Chapter 1: Revelations of the Worst Kind
-Azure Hotel, Illium-
John Shepard was an interesting man. He was in his twenties, had short black hair, rough and rugged facial features from his work as a soldier, a five o' clock shadow and unique silver eyes that had actually been what drew in the love of his life, an Asari by the name of Liara T'Soni.
Said Asari had skin as blue as any sky or ocean, and was wearing a blue and white skintight suit that seemed to compliment her well.
The third member of their squad, the suit-clad Quarian Tali, was also with them… In the firefight they were having with the Spectre/Shadow Broker agent, Tela Vasir, who had tried to kill Liara hours ago.
John took that very personally. Two years of being dead did fuck all to diminish the level of care he had for Liara.
"Well, this is certainly a fine mess you've gotten us into, doctor…" Tali sighed in exasperation, her head pressing against the wall as she leaned back, her helmet letting out a metallic hiss as she exhaled. "Are there any other powerful underworld players you've managed to piss off, or have you reached your quota for the week?" She questioned.
"Tali, stop. You're not helping." Shepard hissed as he sent some suppressing fire.
"No. I think the Shadow Broker alone is enough." The biotic humanoid sighed in reply as she cast a Warp at one of the Shadow Broker soldiers Tela had called in, which was a lot.
"What were you even looking for?!" The Quarian woman snapped as she grabbed a grenade that was lobbed at them and hurled it back, causing an explosion seconds later.
"I was looking for the Shadow Broker's base of operations, and I've found it!" The Asari information broker exclaimed in response as she cast a singularity at a cluster of troops, causing them to float in the air when they were caught in the mini black hole's vortex.
"Well, they clearly don't like that!" John remarked as he took out his Widow Anti-Material Rifle and blew off the head of a rocket trooper.
"Hang on!" Tali yelled as she quickly grabbed two grenades from the man's bandolier and hurled them at the soldiers. "Move!" She yelled, prompting everyone to start running.
A few seconds later…
BOOM!
All of the soldiers their tough adversary had called in were all blown to pieces by the shrapnel. Vasir herself only survived due to putting up a barrier to shield herself.
"You really think those were the only troops I had?!" She barked at them, pressing a button on her Omni-tool and calling in more reinforcements.
"Seriously?!" Tali yelled in frustration as she ejected the spent thermal clip in her pistol. "We're going to run out of ammo at this rate!" She ranted.
That was when Liara looked up and saw that a beam supporting the section their enemy was in was one shot away from collapsing.
"Tali, Shepard, shoot that beam." She told the two.
The human and quarian took a look at the beam before nodding, both of them taking aim and firing. The result was instantaneous as the beam fell on the shocked soldiers who were quickly crushed.
Tela Vasir, however, once again showed just how she got her position as a Spectre and used a Vanguard Charge to get out of the way in a show of quick thinking. This had left her in a position to actually kill Tali with a well placed shot.
Before she could, though, a gunshot from a different source rang out that made the enemy Asari's Vindicator rifle go flying out of her hands with a hole in it.
"What the– AGH!" The stunned Spectre got out before she was shoulder checked by a third party in the fight and sent to the ground.
"Who—?" Liara questioned before she saw who just arrived. "Oh… My…" She gasped in utter shock.
"Um…" Tali uttered.
"What… The… Hell?!" Shepard gasped with a stunned look.
The third party was, shockingly, a clone of John that had a slew of modifications.
The first was that this clone was female. She had John's features, but was more feminine, she had red hair, jade green eyes with a silver ring around the outside of her iris, voluptuous red lips, and her body looked to have similar implants and characteristics as Jack, but hers looked to be more advanced and her body looked to have been… enhanced to be far more voluptuous than the average human woman.
Attire wise, she was wearing a black dress that stopped just short of her ankles and had the audacity to enter the fight in high heels with the intent of winning.
In her hands was a high-end X-9 Predator pistol colored black with red lights. The barrel was also smoking, marking her as the shooter.
"Who– Wait, you?! What are you doing here?!" Tela demanded with a glare as she used her biotics to levitate herself back to her feet.
