Requiem of the Goddess

by Yoshiyuki Ly

Goddess of mind, goddess of heart - closed-off without consent, She cannot flourish; unlocked to the universe in trust and control, She protects from all outside influences. Only one sits atop the throne of Shepard's subjectivity. Ashley/FemShep, Liara/FemShep. Miranda/FemShep, Aria/FemShep. Power plays, intense loves. Renegon Infiltrator FemShep. Spans the Mass Effect Trilogy.

88. Grand Theft Auto

Note. We're approaching the late-game events in Mass Effect 3. The 90-chapters will conclude the Rannoch and Thessia arcs. Then I have a brand new story arc set to replace the Sanctuary mission on Horizon, as those events are incompatible with this version of Cerberus. I know this Shadow Broker DLC is from Mass Effect 2, but I specifically wanted it here to set the emotional tone for the remainder of the story. For the longest, I envisioned this chapter as the beginning of the end. We're on track.

We still have a decent amount of chapters to go. But once that brand new story arc concludes, we will officially be at the endgame. The end will be imminent. I will warn you once the story is almost over. Maybe that sounds surreal to you. It's surreal for me to write out. I'm exhausted. I'm seriously tired out of my mind. This can't go on forever.

---

"As They Enter" from Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker / "Vasir Combat" from Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker

LXXXVIII. Grand Theft Auto

(Shepard)

Storming down to the engineering deck, I made my way to Jack's lair.

I could've fucking killed her.

I could've murdered her for what she did to Liara.

Shot in her in the head. Strangled her by her scrawny, tattooed neck. Stomped her under my heel.

These heels of mine tore through the Normandy looking for her.

By the time I got to Jack's hideout in the engineering subdeck, I found it empty. Only this persistent humming of the ship's equipment greeted me. Where the hell was she?!

"EDI, you there? Do you know where Jack is?" No response. "Hello?!"

Again, no answer.

EDI still must've been busy hooking up with Traynor at Deep Azure.

"Goddamnit!"

I didn't think I needed to set ground rules about my crew fucking the ship during emergencies. Yet here we were.

Pacing around, gripping my fists, I blamed myself. I knew I'd been too lenient lately. Turning a blind eye to Jack hording recreational drugs, assuming they would be just that—recreational. Only for everything to blow up in our faces. Joker and Kaidan and Liara had all suffered because of this. I didn't care that it was technically their fault for eating food that didn't belong to them. I cared that Jack had done the shit in the first place! This must not have been the first time. She'd gotten too comfortable.

Just when I made up my mind to rush back to Deep Azure, I heard those footsteps.

Tentative, anxious. Those combat boots of hers clunked down the nearby steps. She found me here.

Waiting for her.

The sheer look of guilt on Jack's face. She knew exactly why I was so heated.

Backing against the wall, she held her hands up to appease me. The tiniest of a white flag.

"Shepard, look, I'm sorry. Let me explain—"

I pinned Jack against the wall, drawing this fear from her as blood. Seemingly twice her height in my boots, she craned her head to look up at me. This fear in her eyes would never sate my rage.

"Go on, then," I intimidated. "Explain yourself, Jack."

"Yeah, I made the brownies, all right? But I didn't give anything to anyone! Those three found the edibles after I'd just made them. I was letting them cool off in the kitchen. That's all, I swear!"

By accident.

Right.

"How many grams did you put in those things?"

"…a lot."

By accident.

BY ACCIDENT.

"I figured you had quite the stash on you."

Jack blinked hard in bewilderment. "Huh? You mean you already knew?!"

"Of course I knew. You had to be smoking something these days. I first smelled it on Rannoch. I let it slide because I knew it helped with your mood. Then you took it too far. I should've confiscated it from you instead. Joker and Kaidan could've died. Liara could've died! Get rid of the shit. Right now!"

"I already did," she mumbled. "I threw it all out before we left earlier. I knew you'd find out. Sorry…"

Nothing but sincerity sounded from Jack's tone. Not to mention this look in her eyes. So innocent and scared. A terrified little girl afraid to die. Jack seriously believed I planned on killing her over this. And maybe I should have. But I couldn't let my emotions decide this outcome. I needed to control myself.

Stepping away, I took a moment. I took a breath. I took stock of my state of mind. This shouldn't have escalated the way it did. I should've been better than this. And yet…

Jack sounded sympathetic, "Shepard, you should be pissed. Liara's your girl. You love her to death—I know you do. You're supposed to kill for her, aren't you?"

Trying to brush this off, I couldn't respond to that.

Instead I asked, "Why did you come back to the Normandy? I saw you talking to some woman earlier."

Jack went over to her bed. "I came back to get one of my sex toys. She asked if I had one and I said yeah." I did my best not to look at the toy, whatever she'd picked out. "Plus I figured I couldn't run from you forever. Had to face the music. You wanna talk some more? Or should I head out?"

"Go ahead, Jack."

I heard the sounds of Jack putting that toy in one of her deep pockets. Then she came over to me. Without a word, she knew how I felt. This pain seething beneath the surface. How I tried so hard to clamp it all down, keeping my control. Keeping my façade. Keeping my persona going. But I could never forget how I felt earlier, seeing Liara like that. So out of it. Not herself at all. And for Liara to keep telling me she was okay, she was fine—only for her to not be okay or fine whatsoever. The shock had almost made me fall into helplessness. Yet I'd stepped up for her instead. I took care of her…even as I feared her heart would give out. I had weighed taking her to the hospital, getting Kaidan and Joker there, too. I had weighed resigning from my role because I'd failed all three of them. I'd weighed a lot more than that as I'd carried Liara's weight, and Kaidan and Joker's weight back to the Normandy in my frustration.

Jack gave me a hug. One-sided—I didn't return her gesture. She held me anyway. Holding me around my waist like this. She knew enough about me to sense what I held back. These fears of losing Liara somehow. Something happening to her…again. And for me to feel the full effects immediately. Not delayed from running away like I'd done before.

Then Jack left the Normandy. She left me to my silence, my solitude.

I sat down on these steps. I listened to the eternal peace within my ship. Focusing on this calm, I felt myself calming down. Even as my feet in these boots had started to throb, painfully so. I hadn't worn stiletto heels like this in years. I remembered now how much I didn't miss it.

I didn't know if I could be angry at Liara. For her not telling me, warning me. I'd already told her we would talk about this in the morning. But this had long-since turned into a pattern with her. Something huge would happen, and she wouldn't tell me about it. Not until it was too late. Or she wouldn't say anything at all, leaving the drama to detonate in our faces. And I was just supposed to forgive her, or be okay with it, because she was Liara and she didn't mean to do so-and-so. Never intentionally to hurt me.

What was so difficult about telling me the truth?

The one thing I needed from her, she kept denying me. Over and over and over again.

She would be fine about it for a while. A few months or so. Then we went right back to the same shit.

Before all of this happened, I'd had a productive day yesterday. I'd started making plans for Valentine's Day, just under two weeks away. I figured Liara would want to have a quiet night in on the ship. I wished we could've had so much more. But with the war on, we didn't have too many options. Then I imagined for her birthday next month in March, we could all go to the Citadel. I wanted to throw a nice party for her. Something tame, something chill. Nothing crazy. Especially considering what happened earlier.

I lost track of how long I'd spent sitting here. Sitting here, holding my head with my eyes closed. Alone.

Well after midnight.

Maybe I should've checked on Liara. Made sure she was still asleep in her room.

Forcing myself up, I went back to the elevator. As I returned to Liara's room on the crew deck, I felt different. Strange, weird. Such a bizarre feeling crept through me. I couldn't pin it down. I couldn't explain it. I figured I just needed to lie down, take a break. Maybe play some video games to unwind. After I checked on Liara.

But when I unlocked the door to her room, I didn't see her still in bed.

"Liara?" I called, turning on the light. "Babe?"

Not at her computer.

Not in the bathroom: at the sink, in the shower.

Darting back out to the mess hall, I checked the main battery. Maybe Liara had woken up and decided to have a late-night chat with Garrus. I didn't see either of them in here. The med bay idled in darkness; Dr. Chakwas had gone to sleep hours ago. I went to the lounge, figuring she'd snuck off to the comforts there instead. An empty room.

Looking in the communal restrooms, rushing down the halls of the crew's quarters, I felt this change in me. Inhaling harder, exhaling harder. Heart race picking up. I felt my hands shaking. More and more as I checked the rest of the engineering deck and the command deck. Even my room in the captain's quarters. By the time I made it there, I called Liara directly. I called her via the team's radio frequency.

Again, nothing.

Liara wouldn't pick up.

A slight mental break, losing my perspective: I used my holo-closet to change into my N7 armor.

I brought my Black Widow and my handgun. An army of one for Liara—if she needed me to be.

I quickly left the Normandy. I ran back outside to this storm, storming through Nos Astra's empty trading floor. Even with my heart hammering out of control, I knew exactly where to go. I took this taxi to the only place Liara could've gone at this hour. The only place she would think to go in her drugged-up delusions. I had told her to let this go, but she hadn't. I'd warned her to drop this whole issue with Solheim, and she refused! Why couldn't she leave this mess alone? Why did this matter to her so much?!

