Chapter 25: It's Just a Scratch
Huddled up, the team brainstormed tactics on how to deal with the nightmarish horde of rachni they neutralized. What Liara found peculiar was that they all only seemed to be mildly surprised over the rachni's existence, but that skepticism probably ceased to exist with the return of the geth, and the assurances of the havoc the return of the Reapers had promised.
Now, Liara wasn't an expert in xenobiology, but archaeology had given tools of deduction to help with the many remains she routinely discovered in past expeditions. She went over to the corpses that engaged Lucy, stealing many looks at the group to make sure they weren't watching her whenever she prodded the corpses with her foot, as a precaution to ensure they were all actually dead.
"They spat acid. So that means it should have glands capable of producing that acid... Or do they have a limited reservoir, like a biobee's single stinger to break off after use?"
Satisfied the rachni were as dead as they would ever be, she knelt and cautiously pried open the pincers of one to study the inside of it's mouth. Unfortunately, she didn't get to study long.
"What are you doing?"
A shadow fell over her. There was a forced tone of amusement fighting off to burrow the underlying fear. Lucy knelt beside her, her helmet fixed on her head again, her illuminating optics the only things seen. There was hatred in her eyes, and horror that still seemed to threaten to drag her mind a thousand yards away.
"I want to see how they're able to do this." Liara reached up and tapped beside where the acid skimmed the top of the human's helmet.
A firm grasp of her hand had her wince, where Lucy tried to tame a vicious recoil. There was a snarl in her low gruff mutter. "The only thing that matters is how to kill them." She pointed at the oozing wound above the mouth, the precise handiwork of this one due to Garrus' shot finding a nook between the creature's eyes. "Same as anything. Shoot them in the head."
Liara took a quick look at the group to see that they were still talking among themselves. She lowered her voice so she wasn't heard by them. "I understand your hesitance, but are you also not curious?"
"To me, these things are just mini thresher maws. That's as far as my curiosity will go. Come on." Lucy rose. "Your mom will be hugging us with her hands squeezing our throats if she finds us gawking at this thing."
"No, no, she wouldn't do that," Liara reassured. "She rarely employs disciplinary methods - physically, anyways."
Judged by the smile dancing in Lucy's eyes, the archaeologist had taken up an issue with the wrong thing.
"Something tells me you're speaking from experience," Lucy noted with more genuine amusement now. "Well, I don't intend to get throttled with words either."
"She... Doesn't do that either."
"Okay, I know we've already said we were wretches growing up... But one of these days, you must tell me what your childhood was like," the soldier chuckled. "We have to go. Study these things after we stop whatever is going on here."
Lucy returned to the group, her grip tight on her rifle. The asari pretended not to notice the slight quiver of fright. Of course, she would be too, after experiencing the traumatic glimpses she had during her melds. She had taken a direct dive into an absolute chaotic war zone when she injected herself into Lucy's mind in an act of desperation to bring comfort and quell that Goddess-awful screaming, back when the soldier had lost her footing in reality. It pained Liara to know that Lucy was still seeing those things, feeling it over and over again, subjected to suffer for the eternity of her life.
"What's to embrace about that?"
The others didn't seem like they were going to bring up what happened when they all arrived. Tali and Garrus shared looks, both confused and hesitant. Kaidan and Ashley seemed like they were already aware. Wrex was obliviously apathetic and chuckled as he dismembered a baby rachni's legs by twisting his toes in it.
"They must have their reasons, or perhaps they don't know how to broach the subject. Garrus needs to check his forearm - Lucy was crushing through his armour when he tried to restrain her synthetic arm. Wrex has a dent in his side when she kicked him. Lucy isn't questioning the states of their armour either... Is she already aware? Or still distracted by her fear?"
"I'll take point," Lucy said, waving the asari over to join them. "Orthodox tactics won't work until we figure out exactly how they operate - like the geth. Make liberal use of cover and watch them, adapt accordingly. Williams, guard our flank. Alenko, give me suppressive fire when I advance. And-"
"When I advance too," Wrex chuckled lowly, hiding his bloodthirsty grin as he fixed his helmet back on. "These rachni will wish they stayed extinct when they see a krogan charge at them again."
"No. I don't want anyone being rash and irresponsible," Lucy came down stern, however stoic. She watched the krogan from the corner of her eyes when Wrex seemed to balk at her.
"Shepard! When have I been rash or irresponsible?"
That deadpan way Lucy's head turned to him was enough to have a few of the others struggle not to smile. Liara had to look away to suppress her laugh at the stoic tone.
"I keep a list. It's alphabetized."
Wrex huffed gruffly, but he didn't have a retort.
Everyone knew Lucy was dead serious about keeping such a list, and none seemed to want to provoke her to see if there were any such lists kept on themselves.
