"Fancy that." I murmured, standing at a console we'd found. "Gavin's data. After this copies and downloads, all we need is to get that geth ship out of here. And take down the barrier, of course."

Speaking of. We had to pass right by it to get to the stairs so we could go deeper into the place. Heading for where the ship was cosplaying as a parasite against the building.

Drones, geth. Yawn. So boring, now that I'd gotten used to fighting them. Throw something fun at me! More colossus or something. Anything to make me sweat.

Another console. I almost walked right past it, but I stopped short and went back to it. A detailed report about how Thorian samples had gotten off the planet but that it shouldn't be able to be traced back to ExoGeni. I shook my head.

"They just never learn." I grumbled.

"Hmm?" Liara came over, glancing at the screen.

"We're gonna have to track that ship down and see what happened to it. Make sure there's no crazy, controlled people running around. Or another Thorian." I made a note of the coordinates before pulling myself away from the console and motioning for them to follow me again.

Back to it, then.

We came upon a bigger claw of the ship. So big, I wondered if that was the one that was really anchoring it to the building. Taking that thing out would definitely be enough to make the ship shift enough that there was a chance it would have to let go or fall to the surface below.

Some more geth, these involving troopers, which was a little better than the usual foot soldiers. A little more of a workout.

I let out a hum, taking in the information from the console, of course copying every bit of it.

"There's a large force of geth in the Armstrong Nebula. A plan to attack in Citadel space." A shake of my head. "Huh. Guess that's one more thing to add to the list of things to do."

"Why do I feel like you're enjoying this?" The asari asked, again exasperated.

"I mean, you're not wrong." A grin. "I hope they have some more troopers. Or colossus. Something that feels like a challenge."

"You sound like a krogan." Kaidan commented, confused.

I laughed, gave a shrug when I was done. "I've hung around my fair share of krogan, being a freelance merc when I wasn't with Nihlus, since they tend to be mercs when they leave Tuchanka."

"I think I found the controls."

Moving over to where Garrus was, I looked over the console. "Ah, yep." It needed a little hacking to be able to access them, but that was a trivial matter.

"Viridian, there are encrypted files in this one over here." She called out, waving me over.

"Go ahead and fiddle with the controls. Get that ship to let go."

A quick password cracker, and the files were ours to read.

Cerberus.

My eyes narrowed. I'd heard about them from here and there. Nothing good. A pro-human philosophy that damned all other races. Wanted human supremacy and had proven time and time again that it was willing to do whatever it took to get even a smidgen closer to that goal.

"Damn it!" Gritting my teeth, I angrily punched in the coordinates for the samples, the Matano system.

"Shepard?" After a brief read, Alenko frowned. "What's Cerberus?"

"Do you know who the Nazis were?"

"I- Yeah."

"Think of them like they're the space Nazis. They're pro-human, anti-everything else."

"They can get away with that?" Liara, concerned.

"They get away with a lot of shit, because they operate mostly in the Terminus systems. The Council just ignores them, for the most part. They have fingers in a lot of jars, plenty of politicians on their bill. Things like that keep you from getting in trouble."

The bay doors shot up, closing, and cut the claw in half. After several seconds, there was a rumbling sound. A few minutes, and a quiet crashing from far below us. The ship was definitely not a problem anymore.

"Good job, Garrus." I patted him on the back before leaving the room, ready to go back to see if that had taken care of the barrier.

"I repeat, Normandy to shore party." Joker called over comms. "Are you reading? Anyone there? Normandy to shore party. Come on, Shepard, talk to me!"

"The colonists acting weird?" I guessed. "Violent?"

"Yeah. They're banging on the hull, trying to claw their way inside the ship. They're freaking me out!"

"Take a deep breath. They can't do any real damage or get inside. You're safe, the Normandy will at most need a new coat of paint." I assured him. "We're about to head back." Turning to face the three of them, I grinned. "They're probably going to throw everything and the kitchen sink at us, to try to kill us, since we took out their ship. Don't die, okay?"

We got to the entrance without any issue, the barrier down. A small vision pulled me in, the scientist waiting for us at the exit.

"Shouldn't we go back for Lizbeth?" Kaidan asked.

I motioned ahead, and as we rounded the corner, there she was.

