A/N: Thank you for all of the kind feedback that you have provided, I can't tell you how excited it is to read! Well, it is almost the end of this tale – I think that Chapter 10 will be the finale. If you are enjoying the story, I think that I might have at least one more floating around in my head and yes it will be Aria/Tevos & FemShep/Liara (assuming that everyone makes it). I hope you enjoy and keep sending me those PMs and reviews!
Chapter 9: Retribution
Omega Clinic was in ruins. Bodies were scattered throughout in various stages of decomposition and the smell was a reminder of the warehouse and its horrors. The residents of Omega had obviously sought refuge in the clinic and were instead met with Cerberus and their sinister plans for them.
Aria did not stop to look at the dead, instead, she focused on Cerberus and making sure that they were added to the number of corpses on Omega. Her barrier was at full strength and she wielded her biotics with such lethality, that she seemed to leave a sonic boom in her wake. Her determination to destroy was insurmountable.
The residents that were left were either being tended to medically or joined the group to fight. Any Cerberus troops that were not taken out by Aria were quickly eliminated by Shepard and her expanding team. As they continued through the Omega Clinic and the Cerberus forces were overrun, "For Omega! For Aria!" became the chant of its population.
Shepard had been trying to keep up with Aria, but found that the continued biotic charges, singularities and warp fields to be overwhelming. Instead, she focused her attention on Liara and her team. Shaya and Rhetia had also joined her efforts to sweep up all the mess left in the aftermath of the raging force that was Aria.
From the chaos of the clinic, Shepard could hear a familiar voice cry out, "Not take me… I kill you!" Hiss was using a flame thrower to keep a mutated vorcha at bay. Hiss was also being helped by a very upset looking krogan that was covered in the black blood of the creature. He kind of reminds me of Grunt and the rachni, Shepard smiled at the thought.
"Shepard, you late," Hiss said as he finished off the creature. "Blood Pack kept word… we kill creatures and Cerberus."
Shepard wasn't sure, but she thought that Hiss almost sounded happy. "We had a bit of a distraction," she said and motioned to the fallen troops behind them.
"Yes, you kill good too!" Hiss laughed and continued on to catch up to Aria.
Aria had finally stopped and was speaking to an asari and a turian that were both dressed in battle armor. Shepard approached the party. "We did just as you asked Aria," the turian was reporting. "Your agents have been fighting Cerberus throughout Omega and we hurried to reach the Omega Clinic to rendezvous with you."
"Excellent, Nuris," Aria answered. "What have you found out about Cerberus and all these mutated vorcha?"
Nuris hesitated for a moment, but decided that withholding information would only make the situation worse. "Cerberus has been rounding people up and injecting them with a synthetic form of a Reaper virus. Then they placed some type of control collar on them in an attempt to use them as soldiers. We managed to take out the control frequency, but it also disabled all comms throughout Omega."
The asari was quick to add to the report, "They have taken more than half of the population off Omega for an unknown project. The vorcha however, didn't cooperate with their plan."
"Serves bastards right!" Hiss chimed in. "We hard to kill and not control us."
Nuris confirmed what they already knew and to Aria's credit, she did not outwardly react. "We need to get to the control room and take out the rest of Cerberus. I want to know about this project too," Aria said to group.
With Garrus standing guard next to her, Tali started working on hacking the main computer terminal in Omega Clinic. "Commander," Tali said, attempting to get the attention of the group. "I am in."
"Good job, Tali," Shepard answered. "What can you tell us?"
"General Oleg Petrovsky is in charge of Cerberus on Omega. He's also overseeing a scientific facility called Zenith Station that is orbiting the Omega-4 Relay. That appears to be where most of the residents of Omega were taken and tested on. Cerberus has been having considerable problems with the vorcha and took a lot of casualties."
"Good and Petrovsky is still here," Aria said wickedly. "He's all mine. I am going to make him pay for everything he has done here."
Tali continued, "Also, the virus mutated when exposed to biotics and all asari that were exposed died almost instantly. Petrovsky requested backup from the Illusive Man. He didn't get more troops, but he did receive orders to attempt to refine the virus to specifically work on the asari and the krogan."
Liara gasped and suddenly looked sick. Shepard gently wrapped an arm around her waist to help comfort her. "How can Cerberus do this?" Liara asked and moved in closer to Shepard. "What purpose could it serve to kill so many and so cruelly?"
Tali finished with her findings, "This is truly horrible, Commander! There is a reference to make preparations for Project Citadel. The Illusive Man requested a few thousand of the strongest and most easily controlled subjects to be moved to a facility to train for this operation. The rest were to be terminated, including non-essential personnel on Zenith Station."
"Doesn't pay to work for the Illusive Man," Shepard said. "That is some sick retirement plan."
