III: Requiem

by RedCenturionG

The Collector threat is done; and the Normandy crew survived. The Shadow Broker has eyes watching a friend of Shepard's. Loyalties will be questioned, lives put on the line. And Peta will stop at nothing to get the girl of his dreams. In this, the crew is never safe. And in the end, Marcus Shepard will have to make a decision that could cripple his resolve forever.

26. Chapter 25 The Judgment Day

REQUIEM

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:

THE JUDGMENT DAY

November 11, 2185

1904 hours.

Debriefing Room, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate Normandy SR-2, Docked on Illium.

Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Chief Engineer Tali'Shepard vas Normandy, Gunnery Master Garrus Vakarian, Master Thief Kasumi Goto, Professor Mordin Solus, Major General Kal'Reegar vas Normandy, Staff Commander Kaidan Alenko, First Lieutenant Jacob Taylor, First Lieutenant Madi'Soi vas Ceresa, Assassin Thane Krios, Justicar Samara, Soldier Urdnot Grunt, Subject Zero Jack, Legion, Information Broker Liara T'Soni, Chieftain Urdnot Wrex.

His walk down the CIC was structured, purposeful, and fluent. There was nothing accidental or graceful about it; it was simply fixed on a singular goal, and nothing would halt it. He moved down the flight deck and through the CIC itself, heading for the armoury, Tali right behind him, followed by Garrus, Thane and Legion. By now, everyone would have been assembled in the conference room, so they were all just waiting for him.

To order them into the unknown once again.

To fight an enemy who knew everything about them before they even spoke.

A foe unknown to them.

But ultimately an enemy they would defeat and send straight into hell. They had done it to the Collectors already, and the geth heretics, and Sovereign. The Shadow Broker and his forces would be no different. No great achievement.

But it would be recorded in history.

He moved through the armoury, which was currently unoccupied. As he did, he spoke to thin air, his intent being to be heard by the ship's resident AI, "EDI, have Joker plot us for Hagalaz in the Sowilo System, Hourglass Nebula. Its time to pay the Broker a visit and give him a knock on his door to let him know we mean business."

"Joker has been informed commander," EDI declared, "We will reach Hagalaz in one standard galactic day."

"Thank you EDI," he thanked as he moved into the conference room, finding it to be full. Upon his entrance, all heads turned to face him, and immediately ceased all conversation. He nodded to them, returning the salute Kaidan and Jacob gave him, before heading through the crowd of them and towards the head of the table, where Garrus and Wrex already waited, and where he and Tali would be.

The crowd was evidently missing two members; and it saddened him to know they were gone; not dead, just...not present. Zaeed had his own mission to help Marcus with, and Miranda was currently fighting for her life in Nos Astra Hospital. He hoped she would be okay, and left it at that. Knowing her, she would be annoyed at him for not letting her tag alony to defeat the Shadow Broker, but would forgive him, knowing the circumstances.

He quickly made his way through the throng of people and arrived at the head of the table, standing infront of it and bracing himself against it, Tali coming to stand on his left and clasping her hands behind her back, turning from his wife to his subordinate in a matter of seconds. Garrus stood on his right with Wrex, and nodded to the spectre, who immediately entered commander mode as he turned to face the group.

"As you probably all know, we are currently in a period of war with the Shadow Broker," Marcus began, glancing at Liara who acknowledged it with a nod, coming to stand at the head with him, datapad in hand. He turned to face the rest of the squad once more, "A war that, until now, has remained rather...ignorable. However, a recent development has now forced my hand."

Everyone stood at attention, suddenly eager to hear what else he had to say and he nodded, taking his hands off the table and standing at his full height, "The Shadow Broker has dealt some damaging blows, there is no denying it. It was one of his men that shot and almost killed Tali and Kasumi. It was one of his squads that put Zaeed into a coma and almost killed him. It was his orders that set about the events that lead to the massacre on the Rayya. It was his actions that lead to the bombing of the Dracon Trade Center, that almost killed Grunt, Thane and Liara, and put Miranda into such a critical condition, that she cannot join us at this moment."

A sigh was heard, and Jack spoke up, "Give the cheerleader credit; she's a tough bitch. What I heard, anything like what she suffered would have killed anyone else. Guess her perfection helped with something, right?"

He turned to her with a smile, "That was very nice of you Jack."

She snorted, crossing her arms over her small breasts, "It only comes in small doses; enjoy it while you fucking can."

He chuckled, turning back to the group, his mouth setting about a grim tone once more, "However, the Shadow Broker hasn't stopped there. No, today he tried, again, to have me and Tali killed when two squads of his men, supported by a Cerberus gunship, attacked us in our apartment in the MesoReso Hotel. None of us were seriously hurt, and all Shadow Broker forces on sight were eliminated, plus the hostile gunship."

A growl was heard from Wrex, and Jack cracked her knuckles, obviously expecting some retaliation. Kal crossed his arms and Madi leaned against the table, while Mordin seemed to contemplate. Thane's face remained diplomatic, while Samara shot him an understanding look. Liara scowled absently, obviously experiencing some mental anecdote about a similiar set of events. Kaidan shook his head and Kasumi...she was at Tali's side in an instant, the quarian trying to tell her that she was fine, much to the thief's objection.

He raised his voice catching everyone's attention once more, "But we will not let this break us. He will not break us; we faced Harbinger and his Collectors and came out on top. Some of us even took down Sovereign and his geth and came out on top. We will not let this stop us. It will fuel us, give us strength, and empower us to move on," he slammed a fist on the table, his face contorting into a look of cold-blooded fury, "And I don't know about the rest of you, but I've had enough of the Broker's fucking cowardly attacks. Innocents could have been hurt, again, in this attack, and I'm going to put a stop to it. Right now, right here. All of us will."

"As of today, the final battle of this shadow war begins. The Shadow Broker wants a fight, he just got one," He faced every single one of them, "As of now, the Normandy is now heading for the Tasale Relay, where we will head for the Shadow Broker's base, land on it and not only destroy it, but the Broker himself. Tomorrow, the Shadow Broker falls, and we end the threat he poses."

"But I'm not going to force you to fight a battle you don't want to be a part of," Marcus held his hands in the air before him, "This isn't your fight, and I understand that. So if you'd rather stay on the Normandy or, hell, leave the Normandy, I don't mind. You can leave and you won't be judged. I swear it."

Everyone looked at him for a moment and then, suddenly, Jack broke into laughter. He looked at her with his own grin, already knowing her decision and the rest of the group's.

"You can't be fucking serious, boy scout," she studied him for a second, and slammed an open palm on the table, "You can count me in, asshole. Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm itching for a fight! I told you I was going to stay on this ship and help you stop the Reapers, so you can bet I'm going to help you kill the Shadow fucking Broker!"

Grunt slammed his fists together, "My exact thoughts! Battlemaster, I'm not going anywhere until this Broker is dead and his base is lying in glorious flames, so count me in!"

"Those bastards hurt Miranda, a woman who's saved my life in the past and who I consider a friend," Jacob piped up, "I want him dead just as much as you do."

"Shadow Broker a threat to mission objective. A threat to existence of all life. Must be stopped. Must be removed as threat," Mordin declared, meeting his eyes and nodding, "Will stay. Besides, still have much work in regards to reproductive agent."

"I'm the Master Thief, and you'll need me to hack through the base," Kasumi stated, crossing her own arms and facing Marcus fully, "And if that isn't enough, you guys are like one great big disfunctional family. I'm here to stay."

"Not like we have much to do," Kal spoke, both for himself and Madi, "Might as well join in. If it means we get to get take down one of the galaxy's biggest bosh'tets, why the hell not?"

"The Broker, as Mordin has already made quite clear, must be eliminated in order for our mission to succeed," Thane decreed, nodding, "I will join you in this quest to rid the galaxy of him; it is my job as an assassin, afterall."

"The justicar code demands that those who murder innocents as he has must be executed. Harshly and swiftly," Samara calmly dictated, "The Broker will die, and I will not turn my back to it. I will join you, Shepard. The Broker almost tricked me into killing your mate, and for that, I must make amends by killing the very man who almost caused it."

"Consensus reached," Legion chimed, "We have reached the conclusion that a declaration of an oath of allegiance to your cause is a primary software ability that is used to boost morale. We will participate in this action and this platform will aid you," it then added, in what he swore was an angry tone, "The Shadow Broker is also responsible for bringing termination upon multiple Creator runtimes. This must stop. We are their children, and we will avenge them, as an organic would."

"No arguments from me," Wrex snarled, "I just want to see that pyjak dead."

"Me too," Kaidan agreed.

He turned to Tali, a smile on his face as she spoke, "No speech from me. I'm with you all the way Marcus; till death do us part."

He turned to Garrus, who just shrugged, a grin creasing his mandibles, "I don't have anything quite as sappy Marcus, and I'm definitely not going to marry you anytime soon. I have no grand speech. So I'm just going to leave it at 'you need Archangel' and the rest can tell itself," he nodded to the spectre, who nodded back, turning back to his group with a determined gaze.

"Then you know what's coming," Marcus growled, "We're going to assault the Shadow Broker's base in Hagalaz, and it'll be so swift and sudden, he won't see it coming," he turned to the asari next to him, "Liara? Anything you want to add?"

The asari turned to him, nodding and bringing up her datapad, typing a few commands before something appeared on it and she cleared her throat, "From what I can surmise from the information Sekat had gathered before apparently defecting back to the Broker, is that the Broker's base is inside the gas giant Hagalaz, the third planet of the Sowilo System, which rules out a ground based facility," she tapped a few more commands, "That left a space station or starship, at least until I reviewed the info further."

"Well spill the goods princess of vengeance," Jack spouted, arms folded ontop of the table as she leaned over, "Which is? Station or ship?"

"Ship, to my surprise," Liara replied, her stern gaze fixing on everyone; a testament to her originally shy and nervous attitude towards life. Gone was the introvert Liara had once been, "However, it can't just be any vessel; Hagalaz's two hemispheres have colliding climates; one side is blistering heat, the other is freezing cold; as in colder than even Noveria. There is an area in Hagalaz's center where these hemispheres collide and create a massive storm cell; an area with winds strong enough to send weary men flying for kilometers, and tesla like energy that creates a non-stop dance of lightning. It is pretty much the most hostile place for a person to be in, and practically uninhabitable. Any ship that goes there for a prelonged period rarely comes out in one piece."

She spoke once more, dropping the datapad on the table before pointing a confident, firm finger at it, "Which is why I believe the Shadow Broker's ship is directly in the core of it."

Everyone looked at her with wide eyes, and a few gasped, but overall, they all looked at her with shocked expressions. Marcus turned to her with a raised eyebrow, questioning her logic, "Um...come again? I thought you said prolonged exposure to those kind of conditions would tear a normal ship apart."

Liara smiled at him, "Yes, a normal ship. Its likely this is anything but a normal ship. Its also the perfect place to put it if you're hiding."

