"I've got a fix on the Council's position. I'm sending it to your car."

She was looking at the waypoint as it updated when a body suddenly landed on the front hood of the shuttle as they flew through the presidium. It was the Cerberus assassin, having jumped down from somewhere above them as they passed. It looked at them through the front windshield while they recovered their wits, startled by the surprise landing.

Not wasting a moment, she unholstered her pistol while holding course and fired straight through the windshield as the assassin ran atop them towards the engine at the rear. Realizing his aim was to ground them, she yanked the shuttle's door open as they hurled through the skies of the Ciadel, pulling herself partway out to land a shot. She fired at him repeatedly at a distance that was impossible to miss, but some sort of localized barrier from his palm thruster blocked each of her shots. Finding his balance, the agent thrust his sword into the engine, destroying it. Now unpowered, their shuttle began to descend rapidly. Hastily returning to her seat, she attempted to maneuver it as they fell, and as they did, a Cerberus shuttle scooped him up, saving him from their fate.

A patch of storefronts to their left appeared, and they careened toward it, trying their best to land without the power to brake, tilting the front of the shuttle upwards to prevent a head-on collision. The shuttle's rear took two hits as they clipped a wall and the railing of a prominent planter before they roughly bounced to a screeching stop against the floor.

She pulled open the door and threw herself out, disoriented and shaken. The shuttle was burning behind her, and Garrus and Liara also exited, shaking off the rough impact.

"Shepard? My instruments say your car stopped."

"I'm on foot now." She gave a deep breath and continued trudging. They had landed in front of a sporting goods store. "Any luck contacting the Council?"

"Negative – their guards are dead. But we've still got vital signs on the Council's transponders."

"Where are they going?"

"The shuttle pad above Shalmar Plaza. Udina's with them. If he can get them in range of that assassin, this is all over."

"On my way."

Shalmar Plaza was ahead of them, and a path along the fronts of the stores was the most direct route. As they hauled themselves down the streets, Cerberus shuttles began to unload troops ahead to stop them. Jumping down from the shuttles appeared a new type of Cerberus troop, more minor variants of the Cerberus assassin, who darted between the alleys of Agora Way with thin, wicked-looking blades. As they rushed to meet them, they blinked out of visuals.

She looked for the usual telltale signs of flickering light, shadows, or footsteps but found none she could discern. Unable to guess where the enemy was, she was suddenly aware of just how dangerous of a situation they were in. Not bothering to wait, she tossed a grenade in front of her. The quick explosion flash exposed a silhouette of their forms, now steps away from them. She threw up a biotic pull on reflex just as a materialized blade sailed through the air toward her, and it missed just barely as the body holding it was yanked backwards by the dark energy. The edge of the second had swiped toward Garrus, who lept back but not enough to completely clear the path of the swing. It sliced through the front of his armour before he fired his rifle point-blank at the body. Using a similar barrier as the earlier assassin, it flipped over and rolled away with inhuman agility.

"Lay down constant fire! Disrupt the cloak!" she called out.

Though it twisted itself in the air with the acrobatics of an Olympic gymnast, it couldn't escape combined fire from three weapons down a narrow street. Liara caught the second in a biotic stasis, who, unable to move, was quickly decapitated by a crack from Garrus' rifle.

Garrus looked down and checked the wide gash on the front of his armour. It thankfully hadn't pierced his body. "Blades? That's a new trick."

"Keep moving."

Up ahead of them in the distance, she glimpsed another moving body seeking cover. The body was small and thin like the sword-wielding Phantoms they just faced, but without the apparent blades being waved about. She got barely a few steps forward before a red laser appeared from downrange in her vision. Acting instinctually, she ducked as a powerful sniper's round passed her, clipping the edge of a planter and blowing a fine hole through it.

"Snipers! Head to the left!"

To her left was a set of steps leading up to a gangway parallel to the shopfronts. She ran at full speed up the steps, wanting to close the distance between herself and the sniper as fast as possible, applying a biotic barrier to herself as reinforcement. However, she had been acting too hastily, and when she reached the end of the passage and rounded the corner, the sniper was waiting for her. A viciously powerful sniper round punched through her kinetic and biotic barriers, sending the remaining kinetic energy into her gut like a kick from a krogan. She rolled back into cover, needing her barriers to recharge.

