"Anything down that hallway?" Ghost asked, looking down the door that was originally opened when the Cerberus troops arrived

"I'll send in a drone." Val replied, activating her combat drone to scout out the hallway ahead. "No enemies detected. At least up until the bridge." She says, before an explosion was heard. "Damn it! Cryark's lost a damn leg, and we've gotten casualties across the damn board! Someone get them to cover!" Merrick had yelled out, the sound of heavy gunfire being heard. "God damn it! Sil, wake up! Wake up!" He heard, before it was cut off by whoever 'Jade' was. "Oh, poor crew. Lost body parts, and I think someone's dead. Too bad when this Subspace bomb is activated, all that'll be left of this ship and the Alliance is a really big black hole." 'Jade' replied, cutting off the comms. Of course, this prompted Kayla to get pissed, stomping through the hallway with the M-23 Katana in her hand, as she made her way through the door to the bridge, blasting any Cerberus forces in her way. "Wait, Shepard!" Ashley yelled, her, Kaidan and Kasumi chasing after her. "Be advised, we're reaching the command bridge of the station; any progress on Hackett?" Coats asked. "Cerberus forces are at half-strength on our end!" Anderson had yelled out.

"What the hell is going on?!" Ghost yelled, running after Shepard with Serendipity right behind her. The pilots, grunts, Geth and Invictus crew rushed down the hallway towards the bridge, gunning down any Cerberus in front of them

"Ghost? Shit, we've got way too much injured here; we can't hold out at the hangar for much longer! They're raining Atlases on us!" He replied, before the comms shorten out. Kayla, on the other hand, was way ahead, up to the bridge of the door, which she proceeded to bioticaly charge over and over again.

"STOP!" Noble skidded to a halt, and the large group of people came to a halt. "WE NEED TO HELP THEM!" Noble spun around, sprinting towards the hangar Bay "Fúck, fúck." Serendipity ran after him, with the geth close behind "NO! Hackett is prior-" "NOT OVER OUR FAMILY!" The Militia troops went towards the hangar, but Ghost turned, rushing after Kayla

Gia had went with Ghost, considering that she needed to know if Hackett's alive or not. Val and Miranda had went with Serendipity and the rest. --------------------- The group that came down to the hangar would've seen three Atlases, engaging whatever remained of the Alliance forces, Merrick huddled behind a destroyed Kodiak, heavily breathing, while firing his Bastion in handgun mode. Silsia laid in his lap, barely being able to hold her Acolyte shotgun, much less breath for much longer. Cryark was near them, leg blown out from some kind of explosion, as he yelled in pain. Peacekeeper was nearby, defending them with his shield, and Cheryl was busy firing akimbo M-5 Phalanxes to cover them. An M-920 Cain Nuclear Launcher laid nearby for use. ------------------------------ The five (Ghost, Kasumi, Ashley, Kaidan, and Gia) had met up with Kayla, who was banging the door to the bridge furiously, considering she was temporarily out of her biotic energy. "JADE!!" She yelled through the door, looking to be on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"ARC GRENADES OUT!" Noble yelled, sliding behind cover as several grenades exploded into electric charges underneath the feet of the Atlases. Serendipity jumped over the cover, rushing directly through the center of the warzone, running towards Cryark. "SERENDIPITY!" The remaining 24 or so Geth troops opened up fire on the Atlases and any other troops that were in the bay ------- "SHEPARD!" Ghost pulled Shephard away from the door and threw her to the ground, pointing his blaster at her head. "CALM DOWN! Alright?!"

