Mass Effect 3: Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 1: The Fall of Earth pt.1

Three Months Ago-Luna

Luna, Earth's moon, in the early days of space exploration the moon was an early source of helium-3, Luna is now mined for materials used in space habitat construction. Two dozen major stations have been constructed at Earth's L4 and L5 Lagrange points, all from lunar resources. Anderson came to the base due Hackett finding something, when he got there the people was working frantically to find out why their posts were going dark. "How bad is it?" Anderson said.

"Bad, we just lost contact with our deep-space outpost, they were keeping tabs on the Batarians, making sure they didn't try anything" Hackett said.

"Did we get anything?"

"One, a massive blip on long-range sensors" he said. "Whatever it was, it just wiped out the Batarian homeworld…"

Anderson frowned, the Hegemony had very capable soldiers, for the whole homeworld to be wiped out had to be immensely powerful. He didn't want to believe, but it seems the day of reckoning was upon them. "Is this what Shepherd warned us about?"

Hackett sighed. "I'd bet my life on it"

"How long do we have?"

"Not long, I've sent word and the fleets are mobilizing" Hackett said. "You know what you have to do…"

"God help us all…"

Now-Downtown Toronto

"Owowow!" Shepherd said in pain.

"Stay still you bosh'tet, we're almost done" Tali said annoyed.

It had been months since Shepherd's trial and things were looking up, Ambassador Osoba couldn't find anything linking Shepherd for the Bahak incident a year ago. And the spectre was released from hold, using some money that he had saved up, he bought a decent sized apartment for him and Tali, sure his Quarian lover couldn't take off her suit as often as she wanted, but they together that was all that mattered.

"Just have to connect these two wires, and…done" She said. "How does your arm feel, Wayne?" Shepherd got up and punched the air, and smiled. While they were enjoying their lives for once, they were also preparing for the coming invasion. In fact Tali over the last couple of months have improved her suit as well as improving Shepherd's arm. Her suit was now black and grey, it was a little more bulky than usual due to armor plating, and her mask had been reinforced with armor plating so it wouldn't shatter in a fire fight.

"Baby, you are a miracle and a genius, it feels light as a feather" he said. "I don't know how I'm going to repay you…"

Tali came close to him. "Well, I know of one way…." Just as she was about to pounce her boyfriend, a knock came on the door. She sighed, as Shepherd chuckled and kissed her.

"Hold that thought" Shepherd went to the door and opened it, in front of the door was a large human. "James, how have you been?" After being released, the spectre had been looking for an apartment near the HQ in case they needed to bug out when the reapers came. James offered the same complex that he lived in, and Shepherd agreed, the apartment complex was the only 20th century style apartment complex in the area left, due to the whimsical style of the apartment Tali took an instant liking it. As for Kasumi and Lia, they stayed a few blocks away from them, although Kasumi at times snuck back on to the Normandy at times, calling it practice.

"Great, great, Loco" he said. Ever since Shepherd was released from holding, James had called him Loco, because in his words, he done some crazy things, but compare to Shepherd, he's sane. "Lia's doing fine too, talking ship with Cortez; sometimes I think they're speaking another language…"

Shepherd chuckled. "Don't I know it…" He was rewarded with a pillow to his head by Tali. "So what's up, I guessing you're not hear to shoot the shit"

James got serious. "Anderson wanted to talk to you, says it's important…" Shepherd and Tali looked at each other.

"Okay, I'll get ready…"

Alliance HQ

Shepherd, Tali, and James went to meet Anderson, when they got there all the personnel were frantically working, the air was thick with tension and nervousness. Shepherd had a bad feeling about this, so much so that he told James to get Lia and Cortez and get to the Normandy. He didn't know why, but he nodded and left. Anderson came up and shook his hand.

"Shepherd, how's civilian life been treating you?" Anderson asked.

"Fine, the food's better for one" Anderson chuckled.

"Hello Tali'Zorah, been keeping Shepherd out of trouble?"

Tali smiled. "I try"

"Anderson, what's up?" Shepherd asked.

Anderson grew serious. "Hackett is mobilizing the fleets" he said. "Something big is coming to Earth, and it's got Alliance Command spooked"

"Keelah…The Reapers?" Tali gasped.