Mordin nodded, "Yes yes yes, excellent place. Hostile climate wards off potential visitors; corporations, industries, paramilitary factions, colonial authorities. Harsh winds and lightning makes landing and passing through undesirable and Hagalaz largely ignored as uninhabitable. Lightning also scrambles sensors; impossible to pick up anything inside gas giant," Mordin inhaled and exhaled, an impressed smirk on his face, "Perfect hiding place."

"No wonder noone's been able to find this guy," Jacob braced against the table, "Hagalaz sounds like the last place you'd look. Only a Reaper or the Collectors could survive in an atmosphere like that."

Marcus nodded to him, turning back to Liara with another nod, "What kind of ship do you think it is?"

Liara shrugged, turning to the table, "EDI, could you do a search in all known databases, using Hagalaz's atmospheric data, to find a type of vessel that could survive in that kind of climate for...say...an infinite amount of time?"

EDI's blue pawn quickly made its presence known in the middle of the table, "I am running a search now," a few seconds later, the AI responded, "There is no known vessel capable of surviving in such conditions. I have done a search on all known merchant, paramilitary, military, government, mining, civilian and alien starships currently in existence and decommissioned, and none of the specifications given could survive an environment like that of Hagalaz."

"Thank you EDI," Marcus dismissed, and the AI vanished, everyone turning back to Liara, who shook her head, facing Marcus with an uncertain look.

"We're going to be flying in blind, Shepard," Liara declared, crossing her arms, "We have no idea what type of ship the Broker could be using, and we don't know if it has defenses or kinetic barriers."

"And I don't feel safe taking the Normandy into Hagalaz. Plus the climate and the unknown defenses we could be dealing with, its just too risky," Marcus faced everyone once, and let out a drawn out sigh. He tried to think of ways to enter Hagalaz's atmosphere and quickly turned to Liara, an idea in his mind, "Liara, what if we took the shuttle?"

Jacob piped up, suddenly reaching the conclusion Marcus had, "Yes! The kodiak shuttle is rated for deep-sea, harsh climate and all-temperature traversal. It would still be a bumpy ride, but it can be done!"

Marcus seemed to contemplate the idea for a second, "We'd all have to insert in the one shuttle, you know that right? We only have one, and if we lose it...I can't risk the Normandy attempting an extraction. I guess we'll have to go with this plan and hope for the best. Besides, if the Broker does have defenses, I doubt he'll have time to activate them by the time the Normandy arrives, deploys us and we land on his ship. We'll take him completely by surprise."

Everyone nodded in agreement, including Liara, who simply gave him an approving nod before clasping her hands behind her back, waiting for a final set of orders. He turned to Tali, who nodded as well and he moved to stand at the table once again, his gaze serious and brokering no argument.

"Then its settled," he declared, "Get ready. On November 12, the Shadow Broker is going down. All of you report to the armoury when we're close to reaching Hagalaz and meet in the shuttle bay. I want us able to deploy as soon as we get there so we can take this piece of shit by total surprise. For now, get some rest and sleep; you'll all need it. Crew, dismissed."

Everyone nodded their affirmation and left the room, Marcus taking Tali's hand and moving to leave the room. Before his feet reached the threshold of the door however, Liara yelled out, bringing him to a stop just as the last person filed out of the room, leaving only him, the young asari, and Tali. He turned to face her.

She fiddled with her hands, much like Tali used to, "I...please. This assault...I need to know it'll work. All my hard work for this moment...I need to know Feron's going to be okay. I need to know we'll win."

He smiled warmly at her, "We'll rescue Feron and we'll destroy the Broker once and for all. Despite all our grievances, you have my word on that, Liara. Now, go get some rest. You'll need it for the battle ahead."

She gave a quick nod and filed out of the room, rushing past them. He simply smiled at her retreating form before Tali began tugging at him to follow her to the elevator. He let his wife guide him along as he was left with his thoughts.

Say your prayers, Broker. Cause I won't hold back.

I'm going to end you.

{Loading...}

November 12, 2185

1728 hours.

The Shadow Broker's Office, Halcyon-Class Prototype, Hagalaz Storm Center, Hagalaz.

The Shadow Broker.

The Shadow Broker, in all his glory, sat before his computer terminal, imputting new data as he sent it off to the latest agent to request a field status update on Korlus. Being the Broker in all its entirety was hard work, especially without the quarian bitch in control, but at least he was in control. He wasn't a pet, he was the master. An entire information empire at his finger tips, and it all belonged to him. Knowledge was power, and he was the most powerful man in the galaxy.

Finishing the message he sent it, laying back in his seat and stretching, only to stop when his seat began creaking. He would need to send a request for a new one soon, and he would need a much bigger terminal to suit his bigger fingers. His body was built for killing and warfare, not for this job. But at the moment, it didn't matter. He wondered if his teams in Nos Astra had killed Shepard and Tali yet...

His terminal beeped with a message and he immediately moved in closer to open it, his smug grin dropping when he read the message's contents, and a glare of anger grew on his face. It was followed by a furious roar as his clenched fist smashed the terminal into bits of metal and he suffered a brief electric shock, but he ignored it. He removed his hand, showing the dent in the desk that was what was left of his personal terminal. He got up from his desk, and faced the door at the end of the room. The entrance to his office.

They had failed. Two squads of soldiers and a gunship against two unarmed people in civilian garb who were completely unprepared. But apparently he had underestimated the couple; and all he had to show for it was a destroyed apartment with twenty-four dead soldiers and the smoldering ruins of a gunship. At least the Illusive Man would suffer the failure as much as he did.

But that could only mean one thing now; Commander Shepard and the Normandy was coming. And he had to be ready.

But he also needed help.

He turned to his terminal, hitting the contact information for the Illusive Man. He waited a few seconds before a volume measurement bar appeared and the leader of Cerberus' voice came through the channel, "Shadow Broker, what can I do for you now? Before you say anything; I was already informed of the failure at the MesoReso Hotel."

"Indeed," the Shadow Broker growled, "Shepard is coming for me. As much as I find our alliance tense at the moment, I have no choice but to ask for your help, as much as it grates me to say it. I'm sending you the location of my base now; Shepard won't expect Cerberus intervention," he uploaded the coordinates into the message and sent it, continuing to speak as he did, "You can have a cruiser sent. Hide, and while his team are deployed, surprise and destroy the frigate, and my men will deal with Shepard and his team. It won't fail. We can crush Shepard in one swift-"

"I believe our alliance is at a close Shadow Broker," The Illusive Man interrupted, the sound of smoke floating by heard clearly through the communication, and he froze at the human's words, "As is your life, it would seem."

He growled louder this time, "Are you...? You can't just abandon me now! After all I've helped you with, this is how you turn me away? When I'm done with Shepard, his quarian pet and T'Soni, I will find you Illusive Man, and I will squeeze the life out of your pathetic little sack of a body."

The Illusive Man never laughs, but he swore he heard it in the background as the leader of Cerberus' spoke once more, "You wouldn't need Cerberus' help if you were confident you could take down Shepard, Shadow Broker. And while I will admit you were a tremendous help to our cause, you were a means to an end; and those means, of course, must have an end themselves. This is the end; or for you, at least."

He fumed, "You need me! You may have the military strength, but you need my network!"

There was a hesitation on the other side of the line, followed by the Illusive Man's calm voice, "While your information network is far superior to mine, that will soon change. Cerberus' is sophisticated enough to develop on its own, and with yours out of the way, it will give room for mine to grow and become stronger than yours. To face facts, Shadow Broker, I simply have no use for you anymore, and with that, I'm going to terminate this alliance. I wish you luck eliminating Shepard; you will truly need it."

Before he could sputter a single word more, the Illusive Man cut the comm link, and the room went silent once more. He simply stood there, unbelieving of the situation. Cerberus has turned its back on me; what allies do I have left to turn to but my own?

With an angry growl, he prepared to break the desk in two, only for a second communique to come in, this one from one of his sensor specialists on the very ship he stood on. With a look mixed of shock and anger, he connected the call, and he spoke.

"This is the Shadow Broker," he spoke, "What is it, Pev?"

"Sir, we have a proximity warning! Its them!" the salarian shouted in fear, "The Normandy just appeared in orbit and has already deployed a shuttle; its entering the atmosphere and heading straight for us! What should I do!? I mean, how the hell did they find us!?"

He snarled, almost breaking the terminal as he leant against it, "What you should do," he spat, "Is gather your weapons and prepare to defend this base; you will die defending it, you hear me? No retreat will be allowed! And don't even think of fleeing, because there is nowhere you can go on this ship where I won't find you."

The salarian gulped, "Y-y-yes sir, very well sir. Received well, Shadow Broker."

"And how they found us is of no consequence now, only that they have," the Broker growled, "Now get to it!" With that, he disconnected the comms and activated the ship wide PA system, speaking as he did, "All squads within the ship are to report to your battlestations immediately; this is not a drill! We have been found by Spectre Marcus Shepard, and he his deploying forces to attack this vessel; you are to defend it at all costs! Noone budges from their job! I want Squad Delta, Meta, Sigma and Hammer at my office now; defend it with your very lives! Squad Goblin and Royce are to head to the detainment center and defend it; If T'Soni wants Feron, she'll have to fight for it. All squads trained in EVA combat are to report to the exterior hull to repel boarders. Noone retreats, and you are to shoot to kill. No mercy, no quarter. Shadow Broker out."

Disabling the PA system, he practically heard the ship roar to life as soldiers moved to and from their stations to prepare for the boarding action, and all the Broker could do was watch the screens before him as agents from all over the galaxy began requesting status updates. Switching them off for now, he crouched below his desk and acquired his M-76 Revenant Light Machine Gun, and fastened it to his back, followed by his N7 Typhoon Anti-Personnel Assault Cannon; a special weapon he had acquired to the heavy firepower it packed. He placed that specific weapon on his main desk and stood there, equipping his omni-tool and making sure his omni-shield was in full operation. He would also fight to the death.

He could feel the quarian bitch's smug eyes on his back, but he ignored them as he sat behind his main desk, a solemn look of determination on his face as he clasped his hands ontop of it, waiting for Shepard and his men.

He would kill the man himself if that's what it took.

{Loading...}

November 12, 2185

1731 hours.

Bow Section/Exterior, Halcyon-Class Prototype, Hagalaz Storm Center, Hagalaz.

Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Chief Engineer Tali'Shepard vas Normandy, Gunnery Master Garrus Vakarian, Master Thief Kasumi Goto, Professor Mordin Solus, Major General Kal'Reegar vas Normandy, Staff Commander Kaidan Alenko, First Lieutenant Jacob Taylor, Assassin Thane Krios, Justicar Samara, Soldier Urdnot Grunt, Subject Zero Jack, Legion, Information Broker Liara T'Soni, Chieftain Urdnot Wrex.

