Mass Effect: Evolution 4

Mass Effect: Evolution 4 is the final issue of the 4-issue Mass Effect: Evolution comic series published by Dark Horse Comics.

Release Information

 * Publication Date: April 20, 2011
 * Tagline: Who will mourn... the death of mankind?
 * Writer: Mac Walters, John Jackson Miller
 * Artist: Omar Francia
 * Colorist: Michael Atiyeh
 * Cover Artist: Massimo Carnevale / Joe Quinones

Publisher's Summary
''Mass Effect 2 lead writer Mac Walters brings the origin of the Illusive Man to its explosive conclusion! The fate of mankind may come down to this moment, as the newly enlightened Illusive Man launches a movement that will upset the balance of power across the galaxy. But will he prove to be the universe’s savior-or its destroyer? This story will have a long-lasting impact on the Mass Effect saga, and is essential reading for fans of sci-fi action and intrigue!''

Story
On Palaven, turians are lined up outside Temple Palaven holding torches, waiting to enter. Meanwhile, Jack Harper pleads with Saren Arterius to listen to him. Harper says that Desolas Arterius doesn’t know what he has, but he does. He tells Saren not to let the other turians into the temple, but Saren remarks that Jack has seen what Desolas wanted him to see and says to put him with the other one, rather than back into the observation room. As Jack is led out, he tries one last time to convince Saren to not go through with what Desolas has planned, but Saren refuses to listen. Saren just stares as Jack is being led away; for him, being the brother of a famous general may be the path to career success, but he has never followed in the footsteps of others. Saren earned his coveted spot on Desolas’ staff by himself. His colleagues continually stated that there wasn’t a situation that he’s encountered that he couldn’t handle. Little did Saren realize that he would find one, working for his brother.

In the room with the Monolith, which has the “priests” and several turians unconscious on the ground, Lagrion, a young turian tells his mother that he doesn’t like the “priests” and they just don’t look right, to which his mother replies by telling him to stay strong and reminds him that if he goes through with it, then no more turians will die in war. She continues by saying that Desolas promised something, but before she can finish, the “priests” drag Lagrion off, throwing him into the Monolith. The mother first asks what they are doing, then after her son hits it, she asks to see him, before she notices something about the “priests” and, after lifting one of their hoods, she discovers Desolas’ secret. She then ends up being thrown into the Monolith herself while Saren shields his eyes from the blast of light.

In another part of the Temple, Saren runs into Desolas who tells him he is just in time to help him inspect the troops. Saren, however, says that it is premature and the “meta-turians” are simple-minded and don’t obey orders. Saren tells Desolas that he thought that Desolas said that Jack was the key to controlling them. Desolas maintains that Harper had said nothing for days and that when he finally spoke up, he said nonsense. Desolas continues by saying that he is done with his games and that his scientists did find something, a behavioral link between the Monolith and the “meta-turians”. He tells Saren that they aren’t simple-minded, but rather single-minded driving to protect the Monolith, but also to create more of their own kind. They allowed Desolas to bring the Monolith to Palaven, and he returned the favor by giving them a source of new recruits. Desolas comments that he will carry the Monolith into battle as his personal talisman. With their numbers and their berserker drive to protect it, he will topple every challenger, starting with the civilian rulers on Palaven, and then continuing into the galaxy, one by one. Desolas concludes by saying that many insect species have warriors and drones, but now they will have both.

Saren tells Desolas that he is worried about where his “bugs” have been burrowing and that he came to tell him something. Saren says that some have been rooting around in the lower levels of the temple clearing the rubble from the collapsed levels. Desolas just responds with a “[s]o?” He tries to calm Saren by reminding him that the “meta-turians” worship the Monolith and just want to improve its resting place. He says that if Saren wants to chase a mirage, he is free to do so as Desolas has more important issues to attend. Unsatisfied with his brother's input, Saren says “right”, then turns and walks out.

