Have You Faced a Supernova Before?

Noveria

Peak 15

Rift Station

Main Barricade

"Halt and state your business!" a man in white armor demanded. "What were you doing on that train?"

Cole snorted. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm in the real estate business, and I thought this place was on the market." He narrowed his eyes. "I'm Cole MacGrath with Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, so get those damn guns out of my face."

Deliberating for a moment, the man finally waved off his troops. "Sorry, we're a little twitchy for obvious reasons. I'm Captain Ventralis." 

Garrus' expression was hard. "You've got all your men on stims, which means sleep is at a minimum. That's not the best long-term survival stategy."

Ventralis glared at the turian. "If you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it, because..." A familiar skittering noise cut him off. "Oh, hell! Man the perimeter!"

A pair of bugs tore out of the vents, one of them hitting Garrus in the leg with acid spit. Hopped up on stims the men were likely to fire on Alex the moment he did something inhuman, so he yelled for Wrex's assault rifle as the krogan moved to protect their turian sniper. Similarly, Cole took a pistol that Garrus managed to toss him. Thanks to Wrex and Liara's biotics, the spiders were floating helplessly in midair, easy targets for everyone in the room. 

Two bullet-ridden insects later, Ventralis explained that the things kept coming up from the hot labs. "The board sent an asari to clean the mess." He explained. "She went to the hot labs yesterday. We haven't heard from her since." 

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Well, we've got what we need. Thanks, Captain. We'll have this all cleaned up soon enough."

With that, the virus walked past Ventralis and into Central Station. Sighing audibly, Cole followed with the rest of the team in tow and Ventralis hollering at them to get Garrus to the doctor. "Alex, hold up!" His friend slowed, but didn't stop. Running up beside his friend, the conduit whispered, "Why exactly are we walking away from the hot labs?" 

"Because Benezia isn't down there," Alex replied simply. "He never said they sent a Matriarch, let alone Benezia specifically. He just said 'an asari' which means nothing." Cole gestured for him to continue. "Cole, these things are horribly weak against biotics, so if Benezia hasn't come back in over a day, then it wasn't her. Regardless, I'm not jumping head first into a hive of those things until I've talked with the one guy who made it out of the hot labs alive. Wait here."

On that last order, Alex marched over to a tranquil looking asari, who immediately became anything but tranquil. "What?" she asked petulantly.

Alex smiled. This would be too easy. "You're a member of the science teams, right? You seem a bit out of place here." 

She rolled her eyes. "I'm recently transferred, so, naturally, I may stick out just a tad among the rest of these people."

Alex nodded and continued. "And you do.... what, exactly?"

The asari huffed. "Molecular genetics. I specialize in biotic-enhanced allele-specific hybridization." she smirked, believing that this would scare off the simple-minded human.

Cole saw where this was going. "Open mouth..." he thought.

Alex grinned. "I've looked into the theory of using biotics in genetic sequencing. Whose method do you prefer? The salarians can do it better but they have too few biotics. The asari, on the other hand, have a natural talent for the necessary biomathematics, but your long lifespan decreases the need to finish the proper work anytime soon."

Cole tried extremely hard not to laugh. "Insert foot."

Stunned into silence, the asari just stood there, and Alex's smile was replaced by a murderous gaze that turned her blue skin several shades lighter in fear. "I would like to know where to find Han Olar, and if you don't tell me with a polite voice, you're gonna be breathing through your eye sockets."

Quaking in terror, the asari scientist pointed a shivering hand toward the hallway that led to the lower levels. "Good," Alex said, smiling now, but without a trace of kindness in his eyes. "And which way to the doctor?" She pointed to the door on her left, still too frightened to speak. "Thanks. I'd recommend getting back to that meditation. You look pretty tense." Winking, the sociopath walked away.

Liara frowned as she followed the two powerhouses down to the med lab. "Alex, how did you know that she was meditating?"

Alex closed his eyes and sighed. "I recognized the stance. I gave that crap a try myself years ago. I thought could find some measure of peace, but I can't 'find my center' with a decentralized nervous system, can I?" 

That ended all conversation until they had Garrus' leg being treated by Mira. At least the VI was good for something. Alex suddenly noticed that there were a lot of sick people in the lab with identical symptoms. "Doc!" he called, catching Dr. Cohen's attention. "What do these people have? These aren't symptoms of chemical or physical afflictions. Is it viral or microbial, and what idiot didn't make a cure first?"

Dr. Cohen was planning on telling this hooded madman that he couldn't discuss it, but one look into the stranger's pale eyes promised a future of pain if he didn't cooperate.