The kodiak shook violently as they descended upon the Shadow Broker's vessel, and from first glance, it was quite a garguantuan starship; it easily dwarfed the Everest-Class Dreadnought, and was practically the same size as a Reaper. It was of unusual design though; he didn't recognize the architecture, but it was very spartan; most of the edges looked ruggard, and the top of the vessel was covered in solar-panel looking pieces of plating that flapped up and down, and the stern of the ship had two huge wings that spread out and, attached to one, was six sets of massive solar-panel looking appendages; three on top arching upwards in a diagonal fashion, and the same below, except facing downwards. Overall, an awkward design, but a huge vessel of unknown purpose.

The kodiak buckled once more as heavy winds tossed it about. The inside of Hagalaz's storm center was like the eye of hurricane; black clouds were located all over the place, with flashes of yellow and white color where the Sowilo sun tried to break through the cloud cover; and surrounding them was the constant flashes of thunder and lightning, nonstop, like a storm that never ended. But the more he examined it; the more it seemed the lightning seemed to be magnetically attached to the solar-panels; everytime lightning struck near the ship, it seemed to always hit the solar-panels, and they just absorbed it.

Maybe the ship's power is based off the electric power they absorb from the constant lightning strikes? Clever. Its clear to me how they managed to survive in an atmosphere like this now.

The shuttle was pretty much jammed pack, especially with all the new visitors like Wrex, Kal and Madi jammed into the small space. But the crampedness they felt now would be alleviated when their squad-sized unit of elite badasses wreaked havok on the Shadow Broker's troops.

Speaking of them, he watched a sniper shot ping off the shuttle's hull, followed by two more, and another four. Knowing that the Broker's forces were now launching their defense in full strength, he slammed his fist into the bulkhead seperating them from the pilot telling her to bring them in and deploy them quickly before they bring out the big guns.

It wasn't long before the kodiak hovered over the base's exterior hull on the bow section, and the shuttle door opened, Marcus moving quickly as he landed on the ground before the shuttle was blown away from its stationary position. He was quickly followed by the rest of the squad, who quickly opened fire on the converging Shadow Broker forces, trying to keep them back while their full force deploys.

Three missiles erupt from their ranks and try to impact the kodiak, but the wind sends them flying in all directions, and the kodiak shoots away unharmed, making its return to the Normandy in the safety of orbit. Marcus, helmet fully sealed, turned to his team, "Grunt, Wrex, Kal and Thane, you're with me, push up the left! The rest of you try to push through the middle! Try and break their ranks! If you see their commander, take him or out on sight! Let's move! Push 'em back!"

A hail of gunfire was exchanged between both forces, barely heard over the roar of the wind racing past them; even Marcus' internal heating systems were barely keeping up with the cold that was seeping inside his armor. But he pushed on; his pulse rifle raised and buckling as he pulled the trigger multiple times, his first burst ripping into the skull of one unlucky human soldier who hadn't had his shields up and causing his body to thump onto the steel hull of the ship.

"Which one of you pyjaks wants to play!?" Wrex challenged over the comms and he turned just in time to see the krogan rip the throat of a krogan out with his bare hands, before tossing his mangled body into the wind, orange blood flying all over the place, before he moved on to raise his claymore, blasting another krogan's torso into painted gore on a strut poking out of the hull.

With Kal and Thane at his side, he pushed forward; Wrex and Grunt already having taken point and spearheaded their eventual assault. With the force of a freight train, the small squad assaulted the Shadow Broker's men from the left, taking them offguard as they tried to compensate for the unexpected attack.

Two turians activated omni-shields and crouched, entering a riot guard formation as they acted as barricades, four human soldiers taking cover behind them and taking potshots at Marcus' team. Oh no you don't, assholes. Motioning to Kal, the quarian marine quickly unhooked his missile launcher from his back, took aim at a spot inbetween the shields, and fired.

The rocket hit dead center in the middle, the wind not blowing it away due to the fact it was flying into the wind, not away from it. It slowed the projectile, but they still didn't see it until the white flash overcame them, tearing the right leg and arm off the left turian and sending him flying into the wind, screaming hopelessly as he was blown away to his death. The second turian suffered a similiar fate, but was sniped. Marcus, turning to see who had done it, grinned when he saw Garrus give him a mock salute before returning to leading his team in their fight down the enemy center.

His pulse rifle barked once more, tearing through the shields of one soldier before he could return fire. The man managed to get off a single shot from his carnifex at Grunt, the shot bouncing off the krogan's armor, before his pulse rifle barked again, piercing the man's helmet and blasting his brain asunder, painting the interior in dark, opaque red.

Diving forwards, with his pulse rifle in one hand and his newly equipped Locust SMG in another, he took aim at two more of the soldiers and fired again. The pulse rifle tore into one woman's torso, causing her to lose her grip on her grenade launcher and drop it into the winds to speed away, while his SMG only need one bullet; that bullet quickly tearing through the man's throat and out the other side, rupturing his oesophagus. Red blood geysered out of the hole and the man choked on his own blood.

Groaning, the woman drew her omni-blade and managed to roll out of the way of another burst from his rifle, only to run into Thane, who quickly grabbed the sides of her head and snapped it cleanly. The last trooper attempted to hit Thane in the head with his pistol, but was stopped short of the attempt as Kal's shot pierced him straight through the skull, killing him instantly.

A roar of defiance echoed from his side and he turned just in time for an asari to land behind him, her hand swatting away his SMG arm and moving to punch him in the stomach. He was winded from the blow, but quickly recovered, dodging a kick to the groin and countering by his rifle as a club, catching her in the side of the head and knocking her back.

Growling, she turned back to face him again, only to disappear as Wrex rammed into her, crushing her tiny form against the bulkhead behind them, and if it hadn't been for space, they would have heard alot of breaking bones. Wrex retreated, shooting a solemn nod in Marcus' direction before they returned to their battle.

Holstering his SMG and rifle, he equipped his claymore shotgun and pushed forward once more, coming up behind the forces Garrus and his squad had so eagerly distracted. They were thinning due to the number of troops under Garrus' command; and only a squad of them remained; they also wouldn't see Marcus and his team coming.

Liara launched a singularity directly at them, but another asari managed to combat it by detonating it in mid air with a warp field, sending some of Garrus' men flying back, with Kasumi and Jacob losing balance for half a second before getting back up. Tali, behind cover at the time, chose to reveal herself and blasted a sizable chunk out of an asari's hipbone, causing her to cry out in pain before an incineration slammed into her body, ending her in an instant, Mordin raising his SMG to finish off the turian behind her burning cadaver.

Legion's widow barked its war cry, a shot of pure armor-piercing death leaving one salarian a wrecked mess of meat and blood. His other salarian comrade managed to deploy his combat drone before meeting his fate at the hands of Samara's reave, while his combat drone quickly found itself in battle with Tali's Chiktika; who quickly won the battle.

Kal emerged an unsuspecting turian and slammed his foot into the back of his leg, causing him to fall to his knees. Before he could cry out, Kal's omni-blade activated and arched across his neck, blue blood spilling into Hagalaz's atmosphere before the quarian kicked the body down onto the ground, before it was taken by the wind.

Marcus' claymore joined with Grunt's as it coughed out a shell of mutilating terror, his shot reducing one krogan's head to a stump while Grunt's seemed to hit an unsuspecting human biotic in the torso, lifting him from the ground before spilling his guts into the air. Garrus' team quickly found themselves gagging when said guts blew in the wind and slammed into their bodies, covering them in red, human intestines and blood.

It quickly turned into a slaughter house. The Shadow Broker's men began a tactical retreat, with two salarians using what looked to be two jet thrusters attached to their boots to fly them onto the upper deck, before they then ran away. Another turian attempted to follow, but was stopped when one of those thrusters was wrecked from a shot by Thane's phalanx, the soldier quickly meeting his demise as Wrex knocked away his phaeston and clasped a talon around his head, crushing it in his bare hands and covering his armor in quickly drying blue blood.

The rest of the enemy squad didn't fare much better; and they were quickly disposed of and they all grouped around the end of the first bulkhead; a long section of the ship covering the length of the ship's 'keel' and riddled with alot of those lightning absorbing panels he saw upon landing.

Due to the fact they couldn't hear each other of the sounds of the wind roaring by, they were forced to resort to comms. Garrus spoke first, the blank expression of his helmet's visor facing Marcus, "They'll be regrouping soon, Marcus. Might be best if we strike soon."

"Agreed," he replied, turning to the group, "We'll continue the push; whatever you do, don't let up. Don't let them regroup, reload or get a breather; show them how relentless you are, and show no mercy. We take no prisoners here," he had a plan, and he knew how he wanted it to go. Turning back to Garrus, he gave the turian a singular look. It was one the turian understood well, and he nodded, Marcus turning to face Tali, "We're going to be going into two teams; the assault team and the infiltration team. Tali, I'm putting you in charge of the assault team. I'll command the infiltration team."

Tali clearly had objections, "No, I'm going with you."

"I can look after myself Tali," he replied, "I want you leading the assault team; you can lead a team, and think of it...you get to boss Garrus around," the turian seemed to gulp behind his helmet, and he took pleasure in the turian's discomfort.

"Uh...fine," Tali glared at him, pointing a demanding finger, "But you better stay safe. If I find out you died, I'll bring you back just to kill you again."

He chuckled, nodding as he turned to his team, "Liara, you're with me. I'll also take Jack, Legion and Kaidan. The rest of you are with Tali. The assault team will engage the Shadow Broker's main force and keep them busy; push towards the coordinates Liara has transmitted, but all the while, act as the delaying force. I want you to wither down as many of these bastards as you can. Infiltration team will skirt around them and head straight for the coordinates; we'll try and have it open by the time you get there."

"Have what open? What are the coordinates, battlemaster?" Grunt asked.

He nodded to Liara, who began to explain through her transparent visor, "There are many airlocks on the ship, but most of them are only accessible to maintenance drones, and others are essentially manholes, which are too small for krogan, and even if they weren't, it would take too long for the entire squad to file in one by one. However, the main airlock is located a hundred meters astern, and is big enough to fit a Mako through. Its got heavy encryption, but we just happen to have three of the best hackers in the galaxy," the asari smiled, obviously referring to Kasumi, Tali and Legion.

"There we go then," he turned back to his wife, "Your team will keep them distract whilst simultaneously exhausting their strength, while my team sneaks around. Understood?"

Everyone nodded and began to move out, but Tali moved up to Marcus, pulling his head down so she could tap her visor against his. Keeping their masks together, she whispered into their private channel, "Please stay safe. I love you."

He smiled weakly and patted her shoulder, "I'll be fine. I love you too, honey. This'll be over in no time. Now let's go kick the Shadow Broker's ass."

She smiled behind her mask, pulling away as her geth plasma shotgun folded into her hands, "Yes sir!" With that, she marched off, barking at her team to assemble and began assigning them positions in the march. Sparing her one final glance, he turned back around and moved towards where Liara, Jack and Kaidan were already waiting.

