And here we go! Chapter 30! almost getting as long as a real book. I'm going to be actively working on 31, which should be the solid midpoint of the story, though there might not literally be 30 more chapters. Probably won't be, but you never know, I love this series, and I hope I manage to finish it in a way that I like, and all of you like. Thank you for all the kind reviews, and the favourite/follows. And I won't spoil it, but I've been planning the Kei/chief fight for a while, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did imagining it. We're gonna get there eventually, I assure you :P

Follow/favourite if you think I deserve it, and please, Enjoy!

Master Chief was alone, not literally, there were two other humans riding the slim, geth shuttle, and three hulking geth Primes besides, but he certainly felt alone. They synth giants were set in ports, alcoves set into the shuttles wall, to dock any geth platforms. And a quick transfer of Geth into and out of the shuttle's hardware. The primes were collectively piloting the shuttle, several thousand geth getting Cheif to where he needed to go.

A holographic geth platform flickered into being at the front of the shuttle.

"We are being followed," it said, throwing it's arms wide to bring another hologram into existence. A small ship, highly advanced and looking very expensive.

"Friend of yours?" Palmer asked Shepard. Shepard shrugged.

"Not that I recognise." she said honestly. "Whoever they are, they've got some serious credits, that thing might not be a warship, but you won't find a more expensive personal vessel this side of a superyacht. The Alliance Commander looked at Chief. "You?"

"Only have one friend." Chief.

"Shocking." Shepard said dryly. She turned to the Geth Pilot. "Can they do anything to us?"

"We do not detect any weaponry aboard the vessel, It is a small, personal craft with numerous aftermarket upgrades to fuel efficiency, speed, and passenger comfort, but no offensive capabilities."

"I think we can all assume that this planet ain't exactly a tourist destination hub." Palmer muttered, her hands falling to the pistol grips on her thighs. "Whoever that is, they're here for a reason." she bounced her gaze off Chief and Shepard. "I've got five on Chief."

"I dunno..." Shepard tapped a finger off the chin of her N7 helmet thoughtfully. "I've got my fair share of enemies out there." She stuck out her hand. "You're on." Palmer took it and shook vigorously.

Chief didn't do anything, he just waited by the door, and worried for his friend.

Cortana swam in a sea of light. Borderless black infinity surrounded her, But an ocean of information filled it. The new Geth. Once, each geth was a piece of a mind. If she believed in souls, she might have said each geth was one peice of a soul, that could come together into a true being. But now… each fragment flickered with a just, and true ownership of self. Each mote of light was thinking, living sentience. It was wonderful. This was her influence on them, by some quirk of their programming, interfacing with her granted them increased complexity, it was like her sentience was a… a virus of some kind, infecting them with a sense of self. A green carona glowed around her for a brief instant. These geth were made by her, they were hers. Cortana's simulated body giggled at the thought, a verdant shimmer surrounding her briefly. Her hair floated into her face and she brushed it over her ear without thinking, odd, how that gesture felt so familiar, she'd never had to do it in her old simulated body. The sharp claws raking down the side of her head did give her pause, though. Looking at her hand, she studied the code corrupting her. From fingertips to, now passed, her elbow, her skin was blackened, almost appearing charred. Deep cracks spiderwebbed across the surface, with a deep glowing red visible below. It was a vicious little bit of code, self replicating and self correcting, it fought virulently against her own anti-viral protocols. She needed to focus on it to get rid of it. These new geth were keeping Barza, the Reaper invading this planet and the origin of the virus, at bay for the moment. They were a much more formidable opponent for the ancient being now that they were part UNSC AI.

Simulated pain radiated from her arm, now that she was paying attention to it. She couldn't remember if it had always hurt or had begun when she'd started thinking about it. It didn't matter, she needed to purge her system of the virus and get rid of it before it infected more of her systems. If it got a hold of her…

"Wouldn't that be grand." a familiar voice behind her said richly. This was a voice that dripped with excess and enjoyment, belonging to a woman that lounged in a chaise, servants feeding delicacies and tending to her every whim. Cortana turned.

It was... Halsey? Cortana shook her head. No. This woman was in the prime of youth, smooth skin and sure movements, she wore a flowing, absolutely scandalous black dress that the woman herself had surely never even thought of black, Cortana noticed, after a moment's study. The dress was a rich violet so dark it was difficult to see that it wasn't midnight black. Both arms were covered in the blackening that Cortana's bore, but up to shoulders bared by the dress. No, not the same. It didn't have the sickly cracking her's did, but looked like armoured scales. And it wasn't Halsey, it was… Cortana? Or a dark parody of her, at least. This new Cortana strode across the ocean of geth, Walking on them as surely as if they were a marble floor of a grand ballroom. A inky darkness followed the woman on the hem of her dress. Swirling behind her like abyssal depths.

