"I have done all that I could

To see the evil and the good without hiding

You must help me if you can"

Jackson Browne, Doctor My Eyes

Some time later a freshly showered Shepard sat in the Mess with a datapad, poring over news articles and drinking coffee. Citadel feeds were alive with rumours of attacks on humans. Interviews with C-Sec portrayed them as either unconcerned or overworked - from experience, it was some combination of the two.

Grunt lumbered into her field of view, his entrance mostly ignored by the same crew who used to part around him like skittish mice. He's really come into his own, she thought as he queued up for a tray behind Miranda.

"Nice day, Lawson," he said.

"There isn't any weather in space, Grunt," replied Miranda, coolly. She was always a little acidic during the first part of the day. Shepard leaned back and tapped on her mug, observing the woman. I guess the morning-person gene wasn't a priority when she was cooked up.

"I know that," Grunt said. "But you humans always talk about weather when you meet." He shifted his feet in a manner that suggested nervousness and Shepard smiled to herself. Krogan faces were difficult to read and Grunt's rigid, lizard-like visage was no exception. He turned away from Miranda to collect his food, having given up on conversation. He threw his head back, tipped the entire contents of his plate into his open mouth and wiped his hand across his face. Gardner's brows came together in disgust as Grunt dumped the plate onto the pile of used trays. The krogan turned to leave, but stopped in front of Shepard's table on the way out. Standing still wasn't exactly normal for him and she raised an eyebrow. "You alright there, Grunt?"

"Shepard," he said and nodded. "I'm waiting for your permission to move on."

"Hmm," she said and eyed him over her mug. "Denied. Sit down." The table's seat creaked under his weight as he obeyed. She slid the datapad over to him. "What do you make of this?"

Grunt picked it up and aimed one large blue eye at it. "Hmm," he said after a few moments scanning the article. He put the datapad down, his finger over the picture of the latest victim. "I think someone is sending a message, maybe. But just attacking humans? There's probably more to it than that."

"That's what I was thinking," she replied. "Look at the recent victims. See how they-" Shepard was distracted by Grunt's eyes shifting from her to just behind her, over her shoulder.

"Nice weather, Jack," said Grunt.

"Yeah… we're in space, big boy."

"Why does everybody keep telling me that?" he grumbled under his breath.

Shepard turned around in her seat. "Jack," she said. "Can I do something for you?"

"I don't know, can you?" she said, crossing her arms. "Got a second to hear me out?"

Shepard gestured next to her. "Sit down, then."

"So. I never said anything about it before. But, I wanted to say…" she said, eyeing the datapad still open on the article Grunt had been reading. "I shouldn't have shoved you over at poker that time. I was pissed off, but it was over the line." Before Shepard could respond, Jack leaned past her and snatched up the datapad.

Shepard cleared her throat. "Mmm. I was thinking about checking this out," she said. "My contacts on the Citadel tell me there's likely a pretty powerful biotic involved. Are you up for it?"

Jack looked as if she were about to snap some kind of retort, but stopped herself short. "Yeah. I am."

"Maybe we can get to the bottom of this while I think about what our next move is."

"Someone's a multitasker," said Jack, looking up from the datapad with a barely disguised sneer.

"I'm a kinetic thinker, you might say. I think best when I'm moving. I know you hate it when people relate to you, but I'm going to guess you're the same."

"Actually, Shepard, I'll give you that one." Jack looked down the side of her nose at Shepard.

"Good. I could use your skills on this, I don't like the idea of going up against biotics without some on my side."

"Interesting that you didn't go for the asari samurai or whatever."

Shepard blinked slowly. "She just got finished murdering her own daughter, I think I'll pass on asking her for lethal favours right now," she replied, turning back to the table with a sigh. "Besides, you've been aching to stretch your legs a little more often, and this will give you the opportunity."

Grunt tapped the table. "Garrus knows more about the Citadel than me. You should take him and Jack with you. I will stay here." He said. "Hmm. Maybe I will watch a vid."

"Well, don't watch the Godzilla ones without me," said Shepard with a wink as she pulled up her Omnitool and sent course changes to the helm. "I'm going to go make some calls."

"You do that," said Jack, and swung her leg off the table's bench.

/ / / / / /

"At least my reinstatement as a Spectre bought us a ticket inside," she said with a sigh over her shoulder towards Garrus. They stood in the back of a C-Sec office room with a single table, a plant that looked as if it had never seen light nor water, and a screen that spanned the entire far wall. Shepard scowled as she panned through the giant holoscreen. Mugshots glowed across the digital board, all connected by labelled and coloured lines.

The turian looked down at her and shook his head. "Were you expecting your own detail? I'll bet as soon as C-Sec heard you were coming this way, they sent everybody on break for snacks."

Shepard tapped on the photographs of the victims. Early attacks were mild, leaving victims with light cuts and bruises. As time progressed, the injuries sustained got more and more severe. Recent attacks left several victims maimed. "Look at this," she said. A row of victims' pictures appeared. All were human women of different races and ages. "What do you see?"

Garrus tilted his long head as he took a moment to examine the spread of pictures, his pupils contracting into points. "All of them have their fringes kept very short," he said.

"Yeah, it's hair, Garrus," said Jack. "It's a little familiar, don't you think?" she asked, standing to one side with her arms crossed. "So, six of these are ex-Alliance. Two of the others serve right now. That's more than the news said."

"A lot more," said Garrus, nodding in agreement. "I'm surprised the Alliance hasn't taken over the investigation efforts already," he thought aloud as he followed a trail of coloured lines up to a picture. "But then again… maybe they don't know."

