Shepard turned to Tali as the lift began its ascent. "You ok, Tali?"

Tali looked up and nodded, "I'll be okay Commander, it was just a shock learning what they had done to that poor Asari."

"You remember what happened on Aite don't you?" ask Jack to no one in particular.

Shepard nodded, the similarities between what Cerberus was doing here by trying to merge mechs with living biotic tissue and with the experiments they were carrying out on Aite by attempting to merge a human consciousness with a VI and already occurred to him, as had the near disaster it had caused. "They never learn do they," he growled, "and I am getting very sick of Cerberus playing God with the lives of innocent people, human or alien."

"They are a fucking stain that should be wiped from existence!" spat back Jack.

"I agree with Jack Commander, although I would not have put it quite like that. They are terrorists." added Tali.

"I know how you both feel," said Shepard, "and you know I agree with you Tali, but I can't see that we have any other choice at the moment. No other organisation has the resources that Cerberus is willing to provide us to help stop the Collectors. We have to work with them, but that does not mean we will work for them."

Tali looked at him. "And that excuses this?"

Shepard looked at them both and slammed a new heat sink into his assault rifle. "No. This stops now, with us."

Both Jack and Tali nodded in reply and rechecked their weapons as the read out on the lift control panel flashed, indicating that they had nearly arrived at the top floor. As the lift slowed to a halt Shepard faced the door and raised his rifle up to his shoulder before quickly glancing to his two team mates either side of him. "Ready?"

"Right behind you Commander," replied Tali.

"To Hell and back," added Jack.

The lift door slid open and before he could react Shepard immediately registered two things. The first was that the lift opened into a very long corridor that was no wider then the lift doors and the second was that they were in trouble, the painful stuck in a fire fight without cover kind of trouble. Some way down the corridor some 20 metres away there was a makeshift barricade of tables and crates, behind which were 8 Cerberus guards and in the instant that it took all of this to register six of the eight guards had already started firing, the shells from their rifles depleting his shields at an alarming rate. However, the almost continuous urban style combat he and his team had been experiencing since he returned to the land of the living had sharpened their responses to a supernaturally lethal level.

Tali immediately threw her drone out and sent it down the corridor, using it as a shield to block the guards line of sight and to provide the team with a small amount of cover. Nearly as quickly Jack leapt past Shepard and let out a blood curdling scream as she sprinted down the corridor. Shepard followed immediately behind her, firing round after round into the barricade to distract the guards. With the guards distracted Jack raced up to the barricade and blasted it apart with her biotics, sending the guards, crates and tables skidding down the corridor.

As soon as the barricade was cleared Shepard targeted, and dropped, two guards in as many seconds with Jack taking care of a third. One of the other guards by then had managed to get up onto his knees and was levelling his weapon at them, a stubby-nosed ugly looking weapon that was connected to two large tanks on his back.

Shepard jerked his rifle around to target the new threat, "Flamer!" he warned, but before he could fire Jack reacted, grabbing the guard with her biotics and slamming him viciously up against the ceiling and releasing him to crumple onto the floor, a pool of flammable liquid spreading out around him. As the unfortunate guard hit the ground a further two guards regained their senses and began to return fire, the shells from their rifles finding their target, knocking Shepard backwards and collapsing his shields. Tali and Jack were crouched against the smooth corridor wall by this time and returned fire, the confined space and lack of shelter meant that nearly every shot was hitting its target. Unfortunately the same was true for the returning fire from the four remaining guards and with his shields as good as gone Shepard quickly switched over to his shotgun, the ferocious short range power of the weapon an advantage in the corridor, and charged.

Staggering twice as shells smacked into his body armour he quickly closed the distance between himself and the guards. He brutally whipped the first guard across the face with the stock of the shotgun before spinning around to face the second and jamming the barrel into the guard's torso. The woof of expelled breath from the guard was drowned out by the sharp bark of the shotgun as he pulled the trigger and sent the dead guard flying back into the third guard, both guards collapsing against the wall. Even before the bodies of the two guards had a chance to come to rest Shepard was moving again, turning, dropping to his knee and firing a second shot directly up into the face of the last guard standing who, just before getting a shotgun to the face had managed to get off a single shot that passed harmlessly over Shepard's head. He stood slowly and was catching back his breath from the adrenaline rush when a sudden burst of pistol fire behind him caused him to whip around with his rifle raised, only to see Jack firing into the two guards who were still alive but unconscious on the ground.

