A/N, : Welcome back! This is the first truly original section, and it has a number of important, and not immediately apparent implications for how the rest of the story, and honestly, how the rest of the series would go. I'd love to hear your theories!
Secondly, my sincere apologies for the delay on this one. Life caught me in a mad rush, and I've wanted to get this monstrosity done sooner rather than later.
I appreciate your attention, patience, and kind words. Enjoy!
Fallow, Chapter 15: The Depths of Elysium
The four of them made an odd group, wandering the depths of the Citadel. The empty, unadorned tunnels seemed endless, the whirr of some distant machine somehow an oppressive sound, stifling conversation.
After yesterday's fiasco at Ryuusei's, they'd all debriefed to their respective organizations. For Shepard and Liara, this meant giving the details to Shepard's mentor, Jondam Bau. The wry salarian SpecTRe seemed to approve of the operation, but offered only his interest and critiques. Shepard should've avoided entangling Wrex's armor into the deal. Should've left a tracker on Miranda, and found some other detail about the woman, and used his team to pick off Wrex's attackers seamlessly, rather than charging in the midst of C-Sec firefight.
"Cunning can stop battles before they start." He'd advised.
When Miranda had contacted him again, he'd been informed that she would have a second with her – to even out the numbers. One Tyrone Rawlings. The big man was gregarious and incredibly easy to get along with. Shepard saw the trappings of a truly gifted spy, and was reminded of his friend Major Daniels in many ways. The thought jarred him, and he felt a brief flash of nausea that someone so seemingly decent would work for a terrorist organization.
Rawlings had proved his worth quickly. Shepard found himself glad the man had been read in on their hunt, despite the engrained unease at widening the number of terrorist operatives read in to the hunt. Rawlings had introduced them to his source, a corrupt C-Sec beat cop who covered for their missing workers. Shepard had picked up on the discontent and insubordinate streak in the man right away, and almost snorted in amusement. A cop with revolutionary sympathies. The officer had walked with them along his beat – a workers enclave near enough to see the presidium, but far enough the Presidium didn't need to see the enclave. The C-Sec officer pointed them to an abandoned warehouse that all the missing workers seemed to emerge from.
That was several hours ago. All they'd had since was the occasional scattered article of clothing or trash the keepers hadn't yet removed, and footsteps along a dusty path. Which was unusual, Shepard noticed. The Keepers were not known to let trash lay about. It had a way of disappearing when they were around.
"Does anyone know the way back out?" Rawlings asked suddenly, breaking the silence.
Shepard frowned, looking behind him.
"Four lefts, two rights, straight through a four-way junction, and then through the chute at the back of the warehouse." Miranda answered crisply, pulling out her omni-tool, and showing them to Rawlings.
He nodded. "Thanks."
Shepard felt a flicker of unease, looking over Miranda's shoulder at her omni-tool. On a hunch, he pulled out his own. Despite being SpecTRe-upgraded, the signal indicator was missing.
"Can anyone else connect to the extranet?" He asked quietly. LIara glanced at him, betraying a flicker of unease in the creases around her eyes.
The others pulled out their omnitools, and one by one, signaled they could not.
"Looks like we're on our own." Shepard said grimly. Letting the news and its implications settle, he shifted his weight on his cane. He was sore from the fight yesterday, but otherwise feeling at his best since Noveria. He was glad of that. No one really knew what lay at the heart of the space station, and he needed to be able to fight, civilian clothes or no. Especially if no backup would be forthcoming.
Liara clasped her wrists, almost folding her arms, and looked at the walls pensively. "Late-era Prothean ruins incorporate materials that naturally block signals. Almost as if they did not wish to be connected to the rest of the Galaxy." She said, tapping her fingers against her forearms.
"But the Citadel is the oldest known Prothean relic." Miranda said, tilting her head slightly toward the young asari. Shepard couldn't help but notice that the dull grey light of the keeper tunnels rather accentuated than hid her grey eyes. Bright silver points in the grimy white surroundings. Shepard shook his head slightly, clearing his mind of the thought.
"Indeed. That may mean we are on the right track." Liara said thoughtfully.
"But if it was a later addition onto the Citadel, why are the keepers ignoring it?" Miranda asked as they walked by another piece of detritus – the brightly-colored wrapper of an Ulushor, salarian street-food.
"I do not know." Liara said. "This was the center of the PRothean's power. If, as I suspect, their empired was under attack in its last days, who had control of the station? When would they have built this protected enclave?" She looked at their group. "And why? The rest of the presidium is dedicated to displays of power and prestige. What was so threatening to them that they needed to build a proverbial safe room?"
The dull grey walls almost seemed to whisper "The Reapers" to Shepard. He saw similar unease settle on the Cerberus operatives, and no one said more for some time. Their path twisted and turned, only the barest clues giving them a direction. All the while they marched in silence, Shepard's cane making a methodical thunk. The walls continued to stretch on, the dull white seeming to extend forever. The unknowable and unidentifiable whirr of machinery continued to oppress the senses.
"So, do all your discoveries require this much drudgery?" Rawlings slowed to walk beside Liara.
Liara laughed lightly. "I am afraid they usually require much more. Even when one already has the location of a site, it takes hours of painstaking and methodical work to catalogue everything. I do not have much experience with humans, but every single one I have met asked me about, or made references to an "Indiana Jones" on the subject."
Shepard tilted his head, curious how Rawlings would respond.
Rawlings laughed heartily. "They're good vids, if ancient, and completely ignorant of actual archeological work." He grinned at Liara. "Chances are good if a human brought that up they were teasing you."
Liara looked slightly alarmed. "That would explain much..."
Shepard's cane missed a beat as he unexpectedly felt a wave of bitterness rise up. He did not recognize the vid in question. Something in him echoed hollowly. He'd had only tenuous connections to humanity to begin with; so many cultural touchstones were lost to him. Now that he bore Prothean DNA, would he ever have that connection to his species? Was he more, as the Rachni queen had suggested? Or had he moved from a lonely human to the last Prothean, an even lonelier position.
His cane resumed its metronymic tapping as Liara and Rawlings conversed. Shepard shoved the feeling aside. Miranda glanced back at him, not missing the misstep. Shepard turned his attention to analyzing the Cerberus operatives in front of him. He wondered if he might have to kill them, to keep the terrorist group from acquiring technological superiority over even Citadel forces. It was playing with fire, he knew, stringing them along like this. But they had few enough access points into the notoriously secret and apparently well-funded organization.
