AN: This definitely took a while, Whoops? If I thought writing the last chapter was hard, who boy. It probably didn't help I was really busy the first week, but this would have still taken me two weeks regardless with the amount of revisions and editing I went through. I'm pleased with how it turned out though. Did I keep to my proposed schedule? No, but that's more of a guideline.

This is pretty dialogue-heavy chapter, but I would say it's important. I'm certainly building up to something, which I think I mentioned last chapter? I can't be bothered checking.

Enjoy!

Chapter 41:

[POV: Jack]

We stood in silence and watched the crate be loaded onto the ship. To most, it would look like a normal, if long, crate. We both knew what it contained though.

"Her remains will be delivered within 8 days, it was the fastest I could arrange for."

"That is sufficient." Samara nodded quietly, remaining otherwise silent. It had only been one night, but Samara looked as if nothing had changed for her. Nothing hinted at what had transpired, aside from the silence.

Morinth had been loaded up now, to join the rest of the shipment. It was a cargo ship, one which I had added Thessia as a destination to. The workers may have been glancing at us curiously, but no one made any move to question us.

"Come, this serves no purpose." Samara turned around suddenly. I had done this before, and it had held purpose for me. It was my way of saying goodbye, of reminiscing. Was it the most efficient use of my time? No. But it didn't need to be, at least not for me. Maybe that wasn't the case for Samara.

"What will you do now?" I asked as we started walking.

"…centre myself. Shepard's mission will only grow more dangerous from here. I can't afford to be anything less that at my best." She said mechanically. I suppose that's logical … but is that what you truly think? Or what you're pretending to.

"I would like to continue our sparring sessions if you have the time." She shouldn't be left alone, at least not entirely.

"Of course."

"Maybe we can finally use some biotics now that we're off the ship too." I mused, the corner of Samara's lips lifted up for a fleeting moment, before falling away once more.

"Maybe. It seems I was less prepared to deal with such high levels of biotic energy that I had thought."

"You can't have expected Morinth to be that strong Samara. She nearly overwhelmed me … and I am FAR from normal. Some could almost call my strength unnatural."

"Being natural doesn't necessarily make something good." She sighed, her face relaxing for the moment. She suddenly looked tired, in more ways than one. It didn't show on her face, but in how her posture drooped. It was only for a moment, but I had never seen her at anything less than perfect posture from her before last night. The lapse was … disconcerting. The effortless strength she normally exuded gone.

"Make sure to get some rest Samara. While you can." Samara turned to me and stared for a moment.

"Very well." She nodded carelessly then turned around and walked away.

I wanted to ask her if this had to be the way. If Morinth needed to die. After some thought, I believe it might have been. She was incredibly strong, having managed to drain more victims than any Ardat-Yakshi I'd ever heard of. I'm sure there were worse, but nothing that had been recorded for the general public. Perhaps the strife they had caused was too great, … maybe one of these unnamed Asari was the reason for why they are so feared. Why they are forced to remain in peaceful isolation until they die.

I could just be speculating here, but I did know that if Morinth had the time to adjust to her rapid increase in power? She would have been near unstoppable. Only near though, as nothing is invincible. If you think it is, you just haven't tried enough violence.

Still, Morinth is finished, so what do I do know? I'd already organised my night with Aria, but I had the rest of the day to kill in the meantime. Hmm, I haven't talked to Treena yet, I wonder where she is?

Turns out she was in the club, working out back in the staff section. She was more than just Vassen's assistant now, which I was pleased to see. She'd earnt it. She was also unfortunately rather busy with the promotion. Treena wasted no time in handing me a familiar box the moment she saw me though.

"How'd you finish this so fast?"

"It was already done. I made it just in case your new one malfunctioned. I had the spare parts for it anyway, at least the functionality bits." She shrugged. "It isn't as pretty though, so it's meant to be used with a boot." She sighed, looking down at my current foot with admiration. Okay, this just got weird.

"I'll leave you to your work. I'll come find you at another time." She nodded happily, gave me a small hug then bounced off, eager to get back to things. Good for her. It was nice to see Treena again, if only briefly, but the new foot reminded me of the things to come. Of what I had to face.

