Even through the sound proofed room she could hear the screams that were being viciously ripped from her sister's throat, as if watching wasn't bad enough already.
"Jesus," she said, her hands curling into tight fists by her sides. "Don't you think she's fuckin' had enough already, asshole?"
"Do you, Jack?" Harper countered, turning his head to look at her with an arched brow. She opened her mouth to speak, but at the last minute snapped it closed. He smirked, turning his attention back to the writhing red head. "So I thought."
Minutes that felt like hours crept by and Aislinn's screaming progressively rose in decibels until Jack was shaking with fury.
In an animalistic rage Jack slammed Harper against the two-way mirror, her lips pulled back against her teeth as she snarled, "That's enough! Fuckin' stop or I'll tear your ass apart so fast your fuckin' buddies won't know what happened, you piece of shit!"
His men moved to handle the situation but at his raised hand they fell back. He cut the man at the controls a look and instantly Shepard's screams died down into sobs that wracked her slender frame.
Jack released her hold on him and quickly turned towards the door that led into where Aislinn was being kept.
He watched as Shepard's eyes, pupils dilated, turned towards her sister, a sardonic smile gracing his features.
"This might break her for good," Hackett commented quietly as he went to stand next to Harper.
"I'm counting on it."
"Traitor," she hissed, twisting her bloodied wrists against the metal that held her down and trying to turn her head as far as it would go to look at her sister. "Always the traitor, Jack. Though this," she huffed out with a bitter laugh, "this takes the cake."
"Aislinn, please. Let me help you," Jack begged. She dragged a metal chair across the floor and positioned it in front of her sister.
"Always weak, never strong," the red head taunted in a sing song voice, a smile overtaking her soft features.
"Listen to me-"
"No! You listen!" Aislinn shouted, her face contorting into rage bordering on murderous, her green eyes flashing bright silver. "You drag me to Cerberus, help them fill me with drugs, watch as they torture me, and you have the audacity to act as if this hurts you? You betrayed me to the enemy. Partners don't do that; they are supposed to have each other's six, but it doesn't matter now. I will kill you. No matter what."
"The Creators killed mother. The ones you fuckin' love so goddamn much murdered her."
"Lies. Always lies. You never can stop, can you?" Her face contorted, her mouth opening in a silent scream, tears streaming down her face but it only lasted a second and then she was laughing, deep and throaty as if nothing had happened. Jack stared at her, breathing in deeply through her nose and blinking back the searing tears pooling at the corners of her eyes.
Shepard's back arched off the table in a grotesque bend before slamming back down, a trail of wine colored blood dripping from the back of her neck when she turned her head, matting her hair into thick clumps. She screamed, thrashing her legs against the hard steel beneath her.
"It burns! My brain," she panted, "is on fire! Make it stop, make it stop!" She let loose a blood curdling scream that instantly froze Jack's insides.
The door burst open with men in white coats spilling in. Hackett lifted Jack from the chair as she screamed at them. "What's wrong with her?! No!" She tried digging her nails into the wall when he pulled at her. He lifted her up and swung her over his shoulder, ignoring the sobs coming from her throat and her hands pounding against his back.
"You can't help her right now," he said as the door slid shut and locked behind them.
"What's wrong with her? What are they doing to her?" she cried, trying to look over his shoulder through the mirror despite it being darkened. She looked back at him, her eyes wide with worry for her sister. "What did you do to her?"
"We did nothing. They - the Creators - are trying to locate her through her amp and when we shocked her," he paused, taking in a deep shaky breath and raking a hand through his short, dark greying hair, "it overloaded trying to compensate for the signal they sent out to ping her location. We cut it before they had a chance to narrow it down."
Jack stared at him, her mouth open slightly, and tried to control her biotics that were thrumming through her. Her eyes narrowed, turning golden as her biotics pulsed around her hands. "We don't have amps. We're natural goddamn biotics."
His eyes roved her face for a moment. "You don't remember?" he asked softly. His tone was so quiet she almost missed it.
"And just what the fuck am I supposed to fuckin' remember?"
"Every vanguard that goes through HBTP is outfitted with an amp to increase biotic power and cybernetics to make you faster, stronger, and more agile. You're strong, Jack, but if you can't remember that..." He trailed off and turned towards the darkened two-way mirror. When he turned back she pressed her fingers against her temples before dropping her hands to lay her palms against her stomach, her breath leaving her as the realization of his words made impact on her like an asteroid slamming into Mars and shattering into a million tiny pieces.