"I think you can guess." The obvious clone shot back as she took aim. "I suggest you back off. I don't want to have to waste the ammo." She stated levely, her pistol's red dot lining up directly at the Asari woman's temple, right between the eyes.
"Fuck you!" The Spectre shouted in retort, and she would've sent her flying with a biotic Throw had Liara not done the same to her.
"Okay, I don't know who you are, but I can see what you are! Let's deal with Vasir before we talk!" John told his genderbent clone as he took aim with his Mattock at Vasir.
"Fine by me!" The redhead nodded as she took aim too. "Name's Jane Shadow, by the way!" She added.
"I think I can hazard a guess as to who she works for!" Tali said as she was about to pull her pistol on the woman.
"Not the time, Tali!" Liara barked.
"Rogue Spectre first, questions and accusations later!" John added.
"Focus on the fight, dipshits!" Vasir barked as she threw a table at them, forcing them into cover.
However, before anyone could get another shot off, Jane rushed up to Tela and started to jab at her woman's mostly exposed areas, causing the Asari woman to lock up within seconds.
Then, she slowly drew her pistol and pressed it to the back of the woman's head.
"Last chance. Give up, or your body gets put through the Program as soon as I pull the trigger." The redhead warned.
"Fuck you!" The locked up Asari growled in defiance.
Shaking her head, Jane plucked the data disc holding the information Liara needed and pulled the trigger.
"Control? Yeah, I have another body for Gemini. Send pickup." The woman said into an earpiece with a sigh. "And tell Master Kaiden that the mission has been accomplished." She added.
That last part got John's attention right away.
"Wait, Kaiden? Kaiden Alenko sent you?" He questioned the moment Jane's finger was away from her ear.
"He's one of my masters, yes." The woman nodded. "I serve every leader of the Shadow Broker's empire. Him above all." She continued. "I am his chief assassin, his bodyguard, his trophy wife, and—soon enough—his brood mother." She explained. "I'm the knife clasped in the hand of the partners of his enterprise, to use as they see fit—even if I think the missions they send me on go against my husband's wishes." She added.
John's face went blank at this info bomb. First, he finds out he's got a female clone running around, and now he finds out that she's a trophy wife and a fucking brood mother of all things to his mortal enemy… He felt like his very genes had been violated.
That, in turn, made him furious. Case in point…
"Liara, how long until you narrow down where that shady fuckwad is hiding?!" He barked at his Asari love interest.
"Only a day!" Liara called back angrily as she looked over some data on her Omni-Tool, having heard every word and was less than pleased with how her human lover's genes had been abused.
"You'll need this." Jane said as she tossed the scientist the chip. "I may not want you to find my master, but Kaiden is also my master and I can't disobey him." She admitted. "You all are worth more to him alive than dead." She stated as she started to walk away. "Just don't expect me to not lose my composure if you decide to rob my embryos of their father." She hissed as she disappeared down a dark alley.
"... Please tell me that did not mean what I think it meant…" Tali begged with a groan as she put her pistol away.
"I really hope it doesn't mean what I think it meant, either." John sighed.
"… Found the location we're looking for. But communication chatter is indicating that Shadow Broker isn't fleeing like you'd expect." Liara said after installing the chip in her suit.
"Sounds like he was expecting no one to figure out where he was." The first human Spectre noted. "Come on; Let's get back to the Normandy. We can talk more in private there." He added as Tali walked off, allowing him to plant a kiss on his Asari lover's cheek, causing her to blush.
"Right behind you." Liara nodded as they walked off.
(Timeskip)
A day later, the Normandy exited FTL over Hagalaz, where a shuttle with John, Liara, Tali and Garrus Vakarian and Urdnot Grunt flew out of the cargo bay and headed for the surface.
"Hagalaz. The oceans boil during the day, and snap freeze ten minutes after sundown." The Asari noted. Everyone on the squad was wearing either a helmet or a rebreather (sans Tali, for obvious reasons) since the air would be harsh where they were headed.
"How are we supposed to find the Shadow Broker's base in all of that?" Garrus questioned.
"He likely has a mobile base so he can follow the sunset, to keep things at an optimal temperature." Tali noted. "Find the ship, we find the target." She added.
"Right." Liara nodded in confirmation. "Luckily, I was able to work out the exact coordinates of where to go in order to find it." She added, bringing up a holo-display showing where they were headed.