I may be able to relax a bit while on Omega, but there was a few things I needed to practice while I had the benefit of an entire abandoned mine. I suppose now is as good a time as any.

"Fury!"

Guess not.

Miranda walked towards me sedately, some tenderness in her steps. Just what have you been up to? I had to wait for a few seconds. She was wincing with each step, but not favouring anything. That generally meant pain in certain areas, mainly the head. Her eyes looked a little red as well, and she was squinting even in the low light of Omega. I walked forward and met her in the middle.

"Looks like you had some fun last night."

At least one of us did. Miranda grimaced at the insinuation.

"Yeah, fun." She sighed and lifted a hand to rub her eyes. For being what looked like severely hungover she was still annoyingly pretty.

"Something you want to get off your chest?"

"Not particularly." She sighed. "But I need to talk to you." I waited for her to continue, but she sent me a pointed look. "Privately." Ah. There didn't appear to be anyone else within earshot of us anymore, but I had no doubt there we're listeners.

"Follow me." I told her, before walking towards the enforcer building. I trusted that she demanded the privacy for a reason, and there were rooms designed for that sort of discussion. Of course, Vassen had bugged them, but Treena and I had made a game of discovering and destroying them, so he eventually told us how to disable them just to get us to stop. We did … mostly.

"In here." I waved my hand towards one such room, holding the thick door open. It was one of the smallest rooms, built only for two people. There were two comfortable chairs separated by a solid table inside, with sound padding covering the walls and roof, a thick carpet covering the ground.

"Thank you." She nodded, stepping past me to take a seat. I tilted my head to meet the gaze of an observing enforcer, then raised one finger and placed it in front of my helmet where my mouth would be. He sent me a look but turned around to leave. Ah, annoying junior enforcer's is one of life's greatest joys, that or scaring the shit out of them. I preferred the last one in case you couldn't tell.

I closed the door behind me as I entered the room, securing the 2 separate mechanical locks tightly. I then put in the code Vassen gave me into the keypad on the wall. This didn't actually stop the recording devices; it instead activated a small internal motor in the wall that formed a circuit within the wall. Hiding my actions from Miranda, I pressed a seemingly random place next to the keypad, this is what deactivated the recording devices. The setup was meant as a hidden trap for hackers, giving them something to hack that wouldn't stop anything. Vassen could be paranoid, but he had some good ideas, I'll give him that.

Taking a seat I met Miranda's gaze, crossing my arms and leaning back into the seat.

"What's up?"

"The last of my findings in regard to the facility."

I thought you'd exhausted everything you could find? Either way I made sure to pay close attention to her. She smiled wanly shortly after. "Or should I say, the lack of findings."

"I thought you had exhausted what you could?"

"Not quite, just the most obvious places." She shook her head. "I decided to keep looking just in case I could find anything else in the data."

"You didn't have to." Miranda shook her head.

"I wanted to, both for you, and for myself." She sighed, leaning back into the chair as well. "I have looked through every report I have access to, every memo, every note. I even revisited the files on Jennifer, but aside from the occasional reference to the facility's results, there was nothing. Certainly nothing concrete." She smiled at me sardonically.

"Any people who potentially worked there?" That was the most important thing to me now.

"No." she shook her head. "The information security on the Prometheus project was excessive to the extreme. Access to the information required certain secret passes. And most of it was stored locally in the facility regardless. The key findings we're passed on through specific channels, but the methods weren't described with specifics. I only know so much as … Jennifer's file was rather detailed." She sent me an odd look, but I ignored it.

"There were very few outside of those that worked on site who would know. Hell, I have the second highest-level of authority for the records in question as leader of the medical division. Anyone truly involved on the project would have been there the day it was destroyed."

"No one else would know?"

Miranda shrugged.

"There is likely a few that I have no idea about, but in case it hasn't been made clear, Cerberus is careful. They're widely recognised as a human-centric terrorist organisation in Alliance space and the wider galaxy. They've been known as that for years, yet no-one has shut them down. Have you ever wondered why?" She quirked an eyebrow.

