Chapter 20: The Broker's Puppet

A/N1: This chapter assumes that anyone reading it has played through the Shadow Broker DLC. As such, it will not be covering parts of the gameplay and will also be changing others.


After spending the afternoon on Illium shopping for various items, both innocent and not not so innocent, Garrus and Shepard met back up with Tali at one of the taxi stations in the port city.

The entire way to Liara's apartment, Garus spent the time silent and keeping his mind off of Shepard. While he had been browsing through sniper mods, Shepard had spent her time at a place that was frequented by Asari and human females. When they stopped at the Normandy to drop off their various purchases from the afternoon, Garrus noticed the bag that she tried to keep hidden. Garrus recognized the name from having to throw a few too friendly males out of the store while starting out a C-Sec. The only thing Shepard did was give him a little smile before heading to meet up with Tali. Garrus remembered some of the items in the store all those years ago, simply because of how odd they were to him. Now, he had to make a conscious effort not to remember. It wouldn't be a good thing for him to be running through what Shepard could have picked up now. Later he could, but not now.

"Garrus are you alright?" Tali asked once their taxi landed in front of Liara's building.

"Oh he's just fine Tali." Shepard replied, giving him a knowing smirk. "Just a little distracted."

"I don't want to know." Tali shook her head and Garrus began walking toward the building.

"Yes I do, tell me later." Garrus caught their Quarian friend whispering to Shepard.

Garrus slapped his forehead with a hand, praying to the spirits to make this awkwardness pass.

He looked up to the top of the building and froze when he noticed something odd in the windows of one of the apartments. If his guess was right, there was a massive hole in the window to Liara's place. The blue and red police lights that could be seen flashing from the window didn't help matters.

"Something's wrong." Garrus spoke, pointing out the window to the others. "I think that's Liara's place."

"God I hope not." Shepard sighed. "Let's make sure it's not."

The three of them began jogging towards the building, heading straight to the closest elevator.


"Garrus, you need to stop being right." Shepard sighed when the three reached Liara's floor to find flashing police lights coming from what was supposed to be Liara's apartment.

"When did I become a woman?" Garrus asked and Shepard couldn't help but snicker.

"When Kat realized that she had bigger balls than you?" Tali quipped back. Shepard had to bite down on the inside of her cheek at seeing the look of mock mortification on her lover's face.

"We need to see what's going on. Hopefully Liara's alright." Shepard spoke after regaining her composure.

The three of them strode up to a police line just outside Liara's apartment. Shepard looked in to see a dozen cops all sweeping the place, looking for what Shepard wasn't sure.

"Ma'ams, Sir, I need to ask you to leave." An Asari officer spoke to them and blocked their view of the apartment.

"It's fine officer, let them in." A pleasant and smooth Asari voice spoke. The officer in front of them turned to look at the Asari who spoke, giving them a glance at the new comer.

Shepard surveyed the new Asari. She had a warm purple skin and was encased in a set of light armor of the same shade. Shepard could feel the Asari's biotic power radiating off of her. Whoever this was, she had power and high authority.

"You and your men are free to go, we can handle it from here." The armored Asari told the officer, giving the other woman a small smile.

"But ma'am….." The officer began but was cut off by the armored Asari.

"I'm sure that two Spectres can handle this officer, you are dismissed." The Asari spoke, a smile still plastered on her face.

The officer grumbled but barked out an order to her men. Soon Liara's apartment was empty save for Shepard, Tali, Garrus and this Asari.

"Two Spectres?" Garrus asked, his voice almost a growl.

"Yes Officer Vakarian. Like your girlfriend here, I am a Spectre." The Asari smiled pleasantly to Garrus. Shepard narrowed her eyes at the woman, she already didn't trust here, Spectre or not.

"My name is Tela Vasir Commander Shepard." The Asari, Tela, smiled to Shepard.

"A pleasure." Shepard spoke, holding her voice even. Something about this Asari wasn't right.

"Mind telling me why you're here?" Shepard asked and Tela nodded.

"Your friend Liara had an assassination attempt on her this evening. I was only just down the street when a body was thrown out her window." Tela told her simply.

"I knew that she was your friend, so it warranted my attention." The Asari shrugged.

"Do you know what happened to her?" Tali piped up behind Shepard.

"No." Tela replied immediately. "But there was no body of your friend nor none of her blood. I believe she is still alive."

