.

Spurred on by the death of one of their own and using that positive thought to fuel them, the non-Helldiver crew almost immediately joined the fight, guns blazing and omni blades cutting through anything they came across.

Austin punched Skarlack so many times he was surprised he hadn't crushed the Takaal's skull by now. Skarlack then suddenly grabbed Austin with all four of his clawed feet and pushed him off.

Both opponents almost immediately got back up and drew their weapons again, resuming their fight. This time, Austin was more on the offensive, driven on but the fact that Skarlack had just killed Steve. This new-found aggressiveness came as a surprise to Skarlack and he was only just able to react quickly enough to the Helldiver Major.

This however soon came at a cost. Austin began to feel his strength failing and he was tiring.

Skarlack began to match his speed again and soon he was pressing the attack again. As Austin lunged, Skarlack parried the blow and backhanded him. Austin stumbled for a bit before regaining his balance.

Skarlack once again pressed the attack, but this time Austin was more prepared to defend. Skarlack then brought his staff down and Austin pushed against it with all his might. Skarlack though hadn't counted on the new power Austin's suit had and he was most surprised when the Helldiver managed to push his blade out of the way and attempted a punch which hit him square in the jaw. Were he not synthesis, that would almost surely have broken it as well as his neck.

Austin managed more smacks with his shilled before Skarlack managed to head butt him back. Pushing a one of his soldiers out of the way, Skarlack lunged again. Austin however pinned the staff and swung. Skarlack failed to react in time and Excalibur carved right through both his eyes, completely blinding him.

Austin kept pressing the attack so that Skarlack never got a chance to heal himself. Some attacks Skarlack still managed to block with his senses, but others hit him. Finally he let his anger take over and unleashed a violent and concentrated attack that Austin only just blocked. Just before it got too much, Austin slid around and attack Skarlack from behind. He finally punched his opponent back and activated his plasma cannon. The second it fired however, Skarlack suddenly teleported, leaving the shot to take out 5 husks.

Skarlack reappeared back not he rock where the Takaal camp and the guns were. Mirage, having sensed the danger he was in had come to.

"Are you alright?" she asked, helping support her husband as he worked on healing his injuries,

"Shepard has grown stronger and it seems he convinced our organic brethren to finally fight." Skarlack groaned.

"They'll meet the same end." Mirage growled.

"Concentrate the attack!" Skarlack bellowed.

More and more Takaal and husks continued to pour into the city and the Reaper destroyers weren't making it any easier.

Though having started good, the army was now being pushed back against the second defence wall.

"There's too many of them! Soon they'll overrun us!" said Matt, gunning down two more synthetic Takaal.

"Shepard, we have to fall back to the keep! Get everyone out of there!" Zartrack yelled.

Austin completely agreed.

"Fall back to the keep!" he yelled.

Everyone abandoned their feet and began retreating towards the second wall's gate. The Takaal however were using this to their advantage and were opening a constant fire on them. Many unlucky souls got caught in the back as they ran.

Austin suddenly felt something in his head. A warning. As if by instinct, he looked to see that Liara had been tripped by a synthetic Takaal and it had its staff raised, ready to finish her.

"Liara!"

The Asari was pinned by the Takaal soldier's leg. There was little she could do. Just as the Takaal's staff started to come down however, a massive form slammed into the soldier. It was Javik.

"You will not harm her!" he yelled as he took down several more Takaal.

Liara slowly got up and drew her own sword to help Javik out. As soon as she cut down one however, another Takaal suddenly lunged at Javik while he'd thrown another Takaal to the side. The spear pierced his abdomen and the end went right through him coming out of his back. The Prothean was hit by a huge amount of shock and pain and he was momentarily frozen as he looked down at the wounds, blood starting to trickle front he wound. Liara was frozen with shock and horror.

A Takaal soldier suddenly knocked into her and she fell to the ground. As the Takaal wrestled with her, she managed to hold him off long enough to pick up her sword again and she ran the alien through. As she struggled push the dead body off of her however she noticed that Javik seemed to have unfrozen and he had suddenly gone berserk he roared at the Takaal that had impaled him and suddenly snapped it's neck. With spear still impaling him he took down several more husks and Takaal before more finally swamped him and stabbed him multiple times. The last Prothean was powerless to fight back as he was mercilessly stabbed almost to death.

"Javik!" Liara yelled.

Furious and angry she threw a massive warp at the Takaal and they were blown away. While Sarah managed to provide cover fire, she dragged Javik's badly bleeding body inside.

"Fall back!" James yelled as he provided cover fire for some of the wounded.

Just as Austin ran past him and covered the retreat of his squad, the soldier was suddenly hit by an enormous amount of pain as a shot hit I'm in the stomach. James fell to his knees, clutching the wound. As Austin noticed, he tried to get to him, but the constant retreat of totters blocked his path and he struggled to get through.

A Takaal then walked up behind James and brought it's weapon down on him. The blow proved to be too much and blood started to pour from James' mouth.

"James!" Austin yelled, finally breaking through.

The Takaal attacked him, but Austin parried the blow and cut the Takaal clean in half. He then knelt down and held James in his arms. He could only look helplessly as the soldier coughed up his own blood. Austin encouragingly held James' hand just as the Alliance soldier finally succumbed to his wounds and died in Austin's arms.

Austin hung his head in sorrow. James could've had so much ahead of him. He was still only a Lieutenant and had only recently joined the N7. Now he'd never get a chance to truly live out that career.

Angered by this Austin drew his sword and cut down several more Takaal who came near. It did at least help hold them back while everyone else retreated through the gate.

"That's everyone!" said Matt as he helped a limping Conrad inside

"Austin's still out there!" Liara yelled before the gates could started closing.

"Shepard, get in here!" Zartrack yelled.

Austin quickly detached his grenade belt and threw it not he floor. Using his thrusters he then lifted off and zoomed towards the gate as it started closing. He then fired a shot from his shield/cannon and the grenades exploded, taking at 50 Takaal with him.

"Seal the door!" Zartrack yelled just as Austin zoomed in and skidded to halt on the ground.

The Arkanes shut the gate and all the locks and bars on it sealed.

There was several loud thumps and bangs as the Takaal began to try and smash this one down as well. It sounded as though they'd be at it a while though, so everyone took this chance to recover and get their breath back.

"Where's the Crucible?" Zartrack asked.

"It's on its way. Because it was built in a hidden spot and it's slow we had to come ahead. We just have to hold out until it arrives." Said Austin.

"Well… with the reinforcements you've brought, perhaps our chances might have been evened." Said Zartrack, looking at the many Austin had brought with him.

"How long do you think this will keep the Takaal out?" Liara asked as the heavy thumping on the gate continued.

"A long time, trust me. They may have broken through the first gate, but this one is much stronger. Able to withstand any sort of blockade for years. Even the Takaal will struggle to get through this quickly." said Zartrack.

At that moment, Skarlack's voice suddenly echoed everywhere, as though he was using some unknown method to have his voice everywhere at once.

"You have fought valiantly, but in vain. I do not wish this. Every loss of life that has the potential to join us is a terrible waste. I therefore command all Reaper and Takaal forces to retreat. In their absence, dispose of your dead with dignity." He said. "Shepard, I now speak directly to you. Your choice to refuse my offer has brought this upon your friends. On this night, you have allowed them to die rather than accept your ascendance. There is no greater dishonour. You will meet with me before the battle resumes. Do this and you have a chance to avoid further bloodshed. If you refuse me again, I shall wipe out every single being, organic and otherwise who dares stand in my way until only you are left to suffer the pain of loss."

As Austin looked upon the many wounded that were being attended to, he couldn't help but feel that Skarlack had a point. When he saw the dead that had been laid out, he felt even worse. He could already see a few familiar faces.

Mordin it seemed hadn't been lucky the second time. From what Austin had heard, he had given his life covering the retreat of Wrex and several Krogan.

Rana had unfortunately run into a Banshee when she, Dr Michel and Dr Chakwas were dropped off. Her wounds had been too great for the two Doctors to heal.

Chakwas and Michel were fine though, and were already helping the other medical doctors tended to the wounded.

Javik had also been laid down having just died from his wounds. Now it seemed the Protheans really were extinct. Liara had managed to say thank you at least and had been at his side when it happened. Austin only wished he could've done the same. He would never have forgiven himself if Liara had been killed.

Jack and Kelly along with some their students appeared to be mourning the rest who had been killed too. Kelly held Jack tightly as the two hugged one another.