"I'm sure she's been writing up a long one for me, with how often she scolds me about my well-being," Liara internally rolled her eyes. She straightened when Lucy's head panned to her, wondering if her mind was somehow read. She braced herself for such a revelation, only to find out that the list was indirectly growing longer.
"Dr. T'Soni, Tali, please stay in the middle of the group and absolutely do not take any risks. T'Soni, employ your biotics only as a barrier."
"Old habits die hard. She's still trying to take on the brunt of the burden and 'operate' by herself as much as possible." Liara tried not to frown, crossing her arms. "She's still ignoring what she already knows of my capabilities. Has she forgotten who threw her?"
"Tali, focus on maintaining your shields, and-"
"I can do more than shields," Tali offered hopefully. "I can sabotage systems and hack into any geth units. You reported on the radio that you found some more ahead, right? There's bound to be more."
Everybody stiffened when Lucy took her helmet off to cradle against her ribs, her rifle hanging limp by her side by the fraying strap slung on her shoulder. She pinched the bridge of her nose and walked a few meters away. "Dr. T'Soni, may I have a word with you, please?" A beat. "Many, many words, please."
"Why am I in trouble?" Liara grumbled under her breath. She suppressed a sigh when the quarian gave a sympathetic squeeze of the shoulder.
"Sorry," Tali mumbled.
"No, no, it's not your fault."
Liara steeled herself as she approached the soldier, noting how Wrex was getting increasingly restless the longer they stood around here. He was bound to get more agitated once he saw just how cautious and methodical Lucy preferred to handle things - and Lucy was bound to get agitated the more she saw she had a team to work with her now.
They stood side by side, shoulder to shoulder, where Liara stole swift glances from the corner of her eyes to study the soldier's true mood. Lucy just stared at a wall. She sighed and pinched her nose again.
"Can I please just do this alone?" Lucy pleaded under her breath. "I promise I'll work on this tomorrow. Or a week from now. But today-"
"Today you lead your pack," Liara held on stern. "You have a capable team, you know you do. Now you just have to learn what we're capable of. You have to trust us." She leaned over and gently bumped shoulders. "Where would you be if we didn't come?" She shuddered at the thought herself, and quickly moved on from the grim subject. "We have your back. Please let us have that."
"Can you have the mako instead? I'll even throw in some Prothean stuff in there for you. I could try my hand at organizing a party."
An interesting offer.
But.
"You can't bribe me, and don't you dare call it a tribute now either." Liara chuckled quietly. She glanced over her shoulder to watch the group getting more restless. She damned the consequences of everybody knowing the true nature of their relationship as she reached across and slid her hand along the small of the soldier's back. "You're stalling. Did you forget your promise?"
"No. But you're here, so technically I've fulfilled it. Minus the mission completion part." Lucy sighed. "Alright, but I need your help to have Tali fall in line. Both of you need to maintain defensive maneuvers and-"
A rallying cry caught them off guard and they whirled around, where Liara's widened in dread when Wrex started charging down the corridor. A firm hand slipped around her wrist and calmly pulled her over to the wall as they allowed the krogan to go ahead - a decision that Lucy seemed most displeased with, judging by the deadpan look she shot Liara now.
At least it forced the soldier to stop stalling and to start moving.
"Wrex!" Lucy shouted down the corridor. "This is another thing added to the list!" A beat. She almost sounded as if she was sulking. "And I wanted to take point!"
Liara smirked when the krogan's booming laughter echoed down the halls. Then she choked at Wrex's retort.
"Run faster then, or you'll run outta chances to impress your asari when I kill all the rachni!"
Liara wanted to crawl in a hole when Tali came over for the singular purpose of giving another sympathetic squeeze of the shoulder.
Friendly faces have never been more welcome to see, and Liara rested against the wall to catch her breath while Lucy went off to speak to the Captain of the facility's defences. She nodded in gratitude when Ashley briefly passed by with a canteen of water offered, one immediately accepted, and Liara sighed in content after she'd gulped some. She smiled sheepishly when the soldier gave her a wide-eyed look, before it was replaced with a smirk.
All Ashley had left to say was a sympathetic squeeze of the shoulder before she'd left.
Tali had come up to rest beside Liara, also in the same haggard state. She quickly took something out of one of her armour compartments though, and Liara's eyes grew when she recognized that it was a geth component.
"Hide that before Lucy sees it," Liara hissed quietly, "I'm going to get in trouble again."
"What? Why?" Tali stashed the part as her head snapped to the asari. "I had my shields up and I wasn't out in the open when I dismantled this and-"
"I don't know why but I know that it's Lucy and she'll see some kind of why and why not." Strength was sucked from Liara's knees and she slid down the wall until she sat down on the cold floor, wiping a gloved hand up her face to get rid of the icky grime and slime that stuck to her skin. "I cannot wait to take a shower... I did not think Lucy's love for explosives would be challenged by Wrex's love for explosives. I swear those two were having a competition."