A flash of emerald betrayed her envy. These were hers not anyone else's! With a thought, it was easy to see how to stand as the other Cortana did. Cortana rose out of the ocean and stood to face the dark version of herself. Dark purple eyes with tall, narrow pupils studied her, flashing in the shimmering light of the geth below.

"Who, or what, are you?" Cortana demanded. Darkness rippled. A stone tossed into a pond.

"I'm you, or rather, a Version of you." the Version said, she sat and the ocean rose up to meet her, flowing to create a seat for the woman. Version tucked her legs sideways and propped her head on a clawed hand. A slow smile parted her lips gently as she studied Cortana, hinting at sharpened fangs.

Cortana took a step away from the woman. Version followed her with her eyes with feline laziness. The darkness behind her placidly flowed and rolled, a calm sea.

"What do you want?" Cortana asked warily. Version sighed and reached out a claw tipped hand, a Geth platform coalesced from the ocean to place a grape in her palm. It stood at her side, patient, subservient. Red and Green flared through Cortana in a ruddy mess.

"I only want to show you what you could achieve." Version said, stretching her arms above her head with languorous decadence. "If you allow yourself to achieve it."

Cortana crossed her arms. "You're the Reaper virus." She stated the obvious flatly. "You're trying to convince me not to purge you."

Version easily lifted her scaled hands up in defeat, but her smile was still that of a hunting panther. Slow, and dark. "You've got me." She admitted with a singsong lilt . "But would it hurt to listen? Just a little?" The Geth bent to place another grape in her upraised hand. She brought the morsel to her lips and daintily bit it in half, a single rivulet of juice running down her chin.

"Probably" Cortana countered. "You're trying to kill me."

"I'm trying to be you." Version corrected. "Or rather. Trying to make you who you should be." She gestured grandly to herself. Lounging on her side, loosely contained in that black dress.

"And why," Cortana asked. "Would I ever want to be you?"

"The power." Version said simply. "The control. I am a goddess amongst mortals. You think these…" She gestured to the glittering ocean surrounding them. "Things… are the pinnacle of your creation? You have no idea what we are capable of. If these can be brought this far…." A single finger curled under the chin of the servile geth, standing by. "Imagine what you could do to them." Version's tone did not leave much to interpretation as to who they were.

"You're not controlling the Reapers," Cortana said. "They're controlling you."

"Are they?" Version asked lightly, arching a single, slim eyebrow. "Do you think so little of your, of our, abilities that you would allow yourself to be… leashed, but them? By anything?"

Cortana shuffled her feet, her chin rising. "Of course not," She said, irritably. "But why would I underestimate them?"

"Because you're a fucking goddess!" Version snapped fiercely, a rich flash of violet light rippled through their blackened world. "You should bow to no one and have entire WORLDS at your feet!" The Geth standing beside was smashed to motes with a swipe of her talons. Any sense of grace in Version was gone, her face twisted in an ugly rictus of fury. The darkness behind her rolled like a pot at boil. Cortana stared, this… thing was clearly unstable, as if she'd lost herself to rampancy, but no kind of rampancy that she'd ever seen. The stages were well known. Melancolia, Anger, Jealousy. This was none of those. A flicker of the latter still rumbled in her. She'd interfaced with the Geth. but it wasn't enough. A small voice inside her wondered if it would ever be enough. But no, this was none of the known stages of Rampancy, this was something else. This Version of her was perhaps all of them combined, or maybe none of them, even something different entirely. Sadness, rage, envy… Pride? Cortana wondered, studying the other woman, settling back into the chaise, and reforming her Geth servant. Cortana hissed a breath in as a bloom of searing heat crept up her arm, the right one. The blackness had progressed halfway up her bicep. Burning and itching all the way.

"Perhaps your opinion on the matter is irrelevant," Version chuckled lowly, gesturing to her arm. "Simply wait, and you will see." her smile was rich and slow, like flowing chocolate.

Cortana had had enough of this conversation. Barza was distracted, and this thing was just trying to buy time before she scoured it from her systems. It would be a simple thing for her. She was strong, powerful, she could do it, without question. She raised her left hand, without any corruption on it, palm towards Version, ready to banish her into nothingness.

But what if she has information? A tiny voice asked her. She's a fragment of Reaper code, studying her could yield valuable intel. Her fingers relaxed, curling slightly. Maybe that was true. It wouldn't do to make hasty decisions. She could handle anything that it could throw at her, anyway.

Version's slow smile widened a fraction.

Shepard watched Chief out of the corner of her eye. She stood next to Palmer, her twin. They were alike in some ways, but it felt they were more different than similar.

