A/N: Thanks again to everyone who has been enjoying the story thus far! I know this may be a bit different than what most are expecting but I still thank you all for your ongoing support :) Things are beginning to unfold just slightly but I'll try to pick up the pace. There's still backstory that need to be taken care of so bear with me.

Anyways, enough blabbing. Here's chapter four! Please leave your thoughts and comments. Suggestions are always welcome.

All characters and galaxy lore of Mass Effect belong to BioWare


Chapter 4: An Assassin's Doubt

"I seriously can't believe I'm actually doing this." Shepard had recently arrived to Bekenstein and was now inside a skycar, on her way to a party she knew she wasn't going to enjoy. Glancing at her omnitool, she saw that it was nearing three in the afternoon. "1500 right on the mark."

Exiting out of the skycar, Shepard straightened out her blazer and collar, fixing the pistol provided to her in the inside of her coat. Her head perked up as she saw the massive mansion. The building itself was a marvel of elegant design, and it was obvious that the owner was wealthy. Just from the sight of all the outlandish décor, Shepard took a guess that the host did not hold back in showing it off either. Observing her surroundings, she saw a good number of people arriving, slowly bottlenecking into the mansion's entrance. Each person was of a high class, but Shepard knew that there was something else. Something that didn't feel right.

"Surprised, Shepard?" A voice suddenly chimed in.

"You can't be serious." Shepard turned around only to be greeted by the one and only Liara T'soni who was dressed in a tight purple dress that sat comfortably on her curves. The dress had a collar that sheltered most of the Asari's neck and had long sleeves covered by gloves, which all fitted her slender form. As reserved as the Asari looked, anyone including Shepard could see just how much of a beauty Liara was and how captivating she could be. 'I guess I can't complain too much.' Shepard bit her tongue.

Snapping back from her thoughts, Shepard grabbed Liara by the upper arm and pulled her gently to the side. "What the hell are you doing here? And…what's with all the face make-up?" Shepard didn't pay too much attention to Liara herself, but when she actually took a good look at her, she noticed that the Asari's plain blue skin was covered in markings. "Did you get those tattooed or something?"

"First off, you don't address your employer that way." Pulling her arm back, she straightened her dress. "Secondly, this mission is actually a personal matter of mine, and Asari don't get these types of markings tattooed. They're actually genetic. I just needed a ploy to make sure I don't get that much unwanted attention."

"Well, you still will since you look beautiful." Shepard cringed as if her comment had bad aftertaste. "But right now you're proving to be a rather inconsistent, and might I add, agitating employer." Shepard kept a hard stare at Liara only to be stared back with a look of innocent surprise. "…with all due respect." The red-haired woman cleared her throat as she returned her sights to the mansion.

"You shouldn't be upset. After all I did say you were going to meet up with a contact here. It's not like I lied to you." Liara wittedly rebutted. "Oh, and you don't look so bad yourself, Shepard. For a woman like yourself I think you'd look rather astonishing in a gown, but I figured it'd be easier for you to do your job in that."

Shepard rolled her eyes as she sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Meeting you here was the last thing I expected. Especially at a crowded, social get-together of snooty douche bags." Shepard's voice went rough as she restrained herself from being boiled over by her temper. "Ack, whatever. Look just tell me what I need to know and what I need to do."

Liara stepped in front of Shepard, fixing up the front of the human's blazer just a bit more. "Simple." With one more tug and pat on the shoulders of Shepard's attire, Liara stepped over to the human's side, gracefully sliding her arm around hers. "You are to make sure I remain safe while we're here."

Shepard narrowed her brows and turned her head towards the Asari who was successfully beginning to crawl under her skin. "I doubt I'm getting paid to babysit you while you lollygag around with these people."

"You're right Shepard." As Liara began to lead her and Shepard to the mansion's entrance, she began glancing to their left and right. "The thing is, these aren't just ordinary guests. They're actually criminals."

"I knew something felt off about this place." Shepard tensed as they began approaching the rest of the attendees. "So are we talking about like, mob bosses and stuff?" Shepard lowered her voice as she kept herself alert.

Liara leaned closer to Shepard as she whispered against the human's cheek. "Some are but these people have trades in everything you can think of. Murder, theft, fraud, you name it. All of them the best of the best and very dangerous."