"Now the question, why are you three here?" Tela asked, an innocent smile on her face.

"We're her friends." Garrus growled. "We were meeting with her to have dinner."

"So Liara's missing." Shepard mused, glancing at Garrus to make sure he wouldn't do something stupid. "She knew we were coming, so she wouldn't leave without a note."

"I didn't find anything while I was looking." Tela offered. All three of them looked at Tela as if she were an idiot who just said that bullets don't kill people.

"Garrus." Shepard looked to the Turian. "Mind doing your thing? Tali and I will try to help, but you've done this before."

Garrus grunted in reply and began walking into and around the apartment. Shepard could see the gears working in his mind and the occasional twitch of his nose.

Shepard and Tali began to look around as well, just not with the eye that Garrus had for this sort of investigation. Shepard and Tali paused when they spotted a piece of Shepard's old hardsuit.

"Is that…" Shepard began, not believing Liara had found a piece of the armor that had been in one piece after she had slammed into the surface of the icy planet.

"I-I think it is." Tali replied.

The two women passed by it, not really sure of what to think about it just yet. Shepard and Tali ascended the stairs up to the loft in Liara's apartment. Garrus stayed on the main floor, looking around at what was there.

The loft held Liara's bed and a few small odd and ends. Shepard was about to dismiss the room when a picture frame on the end table next to Liara's bed flashed from one picture to another.

At first, it was just a picture that Liara had taken after Sovereign had been destroyed. It showed Shepard, who had somehow managed to only break a leg when the rubble of the Citadel fell on her, being carried by Garrus and Tali following just behind. Shepard's helmet was off and she was barking orders at the various rescue crews.

Shepard smiled at seeing the image. She had refused to have her leg treated until everyone that was missing had been found. She had been surprised, and unexplainably joyful, when Garrus picked her up and carried her the entire time. She never knew that he had been grinning like an idiot at the start though. Shepard also didn't realize that Tali had been smirking at the two of them back then.

When the image changed, it flicked to one of the Prothean ruins on Ilos. Liara had taken this one as well. At first Shepard thought nothing of it, but when it changed back a moment later, she knew it was a hint.

"Garrus!" Shepard called out. "Check the relics!"

"You mean the one that has Liara's scent crawling all over it? And maybe the one that popped a disc out when I poked it?" Garrus asked in response a moment later.

"Yeah that's probably it." Shepard chuckled, giving the image one last look.

Shepard and Tali quickly hurried down to the main floor of the apartment. Garrus had inserted the disc into Liara's terminal. There was only audio on the disk and Garrus played it after Shepard gave him a nod.

The four listened intently to a call between Liara and a Salarian. It seemed that Liara had contacted this Salarian, Sekat, to find the location of the Shadow Broker. Sekat asked Liara to come and meet him after he had found a few possible locations. Sekat asked Liara to meet him in his office at Dracon Trade Center thirty minutes after Shepard, Garrus, and Tali were supposed to be at Liara's place.

"I know where that is!" Tela exclaimed once the audio was finished. "My car is outside, we can take it to the Trade Center."

"Let's get going then." Shepard spoke coldly. She turned and lead the other three out of the apartment.


Rah strode through the building where his Asari friend, Sululra Lonis, had her shop. He had managed to find the equivalent of a fast food joint that served something that was the Asari version of a burger. Rah didn't want to know what it was he was eating, but he never wanted to try out Asari imitations of human food ever again after that. An hour after leaving the Normandy, and several uncomfortable trips to the bathroom later, Rah found his way to his friend's shop.

Rah walked into theempty shop and looked around. It wasn't uncommon for the shop to have no one out in front when it was dinner hour, but Sul had the sense to leave the place open while she ate in the back.

Rah set down his bag of guns and began looking around at the various mods and parts that Sul had in stock. After ten minutes of browsing and noting some of the different mods he might grab, Rah heard light footsteps behind him. He grinned while crouching down to look at some of the mods on the lower shelves and acted as if he didn't notice it.

He felt the skin on the back of his neck rise slightly as the footsteps came closer. He could feel the barrel of a pistol pointed at the back of his head. Rah grinned even wider when the sensors in his omni-tool threw up Sul's bio readings on his sunglasses. He had to admit, he might even have a quick pulse if he found someone shady in his store with a bag of powerful weapons only just out of arm's reach.

