After securing David and regrouping with everyone, against Six's suggestion of destroying the Hammerheads, they took one with them. The Normandy then rendezvous with a shuttle from Grissom Academy to hand David over.

With little left to do involving the Collectors, Cerberus or the Reapers, some of the crew started to head off on their own, either to prepare for the Reapers or to resume their lives.

With the data from Cerberus' attempts at controlling the geth, Legion decided it was time for it to return to geth space and begin immediate preparations for the return of the Reapers. Though it was apparent to some that Tali was at least on some good terms with it before the geth's departure. It was slightly surprising to see how openly the two had started to chat with one another, even after Legion left Tali still kept in contact with it via omni-tool messages.

Zaeed planned to leave after they destroyed the Collector Base as per his original contract with Cerberus, though he wanted to stick around when word spread, they were hitting a secret Cerberus lab. He was a little disappointed that he wasn't along for the mission or that there weren't any Cerberus personal for him to shoot at. With no immediate plans against Cerberus, Zaeed finally decided that his contract was complete and finally left.

Kasumi seemed to just disappear, as per her usual demeanor. Though unlike her usual disappearing acts all of Kasumi's personal items were also gone. It's highly probable she managed to sneak her way onto the Cerberus labs to take some valuable treasures or tech. It was curious though where or how the lithe kleptomaniac would take all of her treasures and acquisitions with her without anyone having noticed. Just the same it was only a matter of time before the master of stealth would return from the shadows to say hello.

Grunt wanted to stay longer with his battlemaster, to learn everything she could teach him, but with the latest message he received from Wrex, he reluctantly departed to return to Tuchanka. As blunt as Grunt normally was, he was being rather secretive about what Wrex had planned but it must be something big if even Grunt was willing to keep it secret from even Shepard.

Thane wanted to stay a little longer, although he knew his son was waiting for his return. If anything, Thane may have unconsciously wanted more time to think of what to say or do for his son, though with a little encouragement from Shepard, he knew he was ready to be with Kolyat once again.

O'Brien and Cortez were sharing the mess table with Goldstein and Hawthorne. Looking around O'Brien sighed, "It's starting to feel empty around here."

"Yeah, it'll feel emptier when the Cerberus crew finally leave."

"What do you mean by that?"

Goldstein stopped Hawthorne, "He means when Shepard returns to the Alliance and when we leave before that happens."

"Not to mention what you guys will probably have to do just to keep out of the Illusive Man's sight."

"Why do we have to worry about that?"

Goldstein already seemed to understand Cortez fairly well, so he only had to explain for one person, "That all depends on if you still believe the Illusive Man and Cerberus still have humanity's best interests in mind without them being in charge of everything or twisting that ideal to fit their agenda."

"Yeah, I mean I'm no fan of aliens having anything to do with Earth," O'Brien glanced to Cortez, "but I'd rather have them there before the likes of Cerberus starts calling the shots." He then leaned back in his chair, "Hey Gardner, you've been strangely quiet. You've got something to say?"

"Not really. But I do wonder if we aren't just waiting for hell to rain on us."

After returning from their mission Six insisted Shepard be examined by Mordin, Legion and Dr. Chakwas to ensure there was no residual damage done by the forced interface with David Archer. Legitimate concerns given the number of implants and cybernetics Cerberus installed into Shepard to save her life.

Soon after Legion's examination and confirmation of Shepard's implants being free of any outside influences, the geth left the Normandy to return to the geth collective. Even after the physical examination, Six was still a little concerned with Shepard's condition though Mordin seemed convinced she was fit for active duty again.

Even with Mordin's assessment, Six was still attempting to baby Shepard in subtle ways, much to Shepard's ire. "You don't have to keep monitoring me like this."

"You still got into that mess because of me and…"

Shepard gave Six a quick peck on her cheek, "We all agreed that this operation needed to be taken care of, and we were right. Besides, Cerberus doesn't exactly have the best track record on any of their experiments we've uncovered."

Six remembered the various experiments they ran across while chasing Saren, as well as the operations she had been sent out to clean up during Shepard's recovery. "It was one of their more dangerous experiments that threatened most of the galaxy had we not intervened."