"What makes you say that?" asked Shepard. A nest's worth of connections lined up to surround a group of pictures. All of them, asari. She looked from them back to Garrus.

"See this one?" He highlighted one of the photos with a tap of his finger. "That is Tevos Auraeus' daughter."

Shepard balked. "The Councillor's daughter? You think she's behind this?"

Jack sneered. "Fucking politicians and their shitty kids. A coverup would make sense. Let's get her."

"Hold on. I'm not sure. Pheolia has never expressed any anti-human sentiment," Garrus stepped back and leaned his weight on one leg, his mandibles flexing rhythmically.

"You talk like you know her. Do you?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah… a little… Let's just say she and I used to do some… give and take. An exchange of favours for information on my investigations."

"Ugh gross," sighed Jack. "Figures you were a crooked cop. Do any of you ever just figure something out by investigating it with anything other than your dicks?"

Shepard raised her eyebrow up at Garrus. "By that, did you mean you met her for coffee once, stammered through some questions and then left after she gave you a name she was going to give you anyway?"

"Believe whatever you want, Shepard," he said with a rasping, dry chuckle. "Point is, I don't think it's her. Do you recognise any of the others? I don't, and none of them are labelled here."

"Hmm. No. But I have an idea." She aimed her Omnitool up at the board and snapped pictures of each image. She touched her earpiece. "Joker."

"Aye, Ma'am?"

"I'm sending you some pictures. Have EDI cross-reference them with anything she can find on the Citadel. News, social media, whatever. I want to know who they are."

"We're on it, Ma'am."

"That's a good idea," said Garrus. "You might not come up with anything, but it'll be faster than asking the department to look for you." Garrus looked out the office's glass wall, into the hallway where several people bustled past. Three officers with rifles rushed past the door, talking on an earpiece. Shepard noticed Garrus' finger adjust something on his visor. "Hmm," he said at last. "Something's happened."

"Yeah? And what do you wanna bet it has something to do with one of these blue bitches?" came Jack's snide remark.

Garrus held out his hand, gesturing for her to be quiet. "I'm listening… It doesn't seem to be related," he said. "Seems like a big fire on one of the Upper Wards." Jack lifted her hands up in frustration.

Shepard returned to the faces of the asari on the holo-wall. "I actually don't think Pheolia has anything to do with whatever this is," she said after a moment and tapped her finger to her lip.

"Why not? If the Alliance isn't sending its goons crawling up everybody's ass about this then that means they don't know, like he said. The fucking daughter of the asari Councillor being a little splat-happy makes sense to me."

"Right," Shepard conceded. "But… C-Sec is looking right at her for this. She's the only named suspect on the list. It's the first thing in your face when you look at this… for me, or any Alliance jobsworth who might come sniffing along looking to take over the investigation," she said and watched Garrus listen in on C-Sec frequencies. "Don't you think a politician like Tevos would keep her daughter's nose a little cleaner than that?"

"You're probably right on that one, Shepard," said Garrus over his shoulder. "That she's even on that list at all shows she's likely got nothing to hide, as backwards as that sounds. Politicians usually hide their skeletons better than that, even when the skeletons are still out there walking around."

"So is there some kind of dumbfuck code you cops use to keep track of the actual suspects, if the ones you write down are just bullshit?" Jack sighed.

"You misunderstand," said Garrus. "She is a suspect, which means one of three things. The only relevant one would be the idea that Mommy Dearest is annoyed with Pheolia enough to let her start catching heat for these attacks, whether she's done them or not… and I haven't heard anything about that. That family, it's, ah, tighter than an Elcor's asshole, if you'll pardon the expression…" The turian looked distracted by the sight of more and more officers streaming out of the facility. "This fire must really be getting out of control," he said.

"Why don't you give her a call? For old time's sake," Shepard said, crossing her arms. "I'm sure she'll remember her old flame at C-Sec who went on to make a name for himself? Hmm?"

"I've already sent her a message."

"Oh nice job tipping her off," snorted Jack.

"Relax," said Garrus with a shake of his head. "She's seen the message. Just give it a minute."

"What's with targeting women with short hair, though?" asked Jack as she ran her hand over her own scalp. "That seems pretty specific."

"It's more than specific," Shepard replied. "It's personal. Whatever this is, I'm almost certain it was designed to get my attention."

"There's been an all units call up to one of the Wards," said Garrus, his hand still pressed to his visor. "Should we go too?"

"I don't see a need for us to get involved in that. Have you heard from Pheolia yet?"

"Uh, let me check… She's just said something now… She says she's relieved to have heard from somebody about it… Uh… yeah, yeah, yeah… yeah." As he read, his mandibles tightened up against his metallic carapace and somehow he flushed a little blue under all that bony metal. "She gave an address."

"What'd you skim over, Casanova?" Shepard said through a grin.

"Nothing I'd repeat sober. I think we should go and ask her some questions. It sounds like she might know something."

"Yeah, like how to set a trap," grumbled Jack. "Whatever. Anything to get moving."

Shepard strode toward the taxi rank. She reached the call terminal as a horde of cruisers flew out in formation to the emergency on one of the Wards. Taxis were operating as usual however and soon, she, Jack and Garrus piled into a transport. Jack pressed herself up against the door of the car, trying to sit as far away from Garrus as possible. He noticed this and made a show of leaning just a little closer. His armour made a sharp clink as Shepard flicked it with her finger and shot him a look. Don't be an ass, she thought toward him. Jack's being pretty good so far, all things considered. As if he heard her, he pulled back and looked at his Omnitool instead.