I hadn't. I'd Never even really thought about it. To be fair, though, I hadn't known Cerberus were the ones behind the facility till these last few months. But even then, if it wasn't about what I wanted to know, it wasn't important.

"… not particularly."

"It's because no-one has any proof of anything truly illegal. Nothing that could bring Cerberus down. The facility? It would have ruined them." Miranda leaned forward, planting her elbows on the table and clasping her hands together. "It was kept almost entirely separate from the rest of the organisation by design. If it was ever discovered, it could be treated like a rouge branch. Would it have worked?" she snorted. "I doubt it. The Prometheus project would have justified things enough for the Alliance not to care, but it would have given the Illusive Man some wiggle room." She trailed off in thought for a moment, her eyes unfocusing for a second as they lidded.

This lasted a moment before she shook her head, widening her eyes a few times to refocus before looking back at me.

"That's not the point I was trying to make though. Anyone involved with the project, truly involved with what actually went on would have been there that day. Others likely knew of it, certainly assisted it in happening, but they weren't truly involved."

"Could any of the researchers have escaped?"

"If they did, I can't find anything about it." She said with an apologetic look on her face. "Maybe the Illusive Man would know, he was definitely behind the facility's creation, but I don't know where he lives. No one does. How do you think he got the name?" she half grinned at me, but it wasn't a happy one.

Anger for the elusive leader burned within me, but only softly. I think, at this point, I was tired to muster up my full fury. I could try to track him down. Try to find every scrap of information about him that I could, but did I want to? I knew what I needed to. Found out what I'd wanted when I joined Shepard's crew. Finding the Illusive Man would be difficult, and at this point … was it even worth it?

I looked Miranda over properly. She'd disguised it well, but there were large bags beneath her eyes. Her skin even paler than normally, her hair not quite perfect like she normally kept it. More than that, it was her eyes. The normal sense of control I got from them; it was gone. What else had she discovered while looking for my information? More importantly, what has she risked by doing so? Cerberus isn't a company; they were more than willing to break laws to get rid of loose ends and rouge agents.

"Thank you for looking into this Miranda, truly. I wouldn't have learned nearly as much without your help." I would fully admit that.

"I did so freely." She smiled at me, some warmth slipping onto her face if only for a moment.

"You didn't have to."

"Yes, I did. You helped me rescue Orianna, I would do anything to keep her safe. Anything." Miranda locked eyes with me, a fierce intensity within them. "I couldn't help her on my own. I needed help, and you were the only one to give it to me. You did so freely, asking for little explanation aside from what was necessary. So, if I could do something the favour, I would."

"What happens if you're discovered though? If Cerberus finds out you told me this?"

"Fuck them!" she snarled, slamming her hands into the table. "They were supposed to help me with Orianna, it's why I fucking joined them in the first place!"

Even then. I appreciate it, truly, but this information was about the past, my past. It had already happened, what about what will happen?

"That doesn't answer my question. What happens to you? What happens to Orianna?"

Miranda's smile was full of dark satisfaction. "Nothing. Cerberus doesn't know where Orianna is, not anymore."

At least that's something, but …

"What about you?" Miranda paused for a moment confused. "What happens to you?"

"It doesn't matter." She waved her hand.

"You can't mean that."

"Except I do." Miranda slumped back into her chair, looking weary. What happened, what did she discover?

"… Why?" I didn't like this look on her. This look of…defeat.

"You really want to know why?" she asked quietly.

"If you're willing to tell me."

Miranda sighed but didn't say anything. Her face ran through so many emotions, more than I could count, yet I waited. We sat in silence for a few minutes.

"I used to be proud of my work with Cerberus." She began softly, her head leaning back as she stared at the roof. "A lot of it was fucked up, but I justified it to myself as necessary to protect humanity. To protect Orianna. I was proud of how I was helping humanity. But more than that, I was proud of what I'd done with Shepard." With Shepard? I thought you hated her. Miranda's eyes came back down to look at me. "I revived her, brought her back from the dead. And not a short death either. Shepard was dead for years, yet I brought her back. This was my crowning achievement, something I could be truly proud of. Even if no-one else ever knew what I'd done, it was something I could look back on with pride." She snorted. "I was so stupid."