"Jack!" Shepard shouted.

Jack holstered her pistol and looked hard at Shepard, her lean tattoo covered figure covered in sweat, and shrugged, "They were Cerberus and now they are dead. Their fault."

He shook his head. "They were no threat!" he snapped at her, but he left it at that not willing in their current situation to argue the point and instead was about to order her to check for an exit when Tali spoke up behind him.

"Commander..." she whispered just before she leant back against the wall and slump down onto her knees.

"Tali!" responded Jack and Shepard together. Jack moved the quickest and grabbed the Quarian's shoulders just as she started to fall forwards onto the floor. Shepard was only a moment behind and he dropped to his knees in front of her, quickly noticing the blood running down her hip and leg. Too much blood he thought and all of it appearing to be coming from a jagged hole in her armour just above her left hip. Hurriedly he grabbed the first aid kit off her belt and as he was sorting out it's contents Jack too noticed the torn suit and blood and swore loudly. Holding Tali by the shoulders Jack started to speak to her while Shepard was readying the suit patch. "You hold on Quarian you hear me? You are a fighter, so you bloody well fight," and then quietly, in almost a whisper, she added, "behind that mask you can never stop fighting."

By then Shepard had found a tube of antibiotic gel and had figured out how to work the suit patch which was designed for Quarian suit breaches. Working fast he squirted the entire tube of gel directly into the wound and then tried to ignore the cry of pain he caused as he sealed the hole in her environment suit with the repair patch. The final thing he did was to administered a dose of medigel to help get her back on her feet. "Jack, perimeter defence quickly," he ordered as he closed up the first aid kit, "Tali, can you stand? We have to keep moving."

Jack moved off down the corridor after seeing Tali nodding and Tali put her hand on the ground and attempted to push herself up. The effort and strain was clearly to much and Shepard had to reach out to help her up. Once up on her feet it was obvious that she was not able to stand unassisted as her left leg seemed unable to support her weight. Gritting his teeth Shepard swore and made the only decision he could make, the lives of his crew came before the mission, "Jack! We need to return to the Normandy."

"Like hell!" Came back the reply from down the corridor. "Run away if you must but I am finishing this."

Shepard looped Tali's arm over his shoulder. "Jack, please! Tali needs the medibay."

There was silence from the other end of the corridor for a moment before Jack let out a sudden torrent of language that would have made a Krogan blush and came storming back down the corridor towards the Commander. "I am not going to fucking forgive you for this Shepard!"

"She needs help Jack."

"That is the only reason I haven't shot you already. Come on lets go!"

Shepard started to head back to the lift when Tali spoke up, "No. Commander, I'll be alright. Please."

"Tali, you can't stand!"

Tali reached out, placed her hand against the wall and let go of her Commander as she pushed herself upright, unsteady on her feet and visibly shaking but standing none the less, "I will make it Commander."

Shepard shook his head, remembering what Grunt said about Quarians being tougher then humans, "Damn it Tali, you are in no condition to fight."

"No, but I still have Chikktika and we need to stop this," she looked over to Jack, "Jack needs to stop this."

Jack shook her head and walked back to Tali, "Why do this Quarian? You owe me nothing."

"Because behind our masks we are always fighting Jack," replied Tali quietly, "both of us."

Jack was silent for a moment and she looked hard at Tali before nodding once and replying brusquely, "Don't think for a moment this means I will go easy on you when we play poker Quarian."

Shepard looked from Tali to Jack muttering, "why do the woman on board my ship never listen to me?" Then he spoke up, "okay, Jack take point and Tali, stay behind Jack and me, keep your head down and use that drone of yours. If we are going to do this then we need to move out now, we are out of time."

Jack nodded and moved ahead with her pistol raised and her biotics flaring while Shepard started slowly after her with Tali limping along behind him.

