A/N: I've been busy with work and school; so I haven't posted anything this week, I apologize for that. I'm hoping to put 2 chapters for you today. Let's see how that goes. Please review.

Chapter 6:Tears of Unrequited Love

1900 BCE

Tuchanka, the krogan homeworld, enters the nuclear age. In a global conflict, weapons of mass destruction are released, triggering a nuclear winter. In the resulting devastation, krogan society devolves into a collection of warring clans. Source- Reaper Stolen Data

"That is why I find you so fascinating. You were marked by the beacon on Eden Prime; you were touched by working Prothean technology!"

Dr. Liara T'Soni is an asari researcher who has spent the past fifty years of her life studying Prothean technology and culture, specializing in the Prothean extinction. She was born in 2077, making her "only" 106 — little more than a child in asari terms. She already has a great deal of insight into the Protheans and is a highly trained user of biotics.

Liara does not relish her role as Benezia's daughter and has shied away from her mother's life as an important figure in galactic affairs. Benezia's position meant Liara faced high expectations from everyone, and she chose a career in archaeology to escape the pressures of being the daughter of such a prominent figure. Because of her work, Liara spends most of her time alone. She is shy and not used to lying, a trait Ashley Williams is tempted to take advantage of — "Want me to ask about her sex life? Might be illuminating."

Liara is viewed with suspicion by the rest of the Normandy's crew because of her connection to Benezia, though she has not spoken to the matriarch in many years. However, she knows her mother well enough to be astonished to discover she is working with Saren, and does not believe she could be aiding him of her own free will. Shepard talked to Liara about her mother and discuss the reasons Benezia may have for assisting Saren, as well as asari culture in general and the misconceptions surrounding Liara's species.
Liara uses her melding ability

Liara later explains she is unaware of whom Benezia chose as her partner, only knowing that her 'second parent' was another asari. Reproduction between two asari is taboo in asari culture, which may contribute to Liara behaving as an outcast from society; it is speculated that her 'father' did not wish to be identified due to the social stigma surrounding 'pureblooded' offspring. Whatever the reason, Benezia never reveals the identity of her partner to Liara — whether this is important enough to be explored further in the future is unclear. As a result, Benezia raised Liara alone, though this is not unusual among asari due to their long lifespan. From an early age Liara became fascinated in the Protheans, seeing them as wondrous, mysterious figures. Source- Cerberus Classified Files

The impact of the blows by the Reaper Sheogarath destroyed many star fighter jets. It was going on a rampage and wanted to destroy everything in its path. Much like a firefly it flapped its wings and instantly took flight next to cruiser.

It sunk its claws around the armor and slashed pieces of it. Its secondary legs pulled the cruiser apart, ignoring the barrage of lasers around its thick armor.

Explosions and fire engulfed the cruiser and the Reaper moved on, evading the pesky mosquito-sized fighter jets. Lasers and "Eezo" missiles followed it and it evaded them flying around other cruisers.

At this rate Sheogarath was sure he would eliminate the organic pest again. The weakling synthetic beings like him had been destroyed, but no organic pest could match Sheogarath's speed and agility. It had been an unorthodox cycle.

One tenth of the Reaper army had been sent to destroy a weakling planet and recover the artifacts buried by the Protheans. Harbinger had failed to pave the way for the regular invasion cycle that occurred every million years.

Now Sheogarath was almost done destroying a path so more of the reaper army could break through the lines and circle the organics and destroy their weakling army.

He communicated with Tenochtitlan the general leading the army, he was a scorpion-looking Reaper with a long tail. " A line has been broken through, One will lead the charge now."

"One's army will move when ready. Don't dare defy me or I'll tear you to pieces and leave you for scraps to the organic pest!"

Sheogarath did not reply back, but war cried in anger destroying another cruiser. It neared the bigger ship of the organic pest seeing it open its petals like a flower, the organic pest knew it as the Citadel. Light shone at its center and Sheogarath decided to approach it and destroy it.

It flew straight at it and was blinded by the increase of gama rays. The Reaper covered its four eyes with its antennas and claws. A beam passed through the body of Sheogarath and begin burning its insides.

Its armor melting down. Sheogarath was experiencing new feelings at being attacked so strongly by the organic pest. Never did he imagine such was their strength.