"See? We did a good thing that few could have handled or even knew about it." Shepard leaned back into the couch in her cabin, "Besides it's not like we'll be going straight to Liara with this information on the Shadow Broker. We do have a few stops we need to do. And it's not like any interested party can start anything without this information."

Shepard was right on at least some of this, "That may be, but who knows when or if this intel Cerberus managed to gather on the Shadow Broker will be usable if he manages to learn about this before we can get it to Liara."

"You really think the Shadow Broker has that much influence?"

Six could only shrug at the notion, it wasn't like she had much interaction with the greater galaxy overall, but understanding shadow organizations was something she did know intimately. "Depending on the kind of intel Cerberus was able to intercept, we shouldn't say anything more until we reach Liara."

Shepard didn't really like these shadow games, but she understood the sensitivity of all of this. "Okay, so as soon as we get to Illium I'll get this data to Liara."

Six couldn't really argue with that simple arrangement, especially with how bold someone would need to be to attack in the open of such a bustling asari world. "If anything happens, we'll head over."

Docking at Nos Astra was a simple task thanks to Liara pulling strings with the docking authority upon their first arrival. Six was more impressed that she was able to keep this access for so long since they had little need to ever return to Illium once they had recruited Samara and Thane. Six had more than enough deals with the politically corrupt that she preferred staying on the Normandy so she couldn't be reminded of the admiral who used her for so much of his political gains.

Six was trying to keep herself focused by maintaining her equipment and weaponry. She wasn't expecting Dot to suddenly pop up on the nearby terminal flashing red, "Alert: Local law enforcement is responding to an assassination attempt on Dr. T'Soni."

"Did you inform Shepard?"

"I have not gotten in contact with the Lieutenant Commander. She is currently en route to the apartment."

Six stopped herself, she couldn't act irrationally on a world like this. If the police were just now responding to the shots then Liara had probably gone into hiding by now and her assailant looking for her. The assassin could be a lone gunner, but given that information pertaining to the Shadow Broker was involved it could be an entire team of assassins sent by the Broker to retrieve or destroy the data.

"Who is currently with Shepard now?"

"Justicar Samara and Officer Vakarian."

Those two should be able to assist in investigating the scene, but Six was more concerned with who or what could have broken into Liara's place. As she has come to understand, Liara has become rather hardened when compared to the naïve archeologist they rescued two years ago. If she was ready for such an attack, Liara would no doubt have left a trail for Shepard to follow.

"Assemble an urban combat squad and inform me of where Shepard will be heading toward next. We'll rendezvous with her there."

"Shall I inform the Lieutenant Commander?"

"If you can do so quietly, otherwise just keep things between us."

Shepard must have been doing a thorough investigation before Dot had a location; Dracon Trade Center's Baria Frontiers office. With an indoor environment, Dot assembled Cortez, Mordin, Jacob and Jack. Not wanting to draw too much attention either, they took a skycar from the local transit station. Flying to the building Six had Dot monitoring any emergency channels should the worst happen. Unfortunately, Six's worries were justified, before they reached the site as local reports poured in about an explosion that suspiciously happened without any warning within the Baria Frontiers offices.

Upon their arrival, they found civilians still reeling from the blast, helping others or just trying to keep their heads down. "Mordin…"

"Yes. Help survivors. Will need an assistant."

Jacob nodded, "Just tell me what to do doc."

Cortez turned to Jack, "Whoever did this is probably still nearby. Let's get them before they get away."

The inside of the building wasn't any better, the sprinkler systems attempted to put out the fires still burning with civilians scattered and left dead. Though upon closer examination of a few, they weren't all killed in the explosion. From her own personal hit jobs, Six couldn't help but feel how amateurish and rushed this attack was. A sign to how desperate they must be in order to kill Liara for whatever intel she managed to acquire on the Shadow Broker.

They weren't too far behind Shepard as they started to find bodies of an unknown group of mercs in white armor with a red emblem on their chest of two right triangles leaning against each other. Pushing onward into the office further the sound of battle soon echoed just ahead.

Jack saw an opening, unleashing a wave of biotic power, she flung three of these mercs across the room and into some glass shards where they were pinned until Six and Cortez ended their suffering.

Shepard looked back to the incoming aid, "Six, Cortez, Jack, what are you three doing here?"

Cortez corrected her, "Mordin and Jacob are outside helping aid the injured."