Sitting in this taxi, I dealt with my discomfort. This agonizing discomfort; this pain in my chest. Knowing where Liara had likely gone, but not knowing what had happened to her. For months now, I'd had this feeling. This feeling of Liara constantly on the brink. The brink of something happening to her; something snapping, breaking her resolve. I'd found myself extra sensitive to her moods, her changes, her fragility and resilience. One wrong move and she would lose all hope. One slip-up from me and Liara might not have made it. I felt a constant pressure to look out for her. A pressure to be present—or else.

I loved her and I didn't mind looking out for her. That wasn't the issue.

The issue I had found here—tonight on a night like this—staring me in the face.

The issue of what could've happened if I looked away from Liara. Even for a second.

I didn't know what I would do if I lost her. I didn't know; I didn't want to think about it.

I just needed to find her safe and sound.

Arriving to Solheim's apartment building, I unlocked the lobby's entrance. I glanced around, spotting some police cars outside under this pouring rain. I didn't think anything of them, too focused on finding Liara. For a brief moment, I wondered if she had actually come here. How would she have gotten into the lobby without my permissions from Miranda? Knowing her, she'd probably found a workaround.

I took this elevator up to the 60th floor.

The whole way, I forced myself to stay still.

These nerves and blotches of anxiety made me want to pace around; to throw myself against the walls.

I glanced at the camera above my head. Up in the corner. That lens watched my every move.

I locked my eyes to the chrome doors of this elevator. Fixed, proper, and firm.

But as I walked down this hallway, I felt my resolve dissolving straight through my armor.

Cops patrolling up and down the area. More cops knocking on everyone's doors, questioning the residents inside. Even more cops running their forensic programs on their omni-tools, scanning the walls and the floor. Recognizing me as a Spectre, they said nothing as I passed by. Had I been an ordinary civilian, they likely would've told me to turn back around. I almost felt ordinary in this moment. So ordinary and small and lost and alone—because I knew now, without a doubt, that Liara had been here.

What happened to her?

Why didn't she call me?

I found the door to Miranda's apartment manned by armed cops. Their silent regard gave me all the permissions I needed to step inside.

Heavy-hearted, I walked through this door. Right away I felt a freeze inside the apartment. This freeze from Miranda's air conditioner on full-blast. This freeze from the thunderstorm icing through the windows. Those sounds of crackling and crinkling ice sounded so much closer. Like they came from my head as I stepped through this holographic police tape, technology chiming as it acknowledged me. I felt my own skull crackling from this stress, this duress. Expecting the worst as I passed through the mess of Miranda's home—belongings scattered everywhere, so unlike her. She needed cleanliness, order.

Scattered from a fight, or just from the police tearing the place apart during their search?

All these techs used their omni-tools to scan the surfaces, to take photos. They moved without any urgency. They did their jobs by habit, not caring about the actual details. To them, this was just another night on Illium. Another mess to clean; another crime scene to file away in some cabinet somewhere.

Bracing myself, I looked around.

Those bullet holes through the window. They'd pierced the glass. A sniper, an assassin had shot them.

And yet…I didn't see Liara anywhere. Or Miranda. I didn't see—either of their bodies on the ground.

I didn't see any blood, either… Not red, not violet.

This tension in my chest unwound itself. But not completely. I still hadn't found Liara—or Miranda.

I pulled one of the cops aside, asking her, "Do you know what happened here?"

She didn't answer me, giving a helpless shrug. If I had no logic to hold onto right now, I would've…

A familiar voice sounded from upstairs; a familiar person treaded down the winding staircase:

"Someone tried to kill your girlfriend, Commander Shepard."

That asari Spectre. The one Miranda had introduced me to before, during our first visit to Illium.

"Thank you, officer," she spoke to the cop nearest to me. "Your people are dismissed."

The useless cop protested, "You can't do that!"

"Already done."

Throwing a quiet fit, the asari cop stormed out of the apartment. The other technicians soon followed.

Alone now, just the two of us—Miranda's old contact met me with a smile. A worn smile I had seen on her back in the day when we'd first met. Direct and to-the-point, her emotions didn't quite fill her all the way. These flickers of lightning almost fooled me into thinking enough light reached her eyes. They didn't.

"Tela Vasir," I recalled. "It's you again."

"So you remembered me," she said in lightness. "It's been a while since we last saw one another. But something tells me you're not in the mood for small-talk. Straight to business instead?"

"You said someone tried to kill Liara. How do you know for certain she was here? What are the facts?"

Vasir confirmed: "Cameras in the lobby, elevator, hallways. They all caught footage of your girlfriend heading through here. Before she arrived, Lawson had another visitor. One of her Cerberus agents, Jacob Taylor. He stayed for a while, and then T'Soni showed up just as he was on his way out. About twenty minutes later, Solheim left the apartment while T'Soni stayed here. From the footage, I could tell your ex looked pissed off. Perhaps the two of them had gotten into an argument. A very bitter one."

That didn't surprise me at all.

The feral markings over Vasir's face curved and contorted in focus, in a deep attention. She tried her hardest to read me. What for?

"Tell me, Commander. You know Lawson better than I do. Does she have it in her to send a sniper after your girlfriend? A woman scorned like her—she has every motive to take out T'Soni, don't you think?"

"Vasir, that's ridiculous," I countered. "Miranda wouldn't do that. If she wanted to kill Liara, she would've done it herself. She hates asking anyone for help. You should know that about her by now."

"Maybe so. I had to ask. You know how these things are. I'm still not ruling Solheim out as a suspect."

Vasir and Miranda had a long, trusting history of working on Illium together.

Why couldn't she give Solheim the benefit of the doubt? Or did she choose to overcorrect her own bias?

I asked, "Did the police manage to find anything? Other than the bullet holes?"

"Nothing whatsoever," replied Vasir. "Only the bullet holes. I gave them a gold star for finding those."

"Then if Liara isn't here, where is she?"

"I don't know, Commander. There's no blood, no body. T'Soni ran from the apartment as soon as the shots fired. The sniper didn't plan on her kinetic barrier. Clever girl. Paranoid, but clever."

Something told me not to mention the mod I'd gotten for Liara, boosting her kinetic barrier.

If anyone was paranoid about her safety, it was me.

Vasir continued, "And seeing how this apartment doesn't belong to her, I doubt we'll find any leads. Have you tried contacting her? Or Solheim?"

"Liara wouldn't pick up when I called. I can only send Solheim an email."

"Well, we need to figure this out. Anything could happen to T'Soni—especially at this hour of the night. Illium is just Omega with expensive shoes. So you might want to send Lawson that email anyway."

I didn't even have to open my omni-tool.

Already I heard the sounds of Miranda raging somewhere behind me. Over in the entryway.

Turning around, I watched Solheim freak out about the state of her apartment. She clawed her hands and shouted in exasperation. Getting down on her knees, she scurried to put everything back in order. Cursing in confusion, Miranda clearly hadn't expected this. She hadn't anticipated her home turning into a crime scene. If she'd sent some assassin after Liara, then she shouldn't have been surprised at all.

"What the hell is all this!?" she seethed. "Why are my things out of place? Did a hurricane blow through here?! And why were there so many cops outside?"

Vasir informed her, "Solheim, I'm afraid you're under investigation. You wouldn't happen to know anything about a sniper, now would you?"

She exploded, "I'm under investigation?! A sniper? Do you mean Shepard!? I beg your fucking pardon!"

"Lawson, there's no need to be so—"

"To hell with you, Vasir! Let's cut to the chase already! Do you have a warrant for my arrest or not?"

"…no, I don't. We only had a warrant to search the premises—"

"—then don't take me for a damned idiot! If I had anything to do with this, you would've arrested me on the spot!" Seeing the clear wisdom in Solheim's words, Vasir couldn't respond to her. "Oh, I see what's going on here. Did someone try to kill Liara after I left? And now I'm the convenient suspect after we had an argument! Damnit, Vasir, for as long as we've known each other, you should know better about me. Why would I hire an assassin for something I could've done on my own? I would never do that!"

Just as I'd said.

Vasir only stared at Solheim in frustration. She really had nothing else to say.

Still cleaning up her apartment in a rage, Miranda went on, "Hell, if anything, this is an obvious set-up! I'm the head of Cerberus for God's sake! Do you know how many enemies I have? How many people in this galaxy would be glad to end me—or, better yet, put me behind bars? If you and Nos Astra's police force were at least halfway competent, you would investigate them! Not me!" Vasir's venomous silence only made me more and more uncomfortable. Especially as she watched Solheim re-organizing the datapads in her office. "Did you honestly need to tear my home upside-down just to find evidence? The only evidence you need is in the window! Expect me to file a complaint about this. You're all useless!"

Stepping between the two of them, I faced Vasir head-on—to physically protect Miranda behind me.

"Vasir, let it go. Miranda had nothing to do with this. If you go after her, you'll have to deal with me."

Vasir only glanced away, admitting her wordless defeat. She knew she couldn't fight me on this.

Solheim stopped her raging. When I turned around, I found her standing at her computer, smiling a bit.