"Stand up." Sul's cool, silky voice filled his ears and the barrel of her pistol hovered just a few inches from his skull. "Slowly."

Rah complied, holding his hands up and to his sides, showing that they were empty. He turned his arms just slightly so that she couldn't see the ink on the insides of his forearms.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Sul asked, her voice commanding.

"Now, now." Rah chuckled. "Is that any way to greet a customer?"

Rah could feel the Asari hesitate at the sound of his voice. He took his chance and spun around. He snapped one arm up to wrap around the arm that held her pistol, a heavily modded Carnifex, and pulled himself toward her. With any threat of her accidentally, or maybe even purposefully, shooting him gone, Rah grinned at his friend.

"Especially when you know him?" Rah grinned to the stunned Asari.

"Decide to wear real clothes for once?" Sul smirked at him, looking down at his attire. In the past, any time he had been here, it was either in armor or in an Alliance uniform.

"Change never hurts." Rah grinned back, releasing Sul's arm.

"Good to see you again Sul." Rah smiled to the Asari and pulled his glasses off.

"Good to see you too." Sul replied, her voice holding a sultry tone to it. He eyes were lidded and her smile sly and suggestive.

"Just here on business today Sul." Rah chuckled, almost nervously, and took a step back.

There was a slight sag to Sul's shoulders, but her smile turned to normal. Rah couldn't help but notice that she still seemed on edge.

"Sul? What's wrong?" Rah asked, concern for his friend laced in his voice.

"There was a break-in a couple days ago. Big brute of a human busted in and stole some of my stuff." Sul replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Sul." Rah spoke, his eyes narrowing. He knew when someone was lying, part of his training was in torture, both how to deal with it and how to do it.

"He managed to beat me up pretty good when I tried stopping him." Sul sighed after few moments. Unlike most Asari, Sul's biotics were barely powerful enough to lift heavy boxes. Fending off an intruder was harder for her than for most.

"Unable to get to a weapon?" Rah asked, more stating it. Sul nodded and looked at the floor.

Rah gently lifted her head so that the woman would meet his gaze. "I'm probably going to be groundside for a while. If you want, I can show you how to defend yourself properly."

Rah didn't know much about Sul's history, but the younger Asari hadn't had much exposure to the world other than what came to Illium. The only reason she ran the store she did was because her human father had left it to her after he and her mother passed.

"Would you?" Sul looked to him, her eyes bright. Rah nodded and Sul wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down so she could kiss him.

"One condition." Rah said once she pulled away from him. "You need to help me with something."

"And what would that be?" Sul asked, a mischievous light coming to her eyes.

Rah grinned and stepped past her. He shook his head as he crouched down to open up his bag. Maiden Asari were so much like human teenagers that it was almost adorable.

"This." Rah grinned, pulling out his collapsed Widow.

He turned around and released it into full length. Sul's eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

"Is-is that….." She spoke in awe, stepping up to run her hands over the weapon.

"Yep! You going to help me or not?" Rah asked, chuckling at the Asari's expression.

"On the house." Sul replied, still in awe of the weapon before her.

Sul lead Rah into the back room and workshop of her store. Sul's father had been a marine and insisted on having a place where he could upgrade and maintain anything that was brought in to them. They sat down next to each other at the massive heavy oak table that dominated the room. Though it went unnoticed, they had a spectacular view of Ilium's skyline and the hotel Azure.

After almost an hour of cleaning the Widow, replacing older parts and upgrading mods, Rah heard Fox begin to speak in his mind.

"Something is going on with Shepard. You might want to hear it." Fox spoke, her voice almost hesitant.

Patch me in. He told the AI without didn't need Sul knowing that something was in his brain.

"-UCK! TRUCK! TRUCK!" The panicked voice of Liara T'soni filled Rah's ears' making him wince in pain.

"I can drive a Mako! What the fuck do you think I can do in a sky car!" Shepard's voice barked back, a slight growl to it.

"But you can't drive a Mako!" Liara barked in return, fear and utter terror in her voice.

"You all complain about my driving, but did you fucking die?" Shepard barked back. Rah couldn't help but grin when Shepard spoke. It was something he had said once when everyone in the Ghosts had complained about how he flew their transports.

"At least you aren't in with Garrus." Tali's voice cried out. The only response from the Turian however was a deep throated growl. Tali gave a small squeak and then quickly shut up.