In one of the lower levels, two guards are leading Jack to a cell, who is still pleading with them to take him back to Desolas before it is too late. The guards, however, say that Desolas has had enough of him, and so have they. Just then Eva drops from the top of the cell, connecting with both feet on the head of one of the turians. She then knocks the gun out of the hand of the other, and then knocks him out, while Jack lands a punch on the first one, knocking him out. As they grab the guard’s guns, Eva tells Jack that it was nice of him to show up as she’s been waiting to do that for days. She then asks where Ben is and Jack says that he doubts he is in the room with the Monolith, but he did see some “priests” down the hall.

As they make their way down the hall, the two come up on the “priests” excavating some rubble. Eva says that there are no real turians holding their leashes, and asks why they would be working unsupervised. A voice behind them says that is a good question. Saren is standing there pointing his gun at both of them, and asks a question of his own, before taking them out for a walk. Jack tells Saren that Desolas wouldn’t listen to him and that Saren has been played. Desolas wanted to bring the Monolith to Palaven; that is, to this temple specifically. Jack says that he read it all from the writings everywhere in the temple. In response, Saren comments that no one has been able to read them, and that nobody knows why their ancestors even built the place. Jack, however, insists that he can read them, and understand the “meta-turians”. He says that he knows what really happened here, and so do they.

As they finish their discussion, the rubble was cleared, and inside is another Monolith. Saren is taken aback by the discovery. Jack then proceeds to tell the story. Ancient turians discovered the second Monolith ages ago and like now, it created super-strong turians and their “Valluvian Priests” of legend. However, they weren’t holy, so they built the temple to protect the rest of the species and after Desolas’ researchers found the smaller, second Monolith and they were transformed, they sensed that this one was already here. Jack continues by saying that they will soon be transforming the turian race at double the rate they are now. Desolas is taking it slow to prevent public backlash, but soon there will be too many “priests” to care. He will then move the Monolith to city squares around the planet and then forcibly transform the entire turian race.

Saren cuts Jack off before he can finish and tells him to shut up and let him think. He asks why would anyone do something like this, and what is the point of advancing a species by sacrificing intelligence. Jack says that he doesn’t know, but then Ben shows up and says that he thinks the Monolith wants it that way. The Monolith knows about humanity now, because of him. And now that they have found a second one, it wants them to act. Jack comforts Ben by saying that it isn’t his fault, and it is the fault of whoever created the devices. Jack says he hasn’t worked out the angle, the why. Eva, however, turns to Saren and tells him that he better do something fast, otherwise they will have a planet of drooling behemoths, and it won’t stop there.

Saren tells Eva “enough” and to stop nattering. He says that he is an Arterius, but he is also sworn to defend his people. Saren then grabs his communicator and contacts Palaven Command, telling them he is declaring an unsecured bioweapon emergency.

Meanwhile in the upstairs part of the temple, Desolas is inspecting his troops, and notices they have gotten agitated. He asks a guard what is going on, and the guard says that he doesn’t know; they were placid, then they suddenly broke ranks. Desolas says that the way they are walking leads outside, and tells them they don’t have any purpose there. As he tries to order them back into their ranks, one of them knocks Desolas down, just then Saren walks in with some armed troops and tells no one to move. Desolas still gets tossed around some more and that does it for Saren and he orders the troops to open fire and not to let anyone get outside. Meanwhile, Jack is leading Ben and Eva out. Since Eva is carrying Ben, Jack has both guns, and is firing as fast as he can and asks them to help as Saren needs all the help he can get. Then he notices that they are leaving and Eva says that this is their fight not theirs. Jack rushes over to help, but can’t help but notice that Ben is just dead weight.

Eva says the Monolith wants to get him to join the others, but she keeps telling him to fight back. She continues by saying there is hope if they can get him to a human hospital, then they might be able to help him. Jack says that he doesn’t think that Ben can be helped. Not anymore. He explains that he has thought more about why someone would do this, but Eva cuts him off telling Jack to not think for once, and feel. She isn’t giving up and if they get him away from the “meta-turians”, then it might make a difference. But Jack says that there is no place far enough away, and that he could feel them from Arcturus Station. Eva remarks that there is one thing they haven’t tried yet. Before Jack can ask what that is, she grabs one of Jack’s guns, points it at the Monolith, and shoots.