Shepard was jarred from his dark musings when Miranda, who held point, held up a fist and drew her sidearm in one fluid motion. Coordinating soundlessly, they "stacked up" against the wall, drawing their own weapons, positioned to cover one another and eliminate any threat that came around the corner of the junction just ahead of them.
Voices floated around the corner, coming in vague susurrations due to the omni-present whirr and the strange acoustics these back hallways seemed to have. Miranda peered around the corner, exposing her head for no more than instant.
"Two guards. Gear looks old, as do their weapons." She whispered. Shepard nodded, and looked to Rawlings. Rawlings nodded at him. Good, they seemed to be on the same wavelength. Shepard broke formation, earning a glare from Miranda. Rawlings put a restraining hand on her shoulder, and she nodded, and then shook it off. Shepard grinned at Liara, who looked lost amidst the quick succession of human nonverbal communication.
Shepard tapped his way around the corner entering into a circular room with a large door opposite the hall he just came from. Two guards sat at a small table near the door, playing a co-op omni-tool game. They startled, and quickly picked up their weapons and pointed them at Shepard,
"Who goes there?"
"'Who goes there' - really?" The other guard said, giving his companion a disbelieving look. "This isn't Galaxy of Fantasy man. We're guards, not knights in a castle."
"I didn't hear you jumping to confront the intruder." The first guard shot back.
"Easy guys." Shepard said calmly, lowering his hands slightly. "I'm not with C-Sec." He said, on a hunch. The guards visibly relaxed, though the barrels on their rifles dropped only slightly.
"Then who are you with old man?" the first guard jabbed his rifle belligerently.
The disguise Shepard was wearing to hide his increasingly alien features also streaked his hair with grey. "Overlord Security." Shepard said. "But I'm not here on their behalf, either. I'm exploring, on a rumor I got from a friend."
"So you have friends with you too?" Belligerent said.
Shepard nodded slowly. "But you're going to have to stop waving your rifle around if you want them to come forward."
"I think we should do it, Gary." Guard 2 said. "We keep our distance. No way old man like that could get us before we could get him."
Shepard almost shook his head. Good help was hard to find these days, it seemed.
The guards lowered their weapons slowly.
"Come on out guys." Shepard called.
The other three rounded the corner hesitantly. First Miranda, then Liara, then Rawlings.
Almost as soon as Rawlings' face became clear, guard two shouted
"YOU!" and they snapped their weapons up. Shepard and company reacted with blinding speed, sidearms drawn and sighted in an instant.
"Friend of yours?" Miranda asked waspishly to Rawlings.
The Normandy crew was anxious and bored. Nobody liked being sidelined for a mission, but sitting and waiting as your boss went off grid with a still shell-shocked asari and known terrorists made you an entirely different level of antsy. They were sprawled out in a utilitarian Alliance lounge, each trying to look deceptively relaxed. Ashley reclined on a low couch, seated next to Kaidan, who had his omni-tool out, doing his own research. Wrex leaned against the wall perpendicular to them, while Ensign Draven, in her fearless way, chatted amiably with him and Dr. Chakwas about fertility. Chakwas was leaned up against the bar, sipping tea. Garrus sat next to her, also on his omni-tool, and looking very much like he was trying to avoid hearing their conversation.
Tali paced, her overclocked omni-tool lit on both arms, running three different programs, while chatting periodically with Chief Adams via video call. Adams was overseeing repairs to the Normandy. Tali, in her typically helpful way, wanted to help while also making herself available for the misadventures the ground team might get into. So she split the difference. Ashley just rolled her eyes every time Tali's pacing took her by the couch, and made a sarcastic comment to Kaidan about love triangles. Alenko shushed her, his own omni-tool out, comparing notes from the data Liara got from Miranda to some that Shepard had asked Major Daniels send over.
PFC Dubyanski found them like this when he strode in, a salarian in a yellow and black hardsuit at his side. It took them a second for the ground team to notice the new arrival.
"This is Jondam Bau, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance." Alexei helpfully informed them, before gesturing the SpecTRe to take over.
"You are Shepard's team?" Bau looked over the motley crew.
"Affirmative." Ashley said, standing from her reclined position on the couch and staring down the SpecTRe.
The SpecTRe gave them all a once-over, no doubt memorizing their faces and assessing them. He nodded tersely.
"Suit up. There's a Cerberus base here on the Citadel SpecTRe Shepard was called to eliminate. As his mentor, I agreed to provide guidance, and lead the second arm of a two-pronged plan. Objective is to relieve them of it and save all intelligence possible."
"And spare them from Citadel property taxes." Ensign Draven chipped in. Kaidan gave her a scandalized look, and she winked back at him.
Bau blinked once, the ghost of a smile playing across his lips. "Indeed."
"I'm in." Ashley stood up gracefully, grabbing her rifle, which had been propped on the couch next to her.
Her assent drew a chorus of affirmatives.
"What sort of resistance should we expect?" Kaidan asked
"Estimates say around 30 operatives, half of which could be wetwork teams. Expect highly skilled and well-equipped resistance."
"Do we have the element of surprise?" Ashley chimed in.
"Naturally." Bau said, another small smile forming. He stepped forward "I will give a full briefing on the way. Ready yourselves. We'll head to The Crossroads in the warehouse district on Bachjret Ward in 30 minutes." He turned and walked away, as the team nodded and set about preparing themselves for the assault.
"Woah, woah." Rawlings raised his hands slowly, and walked even more slowly towards the guards.
"You're that undercover cop that was asking questions about us." The guard on the right said, jerking his rifle at Rawlings.
"Is that what you thought?" Rawlings relaxed a bit, letting his hands drop somewhat. He gave a short laugh. "I assure you, I'm not with C-Sec."
Shepard made note of this. Presumably Rawlings was a part of the legwork Cerberus undertook to find this place. That he was involved here as well spoke either to his seniority on the project or a smaller number of Cerberus personnel on the Citadel.
"Then who are you with?" One guard, presumably Gary, said mulishly.
"He's is the friend who gave me the tip." Shepard said, somewhat honestly. "We had a mutual friend and coworker disappear, and wondered if this was where he'd ended up.
"That would explain the questions…" the second guard murmured, giving them appraising looks. He lowered his rifle somewhat. "Just give them the regular challenge."
Gary hesitated, but finally lowered his own rifle. "Alright." He looked to his friend for affirmation, then nodded. "alright." He took a breath and enunciated clearly "What keeps the Keepers?"
"The heart of the Citadel," Rawlings answered easily. Shepard assumed this was something else gleaned from his interviews with affected citizens.
Gary looked uneasy, but nodded, reaching for his communicator. "Send an escort. We've got a party of newcomers." The voice on the other end of the line gave an affirmative.
