Liara
I acknowledged Feron's statement. But I had made worse deals before. I had agreed to follow an unknown soldier into the depths of the galaxy's darkest mysteries, without knowing what would happen to me at the end of it. Apparently…it led to this. A drell and I locked away, under the control of Cerberus.
"What I do not understand is why a group like Cerberus has an interest in Shepard." I muttered, staring at the door, daring it to open and reveal its secrets…to reveal why we were here.
"Humanity's damn hero complex." Feron spat. "Shepard was…everything. First human Spectre, the Savior of the Citadel…she's exactly the face that humans want to present to the world. And Cerberus is all about humanity and making them look better." he spat on the ground. "At any fucking cost."
I laughed aloud at this and Feron backed away, a questioning look in his metallic eyes.
"Fools." I breathed. "Shepard is the last person that Cerberus would desire as their front runner and figurehead."
"What makes you say that?" Feron asked, puzzling over his knowledge of both this extremist organization and what the histories portrayed of the woman Shepard was.
A small smile caught my lips. "Perhaps the fact that she ordered a sergeant under her command spaced because he attempted to mutiny…a mutiny spurred by this man's radical xenophobia."
Feron's lips parted and his eyes held surprise. "No." he shook his head. "That just…doesn't make sense."
"It did if you were Shepard." I whispered, remembering the trepidation I had felt as I walked to her cabin and begged her for a reason as to why she had done such a thing.
Her answer had been calm…collected, even. There had been a logic and a reason behind it. And, what had startled me most of all…a kindness had dwelt beneath the action she had taken. A lie she had promised to tell…a kinder end than Sergeant Ledee would have met at courts martial.
"And that sort of loose canon behavior is what you and Cerberus and the Suns are all looking to lay your hands on again?" Feron mused, scratching his head. "No wonder everything is spinning out of control. The central point at all of this is chaos personified."
"An accurate assessment." I agreed, wrapping my arms about myself.
But oh goddess…how I adored that chaos. How I loved it.
The door opened and revealed the lithe silhouette of a creature who could only be Miranda Lawson. She smirked at the image Feron and I presented, upset at having been confined against our will, and moved to another location we knew nothing of.
Her cold blue eyes raked across my own. "Our leader will see you now." she said.
Something in the way she referenced her leader sent a chill down my spine. There was almost a…reverence…in her tone. I frowned as I followed her summons towards the door. Proud women like Miranda Lawson did not revere something…unless they owed it a great deal. Whoever this leader was, I knew he controlled the woman with the coldest eyes in the galaxy. That alone would be enough to give pause to a rational mind.
Not that my mind has retained much of its rationality.
"I'm good here, thanks." Feron called after us.
"Excellent." Miranda muttered, slamming the door closed. "Since I don't recall asking."
She led me through what looked like a ship, though I knew we had not left Omega, walking in front of me and not looking back, making it clear that she did not consider me a threat. She reached another door, much like the one Feron and I had been locked behind. Long, elegant fingers entered a code and the door opened into a room that held no light whatsoever.
"Go in." Miranda urged. "You'll…see."
I frowned as I walked past her into the darkened room. The door shut behind me with the ominous thunk of magnetic locks. I stood in the complete black, waiting for…I did not know what. Before me, a soft light began to glow. It appeared as though I looked out of a window, seeing star systems and planets out in front of me. The hazy lines of a holographic projection began to form, coalescing into the image of a man at a desk, looking out of the same window as I. Smoke wisped around his right hand, which held a cigarette. His clothing was impeccably tailored, his iron hair styled with great care. His eyes, though were strange...they seemed almost mechanical, though that might have been a glitch in the imaging technology.
"Liara T'Soni." he spoke my name in an unremarkable voice, one that could be heard and not remembered. But there was a gravity even in the simple way he said my name, an inescapable pull. "It is a pleasure to meet you. You may call me The Illusive Man."
That explains the tranquilizers, the locked door, and the hologram. I thought, but I wanted clarification. It was possible I was meeting an immensely important human…though certainly not one whose power existed in the law.
"The Elusive Man?" I questioned. "Might I ask why the need for secrecy embeds itself into your very title?"
A chuckle met my ears. "While the need for secrecy is paramount, Dr. T'Soni, the title is I-llusive. I wish to enlighten the galaxy, to illuminate the dark places, to bring light to the shadows."
"And you do so by hiding in the dark?" I asked, confused by his logic.
He rose from his chair and smiled, touching his cigarette to his lips and inhaling deep of the smoke. "These times make darkness necessary. There are those meant for shadows, and those meant for light. For a man such as I, secrecy is a necessity. But our proclivities for light and shadow need not put us at odds. I hope we can forge something of a friendship, Liara."
I crossed my arms, thinking of how protective I felt of Feron already…because of his message that had brought me to this place, brought me to seek the thing I desired most in the galaxy. I did not feel that for this man; this organization. I had seen the horrors they had wrought upon the woman they claimed they desired to save.
