As much as she loved breathing heavy with Garrus, running across Illium, chasing down bad guys, Anya didn't love doing it while confused. She followed him and this running woman because she trusted him, but she still felt like her date got blown up in some bizarre, insane way and part of her wanted answers. She asked, "Fill me in a little while we hunt down this Omega contact of yours?"
Garrus nodded, jogging beside her while too many distressed Illium civilians marked their path. "Her name was Sam, I think. Has some sort of teleporting technology. She gave us a detonator we left behind and disappeared. My life's never exactly normal, but let's just say it was memorably weird."
Anya couldn't really argue with that. "So, we help her out and then ask her what the hell her deal is?"
"Sounds good to me."
She had to admit, she really appreciated botching her first date with someone who didn't care that she had her pistol on her at all times. Granted, though, she wouldn't be that into dating someone who did mind.
They followed the trail of confused bystanders for a little while longer, but when they finally tracked down the clues to an alleyway in the back parts of Illium, it wasn't what they expected. Inexplicably, Shepard didn't remember it existing on the map Miranda showed her this morning. Guess Miranda wasn't kidding about Illium being shady.
But the really unexpected part was the Asari with pretty freckles getting shot at by said Salarians. And, seemingly per usual, the teleporting girl they'd been chasing down was completely AWOL.
Anya was a little too stunned to think straight. She just asked, agape, "Liara?!"
Like a homing missile, Liara's head swiveled to look at her. Her own forehead wrinkled. "Shepard?" She was holed up behind a few crates, on the left side of the room, while the Salarians shot from the other.
While one their way to join Liara in cover, Anya kept trying to scan the room for their mystery lead, but she was nowhere to be seen. Taking a look at Garrus, she said, "This Sam person isn't here again, is she?"
He shrugged, but his eyes weren't nearly as wide as hers. "Nope."
"I don't even know her, but that sounds typical." Just then, a bullet whirred by her face. They were still a few feet away from Liara, but they admittedly had been taking their sweet time about it. Anya grimaced. Guess she'd just have to roll with today instead of asking too many questions. Well, except a final one to Garrus, "Time to get our asses behind cover?"
He snorted and said,"Definitely."
They both did a quick roll over to the crates where Liara was hiding herself. Sidling up next to the asari, Liara biotically threw a barrel at a Salarian before asking, "How did you find me?"
Anya thought about answering, but between disappearing women and the fact she and Garrus were coming from a date, her own head hurt trying to detangle it all. With a sigh, she shook her head and said, "Way too long of a story." But then she placed a hand on Liara's shoulder, the muscles under her skin so tense that it felt like Anya touched a statue. Her hand gave a little squeeze. "Happy to find you and help out."
Liara didn't look too happy about it, though, and rolled Anya's hand off her shoulder. She took a second to shoot at the Salarians again and then furrowed her brow at Shepard... As if Shepard was the one in any sort of wrong here. Honestly, it made Anya clench her fists a little. "I didn't think you'd be back on Illium.'
Ignoring Liara being sort of stand-offish, she peered over the crates to take her own shot. Unfortunately, they seemed to have some serious personal shielding. "Had some errands to run." Just then, Anya realized they hadn't talked a single bit about what was currently happening, and that was certainly not okay. Pulling Liara a bit away from her shooting spot, Anya glared. She hated when Liara did this, took control of a conversation and diverted it where she wanted. It always made her feel like a rat being led through a maze. "Wait a second, don't make this about me! What are you doing, getting shot up by Salarians?"
Liara swallowed, but seemed to accept that telling Anya was better than keeping secrets. Which was good, considering Anya was ready to clock the asari herself if she played games with her. Her head felt like an overworked battery, trying to connect the sweet scientist with the darker, more complex information broker in front of her.
Those blue eyes just trained on the Salarians, shooting while talking. "Some bitter ex-clients. I sold them information on a space freighter shipment of element zero, but I failed to mention that it wasn't run by civilians. It was Blood Pack. I assumed they would both knock each other out of the game, but it seems these two survived and aren't happy about the casualties."
"That is frighteningly devious." Anya wasn't even using her pistol anymore; the Salarians had strong shields but weren't great shots. Instead, she just kept scanning Liara's face, like she could pinpoint exactly where the person she used to know went, which freckle or dimple she might be hiding in.
