Collective Rebirth
ESKK: here we are the beginning of the Shadow Broker arc. Lets begin.
(Start Castle of Lions Illium)
Unlike practically all the other missions so far, the Normandy doesn't immediately leave once they have their new recruits.
In fact, Shepard leaves the ship docked overnight. The Normandy's night, not Illium's night. Illium has a 25-hour rotation, meaning it's roughly the same amount of time as the Normandy's cycle, but they aren't synced up. The Castle of Lions is also operating under a 24-hour rotation giving the group on the ship were used to it and adjusting to a new cycle was impractical. Plus, they needed to install those new Thanux Cannons to both ships which further justified the need to keep the ships docked for the night.
As planned Thane had become part of the Normandy crew due to his illness. This allowed for Mordin to keep constant watch on him to make sure no surprised pop up. Samara had opted for the Castle of Lions providing her a room for herself. Another aspect of this was how it prevented the off chance that Samara's oath as a Justicar demanded she does something violent to the team. Samara's room was set up to be spartan in terms of belongings. Most of the crew had opted to personalize their room but not her.
At the moment, Leon, Hector, Penny, and Sven were watching the Voltron TV show with Kasumi and Samara. It was odd to watch a show about themselves as even Sven was surprised that they had a TV show now. More so that they were doing it as a live action show instead of an animated show for the audience pleasure. They were currently watching another episode of the show as it seemed to be in the middle of a fight scene.
"Hold it I'm getting all shook up!" Came the Asari equivalent of Penny on the screen. At the moment Voltron was fighting off what appeared to be a snake like Robeast on TV.
"Alright let him have it full blast!" Came the equivalent to Kalvin on the screen who then proceeded to fire off a blast of flames from the Turian equivalent to Leon. The battle ended with Voltron cleaving the Robeast in two with his blazing sword ending the battle.
"I really don't sound like that do I?" Penny asked as she watched the show.
"Nope you sound like a tomboy who can still outsmart pretty much everyone in the room." Leon responded as they watched the show.
"find it impressive that you all agreed to mentor the actors in your mannerisms." Samara said as she had come to watch mainly because the Paladins weren't doing anything else at the moment.
"I still cannot believe zat ve have our own show." Sven said as he gestured to the show playing in front of them. "Though I don't know how I feel about my existence being scrubbed." Sven added as this caused Hector, Leon, and Penny to nervously cough, whistle, or laugh.
"Though they did get one thing right without fail." Hector said changing the subject.
"And what is that?" Samara asked and thus the trio smirked to each other.
"Wait for it." Leon said and thus the show responded.
"I should go." Keith said on the TV screen causing the three Paladins to laugh at this.
"That." Hector said and thus Penny laughed at this.
"I swear every interaction that guy is in, it always ends with him saying, I Should go, and after seeing Kalvin's dad do it, I can't tell if its Genetic or not." Penny laughed as she recalled the number of times Kalvin and/or John had finished a sentence with a, I should Go.
"I kind of had a score card going of the number of times Kalvin said, I should go." Leon added with a small laugh.
"Not zat you mention it, Kalvin does say zat phrase a lot." Sven said seeing what the group was talking about.
"Believe it or not I actually heard Allura say it once, she was so embarrassed afterwards." Penny said recalling that incident.
"Huh maybe we should see if Ashley says it and ask John of his first wife said it." Hector said as Kasumi could actually see it.
"Oh, we can see if its only genetic or anyone entering the Shepard family says it." Kasumi said as she wanted to hear it now.
"Wait back up, Allura said the Shepard I should Go? Please tell me you recorded it." Leon said as he wanted to see what Allura sounded like saying that.
"If you wish to know, then yes in every interaction I have had with Jane, she always ended it by saying, I should go." Samara said as she recalled how Jane said that.
"So, it is a Shepard thing married and born!" Leon laughed as he can now hear it. "The Shepard's say, I should go, and the Shepard spouses say, I should go, its hilarious!" Leon added between his laughter.
"We have got to record Williams and Allura saying it, we can compare and contrast!" Kasumi said wanting to see how funny it will be for them. Clearly a good time was being had by everyone here as they laughed at the Shepard's expense and the woman in the Shepard's lives expense.