Another Phantom ran from behind the sniper, arms extended, palm blaster ready. She fired her rifle on full auto towards it, wearing its shields down, but it had plenty, and it discharged a palm blast straight into the upper right side of her chest. It breached her armour, and she felt the white-hot burn of the projectile as it pierced her. From behind, Liara threw a singularity down the gangway, throwing it off balance. Shepard's shotgun was in her hands a moment later and blasted its remaining heath with one close, impossible-to-evade shot.

"They don't like to hold still, do they?" came a quip from Garrus.

The sniper-Nemesis at the end of the gangway, focusing on Shepard and Liara, didn't notice the turian marksman line up, aiming for the top of the head peeking out from cover. A well-placed shot removed the top of the enemy's head before it fell to the ground. When they approached to inspect it, the body rapidly disintegrated before they could even get close.

"They have self-destruct mechanisms? Christ. They must be packing some next-level implants."

Liara shook her head. "Reaper-based, if I'm to guess. Cerberus is growing more twisted every time we face them."

Garrus kicked away the weapon which had stayed behind. "Looks like a modified M-13 Raptor. Probably kicks back like an angry Varren. No way a normal person could fire that."

"Hence the implants. Let's continue; we're running out of time."

Reaching the end of the line, they jumped the guardrail and traversed the maintenance shafts leading to the plaza.

"I'm at Shalmar Plaza. Where's the Council?"

"In an elevator. They're trying to get to the shuttle dock. Someone's following them. Someone with… a sword?"

"Great."

It was during the immediately proceeding firefight between them and the elevator that it finally clicked for her. Sniper to sniper, engineer to engineer, marine to marine, biotic to biotic, even now Arius to whatever these things sword-wielding things were - the Illusive man had done all this to replicate her and her team. All aboard the Normandy now had Cerberus-branded foils, carbon-copied sets of their skills twisted with Reaper-inspired implants. The Normandy was the master record from which the Illusive Man believed he could copy. It was said that imitation was the sincerest form of flattery, but she wasn't happy about it.

She found the elevator entrances at the top of the plaza and entered the lobby just in time to see the Cerberus assassin and an entourage of Phantoms close the doors on her. She wished she had thrown a grenade into the carriage just as the doors closed.

"Got a ride for you, Shepard. Grab an elevator!"

Garrus and Liara pried open the doors to another elevator shaft to her left. They jumped into the roof of the elevator cage below them. "Okay, I'm in the shaft."

"Hang on, this will be a fast climb."

The carriage hummed to life below them and rapidly lifted them upwards. She felt doubly as heavy, clenching every muscle to keep herself standing.

"Tell me that assassin hasn't reached the Council."

"He's trying, but I'm making his elevator stop on every floor."

"Nice." Looking up, she could see their elevator rapidly catch up.

"Kill his elevator! There's a power conduit beneath it!"

She could see the power conduit lowered towards them, and a couple well-placed shots of hers later made it plunge straight down. "Good riddance," she spat, but it was not to be that easy.

"Shepard! Bad news."

She gave an exasperated sigh. "Is there any other kind?"

"That hit man jumped to another elevator, and he's overridden my controls. He's on his way up. I can't stop him."

"I'll handle it. Are we catching up with Council's elevator?"

"Yes, I'll let you know."

Around them, other elevator shafts sent more enemies up or down toward them. Some landed on theirs, and some they shot before they could land. It was a dangerous spot - the sides were completely open, and they had to contend with another dimension of enemies approaching them. Up alongside, the Council's elevator came into view.

"Shepard…" Bailey warned her.

"I see them. Jump!" Shepard ordered her squad, and the trio jumped from their moving elevator onto the Council's, unknown stories above ground. To make matters worse, gunfire peppered the floor under their feet as they gathered their wits from the high-adrenaline jump. Someone inside the Council elevator had heard them land atop and opened fire at the roof as they landed, thinking it was more Cerberus troops.