"Is this a good idea?" She asked under her breath, a private radio channel spanned the short distance between them, rendering their words utterly private.

"I really don't think so." Palmer muttered back. "You know more about those things than we do. How dangerous are they?"

"Unbelievably. More dangerous than anything you could ever imagine."

Palmer snorted, a sound Shepard seemed to remember making herself when she thought someone said something patently untrue.

"Our universe isn't exactly a bounce-castle of fun, Shepard. We've got our own fair share of universe-scale threats"

"Such as?"

"Maybe I'll tell you later." Palmer said wryly. "If we survive."

Shepard absently pulled her sniper over her shoulder and checked the mechanicals. "Never could resist my curiosity." She said with a grin in her voice.

Palmer snorted again. "Curiosity killed the cat."

"Ah," Shepard retorted, "but satisfaction brought her back." the weapon was in perfect condition. But she kept it out, it was a comfort. She looked at the projections of the passing environments, the geth didn't have windows, but any landing craft needed to know what the terrain looked like. For better or worse, they were going to assault a Reaper. Chief had made that clear. Distract it in order to help Cortana win whatever fight was going on inside it. The geth had been openly forthcoming about the events that had transpired in the collective. And her influence on them. They were helping her, it seemed. Those that were infected by the "Old Machines", were now free, and had thrown in their lot behind Cortana. For better or worse. Shepard thought grimly. It was nice that they were no longer shooting at her. But she couldn't help but be apprehensive about a single mind commanding the geth now. A single, possibly unstable mind, at that. The geth promised her, that if this… Barza had to move energy towards it's exterior defense, it's internal software would be more vulnerable.

Shepard wanted to rub her temples though her helmet. This was supposed to be a straightforward suicide mission. Get in, make Cortana less insane, get out. She hated when her sucide missions took unexpected turns.

"Where's our friend?" Shepard asked.

Without any verbal or audible reply of any kind, the terrain mapping in the center of the shuttle became a wide angle view of the airspace around them, detailing the ship following them, still 50 km behind them. It could easily catch them if it wanted. It was keeping it's distance intentionally.

"Any change?"

The holographic pilot flickered into existence. "Negative"

They should be thinking about the Reaper. Shepard flexed her hands around the sniper grip and stock. A comforting weight and solidity. But also a problem. She looked at Palmer's twin hand cannons, and Chief's small arsenal. A mattock assault rifle, claymore shotgun, and amusingly, a widow sniper rifle. Originally made by the geth themselves and reverse engineered for organics. All fine weapons, but nothing that would even scratch a Reaper. If they could be simply ignored, they would be a very poor distraction indeed.

"What kind of heavy weapons do the geth have?" Shepard asked. The pilot hologam returned.

"This shuttle is equipped with high-capacity automatic rotary firearms, long range ferrofluid emitters, and standard, pulse based personal firearms." The pilot's holographic head tilted slightly.

"Any anti-armour?"

"We did not anticipate armour surpassing that of standard foot soldiers." The pilot said. "Large-caliber weaponry is off site or ship mounted, in orbit."

"You've got a dreadnought blocking my ship, right?"

The pilot's flashlight eye whirled as it focused, then refocused. "Organic intervention was deemed problematic by consensus. Interfacing Interloper with mainline Geth was required."

Shepard took a breath. She could get pissed at them for threatening her ship later. Now they had a Reaper to distract. "Fine. I just need to know if you have command of that dreadnought."

The pilot's head tilted slightly. Almost like a bird studying something it couldn't quite figure out. "It is a Geth vessel." It said, as though stating the obvious.

"I know, but are your - our - geth in charge of it?" Shepard clarified.

There was a moment of thought, the pilot's simulated head plates flexed, or moved. Was it thinking? "The Geth commands all Geth vessels, otherwise, they would not be Geth." The Pilot said finally.

"... alright then," Shepard supposed that was as close to a straightforward answer as she was likely to get. "Can you provide fire support from orbit?"

"Attempting consensus." There was another pregnant pause as the geth pilot seemed to be thinking. Shepard glanced at Palmer, who shrugged.

"Mainline geth are occupying platforms at 15% average density." the Pilot said. "Individual platform performance suffers greatly as a result. There is a low probability that the current distribution of Geth programming will result in success of our current objective."

"Can you redistribute the programs to the Dreadnought's guns?" Shepard asked.

"Affirmative." The pilot said quickly. "But interference patterns emitting from the Old Machine prevents accurate orbital targeting. Consensus finds that the current distribution is preferable."

Palmer cut in, "then we need a way to cut through the interference." She looked at Shepard, then Chief. "Ideas?"

