Cupid's Arrow: Adoration in the Cosmos

Chapter 9

The Citadel was covered with dead test subjects. War was breaking out quickly. We had to act fast. The Citadel was in a good location for me to hack the heart of the Reaper. "Hold this position." I ordered. We had both Shadow Troopers and Cerberus Troopers on the Citadel. I looked over and saw The Illusive Man hold his head. "You okay, Pup?"

The Illusive Man walked over and said, "Yeah, just a side effect."

"Side effect from what?" I questioned as my heart raced.

He exhaled and responded, "I didn't want to worry you, but I had the science team implant me with some Reaper tech. That's what some of these test subjects died from. But don't worry it's been improved. It's newly implanted, so I'm getting use to it."

"What? Why didn't you say anything?" I stopped what I was doing and glared at him.

"I didn't want to worry you, baby." He said. "It's showing promising results. It's going to work out, I promise." He kissed my forehead.

I caressed his cheek. "What can it do?"

"I can control others just like the Reapers can." He placed his hands around my waist. "Trust me, baby. Humanity will benefit from this."

I planted a kiss on his lips. "I'm right there with you, Pup. I'm not leaving your side." Gunshots were fired. "My brother must have found a way aboard."

The Illusive Man grabbed my hand. "Come with me."

Pup had me hide close by. I noticed a man in uniform walk up to the podium. He was about to activate the weaponry, but he stopped. The Illusive Man had him under his control. My brother came from behind. The Illusive Man soon had my brother under his control too. "You should've listened to me, Commander."

My brother could barely speak. "What have you done?"

"I took what the Reaper's had and made it my own." The Illusive Man ordered my brother to raise his gun and point it at his friend. "Look what I'm capable of doing thanks to your sister."

"The Reaper's have you. They're controlling you." John's friend muttered.

The Illusive Man grinned. "I think not. Thanks to Shadow, I have an implant that prevents Reaper Indoctrination."

John spat at The Illusive Man, "You're ruthless. Look what you've done. How many have died, because of your hunger for knowledge? You're just like..."

"Me?" I walked pass my brother and turned to meet his eyes.

"Sister?" John was puzzled for a moment.

"Why are you so surprised? Are you that stupid?" I glanced over at Pup. "I was absent from your life for years, John. I created my own life. I do have a boyfriend. I know you don't believe it, but I do. In fact, you're with him. You said you wanted to meet him, but you already have. The Illusive Man has treated me with so much affection. He's showed me more love than my own family. I've stayed by his side through it all. He's supported me when no one else would and I'll do the same for him." I placed my arm around Pup's waist. "Nothing will get in our way, not even you."

John muffled, "You're Shadow?"

"Now you're putting it together." I joked.

John grew fire in his eyes, "You turned against your own brother!"

That statement made The Illusive Man furious. "Bullshit!" Pup pointed his finger at my brother. "I see the scars left behind by you and your family. She told me what you and your parents did to her. And lets not forget, you left Shadow to die on that base. You turned your back on your little sister, Commander. You left my Baby Girl to die." The Illusive Man walked over to John's friend and grabbed his gun. "I will not allow you to hurt her anymore."

"Look, sis, I know I fucked up but don't let him do this." John Pleaded. The Illusive Man shot John's friend. "JANE!"

I took the gun from The Illusive Man and paced around. "Look what I accomplished since leaving the family. I didn't do it alone, though. You weren't there, John. The Illusive Man was always by my side. You're begging me to stop him, but who's going to stop me?"

"You wouldn't do that to your own brother." John was pushing his luck.

I placed the gun to his head. "You're no brother of mine. My family died years ago. I'm going to start my own family someday, and I don't want them to know about you, father or mother. I'm sorry, John, but this is where it ends. You'll just get in the way."

John pleaded, "JANE!"

"Goodbye, Commander Shepard." I pulled the trigger and all my past sufferings were washed away.

The Illusive Man placed his hand on my shoulder. "You okay, Baby Girl?"

I looked in his eyes and felt relieved. "I feel at peace, now." I kissed his cheek. "Come on, we have work to do."

The Citadel was under attack by the dead. The Reapers possessed the dead bodies in the Citadel. "I can keep them off, but you have to work fast. There are a lot of dead bodies that the Reapers can control." The Illusive Man defended me, while I hacked into the heart of the Reapers. Gaining access to the heart was tough. I wasn't use to their technology. Their technology is more advance than humans and aliens combined. "How's it going, Shadow?"

"Got it!" I gleamed with pride. " The Collectors are on Earth killing our people. It says here that they have control of their own minds. Lets order these Reapers to kill the remaining Collectors and see if they obey." I entered the codes. "It worked!"

"That's great! How about releasing control of these damn bodies?" The Illusive Man hollered.

"Right, sorry." I entered the codes and the remaining bodies fell.

"Shit, lets not do that again." The Illusive Man leaned close to me.

"What do we do now?" I question with heavy eyes.

Pup wrapped his arms around me and closed his eyes. "Let's order these Reapers to return to their homeworld and stay there. We have all the time in world to study them, now." I entered the codes and within a second, they flew away. "Let's go home, baby."

The ride back to Cerberus HQ was quiet, but that's how we like it. We snuggled up with each other and gazed out the window. I caught Pup watching me. "What?"

He smiled so beautifully and said, "Nothing. Nothing at all."

I chuckled, "You're up to something, I just know it."

The Illusive Man squeezed me tightly. "I told you I would get you back for that photo, remember?"

"Yeah?" I gave him a little smirk.

"Well I have something special planned for you." He planted a kiss on my lips. "But you have to wait for it."

I buried my head in his chest. "I hate waiting."

"I know; that's the best part." He laughed revealing his beautiful teeth.

When we arrived at the HQ, the rooms were empty. There was no one insight. But we weren't concerned. We were together and that's all that matter. The Illusive Man's office was demolished. "John sure put up a fight in here." I noticed his chair was broken. He loved that chair a lot. I did too. I gave some good head on that chair. We entered our bedroom. "At least our bedroom is intact." Pup grabbed me and fell back on the bed. "You feel like playing?" I giggled.

The Illusive Man smirked and pulled his charm on me. "No, but I do feel like making love with you."

I kissed his lips while I stroked his hair. "That's even better, baby."

Pup pulled me close and whispered, "I love you, Shadow."

I stroked his cheek and pulled him in for a kiss. "I love you too, Jack."