Shepard, Garrus and Liara could only watch in awe as Thane laid the assassin on his ass. Before Shepard could say a word while he reloaded his gun to finish him off, he charged the assassin. Her ice blue eyes watched in horror as the unknown assassin's sword ran Thane through, petruding from his back before pulling it out and letting the Drell crumple to the floor.

"Thane!"

Firing a couple rounds from her gun, she gave chase as he ran out of C-Sec and jumped off the edge. Her confusion was short-lived when he rose, standing atop a blue shuttle. Gritting her teeth, Shepard fired more rounds, praying for one to hit it's mark when she heard shots from behind her. Turning, she found Thane using the wall for support as he tried his luck at hitting the assassin.

He couldn't keep at it though, as he lowered the gun to cradle his seeping wound. As she approached him, he slid down the wall, leaving behind a trail of blood from his descent. She knelt before him.

"How bad is it?" Her voice weak, barely above a whisper, as she gazed at her dying friend.

His head lulled a bit before he managed to look at her.

"I have time. Catch him."

Reluctant to leave her friend, she also knew it was her duty to save the Council's ass. Again.

Before she could speak, her omni-tool glowed before Baily's voice filled the silence.

"Shepard, what's going on up there?"

Silent fury bubbled in her stomach as she slowly got to her feet.

"Thane needs medical attention fast, and I need to take care of an assassin."

"He must be going after the rest of the Council."

"Get the word out -Udina's trying to seize power. I've got to get to the Councillors."

She stormed her way over to a C-Sec shuttle.

"They're being taken to a Shuttle Pad on the Presidium. Start driving- I'll try to raise them on the comm."

'Oh, I'll do more then just drive..' she mentally spat as she jumped into the shuttle.

As she drove, she took one last look back at Thane.

'...I'll kill the son of a bitch behind all this.'

"I've got a fix on the Council's position. I'm sending it to your car."

For a moment all was silent when something hit the car -or to be more accurate- landed on the bonnet. When the man raised his head and she was looking at the goggles of the assassin that stabbed her dear friend, her corona lit up as her anger boiled to the surface.

Pulling her gun free, she tried to shoot him as he ran up the windscreen. She kicked her door open and hung outside it as Liara moved over into the drivers seat, fully intent on taking the masked motherfucker down. As she fired practically point blank, he erected a shield. With each deflected bullet, her anger grew more violent.

The object of her ire had no reaction to her. Instead, once she had emptied her magazine, he moved swiftly, bringing his sword down on the engine, causing their shuttle to descend to the right as Liara lost control. She took a quick look at Liara who was trying (and failing) to regain control before she looked up at him. He smirked at her smugly as his shuttle arrived higher above them and the robotic woman opened the door for him. The brief moment she stared through his goggles into his eyes, she relayed all her threats and promises of bodily harm the next time she saw him and that she would see him again before he jumped back onto his shuttle and left them to crash land.

Liara had moved back to her seat as Shepard slid back inside and closed the door. Taking a look at the controls and the oncoming ground, she braced for impact.

'Fuck.'

And crash landed they did, thankfully sustaining no injuries.

As they made their way, she paid little attention to what Bailey was saying to her as she took out her opponents with her anger fueling her biotic attacks. Once they reached Shalmar Plaza, an Atlas fell before her. With a battle-cry, she ran forward. With her left hand thrusted upwards with a Pull, she tore the canopy open. Her right hand glowed with a Warp as she mangled his body. With more enemies pouring in, her rage was more then enough to accommodate them. Singularities, Warps, Reaves, Throws and Pulls flew, killing one after another, with Garrus sniping left overs and Liara keeping their six covered and cleared.

As she moved to the doors Bailey just unlocked, she tried wiping some of Cerberus's tainted blood off her face but only ended up smearing it some more. She huffed as the doors opened. Hands glowing and ready, they moved forward, ready when they saw the other elevator. More importantly, who was getting on the other elevator.

When he turned and looked at her, she charged for him. Only for the doors to close before she could reach him.

"Fuck!" She yelled.

Looking over at her friends, she watched Liara open up another elevator. Turning on her torch light, she jumped in Bailey sent them up. Fast.

'I'm coming for you, you bastard.'

She almost snickered when she heard Bailey say that he made his elevator stop on every floor. She imagined his face and a chuckle escaped her before she could stop it.

After a couple of moments, they had to take care of some resistance but they were easily disposed of. Though her ire cooled when she realised she wouldn't be facing off against him.

"As much as you want to kill him, Shepard," Liara spoke. "We need to save the Council first."

"Don't worry, Shepard, you will get him," Garrus agreed. "But first, we need to take care of Udina.

Liara nodded. "He is the one behind this attack. If not for him, that assassin probably wouldn't be here."

Her anger flared back to life at the reminder.

'Yes...Udina,' her mind hissed. 'He's the one that allowed Cerberus onto the Citadel.'

With that in mind and the Council's elevator before them, they jumped across but not soon after they did so did bullets fly up to greet them.