"If we're finished with all the kissing and hugging bullshit, can we be fucking going?" Jack asked, almost demanding it, "I want to butt some more heads together."

"We are here to rescue Feron and take down the Broker," Liara snarled at her, clearly not in the mood for jokes and entertainment, "Nothing more. This isn't a game, convict."

Jack shot her a glare but just laughed, "Don't be such a pus-oh, shit. Well, don't be such a spoiled fucking brat. I'm just saying. Besides, I didn't say I didn't want to butt the Broker's head. He'll be the real fun one, I tell ya."

Before Liara could retort, Kaidan quickly spoke up, "Can we please get going? Feron isn't going to rescue himself while you two settle your differences on military discipline. I believe we should use the distraction Tali is giving us while we can."

Marcus nodded, turning to the group before slamming a fresh thermal clip into his claymore, "Then let's get this shit done; Kaidan, Legion, take point. Jack, Liara, with me, cover my flanks. I'll take the middle. Push forward, rapid but steady. Don't engage hostiles unless necessary; don't want to attract unwanted attention. If something needs to be hacked, please don't blow it apart, and just have Liara hack it."

Jack gave a mock groan, "You're such a pussy, Shepard."

He grinned, "Just being cautious, Jack."

The convict smiled, equipping her batarian-made raider shotgun whilst looking ahead, "Caution is for pussies. I'm more of a risk-taker."

He shook his head, ignoring Liara's impatient glare whilst motioning for Kaidan to move up, the alliance marine having already raised his avenger assault rifle and moving ahead. Legion merely equipped its geth pulse rifle in silence, moving in tandem with Kaidan's long strides. Marcus quietly followed, with Jack on his left, and Liara on his right. The area ahead looked clear, and they pushed on, bullets whizzing by giving evidence to the fight that raged on their left.

The Broker would have to fight for every inch of hull his organization held.

But that organization was going up in flames pretty damn soon.

{Loading...}

November 12, 2185

1758 hours.

Main Airlock/Exterior, Halcyon-Class Prototype, Hagalaz Storm Center, Hagalaz.

Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Information Broker Liara T'Soni, Subject Zero Jack, Staff Commander Kaidan Alenko, Legion.

"Hey Liara!" He yelled over the gunfire, his rifle barking once more and impacting the shields of an advancing salarian engineer, delaying his advance before he was forced back into cover, his rifle ejecting the spent clip before he then retrieved a fresh one and slipped it into the open chamber. He didn't even turn as he spoke.

"What!? I'm kinda busy!" She yelled back from her position across from him, the asari barely able to hold her own as she augmented Kaidan's biotic attack against a krogan with her own biotics, sending the krogan soldier flying off the deck to be claimed by the raging winds.

He grinned as he replied, nostalgia slipping into the moment, "Remember those times when you could just slap omni-gel on everything!?" He chuckled inwardly, making reference to the days before his death where omni-gel was essentially used my mechanics to fix everything in seconds. It was now, unfortunately, illegal. It was originally produced for the military, and since all the major suppliers stopped manufacturing it upon the One Hundred and Ninth Amendment to the Citadel Conventions, the military stopped getting it, and so did everyone else. Eventually, purchasing it from buyers on Omega just became too costly and people just stopped doing it. Alot had changed in the two years he was dead, indeed.

To his relief, Liara laughed as she yelled back, "Yes, that security upgrade made alot of people very unhappy!"

He chuckled as he raised his head once more, his rifle bumping the same engineer in the chest; who had advanced and had been moving to leap over Marcus' cover, only to bump into his rifle. Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger and the salarian's spleen popped open like a melon, green blood flying into the wind and the salarian's dead body with it. Good riddance, he thought.

Jack was suddenly at his side, a biotic shockwave tossing two turians and two humans flying into multiple directions as she crouched down next to him, "Well, this is fucking fun! Any idea when buckethead and her platoon of goodies turn up? I'm getting a little fucking tired of these cunts currently throwing themselves into my little meat grinder."

He peaked over the barricade to see yet another six soldiers seemingly appearing out of nowhere, the Shadow Broker almost seeming to have an inexhaustible supply of troops. He took aim and fired a contained burst, managing to gain a headshot on one unlucky salarian before he fell back into cover, turning to face Jack.

He nodded to her, "Get back to your corner and cover it; I don't want any holes left unturned," one hand moved to his earpiece, "I'll see what's holding them."

She nodded, growling as she formed a flare and threw it into the approaching five, easily decimating them in a single shot. He gave her a deadpan expression, to which she just laughed at before running off back to her corner, shotgun barking at a few of the Broker's men who tried to get over her barricade and failed.

"Tali, what's the hold up? We've got the Broker's men swarming over us, and we can't hold them forever," he demanded, peaking to see six more soldiers arriving, and he simply ignored them, hiding back behind cover while letting his biotics simmer and flow over his body.

Tali's voice replied in an instant, the sound of her shotgun spewing death easily heard in the background along with the hiss of the wind, "We're just mopping up now! They had us pinned for a moment, but Kal and Jacob managed to relieve the right flank. We're pressing up towards you now; what's your status!? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. We're all fine," he replied hurriedly, standing up and letting loose a biotic shockwave off his own, staggering the enemy long enough for his one arm to raise his rifle and fire, hitting a turian in the foot and causing him to yelp in pain as he fell to the ground, while his second burst pinged off the biotic field of an asari. A horde of fire poured into his shields, and they broke just as he moved into cover, "We're at the airlock and awaiting a relief party. They're coming from all sides periodically, and always in groups of six. Its a battle of attrition, Tali."

"We'll be there soon; ETA is two mikes," she replied, "Hold fast and we'll help. Love you, Tali out."

He nodded and disconnected the comm, turning to where Legion held the door, its optics scanning the area ahead of it as it cradled its Widow anti-material rifle like the precision weapon it was; it was delicate, but also a weapon of pure gore-inducing destruction. It wasn't any WMD, but it was definitely powerful. And to think it was a quarian weapon. Maybe Legion uses it out of symbolic significance?

He called out to the geth, "Legion, you see anything!"

"We are currently processing a warning to Jack-Zero. One moment," it then spoke, without even turning to the convict, "Jack-Zero, two hostile combatants have broken through your defenses are proceeding to flank. We are engaging."

With speed incapable of organics, the geth infiltrator spun on the spot, its rifle firing its cannon-like projectile almost as soon as the synthetic turned, and the sound of Jack's 'fuck yeah!' meant that the shot had hit its target; not surprising for a geth as accurate as Legion was. The geth took a moment to fold back the chamber of the weapon and slot in a fresh thermal clip, this one glowing more than standard ones and much bigger, before folding the chamber back into place, lowering the weapon and firing again. Both targets down, it repeated the process of reloading, and returned to its sentinel state, speaking to Marcus as it did.

"Yes, Shepard-Commander?"

He spoke quickly, "I was going to ask if you could see anything, but apparently you've already answered that question."

Its head flaps quivered, "We do not understand. You have not voiced your inquiry, and we have not verbally replied to the specified question. We do not understand how it is possible to have-"

"Metaphor, Legion," he interrupted, turning back to the enemy, "Metaphor."

"We will process this new information," the geth responded, "Organics are strange creatures."

He almost guffawed at the statement, as it didn't sound very geth like at all, but was suddenly face-to-face with a turian's phaeston. His omni-blade appeared in moments and he slashed upwards, cutting the weapon clean in half. With the turian holding nothing but a pistol-sized chunk of rifle in his hand, he had nothing to defend himself with and was quickly ended by the same omni-blade stabbing him through the eye.

Releasing his dead attacker, he turned back to his enemies and gunned them down as they tried to rush his position in a suicidal manner, giving up on all form of tactics just for a chance to delay their advance into the ship. With all enemies taken out, and another six bound to arrive, he ducked back behind the barricade.

Liara, her SMG firing once more and hitting a pylon, the lightning electricity collected inside spilling out and eviscerating the soldiers around it, frying them into blackened corpses before she took cover once more, yelled across the field, shaking her head, "If they grouped up and attacked at once, they'd be much more effective!"

He groaned, a biotic blast of energy blasting from his fist as he grabbed one salarian around the waist with a biotic 'lasoo' and pulled him towards him, allowing him to then proceed in ramming his rifle into the bottom of the salarian's chin and blast a shot clean through his head, dropping his dead body. He didn't even turn to Liara as he prepared to deal with the other five hostiles, "Liara, please don't give the mercs ideas!"

She almost turned towards him at that, "What!? Its true!"

"They don't need to know that! The last thing we need is them swamping us!"

"That actually doesn't sound like a-" before the turian could finish his sentence, Legion's widow barked once more, reducing him to red waste. The geth's response was immediate as it spoke.

"T'Soni-Broker should refrain from releasing critical mission tactical data to enemy forces. Not only does it result in stronger strength and troop movement, but it will also result in a collaborative overwhelming of our position."

"You heard it from the geth, Liara!" he shouted, "Lets just wait for Tali to arrive before we start giving them ideas on how to beat us!"

Liara was about to reply when the fresh wave moving to attack her was suddenly gunned down in a wave of gunfire. Before she could wonder who did it, Garrus leapt from the side, his mattock spitting bullets as he ran behind Liara's cover, followed by Jacob and Kal. Tali appeared next to Kasumi, both of them ignoring the Shadow Broker's men. It wasn't long before the rest of the cavalry arrived, all of them spilling into the small area and assisting in holding off the enemy troops.

Tali and Kasumi arrived at his side, and Tali reached to hug him, but he waved her off, "There's time for reunions later! Go with Legion and get that damn door open! We've only got so many thermal clips, and we're not even inside yet!"

Tali nodded and with Kasumi they got up and rushed towards Legion. Noticing their presence, the geth nodded and holstered its sniper rifle, following the two hackers as they approached the main airlock and disappeared behind one of the bulkheads concealing it, beginning their hack.

He shouted to his team, "I'm in command again, and our three geniuses need time to hack through the lock; we're going to give them that time! Give them everything you have! Remember, no quarter, no mercy!"

The next few minutes felt like forever as the Shadow Broker's mercenaries relentlessly assaulted them from all directions, absolutely non-stop throwing themselves at their defenses like they didn't value life anymore. But they continued to chew through thermal clips taking them down, and after what felt like an eternity, Tali yelled over the comms.

"The airlock is open! Everybody inside, quickly! MOVE!" He didn't need to be told twice, and he began a steady retreat towards the door, firing as he did, whilst the rest of the defenders did the same thing. He moved down the ramp leading into the airlock and into the long, wide corridor connecting to it; Tali, Kasumi and Legion already waiting for him and everyone else as they all fell back inside the complex.