Balak was also laid out having been killed by a Cannibal. Truth be told however, Austin was not sad to see the Batarian go. The two had always been sworn enemies. Still, some bit of Austin did consider it a shame. Perhaps there could've been a chance for peace.

Then Austin spotted two bodies that really had an effect on him.

Both Arnold and Katherine were laid next to one another. Normally a Helldiver would disintegrate when they died, but because they were on Arkadia where the Arkanes could retrieve the armour, that protocol was overridden. It didn't help though seeing as how many other Helldivers were laid out.

Austin gently knelt down. He noticed how the couple's hands were almost touching one another. Knowing all too well how the both of them had been intimate, he gently moved their hands together so that they were now holding each other.

It saddened Austin to see them go. He'd known them ever since he'd first arrived on Arkadia almost 15 years ago. The three of them had been in the same training unit together and had all been mentored by Zartrack together. They had become very close friends, so to see them gone was a very tragic.

Austin noticed Zartrack walk up next to him. Without a word, the General simply put a hand on his student's shoulder. Austin could already tell that Zartrack felt the same way as he did. He never forgot a face that he trained.

"Rest easy, my old friends." Said Austin, gently hanging his head.

After paying respects, he finally stood up and walked over to Zartrack, who was planning things out with the other General, including Matt who had left Conrad to be tended too by a Doctor who had assured the General he'd be alright.

"What do we do?" Austin asked.

"I should be asking you that, Shepard. You are the leader of this resistance, and you alone have the power to destroy the Reapers." Said Zartrack.

"But General… You rank above me. You've led the Helldivers in this battle." Said Austin.

"Against an enemy I am not as familiar with as you are." Said Zartrack. "I am no longer your teacher, Shepard. You are mine."

Austin was silent for a long time. He never would've expected Zartrack to ever say anything like that.

Bringing his mind to the task at hand however, he took a moment to think.

"Whatever we do, we just need to buy ourselves time. Once the Crucible touches Arkadian soil, we can end this." Said Austin.

"Well, we can better prepare for a new strike." Said Zartrack.

"And I might know a way we can delay their attack even more." Said Meeralack.

Austin, Liara, Meeralack and Zartrack all left the Arkadian city and began their work to the middle of the battlefield where Skarlack and Mirage were stood.

"So, you came after all." Said the General. "I must admit, I am surprised."

"We are not here to accept your offer, Skarlack. We only came here to warn you." Said Austin.

"Call off your attack and leave this planet, otherwise you will leave us no choice." Said Zartrack.

"Ha! You threaten me?! Oh, this is rich." Skarlack laughed. "Look around you! I have laid waste to your world, and the Reapers are not even truly in full force yet. Once they deal with your fleet, they will come down here and you will all die."

"We're aware of that." Said Liara, trying to ignore how Mirage was constantly staring hungrily at her.

"But this does not have to be your end." Said Skarlack. "I once again make my offer to you. Do you truly think you can win this? My army alone is large enough to destroy an entire planet. Yours could only defend it."

"You created the Reapers, and then you tried to destroy them. Some part of you must've realized this isn't right." Said Austin. He knew it was a long shot.

"If I had, it would've been long ago." Said Skarlack. "There is no staying as we are; there is only the next step forward."

"And yet all you do is use your gifts to fight." Said Zartrack.

"Of course. War is a natural part of life, Arkane. It is all around us, and has been around since the very beginning of creation itself. Bacteria and germs constantly battle with immune systems, animals fight for food, and above all, you fight for survival." Said Skarlack.

"Maybe once. But now you're just a slave to your own creation." Said Austin.

"Enough! This is the last time I will ask, Shepard. Join us in synthesis, or die." Skarlack interrupted.

"The answer's no, and it always will be. You think us weak, yet look at where we are now." Said Austin.

"Let me remind you, Shepard. I am a General. If you think that I am afraid of you, then you are making a deadly mistake." Skarlack growled.

"It doesn't take a genius to know nervousness, Skarlack. You may not be afraid of us, but I know what you are afraid of." Said Austin. He was sure for a moment he noticed Skarlack's eyes show a hint of fear. "Point is, we will never join you. You don't like it? Deal with it."

"If that truly is what you want…" said Mirage.

"It is."

"Then advise the rest of your army. You can fight, and wall of you will die, or you cannot fight, in which case only most of you will die." Said Skarlack.

"You murdered my husband." said Meeralack coldly.

"He chose his own fate when he stood in my way." said Skarlack.

"Then you have chosen yours. We will fight, and you will die."

"Anything further you wish to add?" Skarlack asked coldly

"No… brother. That's it."

Meeralack turned and left with the others in tow.

Skarlack simply watched them leaved.

"So be it."

"Brother?" Austin asked, quite surprised by what he'd heard.

"Once. But he stopped being my brother a long time ago when he killed my husband and made himself into that thing." Said Meeralack.

"But if you die, does that mean he has right to the throne?" Austin asked rather worriedly.

"No. Even now, he still wouldn't disrespect Takaal traditions. A Takaal monarch nominates their successor should they ever die or eventually step down. None of it is carried in the blood." Meeralack explained.

"I see now why you look upon with such bitter hate." Said Austin.

Already, Helldivers and everyone in the army were readying on the next wall for the attack. The wounded and dead were being moved into the main Citadel so as to avoid a massacre in case the Takaal breached the second wall too. Hopefully though that wouldn't' happen this time. And even if it did, they'd hold fast and would damn well take more Takaal and Reapers with them.

Among the constant moving masses, Austin all the familiar faces that were still alive. He felt now as better time than any to say one final goodbye to them, just in case and to offer some motivation before he was no doubt expected to give a big speech.

"Austin." Said Ashley.

"How are you holding up?" Austin asked.

"Restless. Everything depends on this. Think we have a chance?"

"There's always hope. It's how we got this far."

"And you made it happen, old friend. You're the reason we're here."

"I've had you people like you picking me up and dusting me off when I stumbled."

"Almost as many times as you save me, hero-man." Ashley smiled. "We've had some great fight, Austin. And I'm not just talking about the ones on the battlefield."

"You always fought for what you believe in." said Austin. "You're a survivor, Ash. Always were."

"I hope you're right."

"I know I'm right. You're a fine soldier. We're lucky to have you."

"Thanks, Austin."

"One more hill to take, Lieutenant-Commander. You ready?"

"Aye, aye, Major. I'm ready."

Now Jacob.

"Hey, Shepard." Said Jacob.

"Hey, Jacob. Holding up?" Austin asked.

"Kicking ass, more like. My kill count's through the roof."

"We'll meet and compare notches when this is over."

"You got it. I hear there's this great little bar here we have to check out."

"I'm holding you to that. Give 'em hell, Jacob."

"Yes, sir."

Miranda was next.

"Major." She said.

"How you feeling?"

"Good considering. I got word that Ori and her family are somewhere safe. When this over, I'm gonna give her such a big hug."

"I'm glad to have you with us, Miranda." Austin smiled as he and Miranda shook hands. "Just be careful out there."

"I promise. And you too, Shepard. I don't know if I'll be able to help bring you back again."

Then Grunt who was making sure all the Krogan that could still fight were armed to the teeth.

"About time you got here, Shepard. Didn't want to win this thing all by myself." He said.

"Good to see you back in action and fighting, Grunt." Austin smiled.

"Wouldn't miss it." Said Grunt. "Shepard…"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks… for getting me out of that tank."

"Sure, Grunt. It's been an honour."

"Same here, Shepard."

Austin spotted Samara among a few other Justicars and Asari commandos.

"I wondered if I'd see you again, Samara." He said.

"It's past time I joined your battle." Said Samara. "You helped me a great deal in the monastery, Shepard."

"Thank you for returning the favour."

"Only your actions will be remembered. May you choose them well."

"You've been a good friend, Samara. I'm honoured to have met you all those years ago."

"As am I, my friend." Samara smiled as she shook hands with the Helldiver. "Should we make it through this, you will always be an honoured friend of the Justicars."

Austin found Jack near some other biotics who were making sure to get as much energy as they could for the coming fight.

"Hey, Shepard." She said, looking slightly better than last time now.

"I'm sorry about the students you lost." Said Austin sympathetically.

"Yeah. I'll make sure those fu…" said Jack. She paused to make sure none of her students were within earshot. "fuckers pay for that with their lives."

"For once, I'm glad to hear that." Said Austin.

"We won't let you down, Shepard. Go kick some ass."

"You too."