"Then what else don't I remember?"
His head whipped to the side as Aria's blue hand made contact with his cheek. He spit a combination of saliva and blood onto the floor, gritting his teeth against the pain. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction.
"You thought you were smart," she whispered against his ear. "Trying to play us. But," she laughed as she pulled away and turned towards the table of instruments towards her left, "not smart enough. At least Lawson managed to slip through our fingers but not you. Why is that?"
Slowly she picked up the curved blade, twirling it in her hands. When he didn't respond, she pressed it against his bare chest. Carefully she drew the tip down his sternum, a faint line in its wake, before resting it against his quivering abdomen.
"I mean, with all of your expertise, you were the last one we thought we'd catch. You're like a slippery fish. Fast but still dumb enough to follow the lure." Without removing the blade from its position, she crouched until she was at eye level with him. "This can all be over if you would just cooperate and give us the intel we need, Krios."
"Go to hell," he hissed before spitting in her face.
"Not the answer I was looking for."
Liara turned towards the quiet knocking, a smile gracing her painted blue lips at the corners, making her way to the door. It never mattered how many times she told him he didn't have to knock; he always did. It was oddly comforting and heartwarming.
"You don't have to knock," she teased, smiling warmly at him as the door opened. He arched a brow plate at her, flicking his mandible outwards in a smile.
"It's polite," he answered, stepping inside and reaching for her hand. "This apartment isn't mine, now is it?" She shook her head, giving a soft laugh and twined her fingers with his.
"It can be."
"Now that's quite the offer. Is a young asari maiden ready to settle down with an old turian bachelor like myself?"
"Just kiss me already, you old man," she whispered, leaning up on her toes to meet him halfway. She sighed into him when his plated lips touched hers, her fingers curled into his tunic. She pulled back, smiling at the soft groan that left his throat and looked up at him. "I was worried about you."
His eyes narrowed, his head tilting to the side. "Why were you worried?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes, turning away from him.
"Really? As if the whole Underground didn't know what you were doing," she sighed angrily, spinning when he touched her arm in concern. "Kidnapping Shepard? You can't possibly think those were good orders, Adrien."
His mandibles pulled close to his jaw in an effort to keep his emotions in check as he stared at her. Adrien Victus was a lot of things, but he was not a bad a turian. "You're telling me that I should have disobeyed?"
"No, never," she amended quickly, laying her hand on his arm. "I-I just... I could have lost you. Every day that we see Garrus is a vicious reminder of the brutality she's capable of. I couldn't stand it if you got hurt," she paused, drawing in a shaky breath, "or worse."
He sighed and pulled her against him, tucking her face against his neck and lightly trailed his fingers over her back. "Oh, dragostea mea, don't waste your time worrying about me. I might play fast and loose with strategy, but I only go so far. I respect Vakarian. I trust him implicitly and vice versa. Neither he nor I would ever do anything to put each other in harm's way, so when we're ground side, always know that I will be coming back."
Tilting her face up, he pressed his forehead against hers to try and convey just how much her words meant to him. He'd been bonded before, even had a son, but he'd never loved his bondmate the way he loved the woman in his arms now.
To say that he'd never loved Adriana would have been a lie, but it was not a bond out of love. It was of mere convenience, a strategic move. They were both highly intelligent, believed in the same ideals, and fought with everything in their bones. It was a good match. When Tarquin turned fifteen Adi had passed away, suddenly and violently. He was unprepared for the insurmountable feeling of loss, but it faded quickly.
Not long after his son was sent off to training, Cerberus came knocking on his door. He'd been deliberate in his decision making. Turning traitor to everything was not something to be taken lightly and Hackett had been understanding, more understanding than most gave him credit for, but to speed his decision he'd brought in Garrus, who'd sugar coated nothing and spoke directly. He'd liked that.
"Look, Victus," the blue marked turian said, flipping his chair around, splaying his arms across the back and sat down. "You can sit here wallowing and doing nothing or you can actually fight and do something useful. We need more bodies. There is only so much we can do, but you know others who can be useful allies. I'm offering you a chance to be a part of something, to change history, and it's up to you."