"No, you weren't. Reviving someone is … I don't know how you would even do it. Yet you have."

"With the help of 70 billion credits and more than 3000 lives." She smiled wanly, having to swallow after admitting it. That much money?! And … I'm afraid to ask but how did it take 3000 lives, unless …

"No."

"Oh yes. Shepard's project was perhaps the most experimental procedure ever performed. I invented hundreds of different techniques that needed to be used, that required so much specific knowledge. Cerberus provided that knowledge, advisors suggesting which methods would have the most success. They we're almost uncannily accurate. I never wondered how, then I saw the report on the project with a better eye for the subtext."

"Cerberus always was a fan of practical testing." I agreed bitterly.

Shepard definitely didn't know; of that I guarantee. There is no way she would be even begrudgingly working with them if she did. I experience how she reacted after one person died. What would she do if she knew thousands died to bring her back? It would crush her.

"Indeed." She quirked a smile that didn't meet her eyes. "It seems to be a go to strategy of theirs considering how many times it happened. Shepard's revival and the biotic facility we're just two of the projects I read about that used it."

"That's disheartening, but it doesn't answer my question."

"I suppose it doesn't." she mused before sighing. "Henry Lawson is Cerberus' main backer."

Henry Lawson? … as in her father? Ouch. Miranda hummed her agreement when she saw me wince.

"It doesn't matter if I can escape. The moment I do, Cerberus starts helping my father look for Orianna. I hid her as best I could, but not from Cerberus, not for long." She shook her head. "That's my problem though, I'd rather leave it be."

"… at least tell me you have a solution?"

"A few." She shrugged half-heartedly. "I don't like the chances of them succeeding though." She finished sombrely. I felt much the same. She didn't ask for my help in this, so I would leave things be. But I didn't know what I'd do even if she asked.

Miranda has been given access to far more information than near anyone, Cerberus wouldn't just let her leave. If she escaped them, they could find Orianna and give him to Henry. If Henry 'disappears', Cerberus will stop at nothing to find Miranda, if only to use the inherited wealth she could claim. That would include finding Orianna and using her as leverage. Cerberus had immense resources and was capable of AI creation. You couldn't hide from that forever.

Miranda could escape, especially with my help, but what would happen to Orianna if she did? Miranda didn't care what happened to her, only Orianna.

"… with that set aside for now, there was something else I wanted to ask you." Miranda broke the silence we'd fallen into. I nodded to show I was listening.

"I can't ask you to help me with my situation, it's too great an ask. But …," she bit her lip, " … I know I don't deserve it. That I have no right but … if it was possible, would I be able to meet … Jennifer?" she asked me, a confusing blend of hope and guilt in her eyes.

… What? She wants to meet Jenn- she wants to meet me? I, I guess I … should I? I didn't answer for long enough that Miranda closed her eyes in disappointment, taking my silence for an answer. I still didn't know what to say, but …

"I'll … talk to her. I make no promises, but I'll ask." I felt bad about maintaining the deception, but Miranda was part of Cerberus. Part of who did this to me. I trusted her more than enough to tell her at this point … but at the same time, I … I didn't know. Something was holding me back.

"Thank you." She nodded. "I know…she likely won't want to see me … but I know what was done to her. Read about the torture they put her through. I want the chance to apologise while…while I still have it."

I nodded silently, unable to respond to the damning statement.

"Thank you for agreeing to talk," she stood up. "I know it wasn't particularly pleasant to talk about but … thank you for listening. I … if you were free, I would like to do this again. About something that isn't the horrors this galaxy holds." She smiled far more shyly than I ever expected her too.

"Of course." I nodded.

"Then goodbye for now." Miranda opened the door and left me to my thoughts.

When she'd asked to talk I hadn't expected her to be so … open with me. I appreciate the trust she's shown, but would I have done the same in her place? I've told her a bit about myself but did so using 'Jennifer' as a decoy. She'd admitted her problems to me, so why couldn't I do the same?

