AN: I'm back with a brand new beat! Jk, only Part two. :D

Thanks to everyone who has favourited, followed and double thanks to everyone who has reviewed.

Special thanks goes to my beta Spyke1985! You're the best!

Hope you enjoy!

Part Two - The Angel and The Demon

Chapter Thirteen – A Long Way Home

The Citadel - Upper Wards

2219 - 23 Years After the End of the Reaper War

"Hey there Delilah what's it like in New York City,

I'm a thousand miles away,

But girl tonight you look so pretty, yes you do,

Times Square can't shine as bright as you, I swear it's true.

Hey there Delilah don't you worry about the distance,

I'm right there if you get lonely give this song another listen,

Close your eyes, listen to my voice it's my disguise,

I'm by your side.

Oh it's what you do to me,

Oh it's what you do to me..."

"I should've known that I would find you up here." Philip said as he approached the turian sitting on the roof of his apartment, ignoring the party going on below him. "You know, if you wanted to be here to congratulate us, the traditional method for doing so is to get hammered in our apartment with everyone else."

"I didn't feel like partying." Tiberius replied as Philip sat down next to him with a beer in each hand.

"You never feel like partying, Smiley. It would conflict with your ominous brooding thing. There's a reason they've nicknamed you The Demon, you know. Beer?" He offered and the turian shook his head. "Right. You still don't drink." He paused, waiting for the turian to say something, but he stayed silent, which wasn't unusual for Tiberius, but Philip suspected that it had more to do with the date than anything else. "Tia's been keeping herself busy organizing this party. It's way more extravagant than necessary. I'm sure I don't even know half of these people." He commented and the turian nodded.

"Not surprising given that it took you two three years to get engaged." He commented and Philip nodded.

"Yeah, I guess. Six, if you're counting from when I first met her. She was the one who decided to have it today, you know?" He asked and the turian shook his head.

"I had assumed that it was you. Seemed like it would have been a good excuse to miss work on the busiest day of the year." He commented and Philip snorted.

"As if the Executor would take any excuse from us today. The Anti-Terrorism Task Force can't take the day off on the anniversary of the end of the Reaper War." He commented and Tiberius nodded.

"Not that anything actually happened. I could have used the distraction." He said and Philip sighed soberly.

"So, what's the thinking this year? Dead or alive?"

"Alive."

"Good. You're less mopey when you're convinced she's still kicking." Philip said and Tiberius shrugged. He knew all too well that he had hit low points in the last three years. But there were odd little things; times when life went right for no apparent reason and he would swear that someone had to be pulling the strings. And every time he'd receive a message from nobody that simply said 'sorry'. It was such a Blue thing to say that he was sure that it was her. But then he wouldn't get one for several months and he would wonder if he had been clinging onto blind hope in his desperation.

Philip watched his friend carefully as he stayed silent and fidgeted with the little blue half heart charm that he was sure the turian kept on him at all times.

"Smiley, I hate to say it, you know I do, but... It's been three years. Maybe it's time to move on." The human suggested and Tiberius shook his head.

"You say it as if it's so simple." He said and Philip shrugged.

"Look, we both know that we're no closer to catching these bastards than we were three years ago. And until we make some progress, it's too dangerous for the two of you to be reunited. What makes you think you'll ever see her again?" He asked and Tiberius sighed.

"She promised." He said simply before Philip nodded and changed the subject, knowing that the turian didn't want to talk about his lost love anymore.

"Who'd have thought we'd be here three years ago?" Philip asked and Tiberius gave a sad smile.

"Well, I was sure you and Tia would never get together. And I was pretty sure that you would end up fired. And I was definitely sure that we would never be friends. So, I think it's safe to say no one." Tiberius told him and Philip laughed a little shaking his head.

"Yeah. No one sounds about right." He commented and the turian frowned at him a little.

"Won't Tia be looking for you?" He asked and Philip shook his head.