"They were exposed to a toxin in the middle of an experiment. When the Code Omega took Mira offline, it caused this whole mess." The hooded man motioned for Cohen to continue. "It's a bio-weapon, based on an exotic life form. They wanted something that could kill the creature."

Alex held up his hand for silence. "Let me see if I can guess at the rest of the story. You modified the toxin to affect other species? Don't answer that. The fact that we were allowed in this room means that your toxin is infectious, but not contagious. That implies the bio-weapon was meant to do its job without causing a world-ending pandemic." Alex looked up smugly. "How am I doing?"

Dr. Cohen was struck dumb by the sheer intelligence the mysterious man before him displayed. "How did you....?"

Alex gave a small, cocky bow. "Dr. Alexander J. Mercer. I'm a geneticist, specializing in chimeric virus modification. I won't bother making a hypocrite of myself by questioning your morals. People will create this kind of shit regardless, so it may as well be done in a proper lab instead of downtown Zakera Ward. Just tell me two things. First, why didn't you modify it to work on those fucking spiders?" Cohen looked at the ground in embarrassment. "Second, are you close to a cure? Because these people have two hours left if I'm feeling generous." The Blacklight Virus's only male runner became as cold as the ice outside. "And you know by now that they don't pay men like you and me to feel."

Cohen sighed. "Our first priority was getting it working. The antidote was almost finished when Mira went down." 

Alex took in a deep breath. He didn't know if it was true concern or the all consuming guilt he felt for the actions of the real Dr. Mercer, but it mattered little. The irony of a virus creating a cure left a bitter taste in his mouth all the same. He told Ryan how he'd sworn never to take the Hippocratic Oath. And he would never consume anyone that truly believed in the spirit of that oath. But this task didn't need a normal physician. What these people needed was help from one of the best damn geneticists in the galaxy, and Alex happened to fit that bill perfectly.

After making sure that the toxin was no longer a threat and that the notes and equipment were in the quarantine labs, Alex promised Cohen the cure in the next half hour. The bald man's eyes widened. "Ventralis isn't letting anyone in there. I've told him that the toxin's period of viability has long since passed, but he doesn't care! You can't possibly expect to change his mind."

Alex just smiled darkly. "I don't plan on giving him a choice."

======================================

Noveria 

Peak 15

Rift Station

Quarantine Labs and Maintenance Access

It took all of five seconds to convince Ventralis that his survival rate would decrease dramatically if they weren't allowed through quarantine. Even better, they saw Han Olar upon arrival. They didn't have Ryan's knack for "speaking mask," but the PTSD was obvious clear, even through the suit.

The bulbous alien turned to face them. "You came to find out about them, didn't you?"

Cole raised an eyebrow. "You know what they are?" As nice as it would be to get answers, he wasn't sure how stable this little guy was. 

Han Olar stood completely still for a moment before he spoke again. There was zero trace of emotion in his voice. "Of course I know that they're rachni. I'm the one from the hot labs, after all."

The reactions were all across the board. Alex winced in pain from another vision-induced episode, indicating that they were definitely on the right track. Wrex gave a low growl, insulted that his ancestors' nemesis was still alive. Liara gasped, unable to believe what she had heard. Garrus' mandibles flared in anger. He was all for Noveria's lack of scrutiny, but this went way too far. Cole's reaction was the least impressive. "What the hell's a rachni?"

The volus took a breath. "If you haven't died yet, then you already know what they are." 

Wrex snarled. "We know what they are, genius. My people died by the millions to exterminate those bugs! How the hell are they still alive?"

Not even reacting to the angry krogan next to him , Han Olar merely took another breath. "They found it in a derelict ship. An egg. Waiting since the last battles. They brought it here-" 

Over in the far corner, a human scientist began to complain in a nasal tone. "Shut up! Damn, do you wanna get us killed?"

Turning to the man, the volus' monotone continued. "I don't have any control over who... lives or dies here. Do you?"

A turian scientist rounded on Han Olar now. "If you're gonna be crazy, be the quiet kind!"

The resident sociopath fixed the turian with a glare. "You got something against crazy? Choose your answer carefully, because I happen to be downright psychotic."

Nobody said a word. Not even Han Olar. Conversation over, the squad headed into quarantine. That's when it hit Cole. "What kind of rachni egg would be the most valuable?"

Alex's eyes widened when he realized where Cole was going with this. "A queen. They were breeding a fucking rachni army here. Then things went to hell, as per the usual in a morally ambiguous science facility."

Garrus clicked his mandibles. "The only question is what's the connection to Saren?"

Liara sighed. "And how does my mother fit in?"

Three seconds after the quarantine door had locked behind them, Alex figured it our. "Biotic-enhanced allele-specific hybridization... That little bitch! The rachni queen contains something in her genetic memory about the Conduit, and Saren sent Benezia here to get it." 