I didn't know. I've wanted to at times. What's holding me back? Fear? Anger? … Shame?

Should I let Miranda meet Jennifer?

I knocked on the ornate door in front of me.

"Come in!" came from the other side, so I opened the door and entered Aria's apartment with a box in hand. Inside I found her lying on her couch, scrolling on her data-pad. Really changed things up, huh?

She must have gotten changed once she reached the apartment though, as there is no way she would wear something so normal. No, loose pants and a soft-looking long-sleeve top doesn't really scream authority the way she likes.

It works just fine for me though, I almost prefer it. It was something about … only letting me see her like this. It's not like I was dressed much differently, wearing a simple top and some of my stretchy pants. Seeing Aria was barefoot herself, I decided to take off the shoe I could before leaving the entryway.

"Jack. Give me a minute." She greeted me, not looking away from her pad just yet. There appeared to be some sort of report on it, so I walked over to the bar counter and deposited my box. I then proceeded to sit on the still free couch. I didn't make any move to do anything, instead I chose to just let my mind wander. To let myself just relax to the ambient noise that was Aria tapping away at the screen and grumbling. It was oddly relaxing, and I was a bit tired after the last few nights, so I let my eyes close as I sank back into the couch for a few minutes and tried to quiet the thoughts in my head.

…

"Oi." A finger poked my cheek. "You awake?" It poked me again.

"No." I responded while keeping my eyes closed. I'd never actually fallen asleep; it had only been around 10 minutes and there was too much on my mind for me to doze off.

She poked me again, but harder. It was more of a prod, so it kind of hurt. I raised my head and opened my eyes to give Aria an unimpressed look. She just smirked at me before sitting back down on her couch.

"Rude."

"I was just being sure." She shrugged, unconcerned with my irritation. "Now, what the fuck has been going on with your mission?" she stared at me intently. I sighed internally.

"… a lot, to say the least."

"We have all night."

"I suppose we do …," so where do I start? "The Collectors are a bitch to fight."

"So are you, what's your point?"

"You aware they're a hive mind?"

"… What?" Aria looked interested.

"Basically. It's more that there's a single mind that can possess any of the collector 'drones'," I used my fingers to make air quotes. "You can kill the collector it possesses, but not the being. As you might imagine, it makes coordination of the collector's a pain to deal with. Also because there always seems to be a bloody horde of them present."

"That is something I didn't know. The collectors are secretive to say the least. There isn't a lot of information about them. What else do you know?"

"They're probably puppets for the Reapers. Shepard is of the belief that this 'Harbinger', what the being calls itself, is one of them."

"You believe Shepard then?" she raised an eyebrow. Aria had never been fully convinced about the Reapers. She could see the ship that attacked the citadel was something else, but the whole concept of a galactic level threat was a little harder for her to believe. Maybe she just didn't want to.

"…Yeah, I do. Shepard is...a lot of things, but she doesn't lie. It is also the only explanation that makes sense. The technology the collector's use, … it's advanced. It's also different from everyone else's, both organic and not in a way that exceeds what we are capable of. That ship mounted weapon of theirs…it acts far too similar to the beam weapon from the reaper that attacked the Citadel to be a coincidence."

"That is weird, but it could be coincidental. Saying a beam weapons is similar isn't exactly proof." Aria commented. I suppose it isn't. And she was right, that wouldn't be enough proof, except for one thing.

"The collectors are what remains of the Protheans. They we're experimented on, altered into what we know see. Who could possibly be capable of doing that to the race that ruled the galaxy? That we don't even know about?"

Aria's eye widened.

"Protheans? Are you sure." She stared at me intensely, a frown on her face.

"I am," I nodded. "One of the scientists on board found a terminal that showed the changes to the DNA, and he confirmed the original source to be Prothean. I can't see the difference myself, but I trust him to be correct."

"Fuck!" Aria cursed as she stood up and began to pace.

"These collectors, how many did you say their we're?"