"Shepard, you didn't have to do that," she said, gentle now. "I appreciate it nonetheless. Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

"Well, I'm sorry about Liara. You know I wouldn't… I mean, yes, the two of us did argue. But it wasn't anything like—like before. With you-know-who. No matter how angry she makes me, I have no intentions of repeating the past. I promise you. I could never put you through anything like that."

"I know."

I didn't want Vasir or Miranda to spot how I really felt right now.

I had to change the subject: "Do you know where Liara could've gone? Did she mention anything?"

"No, she didn't mention anything…"

Going quiet, Solheim checked her computer. Whatever she found there darkened her mood. Darkening as a reckoning—but her discovery felt relevant. So much so that I had to stop myself, contain myself.

"Miranda? Did you find something?"

Eyes glued to the screen, she muttered, "Yes, I did… Liara intercepted one of my incoming calls. It was from another contact of mine. We can assume this is the last person she spoke with before the attack."

"Who was it?"

Miranda glanced at Vasir behind me. Vasir, pacing behind me. Vasir, pacing in suspicion behind me.

"A man named Sekat," she said. We both felt Vasir's senses pricking up at the name. Miranda still went on, "He's a salarian who works at the Dracon Trade Center. Specifically at the Baria Frontiers office. I suspect Liara went to speak with him. She's pretending to work with me. Presumably to dig around in my business. Not that it matters at this point. You should go find her. Keep her safe from that assassin."

"I'll head out, then. What will you do?"

"I need to clean up this mess. You know how I am. Don't worry about me, Commander."

None of this felt right.

Not from Vasir—and suddenly, not from Miranda, either.

I knew better than to make a scene like this.

Finding Liara was all that mattered to me right now. My main priority.

As I made my way out, Solheim ordered, "Vasir, please make yourself scarce. You and I will speak later."

Out in the hall, I let Vasir leave to the elevator first. Her silence grated me. Already I knew to expect her at the Dracon Trade Center.

A race to get to Liara; taking a regular old taxi wouldn't cut it. I needed to get to her faster.

Remembering Miranda's promises to me, I went to the underground parking lot. This same place where she'd parked her car. The luxury of her all-black car. Like with her apartment, I also had access to the vehicle. I unlocked it and hurried into the driver's seat. Since Solheim had decided to be so generous, I saw nothing wrong with 'borrowing' her car for the night. Hopefully she wouldn't mind.

---

Driving Solheim's car through this rainstorm, I did my best to focus on the road. Speeding through the skies, zipping through these makeshift roads—I focused on getting to the Dracon Trade Center. The windshield wipers worked overtime to clear the glass, clearing my sights ahead. Stubbornly so, this rain drilled down on the windshield over and over again. Slow-blinking and I could keep up with this harsh rhythm from the wipers working and working.

As I breathed in this clean interior of Miranda's car, I couldn't keep Liara off of my mind.

How she could've been here with me instead. On Illium or on Earth, or Thessia. Simpler times. Idyllic times. No snipers, no secrets. No shocking revelations or running for our lives. Easygoing.

All I wanted now was to find her.

To find her again; to take her in my arms.

I wished we could've left this all behind. I wished none of this had to happen. Yet it did.

I called Tali this time. Whatever happened after the club, I trusted Wrex had gotten her safely back to the Normandy. I didn't blame her for cussing Jack out, either. Tali felt rightfully sensitive over the mere possibility of losing Liara again. She wouldn't take this news well. Not at all.

Tali sounded wide awake. "Shepard? It's awfully late… Not that I mind or anything. Are you okay?"

"There's a situation, Tali."

I explained everything to her. What little I knew, anyway—about Liara, Solheim, Vasir. And Sekat at the Dracon Trade Center.

Immediately she volunteered, "I'm coming with you! We need to find Liara!"

"Yeah, meet me at the trade center. Bring whoever's awake—and sober."

Then Wrex joined the call. "What's going on? Shepard, why're you calling this late? Is there an emergency?"

"Liara's missing, Wrex. Tali can explain the rest. Meet me at the Dracon Trade Center."

"Liara's missing?! The Dracon Trade Center? I'M ON MY WAY!"

After Wrex hung up, Tali promised, "I'll gather who I can. See you soon, Shepard!"

"Copy that. See you soon."

Eventually, the giant office building came into view. The Dracon Trade Center's white text splayed over the shadow-shaded structure. This place held offices for different corporations, along with Illium's salarian embassy. Some of those corporations had gone out of business—except for Baria Frontiers.

I pulled into the parking lot: an extended platform raised above Nos Astra's infinite drop to the ground.

Several other towers surrounded the area. Those windows reflected Nos Astra's horizons—and I felt them surrounding me. All as I stared up at this trade center drenched beneath the night rain. A bunch of other executives stood around this plaza together, milling around. They entered and exited the building. They treated this as a regular night, burning the midnight oil as normal. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Glancing at a nearby directory, I found the Baria Frontiers offices listed on the third floor.

Baria Frontiers…?

They specialized in star charts. Charting the galaxy. Mapping new clusters and systems after discovery by the pioneers out there. Finding the most remote locations across the vast stretches of the Milky Way.

Why would Solheim need this kind of information?

Cerberus didn't do business with star charts. So she must've needed to find something—or someone.

Whatever it was, Vasir had to be on her trail. No real trust between them. Miranda had to know by now.

As I approached the building, a sudden detonation shocked me still. Blazing fire blasted from the windows of the third floor. Billows of a bomb's explosion devastated the trade center. The third floor!?

"Liara's in there!"

More explosions, more detonations. One after another, those blasts blew out as balls of flames. Eruptions as earthquakes; the crescendo of impacts knocked me clear off my feet. Rising smoke billowed up to the skies, polluting this place in a suffocating danger. Those cinders leafed down to this plaza, over the corpses of those executives. Most of them had died on impact. They lay among the piles of rubble, the shards of glass, the fallen structures. The survivors sitting on the ground agonized over their injuries.

I willed myself to get right back up, if only because of Liara. Because my imagination had torn my mind in two, thinking about that bomb getting to her. I couldn't wait for Tali and the others to get here! I had to find Liara—right now! So I fought through this pain. I hurried as fast as I could. Faster and faster, escaping this freezing rain bearing down on me. I bolted past the injured civilians and into the building.

First a sniper had tried to assassinate Liara.

Now a terrorist had attacked the building she was in!

Who the hell wanted her dead this badly?! None of this made any fucking sense!

Running inside this burning building to find her, I didn't care about my safety. I didn't care that the bomb had taken out most of the trade center. I didn't care that another one could've gone off at any second.

I needed her.

I needed to find her.

I needed to make sure Liara was still…

Nearly blinded in my rage, I ran through this scorched darkness. Smoke clogged these shadows at every turn. Only the light from the occasional embers guided my way. The nearest elevator reddened with disallowance. I couldn't use it to get up to the third floor. No alarms, no police on the way? Someone at Illium's highest levels had set this up. I refused to believe this was some homegrown terrorist attack.

Rushing past these kiosks and clerk counters, I went across to the stairs. Faint lighting from overhead showed me the way—and all the civilians corpses scattered around. Most of them human, salarian. I kept an eye out for any asari…just in case. I didn't spot Liara anywhere among the dead. I kept going.

At this second floor, the building opened up to Illium's rainy, moonlit skies. The smoke had cleared. The other untouched towers out there loomed in the distance. I heard a dying employee croak out his last words. Something about mercs setting off the bombs before shooting everyone. Following the sound of his voice, I found him just as he took his final breath. Bullet wounds. Military-grade weapons. Those mercs must've been well-armed, well-funded. Their boss had to be the one who wanted Liara dead.

Those mercs must've still been inside the building.

Searching for Liara on foot; aiming to finish the job.

Storming past the salarian embassy, I drew my Black Widow. I cloaked to invisibility. One with the shadows around me, I knew what I needed to do. I needed to find those mercenaries. I needed to hunt them down. I needed to terrorize them personally as they'd terrorized Illium tonight—and Liara.

Every drop of motivation I needed, I found near the entrance to the Baria Frontiers office.

Another military-grade bomb sat out in the open. Unarmed. Sloppy. They did this in a hurry. Big mistake.

At this entryway, I found the log book. Liara had signed her name. I was this close to finding her again.

Up ahead, this first hallway waited for me. Lights on the ceilings crackled in and out, glowing in a wraith-like haunt over the polish of the floor. Broken, hanging wires sparked and blew out. The wide stretch of glass held a sign welcoming visitors to the Baria Frontiers office. Between the overhead sprinklers showering down water to keep the fires out, I heard something else. Voices emerged from the other side of the room, just down the next hall. Hushed voices, professional voices. Those mercenaries spoke:

"This is pointless. We haven't found T'Soni anywhere. Does anyone have eyes on her?"

"Not yet. Keep looking. And keep your voices down! Anyone could be in here by now."

"Yeah, the Shadow Broker warned Commander Shepard might be on our asses for this. She won't be happy about her girlfriend going missing. Stay sharp. She's an infiltrator—she could be anywhere."

The Shadow Broker.

The Shadow Broker wanted Liara dead?

The Shadow Broker sent an assassin and his private army after her? And for what?!