"What the hell is that turian even doing?!" Miranda had yelled out, rushing after her by putting up a biotic barrier, Val firing as many Incinerates as she could, whilst firing her M-3 Predator toward the enemy. "F***....god damn it!" Cryark yelled, as Merrick yelled into the comms for the Deimos to extract them. -------------------------- Unlike the last time, in which her eyes were brown, this time, they were pure red, mostly out of rage. "She's going to kill us all! I have to kill her!" Kayla yelled out. The bridge door automatically opened, revealing Hackett locked to some sort of contraption, electrocuting him ever so often. Someone else was in the admiral's seat, admiring (?) the view of Arcturus Station and the sun behind it. "You really think Maya is the one behind this, don't you, my sister?" Jade asks, still facing the back of the chair toward them. Hacked Geth went to work on its defenses, a massive grey bomb with an X on the front right in the middle of the bridge. She laughs after this, smiling. "I want what everyone else wants; the evolution of humanity. Even if it means merging humanity and machines into one..." Jade had said, Kayla still seething with rage from being held by Ghost. The four simply looked in shock at what she said.

Serendipity fell to her knees besides Cryark, her Avenger clattered to the ground. She hugged Cryark, clutching him against her stomach "Please don't die... Please..." "MIRANDA!" Noble sprinted after his love, but an explosion sent him flying and crashing across the ground. He skidded to a halt some feet away. The Arc grenades took the Atlases down for a brief moment, their systems were scrambled. Lillith' flew into the air, firing at one of the Atlas mechs and quite literally causing the metal to melt away Maya moved forward, and one of the Atlas mechs disappeared as Maya "Phaselocked it" When it was returned, a large metal pipe went through its back and protruded from its chest. The Atlas fell to its knees and shut off. The Militia troops began firing at any Cerberus agents, and grenades exploded about the bay --------- "Let me tell you something about Synthesis." Ghost said, lowering the blaster rifle and looking at "Jade" "That shit doesn't work." He laughed a little bit, shaking his head at her naivety

"S....seren..dip...p...p..." Cryark barely got out before being knocked out, dropping his Barrager Rifle. "Serendipity-Turian, friendly Alliance reinforcements incoming!" Peacekeeper had replied, as the sound of multiple jumps was heard from the vast battle above space. Miranda looked back and realized that Noble was injured. "NOBLE!" She yelled, before a bullet lodged into her right hip, bringing her down near the Spartan. Val went up to the two, trying to lift either of them up. "Sir, reinforcements have been diverged for extraction, sir." Some Alliance soldier had said on the other end of their comms, as multiple ships jumped through to the hangar, two being very familiar... "Holy shit, it's the Normandy and Deimos!" One of the soldiers said, as both ships opened fire on the hangar, the Cerberus soldiers dropping dead. As a Hispanic-looking man jumped out of the Normandy along with a bunch of soldiers, Lia and Velinnea opened the door to the Deimos, firing their respective weapons. "Come on!" Vel had yelled out to the group. -------------------------------------- "Are you sure about that?" 'Jade' had asked, turning the chair around to reveal...well, [url=http://68.media.tumblr.com/ef6362452977b9d9b5dcd9bec4dc5f62/tumblr_n6eod9Qtgj1sj0sl6o1_400.png]her[/url], another Shepard, except for one key difference... Her eyes were glowing green, almost synthetic-like data flowing through her face. The Geth's one eyepiece on the bridge was also green. "Because last time I checked, Synthesis has allowed me to become a living God. These Geth bow to my every whim, no matter what; I'm their savior...unlike you, Kayla, who'd destroy the Reapers and for what? Taking out EDI and the Geth along with it? Cause mass genocide on every species in your Milky Way?" Jade Shepard explained, getting up from the seat. "Because of all this...because you decided it would be a REALLY good idea to go ahead and rescue poor Hackett when my true master is going after the Krogan and Aria....I'll leave you with an option...right, Master?" She says, before a hologram of a familiar man appeared behind them. "Agreed, Jade." The Illusive Man replied behind them as a hologram. "While you were busy dealing with the situation here, I've already planned the first stages of the return of the one thing that not even Shepard could've destroyed...so as she had said, I've given you a choice." He responds, Jade making a run for an escape pod, Ashley and Kayla on her tail. "You cold stop your friend from potentially killing another Shepard...or perhaps you'd like the Alliance to stay in one piece." He responds. "Don't overstay your welcome, Ghost." The Illusive Man disappeared, as two of the Geth were forced up to the bomb, pulling it out, as a small, controlled (for now) black hole laid in the center of it. The timer ticked 5 minutes until detonation. [spoiler]-Save Hackett and defuse the bomb. (???) -Stop Kayla and Ashley from killing Jade (???)[/spoiler]