Cole sighed as the pieces began to fall into place. "One problem at a time. Let's just get that cure for now."

Alex smirked. That he could do.

Two minutes later

The former geneticist grinned. "I've got it. The cure will be ready in a moment." He continued typing away at the keypad. "I gotta say, in terms of potency, only two other bio-weapons surpass this little guy."

Curiousity won over, and Garrus asked. "Which ones are they?"

Alex laughed as he took out the vial of antidote, handing it to Liara for safe keeping. "Here's a hint: I'm infected with one, and every krogan in the galaxy is infected with the other." Wrex sat in the corner, pretending not to enjoy Garrus' awkward suffering.

They all took defensive stances when the door opened and Alestia Iallis stormed in flanked by geth. "End of the line for you guys."

Garrus slammed the tungsten mod into his sniper rifle. "Wanna bet?"

Cole raised his arms, lightning streaming. "What the hell does Benezia need from the rachni?"

Alestia wore a haughty grin. "You won't live long enough to care. I've been ordered to eliminate you, should the opportunity arise. And here you are, trapped in this lab." Her biotics flared. "Weapons free!"

Liara raised a barrier to protect the antidote. She wouldn't be able to help in this fight. The others could do plenty, though. "Keep your fire away from the asari!" Alex yelled. "She's mine!"

Heeding the hunter's command, Cole, Wrex, and Garrus pounded the geth backup with ranged strikes. Meanwhile, Alex simply strode right through the barrage of gunfire, completely ignoring any bullets that hit him.

Eyes widening in fear, Alestia hurled a biotic throw at the Animal of Akuze. Unfortunately, Alex was immune to mass-raising and mass-lowering biotic fields. When the former struck him, he simply decreased his weight like he did to glide, and when the latter hit him, Alex increased his weight considerably, rendering the field useless. Either way, Alestia was screwed, and she knew it.

Spraying assault rifle directly into her aggressor's torso, Alestia watched in horror as he gun overheated without even making him flinch. In a last ditch effort, she deployed a warp field that caught Alex square in the chest. That affected him. 

Spatial distortion was the only field of biotics that he couldn't resist. It shredded things at the molecular level, which completely disrupted his ability to rebuild on a cellular level. A large portion of his sternum and ribcage sloughed off disintegrated. Of course, he had enough biomass in reserve that she had done little more than piss him off. 

The hooded sociopath gave the woman a light kick in the shin. Of course, light by his standards was enough to snap her leg in half. Screaming, she began to fall to the ground, only for Alex to swiftly reach out and catch her by the scalp crest. Liara winced, knowing that had to hurt. 

Perfectly imitating a Welsh accent, Alex smirked and said, "Let's play football, bitch!"

He brought his foot up to meet her skull, caving it in instantly. Tendrils stretched out, and Alex consumed the fresh kill, healing his injuries from the warp and sending him into the Web of Intrigue

======================================

Web of Intrigue Node 392

Alestia Iallis

Matriarch Benezia: You are to eliminate the Spectre and his compatriots if an opportunity presents itself. Though I doubt it will even come to that.

Alestia Iallis: You have other plans in motion, Lady Benezia?

Matriarch Benezia: Yes. I've ordered that fool, Captain Ventralis, to convince them that I've gone to the hot labs. Even he should be capable of that much. Should they survive, they will be at death's door, and Ventralis' men will finish them off easily.

Alestia Iallis: Then I am a contingency?

Matriarch Benezia: You are a huntress. You will infiltrate, and if need be, assassinate. And if you must go through Ventralis' men to discreetly terminate the Spectre, then don't hesitate. A few human lives are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

Alestia Iallis: I will not fail you, my Lady.

End of Node 392

======================================

Alex took a moment to collect himself. Turning to Liara, he asked, "Are all asari commandos that skilled?"

"They are. Why do you ask, Alex?"

"Because Benezia's personal guard is entirely Nova-class." He glared. "And that bastard Ventralis is a traitor!"

======================================

Noveria

Peak 15

Rift Station

Main Barricade

Ventralis was getting annoyed. First, that damn Spectre hadn't taken the bait, now Alestia had been radio silent for too long. She'd had the perfect opportunity to kill MacGrath and his allies in the quarantine labs, and with her talents, the job should be finished by now. Benezia was paying him a lot to look the other way if she killed that guard by quarantine. Asari work with infiltration and sabotage, and she had easily fooled all these supposed "geniuses." It couldn't possibly be that difficult for Alestia outsmart some Spectre punk.

If that was the case, then where the hell was she? Ventralis was deliberating whether or not to contact the commando, but a flash of blue tore right into the barricade, saving him the trouble.

