A/N: A rarity for me to come back so soon with an update, but I was in the creative zone this week. Many, many thanks to SpartanEra, Mei-chiri, DandereGoneFishing, and Blausen for your reviews last chapter and as always to those who favorited, followed or are just reading this story!

A quick warning: this chapter deals with a dark subject matter that could be a trigger for some people. While fairly brief, I wanted to give readers a heads-up. If you don't wish to read this particular part, end after the sentence "If there was ever a time…" and start up again at "Aided along by the voices…"

-13-

Travel by vent was getting old fast.

She had already had a taste for it before and its dark and stifling nature, enough to last a lifetime, but apparently she was a sucker for punishment.

Really, Jane, what choice did you have?

She hadn't. Mercs coming on either side of her, another entrance to a vent luring her in with its promise of safety (physically only; certainly not mentally). A once again dwindling supply of ammo. Mercs armed with vid cameras to track her movements. And a possible hidden enemy equipped with her own set, following Shepard's movements to relay back to the mercs, despite telling Shepard she didn't have the access.

She had to admit the idea wasn't implausible. Brooks had reeled her in with the same tricks. Why not another talented actress just playing her part? Had the story about her mother and her illness been all for show, just to get Shepard to empathize with her? She seemed so eager to help, providing her with coordinates, setting off those alarms to give her a chance to escape from Melrose and Hawkes. Had that all been a ruse to gain her trust?

The only thing that didn't add up, she thought as she continued crawling forward with her arms (dismissing the ache of her arm wound), was Melrose's comment. The insider had supposedly backed out. If she truly was the one, was that still the case? Or had a deal sprung up at the last minute? These people didn't seem like the type willing to give second chances readily. And how did her sister's and the head archivist's deaths fit into all this, if at all? Most importantly, what would have been her motive?

All she knew with certainty was time was working against her and she had to find something. The log, a security room to fix the comms. Either, so she'd have actually accomplished something rather than running and hiding with the sporadic firefight, even though she knew it was necessary that she had to play it smart given the circumstances.

She came upon another split in the shaft, fumbling around for the flashlight switch to survey which was the best way to go. Another vent grate to the right and it appeared as if the shaft kept going to her left. She shut off the light in case anyone was nearby and spotted it, but if no one had come running at her pitter-patter through the vent, she was probably safe. Comm chatter hadn't revealed much, other than the occasional warning to keep an eye out for Shepard and anyone who found her not to kill her.

The other Shepard's instructions were clear about what was to be done with her.

She checked her omni-tool, pulling up the holo-schematic again. She was getting close. Looked like she still needed to go a few levels down.

She waited another moment or two for nearby voices or footsteps before turning right. She tried pushing the grate off with one hand, but like the other, it wasn't going to be enough. Shifting herself so she went feet first in an even more confined space than the other shaft was more of an acrobatic move than she cared to do, but she had little choice. She lay down on her back, curling herself into a ball, biting her lip from releasing a few choice words when her bruised knee struck the top of the vent. She froze in place, the reverberation of the careless action traveling down the chutes. Another brief period of waiting before the two kicks to loosen the grate. She positioned herself back on her stomach, setting her gun down again while she lifted the grate off and crawled forward into the artificial blue glow outside the vent.

She poked her head out from behind the desk, spotting no one in the vicinity. She grabbed her pistol, brushing the flecks of dust that had gotten attached to her clothes from crawling in the vent for a second time as she righted herself. The synthetic lighting was coming from yet another vault, which naturally activated upon her approach.

"Year 2183 CE. Battle of the Citadel. Geth Dreadnought Attack. Vault X5."

She didn't need to hear this. She had lived this history. She knew what happened firsthand. She didn't need to hear the modified version of it, traces of the Reapers involvement wiped away from the records.

She stepped away from the vault to check which way to go, the recording still playing in the background.

"In the opening minutes of the attack, you'll see that Zakera Ward is completely destroyed."

Another voice interrupted the previous one, registering Shepard's presence and her Spectre status before continuing with the classified information.

"The unknown aggressor is suspected to be a Reaper aided in its attack on the Citadel by rogue Spectre Saren Arterius. The Reaper Sovereign is destroyed by the Fifth Fleet."

At least they acknowledged the truth, even if it was hidden behind security clearances.

She remembered telling the Council after the battle that it wasn't over. They had been convinced Sovereign's defeat marked the beginning of a new era. All it did was buy them time. She hadn't been able to shake the feeling Sovereign was only a vanguard and more would be coming.

