The screams of had died out, the rachni beast they'd let loose on the personnel dying under a hail of gunfire. There was a certain satisfaction in letting their precious experiments out and standing back and watching them kill off the members of the Cerberus facilities. There was a kind of poetic justice after they'd experimented on the marines with little or no thought.

Kahoku could hear them catching up with him. He steeled himself, hacking the door behind him to seal it, holding them back at least for a moment. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He'd known Cerberus was a shady agency but this...this was utter madness. This had been worth the lives of his men? Cerberus was a menace. Whatever the proclaimed, these things they were doing were unforgivable. They were no better than the monsters they experimented on.

He laid his fingers over his omni-tool lightly. His first instinct as a soldier was to send the information he'd found along official channels, but he was no longer certain who among the people watching those channels were working for the Alliance and who was working for Cerberus. He didn't know who to trust anymore.

No. That wasn't true.

There was one person he knew he could trust.

She didn't want to know how they had gotten hold of creatures so much like the empty eyed beasts the Thorian had created. The idea of them mastering the kind of mind control the Thorian had been capable of was terrifying.

She already knew they had gotten hold of rachni, though she had no idea where they were getting them from.

They had found plenty, except who they had come looking for.

What he knew about Cerberus was hopelessly outdated. Who really knew how long they had been going rogue? Maybe they had been doing heinous things from the very beginning.

He was fairly certain he wasn't sending her anything she didn't already know about them but he sent it anyway, along with the coordinates. He paused in the recording, glancing at the door, hearing the shouts and pounding on it. "This will probably be the last you'll hear from me." Which was true. "Cerberus will be after me. I have to disappear before they find me." Which wasn't true, but there was no reason she needed to know at this moment that it was probably the last anyone would hear of him ever. He hesitated, then ended the recording there, sending it before anyone could think to put some kind of block around the facility.

He thought of his wife and children then, smiling sadly. He thought of his grandchildren, the ones already born and the one he was never going to see. But his wife was a strong woman, she'd had to be, staying married to an Alliance soldier. She'd raised their children strong, and they would raise their children strong. His family would be fine with time. He thought, also, of the skinny young woman with her strange, pale eyes, peering out at him suspiciously from the darkness of her cell. How much more she was now, so much more he had no doubt if the transmission reached her, she'd stop them.

In that moment they finally burst through- as he rose, whirling, a pistol in his hand -he almost felt sorry for the hell he'd likely just brought down on them. Almost.

He took down the first wave of people that charged into the room after him with guns and fist and every ounce of training he possessed. It wasn't until the third group of people they sent in they managed to pin him down, one of them slamming him back and jamming a needle into his arm. It swept through his system, making his muscles weak, making him slide down the wall numbly. He dimly heard them talking, barely felt the prick of another needle that made his sight dim further. He was vaguely aware of being lifted, of laughter echoing around him.

But he wasn't aware when they split the force field slightly and threw him in with the rachni soldier. Whatever research or entertainment they'd hoped to gain from the action, they were sorely disappointed. Admiral Kahoku was dead by then and the rachni soldier barely paid him any heed, examining the body for a moment before moving back to the barrier, staring intently at the fresh and living meat beyond the barrier until the personnel gathered there backed away, some of them leaving with an uneasy feeling.

They'd shut him in with the beast.

"Oh, my God..." She heard Ashley gasp behind her.

She knelt down beside his body slowly, lifting a shaking hand up and pressing her fingers to his pulse in a gesture she knew was futile. He was dead. Had been dead for many hours, possibly days.

The one relief was he'd obviously been dead when they had thrown him in. Other than the needle marks on his arm, there wasn't a mark on him.

The bitter grief that swept through her froze her in place for a long moment, kneeling beside the admiral's body, her head bent. Grief because he'd been a good man who had served humanity better than these so called protectors of it could ever hope to claim. Because she owed him so much and in the end, she hadn't been there when he had needed her the most. Because it was his desire to avenge the men who had served him and who he had felt responsible for that had brought him to this end. By the people who barely even cared those men had existed.

He'd deserved better. So much better than this.

