Champions of Nothing - Matthew Good
"Whoa, Lola, what are you doing?" James jogged over to Shepard, who was dragging one of the spare cots in the cargo bay towards the elevator.
"Mind giving me a hand with this?" she asked.
"Of course." With the two of them working together they lifted it easily into the elevator. "Where are we going, anyways?"
"Crew deck."
"New recruit?"
"It's for me."
His eyes narrowed. "Your quarters aren't big enough anymore?"
She laughed harshly. "I think too big is a better way of putting it."
"I don't think I get it."
The doors opened and they pulled the cot out. Shepard led and directed them in front of the memorial wall before putting the cot down. "Perfect. Thanks for your help."
"This is where you're gonna sleep?"
"That's the plan."
"That's a little weird, Lola."
She shrugged noncommittally. When she looked into his eyes, there was neither their usual resilience and fire nor the recent pain and suffering within them. "When your fiancé is gunned down under your command, you try and sleep in the same bed that the two of you shared."
"Fair enough. But why here?"
She rested two fingers on Garrus's name on the wall. "He wasn't what you'd call a material person. This is one of the last pieces of him that I have. The other objects - my ring, my pendant, and his visor - are the things that will stay with me from here on in."
James unobtrusively sniffed. "I really miss him. We all do. But if there's anything I can do to help... I'm always here, Commander."
"The offer is much appreciated James. You wanna... sit and have a game of Skyllian Five with me?"
"Only if I can invite Esteban. I doubt I can beat you, but I know I can beat him."
"You grab him, I grab cards."
"Deal."
After taking out a large wave of Cerberus fighters on Cronos Station, EDI discovered an encrypted terminal.
"Shepard, you may want to see this," the AI called.
"What did you find, EDI?" Shepard and Liara jogged to join her at the terminal.
The screen displayed static momentarily before fading into a shot of the Illusive Man's office.
A voice off screen was speaking, and its familiarity made Shepard's skin crawl."Have you collected the Shepard?"
"We have her."
"And Pluvia is prepared to be executed?"
"It is ready."
"You must not execute it at this moment. Allow your team to bring her back slowly, they must not know of our plan. When they are nigh prepared, utilize Pluvia and bring her back."
"It will be done."
The screen cut out. "What was that?" Liara whispered.
"That voice..." Shepard paused. "It was Harbinger."
"Harbinger?" Liara's voice raised sharply in shock.
"This goes back to your discovery after Cerberus's Citadel coup. EDI, can we save this to take back to the ship?"
"Yes, Shepard." She swift typed the necessary commands into the terminal.
"Good work. Let's move out."
They moved uninterrupted through the facility until they reached another terminal. Without a command from Shepard, EDI hacked it and found another video. It was once again in the Illusive Man's office, but this time he was not alone: Kai Leng accompanied him.
"Archangel did not accompany her to the Citadel, sir. I was able to take out the drell, but it did not break her."
The Illusive Man slammed his fist into the table. "Of course it didn't, you imbecile! Archangel is your target, not some dying assassin!"
"Sir, if I just boarded the Normandy..."
"Absolutely not. It is too high risk. He must be taken down in a mission."
"I will find him, sir, and he will die."
"Good. You're dismissed."
The bile rose so quickly into Shepard's throat that she barely had time to find a crate to vomit behind. "They planned it," she whispered hoarsely when she was finally able to come up for air. "They planned the whole damn thing. But why, why?"
"Cerberus wanted you out of the picture," Liara said. "But they knew they couldn't kill you, so their next best option was to eliminate you through grief."
"But why?"
"We can make one of two assumptions," EDI interjected. "Either Cerberus has gone rogue from their Reaper association, or he is indoctrinated and this is a Reaper motive."
"We need to try and find more terminals. Move out."
They did find one more. Once again it was The Illusive Man speaking to the voice off screen that she recognized as Harbinger. Shepard played it four times to ensure that every word was correct.
"You have brought her back?"
"Pluvia was an absolute success."
"Every implant provided was installed?"
"Yes."
"Excellent work. You have received the dossiers from Brooks?"
"Although I doubt the validity of her work - a salarian? A krogan? - I will be forwarding-"
"These dossiers were chosen for a reason, do not doubt them."
"Of course." The Illusive Man was stammering in fear.
Static was shown briefly before the vid returned, displaying a later date.
"The implants are not working."
"That's impossible, I-"
"She regenerates. But I can only control her in moments of weakness or unconsciousness."
"I installed each implant as requested."
"Do you understand how important that she is?"
"Yes, but-"
"Then you must hope she acts as planned until the invasion when we will begin to fully indoctrinate her. Otherwise you shall suffer."
