Liara led the way to the lush planet of Aite. The Light Echo and the Kestrel's Cry entered the atmosphere, and Liara opened a comm channel.

"I've got a safehouse in the Southern hemisphere, and a friend meeting us there so we can plan our next move. Follow me down."

Liara landed the Light Echo on a plateau overlooking a dense green valley. A single-story building, looking quite unused, was the only structure near the landing area. As she disembarked, Feron came out of the building to meet them.

"Well, how was the trip?" He asked. Feron took a visible step backward as Miranda joined them.

"Feron," Miranda said with a degree of amusement, folding her arms over her chest. "You still tagging along with this weasel, Liara? I suppose his loyalty holds out as long as your credits are good."

Feron's hand went for his heavy pistol, but Liara stepped between them, arms spread wide, separating them. "Stop, Feron." She turned to Miranda. "Feron works for me, yes; but more than that he is a friend. I would remind you that he helped me recover Shepard's body and bring it to you- for which he gave up two years of his life. He was tortured endlessly until Shepard freed him. His trust, like yours, has been earned." Liara turned to Feron. "Miranda brought Shepard back from the dead. From the dead, Feron. There is no one who understands his implants and his physical state of being better than Miranda. She has cut her ties to Cerberus. In fact, I think it's safe to say we just became Cerberus' enemy number one." That shook him, she saw. Liara slowly turned her head to glare at both of them in turn. "I need everyone working together."

Miranda looked past Liara to Feron. The drell was first to speak. "She sounds a lot like Shepard."

Miranda nodded. "Funny, I was just thinking the same thing." She held out her hand, and waited. Feron took it, and they shook, once.

"Let's go inside."

Feron led the way into the dilapidated building. Inside, everyone took a moment to adjust their eyes to the semi-dark. A single, flickering overhead lamp shone a dull yellow light over a broken table, a single chair, and an empty shelf along the far wall. Feron walked across the room to the far corner, and pressed a switch, hidden within the wall. A panel of floor slid back, revealing a stairwell down into the plateau itself.

"Aren't you full of surprises, Liara," Miranda mused. Feron led the way down into a well-lit area abuzz with computers and equipment. Half a dozen monitors fed a near-constant set of data streams along the wall. It was to these terminals that Liara went to.

"Did you manage to find anything?" Feron asked, seating himself in a chair on the far wall.

Liara nodded, linking her omnitool with the terminal. "We managed to locate Shepard's biometric data, along with the rest of the Lazarus files. I'm uploading everything now. I'm going to compare the blood sample I got on Omega with the biometric information from the Lazarus files."

Miranda took a chair across from Feron. "I can't believe Project Nova Hammer is still running. That could be a problem."

Feron asked, "What's Project Nova Hammer?"

Miranda thought for a moment before she replied. "Each Council race has their own elite soldiers, right? The Alliance has the N7 program, salarians have the Special Tasks Group, asari have their commandos, and so on. Even the Council itself has the Spectres."

Feron nodded. "Okay. How does that apply to this Cerberus project?"

"It's perhaps best to think of Project Nova Hammer as the Cerberus version of these programs. They were the blackest of black ops. In truth, even I wasn't fully briefed into the project. Kidnapping, assassinations, full-on tactical incursion units… the works. They were backed by an impressive technical and intelligence staff, and their medical augmentation was top-notch."

Feron's brow furrowed. "Augmentation?" Liara joined them at the table as she waited nervously for the computer to finish analyzing the data.

"Humans are not born biotic without eezo exposure." She said, pulling up a chair. "The risks that come with eezo exposure in utero are huge. Most estimates put the rate of severe birth defect around thirty percent. At a young age- around their teen years- humans who show biotic potential can be dosed with eezo dust again, and receive their biotic amplifier implants."

Miranda nodded. "But understand the Illusive Man. His resources, his knowledge… and his will to make things work exactly as he wanted them to."

Liara shook her head. "I don't follow."

Miranda stood, and began to pace slightly. "Nova Hammer's soldiers are like myself, or perhaps Grunt would've been a better analogy. Most are grown, not born. Genetically engineered soldiers, built to be perfect on the field of battle. They are almost all biotics in a limited sense. After Lazarus, Cerberus ramped up Nova Hammer. We learned so much during Shepard's reconstruction, it was amazing. We made leaps and bounds forward in genetic engineering."

"Wait, stop." Liara interrupted, standing. "You said 'most' are grown."

Miranda nodded. "You've met Blaque, and you knew the Illusive Man. Would Cerberus tolerate an imperfection like blindness?"

Feron looked back and forth between them. "Who's Blaque?"

Miranda sighed, and returned to her seat. "Deacon Blaque was the man in charge of Project Nova Hammer. The Illusive Man found him at a very young age. After the Subject Zero experiments at Teltin, you can partly imagine what Blaque probably went through as a child. That being said, Cerberus practically raised him."

No wonder he's so angry with us. He wasn't speaking metaphorically when he said we destroyed his family.

"He's clearly a gifted biotic," Liara mused.

Miranda shook her head. "Gifted doesn't begin to cover it, Liara. Blaque was one of the first to test out Cerberus's custom-made biotic amplifier implants, the L-4x1. It was never put into mass production. The Illusive Man was concerned over having biotics that powerful- and that should tell you a great deal about his ability. I would wager his biotic powers vastly exceed that of even some of asari commandos. You saw him. He told you 'I can see better than you' because he uses his biotics as a tool to visualize the world around him. Let that sink in for a moment."

Feron cleared his throat. "You said he 'was' in charge… what happened?"

Miranda turned, and leveled her gaze at Liara. "The Benning Incident."

Benning… Shepard and I went there. What was it Hackett said? A rogue Cerberus element was killing humans…

"Goddess," she whispered. Feron looked lost, so Liara explained. "Back during the war, Shepard was sent by the Alliance to investigate a Cerberus attack on the planet Benning. Reports said they were kidnapping and killing humans. At the time, it didn't make much sense. The Alliance wrote it off as a rogue Cerberus cell, saying that the Illusive Man was denying responsibility." She turned to Miranda, the shock evident on her face. "You're saying the Illusive Man knew about this?"

Miranda nodded. "He knew. But my guess would be he cut Blaque off at that point. Clearly he'd lost sight of the Illusive Man's mission, and had developed his own."

Liara pondered that for a moment. Her thoughts were interrupted as the terminal beeped. The testing for Shepard's blood had been completed. She stood from her chair, and slowly crossed the room. As the doubt began to gnaw at her, the burning in her chest began to spread like wildfire.

What if it's not him? What if all of this has been for nothing? What if he's really, truly gone?

Stop it.

Liara took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She steadied herself, both hands on the sides of the terminal, and opened her eyes to read the results.

A soft cry escaped her lips a moment before her knees gave way and exhaustion took her.

Author's note: Thanks again for reading, everyone! The feedback I've been getting in private and in reviews is helpful, so please keep it coming.

Still looking for some cover art- if anyone's got a keen eye, message me in private and we can figure something out.

Until next time.

-Zero