"Nah. She sent me up here. I said that you'd want to be alone but she wanted me to make sure that you didn't 'do anything stupid'." He said and Tiberius shook his head at the asari's worrying.

"I wouldn't ruin this for you guys." He told him and Philip raised an eyebrow.

"I can't help but notice that you didn't say that you wouldn't do anything stupid." He pointed out and Tiberius gave what Philip figured was probably the equivalent of a sad smile.

"Don't worry, I promised Blue I wouldn't." Tiberius said and Philip shook his head.

"You two and your promises..." He muttered and their omni-tools flashed at them. "Damn it, I can't believe the Executor is calling us into work tonight. Tia is gonna have a shitfit."

"I'm sorry that I had to call you all in tonight. I promise that I won't keep you long." Executor Vakarian told them as they arrived in the office.

"Couldn't this have waited until the morning?" Tia asked, folding her arms, and the Executor shook her head.

"I'm afraid not. Cerberus has made a move. A big one." She told them and the asari immediately moved her hands to her hips and raised her eyebrow.

"Where?" She asked, immediately interested.

"Earth." The Executor told them, immediately grabbing everyone's attention.

"What the hell would they hit on Earth?" Philip asked and it was Tia that answered.

"They hit the Think Tank, didn't they?" She asked and the Executor nodded.

"Wait, the what?" Philip asked and Tia sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Trust you to never read the reports. They're a group of scientists on Earth. They act as our first line of scientific defense against Cerberus. Their exact location is kept a secret." Tia told him and the Executor nodded.

"That just about sums it up. So you must realize how serious it is when I tell you that two of their members were attacked a few hours ago." The Executor told them and Tia frowned a little.

"Were they hurt?" She asked, clearly concerned, and the Executor narrowed her eyes a little but shook her head.

"No. They're fine." She said and Tia held her stare. Philip and Tiberius watched the two of them, feeling as if there was an entire layer to their conversation that they were not party to.

"Was Dr Mizuiro one of them?" The asari asked, causing the Executor's sub-harmonics to trill a little with surprise before she clamped down on them.

"Yes, she was. She managed to hold off the attacker while she and her colleague escaped." Executor Vakarian told them as Philip frowned.

"Wait, so who is Doctor What's-Her-Face?" He asked and Tia sighed, bringing up the doctor's file on her omni-tool.

"Doctor Azula Mizuiro is the youngest member of the Think Tank. She got her PhD last year and her thesis on the uses of gene therapy to combat degenerative diseases has helped to reduce the symptoms of several severe genetic conditions, including Corpalis Syndrome. However, she hates publicity. There are no clear pictures of her available but we know that she is a human female in her early twenties, reasonably tall and has short red hair and green eyes. Her most distinguishing features are a scar over her right eye and her glasses. That's all we've got." Tia said and the Executor nodded.

"That about sums it up. Of course, they work out of an Alliance R & D lab and they've been given plenty of security but the scientists, Dr Mizuiro in particular, object to their presence. So I'm sending you three on the first transport tomorrow morning. Hopefully you'll be able to keep them safe while getting some good intel on Cerberus activity." She told them and Tia frowned.

"You're sending us? All three of us?" She asked and the Executor nodded.

"Can you think of a reason why I shouldn't?" She asked and Tia shook her head.

"If anything, I think you should have sent us sooner." The Executor's sub-harmonics trilled a little with apology and guilt at that.

"I would have if it had been possible. We didn't want to draw attention to them." The Executor said and Tia sighed.

"Yeah, and look how well that turned out."

Philip watched Tia as she slept on the transport, wondering if she was okay. He knew that every year she let herself get too worked up between worrying about Tiberius and her own struggles with what had gone down three years beforehand with Sarah. He felt as if things would have been easier if she had actually died or if they could keep in constant contact with her. But all three of them worried about her, even after so many years. It was hard not to when they kept on broadcasting news vids and documentaries on her. The dead hybrid child of two famed Spectres made for good ratings apparently...