"Alright." Shepard nodded. "Let's go Shadow Broker hunting." He added, wracking his rifle back.
(Later)
Shepard was now in the cockpit next to the pilot in the middle of a call with the organization known as Cerberus, so that he could figure out how and why the Shadow Broker now had a female clone of himself.
"Illusive Man, care to explain why I ran into a female clone of myself on Illium?" The man questioned.
"Ah, yes… That." The enigmatic leader of Cerberus sighed. "I did authorize a clone of you to be made in the event you needed some replacement body parts, or an entire replacement body—all of your crew, really—but apparently the Shadow Broker had some spies infiltrate the project to steal more of your genes." He explained.
"Seems they stole more than that, this clone, Jane—she mentioned something called the Gemini program, had Tela picked up by the Shadow Broker's men for it." The man told the other. "What is that, this Gemini Program? Some kind of mass cloning program even Cerberus doesn't know about?" He questioned.
"If the Shadow Broker runs it, then I most certainly do not know anything about it." The Cerberus leader replied. "However, I may know someone who does." He continued.
"Who?" Shepard questioned.
"You may recall her, you remember Miranda. Correct?" The Illusive Man stated. "She proposed a mass cloning operation similar to the one you're describing after the Lazarus Project was proven to be a success. But the proposal was shot down." He explained. "Seems she may have sold it to the highest bidder just to spite us." He mused.
"And the Shadow Broker picked up on it, apparently." John sighed. "My genes already feel violated enough. I don't even wanna know how deep that rabbit hole goes…" He groaned.
"I fear that you are about to find out." The Illusive Man told him with a sigh. "I'll have a bottle of my strongest whiskey sent to your cabin on the Normandy. I get the feeling you'll need it more than me." He added before hanging up.
"Ain't that the truth…" The man muttered, already feeling some phantom pains in his head foreshadow the upcoming headaches.
(Later)
After a while, the Kodiak was now closing in on the Shadow Broker's ship. It was quite a thing to behold.
Its hull was largely flat generally, with some areas rising up while there were four large air brakes at the rear of the ship to keep it from getting ahead of the storm while lightning struck it ceaselessly.
"Oh, the things I could learn from this ship…" Tali sighed, wishing she could take some time to examine the way the ship works.
As the shuttle reached a point where they could disembark, Shepard was the first one out, and as he landed on the ship—he ended up kicking a guy walking along the balcony where there were no rails—sending him flying into the storm with a Wilhelm scream.
While amusing, no one paid it any mind and began their trek to wherever Liara was leading them.
"There's an entrance near the back of the ship. We can get in through there." The Asari told them.
"Why can't we just use any hatch we find?" Garrus wondered.
"Because we need to be registered in the ship's system for that, sadly." Liara lamented as they continued on. Finding the entrance wasn't too terribly hard, and once it was found, Tali was able to hack it open, allowing them to slip in without anyone noticing.
It was actually disappointing that it was so easy.
(Later)
It didn't take long for Liara to lead them to the Shadow Broker's office, as she was tracking his main monitor, but that unfortunately would not prepare them for what they saw next, when Tali tapped into the camera feeds in order to give them confirmation that their target was inside.
Good news: He was. Not necessarily good news: He wasn't alone. Disturbing news: The person in there with him was Jane Shadow, and she was currently prostrated before him on all fours, completely naked, a slave collar around her nanotechnology implanted neck with a glowing yellow leash attached, her body completely covered in sweat and bodily fluids and caked in dry fluids of all types—particularly semen—her stomach, which had been fairly kept hidden in the dress she was in before, was engorged to reveal she was two months pregnant, and lastly—her eyes were glazed over as she was moaning whilst sucking off a Yahg.
It didn't take a genius to put together that he was her master and so-called 'husband' the Shadow Broker.
"... All in favor of me punishing Miranda when this bullshit festival is over, say aye!" The very displeased human of the squad growled angrily.
"Aye./AYE!" The rest of the squad chorused, though Liara yelled her agreement with anger.
She was not happy that her lover's genes had been used for something this perverse! No sir!