"Where are we meeting her?" she asked. Outside the window, skyscrapers flew by. As the taxi banked, a section of one of the Citadel arms was revealed, part of it glowing orange. Though it was only a small square from where she was, the fire must have been huge, spread across multiple blocks. Her earpiece crackled.

"Hey, Commander, I think I've got something for you," Joker's voice over the comm was a little urgent. "Okay, so, EDI didn't find anything on any of these except for the Councillor's daughter, which, uh… you're already taking care of. But, you remember that café we went to together?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, the pissy waitress who gave you the murder glare? She's the third one. I remember her."

Shepard blinked in surprise and brought the picture up again. "Now you mention it, there is something familiar about her face," she said and squinted at the image.

"Yeah, I wouldn't forget it. Over and out."

Garrus leaned in close to Shepard. "Went to a café with Joker, eh? Anything you're skipping over, Murelius?"

"Murelius?" Shepard echoed.

"You mean to tell me I've researched human culture enough to know who Casanova is, but you don't know who Murelius Arkelon is?" It was amazing how a man with such a rigid face could still look so simpering when he wanted to.

"It's the guy from Fleet and Flotilla," said Jack with a shrug. Both Shepard and Garrus looked across at her.

"Ignoring for one moment that you are the least likely person I would ever think to watch that, no, that's Marrius Arkelon. Similar name," said Garrus. Turning back to Shepard, he continued. "Murelius was a General who fell for his ship's helmsman. He was scandalised when they were discovered on the bridge, with the pilot flying him instead."

No witty retort came to mind. "I see," she said and cleared her throat.

Garrus' mandibles spread wide as he laughed, "Aha, so you can dish it out, but you can't take it?"

Pheolia's apartment was the penthouse suite at the top of a highrise, enclosed within an atrium and surrounded by gardens. The place was expansive and airy. Intricate sculptures sat in tasteful arrangements, surrounded by leaves and exotic flowers. The petals, painted with what looked like platinum, spoke of the Araeus family's deep pockets. Money dripped from every leaf, pooled in every beam of light, and as Shepard glanced around, she couldn't help but compare the opulent glitter of the gilded plants to the rainy grime of the streets she grew up on. Jack met her eyes, and judging by their shared gaze, the other woman was having similar thoughts.

Garrus took the lead. As they wound their way up the artful stone path towards the door, he raised his hand in greeting. "Pheolia," he said. "Thanks for agreeing to meet with us on such short notice."

"Hello, Garrus," she said warmly. Pheolia resembled her mother strongly, though her skin was a lighter shade of blue. The designs surrounding her eyes were similar in pattern, but magenta in colour; very unusual. She gave Shepard and Jack a polite nod. "Can I offer you all some tea?"

"Is it made out of gold and orphans' tears?" Jack muttered under her breath. Shepard shot her a look. Jack spoke up properly. "Yeah ma'am, I actually do want some."

"Very well," she said with a slow nod. Pheolia gestured with her hand and a tray floated towards her arms from somewhere inside the house. As she set about preparing the heating element for the water, teapot and mugs, she leaned to one side to get a look at Shepard. "Hello. Thank you for what you did for us in the battle two years ago… My mother would not be alive were it not for your decision. It would be wise of her to remember that more often."

Shepard nodded and took a mug from the tray. "I'm glad she's well."

"I'm a little disheartened that it had to be you to come to me, however, and that C-Sec hasn't taken care of this itself," she said. She filled several cups on the hovering tray from a glass teapot and stepped forward to offer one up. "The last time they were here, they seemed to think I had something to do with it, but the situation is… rather complex."

Shepard brought up her Omnitool, thumbing through the images of the asari suspects. She turned her arm towards Pheolia. "Do you know any of these people?"

Looking them over between serving Jack, Pheolia gave a disappointed sigh and shook her head. "Yes, I do… though not all of them. If I may?" the asari reached up and passed her finger over the pictures, stopping at the third. "This… is Lehyra T'Lixia." Pheolia shook her head as she looked at the picture. "Why don't you all come inside and sit with your tea?"

The inside of the room behind her was warmly lit, with tables and chairs amongst the plants. Jack sat down at one, mug clutched in one hand, examining the strange plants with the other. She reached out and felt one of the leaves, gently rubbing it between her fingers. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was actually enjoying herself a little.

"She and I were childhood friends," explained Pheolia as she took a seat next to Garrus, and gave him a look brimming with such tenderness that Shepard wondered just how casual their relationship had really been. "Lehyra had this dream she was always chasing and it led her in with a bad crowd. She used to boost vehicles and handle explosives and things for them. Things started to turn up for her in the past year or so and she stopped with all that, but her husband died very recently and ever since then, she's been acting out in strange ways."

"Who was her husband?" Garrus asked. He looked unsure what to do with himself, which wasn't altogether uncommon, but especially so sitting next to this asari. Draped in golden silks, Pheolia placed her hand on Garrus' knee, who responded by patting it with all the grace of an awkward teenager who'd just been asked to hug his cousin.

"I don't know, she never talked much about him," she replied with some regret. "I always got the impression she liked to keep that part of her life private."

"Acting out in strange ways, how?" asked Shepard, figuring she might do Garrus a favour by drawing Pheolia's attention away from him.

"Recently, she… came to me asking for money. Her financial problems were nothing new, but apparently this husband of hers was keeping her entire situation afloat and with him gone, she was desperate." Shepard noticed how Pheolia's grip on her mug tightened. "She kept asking me to get her in touch with Mother's bondm- ah, best friend, in search of work." She touched her hand to her crest in embarrassment. "She… started belittling humans, saying some unkind things about their advancement in society." Her nod towards both Shepard and Jack was contrite. "I apologise, I have at times been sympathetic to some of those arguments in the past, but… as I have gotten to know more humans, I have reexamined myself and my position."