Before long Jack stood in front of a pair of locked doors at the end of the corridor and waited for them to catch up to her. "EDI said that the building plans showed that this is the last room in the building," said Shepard as he caught up to Jack, "if he is still here he is on the other side of this door somewhere. Tali, can you manage the door?"

Tali nodded at Shepard, moved up to the door and activated her omnitool to override the lock's security mechanism. As the lock flashed to green Tali starting coughing violently and doubled over against the wall. Both Jack and Shepard moved towards her but she waved them back and slowly straightened, "Just a belly ache Commander, I'm okay, I've had worse." she said in a strained voice.

"Liar" replied Jack who reached past her and slapped the lock control, opening the doors.

"Garrus, Joker reports that the shuttle is inbound. Are the next group of patients ready for evac?" called out Miranda after she had finished her conversation with the Normandy.

"Ready and waiting" came back the reply from the other side of a large pile of building rubble.

Miranda closed her eyes and took a deep tired breath, rubbing her hands over her dusty grit covered face. With the majority of casualties being handled by the local medivac teams and the most life threatening burn victims already onboard the Normandy being cared for by Dr Chakwas, their work here was, thankfully, nearly done.

"And just what in the name of the Goddess is going on here?" she heard a voice behind her demand. Miranda sighed when she heard that, looks like what ever passes for the local authority around here has finally decided to show up she though, oh well, better late then never. She turned around in time to see a uniformed officer marching over to her.

"Care to tell me why one of Illium's best restaurants has been reduced to rubble?" The officer demanded as she approached Miranda.

Miranda smiled sweetly at the officer. "Ah, Illium's finest here to protect us, you must be Officer...?"

"Tanika, Officer Tanika, and you are?"

Miranda ignored the question and instead replaced her smile with a scowl so dark that it had the immediately effect of silencing the officer. "Officer Tanika, now that you are here I suggest you do your best to protect us by keeping the public and yourselves out of the way and let us finish the rescue effort."

"What?" snapped back Officer Tanika, "and why don't I place you under arrest until we sort this mess out."

"This mess IS being sorted out, no thanks to you, your police force and their conspicuous absence," replied Miranda dismissively, "now get out of my way and stop being stupid." I am too tired and far too worried about Shepard to deal with this nonsense she thought.

Miranda turned on her heel and started to walk off as Tanika reached out and grabbed her shoulder. In a blur Miranda spun back around, slapping the officers hand off her shoulder and pushing Tanika onto the ground with a burst of biotics. "Hands off, you thin blue line!" she snapped, taking a step towards the grounded officer.

"Commander," came a soft and strong voice from behind her, "perhaps I can help?" Samara moved up alongside Miranda, "I will handle the officer Commander, you need to be with the rescue team where your abilities will do the most good."

Miranda nodded her thanks. "Yes, you are right Samara, thank you. She is all yours Justicar."

Leaving the officer to Samara she turned and headed over to Jacob who was zipping up another body bag. "How many Jacob?" she asked.

"Too damn many sir." he replied. "This one makes 38."

She called Garrus over to join them and asked for his report. "We already have 6 on the Normandy, 5 more are ready to be loaded when the shuttle returns and the medivac teams are taking care of the other 57. Including all of the bodies that we have recovered that, according to the staff, accounts for everyone in the restaurant," reported Garrus, "except for the Commander."

Miranda nodded her thanks and wondered how their Commander was fairing.

"Keelah" croaked Tali as they looked into the room.

"Well, we knew that is wasn't going to be a fucking garden didn't we, but what the fuck is this?" said Jack.

The room was silent and the only light source was a soft red glow that was coming from the numerous large upright tanks that formed two rows down the centre of the room. Dark and disturbingly familiar shadows could be seen floating inside the tanks. Tali broke the silence that had fallen over the team with a painful groan that ending in a hacking cough and Shepard snapped himself out of his shocked state and began to scan the room for threats. Luckily there appeared to be little in the way of immediate danger and aside from the tanks there were only a few tables in the middle of the room and on the far wall away from them there was what appeared to be an observation room which featured a large window that overlooked the tanks and reflected their own images back at them.

"See anything Jack?" asked Shepard, his rifle still up against his shoulder and pointing into the room.

"Nothing, looks empty," replied Jack, "but what the fuck are these?"