"No need to go searching for her."

"There you are!" She called out, looking relieved. "We should get out of here. I don't think this place is safe."

Kaidan and Liara moved to walk past her, toward the mako, but I stayed where I was, crossing my arms.

"I don't like being lied to."

The two of them turned around, confused. Garrus shifted beside me.

She shook her head. "I- I was afraid. I wanted to stop the tests, but they threatened me, told me I'd be next. When the geth attacked, I stayed behind to send a message to Colonial Affairs." She wrung her hands, playing with her fingers anxiously. "I tried to tell them where to find the Thorian, but the power cut before I could send the message. I- I never meant for this to happen."

Still hadn't answered my question. "Just... The Thorian is under Zhu's Hope. How do I get to it?"

"The colonists covered the entrance with a freighter just before the geth attacked."

Probably some form of controls to move it. So, on the lookout for a console, got it.

"Why were the geth after the Thorian?" Alenko asked quietly, more to himself than the rest of us.

"Imagine what Saren could do with a mind controlling plant." I spelled it out.

"You're right." He sounded a little embarrassed that he hadn't put it together himself.

Joker radioed to tell us he'd gotten a lot of geth chatter on the lines, that they were seemingly heading our way.

I guided Lizbeth to the mako, having her in the middle so she'd be less likely to get hurt if anything went wrong. Not that I was expecting anything to go wrong, but hey. You never know, right?

The drive along the skyway was eventful enough to keep me from growing bored. More armatures and colossus for me to entertain myself with. Eventually, we made it back to the little pocket room the scientists had holed themselves up in.

Which had us coming in upon Jeong motioning for one of their security guards to grab Juliana and restrain her. In the time it took for him to pin her arms behind her, I had a flash of a vision. Her, giving me a special mod for my grenades and telling me it would knock out the colonists. So I wouldn't have to kill them.

Naturally, Lizbeth broke from where we were hiding and ran into the room.

Which led to him demanding we all come out, convinced she hadn't come alone. Not that she had, but still. I'd have to ask her what "stealth" meant to her later.

"Damn it!" He said as I stood up, walking toward him. "I knew it was too much to hop the geth would kill you. I found some interesting facts about you in the ExoGeni database." I raised an eyebrow. How cute. They had files on me, too? "I know what happened on Asteria. This doesn't have to be like that."

"Asteria?" I heard Kaidan echo quietly.

I tilted my head back slightly, raising an eyebrow. Ignoring his words. "Communication is back up. You received a message from ExoGeni. They want you to take care of things here, make sure there's no one left to remember what this facility's been up to. How am I doing so far?"

He sputtered, but couldn't seem to form words.

"They want Species 37 alive, but the colonists dead. After all, you've got enough research from them to be able to help with anything they'll do in the future with the Thorian. It's far more valuable than them, right?" I looked around the room at the rest of the people gathered. "Most of these people have no idea about the experiments. Are you going to tell them, or should I, since I'm on a roll already?"

Juliana glanced between us, confused. "The what?"

"It's, ah, a telepathic life-form living under Zhu's Hope." Her daughter explained. "It's taking control of the colonists there. ExoGeni knew all along."

"You won't get away with this!"

"Nobody's going to miss a few colonists." He glared at her.

"Jeong. Buddy." I moved toward him, looping an arm over his shoulders. Pulling him close. "I'm a Spectre. You're a button-pusher. Who do you think is going to win, if you try the guns blazing way?"

He scoffed. "There's no human Spectres." A glance around, taking in my companions' expressions, and he faltered. "Right...?" He gave himself a shake. "It doesn't matter. ExoGeni will send more assayers. They'll know what happened."

"All you have to do," I squeezed him. "is tell them the geth destroyed the Thorian."

"Just... make sure there's no evidence when you're done."

"Thanks, Jeong. I knew you were a reasonable man." I moved away from him, patting between his shoulders.

Juliana motioned for me to walk a bit with her.

"So, what is it you've got for me?" I prompted, bouncing on my toes a little.

"A nerve agent to neutralize the colonists. It contains trace amounts of Tetraclopine, a neuromuscular degenerator. If their nervous systems are already weakened, it may act as a paralyzing agent."

"That's perfect."

