Thank you for reading! Happy New Year!

The asari Spectre had a good head start, especially with Liara on the floor, incapacitated. Thane ran for the Spectre, but Shepard was faster. Of course she was. As Thane watched with his heart in his throat, she tackled Tela Vasir, the momentum carrying them both over the railing. He stopped breathing altogether, waiting through the seemingly endless moments before the sound of the bodies crashing to the floor reached him.

Liara was on her feet again. "Don't just stand there! Go after her. We can't let her get away!"

Thane hurried after her, less interested in catching Vasir than he was in making sure Shepard had survived the fall with no ill effects.

When they arrived on the ground floor, Shepard was groaning, trying to prop herself up on elbow and knee, and Vasir was nowhere to be seen. Liara ran after Vasir, but Thane went down on one knee next to Juniper. "Siha. Are you all right?"

"Fine," she assured him, albeit breathlessly. Thane reached out his hand and helped her up. "Liara went on ahead?"

"Yes. Are you able to catch up to them?"

"Absolutely."

He had his suspicions, given the way she was holding her arm tightly against her side, but she wouldn't listen to him even if he expressed them. Hopefully she would find a way to apply some medigel to the injury before she had to fight again. But he had been in too many fights with Shepard to think she would stop and listen when there was a task at hand and a villain to chase.

They caught up with Liara just as she was about to get into an aircar. "There you are! I thought I was going to have to go without you."

"Not a chance," Shepard told her. "I'll drive."

Liara rolled her eyes, getting in and sliding across to the passenger seat. "Of course you will."

They both looked at Thane, who hastily climbed into the back seat, buckling himself in securely. He had heard stories about Shepard's driving. Garrus was behind him, but there was no more room in the car.

The turian chuckled. "Imagine my disappointment at missing this."

"You love it and you know it, Garrus. Tell Joker we'll be back soon." Shepard grinned at him before taking her seat, the door closing itself behind her, and pressed her foot down on the pedal. The car shot ahead alarmingly. Even with his hands braced against the seat, Thane was thrown backward.

"I'm fine, by the way," Shepard said to Liara, glancing away from the traffic for just a moment.

"Watch the cars! And don't lose her. And of course you're fine—when have you ever admitted otherwise?"

Shepard chuckled. She was piloting the car skillfully, catching up with the speeding car ahead that belonged to Vasir faster than Thane would have imagined possible. Other vehicles whizzed by them, coming uncomfortably close, but Shepard ignored them all. If he closed his eyes and didn't think about it, Thane might have enjoyed the journey, but as it was, he couldn't help watching their surroundings and worrying about what might happen if any of the other cars around them diverted from its course unexpectedly.

Liara was staring out the window, fidgeting. "Shepard, you're losing her. Go faster!"

"It doesn't go any faster than this, Liara. But then, it appears that neither does hers." Shepard twisted the wheel and the car swerved sharply to the right, avoiding an oncoming truck by inches. "And I'm a much better driver."

Thane could see her only from the side, but she had never looked more beautiful to him. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes shining, her whole being focused on what she was doing. He wished they were somewhere that he could convince her to pull over so he could kiss her, because he didn't think he had ever wanted to do so as much as he did at this moment. But of course, he couldn't kiss her, anyway, because that would mean awakening himself to life in ways that he simply couldn't face. So instead he settled back against the seat and enjoyed watching her face—which conveniently meant he couldn't watch the car's reckless speeding progress through the air.

"Watch out, those are proximity mines!" Liara called out suddenly.

"Yes, I see them." Shepard yanked the wheel hard and the car swerved around a mine, then she yanked it again and they were back on course. "What kind of firepower does this thing have, anyway?"

Liara frowned at her. "It's a taxi, Shepard. It has a fare meter," she said tartly.

"Oh. Can you shoot things with a fare meter?"

"No."

"Wonderful." Shepard sped up and then dipped sharply underneath the next proximity mine.

Ahead of them, Vasir's car made a sharp turn and ducked into a tunnel, and Shepard spun the wheel to follow her, piloting the car through narrow openings between vehicles and at least twice nearly scraping the roof of the tunnel.

As they shot out of the tunnel, they could see Vasir's car spinning crazily, as though she had lost control of it, and as Shepard pushed down the pedal to give their car just a bit more speed, they saw Vasir's crash through a railing and land on a walkway halfway up a very tall building.

Shepard parked their car next to the wreck of Vasir's. The asari Spectre was gone, but drops of blood on the path indicated that she couldn't have gotten far. If they could catch her before she found a way to heal herself …

Liara was pulling ahead—less easily winded than Thane, swifter than Shepard, who wasn't much of a runner. Vasir's trail led through an apartment, whose unfortunate residents appeared to have gotten in her way, to judge from the position of their bodies, and past a busy club, the music practically pulsating the walls.

At last, Vasir was in front of them. She had a clubgoer, a lovely and terrified young asari, held tightly in front of her. "Think you can take me, Shepard? My friend here would like to see you try."

Thane hadn't waited for Shepard; he was already circling around Vasir, carefully. A Spectre would likely know who was on Shepard's team and be prepared for his skills.

"Come on, Shepard, what are you waiting for?"

"It doesn't have to be this way, Vasir. Let her go and we can talk about this."

"Not a chance. And since we all know you're too much of a goody-goody to risk her being hurt …"

"For the greater good?" Shepard lifted her gun, aiming it squarely at Vasir's head. "I might consider it."

Vasir scoffed. "Not you. You—" And Thane's bullet entered her brain, stopping whatever else she might have said.

The asari hostage fainted, and Shepard hurried to her, making certain she was all right. Thane knew he hadn't hit her; it had been a long time since he'd been responsible for unintended collateral damage in an assassination.

When the hostage had been taken away to be cared for by Illium police—who hadn't asked any questions after a single, serious nod from Liara—the three of them were left on the rooftop. Thane was very much aware of the curious stares of the clubgoers, but neither of the women seemed to care.

"It seems I must face the Shadow Broker sooner rather than later," Liara said.

"Let's do it."

"Shepard, I can't ask you to—"

"You're not asking, Liara. I'm offering." Shepard smiled. "Just try to keep me from helping."

"I …" Liara hesitated. "I should not be leaning on you this way."

Shepard patted her on the shoulder. "Of course you should. That's what friends do. Come on, let's get back to the Normandy and you can give Joker your coordinates. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."