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On a tip from Traynor, the Normandy went straight from Thessia to something called "Sanctuary" on Horizon, which seemed to be Kai Leng's next stop. Kate didn't think she could hate Cerberus any more than she already did after everything she'd seen three years ago looking for Admiral Kahoku. That was until she saw what Sanctuary really was. The universe was going to have to come up with a whole new word for the rage she felt at seeing that place. Horror and evil beyond comprehension.

And then she found Miranda. Kate's former XO had been searching for months for her sister Oriana, convinced that their father was behind it. And, as was usually the case with Miranda, she was right. Henry Lawson had apparently gotten over the hatred of the Illusive Man he'd felt when Cerberus had taken in Miranda long ago and was now working with him. According to the vids Kate, Garrus and Kaidan had watched in their search of Sanctuary, Henry and the Illusive Man were trying to come up with a plan to control the goddamn Reapers. War refugees lured by the promise of safety, only to be turned into husks for the Illusive Man's twisted experiments.

Now, Kate was face-to-face with the egomaniac who had created Miranda and Oriana in order to create and maintain a dynasty. He was holding his younger daughter at gun-point, while her sister lay on the floor, bleeding and beaten from an encounter with Kai Leng. Once again, the assassin had failed to kill his target but once again he had also vanished.

"Let her go, Lawson, and we can talk about this," Kate said. She knew she had to be careful. Unlike when she had been in the same position with Harkin, Henry's finger was very much on the trigger.

Henry scoffed. "I'm not stupid, Commander. I know what your definition of 'talk' is. The moment I let Oriana go, you are going to shoot me."

"No, I won't. And they won't either," she said, indicating Kaidan and Garrus. She could tell by the look of amusement on Henry's face that they very much disagreed with that statement. But she knew, when push came to shove, they would follow her lead as they always did. She lowered her pistol but didn't holster it. "Let Oriana go. Now."

"Fine," Henry snarled as he shoved his daughter to the floor. "So. Are we good?"

"Thought you said you weren't stupid, Lawson. I said we weren't going to shoot you. I didn't say you weren't going to die." Kate had seen Miranda slowly getting to her feet.

"What-" Henry didn't get a chance to say more than that as Miranda's entire body glowed bright blue and she used all of her remaining strength to biotically throw him through the giant window behind him. He flew through the window and landed with a sickening crack on the concrete floor below. For good measure, Kate got out her sniper rifle and shot him between the eyes.

"Thank you, Commander," Oriana said as Kate helped her off the floor. "For everything."

Garrus and Kaidan carefully helped Miranda to stand and stay on her feet. "Shepard, before you go, I have something that will definitely help you." She handed Kate a small device with a blinking light on it. "During my fight with Kai Leng, I managed to slip a tracker on him. This should lead you directly to the Illusive Man's headquarters."

When Kate got back to the Normandy, she bypassed everyone else and went straight to the comm room to call her father. They both agreed that an assault against Cerberus would most likely be the beginning of the final push towards Earth. He said the Crucible was as ready as it could be without the final component, the Catalyst. Kate hoped she would find the information she needed in the Illusive Man's base.

Kate decided that one final trip to the Citadel was in order before heading to the Horse Head Nebula. While everyone was busy on the Sunset Strip, she received a message from Miranda, saying she wanted to talk.

"Thank you, Shepard, for your help with Sanctuary," Miranda said. "If you hadn't been there..." She trailed off, but Kate knew what she meant. Henry Lawson had been a monster nearly on the same level as the Illusive Man, and with a man like that, there was no telling what would have happened to Oriana.

"You're welcome," Kate said with a smile. "I can gladly say that I count you among my friends, though God knows we had a rough start. And you know how much I like Ori; I'd hated to have seen anything happen to her because of your father. Jackass."

Miranda smirked. "That he was." She was quiet for a moment before she turned to look out at the view of the Strip from Kate's living room window. "There's something you should know, Shepard. When the Lazarus project was rebuilding you, I wanted to implant a control chip, but the Illusive Man wouldn't allow it."

"I know," Kate said. "You told me this already, right after Freedom's Progress."

"It's just, the guilt has been eating away at me. I escaped my father and took Ori away from him to prevent him from controlling us. And yet I didn't hesitate a moment at the thought of doing the same bloody thing to you," Miranda said bitterly.

Kate put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't blame you. I can't say that I wouldn't have wanted to do the same thing if I'd been in your place. I was a complete unknown."

Miranda turned back to face Kate. "And there's something else."

Kate looked apprehensive. "Good or bad?"

Miranda smiled. "Well, if it was me, I'd definitely think it was a good thing. You know how the Illusive Man said he wanted to 'bring back Commander Shepard, exactly as she was when she defeated Sovereign'?"

"Yes..."

"Well, we did that. Except for one fairly major improvement. The gunshot wound that you received when you were sixteen-"

"You know about that?"

Miranda scoffed. "Please. There's not a whole hell of a lot the Illusive Man didn't know about you. Anyway, the one thing that I absolutely insisted on, was making sure that you would have the chance to have kids someday, if you survived the suicide mission and the Reapers."

Kate was speechless. She hugged Miranda so tight she was sure that the biotic would have had a couple of broken ribs if she wasn't genetically engineered. "Thank you," she finally choked out. "All these years, I thought I'd never... and my dad... oh fuckin' hell this is going to give him a heart attack."

Miranda laughed. "Sorry about that."

Kate shook her head. "I'm not. And I'm sure he'll think it's totally worth it," she said with a grin. "Oh shit. I... how the fuck am I going to tell Zaeed? And... are you sure it worked? It's not like I've been celibate for the last year and a half."

Miranda smiled. "While I may not have been allowed to implant you with a control chip, for which I am now very thankful, I did install a birth control chip that can be removed when you are ready for kids."

Kate had one last question. "As you said, there's not much the Illusive Man doesn't know, and especially about his own project. So he would have known your plan. Why didn't he tell me this the first time we talked?"

"He didn't want you getting distracted. And now I probably just lost us the war because you're going to go all gooey over baby stuff," Miranda teased.