Rah listened to the voices of Shepard and Liara while reassembling his Widow. He and Sul had given it a few upgrades to make it so it could punch through walls like paper and a scope that could sight through smoke.

Rah looked up when that sounds of Shepard's skycar was rammed by something, or someone. He looked out the window to see that two skycars crashed into one of the landing pads of the hotel Azure. Rah spotted a third car that followed in behind the two and landed close to the crash.

Rah grabbed one of the other weapons he had brought, a Mantis modded for picking off targets over five clicks away, and swept the table that they'd been using clear.

"What are you doing?" Sul asked, fear in her voice when Rah lay down on the table, pulling the butt of the rifle up to his shoulder.

"Being very thankful you have a window of this view." Rah replied in a grin.

He sighted onto the hotel and found dozens of black armored troops swarming the place. All of them were headed towards Shepard and her team. Rah sighted on one of them at random and pulled the trigger.

His Mantis let out a muffled bark, and Sul shrieked. Rah grinned in dark pleasure when the trooper's head exploded like a can of tomato soup. Rah went to sight on another when he spotted an Asari limping through their midst. She seemed to be barking orders at the soldiers. On instinct, Rah tried to snipe the Asari, but powerful barriers stopped his shot from connecting.

Rah cursed and so did the Asari. The woman looked back behind her when bullets began flying past her. Rah turned his sights to see Shepard and her team pursuing the limping Asari. As she had while in the Ghosts, Shepard charged into the midst of a massive group of soldiers. She exploded with biotic energy, roaring in anger as she did so.

Rah scoped a soldier that had flanked Shepard and pulled the trigger. His grin grew wider when the soldier dropped and he passed onto the next one.

"Nice shooting Garrus." Shepard breathed once she ducked into cover.

"Wasn't me." Garrus growled back, the crack of his own rifle coming over the comms momentarily.

"I got your back Sarge." Rah spoke calmly, dropping two with one shot.

"Where the fuck are you Carmine?" Shepard barked, sending a shockwave into a group that was charging at her.

"At a friend's place." Rah grinned, dropping another soldier.

"What the hell is going on Robert?" Sul asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"A friend huh?" Shepard teased Rah. "One that uses your real name? Perhaps one that might have been under you a minute ago?"

"Fuck you too Sarge." Rah replied, grinning ear to ear when he dropped the last of the soldiers. He craved more. He wanted more bloodshed and death. Even without being able to really smell it, the scent of blood and death filled his nose like sweet perfume.

"Helping my CO Sul." Rah told the Asari, looking back at her. Something in the way he looked at her made her back away from him, fear in her eyes.

"You got eyes on the limping Asari?" Shepard asked, moving through the hotel.

"Yeah." Rah replied, finding the Asari. "But my shots won't punch through her barriers."

"I'll take care of those." Shepard replied, a vengeful grin in her voice.

An idea popped into Rah's head and he quickly sat up from his spot.

"What-what's going on Robert?" Sul asked.

"You might want to cover your ears for the next part." Rah grinned and heftied his Widow. Rah switched off his comms, any sound made from his weapon would probably not be liked by Shepard and the others.

"No!" Sul shouted, running to him. Rah looked to see a pleading look in her eyes.

"You can't! You won't have an arm after shooting this!" Sul exclaimed, her eyes watering.

"I'll be fine." Rah grinned. He vaulted over the table and pressed the small of his back into the hard wood.

Rah lifted his Widow and rested the butt of the stock against his shoulder. His biotics flared into life and made a pad between his unarmored shoulder and the rifle.

He sighted down to the hotel and found Shepard and the Asari at a stand off. The Asari had taken someone hostage and was using her as a living shield.

"Burn in hell you fucking cunt." Rah growled when his sights settled on the Asari's head. He roughly shoved memories of his family out of his mind and grit his teeth.

Rah took a deep calming breath. On the exhale, he squeezed the trigger and his world went black in pain.


A/N 2: And there we are folks! I will try and get the next chapter up soon-ish so as to not leave you all hanging on this cliff-hanger too long.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please let me know what you thought! Any feedback is much appreciated!

Again, thank you all so much for continuing to read and support the story! I hope you will stick around as I keep going!

Until next time!

PS- I now feel like Oprah with all the exclamation points in this note.