Zaeed was near some of other snipers. He obviously intended to use all the skills he had.

"Almost thought you weren't going to make it, Shepard. Glad I was wrong." He said.

"You doing okay, Zaeed?"

"Yeah, yeah. Hope you've got one of a speech to get everyone moving."

"I might have something up my sleeve." Austin smiled under his helmet.

"Looks like we might need it. Never seen anything like this." Said Zaeed. "I'm ready to go when you are. Let's gut the bastards."

Kasumi could be seen with a few techs who were making sure all defences we're up to maximum.

"Hey, Shepard, you ready?" she aske

"Depends on whether you helped get the Crucible ready to go." Said Austin.

"Oh, it's ready. No idea what it'll do, exactly, but it's gonna be big." Said Kasumi. "Good luck, Shepard. If you live through it, drinks are on me."

Next was Garrus who had just finished talking with Primarch Victus who was also down here to fight.

"Shepard. So, guess this is…" he said.

"Just like old times?" Austin asked.

"Might be the last chance we get to say that."

"We're not going to lose."

"Of course. I think we're about to kick the Reapers and Takaal into whatever black hole they crawled out of. Then we're going to retire somewhere warm and tropical and live off the royalties from the vids."

"I think I'll do the same. I think my days of saving the galaxy are over when this is done."

"Be sure to leave room for all the autographs." Said Garrus. "And Shepard, forgive the insubordination, but this old friend has an order for you… Go out there and give them hell. You were born to do this."

"Yes, sir." Austin smiled.

EDI was helping to coordinate the attack along with the Generals. Due to her tactical knowledge, her input was more than welcome.

"Shepard. I have a question." She said.

"Is it a big or a small one?" Austin asked.

"It is important. It's relevance would be diminishing at any other time."

"Ask away."

"I this battle, the Reapers and the Takaal have no reason not to use their full capabilities to destroy us. Their forces are in entrenched positions. They have superior firepower and outnumber our forces. My question is: What makes you think we can hold long enough for the Crucible to arrive?"

"They think they've won already, and that's the best time to fight them."

"If they have spies or other intelligence, we could become compromised. In such case, we will likely lose."

"Are you afraid?"

"Our probability for success is greater than any other plan presented to date."

"That's not what I asked. Are you afraid?"

"I do not understand the purpose of the question."

"There's no room for doubt anymore, EDI. You understand what we have to do, or you don't."

"I am clear on what we must accomplish, Shepard. The Reapers and the Takaal have destroyed thousands of civilizations." Said EDI. "But they have never destroyed ours. Nor will they."

"Couldn't have put it better myself." Said Austin.

"Shepard? There is something I want to know." Said EDI quickly. "The Illusive Man ordered my creation years ago. Jeff was the one who allowed me to think for myself. But only know do I feel alive. That is your influence."

"Thanks, EDI."

Tali had just finished talking with the Quarians who were fighting in Orbit.

"Almost time for the final push. Are you okay?" she asked.

"I thought I'd be asking you that question." Said Austin.

"Austin, I backed you when I was just a kid on her Pilgrimage. I backed you when we took on the Collectors. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't back you now?" said Tali. "And you haven't answered my question. Are you okay?"

"You know I really am. I spent months talking to the Council, the Admiral, the Politicians… all to get to this moment."

"No politics, no diplomacy. Just us and them, one last time. Whatever happens, I'm proud to have served with you, Major." Said Tali as she saluted.

"It's been an honour, Tali Zorah Vas Normandy." Austin smiled as he saluted her back.

"The admirals once hung that ship name on me like badge of shame, and then the Normandy helped us reclaim our homeworld. It's time I returned the favour."

Wrex meanwhile was addressing his Krogan soldiers.

"Shepard."

"Wrex."

"No matter what happens today, you did what no one else could—you united a galaxy. That's a victory right there. And don't' worry, I know why you're going to win—because you brought the Krogan." Said the Krogan. "Oh, and Bakara sends her regards. She's already pregnant. There are benefits to being a clan leader. But she keeps insisting we name the first one "Mordin." Anyway, let's get to it!"

Finally, it was Liara.

"Hey. You okay?" Austin asked.

"They've bought in many more wounded and have moved them to the main Citadel." Said Liara.

"Least they'll be safe." Said Austin. "How you holding up?"

"This is it, isn't it?"

"Yeah. This is it."

"I don't' know what to say. All those little blue children will be disappointed I didn't have a speech."

"We'll make up a good story for them."

"I do have one thing for you, Austin. A gift. It'll only take a moment if you want it."

"I always have time for you no matter what, my love."

"Close your eyes."

Liara linked both their minds together. They soon found themselves in a starry void. In the distance, they could both see a bright light. As ti drew closer, the two simply drew each other together and kissed.

There was then a bright flashed and everything returned to normal.

"Thank you for everything." Said Liara. "I love you. Now, let's do what needs to be done."

"I love you too." Said Austin as they shared one last hug.

Austin finally joined Zartrack as the preparations were almost prepared.

"They look a little nervous." Said Austin, observing the mood among the resistance.

"I think you know what to do." Said Zartrack.

Austin stepped up on top of the high balcony and cleared his throat. Everyone almost immediately looked up to him.

"Before us stands the might of the Reaper ground forces and the Takaal army. Look upon them, but fear them not!" he said. "I see in many of your eyes, the same fear that would take the heart of me. Some of you may even think to be fearful of what is to come is s sign of weakness. Well I disagree. Think of the Reapers, why do they fight? They are just machines . Programming and logic, that's all they have and that's the only reason they use to fight. Then there's the Takaal. The ones with us now have many reasons to fight, yes. But the synthetic ones are different. They willingly submitted to the Reapers and now only use their will to guide them. They fight because that is all they know, and that is all they will ever know."

More and more people continued to gaze upon the Helldiver.

"Now think about us, and ask yourself "Why do we fight, and what do we fight for?" Austin continued. "There are many reasons. Many of us fight for survival, but there's more to it than that. Some of us fight for friends and those we love. Some of us fight for a future, a goal we strive to achieve. Some of us fight for money and rewards along with many other personal reasons. And some even fight just for the shear bloody hell of it. So if you ask me, those emotions you feel are not something you should be ashamed of. They are something you should treasure, for that is what separates you from our common enemy. It is what makes us better than them in so many ways, and it is why we will not allow them to decide whether we should live or die."

The mood was already beginning to brighten a bit due to this speech.

"For whatever reason you chose to fight, today we have all united to fight together because the Reapers seek to destroy all life that we hold dear. Life… that word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests, and we will fight for our freedoms. But this time, not from tyranny, oppression or persecution, but from annihilation. We're fighting for a right to survive and live in this universe. To exist. And should we win the day, this day will no longer be remembered as a day like any other, but as they day when the entire galaxy declared in one voice "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive!" Today, we're about to show the Reapers just how wrong they are and why they are the ones who should be destroyed, not us!" said Austin. "By all that you hold dear in this galaxy, whatever it may be, I ask you now… who will fight with me?"

Liara was the first to step up and stand beside Austin.

"To the very end, my love." She said.

"We're with you too." Said Alaara as Alpha joined as well.

Then the rest of the Normandy crew stepped up.

"You can count us in anytime." Said Jacob.

"Who else? Who's with me?" Austin asked to the army stood before him.

At this there was an encouraging cheer and occasional nods from others. Austin still felt that was not enough. He drew his sword and held up to the sky.

"WHO'S WITH ME?!" he yelled.

At this, the entire army erupted into such a loud cheer; it could be heard miles away.

"Then ready all defences, for we will give our enemy the deepest circle of hell!" said Austin.

It was true about the cheer of the resistance being heard a mile away. In fact, Skarlack and his army had heard it from where they were.

"Such a shame that motivation will go to waste when this is over." Said Skarlack pitifully.

"Credit where it's due, they've earned a place in our records as the one cycle that came close to defeating us." Said Mirage.

"Indeed." Said Skarlack. The General then turned to his army. "A new power is rising! It's victory is at hand! Tonight, this planet will be stained with the blood of all organics! We will march on that city, and we will leave none alive! TO WAR!"

The entire Takaal army erupted into roars of triumph. Even Mirage added her cry to it.

"This world has seen its last sunset." Said Skarlack.

Having got very dark, it wasn't as easy to see the enemy now. But they could see the lights from the Reapers and the faint green glow from the synthetic Takaal.