In all its cycles it had never experience the fear of destruction now its whole body felt an inch from death and fear boiled down its spine and the Reaper screamed.

The soft tissue inside its body boiled and caught on fire. Sheogarath wailed in pain as an implosion of depressurization along with hydrogen exploded within the Reaper, scattering its remains along space.

"General, Sheogarath has been eliminated by the Citadel weapon." a scout Reaper communicated.

"So the organic pest found out how to activate the Citadel weapon." Tenochtitlan thought. He grunted as he felt a heat coming from its insides, but it shrugged it off.

"Advance all units to destroy the organic pest, attack the Citadel from the rear."

Another beam of light flashed close to the moon destroying large amounts of Reapers. The Reapers abandoned the decaying planet of earth and joined the battle.

Tenochtitlan stayed near the moon surveying the remaining depth to find the Prothean ruins. A thousand feet more; so he kept drilling with its lasers, while its armies defended it and advanced on the weakened army.

In the Shadow Broker's lair...

Liara T'Soni was a tall light blue skin asari. She had always taken care of her looks even when she researched the Prothean ruins in Therum, where she had met Shepard for the first time.

Now being a Shadow Broker was a full time job that deprived her of sleep because she was so involved with her work. Countless nights she had fallen asleep near the console or while transmissions were downloading. Her eyes were sunken and her hazel eyes were surrounded by a shade of red.

The work had been a nightmare at first, until she wised up and acquired an AI to help her catalog information. Soon her work eased and she acquired three more AIs to help her with tasks; so when Shepard talked about a war the idea of a hack-proof communications came to her mind.

She worked on it countless nights. Shepard approached her and asked her to help them with the hacking program. Her not being able to say no to the man she still loved, had agreed. Now talking to Shepard and helping him defeat the Reapers was all that she cared about.

She read the message coming from Shepard's omni-tool and wondered if he was right.

Shepard had been killed two years ago and had left her alone, at first she had been angry at Shepard for deserting her. She separated from the team and soon lost contact while she was mourning her lost love she had fallen ill from her depression; so when she was rushed to the hospital in Illium, the doctor had declared news that would change her whole life.

She did not know how to tell Shepard why she had changed. Why she had launched a crusade against the past Shadow Broker. It was too painful to tell him, even months after she had killed the Shadow Broker and assumed his role, she could not bring herself to tell him.

She wondered how he would react when she told him. Would he hate her or not talk to her. She had tried her best yet she had failed him and revenge had been her goal for a year and a half. When she discovered Shepard's remains were in the possession of the Blue Suns she went out to get them back, with the help of her friend Feros. She had let something important in the care of Benezia followers in Lusia.

She took Shepard's remains from the Blue Suns, but was intercepted by Cerberus who wanted Shepard's body. She wanted to bury him next to her mother's grave. But Cerberus warned her that the Collectors were after the remains as well and that she wouldn't be safe unless she gave the remains to them.

She agreed and headed home to find the dome of Benezia's follower's destroyed. That day more than one precious life had been taken from her. From that day she vowed to take revenge on whoever had done this. She dedicated her life to hunt down those responsible. The first one was the Shadow Broker.

There were rumors that Cerberus had used Shepard's remains and cloned him, but she expect that from such a degenerate organization. She knew clones could never approach the real Shepard so she dismiss the rumors of him traveling around in a new Normandy.

She wanted to meet him to see how the clone would react. Maybe it had old memories of them together. If he did then maybe she could get him to love her again. She wasn't sure how comfortable she would be with that.

However what came to visit her wasn't a clone, it was the real Shepard, but he did not know what had happened and why she was obssesed on taking revenge on the Shadow Broker. Inside she was heart broken, but she could not open up to him again till the Shadow Broker was dead for all the pain it had caused her and Shepard, even if he did not know about it.

Luckily she had gotten a tip from Cerberus to the location of the Shadow Broker. She went to meet a contact that would lead her to the ship of the Shadow Broker. However a spectre named Vasir tried to kill Liara. She had contacted Shepard and he helped her fight off Viara.

With the help off the stolen Data from Viara they found the Shadow Broker's Ship and Liara's friend Feros. They were unable to release him and he died in a torture chamber.

Filled with grief of two dear people killed, Shepard and Liara mounted an assault on the yahg, a specie outcast of the galaxy, known as the Shadow Broker.