Reaching the intended floor, the elevator stopped, jolting them. Under her, Shepard heard a muffled voice ordering an evacuation and the panicked footsteps of the Council running out. She kicked the ceiling panel from beneath her and jumped down into the now-empty carriage, chasing after the retreating footsteps of the Council before the assassins could.

At the end of the hallway and dock was a parked Alliance shuttle, now thoroughly busted and actively spewing flames. Having been the one escorting the Council, Kaidan ran to the edge of the landing pad and cursed. "Damn it. Cerberus hit the shuttle! Everyone back to the elevator!"

He turned around just as she and her squad emerged from the hallway. Liara overrode the lock behind them, attempting to keep out the assassins that trailed them. Not lowering her weapon, Shepard looked toward Udina, standing with the other councillors.

"Shepard?" Kaiden voiced, not expecting to see her.

He must have had an inkling that she knew about his plan, for Udina shouted to the others as he slowly backed away. "Shepard's blocking our escape! She's with Cerberus!"

Kaiden raised his gun again. "Woah, everyone hang on! Shepard, what's happening here?"

"You know me better than this, Kaiden."

"I knew the old Shepard - before Cerberus. Right now, I'm not sure who I'm dealing with."

She lowered her weapon, signalling Garrus and Liara to lower theirs. "We don't have time to negotiate. You've been fooled, all of you! Udina's behind this attack. The salarian councillor confirmed it."

The turian and asari councillors turned toward Udina, who defiantly avoided eye contact and strode forward. "Please. You have no proof. You never do."

Tragedy, Shepard had harshly learned, was terrible, but a person could recover. Natural disasters, illness, and death were a dice roll that resulted in you being facedown on the floor, but getting up was possible. Betrayal, on the other hand, was a rug pull from someone you trusted. That sort of thing broke people in more ways than one. And now, to betray them at this most critical time when tragedy beset them all was nigh unforgivable.

"There are Cerberus soldiers in the elevator shaft behind us," she warned the rest, pointing towards it. "If you open that door, they'll kill you all."

There was deep worry written on the asari councillor's face. Shepard had never been wrong. "What Shepard says is possible. Unlikely but possible."

Desperate, Udina stormed up towards the dock's console himself. "We don't have time to debate this! We're dead if we stay out here. I'm overriding the lock."

Shepard raised her weapon again, pointing it toward Udina. Kaiden raised his gun again towards her, but doubt was clearly splayed on every muscle in his face. He was torn between the order of his charge and his trust in her. "Ugh, I'm gonna regret this," he said as he pointed his gun at Udina instead. "Udina, step back from the console."

"To hell with this!" The human councillor began typing at the interface despite the threat, and the doors behind them began an override sequence. The asari councillor, doubting Udina's words, tried physically hampering him to prevent the override, but the human councillor roughly shoved her away and onto the floor. Brandishing a pistol concealed on his person, he aimed it at the asari.

It was a tense moment, and she was completely ready to end it for their sakes, but a shot rang out from a gun that was not hers, and Udina crumpled to the floor. Kaiden had shot him.

"Son of a bitch," Kaiden muttered under his breath, lamenting the lethal results of his forced hand.

A clanking sound was heard from behind them, and Shepard spun to face the door again to see it actively being breached before her eyes. Their confrontation had done nothing but prolong the inevitable. Something as simple as a lock wouldn't stop whatever was coming through. She ordered the others to back away as she raised her weapon, readying herself to face the Cerberus assassins again.

A familiar dark blade cleaved itself straight down the middle of the door, shearing it in two. A pair of hands grasped the split between the doors and violently pulled them apart, impelling them into the frame and revealing who was on the other side. It was Arius, and he emerged from the sparking door frame fully armoured, and gun extended, ready to engage the next thing that moved.

"Shepard?" he asked, surprised to see her, before looking at the assembled ground and returning his weapon.

Behind him emerged Bailey and a second C-Sec officer, also holding a gun at the ready. He, too, surveyed the scene and lowered his weapon. "Made it as fast as we could, Shepard. Looks like you, uh… took care of things."