As the couple arrived to the door, they were approached and rudely greeted by a human man in armor. "Alright, and who might you be?" The man spoke with a clipboard in hand.

"Bellaina Sonis." Liara casually said. "And this is my partner Allison Gunn. Donovan Hock expected us from Illium." Shepard remained silent throughout the exchange, only keeping an eye out for anything conspicuous.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I don't-" The human began to speak before being interrupted by another human man in a white suit.

"Ah! Ms. Sonis and Ms. Gunn! Welcome to my home. Are my men causing you trouble?" Donovan Hock approached the guards and patted them away.

"Not so much Mr. Hock, they're just doing their job." Liara led Shepard with a small stride to the inside of the mansion. "Beautiful home by the way Mr. Hock, and you have quite the audience for today."

"That's correct. And may I add, I've heard about your stellar reputation in Illium, I'm impressed." Hock gave an assuring nod of admiration as he led the couple further inside the mansion. "Today we have a very special agenda."

"What might that be Mr. Hock?" Liara spoke calmly and professionally. Her persona came naturally.

"Today we will not only talk about and celebrate our successes in the underbelly of society, but we will be also talking about that infamous Shadowbroker." Hock's voice darkened as the word 'Shadowbroker' left his lips. "I uncovered something not too long ago about the bastard that I feel my comrades should know and I'm thinking of selling it to the highest bidder tonight!"

Shepard's eyebrow twitched and slightly turned her head towards Liara, mainly looking at her with her peripherals. Instinctively, Shepard pulled her arm closer to her, keeping the Asari close.

"But ladies, I do not want to spoil anything just yet, just have fun and mingle for the meantime while I get everything prepared." With a courteous bow, Hock left the couple to continue his role as host.

"Now I see how it's a personal problem." Shepard and Liara began walking through the house, observing the environment and people around them.

"Yes. Apparently it's enough of lead on how to find me. I need that taken back." Liara kept her arm loosely around Shepard's. "The problem is, I don't know what it could be."

"This is going to be troublesome. You think it's a leak from the inside?" Shepard and Liara arrived to the mansion's balcony and took a seat on one of the loungers.

"I will keep that as a possibility but something came to my attention not too long ago that dissuaded me from that presumption." Liara crossed her legs as she stared out into the view.

"And that is?" Shepard kept her attention at Liara, both in admiration and in attentiveness.

"There are people that want me gone as much as these people here, but I am more worried about the other. If Hock does have information that could compromise me, these people have networks and through that network, word will spread like wildfire." Liara rested her chin on her hand. "I don't care how it happened now/ I'd rather just get our hands on that information."

"Wait a minute." Shepard's attention suddenly shifted to a window not too far from where she and Liara were sitting. "Do you see that? Someone's in there, and I'm sure he or she wasn't invited."

"What are you talking about Shepard?" Liara looked in the same direction and saw, through the window, a person in all black with a hood over their face. It appeared that the intruder was rummaging through items, almost ransacking the whole room. "Hmm, snooping where they shouldn't be."

"I'm gonna check it out. I won't take the chance of that person finding what we came here for." Shepard stood and began walking to the railing, but before hopping over, she looked back at Liara. "Will you be alright on your own?"

"Don't worry about me, Shepard. Just find what we need and stop that person. If you're right, then we cannot risk it." Liara remained on the lounger as she watched her agent leap over the railing and quietly running to the window. 'No loose ends Shepard.'

Shepard continued her way to the windows, looking almost frantically for an entrance. "If I don't hurry that thief is going to get away." Sliding her fingertips over the glass, she attempted to find anything that might have been altered to open them. "Ah, here we go." Gently pushing in the cut glass, Shepard gently caught it and guided it on the floor inside and crawled in. "From the look of it, she must have been upstairs."

Tiptoeing hurriedly up the stairs, Shepard saw an unlocked door. Taking out her pistol, she attached the silencer at the end of it and continued cautiously to the holographic button. Keeping her free hand over it, Shepard held out the pistol, ready to point and aim when the time came for it. Tapping the holographic button, the door slid open and just as she suspected she spotted the person in black across the room. Shepard aimed her gun right at the intruder's head, her arms perfectly still and straight.