(Meanwhile in the weapons room)
Ashley had taken over for the Armory chief position she at time had to work with Jacob on certain aspects. Nothing she was not used to, from what she understood with two ships instead of the one this meant at times she would need to coordinate with the Normandy. Ashley missed the old Normandy she won't lie; she recalled how Kalvin had gathered the Paladins and the original team to put a memorial for it when they found the ships crash site.
Her first few nights had been a tad bit awkward seeing as the Castle of Lions was being operated by Alteans. Ashley had nothing against them but considering about a year ago they were enemies it made way for that awkward feeling. Ashley walked over to the rack, and grabbed the first of pair of guns, an M-15 Vindicator assault rifle, and the M-92 Mantis sniper rifle that both belonged to Leon. She inspected them visually for damages, and then then connected them to the terminal on her gunsmith workbench in order to perform a testing routine.
While she waited for the software to do its job, a grin formed on her lips, as her mind drifted back to her prior thoughts, regarding people who were equally gun-savvy as her. Three quickly came into mind. John, obviously, who knew his way around sniper rifles like no one else. Leon, the kid had come a long way as a sharpshooter maybe could give a few snipers a run for their money. Leon may play the part of a joker, but he knew when to get serious. And maybe Garrus could teach her the one or other thing about small arms. But his focus had shifted to larger ordnance, apparently. On the old Normandy, he had already liked tinkering with the Mako tank, and on the new Normandy he kept calibrating the frigate's main cannon.
Ashley had to chuckle, as she thought back to an assessment of hers, which she had shared with Shepard early on. Out of concerns for operational security, she had stated how she hadn't trusted a trigger-happy Turian cop, and an equally trigger-happy Krogan mercenary with full access to the top-secret stealth frigate. She had feared that they could share some vital intel with outside groups. Now, the exact opposite had happened. Garrus had been essential in improving the Normandy's weaponry, something which would probably serve them well once they would enter the Omega 4 relay.
For the most part, so she guessed, her own pessimism had made her expect the worst from those particular new crew members. She had seen them in action, Garrus while taking a risky shot in a hostage situation in a hospital, and Wrex outright killing a small-time crook after Shepard had gotten the intel he had needed. Witnessing these events had alarmed her about the two aliens.
Sure, her doubts had been proven to be untrue, but it wasn't only this instance that had made her change her opinion. In the months of having worked with him, in the weeks of having had a relationship with him, the skipper's optimism had rubbed off on her.
While she was still waiting for the test results, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Kalvin as much as she may not overtly say it was practically her son at this point. The kid trusted her, and Ashley made sure not to break that trust in him. When he was awarded the N7 position Ashley was at the event with a sense of pride in the boy. The fact he was viewed as the youngest recipient and graduate of N7 training had a lot of eyes on him with great interest to see where his career takes him.
Just then Kalvin walked into the room stretching a bit. "Well Samara is all settled." Kalvin said as he walked in.
"Yeah, I noticed, let me guess running your rounds." Ashley said smirking a bit seeing Kalvin had enter the room.
"Yeah, this may be Allura's ship but apparently this sort of thing is expected from me as the head of Voltron." Kalvin said as he scratched his head a bit.
"Still shocked that Samara knew your mom?" Ashley asked recalling how John reacted to Samara's blunt revelation.
"Yeah, I've been wanting to ask her about what she knew but..." Kalvin trailed off as only two people knew his mother well enough to share. The first being Kalvin's own father John and the second being David Anderson. Samara was the third now and she knew what his mother was like when she had been active duty. It was a part of Jane Shepard Nee Kogan that Kalvin never got to hear about beyond the ghost stories of her as a boogeyman.
"You're worried about what she'll say." Ashley said as she looked to Kalvin.
"Yeah." Kalvin said knowing Ashley can read him like a book. "I mean dad never talked about her when she was active duty only the parts that made her look like a soldier... I guess he didn't want me to have any bad memories of her." Kalvin said listing off why he can't ask his father. "Anderson is always busy now even more after becoming a member of the Citadel Council." Kalvin said as Samara was his only shot at learning about his mother.
"That means Samara is the only one who knows about her the good and the bad." Ashley said recalling some of the tales about Jane and why she had been feared during the Blitz. "Look Kal if you want my advice just ask her." Ashley said knowing that Kalvin won't learn anything if he doesn't just ask. "Jane was your mom you should learn who she was the good and the bad and judge her accordingly." Ashley said as she knew Kalvin needed to learn.