Shepard and company stared at the guards awkwardly for awhile – Miranda not without some iciness, Liara with unease, and Rawlings with what appeared to be masked trepidation. Shepard wondered what cover the man had assumed in his questions, and whether or not the guards may have blown it.
A short while later, a mixed party of 6 in similarly old and mismatched gear arrived, marching through the tall door into the small circular antechamber. An old turian stepped forward, his facepaint faded.
"Welcome to the Keep, seekers." He said, nodding at their group. "You're allowed to retain your weapons." He narrowed his eyes at them, mandibles hanging menacingly. "Don't abuse my courtesy."
So saying, he turned and guided them through the tall doorway, the rest of their escort falling in place behind them. The hallway changed as they went through the doorway. Instead of the smooth, featureless, and oddly dusty hallways before, the walls turned from the blank citadel off-white to the dark beige-grey more typical of Prothean constructions. At regular intervals, the wall would reach out, making serrations along the broad corridor. What looked to be advanced emitters were placed at the tip of each of these outthrusts. It gave one the sense of walking between two sawblades.
"It's a redoubt." Liara said suddenly. "each of these structures provides cover, and those devices emit barrier curtains." She pointed to the emitters.
"Why did they need so many?" Rawlings looked around. "You could sacrifice hundreds of thousands of soldiers just to take this hallway in a siege.
"Don't forget that." The lead turian said gruffly.
"This was the heart of the prothean empire." Miranda said. "Why would they need to construct such a fallback position?"
Liara looked troubled, and sent a look at Shepard, before answering. "The architecture is late-era and doesn't match the rest of the Citadel. Late stage constructions were always militant in nature."
"Why though?" Rawlings asked.
"If I knew, and had reputable evidence, I would likely be leading publicly funded expeditions." Liara said dryly. Shepard smirked slightly.
The tunnel funneled them into a narrow choke point, where every member of the expedition and their escorts had to pass through single file for several meters before emerging into a massive chamber. The bounds of the chamber – walls and a ceiling almost too distant to see – were made of the same grey material as the hallway, but some hidden allow within the material sparkled in the light of what could only be described as a miniature star. It hung from the far-distant ceiling, lacking any visible means of support, and giving a soft golden light across the chamber.
In front of the expedition was a truly massive fortress. Smooth, rounded walls stretched the length of the chamber, imposing and nearly impenetrable. Offset from the entrance they came through, the walls arced inward, leading to a gate wide enough to get aircraft through. High on the walls, barely visible, Shepard thought he saw what looked like artillery weapons.
The expedition stopped in awe of the towering structure. The place was clearly designed to hold off a siege of millions, if not more, with limited manpower.
"Welcome to the Keep, strangers. You stand at the heart of the Citadel" The turian said wryly, observing their awestruck glances.
After several moments of wondering silence, their party approached the most direct way to the inward-bowing section of the wall, weaving through the floor, which dipped and bucked in unexpected places. Liara was the most captivated, her eyes nearly as wide as dinner plates, but Shepard also saw the same excitement subsumed under a trained eye, her study and discipline ordering how she looked at the structure before her.
"This place was built to withstand the mother of all sieges." Rawlings said finally, elaborating on what they were all thinking.
"Uneven terrain hampering approach, redundant redoubts and fall-back points…" Miranda observed
"Don't forget the murder holes." Shepard said, pointing his cane at the small holes in the wall that became visible as they approached. Many along the bowed-in section were draped with flags or carpets, lending their softness to the forbidding structure. Shepard's hands itched.
The turian that led their party halted before they marched into the decline that led them into the gates, massive portals that were blocked by low walls and a sunken ramp, yet another defensive measure. The gates themselves were devoid of decoration or ornament, but sat, still and foreboding.
"You will be taken to see the Administrator. She will explain the rules to you, and you will comply." The turian said simply, the words devoid of threat, but giving no room for disobedience. Their accompanying guards hefted their various weapons, making their point a little more bluntly.
"Lead on." Shepard gestured. The turian gave them each a penetrating look, lingering over Rawlings and Miranda, who gave no sign of trepidation. Miranda raised an eyebrow at him. Their staring contest lasted a long second, before the turian looked away and radioed in, giving an indecipherable passcode.
"How do your communicators penetrate the dampening field?" Liara asked, fascinated.
"That is not your concern." One of their salarian guards said roughly.
"It's just that commercial technology has not reached a point where it is possible to work around the dampening fields, which appear to be an overriding interference carried by ambient aerosol flakes. There's some speculation that they're quantum nanites! Though any signal booster would have to overcome a self-sustaining –"
"That is not your concern." The salarian repeated with a little more venom.
Shepard put a hand on Liara's shoulder as her mouth creased in a frown. A flash of impressions ricocheted between them, disjointed – Liara's extreme excitement and nervousness, her misgivings about their Cerberus companions and guilty attraction to Miranda, and the barest twinge of jealousy, before she shook Shepard's hand off of her shoulder.
The door swung open on silent hinges before them. They down the slope, through the open doors, and back up into a bustling black market.
Stalls lined the streets, which were purpose-built to be only wide enough to fit a tank, and curved and wound at unexpected places. The stalls themselves sold all manner of goods – off-the-record weapons, clothing, jailbroken omni-tools. Most intriguing was the food. The hawkers and salesmen advertised had been produced in the Keep itself. Shepard noted Miranda's omni-tool was out, her voice a low murmur as she took notes on her observations. Later to be put in an intelligence report, no doubt.
They were led through the winding streets, ever upward. The forbidding walls and their pale faces seemed to discourage one from keeping track of the location. It was only after Shepard observed one of their guards tapping a mark – little more than a smear of what looked like chalk - on the wall that he understood how those here got around.
Finally they reached a junction, and their guards turned towards the nearest wall, taking them to a building that just peered over the massive ramparts into the plain below. As the door opened, a warm, cheerly light greeted them – something far more primal than the greenish lighting system that Protheans seemed to prefer elsewhere.
The Administrator herself sat at the head of a small table. Small, for a salarian female, she steepled her fingers on their arrival, and gestured at the chairs arrayed in a semi-circle in front of her. Shepard, taking the initiative, cheerfully tapped his way into the chair most tactically arranged – with its back to what he presumed were the kitchens, and having the closest view of the door. Liara and the Cerberus operatives followed a second after.
"What do you want here?" The salarian female asked bluntly.
Rawlings looked to everyone else, and securing their unspoken assent, spoke first. "We're looking for a friend."
"Unlikely."