Shepard moved slowly out of the lift and over to the nearest tank and looked closely at the horror inside. The soft red glow from the tank revealed an Asari body suspended within the fluid, or more correctly it revealed most of an Asari body. The tank contained only the head and chest of the unfortunate Asari with tubes of varying thickness and colours protruding from her abdomen, connecting to monitoring devices attached to the side of the tank and on her head was what looked like a tight rubber cap festooned with a mass of wires that snaked up to the top of the tank. Shepard looked over at the next tank and saw the larger bulk of a Krogan in a very similar state, its head and torso the only organic parts inside the tank. Moving slowly down the row revealed that each tank contained similar horrors and that all of the test subjects were either Asari or Krogan. Some were just torsos suspended in fluid and some appeared to be complete bodies and in addition to the tubes and life support machinery a number of both the complete and incomplete bodies had what appeared to be mechanical limbs of various complexity attached in place of their arms.

"I would guess that these are the previous organic mech supplement experiments that EDI mentioned," supplied Tali, barely above a whisper, "It would make sense to assume that this is where they experimented on integrating the bodies into the mechs."

The short sentence seemed to exhausted Tali and she coughed again, for longer this time and Shepard had to support her to stop her falling over. "Tali?"

"It is okay Commander, the antibiotics are just taking time to kick in."

"I can't risk that Tali, he have to..."

"No, I'll be ok Commander" insisted Tali between further bouts of coughing and she pulled herself away from Shepard to stand upright.

Everyone was disturbed by what they saw with even Jack looking pale underneath her tattoos as she supported Tali by the elbow. "Are they alive?" whispered Jack to no one in particular.

Tali shook her head, "I suspect that these are the failed experiments. If we are lucky then the only successful experiment would have been the one they put into the mech downstairs."

"And if we are unlucky?"

"Then several of these tanks may still have alive victims inside them," coughed Tali, "or worse, EDI was wrong and there is another of those Mechs in here."

"Wonderful" muttered Jack, checking behind herself.

The group continued further into the room, moving down the middle of the aisle between the rows of tanks. "That is far enough Shepard" boomed a voice that seemed to emanate from all around them. Instantly Jack let go of Tali and took a step in front of her while at the same time Shepard spun to face the rear and stepped up behind Tali, the two of them protecting her as much as possible.

"Report" he said when he saw that there was no danger behind them.

"Nothing Shepard, its clear," replied Jack, "I can't see him."

"Same" responded Shepard.

"I knew you would come to stop me. I tried to stop you in the restaurant you understand, but you came anyway. You really should have stayed away" said the disembodied voice calmly.

"WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!" the voice screamed at them suddenly and then it began to sob. "It has to be worth something, why can't you see that? You let me go just so you could torment me. I know you did. Tormenting me all this time just like all the others. Keeping me alive so they could torment me further. Causing so much pain. So much pain. IT HAS TO BE FOR A REASON! Why couldn't you just leave me alone?"

Shepard spoke to the room, "You exploded a bomb in the middle of a crowded restaurant Aresh. You killed a lot of people."

"YOU DID THAT!" screamed Aresh in reply, "If you hadn't followed me everything would have been ok. But nobody ever leaves me alone. You just had to leave me alone. But you didn't, I had no choice. I had to stop you. You made me do it! I couldn't let you interfere. I had to stop the pain."

"And is this how you are stopping the pain? By torturing innocent people, by dissecting them?" shouted Shepard when the ranting had stopped.

"After everything they put me through, if I could just get the experiments to work. Don't you see? It would have..."

Jack shook her head angrily and interrupted the pleading, "But why Cerberus you dumb fuck? After everything they did you ran back to Cerberus? You must be insane!"

"No, no, no, you don't understand, they came to me. They told me I was right, they wanted to help make it all mean something. They wanted to help."

"HELP!" Jack cried out, "Gah! You blind motherless varren! Are you truly so stupid as to think that?"

"Enough Jack," order Shepard, "Aresh, Cerberus was the cause of your pain, why are you helping them do this? How many innocent lives have you butchered in this Frankensteinien nightmare?"

