Dana managed to reach the underground bunker several levels below the Morrison Company headquarters without incident. As long as the mechs kept Shepard and the others busy, or killed them if she was lucky, she would have all the time she needed to tie up a few loose ends. Not that she had to really worry about them finding her anyway. When Dana had arranged for the bunker to be built, she made sure that the entrance was cleverly concealed so that it couldn't be found by anyone unless they were looking for it.

Before she did anything else, Dana took an opportunity to soak in what was likely going to be her last time in the bunker. The construction of the bunker was a lot of work but it wasn't nearly as hard as getting approval for it to be built in the first place. When she first pitched the idea to Morrison that the headquarters should have a bunker installed, it was immediately rejected because Morrison couldn't see any practical reason why a bunker was necessary. Dana had to resort to scaring Morrison by explaining that Shanxi would be an ideal place for terrorists to launch an attack using weapons of mass destruction and they would need a bunker to give them a chance at survival should that happen. Fortunately Morrison was a person who was slightly paranoid and thus easily bought Dana's logic. When the bunker was finished, Morrison gave one final inspection to see that it met their expectations and never entered it again. This gave Dana the privacy she needed to use the bunker for her real purpose, to serve as her base of operations for her vendetta against Shepard.

While the bunker had been useful for Dana's purposes, she was now left with no choice but to destroy it. It was highly unlikely Shepard came after her without letting anyone else know what he was doing and why. Regardless of whether Shepard and his squad died or not, many inquiries would be launched by several law enforcement agencies and anyone of them could result in someone stumbling on the bunker and the incriminating evidence that would guarantee Dana life in prison. The only way for Dana to avoid that was to wipe her terminal's hard drive and destroy the bunker.

(BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!)

An alarm on the terminal caught Dana's attention before she could begin the data wiping operation. The screen lit up with a message reading "INTRUDER ALERT". The message confused Dana as she had turned off the security measures that detect threats inside the building. That meant the alarm was set off by something outside the building. If Shepard and his squad were already inside then who else could possibly be trying to get in? She pulled up the building's external cameras and what she saw made her jaw drop.

An Alliance shuttle was hovering outside the building and Dana could make out the muzzle flash from its onboard mounted machine gun. The gunfire stopped a few seconds later and Dana watched as Shepard and his squad hopped out of the building and onto the shuttle. More troubling for Dana was the fact that Shepard appeared to be carrying his wife aboard with him. Dana's angry panting got heavier as she watched each person board and she began to glow blue as her biotics started flaring up. When the last squadmember boarded, Dana lost it and bioticly threw the large TV screen mounted on the wall to her left into the opposite wall causing it to shatter. She couldn't understand it. Where did that shuttle come from? The success of her plan hinged on the fact that Shepard rarely had any kind of backup plan when he went into battle. Dana's only explanation for this unexpected development was that Shepard had finally managed to outsmart her. That coupled with the fact that it looked like he was actually going to be able keep his wife from dying infuriated her even more. Her plan was falling apart in front of her eyes and there was nothing she could do about it.

Dana was about to shatter the terminal when she saw two figures jump out of the shuttle. This was followed by the shuttle flying out of the camera's view. Dana quickly pushed a few buttons to bring up the interior feed from that section of the building. The camera revealed the figures that jumped out of the shuttle were Shepard and Garrus. In an instant, the anger on Dana's face turned into a sinister smile as she chuckled. She couldn't believe it. Shepard had the chance to leave with his friends and seriously injured wife but instead he and Garrus chose to stay behind. Maybe her plan wasn't ruined after all.

"You might have been able to save your wife Shepard," she said, "but she would have been better off dead. The only thing you will accomplish by staying is making her a widow."