"Understood."
A violent shiver racked Shepard's body. Liara opened her mouth to speak, but Shepard silenced her. "Do not speak a word of this. To anyone. We cannot prove or disprove what we have just seen. EDI, destroy it."
"Shepard, perhaps-"
Shepard spun around, her face contorted into near madness. "DO AS I SAY. BOTH OF YOU."
"Yes, Shepard," Liara acquiesced. Her eyes were shimmering with tears.
"Liara, EDI, take the intel and have Cortez prepare for evac. I'll meet you there after I have a small discussion with my good friend Mr. Leng."
Shepard was standing over Leng's shivering form, her booted foot heavy on his chest with the business end of her pistol pointed directly between his eyes.
The asari and the AI left, leaving Shepard alone with the enemy.
"Tell me what you know about Cerberus's association with the Reapers. Tell me why you killed Garrus."
"I won't tell you a thing, you bitch," he spat.
She eased more and more pressure onto her boot until she heard his first rib crack. Although his face contorted, he let out no noise. She increased the pressure, reveling in the sound of each rib cracking under her boot, a wicked grin spreading across her face. He began to gasp for breath but refused to speak, refused to give her the satisfaction of knowing his pain, refused to give in to her demands.
"You're much quicker to talk when you have your little sword, aren't you, you son of a bitch? TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT THE REAPERS!"
He hoarked and spat in her face.
She wiped it away without a thought. He had spat blood. "I think it's time we see just how sharp your sword is, don't you agree? Don't move a muscle or will biotically incapacitate you, and it's not as pleasant as it sounds." She bent down and grabbed it from the floor before positioning it above his stomach. "I'll ask you one last time. If you don't want me to slowly spill your guts, tell me what you know about Cerberus's association with the Reapers, and tell me what you know about Garrus." He fixed her with a cold, beady-eyed gaze, but he did not speak.
She cut a line from his hip to his chest, deep enough that blood gushed out in droves but shallow enough that he would be kept alive. Although he didn't scream, he whimpered, which she considered a success.
"Don't feel like talking yet?" she mocked. "That's fine; I can do this all day." She cut a line directly down his breastbone. "In N7 training, they teach you where all the major arteries run, in case you're ever in a situation without your gun. For you, that means that I can do this all day and keep you alive. Will that loosen your lips?"
When he did not respond, she dug the sword in below his belly button and moved downwards.
Although she never was able to get him to speak, she was able to make him scream.
"Shepard, wait." Liara grabbed her arm as she attempted to leave the Kodiak behind EDI and Cortez. "I know things are bad, worse than we could have imagined, but we must discuss this."
Shepard closed her eyes and sighed. Although at the moment she wanted nothing more than a long session with the punching bag, she sat back down, for Liara's sake.
"Were you able to obtain any information from Leng?"
"Not a peep."
"That is unfortunate."
"He wasn't granted the gift of slow death."
"That is fortunate."
"What do you want to discuss?"
"I don't believe you're indoctrinated, Shepard."
Her brow furrowed. "Why not?"
"Other than the fact that you've taken out two Reapers and hundreds of foot soldiers? You've done everything correctly to prepare us for this. The Crucible is ready, we know what the Catalyst is, the races are united, and we are as prepared as we could possibly be given the circumstances. If you were indoctrinated, the Reapers would have you working against the goal."
"I'm not so sure, Liara." She sighed and put her face in her hands. "There are things... things I didn't even tell Garrus about.
"I have nightmares, constantly, about Sovereign killing off my crew, my friends, my family. I used to think it was from my encounter with him, but maybe the Reapers wanted to break me down. When I started to get really worried was just after Mars.
"I was in Huerta Memorial visiting Ashley, and I heard someone say my name. Nothing came of it, so I pushed it to the back of my mind... that is, until Tuchanka. When Mordin went to cure the genophage, that same voice came back and told me to shoot him. And I listened. I justified it by saying to myself that it was the only way to gain salarian support, but then the voice came back, when Cerberus was infiltrating the Citadel and I had the standoff with Ashley. The voice told me to shoot her, too."
Liara rested her hand on Shepard's shoulder. "We may have lost Mordin, but it was for the war. We wouldn't have lost Wrex were it not for his temper. You could have killed Ashley, but you fought it, and you didn't. They me be attempting to indoctrinate you, but you're fighting it, and they're failing."
Her head, directly behind her left eye, throbbed painfully. "Let's hope I can fight it just a little longer, then. We're in the home stretch here. I can feel it."
"I trust you, Shepard." Liara embraced her quickly before standing to leave. "Ready to face Hackett?"
"Ready as I'll ever be."