"I had thought I would forge a bond with any who sought Shepard." I allowed. "But I am led to believe that you are the leader of Cerberus. I know what your organization has done. Moreso, I know what you have done to Shepard. Why now would you seek her?"
The Illusive Man's brow furrowed. "Our earlier actions are not easily understood." he claimed, and a little ember of wrath began to burn inside my chest. "And perhaps we were…over-eager…in our attempts to understand the mysteries of a new world. But I know you will not argue when I say that Shepard is…unique to this galaxy. Her actions and accomplishments overshadow the great deeds accomplished by entire species. She is important to humanity…even dead, we need her back."
"I do not understand your fervor in seeking a corpse." I hissed, my lips trembling as I remembered the fire and chaos aboard the Normandy…the horror of hearing Joker speak of Shepard's death.
"As an asari, I do not expect you to understand my reasons." he said, and my temper flared. I had learned of humanity from their greatest ambassador. I had loved a human woman with all of my soul. I understood. "But it is not altruistic reasons alone that drive me. The Shadow Broker," he spoke the title again and I frowned, "is also seeking Shepard. I consider this entity to be…my opposite as it comes to the gathering and use of information. The darkness to my light, you might say. I stand before you, secure and hidden, but you are seeing me in my true form. Miranda is my most trusted operative, and I do not risk her person or identity lightly. I believe in an honest, hands-on, above board approach. The Shadow Broker, on the other hand, is known to no one. And he has made a deal with the devil for the commander's body…several devils, in fact. You see, Dr. T'Soni-the Shadow Broker is working in the employ of the Collectors."
Alarm fired through my entire system and my heart rate doubled. The asari were one of the few races who still believed in the existence of the Collectors. Most of the other species had dismissed them as a myth…the boogeymen from human stories. But the asari were the discoverers of the Citadel, the first race to make the foray into the distant reaches of the galaxy. We had documented proof of the existence of the Collectors.
"The Collectors?" I could not stop the breathless question. "They are little more than slavers. What would they want with Shepard? Alive, I might understand but…why such interest in a dead body?"
"That is precisely what I need you to find out." The Illusive Man answered. "Cerberus has been watching the Collectors. They come to Omega every once in a great while, making off with a person here or there. Never anything to cause alarm. A dyslexic krogan. An elcor who can sing. A human with two different eye colors. Small nothings, really. However, their interest in Shepard is…alarming, to say the least. Historically, they take those who no one would notice, anomalies that no one would miss. Shepard is the galaxy's hero, the name on every tongue. It is vital that she not fall into their hands, because their motives cannot be trusted. That is why we need you."
I shook my head. "I do not understand. I am not technically savvy, but I know that your holographic display is not common communications technology. You obviously have a great deal of wealth, vast resources…and loyal followers, if Miss Lawson is any indication. Why would an operation as extensive and well-funded…and historically unkind to aliens…have need of me?"
"You ask the right questions." I heard a note of approval in his voice. "And I will honor them with honesty. You have a personal stake in this venture. Miranda, the others…they work for the money, the prestige, the knowledge gained. But your heart is in this, and that is beyond useful. Moreso than the most talented commandos, brilliant technicians, and astute spies. You and Shepard were…more than friends, were you not?"
"That is a diplomatic assessment, to say the least." I nodded, refusing to give him any further information.
"As I thought." he smiled and ground out the ember of his cigarette on the arm of his chair. "The drell obviously has a lead on the location of Shepard's body. He sought you out. That is not nothing. He may be useful…for an alien." I heard the displeasure in his tone and it rankled. "So…do we have an accord? Can I count on your help?"
I pondered the question as I lost myself in memories. I remembered the thick, cloying smell of blood in the air as Shepard tortured the Cerberus scientist, shaving off pieces of his skin with her razor-edged knife, cutting the third finger of his left hand off in a twisted vengeance from tearing her future away from her. Cerberus had done that. They had been responsible for the death of fifty marines on Akuze. They had been responsible for the dead soldiers on Edolus, and the maw that had nearly destroyed Shepard's sanity. There was no way that I could trust them, work with them…or believe in the Illusive Man's ultimate goal, whatever it may have been.
But the Collectors and the Shadow Broker were no better. In fact, they were worse. I could, as Ashley had once said, "trust the devil I knew." And I knew more of Cerberus than I would ever know of the galaxy's most mysterious slavers.
"No." I answered at last. "You cannot count on me. But Shepard can."
No matter what I may feel for her, or against her…I will not let her be taken by the Collectors. She deserves to rest in peace…not whatever those monsters have planned for her.
"That's all I ask." he smiled, and I felt as though I had lost something, but I did not know what. "Ask Miranda for anything you may need. She will be more than happy to oblige."
The magnetic lock thunked once more and the door slid open as the hologram faded from view. I walked out of the darkened room, further into the belly of the beast.