Rawlings looked genuinely hurt, a frown creasing his dark features. "What makes you say that?"
"The Keep is a sanctuary. We host mostly the undesired, the lower class, and the desperate who need shelter." She pointed a bony finger at Miranda, who looked distinctly uncomfortable. "The glow of wealth and prestige shines between your every movement." She turned the finger to Shepard, "Your bearing speaks of command, not concern." Now to Liara, "You know far too much about the Protheans to have ever truly tasted poverty." She finally turned to Rawlings. "And you, you shift between far too many roles for me to trust what you say."
Shepard regarded the salarian with new respect. Obviously she'd had her guards report on her guests, but how masterfully she read between the lines of their report spoke of a long experience.
Rawlings' frown deepened. "Regardless of what you think of us, Ma'am, we are here looking for a friend. He sent us a message explaining the directions, the Keep, and something located at the heart."
Shepard nodded, masking his surprise at the information. The revelations likely were grounded in fact. It was probable Rawlings had someone he could have the Administrator call to them if needed – perhaps an informant.
"There may be something at the heart of the Keep. No one can make it past the barriers though." She looked at them.
"I suspect you are spies. I worry for the safety of my people if I let you go. Which organizations do you report to, I wonder?"
"Ma'am, we've been nothing but cooperative, bear no hostility towards you or your people, and have no interest in evicting the poor and desperate from a place away from Citadel Revenue Services." Rawlings said exasperatedly.
"The Keep is a military fortress. Anyone who could claim the place would be in possession of a formidable redoubt in the very heart of galactic civilization. You come bearing weapons and taking notes." The salarian said belligerently.
Rawlings rolled his eyes. "And the man we're looking for works for a security company. Will you need our Citadel permits too?" He sighed, and leaned forward. "Look, all we're asking is leave to look around, see if we can make it past that barrier. If we can't find our friend or get past the barrier, we'll leave."
The salarian woman tilted her head slightly. "And what of the armed men who followed you?"
All four of them leaned forward.
"Armed men followed us?" Miranda spoke for the first time in the interview.
"Mercenaries, it seemed. They claimed to be searching for one of their own, who was using us to hide from justice."
"So you're letting them in." Shepard said slowly.
The salarian turned to look at him coldly. "They provided a better alibi than your party, which also came armed."
"Handguns are not the same –" Rawlings protested
"Military-grade handguns are not easily obtainable, even for security companies. Yet you all seem to have one." The salarian crossed her arms.
Rawlings pinched the bridge of his nose before looking back up.
"Look. We mean you no harm. We might even be able to help if these mercenaries become a nuisance. We're not here to stay and take resources. We want to look around, and help. If we find a way past the barrier we'll even let you know how."
Shepard shifted slightly in his seat. That was almost certainly a lie.
There was a very long silence, in which the female salarian stared them down, waiting expectantly for them to speak. An old trick, but an effective one.
Eventually the trained operatives won the silent battle of wills, and the salarian leaned back, bringing up her omni-tool.
"Very well."
"You're going to just allow us in?" Miranda asked, suspicious.
"Yes." The salarian folded her hands, and nodded to the turian guard behind them. "Koreus here will escort you around the Keep. It's obvious you've no idea what awaits you." The words carried the slightest hint of danger, and the salarian tightened her lips almost imperceptibly.
And with that, their audience with the administrator was over. Koreus and his entourage walked them a ways, back to a crossroads in the ever-twisting center. Their guard dismissed the others, and looked expectantly, if not very happily at their little group.
Rawlings took charge. "We need to find Caleb Simeon." He looked expectantly at Koreus, who shrugged.
"Don't know anyone by that name. Most of the people here keep to themselves. Most of them, where they came from trust was in short supply." His eyes narrowed at them the unspoken message clear: and you're not helping there.
Miranda huffed. "Ask someone who can get ahold of him to meet us at the entrance to the heart of the Keep."
Tyrone gave her a look, and Miranda shot back a long-suffering glare. But she quickly added "Please?"
The turian stared at the pair for a long second, before raising his omni-tool and radioing wherever their headquarters were located to leave a message for one Caleb Simeon.
"Thank you." Miranda ground out. Shepard reflected that it was likely for the best Rawlings had done the talking with Administrator. Miranda was not used to discussion, or having to ask or beg anything. Her brand of prickly superiority would have likely sunk their entreaty for access among the castoffs of society before they had gotten this far.
Liara spoke up hestitantly to their guide and guard. "You mentioned there were defenses in place before one reaches the heart of the Keep?"
Koreus' mandibles twitched once, and tightened, before relaxing once more. "You'll see." He grunted, and motioned for them to follow.
The turian led them upward, but not in a straight line. None of the streets were designed in intuitive ways, stopping, doubling back, or turning suddenly. They walked in near silence, taking in the details of the trip. Liara, inspired my Miranda's example, began taking notes on her omni-tool, speaking observations into the device. Miranda resumed taking her own notes. Shepard kept his speculation to himself. Again he saw the tactical design – the place was arranged to separate and entrap groups of a large invading force, sending them down unexpected paths and to dead-ends that he noted always had enough murder holes to gun down an army.
Their guard wasn't an unerring navigator, and it took them the better part of an hour to reach the highest sections of the Keep. While it was above much of the city, they were still only about level with the Keep's massive walls. Their entrance was only a small door, inset into a small cylindrical room whose outlines they could see. The Prothean beige walls seemed to shine a little more brightly here, Shepard thought.
"Ah. Here it is" Koreus said, gesturing at the door.
"Are you not coming with us?" Shepard asked, analyzing the Turian's body language. He seemed more on edge than before.
"No. I'll come in after you in an hour if you haven't come up by then." At their looks, he finished, "Comms don't work down there." He flicked his mandibles. "Not much works down there, in fact."
Shepard stared at him quizzically, but the turian didn't deign to elaborate. Shrugging, Shepard approached the door, and tapped on the central panel, an omni-panel that was nearly the shade of the walls themselves. Koreus looked surprised, as did Rawlings and Miranda
"Took us a half hour to realize there was a door there. You've keen eyes." Koreus examined Shepard once more.
The door slid open, revealing a nondescript white room, and a panel very similar to one Shepard had seen on Therum.
"An elevator?" Rawlings guessed, looking around the otherwise empty chamber.
"Indeed." Liara said, moving over to the console. "And if my previous experiences are any indication…" There was a long pause as she froze, her hands poised but not moving, staring at the gently glowing hologram panels. Slowly, she pressed a button.