With that last remark and after ensuring all data on the terminal had been wiped clean, Dana shattered the terminal by bioticly throwing it across the room. She then pulled up her omni-tool and pushed a button that caused a message to appear reading "BUNKER SELF-DESTRUCTION WILL COMMENCE IN ONE MINUTE." For the first thirty seconds of the countdown, Dana walked over to a nearby weapons locker and pulled out her assault rifle. After she grabbed a few grenades and extra thermal clips, Dana exited the bunker with seconds to spare. As the bunker exploded behind her, she put a fresh clip in her rifle. In a few moments, she would accomplish the two things she had been working towards for several years, killing Captain Mark Shepard and getting revenge for Julia's death.

Joker's machine gun barrage had taken out the majority of the two hundred mechs. Any mechs that remained were easily taken down by Shepard and Garrus as they searched the building for Dana. Unfortunately considering how big the building was, it could take until morning for them to search the whole building and even then they still might not be able to find her.

"Shepard I think it's possible that Dana has already fled," Garrus said, "you said so yourself that Dana wouldn't have guessed that you would have a shuttle on standby to get us out. She probably figures the mechs have killed us by now."

Shepard shook his head, "Dana has spent years plotting to have me killed Garrus. She wouldn't leave it up to mechs to do it. Until she has proof that I'm dead, she's not going anywhere."

"Well where do you want to look next?"

(KA-BOOOOOM!)

Before Shepard could answer, the floor they were on shook as an explosion was heard below them.

"I think we should go investigate what that explosion was," Shepard replied.

Garrus nodded and followed Shepard towards a nearby stairwell and down to the lower levels. It was on the first floor where they found the blast site. They were in what appeared to be the Morrison Company's server room….or at least what was the server room. None of the servers in the room were spared by the blast. Shepard could only imagine what the technicians would think when they came back to work only to find this disaster area.

"Shepard look at this," Garrus called.

Shepard walked over to Garrus who was looking at one server tower in particular that was up against a wall. When he took a closer look for himself, he saw what had caught Garrus' attention. There were no signs of any computer fragments on the floor. Every other server in the room had pieces of their insides lying around them but this one had no such mess. It was almost as if the server didn't have anything inside it to begin with. At second glance, Shepard also realized that this server was right at the heart of the explosion.

"Give me a hand moving this tower Garrus," he said "I want to see what's behind it."

It took several attempts but they were able to move the server just enough that they could see the entire wall behind it…except it wasn't wall. It was a large pile of rubble. Shepard moved a few pieces of rubble aside. It wasn't much but he was able to see through it just enough to see that there was a hallway behind it. Though it got darker the further he and Garrus looked down the hall, they were able to make out a spot where the floor seemed to drop down. It had to be a stairwell of some kind.

Slightly confused by what he was seeing, Shepard pulled up his omni-tool and looked for the blueprints Feron sent them. To his surprise, the blueprints did show a stairwell attached to the server room. The stairwell led to a room that was labeled on the blueprints as "emergency bunker". Shepard couldn't help but admire the cleverness to the idea of hiding a bunker behind a server tower. But what he couldn't understand was why would the bunker be rigged to blow? The only thing a bunker would be used for is to protect people from a worst case scenario terrorist attack and, as evidenced by all the damaged server towers, an explosion would cripple the Morrison Company's operations indefinitely. Unless….

"Dammit," Shepard said, "this is going to be Julia all over again."

"What do you mean?" asked Garrus.

"The only reason Dana would casually blow up the bunker despite the risk to the server towers would be to ensure we never saw what was inside. I think she was secretly using the bunker as her base of operations. Now that Dana has blown it to kingdom come, odds are we won't be able to recover anything that ties her to the attacks she's funded the past two years (sigh). I can't believe I'm saying this Garrus but it's possible Dana could get away with this."

"But what about the profile we used to identify her as the backer in the first place? That's pretty convincing evidence."

"Garrus you know as well as I do that profiles are just tools that we use to narrow down suspect lists. The courts will accept it but they can't convict a person based on a profile alone. All the hard evidence we could have used just went up in smoke and we've killed all the people that worked for Dana so no one will testify against her. Garrus I'm worried that the only way we can keep Dana from getting away with this is if I kill her and use my Spectre status to justify it. Look what happened the last time I did that."