The gunfire continued to dance around them until the last team member was inside, and Tali slammed the door shut, closing it just as the Shadow Broker forces moved to pursue them, shutting them off. Everyone blew a collective sigh of relief; everyone, that is, except Grunt, Wrex and Legion; the latter being incapable of it, and the two formers just standing stoically.

He turned to look down the corridor, but not before he slotted a fresh clip into his weapon and nodded to Liara, who nodded back. He kept moving his eyes around the corridor, making sure each and every member of his squad was okay. Satisfied, he turned to Tali and gave her the hug she deserved, before turning to look down the corridor, weapon raised.

The ramp lead further down and as they reached the bottom, they found an extremely long corridor stretching across the area; it was at least forty meters in length. It went up and down with multiple stairs, and cabling hung from the ceiling; the walls reminding him eerily of the bland, red and brown walls of Omega's streets. Dim, yellow light poured in through the sides of the walls, illuminating the spartan interior, and every step they took seemed to echo throughout the hallway.

And when he said that, he didn't mean just theirs. He could hear multiple footsteps heading towards them from the end of the corridor at a very fast pace; and in an instant, he knew who they were. He motioned to his team to follow him as they pushed forward, while Garrus, Thane and Legion stayed behind to provide sniper fire.

Slowly, they moved down the corridor, and the footsteps got louder and louder. And just as they reached the twenty-four meter mark, they appeared.

A salarian soldier, tech armor encasing his form in an orange glow and with a Tempest SMG in hand, rounded the corner, followed by two human troopers in the same black armor, carrying avenger assault rifles, both of them male. A female human rounded the corner holding a missile launcher, at three turian troopers also rounded the corner, carrying turian phaeston rifles.

The salarian was obviously the leader of the group, and ordered his men to enter position silently, and the two humans, flanking the doorway, immediately opened fire on his team, followed by the three turians. The field of fire was quickly augmented as the female took aim with her launcher and fired, blue light streaking towards them at high speed.

With impecable accuracy, Tali targetted the missile and fired her overload program at it, causing it to explode midair. The heat swamped over him, but quickly ignored it as he dropped into cover, Tali beside him, as they all returned fire at the enemy.

Garrus' Reaper sniper rifle boomed and a round went straight through the female's eye, blasting her brains out the back of her head and coating her fellow turian's face in red gore. The launcher fell from her grip and onto the floor, followed by her dead body.

Finally able to use grenades without worrying about the wind, he tore one from his bandolier and primed it, tossing it in their hostiles' general direction. He waited for a bang before leaping from cover and taking aim.

The smoke cleared to show that the soldiers had taken cover from the blast, only for Liara to land a clean headshot on one turian with her SMG. Kal's rifle fired off its own bark, and hit one turian in the shields, only for the quarian to be forced back into cover by the second human soldier. Growling, Wrex's body glowed in biotic brilliance and he sucked the human out of his cover, dumping infront of the krogan's form, where he was quickly finished off by Wrex painting the floor with his brains; using his foot to crush the man's skull. The krogan let out a chuckle, before rejoining the fight.

Thane's viper fired and hit the first human repeatedly in his shields, only for the man to retailate with further gunfire. However, Thane's shots had forced him out of cover, and after taking his shields down, Mordin hit him with a cryo blast, freezing his body into a solid block of ice, before shooting one final shot, blasting him into little tiny ice fragments.

One turian dropped his weapon and charged Jack unsuspectedly with an omni-blade over his head, and almost brought it down on her skull, but was instead tackled by Samara out of the way. Getting up, he growled and moved to stab her, but was instead met by a massive force of biotic power slamming him into the ground, pinning him there where Samara then proceeded to snap his neck, where she ended the stasis field. Jack gave the asari an appreciative look, and the justicar seemed to smile, and Marcus got the feeling those two were closer than he thought.

The last turian charged forward, his salarian commander deploying his combat drone while launching multiple incineration programs from his twin omni-tools to keep the squad at bay, clearly calling for reinforcements. The third turian was quickly ended by Jacob as the man suddenly appeared, elbowing him in the face and causing him to double back before shoving his shotgun into his abdomen and pulling the trigger, ripping the turian's stomach wide open.

The salarian squad leader panicked, now seeing his team had been completely decimated. He turned to run, only to bump into Kasumi, who had suddenly decloaked. She waved cheerily at him with a warm grin before it turned into a solemn look and a knife extended from her sleeve, where she then proceeded to slice the salarian's throat open, the thief standing out of the way to let the green blood pour onto the ground. His tech armor evaporated, and his body slumped to the ground.

Kasumi waved them over, and all team members appeared at the end of the corridor. Marcus was about to bark out fresh orders when a rough, deep voice, obviously masked, spoke over the PA.

"All squads, Shepard and his team have breached the main airlock and are most likely on their way to the detention center," the growling voice spoke, "Squads Goblin and Royce are to hold that area at all costs; All other squads not currently in operation are to head for the main airlock and eliminate Shepard's team by any means necessary. Shadow Broker out."

Kasumi grimaced, speaking in a mockingly surprised voice, "So that's the Broker...such a scary fella. Do you think he likes japanese girls with a penchant of kleptomania? No, wouldn't think so."

Liara shook her head, "He said something about the detention center; that's got to be where Feron is!" She raced to move forward, but his arm shot out, halting her advance. She turned to look him, objection in her eyes, but she also saw what was in Shepard's eyes.

"The Broker is expecting us to try and rescue Feron," he spoke strongly, "We go rushing in there, and he'll be ready. We need a distraction," he turned to his team, "Garrus, take a team and hold this position; I want you to keep the Broker's men busy thinking we are still pinned here, while the rest of us follow me and head for the detention center. Liara, access the ship's mainframe and download the schematics of the ship."

The asari nodded, heading over to a nearby wall terminal and immediately beginning to access it. Garrus quickly nodded, turning to the squad available, "Jacob, Kaidan and...," his gaze lingered over a certain thief before nodding, "...Kasumi, you'll be staying behind with me and providing a diversion."

"Why thank you, Mr. Vakarian," Kasumi slyly replied, brushing past him, a coy smile on her face. He chuckled at the two of them; they were just like him and Tali. It was only a matter of time before Marcus was the best man for Garrus and Kasumi's wedding. Really? You're really confident on a relationship between a detective and a thief working, aren't you? He laughed lightly at that thought, shaking it away quickly as he turned back to Liara.

"Find anything?"

She nodded, turning from the terminal, "I've got the schematics on my omni-tool now. Uploading it to everyone else's...now," and with that, everyone's omni-tools beeped, but only Marcus opened his, bringing up the schematics for the colossal vessel. Why is the final battle always somewhere massive? First the Citadel, then the Collector Base, and even the Shadow Broker's base is huge!

"There," he pointed to the holographic display, "The detention center is located 150 meters from this current position, further aft of the vessel. It looks like...what used to be some sort of laboratory, but they seemed to have repurposed it."

"I also discovered that this ship is a Halcyon-Class Prototype. For what, I can't tell exactly, but it seems to be the result of a Council attempt at experimenting with storm patterns and trying to create a vessel that cope with such conditions, with the intent of using it as a weather gathering ship, an expeditionary vessel, and, to my surprise, a possible traversal into the galactic core," Liara surmised, "It had alot of Salarian Union funding, and was completed, but never deployed."

He raised an eyebrow at her, "Why wasn't it deployed?"

She looked at him with a grim look, "Because one of the project leads decided to steal it for her own selfish gain."

Marcus hit an epiphany in an instant, "The Shadow Broker."

Liara nodded, "Exactly. Says here that the project lead was a salarian female, but that can't be accurate, as a salarian's lifespan is only 40 years at maximum, and the Shadow Broker has been around for at least a thousand years."

He motioned for the squad to get moving, deactivating his omni-tool as he brought his weapon to bear, taking point, "Maybe the Shadow Broker isn't an individual; maybe its a title. Something that's inherited."

"That's the most logical conclusion," Liara gulped, "...which begs the question? Just who is the Broker now, and just how powerful are they?"

"Powerful enough to own an empire such as the one he owns now," he responded, "But we debate the semantics of this later. Right now, we've got your boyfriend to rescue. Come on."

And so they continued, into the bowels of the Shadow Broker's headquarters.

To rescue Feron.

{Loading...}

November 12, 2185

1832 hours.

Detention Center, Halcyon-Class Prototype, Hagalaz Storm Center, Hagalaz.

Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Chief Engineer Tali'Shepard vas Normandy, Professor Mordin Solus, Major General Kal'Reegar vas Normandy, Assassin Thane Krios, Justicar Samara, Soldier Urdnot Grunt, Subject Zero Jack, Legion, Information Broker Liara T'Soni, Chieftain Urdnot Wrex.

He spun the corner and fired his Locust twice, first hitting the asari in the stomach, catching her offguard, before finishing her off with a shot straight through the throat. Choking on her blood, she fell backwards and wreathed on the ground, gasping for air before Tali moved forward, pistol in hand, and emptied a shot straight her forehead.

A warp field shot forth from Liara's palm and hit a Shadow Broker soldier seeking cover, sending him flying into the deck behind him, splitting the wooden table in half, and causing one large piece to stab through his back. He cried out in pain, only for Jack to shoot forth and reappear infront of him in a flash, obviously having followed Samara's lessons on biotic jumping. With a sadistic smile, she slammed a biotic fist into his face, killing him instantly.

The team moved forward, Wrex in front, as they passed a long observation window allowing a clear view of a chair, and strapped to it, was a drell in a black outfit exactly like Thane's. That must be Feron. They moved up, and to the left was the entrance into Feron's cell, with a desk next to it, terminal lit up and waiting. Another door was at the end of the room, which, according to the schematics, lead to the Shadow Broker's Main Office. Perfect.

The chair behind the desk had been wheeled away and Wrex, rolling his eyes, moved over to it and flipped the desk over, revealing the cowering form of female salarian in black uniform; obviously she wasn't a soldier, and just worked for the Broker.

"Please, don't hurt me!" she begged, "I can give you the access codes to the cell! Please, I don't fight for the Broker, I only do cell duty! I'm a caretaker!"

He eyed her suspiciously before nodding his head at the door, "Then unlock it. Liara's come to rescue her friend, and I'm not in the mood for the word no."

She frantically nodded, opening her omni-tool and quickly unlocking the door; the interface turning bright green. Liara, in her frenzy of concern, immediately shot for the door, and she was about to tap the interface when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the salarian woman pull out a predator pistol and take aim.

He spun on the spot, but never got the chance. A ear-piercing boom from his right side echoed through the room and the woman flew upwards, her entire torso sheered from the waist up as guts spilled all over the place and she screamlessly slammed into the ceiling and back onto the ground, green blood quickly pooling around her corpse, predator pistol now limp in her fingers. Turning, he saw a grim looking Grunt, who lowered his claymore, reloading it, before meeting his battlemaster's gaze.