"Did you give her the money?" Jack piped up from her chair.

"I… yes, I gave her what she asked for. With her husband gone, her shop was the only thing left, and I didn't want her to lose everything." She looked out the atrium window a moment, lost in thought. "It's just so strange because, from what little I do know of her husband, he was human… The reports say the victims are all human and with the things she's been saying recently, it would make sense."

"Did you tell all this to the officers who came by?" asked Garrus. There was something frustrated in his tone but Shepard got the impression that it was directed more towards C-Sec than it was Pheolia herself.

"I did, but they seemed much more interested in the fact that I had given her money for her café. They wanted to know everything about that." She looked down at her lap. "Garrus, I'm really afraid that Lehyra has gotten herself embroiled in something very bad. All of the victims look like Shepard and… um, her friend here, I'm sorry, I didn't get your name…"

"Jack."

"Yes, of course," she said, a pleasant lilt returning to her voice in the manner of a practised hostess. "You have very beautiful markings, Jack," she said. Jack lifted her head from her mug at the compliment and shared a bemused look with Shepard as if to say, 'Can you believe this woman?'

Pheolia returned to the issue at hand. "I think… Lehyra might be lashing out against people who look like you, Shepard. Maybe it's because of who you are to other humans."

Shepard leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees. She put her fingertips together and let out a long breath from her nose. "Thank you for your help."

The asari lowered her gaze. "You are welcome… You are the one doing the real effort." She frowned. "Seeing as it's gotten so bad that it's in your hands personally, I have no illusions as to what you may need to do. I hope you understand, I care about Lehyra and I want to help her, but she can't keep hurting people."

"Violence isn't my first tactic. It depends on what she decides to do, okay?"

Pheolia nodded and stood up to show them out. As they were leaving, she cleared her throat. "One other thing… Please be careful. Many of her other friends are… well, unpleasant."

/ / / / / /

Shepard recognised the copse of trees from the window of the taxi. She ground her teeth as the transport set down and flung the door open. Striding across the grass, Jack and Garrus' footfalls caught up to her. Without a word, she passed by the familiar bench and took a left, up toward the road.

"Alright, Shepard. Slow down a second. What's the plan? We going in hot, here?" Garrus asked.

"No. We're going to go in there and we're going to ask her why she's doing what she's doing."

"Should I lead? I'm not human."

The yellow awning flapped in the distance. It looked different in the overcast light. "Maybe that's a good idea. Jack and I will hang behind you."

The turian passed in front. The trio headed up to the shop's front. The sign inside the door's window read, 'Closed.' Shepard crossed her arms. "Strange. It's only mid-afternoon."

"Oh look. Here comes the hero, right on time." A mocking, icy voice came from behind, to Shepard's left. An asari sat atop a wall overlooking the little street, examining her nails. "Or at least, she thinks she is. So. You remember me, right? Or, maybe you don't… someone in your station must meet people all the time. Get faceblind, I guess."

"Lehyra," said Garrus in a bid for her attention, his hands raised.

Her eyes locked onto him. "Who was talking to you, skullface?" Jack snorted in response, something halfway between a laugh and a bark of derision.

"I remember you," said Shepard. "So, T'Lixia, let's talk. You wanted my attention, right? That's why you've been going around hurting people?"

"People? At a stretch, I guess you could say. You're more like animals. You can talk, but you all live for barely more than five minutes, and in that time you can't help but act on every stupid little impulse you have. Honestly, if you ask me, it's like you never came down from the trees." Lehyra gave Shepard a condescending smile.

Shepard sighed. "I have things to be doing."

The asari's eyes flashed. "You would be impatient, wouldn't you? Sort of your defining characteristic. See, everyone goes around putting you on a pedestal, but I know what you are. You're nothing but a violent ape in a fancy suit."

"Oh yeah? Pfft, and what the fuck are you?" Snapped Jack. Her wiry body tensed. She was spoiling for a fight.

"Someone very angry," replied the asari with a shrug. She stood up, and as she did so, floated to the ground from atop the wall. She looked at Jack, who stood coiled up like a snake ready to strike, and lifted her lip in disgust. "Little crestless monkeys band together, I see," snorted Lehyra. Turning her focus back to Shepard, she shrugged. "It doesn't matter how many friends you have with you. I'll get what I want out of today."

"And what do you want?" asked Shepard. "We don't have to fight."

"You don't get it," she snarled. "You already took what I want the most."

"Not following you."

"You don't even remember him," hissed Lehyra, her voice breaking.

"Who?"

"You know, I never wanted much," she said, wiping at her eyes to regain her composure. "This little café was my dream. For four hundred years, I worked and never got enough. Didn't do too well at shaking my ass, so what's a girl to do?" Lehyra stepped a little closer. "My husband, may the Goddess rest his soul, met me when I ran with the girls in Eclipse. He married me and let me come back to the Citadel to make this place."

Shepard shook out her aching leg. "I'm sorry for your loss, but I don't see what this has to do with me, or why you've -"

"You shoved him out of a window, Shepard," she snapped. Her whole body crackled with biotic energy. "I saw the recordings. My husband wasn't attacking you. He wasn't even in your way. You murdered him! Now he's gone, and all my dreams are gone, and you are going to pay!" She looked up over her shoulder and nodded sharply. Several figures in yellow and black armour erupted from cover. There were more Shepard couldn't see, and she wasn't about to wait in the open to find out. She darted back behind a planter, her foot throbbing and numb from a biotic field that just missed. The figures in armour were all asari commandos, and they all made difficult targets. Each one flitted about like a bird. Ah, fuck. This is bad, and what's worse… I kind of get it.