"Alright. We need to take this guy down. But how do we do it without endangering your female clone?" Garrus asked. "Creation of the Shadow Broker or not, she's still an innocent victim, and a pregnant one at that." He noted.
"I know…" John groaned, still having a marathon of a time wrapping his head around all of this. "She mentioned she was subordinate to a lot of the Shadow Broker's forces. Can we fabricate something that'll draw her away long enough to kill the fucker?" He questioned.
"Perhaps another order from Kaiden would do the trick?" Liara suggested.
"Hm… Yeah, that should do it." John nodded after a moment of thought.
"Alright, just gotta type it out, get into their comm network, and… Send." Tali chuckled as she worked her magic.
Seconds later, they could see the two stop before the Yahg groaned as the woman went to get cleaned, and then began to leave the room dressed in a black dress. Leaving her master alone.
"That's our cue. Let's go before she realizes it was a fake and comes back!" Garrus exclaimed.
"You heard him! Let's move!" The first human Spectre barked as the four took off running down the hall toward their destination.
They had to gun down a few squads on the way before they could radio in and compromise them, but that was easy given how they worked like a well oiled machine. Just before they got there, however, they found Liara's friend, Feron, strapped to a torture chair.
"Feron!" Liara gasped as she rushed up to a window.
On the way to Hagalaz, she had taken some time to fill in everyone on why she was hunting the Shadow Broker: She wanted to free her friend, Feron, who had sacrificed himself so she could get John's body to Cerberus for the Lazarus Project. This had gotten a lot of understanding from everyone gathered to listen to her reason, and everyone was on board with helping out if needed.
"Garrus, help Liara get Feron out of there. Tali, Grunt, stay on task and follow me!" Shepard yelled as they all ran towards where the Shadow Broker was still unaware of their advance.
"I have a Krogan grenade on me if you want me to use it to blow this guy to kingdom come." Grunt said as they neared the office.
"Save that for the killing blow, if need be." John told him as they got closer, and saw the door was locked. "... Or blow the door open. We could gun him down before he has a chance to react." He amended upon seeing the lock was active.
"Or alternatively, we employ the Human marine tactic of popping a live lethal grenade into a doorway we intend to enter, killing him on the spot." Tail offered.
"That too. Just as long as there's bloody chunks all over the place when we're done." The man shrugged, not really caring just as long as the target of his ire was brutally killed.
"Alright. Marine style it is." Grunt nodded as Tali hacked the door open. "Fire in the hole!" He called as he threw the grenade in and Tali sealed the door shut.
"Hit the deck!" The Quarian exclaimed as the three of them immediately hit the deck like a bunch of Russians who fucked up with a grenade.
BOOM!
A muffled explosion sounded off from the other side of the door. The door in question was pushed out to the point that Grunt could just rip it off its hinges as they stepped inside, finding their quarry mortally wounded and near death, as Shepard stepped on top of him, shotgun in hand.
Impressively, all of the consoles had nary a scratch on them.
It did, however, cause a fault in the datafeed for the network.
"Punk ass Yahg." The Krogan scoffed.
"Any last words?" The man questioned.
"... You… Came here for… More than… One reason… Yes…?" The dying alien groaned.
"Yes we did." Liara nodded as she entered the room.
"You see, I know about the Gemini Program, and I am far from pleased with how my genes have been violated." John told the Shadow Broker. He doubted this thing even had a name other than that, and figured it wasn't worth learning.
The Yahg would be dead soon, anyway.
"Plenty more where that came from… You can be sure of that, Commander…" The head of the galactic underbelly chuckled, falling back.
BANG!
A shotgun blast at point blank range was all that was really needed to put an end to him after that.
"Okay… We've put down the biggest information broker in the galaxy. Now what?" Grunt wondered.
It was at that point a myriad of transmissions began calling in, getting everyone's attention. It didn't even stop there as the number of calls continued to grow before topping out at a whopping sixty people, all wondering about what had happened with the network.
Liara looked at it all, seeming overwhelmed as she lowered her head for a moment. Then she raised it again with a steely look in her eyes and walked up to a terminal before she activated what she knew was a voice modulator program in the terminal and addressed all of the agents.
"The old Shadow Broker is dead. I'm in control of his ship." She told them. "So now. You answer to me." She added.