"Not necessarily Shepard. We still have Ashley. Any doctor will tell you her wound was not self-inflicted. Chakwas will get her back to health and she'll be able to testify about Dana trying to kill her and how she saw Dana kill Liara. I understand it doesn't help us with proving she supplied terrorists with weapons and equipment and for her role in our other friends' deaths but those charges would guarantee a life sentence at least."

"I guess so but that's not the main reason I want Ashley to pull through."

"I know Shepard. I was just answering your question. Let's just focus on finding Dana and let whatever happens, happen."

Realizing Garrus was right, Shepard nodded and led Garrus out of the server room to continue their search.

Shepard and Garrus had worked their way up the first three floors of both the main headquarters and the factory without much incident. It hadn't been easy to move fast as the slightest noise they heard or movement they spotted would make them nearly jump. Just like back when Shepard was on the Worthington, he and Garrus had the numbers but Dana's knowledge of the factory and the fact she was probably watching them right now gave her the upper hand. If they didn't find Dana fast, they could lose the fight at any moment.

On the fourth floor of the factory, Shepard and Garrus walked into the section of the factory dedicated to making the larger appliances. These appliances included laundry machines, refrigerators and stoves. The appliances weren't the only things large about the room. The room itself was humongous. Height wise it was two stories tall and covered the full width and length of the building. Looking up, Shepard and Garrus could see some of the machines on a conveyer built that ran above them. On the one hand this room gave them plenty of cover but it also gave Dana more places to hide.

(KA-BOOM)

The sound of an explosion from above forced Shepard and Garrus to look back up towards the hanging conveyor belt. What they saw nearly made their jaws drop. The explosion had severed some of the supports and now the appliances on the belt were falling down towards them. The duo made a run for whatever cover they could find as one by one the appliances came crashing down. Garrus was the first one to find cover in a tall refrigerator that had not had the shelves put in yet but Shepard was having a hard time getting to any cover himself. Every time he tried, a machine would crash in front of him forcing him to change course. Finally he spotted a refrigerator that would shelter him and made a break for it.

(BANG!)

A pain hit Shepard in his left leg that forced him down to the ground. He let out a muffled grunt as he reached for the source of the pain and felt the hole where the bullet entered it. He tried to get up and continue towards the cover but the pain in his leg made him fall back down. To make matters worse, he spotted the last of the machines from the conveyor belt falling towards him. Unable to get up, he was left with no other choice but to roll out of its path. As an added bonus, he rolled right towards the cover he was trying to get to. He sat himself up just as more bullets hit the floor next to him. Shepard was now pinned down behind a stove and with a bullet in his leg. He called out toward the refrigerator Garrus was hiding in.

"Garrus I'm hit!" he shouted.

"I'll be right there," Garrus called back.

Suddenly more gunfire was heard and Shepard could hear the bullets hitting something in the direction of Garrus' hiding spot.

"Garrus, are you alright?"

"Yeah but apparently Dana doesn't want me to get to you. Don't worry though, I'll figure something out."

With nothing to do but wait, Shepard took a moment to finally take a closer look at the wound in his leg. The bullet had hit him in the thigh but fortunately it appeared to have gone clean through. It hurt like hell but as long as he got some medi-gel and quick he should be able to walk on it again. He pulled up his omni-tool and prepared to administer the medi-gel but nothing happened. A second look at his display explained why, he didn't have any medi-gel left. He had used all of his medi-gel to stabilize Ashley and he didn't stop to resupply when he was on the shuttle. Without the medi-gel he wasn't going anywhere. Garrus was bound to have some medi-gel on him but first he had to get past the gunfire Dana was still laying down.

(THUD)

A new sound in Garrus' direction caught Shepard's attention. When he snuck a peek from his hiding spot, he saw that somehow the refrigerator Garrus was hiding behind had moved a few feet towards him. Suddenly it rose a few inches and then started moving again. Shepard smiled at Garrus' resourcefulness. The refrigerator was a perfect riot shield. Normally though Shepard would have thought only a krogan would be strong enough to lift one by themself but apparently he underestimated Garrus' strength. After a few more cycles of lifting the refrigerator and moving a few feet, Garrus had finally reached Shepard's position and knelt down to administer medi-gel. A few seconds later the pain in Shepard's leg was starting to go away.