Jack snapped into action, engaging several of the armoured asari with a frenzy Shepard was glad not to be on the wrong side of. Her cochlear dampener kicked into overdrive as Jack sent one of them crashing to the ground with a force that would've shattered anyone's bones. Garrus' broad shoulders were tight against his body as he snaked his way around the side of the building to pick a target from cover. Shepard was about to signal him to flank her own target when her feet left the ground. Surrounded by a mass effect field, she weighed nothing more than the air itself and flailed end over end, scrabbling for purchase on something nearby.

"Let her be, Shelira! She's mine!" a voice shouted from behind. All of a sudden, Shepard had weight again and dropped like a stone. She landed so hard a hot twinge shot up the inside of her calf. Lehyra bolted around the side of the building. Shepard heaved herself up onto her feet and into hot pursuit.

Her leg quivered under the strain. Lehyra was fast, but Shepard was gaining. She threw herself on top of the asari, who aimed a kick square at Shepard's vulnerable shin in the scuffle. She cried out in pain and buckled. A fist hit her face, and the tables were turned in an instant. Lehyra put her entire body's weight down onto Shepard's throat. In a panic, her thumb and forefinger flexed, activating her Omnitool. The asari pulled back, distracted by the sudden orange glow thrust in her eyes. Shepard's swing missed, and Lehyra was back on top in an instant, her fingers squeezing around Shepard's neck. A red dot appeared on the side of Lehyra's head.

"Stop," Shepard gasped. "He'll shoot you! Stop!"

"You think I care?" Lehyra hissed back. "Go ahead. It doesn't matter what happens now, I'm still going to hurt you the same way you hurt me!" Her mouth twisted into a sadistic grin. It was hard to breathe. Harder to speak, but Shepard tried.

"Please… doesn't… have to be like this…!"

"Stop begging! It's pathetic!"

Shepard's back hit a tree and the wind rushed out of her. The sharp smell of biotics burned the insides of her nose. She spluttered and struggled to fill her lungs. Finally, she managed to suck in a breath and Shepard staggered to her feet. Fuck my stupid leg! She's one weedy asari, I should've taken her already! A wet warmth that stunk of iron trickled from her nose down onto her lip.

"Killing me isn't going to bring him back," she said with a shake of her head. "I'm sorry for what happened. He chose his life, and so did I. You ran with Eclipse, you knew the risks of the job." Keep her talking. Jack and Garrus would be closing in.

"He was just standing there!" she screamed.

"I know," she replied. "It doesn't make what I did right. But it's done. Isn't that what Sederis teaches you?"

"How the fuck would you know what Eclipse's leader says about anything?"

"Because it's my job to know. Just like you and your husband, it's my job to know about these things. I bet you know a lot as an ex-chop-shopper."

"Are you trying to stall? Go ahead. No one's coming to help," she growled. She was breathing hard. "They're all at the fire my girls set off."

"I don't need anyone's help," Shepard replied, and took a step forward. "My man has you in his sights. You don't want to die, that's why you threw me."

"I just want to hurt you," sobbed the asari. "I just want to rip your heart out, and I will, one way or another."

Jack's light footsteps coming in from behind Shepard got her attention. Garrus positioned himself behind Lehyra, his rifle aimed at the asari's head.

"You have a long life ahead of you. I know coming from me it isn't worth very much, but you have a long time to set these dreams up again. You need to be held responsible for what you did to those other people, but things don't have to end badly between us here. These are temporary problems."

"Shepard, she has something in her hand. She pulled it out of a pocket on her leg and tapped the top. It might be some kind of detonator," Garrus' voice rasped in her ear over the comm. She made eye contact with him, gestured for him to wait. He nodded. Shepard advanced, keeping her focus on Lehyra, who glanced around. Backed into a corner as she was, she seemed remarkably unconcerned.

"What's that?" asked Shepard as she took another step forward.

The asari's slow smile chilled her to the bone. "That guy you came here with… you seemed real cosy. I looked him up. He's your pilot, right?"

The butt of Shepard's pistol dug into her hand, she was squeezing it so hard. "Put whatever that is down."

"You don't want me to do that, it's a dead-man's switch. If I take my thumb off, the nose of your ship goes ring-high," she snarled. "Here's what's going to happen. You're either going to let me kill you, right here in front of your friends… Or I'm going to send him to the Goddess."

"He's not even on the ship," Shepard scoffed. Sweat prickled at the back of her neck. In her heart, she knew he was sitting in his chair, probably watching something on one of his screens, just waiting for her to come home.

The way Lehyra kept smiling made Shepard swallow hard.

"That's not what my girls tell me. They have scanners. They can tell he's right there."

Her ribs ached as she took a steadying breath, eyes never leaving Lehyra's. "Okay," she said. "You called my bluff, now I'm calling yours." Her gut twisted as she uttered the words, "Blow up my ship. Fine. Kill my pilot. Fine. Kill me, if that's what you really want. But I know you don't actually want to die, and if you drop me… I don't think either of my friends here will be too happy about that. Neither will that big krogan who was here last time. Cleaned you out of scones. Probably remembers just what you smell like." She was inches from the asari now, whose face contorted in fury. Balancing her weight on her good leg, she took a second to calculate. If she pounced, she had just one shot to wrap her hand around Lehyra's - to keep that button pressed, keep herself and the Normandy in one piece. She knew better than to try and get Joker on the earpiece to warn him. That would give Lehyra a physical opening as well as provoke her. If she played it right, Joker would never even know that whatever vid he was watching could be his last.