If there was ever a time she wished a prediction of hers had been dead wrong, that would have been it.

Her ears perked at the sudden rustling to her left. She spun around, pistol pointed at where she thought the source of the noise emanated from, but there was nothing. Nothing but the holo-images of the Citadel and Sovereign staring ominously down at her. She was starting to hear things, she thought as she lowered her gun to her side. Getting too jumpy.

She barely got five steps forward when a hand clamped down on her mouth, an unwelcome arm curling around her waist to pull her struggling form against her assailant, but not before knocking her weapon from her hand and kicking it away. Her arms were pinned to her sides, trapped by the powerful grip around her.

The putrid stench of alcohol, tobacco and filthy musk of the person gave his identity away without a word from him. Where the hell did Melrose even come from? How did he even find her when it felt like she had put significant ground between them? Were any others coming to bring up the rear or had he volunteered to scout ahead as he did when leaving Hawkes alone? Questions more important for later when she wasn't in his hold.

She felt him pressing himself further against her, trying to force her down to the floor.

No.

His arm and other greedy hand were inching closer and closer to her chest, the tips of his fingers brushing against the side of her breast.

No!

She threw the weight of her body against him, right in the gut of his armor, hoping beyond hope it would be enough for him to momentarily loosen his grip so she retrieve her pistol. But he was more prepared for her resistance this time, holding onto her so that they both tumbled to the floor.

"Won't…let…you do this!" she breathed heavily through his hand as she struggled to prevent him from dominating her, getting on top of her. She couldn't deny he had the advantage in size and strength. If he pinned her down, she'd have a difficult time escaping, resulting in a scenario she could not begin to fathom.

Melrose didn't reply, too busy trying to pin her to the floor. Channeling her inner krogan the second time that night, she flung her head back as far as it would go, striking it against Melrose's with as much strength as she could muster without doing damage to her own. He hadn't been prepared for such an attack, relaxing his grasp for a second upon impact, enough for Shepard to claw her way over to her gun through the momentary daze caused by her hit. She grabbed it with both hands, ignoring the discomfort it caused to curl her injured one. Her finger barely wrapped around the trigger when she felt a hand on her leg, pulling her, flipping her onto her back.

His legs were on both sides of her now. He tried to force the gun out of her hands, but now that she had it again, she wouldn't let go unless he pried it from her cold, lifeless fingers, hand or arm injuries be damned.

"You're a…wild…woman, Shepard," he finally said, speaking through his breathless grunts. "Women…like…you…need to be tamed." The predator was in his element now, leering down at her, clearly enjoying her struggle, no hint of the personality present in front of Hawkes or the other mercs.

The throbbing in her hand was growing unbearable from clutching the pistol in a death grip, but she gritted her teeth, using all her willpower to force the muzzle upward, right at Melrose's forehead. By the time he fully realized where she was aiming, she had already squeezed the trigger with all her might before he could pull away.

The blast was instantaneous, spraying her with blood. His body collapsed on top of her, his head making contact with her neck, further coating her. She promptly lifted his body up enough for her to roll out from underneath him, landing on her injured arm yet the pain not registering right away. He fell back to the floor beside her, no sign of life left in him. And she couldn't make herself feel bad about that fact. How many suffered at his hands? How many were tainted, made to feel like objects to be claimed then tossed away when he was done? How many had to endure his groping hands touching parts of their bodies they reserved for themselves or for another? How many had been as lucky as her to escape such a treatment?

It was a small consolation no one else would ever have to feel that way by him again.

She rose herself from the floor, wiping away the warm blood smeared on her face with her forearm, but she still felt its stain on her skin. She looked down at the bloodied mess that once was Melrose and it began to set in. The cry bubbling up in her throat, the sting in her eyes threatening to unleash the floodgates, the anger and adrenaline dying down as it fully hit her, what could have happened. She shut her eyes, willing the dizziness in her head and the queasy feeling suddenly in her stomach to stop before she spewed what contents were in there onto the floor.

She slowed her erratic breathing down first, inhaling and exhaling slowly through her nose, repeating over and over again in her mind that nothing had happened, that she had stopped him before he even really touched her. The technique worked and once that was under control, the other symptoms followed suit.

Aided along by the voices of Ramsay and Hawkes over the public comm channel. They knew Melrose was missing, had gone on ahead of Hawkes, and hadn't reported back in. She had to go before they found her with him.

