Video Game Spin-Offs: Mass Effect "Foundation" #13

(Spoilers!) The last issue in the Mass Effect comic series, "Foundation," picks up with Rasa.  She's having a flashback from her childhood as a slave forced to steal from miners at the camp from the first issue in the series.  But she's no longer the girl forced to pretend to be a boy, instead she's making her own plans.  Those plans include posing as a scientist in order to steal a clone of Commander Shepard that was created as a backup plan if the Lazarus project failed.  Her plan goes awry as a passing Cerberus lackey recognizes her and she's forced to shoot her way out.  The command center in the lab is warned immediately, but they can do little as Rasa has overridden the security system and forced it to loop a Blasto the Hanar Spectre film.

Miranda isn't pleased and rounds up a team of soldiers and mechs to take care of Rasa.  But Rasa has overridden all the security systems and the sprinklers come on, dousing Miranda and her mechs.  Rasa continues to remember scenes from her terrible childhood and sees a time when she was caught stealing and was forced to defend herself.  Then the scene cuts forward to the lab.  Rasa has programmed a mech to follow her and is preparing to move out.

Miranda and mechs move to take out Rasa.

Miranda confronts Rasa.

Miranda has finally reached the lab and confronts Rasa.  She states that she should have listened to Kai Leng and killed Rasa when she had the chance.  Miranda unleashes a biotic attack and takes out Rasa's mechs.  Just when it looks like Miranda is going to be victorious the mechs that are accompanying her open fire.  Rasa has re-programmed them all to protect her and the clone.  She orders a mech to haul a pod containing the clone to her shuttle which she has hidden on the underside of the station.

As she waits for the mech to haul the pod to her ship she continues to have flashbacks and remembers the trouble she got into for killing the miner who caught her stealing from his locker.  She's snapped back into reality as a gunshot hits her ship.  It's Miranda and she's not about to let Rasa escape with the clone.  Rasa and Miranda exchange some gunfire and verbal barbs.  Miranda questions why Rasa is doing this when Cerberus has given her so many chances.  Rasa wisely responds that Cerberus's help comes with strings attached and questions why Miranda feels such loyalty to the organization.  Miranda states that the Illusive Man saved her life.  By this time Rasa has made it into her shuttle and has managed to escape.  Miranda is forced to admit her failure and tell the Illusive Man that Rasa has escaped.

Rather than being upset at Miranda, he calmly informs her that they aren't going to worry about Rasa but are instead going to focus on the Lazarus project.  The Shepard clone isn't the real Shepard anyway.  The scene cuts back to Rasa on her ship with the clone.  She is talking to the stasis pod and seems to have formed a real attachment to the clone.  She states that she is going to make this Shepard into a better version and that with the clone she can finally control her own destiny.

If you played the "Citadel" DLC from Mass Effect 3, you know how the story ends.  This final issue in the comic series did a great job of tying the whole story together.  Readers learned the origins of the Brooks/Rasa character and got a better idea about the events leading up to the epic clone fight.

My overall verdict on this series is that as a fan it was fun to get a little more insight into the characters and details from the game.  Other fans will probably enjoy the stories.  I didn't feel like the artwork was as strong in this series as in the previous series.  Some issues were great and added a lot to the story while others seemed a lot less informative but might be good for people who have a favorite character. I am interested to see what the future holds for the Rasa character and if she makes some sort of appearance in the upcoming Mass Effect game.