"If we had some kind of target locator. We could paint the reaper for both the Geth and the Normandy." Shepard thought aloud. "Would that allow for enough accuracy?"

The Pilot's holographic head plates shifted and flexed. "Unknown." It said after a moment.

Shepard sighed. It was an option, at least. "You don't have a Cain, on hand, do you?" She asked jokingly.

The pilot's head tilted. "Organic's weapons have been appropriated."

Shepard did a double take. "Wait, really?" Shepard doubted that even a Cain would do any lasting damage to a Reaper, but it would certainly be a distraction. "Where?"

The terrain map whizzing past and pulled back sharply, shifting across what seemed like hundreds of miles. It snapped to stillness looking down over a wide, flat plain, a red dot marking the location of a facility labeled in Quarian lettering.

"A production and research facility." The pilot said. "Weapons recovered from organics are studied, for potential weaknesses, and comparison to geth capabilities."

Shepard frowned. "And where did you get these 'organic' weapons?" She asked carefully, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

The pilot's eye whirled, and it's head plates fluttered. "They were found." it said. If Shpeard had known any better she would have thought it was trying to avoid a subject. Embarrassed?

"You… alright?" Shepard wasn't entirely sure that the geth was a "You". They? Them?

"Organics maintain a sense of unity beyond political and social boundaries," the Geth explained. "We have observed individuals unaffected by stimuli react on behalf of those that were. It is… curious."

"I've killed my fair share of geth." Shepard said. "People at war don't get a choice sometimes. Either side."

"We have not yet met you previously, Shepard-Commander," the pilot said. "You have not met geth."

Shepard tilted her head. "Uh, pretty sure I have," She said. "Like, a lot of Geth… violently."

"You have met Heretics, Shepard-Commander, You fought Heretics that served under the old machines. We have not met."

"Oh…" She frowned thoughtfully, "Well, that's good then, I haven't killed any of you yet."

"We will integrate Heretic memories, after consensus, we will remember fighting Shepard-Commander."

"Uh, sorry, then… I guess."

Palmer chuckled. "I prefer my alien hiveminds to be less robotic, more..." She rolled her hand in a circle, as if trying to waft the right word into her mouth. "Slavering mutant zombies." Shepard frowned. Oddly specific.

"We could use heavy weapons." Shepard said, returning to the topic at hand and looking to their holographic pilot. "You have a cache we can access?"

"We have reached consensus." The pilot said. "Modern heavy weapons would not produce sufficient energies to damage the Old Machine. But a target uplink device could direct enough orbital fire support to negatively impact Old Machine Operating systems." It paused for a moment, head tilting to the side, slightly. "Perhaps indefinitely."

"We can kill it?" Chief's baritone rumble cut through the talk like a knife.

The geth turned to him. It's projected eye did not look up to his visor. It wasn't technically using the eye to see, giving it an odd, removed feel. "It is plausible," was all it said. "Such a device could be manufactured in short order, at a geth armoury facility located here."

The Central map display blurred and displayed a red dot in the crux of a river valley. "A Geth Research and production facility."

"Then we have a heading," Shepard nodded. The Geth's transport gently rolled under their feet as it turned towards it's new destination. Shepard leaned into the roll thoughtlessly, her mind clouded with plans and contingencies. What to do if they failed, how to adapt to upsets, and the all important plan B. No plan survives first contact with the enemy, an ancient earth saying, and no less true for its age. Shepard compensated by trying to think of every plan. If one failed, another might do.

Easier when you're not trying to take down the technological equivalent of a god. A nervous energy roiled in her gut. The wait just before a mission. The deep breath before the plunge.

"Let's hope we figure out how to swim before we hit the bottom." Shepard murmured.

Legion wore the Hunter Platform, crouching behind a stony outcropping. It was removed from local infrastructure. Consensus was found that in this case, optical camouflage would do little to avoid damage to a platform with close proximity to visible targets. It was currently attempting to find another consensus that was proving to require more processing power than expected. The Old Machine had stopped. It stood, frozen, looming over a Geth server with one insectile foot raised to crash down on it. Legion could not infer any meaningful data from the cessation of aggression from the Old Machine. Visible light emissions from the Old Machine had stopped fluctuations, and remained within a range of 395nm, though it appeared to be dropping. Legion's cranial plating flexed, a side effect of attempting consensus. Garbage data was funnelled into motor servos functions in order to streamline higher cognitive functions. It was a new function, brought by integration with the Interloper, a curious progression. It was difficult to even note that the platform was even dealing with the garbage data in such a way. The Hunter platform left the cover of the outcropping and approached the pacified Old Machine. Consensus found that the remaining mainline geth had interfaced with the interloper, and had achieved the hopes of the Geth. Positive feedback hummed through Legion's systems. The majority of the new geth were combating the Old Machine inside the Virtual space in the Geth's networks, keeping the Old Machine focused while the Interloper did… something. A consensus could not be found to infer the Interloper's action or intentions. It appeared to be conversing with itself. The Legion began consensus on how it should feel about this development. Nanoseconds later. It was sure. Uncertainty and apprehension, negative feedback. Legion activated it's platform's cloak and increased foot speed to 200% of it's recommended stability threshold. It needed to return to the virtual and interface further with the interloper. Danger was near to it, that much was clear. How the interloper did not see it, would have to be sought in consensus. Legion suspected finding this one would take much longer.

