Liara

Shepard brought the skycab down on the roof of the hotel Azure, a resort known for catering to the whims of those who desired an…interspecies experience. I could see the smoke rising from Vasir's car, but we could not land on the small balcony where she had crashed. The skycab's hatch lifted with the hiss of hydraulics and I climbed out of the car, searching for Vasir, looking for an open door. The main door was locked, and hacking it would take too much time.

Vasir will be able to call the Broker's agents and leave before we are able to find her if we do not locate an entrance!

"Shepard, you're bleeding." I turned to see Miranda standing close to Shepard, almost no air between them as the Cerberus operative lifted the commander's arm. Miranda examined the blood, grimaced, and opened her omni-tool, muttering something about mangling her hard work.

"It's nothing." Shepard said, taking Miranda's wrist in her hand and lowering it.

I watched them, remembering when it had been me in Miranda's place, looking after Shepard's health, noticing the blood on her skin and caring about and for the wound beneath. A weight settled on my chest as I watched Shepard ignore her injury and brush Miranda off. She had not done so when I had asked. She had only shrugged it off for so long before she had let me see to the wound.

"How did you even get hit?" Miranda's elegant brows rose in query.

"My shield generator got knocked out when a crazy Spectre decided to kick-drop me." Shepard slapped Miranda's hand away as she reached towards the commander once again.

"Don't you mean drop-kick?" Miranda asked.

"Nope." Shepard's tone was clipped. "She kicked me, then I dropped for a story and a half. Kick-drop. Get it right."

A shuttle flew overhead and I caught sight of several armored figures inside. From the slow pace of the shuttle I knew that they were enemies, and they were called here by Vasir to keep us from reaching our end goal and acquiring the information she had stolen from me.

"As much as I hate to distract the both of you from your entirely semantic argument, I do believe we are about to be shot at." I said as I took cover and the shuttle set down on the ground.

The Broker's agents streamed out of the shuttle in an attack pattern. Shepard raised her rifle and I watched, almost admiring as I watched her systematically aim and drop each opponent with two well placed shots to the head. I heard their screams as the incendiary rounds she used set them aflame, but I could not bring myself to care. Something much more important than the death of sell-swords was at stake.

"This isn't going to stop any time soon!" Miranda shouted as she threw a biotic slam at an assailant, sending him to the ground in a mess of broken bones and lacerated skin.

"There's an unlocked door on the other side!" Shepard yelled as she ran and ducked behind the wall of a garden enclosure, meant to calm and comfort, not be the scene of a battlefield. "If we can get there…"

"We can get to Vasir's car!" I shouted, following Shepard's line of sight and thought, as I had done so many times before.

"Another shuttle incoming!" Miranda yelled.

Shepard turned and stowed her rifle in its holster. She pulled a large weapon that I had never seen before off of the harness she wore on her back and aimed it upwards, at the shuttle. I thought she just meant to bring it down, but I could feel the heat of her eyes on me, and turned towards her.

"Lawson, Liara, I'm going to blast it out of the sky. Try to angle it down so it takes out that wall and we can get to the door!"

I nodded and locked onto the shuttle, building energy in my hands and preparing to catch the weight that would plummet from the sky in three…two…one. A resounding, fearsome hum lit the air and an orange streak blazed across the sky from the muzzle of Shepard's weapon. The engine of the shuttle burst into flames and the anti-grav generator split the air with a thundering crack as the beam from Shepard's weapon sliced it in two.

The shuttle began to fall from the sky and I struck out with my biotics, giving the burning mass a push in the right direction. Miranda's blow followed mine and the shuttle struck as Shepard had thought it would, into the barrier, destroying it. We could climb the rubble and reach the door. We could reach Vasir.

Shepard ran for the burning car and I followed close behind, letting Miranda bring up the rear. The commander crawled up the wreckage and I remembered following her into the maw of hell itself. I remembered following her into the Citadel, watching her stand tall, feeling terror as she spoke to Saren and, with her words, lifted the gun that he placed under his mouth, and fired. I remembered trusting her implicitly, and wished that I could do so again.

She always knew what to do. I thought as we raced through a room, listening to an asari dancer plead with the goddess for her life. In moments such as these, her hands were always steady, her words always measured. I feel as though I will split at the seams. I have sacrificed so many lives to acquire this information, and I feel no guilt for doing so. I exist in Shepard's memory as she exists in mine…but both of us are different now. You cannot die and return the same…you cannot love as once you did, especially not when the one you loved represents something that you despised.

A murderer. One who would choose the kill as their first recourse.

"This looks promising." Shepard drew my attention to the present as she examined the wreck of Vasir's skycar.

I saw the crumpled frame, the shattered windows, and the spatters of violet staining the ground.

"Follow the blood trail." I spoke the obvious, falling in step behind Shepard, slipping backwards into old habits that were both damaging and attractive.

We began walking down the hotel's outdoor walkway, towards the restaurant, at which I had enjoyed several meals with clients and agents both. It had been easy to disguise myself as a worker at the Azure in order to conduct covert business. Everyone there attended to their own affairs, pretending that they were not tossing credits at the universe for a few hours or days of companionship. I recognized the location, growing more and more pleased as I saw the larger pools of blood.

She must have been injured in the crash, which means it will be easier to take her down.

We passed through another door, out onto the balcony of the Azure. I saw several couples at private tables, eating, speaking, drinking. Vasir herself limped past them, unnoticed by those wrapped up in and enamored of their own lives, and their own potential futures, melding their bodies and their minds and pouring themselves into a vessel purchased for that very purpose. The thought sickened and enticed. I remembered the rush of the drugs and the addiction, the bodies and minds which I had taken and bent to my will; poured my pain and anger into for a few moments of bliss.

The reason for those haunted, wretchedly blissful moments moved with purpose beside me, nearly distracting me from the task at hand. But I would not fail Feron. I would not fail the promise I had made when Zhira and I had set forth on the venture to break the Shadow Broker's empire.

"Vasir!" I shouted as we neared her. "Stop running and let us finish this!"

The Spectre turned back, glaring at us with absolute hatred. Her arm was laced across her waist, and I could see rivulets of violet blood flowing down her armor and smeared across her arm. The patrons began to stir from their emotional and mental seclusion and notice that all was not well. Vasir's lip curled in a sneer and biotic energy wreathed her body as she charged forward at unnatural speed and wrapped her arm around the chest of a human waitress, pinning the woman's arms to her body. The Spectre aimed her gun at the woman's head, looked to Shepard, and smiled.

It was evil. It was triumph. Had I been alone, I would not have cared, and sent a bullet through both of them, ending the chase once and for all. However, I stood next to Shepard…the woman who existed so that others, simple, stupid, and inane as they were, might dream. I felt that this entire situation was out of my hands as the commander strode forward, her weapon at the ready, her silver eyes gleaming.

"Stop right there, Shepard!" Vasir called, gouging the muzzle of her pistol into the human woman's temple. "This ends now."