The weather had also changed too. Rather than a plain clear night as it had been earlier, it had now gone clouded and was no starting to rain heavily as the sounds of thunder and the flashes of lighting came from anywhere.

"Your friends are with you, Shepard." Said Alaara.

"Let's hope they last the night." Said Kraan.

As the Takaal army continued to march closer and closer, Skarlack separated from the others and walked up onto a tall rocks ticking out the ground so he and Mirage now towered over their army as they had done back at camp.

"Show them no mercy… for you shall receive none!" Austin yelled to everyone.

Skarlack then emitted a low roar to his army and they halted. The sight of at least 10,000 Takaal was quite unnerving, especially when it was taken into account how savage they could get in a fight.

Some even growled and snarled directly up at their opponents, obviously getting slightly impatient to fight as the rain poured won over them.

Skarlack then emitted another roar. This time, the Takaal started to taunt the Helldivers. They began banging their spears into the ground. Some even roared and snarled loudly and a few even banged their weapons against their chests.

It did slightly have an effect and many Alliance soldiers couldn't help but raise their guns. Even Ventra drew his bow. As he held it there however, the wetness of the rain, and the nervous adrenaline he was getting causes his hand to slip on the string, letting his arrow fly and it impaled a Takaal in the chest.

"Ventra!" Austin groaned.

"Err… oops?" the Turian tried to say innocently.

The Takaal Ventra had shot gave a pained moan and fell to the floor, dead.

This caused the other Takaal to snarl and roar even louder, this time in anger. It wasn't logn before Skarlack gave the order.

"CHARGE!" he yelled.

All of the Takaal obeyed and broke into a run.

"So it begins." Said Zartrack.

"Prepare to fire!" Matt yelled.

All the snipers readied their weapons and took I am, Ventra and Garrus among them

"Aim for the heads. That puts 'em down for good." Ventra advised to everyone.

"Fire!"

Every single gun let loose and the Takaal were literally bombarded with projectiles, plasma fire, an arrow, and heavy rounds. Despite how many at the front were taken out however, those behind just clambered and ran over them, uncaringly crawling over their dead.

"Give them a volley" said Zartrack.

Some of the city's main guns that were able to aim low enough now opened fire too, creating massive explosions and craters as they took at least 20 Reaper forces with ach shot.

Austin then raised his sword.

"Ready… Unleash Hell!" he yelled.

Mortars positioned behind the wall now joined the constant fire. Takaal after Takaal fell at the onslaught they were walking into.

"Send them coming! Come on!" Kraan yelled encouragingly.

As the Takaal got closer and closer however they started to return fire themselves. Several well aimed shots took out several troops and they fell from the walls.

Austin then spotted some dark zombie like figures who had reached the wall, and theyw ere climbing.

"Husks! They're climbing the wall!" he yelled.

"Good." Said Kraan, drawing his weapon. Several other Helldivers did the same and drew their own melee weapons.

Husk after husk of all kind started to pour over the edges of the wall. Most of them though were met with a strike before they could even attack.

"Fight them back!" Austin ordered, cutting down several husks with Excalibur.

"15. 16." Ventra counted with each enemy he took out.

"Do you have to do this now?!"said Austin.

"No time like the present." Ventra shrugged.

The Takaal had it seemed had caught on to this idea and were also crawling the walls themselves. The allies held firm though. Kraan even cleverly positioned himself ont op fo the wall so he could strike down enemy after enemy just as they reached the top.

"17. 18. 19. 20." He counted with each kill. "21"

All the while however, the Takaal were using other tactics as well. Many tried to assault the gate, but found ti far stronger than the last one. Ultimately, they resorted to using something other than the ram.

As he threw another Takaal off the edge, Austin suddenly noticed several fiery red husks running right at the door.

"Not those things again!" he cursed. He then noticed where they were heading. If they carried enough charge, they'd blow an entire section of the wall out.

"Bring those red husks down!" he yelled to Ventra.

The Turian fired several arrows, but despite each one hitting their mark, the husks failed to go down.

"Kill them! Kill them!" Austin yelled.

Ventra fired more again, but by the time he'd weakened the husks enough, they'd already reached their target. Like suicide bombers, they threw themselves at the door. The combined explosions of all them was so powerful that it literally did blow apart an entire section of the wall. The explosion and shockwave sent many people flying, including Austin and Alpha.

The Takaal immediately started to swarm through the massive opening they now had.

The explosion had rendered Austin temporarily unconscious, and the Takaal were heading right for him. As he finally managed to regain his senses, he suddenly heard the heavy footsteps and saw their clawed feet.

"Shepard!" Kraan yelled.

The Krogan leapt off the wall, plummeting himself straight into the centre of the horde.

"Kraan, no!" Austin yelled, pushing himself to his feet.

The Krogan took down several more Takaal before one managed to knock him down. Austin however didn't give him the chance to attack.

"Open fire!" he yelled.

Several soldiers and auto turrets opened fire on the Takaal and husks, once again taking several down in each strike.

"FOR ARKADIA! FOR THE HELLDIVERS" Zartrack yelled.

The whole army charged. Soon it became almost impossible to tell which army had come from which side.

"You got lucky." Said Jet as she helped Kraan up.

"Best we split up for this." Said Austin. "Garrus, Ventra, I want you on the roves. Eyes one everything. Call out any fighters in the air."

Both Turians nodded.

"Jet, you've got the perimeter. See if you can get some of your old friends to help out." Austin continued.

"Can you give us a lift?" Ventra asked.

"Right. Hold tight, you two." Said Jet.

The pilot took a hold of the two Turian and flew off into the sky to highest buildings.

"The rest of us… well, we do what we do best." Said Austin.

"Smash Takaal skulls?" Dash asked.

"No. We give them hell!" said Austin.

The rest of Alpha charged into the fight, weapons flying and swing and cutting all over the place. Alpha fought and attacked with the full ferocity that every Helldiver had. This was their home after all, and like any who would defend their home they would not let up, surrender or give up.

"Griffin, can you give me a boost? I've got an idea." Said Leena after cutting down several more Husks.

"You sure about this?" Griffin asked, seeing where this was going.

"Yeah. It'll be fun." The Quarian shrugged.

She then ran up to Griffin who gave her a massive boost up with his gauntlet. As Leena leapt into the air, she managed to grab onto a Takaal fighter that was flying low enough.

As the fighter struggled to shake her off, Leena used her Tomahawk to smash through the cockpit from above, killing the pilot in the process.

She then hacked the controls with her omni tool so she now controlled the fighter. All that remained was working out how to properly fly it.

"Now, turn! Turn! Left!" she yelled. Fortunately, the fighter pulled the right manoeuvre. "Right! Think I got it."

"Jet, you got a lot of strays sniffing your tail." Said Ventra, firing another arrow at a Takaal fighter.

"Just trying to keep them out of the city as best I can." Said Jet who was currently trying dodge incoming fire form nay Takaal fighters who were giving chase.

"Well they can be a bit slow with manoeuvres. Find a tight corner." Said Garrus.

"Roger that." said Jet.

The Helldiver pilot started weaving between buildings and even the legs of some Reaper destroyers.

"Oh boy. Right into the Danger Zone." The pilot sighed. This was definitely among her top ten most intense dogfights.

Leena meanwhile was able to make use of the stolen fighters guns on a few more fighters. That coupled with the Normandy and several other Alliance and Helldiver certainly meant the skies were covered.

Just as she gunned down another fighter and bombed some more Husks she suddenly saw a long green blast of lighting shoot past her. She looked back to see Skarlack once again on the back of the Draco, and right on her tail.

"Oh, you again." She groaned. "Ventra!"

"Leena, what are you doing?" said Ventra, noticing what his wife was doing.

"Err, a little help?" said Leena, struggling to avoid the combined attacks from Skarlack and the Draco's fire breath.

Ventra quickly drew an arrow out from the pack on his bow and aimed.

"I got him." He smiled.

He waited a few seconds, timing his shot just right. He then fired.

The arrow flew at full speed towards Skarlack… and he caught it. For a moment, the Takaal general simply looked at the arrow, surprised that a Helldiver would event hink something like that would work on him.

Secretly however, Ventra had counted on that happening. He then pressed a button on his bow and the arrow tip exploded.

The explosion caused Skaralck to fall from the Draco, while the husk itself fell from the sky, plummeting down just where Dell, Sill and Uthenra were as siting the techs.

The Draco crashed down in a big fireball, sending hundreds of people flying. It took more than that to kill the husk though and it managed to pick itself up, roaring in an angry tone.