The sudden presence of the C-Sec Commander lent validity to the situation, and the asari councillor strode over to them, realizing the danger had passed. "Then it's true. We were in danger, but I don't understand… you said Cerberus was right here."

"Cerberus was right here, but they beat feet into the keeper tunnels when they figured out we were coming. Sorry, Councillor. I'll say it plain: Shepard just saved the lot of you."

The turian councillor, a staunch skeptic in everything, especially Shepard, could not permit a debt to go unnoticed. "Then I owe you, Shepard. For our lives and for brokering a deal with the primarch and the krogan that I never could."

She waved away the unnecessary professions. "You don't owe me anything, Councillor. Times like this, we all stand together."

"Shepard," the asari councillor asked, "Do you have any idea why Cerberus would do this?"

"Honestly, no. But I plan to find out."

Bailey motioned for the councillors to follow him. "All right, people. Principles are evacuated. We got a tunnel and a million more places to secure. Move it!"

Crisis averted, Shepard turned back to Arius and looked down at his suit, noticing damage. A golf-ball-sized hole had been gouged into the plates on the left side of his abdomen. Unable to carry a kinetic barrier, a round from a Cerberus anti-materiel rifle had struck and breached his armour, looking like it had nearly passed through him. Medi-gel was caked onto the wound. Even with his impressive regeneration abilities, the round would have marred his insides."That looks like it hurt."

"Mhm. Could say the same for you," he retorted, pointing to the deep burn on her chest plate.

"Meh, what's another scar to add to the collection?"

Seeing the damage triggered earlier thoughts, and Thane's grievous injury returned to her. She turned to the C-Sec Commander. "Thane. He was badly injured."

"We got your friend to Huerta Memorial." Bailey checked his omni-tool, checking for updates about him. "He went in for surgery. Apparently, uh… there are complications."

Her heart sank. "Do you think he'll make it?"

"I caught that they didn't have much drell blood on the Citadel. They've notified his next of kin, his son, Kolyat? He may have the right blood type, but I don't know if he'll make it in time."

"Then we need to go, now," Arius urged her. "The longer we wait, the less of a possibility that I can help him."

"If we're done here, let's go."

.

They walked briskly through Huerta Memorial hospital, their armour having been hastily discarded.

"Can I help you?" a nearby stationed doctor asked them.

"I'm looking for a drell named Thane Krios."

The doctor checked his datapad. "Well, we have a drell, but not under that name."

"He was injured. Stab wound. He's a regular patient here."

"Oh, all right, it's all right. I see." He frowned as he read the readout on the pad. He called them over off the side where it was quieter.

"The doctors were able to repair a lot of the trauma. However, mister…um, Krios is in the final stages of Kepral's Syndrome. At its worst, Kepral's Syndrome interferes with his body's ability to carry oxygen. And he lost a lot. Now, they've given him transfusions, but frankly, there was a very limited supply of drell blood on the Citadel."

"I'll get more," she stated resolutely. "Give me his blood type."

The doctor shook his head. "That's not going to work. Only one other drell on the station is a match, and that drell is with him now. We did all we could to help him get through surgery, but his body can't replace the lost blood with new cells. Too much shock. His son, Kolyat… he's in there saying his goodbyes. You might want to say yours." It was all he could say, and then he walked off, needing to attend to the many others brought in after the attack, each in various states of injury and harm.

Resigning herself to the news, they entered Thane's room. He was silently lying on the medical bed with his son by his side. The young drell turned to them. "Shepard. My father mentioned you were no longer incarcerated. I don't know if you remember me. I'm Kolyat Krios. I came to donate blood and… well… he asked me to take off his oxygen mask so he could be comfortable. I don't think it will be very long."

She gave a deep exhale. So this was it. "Your father helped me save a lot of lives. I'd like to be here."

"Of course." He stepped aside so they could approach closer.

They moved to the bedside, and Thane slowly turned toward them. "Commander, I'm afraid I won't be joining you again."

Her eyes fell. "You've done more than enough, Thane."

"That assassin should be embarrassed. A terminally ill drell managed to stop him from reaching his target."

Even at death's door, she thought, he remained himself. "I'll pass the word along."