After a fierce battle they found out that he knew of the Reapers and worked for them to try to save himself. After killing him Liara assumed the role as the Shadow Broker, while his minions worked for her, none the wiser.

As she studied the vast network of the Shadow Broker, she vowed to help Shepard in the fight against the Reapers. She had thought Shepard would return to her when she asked him, but he told her things were different now. That his heart were in a different place. She was so hurt she could not contain her sorrow and began to weep as Shepard departed.

Her sorrow prevented her from telling him her deep secret that was tearing her heart apart. After mourning her rejection, she focused on her work, as the new Shadow Broker.

Right now she was trying to coordinate three armies, thanks to Shepard VI's help. The turians were ruining her tactics with their arrogance. "Leave it to asaris and humans to find the solution to everything." she spoke out loud.

She typed more code and Shepard repeated her orders to the Turians. The battle had taken a wrong turn with a firefly-shaped Reaper decimating dozens of cruisers with ease. She had commanded, through Shepard, to fire the Citadel Accelerator weapon. The weapon had been effective, but that had only angered the rest of the Reapers and now all were on the offensive, while a bigger Reaper torn the moon to pieces.

She ordered the Council to continue firing while the remaining armies would hold them back. The tide was beginning to turn in their favor when the Reapers formed a line and begin pushing the flanks back. Any cruiser or star fighter jet in their path was destroyed.

The three armies were now getting pushed close to Mars then later would come the inner asteroid belt where things could turn ugly for the Council army. Liara ordered a readjusting of the Citadel Accelerator weapon for a wider beam. When the gun was fired, dozens of Reapers were set ablaze, but the damage was minor compared to the previous stronger focused beam.

She was far from the battle, but she was gripping the console edge in suspense. She did not want the Reapers to win and now they were at an all out offense. She sent another update note to Shepard to calm her nerves and included a bit of her feelings. No matter how tough she acted she still loved Shepard and would try to reclaim his love once more.

Updates were coming in live thanks to her many hacked military backdoor spyware. She was confident in her untraceable software; so when the alarm and a grand tremor occurred she both panicked and froze. The intruder alarm ran free claiming all her thoughts and actions. Her mind exploded in thousands of questions of how and why there were intruders coming into the base.

She had only been in the Shadow Broker's Lair for a few months, but she had upgraded the security and moved the Shadow Broker's network to an old Cerberus abandoned bunker. She had set up turrets and gigantic armored droids to guard every floor leading up to her chamber. The sensors had picked up many entries so she focused on sending droids to the appropriate locations. The only thing that worried her was the tremor.

It had not been a natural source based on the readings and when she saw the intruders through hidden video cameras she put two-and-two together. A Reaper was attacking her lair. But how? was a question that kept popping in her head as she monitored the security updates and the battle light years away.

She typed the code to let the AIs take control of security and another one to help her find the source of her detention. She had to find out how the Reapers had learned of her location otherwise Shepard and the whole Citadel army could be lost.

None of her messages had been detected and her decryption was intact; so she searched in the files she had collected. After ten minutes of breaking down the code for the messages she found it on a code she had decrypted. It was the code from the Illusive Man, it had code within it that was strange and alien. She set two AIs to try and decipher it through all the known galactic languages.

Liara focused on the battle and sent an AI to take over the VI's tactical data and make decisions based on the most favorable outcome. The Lair was getting overrun by now and the Reaper kept a continuous destruction of the Lair. Liara was running out of time and she had no time to do any tasks anymore, but run away.

She sent many of her files to the Normandy backdoor systems as well as loaded files to her extranet secret safes. She also took all the information on building blueprints to recreate a new lair.

Inside Tenochtitlan...

Shepard battled species he had never seen before. Bipeds with helmets about seven feet tall, with tribal enhanced weapons for close combat. At first Shepard thought he was fighting giant lizard-men because of their long tail, but they were using the tip of their tail like a spear.

They had ages old armor around their shoulder and chest and their helmets decorated in different hideous designs, hid their face completely.

They were near the brain according to Legion's calculations. Giant pipes spread out like veins and Team Alpha were following them towards the brain AI.