She found nothing.
Taking a deep breath, Anya said, "That doesn't seem like you."
"Well, it is now."
On the other side of Anya, Garrus chuckled, but it was low and bitter. "Good to know I wasn't the only one murdering people after Shepard died." This time, both she and Liara looked at him. Anya even felt her brows squish together. While she normally appreciated his humor, this time... When Garrus caught their glares, he shrugged and popped off another shot. "I'm not kidding, it's kinda comforting."
Old Liara would've felt awkward about it, but new Liara just turned her eyes back to the fight and ignored him. This wasn't the same person anymore that covered for her stupidly blushing on a barstool. Instead, she seemed far more likely to bury a body for her, particularly without anyone asking her to.
Frowning at the Salarians across from them, Liara used her biotics to pull one from his cover and she shot him through the center of his skull. "This isn't what I normally do. I just also found information on some shady dealings of theirs I didn't like and thought it better to get rid of them."
"Not that I'm promoting vigilante-ism at this point, but wouldn't shooting be easier?"
Liara shook her head, aiming at the final Salarian left. He looked more unhinged and upset than ever. Shepard was honestly starting to feel bad. How many more of them were there, before Liara sent them on a suicide mission? "It's more karmically satisfying if they get themselves killed chasing their own greed."
On her side, Garrus filled the space that Shepard didn't. She couldn't, not when she was still processing that her first date turned into a mission to save her once close friend who now sort of sounded like a cold, calculating mob boss. "I'm not sure whether I like this side of you or feel like I should start sleeping with my sniper rifle."
Anya snorted, like Garrus just popped all the tension in her lungs by making her laugh. It felt good, in this bizarre shoot-out. "You already do that."
"Does he really?"Turning her face with this amused, curious smile, Liara actually looked like herself for once.
That only made Shepard slip up. "Yeah, it's adorable." Before her brain processed her blunder, her body already did and started blushing. They weren't on barstools at a Citadel club, watching their crewmates be lovable, drunk idiots anymore. It wasn't the time. She coughed and amended, "In a totally platonic way."
"Mhm. Sure." Liara tried to throw another biotic pull across the way, but the Salarian hid before it hit him. Even though she looked annoyed, she took the time to add,"You both were terrible at hiding it on the Normandy, why would you be any better now?"
"We weren't together back then!"
Liara tossed a wink her way, but it didn't feel flirty or friendly. She asked, "Oh? Implying you are together now?"
Okay, now she was truly going to toss herself out the airlock when they got back to the ship. And to think, she was trying to keep it from a whole team and fucked up the second someone started questioning her.
Out of Liara's line of sight, Garrus patted her hand and said, "Anya, maybe you should stop talking and get back to the shooting part." While she was still a scrambled idiot, the morale support helped.
Liara ruined it, though. "And he's even calling you Anya."
Seemed the entire conversation was just all about her and Garrus crashing and burning when it came to keeping their feelings private. They'd have to work on that. But she also noticed that, yet a-fucking-gain, they weren't talking about Liara being in this room, getting shot at. "Okay, stop deflecting to my terrible tact. We still need to talk about you and what you're doing, okay? So just-"
Just then, the Salarian stood up and yelled, "You took everything from me! Your soldier friends won't be able to save you, not against a man who has nothing to lose." In his hand, he pulled some sort of grenade and tossed it their way. Before any of them could react, it hit the floor and blew.
And before Anya could do anything, the floor gave way under them and they all were falling down. Her mind was pure chaos, confused about when a station like this ever had an "under" that wasn't another floor. But, considering this area wasn't "real" to the maps, who knew what they were falling into?
If she died falling off Illium she was going to be pissed.
But just as quickly as she thought it, she crashed onto something metallic and very uneven. Weirder, it groaned.
When she blinked and started seeing straight again, she also started feeling her limbs, and there were definitely other limbs wrapped around hers. Looking down, it wasn't ground she was on. It was Garrus.
And her face was practically on top of his.
While part of her was ready to erupt into a helpless, idiotic blush, she pressed her forehead against his after seeing his eyes blink open. "You stupid turian."
"Wanted to keep the Commander in one piece. Just doing my job."
Anya smirked at him, and she was fully aware that beyond this armor, they were pressed together. It was honestly kind of hot thinking of him, in a crisis scenario, thinking of her first. Hot in a very wholesome, melted-her-heart king of way.