"Mum? Mum?!" said Sill as she tried to shake her mother awake. She only got a groan from the female Arkane though.

"You son of a bitch!" Sill yelled, blindly running at the husk.

The Draco noticed her and gave another loud angry roar, so loud in fact it woke Uthenra, only for her to notice her daughter running towards certain death.

Sill suddenly felt something stop her. A large hand had grabbed her shoulder, a hand belonging to a most familiar Helldiver.

Griffin almost immediately pushed Sill behind him and opened fire on the Draco with his mini gun.

"You look after mother." he said. "I don't wanna be the bearer of bad news for Dell."

Urz then suddenly joined Griffin and ran at the Draco, leaping up and biting into one of it's eyes. Griffin fired again as the Draco swooped over him as it tired to shake Urz off. Eventually it managed, but the Varren quickly righted himself just as Griffin fired two charged shots from his plasma cannons. This barely did much damage though and the Draco charged towards him. Griffin charged up for another shot, but it was taking too long. Within in a few seconds the Draco was within biting range.

Just before it could strike however, a large metal fan suddenly spun towards the Draco and cut through it's top jaw, causing it's attention to focus on the fan's user. Xun had joined the fight.

"And to think I used to like Dragons. Because right now, I hate them!" she said.

Miranda, having seen the fight had also come to make sure everyone was okay.

As soon as she joined Dell, Sill and Uthenra however, several Husks suddenly lunged at them from all sides. Before they could make contact however, a figure suddenly appeared with a telescopic staff.

Troy bashed one Husk after the other until they were all clear.

"There you are." said Xun, pleased that Troy had finally shown himself.

"Thought you'd be partying without me? Not on your life, mon amour." Troy smiled under his helmet.

The two Helldivers nodded to each other and joined Griffin and Urz in fighting the Draco.

"Looks like they've got this under control." said Miranda. "I should get you three somewhere safe."

As Miranda was leading the Arturus family away however, she suddenly spotted a husk lunging at them.

"Enough!" she yelled, smacking it away with her biotics.

Three more Takaal however suddenly teleported around her and started attacking.

"Miranda!"

The Ex-Cerberus operative was able to fight off all three of them without any injury, but they unfortunately teleported again, this time now surrounding the Arturus'.

"No!" Miranda yelled.

Before she could do anything to assist though, the Draco suddenly fired a fire ball in her direction as it narrowly missed Jet who made a quick boost tot he side to avoid it.

"Whoa! Great balls of fire!" she said, surprised at how close that had been.

The blast hit the building near where Miranda was, knocking her to the floor. At the same time, the three Takaal leapt to attack the Arturus'.

Out of nowhere however, something suddenly shot them all down. Everyone looked to see where those shots had come from.

Hawk... and he was on a bike.

The Helldiver then sped forward and wove in-between the crumbling wreckage fo the building as it came down. He soon zoomed past and snatched Miranda up just as a beam landed where she had just been. He then propped her behind him on the bike.

"Sorry I'm a bit late, sheela." he said.

"Where'd you get the bike?" Miranda asked, rather impressed that her boyfriend had shown up on something like this.

"I've had this thing in storage ever since I retired. Damn good to finally have the old girl back." said Hawk.

He then gently pulled up next to Dell and Sill and dropped Miranda off.

"You okay?" Uthenra asked.

"Yeah." Miranda nodded.

"And I'd love to take you for a spin when this is over." Said Hawk.

"I'll look forward to it." Miranda smiled. "Hawk, good luck and be careful."

"You know I will." Hawk smiled.

The Draco had taken to the air again, flying between the buildings as it attempted to pick the helldivers off one by one.

Having split up however, the husk was finding it most difficult to take on Alpha when they were attacking from practically all sides.

As it swooped through several pieces of scaffolding, it caught sight of Griffin firing from below. As the Helldiver once again charged up both his plasma cannons, the Draco at the same time spat a fireball at him.

The Husk's attack overwhelmed Griffin's and the fire sped towards him.

Griffin almsot immediately leapt from the balcony he'd been stood on to avoid being incinerated. The explosion from the fireball sent him flying even further than he intended. It was only thanks to a sticking out piece of metal that Griffin was able to grab onto something and prevent his fire into a fiery inferno.

Jet then suddenly soared out of the fire and opened fire on the Draco with her rail gun. The Draco attempted several snaps at her as the pilot manoeuvred around the husks attacks, even missing an attempted swipe from it's clawed foot.

Troy then leapt from a high building, landing on the Draco's back and sinking his omni blade into it's back. The Draco emitted a loud roar and started trying to shake Troy off. It even tried to smash itself against one of the buildings.

"This way." said Jet, quickly pulling the spy out of the way and dropping him on another building roof just as the Draco smashed through the infrastructure.

The Draco landed on the side of another building and once again roared. The many Helldivers were becoming a huge annoyance. Pushing off the building, it once again took flight.

Several more shots from Jet's rail gun suddenly hit the husk in the back. The Draco pulled a sharp turn and now headed straight at her.

As it lunged however, the pilot kicked in her boost and sped into the air right as the Draco's teeth came down on where she'd been. Snapping several more times, the Draco attempted to snatch the Helldiver out of the sky as she flew all over the place and constantly unloaded shots into the Dragon's head.

Xun meanwhile once again threw her fan like boomerang. Upon once again scarring the Draco it quickly came back to her hand while Urz had once again pounced onto the Draco's head and was once again biting at the eye.

As Xun readied for another attack however, she noticed that the Draco was once again priming for another fire blast, and it was in her direction.

Just before it could fire however Troy once again leapt onto the Draco's head and once again sank his omni blade in. This managed to push the head enough that when it fired the blast, it missed. However, it did hit another building and huge amount of debris fell away, and it was coming down on where Griffin was standing, having just finished off several more Takaal soldier who had just teleported to where he was.

"Oh crap!" Griffin sighed.

Just as the wreckage came down however, something suddenly flew past and grabbed him, pulling him out of the way and to safety. But it wasn't Jet, it was Austin.

"Got ya!" he said.

Austin dropped Griffin on a safe bit and then landed himself.

"Where the hell of you been?!" said Griffin, pleased at least to see Austin.

The Draco's attention now focused solely on Austin, it flaming red eyes burning brightly.

Austin kicked in his boosters and flew at the Draco, sword drawn. The Dragon however, caught Excalibur between it's teeth and threw the Helldiver to the side.

Normally that would've been it, but not this time. Obviously the Draco was unprepared for the fact that Austin could now fly. A quick burst from his stabilisers quickly righted him and he once again struck as the Draco flew at him.

Despite his best efforts however, the Draco's armoured hide was extremely hard for Austin to breach. As the Dragon took another snap at him, Austin increased his altitude and then flew down at full speed with a two handed strike.

This attack had enough force that it broke one of the Draco's horn and knocked it tot he ground, causing it to crash into the remains of a building. As Austin landed however, the Draco once again roared, ready for another fight.

"What does it take to kill that damn thing?!" Dash cursed.

The Draco began once again started to flap and began gaining altitude. As Alpha braced for the next attack however, something rather unexpected happened.

As the Draco's tail hung down as the husk flew even higher, a large head suddenly lunged up and bit into it. It was Experiment 13!

As the Draco tried to shake 13 off, the creature pulled down with a huge amount of force, taking the Dragon with it. Th husk crashed to the ground and quickly righted itself.

"Okay. Now it's a fair fight." said Alaara.

The two massive titans roared at each other and attacked. While the Draco could only really use it's tail and teeth to attack, 13 was able to make full use of it's jaws and arms, not to mention mass.

As 13 pressed the attack, the Draco suddenly breathed a large amount of fire which hit 13 dead on. At first it looked as if 13 would be burned alive, but as the fire cleared, the Experiment was completely unscathed. Alpha had almost forgotten how recent scans of 13's anatomy revealed it had an skeleton made of iron which as a result gave it fireproof flesh and blood. 13 also didn't seem to be affected anymore by the sight of the fire, having lost it's movement based vision and now possessing proper vision like a human's.

This seemed to come as a huge surprise to the Draco who was now finding itself vastly outmatched against this super predator.