"Don't know, not for certain…"

Shepherd frowned. "What else could it be?"

Anderson sighed. "If I knew that…"

"If it is them, we're not ready, not by a long shot"

"Tell that to the defense committee…" he said.

"The committee is waste of time, the reapers don't care about diplomacy" Tali said dryly. The Quarian had not really forgiven the committee for throwing her boyfriend under the bus.

"They're just scared, none of them have seen what you two have seen" Anderson said. "Hell, Shepherd spoke to one"

"Don't remind me…" Shepherd said grimly.

A year ago-Bahak System

"Harbinger…"

"SHEPHERD, YOU ARE BECOMING AN ANNOYANCE" it said.

Shepherd smirked. "Good, then I guess I'm doing my job"

"YOU FIGHT AGAINST INEVITABILITY. DUST STRUGGLING AGAINST COSMIC WINDS" Harbinger said.

"YOU SEE THIS AS A VICTORY, A STAR SYSTEM SACRIFICED, BUT EVEN NOW, YOUR CIVILIZATION IS DOOMED TO FALL, YOU LEADERS WILL BEG TO SERVE US"

"You think we're scared of you, but we're not, we will fight regardless"

"KNOW THIS AS YOU DIE IN VAIN; YOUR TIME WILL COME. YOUR SPECIES WILL FALL"

"You underestimate just how vicious and crazy my people can be when we are backed into a corner" Shepherd said. "So let me educate you, we poisoned our air and water to weed out the weak! We set off fission bombs in our biosphere at the time! We nailed our God to a stick! In layman's terms: don't fuck with the human race!"

"CONFIDENCE BORN OF IGNORANCE, PREPARE FOR THE ARRIVAL"

Shepherd lowered his head, he did what he had to delay the reapers, but he had to kill thee hundred thousand batarians. Sometimes he would have nightmares, seeing the colonists, their dead hands reaching for him pulling him in with him so the spectre could die with them. He wished he could go back in time and stop himself bur he couldn't. Tali gripped his hand. "It wasn't your fault, Wayne" Tali said sadly. "It was the only way"

"I still pressed the button, just to delay the reapers, it's a sin I'll have to carry for the rest of my life" Shepherd said solemnly. They made it to the committee chambers and were met with an old friend. Shepherd had never seen his friend so tired before, the Committee was running him ragged with his errands. He gave a salute.

"Anderson" Kaiden said. He looked at Shepherd and Tali, his eyes perked up a little. "Wayne, Tali, how are you guys?"

"Great, you?"

Kaiden sighed. "It hasn't been easy; I don't how you do it…"

"Keep that head on, Kaiden, we're going to need you" Tali said. Kaiden chuckled tiredly and nodded.

"How did it go, major?" Anderson asked.

Kaiden pinched the bridge of his nose. "Closed lipped as always…getting answers from the Illusive Man was easier" he said annoyed. "Anyway, they're waiting for you"

Committee Chambers

They went inside; the room was deadly quiet as they awaited Shepherd's advice. Shepherd snorted; the Alliance hadn't needed his advice before, they were so quick to throw him to the wolves to appease the Batarians."Anderson, Shepherd" One of them said. He then looked at Tali. "What is a Quarian doing here?"

"She's with me" Shepherd said.

"Commander Shepherd, this is an Alliance briefing…"

Shepherd glowed blue. "She's. With. Me" he said defiantly. "You may be the committee, but I'm still a spectre I can bring anyone I want"

"O-of course…"

Shepherd calmed. "What's the situation?" As soldier gives the spectre a data pad.

"You tell us, the reports are unlike anything we have ever seen" another said. "Whole colonies have gone dark; we've lost contact with everything beyond the Sol relay"

"Whatever it is, it inconceivably powerful…"

"You brought me here, to confirm what you already know…" Shepherd said. "The reapers are here"

The council looked at each other, really nervous now. It's been three whole years since he had warned him about the reapers, and every time it written off combat stress and now Shepherd's boogeyman was now proven to be real. That was three years that could have been spent building their forces, but they pissed it all away, Shepherd should by angry but anger wouldn't have solve anything. They were at the point of no return, and they had only themselves to blame…"Then…how do we stop them?"