Pointedly looking anywhere but his face, she checked the pistol at Melrose's side and his belt for extra thermal clips before she departed, her hands a little shaky. Only two extra, but it was two more than she had a moment ago. Then it hit her. He had been on her so fast, almost like he had a…

She quickly scanned his omni-tool and the powers available to it. The initial excitement she felt at the possibility of having her beloved cloak back diminished when she saw the power was nowhere to be found. However, it did have the ability to summon a disruption drone and multi-frag grenade throw capability, which he carried in his belt. A gift horse in the mouth this big, she couldn't afford to look it over.

She slipped the belt from his waist, still keeping her head slanted away from him. She tightly fastened the clearly-not-meant-for-her-size belt around her, her hands having lost most of their tremor (though the injured one was still pounding from its previous exertion). She then changed out Sara's omni-tool with Melrose's and transferred the comm channel frequencies and map with coordinates from the omni-tools so she wouldn't lose her sense of direction (assuming they weren't fake, but it was all she had to go on until she discovered otherwise). She didn't know what to do with Sara's omni-tool since she couldn't take both with her. Either way with Laura, she didn't want anyone else coming upon it. Her eyes landed on a partly open desk drawer. Storing it there would keep it out of sight (so long as no one saw her on the cameras hiding it).

She exited the room, trying to re-focus best she could, lock her emotions away long enough to see this task through. She followed the path the hallway was leading her down, dumping her into another vault-filled room, a prime place for another ambush. She had to keep moving.

Another level down and the same type of layout. Seemed this was to be the norm for awhile.

Shepard then felt something tap her scalp. She spun around, but didn't see anything. When it happened again in the same spot, she realized something was stuck in her hair and her stomach churned when she deduced what it was. She set her gun down on the nearby desk, quickly running her fingers through her hair like a comb, finding the bit of Melrose's brain in question as well as a bonus one and guiding them out of her strands to the floor, a shudder of disgust racking through her body. There was a reason why she preferred head shots from a distance.

Please no more surprises.

She instinctively ducked down behind a nearby desk when she suddenly heard voices from the other side of the room. She hadn't seen anyone. Where did they spring up from?

But she wasn't at a complete disadvantage this time. She had a drone at her beck and call now. Besides, she'd have to go right by them to get through since they seemed to be standing right by the door to the next level and did not seem to be moving anytime soon.

She directed the drone on its merry way, doing a kamikaze run on the two mercs, with Shepard following behind to get in shooting range. One jumped out of the way, but the other was not so lucky. She threw the frag grenades in the general direction the second one went. The force of the blasts knocked him back long enough for Shepard to pump round after round into him.

Her path was clear again, but Ramsay and the others would be hot on her tail once they discovered Melrose. She couldn't leave any obvious clues leading them right to her. She dragged both bodies to hiding places just as she did before, one inside a broken vault, the other positioned behind a desk out of direct line of sight. She also kicked their guns under desks, but not before grabbing ammo off the Suppressor (the other merc had a M-9 Tempest on him, not a favorite).

She was ready to move forward when she spotted the crack in the wall beside one of the desks. Like that of a concealed panel leading to a secret room. That's probably where the two mercs came from.

She pushed the panel forward a bit more and spotted the vid screens lining the wall. A security room, probably just like the one Laura hid herself away in. Maybe there was a way to get comms back online from here. She remembered Laura said it had to be done through the main hub, but had that just been something she said to keep Shepard from trying?

If she is or was working with them, Jane. You don't know for certain.

For this, it was worth the time to take a quick look.

She securely shut the panel behind her by pushing the glowing button on the wall. She plopped down on the tiny seat with little to no cushion or back support. She glanced down at the control panel, skimming through the options, her heart sinking as she saw no option in regards to the comms, only switching between feeds and zooming in and out.

Now that she was already in there, she may as well try and see what was up ahead.

Her eyes darted from camera to camera, the locations on the bottom of the respective screens. Locations she began to realize held no meaning to her. They were listed by a series of letters and numbers with directional words such as "east" or "west" thrown in. None of these numbers or letters had appeared on her map on the omni-tool.

Another click and one of the feeds flipped to a panoramic view of the room with Melrose's body, which she quickly shut off. She didn't need any more reminders of what almost happened, of Melrose's attempt to violate her. A memory that would stay with her far beyond the walls of these Archives.

She continued fiddling with the feeds. One of the screens switched to a view of an area she recognized, where she had been before. Where she had found Sara Corvo's body.

But she wasn't alone. A man was bending over her.