She closed her eyes, feeling that grief break open something inside her. It turned brittle, crystalized into a kind of rage she hadn't allowed herself to feel for years. It didn't show on her face as she rose, calmly sending a message to Anderson, leaving all the data in the facility untouched so they could properly retrieve it when they came for the admiral's body.

"Cerberus," Wrex's voice was quiet as he kicked the body of the dead rachni. Of all the squad members, the krogan was the only one who wasn't a bit unnerved by the expression on Shepard's face as she turned to look at them. Or rather...the lack of expression. Her face was a mask, her eyes blank. Wrex's eyes met hers squarely. "You know, Shepard, I've just about had it with them."

So had she.

Cerberus wanted to make an unstoppable army? That was just fine.

They would need one.

Liara sat in the Normandy's lab, going over data she had gathered without really seeing it. Her mind kept wandering over the events of the past few days, turning them over and over. She didn't know what to think of any of it. They had all seen some of the things Shepard was capable of when pushed. Everyone on the ship knew she wasn't someone you wanted to mess with. But the woman with the icy gray eyes that had been stalking the ship was an entirely new aspect of her. Oh, she wasn't a danger to anyone on the ship, but that sense of constrained violence made one jumpy even if you weren't on her radar.

At first she'd thought Shepard had built up some kind of icy shield around herself to keep that violence in her in check, but now as she watched the commander systematically destroy every aspect of the central base responsible for killing that poor admiral, she realized that was erroneous. That ice cold discipline Shepard had wrapped around herself permeated her to the core. The rage and violence in her was all the more dangerous when provoked because she didn't lash out randomly...she plotted it down to the last moment with frightening quickness.

Cerberus, she had come to observe, was stunningly well coordinated. She understood now how they had evaded capture for so long. Setting up the four interconnected bases and keeping them isolated must have taken years to set up properly. And they tore it all down within a day.

Shepard first used the files Admiral Kahoku had sent her to hack into the network before they realized they were in danger. Cerberus had managed the somewhat miraculous task of isolating a network for itself. But it also meant that someone with an opening, like Shepard had via Kahoku, was nearly unstoppable. Her first step was to make sure they weren't holding any more hostages like they had obviously been holding the admiral. Once she confirmed there was only personnel waiting for them, she went to work. She couldn't find anymore of Cerberus's bases, but between her, Tali, and Garrus, they implemented something that wreaked havoc not only on the base's network but sent ripples through Cerberus as a whole. Liara didn't know what they did, but she later saw on the news several Cerberus agents were suddenly exposed and hunted down.

All that was simply a prelude. By the time they reached the main base's coordinates, they were on alert. It still didn't save them. Anyone who attacked them died. Research that had taken four bases years to compile was either destroyed or sent to Captain Anderson to do with what he saw fit.

They managed to thwart her with the main database, however. Shepard wasn't able to get more than a few encrypted files before whatever defenses they had set into it wiped them all. Which had probably made her a tad impatient with the man who tried to take Liara hostage.

She had not meant to get so distracted, and in her defense, neither Kaidan nor Garrus saw the man sneaking up on them until he'd already grabbed hold of her. She froze as she felt the blunt cylinder of a pistol press against her temple. "Drop your weapons or I kill the alien." The man sounded desperate and terrified.

Shepard obediently dropped her gun and spread her hands. The man didn't register the dark energy dancing over her arms in time. There was a brief, fuzzy feeling in her head and suddenly Shepard was standing behind them. Liara, well versed in biotics, realized within a few moments Shepard must have put them both in stasis long enough to circle around them. The man obviously wasn't so informed. His exclamation of shock turned into a scream of pain as the commander grabbed the hand holding the gun and whipped it back away from Liara. She ducked free and turned right in time to see Shepard break the man's wrist with a fast twist. He dropped to his knees and she kicked the gun away, staring down at him with that frightening blankness in her eyes and face, her movements almost casual. "Sorry, Liara, I couldn't just put a field around him when he had hold of you."

Liara just nodded, swallowing hard.

The man clutched his wrist, panting, rolling his eyes up toward Shepard. "You'll regret this, bitch. You have no idea what you're messing with."

"Cerberus. I know. Somehow I don't think they're going to risk anything to save you, boyo. Especially since the other three bases are gone and the Alliance has all the information of what you've been doing here."