"What?" he asked innocently, squaring his broad shoulders, "She was going to shoot. I shot first, and my gun was bigger."

He sighed, shaking his head, before turning back to the cell door; only to find it already open and Liara standing in the middle of the corridor beside it, looking at the person inside, "Feron?"

A voice replied, nowhere near as croaky as Thane's, "L-L-Liara? How the hell-" It was weak; injured. Tired.

He filed in behind her, and saw that they were in a corridor that ran parallel to the cell, to which another observation window blocked them from access, with a control console infront of it. And sitting in the middle of the room was Feron, strapped to a dentist's chair and hooked up to multiple machines; even a few wires were...attached...to the seat...it all clicked together in his mind.

He saw Liara rush for the control console, "Don't worry Feron; I'm going to get you out of here!"

He saw the wires not only attached to the chair, but lead to the console. Oh shit...

Liara reached the console, and both Feron and Marcus shouted at the same time, "No! Don't touch-"

Too late. She hit the release button and it flashed red, letting out a beep. Within a second, jets of electricity shot down the wiring and flowed into the chair Feron was strapped to, the drell's body lighting up in brilliant blue as he screamed out in agony, the electricity flowing through his body for five seconds before concluding, smoke trailing from him. It was no wonder the drell was so tired.

Liara looked at him and tears welled up in her eyes and she looked about to access the console again when Tali placed a hand on her shoulder, "Liara, the console's release button is linked to the torture chair. The Broker never planned to release Feron. If you try to-"

"I know that!" Liara spat, shoving Tali away with her before turning back to the console, switching it off as she began to sob. Marcus went to comfort her, but thought better of it, and he watched Feron out of the corner of his eye, watching her with sadness; Marcus could understand that. It was hard watching your loved one suffer and you couldn't comfort them yourself.

Through her sobs, Liara whimpered, "Why...two years...I waited so long...why can't it...ever be...easy...how do I..."

"Liara," Feron spoke softly, "You can rescue me. You can't use the control console, otherwise I'll just be electricuted, and I don't think I can take much more of that. But there is a way."

"H-h-how?" Liara begged, looking up from her melancholy, wiping the tears from her face and sniffling, showing just how vulnerable she really was.

"The Shadow Broker's office," Feron weakly replied, coughing for a moment, "There's no controls on the station that could release me without sending a shock through me, but the Broker's main office has this...thing in it. I don't know what it is, but if you destroy it, it should release enough energy to cripple the ship's power momentarily and cause a temporary blackout. Its not much, but it is enough time for me to break free of the restraints and escape before the main power comes back online. Its a long shot, but its the only hope I have short of permanently crippling main power."

"I-yes, that sounds like a plan," she shook her head, "But...what do you mean by 'this thing?' Just what is it, exactly?"

"You'll know it when you see it. Its hardly subtle. He has it smack bang...in the middle...of his...office," out of breath, he begins to cough again just as Garrus' voice comes over Marcus' radio.

"Marcus, do you read? Over."

"Solid copy," he replied, "Status?"

"Handling them well; idiots don't have much room to maneveur, and its mainly just us picking them off," he continued with a gruff pause, "That's the good news, but the bad news is that the diversion has stopped working; the Broker knows where you are and has diverted all his forces to stopping you. You've got troopers headed your way, and we can't stop them. What do you want us to do?"

He sighed, turning to his team, before turning back to look at Feron and Liara. Deciding, he spoke, "Follow them, but don't fire on them. I'm going to leave a team at the detention center to keep them busy while I take Liara and two people to deal with the Broker and release Feron. You'll hopefully seal off their escape and get them from behind. Move it Garrus; we're on a clock now."

"Copy Marcus," he replied, "Be careful. The Broker seems to be a nasty guy. You know they're tough when they've got a voice like that."

He grinned, "Big enemies are our forte, Garrus. Just look at the Reapers," a chuckle was his response, "Good luck Garrus. See you soon. Shepard out," he turned back to his team nodding to them. Before he even spoke a word, Tali stepped forward.

"I'm coming with you, no excuses," she stated firmly.

He grinned at her with a raised eyebrow, "Very well, Mrs. Shepard. Jack, you're also with us. Liara is obviously coming with us, so that leaves the rest of you," he looked at them, "You'll hold this position; noone gets through, you got me? We need time to kill the Broker; that's all we need. Without him, their resistance and organization will crumble and we can hopefully find this ship's reactor and detonate it; send this ship skyhigh."

"A great, big explosion," Wrex deadpanned, his signature smirk crossing his maw, "Just like the old days. Wish we had a nuke. Williams would have loved this."

He grinned, "Yes, she definitely would have." He could practically think of what she would say. "Sounds just like you to blow up a particulary valuable installation, skipper."

With a nod, he turned back to Feron, one question stuck in his head as he observed the torture device the drell was trapped in, "Feron...just why would the Broker do this to you?"

"He believes he's...ah...punishing me," he choked out, letting out a cough, "I was once an agent of his, and I betrayed him to help Liara recover your body, and he dishes out severe punishments for treachery."

He nodded, giving Liara a sympathetic gaze before turning back to Feron with a smile, "Well, we'll get you out of here Feron. A friend of Liara's is a friend of mine. I promise you I'll get you out. And I never break my promises."

Feron gave a weak nod, "I believe you. The fact that you fought your way this far shows that my capture was worth it."

Marcus spun on the spot and headed out of the door, Liara laying her glance on her lover for a few more seconds as she prepared to leave. Finally, she nodded at him and moved to leave, and she was heading for the last step when Feron spoke, grabbing her attention as she stopped and turned on him.

"Liara," Feron shouted, "It'll be alright. I know you can do this."

Liara smiled at him, nodding, "Of course I can. I wouldn't have gotten as far as I have if I wasn't."

He nodded, "I..."

"I love you," Liara stated, smiling warmly at him.

He stopped, and he smiled back, this one reaching his eyes, "I love you, too. I'd kiss you, but I'm kinda strapped to this chair. Mind fixing that?"

She giggled, "Oh, I'll do more than that," and with that, she left the room, door sliding shut behind her.

When she arrived, Marcus' team had split, moving into defensive positions. Legion was crouched behind a desk, its Widow rifle lying ontop of its broken surface in a emplacement like fashion. Wrex and Grunt stood in the corridor with the observation window, their claymores out and raised, their bulky forms blocking the hallway. Mordin crouched behind a wall on the left, and Kal stood opposite him, using the door to the cell for cover.

Thane lay prone on the ground, his viper marksman rifle out while Samara stood beside him, prepared to cover him in a biotic field. She eyed Jack with one singular glance and nodded, "Remember child, keep your rage harnessed."

Jack rolled her eyes, "I know, grandma. Stop pestering me."

Samara smiled, "You are not cursing. That is a good sign."

Jack looked shocked and her mouth hung open, as if unable to find a could counterattack, but upon noticing the grin Marcus was shooting her, and that Samara was avoiding her gaze, she snapped out of it, pretending to be angry as she gripped her raider shotgun with increased fervor, "Whatever. Let's just get this shit the fuck over with. I want to see the Broker face to face."

"We'll have to tread carefully," Liara stated, omni-tool alight before her, "The Broker has four squads between us and his forces, and these appear to be his elite troops. We must be cautious."

He gave a final nod to his team, before raising his weapon and palming the door, himself going first and checking the corridor, "Clear," he shouted, and Liara, Tali and Jack quickly filed through, and the door immediately locked, Legion instantly adding a geth firewall to keep any hackers from breaking through the lock. Moving down the corridor, they continued, Jack snorting at Liara's intel.

"Caution is for pussies, remember?"

{Loading...}

November 12, 2185

1900 hours.

Shadow Broker's Main Office, Halcyon-Class Prototype, Hagalaz Storm Center, Hagalaz.

Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Chief Engineer Tali'Shepard vas Normandy, Subject Zero Jack, Information Broker Liara T'Soni.

"Oh, fuck this!"

Marcus was about to growl at her to stay in cover, but it was too late to tell the convict to anything of the sort. She rushed forth, blistering in biotic energy, and she sent a shockwave cascading down the center of the corridor; a corridor leading straight to a door. A door that served as the entrance to the office of the Shadow Broker himself.

One monitor hung from the ceiling to the right, obviously the Broker's way of summoning people inside, and a single desk lay on the same side of the corridor, currently occupied by the dead body of a salarian Tali had shot through the head with her pistol, the quarian now with him behind cover, Chiktika providing support.

Support no longer needed, according to Jack. The convict's shockwave took the last squad off balance, forcing them from cover. Using that to her advantage, she rushed forward, using her foot to leap off the wall and tackle one turian to the ground, the convict quickly shoving her shotgun barrel into his mouth and pulling the trigger, tearing his head asunder before he could raise his own weapon.

A salarian engineer raised his SMG to fire at her, but she covered him in her biotics, tossing him about like a rag doll before slamming him back into the ground, head first. A huge crack was heard, followed by the salarian's body thumping on the ground, head basically flattened as soft as a sponge now. Laughing, she formed a warp and shot it at one human who moved to fire her weapon at Jack, only for the warp to hit her square in the head, tearing her head off cleanly.

Multiple shots impacted Jack's shields, and she turned to the doorway to see two asari and two salarians firing at her, the mission's last combatants in the way of soldiers.

Before they could tear into her, a geth pulse rifle roared to life behind her and tore open the shields of one asari, before dropping her via a well placed shot through the heart. She turned to see Marcus running to her rescue, Tali at his side and shotgun firing. Liara also appeared, biotic field raised infront of Jack to protect her, the asari seeming barely fazed by the combat erupting around her.

Tali's shotgun clicked to state it was out of ammo and she instead punched the salarian in the head, before kneeing him in the stomach. Crying out, the salarian doubled over, allowing the quarian to gracefully slide over his back, and send a kick flying into his other salarian counterpart's head. Dazed, she slammed into a wall, allowing her to turn to the original salarian and activate his omni-tool. The dazed salarian quickly got to his feet, but never got to fire a single shot as Tali hit the original salarian's omni-tool's incineration function, the soldier bursting into flames before Tali then set the original's to overload, diving out of the way as the omni-tool exploded, ripping the salarian apart in a huge explosion.

Jack whooed and held a hand up in a high-five for the quarian, but she simply looked at her in confusion. Rolling her eyes, she dropped her hand, turning to see Marcus finishing off the last asari, "You really need to teach your quarian high-fives."

He shook his head, lowering his weapon, "And you should learn not to blindly charge at the enemy. Usually ends with me having to save your ass."

She held her hands before her and leaned backwards in an mockingly overly offended fashion, "I'm so fucking sorry boy scout! Won't happen again! Now, are we going to kill a Broker, or what?"

He nodded, brandishing his rifle once more as he signalled Tali and Liara to take flanking positions at the door's corners, while himself and Jack stood infront of it. Jack pulsed with biotics and he moved forward, his hand hovering over the red lock, which quickly turned green once Tali got through the encryption on it. In a matter of seconds, the door shot open and he moved inside, rifle raised at the first person he saw, and Jack was quickly following, shotgun raised her biotics ready to destroy. Tali and Liara quickly followed as well.