"Stop staring." Tia groaned as she rolled over to face him, opening her eyes to frown at him.

"Sorry." He said and her frown deepened.

"I know that look. You're worried about me." She said and he nodded, sighing.

"Yeah. You were kind of short tempered with the Executor." He said and she raised an eyebrow.

"You think I wasn't right?" She asked and he shook his head.

"Not at all. It's just not like you." He said and Tia kept frowning.

"Philip, Dr Mizuiro is just about the only chance we have right now of stopping Cerberus from creating more hybrids. Trust me, we should have been sent to keep her safe years ago. You'll understand when we get there." She said cryptically and he sighed, nodding.

"Okay then. We should get up. We'll arrive in the next couple of minutes." He told her and she groaned.

"But I don't wanna." She said and he laughed at little, kissing her softly.

"I know, babe. But it's not gonna look very professional if we show up late." He said and she groaned again.

"When the hell did you become so responsible?" She asked and he laughed again.

"I blame you for that." He told her as the small transport landed at the docks just next to the Alliance labs. They disembarked and were greeted by a woman who appeared to be in her early forties. She was tall and slim with long, blonde hair and dark eyes.

"Good morning. I'm Dr Kirmasova. Or Nataliya, whichever you prefer." The woman told them as they disembarked, and Philip recognized her thick accent as Russian.

"You're one of the scientists?" Philip asked and she nodded.

"Yes. I'm the xeno-biologist of our little group. I decided that I should be the one to greet you and fill you in." She explained and he frowned a little.

"Are you the one in charge?" Philip asked and she shook her head as she began to move towards the Alliance buildings and the three C-Sec officers fell into step behind her.

"No. No one is technically 'in charge' of our little group but Azula normally handles the new security." Nataliya explained and Tia couldn't help but smirk a little.

"Except she doesn't know that we're here." She observed and Nataliya gave an apologetic shrug.

"She hates it whenever security is increased. She says that it's unnecessary, and that it does nothing but interfere with her work. When approached about the possibility of help being loaned from C-Sec, she refused it outright." She explained and Tia nodded in understanding.

"So, you went behind her back?" Philip asked and the doctor nodded.

"I had to. She may not want to admit it, but things are getting too dangerous." She said and Tia gave a slightly distant look before asking her next question.

"What's she like?" She asked and Philip frowned at the seemingly random question.

"Damn smart and the hardest worker I've ever met." Nataliya offered but Tia didn't seem satisfied.

"I meant outside the lab." She said and the doctor gave a sad smile.

"She doesn't exist outside of the lab. She sleeps here, eats here... She's barely left the lab in the entire time I've known her. And since we were attacked, I've begun to fear that she'll never leave again." She explained.

"You sound worried for her." Tia observed and Nataliya stopped still, turning to face the three of them.

"You must understand that our work here has painted a bullseye on our backs. And Azula is the prime target. But she seems to have no concept of her own mortality. And she just loves to piss people off. Whether it's the other members of the team, the Council or Cerberus itself. Sometimes I think she only knows how to communicate in sarcastic comments. You three are going to have your work cut out for you, she'll try to drive you away with everything she's got." She warned.

"But you seem close to her." Philip noted and Nataliya nodded.

"Only because I've known her the longest, apart from Cee and Damien, of course. I have tried to get her to go out and have fun. To meet new people. It... It never ends well. From what I can tell, she lost someone close to her. I tried to ask her about it once. Asked who had died to leave her so... disconnected. She just gave a bitter laugh and said 'me'. Take from that what you will." She said before they started walking again. Philip gave a sideways glance to Tiberius but his facial expression was as stoic as ever.

"You're awfully open with this information." Tia said, frowning, and the woman next to her sighed.

"Not with everyone. In fact, I respect her too much to give this information out, normally. I care about her as if she were family. But, like I said, she has a habit of chasing people away. She will tell you to leave and she will not be kind about it. I am simply giving you a basis for her behaviour in the hopes that you do not do as she asks. She may not see it, but none of us are soldiers. She may be a biotic but if Cerberus decides to launch a bigger attack, we will be defenseless." She said and Tia nodded.