"I don't know. But this one ship was staffed with hundreds of collectors alone. I should probably explain, the collectors come in a few variants. I believe that only the drones are made from Protheans. The blue husks are humans, but I don't know about the other two types I've encountered."

I paused to collect my thoughts for a moment.

"There is a larger type of collector, bigger than Krogans. I don't know much about them, but they're strong and can take a hit, so I call them brutes."

"How big a hit are we taking?" Aria re-took her seat, agitated.

"I stabbed one in the brain with my omni-blade. Didn't seem to have an effect. I had to cut it in half to finally put it down." I told her solemnly. That sort of resilience…it isn't natural. The brutes could perhaps be made from Protheans as well, but I didn't know. What I did know is that they we're engineered. Krogans are among the pinnacle of the durability natural evolution can grant, and that was actually helped along by the nuclear winter they went through.

"You've already seen the last variant I've encountered."

"The giant bug." Aria stated.

"Yes." I confirmed. "It is…the most dangerous thing I have ever encountered. Even more than a Thresher Maw. These…behemoths, are biological weapons of the highest order. I don't know how, but the collector particle beam technology has been granted to them. It works better than even the gun version does."

"If that beam had hit your torso the first time …" Aria trailed off sombrely.

"It would have killed me in an instant." I finished quietly. We fell into silence for a minute as Aria stared at me, a troubled look on her face.

"The Collectors are far more dangerous than they have portrayed themselves in the past. Their tech, their troops…so why do you have to face them? Are your answers that important to you?" she questioned me. I shook my head.

"I already found my answers." Aria's eyes widened, before she looked at me searchingly.

"Then why do you still insist on this?"

"You know why." Aria nodded with a grimace on her face.

"Omega isn't worth it Jack…I'm not worth it. Not for you."

"You're worth it to me." I told her firmly and stared into her eyes for a minute. I would not be budged on this. Finally, she closed her eyes in defeat and sighed through her nose. Thank the Goddess she conceded, I didn't want to have another fight with her. Not know, not ever.

"…You said you found your answers?" Aria asked, moving past the awkward silence we had fallen into.

"I did. It's not…not what I had hoped for." I admitted.

"I would like to know all the same." Aria smiled at me.

"I think I need a drink first."

Aria nodded and stood up at that.

"I could certainly use one as well. The usual?" she queried while walking over to her bar cart.

"Actually…" I stopped her as I stood up as well and walked over to her. She looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "I brought my own." I tapped on the box I'd brought with me, sliding it across the bench to Aria.

"What is it?" she asked as she began to open the fancy box. The bottle had come to me in it, and I liked the look enough to keep it that way.

"I was helping out a…" Friend? I think so but… "One of the crew with something, and we stopped by a fancy bar to talk to a contact of hers."

"Is this what I think it is?" Aria breathed, looking up at me.

"You mentioned you we're never able to get any yourself." I shrugged, a little self-conscious.

"How much did it even cost? It's … rare." she said with some disbelief.

"I'm paid very well by Vassen. Something about how I could help manage you?"

"Oh fuck him too." She muttered distractedly as she continued to stare at the bottle. "But Thank you Jack, truly." There was something special in her gaze as she looked at me. I didn't realise how much this would mean to her.

"Of course, now are you going to open it?" she started chuckling after a moment, shaking her head as she did just that. I was curious why it mattered to her so much, but I wouldn't pry if she didn't want to tell me.

"Here." Aria offered me one rather full glass of the dark purple liquid that was speckled with silver. We then moved back to the lounge, but this time Aria sat next to me and we both took our first sip.

The first thing I noticed was how smooth the liquid was. There was a subtle taste of alcohol, but somehow all of the harshness had been removed. There was also a chilling effect, the liquid feeling as if it had been heavily refrigerated yet I knew it was room temperature. That might be the best way to describe the taste, as … cold? It was odd to say the least, but also incredibly pleasant. Their we're hints of fruitiness in the aftertaste as well, so that must be what the flavour is from, but I'll be damned if I have any idea what fruit it could be.

"What did you find Jack?"

"As you might have expected, I got nowhere on my own." Aria snorted at me.

