Liara
"That must be it." Garrus said, looking down the long, empty corridor to the door that stood before us.
"You do realize that the Shadow Broker is waiting for you?" Miranda commented, narrowing her eyes at me.
"We invaded his sanctum and have killed the majority of his guards." I snapped. "I am not ignorant. He has been preparing for my arrival since word of Vasir's death reached him."
Miranda nodded and I glanced to Shepard. She held her helmet in her hands, frowning at the cracks spidering across the faceplate. Her shield generator had been low, and had kept the bullet from penetrating her helmet, but impact had rendered the helmet itself useless. I wished that we had been better prepared; that we had planned for contingencies such as this, but I knew that Serena would not turn back now, not even to secure her own safety.
Every step forward, every bullet fired, every new piece of information that she had learned about the Shadow Broker had fueled her anger. She felt, as I did, that she owed Feron her life, and she would not take vengeance, but exact justice on the entity that had held the drell captive for two years. Her sense of justice still ran strong in her veins. It was clear that her time with Cerberus had not adulterated that and I wondered, once again, how she could align herself with the organization responsible for Avi Rivera's death, Toomb's torture, and the horror that her heart had been through.
Shepard tossed the helmet aside; it landed on the metal floors with a dull thunk and my heart skipped a beat.
"The sooner we do this the sooner it's done." she claimed, popping an expended thermal clip out of her rifle and replacing it with the smooth motion of a career soldier.
"I don't like this." Garrus said, rubbing the deep scars on his face. "The thougth of having competition is irksome."
Shepard elbowed the turian in the side. "Trust me, Vakarian, no one is going to think my ugly mug is prettier than yours."
Garrus' eyes flicked from Miranda to me. "I have serious doubts about that, commander."
"Doubts or not, let's move." Shepard grinned.
We reached the door and found it unlocked. A shiver coursed down my spine. The Shadow Broker was indeed waiting for us. The battle that I had been preparing for was at hand. And I would not fail. I would not fail Feron. I would not fail Zhira, who had dragged me from my search for death and had reawakened in me purpose and a need for life. I would not fail myself.
Shepard entered the command and the door opened, leading us into a wide room. An ominous, shadowed figure lurked behind a heavy desk. Dim light filled the room, illuminating the silhouette of twisted horns spiraling into to the air. Four, wicked black eyes stared at us as we entered with uncontained malice. A fringe, much like that of a lizard, fluttered behind his massive face, and a gaping maw of sharp, serrated teeth parted with laughter as we entered. The creature's fur was pitch black, the leathery skin around its eyes scarlet like human blood. I felt a chill course through my entire body, for now I understood why this creature of mystery was feared above all others.
I cannot show fear. I have taken lives to come to this point. I have compromised my beliefs and forsaken pieces of my identity. Serena has never let the blood she has spilled be in vain. Neither shall I. I will emerge from this the victor, or die in the attempt.
Shepard lifted her rifle and I strode forward. The hulking beast moved, muscles rippling beneath his fur. He placed his massive, three-fingered hands on the desk and leaned forward, every action calculated and menacing.
"Here for the drell?" he asked, his voice low, rippling, carrying an undercurrent of power. Shepard responded with a brief nod, letting a tangle of fiery hair fall in her face. "Reckless, even for you, Commander." the Broker taunted.
"Says the thing who ordered bombs dropped on Illium and let a Spectre get into a goddamn firefight at a public hotel with a shit-ton of cameras." Shepard sliced back, her voice firm and steady in the face of danger, as I had known it would be.
The Broker shifted a massive shoulder in a half-shrug. "Extreme, but necessary."
"Endangering innocent lives in order to keep your coward's lair secure is the furthest thing from necessary!" I spoke in the anger that burned in my veins. "Neither was caging and torturing Feron for two years!"
The Broker turned two of his eyes to me, keeping the other two on Shepard's readied weapon. "Dr. T'Soni," he addressed me, "your interference caused all of this. Feron betrayed me when he relinquished Shepard's body to you. The drell is simply paying the price of treason."
"If anyone should receive punishment through pain, it is you." I hissed. "The price for working with something as abominable and insidious as the Collectors should be exacted in blood and agony."
Another half-shrug. "It was a mutually beneficial partnership." The Broker spoke, insouciant. "Your arrival, and the arrival of those who you have brought with you, is convenient. The Collector's offer still stands."
"You're going to handle it all, then?" Shepard quipped. "You've got a big damn base here, and I've had the pleasure of slaughtering every worthless piece of shit who helps you run it."
The Broker chuckled and I watched as every single one of us, save Shepard, shuddered at the sound.
"Those fools are easily replaceable." the Broker stated. "Your arrival is barely an interruption. But we have spoken too long. My operations are too crucial and important to be compromised by a simple traitor."
A slight smile quirked my lips. "You're quite confident for someone who has nowhere left to hide."
"And I need nowhere to hide. You have brought me all I want, doctor. Shepard and Ms. Lawson, standing in front of me, ripe for the harvest. Their deaths will cripple Cerberus."
"You're not putting a hand on anyone!" I shouted, my finger trembling on the trigger of my pistol, needing to put a bullet in that skull, to watch the blood of that life fountain out and cover me.
This is a death that needs to be brought about, a life and a fire that must be extinguished. The power of the Shadow Broker in the hands of this…this thing that has no proper appreciation for life…no. I will not stand for it!
The Broker turned the full weight of his gaze to me, his fringe fluttering behind the monstrousness of his features.
"It's pointless to challenge me, asari." he quipped. "I know your every secret, while you fumble in the dark."
I am well aware of all that you know. I am well aware that you know that I have murdered in the coldest of blood, that I have sacrificed my sanity to the needle, and that from thence I have bought my information and made my stock and trade in blood and secrets. I am not afraid of what you know of me, for I am willing to own the life that I have led. But, Shadow Broker, you are not immune to knowledge, and that is something that I have always possessed in great quantity.
"Is that right?" I asked, mellowing my voice, adding a layer of condescension. "You're a yagh, a pre-spaceflight species quarantined to their homeworld for massacring the Council's first contact teams. This base is older than your planet's discovery, which probably means that you killed the original Shadow Broker sixty years ago, and took over the enterprise. I'm guessing that you did not do this willingly…that you were the weakest of your species, taken by a trophy hunter who, perhaps, wanted a slave…or a pet. How am I doing?"
The Shadow Broker stood up, rising to a terrifying height. He towered above all of us, even Garrus. Three of us took a step backward, but Serena remained where she was, looking the devil in the eye, as she had done with Saren on the Citadel, as she had looked on Sovereign when his image had appeared in Saren's lair on Virmire.
The Broker clenched his hands into fists and brought them down on his desk. The material shattered and Shepard's mouth opened to issue orders but, too fast, the yahg lifted a large piece of the debris and flung it at us. Shepard swerved and wrapped her arms around me, bearing me to the ground. A harsh noise tore from her throat but I did not have time to wonder why. The Broker tossed another piece of debris and I huddled under Shepard's protection, feeling her warmth, her strength, everything that I once remembered and did not wish to washing over me.
"Miranda's down." Shepard spoke, and her words seemed too breathy and light. Her head turned to the right. "Garrus too. Bloody fuck."
We scrambled to our feet in time to dive behind cover as the Broker peppered the room with bullets.