"Captain?" It was Alestia, but he'd never nervous. Nothing scared her because nothing could touch her. "What're you talking about? What's coming for me?"

"That thing! The hooded guy with the Spectre. He's not human, Ventralis. He doesn't die! He's coming this way, and he's going to kill us all!" 

Motioning for every guard in the room to watch the door, he took Alestia aside. "How did he find out about me? Did you say anything?" He doubted it. Alestia would gloat about her skills, but she wasn't careless.

The asari's panicked expression instantly changed to a sadistic grin. Ventralis parctically shat gold when she began to speak with a familiar New York male's voice. "People like me have other ways of learning the truth." 

Comprehension hadn't even sunk in when a hand plunged through the captain's stomach and out his back, lifting him off the ground. Alestia Iallis slowly disappeared in a writhing mass of black flesh, replaced by the terrifying visage of one pissed off Alex Mercer. "Surprise." He said, tossing Ventralis' body aside to bleed out.

The rest of the guards opened fire in an uncoordinated panic, spraying bullets all across Alex's side of the room. Alex stood there, casually shifting to his claws and pretending to pick something out of his teeth. Eventually, all their guns were overheated, and they hadn't so much as fazed him. Smiling psychotically, the virus said, "My turn..." 

======================================

SSV Normandy 

Crew Deck 

CO Quarters

Ryan was concerned. 

Normally this statement accompanied a room full of dead bodies and a blaring alarm, but in this case, he was concerned about something a bit more philosophical.

They were becoming too attached to Shepard's territory. This was just another job, yet they had laid down actual roots over the years they had spent here. In the past month alone, they had become part of the galaxy's most elite organization, formed several lasting friendships, taken control of a prototype warship, and more. Between the Prothean vision burnt into Alex and Ryan's minds, and the fact that Cole recovered his ice powers here on Noveria, the three of them would be indelibly bound to this territory, regardless of when they were done with the job.

More proof lay in the source of Ryan's immediate concern. Cortana had forwarded him a message she had taken from a private terminal in the Embassies as payback for the paperwork. Apparently, a small but fanatical commune of biotics had been established in the Hawking Eta Cluster, and they were sending open invitations. It was't the purpose of the message that caught the Rapture-spawn's attention, but rather the sender's name. 

Major Kyle of the Systems Alliance Navy. Honorably discharged. Now he ran a crazed cult of biotics. Ryan normally wouldn't give a crap about this kind of thing, but now it was different. Unlike Cole's grudge, which Ryan would only take responsibility for in absolute privacy, Major Kyle's hatred was born from perspective. Where the former Alliance officer had seen a massacre, Ryan, Anderson, Hackett, and half of the brass at Arcturus saw a crushing victory over the batarians and their pirate allies. It was strange, and not like Ryan at all, but he wanted to see the Major and find some of the closure that was lost when Unique Shepard had sent them forward by five years.

That was another thing that concerned the Splicer King. Normal jobs were completed in weeks. Lengthy jobs took a couple of months. They had been here for years, and that was before going to Eden Prime. Now they had a sense of the real job, but they weren't even close to bringing down Saren yet.

How much did Shepard actually do for this galaxy? Were the Supernovas nearing the end of the job? Or had they hardly scratched the surface?

======================================

Noveria 

Peak 15

Rift Station

Maintenance Access

While Alex was cleaning house, Cole and the others had spent their time keeping some measure of order. With Ventralis dead and his men left in little pieces, the scientists would need protection. No longer required to maintain a low profile, the conduit froze off any possible entrance the rachni could use, ensuring the scientists' safety. The ice he used to block off the vents was porous enough to let in air, but sturdy enough to keep out any 'contaminants' as Mira still called them.

Then, while Garrus and Liara calmed down the crowd of panicking nerds, Cole delivered the antidote to Dr. Cohen. He informed the microbiologist of the situation before sealing the med lab shut and draining the power to the door at the top of the stairs. When everything was dealt with, he'd recharge it, but for now the doctor was safest in isolation with his patients.

All that had stood in their way was a lone Rachni in the maintenance area, and it lasted all of three seconds against a certain krogan's shotgun. "Technology's improved while you've been dead for these past seventeen centuries, insect," Wrex grumbled.

Once Alex returned they all strode unimpeded through the bowels of the station. Cole was leading the way by tracking any and all signs of life via his radar pulse. He faintly sensed geth, but in the next room he could clearly detect two very distinct life signs. One of them was, without a doubt, Matriarch Benezia. That meant the other was likely the Rachni Queen.

Halting before the door, Cole turned to face the squad. "Showtime. What's the plan?"