"I guess you're right." Kalvin said as he saw what Ashley meant.
However, before they could speak further Allura spoke up on the comm links. "Kalvin there seems to be something wrong with Lotarius." Allura called in which got the groups attention. "I need you down here now." Allura said her voice filled with concern. Hearing this Ashley went with Kalvin worried for both Allura and Lotarius.
(Later down in Lotarius room)
Lotarius quarters was set up in a room with a close view of the hanger. Kalvin arrived with Ashley in tow and the pair found Allura in what was Lotarius room now looking torn up. "What happened?" Kalvin asked as they found the source when Allura pointed to it.
Lotarius was pasting back and forth agitated for some reason. He was even growling every so often as he moved through the room. "Lotarius is everything ok?" Kalvin asked as he looked to Lotarius.
"Yes... no... I do not know." Lotarius said as he moved about. "I feel as though I want to kill something with my hands more so than usual." Lotarius said as he walked over to the wall pushing his hand against it. "I can't control!" Lotarius cut off with a roar as he slammed his head against the wall denting it.
"Easy Lotarius." Kalvin said to help the Krogan calm down. "Think is there anything Okeer may have said or done to have caused this or at least to tell you what it might be?" Kalvin said even though he knew it was a long shot for this imperfect Krogan.
"No all I have is a blood haze in my head." Lotarius said as he held his head trying to banish it. "When we move when we are in battle it can be controlled but here it can't I need control." Lotarius said making it clear that they needed to figure this out soon.
"We need to go to the Krogan Home world of Tuchanka." Kalvin said as he knew this was not a sickness they can treat.
"My thoughts exactly." Allura said hoping Wrex may know of what ails Lotarius.
"Hey, we can't go now, not with those upgrades still being installed." Ashley reminded and thus the two teams agreed on their course of action.
"Lotarius how urgent do we need to go?" Kalvin asked as he was ready to load Lotarius into the Black Lion to get him treatment.
"It's controlled for now, not sure for how long." Lotarius said as it was like a time clock for him.
"Alright I want the training deck cleared if Lotarius needs to burn off steam I need it ready for him." Kalvin ordered which made sense as it sounded like a good way to keep him in control for a bit longer. "Lotarius if you need to vent go there and vent, we'll go to Tuchanka as soon as possible." Kalvin said promising Lotarius that they will get him the treatment he needed.
"Thank you, Shepard." Lotarius said and in turn the trio began to leave.
(Later in the halls)
The trio were walking through the halls as Kalvin began to ring up his father. "Shepard here." John was heard from the Omni-Tool.
"Hey dad it's me I need to ask you something is Grunt, ok?" Kalvin asked worried that Lotarius may not be an isolated incident.
"No, he seems agitated I just finished talking to him." John said which meant that Lotarius and Grunt were both having issues.
"Lotarius is the same, we're already planning to take him to Tuchanka after we finish helping out Liara." Kalvin said which John agreed with.
"Understood, and thanks for letting me know about Lotarius." John said as it was a good thing, he was made aware of this now rather than later. With this information they now knew whatever was afflicting their Krogan was also affecting Grunt. "Kalvin Garrus Tali and I are preparing to meet up with Liara to assist her with the Shadow Broker if you're ready meet us at her office and bring Ash." John said before Ashley spoke up.
"Will do Skipper." Ashley said which caught John by surprise.
"Oh, I didn't realize you were there." John said awkwardly causing Ashley to smirk to this.
"So, this is not isolated only to our Krogan." Allura said seeing the issue with this. Two out of control Krogans out on a mission could be more detrimental then being an asset.
"No, it's not which means we need to get them treatment before it starts to spread." Kalvin said fearing the worse. How long before it spreads to even more Krogan, for all they know it could mutate or worse.
"The sooner we can get to Tuchanka the sooner we can sort this out." Ashley said understanding the urgency of it all. It would seem that conversation with Samara was going to have to wait for a bit longer. They needed to help Liara with the Shadow Broker, whatever it was they needed to act fast with this.
(Scene Break at Liara's office)
The Paladins were in full armor once more as they were accompanied with John, Sven, Garrus, Tali, and Ashley to meet up with Liara. Apparently, Cerberus had information about the Shadow Broker that they gave to Jon to give to Liara. Kalvin had doubts about it but if it helped Liara, he'll give it the benefit of the doubt. "So, we're preparing to hunt down the Shadow Broker the guy who know one has ever seen in person and lived to tell the tale." Leon said seeing a big issue with this.