With barely a whirr, they felt floor beneath them began sinking, while the walls around them gave them no indication of apparent motion, creating a slightly disorienting feeling of being displaced, rather than transported. The room slid to a stop, and a door, by some hidden mechanism, appeared at a point along the circular wall.
As a group, they hesitated, waiting for some trap. Shepard moved first, clunking his way over to the entry, the hollow taps of his cane on the strange Prothean metal the only sound in the elevator. He cleared the doorway, and passed into the hallway beyond. The metal shifted from an off-white to a dark grey. Acting on some unknown impulse, Shepard brushed his fingertips against the wall. His breath hitched as he felt… something.
An echo. Like an alien had been here. One familiar and yet unfamiliar, and the shadow of determination.
"Alexander?" Miranda's question made Shepard jump. He quickly removed his hand from the wall, and nodded at Miranda.
"This is the heart of the Citadel." He said, straightening and walking further down the corridor. "Seems odd that it's been undiscovered for so long."
"That is obvious." Miranda frowned, still trying to puzzle together his behavior.
"Forgive my sentimentality, then. I was imagining the leaps in technology that would occur from reverse engineering whatever allowed it to stay that way." Shepard finished wryly.
"Right now, that just looks like a barrier curtain." Rawlings quipped, pointing ahead. The wide corridor stretched on, but a glowing green field, much like the one that held Liara imprisoned on Therum, blocked their path.
"Still – this is an opportunity!" Liara said. "Usually such defenses have long since corroded or been destroyed – either by scavengers attempting to steal the valuable ruins within or by the adverse conditions around the ruin itself." She looked at the rest of their group, unused to such rapt attention. She swallowed, but recovered. "50,000 years is hardly kind to technology." She nodded to Rawlings and Miranda, "And being able to replicate barriers of such strength scaled so small is no mean advantage."
Rawlings nodded, but his bearing indicated frustration. He walked over to the barrier and put a hand against it, watching the rippling as the it gently compensated for the pressure. "So this is it? All this way and we get to study a barrier."
"Archaeology is a study in patience, as well as the past." Liara said wryly.
Rawlings glanced back at her and smiled, removing his hand from the barrier. As he did, Miranda smoothly drew her pistol and fired a shot at one of the hidden emitters. There was a high pitched pinging as the metal shaving bounced around the hallway at relativistic speeds. They all hit the deck as soon as the she had fired.
Shepard made eye contact as she slowly put away her pistol. She shrugged shamelessly, saying, "It was worth a shot."
Shepard shook his head, but failed to keep his lips from curving into a smile at the pun. He saw the barest hint of smug humor in her grey eyes before she looked away.
"You'd need a mining laser. And even then, you wouldn't aim at the barrier, but at the floor." Shepard said as he got to his feet, leaning on his cane.
"You've done this before?" Miranda tilted her head slightly, curious.
"As I said. We handle the expertise, you handle the execution." Giving Miranda a cocky smile, Shepard motioned to Liara, and they both approached the barrier themselves.
Looking at the plain walls on either side, neither could at first blush distinguish what mechanism would allow them to pass. They looked at each other, and a shudder seemed to pass over each of them, as something about the place called to them. Shepard reached out and touched the walls once more, Liara doing the same on the other side of the corridor.
Without needing to coordinate, Shepard pushed a previously hidden button on the wall, just as Liara said, "Here!" To draw the Cerberus eyes towards her, where a panel would be emerging. It wouldn't do to let the terrorists know how to get past the barrier, after all.
Shepard swung to look at Liara, who had once again gone still as the prothean interface appeared before her. She hesitantly tapped two panels. There came a whirring noise, and a scanning field that covered the entire corridor sent green lines running over each person there.
"No indoctrination detected." A voice from nowhere said in High Prothean.
Liara looked stunned, and glanced at Shepard, who gave the barest shake of his head.
"What did it say?" Miranda asked, on high alert as the barrier fell.
"I do not know. No one has ever heard Prothean spoken aloud before." Liara suddenly put her head in her hands. "Did anyone have their omni-tool recording?"
She shook her head as a chorus of no's returned to her, obviously grieved at the missed opportunity, and then rolled her shoulders.
"There will probably be more chances to record further in." Shepard said reassuringly, gesturing the archaeologist to lead them on. Liara nodded, wonder returning to her eyes as they stepped forward into the very heart of the Citadel.
The group walked forward a ways, and suddenly the walls shot away from them, widening in a wide ray into a high-ceilinged chamber. Plants – flowers and trees and flora not familiar to either the humans or the asari, covered nearly every surface, as light streamed from an unidentifiable source above, whiter and warmer than the Citadel's own normal lighting. The floor sunk in octagonal rows, roots and vines covering where steps had one been. In the center of the spacious room, only barely visible to the wondering eyes of their group, was a raised dais with two tiers. The lower dais extended out, holding an austere chair to one side of the steps. A wizened skeleton of a prothean sat hunched in the chair, shreds of his rotted robe still covering the bony frame. A sprig of flowers bloomed in a handful of earth clutched where his three-fingered hands once sat folded in his lap. Atop the dais was a wide control panel, its lights still blinking pleasantly.
Liara continued to lead, though everyone's steps had become slow and awed at the chamber before them. They gazed around, slowly stepping down into the inset floor. They slowly approached the dais, coming near the center of the room.
"Alexander!"
"Look!"
Rawlings and Liara's cry came simultaneously, for good reason. Rawlings pointed right, to where row after row of prothean weapons lined two hallways set to the right and left of the dais, while Liara pointed ahead, either to the first true prothean remains ever discovered, or to where the profile of the dais had hidden a tall black obelisk, with glowing green lights running its length, strange biotic energy whirling about the pillar. A prothean beacon.
This was the without a doubt the greatest stash of prothean technology and history any race had yet found.
And Shepard had led a xenophobic terrorist group right to it.
The occupants of the Cerberus warehouse on Bachrjet ward were not aware they were under attack until it was far too late. Their sophisticated early-warning technology was blinded, fed a loop, and soon totally under the control of hostile forces before anyone had time to notice, as SpecTRe level tech and Tali's sheer ingenuity broke through the sophisticated firewalls and quashed advanced internal security systems.
The away team of the SSV Normandy and their interim leader breached a service exit door, and moved in with barely a sound, coordinated and confident. The SpecTRe in yellow and black armor took the lead, bounding ahead of the bare-bones hallway, moving with liquid grace. They rounded a corner, blew open another door, and emerged into a large room full of servers on one side, and equipped with a full armory on the other – a wide range of gear that could make one look anything from a Blue Suns mercenary to a member of C-Sec's Special Response Units. There was also a French maid costume, but nobody stopped to ask, and nobody really wanted to know.