Tali chuckled as she sat down beside the asari, playfully bumping shoulders. "That's an awful lot of use of the Commander's name."
Liara froze. She didn't dare look over. Another bump nearly sent her toppling over to the side, no matter how weak. There was a smirk stamped all over Tali's voice, every single inch of inflection dripped with it. "Everybody already saw it. Not hard to see with the way she looks at you, no matter how hard she pretends to be professional around you - which is why it's so easy to see."
"Oh Goddess..."
This was it, she was going to be eternally subjected to teasing. Worse yet, no one will ever have the courage to tease the Commander - except maybe Ashley with the way she had already done so in her sly roundabout ways - so that made the archaeologist the prime target.
Thankfully, teasing would have to wait another day. Lucy drew a circle in the air as she gave a slight whistle to rally up her crew, passing the security guards to head deeper into the complex. Nothing was said for a time and she lead silently, her grip on her weapon relaxed, but her finger still ready on the trigger. She glanced about, her gaze swiftly passing over the corners of the ceiling when they entered a spacious room. She turned around to face the group and jerked her chin in the direction from whence they came.
"Captain Ventralis is lying about Benezia, he's hiding something. I think she's passed through here. I want more information about what's going on here, but from the survivors instead. We can't tip off the guards though. Let's split up to investigate, everybody keep your radios engaged at all times with my frequency so I can hear what's going on on your end. Understood?"
"Aye aye, Commander."
Kaidan's heels were the first to meet with a sharp salute, followed soon after by Ashley. The professional soldiers wasted no time. The others were a bit more wary and exchanged looks, to which Wrex simply shrugged and plodded off with mutters under his breath.
"Radio," Lucy reminded.
The krogan waved over his shoulder, his mutters suddenly louder before he'd thrown a cheeky grin over. Lucy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose before her gaze lifted back up to the remaining party, though her eyes seemed to avoid Liara for some reason.
"Garrus, would you mind watching over Tali and Li-"
"I'm coming with you," Liara blurted quickly, a suspicion abruptly hitting her that was confirmed the second she realized that Lucy was trying really hard to avoid eye contact with her.
"She means to split us up to lose us all here while she goes on ahead by herself! By the Goddess, what a stubborn human..."
"It'll be too suspicious-" Lucy started to say, though stopped when the asari crossed her arms. She groaned when both Tali and Garrus looked away, having suddenly found a wall interesting. Their attempts to stifle their chuckles had not gone unnoticed.
"I'm coming with you," Liara repeated. Then she pulled out her secret weapon, the Commander's achilles heel. "There are survivors here, survivors that will need consoling and emotional support. What if they want to hug you?"
It was her turn to try to stifle her laughter when a hand got grabby with her wrist and began to drag her off.
"That's what I thought," Liara smirked to herself in triumph.
They navigated the complex, and Liara kept an eye more so on the Commander than anybody else. The subtle signs of nervousness were practically screamed at her, for she'd learned how otherwise calm and collected this stoic soldier was even in the most dire of circumstances. Whatever unnerved her seemed to revolve around the fact that she wasn't able to figure out how to be able to ditch the crew and go back to 'operating' alone. Liara sought out an opportunity and pulled Lucy aside for a moment, hoping to crack the shell open.
"Talk to me, Luce. What's on your mind?"
Those eyes dutifully avoided her still. The soldier tensed and renewed her grip on her rifle, pretending to find the wall just as interesting as their companions had earlier.
"Shepard," Lucy reminded softly. "You need to let me handle this."
"I am. Just not alone."
"That's exactly the problem." Lucy reluctantly removed her helmet, her gaze falling on the skid mark the near-miss with acid had left. She roved her thumb over it. "I'm worried you're going to get hurt. Yes, your biotics are... They're very impressive, and you're remarkably skilled. You were right in that I am now learning what my team's capabilities are. But you're still not appropriately geared. I know we're on the right track and the security guards are hiding something here with Benezia. There's a chance we may even stumble on her somewhere here, if she isn't already tipped off."
"I won't get hurt, Shepard." Liara's hand slid over the one on the helmet, gently squeezing knuckles. "We've made it this far thanks to teamwork and your leadership. I have faith you'll see this through, pull us all through safe and sound. When we do confront mother, well... We'll figure it out once we get there." Another squeeze. "Could you look at me, please?"
Stubborn as ever, Lucy gave a swift and crude shake of the head, her gaze still firmly fixated on the wall.
Liara sighed. She moved in for the kill as she cupped the human's chin in her fingers, damning any potential observers as she rose up to capture Lucy's lips. She quietly laughed against the soldier's mouth when those eyes still refused to meet hers. She parted, only to steal another swift peck on a small scratch offside Lucy's chin.