The Dragon then turned the tables however she it grabbed 13 with it's feet and carried it to the top of a building. Hoping to kill it with the fall, the Draco pushed 13 tot he edge until it was unable to keep it's footing. Just as it started falling, 13 suddenly lunged forward and bit into one of the Draco's wings as it tired to take off. Struggling to resist 13's strength, the Draco breathed a huge amount of fire at 13 and attempted to scratch at it's face. Though it's clawed feet made several deep scars on 13's face, the Experiment didn't seem to acknowledge the pain and continued pulling. Finally, the Draco couldn't' hold on and was pulled over the edge just as the force of 13's pull literally ripped it's wing apart, rending it no longer able to fly.

The two titans crashed to the ground, almost causing a large amount of shakes as they landed. Both creatures got back up and glared at one another, snarling and growling. The Draco roared first to try and intimidate. 13 however roared even louder, it's roar able to heard almost from another planet.

13 and the Draco once again attacked each other, biting and clawing as they literally tried to rip each other apart.

"Come on, 13! Kick his ass!" Dash cheered.

Almsot as if it was spurred on by this, 13's attacks grew even more fierce. A sudden mistimed attack from the Draco allowed the Draco an opening. One of its spike arms lunged forward and it impaled the Dragon right in the eye and literally ripped it out. 13 then pinned both the Draco's wing arms with it's spikes and bit into the Draco's neck.

Alpha could almost swear the Draco emitted a cry of desperation as 13 tore it's head right off and threw it to the ground. The Experiment then roared in triumph as it stood over the dead Dragon husk.

"Oh god, I have lived. That was awesome!" said Dash.

13's attention then turned to the main battle and it charged right into the Takaal, killign any enemy that stood in it's a way.

"And I think he's got the right idea." said Austin as he and the others rejoined the battle as well.

As more Takaal started to swarm around them, a large barrage of gunfire from behind suddenly took them all out.

Everyone looked to see what had done that and saw quite a sight. Finally it seemed all the exo suits had been powered up and were fully operational.

"Ha! That's more like it." Said Austin.

Several of the smaller ones began engaging the Takaal head on while the bigger ones took to picking up large things and throwing them. One particular one as big as one of the city's towers picked up a massive piece of the wall and three it so far it took out a Reaper destroyer as it charged up its gun.

Many of the mechas started to climb over the wall and into the main fight itself. Many of them stomped on the attackers, some even picked up the enemy and used them as clubs before bashing them against the ground.

They weren't invincible though. Some Takaal were able to lash onto one using electric whips and pulled it to the floor.

The very biggest mecha however picked up the remains of a destroyed Hell tank and threw it at the Takaal, freeing the mecha they'd managed to down.

Truly the resistance and the Helldivers were giving ti everything now. Almost every single thing they had was now fighting against the Reapers and the Takaal. Even the Rachni Queen and her drones were fighting with Latara close in tow.

Never before had the galaxy seen such a battle of this scope and epic scale.

They truly were giving the Takaal a run for their money now as thye held firm. Try as they might, the Takaal and Reapers were having no luck pushing them back.

As Austin fought through more enemy soldiers, he caught sight of Zartrack. He quickly joined the General.

"That's two more for me!" he said as they stood back to back and cut down any Takaal who attacked them.

"Since when do we keep score?" Zartrack asked, panting slightly.

"Fair point." Austin shrugged.

As the two Helldivers fought together, they seemed to become a natural target for much of the Takaal as they racked up the kill count in the hundreds.

That changed however when a Takaal suddenly tacked Austin the floor only for Zartrack to run it through the neck. As the Arkane helped his student up however, Austin suddenly noticed a massive form behind them, a form he hadn't thought he'd see again. It was the Hellbringer.

The massive Helldiver husk aimed it's cannon arm and fired a massive shot. Austin quickly pulled Zartrack down with him, the shot only just grazing one of Zartrack's helmet mounted horns.

The Hellbringer snarled and marched towards them. Austin quickly grabbed Excalbiur as the Hellbringer brought it's lobster like claw blade down. As Excalbiur blocked the attack however, the Hellbringer suddenly kicked Austin. The kick was so strong it sent Austin flying.

The Hellbringer then turned to Zartrack who had just picked up a Takaal spear. It roared, ready for a fight.

Zartrack lunged only for the Hellbringer to grab the spear in it's left hand and break it with it's blade. It then pressed the attack, forcing Zartrack to use his reflexes to avoid the Husk's attacks. Two strikes came down on his sword hard, forcing him to his knees.

"Zartrack!" Matt yelled, quickly running to his friends.

The Hellbringer reacted tot his though and swung, it's attack knocking Matt to the floor and cutting his cyborg arm clean off above the below.

"Shit! Not again." Matt cursed.

This didn't hurt Matt. After all, it was only cybernetic. Even though it had it's own nervous system, pain was one thing it couldn't feel. So to Matt, this was merely an inconvenience rather than a major battle injury.

As the Hellbringer turned back to Zartrack, the Arkane General drew his second sword and flipped the one in his left hand so that he now held it backhand. Now the General could make full use of his unique fighting style.

Zartrack was the only Helldiver known to make use of this special style since he was the only one that was so good at it. While the right hand was used for attack, the left hands could be used as a shield that could at the same time inflict injury. It also at the same time allowed him to perform deadly spin attacks.

The Hellbringer attacked only for Zartrack to block it's attack with his left. He then spun and sliced with both blades scarring the inside of the husk's right leg, causing it to stumble.

Zartrack then attacked again, impaling the Hellbringer's shoulder on both blades. The husk almost emitted a growl of pain. But being a husk, it didn't feel any. It simply pulled out both blades and resumed it's attack.

Austin's vision finally cleared and he picked himself up. He then spotted Anderson among the amny masses of fighting Helldiver and Takaal and husks.

Just as it looked as though the Admiralw as about to be overrun, Austin gunned most of them down and joined him.

"Guess you owe me one more now, huh?" he said.

"Fine timing as always, Shepard." said Anderson, gunnign down several Takaal soldiers.

"Not bad for an Admiral and former Councillor." said Austin approvingly.

As the two contineud to fight, Austin's radio suddenly crackled into life and he heard Admiral Hackett's voice.

"Shepard? Shepard, do you copy?"

"I'm reading you, Hackett. Go ahead." said Austin, still fighting.

"The crucible's here and is already entering the atmosphere. Recommend you break off from the main battle and get to the centre of the city. We'll dock it there." said Hackett.

"Roger that." said Austin. "Everyone catch that?"

"Sure did. We're already at the gate." said Alaara.

"I overheard that too. Don't think you're going anywhere without me." said Anderson.

"Let's go." said Austin.

As the two broke off and began fallign back tot he city, Austin suddenly spotted Zartrack, who was still fighting the Hellbringer.

"General!" he yelled.

"No! Stay back!" said Zartrack. "I've got this. You're needed. Go now and end this war."

Austin and Anderson soon rejoined with the rest of Alpha and Sarah and they began their journey towards to the centre of the city.

It was strange to see the city almost completely deserted. Alpha had become so used to seeing it crowded with inhabitants.

Suddenly, a large figure appeared from behind a corner and forced Sandra to her knees and pointed a gun at her head. As shocking as it was, it was Hades. He must've escaped from the prison during the attack on Arkadia's moon where the prison was.

"Don't try it, or your friend gets a bullet in the head." he said.

"Hades, this isn't the time! You'll doom us all." Austin argued. Of all the times for to happen, this was the worst.

"Knowing that you die too will at least help me find peace. I would let you burn in the fire of the galaxy you failed to save, but we both know I have to kill you now." said Hades, aiming back at Sandra's head. "You'll just have to imagine the fire."

Before he could fire however, a large shot suddenly unloaded into him, sending him flying against the wall and killing him. Everyone looked to see Hawk on his bike, and the guns smoking.

"And that's for your Commander taking my eye!" he said.

Everyone simply nodded in acknowledgement to Hawk and they continued into the city, now with Hawk following them on his bike. He even gave Sarah a ride since she couldn't' run as hard as the Helldivers could.

As they continued further into the city, they could already see Reaper destroyers who'd landed inside the city and were engaging other Helldiver soldiers and the city's defences.

"This is turning nasty." said Sarah.

"Just keep it up! We're almost there." said Austin.

"Look out!"

A beam from a Reaper destroyer suddenly hit a building near them and a huge amount of debris fell in their direction.

Austin and the other braced fro the painful impact, but none came. When they looked, they found that both Griffin and Kraan were managing to hold everything up with their strength.

"Good work, guys." said Austin.

"Go! And hurry it up. We're not gonna stand like this all day." Griffin groaned.

No one wasted any time and quickly hurried to safe distance.

"You doing okay?" Kraan groaned as he too was just able to hold everything up. It was like holding up a building in his shoulders.