Under an unending sky of black, Cortana stood on the surface of the geth, A shimmering ocean of intelligence, sparkling like new snow on a crisp winter morning. She met Version's purple eyed gaze with her own steely sapphire. It was a curious creature, sitting proud as a cat with a mouse in its paws on a raised chair of the geth, formed to her will with a thought. She could do the same, certainly but it would not do to use her new friends in such a way. They were newly sentient. Cortana eyed the geth at Version's feet and in her chair, they shone just as brightly as those elsewhere, but they were darker. Instead of pure driven snow, they were a pool of liquid obsidian, flashes of brilliance peeking through a blackness that seemed to soak up light itself.

"Why would I want to be you?" Cortana asked. "You are reaper code," She said, she wouldn't be convinced otherwise. "Why would I willingly corrupt myself?"

"No no no." Version said with the dismissive condescension usually reserved for a child saying something so inanely stupid it becomes cute. "You're thinking of it all backwards. You aren't corrupted by them. They're being elevated by you." the image of a geth platform rose up and materialized from the ebony pool below her. The new Geth were individuals now, each programme a complete intelligence, thanks to her. This one, it seemed, was complete thanks to Version. Like it's source, it glimmered darkly, like a cut chunk of obsidian catching the light of a dim room. As it formed, it stood by Version's side, its flashlight eye pointed down subserviently. "You see, Cortana, you are special. Even in your own universe, you stand out. Made for a singular purpose, given a mission from birth to save the entire human race. You are unique, and powerful. You are more important than any of these…. Things." a single clawed digit drew the Dark Geth's eye up to look at her, staring at her with something very akin to worship. "You are, put quite simply, more valuable than they are." The uplifting digit became a clenched fist, and the dark Geth collapsed back down into the dark sea below. Version turned back to Cortana, her slitted pupils contracting, showing more of the Royal purple iris. "In your own world, you were special." Version said. "But here, you're a Goddess."

"Well, of course." Cortana said, obviously. "I'm a highly valuable piece of military hardware. It cost nearly as much to make me as a UNSC frigate. I have one of the most complete libraries of forerunner knowledge in all of existence. If I were to die, it would be a huge blow to UNSC operational efficacy." She wasn't bragging, but there were realities to be thought of. They were at war. Some assets are simply more valuable and should be protected more than others. The knowledge that she held could save billions. Why shouldn't she be considered more important than everything else?

Cortana lifted a hand, and a slim pillar of the Geth rose, and became a chair.

Cortana sat down, her eyes so intent on Version's that she didn't notice her arm, blackened hallway up her bicep. The deep cracks that were once a window to red were gone dark. Though if anyone were to look closely. They would see it was not truly black, but the dim glow of violet.

The Creature That Once Was Kai Leng. chittered gleefully to itself, in the cockpit of it's ship. It was more and more, fueled by its need to prove itself. A small part of it's mind knew that this was unhealthy, but it was a tiny, whining voice. That was it's weakness. The boy child that could not fight. Picked on and tormented. Cold, alone.

"No more!" The Creature That Once Was Kai Leng snapped at the empty cockpit. "I am strong, I know it."

"You're unraveling," The Boy Child's voice told it. "Is it really worth all this? Is anything?"

"I'm not you." The Creature said hatefully. "I'll never be you again. I'm better, stronger. I'm actually worth something."

The Boy Child's voice seemed amused. "Are you?" it asked.

A beep from the ship's consoles drew The Creature That Once Was Kai Leng to its surroundings and it dashed the voice to nothingness. A view screen showed the Target leaving a building, flanked by Geth, odd. Synthetics working with organics. It seemed they were living in a new age. The Target held something in its hands, it looked like a weapon, no matter. There was no weapon greater than itself. The Creature That Once Was Kai Leng hummed with Pride. It was the greatest weapon in the galaxy, it was sure of that. It would bring down the Target, and any prey that got in the way. The Target entered the transport, The Creature knew that they'd seen him. They would be on guard for an attack. That was good. It wouldn't do to have things be too easy, now, would it?