Unless Liara was living a double-life, I couldn't imagine her making enemies like this. Then again…

I remembered something Aria mentioned to me. Months ago, she'd said the Shadow Broker had sent some of his agents to Omega. Snooping around, spying. They'd first showed up around the time Liara returned to us. After I'd brought her back from Insomnia, back to the living. Since Aria was on our team at the time, she assumed the Shadow Broker's agents wanted information from her. Information about Liara and her mysterious return from the dead. Even with his massive information network, the Shadow Broker had no idea how I'd brought Liara back. Someone like him would want to know the answers.

Someone like him would kill Liara again—just for the sake of me bringing her back.

Just for the sake of watching me carefully this time, learning exactly how I brought her back.

All to use the information for himself.

With the Reapers out there, the Shadow Broker had to be scared. Scared shitless of dying, losing everything. He wanted his own immortality. Something more immediate than the Lazarus Project—something he couldn't replicate. No, he wanted Liara's method instead. Except he couldn't have it. He presumably wasn't an asari, and he didn't have a bond with me. I couldn't even go back to Insomnia anymore because Sol had locked us out! If Liara died again, I had no way of bringing her back…

The Shadow Broker knew nothing.

He started this hasty night of terror out of fear. Fear of dying to the Reapers.

That coward should've feared me more than the Reapers. He'd dug his own grave going after Liara.

Still cloaked in safety, I used my sniper rifle to scope out these mercs. The Shadow Broker's agents.

Off-white armor sticking out in the dark. How it blazed in the proximity to those few embers still burning over the ground. A bunch of humans. The ones patrolling around had flashbang grenades in their hands, waiting to trip me up. A few others carried heavy weapons. I needed to stay out of their sight at all costs. And that biotic user. An asari. A vanguard. Her biotic charge could've taken me out. I had to kill her first.

Sneaking around them would've been the sensible solution.

Except I wasn't in a sensible mood tonight. Not one bit.

They picked the wrong one to fuck with.

Aiming my Black Widow, I fixed my sights on that vanguard's head. Right through this glass. The welcoming glass for the office. They would know my general direction. I needed to stay on the move.

I fired my sniper rifle, shattering this glass to pieces. Shattering that vanguard's skull all the same—as if in slow motion, the blood and flesh flew out from her as shrapnel. As she collapsed to the ground, the Shadow Broker's agents screamed in their sudden panic. Still didn't need to reload yet—I popped off two more shots, culling those heavy weapons. Getting them out of my way. Still cloaked, taking advantage of the confusion, I pushed forward. I skirted closer to those screams, those shouts of panic:

"Fuck, Shepard's here! Find her! Find her now! Take her out before she—!"

I killed the one giving the orders. A clean shot clear between the eye slots of his helmet. The impact spattered his back against the wall. As he slumped there, I kept slinking through the dark. Careful to avoid those sprinklers overhead—the drips of water would've crinkled my tactical cloak, giving away my exact location. The rest of the agents shot at nothing. They shot at where I was several seconds ago; they threw their flashbang grenades off into the void for all I cared.

For such professional mercs working for the most powerful broker in the galaxy, they couldn't do anything right.

I punished them for their mistakes. I sniped anyone out of position. I shot most of them in the heart. I pierced straight through their chest cavities, ending their lives there, specifically. All because they'd nearly done the same to me—driving this stake through my heart over what they'd tried to do to Liara. So I served this same excruciating pain right back to them. And I sniped the one person who managed to fire their heavy weapon in my direction. Absolute precision: I aimed my shot through the dead center of that projectile, detonating it. The explosion took out everyone else in my way. I pushed up ahead.

Past this tear in the building's structure, I ran past this burning view of Nos Astra's skyline. Around the corner I found even more mercs waiting for me. They shot at nothing, again. Like throwing darts in the dark and hoping to hit a target, any target. Using a flame in the center as my guide, I took everyone out. Three-by-three. Three shots at a time. Three practiced, precise shots before I needed to reload again.

The salarian engineer in the corner sent his drone after me. I popped off another headshot, ending the threat. His combat drone dissolved in seconds. I soon cleared the area, taking a brief look around.

This place looked like a kitchen area. The vid screen on the wall, the communal meal tables, the vending machine in a corner. The dead civilians here had been enjoying their time off, enjoying a late dinner. Only to have those bombs go off, ending their lives out of nowhere. For no good reason. All for the Shadow Broker and his pathetic cowardice. Just another mortal afraid to die. Not so enigmatic anymore.

Another ember brushed thick chugs of smoke over the next doorway. I crossed this hall, finding my path barred by even more flames. Damaged pipes, exposed from the explosions, burned an electrical fire over the stairs. In the room next door, I found the fire suppressant systems. Activating them, I managed to put the hazard out. I hurried through this smoke left behind from the burning, past these charred spots along the walls. This darkened stairway took me upstairs one more floor.

At this reflective ground gleaming from a sheen of water, I heard more of those agents. They hid in cover, their armor brushing and slipping along these surfaces soaked from the sprinklers. Taking advantage of these lightless shadows, I kept up my same momentum. I shot across the way, taking out those mercs along this corridor overlooking the floor below.

Around this corner, I found a set of rooms filled with terminals, glowing from these flaming night lights.

That had to be Sekat's office up ahead.

Holstering my Black Widow, I drew my pistol instead. Cautious, careful, I approached the unlocked door.

This window across from me opened up to a view of the building. The rest of the Dracon Trade Center.

The wall next to me had spattered with blood. Slumped there, Sekat's corpse had bullet holes.

Controlling myself, controlling myself, I didn't spot Liara anywhere.

Only Vasir standing near the center of the room. Facing me with a pistol in her hand.

"Vasir. What the hell was all this for? What did the salarian do to you?"

"Business as usual, Commander. The salarian had a big mouth. Loose lips for lots of credits. So my boss asked me to take him out. You and I both understand how these things work. A job's a job."

A Council Spectre working for the Shadow Broker…

She may have used his information to protect Illium. But she'd gone rogue to do it. A fucking traitor.

Vasir pocketed a data disk. Possibly the data Sekat had intended to give to Liara—or Solheim, really.

Data on the Shadow Broker's location somewhere out in the galaxy.

I pointed out, "Solheim paid for that data. Aren't the two of you partners here on Illium?"

"We certainly were," said Vasir, cold-blooded. "Or perhaps we still are. I'm not sure. Lawson and I have always been fair-weather friends. If she's smart, she'll continue to stay on my side. If she wants Cerberus to be on top, she'll have to fall in line. So maybe you could put in a good word for me, Shepard. Convince her to forget this crusade she's on to find where my boss is located. Do that and I'll leave T'Soni alone."

"I don't give a damn about your boss, Vasir. Where is Liara?!"

The calming sounds of her voice behind me, "I'm right here, Shepard."

Paladin pistol at the ready, Liara made it to my side. The overhead sprinklers drenched her for a moment. From the corner of my eye, I spotted her smile at me, shining from the false rain. Unharmed, no injuries. The relief that washed over me. I felt myself unwinding, most of this tension leaving me.

"Babe, you're okay… Where were you?"

"I was hiding in a safe space. Waiting for you to get here. I knew you'd come find me."

I would've hugged properly her if we'd had the time.

Or interrogated her about why she'd left earlier. Why she hadn't answered my calls, making me worry.

Vasir sneered at us both. "What a touching reunion. Now, if you don't mind, I should get going. The job isn't done, since you're still alive. But we do have our deal pending, Shepard. Think about my offer."

"There's no deal, Vasir," I told her. "You're the one who tried to assassinate Liara earlier, aren't you?"

"She is," confirmed Liara, walking toward her, threatening. "This is the woman who tried to kill me."

Vasir took a few careful steps back. "You've had a rough day, so I'll let that slide. Why don't you put that gun down?"

"I saw you! I doubled back after I left. I watched you break into Solheim's apartment! You were still looking for me. And you wanted to look through Solheim's belongings as a betrayal to her."

I understood now. "Solheim knows you work for the Shadow Broker. Odds are you've been acting strangely these days. She doesn't trust you anymore. She knew you'd pull a stunt like this with Sekat, so she tipped you off. I have a pretty good idea now, but you should indulge me. Why bring Liara into this? Why did you try so hard to take her out? She has nothing to do with any of this. She's not involved."

Vasir confirmed for me, "It's quite simple, Commander. Last year, the Shadow Broker took an interest in T'Soni's reappearing act. Unlike your death and the Lazarus Project, this happened beyond his purview. He wants to recreate the magic, so to speak: kill T'Soni again and watch you bring her back. To figure out how you did it. You can guess for yourself why my boss would be this invested. It's nothing personal."

Liara countered, "You've made it personal by doing this to me. I won't forgive you, Vasir."

"That's too bad. And here I thought we could all get along. If you really want to take me on, you'd better bring your best. If you don't, I'll make you regret it." Biotics blazing around her armor, Vasir cracked the glass of the window behind her, hurling those sword-like shards right at us. "…you pureblood bitch!"

Protecting us both, Liara drew a biotic field, deflecting that glass from cutting through.

A coward just like her boss, Vasir jumped from the window. Down to the rest of the trade center below.