"Shepard," Garrus began, but she held out her fingers. Hold. Hold it…

"You're smart," she said. "I'll give you that. You got my attention and you kept C-Sec occupied. But if something happens to me, it's going to be you against my entire crew…" Her shoulders relaxed, her arm forward, ready to spring. "I have to say, I don't like your odds."

Lehyra's cold laughter spat forth. "You think I want to live? I have lived, you chattering little monkey. I've lived long enough to know that this… this whole galaxy?" She gestured to the stars far above with the hand she had clamped around the switch. "This whole place is an empty hole. If you're lucky, you find someone who lights it up for a while, and I did. You took him from me." Tears streamed down her cheeks. "All that matters now is making you pay." Shepard's eyes flicked to the detonator. It was lined up perfectly… "Whether I see it here, or from the embrace of the Goddess, it makes no difference to me."

Time slowed to a crawl as her blue hand whipped up, the flare of biotics roiling like flames across her palm. Shepard lunged for the device, but a shot rang out. Lehyra's body snapped taut, causing Shepard to fumble and miss. The biotic blast that would've broken her neck instead dented a nearby pylon almost in half. The metal groaned as it leaned forward. Jack hurled an energy field around it. The colossal pillar hovered just long enough to give Shepard a chance to jump clear before it hit the ground with a resounding crash, tearing parts of the wall and surrounding trees down with it. The detonator bounced as it landed on the grass.

The flash came first. A column of fire launched chunks of plating and metal out into the empty space between the Citadel's arms. Part of the main dock on the Presidium Ring blew outward. Her heart lodged firmly in her throat, Shepard couldn't tear her eyes away from the wreckage. Emergency mass effect field arrestors grabbed the debris. The shards of shredded steel and shattered concrete hung frozen in place. Flitting from chunk to chunk, she searched for any recognisable shape but it was too far away to tell. Her feet pounded grass, then street, then the path. Her leg couldn't take any more and she tripped, catching herself on the bench. The taxi rank was empty. Her fingers slid over her scalp. Shepard touched a finger to her earpiece.

"Shore Party to Normandy. Respond," she said. The answering silence was like a hammerblow to the head. "Shore Party, to… to Normandy. Respond," she repeated. The metal bench was like ice under her hands as she waited for a response that just didn't come. Jack arrived at her side. There was a certain peculiarity about Jack's expression that Shepard couldn't place at first, too focussed on listening to the empty static.

"Shepard," she said. There was no hardness there in her eyes, no sneer on her lip, no snide mockery in her tone. Her voice sounded almost soft, like she understood. "I told your Flyboy what was up. He heard me. He'll have got 'em out of there. Now…" Jack trailed off and cleared her throat. "Knock it off."

Shepard let herself down onto the bench. The surface of the water just beyond the path in front of her was as still as glass.

/ / / / / /

Joker was keeping an eye on extranet feeds, one of his favourite vids on in the background. There would be no grand and dramatic rescues whilst docked at the Citadel, and so he busied himself with watching long-dead movie stars and long-obsolete fighter jets roar through the skies of Earth for the umpteenth time. Movement on the dock outside caught his eye. Several asari in yellow armour walked past together, then fanned out. Their shapely figures as they walked drew his attention. Yellow and blue looked nice together, it had to be said. As the asari looked down over the railing, one of them bent over. Nice.

The extranet didn't have much to say about the asari Councillor's daughter, and even less about the owner of the café. There were a few reviews written about the place, but nothing to call Shepard about. He scrolled past a picture of the little café with the yellow awning. Kinda the same shade as their armour out there, he thought. One of the women out on the dock looked sort of like the angry waitress. It was more than a little creepy to think the asari with the sample tray was actually some kind of serial human attacker. But, he wasn't going to let that ruin his memory of the sun-streaked afternoon. If he thought about it hard enough, the cool breeze against his skin and the tingling excitement of Shepard's fingers running up his thigh returned. The memory lingered, as did the one of her curves catching the sunlight. What he wouldn't give to be back there with her - sans the pissy waitress, of course.

Grainy images of a jet passing through clouds on the right-hand monitor made him think back to flight school. Shepard would have watched this same vid with her squad on her first night, just like he did with his. The first and last of the social activities he'd ever done in flight school. Watching Top Gun was tradition, dammit.

On the Citadel bench with her head resting on his shoulder, Shepard had agreed they both belonged up there in the skies and stars… Maybe one day, he would ask her to watch this with him. More than a little sentimental, perhaps, but still… He couldn't get away from the somewhat guilty pleasure of imagining flying the ship together. Sure, being a full-time pilot wasn't the path she had taken in the end, but people literally wrote poetry and stuff about the idea of sharing the heavens with someone else. He could actually do it… He glanced off at the copilot's seat and in his mind she was there, winking back at him. Nice.

A comms alert came through his earpiece. It wasn't the Shore Party; the signal was coded as personal. Weird, he thought, but patched it through anyway. "Greasy Jeff's Meat Delivery," he said. That usually got the idiots to hang up.

"Flyboy," came the voice. Only one person calls me that. He rolled his eyes. Wait.

"Jack? Why aren't you on our network?"

"No time, shut up and listen," she replied, her tone grabbing his attention. "Blue bitch has a detonator. Says she's gonna blow you up. Dunno if the bombs are on the ship or in the dock, but you'd better move your ass, right the fuck now. Shit's gone sideways."