Alex's neutral expression did little to hide his fury. "Our enemies are wearing light armor, and they're heavy-hitters in the telekinesis department. What do you think my plan is?"

Cole knew what Alex was referring to. The Dromund Kaas job. With everything at stake, Alex, Cole, and Desmond Miles had brought the entire Sith Empire to its knees by raising sheer hell. A lightly-armored, psychokinetic adversary was formidable, but by using tactics that punished the dark warriors' preference for mobility over true defense, they died all the same. Groundspikes and lightning storms devastated the complex, bringing it down on their enemies' heads. The few remaining survivors between them and the Emperor were reduced to empty shells by the power of the Apple, which Old Man Pendragon himself had permitted for use on that job. The Emperor, of course, was a powerful Supernova, but while trying to suspend the roof that Alex tried to drop on him and defending against an unending horizontal column of lightning, Desmond actually had time to walk up and say "Requiescat in pace" before killing the Dark Lord.

They had all been more than a little pissed off that it hadn't actually been the Emperor.

Cole sighed. "Alex just gave you the green light to do whatever it take to win. Use illegal ammo mods. Gouge eyes. Abuse any conveniently-placed crates and explosives. Enhance your physical blows with biotics if you have them. Hell, Wrex. If eating them actually does the trick then by all means do it. Just. Win." 

Slowly, they all nodded in agreement. Liara hesitated, steeled herself for what was to come, and finally nodded. It was showtime.

Alex cracked his neck and kicked the door right off its hydraulic hinges. They rushed into the room. Garrus clambered for a decent sniper's perch among the catwalks. Cole ice launched over to the other side of the chamber, ready to fry anything that came in from the far door. Wrex stayed at the entrance covering their six. Alex maintained a protective stance in front of Liara, unsure of how the Matriarch would react to her daughter's presence.

Acting as if the intrusion was beneath her notice, Benezia continued to admire the Rachni Queen. Then she began to speak in a tone that sounded a little bit off in Alex's opinion. "You do now know the privilege of being a mother." The voice of Elizabeth Greene raging inside Alex's head said otherwise. She continued her monologue. "There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn it towards happiness or despair." The Matriarch's fervor increased, but the deadness of her tone remained. "Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies."

"Yeah," Alex deadpanned. "Because all the others you've sent to 'hunt and slay Saren's enemies' have done fantastic job. Speaking of which, why is your daughter on that list?"

Benezia seemed like she had only just realized there were others present. Turning towards Alex, she scoffed. "I will not be moved by sympathy, no matter who you bring into this confrontation."

Alex growled. "You lost the right to sympathize when I was saving your daughter from geth, krogan, and an exploding volcano while you were cozying up to a deranged turian!" Calming down, the virus continued. "Liara, on the other hand, has every right to feel sorry for you. She's been with us long enough to know how this will go down."

Matriarch Benezia looked more amused than anything else. "Indeed? What have you told them about me Liara?"

On the verge of tears, Liara desperately search for the proper words to direct at a mother she had not spoken to in years. "What could I say, mother?" she choked out. The asari maiden glared. "That you're insane? Evil? Should I explain how to kill you? What could I say?!"

The hooded man placed a hand in front of Liara, symbolically shielding her from the source of her pain. He glared at Benezia. "It's alright Liara. You didn't have to say anything." His psychotic grin slowly crept back onto his face. "Besides, what good would it do too 'explain' how to kill her? I don't like to brag, but I'm pretty good at making things die." 

The Matriarch rolled her eyes. "Tell me, Alex Mercer. Have you faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have."

Cole began to howl with laughter from his end of the room. "Lady, do you really think a squad of biotic prima donnas can stop us? They sent two human Spectres after Saren, and only one of them even bothered to show up for you! In all seriousness though," he grinned. "Have you faced the Blacklight Virus before? Millions have, and they're all dead."

Having spoken enough, the elder asari wreathed herself in biotics, obviously preparing for battle. Cole felt his stomach sink into his shoes. "Alex..."

Yeah, yeah," the virus replied, though he didn't move an inch.

Benezia whipped out with both arms, casting a biotic stasis field across the entire room. It caught Cole, Wrex, Garrus, and Liara, leaving them totally vulnerable.

Alex forced his weight to decrease and jumped clear of the mass-raising field. Opening with a stasis implied the worst. Summoning his versatile blade, the predator roared, "Benezia is Supernova-class!" Over by the door Cole was blocking, that asari commando unit the Matriarch had mention began to enter the room with geth backing them up. "Oh, this just keeps getting better!" the sociopath yelled in frustration.