"Thanks Garrus," said Shepard, "I owe you one."

"I'll add it to the ever growing list of things you owe me for," Garrus joked, "on my way here I saw an exit further in that direction. We can probably make it if we run for it."

"Good idea but first we need to…."

Shepard didn't have a chance to finish his thought as he and Garrus were both surprised by the sudden appearance of a grenade right next to them. Throwing caution to the wind, Shepard and Garrus made a break for the exit while firing in the direction they roughly suspected Dana to be. The grenade exploded just behind them taking the stove and refrigerator with it. The blast temporally knocked them down. They were barely able to get back up and moving before Dana fired in their direction. Blindly firing and hoping at least one bullet would hit Dana, Shepard and Garrus reached the exit by just managing to stay one step ahead of Dana's bullets.

"YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE FOREVER SHEPARD!" they heard Dana shout. "EVENTUALLY YOU NEED TO FACE ME AND I'LL BE WAITING FOR YOU!"

When Shepard and Garrus managed to get to upper levels of the room they were in, Dana was gone. They had raced there as fast as they could but they should have known that Dana wasn't going to stay there. The level they were on was the highest level in the factory. If Dana wanted to keep going up she would have to return to the main headquarters building. Any sane person would try to get to lower levels and escape but Dana had that opportunity when she destroyed her bunker. Instead she chose to stay and fight. Even though Shepard knew that Dana was going to be trapping herself by going further up, he also knew from experience that a criminal is most dangerous when they're trapped. Still, with no other choice, Shepard and Garrus headed for the exit that would take them back to the headquarters.

(SLAM!)

Shepard had barely entered the headquarters building when a large bulkhead door came crashing down behind him. A feeling of dread instantly overtook him as he remembered what happened to Vega when an eerily similar situation happened at Buckingham Palace. He was initially relieved to see that Garrus wasn't underneath the door when it came down but that didn't mean he was better off on the other side of the door. He called out to Garrus but didn't get a response. Before he could consider trying to force the door open, Dana's voice came over the intercom.

"Sorry Shepard," she said, "but the detective was making our fight a little unfair. Don't worry, he's fine. I don't believe in wasting my time taking another shot at him so I merely made sure he can't enter headquarters from the factory. Oh and in case you were thinking of waiting for him to rejoin you before coming to find me, you should probably know that I can still change my mind about killing the detective and release a poison into the factory's ventilation system. So I would strongly suggest that you don't dilly-dally and come and face me."

As much as Shepard didn't want to run into a fight alone, he couldn't afford to take chances with Garrus' life. He had already lost enough friends. He raised his rifle into the ready position and proceeded further up the building.

Four levels up and Shepard still hadn't found Dana. Without someone watching his back, Shepard was forced to move slower than he normally would so he could constantly look behind him in case Dana snuck down a level using another stairwell and came back up from behind him. He was making his way up the stairs to the final level, the executive offices. Being the last level for him to search, his adrenaline increased in preparation for the confrontation that was likely to happen.

Shepard didn't expect there to be much of a difference between the executive offices and the lawyer offices he saw earlier, but what he saw on the other side of the stairwell door proved him wrong. The most obvious difference was the security station situated next to the reception desk. Shepard wondered how many angry customers the Morrison Company had if they felt it was necessary to have this heavy of a security presence outside the head offices. Then again they also had a security bunker on the lower levels which even to Shepard seemed a little over the top. Odds were Morrison was just paranoid.

Speaking of paranoia, Shepard was feeling it as well. Dana was trapped in every sense of the word up here. Even if Shepard tripped the security sensors, Dana wouldn't be able come out from whatever she was hiding in without Shepard seeing her first. Acting on hunch, he glanced further down the hall and managed to make out a sign pointing towards a stairwell. Unfortunately the arrow wasn't pointing towards the stairwell Shepard had just exited from. Without taking a second to aim, Shepard spun around and fired his rifle back at the stairwell.