"Seems that way." Penny said as she had a few doubts about this new mission.
"Um I'm still on the lived to tell the tale bit." Hector said fearful for what they were going to be facing.
"Don't vorry." Sven said assuring Hector it will be ok. "Ve aren't zi same group ve vere 2 years ago." Sven said assuring the group that they will make it through this alive.
"Sven's right, you've all come a long way from those days." Allura said assuring that they can handle what they were to face. John smiled as they were right, the Paladins have become a lot stronger than they had been 2 years ago. Time and experience had helped forge them into soldiers yet those who they surrounded themselves with had ensured their humanity remained.
Eventually they arrived at Allura's office and began to enter. "Shepard! It's good to see you again." Liara said as John sat down across from her.
"Thank you for getting me that system data. Here." Liara said as she extended her hand, letting John take something from her. "It's not much, but hopefully it will help you on your mission." Liara said happy for the help from John. "With the data you got me, I was able to find information caches from his agents." She explained as she then got to another part. "It actually revealed that my secretary was working for the Shadow Broker set up to kill me if the order arrives." Liara said as Leon heard this.
"Huh so that's why that nice Asari lady wasn't at the front desk." Leon said feeling bad about it, but she was a traitor by the sound of it.
"Are you ok?" Allura asked with concern for Liara.
"Don't worry I'm fine, if she was faster, I may not have been here to talk about it." Liara said with a small smile on her face.
"Are you on the run from the Shadow Broker? I can help you." Shepard immediately offered hoping that Liara was not in too much trouble.
"Actually, it would be more accurate to say that the Shadow Broker is on the run from me." Liara said correcting John on who was after whom. "We crossed paths not long after you died." Liara said recalling how this game of cloak and daggers had started. "Since then, I've been working to take him down." She slams her hand down on the table, both enthuse and angry. "With this data, I'm a step closer." Liara said happy to know that her journey was almost over.
"You can't come with me because you're after the Shadow Broker? What if I help you find him?" Shepard offered knowing that the data Cerberus gave him could help Liara.
"I'm sorry, Shepard. The galaxy doesn't work that way." Liara said knowing that nothing was ever simple like you wanted it. "I need to find leads, trace information. I need to work. I can't do that on the Normandy. I wish I could." She said once more declining any offers to join the new Normandy crew.
There's a moment of silence before either speak again. "About the Shadow Broker." Shepard started, causing Liara to look to him again. Almost skeptically, like she's worried she'll have to turn him down again. "Cerberus gave me data on where to find him. Interested?" John said and in tun Liara's eyes widen, and she can't help herself from rising to her feet which Shepard does as well.
"Absolutely! I had no idea- Let me see what you've got!" She requested, taking a data card from Shepard, and plugging it into one of her tablets. She's quiet for a moment as the data starts showing up on her screen. A factor of the holographic screens they all use is the fact that you can see them from the back, meaning Shepard gets a vague idea of what she's seeing.
"It looks like a leaked transmission between Shadow Broker operatives." Liara began after looking over the data. "Some hints as to the location, and… it's about Feron." She pauses, hesitantly smiling as the sight of a Drell. "He's still alive." Liara said which confused the group.
"Who's Feron?" Garrus asked as this was the first time, he heard the name.
Liara set the tablet down, the smile lingering on her face. "He was a friend. He helped me recover your body from the Shadow Broker." Liara said before she turned away from the commander, stepping over to the window at the back of her office.
"Wait back up what?" Kalvin asked when he heard this. "Why would that asshole want my old man's corpse?" Kalvin asked as from his tone he wanted to tear this Shadow Broker a new one for defiling his father's final rest.
"He was going to sell you're to the Collectors, Kalvin." Liara revealed which showed served to anger Kalving further. "But Feron and I stopped him. Feron sacrificed himself to save me." Liara revealed but one thing bothered John.
"So, you rescued me… Then how did I end up with Cerberus?" John asked finding something didn't connect.
"Yeah, how did Shepard end up in Cerberus?" Tali asked finding this to be concerning.