With commandos and synthetics closing in, Cole was running through all option in his head at lightning speed (A/N: Pun intended). He had chosen this position to keep Benezia in the room while blowing away any reinforcements before they could even reach the door. Now he was frozen in place, and in a few seconds, they'd fill him with plasma. Then he remembered the most important factor of mass effect fields:

There was electricity involved. Technology ran an electrical current through eezo via dark energy, altering the charge and magnitude of the current to change the nature of the resulting field. Biotics created their fields biologically, but the laws of electromagnetism still applied in full. Not only that, but any mass effect field created some static charge. Those last two facts could seriously work in his favor. 

Acting fast, Cole began to pump his own lightning into the stasis field. Unstable bolts of electricity arced everywhere, overloading nearby geth and attracting the attention of the asari commandos, leaving them wide open for Alex. Now in complete control of the field, Cole restored his own movement and spark-stepped away. In the conduit's absence, the unstable nexus of dark energy did the predictable thing.

BOOM

With the commandos in disarray, they made easy prey for a certain viral hunter while Cole carefully drained the stasis field off of his three allies. It was now clear that he was their best weapon against enemy biotics. Alex was largely immune, but Cole owned the mass effect phenomenon at a fundamental level.

Cole unleashed his gigawatt blades and took control. "Garrus and Wrex, you get the geth. I've got the commandos. Liara, provide barrier support where you can. Alex? No playing with your food. Now let's go!"

Benezia remained unimpressed and attempted to cast a second stasis field. Before she could, a powerful biotic push interrupted her and knocked the Matriarch into the glass wall behind her. She had thought it was the krogan battlemaster, but the oaf was too busy fighting Saren's loyal machines. Curiously, the brute had no qualms about working alongside that hotheaded turian, Garrus Vakarian. That left only one person who could have struck her like that:

Liara T'Soni. Her own daughter.

Beneiza's mask of indifference took on a bit of edge. Her daughter's skill become impressive over the years, but she had chosen the wrong side. It was time for some long-overdue disciplinary action. Flaring her biotics, she telekinetically raised Liara into the air before effortlessly flinging her towards the far wall. 

There was no collision, however. Alex flipped through the air with unnatural grace, catching Liara in his arms as if she weighed nothing.

"My, my," Benezia mocked. "It seems that my daughter has a protector." Now with a clear target, she directed all forces at the younger T'Soni.

Putting the maiden down, Alex whipped out the blade again, carving a line into the floor in front of him. It was fairly obvious what would happen to anything stupid enough to come near the line, let alone cross it. 

None made it that far. This was a squad that looked after its own. They were crazy, maybe, but they were in this together.

Wrex, gripped by blood rage, charged into the fray, barrier up and shotgun booming. Each time the krogan pulled the trigger, he blew something apart. When his gun overheated, Wrex was instantly being pounded from all sides by asari and geth. Roaring, the battlemaster switched to his secondary weapon: brute force. Stampeding down the walkway, the krogan rammed a cluster of geth with the force of a truck, shattering their frames on impact. Wrex clotheslined two commandos that failed to move in time, pulverizing their bodies from the waist up, before his shotgun finally cooled down, and he started the entire process from the beginning.

Garrus, having found a decent vantage point, was mercilessly putting round after round in their enemies' heads. Since Wrex was the biggest target, Garrus focused on whatever the krogan wasn't currently looking at. With both of them using weapons with slow rates of fire, the turian timed his shots in between Wrex's to make sure that the killing never let up. How could anyone do that to their daughter? Yeah, his own father detested Garrus' approach to law enforcement, but all he did was keep him from daughter? but all he did was keep him from applying for the Spectres. There was a huge difference between something like that and what Benezia had just tried to do to Liara. He only wished he had a clear shot at the treacherous Matriarch from his position...

Cole was ruining just about everyone's day. Counter-biotic combat did little to drain his supply of electricity, so he was in no danger of tiring out anytime soon. Firing a pair of rockets down one walkway, he turned to his right as another commando tried to hit him with a biotic throw. Hitting the field with his own shockwave. Cole sent the throw back with interest, blowing apart that entire corner of the room. As a geth sniper took position with an assassination strike, Cole beat it to the punch with a precision bolt, followed by a cluster grenade that blew it apart and scrapped the rest of its friends too. One more asari attempted to get in close from behind and finish him, only to watch as he spark-stepped behind her and lifted her off the ground with his gigawatt blades, frying her central nervous system. All that remained were a couple of commandos guarding Benezia herself. It didn't take a genius to figure out who got dibs there.

Alex walked forward menacingly. Liara could only watch as he looped his right arm over, behind, and around one commando's neck, snapping it with an upward tug. The other huntress put her rifle to his head and pulled the trigger, not letting go until the gun overheated. The headless humanoid face, the virus stepped up to Benezia, ignored her every biotic attack completely, grabbed her by the throat, and pinned her to the wall hard enough to crack the glass. 