"What about my son?" The blue marked turian met his gaze with a level stare before blinking and sharing a look with the human.
"He'll be taken care of, rest assured. You'll have your own apartment to do with as you see fit, you'll have no restrictions on communication but under no circumstances can you tell him, until you feel he is trustworthy, what you do or who you work for. The choice is yours."
Liara's arms wrapping around his waist pulled him from his reverie. "I know. I'm sorry," she murmured, pressing her cheek against his shoulder.
They stood like that for a few minutes until he remembered the reason that he was there. "Any luck with your own mission?"
She sighed, puffing out air, and shook her head, stepping out of his embrace. "Not as much as I'd like. It's much more time consuming and frustrating then I care to admit."
He followed her into the kitchen, sitting down at the bar and poured himself a drink of brandy. "Have you found anything at all?"
She opened the cabinet and paused for a brief moment. "I found a lead. It's small," she said, grabbing a glass and setting it down on the counter, "but it is something."
"What kind of something?"
"For starters, I think the Collectors can travel between galaxies via FTL." He gave her a dubious look. She sighed and sat across from him, pulling up her omni-tool. "I know how it sounds, trust me, but we knows others can do it."
"How did you find out about this lead?"
"How do you think?" she asked, raising an arched brow before turning her eyes back to her omni-tool.
"You think it wise to send them?"
"It wasn't my decision to make," she answered flippantly, as if the answer should have been obvious. "Since you asked though, yes I do. They can infiltrate where we can't and it's proved useful so far."
For a moment he sat there, staring at the amber liquid swirling in his glass and contemplating what she'd shared with him. "Let's say that what you've discovered is true. Perhaps they have mastered FTL in ways we can't. Where did they get the technology? Someone had to give it to them and I don't think the Creators would be very forthcoming with that information."
"Not the Creators, no. The Old Ones perhaps," she murmured quietly. She sighed, took a sip of her wine and continued to gaze at her omni-tool. Her painted brows suddenly drew down over her cobalt eyes. "Maybe I've been looking at this all wrong. What if they built a mass relay to another galaxy?"
"How would they hide a relay? I'm not saying you're wrong, but we're missing something. Where are the infiltrators?"
"Perseus Veil. That's why they were sent and not Tali or Kasumi." She sighed and rubbed her eyes, letting out a soft moan. "Either way, I've already filed my report - including my loose hypothesis - to the Generals. We'll see what happens."
He reached across the table to link their fingers together, giving her hand a squeeze. "I love you," he said softly. She smiled at him and stood. She made her way around the bar and went to stand between his legs, running her free hand across his cheek and down his mandible.
"And I love you." She leaned forward to press her lips against his but his omni-tool pinged. She sighed, resting her hands on his shoulders. "Who is it this time?"
He glanced down. Interesting. "Garrus. It's important."
"Will you be back tonight?" He smiled and nodded. He stood up and made his way to the door but her sudden look of illness stopped him.
"You should take it easy. You'll figure it out, love."
She laughed and shook her head. "That's not what it is."
He gave her a curious look. She arched a brow at him and pressed her hand against her belly with a smile.
Quietly he opened the door, glancing over his shoulder to guarantee no one had seen him. When he was confident that he was alone he stepped inside, locking and encrypting the door behind him.
Thane lifted his head and tried to identify the intruder but it was too dark for his swollen eyes to make out anything specific.
"What did you tell them?"
Male. Turian. "What did one snowman say to the other snowman?" Thane asked suddenly. If it was a trap-
"Smells like carrots," the voice answered. Good, he wasn't Cerberus or at least he was a spy.
He knew that voice - he'd heard it before - but he couldn't place it. "Nothing," he croaked. He spit blood onto the floor and shifted to try and ease the pain.
"Are you absolutely certain?" After a moment he nodded and the turian seemed satisfied. The turian stepped closer, reaching out and gently lifting his face so he could look at him. "Who interrogated you?"
"I don't know. An asari," he said. The turian scoffed and stepped back, rummaging in his pockets for something.
"That could be anyone. This might sting, but it'll take the pain away," he muttered, pressing his cool fingers against Thane's eyes. The turian sighed. "I have to go. I'll try and get you out."
"Wait," Thane said, his throat burning. "What do I do if they come back?"
The turian, however, was already gone.