"You're lying..." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

Shepard smiled and picked up her pistol. The man started to stammer as she put it to his head. "I...I have information..."

"I'm listening."

Liara shivered at the odd, purring tone to her voice and noticed Kaidan flinch slightly, picking up on it as well. They read it loud and clear even if the man didn't: Shepard had no intention of letting him go.

He licked his lips. "We...a couple of my colleagues and I...we weren't high enough in the ranks to know anything in depth about the projects but we are...were...gathering information on the side lines. Just in case. I know the names and aliases of some high ranking agents...they don't know that I know."

"I don't know that you know, either. You're Cerberus, my dear, an organization of abject liars."

"I'm not lying! I know one man who is way high up in the ranks. He's keeping an eye on the biotic children, ready to take the ones that show promise! He reports directly to the Illusive Man."

"The Illusive Man?" The man had inadvertently broke through Shepard's rage.

"He's the leader of the whole thing. This guy...the name I know...reports directly to him!" He clung to the man's rank, mistakenly assuming that was what had caught Shepard's attention.

"Commander..." Kaidan sounded alarmed.

Shepard held up a finger, a silent command, and he obeyed automatically. She leaned forward, still pressing the pistol to the man's head. "What biotic children?"

The man blinked and licked his lips, a calculating look coming to his eyes. Shepard had just taken down his entire base and had a pistol to his head, but he obviously picked up on the fact he had the advantage all of a sudden. "I'm not saying anything without some reassurances."

Shepard was silent for a long moment. Her face was still expressionless, but the fixed, cold look was gone from her eyes as she considered his words. She finally reached forward with the hand that held her omni-tool. The man looked down curiously, then jerked as she did something that made him collapse, twitching. "Kaidan?"

"Yes, Commander?"

"Haul his carcass to the brig and lock him up, then send word to Captain Anderson that we have a prisoner for questioning."

"It would be my pleasure, Commander."

Shepard watched the Alliance soldier drag the man away. She turned her head to look at Garrus. "The Illusive Man."

The turian shrugged. "I've never heard the name, but that isn't surprising if he really is the leader. If any of that was true."

"Anderson will find out." Shepard said, leading the way out of the room, their footsteps echoing through the now empty corridors. That still, icy look was back in her eyes. Liara puzzled over why she had decided to turn that man, of all people, over to the Alliance instead of questioning him. She supposed that the Alliance would be able to act quicker than she on the information should it prove to be valid.

It was much more comfortable to think that than go on her suspicions that Shepard didn't trust herself to keep the man alive.

Liara leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes.

She didn't realize that people noticed her fascination with Shepard. Most of the crew chalked it up to the commander having been touched by the Protheans but Kaidan and Ashley had gone back and forth a few times about whether it was more than scientific interest. In truth, Liara couldn't think of anyone, including her mother, who had produced such a whirlwind of conflicting emotions in her than Arian Shepard did. On one hand, she found her deeply compelling, both physically and emotionally. In fact, how compelling she found her was what frightened her so much.

Having touched Shepard's mind as she helped her sort out the images from the beacon, Liara was probably the only one outside of the Terminus Systems who knew how dark some of the paths of her mind ran. That however much she regretted things she had done when she had been younger, she had enjoyed it at the time. And part of her still enjoyed it. Which was why, Liara guessed, she was so careful to keep it disciplined. It wasn't just the flavor of those brief flashes of memory Shepard had locked deep within her, it was her own fascination with them that truly disturbed her, because she had never once thought herself capable of wanting to see such things. Shepard was like some kind of dancing, rotating magnet to her, compelling and repelling her at intervals.

They had come onto the ship because they thought it might be a Cerberus based one. At first it seemed from the strange, mindless creatures that kept attacking them that they were right on the dot. Cerberus had been experimenting with creatures like the Thorian's beasts.

But there was no other sign. No files, no employees, no nothing, the only living being they had come across was a salarian who had started babbling in thanks for saving him. Garrus had drawn his gun suddenly, snarling at the salarian, calling him Dr. Saleon.