She handed me the mod, and I pulled my grenades out. Counted them as I applied it. I had nine in total. Which was more than what I normally carried. How I got this many, I wasn't sure, but I wasn't about to complain.

"Gavin, here." I went over to him, holding out the OSD. Grinned.

"Thanks." The relief was clear.

A ping from my omni-tool, and I knew the credits were in my account.

"Pleasure doing business with you." I playfully saluted with two fingers.

The ride back to Zhu's was more or less the same as leaving. Geth, geth, and more geth.

What I did not expect, however, was the person crouching, curled up on themselves, by the shutter door to the garage.

"Helmets on." I absentmindedly reminded them, slowly climbing out and quietly approaching the person.

As if sensing me drawing nearer, it stood, unfurling, and turned toward me. My eyes widened. Empty eye sockets, clawed hands. This thing wasn't a person anymore.

It leaped at me and was immediately shot, knocking it back several paces. I let them take care of it, pulling my knife free from my boot and crouching at its body. Scraped a little of the skin off one of the arms just before it disintegrated into dust.

"What was that?" Kaidan asked, moving to look over my shoulder. "There's no way that's human, infection or not."

I studied the sample, shaking my head. "This is what's going to happen to the colonists, if we don't take care of the Thorian." Wiping my blade clean, I stowed it away again. "We have to hurry. Remember, no firing at them. Let me handle that."

Three "Yes, Shepard" met my ears.

Inside the garage, there were at least a dozen more of those things. No armor or any kind of protections, so they were easily dispatched, but it was a bit worrying. How long before the subject reached this stage of being a thrall? Were the colonists still... colonists?

A quick peek into a few seconds of the future, and I breathed a sigh of relief. They were fine, for now. We just had to deal with that plant, and soon.

The first wave of colonists were just outside the ruins leading to Zhu's Hope. The next, about halfway through said ruins. One grenade each, because they'd stood close enough to each other.

Upon entering the colony, there were four of them posted. Took two grenades, so I was down four. Five left.

I had to use one on a lone colonist, who was hiding behind a stone block pillar while they fired at us.

"Take care of those creepy things." I called out, cloaking and slipping past the... creepers, I was now going to call them.

Two more grenades down.

I checked in the buildings, making sure I'd gotten them all. Joker would have to sit tight a little longer. There was no way my last two would take out the ones banging on the Normandy. And they weren't doing any real damage, anyway.

Unseen, I helped my team finish off the last of the creepers.

I approached the console that stood in the middle of nowhere, really, and uncloaked. Pressed a few buttons, and the freighter lifted up out of the way.

"Down we go." I hummed thoughtfully. "I wonder what crazy things are waiting for us down there. I hope it's fun."

"You're crazy, Shepard." Garrus sounded exasperated.

I chuckled. "Yeah. A bit."

Electricity tingled my spine, and I whirled around, pistol in hand. Fai Dan was slowly walking toward us. A gun in his hand.

"I tried to fight it, but it gets in your head. You can't imagine the pain." He was shuffling closer. "I was supposed to be the leader. These people trusted me." Raised his gun, aiming at my head. "It wants me to stop you... but I... I won't."

My eyes widened- I knew what was coming next. Before he could turn it on himself, I threw out one of the remaining grenades.

He went limp, collapsing in a heap.

No one said anything for a moment.

"Sorry, Shepard, I didn't even hear him." Kaidan.

"I don't think any of us did." Liara soothed. Then, to me. "If you hadn't acted so quickly, he might have shot you."

"He wasn't going to. He was going to take his own life, instead." I schooled my features and turned, descending into the underground tunnel system. "Let's go meet the Thorian." Then, as a joke. "Hope we don't meet the Lorax."

"What's a Lorax?" The asari asked.

"The Lorax speaks for the trees. The Thorian is a plant, so it's not farfetched to think it could show up when we try to kill it."

Silence.

"Read a book, people." I grumbled as we went down yet another flight of stairs. I was certainly getting in my cardio for the day. "It's an old children's book, by Dr. Seuss."

And then, there was silence for a different reason.

We'd found the Thorian, and it looked like a giant heart, to me.

"I think we're going to need a bigger boat." I murmured.

"What?"

"You people are dead to me."