"Bought the same as you." said Griffin, trying to take breaths were he could.

"That bad, huh?"

"We're clear." said Austin

"You first." said Kraan.

"You're sure?" Griffin asked.

"There's no time to argue! Just go!" said Kraan.

Griffin let go of the wreckage he'd been holding up and hurried out, now leaving just Kraan. Giving a loud roar, Kraan let go and quickly hurried out just as everything came down.

"Great job, both of you." said Austin.

Griffin and Kraan simply nodded, panting heavily from the effort they'd just been through.

"Shepard, look." said Sandra, pointing in the other direction.

Everyone looked to see the Crucible gently setting down in the city's centre. They were almost there. SO close to ending this war.

"I almost don't believe it." said Austin.

The moment however was interrupted when a large full Reaper suddenly landed between them and the Crucible. ANd it wasn't' just any Reaper, this one had four glowing eyes. Harbinger!

"Oh for fucks sake! Not now!" Sarah cursed.

"We're not turning back now. We're getting there one way or another!" said Austin.

Everyone immediately broke into a run as Harbinger opened fire at them, it's rate of fire much higher than any other Reaper. Some of the red beams came dangerously close to Austin and he worried allt he more what might happen if one caught him.

They were close, but there was still the matter of Harbinger blocking their way.

"We're gonna get pulverised if we stay out here much longer!" said Ventra.

"I agree! Get to cover." Austin yelled.

Everyone immediately took cover behind anything they could find. Harbinger lost sight of them, but still continued firing, hoping to flush them out.

"You shall not pass!" Harbinger's voice boomed.

"We'll never make it past while Harbinger's there." said Leena.

"Jet, do you copy?" Austin asked into his comm.

"Load and clear, Shepard." Jet replied.

"Harbinger's got us pinned down. We need you and the fighters to distract him." said Austin.

"Hell, Shepard. You don't ask for much." Jet sighed. "Just hold on. We're inbound."

Jet, followed by several more Helldiver atmospheric fighters soon came into view and opened fire simultaneously on Harbinger. As they flew past, Harbinger soon took off after them.

"It's working! He's taking the bait." said one of the pilots.

"You're all clear, Shepard!" said Jet.

"Thanks, Jet." said Austin. "Let's go!"

Within just a few minutes, they'd finally reached the foot of the Crucible. All that was left, was a climb to the main beam.

"This is it. All I have to do is reach the beam." said Austin.

A sudden roar from behind them alerted them to a whole swarm of husks heading their way.

"There's no way we'll make it ahead of them." said Austin, taking into account the amount of time it woudl take them to climb.

"We need don't to. Only you." said Alaara. "Go. We'll hold them off."

"Alaara…" Austin tried to say.

"You said so yourself, only you can finish this. We'll buy you as much time as we can." said the Asari.

Liara then joined Austin at his side.

"You're not going anywhere without me." she said.

"Normally I'd tell you to stay, but I agree with you." said Austin.

"I'll go too. Just to be safe." said Anderson.

Sarah was also about to join, but Austin stopped her.

"Not this time, Sarah. They need you more than I do." he said.

Sarah reluctantly nodded. She then walked up to her brother and hugged him tightly.

"You come back from this alive. Do you understand?" she said.

"All too well." Austin nodded. He then turned to the rest of Alpha. "Were I able to go back 15 years before any of us had met, I would never have done anything differently. You will always be the second family I never had."

"And it has been the greatest of honours to have you leading us, Shepard." said Alaara. "No go. Finish this."

"Fight like I know you can, Alpha. And give them hell." said Austin.

As he, Liara and Anderson began the climb, Alpha and Sarah turned to the husks. The emotion was very strong. The next few hours would decide the fate of this war, not to mention they were heavily outnumbered by husks. There was a chance they'd die fighting.

"Never thought I'd die fighting side by side with Turians." Said Kraan.

"What about side by side with friends?" said Ventra.

"That I can do." the Krogan smiled.

As the husks got closer, everyone drew their preferred weapons, and readied to change.

"For Arkadia?" Dash asked.

"No... For Shepard." said Alaara.

The Asari was the first to charge. Then the rest of the squad joined her. They all ran at full speed right into the husks and almost immediately began fighting, not letting any husks get past them.

Austin reached the top first and gently helped Liara up, then Anderson.

Ahead of the long walkway was the primed beam of the Crucible. This was it.

"That's it. We're almost there. said Liara.

As they got closer however, they suddenly noticed a figure stood in front of the beam. When they finalyl got a clear view, they almost didn't believe it. It was the Illusive Man.

"What the hell?"

"It can't be. That's not possible." said Austin. He and the others then all pointed their guns at the Illusive Man. "Turn around! Now!"

The Illsuive Man slowly turned around. It was when his eyes came into view that it now made sense. They were glowing brightly and he then spoke with a familiar voice.

"Shepard!"

"Harbinger!" said Austin bitterly. "Didn't get enough last time then?"

"You have come too far, Shepard. Your journey ends here." said the Reaper.

"I'm only going to say this once, harbinger. Leave that body and stand aside, or you'll be the first of our kind to fall before the others."

"You are foolish to take me on, Shepard. You will perish."

"Two Helldivers and one Alliance Admiral against you possessing a dead and weak body? I'd say it's you who is the fool." said Austin, unable to resist a light laugh.

"Your statement is logical. I am not prepared for this fight."

The Illusive Man's body then began to writhe madly. THe Illusive Man's clothes tore and fell off the body in tatters as his skin literally tore as he slowly, he began to morph into a gigantic morphed husk form of himself.

"Shepard…" said Anderson with concern.

"By the goddess!" said Liara in shock.

Harbigner's transformation of the Illusive Man finally finished. He now stood over twice their height and with a sight that would unnerve any Helldiver.

"I take that back now." Austin managed to say.

"Now I am prepared!" said Harbinger.

Austin managed to overcome the shock of the moment and drew his word, prompting Liara to do the same and Anderson to ready for a fight.

"If you're all that stand between us and victory… so be it." he said.

All of Alpha were fighting to the absolute they could manage. The husks came thick and fast, but they held firm. The one thing that gave them strength to keep fighting, despite the overwhelming odds was knowing that Austin would end this war any second. They could only hope they lasted long to see that. For them, this was the Final Countdown.

The lives they had lost, the sacrifices they had made to come this far, none of those would have been made in vain. Not if they had anything to say about it!

The Hellbringer continued to strike against Zartrack with such force, the Arkane feared his swords might break.

The Husk then attempted a downward strike, but Zartrack dodged it, causing the Hellbiringer's blade to embed itself in the ground. The Arkane quickly seized the opportunity and quickly plunged both his swords into the Hellbringer's arm. He then gave them a violent twist, breaking the Hellbringer's blade off.

The Husk's arm switched however to a normal one so it now had two hands again. It then quickly hit the General's arms so hard it knocked both swords out of his hands.

Now it was a hand to hand fight to the death. Zartrack could only hope his skills didn't fail him.

The Hellbrigner swung, but Zartrack ducked. He then jumped onto it's front, causing the husk to fall to the ground. He then punched the Hellbringer several times only for the Hellbringer to head butt him.

As the two picked themselves up out of the mud however, Zartrack suddenly made an upward swing which knocked the Hellbringer back down.

The husk roared as it once again picked itself out of the wet mud. For the moment, the two opponents simply circled one another Zartrack suddenly charged. The two wrestled violently with each other before the Hellbrigner punched Zartrack back only for him to then cloak, vanishing from the husks sight.

For a moment, the Hellbringer simply looked to try and catch sight of the cloaked Helldiver.

Zartrack then suddenly snuck up behind the Hellbringer and delivered several swift punches to the husk's face. The Hellbringer however attacked back with even more viciousness. The final blow was so hard and violent that it literally tore the Helldiver's helmet off.

Zartrack fell to the ground, his face badly bruised and bleeding in some areas, to weak and beaten to fight anymore.

The Hellbringer then picked him up by the neck and simply looked at him for a moment. Before it prepared for the final blow, there was a sudden hiss as locks on it's face disengaged and the plates on it's helmet slid away revealing the true face of the husk.

Zartracks' eyes widened in horror as he saw the terrifying husk like face of one of his own kind stare back at him and roar. The Hellbrigner slowly raised it's arm, ready to deliver the final blow. Zartrack could only close his eyes and wait for the inevitable. He only hoped it was quick...