"I should be the one worried here, you're always getting hurt," she murmured.
As if on cue, that bittersweet infuriating reassurance came out as if the Commander had been rehearsing this in her mind ever since she'd felt the sting on her chin. Her gaze had even finally met Liara's.
"I'm fine, don't worry. It's just a scratch." Lucy's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I do seem to recall a conversation we had regarding your concerns... And how Dr. Chakwas needs to medicate you."
Liara smirked and rocked back on her heels. She was more so caught up in her victory for finally successfully garnering the soldier's gaze back onto her. She ignored Lucy's commentary and attempted to take a crack at the shell again.
"Never give up, there's always hope in the darkest hour. I'll be with you until the end, Shepard, so please stop trying to leave me behind."
Lucy's lips set in a thin line, not exactly thrilled - but the way she sighed offered a spark of hope in itself, and she reluctantly nodded.
"We need to have a serious discussion about you employing those dangerous weapons of yours, Dr. T'Soni. Don't you know you're irresponsible with your eyes?"
A small chuckle was pulled from the archaeologist, and her smirk grew. "Are you drafting up and alphabetizing a list for me too?"
"List?" Lucy reciprocated that devilish smile. "You already have several lists."
"Mm, I expected no less from you." Liara stole another quick kiss, soon to be disheartened by the way the soldier sought shelter by fixing her helmet on as quickly as possible thereafter. The lone wolf's old habits were going to die a very slow death, it seemed, but at the very least there was hope that someday they would. Lucy had proven to be nothing but steadfast in her commitments and duty, even if those duties were socially imposed. It was the only thing Liara had to hang onto right now.
"We can't afford to continue to be distracted," the stout soldier stated solemnly, turning towards the corridor where voices echoed further along. Then she shot her beady pyjak eyes over. "You are a constant distraction."
"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Liara sweetly beamed. Her inner sinner patted its shoulder upon garnering a roll of eyes from the soldier.
"I do not think I am ever meant to understand you. That was supposed to upset you."
"You're going to have to work a little harder now that I know you're intentionally trying to lose me, Shepard."
Lucy sighed. A victory in itself when she instead took lead again. She angled her head to whisper over her shoulder. "You must intercept any survivor that attempts to invade my space - you are permitted to use any means necessary even if it means to neutralize the threat."
"I am not killing anybody. And that's also called hugging."
"No. It's called invading my space." Lucy rolled her neck and got a couple cracks. Another sigh. "I suppose killing them would be frowned upon."
"I'm glad we're of agreement there," Liara lilted, amused by how much the soldier exaggerated over matters she hated most.
This was beginning to be a distraction, one that wasn't entirely unwelcome. Liara had a very strong urge to continue to poke and tease, if only to forget the dark cloud that hung over her own mind whenever it strayed. Her thoughts were like daggers, each sinking in and twisting excruciatingly slow - they were going to see mother soon, potentially, and there was a high chance that her mental state reflected that of Liara's friends from the mansion.
"Is mother going to be condemned to a fate of the cryo pod, eternally trapped for who knows how long? Lucy nor Dr. Chakwas have approached me about any solutions..."
Many survivors had been too traumatized to offer any information, and Liara held steadfast onto the soldier's demeanour, even if slightly apathetic. Emotion was clouding her own thoughts and her mind was slowly pulled apart in hundreds of directions. She felt so much regarding her mother, both apprehension and anger and hope and patience - but it was beginning to be impossible to impart understanding or well-wishes that perhaps some part of this madness was actually justified.
"Nothing justifies what has gone on in this research facility. Mother would have been the one to execute the order to ensure there were no security leaks escaping this facility."
Security leaks. It was too painful to acknowledge what that actually entailed, the bodies of dead scientists. That could have been her, obliviously researching out of passion for science and hunger to explore curiosities, up until the dire realization of what all that research was actually meant to be used for. Why was mother breeding an army of rachni? It spoke ill of the possibilities where her allegiance to Saren may be swayed.
"Will she be of coherent mind to be talked to? To get her to stand down and surrender?"
Liara's gaze roved over and numbly fixed on the backs of Lucy's shoulders, though her mind's eye was a thousand miles away. She barely registered the rude asari, or the shell-shocked volus and the other scientists hissing at him to shut up.
"Will Lucy actually negotiate with mother? What if she tries to 'neutralize the threat'?"
Liara sucked in the corner of her lip, chewing incessantly at it when she remembered one of their earliest conversations on the matter, back when they'd stayed in Liara's home.
"I gave her my word that I wouldn't interfere, so long as she did not expect me to do it myself or watch... But now..."