"It was for a purpose!" shouted Aresh hysterically over the speakers, "I was helping humanity. I was doing good! They told me I was. They said they were finding a way to fight the Reapers. And I never touched humans, never, just the aliens. They showed such promise, it would have worked. But they fought. They always resisted. Why did they fight? Why? It was for a purpose, they were helping. I tried to explain that, but they just kept fighting me. If only they had stopped fighting. It was their fault they died, they wouldn't stop. I had to kill them. I had too, you see that don't you?" Aresh stopped talking for a moment and Shepard and Jack looked at each other, both nodding. Gently Jack rested Tali against one of the tables in the middle of the room and slowly both she and Shepard approached the observation room just as Aresh started speaking again, he sounded calmer then before although no more rational. "So we found more, so many more and explained it to them again and again, but they fought. THEY WOULDN'T STOP FIGHTING! So many died because they wouldn't stop, it was their own fault! But I how could I stop? Their deaths had to be worth something, they had to have a purpose, it shouldn't just be wasted. It must not be wasted. It can't be. It isn't right. So I had to stop you, you would have wasted everything. WHY CAN'T YOU JUST GO AWAY! Oh god..."

They heard sobbing over the speakers and Shepard looked over at Jack again as they approached the observation room slowly. They had gotten to within a couple of metres of the room when Aresh finally noticed them. "Stop right there! This entire building is rigged to detonate. Cerberus insisted that there had to be a way to hide everything, to bury it all to keep it out of the hands of the Reapers. Come any closer and I will set it off."

Shepard froze and looked over at Jack, who shrugged at him.

"And then what will it all be worth Aresh? All this work lost just like Aite. Is that what you really want?" asked Shepard.

"Don't talk about Aite! You blew up Aite. You tried to destroy everything. You stopped me from finding a purpose there!"

"But we let you live Aresh, we didn't try to kill you."

"That bitch did! She was going to, I remember. But she was weak, she let you stop her. You wanted me to live just so you could torment me." Shepard shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but Aresh continued. "Don't lie to me! I know you have been hunting me. Ever since Aite you have been chasing me, wanting to torment me. Never leaving me alone! I KNOW! But Cerberus said they could keep me safe. They showed me how they could track your ship so I knew where you were. All they asked was that I help with their experiments. But I always kept a watch on you, I knew you would come for me. And you did! You did! Just like I knew you would. When I saw your ship arriving on Illium I knew I was right! I knew you were coming for me. You want to torment me. I had to stop you."

"You idiot!" snapped Jack, "We were never after you. After Aite I never even gave you a second thought. I hoped never too see or hear from you again. Shepard was right on Aite, you were not worth it."

"NO! Stop lying! You have been hunting me. I am important! Cerberus knows that. They need me! That is why you have been hunting me! You are scared of me. Cerberus helped keep me safe."

"And you call this safe Aresh? Jack is right, we were never looking for you. We didn't even know if you had made if off Aite before Jack blew up the facility" countered Shepard, discreetly pointed towards the side entrance to the observation room, indicating to Jack that she should try and get there.

"LIES! All of it lies!" screamed out Aresh.

"Not lies Aresh, why would I lie? You are not important. You never were. Not on Aite and not here, not to Cerberus, you were just something to be experimented on" replied Shepard, trying to keep Arish's attention away from Jack.

"NO!" yelled Aresh in a rage, "I am important! All that pain, it meant something because I survived it! I am strong. You ARE scared of me, that is why you were hunting me."

"Scared of you? Don't make me laugh. I have faced down Thresher Maws on foot and you think I would waste my time being scared of you? A space hamster is more terrifying then you" goaded Shepard in an attempt to keep Aresh's attention focus solely on himself while Jack moved out of sight and over to the door.

"NO! Look at what I have done! I have given biotics to mechs! I am the genius that made this possible. ME! I am ..." but before he could finish his rant Jack opened the door and threw him against the wall with her own biotics, knocking him unconscious. Shepard rushed into the room as soon as he heard the door sliding open and arrived in time to witness Jack kicking Aresh repeatedly as he lay on the floor unconscious.

"You insane pathetic worm" she screamed at him, punctuating each word with a kick. "Why. Why. WHY!"