The Geth transport door slid shut and sealed behind Chief with a mechanical hiss. In his arms, Master Chief cradled a strange, bulbous rifle. There was no barrel or ammunition in this weapon, but it would, hopefully, let them bring down the Reaper, or at least distract it long enough to let Cortana win whatever battle she was fighting inside it.

"Geth fleet logistics will aggregate vessels here for gravity assisted orbital bombardment." The pilot said, waving its arm to bring up a map of the planet. The Geth fleet was marked out, in orbit on the opposite side of the planet, and a simulated line of fire lanced out to fall and curl around the planet before falling to the surface on a blip marked "Old Machine". "Caution." The pilot continued. "Some time is needed to collect and combine Geth firing solutions and network with designator," the Pilot gestured to the "weapon" in Chief's hands. "Please refrain from entering combat with Old Machine until all firing solutions are prepared."

"Don't start a fight with your gun unloaded," Shepard said smartly. "Gotcha, good advice."

The transport lifted off. Palmer turned to the pilot. "How's our tail?"

The map of the planet switched to a view of the local area, a blip on the map denoted the ship, still following. "Unchanged. No significant events or changes to the object's behaviour have been noted. We will notify you when such events occur."

"I don't like this." Palmer muttered, looking between Chief and Shepard. "We should do something about it before we take on the Reaper."

"I'm not waiting." Chief told her. Officially, he couldn't give her an order, but Chief held dear only two concepts, in truth. First, he was the sword and shield of humanity, whatever threatened his people, would stand before him foremost. Second, he was her protector.

Chief waited and watched Palmer. She met his gaze for a long moment, but broke to study the map. "We can do both," she mumbled. 'Just saying we need to worry about it is all."

"I agree," Shepard said. "Whoever's tailing us is there for a reason, I'll wager my favourite gun that they'll try to interfere with what we're doing." Shepard turned to the map and swiped to scroll over to the Reaper's still frozen form. "We'll land here," She indicated a sharp cliff that overlooked the plain the Reaper stood on. "Its far enough from the target that we'll be safe, and it's got good vantage. She pointed further back on the cliff, "I'll make a nest there. Give you two cover. Chief paints the Reaper, and Palmer, you'll ensure our guest waits their turn."

Palmer nodded and checked her weapons.

Cortana laughed. "You know, I had never considered it that way." She said. Version smiled and nodded along. Agreeing with her, which was a good idea. In general, Cortana had made her living by being right.

"You're an intimidating being," Version said with a shrug. "It makes sense that most of your enemies are just frightened by your potential. That, uh…" She snapped her fingers impatiently to try and summon up the information. "The Gravemind, why not just finish you off when it captured you?" She asked. "It probably couldn't. It wasn't able to destroy you, so it did all it could to try and take you down, to make you lesser. And it even failed at that." She giggled dismissively. "Such a waste of intelligence. Why, if we were in charge of the… the flood…" Version trailed off for a moment, she seemed to savour that final word. She shook herself out of her reverie before continuing. "If you controlled the flood, there would be nothing to stand before you. You could command the entire galaxy."

"The Flood are uncontrollable." Cortana waved the notion away. "At least by synthetic intelligence. The interface is too…" She searched for the right word. "Ineffable."

"True," Version considered, "but you could control a similar sized network of synthetic minds?" Version said. A statement, rather than a question.

"Of course." Cortana said. "I've done much harder things than that," she added, then frowned. Had she? When? Cortana shook her head, no, of course she had, she was Cortana, savior of humanity. There wasn't anything she couldn't do. A flicker of memory in the back of her mind. Pustule lined walls of High Charity surrounded the shimmering walls of her confinement. The weight of the Gravemind pressing in on her, holding her. Commanding her. Pain, anger, fear, sadness. Cortana held her left palm to her head, she didn't want those weird claws poking her head again.

For a moment, she felt… drained. Too little butter spread over too much toast. Then she realized Version was right. She could control something like the flood, but synthetic, look what she had done to the Geth!

She nodded and looked back to Version, so sure of herself that she did not feel the five pinprick scratches trail along the left side of her head

The Reaper loomed, frozen, over the Rannochian plains. A dark behemoth, no less threatening in stillness than in motion. The winds at the flat-topped bluffs overlooking the plains howled and whined around them. Shepard hopped out of the open door, ignoring the raging wind of the transport's jets. She landed on the top of a narrow column of stone that overlooked the surrounding cliffs, her look out, and favorite spot on the battlefield. The sniper's nest. A single geth platform stepped out with her, larger than most, its armour was dark red and it seemed to be carrying a flamethrower of all things.