Liara and I charged after her at the same time.

Together we jumped down this landing. Surprising me, Liara used her biotics to slow us down, breaking our fall. She held my hand, manipulating my gravity right alongside hers. I got caught between looking to her and tracking Vasir running off to the exit. I almost didn't notice the Shadow Broker's agents rushing at us—those same mercenaries from before. They stormed through from another office across the way.

Liara urged me, "We need to catch her, Shepard! I'm not letting Vasir get away with what she did!"

"All right, Liara, let's go!"

Keeping her hand in mine, I cloaked both of us to invisibility, to safety. The Shadow Broker's army lost track of us. Helmeted heads craning, rifles aiming at ghosts, they couldn't find us anywhere. Even as we rushed straight ahead to the stairs. Hurrying on and on, we pursued Vasir's trail. She likely ran off to the exit, off to the parking lot. If she drove her own car here, we'd have to chase her through the skies.

Tali and the others should've found us by now. We needed them for backup.

Where were they? Why hadn't I heard from them?

We found some of Vasir's backup emerging from the stairs. Armed and in our direct path, these mercs didn't quite know where to look to find us. Too impatient to run around them, Liara dealt with the problem. Swift and strong, she blasted them back with her powers, out of our way. We kept moving.

The rest of the mercs at the entrance didn't stand a chance.

Still running with me, Liara forced out a powerful shockwave. Terrifying and shocking in force, this singular pulse from her spanned outward as a supernova of biotics. She didn't catch Vasir with it. That traitor had already fled the building. But Liara disposed of those last mercs in front of the door, freeing us to get back outside.

The rainstorm had finally let up, visibility clearing.

Liara and I caught Vasir climbing into her orange car. She sneered at us as she took off for the skyway.

I was about to bring Liara over to Miranda's car, until I noticed…

"Fuck!" I yelled. "Her car's gone!"

Liara asked, "Do you mean Solheim's car? Someone took it?"

"I locked it before I left. She must've taken it back without telling me…"

Then again, I did take her car without warning her first. Stealing, maybe. A light bit of grand theft auto.

"Then we will need to take a taxi," settled Liara. "Let's find one, and quick."

Right on time, a taxi descended nearby. Tali finally arrived with Wrex and Garrus in tow.

Tali exclaimed, "Liara, you're okay! What happened in there?!"

Wrex said, "Yeah, looks like there was a terrorist attack! Did a bunch of bombs go off?"

Garrus asked, "How'd they pull that off without the police arriving?! I don't hear any alarms, either!"

I rushed to the driver's seat of the taxi, explaining what little I could, "There's a rogue Spectre we're after. Her name's Vasir. She's the one who tried to kill Liara, and she organized the attack. Vasir works for the Shadow Broker. We're taking her down over what she did tonight. We'll explain the rest later!"

Liara took the passenger's side in a hurry. "Come on! She's getting away!"

The others stayed in the backseat. Dozens of rapid-fire questions from them—about Vasir, about the Shadow Broker, about Solheim's involvement. I couldn't answer them right now. Liara couldn't answer them right now. Lifting into the air, I sped off in the same direction Vasir went, needing to find her soon.

---

Speeding through the skies, I darted my eyes around in search for her. Her orange car. Her orange car. Orange, standing out from the rest of these darker colors. I boosted this taxi's speed more once I spotted her. Still not as fast as I wanted. Not nearly as speedy as my own car could've gone—or even Miranda's. I tried not to think about her, distracting as it would've been in the moment. So very distracting to wonder why Solheim would've gone to the Dracon Trade Center to pick up her car…without contacting me. Without asking me if I needed any help with Liara. Without offering to give me any backup. Every time I'd met with her since December, she'd gone on and on about how she would do anything for me. What changed this time? Was she that pissed about me borrowing her car?

No time to think about it.

I needed to focus on the road.

I had locked the taxi's target on Vasir's car, helping me stay on her.

Racing on Vasir's tail, she took us on these wild routes through Nos Astra. Right between buildings, with Illium's architecture as the main blockades keeping me from a simpler straight line. All these fucking trucks clogging up traffic in certain parts of the skyway—I had to drive around them. So many ads illuminating through the early-morning skies, with the sun starting to peek through as much as those dazzling distractions. Almost as distracting as Liara's backseat driving from the passenger's seat:

"Hang a right! No, wait, left!"

"I'm on her," I said in calmness.

Winding beneath the legal traffic of the highway, I kept after Vasir's car. Even as she took an obscene turn behind the ad tower playing those over-the-top commercials.

"Hang a left! Behind the ad tower!"

Nerves grating, I didn't respond this time.

Vasir zoomed in different directions before dashing between buildings. Even more illegal than driving off the normal path. I drove through the narrow space anyway. Behind me, Tali, Wrex, and Garrus panicked. They clung to their seats back there. Hanging on for their dear lives in a golden silence…unlike Liara.

As soon as Vasir turned the corner, Liara informed me, "She's around the corner!"

Setting my jaw, I maneuvered around, making this full U-turn left into a new location.

"We're not going into the construction site, are we…? Oh, goddess."

Past these pillars and through the space carved out in a tower—I followed Vasir's wild directions again. Around and around through an indoor intersection, between buildings again and between trucks again. Nos Astra's sunrise shimmered in the distance, nearly camouflaging Vasir's car from my view. So many more distractions from Liara telling me to go-go-go, like she couldn't sit still next to me. I hadn't lost Vasir not once this whole time! Why was she so damn panicky all of a sudden?! Like she didn't trust me!

I raged, "Damnit, babe, I'm going!"

Back around to the same old ads—but this time from the opposite direction. I drove us through the—

"Traffic!" screamed Liara, grabbing my shoulder. "Oncoming traffic!"

"We'll be fine!"

Winding through another construction site and back outside again, through yet another illegal route. Vasir used her car to drop proximity charges in her wake. As if I somehow couldn't see the glowing red mines floating in the skies, Liara hurried to notify me:

"She's dropping proximity charges!"

"I noticed!"

Chasing Vasir through Nos Astra; chasing Illium's sunrise.

I followed these proximity charges she kept leaving behind. Even into this next indoor intersection…with a giant warning plastered over the top as an ad. A warning about a certain dangerous fugitive named Subject Zero recently spotted in Nos Astra. Jack's mugshot and prisoner ID showed there—along with a disclaimer that she had also helped defeat the Collectors, and now worked to end the Reapers. All of that got blown up by some other vehicle shooting the structure. Shooting it to collapse the entrance to the intersection. They failed, anyway, leaving me to drive clear through the smoke in Vasir's direction.

Once again, Liara helpfully pointed out, "She has reinforcements!"

Maybe we'd need to fight back at some point. "What kind of guns does this thing have?"

"It's a taxi—it has a fare meter!"

"Wonderful."

This intersection led us down this indoor tunnel, still part of the highway. Speeding through this silvered column, Vasir only had one way to go. I followed her easily through the singular path. I followed her…and saw Vasir's car flip over as soon as she made a turn. She partly crashed into a massive—

"Truck!" shouted Liara, as the long vehicle snaked across our path.

"I know," I said, driving around the hazard. Except more cars crashed into the thing, causing a backup.

"TRUCK!"

"I know!"

Driving around the mess, Liara only calmed down—slightly—once we resumed line of sight with Vasir.

I nearly cheered, "There we go!"

Liara sounded bemused by me. "You're enjoying this."

Maybe not enjoying this danger around every corner. Or Tali, Garrus, and Wrex still quietly panicking in the backseat. But I did enjoy having Liara back with me—even with her ridiculous backseat driving. I found it in me to smile a bit as we stayed on Vasir's tail. She must've taken some damage from hitting that truck, yet she kept on. She insisted on ignoring the traffic laws, driving opposite the incoming cars.

I drove above all those cars for the most part, staying clear away from Vasir's backup. They crashed into the other trucks anyway, their vehicles burning to a crisp as they spun out, down to the endless ground.

Liara worried for us, "A head-on collision at this speed…"

"Yeah, I hear those can be bad for you."

Finding my rhythm now, I navigated this incoming traffic with ease. Still speeding. Still keeping my hands artful over the taxi's control panel. Still keeping my eye on Vasir's tail: ever that blazing sunrise as a car zigzagging and bending through these skies. The rest of Illium's traffic swelled several yards beneath us: those headlights glowing as a river of technology, civilization. Up here among the ambitious giants of Illium's reflective towers, I somehow stayed grounded. I kept my eyes focused on Vasir—as unfocused as she was in comparison—as she drove madly all around. No doubt panicking in the driver's seat of her car by now. Because she made another mistake once she clipped into an even larger, armored—

"Truck!"

"Again?"

"Watch out!" cried Liara, as we went down this wider road.

I maneuvered us closer to Vasir's car. She'd taken some damage at this point. Enough to slow her down, but not to stop her completely. Pulling up to the side of her window, Liara and I glanced at her. Almost daring her to make another mistake. Vasir glared right back at us, trying to come up with something. All she had were her dirty tricks. She rammed the side of her car into ours, shoving us off-balance. I found our balance again just in time—before another car made a head-on collision against us—then used this same momentum to crash right back into Vasir's vehicle. Another time, and another time, and again; skidding and jousting and ramming her, ramming until she fucked up exactly as I needed her to.