She'd yet to meet a salarian that could truly hide what he or she was feeling. Even as he protested that his name was Dr. Heart and he had no idea what they were talking about, she saw the telltale shift in his eyes and body language that gave him away.

"You're sure, Garrus?" Shepard was still wrapped in that cold, eerie calm that hadn't left since they had found the admiral's body.

"Positive." There was nothing cold about Garrus. His eyes were flashing and every step he took forward held barely restrained violence. If Shepard hadn't been there, he probably would have done his best to tear the salarian apart. "No escape this time, doctor. I'd harvest your organs first, but we don't have the time."

The salarian twitched back and looked at Shepard. He froze, clearly not knowing which one of them was worse to face: Garrus with his anger or Shepard with those cold, cold eyes. He attempted with Shepard, "He...he's crazy. Please, don't let him do this to me."

Shepard tapped Garrus on the shoulder. She looked thoughtful. "You know, we can take him in and turn him over right alongside that Cerberus jackass in the brig. Two assholes for the price of one. Anderson will be overjoyed to turn him over to interrogation."

Garrus looked at her in disbelief. "We have him, Commander. We can't let him get away. Not again."

The salarian made a move as if to back up and the commander whipped a pistol out so fast it was a blur, pointing it at him. "Whoa, there. Slow your roll, doc." Shepard glanced over at Garrus, looking slightly impatient. "Who says he's getting away? We have his ship. Look at what he's been doing, it's enough to lock him away for ten lifetimes. Which is ten lifetimes more than an old salarian bastard like him has in him."

Dr. Heart...Saleon...tensed, his ego clearly pricked by those words.

Garrus noticed that, narrowing his eyes at the salarian, then looking back at Shepard. Liara, glad to see a sign of mercy from Shepard, encouraged him silently to go with it. The turian sighed. "I've...okay. You're right." He narrowed his eyes at Dr. Saleon. "You're a very lucky salarian. You owe the commander your life."

The salarian revealed the intent of that earlier shift backwards as he pulled a gun. There was a wild look in his eyes. "Oh, thank you so very much!"

He leveled the gun at Shepard. Liara threw a warp field at him right as Shepard and Garrus opened fire. He never even got a chance to get a shot off, collapsing in a twitching heap.

Garrus turned to Shepard. "So he dies anyway. What was the point of that?" Liara had never heard him speak with such disrespect to her.

Shepard didn't seem to notice or care. She was looking at the salarian's body with an annoyed expression. "Damn, I was hoping we could get more information about what he's been doing. We've got his notes, at least...and the evidence here..." She looked around and Liara followed her gaze, shivering when she took in the blood stained lab for the first time. Shepard focused on Garrus, her voice casual. "He's dead, rather than dying locked up away from his research, other people picking it apart and calling it for the torture it was, and surrounded by the kinds of people he would have considered experiments. Which do you think he preferred, Garrus?"

The turian was silent, looking from her to the dead salarian.

Shepard stared down at the body as well. "There are so many others you owed a debt to..." she murmured. "At least the families and friends of your victims will know you're dead, but it's more than you deserve." She looked back at the turian. "It's also clearly self defense rather than you just shooting him. He isn't worth a sideways glance or a moment of suspicion from anyone, Garrus."

Garrus was silent for a long time, finally looking at her. "I've never met anyone like you, Commander." There was an odd tone to his voice that made it unclear whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Liara said nothing, feeling oddly intrusive on the moment. Even her mercy was tempered by cold practicality and, goddess help her, she wasn't entirely sure Shepard was wrong about that.

"Liara?"

She looked up, startled, to see Shepard standing in the doorway of the lab, a strange, almost apprehensive look on her face.

Liara straightened up. "Yes, Commander?"

Shepard hesitated, then came into the lab, sitting down in a chair across from her, indicating this was something more personal than professional. "We've found something..."

Liara studied her. "We've spotted Saren?" That would be a relief at this point, the search for him was making them all tense.

"No, sugar, not Saren..." Shepard's voice was soft.

This was the woman Liara knew. The one that had saved her on Therum. The one that drew her rather than repelled. She felt a sweep of relief even as her words registered. "What is it, Shepard?"

"Your mother has been spotted on Noveria."