Through the Illusive Man's body, Harbinger fought more viciously than he had ever done as a Collector.

A sudden swing hit Austin with such force that he was flung back and landed on his back, the force accidentally tearing off one of the thrusters on his back, caused him to lose his shield/cannon and damaging a fair amount of his armour. Some parts of the holo display of his armour were already beginning to light up red indicating some bad damage.

Angered by this, Liara leapt onto Harbinger's back and plunged her sword in the back of the Illusive Man's neck.

Harbinger's arm suddenly grabbed the Asari and threw her off. Just before the Reaper could try and finsih her off however, Anderson suddenly cast himself between them and fired several shots at point blank range.

Harbinger remained unfazed though as parts of the Illusive Man's face was shot off and grabbed Anderson. THe Reaper then smashed ANderson several times with it's strength. After several hits that clearly drew blood, the Reaper threw Anderon's literally broken body to the side. Anderson could only lie there, in extreme pain and bleeding badly.

"Anderson!" Austin yelled.

He fired a quick boost from the thruster he had left and tackled Harbinger tot he ground. As he rolled of the Reaper, he drew both his sword and omni blade. At the same time, a arm mounted gun split off from the Illsuive Man's body and fired at Austin.

The Helldiver however dodged the shot and quickly severed the the sun at the barrel. He then attempted a thrust from his omni blade, but Harbinger's arm seemed to block it without harm. The Reaper then blocked another one before Austin tired a sweep attack which tripped Harbinger up from behind. He then plunged both blades into Harbinger's chest, only for the Reaper to kick him off.

His omni blade deactivated, but Excalibur remained embedded in Harbinger's chest as the Reaper picked itself up.

As Austin managed to get up himself, Harbinger walked up to him and hit him hard before then knocking him against a part of the Crucible. The Reaper then picked him up and swung another punch at him, but this time the Helldiver was able to avoid it.

Austin then reached for Excalibur and pulled as hard as he could. In doing so, he unintentionaly pulled off a piece of Harbinger's chest, exposing some of the Illsuive Man's still decaying organs inside.

Harbinger continued it's attack and knocked Austin to the floor, which then followed with another. The Reaper then tired to crush Austin, but he narrowly avoided both of them. Harbinger however managed to catch the Helldiver's leg and threw up.

Readying to finish Austin off, Harbinger slowly marched towards him.

As Austin tried to recover from his dze, he noticed this suit's vision was malfunctioning slightly. In doing so however, he unintionely spotted a weakness. Some of the exposure he had done was emitting an ignitable gas. If he could somehow ignite it...

Then he noticed his sheild/cannon lying a few metres out of reach.

Using all concentration, he treated that part of armour like his own and summoned it back to him. The moment it slid back onto his arm, he quickly aimed just as Harbinger preapred to lunge, and fired.

Almost immediately, the gas ignited and the Illusive Man's body burst into flames.

"Releasing…" Haringer said, but before it could say control, the flaes reached the source of the gas and it exploded, taking Harbinger's conciousness with it jsut as Sovereign had died while stil in possession of Saren's body.

The now lifless Husk fell to the floor in flamming tnalge of dead flesh and machinery.

Austin grunted as he picked himself up and looked over what was left of both Harbinger and the Illusive Man. He then noticed not toofar off Harbinger's true Reaper form. It seemed to stop moving, then fell.

Austin coudlnt' help but smile. Poetic justice. Harbinger was created before theother Reapers, now it had died before the others.

"So uncivilised." said Austin.

He then walked up to Liara and helped her back up. He then ran up to Anderson.

"Anderson." he activated his omni tool but found he was out of medi gel, as was Liara. "Oh no."

"Shepard…" Anderson struggled to say.

"We're out of medigel. There's nothing we can do. I…" said Austin.

"Don't… blame yourself. Don't worry about me. Go and finish this." ANderson coughed. "You did good, son. I'm… proud of you."

Anderson's eyes closed and his body went limp. Austin gently put Anderson down and hung his head.

"Goodbye, my old friend." he sighed.

He then turned his attention back to the Crucible beam and he and Liara hurried up tot he edge.

"Are you sure about this?" Liara asked.

"About whether it'll work? Yes. Austin replied.

"But you don't know how."

"No. Liara… I don't know what will happen at all. I don't even know if I'll survive this." said Austin, gnetly holding Liara supportively.

"It doesn't… No! No, it can't end like this!" said Liara, sounding almost on the point of crying.

"Listen to me. Whatever happens, I love you more than anything, Liara. You mean everything to me. Remember that." said Austin.

"Austin, I…" said Liara, trying to fight back her tears. "I am yours."

Withotu hesitation, Austin gnetly reached forward until his hand touched the beam.

He was then suddenly hauled up by the beam and was floating int he air. His hud then began to change to read an unknown alien language. He could already feel his suit was doing something.

"Activating Catalyst." said his suit. It then seemed to talk independently to him. "I have watched you for a long time, Shepard. It is from you, that I have seen the good of this cycle. This is where my function is my complete. My reason to exist is over. This may be my end… but it is not yours. It is not your time, nor will it be for many years. I leave you with this gift."

Austin felt something strange happen to him. Somehow though, as if by instinct, he knew almost immediately what it was.

"Return now, and fulfil your destiny."

Austin felt the presence of the Catalyst leave him and he felt himself began to drop. However he missed the edge of the platform Liara was on and was only just able to grab onto something. Now he was simply hanging there. Liara quickly appeared over the edge.

"Give me your hand!" she yelled over the noise of the Crucible's beam.

Austin would have already, but he was very dazed and dizzy from all this. He felt confused.

"Take my hand!" Liara yelled.

All the while, the catalyst began to mix with the Crucible's beam and it began to change colour as it charged up.

Austin weakly reached up to grab Liara's hand, but it slipped.

"No!" Liara yelled as Austin tried to still hold on. "Don't you let go!"

Austin looked up at the woman he loved. She retracted her helmet so he could see her clearly. Somehow, this seemed to do the trick. Austin felt his strength return to him.

"Don't let go." said Liara. "Reach!"

Austin almsot immediately reached up and grabbed onto Liara's arm, this time tightly as she did the same. Using all the strength she could muster, Liara pulled her bond mate up onto the platform with and almost instantly hugged him. Austin immediately hugged her back.

"You did it." she almost cried with happiness into his shoulder.

"We did it." Austin corrected.

The Crucible's beam finally changed to red as it prepared to fire. But at the last minute, it suddenly changed again... to GOLD!

A huge wave of gold energy began to sweep from the beam engulfing anything it touched. Austin and Liara almost felt their eyesight blinded by the bright light of gold as it swept over them...

The beam pulsed strogner and stronger as it swept out from the crucible.

Just as it looked like Alpha was about to be overrun, the wave swept over them. Any husk that was caught was completely vaporised. Within just a few seconds, all that was left was Alpha.

"They did it." said Sarah almost in shock. "They did it!"

The wave continued further and further out from the Crucible.

Just as the Hellbringer was about to deliver it's finally blow, the beam engulfed it and it's structure almost immediately fell apart upon contact.

Finally the gold wave touched the Reapers. They almost seemed to emit some kind of mechanical scream before every single one of them fell to the ground, no left within them. Now they were nothing but empty shells.

Skarlack and Mirage simply stayed were they were. They both braced as the wave drew and closer. If this was to be their end, they would face it with courage, not with fear.

Finally, the Crucible fired again, this time shooting a beam of golden light into the sky and into space, no doubt using the mass relays to send this same signal to every other systems in the galaxy. After more than 65 millions, the Reapers, the ones who had massacred millions of cycles, were at least defeated. The cycle was over.

Alpha finished their climb to the Crucible's platform. WHat they saw however was a bit unexpected. There was the dead remains of a hideously mutated Illusive Man and the dead body of Anderson... and no sign of Austin or Liara.

"What happened here?" Alaara asked.

"He's dead." Dash sighed as he examined Anderson.

Everyone looked around, hoping to see their leader and his wife, but there was nothing.

"Where are they?"

"There's no sign of them."

"No… no, not again. We can't have lost both of them!" said Sarah, falling to her knees. Not only ahd she lost her brother again, but now her loved sister in law as well.

"Seems you unfortunately have, stupid girl." said a voice.

Everyone whirled around in horror to see Skarlack, Mirage, and many more Takaal standing alive and well before them.

"Your precious leader is dead. And now is the time to declare yourself. Come forward and join us, or die!"

TO BE CONTINUED...
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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, The Last Cycle