She crashed directly with another car.

Spinning out, flatlining, Vasir forced a crash landing. Right to the nearby hotel shining in the sunrise.

I landed us at this hotel. Azure. As soon as we got out, I spotted Vasir's car smoking in the near distance. Tali, Garrus, and Wrex took a moment to find their footing. After the insanity of that car chase, they seemed grateful to have made it back to solid ground. Tali had brought her automaton with her, too. I couldn't wait to see what Chatika could do in combat. Liara looked more than all right as she made it to my side. She also spotted that destroyed vehicle—and the open door. Our prey had already run off.

Liara noted for us, "There's Vasir's car. Come on, she can't have gotten far."

This wide open plaza of Azure's parking lot led to the entrance across the way. The spacious wings of this light-colored building spread out from either side of that entrance. A tall set of rounded glass with the hotel's logo over it. Descending to that area, a smaller truck landed there. The pickup carried several of the Shadow Broker's mercenaries, just as armed as the other batch we'd faced in the trade center. Vasir's reinforcements meant to slow us down.

I ordered, "Let's take out these mercs! Vasir's probably injured—she won't get away any time soon."

My team obliged, charging ahead to the enemy.

Up these stairs in the hotel's parking lot, Garrus opened the fray. He sent a chain Overload at the mercs, frying their shields as a group. Liara sent a singularity field at them. Immediately their bodies went flying out of their control—flying clear off the edge of this building, falling down to their deaths. Even more reinforcements arrived; Tali put her automaton to use, overheating their weapons, making those rifles explode in their hands. As they shouted in a panic, undefended, Wrex went and bashed their heads in.

As I watched my team work together, I noticed this change in my mood.

How subdued I felt all of a sudden.

I cloaked to invisibility, if only to shield myself from any stray bullets. My team and the mercs used the decorative outdoor plants and the parked cars around us for cover. Several bullet holes scratched and dented those vehicles. Hopefully no one decided to sue us for damages.

I kept my focus on Liara. Watching her fight in the light of Illium's dawn, I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I'd missed her so much. Maybe too much. Liara noticed my distractions. Spotting this gleam of my cloak, she smiled at me from over her shoulder. She smiled, picking me out with ease even as I'd hidden myself away. Even as she used her biotics to crush one of those mercs to death. In her power, I couldn't help seeing Liara as the sunrise itself. That eternal beauty of hers I could never forget. I found myself again wishing we could leave this all behind. Find a small measure of peace together—somewhere, somehow. The peace Liara had talked about before. So long ago. Back in those before-times during our first visit to Thessia, when Liara had first promised me everything. Promising me the universe in love.

She had truly kept her promises to me. She'd created an entire collective unconscious for my reign.

Then again, now wasn't the time to get all sentimental about these things.

I had some cover, anyway, with Liara and the others taking out the Shadow Broker's mercs with ease. They didn't necessarily need me for this. Didn't take them long to eliminate these reinforcements.

We followed Azure's west wing to get to Vasir's mangled car. On the way there, we passed by a visible portion of the hotel's suites. Through the windows I spotted what looked like a kitchen near a common room. Inactive mechs lay over the hardened flooring in there, surrounded by unused furniture. Nos Astra's dawn looked in on the damage to where it led: farther inside the suite to an open bedroom.

I heard some kind of music playing in the room. Lustful music playing on repeat from a vid screen.

Here in this room, we found a bed beside the picture windows with a view of the rest of the hotel. A far wall with a huge painting of modern, indiscernible artwork. Beside the bed, trembling in a corner, was an asari 'dancer' and her client, a human man in a fine suit. I heard the asari pleading with no one:

"Please let me live. Please let me live. I'll do the mantras every week. I'll give to charity. I'll go back to the Citadel and get a good job—I swear!"

The Azure patron cowered more once he saw us. "Hey, we're unarmed! W-We didn't see anything!"

Leaving them to their cowering, I looked to the giant vid screen on another wall.

Some kind of ad played there. That music looped over the video. Video of a pair of asari 'dancing' for the viewer. One in the foreground, dressed in a skimpy outfit; the other in the background on her knees, pleasing a suited man sitting in a chair. The lustful video looked pretty tame, all things considered.

Wrex had to ask, "What kinda hotel is this?"

Liara supplied, "Azure. It's a luxury resort with an…exotic edge. It is also the…vanilla version of Deep Azure we visited before."

Tali wondered, "What's with the word 'azure' and the asari? You never told me, Liara."

"Yeah," I agreed. "You never told me, either. Is there some kind of special meaning we're missing?"

"'Azure' is slang for a part of the asari body—in some areas of Illium."

Eyeing Liara's body without meaning to, I flirted with her, "Where?"

"Mainly the lower reaches… Near the bottom."

I licked my lips, staring at Liara's perfect posture with her gun drawn. The strength of her thigs. "I meant, where on the asari body?"

"So did I," replied Liara, sounding pleased with herself.

She also noticed the way I looked at her. How I couldn't help myself. That sexy little smile on her face.

Garrus coughed. "Oh."

Wrex teased him, "Why so shy, Garrus? We all saw you watching those people at Deep Azure. The exhibitionists out in the open. That was way more explicit than this."

"That was…quite an adventure for me. I might've learned a thing or two about myself. You know."

Tali settled, "Yes, we can certainly guess for ourselves. Sounds like it was a good night for you."

"It was, Tali. It was."

Heading outside this exit, we found Vasir's car. Burning wreckage over the wood of this terrace. And a convenient trail of bloodied footprints to follow. Violet blood. An asari's. This had to be from Vasir.

We followed the trail across this outdoor pathway along Azure's edge. Passing by other suites and inactive mechs, Vasir's blood loss concerned me. I couldn't imagine how she'd kept moving after losing this much blood. Her footprints had drenched from that heavy loss, painting thickly over the pathway.

Liara noted, "She's lost a lot of blood. We have to be getting close."

"She's tough. I'll give her that much."

"She's a Spectre, like you and Tali."

Tali soured, "She doesn't sound like a very good one. Shepard said Vasir went rogue."

Garrus reminisced, "Another rogue Spectre, huh? When's the last time we heard about one of those?"

Wrex said, "A long ass time ago. For good reason. Thought we were done with those types. Guessing this Vasir used information from the Shadow Broker to keep Illium from turning into another Omega. Then her boss turns around and orders her to bomb civilians for him. Must not mean all that much to her."

"It still isn't right. She sold out the Council to work for him. She betrayed them just like Saren did!"

Tali knew: "I'm sure Vasir would disagree. The information she got from the Shadow Broker must've saved lives. Not only on Illium, but possibly on the Citadel as well. This is the price she chose to pay for that information. I don't think it was worth it. We'll have to notify the Council about this, Shepard."

"We'll file a report once we make it back to the Normandy."

Liara walked a bit faster, taking the lead. "I think I see her up there. Over by that crowd of people."

Bloodied footprints grew thicker and thicker.

That oil on the canvas of this otherwise clean and slick flooring of the hotel. Those prints had dripped into the muted reflections of Illium's cityscape. Those towers and lights upon the ground led to the trail's end.

The trail ended at Vasir, doubled over as she forced herself to keep walking. Walking on in stubbornness as she gripped her wounds. Those wounds seeped right through her armor. More of her blood dripped down in her wake, even as she passed through this dining area. Azure's dining space packed with the hotel's fancy patrons. They sat and stood around at those tables together. Regular civilians—humans, asari, salarians, turians—each of them with deep pockets and loud laughter. They enjoyed their gossip and mimosas over their overpriced breakfast. All while they failed to notice Vasir creeping by them. Creeping and creeping, eyeing them in disdain and disgust.

Liara was about to call out to her. Calling out as a warning, as a call to make her surrender.

I placed my hand over Liara's arm, signaling her discretion.

Considering her track record, I didn't trust Vasir around these innocent civilians.

We instead followed her to the end of the line. The end of the dining area. The beginning of this edge. The edge overlooking Nos Astra's vivid morning. Bright and intense and luminous in the sky. Toward the ground, only those depths awaited. The long, endless drop to Illium's hazardous ground levels.

We cornered her here, watching as she turned around.

Our cornered prey with nowhere left to run.

My team aimed their weapons at her.

I didn't.

I observed her instead.

I observed Sekat's personal data disk glowing red on her. Information on the Shadow Broker's location.

I observed Vasir pressing a few buttons on her omni-tool.

Her last resort.

Liara warned, "Vasir. It's over."

"That's where you're wrong, T'Soni. If you think you have me cornered, you're sadly mistaken."

Vasir sounded too confident.

No bluff to call. She meant every word.

I didn't like our odds with this.

A little naïve, Liara didn't recognize the same:

"Don't be ridiculous. There's nowhere left for you to run! Surrender now before we have to kill you."

The corner of Vasir's mouth twitched up in a hint of madness. Maddened entertainment.