Shepherd frowned. "Stop them? This isn't about winning or losing now, it is about survival" he said. "All they care about is seeing the end of this cycle, if you think you can run, then by all means, run, but you won't get far, you either fight or die"

"But…there must be a way…"

"If we have any chance of surviving, we must all stand together, whatever bullshit we have with the other races ends now"

"That's it? That's our plan?" Someone spoke up.

Tali crossed her arms. "Do you have a better one?" The committee glared at her, a woman at the communication terminal spoke up. She looked incredibly disturbed.

"Admiral, we've lost contact with Luna Base"

Anderson frowned, "The moon? They're that close?"

"Wait, t-there's more…from the UK headquarters" she said. "We have a visual" The screen appeared showing a battle, everyone in the room could hear sounds of battle and then the connection was lost. More screens appeared, each showing a different part of Earth in chaos as the reapers were landing and starting their assault.

"Keelah…" Tali gasped.

"What haven't we heard from Admiral Hackett?" Anderson asked concerned.

"Get a good look at our enemy, because this is only the beginning…" The committee looked dejected, defeated, on the one hand, it felt good to break their smug asses, but on the other hand, he knew how they felt. Anderson spoke up,

"Shepherd, we need to get to the Normandy…"

"Agreed" They then heard a sound and the committee turned around, their eyes wide with terror.

"Oh my god…" The sky lit up with red sparks and s reaper descended from the clouds. Its arms opened and fired on the city below and then the red beam came closer to the building. Shepherd's eyes went wide and raised his arms creating a biotic barrier to cover Tali and Anderson. The red beam impacted the room, turning the committee room into rubble; glass shattered and was thrown with great force. The committee was instantly vaporized by the beam and their desk and people were thrown across the room. The barrier held for a moment until the force of the blast pushed Shepherd to the limit. The team was pushed back, Shepherd hit wall hard, blacking out.

Moments later he heard a voice. "Wayne, please get up…"

"Shepherd" Shepherd got up, holding his head in pain.

"Anyone get the number of that truck just hit me…" he said in a daze. He looked around, the room was a mess everything was on fire, bodies were scattered across the room some burnt to a crisp from the beam, and some was impaled at by the debris. The way they came in was blocked by debris, the window had a huge hole in it, Legion was right windows were structural weaknesses. Tali helped him up.

"Are you okay?" She asked concerned.

"Yeah, you?"

"No suit rupture, I'm fine" Anderson ran to them.

"Anderson, you okay?"

"A small scratch, here" Anderson handed Shepherd and Tali a pistol. "Come on, we got to get moving" Shepherd and Tali nodded. He opened his com.

"This is Admiral Anderson, is anyone there?"

"We read you, Anderson" Kaiden said.

"What's your status?"

"I'm on the Normandy doing some clean up, as soon as we're done, we will meet you at the landing zone" he said.

"Roger" Anderson made his way to Tali and Shepherd. They were looking the reapers as they attacked the city, they were finally here, all the fights they been in had prepared them for this day. Part him felt relived, no more waiting…but part of him wondered if he can stop them, after all no civilization had been able to stop them before…with that kind of track record he didn't feel all that confident.

"Keelah, they're massive" she said. "Can we win this, Wayne?"

Shepherd sighed. "I don't know, Tali, but I'm sure as hell going to give it my best shot" Tali gripped his hand.

"You mean we, right? You won't do this alone"

Shepherd tightens his grip on Tali's hand. "Right"

"Shepherd, we need to get to the spaceport, the Normandy will pick us up there" Shepherd and Tali nodded and they jumped off the ledge. They ran across the roof heading towards the spaceports.

Mars

"After her!" Liara was breathing hard from running from the soldiers; they came out of nowhere, Cerberus troopers. She was taking a shower, until the alarms sounded and she heard shooting. Within hours Cerberus had taken control of the station, killing anyone who got in their way. "There she is"

Liara froze the soldier with a stasis field and threw a warp field at him, causing an explosion. Some soldiers found her and opened fire, but missed and was lifted up by a singularity field and shot. After she's finished, she ran, there were still more when she turned to corner. She entered a dark room and went up the vents, that keep them off her for a while but she needed back up.

"I got to contact Hackett…"

Welcome to Mass Effect 3: Beauty and the Beast! The third and final act of the B&TB saga, what do you think?

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