The techs behind the computers froze at the sight of the heavily armed intruders, a critical moment of stillness that cost them dearly. The Normandy team surged into the room, rifles cracking with coordinated precision. Three Cerberus techs went down in a matter of moments. The sound of gunfire galvanized the others into action, omni tools and sidearms coming up. One dove for a terminal. Bau shot him through the head even as he took a flying leap at the last two standing. Garrus' assault rifle cracked, a trio of shots sending a human spinning and choking behind a terminal.
"WE'RE UNDER –" the last shouted as Bau neatly clocked him with a sparking omni tool. The SpecTRe didn't rest upon landing, rolling forward and drawing his two hand cannons. Three Cerberus agents rushed in from the far side of the expansive room. One dropped suddenly as Ashley's rifle thundered, forcing the others into cover.
"Hold the Armory." Bau motioned at Ashley and Tali, who already had a interface spike into the Cerberus systems. They looked at each other, and nodded.
Meanwhile Kaidan and Garrus began flanking the Cerberus agents, just as alarm lights began flashing. Kaidan gestured, flaring blue, and one of the Cerberus agents rocketed from cover, rolling frantically in gravity's sudden reversal. Two shots from Bau's gun and he landed bonelessly, his lifeblood spilling scarlet pools on the white floor. The team advanced, Wrex sprinting ahead, biotics swirling around his red-armored form. They turned the corner, and one of the Cerberus agents crouching behind cover leaped out, tackling Garrus. Garrus turned into the tackle, sliding his body and turning the momentum into a throw of his own. The Cerberus operative landed and rolled. Garrus fired twice, but the Cerberus wetwork agent spun, launching a kick that knocked the long gun out of Garrus' hands. The turian didn't hesitate, slapping the incoming punch and slamming his elbow into the man's nose, which broke with a sickening *crack*. The turian did his own hop-kick, and sent the man into the wall. Garrus drew his pistol and put two in the operative, before picking up his gun and moving on. Bau had already forged ahead, moving to clean up anyone left from the krogan's charge. Garrus looked briefly at Ashley and Tali, who had positioned themselves on either side of a broken terminal, covering both entrances. Ashley shooed him on. He nodded, and sprinted after Jondam Bau.
They chased the Cerberus agents to the garage, where they encountered their first real resistance. Set up behind two parked shuttles, figures in white and black armor fired at the Normandy crew as they raced in from the corridor. An instant before their rifles thundered into a broadside, Bau, ducking to the right of Wrex's surging form, tapped his omni tool, a large orange shield extending from his forearm. The SpecTRe had barely finished weathering the initial volley before throwing three grenades in rapid succession, flushing the Cerberus teams from behind the shuttles in time to meet Wrex's thunderous charge. There was a thunderous report, followed by several blasts from Wrex's shotgun.
Garrus and Kaidan ducked right, leapfrogging ahead and dashing along the far side of the garage to the next entryway, which would take them into the main command and control center and living quarters. Setting up on either side of the door, Kaidan prepared a throw, while Garrus covered the approach. The door opened, and Kaidan motioned, throwing a Cerberus assassin backwards. The assassin twisted and landed, springing lightly from his landing, and putting two shots into Kaidan's position. Garrus covered the Lieutenant, bringing the assassin's barriers down just as Bau walked casually between them and shot the assassin between the eyes. Garrus and Kaidan smoothly surged forward, taking up positions behind the SpecTRe as they moved down another plain hallway. Wrex's surprisingly quiet tread filled the space behind them.
There came a click and whirr from the end of the hallway, two turrets unfolding from beside a larger-than average door with blast shielding.
"Bau! They've got a worm in their system. They're wiping the data!" Tali said over comms.
"We're encountering heavy resistance, but they seem more interested in stalling us than evicting us!" Ashley added.
"Understood." Bau said. He holstered his pistols and drew his shotgun from the mag-clamp on his back.
He and Kaidan simultaneously threw an overload at the still-powering up turrets, causing the systems to spark and sputter, then finally cease, as Garrus and Bau fired at the machinery. The door remained closed.
Bau thrust his omni-tool forward, delivering a SpecTRe-grade hacking shunt. It ate through the lock in a tense second.
The door slid open with a slight hiss, and Bau found himself staring down the barrel of a hand cannon of a tall Asiatic man wearing specially modified Cerberus armor, and holding a honest-to-goodness katana, complete with ornate guard and wrapped hilt.
"That's far enough, SpecTRe."
Shepard ignored both Liara and Rawlings and walked purposely towards the beacon, his cane tapping faster and faster as he picked up speed.
"Alexander?" Miranda asked, her hand hesitating suspiciously near her sidearm.
He needed a way to keep them distracted. He needed a way to hear what was included in that beacon. He really hoped his mind could take the abuse.
"Look…" He said, drawing out his voice as the glowing fields around the beacon began undulating faster
"Alexander, researchers have lost their sanity and worse from the –"
Shepard turned to look at her, but by then it was too late. There was a tug, from deep in his gut and the air around him, as he was lifted and spun into the sky. The beacon flashed brightly, and it felt… different. Whole. Alone.
Sound and images flashed before his mind, quick as thought. Processed and packaged in an instant, new understanding exploded across his synapses.
Shepard fell to the ground in a boneless heap.
What followed was the most blindingly fast exchange of hand-to-hand combat Kaidan had ever seen. Bau spun, omni-tool flaring, and knocked the gun from the Cerberus assassin's hand, ducked under a lightning-fast swing of the sword, and kicked the man's shin, even as his omni-tool unfolded into a shield, smoothly blocking the overhead chop from the katana. The Cerberus assassin kicked upward, catching Bau underneath the shield, knocking the SpecTRe back even as an overload flew from Bau's omni-tool, connecting with a vicious spark to the man's chest. The assassin snarled as his barriers shorted and tech fried, and swore when Garrus sent two rounds his way. The man moved, the rounds speeding barely over his shoulders.
Wrex lobbed a throw, catching the man low on his legs, slamming him facefirst into the hard ground. He'd barely landed when he arced and jumped to his feet, firing from his retrieved hand-cannon even as blood dripped from a clearly-broken nose. Kaidan moved from behind, mimicking something he'd seen Shepard do, and gave the man a subtle biotic push on one shoulder, spinning him around. Grim with purpose, Kaidan ducked the horizontal sword slash, and slammed his pistol just above the man's kneecap, firing twice.