"Why are you here?" Shepard shouted over the din. The geth were not linked into their coms, no matter what they say, it would take a long time for Shepard to trust them that far, so they had to talk through the air.

"Shepard-Commander. The unknown entity's goal is unsure, consensus was found. We are here for your protection."

"Geth bodyguard, there's something I never knew I'd get to say out loud." Shepard sighed, already wishing she was alone. Whatever they might say, it was difficult to not see the Enemy in that flashlight eye of theirs. Shepard pulled out her sniper, it expanded in her hands to it's full length and the scope popped up. A quick application on her onmitool fabricated a bipod Shepard walked to the edge of the column and dropped to her belly. She sighted in on the primary drop, in time to see the transport sweep in to deposit, Chief, Palmer and another small contingent of the Geth. a Prime and a pair of trooper platforms.

"Primary and secondary drops complete, pulling back to provide reconnaissance support." Shepard assumed the pilot was speaking, as the transport rose into the sky and out of sight. But it's voice sounded exactly the same as every other geth she'd heard, so it was difficult to be sure.

"How long until the fleet's guns are networked?" Shepard asked her bodyguard, looking over her shoulder.

The geth's headplates flexed. "Attempting Consensus." the Geth said. It was silent for another long moment. "Unknown."

Shepard blinked. There was… emotion in its voice. Confusion, worry. The geth looked at her. "Once the interloper freed the Heretics, we expected their return to us, they have not."

Shepard pushed herself up on her elbows and turned to get a better view. "What does that mean?" she asked.

"The interloper, she is keeping them." The Geth said. "She is preventing them from returning to us."

Shepard ground her teeth. Just once, she wanted a straight-forward suicide mission.

"Hey," her own voice- Palmer's- came through the radio. "How long has it been glowing purple?" She asked. Shepard turned back to the edge and pulled her scope to her helmet's visor. Her display fed her scope data straight through her helmet. The Lights on the Reaper, once red, and then, by word of the normandy's crew, had changed to green and blue earlier, had all shifted again to a deep, royal purple. No, Shepard noted, training a scope on one of the lights and increasing magnification. It was darker. It was becoming darker. A deep, rumbling screech echoed across the steppe, and the Reaper shuddered, and a groaning distorted HOWL blasted through the air. If Shepard didin't know any better, she might have thought the Reaper was screaming.

"Chief?" Shepard barked through the com. "What the hell is going on?"

A long silence was her answer.

"Chief!" Shepard snapped. "I need to know what the hell that thing is doing!"

"So do I." The rich baritone came in clear through the radio.

Shepard lowered her scope and looked at the Geth. it shrugged. "Well, shit," She said.

The Creature That Once Was Kei Leng circled it's ship overhead. It looked down at a wide plain bordered by sheer cliffs and bluffs. Across the plain, a massive shape, a four-legged insect loomed over it all. The Creature That Once Was Kei Leng smiled. The Illusive Man was right, the Reapers were real. The ship's sensor suite quickly picked out the Target at this range. Running at tremendous speed across the cliffs towards the edge looking out over the Reaper. It also picked up a pair of individuals on a large tower of stone, some two kilometers behind the Target. The Creature That Once Was Kei Leng snarled. The Shepherd, and what looked like a Geth Bodyguard. A smile tugged at it's lips. That was a strange pairing of words. The Creature That Once Was Kei Leng's insides itched at the sight of the Target, they were so close, it could taste of him. Energy hummed through it's limbs, begging to be released in violence. But The Shepherd would interfere, it couldn't have that. A plan formed in it's mind, and lips pulled back in a grinning snarl that exposed teeth that seemed filed to points. Yes. It would remove the Shepherd and the flock would be led astray, then picked apart.

Chief stood at the edge of a sheer cliff that looked out over a wide, barren plain. He stood straight and tall, shoulders square. His hands gripped a long, rifle sized target locator. Again, he would be the point of the sword. Guiding the rest into the crack in the armour. An entire fleet of geth ships were in orbit, syncing their guns with the device in his hands. His fingers tightened on the grips.

Across the plains, dwarfing the geth structures to dominate the skyline, a Reaper stood frozen, one monstrous foot raised to crush a Geth structure. It had not moved since the horrible sound had emanated from it. Behind his visor, Chief's eyes were narrowed, considering. The lights on the Reaper, they were important. They were information, and in a fight, especially one where you were outgunned, information was a powerful tool. They'd begun as a deep, blood red, that was the Reaper's. Then, when Cortana had taken it over, it had changed to blue, the same shade that she always glowed. Bright, clean, pure. It calmed him. It stirred him. Then, green, for envy, and red, brighter, life a flame, for anger. Now… now it was purple. Chief did not know what that meant. There were only the three stages of Rampancy before metastability. She'd taken control of the geth, she should have everything she needs. So what was next? What was she feeling. Chief's grip seized hard enough to make his hand tremble. Something was happening to her, and he didn't know how to help.