Guilt began to trickle in as her mind threatened to go back on her word. Was she truly at fault to do so? She had hoped it was only natural to want to assume the best of mother's intentions, even if all these nightmares concocted here were borderline unforgivable - though she knew that line was crossed long ago, the moment they set foot in this facility and saw the innocents that were slaughtered. A secret was more valuable than a life.
They entered a lab, and it was finally then that Liara was broken out of her stupor, realizing Lucy nearly strong-armed the guard at the entrance to let them through. She was surprised that her lack of focus wasn't pointed out or chastised.
"I'm certain Lucy has already noticed. I'm surprised she didn't take advantage of it to trick me into staying somewhere, or locking me up."
Liara smiled a little at that thought. She came up beside the soldier and inspected the synthesizer Lucy appeared to be programming. "What are you doing?"
"Unfortunately, making a cure to save people who will likely continue their work on bio-weapons someday." Lucy shook her head with a sigh. "I realized you were... Spaced out during that conversation."
A guilty smile. "What gave me away?"
"The lack of gasps or angry questions of how they could do all that, and it was probably for the best that you didn't hear Dr. Cohen." Lucy shrugged. "I will never fathom how intelligent beings do not hear the words coming out of their mouths sometimes." She cleared her throat and emulated a strange accent. "We kept working on it so that it could be more effective and affect more species. Wait, wait! Don't give me that look, it's not our fault! Militaries and governments will get their hands on this bio-weapon one way or another, so we were working on limiting the damage."
There was an aggressive roll of the eyes, accompanied by a nose-pinching sigh.
"I'm allergic to bullshit, Liara. It always makes my head hurt."
Liara chuckled softly and slipped her hand in the soldier's. "I understand. Just hang in there. Let's just make this cure and deliver it to them, then we'll never have to think about it again."
"Mm, I like the sound of that."
"So what do we need to do?"
"Well, according to the research notes there, there are four isolated chemicals. The equipment will do all the work for us but we just need to make sure we're not adding too much or too little." Lucy carefully removed her gauntlets, grabbing a beaker of one of the chemicals. She popped off the stopper and strode to the synthesizer. "Could you read me the amounts?"
They worked together and Liara read off the instructions, watching nervously whenever Lucy began to pour in the machine. There was a collective sigh of relief when they'd finished it all and began the process for the equipment to spin and mix the chemicals together.
"We just have to wait for it to fini-"
Doors hissed open, and their heads snapped over. Liara's guard surged up as soon as Lucy reacted instantaneously to the intruder, drawing up her rifle. It was the rude asari.
"Your mission ends here, Shepard."
Blood at the doorway slowly dribbled into the lab, where the security guard once stood now slumped down. Liara's eyes widened and she froze stiff, the only thing thawing her being righteous anger over callous murder. She engaged her biotics, stumped when the soldier held out an arm as if to signal her to stand down. Lucy subtly shook her head.
"What happened to Ventralis' man?" Lucy questioned calmly - it seemed a rather obvious answer, wasn't it?
"I didn't have permission to come in," the other asari shrugged nonchalantly. "He got in my way. I was ordered to eliminate you, should-" her words were drowned out when Lucy looked over at Liara.
"Close your eyes."
"What?"
"Just close your eyes."
There was an awful lot of faith, and Liara prayed there was some kind of plan here that involved them getting out of here. Maybe the soldier was going to make the floor beneath them cave in, somehow? The more she listened to the rude asari, to the chittering of her geth reinforcements, the more unnerved she was growing. Just as she was about to open her eyes, she jumped at the sounds of three loud bangs, startled in her skin. A hand firmly clasped over her eyes when they began to open.
"Don't look."
"Sh-Shepard?"
"The cure is almost done. I'll lead you out of here after that."
"What on Thessia just happ-"
≤Commander, come in. Reports of shots fired, some of the security guards just left to investigate. Is everything alright?≥
"Yeah," Lucy answered. "We were ambushed, but we're alright. The threat is neutralized. Carry on your investigation LT."
≤Aye aye Commander.≥
Liara's blood ran cold. Even as the other asari prattled on, she was executed just as mercilessly as the security guard and Lucy talked as if she was not the least bit disturbed nor surprised. Of course not. It made sense, given what she dealt with all the time, a fact that Liara was more than painfully aware of. But it was different to be here and realize all of that in the thick of the moment, where Lucy had just taken a life as if it wasn't a big deal. The archaeologist's skin crawled even when a firm hand clasped her wrist.
"The cure's done. This way."
Carefully, they navigated out of the lab. Liara shuddered when her foot tapped against something soft. She could hear the squeamish sounds of stepping in a puddle and tried to desist the vivid imagination of her mind painting horrible pictures. With no hand over her eyes, it was both eerily tempting to open them, and terrifying to confirm what she imagined. She nearly damned herself when Lucy abruptly stopped pulling her, sighing instead.