"Surrender?" she repeated. "Surrender?! You must think I'm weak. Or stupid. As if I'd ever surrender to you… You only got to where you are because of your girlfriend. Commander Shepard. Before you met her, no one took you seriously! You were just some pathetic little Prothean expert…who thought she knew better than everyone. Matriarch Benezia's stuck-up daughter…who had everything in life handed to her. Then you rode Shepard's coattails…to get to where you are. Now you think your words carry weight…? Now you think your voice matters? What a joke… Nothing you say will ever matter to me."

Instead of letting those words wound her, Liara saw right through them.

"How interesting. Earlier, you said that killing me was only a job to you. That it was 'nothing personal.' You are contradicting yourself. You clearly care more about me than you've let on. What is the truth?"

Vasir kept glancing to the side. Glancing to the skies next to us. Furtive, secretive, she stayed on the lookout for something. She meant to stall us. To keep us talking like this for as long as she could.

"The truth isn't all that complicated… I didn't grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth like you did. I didn't go into a career my family objected against. I didn't abandon my own mother to go study old ruins and dead people! I went into the police force. I worked my way up, got recognized and became a Spectre… I did the work that mattered. I'm the one who protected the Council when their Ministry of Finance lost track of confidential galactic data. Data that could've tanked the Milky Way's entire economy! I'm the one who cleared slave trading rings on colonies belonging to Council species! And I'm the one who was in charge…of your girlfriend's safety! I protected her—Spectre to Spectre! I kept Shepard safe from dozens of assassinations on the Citadel—kidnappings, bombings, you name it—with information my boss gave me…! That means you owe me for your captain's life! Every last one of you!"

Taken aback, Liara, Tali, Garrus, and Wrex almost lowered their guns. They didn't know how to react.

I considered a sarcastic remark about her failing to protect me from the Collectors back on Earth.

But the words died in my throat…as soon as I saw what approached from the sky.

A car hurrying its way over here. An all-black luxury car zooming straight in this direction.

Vasir heard the engine. She heard the car landing just nearby. How the driver unlocked the doors with those darkly-tinted windows hiding their identity.

Still bleeding, Vasir smirked in her full confidence.

"All you had to do was walk away. Now it gets ugly. And personal."

Those heels clicked against the slick steel of this flooring.

Solheim's heels as she left her car, heading over to Vasir's side. She had on that full black of her Cerberus uniform, as always, the skintight material gleaming in this dawn. The long, flowing part of her half-dress billowed down her legs, rustling in the slight breeze. Yet she had her arms folded. Iron-tight.

"You called, Vasir?"

Tali and the others stared at her in disbelief. Another raw betrayal in the making.

Vasir glowered. "You're late, Lawson. You were supposed to find me hours ago."

"I apologize," said Solheim in bitterness. "I was late because someone stole my car."

She gave me a sharp look.

I defended myself, "You gave me access, remember?"

"Yes, under the assumption that I wouldn't urgently need it! You didn't ask me on purpose, Shepard!"

Vasir interrupted, "I don't care about any of that! Listen. I know what you're after, Solheim… I know what you need. You're gunning for the Shadow Broker. You want to take him out and take over. I'll let you do it. Kill him to boost Cerberus, and then we can trust each other again… I'll work under you as your agent. I swear…you'll have my full loyalty. We can go back to working together…just like old times. So I'll give you the salarian's data on my boss…if you help me take out this trash… Final offer."

Everything she could ever want and need.

The galaxy at her fingertips—with Cerberus more powerful and influential than ever.

Solheim scoffed, "Fine. As if I have a choice. I need that data. I paid good money for it and now you're holding it hostage. We'll do this your way…for now. For old time's sake."

Garrus sounded kind of sad. "Can't believe I'm actually disappointed about this."

Wrex muttered, "Don't be, Garrus. We could never trust her for shit."

Tali agreed. "I won't forgive this."

"Never," added Liara.

Meanwhile, I had to control myself. I nearly felt myself shaking. Trembling. And not out of anger, rage.

Too many other emotions had hit me instead. Because as I looked to Solheim—to Miranda drawing her gun—all I saw was the past. I saw myself bringing Miranda back here to Illium after the suicide mission: holding her close to me and crying as we'd said our goodbyes that day. I saw myself watching Miranda through the scope of my sniper rifle on Kahje, the night Thane's son had almost killed her in his adolescent spite—only to kill Kolyat myself before he could hurt her, and then ending Thane to finish off the job. I saw myself walking hand-in-hand with Miranda through my hometown, showing her where I grew up and the neighborhood that had hardened me. I saw myself surprising Miranda with roses and chocolate on Valentine's Day, taking her out to dinner at the harbor, again in my hometown. I saw myself shaking Miranda's hand on the Normandy, formally welcoming her to the team—after I had shot Ashley in cold blood. I saw myself on that operating table at the end of the Lazarus Project…with Miranda smiling down at me. The ultimate fulfillment I'd needed right then…because Liara was gone.

Liara had suffered my anger. My wrath. I had allowed myself to love Miranda freely for a time. I took too long to realize I had used that relationship to run away. I had used my relationship with Aria after her to run away even more. Running away without realizing; running and running from the feelings I'd bottled up. The feelings I'd never expressed. I had stopped bottling them up these days. I had started to express them. Not once had Miranda protested—causing a stir, causing any real drama for me. She loved me…and she wanted me to be happy. Even with Liara. Because she actually loved me. Not an idea of me.

I saw all of that reflected back in my direction:

Right there in the softened dark of Solheim's eyes as she met my stare.

Her vision. Her ambition. Her endless drive to make sure Cerberus succeeded under her leadership.

All of that conflicted with her loyalties to me.

Fearless, Miranda asked me, "What about you, darling? Will you sit this fight out? Or will you take me down? One shot from that Black Widow of yours and I'm dead. There's no getting around it, I'm afraid."

If I wanted to, I could've killed her right then. Solheim and Vasir both.

In the blink of an eye.

I should have.

Once again, Miranda had chosen Cerberus over me. Siding with Vasir—however temporarily—to get what she wanted. Even if it meant turning against my team like this. Even if it meant forsaking too many of her promises to me. All that talk about doing anything for me, and her unwavering belief in me.

So much for the two of us focusing on healing, on repairs…

We could never come back from this.

Solheim knew it. She opposed me anyway. She threw away our not-friendship for a fucking data disk.

Solheim also knew me too well. She had known ahead of time what I would do. This decision I would make. On the drive here—and possibly even back in her apartment—she had made that calculation. Otherwise, she never would've agreed to help Vasir. She wouldn't have shown up here in the first place.

Pained and betrayed, I conceded to her.

I holstered my Black Widow over my back. I kept my pistol at my hip. I couldn't do this to Miranda. I could never hurt her, let alone kill her. I couldn't do it. The others had to fight this battle without me.

Garrus couldn't believe it. "Commander?!"

Tali understood. "It's okay, Shepard. We don't blame you."

"Yeah," said Wrex. "No hard feelings. Can't expect you to fight her. Even after everything."

I felt my face heating in shame once Liara looked at me. But she also understood all too well.

In many ways, this was Liara's fight. Against Vasir, Solheim. Even the Shadow Broker for targeting her.

She gave me a nod of encouragement. I took that as my permission to go sit elsewhere in my feelings.

Taking cover a fair distance away, I let this scene play out as it needed to. Already the fighting started in my wake; the civilians caught wind of the violence, running back inside the hotel for safety. This near-earthquake from Vasir's biotic charge almost upset my balance. I had to remember, too, that she could've taken me out with that specialty of hers. Just like Jack had done to me back when we first met.

Then again, I'd had no way of knowing Vasir was a vanguard.

Would've turned into the luck of the draw—sniping her before she'd charged at me.

Sitting against the barrier of a decorative pool, I didn't watch. I listened instead. I listened, making sure Liara and our team sounded okay. Healthy, still in the fight. From the sounds of Wrex's grunting, taking the brunt of those attacks, I knew he'd moved to the front. Letting Vasir pummel him while everyone else whittled down her kinetic barrier, her armor. Garrus must've gotten a few good shots off. I heard his marksman firing colliding with Vasir's wounded screams. Not to mention Solheim, affected already:

The sounds of Tali's automaton working autonomously.

The sounds of overheating, of a gun exploding in someone's hand.

The sounds of an omni-tool malfunctioning, sparking and fizzing out.

Then I heard those voices out in the distance separating us:

Solheim screamed out in pain—"Goddamnit! Tali, what the hell is your toy doing on the battlefield?!"

"She isn't a toy!" insisted Tali. "She's an ancient automaton of my people on Rannoch!"

"I don't give a damn what she is! You cheated with that thing and destroyed my gun! And you locked me out of using my tech abilities?! This isn't normal!"

"Keep it up, Chatika! Good girl!"

Groaning in a rage, Solheim could only use her biotics without interruption. Maybe more than enough. She sent a warp strike at Garrus, dissolving his armor, leaving him defenseless. Then Vasir charged right at him. That seismic slam of force against his whole body… He stayed standing, but I heard his pain. I also heard Liara's focus—how she sent a stasis field at Vasir, the hum of that force-freeze keeping her still. Ripping outward as a powerful explosion, Liara sent her own warp strike as a combo, detonating.

The force of that explosion should've knocked Solheim off her feet.