Ben quickly tells her not to, but before Eva hears him, she pulls the trigger, and he lunges at her, despite Jack telling him not to, and knocks Eva into a wall, leaving a lot of blood around her head. Ben falls to the ground asking what he just did, and Desolas enters telling him exactly what he was supposed to, protect the Monolith, and that he may be the only person here who does what he is told. Desolas then turns to Saren, who also enters the room, and shows his amazement toward this technology. Eva’s shots didn’t even scratch the Monolith and it probably would have taken an orbital bombardment to do that. Saren tells Desolas that they have to get out of there as the temple isn’t secure and that he’s called outside help. Before he can finish, Desolas tells him that it’s nonsense as they are pacifying the “meta-turians” and tells Saren to recall the outside forces. He continues by saying that he can still be successful; he just needs to adjust the experiment.

Jack, who is now behind Desolas, tells him that it won’t, and won’t ever work. Ben is in a corner, cradling Eva’s unconscious body, saying that he can’t fight it. Desolas pulls a gun on Jack, reminding him that he has had enough of him and that he should have done what he is about to a long time ago. Ben then says it is inevitable, and charges at Desolas, knocking him into the Monolith along with himself.

Sometime later, Jack picks up Eva and tells her that he is sorry. The Monolith, despite everything it gave him, made him inadvertently lose sight of what really matters. Shortly thereafter, Eva regains consciousness and asks if it’s Ben, but Jack says that it’s him. Eva tells Jack to leave her, as she is done at this point, and go back for Ben. Jack tells Eva that Ben saved them all as he did what the Monolith wanted, give it another victim, and insure that Desolas won’t be making any more victims. He says that the Monolith wasn’t an evolutionary device, but rather a devolutionary device, a booby trap. Its creators planted the device to tell them when it detected an advanced species, and transform its members into those "things" so they could be controlled. As Jack walks out, he notices Saren waking up and tells him to warn his people and that he can’t be around to watch the result as he would like to, but he has to take care of his own.

Later, as Desolas is back on his feet, Saren tries to communicate with him. Desolas asks where he is, and he says right behind him, although it is merely a communications device. He tells Desolas that he is calling from a safe distance and that he is sorry that he can’t be there, but Desolas will understand in a minute. Desolas says that he doesn’t understand much of anything as he feels his mind going. Saren tells him that this is how it works. Saren says that he doesn’t know why he wasn’t affected, but guesses it had something to do with indirect contact. Saren continues that no matter the reason, he had to ask while Desolas was still inside with the “meta-turians” and the Monoliths to protect the turian people, as he would have wanted. Confused, Desolas asks Saren what he is talking about. Saren answers by saying again that he is sorry but he has a duty to Palaven, like him, but some secrets were meant to stay buried, until the turians were ready to understand them. Saren tells Desolas that he will mourn him, and avenge him. Just then the temple explodes in a fireball with crowds of cheering turians in the foreground.

At Arcturus Station, a speaker is saying that it is with a heavy heart that he reports the deaths of Ben Hislop and Eva Coré. The speaker continues by saying they have given their lives defending humanity to the last minute and they not only helped discover, but confirm what the speaker believe, that there is something out there to protect humanity from. Meanwhile, another person is sitting in a chair making a recording. He says that Desolas was right, that the stars were warm and welcoming, full of places to explore, knowledge, and riches to be had. However, humans won’t always be welcome, and those that evolved before them won’t always be willing to share what they know. That is just the way of things in the universe. Jack notes that a dark time is coming, and humanity will be tested and while they may not know who is doing the testing or why, but they must meet the challenge as humanity has done every single time in the past. Humanity must succeed because doing anything else would be inhuman. Jack says that he will watch the dark places, and bring them into the light. Jack says there is no magic, only technology and tools they can and must master. Not just to survive, but to better humanity. They can and will take their rightful place in the stars. This is his manifesto, and he hopes that you will join his cause. Jack ends the recording and takes his place as the Illusive Man, the leader of Cerberus.