Her eyes flicked all over his face, especially his mouth plates and the smile forming. Maybe she could override her stupid blush and awkwardness if she got other parts hot and bothered-
But then she remembered Liara was somewhere nearby and she had to put all her very steamy thoughts in a back pocket for a better time. Swallowing them down, she got off of him as gently as she could before helping him stand up.
Their surroundings weren't another secret floor or vent ducts; it was this big, long hallways running underneath. It didn't have proper bright lighting, but it did have these lamps running every 50 feet or so. It was dark, but visible.
Brushing off her legs, she said, "Well who fucking knew there were tunnel systems under parts of Illium?"
"Shepard, I think we have a different problem."
She scoffed. They were totally a mess and she wasn't proud of the conversation they had up top, but she wasn't sure if it was the time to dissect how much of an embarrassment she was. Or, the fact that her new dynamic with Liara was totally throwing her for a loop that she didn't really know how to deal with. "What, that Liara is going to turn me into a blustering idiot for the rest of my life? Because I thought her loving me was bad, I think her trying to just be my asshole friend who keeps way too many secrets is worse-"
Garrus coughed, interrupting her, and said, "No. She's not here. I think they took her."
Glancing around them, she realized he was right. There was blown metal paneling for a few feet, but no Liara. And no Salarian either. "Fuck."
"Yeah, that about sums it up." Garrus tapped his visor and seemed to start doing some analysis. She just watched, transfixed. There was something about him doing tactical analysis that she always found fascinating to watch, among... other things. "Luckily, there was only one Salarian left and he seemed to have entered this same tunnel. If we keep going, we should eventually be able to find her. From some basic scans, this whole thing seems pretty linear. Probably deliberate, not a system, so we shouldn't get lost."
She patted his shoulder and started walking down the hallway. "Another reason to love that damned visor of yours."
"Are there other ones?"
"You don't even know the half of it." Since it was just the two of them, Anya figured she might as well get some angst off her chest before she had to face Liara again. Brushing her fingertips lightly against his, she said, "I'm not sure how I feel about what my death did to some of you." Just saying it made her chest constrict.
Garrus shrugged next to her. "Well maybe it's not you. Maybe all your friends just have terrible coping skills."
She laughed a little, but it didn't settle right in her chest. Everything still felt... off. It made her a little scared to see what happened to everyone else that she left behind. Liara and all of them deserved better than that damage.
But she had a mission to focus on, and she tried to take deep breaths and just think about that. "I hope this whole mess isn't a full nest of fuckery." Just then, she realized there was something else Garrus might know, something else that proved there was a lot more going on with Liara. Stopping to look up at his bright blue eyes, Anya tried to keep herself still and composed as she said, "Right. You should know: she's the one who gave my body to Cerberus."
"Damn."
"I'm getting the feeling she went through hell to do it, and I don't know whether to thank her or apologize."
Garrus walked with her when she started up again, but she could tell he didn't know what to say. It was okay. She didn't know what to say, either. After awhile of walking in silence, heading towards their first corner, he eventually exhaled. Her turian companion settled on saying, "Let's just start with getting her back."
It was enough.
Just then, they turned the corner and saw Liara standing there, holding up her Salarian captor by the throat. Her hand was oozing biotics. But no matter how panicked the Salarian was, Anya couldn't stop looking at Liara's face.
It wasn't just this darkness there anymore, seeping into her expression. Her face was covered in anger, frustration, vindication. Yet at the same time, she also seemed completely level-headed. If Shepard didn't know any better, she would've been convinced this wasn't Liara T'Soni at all.
And before she could even move her mouth, Liara tightened her hold and the Salarian stopped fighting.
Garrus's throat sounded dry when he said, "Guess she doesn't need any help."
/
Oof. I did kinda want to dive into that character shift that happens in Liara between Mass Effect 1 and 2, but it's hard to write about when I know things won't be good between her and Anya just yet.
But I have some really exciting moments coming up next chapter so i sweat the discomfort will be worth it!
I also just posted my Witcher story finally! It does mean a posting change will probably happen soon, to compensate for two stories, but I'm excited. If you want to help support my writing (fanfic and original) and other creative stuffs (Twitch coming in April, meaning Mass Effect and Witcher!), please check out these sites and their bios:
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