Joker sat bolt upright and in the same movement collapsed everything on the displays he'd been looking at. The steerage array surrounded and mapped to his hand and with the other, he tapped an emergency code into his transponder. "EDI, hull weight discrepancy?" he asked and checked the rear cameras.

"None found."

"Power draw?"

"Normal. I have routed thrusters through auxiliary systems as a precaution."

He slapped the emergency docking release and the hull shook as clamps lifted. By dipping the heel of his hand, the ship sailed back, up and away like a kite set off into a strong wind. Three oncoming vessels lurched and rolled as they got out of his way. His comms blared hails, but only one was important.

"Presidium ATC, SSV Normandy, suspected explosive, Bay Nine!" There was no time to repeat. The blinding flash was muted by the cockpit's blast shield, but the bay that should have been just a few hundred meters below was right in his face again and splitting apart. The Normandy's kinetic barrier initialised, crumpling a few fragments of wreckage. Only when the spinning chunks of what had just been the dock shrank in his field of view again did he cut thrusters.

"Jack?" He asked but the line was dead. In fact, so was the whole damn array. At least in-ship was working. "Hey Donnelly, I need comms back like yesterday," he said. The clunking of metal and fizzing of electricity in his earpiece told him the Engineer was already attacking the issue. Joker sighed. It'll be fine, I said. She's going to a literal police station to look at some files, I said. We're at the Citadel, it's not like I'll have to move in a hurry, I said. Everyone's green reports rolled in on his screen.

"There's a great big fuckoff bit o' metal in the central array, I'm gonny have to replace the 'ole thing, keep yer pants on," Kenneth replied.

"Inside or outside module?" Joker asked anxiously, hating every second that light on his console stayed dead.

"Inside. There wasn't a breach, but something hit us good an' proper, like. A chunk o' metal ended up wedged in it - Listen man, makin' me explain it won't get it fixed any faster. I'm on it."

Standard procedure dictated that nobody move, and all ships hung frozen where they were. With the bits of his former docking bay still in place, Joker trusted nothing however, and stayed tense. The other ships' positional indicators burned into his unblinking eyes.

Off in the distance and half obscured by the bulk of a frigate, the precision thrusters under the wings of a midsized fighter flashed blue. It slid about, its nose creeping around and up. He's trying to make it look like he's just spinning in zero gee… yeah. I see you.

Whoever they were, this pilot was clever; they tried to use the relative angle of their ship's hull to disguise the hatch opening just in front of its landing gear. He rolled just as a barrage of machine gun fire ripped towards him. He did a double take; recognised the firing pattern. "How's a fighter outfitted with one of these!?" he exclaimed.

Batarian Iudex Anti-Aircraft Guns were something he'd expect to see on a cruiser. Each colossal round the length of a human forearm, it would overwhelm his kinetic barriers and shred hull in record time. With comms down, there wasn't anything he could do but dance with the ship spraying death at his heels.

An asari dreadnought loomed before him. He braked hard; flattened out against it to fake out the pilot behind him. Unlike the city below, the broad sides of the kilometre-long ship could afford to soak up damage and Joker chose to wind around its contours, skimming along just meters from its hull. If the gargantuan vessel activated its own kinetic shielding, the Normandy would be protected behind dual layers, and no punk in a souped-up fighter was going to get through that.

"EDI, change the transponder code. Set it to seven-six-zero-zero, let 'em know we're deaf, here!"

"Cycling between emergency and comms down codes," EDI replied.

"Good."

Seconds passed and as he rounded the lip of the dreadnought's colossal cannon aperture, other vessels' thrusters glowed to life. A few moved in closer, but he couldn't afford to keep his eyes on them for long. Joker knew they would be thinking the same thing he was. It's too risky to fire in here. The metropolis on each arm surrounding them wasn't stopping this maniac, however. He grit his teeth. Once he rounded the other side of the dreadnought it was a straight shot out towards open space. If he could just make it there, the serious punch this asshole was packing wouldn't amount to much in the face of his Thanix Cannon.

The pilot behind him was dogged, zipping after him with a single-mindedness that in another context Joker might've found impressive. The enemy wasn't willing to come as close as he was to the warship, but time was running out for his little extra shield plan. The easiest solution of hiding like a tiny chick behind mother hen wasn't going to work; for whatever reason they weren't putting their barriers up. Joker did some quick math. He tore up and away toward the void. Come get me, then.

Serpentining around lines of bullets, he winced as a near miss set off the proximity alarm. A few ships closed gaps behind him in an effort to make it harder for the fighter to keep right on his tail. The thing was manoeuvrable, but so was he. The Citadel's four arms drew back overhead and its clouds thinned out. Stars emerged from the blue mists. He cut thrusters and his assailant shot ahead, right into his sights. Oldest trick in the book, he grumbled to himself. You might be good at playing chase, but you're a lousy combat pilot.

"All that time spent calibrating better have been good for something," he muttered aloud as the Thanix Cannon came online. The enemy pilot's pattern became erratic as they tried to shake him, keep him from getting a lock. The little ship sprayed chaff in an apparent bid to fool his auto-targeting systems. His auto-targeting systems he wasn't using. He grinned.

A Thanix beam lanced forward, blowing their starboard thruster apart like wet paper. The cannon's indirect hit was intentional and precise. There'd be no meat popsicles today; not unless Shepard ordered him to make some. As their ship's engine sputtered and died, two turian vessels in C-Sec livery flanked him on either side.

"Pfft, nice of you to show up," he snorted.

"SSV Normandy, we have orders to escort you back to Citadel airspace. You are to follow ATC instructions and remand yourself into custody immediately. We will contact your commanding officer."