The man howled, and brought his sword back around, the blow weaker than normal from his lost footing. Garrus shot, and the blade shattered in two, drawing an enraged curse from the wounded assassin. The now-shortened blade missed Kaidan entirely.
It doesn't pay to ignore a SpecTRe. As the Cerberus assassin turned to address the salarian, he was blinded by a harmless spark from Bau's omni-tool, followed by a tech-enhanced blow to the gut, cracking his armor, and then had other kneecap blown off by the SpecTRe's handgun. The assassin screamed and fell to the floor.
Wrex aimed his shotgun at the downed assassin, but Bau held up a hand, and tossed a pair of omni-cuffs to Kaidan.
"Need answers." He said curtly, before stepping into the heart of Cerberus operations on the Citadel.
Sound and color were a great whirl around Shepard, as new understanding crystallized in his skull. He felt his will returning to his limbs, slowly. His new awarenesses seemed sharpened. He felt the faded imprint of the Prothean builders, the long, slow death of the room's former occupant through the too-smooth texture of the floor. The dead prothean waited for a long time, knowing he was alone, hoping that the next race would be wiser.
Shepard also felt the distant tap of angry footsteps. Armed men. Coming. Coming quickly.
Vision slowly organized coherently. A concerned blue face looked at his own.
"They're coming." Shepard croaked. "Mercenaries." He said.
Blue eyes widened, and the blue face left his vision. He tried for pushing himself up. His arms twitched.
"How the blazes-" Shepard heard a flanged voice, a turian, "Nevermind, you've got incoming!"
Koreus. Koreus was the turian. Surly Keep guard. Right.
Suddenly Shepard's vision sharpened, everything came into crystal clarity. They were under attack. He was a Council SpecTRe, and he would need to defend the largest prothean find since the Citadel itself. He surged to his feet, unholstering his pistol with a smooth move, aimed, and fired.
The sharp report of the bullet echoed for a frozen second. Miranda stared at him in open-mouthed shock, an angry flush still frozen in her cheeks. Rawlings looked aghast at Shepard, his hand on his own sidearm. Liara looked resolute, her mouth pursed and arms crossed.
Then time unfroze, and the mercenary behind Koreus dropped, a neat hole in his head, some 200 yards from Shepard.
"Our guests will be here momentarily. That was a scout." Shepard said, jolting them all into battle mindset. "Rawlings, Koreus, take cover at the entryway. Catch them in a crossfire. Doctor, take a look at those Prothean rifles, see if you can get them functioning. Miranda, let's go examine our new friend."
Tyrone looked hesitantly at Miranda, who spared a contemplative glance at Shepard, before nodding her assent. The expedition split accordingly. Shepard grabbed his cane and walked quickly to the dead merc. Shepard thanked his luck stars that the man hadn't been wearing a helmet. Miranda leaned over and picked up the transmitter in the scout's ears. It wasn't a terribly new model, running old software, and she wordlessly opened her omni-tool, hacking into the merc's channel.
"Adrian, report!" an oddly familiar voice said on the line. "Adrian?" there was a staticky pause. "Adrian's down! Assume hostiles!" the merc leader said.
Shepard took a moment to send the channel to the rest of the team before hurrying back with Miranda.
"Alexander, I've got two of the rifles working." Liara sounded entirely calm – a testament to the sheer number of hostile situations Shepard had dragged the poor asari through.
"Thank you Doctor. Give one to Koreus and one to Rawlings. See if you can't get three more working." Shepard glanced around, now in the central control room. Glancing at the control panel on the raised dais, he hopped himself up the stairs.
"Doctor, would you know which one of these is the lights?" Shepard asked, making a show of waving his hands above the blinking panels. Staring at the prothean, he intuited the button and action that would dim the environment's overhead lamps. He pressed and turned, and the lights went out.
"That one, apparently." Liara said dryly.
They all took a moment to stare in renewed wonder though. The plants that surrounded and covered this hidden sanctuary bloomed in its absence, sending bursts of bioluminescent light across the chamber in lamps of green, orange and scarlet. Flakes of pollen like soft sparks drifted from the flowers leaving trails in the quiet air of the chamber.
"woah." Rawlings exhaled softly.
"Urloc, on point, Jax, Karsh, Delin and Jones, on his six." The comm buzzed softly, reminding them of the impending battle.
Shepard hopped down from the pedestal, and saw Miranda carefully pick her way around the plants to walk beside him, pistol drawn and held loosely in her hand. He nodded at her, and she back at him in the near darkness.
"Alexander, I can't get any of the other weapons working in time." Liara said quietly on a private channel.
"Then bunker down in the corridor. When the mercs overextend themselves pushing us out, I want you to hit them like a biotic wrecking ball."
There was a slight pause. "Understood." Liara said calmly. Shepard saw the briefest spark of blue as Liara flared her biotics around her fists.
Shepard and Miranda settled themselves behind one of the larger plants in the control room, all but invisible in the darkness.
"Lights." The merc commander issued the terse order, and over 10 omni-lights flooded the entry hallway. The rays caused the bioluminescent plants to close. Heavy footsteps thudded in front, as the hulking silhouette of a krogan led the formation of mercenaries.
"Fire." Shepard whispered.
Two bright lances of green light flew from the corners Koreus and Rawlings' position, burning neat holes through the rearmost mercenaries armor and torsos. They fell with choked yells.
The counterstrike was immediate. Unusually disciplined for mercenaries, they dropped to their knees and pounded Rawlings and Koreus' position with batteries of bullets, the hyperaccelerated rounds pinging and bouncing off of the Prothean walls. Two more men filled the position of their fallen compatriots.
"Press em!" The merc captain shouted. "Charge!" The krogan let out a gleeful roar and barreled forwards, straight towards Rawlings' position.
"break to the beacon!" Shepard ordered, and Koreus and Rawlings sprinted away from the charging mercenaries, firing blindly behind them. The muzzle flash from the merc's guns and spears of green light from the prothean rifles lit up the control room in a disorienting off-rhythm display. The light show ended abruptly, with a sudden pained grunt from Rawlings and a dull thud as he fell. Koreus kept running, but with no support, a line of rounds traced up his side, and he too fell.
The krogan roared in triumph, surging forward to finish the job.
Just as the krogan came level with their position Shepard spun outwards, slapping aside the Krogan's rifle with his cane, stepping under the massive alien's reach, and fired 5 times in rapid succession into the fleshy part of the krogan's chin. The merc fell with a thunderous crash onto the plants carpeting the ground beneath him, dead before he hit the ground, his faceplat having as Shepard spun away. A fading flare of blue and the sharp report of Miranda's gun let him know she'd broken cover as well.