Six answered the initial question, "Dot received information on an assassination attempt on Liara. So, I had her monitor your investigation of Liara's apartment."

Jack pulled one of the enemies with her biotic abilities to hit them point-blank with her shotgun. "Just admit you got worried about your girlfriend because she didn't keep you in the loop."

"Sh-Shut up!" Six fired at one of the mercs, "The Commander is the glue holding this misfit crew together. We can't lose her before the Reapers return!" This was the first time anyone had seen or heard Six act flustered or embarrassed.

Cortez gave Six a bit of reprieve, "Watch it, more hostiles inbound!" He gave her a slight nod, turning his attention back to the incoming enemies.

Six was glad to focus her attention on this rather than what Jack brought up. These mercs were well trained, however, something about their movement and coordination felt off. Almost as if they weren't in battle, but a simulation. Their tactics were solid, they were just too rigid to adapt to the tight quarters or the environmental hazards they created.

Mordin was rather busy with how many injured from the initial bombing. Many were dead from various factors; debris, concussion, blood loss. His primary objective now was to ease the suffering of the dying and save the few he could. "EDI, ETA on shuttle. And status of medical personnel."

"The shuttle has been delayed. All routes to the Dracon Trade Center are being redirected into each other. Local authorities have not been alerted to the situation nor is there any information on why these route changes have occurred."

There was another explosion, smaller and much more like someone engaged in combat. "No time to wait." Mordin rushed over to the packed lot of cars. "EDI, will send this car out. Monitor and alert us should it be destroyed. Jacob, begin moving patients into unoccupied vehicles."

"What? I thought you said some of these people can't be transported without the shuttle?"

"No time. Fighting will intensify. Reinforcements will be called. Will result in more casualties." Mordin rushed over to one of the more critically injured individuals, quickly scanning him to double-check his status before injecting him with a cocktail of meds. "There. Should be sufficient for travel. Will stabilize as I can. Now prepare transports. We're leaving."

Jacob didn't like moving people like this, but there wasn't much choice now. "Where are we sending them?"

"Will need to rendezvous with shuttle at new location. Will decide after patients are ready." Mordin's mind was quickly race of where they could go, though he also didn't want to take too many risks unnecessarily. See the attack wasn't directed at a broader spectrum it could be assumed their true target was still inside the tower.

With the fire suppression systems engaged, Six stopped to reconfirm her suspicions. "Did you detect anything out of the ordinary from Spectre Vasir's end?"

"Please clarify, Noble Six."

"Where is her transmission coming from? Was she engaging hostile forces?" Ever since Shepard informed them of working with Spectre Tela Vasir on this case, there was something that had been bothering Six.

"Spectre Vasir appears to be one level above your current location. I cannot determine if she has engaged hostiles. Judging from vocal patters it would seem that she has yet to perform any form of exertion."

Mercenaries or not, these guys weren't greenhorns, in the traditional sense, and would put even seasoned soldiers through a few ringers. This only caused Six to have even more doubts about Vasir given her latest update to Shepard.

Six had fallen behind the others where she could hear a small amount of gunfire happening. Heading up the stairs she found Cortez examining the two dead mercs. "Still no tags…"

Jack kicked one of the bodies, "What, afraid someone's going to morn these guys?"

"That's not what I mean. Most groups try to keep some kind of id on them should the worst happen out on a job, right? So far none of these guys have any personal effects of any kind."

As disconcerting as that was, they soon heard the firing of a shotgun from beyond the next closed door. Six, Cortez and Jack stood back as Garrus and Samara took the left flank of the door while Shepard activated the door from the right. While the door slowly activated, they heard a single gunshot ringing out. The trio had their weapons at the door quickly moving into the room only to witness the mercs collapsed dead on the floor.

Vasir holstered her pistol as she turned to the dead salarian in an office suite, "Damn it. If I'd been a few seconds faster, I could've stopped them."

Shepard moved to examine the salarian, "Is this Sekat?"

Vasir had turned away, looking out toward the window, "Must have been." Six's group saw Liara as she walked toward the others with a pistol in hand. They didn't need to say anything as they joined her with their weapons drawn on the asari Spectre. Jack wanted to just rush in and punch the Spectre in the face, but Liara knew that this wasn't going to be easy. Shepard was still next to Sekat's body as Vasir turned toward her, "Speaking of which, did you find your friend's body?"