Serendipity pulled the legless Turian along the ground, going towards the ship. She looked back at the turian, then doubled over and vomited. She took a deep breath, before continuing onwards towards the ship and pulling him aboard. Noble coughed violently for a moment before getting to his knees and pushing Val towards Miranda, crawling towards his lover. Together, Noble and Val were able to get Miranda up and into the Deimos ship. Lillith and Maya were laughing maniacally as the two of them obliterated the remaining Atlas mech and any Cerberus forces that remained. The Invictus landed inside the hangar as well, besides the Normandy and Deimos. The Militia troops ran towards the three ships inside the hangar, boarding any one of the three. However, the Geth troops remained in the bay, firing at any Cerberus agents that were still around, clearing the way for those retreating. ----------- "Shit..." Ghost's blaster fired off two shots, which tore through the Geth chests and took them down. The Mandalorian walked towards the bomb, looking for any hints as to how to defuse it

Everyone else boarded the remaining ships, as the Cerberus forced below were getting hammered, most of their forces...well, pulverized. "I...I..." Cryark had tried to say. Merrick and the rest were too...well, sad to worry about or day anything for the matter. ------------------ The wires connected directly to the torture mechanism Hackett was chained to...

The Invictus floated into the air and did a 180, leaving the hangar and entering the spacial battle once more. "You what?" Serendipity asked, flustered as she clutched at Cyrak. ------ Ghost found what he was looking for, cutting the wires of the bomb and defusing it? Maybe?

Before he could say anything, he blacked out, most likely from the loss of blood in his leg less part. "All forces; Arcturus Station defenses have been reactivated; Cerberus is in full retreat, I repeat; they are in full retreat!" Coats replied from comms. "Same on our end; but...why?" Anderson had replied on his end...someone would have to get comms so they would answer. ----------------- It...seemed to have worked, as the bomb deactivated, and shut itself... and then disappeared? Kaidan had grabbed the barely breathing Hackett. "What do we do now?" He asks Ghost.

"They are essentially defeated." It was Iseph that spoke to Anderson through comes, sounding matter-of-fact as usual. "Their numbers are severely dwindled, nearly 60 percent of their forces here have been eliminated." ------ "We got to get out here. Towards an extraction. Escape pod, maybe a dropship or something."

"80 percent of their fleets are destroyed on our end; the rest jumped out of orbit." Anderson responded. ------------------------------ Kayla and Ashley walked from the other door, a bloodied but alive Jade brings dragged by the Vanguard Shepard. "She'll be good. Got that stupid chip out of her brain." Kayla responds, before the ship began rocking, a convenient escape pod right next to them.

"They do not have the capacity to fight any longer. The logical thing to do is, indeed, to retreat." "They have made what you may call, the smart move." ------- "Glad you kept her alive, ladies. We could use her." Ghost opened the escape pod hatched and motioning for everybody to get inside.

"Right. The remaining bits of our ships will have to jump to Eden Prime for casualties...burials...and rebuilding...Join us...personally, we moved your friends from the Citadel to there once Joker and the Commander Shepard myself and Hackett know cleared it out of mercenaries. The other planets are still cleaning up their mess, but they should be back to arms again soon." Anderson responded. "Anderson out." After that, there would be a complete silence within the Deimos and Invictus. ------------------------ Everyone did get inside, as the pod shot in the direction of the Mass Relay, most likely heading for Eden Prime.