Hundreds of tribal beasts came out and Shepard was becoming annoyed by their kamikaze nature. Their weapons were inferior in technology and weak to biotic shields, but many of them carried pulse grenades, that Shepard was using against them.

Another beast tried to ambush Shepard, but he was ready so he squeezed the trigger of his shotgun, but it did not go off. The beast tried to stab him with its metal axe, but was too late as Shepard evaded then countered with a blow to the face, knocking down the beast's mask.

The face out the mask was unlike any alien specie Shepard had seen. Their cheeks had moving claws that retracted and moved as the beast took breaths. Their eyes were green with a white pupil that look haunting. They reminded Shepard of the mindless husks. It growled in sharp continuous chirps then howled in anger exposing its sharp fangs.

Shepard retreated and Jack pushed the alien against the wall with her biotic powers. He took out his gun and continued shooting at the onslaught of tribal beasts. Blood with a green fluorescent glow erupted from their wounds and their howls of pain were deafening.

Shepard was able to keep them at bay with his guns, but sometimes one or two would sneak in and he would have to fight it at close range, avoiding its sharp claws. Shepard would warn the others to keep an eye on his flank while he battled.

Jack was trying to conserve her energy for this long fight by using biotic pushes and slams reservedly, but the most important thing to her was protecting Shepard. She shot glances at Shepard while he battled one of those beasts.

More were charging in towards Shepard; so she had to act fast. She absorbed her biotic power then unleashed in a wave around her. She knew Shepard's and Legion's shield would be temporarily down, but the aliens were knocked back several feet.

She reloaded her AM2 rifle and began firing around her. Shepard recuperated and took a knee reloading his guns and pulling several grenades out.

"This is taking forever! We are close! Use your biotic powers to release these grenades on my mark!" Exclaimed Shepard. The beasts were rising and some in the back begin charging again.

Jack lifted the grenades and pushed them again, keeping them floating with biotics.

"Now, release one!" shouted Shepard. The grenade fell twenty feet away and exploded near a group of beasts ripping many of their limbs. Shepard charged in and the rest followed. He fired on the wounded while the next grenade oppened up the path. They continued repeating the process several times.

"Running low!" exclaimed Jack. "Catch!" replied Shepard throwing the rest of the grenades above his head. Jack caught them with biotics and launched them ahead of them. They cleared a path to a wide hallway with a circular gate blocking the way. Legion went near the console next to the door and begin hacking it.

Shepard and Jack stood side by side gunning down the remaining beasts. Legion had to peel many layers of security, but as a synthetic the job was faster. He also downloaded a few spyware programs when he had reached the back door to the system.

A loud crack proclaimed the gate opening and Shepard and team began walking towards it. The inside was covered in a blanket of fog ahead. They were suddenly stopped by a gigantic beast with glowing blue eyes, much like the Reaper they were now in.

Its whole body had a tough black armor with red stripes. The inner muscles were hidden by a tough armor. It had eight legs and a long armored tail with a sting on it, much like a giant scorpion.

Shepard immediately saw the resemblance and knew those mindless beasts behind them were descendants of this giant horrifying scorpion. Shepard and Legion began firing while Jack slammed a biotic fist against its face.

The scorpion launched its sting at Jack but she held it with a biotic pull, Legion launched a grenade towards the stinger and all three retreated. The explosion ripped the stinger apart and the scorpion wailed in pain from its fanged mouth.

It sprang forward and caught Shepard by surprise. Its mouth reached forth trying to rip the small human apart, but Jack punched it with a biotic fist against the wall. Meanwhile Legion used the distraction and climbed on its back firing at its eye sockets.

A large blade came down from Legion's arm and he stabbed it down near the nervous system of the scorpion. Legion had no records of such beast, but its fighting protocols were telling him to attack at its weak areas.

The scorpion grunted and wailed circling around trying to get the metal synthetic off its back. It sprang against the wall trying to crush Legion, but Jack flipped the scorpion in the air and its legs were crushed against the wall, while legion rolled out its grasp firing its rifle to retreat.

Shepard took his Geth Laser out and aimed it at its legs slicing one after another. The wail of pain knocked down Shepard and Jack out of their feet, but Legion had numbed its speakers in time and rushed forward throwing a grenade inside its mouth. "Grenade!" He warned, but the others were not able to hear him; so he rushed to cover them into the ground.