However, the modulator she was using made her sound like a male from a random race. In this case, a Turian.
"Um… Of course. A change in management won't affect our abilities to do our jobs. Orders?" One of the operatives replied before requesting orders.
"Resume all standard procedures. I want status updates on all operations within the next solar day." Liara replied. "Shadow Broker out." She concluded, prompting the agents to hang up and go about their jobs.
It was then that the Asari woman suddenly started to break down, prompting Shepard to rush up to and embrace her.
"Guess your two years of work have finally paid off." He smiled.
"Yes… Yes they have…" Liara sighed, her breath shaky. "Now… Now I have everything I need to make your mission against the Collectors better, and so much more." She added, reluctantly pulling away from her lover and walking up to the terminal, bringing up some files.
"You want some time to yourself?" The hero of Elysium asked.
"Yes, please." The Asari sighed in reply. "Come back tomorrow. Things should be more in order by then." She told the group.
"I'll stay here. Someone has to watch Liara and make sure she doesn't overwork herself." Feron told them.
"Fair enough." The silver eyed human nodded. "Come on, guys. Let's give Liara some space and come back in twenty-four hours." He beckoned as he walked toward the exit.
(Timeskip)
The next day, Shepard had gone back to the Shadow Broker's ship alone. Liara had gotten him added as a welcome guest there now, so he could visit whenever he wanted. Right now, he wanted to see how his love interest was doing with her new job.
"Ah, Shepard. Welcome back." Liara chimed on a monitor just above the entrance to the office. "Please, come in. I'm eager to share what I've gone over so far with you." She added as she opened the door for him.
As he and the others entered, Liara quartered off files she'd already opened into one group for Garrus and Tali to go over, while the others were ones she saved for going over them with Shepard.
"Wait, isn't that an Asari file?" Tali questioned as she and Garrus entered with Feron, who was still limping—seeing a file with a particular name associated with it: Liara's mother.
"Liara, wait!" Feron exclaimed as he tried to steady himself. "Don't open that file, you may not like what you find." He said.
But it was too late, and Liara saw something that caused her to freeze where she was.
It was records going back to long before the current Asari government rose to power—and it detailed that the Asari were not an all female race like she'd been led to believe all of her life.
The Asari could indeed be born male through sexual reproduction, it was only through mind melding that mono gender births occurred. Naturally, it was possible for male and female Asari to be born.
But it would seem that centuries ago, a political and cultural revolution occurred and a new dogma decreed that all male Asari were to be killed and bred out, and to keep them from coming back, "to create a perfect matriarchal society" it was quoted as saying—with only mind melding was the permitted method of reproduction, with any sexual intercourse with other races being cases where it was mandatory to keep themselves from getting pregnant, to make sure the lie was kept a secret.
There was silence… Before…
"What… In the actual fuck…" Garrus uttered as his brain stopped braining.
"Who… I… This… What?!" Tali stammered as her cognitive functions struggled to comprehend what she was reading.
"I… Humanity has had the tales of the Amazon warriors, who were women that never allowed men to be warriors with them, having sex with men to reproduce and killing them afterwards and giving their male children to Hephaestus… But…" John uttered with wide eyes. "What in the actual fuck is this atrocity?!" He finally yelled.
"I… Think this whole file just broke my brain." Grunt groaned, unable to process what he just read.
Liara, however, was the worst with her reaction.
When she read the whole thing, she had a look of shock and horror on her face. Shock, that her culture had perpetrated a dogmatic lie. Horror, that her own people committed an atrocity in the name of a so-called "perfect society."
It caused her entire view on her people to collapse as her ability to stand vanished.
John was at her side in an instant, setting her down gently and sitting down next to her. He didn't say anything, just holding her close.
"I… Oh goddess, I think I'm going to be sick." The Asari woman gagged as her face began to turn green.
"Yeah, I feel the same." John agreed with a groan as he felt bile start rising in his stomach.
"Keelah, what the hell is wrong with the Asari who spearheaded this?!" Tali groaned as she too held her stomach.
"Even I'm having a hard time coming up with a rational explanation." Garrus sighed, facepalming.