"I suggest you stop what you're doing." Shepard narrowed her eyes as she fixed an aim on the thief who turned out to be a woman.

"Or what? You're going to shoot me?" The woman in the black hood held out her hands, a datapad in one and what appeared to be a greybox in the other.

"I might but if you tell me who you are and what you're doing here I may reconsider it." Shepard kept a finger on the trigger as she watched the woman carefully.

"Alright then, that sounds fair." The woman lowered her arms. "My name is Kasumi Goto. And this right here is what I was sent here to get." Kasumi waved the datapad at Shepard. "And this here is something I wanted for myself while I was here." The thief waved the greybox. "From the looks of it, you want the datapad."

"What gave you that notion?" Shepard kept her gun steady, still pointing at Kasumi.

"It's obvious you work for the Shadowbroker. I mean, this whole party is about finding the Broker and you're here, sneaking around and hoping to take back your boss's secrets." Kasumi tapped the datapad to her temple. "Simple if you really think about it."

"Hand it over then." Shepard turned on the laser sight of her pistol and had it point to the thief's forehead.

"You seem like a reasonable sort." Kasumi curled her lips. "If you let me go, I will leave the datapad here. But I would still want to take the greybox with me. Honestly, it's all I wanted. I only took the job because it gave me the chance to get this." The thief placed the datapad on a coffee table in between them. "So what do you say? Let me go?"

Shepard contemplated on killing the woman only because she did not want to risk loose ends. She had no idea whether or not Kasumi knew the contents of the datapad, but her gut told her to reconsider the reckless thought. "Do you know what's on the datapad?"

"It's just coordinates and travel paths but it means nothing to me. It doesn't make sense." Kasumi's free hand reached for the back of her belt without Shepard noticing.

Shepard kept pondering on what to do and didn't know if it would be the wisest choice to kill Kasumi or let her go. She knew Liara's safety was a part of her job and having loose ends will only make it harder. However, she saw no reason to kill the thief other than to 'just be safe'. In Shepard's mind, assassinations were different in a sense that they served the purpose of shifting power and control, and as an assassin, she is merely an extension of her employer. A weapon wielded by another's hand.

"Egh, fine you're free to go." Shepard lowered her weapon and sheathed it as she walked over to the coffee table, taking the datapad. "If that greybox is truly what you came here for then I guess we're done here."

Kasumi loosened her grip on a flash grenade strapped on the back of her belt. "I'm relieved you saw reason Shepard. I was worried I was going to have to use other means to escape." With the greybox in hand, Kasumi quickly walked to the door, but before she exited the room, Shepard stopped her.

"Wait, can you at least tell me who sent you to get this?" After looking at the datapad briefly, Shepard noticed that the travel paths and coordinates were of Liara's ship in Hagalaz, in addition to several routes of shuttles that arrived and left.

"The Alliance." Kasumi tugged on her hood and activated a camouflage cloak through her omnitool, disappearing from sight, and only the gentle sounds of her footsteps could be heard until they finally disappeared.

Shepard looked down at the datapad and her brows narrowed. "The Alliance? Why would they want Liara?" Recalling what Liara said earlier, the Asari was more worried about the Alliance wanting her gone. It made sense since Liara can be posed as a dangerous threat, but how dangerous and what has she done to actually grab the Alliance's attention. Questions began to mold in Shepard's mind but knowing that she wasn't in the right place, she quickly left the room and back out where she came in. Leaping over the railing back onto the balcony, she noticed that the party was still going and no one seemed to be under any suspicion.

"Shepard." Liara came around the corner, hurriedly walking up to the human. "Did you find anything?"

"Yeah, I…" Shepard was still buzzed in the head from her earlier doubts and questions. "I found this datapad."

"And the thief?" Liara took the datapad from Shepard as she began scrolling through its contents.

"She's been taken care of." Shepard quietly said. "Are we done here?"

"Yes. Let's go. Hock won't be able to announce his news without these so there's nothing to worry about." Liara wrapped her arm around Shepard's once again, noticing that it was a lot tenser from before. "Are you alright Shepard?"

"Yeah, let's just get the hell outta here."