An explosion of guts and flourescent green blood splattered all over the walls. Fire burned the insides of the scorpion and the surviving husks saw the body of their god and ran in fear.

Shepard's omni-tool beeped from Liara's message. He had not checked it because of the battle. He read it and continued past the giant circular gate.

"Hurry dear, the idiot of the Illusive Man slipped and malware by the Reapers led them to my location. I'm battling Collectors and will leave the Citadel battle to my capable AI Horus to continue relaying orders. I will be escaping the station soon. If for some reason I don't make it...there is information about Reaper code that my AIs can decode. I will keep you updated if I can...I never lied when I said I still love you."

Past the initial fog wall, they entered a gallery where a field of giant blades about a foot wide and hundreds of feet long were gathered next to each other. electrical currents shot across them continously like nerve connectors. The flood of electrical currents did not make sense to Jack or Shepard, but Legion put their worries at ease.

"This is the Reaper AI brain."

They scouted around, but there was no command control anywhere around. Shepard replied to Liara.

"Are you alright? Send me the coordinates of your ship and I'll send the Normandy to pick you up. We are at the Reaper AI brain, but we are stuck there is no console to hack the brain. Any ideas what we can do?... I'm sorry I don't doubt your love, I wish I felt the same for you Liara."

Legion was studying the titanic blades, but he dared not touch them. He calculated the surge of information was overwhelming and his AI core was dreading the correctness of his other calculations.

The response came a few minutes later. "Try your omni-tool, I was dreading this...I'm at the hangar and commencing launch...Ask Legion to make calculations I'm sure he can come up with something...if you send the Normandy, it might get attacked by the Reaper tearing my station apart...so don't...do you really? I've missed you so much since the day you were gone...I have something to tell you...in case I don't make it..."

Shepard tried his omni-tool, but the brain had a firewall. He hacked one, but another firewall appeared, then another and another. His omni-tool shut down the connection to prevent the AI hacking it. If it did, they could learn Liara's decryption codes.

"Legion do you know how to access the brain? I tried my omni-tool, but it's processing speed is too low."

"Affirmitive Shepard-Commander."

Shepard typed his confused response to Liara. "This is no time to argue, give me your coordinates! I can have Joker there within ten minutes! Tell me in person when Joker saves you!"

Back in the Shadow Broker's Lair...

Liara battled swarms of collectors. She was keeping them at bay with grenades and gigantic biotic Slams. By luck they had managed to injure her leg and now she was limping to a escape pod. Her omni-tool beeped and she knew it was Shepard. She had the feeling she had forgotten something. She switched to her gun and read part of the message.

She spoke her words and the omni-tool typed it. "Listen to me this is important..."

The ceiling of the hangar was being torn apart by giant claws. The outside freezing temperatures of the frozen planet, entered the ceiling with loud howls yearning to claim this bunker.

"I had to take revenge on the Shadow Broker..."

More flying Collectors charged at her and she slammed them with a blue force of her biotics. She was enraged and now panicking she had to let Shepard know before anything happened to her. Tears of fury ran down her cheeks. She wanted more time to tell him properly, to let him understand why she had changed, why she was not the once innocent and sweet girl she had loved.

"The Shadow Broker and the Collectors murdered our baby daughter..."

She sent the message while a giant Reaper pierced through the ceiling decimating any hope of escape she had. Her laser rifle ran low and she threw it at an incoming collector. The last things she carried with her were grenades.

She bit her lip and endured the pain in her leg. She ran back down the corridor towards the Shadow Broker's command center, followed by hundreds of collectors and a giant Mantis Reaper. She tried shutting the door, but now all the systems were nonoperational. Desperate in tears she found what she had missed in her rushed escape. It was a photo, she raised the photo of her baby and pulled the pins from all the grenades around her waist.

Memories of making love to Shepard and being pregnant flooded her mind. Her eyes went pitch black and she could see her small blue tiny chubby cheeks smiling at her. She had cried for her mama when she had left her in Lusia and that had been the last time she heard her.

Even now she missed her wails and small crying. "Mommy is coming dear. One day your daddy Shepard will join us." She said out loud as tears ran down her cheeks and her whole body submerged in flames.

In an instant her sorrow was gone and all she could hear was the cry once more of her baby, Athena, calling to her.