Aria felt a wave of cold take hold of her at the mention of Project Citadel. "What exactly are those 'things' going to be used for and how is the Citadel involved?" I need to warn Thea!
Tali shook her head, "There isn't anything else mentioned."
The group stood in silence for a moment, taking in Tali's report. Aria was first to break the silence, "Where exactly is Petrovsky?"
Tali pushed a few buttons and then replied, "He is using the control room as his base of operations. He has also set up a makeshift lab in Afterlife to work on the virus. He will most likely be in one of those places."
Shepard looked at Aria, it was clear that they both had the same thought… Get to Afterlife and take out the virus and Petrovsky.
Standing on the bridge of the Normandy, Ashley watched the smoldering remains of Zenith Station. She felt both satisfaction and sadness that she could not put into words. She bowed her head and closed her eyes and mentally said a prayer for all those that Cerberus had killed or experimented on. Those people deserved better.
Joker and EDI remained quiet and watched the reaction of Ashley. EDI made a mental note to ask Joker later about the ritual.
"Joker, set course for Omega," Ashley commanded. "EDI, please inform the leader of the merc squad to meet us on Omega… I think it might be a good idea to have as much force as possible available to us when we get to Omega. Who knows what kind of trouble Shepard and the team have been running into?"
Both Joker and EDI answered affirmatively. They all took one last look at the remains of the station and Ashley headed out of the bridge. She made her way back to the galaxy map to talk with Sam. She wanted to make sure the specialist was doing okay after the mission and Ashley hadn't had time yet to debrief her.
"Hi Sam," Ashley said warmly as she approached Samantha Traynor. "I wanted to discuss the mission with you."
"Of course, Lt. Commander," Sam said reciprocating Ashley's tone.
"Let's talk in the conference room," Ashley said as she headed in the direction of their destination, Sam followed her lead.
They entered the conference and Ashley turned to address Sam, "I just wanted to see how you were doing. It was pretty gruesome over there and Cerberus did some truly sickening things to the people of Omega."
Sam looked Ashley straight in the eyes, "Thank you for asking Lt. Commander, but I am okay. It's just hard to imagine that Cerberus could function for so long and be so corrupt. It makes you wonder what they will do next. They don't seem to have any lines that they won't cross in order to advance whatever their twisted agenda might be."
"No, it seems that they will do just about anything to advance their cause," Ashley agreed. "The Illusive Man is almost worse than the Reapers. By the way, you can call me Ashley or Williams… you don't need to be so formal."
"Thanks… Ashley," Sam said with a faint smile. "I was wondering if I can I keep the gun?"
Now Ashley was laughing, "Sure, I told you that you were one of us and I meant it!"
EDI came over the comm, "Lt. Commander, the mercs are en route to meet us at Omega. We should be there within the hour."
"Thanks EDI," Ashley replied and then shrugged her shoulders at Sam. "We sure will have some tales to tell when this is all over! I better go get ready and Sam, this time I will need you monitoring anything and everything to and from Omega."
"Got it, Ashley and good luck," Sam said as they headed back to the CIC.
Omega Clinic had been secured and it was decided that the Blood Pack and some of Aria's people would stay with the residents and try to start getting things back in order. They were going to need the clinic and it seemed to make sense to keep the civilians away from the virus. Shepard left Hiss and Nuris in charge as they headed to Afterlife.
Aria led the group to a back entrance of the club, one that was not known to anyone but her and a select few of her body guards. The secret entrance opened to scaffolding that ran the circumference above the club. It gave the team a perfect view of everything below and hopefully a tactical advantage.
When Aria entered Afterlife, it was not recognizable as the club that she had held court in. Cerberus agents were standing guard around a dozen makeshift rooms. Screams could be heard coming from some of them. Luckily, they had not been seen by Cerberus and were able to get a good read of the situation. Shepard directed Shaya and Garrus to take up sniping positions, while the rest of the team would covertly take down the agents and carefully investigate the rooms.
Aria immediately headed to her private lounge area with the hope of finding Petrovsky. Liara and Shepard raced after her, while the others spanned out to eliminate the Cerberus threat.
"Damn it Aria, slow down," Shepard called. "You don't know what you'll find."
Aria ignored Shepard and approached the area that she knew intimately. When she looked down at her sofa, she saw a note that read 'Welcome Home Bitch!' She picked it up and immediately knew it was a trap.
Shepard was behind Aria and heard the familiar sound of a bomb triggering. She quickly threw up a barrier, pushed Aria away and wrapped herself around Liara.
Shepard took the brunt of the explosion and both Aria and Liara did not completely escape the blast.