"AAAHHHH!"

A scream followed by the sound of someone falling down stairs was heard behind the stairwell door. Shepard ran back into the stairwell and looked down the stairs but was surprised to see only Dana's assault rifle. He then heard a door open and shut. It was the door to the next level down: the showroom floor. Shepard ran down after Dana hoping to find her before she got too far into the room. He wasn't expecting much of a fight from her since she left her weapon behind. When he entered the showroom though, he realized he had overlooked one critical piece of information: Dana was a biotic.

When he entered the showroom, Dana was standing among the different appliance showcases. She was glowing blue as her biotics flared up. Before Shepard could react, he was hit by a warp attack. He hunched over in pain as it felt like all his insides were being scrambled. The pain caused him to drop his weapon. Dana used the opportunity to charge at Shepard ready to throw a biotic powered punch. Shepard was barely able dodge the punch and made a break towards the vacuum cleaner showcase. They weren't the most practical of weapons but Shepard doubted Dana would give him enough time to pull out his pistol and he needed something he could use against her. Grabbing one of the heavier vacuums that he could still lift, he picked it up an threw it towards Dana. Dana just used her biotics to catch the vacuum and throw it away from her. Shepard threw another vacuum but it had the same result. Still Shepard tried one more time but before he could throw it, Dana lifted Shepard up with her biotics and threw him towards the microwave showcase. If it wasn't for Shepard's armor, the landing would have hurt him a lot more than it did. Sadly the pain from the earlier warp attack he sustained made it hard for him to get up quickly and Dana was already on top of him. Shepard tried to throw a right cross. Dana saw it coming and used her left arm to block it and threw a biotic powered punch right to Shepard's abdomen. Shepard's armor shattered when struck but it still managed to keep the blow from killing him outright. However the blow still caused Shepard to stumble back a bit. When he recovered, he tried a punch with his left arm. This time Dana grabbed his arm and pulled on it to bring Shepard closer to her. She then used her free arm to deliver a biotic powered blow to break Shepard's arm. The pain was so intense that Shepard couldn't help but cry out in pain. Dana followed by pushing Shepard back a bit and did a biotic powered spinning kick that struck Shepard in the chest. The power behind the kick sent Shepard flying across the showroom. If he had gone a little bit further, he would have crashed through the exterior windows and plummet down fourteen stories. Shepard clutched his chest. Dana's kick had likely broken some of his ribs. He tried to get back up but the combined pain from the three blows he took made it impossible. There was nothing he could do as Dana walked casually up to him, bent down and took his pistol before he had a chance to pull it out himself, and pointed it right at Shepard's head.

"This is for Julia you son of a bitch," she growled as she began to pull the trigger.

(BANG!)

A bullet struck Dana in the shoulder. She and Shepard both looked towards the sound of the shot and saw Garrus entering from the other side of the showroom and firing more shots from his pistol. Dana growled in anger as she pointed her gun at Garrus and fired three shots of her own. Each shot made contact and Shepard watched in horror as Garrus fell. Shepard's horrified expression quickly vanished as his face became red with anger. He looked up to Dana who had now turned back to face him and for the first time appeared to be nervous. Despite the pain, Shepard forced himself up and grabbed Dana. He turned her around and charged forward sending both of them through the window. Dana instinctively fired up her biotics to slow down their fourteen story descent. During the fall, she tried to force Shepard off of her but Shepard held on tight, only occasionally loosening his grip in attempt to grab his gun back from Dana. When they gently hit the ground, Shepard rolled off of Dana and stood up with his gun back in hand and pointing at Dana. Dana tried to use a slash attack to pull the pistol out of Shepard's hand but to her surprise nothing happened. She tried again but got the same result. It was then she realized that she was feeling a little weak. When she tried to stand up she just fell back down.