Arius moved closer to lay his hands on him, perhaps to perform what healing he could, but the dying drell shook his head slightly. "Arius, thank you for the extra time. What you've given me these past few months, I cannot repay." His breath was ragged. "I'm afraid... I've... borrowed too much." He coughed, and his lungs wheezed. "It's... time for my soul to finally leave this vessel. Please," he pleaded to him, "leave me be."

Arius paused, then withdrew his hands and solemnly nodded in understanding; His presence in this room would only prolong the inevitable. Before he left, he placed his right hand over the left side of his chest in an act Shepard recognized he had once performed for her aboard the Normandy. She heard him whisper some words faintly; They were a farewell, a promise and a call to remembrance until they met again. He then turned from the former assassin, nodded to her and Kolyat, and stepped out of the room.

"There is something I must do before it gets worse. I must–" Thane coughed, gasping for air. When the fit subsided, he lay back against the pillow and breathed slowly to begin a prayer. "Kalahira, mistress of inscrutable depths, I ask forgiveness. Kalahira, whose waves wear down stone and sand–" Another coughing fit arrived, breaking his words again.

Unexpectedly, his son continued for him. "Kalahira, wash the sins from this one and set him on the distant shore of the infinite spirit."

"Kolyat… you speak as the priests do. You have been spending time with them."

He nodded to his father and pulled a small book out from one of the pockets of his garments. "I brought a prayer book," he told her, opening it to a page. "Would you care to join me?"

She nodded.

He looked down at the print and read. "Kalahira, this one's heart is pure, but beset by wickedness and contention."

She looked down at the page he was reading and continued from where he had left off. "Guide this one to where the traveller never tires, the lover never leaves, the hungry never starve. Guide this one, Kalahira, and she will be a companion to you as she was to me."

On the bed before them, the drell known as Thane Krios turned from them to see out the window and breathed once, twice, three times, before rising, then falling, for the last time. He was still.

Approaching him, she gently closed his eyes with her hand, bringing him peace. However, something puzzled her. "Kolyat? Why did the last verse say 'she'?"

"The prayer was not for him, Commander," he answered. "He has already asked for forgiveness for the lives he has taken. His wish was for you."

She closed her eyes, feeling the brevity of goodbyes. No matter how anguished the moment, the act was over in an instant. Like drawing the arrow of a bow, there was a greater peril in drawing it out bit by bit out of fear. You just needed to hold your breath and pull.

"Goodbye, Thane. You won't be alone long."

.

When she left the room, she found Arius standing by one of the large windows in the hospital, arms crossed, looking out into the Presidium below them. He turned his head slightly as she approached him. "He's passed?"

"He has."

He turned his entire body toward her. "Shall I pursue the assassin?" he asked, and she was alarmed to find his eyes a noticeably darker shade than she had ever seen. Like an eclipse blocking the sun's light, an overshadowing behind his eyes dimmed them until only a brightly coloured ring around the edge of his iris remained. It was a jarring transition, and the chilling assertion in his face spoke of those baleful things waiting in the night, silent forces coiled to strike.

"No. He'll be back soon enough, and we'll get our chance then. Besides… the living need you more than the dead right now."

He seemed to weigh her words silently before turning his gaze to the patients surrounding them and then back to the window. Below them, people and shuttles bustled about, and she could see his eyes judging them in the glass's reflection. The artificial sky of the Citadel slowly cycled through its morning phase, gradually lighting up for another day. As dawn approached, the stern look on his face softened, and his eyes slowly returned to their usual colour. Sighing, she heard him half-whisper, "Do you think we'll ever see him again?" He uncrossed his arms and, with a deep breath, said, "You're right, of course; I forget myself sometimes."

Glancing at the time on his omni-tool, he checked something and let out a growl of frustration. "There's always something…" he muttered, clearly disappointed, "and I was so looking forward to this. Unfortunately, our noodle date will have to wait. I need to head back to the Normandy to take a call. Are you heading back now?"

"No, not yet," she replied, her plans crumbling. "I have a few errands to run first."

"Alright, then. I'll catch up with you later. Let me know when you're free for debriefing."