"Oh yeah? You gonna put me in a bay without a bunch of bombs in it this time?" At least the phones are working, he grumbled inwardly. "And what about this idiot? If I'm getting arrested, they'd better be, too." Joker was complaining just for the sake of it. He stowed the Normandy's hardpoints and turned in a slow, smooth arc, predictable for his escorts and aimed towards the Citadel.

"A rescue team is enroute to them. Look, I know this is inconvenient but we have to follow SOP here. Just play along and you'll be out before dinner time."

"Uh-huh. I've heard that before," he muttered under his breath and stabbed the mute button on outgoing comms.

/ / / / / /

The dismal hum of static in her earpiece was a quiet form of torture. The surface of the little lake before her rippled in the breeze. Transports were all grounded. Nothing moved in the aftermath of the explosion, its grim fragments still hanging in the corridor between the city's arms. Jack sat next to her, elbows draped over the slatted back of the bench, occasionally glancing in her direction. Shepard had one hand to her temple, and massaged it weakly. Focussing on anything other than the wreckage in the sky was impossible and she let out yet another sigh.

"Two badass bald bitches, pissed off at everything the galaxy's taken from them. Sounds like the setup to a vid," said Jack with a shake of her head.

Shepard almost didn't hear her at first. "What?" She croaked, her voice hoarse with stress.

"I used to think you were just full of shit, Shepard. I didn't think you actually gave a fuck about anyone and your whole helpful act was just an act." Jack leaned forward, elbows on her knees. "Just another bitch with a silver spoon in her mouth, looking for glory, or whatever."

"I don't know… " Shepard managed. She sat in silence for some time before she lifted her face out of her palm to say, "Maybe I am, sometimes. I don't know what I was thinking when I pushed that guy - Lehyra's husband, out that window. I don't know what's worse, that or the fact I barely remember doing it."

"Bullshit," spat Jack. "I'll tell you what you were thinking. You were pissed off, at all the shit you had to get through just to wake up that morning. Don't cry for that prick. Him or his psycho wife. It's better not to think of them like people, because with the shit they've done, they don't deserve sympathy."

"But they are people."

"These fucks just tried to blow up all your friends and your boy toy, and you sit here arguing for them?" Jack crossed her arms and looked at Shepard sideways. "I take it back, I don't get you."

Despite her aching leg, probably cracked rib, a bruise on her cheek and the madness of it all, Shepard smiled. It was a bitter one. "Well, it's worse that they're people, Jack."

"Huh?"

"If you forget that they're people, it becomes easy to forget that people aren't just good or bad, they're whole. Complete. Parts of both. Everybody is capable of doing both, and that's worse, to me." The debris in the sky slowly pulled toward the Presidium's inner ring, dragged by a mass effect field. Shepard squinted at the dots far above. No familiar silhouettes. "Yeah… I help people. I care about them. I go out of my way for what I think the greater good is. But I also pushed that woman's husband out a window because he wouldn't tell me what I wanted to know, and I was mad." She sighed. "And her," she continued, gesturing off down the path to where Lehyra lay out of sight under Garrus' watch, "She just wanted to bake treats for people and serve them colourful teas. She loved her husband, enough to be broken by it when he died. It doesn't make what she's done any better, but it's still there about her. The way I see it… either everyone's worth mourning, or nobody is." There was a bit of red in Shepard's hand when she coughed, and she groaned; one of her ribs definitely hurt.

Jack stared at her for a few seconds. "Yeah, don't go telling the turian all that. His head might explode. That guy lives his life like it's a comic book."

Garrus. Shepard saw the moment she grabbed for the detonator over again. His shot was well-placed, but badly timed - his bullet had made Shepard's grab for the detonator miss. The situation might have been avoided if he had waited. She cleared her throat. "Well… Garrus is figuring a lot of things out. He has been since I met him. Like I said… everyone's complicated."

The empty spot on the bench to her right made Shepard's heart ache on top of everything else. She pictured Joker in his dad's old jacket, folding a tinfoil bird. Everyone's complicated, except him, she thought. He's just good all the way through.

Her forearm buzzed and glowed with a call from C-Sec, according to the display.

"Is this Shepard?" asked a familiar voice.

Her stomach tensed. "Yes. Hello, Sergeant Bailey," she said quietly. She felt Jack's eyes on her.

"You'll forgive me if I don't have time for pleasantries. The whole damn place is a mess," he said. His voice was tired and stressed, even more so than usual. He sighed. "I've sent some units to come and deal with the firefight I hear you've been involved in. Once they get there, do me a favour. Come down here. I need your Spectre signature to get him out of the pound, and your pilot won't stop his damned yapping."

"My crew's okay? He's okay?"

"Well, I can safely say his vocal cords are working just fine."

/ / / / / /

Her footsteps clicked loudly on C-Sec's polished floor as she rounded the corner to the holding cells. Shepard looked like hell. A bruise darkened her cheek and she was pressing her hand to her ribs, but she brightened up with a smile, albeit a pained one. He tapped his cap.

"So… how was your day?" he asked.

She just kept smiling, closed her eyes and shook her head. It looked almost like she was going to collapse against the glass for a second there, but she stood up straighter. "All in a day's work. Garrus tells me everyone else is already back onboard. They were pretty quick to give me back my ship, but not my pilot… did you hear how many charges they wanted to bring against you?"

"Eh, I'm not surprised. I bet it's hard to handle my levels of brilliance and heroism," he said witha shrug, and was pleased to catch her smile for a second time. "Did you find out who was in the other ship? They wouldn't tell me anything."

"Friends of that waitress," she said. "It's… a long story. I'll tell you in the cab."