"Hold." A cold voice said as there came a brief lull in the battle. The remaining mercs – around 8 of them – formed a loose circle around Miranda and himself, their tactical lights spotlighting the two agents. The leader stepped forward, the same burly, scarred individual that kidnapped them at Ryuusei's. He wore high-quality armor, and no helmet covered his face and impressive mustache. A large rifle was held in his hands.
"You've crossed myself, and Saren, twice now." The merc said, his old-fashioned quasi-joviality have left his voice and bearing. Shepard and Miranda did not reply, busy levelling their guns at the mercs surrounding them.
"Jones, when we've finished filling them with lead, search their effects. Their families need to know about the penalties for interfering."
Shepard noted Miranda tighten her grip on her pistol when he mentioned "families". Interesting, and unexpected.
"End them." The merc leader said.
The nerve center of Cerberus' Citadel operations was impressively high tech, Kaidan decided. Holographic interfaces floated, showing the Argos Rho cluster, with bases and shipment routes highlighted, as well as real-time monitoring of security forces and pirates. At another table, a list of high-profile politicians cycled through, on auto-loop. Three techs frantically worked to shut down the room. Wrex casually shot one. The other two held their hands up.
"That's a Rachni." Wrex said, a low rumble of fury in his voice. Suspended over one of the smaller tables was a wire-frame diagram of the sentient, acid-spitting aliens.
"Indeed." Bau said, his dual omni-tools out and interfacing with the nearest port.
Something pinged on Kaidan's omni-tool before Wrex could get out his snarled retort.
"Watch your 'tools. I just got pinged." Kaidan alerted the team over the radio.
"GO DARK!" Tali's urgent shout echoed over their shared channel. "They've put a worm in my channel!"
The team frantically powered off their tech.
"Good." A smooth voice emanated from speakers hidden across the room as all the displays flickered at once.
"Kaidan Alenko, Ashley Williams. Your names, and role here, will be remembered." The smooth voice said. "Agent Bau. I'm glad you're here." The unseen voice let a dark note creep into the smooth politeness. "Allow me to return the favor for Yandoa."
The two remaining techs collapsed, frothing at the mouth, as an alarm blared, and a smooth feminine voice echoed over the comms "Orpheus protocol activated. Facility sanitation in 60 seconds."
For the first time, Kaidan saw SpecTRe Bau look frustrated, as he glanced between the download bar on his omni-tool and the now blank screens around him.
"Run!" he yelled.
The team sprinted through the base. As they passed the entry to the central room, Kaidan noted as they sprinted by that their one captive had disappeared, though bloody tracks trailed off one hallway. Rushing out into the garage, they burst out the shuttle bay doors, just as the last shuttle disappeared from eyesight, the door closing behind it.
"Ash! Tali! Get out of there!" Kaidan shouted into his comm, taking his chances with the potential Cerberus hack.
"Already clear, LT." Ash's voice held its usual confident note, threaded through by fatigue.
"Think we're gonna –"
The rest of Ash's comment was cut off by a massive blast from the warehouse. The ground shook, and the walls collapsed in on themselves, shredded by the hidden charges.
There was a long moment of silence as the dust settled, and distant C-Sec sirens began to wail.
"Doctor, now!" Shepard yelled, as he and Miranda moved as one, linking arms, Shepard facing one way, Miranda behind him. They spun, their pistols tracing neat, precise shots into the mercenaries even as they twirled away from the rounds aimed their way. And then Liara arrived, a massive wave of blue power throwing 3 mercs into the far wall with a shattering crash of biotics. Two more mercs fell to Shepard and Miranda's precise marksmanship.
Only the leader remained. Shepard and Miranda unlinked their arms, walking forward steadily, putting round after round into the man's impressively strong shields. Liara lobbed a throw, which the merc leader dodged, but it caught the man's rifle, ripping it from his hands and shattering it to pieces. He staggered twice as Miranda and Shepard's relentless barrage pierced his shields, armor, and guts. He with a choking gasp backwards into the alien plants.
Before they could stop to exhale, Shepard, Liara, and Miranda ran to their two fallen compatriots. Tyrone Rawlings pushed himself up with a grunt.
"It's alright." He said. Then he glanced down at the blood running from his shoulder down the side of his ribs. "It's better than it looks." He amended.
The entire expedition unconsciously let out a breath as they emerged from the warehouse that served as their entry point into the ducts, out into the "daylight" of the wards. The journey back had been largely uneventful. They'd carried Koreus out, to his people's version of a hospital. His armor had saved him the worst of the damage, though he'd need time to recover. The Administrator hadn't been happy to hear that Saren was now personally interested in the Keep, and made plans to evacuate the population. While Miranda had argued for her organization's access to the Keep, Shepard and Liara surreptitiously locked the prothean barrier back in place, barring all from their find. In an inspired bit of storytelling, too, Liara had convinced the Cerberus operatives that the prothean rifles would self-destruct if leaving he vicinity of the Keep without proper authorization. Miranda's arguments irritated their host, but also swayed the Administrator into providing the expedition a guard to escort them back onto the Citadel proper, after binding up Rawling's shoulder wound – a bloody, but very survivable through-and-through.
They all turned to each other, as their omni-tools began to ping with updates, news, and team communications. The four ignored the pinging, instead looking at their erstwhile companions, now bound, grudgingly or no, to each other by their near experience.
"This is where we part ways, I think." Rawlings said. He shook his head and grinned. "Hell of a ride, and a story, though."
Shepard ironically saluted him with his cane. "We'll send you the bill later." He said cheekily, causing Miranda to roll her eyes and smile.
"I have to say Alexander, I'm impressed." Miranda gave Shepard a once-over, shifting her hips. She locked eyes with him, and stepped forward, into his personal space. She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on his cheek, "We'll be in touch." She breathed into his ear, before stepping back to Rawlings' side.
Winking at Rawlings' open-mouthed surprised, Shepard nodded at the Cerberus operative, and grinned. "You know how to contact me." He said, raising his omni tool.
Miranda smirked, nodded, and turned smoothly, walking down the lane. Rawlings gave one last look at Shepard, then at Miranda's retreating form, then at Shepard again, before shrugging and taking off after his boss.
Shepard and Liara stood there for a long moment, processing all that had transpired. Shepard let out a large sigh and groaned.
"Is something the matter, Shepard?" Liara said.
"I just remembered I've got to report all of this to the council."
Liara's lips curved into a wry smile. "Ensign Draven taught me a human saying: "No good deed goes unpunished?"
"Right in one, Liara. Right in one."