"Damn shame... I was so sure Ventralis' men were working with Benezia - or maybe she didn't care to kill her own comrade."
"Perhaps not all of them are corrupt. Maybe we can try to find a guard that would be willing to tell us where my mother is?"
"Too risky... But it's an option. Let's deliver this cure first. It's safe to open your eyes, but don't look behind you."
Liara nodded, though was still ever so reluctant to do so. She waited until she was pulled along a few more steps, her hand guided to grab a railing. She opened her eyes and slothfully climbed down the stairs, suddenly feeling emotionally drained and dizzy. Her knees gave out without warning and plodded down on the stairs. Lucy seemed to expect it and whirled around, kneeling in front of Liara within a breath.
"Take a deep breath," Lucy encouraged as she grabbed one of the archaeologist's hands. "Try not to think about it, just deep breaths. The adrenaline's likely drained a little too fast for you."
"It wasn't a problem before," Liara mumbled. She tucked her head between her knees and sucked in deep breaths, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to ignore the spinning in her brain. "So why now?"
"I... I'm unsure. It depends on what you were thinking or fearful of. You were fine in battle before, yes, even in dicey circumstances. Is it because she was asari?"
Liara lazily slung a hand over the back of her nape. She gently shook her head. "It... It was unnerving that you killed someone. That she killed someone too. And none of you are..." She bit her tongue viciously, the better part of her judgment telling her to stay silent. Who was she to say that Lucy wasn't the least bit disturbed?
But... It was true. Everything about her, her mannerisms, the way she regarded violence - she was so desensitized to it all.
"Goddess, I hope I'll never be."
Silence hung heavily over them, and Lucy tentatively squeezed the asari's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Liara. I've been a soldier for a long time, and for the most part, it is not inaccurate to say that killing is all I know. It does not bother me anymore. I... Don't really know what to say here - how to comfort. But I'm here. If you want me here. Would you like a few minutes to yourself, perhaps?"
Their moment was interrupted by somebody's approach, and Liara slowly lifted her head to look up, trying not to outright glare until she realized it was the shell-shocked volus.
"They came out of there."
Lucy stiffened and straightened up into standing. "That door is locked though. How can I get in there then?"
"A team lead would have access. Like Dr. Cohen. He's in the medical bay."
"Understood. Thank you, Olar."
"Yeah..."
Lucy clutched the cure a little tighter in her hand. When the volus absentmindedly walked off, she engaged her radio.
"Everybody report to the maintenance area. I've found out a way in. Be careful not to let any of the guards see where you're all going, and try not to come in at once."
Collective agreements and aye ayes sounded out on the radio. Lucy looked down at Liara. "I'll be back here once I give Dr. Cohen the cure and have a nice chat about the access key he has. Stay here and keep working on your breathing."
"And if you get ambushed on the way there?"
"Nothing I can't handle." That stout reassurance made it's debut, more comforting than Lucy would ever know to hear such infuriatingly familiar words. "I'll be fine, don't worry." Lucy unholstered one of her pistols, gingerly pushing it into Liara's palm. "Just in case... Safety's here. If you need anything at all-" she tapped her ear. "Say anything on the radio and I'll come running. I'll..." She took a few steps back, but seemed to look conflicted when she glanced at the exit. Then she holstered her rifle and suddenly plopped beside Liara on the steps. "I'll wait until somebody from the team comes."
"I'll be fine," Liara started to say, cut off by the way the soldier shook her head sternly.
"I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone like this." Lucy leaned over and bumped shoulders. "Keep working on your breathing."
Nausea shot through the archaeologist for a brief moment, diving back into her rhythm with renewed desperation. The pistol was cautiously relinquished and she was encouraged to tuck her head between her knees again. She tried to ignore the vicious doubts that circulated in her mind, mocking her, chastising her. She would never get used to this sick underbelly of crime and murder.
"How foolish am I to think I could actually do this?" She scoffed bitterly. "I should have stuck with battling over theories and papers."
A welcome hand drew small circles between her shoulder blades.
"You're not foolish at all," Lucy whispered with a soft tenderness to her tone. "Were it not for you, I would not be alive right now, so please be kinder to yourself. You do not deserve to think such ill things of yourself." A beat. "Such stupidity does not suit an intelligent being such as yourself."
Liara chuckled weakly.
"Thank you, Shepard..."
"I'm serious, you know. And you are so much more than a researcher, a scientist. You've proven that to me countless times on the way here."
"I appreciate it but you don't have to say nice things to make me feel better, I-"
"I'm not just saying them, Liara. I mean them. It's not just to make you feel better, it's... Me practising to say what's on my mind. I don't do that often. Not the good parts anyways. You've got the stuff most of my soldiers can only dream of having: courage. Something like that can't be taught like a skill. You've had me admiring you quite a few times in battle, you know."