Aria was conscious, her ears were ringing and she was shaken. She quickly struggled to get to her feet, but was not altogether successful. A large shape appeared over her and forced something around her neck. She collapsed and could not move any part of her body. She felt herself being dragged to an exit. In her periphery vision, she could also see the forms of Shepard and Liara receiving similar treatment.
Shepard had been knocked unconscious and was now wearing a collar and secured to the wall opposite of Liara and Aria. Both of the asari had sustained minor injuries, but had been fitted with the collars that inhibited all movement. General Oleg Petrovsky entered the room, appearing triumphant.
"You see Aria, no matter how much you fight us, we will always win. You should not have returned to Omega. What were you trying to accomplish anyway? The scum here could care less about you. Most don't even know what is going on outside of their own pathetic lives."
Aria glared at him with such intense hatred that he looked away for a split second. Of course Petrovsky knew that she could not reply or act on her thoughts with the collar in place.
"So, now what to do with you all… the Illusive Man wants Shepard intact, but you two… he does not care about. I think perhaps you both might serve us best as test subjects. You asari have been very hard to adapt to our virus, you just keep dying." He spoke into his omni-tool, "Get me the latest dose, I will need two injections prepared." He then laughed and left the room to obtain the syringes.
Aria and Liara were completely immobile, not even capable of speech. Their hands were bound to each other and they had been placed back-to-back when the collars had been put on them. Aria focused and reached out to Liara with her mind. Aria's eyes swirled to black and all her strength was sent to reach the other asari.
We need to focus our biotics on the collars. Together, I think we can break free. Liara, you must trust me and let me in. Liara understood and accepted Aria's thoughts into her mind.
Through the meld, Aria could feel Liara's fear but she could also feel her resolve to stop Cerberus and her defiance. Benezia's mental teachings were racing through Liara's mind, along with the memories of her mother's indoctrination and death; she would not end up like her mother.
They opened their thoughts to each other. Liara's fear was met with Aria's rage and the lines between them started to blur… Benezia's indoctrination… Thessia's destruction… Liselle's lifeless body… Kai Lang… the Reapers… Shepard's death… being forced from Omega… all mixing together. The thoughts and feelings were overwhelming, both asari were pouring so much pain and anger into each other and it was not enough to break free.
Focus...
Liara thought of Shepard and the future that she desperately wanted with her, while Aria focused on freeing Omega and seeing Tevos again.
For our futures… fight back…
Fear and rage were slowly replaced with hope and strength… Shepard alive… friends on the Normandy… finding Aethyta… the memory of Liselle... Omega free… holding Tevos... The feelings of love and the desire for life filled them.
Focus… warp field… collars... freedom...
Petrovsky came back in, still laughing. "Who should go first? I think I will leave the mighty Aria, Pirate Queen of Omega, for last." He approached Liara and raised the syringe to inject her.
From their meld, Aria and Liara were both fully charged in a biotic field and together, they released a warp field that shorted out both of their collars and bindings. Aria was on Petrovsky before he could even register the movement of the asari.
The syringe fell to the floor as Aria sent the man flying into the wall next to Shepard. Aria continued the assault and slammed into him with all her force. She picked him up and snapped his neck without saying a word. Petrovsky's body went lifeless in her arms and she held him in that position for what seemed an eternity. Aria felt a familiar hand on her shoulder and knew instinctively that it was Liara's. She released Petrovsky and watched his body slump to the floor.
Aria turned to face Liara, not knowing what to say. They had both shared memories and feelings through the meld that would normally be reserved for more intimate partners, but had made the difference between life or death and freedom.
"Help me with Shepard," Liara said. She wore a concerned look and Aria knew that she was trying to keep her emotions at bay.
Aria nodded and they quickly got Shepard out of her bonds. She looked unharmed except for the large knot on her head. Liara gently attempted to rouse her.
"Thank you," Aria whispered to Liara. "She will be okay… she is too stubborn to let Cerberus stop her."
"Like you," Liara replied, feeling a new respect for the other asari.
"Hmph," was Aria's response. "Shepard is too noble for my taste, but I see why you are drawn to her," she spoke with genuine affection instead of her usual sarcasm.
The moment was broken, as Shepard started to wake up. "Liara… Are you alright?" Shepard said while attempting to open her eyes and look around.
"I am fine… you were knocked out. Aria and I were able to get free and stop Petrovsky."
Shepard saw the slumped over, lifeless form of the man lying next to her. "What happened?"
"It does not matter, we are okay and we need to contact the Normandy," Liara said as she leaned down to kiss Shepard's forehead. She then wrapped herself around her and held her tightly.
Shepard's head was throbbing and the scene around her had her very concerned, but she was happy to be holding Liara.
Aria watched the exchange between the human and the asari and could not help but to think of Tevos. For now, she would need to be content with her victory over Petrovsky.