She didn't struggle, but she remained unafraid. "Well? What are you waiting for, abomination? You know how to find the answers you seek." When Alex didn't respond, she goaded him again. "Even if you kill me for the answers I possess, it won't change a thing. Saren is unstoppable. Who knows? Maybe you'll realize as well that if you consumed me." 

Dropping the Matriarch on the floor, Alex snarled. "Do you think that I'm actually gonna do that to you with your daughter standing fifteen feet away? It'll traumatize Liara for the rest of her life!" He stepped back and pointed at Cole. "This guy can make you talk regardless of loyalty. I'm just here to know why don't even care about you own child!"

Only now did the pair of Supernovas notice a flickering in Benezia's eyes. It was a very familiar symptom to them from their jobs in Revan's territory that implied the subject was attempting to resist mental conditioning or brainwashing. Now that Alex thought about it, she had been showing all the signs of mind control. The deadness of her voice, the robotic movements, the fanatical loyalty to Saren, and the major lack of reaction to a crushing defeat all indicated that her willwas being dominated by another's. They had to act fast, or they'd lose her completely.

"Hey!" Cole yelled. "We can see you struggling in there! Come out and talk to us," he raised a sparking hand. "Or I'm coming in!"

"No..." the Matriarch moaned. "You will not make me betray him... I..." Her eyes snapped open and her movements instantly became fluid, yet rushed. She didn't have long.

With a broken, yet commanding, tone, Benezia got right to the point. "I don't know how you can tell, but you were right. I can fight his compulsions briefly, having sealed away a part of my mind for the right moment, but the indoctrination is strong."

Alex's head exploded with pain at the mention of indoctrination. "Yep," he rasped. "We're definitely on the right track. Now what the hell is 'indoctrination'?" 

Benezia's face became somber. "People are not themselves around Saren. You come to idolize him. Worship him. You would do anything for him." She raised her hands to hold off questions. "The key is Soveregin, his flagship. It is a dreadnought of incredible size, and its power is extraordinary."

Working through the pain that came with the ship's name, Alex formed another question. "That's the massive metal cuttlefish from Eden Prime, right? What's so special about it?"

"Thoughts echo strangely within Sovereign. Its rooms are built at unsettling angles." Benezia took on an expression that clearly showed remembering every wretched moment she spent on that ship. "The longer you stay aboard, the more Saren's will seems correct. You sit at his feet and smile as his words pour into you." She smiled with zero true happiness. "It is subtle at first. I had thought myself strong enough to resist. Instead, I became a willing tool, eager to serve."

The Matriarch shook her head, trying to get back on track with what little time was left. "Saren sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay. Its position was lost thousands of years ago."

Alex chuckled darkly, putting all the pieces together. "The ancient rachni knew its location." He gestured to the specimen contained in the middle of the room. "The queens are given the genetic memory of their predecessors. They're susceptible to biotics, and you took what you needed from its mind by force. I'm all too familiar with that last bit." He extended his hand. "We need that information Benezia. It's now or never."

Stumbling like somebody that hadn't walked on their own for ages, Benezia handed the OSD to Alex. The virus passed it back to Garrus, since he ran the smallest risk of damaging it in a fight.

Cole remained thoughtful. "The relay is a good start, but it hardly narrows down his plans, to say nothing about his destination."

The asari Matriarch sighed apologetically. Saren wouldn't tell me where he was going from there. But you must act quickly, as I had already transmitted that information to him before you arrived."

Then it happened. The flicker was back, and Benezia's expression became conlicted. It was the sign that resisting the mind control - or indoctrination in this case - was about to become an effort in futility. "Ahh! His teeth are at my ear! Fingers on my spine! You should... Ah! You should..." She was grasping her head in confusion and pain.

Liara couldn't take it anymore. "Mother! I... Please don't leave me! Fight him!"

The Matriarch turned to her daughter with a look of unconditional love. "You have always made me pround, Liara." 

Alex tensed. A declaration like that wasn't a good sign at all. "Cole, do it!"

In perfect imitation of Kessler, the conduit was on Benezia in a second. Bringing his right hand up to grab her by the face, Cole forced his way in, just like his future self had done so often. Digging into the asari's mind, he searched her nervous system for a way to break this "indoctrination" crap. He didn't have to look very hard. 

He felt the last vestiges of Benezia's free will get dragged beneath a mountion of interference. Cole had a hard time believing that a ship was causing this. Then he heard it echo throughout her head. That sound from Eden Prime. 

WWWAAAAHHHNNNNN!

With milliseconds to spare, Cole released a jolt in the direction of that noise and hope for the best. Kessler had always been better at this...