The Invictus used it's slip space technology to get to Eden in a few seconds, and floated around the space of the planet, requesting a landing zone -------- "Will the pod take us wherever we need to go?" Ghost asked, looking out a potential window

It was agreed upon, an almost paradise-like place they had landed on with no clouds or rain; just booming civilization and blossoming trees. Ironic, considering the situation at hand. Medics quickly took away the injured on both ships, Merrick following Silsia along the way. The sound of crying was heard as both Val and Riley calmed down the Alliance engineer's daughter, and while Lia looked...almost lost, in a way. Hundreds of civilians were being buried nearby, most likely from the fight here in the Exodus Cluster. Velinnea ran and asked someone where Glitch was, so she could see her, as she ran to check on the hacker. -------------------- "I hope." Kasumi had simply replied, as the pod blasted through the relay. "Coming out of Utopia Relay, ETA 50 minutes." The VI said from inside. -----------

Serendipity escorted Cryark to one of the emergency medical centers that had been set up, staying with him until he could get his leg patched up. Lillith and Maya stayed on board the Invictus. Neither was injured, and they didn't feel like seeing the morbid air of Eden. Noble and Miranda went along with Serendipity to get the genetically modified woman patched up. Hopefully the gunshot to the hip wasn't too severe... Militia troops joined in, helping civilians bury family, friends, and even buried some of the grunts that had died on the journey to Eden The geth troops were deactivated, remaining on board the ship as Iseph went to the main command center of Eden. For once, he was representing the crew. With the absence of Noble and Ghost ----------- "We got time to kill. Anyone want to play eye spy?" Ghost tried to lift the heavy air with a terribly timed joke. ---------- Glitch and Talath were in a hospital not from the landing site, and the Hacker was standing on two robotic legs that resembled human ones

The group, alongside Velinnea arrived at the hospital, where they automatically let them through, the sounds of moans and groans of the wounded throughout the hospital. For Noble and Miranda, they simply took her to a nearby medical station, where a few surgeons began taking out the bullet (after sedating her, of course, in the lower body). Refreshments of water and soda laid near Noble, should he need it. As for both Serendipity and Cryark, they had rushed Cryark into the ER, making sure they could put her in the same bacta tanks that Glitch and Talath were at. Finally, in that same room, Velinnea ran up to Glitch and hugged her. "Thank f*****g goodness you're alright , Glitch." She responds to the hacker. --------------- Iseph had arrived at the command deck, which only consisted of a few Alliance soldiers and Anderson, who had arrrived quickly from Arcturus. "Iseph? Any word on your teammates?" He asked worryingly. "Anything to get rid of the mood." Ashley replied, taking out some emergency medi-gel and some food. "No thanks; I need a rest after all that to be honest." Kaidan replied, taking a simple nap. "Sure...I'll be fine with that, Ghost." Kasumi replied. "I'll be fine. Gonna make sure the b***h dosen't wake up." Kayla had said, watching Jade.

Noble ignored the food, his hands were shaking at the thought of Miranda Dying. He couldn't do it. He needed her, now more than ever. With everything going on... Serendipity screamed and begged, wanting to follow Cryark all the way into the operating room, but she couldn't. Policies Restricted anyone besides doctors in the OR. "Woah, easy there tiger." Glitch said with a laugh as she wrapped her arms around Vel in a hug. "They gave me a reboot. Gave me a robotic spine, with matching legs." "Lucky, all the body parts down there are still real." She whispered into Vel's ear seductively ----- After a riveting game of I-spy, Ghost knocked out.

They slowly and carefully removed the bullet from her hip, Miranda just groaning in pain. They eventually applied medi-gel to the wound. "She should be patched up in a little bit, Mr. Noble. Give it about 12 hours or so." The Doctor replied, before leaving the two alone again...which caused Miranda to laugh for some reason. --------------------- The sound of yelling doctors was heard, before a sound of something shutting itself was heard. The doctor peered his head to Serendipity. "You can come in, now." He says. --------------------- "So...guessing your gonna upgrade them at some point, like you always do?" Vel asked, her smug smile slowly coming back...albeit it was more sad. ---------------------- Ashley and Kayla simply held on to one another as they slept, leaving Kasumi to look at the space beyond them.

"What're you laughing about?" Noble asked, getting to his feet and walking to Miranda, holding her hand with his own. -------- Serendipity rushed through the open doorway to Cryark, looking at the injured Turian --------- "Make em look a look more human. I'll be back in no time at all. So cheer up." ------------- [spoiler]Timeskip? [/spoiler]