Fury rose within her at the thought of someone disturbing this poor woman's corpse, until she looked closer and saw he wasn't scouring her body in search of valuables, but had her fingers on her neck, as if checking her pulse. Shepard used the zoom in function on the camera. His face was tilted down, focused on Sara, but she could make out the insignia on his shoulder clear as day, an insignia not usually stitched on most uniforms she had seen: the arms of the Citadel, a ring surrounding the arms, and a "C" at the base of the arms.

C-Sec. A C-Sec officer had come by! Finally a surprise that benefited her! Now she just had to contact him.

Fortunately, he looked to be doing the same, righting himself up and pressing his fingers against his ear, lips moving furiously.

Shepard switched between the channels, hoping to catch him as he was on. She finally struck gold on the seventh one, but the static was too great on her end. All she could make out were the snippets of words.

"Officer…drew Ridgefield…who…on this…please res…"

Ridgefield…that officer's name sounded familiar. She had never met one by that name, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she should have been able to place it…

She looked around at the bodies strewn before her, blood spattered on the walls. The C-Sec agents had been gunned down where they stood, without warning, without a chance to get to the stored weapons. Both of them, Udina, the Illusive Man, would pay for every single life lost, every single person who had a spouse, a child, a sibling, a parent, or a friend who would mourn their loss. She would see to it.

Though she always suspected Garrus left C-Sec on not the greatest of terms, he still had friends and contacts there. For however much he complained of the red tape back in those days, C-Sec had been a part of his identity for a good chunk of his adult life. She could see by the brief flash of pain in his eyes this was difficult to take in. Hallways and rooms he had once walked laid waste to.

"Ridgefield? Lamont? You alive?" Garrus called out amongst the stillness of death.

"Foolish turian. You will give away our location," Javik criticized.

"If gunfire doesn't put them on notice, I sure won't."

They continued on, without any sign of life or any answers from the two C-Sec officers Garrus had called out to…

Garrus! Garrus knew this man from C-Sec! How long and how well didn't matter; all that mattered was that they knew each other.

This almost seemed too good to be true.

"This is Commander Shepard. Do you read me?" she asked through the growing static. She received no response.

She tried again, addressing the officer by name this time to show she intercepted his message, but nothing seemed to be cutting through the static now.

"Damn it!" She wasn't about to give up her only means of contact with the outside, not when it was literally staring her in the face. Maybe hearing how static-filled that channel was, he switched to another.

"Commander? Commander, are you still there? Please pick up." In her signal cycling, she heard Laura's voice pleading with her through their private frequency on their usual channel.

"I'm here. What's wrong?" She'd continue to play it as if she hadn't begun wondering about Laura.

"There's a man by Sara. I… I think he's from C-Sec!"

Shepard decided against admitting she already knew. "Have you been able to get in contact with him?"

"I tried, but the ch-channel he was on wasn't clear. I thought I heard him say he was going to try and clear the static, but there's still nothing. And…and I think… oh, God, they're already there!"

Shepard focused back on the screen with Ridgefield prime and center, currently darting away from Sara's body, CAT6 mercs now moving into the camera's focus. Shepard tried to move the camera to track Ridgefield's movements, but it wouldn't budge. It appeared stuck in its current location.

"Oh, God. Oh, God. They're closing in on him! They're going….going to…!" Her voice shook harder with every breath. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

Shepard didn't like where this was going. "Laura? What do you mean you're sorry? How is this your fault?"

She didn't receive an answer right away except for Laura's choppy breathing. Finally in a small voice crushed by her remorse, she whispered, "I'm sorry, Commander. I-I never meant for any of this to happen."

Then there was silence.

Shepard called Laura's name again, but it was pointless. Laura had dropped off again, after ending with as good a confession as she would get at the moment.

She had really hoped Laura hadn't been a part of this. Sure she had begun to suspect, entertain the possibility she was the insider, but she wanted to believe in Laura, her suspicions unfounded. Would she have to question everyone she met now, constantly paranoid? That was no way to live, even if a healthy number of people were hell-bent on harming her.

On the vid screen, the mercs had also disappeared. It hadn't looked good for Ridgefield, but this chance may not have passed her by yet. He may still be alive; he may have gotten away. As much as it went against her "always putting people first" philosophy, it was too late to turn around now. She was too deep into the Archives to get back to him. She'd have to settle for trying to contact him again while on her way to the log.

Shepard paused before opening the hidden panel, pressing her ear against the wall. Either no one had come by again or this room was completely sound proof. Regardless, she had to head out.

She pushed the wall forward, allowing her enough space to slip through the opening.

The last thing she heard before the blow came to her head and darkness claimed her was an excited voice over the comm saying she had found Shepard's biometric access log.