"Overdid it on the biotics Dana?" Shepard asked.

While biotics can make any person extremely powerful, in humans its usage requires the burning of a lot of calories. Unless the person had been trained in extreme biotic conditioning, they could easily burn enough calories with their biotics to exhaust them. Dana apparently had no such training and used her abilities so much that she made herself unable to stand up on her own. Now with no weapon and unable to use her abilities, Dana was defenseless.

"Well go ahead Shepard," she said, "shoot me. You know you want to. I've killed seven of your friends, tried to kill two others and more than likely killed your wife."

There was nothing Shepard wanted to do more than pull the trigger and kill Dana. She had brought him so much pain and suffering for the last two years. She deserved to die. But something was stopping him from doing it. His hand shook as if there was a struggle inside it between nerve signals fighting to decide if the finger should pull the trigger. Dana continued to tell him to shoot her but Shepard couldn't do it. Suddenly his comm. beeped and a familiar voice greeted him.

"Shepard, it's Garrus. Are you alright down there?"

"I'm…fine," Shepard said with shock, "how…?"

"I survived taking a rocket to one side of my face Shepard. It's going to take more than a few bullets to bring me down. Also I heard from Cortez when I was making my way to you. He said he's on his way and he wanted me to tell you that Ashley is on the Normandy. Dr. Chakwas and Tali were able to stabilize her. She's going to be just fine Shepard."

A huge relief came over Shepard. Not only was his best friend still alive but he now had confirmation that his wife was going to make it. A small tear appeared and fell down his face. This didn't go unnoticed by Dana who mistook it for him still being indecisive and was now shouting at Shepard to kill her. With all the good news subsiding Shepard's anger, he was now able to think clearer and realized what he had almost done. If he had pulled the trigger, he would have killed an unarmed woman which went against his paragon nature. He would have ended up proving himself to be the monster Dana wanted everyone to believe he was. If Dana died, she would still win. There was no way Shepard could allow that and let his friends deaths be in vain. His hand stopped shaking. He had made his decision about what to do with Dana.

"Dana Thompson," he said softly, "you're under arrest for supplying weapons and equipment to wanted terrorists, the murder of Dr. Liara T'Soni and the attempted murder of a Council Spectre."

As Shepard proceeded to read Dana her rights, Dana's expression conveyed disbelief. Shepard didn't know if it was because of his decision to not kill her or because he revealed to her that Ashley was still alive. Dana repeatedly shook her head as Shepard moved behind her and handcuffed her hands behind her back.

"Why?" she said. "Why would you spare me?"

Shepard didn't reply as he brought Dana to her feet and began escorting her back toward the headquarters' main entrance.

"I've done terrible things to you," Dana continued as her voice got louder, "whereas my sister never did anything to you. Why spare me and not her?! Why?! Dammit Shepard, answer me!"

Shepard didn't answer.

"Fine but just so you know, this changes nothing Shepard! We both know the monster you really are and I will not rest until the whole galaxy knows the truth! My sister will be avenged!"

Finally Shepard couldn't take Dana's ranting anymore. He pulled out a gag and put it in Dana's mouth. Normally he would knock an uncooperative criminal out but in his condition he was in no shape to carry a person. He brought Dana to the headquarters entrance just in time to meet Garrus as he was exiting the building.

"There's our ride," he said pointing to the shuttle approaching from the distance.

Shepard nodded and handed Dana over to Garrus.

"Detective Vakarian," he said in an official tone, "I'm putting you in charge of the guard detail for our prisoner. We're taking her back to the Citadel. C-SEC will handle her from there.

"Yes sir," Garrus replied giving Shepard a quick salute before leading Dana into the shuttle.

Watching Dana climb aboard the shuttle, Shepard managed to tune out his pain to muster a small smile. Not really a happy one but more of a content smile. He was content because, at long last, his search for the mystery backer was over. He managed to capture Dana and did it with his paragon nature still intact. As Shepard sat down in the shuttle, he just kept repeating to himself, "it's over, it's finally over."