"You don't have to worry about that. Trust me." She assured the woman as they entered one of the buildings and she moved to the intercom that connected them to the labs.

"Zu? You in the lab?" She asked.

"Yeah, where else would I be?" A female voice replied, shortly, through the speaker, barely audible over the static.

"We've got some new security arrivals." She said, visibly crossing her fingers.

"From where?" The voice asked, suspicion evident.

"C-Sec." Nataliya replied and the static seemed to increase for a moment.

"I told the Executor that we didn't need her to send anyone. I bet she sent some rookies just to spite me..." The voice replied angrily and Nataliya shook her head.

"Actually, she sent three special agents." She replied and the line went silent for a few moments.

"Who?" The voice finally replied and Nataliya frowned a little.

"Agents Jones, Tallin and Namar." She said and the line went silent for a few more moments.

"Tell them to leave. Tell them to leave and to tell their boss that if this is some kind of sick joke, I'm not laughing." The voice replied, quieter than before.

"Zu..."

"I mean it, Nat." The voice called back and the woman turned off the intercom.

"Should we leave?" Philip asked and everyone shook their heads at him.

"Have they gone?" The voice came back, softer than before.

"Yeah." Nataliya lied and they heard the lab door open. Tiberius barely caught a glimpse of the red haired geneticist before she saw them and immediately ran back into the lab.

"Nataliya!" The voice screamed over the intercom and Tia rolled her eyes before speaking into it herself.

"Hey there, Dr Mizuiro? This is Agent Namar speaking but you can call me Tia." She said brightly.

"Leave." She said and Tia sighed.

"No need to be rude about it." Tia said.

"Pay no attention to the woman behind the curtain." The voice replied and Tia rolled her eyes.

"Hey, did you know what your last name means in ja-"

"Fine! Tia, fine. You win." The other voice grumbled before the woman left the lab again and turned to face them, hands on her hips and glaring through safety glasses. She was wearing a black turtleneck and a knee length, red tartan skirt with black tights and boots under her scruffy white lab coat. Her vibrant red hair was cut into a choppy bob with thick bangs that fell over the top of the large plastic glasses, only partially covering the large scar over her right eye. Tiberius couldn't help but frown at her tired, green eyes. For some reason he had the overwhelming feeling that they weren't the right colour...

Then his eyes came to fall on the red half heart that was on a chain around her neck, just as her scent reached him.

"Blue..." He whispered, feeling as if all of the air had been knocked out of his lungs. She shifted her weight at that and her stance softened as her gaze fell.

"Been a while." She managed, still not moving closer towards him, and he nodded.

"Three years." He said softly and she flinched a little.

"I... I appreciate you guys coming all the way out here to help but I don't need the extra hands. Really. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to work to do." She said hurriedly before returning to the lab. Tiberius was stunned by her sudden disappearance but Tia just sighed.

"You'd think that she would get better at not running away from her problems..." The asari said as Nataliya followed Sarah (or Azula or whatever she was calling herself) into the lab before coming back out.

"She's disappeared." Nataliya told them and Tia nodded.

"That's okay. We know where she'll be. Honey, can you go and speak to her?" She asked Philip who frowned at her.

"Shouldn't that be Smiley's job?" He asked and she shook her head.

"Not right now." She said and he left as she turned to face Tiberius.

"You okay?" She asked and he shook his head.

"I don't know. I wasn't... I didn't think that I would see her again until after we'd dealt with Cerberus. If she was even still alive..." He said and Tia nodded.

"I didn't want to say anything in case I was wrong." She told him and he nodded.

"It's okay. I just... Spirits, it's like waking up from a bad dream." He admitted.

"She'll stop running. She just doesn't know how to handle this." Tia said.

"I'm not sure I do, either..."