The office was massive, and easily spanned forty meters. The atrium was ten meters wide with nothing in it but a giant dome of bright white light encased in the ceiling, which looked like collected lightning, from the looks of it. A desk sat at the end of the ten meter long plain, and behind it was another desk, facing away from them, and was accompanied by at least twelve different terminal screens, all shut off. The room was covered in terminals, and two observation windows were located at the ends of the room, and you could see the wind racing by outside.

Flanking the back of the room was two stairwells connecting to the same balcony with more terminals, and in the center was a door leading into another room, but it was not only locked, but the haptic interface wasn't even present.

Luckily for them, the Broker wasn't behind it. He sat behind the desk, hands clasped ontop of it, watching them with an observant, inquisitive gaze, directly infront of them.

It was the Shadow Broker himself who was not what they expected.

He was bulbous beast, at least the size of a krogan, but definitely wider, but he wasn't of any species known to him. He two horns on his head, similiar to that of a salarian, but that was where the similiarities ended. The beast's head was huge, with a triangle shaped mouth, lips curved in a Y shape with razor sharp canines alining it. And on the creature's skull was eight eyes, all blinking, four on each side. He was as ugly as he was unknown.

His hands were four-fingered, but they were massive, enough to crush his head into a pulp, and each talon ended in one sharp claw. He wore jet black armor, this one darker than his soldiers', and his skin matched up well to it; his rough, dark leathery skin in barely noticable contrast between the armor.

The Broker's face twitched, and as he turned to the team, all weapons drawn on him, Marcus could see the Revenant strapped to his back along with the...Typhoon on his desk? Gotta take him out quickly, or otherwise we'll have to deal with that gun.

"Here for the drell?" he spoke, but his voice wasn't as deep and shiver-inducing as the one on the PA, but it was still deep, and it seemed to repeat itself even after speaking its words. It was guttural, and sent goosebumps down his spine. He sounds alot like Sovereign...just not as loud, synthetic, or boiterious, "Reckless, even for you, Commander."

Marcus laughed, lowering his weapon slightly, meeting the beast's gaze, or at least trying, with its so many eyes, "Really? You're going to lecture me on recklessness? That bombing on Illium wasn't very subtle! And neither was the destruction of that apartment on the MesoReso Hotel! Or the attack on the Rayya! None of it was A-class discretion!"

He didn't shake his head. He barely even blinked. He only blankly at him, his infuriating calmness alot like the Illusive Man's, "Extreme, but necessary."

It was Liara who stepped in this time, her voice loud and full of pent-up anger, "No it wasn't! Neither was caging Feron for two years!"

The Broker turned to look at her, unwavering in its expression, "Dr. T'Soni, we meet face to face, at last. Alas, it was your interference that caused all this," he finally shook his head, showing a sign of emotion, "Feron betrayed me when he handed you Shepard's body. The drell is simply paying the price."

Marcus shook his head as well, fixing the Broker with a look of disgust, "You had to know someone would come after you; especially after working for the Collectors. A species, I'll remind you, now enjoy the realm of extinction."

"It was a mutually beneficial partnership," it was a simple answer for a simple statement, "Your arrival would be more convenient if the Collectors still existed; however, the Reapers may pay the same price for your body. So my offer still stands."

Tali came to Marcus' side, a snarl in her voice, and he could hear a guttural growl eminating from her throat as she eyed the creature with repulsive indifference, "Noone touches him but me. You want him, you'll go through me, you bosh'tet scumbag."

The Broker turned to her, a grin almost forming on its features, "Ah, I see you brought your quarian wife with you, Shepard. I was surprised when you let her lead your assault team. After her failure to protect her squad on Haestrom, and her inability to keep one squad sergeant under control on Freedom's Progress, I thought you'd be against letting her command anything bigger than a fireteam."

Tali's anger disappeared and a look of sadness replaced it for a second, before she spat once more, "You'll have to try better than that, Shadow Broker."

The grin disappeared, if it ever existed, "Good, at least your competency remains somewhat intact."

Marcus glared daggers at him, "You talk pretty big for someone with everything to lose. This is a pretty big ship with no crew to run it."

"They are replacable," the Broker replied, "Your interference is barely an interruption. Enough talk; my operations have become too delicate for you to ruin them now."

Liara came in, a smug grin on her face, "Why's that, Broker? You've got nowhere else to hide. Your operations are over."

The Broker seemed to ignore her, as if she wasn't even there, and fixed his gaze on Jack, who was barely able to remain anonymous, "You travel with fascinating companions, doctor. The convict, Subject Zero, has suffered alot of torture at Cerberus' hands. I'm sure they violated her in more ways than one. On my world, that is punishable by mutilation. But she escaped, and made a living for herself. Tell me, Subject Zero, how many people violated you on Purgatory?"

Jack's biotics shifted in and out of sync as she tried to combat the Broker's words, but they hit home. She stepped back, seemingly melting into herself for a moment, before standing tall again, realizing what the Broker was doing, "Fuck you, asshole."

The Broker ignored the comment as Liara stood infront of Jack, SMG bared down on the Broker's face, "You're not getting your hands on anyone, Shadow Broker. This ends today."

"On that, we are in agreement," the Broker stated, "I prefer to get to know my clients before I kill them, however, Doctor T'Soni. It makes for a more justified kill."

"You're not going to win Broker," Marcus challenged, rifle raising once more to aim at its head.

"Its pointless to challenge me, human," the Broker's voice was dark, hinting at a more sinister tone, "I know your every secret, while you fumble in the dark."

Liara's smile grew however, turning into a smug grin, "Is that right?" Marcus turned to look at her, but she didn't register it, and just continued talking, gaze never leaving the creature before her, "You're a yahg, from Parnack. A pre-spaceflight species quarantined to their homeworld for massacring the Council's first contact teams. This base is older than your planet's discovery, which probably means you killed the original Shadow Broker sixty years ago, then took over."

Her grin widened all the more at the look of hesitation on the Broker's face, which slowly broke into a look of growing anger, "I'm guessing you were taken from your world by a trophy hunter who wanted a slave..." the Broker visibly brissled at these words, and Marcus found a smile rising to his own lips. You have him Liara.

"...or a pet," Liara finished, her smile reaching its peak, "How am I doing?"

A low, guttural growl was heard before the lumbering beast behind his desk unclasped his hands, clenching and unclenching in fury. Silently, and strikingly, he stood from his chair, and Marcus had to crane his neck to keep eye contact. The Shadow Broker stood to his full height, easily towering over the tallest krogan and even dwarfing Wrex; he stood a full 18 feet over them, his hands clenched at his sides and looking down at them, like they were ants. He simply glared at Liara; vehemence and irritation all mixed into the same look.

It all happened too fast for Marcus to react quickly enough.

The yahg's ogre-sized right hand arched down and slammed into the desk with missile like force, shattering it clean in half and crushing his terminal in the process. Just as quickly, he picked up the piece on the right side, and threw it at Liara, the wooden arc shooting forth like a missile. Marcus turned to her, knowing a warning wouldn't come fast enough.

Summoning his biotics, he shot forward and landed just behind the asari, where he proceeded to wrap his arms around her waist and throw themselves off to the side, doing so just as the wooden chunk reached them, and instead raced past. They landed on the ground, with Liara below him on the ground and Marcus ontop. She nodded to him in thanks, but Marcus' response was cut short as he heard a familiar, strangled voice cry out from behind him, causing his head to spin around.

The chunk slammed into Jack's form, the convict unable to dodge the debris in time. She cried out in pain as multiple pieces of wood dug into her exposed skin and she was thrown into the wall, slamming into the ground and being almost immediately knocked unconscious, red blood pooling around her body from her numerous wounds. He turned back to the Broker, watching as he kicked the other piece towards Tali.

The chunk disintegrated as it impacted Tali's raised omni-shield, the quarian deactivating it and about to raise her shotgun when the yahg lowered his hand and then swatted her tiny form away like an annoying insect, the quarian slamming into the wall and back to the ground, the sound of a bone breaking as she slumped to the ground. He could only look at Tali's unconscious body in horror.

"TALI!" His cry of anguish was interrupted as the Shadow Broker activated an omni-shield on his right arm, and gripped his Revenant light machine gun in the other, taking aim at Marcus and Liara's idol bodies. They both leapt for cover just as LMG fire littered the ground where they originally lay, the massive yahg growling as he brought his gun back around, tracking them.

They both slipped into cover as gunfire racked the barricade they hid behind. Marcus had looked about to run out and grab Tali, but the Broker's assault and left him nothing but cold, furious, and outright murderous.

He turned to Liara who a stone-cold gaze, "Liara, you tend to Jack. I'll take care of the Broker."

She looked at him and shook her head, "Are you crazy!? He's huge! He'll crush you like an insect! You need my help!"

He pointed at Jack, his voice brokering no argument, "Help. Jack. The Shadow Broker's mine; he's just made this personal. Noone hurts my wife, and especially not Tali," he moved to stand, but Liara's hand on his shoulder drew him down again, the asari still willing to argue as the Broker's large footsteps sounded across the room.

"He hurt Feron! I do not take kindly to that!" she growled, "He's mine just as much as he's yours! I-"

"We don't have time for this!" Marcus snarled, only to be interrupted by a weak voice behind them.

"I'll take care of Jack," she spoke, "You two deal with the Broker. And before you ask, I'm fine."

Both heads whorled to look at Tali, who had slid into their cover, cradling her broken arm. She looked at them with her own anti-argumentative look, eyes narrowed.

"How-?" He was at her side in an instant, "Let me look at tha-"

"No!" Tali spat, "Deal with the Broker, you bosh'tet! I'll have Mordin and Chakwas tend to my arm after we've killed him! Now go!"

He nodded, giving her a quick peck on the visor before leaping up, pulse rifle already out and laying fire down on the huge yahg while Liara moved off to the left, biotics lighting up and enveloping her body.

Some shots hit his body's kinetic barriers, but the rest bounced harmlessly off the omni-shield as he raised it infront of him. With another growl, he raised his Revenant over the shield and popped off another long burst at Marcus, the spectre forced back into cover as he cursed.

The sound of biotics was heard and he looked to watch a constant barrage of warp fields hit the Broker's side repetitively, taking the yahg by surprise initially, but he quickly recovered. Swivelling around, he used his omni-shield to deflect the rest of the warps while he kept his Revenant trained at Marcus' cover, firing blindly to keep him pinned while he slowly advanced on Liara.

He spared one final glance at Tali, who had dragged Jack's unconscious form back behind cover and was now tending to her wounds with medi-gel. With an inhale and exhale of breath, he leapt out of the Broker's field of fire and stood to his full height, summoning his own biotics as he laid down his own barrage of warp fields, which he polished off with a shockwave; one he put all his energy into.