Just like Garrus, she stayed put. She sounded hurt, but not defeated. She kept fighting back with Vasir. She kept staying back, too, as I heard every single one of her moves farthest away from me. She stayed at a safe distance, letting Vasir be her attack dog. Hanging back, Solheim acted as support, as a saboteur.

Aside from the surprise of Tali's new automaton, Solheim knew everything about my team.

She knew how they fought. She knew how they defended themselves. She knew how to exploit them.

So it was no surprise to me that Solheim held her own. Even as Vasir's wounds started to get worse.

As I kept listening to them, I wondered, wracking my brain:

Had Miranda lied to me this whole time? The whole time since we'd met on the Citadel again around Christmas. Had she lied about still caring about me? Had she lied about needing to protect me? Had she lied in her Cerberus manifesto about her organization being the home of the sun? As in my home. Had she even lied about Cerberus' operations back on Noveria? Had she lied about everything to my face?

I wondered about all of this, even though I knew she still loved me.

I wondered if she'd set me up—to get to this point—knowing I would never act against her.

Sol had warned me before. Over the summer last year, after the suicide mission, she'd told me to not let Miranda do this. Getting close to me again; worming her way back into my life. In case this happened.

I should've listened to her. I should've listened to my instincts.

Maybe I would've saved myself from this fresh pain. Repeating and rhyming with history.

Yet I had to reason with myself.

Listening as Wrex and Tali and Garrus and Liara brought the pain down on Vasir, sparing Solheim somewhat for my sake, I clung onto my logic:

Solheim had made these plans long ago. These plans to go after the Shadow Broker. She hadn't anticipated me getting involved. Liara or me. The two of us had fallen into this plot where we didn't belong. Now Liara had gotten completely caught up, needing to take Vasir down. Needing to take Solheim herself down, even as she kept hesitating with me in mind. This had all happened by chance.

This long, unending, exhausting night…wasn't supposed to happen at all.

Bearing this reality in mind, so hard, I listened as Vasir fell to the ground, equally as hard.

Struggling, bleeding too much—the rogue Spectre scurried against a wall. The divider separating Azure's dining area from that drop. That view of Nos Astra in this now-sunny morning. Eclipsing that sunlight, Solheim stood over her. Unscathed, still standing, Solheim had her pride. She sneered down at her old partner in this weakness. Weakness as Vasir tried and failed to stop her wounds from hemorrhaging.

I stood up again, facing this scene.

Listening to Solheim speak down to that traitor, I made up my mind.

"Well, this was a waste," she criticized. "It's clear you can't win. You're of no use to me anymore, Vasir." Solheim bent down, removing Sekat's data disk from Vasir's safekeeping. "You and I are finished. I never should've let you talk me into this. I'm finishing the rest on my own."

Blood spitting from her mouth, Vasir sniveled, "You're dead, Solheim… The Shadow Broker has been in power for decades. He's stronger than anything you've ever faced! You won't win against him…"

"We'll see about that."

In this blink of an eye:

I aimed my sniper rifle at Vasir's chest.

I shot her, sending this one bullet as a stake through her heart. Just as I'd done to those mercs before.

I assassinated her—as payback for trying to take Liara from me.

The sound startled my team. They gaped in my direction. Even Liara. Yet she also knew my reasons.

I made strong eye contact with Solheim through my scope. I studied everything I could see of her: the features of her face. Miranda had such an unreadable look about her. Unreadable, open to interpretation. She appeared to thank me with her expression. Thanking me for putting her old partner out of her misery. And apologizing…for hurting me again. Solheim held this momentous pose for me. Confident I wouldn't go back on my word and kill her, too. Too confident as she left. She bailed, getting back into her car; flying off into Illium's sunlight.

Leaving this area, my team followed Liara as she led the way back to the parking lot. Back to our taxi.

Focused, determined, she knew what she needed to do. She still had a score to settle with Solheim. And she knew we had her back.

Even as I felt myself unfocused as hell, I prepared myself to follow her.

Just as she had followed me everywhere and everywhere. I had no issues doing the same for her.

Liara used her omni-tool as she notified us, "EDI is tracking Solheim's movements. We can easily follow her Cerberus ship to the Shadow Broker's location. We can be at his base in a few hours. Commander, do we have your blessing to go after Solheim?"

"Yes," I said, wishing she would slow down for a minute. "You have my support."

Garrus asked, "Liara, you're sure you want to do this? Solheim held back during that fight with Vasir. She was nowhere near her full strength. Not like on Tuchanka."

"I noticed the same," agreed Tali. "Not that I'm doubting you, Liara. Solheim is a powerful enemy."

Wrex pointed out, "If we go now, we'll have an advantage. She'll be caught up with fighting the Shadow Broker. No way she can handle him and us at the same time. I say we corner her, pin her down."

Liara approved, "Good idea, Wrex. Let's get back to the Normandy. Joker is still out of commission after last night. EDI has volunteered to take the helm on her own. She will get us safely to our destination."

I couldn't help this sinking feeling in my stomach.

After that fight back there, after my decision to concede, Liara had jumped to conclusions.

She'd made these assumptions about me:

I heard the bitterness there in her tone. The anger, the spite. Liara had this score to settle for her own pride—but also to keep me. As if she honestly believed I would stray. Lingering insecurities. Growing uncertainties. Liara thought I couldn't hurt Miranda for Miranda's sake. Except she didn't know the full truth. She couldn't see it in this moment, blinded by her need for vengeance and settling this score.

If she had stopped to look more closely, Liara would've found the truth.

I couldn't fight Solheim because I saw too much of Liara in her. Full stop.

I couldn't find my focus right now because I worried for Liara so much.

Every road in my life led back to Liara. Every single one. Without exception, without cease.

When she kept walking, fast-walking as if to get away from me, I sped up.

I held her arm, urging, "Liara, you have my blessing. But why is this so important to you? Tell me why."

She refused to look at me. "Shepard, you know why. You shouldn't ask questions like this."

"I'm not asking because I don't know the answers. I'm asking because I want you to say the words."

Tali, Wrex, and Garrus had taken a step back. They gave us space, giving us this moment to ourselves.

Liara stopped now, shaking her head. Her own brand of shame had burned her face. Here as we stood near one of Azure's hotel rooms. Alone and secluded in this fanciful beauty around us—ingenuity and civilization and interconnectedness. And I had missed Liara so much. After everything that happened—nearly losing her not once, but twice—I wanted to stop everything. She had my blessing, but I didn't want to follow Solheim anywhere. I wanted to stop the whole galaxy…if it would make Liara see me.

If it would make her see she had nothing to worry about.

Deep down in her feelings already, Liara had this tunnel vision.

Tunneling and tunneling as she stared down at her boots. So unconfident. So insecure, self-conscious.

"Shepard, you heard Vasir back there," she whispered. "It is easy for people to assume I've had everything in life handed to me. They think I have never struggled. That I have never had to prove myself. I have always bottled up my deepest emotions wherever I could… You know how this has turned out for me. The terrible habits I've formed. The flaws in my character. You understand me. Just as Solheim understands you."

This sheen in her eyes, watering in sensitivity and pure expression.

"Liara…"

"I need to prove myself once more. This is important to me. I will always regret not fighting for you before. I hated myself so badly for the longest…because I didn't listen to you. I didn't listen to what you wanted. I was too passive. I was overconfident, assuming you would come back to me on your own. I didn't stand up and play an active part in keeping you. I allowed you to bring other people into your arms. I sat on the sidelines and watched you for so long. I won't make those same mistakes again."

How was I supposed to tell her that none of that mattered?

There was no need to fight for me. I wasn't going anywhere!

Liara saw my frustrations. "I already know what you're thinking. This isn't the same fight as before. This is different." Different how? "You are the hero. You are my knight in shining armor—my brave little spark. You are perfect in your imperfections. I love you more than I will ever love myself. I want to be your bondmate one day. I want to be your wife; to have your children. The universe is yours to take from my heart. The entire immeasurable heaven out there." Catching my fragile reaction, Liara held my face in her hands. "Please…let me do this for you, Shepard. For once. Let me fight in your honor."

I couldn't find the right words. Not even the adequate words to tell Liara how much this meant to me. How much she meant. I could only nod to her like this.

Liara smiled, then, lighting up my entire being.

This Cerberus Express would take us elsewhere. Liara had found her control and her reasons for boarding this train. This one-way train to our next destination, to wherever Solheim's ship led the Normandy. I respected Liara's need to do this. To prove herself and to fight for me. I respected her independence. Even as I felt my own independence eroding and eroding. Corroding in these beautifully agonizing growing pains: of my heart expanding and expanding with every beat she'd inspired in me. She had me swept away in these currents of her love. These rushing waters filled with such unrest—with regrets over the past, and an unending, untamable excitement for the future.

So I vowed to support Liara through this. We made it back to the ship with the others, setting off for this next adventure. And I hoped she would find her answers, her conclusions at the end of this road, and at the end of this next battle. Even if she didn't, I would follow Liara anywhere and everywhere. She didn't quite realize it yet. She didn't quite see that our emotions had evened. No longer did she love me far more in that imbalance. The scales had tipped to our perfect equilibrium. I obsessed. I feared.