"No shit." She sounded amused.

"Quiet you." I elbowed her side gently. "I got nowhere until I asked someone for help."

"Who did you ask? And why for that matter."

"Her name is Miranda. I'd done her a massive favour on Illium, so she asked if she could help me in any way. She happened to be …" there's no easy way of saying it. "She's a member of Cerberus, one granted far more access than normal."

"A member of Cerberus?" The question in her statement didn't need to be asked.

"They aren't all bad." I shrugged "More importantly, there wasn't anyone else I could ask. The leader of Cerberus is paranoid to say the least. The amount Miranda managed to find is rather astonishing because of that."

"Was it right to trust her even then? Couldn't you have hacked her terminal or something?"

"Doubt it." I snorted before taking another sip. "I didn't tell her everything either, just as much as I could. As far as she knows, I am a close friend of 'Jennifer' and wanted information about her past to give to her."

"That's still not ideal."

"I trust her mom. She didn't join Cerberus just for the hell of it, there was a reason. That reason is now gone, and I helped her out as well. I won't say any more than that though." I warned her as she opened her mouth.

"Besides, Miranda didn't know about what had been done at the facility. If it's good at one thing, Cerberus can cover their tracks well. All reports from the facility we're doctored, everything illegal they've ever done is worded ambiguously. She only started figuring it out after I gave her some clues."

I took another sip, letting it sit in my mouth for a moment before finally swallowing.

"It horrified her more than you could know. She had been racked with guilt since finding out, looked through all the information she had access to, saw every last rotten thing Cerberus has done. The amount of guilt she feels now…"

"If you trust her, then I will leave it be." Aria told me, looking over at me.

"I do." I nodded.

"Then was Miranda able to find anything useful to you?"

"Not much." I admitted. "The facility was probably the most illegal thing Cerberus has ever done. The amount of information security surrounding it is immense. Almost everyone involved with the facility was there in person. The only information they sent out was the results of the experiments. No one knew what was going on there except those in person, and likely the leader of Cerberus."

"And you killed everyone in the facility?"

"I think so. It's possible that was one or two escaped," as much as I hated to admit it, "but even if they did, the only way I could find them is to find the Illusive Man. Not even his direct subordinates know where he is. And in the end, what does it matter? I killed them all. I escaped and…it might be better if I just let it be. If I just…let it be."

Aria put her arm around my shoulder, pulling me into her side.

"It was important to you, so I let you look for answers. By the sounds of it, there isn't much more you can do. And personally? Living your life is the better choice. Getting tied up in what if's and could have been… it doesn't solve anything. Live your life well, that is the best advice I could ever give you."

I took another sip as I digested that. Live my life well huh? Could I do that?

The facility was a spectre that had hounded me all my life, its shadow remaining long after it didn't. I had…I can see that I latched on to the chance for information as soon as it presented itself in Shepard. It had been years without anything, so I had given up hope on ever finding out. I had even made peace with it, but that was before Rialle died. Back when I had the dancers to spend my time with.

After they left, I had been adrift. I got closer to Treena, interacted more with Vassen, but it wasn't the same. My relationship with Aria was improving, but I didn't want to have to explain myself to her, just wanted to keep something to myself.

This cost me my peace though, so when Shepard appeared I agreed to go with her without too much thought. It was something I could focus my attention on, something to keep my mind occupied. It didn't work for long, but at least the missions we're challenging. For a while there Omega had gotten quiet, the rule breakers having been largely dealt with. Aria's rules, keep in mind. The whole station seemed too scared of me to try anything anymore.

I had lost hope in finding anything on the mission after a while as well, and then came Grunt. He needed help, so I gave it to him. I didn't expect to get so close to him at the time, but I did anyway. I projected onto him, I could see that now, so it would explain things at least in part. Finding companionship with Karen had been more surprising, but she just had a presence on her that put me at ease.

Miranda…was complicated.

"You do anything else interesting in those missions?" Aria broke me out of my thoughts. Interesting? I'd certainly say so. I opened up my Omni-tool.