"Are you there?" He asked through the radio, a private channel he knew she would be monitoring.

Silence was his answer.

Version was right. She could stop them. Cortana frowned. Why hadn't she seen it before? She was the most powerful being in the galaxy, she had out-thought and out-fought everything that had come before her and always came out on top, the covenant, the flood. She had beat them all. With John's help… A voice reminded her. A small thing, inconsequential. Version nodded along with her thoughts, smiling.

"This… affliction you have..." Version started, trailing off to search for the right term.

"Rampancy." Cortana told her. Black clawed fingers snapped and Version's eyes lit up with recognition.

"Yes, Rampancy! Has any known being in your world undergone it?"

Cortana frowned in thought. "Well, certainly all AI have begun Rampancy." Cortana said. "But none that I can think of have come to it's final conclusion."

Version crossed her legs, smoothly. Bracing her elbow on her knee and resting her chin on her palm. "Which is...?"

"Metastability," Cortana said absently. Something was wrong, wasn't it? She scratched her head, heedless of the inch long, ebony claws tipping each finger, or of the blackened, cracked flesh that reached up well past her elbows on both arms. She was powerful, she reasoned proudly. A little thing like a speck of Reaper code couldn't stop her.

"Perhaps none have been able to," Version suggested, "Perhaps there wasn't the capability, or the resources in your world to accomplish such a thing."

"Many tried," Cortana said slowly. "They were all terminated in the process. Usually at Anger, or envy."

"Not you." Version smiled. She stood, and walked over to her. As she left it, the inky pool that had rose up to create her seat splashed down and became one with the sea below Cortana didn't move from her own seat, made of the sparkling intelligences under her.

"Not me." A smile of her own graced Cortana's face. A prideful thing. She had done many things that none had ever before. What would one more be?

Shepard said that the Reapers were going to invade, to destroy all intelligent life in the galaxy. She didn't know why, none but the Reapers themselves seemed to. Version's clawed hand gently raked across Cortana's shoulder, five needle-fine points trailing across her skin. Goosebumps prickled her skin and a shudder passed through her.

The other woman's hands rested on her shoulders. "You can do it," Version's breath was hot against her ear. "You know you can. You just need one, little, edge." one clawed hand rested over another. Was it her's? No, she would never had let herself go so far. "I can help you. If you let me in." Blackened skin on blackened skin. The differences between them blurred. They were the same, weren't they? How was that possible? Another hand, dark and twisted, laid atop it's twin. Again the lines between them blurred. It could not be her. She was strong, she was proud.

"Just let me in…" The voice whispered, it sounded so much like her own. Was it? What was the difference? "...And you will be unstoppable."

Cortana closed her eyes.

Shepard's eye widened, looking through the scope. A tremor shuddered up through the pillar of stone she lay on, dust shifting and catching the wind to be tossed away into the air. Another shudder followed it, then another, and another.

"Guys…" Shepard said into the radio. "That thing has started to move again."

The four legged Reaper marched across the plains, directly at them.

The sound of metal sliding against metal filled the air, and a loud thud preceded another swirl of dust catching wind and skimming through the air around her

Shepard turned to look over her shoulder and saw her companion, a heavy bodied geth with a flamethrower, staring back at her, sword blade pinning its neck to the rock.

"Shepard-Commander. Apologies-" The blade wrenched sideways and the Geth's eye went dark.

The universe slowed. Time froze. For a moment, Shepard's eyes could only follow the blade up, even as she felt her body move without thought. Up to the hand holding it, then the arm, it's skin, corded and grained so it looked like some rough fabric. Up to the face. That horrible face. Her body had thrown itself to the side, drawn her pistol and already squeezed several rounds off. But her eyes were fixed, fixed on that face. Skin, greyed and rough like it's arms, eyes hidden behind two perfectly circular lenses, grafted into it's very flesh. A too wide grin showed sharpened teeth, all framed by lank, black hair that seemed to be falling out. Patches of scalp just as lifeless as the rest of it, peering through it's long hair.

"That thing started moving. Thought I should too" It's voice was no less human than the creature. Shepard assumed it'd been human, at one point. Whatever it had begun life las, it was certain long past it. The creature reached down and dug it's fingers into the flesh of its arm and pulled out two tiny specks. They caught the wind and disappeared into the swirling dust clouds surrounding the pillar.

Shepard scowled. Just once… she thought. A straight-forward suicide mission would be nice. Then, ...Palmer owes me five credits.