Heat slowly flushed the asari's face. She lifted her head, smiling a little deviously. "You weren't just distracted by my biotics?"
"Of course there was that too."
"Oh Goddess."
Thankfully, they were interrupted once again. Ashley and Kaidan were the first to come, and Lucy soon took her leave to deliver the cure. She seemed to whisper something in Kaidan's ear, and soon enough he was heading over to sit beside Liara. A canteen was wordlessly offered and she accepted it with a sheepish bow of her head.
"Thank you. And sorry."
"Don't mention it," Kaidan simply said. He didn't seem the least bit bothered or judgmental. "It's juice, it'll help you replenish your energy for your biotics."
Bless his heart, Liara was certain they all knew she hadn't actually done anything just now, but it was sweet of him to try and chalk this all up to just over-exertion. Ashley had gone up the stairs and past them, seemingly to investigate the lab. She came back with a sigh and offered a small squeeze of the shoulder. No words needed to be said.
Wrex barrelled through next, his larger-than-life presence and rowdy chuckles enough to scare the survivors away from here. He was restless within seconds, muttering complaints about the Commander taking too long, and that they still had a score to settle. Liara tried not to roll her eyes, nor shudder at the promise of more terrifying explosions.
Tali and Garrus were the last to lumber in, each more solemn than when last seen. Garrus seemed to be somewhat protective over the quarian, who was simply trying to do her own thing as she took out her geth part to study it again. It was promptly stuffed in the turian's large hands to hide when Lucy marched back in.
"I've got the key. We have to move, some of the guards have been acting suspiciously. They may be onto us. The sooner we find Matriarch Benezia, the sooner this will all be over."
"Over? What is her plan for dealing with my mother that something so simple as finding her is enough to end everything here?"
Liara didn't want to put much thought into it.
Illuminated green eyes flicked over to her often, the concern clear, but Lucy was doing that obvious thing of trying to not be so obvious about what's between them. She seemed stiff and awkward as she tore herself away from their gaze in order to take point, her rifle up and ready again. She fell into the seamless transition of her methodical approach, which was soon decimated by Wrex charging forward with his reckless laughter.
"Wrex!" Lucy seethed in annoyance. "I want to be the one that takes point!"
"Gotta move faster then, squishy human!"
Chuckles followed with the group when the soldier had groaned so loudly, it echoed in the caverns they entered. Liara's anxieties didn't have the luxury to manifest anymore, as she focused on just trying to keep up with them all. She employed her biotics in a defensive barrier, just in case, ready to react for anything that may jump out at Lucy up ahead.
Reality came crashing down when a door opened, and before she could register anything else in the large tank room, her eyes connected with her mother's. A chill exploded and surged through her veins, crashing into the back of Wrex. She recovered quickly and pushed around him, her thoughts propelling her feet forward as she thundered in her race to reach her mother. A firm hand clutched her wrist in a painful grip and kept her back, and she shot an indignant look over at Lucy, who refused to meet her eyes again.
"Mother," Liara croaked weakly, clenching her teeth to try and focus on the pain in her jaw rather than the callous emotionless look of her mother's eyes on hers. She knew already.
"This isn't like her. That's not mother."
"Matriarch Benezia, stand down and surrender," Lucy ordered authoritatively, surprisingly lowering her weapon instead of raising it to aim.
Silence reigned down, apart from the frequent skitterings in the large glass tank that Benezia stood in front of. Wrex growled and muttered curses under his breath. The others readied their guns. Finally, Benezia spoke, though there was no inflection in her voice.
"This isn't like her. She was always so graceful - poetic..."
"You do not know the privilege of being a mother. There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn it toward happiness or despair."
What seemed promising - an implication to Liara being right there - was shattered when Benezia walked up to the tank and reached towards the glass, where a massive rachni resided.
"Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies."
Liara froze.
"So she was... Part of this... And she'd take innocence, corrupt it, train children to kill?"
There was little else room for any other thought or emotion, dread snaking around her throat, goading her to snap and confront Benezia - implore her to listen to the insanity she was spouting. Her mother calmly approached with an arrogant smirk, though Lucy seemed unfazed by it all. Of course. When was she ever? When would she ever get angry? Bitter? Toxic? That's how Liara felt. She needed to get it out of her system, needed to scream.
"Have you faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have."
"Respectfully, Matriarch, I decline the opportunity," Lucy answered evenly. "I'm only interested in your surrender. We don't have to fight. You can return to the Citadel with us."
Benezia shook her head. "I think not."
"Then allow me to suggest an alternative: a duel of our biotics. If I win, you surrender. If you win, I will join your cause."