A loud snarl was heard as the fresh warp fields disintegrated the remainder of the Broker's kinetic shielding and the shockwave slammed into his side, stumbling him slightly. Quick as a flash, his Revenant was facing Marcus again, but this time the assault harmlessly bounced off Marcus' own omni-shield, and he slowly advanced towards the cumbersome beast.

The Shadow Broker spun to face Marcus and quickly moved forward, slamming his foot forward as he kicked Marcus in the shield. The yahg's face squinted in pain slightly from the burns suffered to his foot, but he quickly recovered seeing that he had successfully forced Marcus onto his back, shield pushed into his own chest.

The Broker's own shield descended like a vulture towards the spectre's face, only to cause an energetic boom as the two omni-shields' energies collided, sending the Broker stumbling backwards from the force, and allowing Marcus to get to his feet, holstering his rifle and equipping his Locust SMG.

Liara rushed in, trying to get under the creature's shield, but was only met by the yahg's LMG slamming into her chest, forcing her back and winding her as she fell to her knees. The Shadow Broker moved to stomp on her vulnerable form, but Marcus was up in a heartbeat, suicidally charging the titan of a broker.

Shields clashed as Marcus rammed into the Broker, and he summoned all his cybernetics into being. The yahg grunted in shock as Marcus began to push him back, and he began to place all his muscle power into his shield arm as well, causing an alternate version of tug-of-war.

Eventually, the Shadow Broker threw his Revenant over Marcus' shield and pulled the trigger, a field of fire pouring into his shields. In seconds, his armor's alarms went off to signal his shields were done, and pain shot up his right shoulder as a few rounds met their mark. He fell backwards and the yahg's fist slammed into his chest, sending him flying backwards and onto the ground.

"You are weak," the Broker spoke, speaking up for the first time since the battle began, "Both of you. Crushing you will be easy. From all the information I gathered on you, this has to be the first time my intel was wrong about you. You're weaker than they claim. Maybe Saren was weaker than I am. All I know is that selling you to Harbinger will earn me more than just information. It'll earn myself survival. That'll be worth alot in the next cycle when my species takes over the galaxy."

Marcus coughed and heaved, desperately trying to breathe some air into his lungs, but the yahg was too fast approaching. He raised his shield, deflecting a hammerfist blow to his head by the yahg, and the creature didn't even cry out as the heat singed his fist, the Shadow Broker simply eying him in annoyance.

Three warp fields collided with his back, and, as if rolling his eyes, he spun around and took aim with his LMG once more. However, just before he could raise his omni-shield, a final warp field bypassed his shields and hit the front of his Revenant, the front barrel vaporized by the impact and the rest of the weapon blowing apart in the Broker's hand.

"The weak ones just disarmed you," Liara retorted, SMG in one hand and a biotic sphere in the other a she glared down the massive yahg that easily towered over her, "You should be embarassed. Or enraged. Either one will get you killed, and either one will make me happy because of it. I'm going to kill you Shadow Broker. For what you did to Feron, and for the innocent lives you've murdered just to stop me."

A snarl was her only response as the yahg charged forth, empty hand swinging behind his shield as he charged at lightning speeds. Marcus struggled to his feet, dragging his shield with him as he ignored the aching agony in his chest, and the stinging pain hovering around the multiple bullet wounds in his right shoulder. Despite weighing nothing, the omni-shield felt heavy in his hand, and the Locust seemed to drag him down.

He fixed this by temporarily bringing his biotics to bear, before dissipating them, knowing that the use of biotics made his body lighter than his body mass while active, making him literally as light as a feather, which gave him the strength to raise his shield and SMG. Once done, he applied medi-gel to his gunshot wounds before racing in to aid his asari friend.

She was fighting for her life as she leapt to and fro, desperately dodging the Broker's swipes, punches and kicks. A few times he tried to wack her with his omni-shield, but she deflected it with a biotic field, before continuing their combat dance. Desperate to find a weakness in the colossal warrior, Marcus let his omni-shield morph into an omni-blade before sliding forward and ramming it into the back of the Broker's left ankle.

Blue blood oozed out of the wound, but the yahg didn't register the wound, simply looking up and turning around to face Marcus behind him, before he then swatted the spectre away like a fly. He landed near the Broker's desk, right next to his Typhoon portable HMG, almost skewering himself on a large chunk of sharp wood.

"My people are bred to fight at two months old, human," the Broker growled, gnarling his teeth as he slowly and presumptously ignored Liara, moving towards Marcus with slow, methodical steps, "We are taught to kill and enjoy it, rape and embrace it, pillage and reave its rewards. But most of all, we are taught to feel no pain. To not even register it. So, we are very much like your geth in terms of war," the yahg loomed over Marcus, his colossal shadow, ironically, easily covering him, "You think your krogan bloodthirsty? They. Are. Nothing. If the salarians had uplifted the yahg...well...the results would have been much different."

And with that, he moved to slam his shield into Marcus' abdomen. Without even thinking about it, Marcus' hand shot out and grabbed the N7 Typhoon heavy machine gun, pulling at the heavy weapon before it finally landed in his grip, and he took aim with it. The Typhoon was a huge weapon, easily the size of a portable cannon, and had two large twin metal shields attached to the middle to protect the user. And as it roared to life in his hands, he pulled the trigger.

"Feel this."

The Shadow Broker fell back as the heavy shots poured into his exposed chest, ripping through his shields, armor and scaled flesh. Blue blood spat out of the puncture points and dotted the ground as the yahg continued to pull back, the weapon coughing out loudly as it spewed hot death that would have turned a human into a unrecognizable hunk of meat.

Finally, the Broker recovered sufficiently to lower his shield, ableit tiredly and clearly injured; the yahg seemed to slump slightly, and Marcus seemed to grin in triumph as he realized he had hurt the beast. Fuelled by anger at the memory of how he almost killed Tali, he growled his own snarl in tandem with the Broker, and both of them charged towards each other once more, omni-shield in one opponent's hand and Typhoon in the others'.

Liara seemed to watch from the sidelines as Marcus' acquired Typhoon perputually spat death, all of it harmlessly impacting the charging warrior's shield. But in a second, just the Broker threatened to incinerate Marcus in the impact, the spectre strafed to the side and slammed a armoured boot into the Broker's injured ankle.

He stumbled, giving Marcus time to open up into the Broker's back with the Typhoon. Just as he did however, the weapon coughed, sputtured, and died as it ran out of ammo. He growled and tossed the weapon to the side, going for his Locust, only to realize he dropped it at the Broker's desk. Defenseless, he watched the Broker sluggishly turn towards him, hate in his eyes, promising a slow death.

"Wrong move human," the Shadow Broker spat, "I'll squash you like the insect you-"

Liara's biotic warps slammed into the Broker's back and he stumbled again, wincing at the pain they caused it as the warps impacted the wounds in his back left by the Typhoon's left rounds. As he did, he stomped down on said weapon, crushing it before turning to face Liara, swatting Marcus aside and onto his back as he did.

He found himself looking up, and felt his vision blurring slightly as he realized they had been standing under the white dome of light the entire time during that battle. As he looked at it, he could hear the Broker battling Liara in the background, and knew he had to help her, but he could barely get up now; the punishment the Broker had dealt him growing evident.

Then he remembered something as he continued to stare at the white dome. Feron's words popped into his head.

There's no controls on the station that could release me without sending a shock through me, but the Broker's main office has this...thing in it.

has this...thing in it...

this thing in it...

this thing...

The dome! That's what he meant! He was talking about the dome!

He also realized something else; if all the electricity of the lightning was gathered in that dome, then that meant if it exploded, anything below it wouldn't be just fried, it would be completely vaporized...

That was it! That's how they could beat him!

He was struggling to his feet in an instant and he commed Liara on his private channel, "Liara, lure the Shadow Broker under the dome, but make sure you're not under it!"

"What!?" Liara asked, "It doesn't matter where we battle Marcus, he won't-"

"Just do it! I have a plan!" he shouted, turning to see Liara desperately evading the Broker's blows, "And you can't keep exchanging blows with him forever; you know that!"

"Damn it...fine! I trust you! Just...whatever you're going to do, make it quick!"

He nodded, shutting off the comm as he got to his feet and moved to slide behind the barricade, keeping his head poked out to watch Liara's progress. He watched as the asari used her biotics to leap over the yahg and rush towards the entrance of the office, the Shadow Broker spinning to face her with a cackling laugh.

"Why are you running away, Doctor T'Soni?" he growled, "I don't believe we are done yet."

She shot a warp field at him, and he battered it away effortlessly with his shield, "Very well," he gave as his addendum as he launched forward, the Broker moving to stand under the dome as he came within range of grabbing Liara. Seeing his plan had worked, he cried out as he came to stand, biotics lighting up, "Now Liara! Get out of the way!"

She leapt backwards just in time to watch the Broker spin to face Marcus as the spectre matched his glare, gaze for gaze. He scowled at the commander.

"Just what are you doing, human?"

"Sending you to hell, where you belong."

"And how do you figure tha-?"

The Broker never finished that sentence. Because he didn't live to finish it.

Pulsing with biotic power, he raised his hands and enveloped the white dome in blue energy. Not sparing the yahg a moment, he brought his hands down with all his might, bringing the glass of the dome with them as he did.

It shattered, and like water flowing from a river, bright, blinding white light cascaded down from the ceiling, completely consuming the Shadow Broker's form as he disappeared. No scream, no shout, no final words; only an unfinished sentence as the sound of crackling lightning assaulted their ears. After a few seconds, the ceiling dome was empty and the white light evaporated, only static traces of electricity left to show that there was anything at all; not even the glass survived.

And standing there, in the remnants, was the great, big black mark of a yahg standing in a battle pose, the posture burnt into the ground in the Broker's final moments, whilst the yahg's actual body was nowhere seen; erased from existence and burnt down to the last atom.

They had done it.

The Shadow Broker had been destroyed.

Feron had been freed, presumably.

And it was all over.

All Marcus could do was laugh as he fell to his knees, a smile slowly forming on Liara's lips.

It was finally over.

"We did it. But that was only the beginning. The Shadow Broker was far from dead just yet."

- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.

"Who knew?"

Marcus Shepard.

A/N:

Yes, its a long chapter. Yes, it took a while. Was it a good read? I should hope so.

That was the epic conclusion of the Shadow Broker Arc. I hope you enjoyed it, and continue to enjoy Requiem as it comes to its resolution; yeah, there's only seven chapters left! Time really flew by, didn't it?

The next few chapters will be mop up chapters and, to my deepest regret, resolutions for some of the characters as they begin to leave the Normandy crew in preparation for the Arrival Arc of the story. Requiem is ending my friends, but For A Better Tomorrow is far from over; you've still got two installments to go, so its not all sad. ;)