"You mean this body?"

Shepard looked back to Liara, glad to see her alive, but also slightly confused as to why she and the others seemed to have their weapons trained on an ally, "Liara, this is Vasir. She's a Spectre."

Liara quickly retorted, "This is the woman who tried to kill me."

Vasir slowly backed herself toward the window as Liara moved toward her, "You had a rough day, so I'll let that slide. Why don't you put that gun down."

Liara wasn't backing down from this, "I saw you! I doubled back after I left. I watched you break into my apartment!"

Shepard caught on now, as she and the others had their weapons aimed at Vasir now, "You didn't know where Liara went, because she hid the message. You needed me to find it for you."

Vasir was done with the charade, "Thanks for the help."

Liara broke down the rest of Vasir's true intent, "Once she had my location, she signaled the Shadow Broker's forces. They bombed the building to take me out. She found Sekat, took his data, and killed him. I'm guessing she's still got the disk on her."

Vasir showed off the data disk in one hand, putting the other behind her back, "Good guess. Not that you'll ever see what's on it…" she started to glow with biotic energy as the window shattered, "…you pureblood bitch."

Vasir sent shards of glass their way, but Samara's has had experience with targets this desperate, quickly creating a biotic sphere to protect the team. Six didn't flinch from the incoming shards, in part because she knew her armor and shield could take it, not to mention the number of biotic users who could create this sort of barrier. When the last of the shards hit the barrier Six ran at Vasir before the asari could recover from her attack.

Six managed to slam her against what little wall there was but Vasir used her biotics to pull the two of them through the window as they tumbled in the air in her biotic sphere that slowed their descent. Six easily overpowered the asari in raw strength as she tried to wrestle the disk from Vasir's hands, but Vasir made up for it using her biotics and kicked the Spartan down to ground level. Seeing Six fall Shepard cried out, "Six!"

Six rolled to her knees, quickly drawing her pistol and rapidly firing at the Spectre. Vasir managed to project a biotic barrier for most of those shots save the first that grazed her cheek. was about to fight back, but Liara soon jumped out as well while using her biotics to control her drop. With the data still in her hand, Vasir ran toward the entrance. Jack and Samara jumped down as well, leaving Shepard, Cortez and Garrus to run back down the long way.

Liara blindly followed after Vasir, knocked back two Shadow Broker agents out of her way. "Mordin, Jacob, do you read me? Are you two still at the entrance?"

"We just left the area to get the wounded out of there. Why? Did something happen?"

Six saw Shepard running toward her, "Never mind. Just focus on the civilians."

Just as the team was ready to move out, the door ping from Eldfell-Ashland Energy door as a new group of Shadow Broker agents rushed in to stop them. Samara and Jack worked surprisingly well together, Jack knocking two agents into the air as Samara crushed their chest cavities like tin cans.

Garrus sniped another agent alongside Cortez gunning down the other. The team continued back into the main lobby only for another group of Shadow Broker agents waiting for them. Jack pulled another trooper toward her to blast him with her shotgun, "Did your asari friend just leave these guys to us?"

Six sniped the furthest agent, "More likely they waited for her to run past to stall us."

"Then let's not disappoint them and put them down quickly." Garrus followed up with sniping another Shadow Broker agent. "Not like they know how to keep their heads down anyway."

Cortez pulled out a grenade from his belt, "Hey, go long!" Six was ready, waiting for Cortez to toss the grenade beyond the pillars to shot it. The explosion wasn't meant to kill anyone, it was intended to force them out of cover so they could be easier to take out.

Once the agents were down, they rushed back outside where they found Liara and Vasir locked in combat together. Seeing the odds heavily stacked against her, Vasir tossed a few grenades over so she could jump off the landing pad where her skycar was waiting.

"Damn it!" Liara quickly rushed to her skycar and got in.

As Shepard moved toward the driver seat, Six grabbed her shoulder, "Back seat. I'm flying. Cortez."

"Right. Dot, track Six on my HUD. We don't want to lose either of them." Cortez moved to another skycar looking for an unlocked one. "Depending on how bumpy of a ride you want, you can hook up with Six."

Liara's short temper finally boiled over, closing the skycar for Six, "Come on! She's getting away!"