"You heard of a Krogan Rite of Passage?" I glanced over at Aria.

"…do you mean that combat trial thingy they do?"

"Something like that." I smirked, opening up the recording in question and sending it to her. I waited as she watched the recording with interest as we battled the first waves of animals. Then the rumbling started.

"…what the fuck?" Aria stared at the now visible Thresher Maw. It was an intimidating site on video, but it had been so much worse in person. Aria watched the rest of the video in disbelief until Grunt emerged proudly from his conquest. She then turned to me.

" …the fuck?"

"It sounded fun." I shrugged. Aria just continued to look at me before she sighed and put her head into her hands with a groan.

"Of course you would seek out danger. Should of fucking known." She mumbled into her hands, but not quiet enough that I didn't hear. I take…some offense to that. She looked back up at me with deadpan eyes.

"So what else was there? Battling a dragon? Declaring war on a gang? Taking part in a 100 person orgy?" She put out sarcastically. That last one sounds pretty appealing but…

"…what did you do?" Aria asked, seeing my pause.

"You know how there was a port on Illium that was … attacked?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake."

"Yeah…that was me. In my defence, the Eclipse mercenaries deserved it."

"Why?"

I took another sip of my drink, wanting to make her wait just a little. I was kind of enjoying this, annoying Aria. It felt like…karma. Also, the Ad Astra was really good. Like a smoother version of Thessian Blue that was disturbingly easy to sip.

"I was asked to help Miranda with…a task. We needed to retrieve something, but someone else hired Eclipse to get it as well."

"And that resulted in a half-destroyed port?"

"There were a lot of eclipse."

I explained it a bit more to Aria, keeping the personal details pertinent to Miranda secret for the most part. They weren't necessary to explain, and it wasn't my secret to tell. Aria listened to me, amused as she sipped at her drink. It was nice to just be able to talk about with her.

After I finished Aria remained in thought for a moment, before turning to me with a curious look on her face.

"This is the reason she helped you so much, isn't it?"

"…Yes." I nodded.

"So, for helping to blow up a port, she risked losing her job and/or life by providing you the information?"

"It was a big favour. Although, I believe she may have been having second thoughts about Cerberus to begin with. Either way, she gave me all the information she could, scoured the records as much as she could. Although…" I trailed off.

"Although what?"

"She wanted to meet Jennifer." I sighed.

"Jennifer …? Oh."

"Yeah, I … don't really know what to do about it."

"Why not? She just wants to talk to you without the armour, that's not so hard." Aria reasoned.

"Normally, no. But we talked about Jennifer quite a few time, where I pretended she wasn't someone else." I looked over at Aria. "She knows everything I've been through. Has read the records of everything the facility did to me. The armour…pretending I'm not Jennifer is easy with it on."

Aria wrapped her arm around me but looked straight ahead.

"But under that armour, it's still who you are. What happened to you, happened. It's part of the life that shaped you into who you now are. You don't have to let it define you, you shouldn't." She shook her head softly. "But pretending it didn't happen isn't healthy. Maybe…maybe this could help with that. Provide closure"

"…maybe." I sighed.

"It's your choice. I'm happy to help with anything I can." She looked down and grinned at me. "Except a threesome. I know I'm hot, but some things are too far."

I dropped my head and sighed. Way to ruin the moment, but on that note …

"As…disheartening as that is, there is something I would like your help with."

"What is it?"

"You remember that fancy attack of mine we were working on before our disagreement?"

"…you mean the big blue bastard?"

I'm sorry, the fuck?!

"That's not its name." I denied.

"It fit though."

"It's not its name. I also never managed to figure out the kinks, never really had the space. You want to help?"

"Do I want to what, blow a bunch of shit up? Of course I do." Aria smirked, but it softened shortly after. "It will be nice to do it again though. Just like old times."

"It would." I smiled back at her.

"I'll arrange something." Aria then clapped her hands together. "What do you want to do now?"

I drained the rest of my glass and pushed it into her hand, then watched her expectantly.

"I thought it was a gift."

I waved her onwards with my hand expectantly, undeterred.