"In human experience, there's almost no rationality for the dogmatic…" The human of the group sighed as he helped Liara back to her feet.
"… Shepherd, I—I need to take a break. Get out of here for a bit." She muttered.
"Yeah. Sure." John sighed as he turned to leave. "The Illusive Man sent me a bottle of his strongest whiskey that I haven't opened yet. Let me know when you want to come to the Normandy, and we'll get hammered together in my cabin." He told her, in case she needed something to help her deal with this whole shit show.
"I'd like that." The woman nodded as she followed him. "I… Also wouldn't mind discussing that thing we discussed. Before you, you know…" She elaborated, causing Shepard's eyes to widen as he realized what she was referring to.
"Oh. Well, in that case, let's talk over that whiskey, why don't we?" He hummed as the door to the office closed behind them.
"I'd like that." Liara nodded. "And perhaps after that, we can discuss what to do about Miranda." She offered.
"Oh yeah. I'm not about to let this violation of my existence slide." John muttered darkly as they headed for the shuttle bay.
"Indeed." The Asari nodded. "Shepard?" She asked as the shuttle started to disembark for the Normandy.
"Yes?" The commander prompted.
"If I were to ask you to give me a son. What would your answer be?" The scientist asked.
"... I don't know." The man admitted as the shuttle took off. "Feeling like destroying a lie?" He questioned.
"... Maybe a little." Liara admitted. "But I mostly just want to make a child with you, my love." She told him, hugging him close.
"Same here." The commander nodded as he kissed her.
"That said, now that I found out about who my other Asari parent is, and when I find them, I will be having words with her about this dogma!" She hissed as they pulled apart. It was clear that she was never going to let this go.
"I understand completely, my darling." Her lover told her. "But, let's take some time to ourselves first. How does a prolonged administrative leave vacation sound to you?" He suggested.
"I know a region on Elysium that would do wonders." Liara hummed.
"Funny, I was actually going to suggest a neighboring planet, Eden 1-1. A lush garden world that is actually a planet sized naturalist resort, popular with couples and newlyweds on honeymoon." John chuckled.
"That will work just as well." His blue skinned love interest giggled as the shuttle docked in the Normandy's cargo bay. "Shall I set a course for Eden?" She asked.
"I'll tell Joker to do that." The man replied as they got off the shuttle and got in the elevator. "Right now, I just wanna pop open that whiskey before we crash in my cabin. We experienced a full day's worth of mental overload in the span of a few seconds, and I want to sleep." He sighed.
"Agreed." Liara nodded as they went into the man's cabin—locking the doors behind them.
And in red holographic lights, a message read:
DO NOT DISTURB
ThermalsniperN7: Okay, here's hoping this Mass Effect story does better than the last one. Here, we have Shepard feeling indignant about what was being done with his genes, and a secret that makes the Asari comparable to human Amazons.
Dragon Emperor0: Specifically the DC versions, because these examples used in the story are seen in Wonder Woman comics, and in another comic, Diana's version of a "perfect world" would be one where she rules the world as a feminist tyrant who uses men to make more women and hunt said men for sport. I dunno about you, but that sounds an awful lot like what we're doing with the Asari in this story. Just putting that out there. Also, fuck Shadow Broker, he got what he deserved.
ThermalsniperN7: Also, if things seem abnormal in comparison to the Shadow Broker DLC in-game, sorry about that. Between me and Dragon Emperor0, I was the knowledgeable one and I neglected to explain the Shadow Broker DLC to him.
Dragon Emperor0: Given that this very story deviates from the game pretty heavily, I doubt that our readers will mind it not being 1 to 1. But it's still good to let them know. Anyway, with Shadow Broker gone, that means that Jane Shadow will be taking his place as primary antagonist of the story until things reach Mass Effect 3. So expect her to have a fairly prominent role in the story as a whole until the final act of the story.
ThermalsniperN7: Well, she won't be totally present at this point in the story; She won't be able to follow the Normandy to the Galactic Core when the Suicide Mission begins. Kinda hard to follow your target to the center of the galaxy without the right stuff in your ship.
Dragon Emperor0: Right. Anyway, guys. We'll see you next time with chapter two, and hopefully you'll enjoy what we have in mind for this story overall.