The force of being kicked out of Benezia's mind was strong enough to knock Cole flat on his ass in the physical world. Looking around, Benezia was just standing there, but there was a final wave of enemies looking for a fight.

Cole grinned. "Alex!" he called. The virus looked at him. "Back to back!"

Nodding, Alex motioned for everyone to gather by the unresponsive Matriarch, while he and Cole stood outside the central chamber and faced opposite sides of the hallway. Cole gathered a veritable storm in his hand, and Alex focused his biomass for a devastator. 

When all forces had made it into their lines of fire, they unleashed hell. Cole hit them with Kessler's trademark lightning pillar, a massive stream of white electricity. In the other direction, Alex fired off his critical pain devastator, a combination of compressed air and biomass. Their opponents ceased to exist. That just left the mother. She had obviously fallen back under the effects of indoctrination, and there was no reasoning with her this time. As much as it pained him to do this in front of Liara, Alex struck the Matriarch with the flat of his blade, crushing most of her vitals.

Benezia just lay there. "I cannot sustain myself any longer. I'll remain a prisoner to indoctrination as long as I live, so let me die free." Glaring at Alex with all the imposing authority the Matriarch had possessed before joining Saren, she said, "Take care of my daughter, Alexander J. Mercer. I can say in this moment of clarity that she means more to me than anything."

Liara began to cry again. "Mother..." 

Benezia sighed, "Goodnight, Little Wing. I will see you again with the dawn." And that was the end.

As Liara cried out in agony, nobody said a word. Cole was ashamed that he had failed to stop whatever was crawling inside her head. Alex didn't know what to feel. He wasn't good at remorse, and he didn't know whether to comfort Liara or give the girl space from the monster that killed her mother.

Suddenly, one of the dead commandos was walking by them, jerking about like a marionette on a string. Everyone expcept Alex flipped out. The virus knew that the Queen wished to speak with them.

The twitching asari spoke in a voice that was almost poetic. "This one... serves as our... voice. We cannot sing. Not in these low spaces. Your musics are... colorless." 

As the only other hive mind in the room, Alex did the talking, but not through normal means, Placing one hand before the asari's eyes, much like Greene had once done to him, he formed a link with her that made words unnecessary. Out of respect, Alex and the queen continued to speak loud enough for the rest of the squad to hear. She told them her story. 

She told them about how Binary Helix stole her children to breed them for war. Such an act would only drive them mad without the queen's "singing" to calm them down. All those rachni in the hot labs were little more than really smart animals, and as such, they needed to die. Luckily, Cole had made arrangements back while Ventralis was dying slowly...

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Noveria 

Peak 15

Hot Labs

"Last one out, get the lights!" Ryan yelled. He'd just authorized the neutron purge, and there was no way in hell he was making a run for that elevator. Flipping off the dozens of rachni that were about to swarm him, the Splicer King teleported back to the Normandy, and the whole damn place burnt worse than Vault 87. 

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 Noveria

Peak 15 

Rift Station

Rachni Queen Room

Of course, that still left the queen herself. She told them of how the ancient rachni never meant to fight, but rather, their music was drowned out by a sour yellow note. So what did that mean for her? "What will you sing?" She asked. "Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?"

Everyone in the room was shouting their opinions immediately. "Quiet!" Alex screamed. "I'm just as dangerous as her. If I so chose, I could unleash an unstoppable infection. If you had the chance, would you kill me if I were in that tube? Or would you trust me not to bring the universe to its knees?" Nobody said a word. "That's what I thought. And don't worry Wrex. If this comes back to bite me in the ass, I'll kill them all myself. You know I can."

This seemed to satisfy all parties, and before dropping to the ground, the asari promised peace, isolation, and songs of Alex's compassion. That last one irked him. He really was going soft.

The queen's containment chamber rose, and with a last look at her savior, she took off for Noveria's wilderness and parts unknown.

So much had happened in so little time that nobody felt the need to say a word. But the moment they were back on the tram, Liara broke down completely, clutching Alex's "jacket" like her life depended on it. Glaring at the rest of the room's occupants, daring them to say anything, he awkwardly put a hand on her back. He slowly rubbed it, knowing from memories that definitely weren't his own that this would comfort her in her pain and loss. 

They stayed like this all the way back to Port Hanshan.

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New Solara

Station of Nostalgia

"I knew Alex would let the Rachni Queen live." The Commander said to Revan.

"No you didn't." the "fallen" Jedi replied. "You were worried the entire time."

The Unique didn't deny it. "At the very least, I hope they have better luck with that bug down the road..." 

Revan laughed. "As do I, my friend."

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Sorry it was so late. I would have updated earlier but my account wasn't working lately. 

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