"Shit," she cursed quietly as she and the others dodged.

The elevator pulled a hard stop. Once they got their footing, they climbed down into the carriage and moved forward. Soon, they could hear Kaidan's voice.

"Cerberus took out the shuttle. Everyone back to the elevator! Move!"

'Not likely,' her mind whispered darkly. 'Udina dies today.'

Her eyes met Kaidan's as he turned and spotted them. With a swipe, Liara killed the door's locking system, trapping them all there. Resisting the urge to smirk, she gave her attention to Kaidan who raised his gun to her.

'God, I swear. If he were anyone else, I'd have killed them for doubting me so damn much.'

Then her eyes landed on Udina and she gritted her teeth as she raised her fists, glowing and ready.

"Shepard! What's going on?" Kaidan asked.

Glancing at him briefly, her gaze flicked back to Udina.

"Shepard's blocking our escape! She's with Cerberus!"

A snarl tore from throat, anger clawing at her insides, begging for his blood to spill.

"You picked the wrong time to turn traitor, Udina," she hissed.

Kaidan stepped between her and Udina and for a second, she contemplated throwing him off the side.

"Just, hang on- I've got this. Everyone calm down."

Her eyes shown brighter, evidence of her mood.

"I can explain, Kaidan," she spoke. "That is, if you don't already believe him."

His eyes narrowed. "Come on, Shepard. Biotics trained on a Councillor...kinda looks bad."

"I don't have time for this. Udina is behind this attack. The Salarian Councillor confirmed it."

The Asari and Turian Councillor turned to Udina.

"Please, you have no proof. You never do."

"And look at what happened; Reapers everywhere. I've been right every single fucking time," she spat harshly. "Why would I be wrong now?"

"There are Cerberus soldiers behind us," Liara spoke.

"If they come through that door, you're all dead," Garrus stated dryly.

"We've mistrusted Shepard before...and it did not help us," Asari Councillor admitted.

"You're a Reaper Invasion too late, Councillor," Garrus told her flatly.

"We don't have time to debate this. We're dead if we stay out here. I'm overriding the lock."

Udina turned his back and moved to the small holo control panel.

Kaidan moved more in front of her. "I better not regret this."

She said nothing as he lowered his weapon and turned to Udina.

"Udina, step away from the console."

"To hell with this!"

As he started up the console, she moved. Before her, the Asari Councillor was shoved down. When he pulled a gun, she shoved Kaidan out of her way and threw him back with a throw and followed him.

"Shepard-"

With a pull, Udina came back like a yo-yo, smacking his face on to hard cold stone. With her arm out toward him and slowly rising, she dragged him up, keeping him suspended in mid-air with her biotics. Her eyes were as cold and hard as ice as she glared deep into his, her hand open and curled, as if she were holding him up by his throat.

"The door!" She heard the Turian Councillor call.

"His name," her voice low and harsh.

"W-What?" Udina murmured, disoriented.

"The assassin," she elaborated. "Give me his name," she repeated.

"I don't-"

He never finished as she slammed him back down into the ground before raising him back up, his nose bleeding and broken as well as missing a couple of teeth.

"Give me his name!" She bellowed, her biotics constricting around his throat threateningly before giving him some air to answer.

"K-Kai Leng."

Then with all the strength she could muster, she raised him up and drove him straight back into the ground, cracking it and all his bones.

When she turned around, she noticed everyone (Bailey and some C-Sec officer she didn't know) had watched the whole thing. She walked to them, even brushing passed Kaidan with a little more force than was necessary.

She ignored the Councillors as she addressed Bailey.

"Thane?" Was her first question.

"He was taken to Huerta but it doesn't look good. You might want to go and say your goodbyes."

Her head turned downwards as she allowed her black hair to cover her eyes. Two crystal tears fell from her eyes as she bit her lip.

"Damn it all," she choked as she moved passed him swiftly, hands clenched and heart aching.

"Where is she going?" The Asari Councillor asked.

"Her friend, Thane Krios, is at the end of his life. He's terminally ill and was fatally wounded defending the Salarian Councillor from an assassin."

"He is also her second friend to die today," Garrus said before he followed Shepard.

"Both Thane and Mordin helped Shepard take down the Collectors. They were there for her when we were not," Liara said to Kaidan before they watched the two leave.

Sorry about the excessive use of anger, fury and him. At the time, she didn't know who Kai Leng was and I didn't wanna keep calling him 'assassin'. Also, he or him expressed how much she loathed the man.

I just felt that Shepard would be a hell of a lot more pissed when he stabbed her friend. Me (the gamer) wanted to tear his head of coz I just lost Mordin. That has to count for something.

I'm new to the ME3 fanfiction so I apologize if I got some things wrong. I'm sure it took a little longer for the Normandy to go from Tuchanka back to the Citadel, though I don't know how long exactly. It wouldn't take more then 24 hours, would it?

Anyway, review xD

I'm gonna be posting more one-shots about Mass Effect. I'm a little obsessed at the moment.

Thanks for reading!

Dii