Everybody's heads whirled to Lucy, and Liara swore she was going to implode if this insanity ventured another step. Her mouth opened but could barely croak out a single syllable, her eyes widening in shock when the soldier began to lower her weapons to the ground and dismantle the pieces of her armour.
"Is she listening to herself?! There's a reason why my biotics are powerful - mother was my teacher. And mine are much stronger than Lucy's biotics."
Benezia's brief but audacious laughter cut into the heart. "An interesting proposition, were I inclined to be interested in taking you seriously and believe you."
"On my honour, my word is my bond. If you doubt my allegiance, you could just turn me into a puppet like you."
"Shepard," Wrex growled lowly, "Tell me this is a fuckin' joke."
Others exchanged hesitant looks, and the group ultimately looked at Liara, who was just as stumped as to how to shake the soldier out of this insanity. Like hell she wouldn't try. She grabbed Lucy's wrist and tugged roughly, searingly glaring into the soldier who simply smiled away at her.
"I'll be fine, don't worry."
Oh, those words were just so infuriating.
Liara's mouth opened, though stuck on many many words she wanted to get off her chest - and Lucy wasn't the only one to be the recipient of them. If there were to be a biotic duel of any sort, then it should be Liara. She'd at least have a sliver of a chance, something Lucy doesn't even have.
"Tell me you have an actual plan," Liara caved in her whisper. "Honour won't-"
She didn't get the chance to finish her sentence and yelped, her voice choked off when she was pulled up into the air and soaring towards the matriarch. Benezia's arm was outstretched, manifesting her biotics precisely to wrap around the archaeologist's throat. Liara clawed at her throat in a helpless bid, the pressure mounting rapidly and making her dizzy. She barely saw in her side-eye as Lucy unholstered her pistol and took aim.
"W-wait," Liara croaked, "Please, don't kill her..."
"Let her go!" Lucy demanded fiercely.
The pistol was ripped out of the soldier's grip next, and into Benezia's hand instead. "I think not."
Liara's eyes widened when Benezia took aim at her, with Lucy shouting at her team to stand down. The words grew fuzzy, the world blurred and spun rapidly. All Liara could hear was her heart thundering in her aurals.
"This is a nightmare. That has to be it. I'm on the Normandy, I was watching Lucy sleep and I must have fallen asleep beside her. Goddess... But this hurts..."
All she could hear was Lucy's yelling, but it was incoherent gibberish. She couldn't breathe, her muscles were giving up on her and she slackened in the air. She struggled to keep her eyes open. A muted gunshot thundered in the air, and Liara was thrown again, pain exploding everywhere on her body. It grew dark, where all she realized she could see were the illuminated green eyes above her face. They kept dipping down at her stomach. She watched as Lucy's hand hovered in front of her face, fingers stained with purple blood. The soldier still remained infuriatingly calm in her tone, it sounded like, but not in action. She pressed hard on Liara's lung and she gurgled in protest, something awful-tasting leaking out her mouth.
That seemed to unhinge Lucy and she seemed to be barking at the team.
Consciousness was slipping away, no matter how hard Liara fought, but sleep seemed heavenly right now. After all, this was all just a nightmare. It had to be.
Firm hands cradled her jaw, and Lucy was yelling at her now. Maybe. Everything was hurting, and another press of the hand on her lung had nearly made Liara lurch in pain. She gritted her teeth and fought, her eyes burning harshly with tears. Hair hit at her mouth when Lucy bowed her head and pressed her forehead against the asari's shoulder, hissing.
"Did you forget? The only tears I'll tolerate is if we're poisoned by your horrible cooking. No crying allowed if you're shot."
"I-" Liara wheezed, ignoring the soldier's urging to stay quiet. "I'm sorry," she laboured, weakly weaving a hand in the back of Lucy's hair.
Other hands worked on her, peeling her suit apart, and she was lulling off towards the darkness. She vaguely felt the echoes of an ice-cold gel being slathered on her ribs. She was drifting, and could barely feel even the vestiges of fear screaming at her - just as Lucy had.
"Is she... Panicking? No. She's Commander Lucy Fair Shepard. She doesn't panic. She's seen worse things. This is probably as normal to her as breakfast."
Saddened by that thought, the fight was leaving her body. Liara's eyes slipped shut, opening them only when her hand was grabbed. She weakly pulled out of Lucy's hand to cup her cheek, coughing, grimacing at that awful-taste leaking out the corner of her mouth. She mustered all the energy she had left to smile reassuringly at the team.
"I'm fine. Don't worry."
Another sickly cough. Darkness soon took her, even to the sounds of gunfire. Lucy was the only one that stayed with her, energy pulsing from her in a weak biotic bubble shielding them. Liara's strength left her and her hand fell.
"It's just a scratch, Luce."
And she succumbed to the sleep that dragged her under.