Shepard grabbed Jack by the shoulders and pulled her away from the limp body on the floor. She spun around at his touch and raised her pistol pointing it into his face. "Don't!" she warned.

"Put that down Jack" ordered an unflinching Shepard.

Jack shook her head and kept the pistol aimed at his face. "I told you what I was going to do Shepard."

"He is not worth it Jack."

"You said that once before and I listened to you then and look what a fuck load of good that did! You've seen what he has done."

Shepard nodded, "So we hand him over to the Alliance. He will never be free to do anything again."

Jack shook her head firmly, "No. He dies. He doesn't deserve to live."

"And yet everyone at that restaurant did deserve to live. Will you hand them their lives back after you hand Aresh his death?" asked Shepard quietly.

"Damn you Shepard. You know that it is not about that."

"Then what is it about Jack? Revenge?"

"Why the fuck not?" countered Jack.

"Then take your revenge on Cerberus. We blow this place sky high and they will never be able to use any of this."

"All those people at the restaurant are dead because I let him live."

"And how does killing him help them?"

With her pistol still pointed at his face Jack slowly backed away from Shepard and once she was out of his reach she pointed the pistol at Aresh. "It helps" she replied.

"Jack, please" came a voice from the doorway. Tali was leaning against the door frame, shaking as she drew breath to speak. "I..." was as far as she got before collapsing unconscious onto the floor. Shepard ran over and rolled her onto her back and it was only then that he noticing the trail of blood that lead from where they had left her in the middle of the room to her unconscious body. "We have to leave now Jack!" he said before contacting the Normandy, "Joker! One down. Emergency medical attention required. We need evac and medical support now."

"Shit!" exclaimed Joker as his Commander's voice barked through his headset, "The shuttle is still at the bomb site Commander. Hang on."

"Tali can't hang on Joker. We need evac now!"

"Tali? Shit! EDI is talking to the shuttle now Commander. They were just about to leave to bring the last of the bomb victims back to the Normandy, they will divert immediately to pick."

"Understood and where is the other shuttle?"

"I am already on it Commander. Since our shuttle isn't coming directly back to us, we'll come over and meet it. We might just scare off the other shuttle on the way."

"Agreed. Scare it off Joker and come pick us up. Shepard out." He turned and look up at Jack. "Jack I'm going to need you to find the remote trigger for the explosives and then help me get Tali out of here."

Jack looked at Shepard as she stepped backwards into the observation room and shook her head, a haunted look in her eyes. "We are always fighting" she whispered as she reached over and activated the door control, locking herself inside.

"Damn it Jack!" Shepard went to stand but a weak groan from Tali reminded him of his priorities. He tore open the first aid kit, emptying the contents all over the floor before grabbing two tubes. First he gave her a shot of antibiotics and then another dose of medigel which appeared to do nothing at all as she slipped back into unconsciousness.

"Hold on Tali" he urged.

"Commander, this is the Normandy Shuttle. We are enroute, ETA to your location is 5 minutes."

"If you are not here within 2 minutes pilot you will be cleaning out Grunt's latrine for a month" responded Shepard as he slid his hands under Tali's body and stood up with her in his arms.

"Sir! Yes Sir!" the pilot responded.

"Enough Jack!" Shepard shouted loudly, "the shuttle is enroute and we have to get Tali to the Normandy. We have to go now!"

The door remained disappointingly closed and Shepard shook his head. He knew he should wait, he had never left anyone behind during a mission before if he could help it, there was always a another way, but he suspected that this may be the exception that proved the rule. Jack went so far beyond stubborn sometimes that short of knocking her unconscious he did not think he would be able to change her mind; he suspected he had lost her. He also knew he couldn't wait any longer as it was vital he got Tali the medical attention she needed immediately before the blood loss alone became fatal so he turned towards the lift with Tali in his arms, furious at Jack for forcing his hand like this.

Shepard cast one last look at the observation room before leaving and then looked down at the unconscious form slumped in his arms, how could it all go so wrong, he asked himself as he headed towards the lift.

He had made about 10 paces when suddenly an anguished scream and several pistol shots shattered the quiet that had descended over the laboratory and he looked back over his shoulder just in time to see the door to the observation room slide open.