"Well, they gave me intel to help recover you." Liara said as she turned back, the smile was now absent as she steps over to beside her chair. "They actually put Feron with me in the first place." She said revealing how deep Cerberus was in on this. "After I got out, I gave you to them. They said they could bring you back." Liara said as there was a slight tremble in her voice. Allura knew that this was a subdued shame in Liara's actions, and John noticed.
"You kept me out of the Collector's hands." John said assuring Liara that she did the right thing. "Without you, I couldn't have come back and see Kalvin again. Thank you." John said with an assuring tone in his voice to the Asari in the room.
"Well with that out of the way, what's next, find this shadow broker guy, save this Feron guy and take down the broker as well?" Leon question as Liara said to him, "That's the general idea but I need to prepared, to think. I'm going home," Liara said as she grab her tablet as she started walking off, but before she left, she stop and turn to the group and said, "You can use my terminal if you need any local intel."
"You alright there Liara?" Kalvin said as he looked a bit worried for Liara as she said, "I've spent two years plotting revenge. Now I have the chance to make it a rescue."
"Then we'll meet you at you place in a few hours, plenty of time to rest," Allura said giving her suggestion as Liara nodded to this as she agrees and said, "okay. Hopefully, I'll have a plan by then. Thank you, Shepard, Kal, Allura, and the rest."
they all nodded as Liara left with Penny the first one to get on Liara's terminal as everyone look to her as Hector soon ask her, "Hey, what are you doing Penny?"
"Oh, I'm just looking up some info and such, I mean if this world literally has everything that people may need, I need to take this moment and search for some missing parts I need for my project," Penny said as everyone look to one another with Kalvin shrugs and said, "Why not, just don't' take too long, we got a friend to save."
"I won't," Penny said as she type quickly looking around for what she need, as she doing all she can to complete the Voltron Boost armor attachments, if they face stronger foes, they will need all the power they would need, and this was the best place to find what she need, as she got to searching.
(Later that day Liara's Apartment)
Sometime had passed as the Paladin of Voltron and Shepard crew were ready to go and headed out to Liara's apartment, but to their shock to see it blocked off by Illium's investigation team as they were snapping pics, scanning for fingerprints and other thing.
"What's going on?" John Shepard walk up to the police officer who was standing at the entry and Question her, unaware someone familiar to Kalvin was looking down upon them as back at the entry the police officer which was an Asari as she look to the group and said, "This area is sealed off. Please step back, sir."
"Excuse me, but this is Commander Shepard a SPECTER, and we are the paladin of Voltron," Kalvin said as she show his identification to the police officer looks at it and looked a bit taken back but keep calm and said, "Excuse me, I didn't realize who you are."
"That's fine, it's the reason why we have these," Kalvin said as she meaning to the hologram Identification image as he close it down and said, "Now would you mind telling us what happen here?"
"Someone tried to kill you friend black Paladin Shepard," a familiar voice call out to Kalvin and everyone else surprise to see Tela Vasir there as Kalvin said, "Tela, it been a while."
"Same to you," Tela said as she look to the police officer as she said, "Thank you Officer. Your people are dismissed."
With that as the group enter as tie Asari's officer said, "You can't do that."
"Already done," Tela said as give off her tone, giving a reminder of who was in charge there as the other heard this, drop what they were doing and left leaving her and the groups there as Tela turn to John Shepard's group and said, "We haven't been introduce. Tela Vasir. Special tactics and recon."
"A SPECTRE? And you know my Son as well?" John question her as she nodded and said, "Yes, your son requested a SPECTRE for an investigation against that Galra Prince guy, Lotor."
John nodded as he understand as he knew his son and his friend fought against this Lotor and save the citadel a second time, but never got the detail of that mission as Tela went on saying, "I heard your status was reinstated. Good. You're one of our most famous operatives. Might even get you to sign my chest plate, but after getting your son to sigh first."
"Right, you ask me about that," Kalvin said as he remember that but didn't take it seriously with Allura looks to him before Looking to Tela as she didn't realize what had happen when Kalvin was off investigating Lotor... and could not help but feel a bit of a jealous feeling within her, with Tela went on saying while looking to John, "So anyways, I assume you had business with your friend this evening, Commander?"
"Liara was following a lead on the shadow Broker," JOhn said as Tela sounded surprise as she said, "The shadow Broker? Dangerous enemy to have."
"What are the facts so far?" John question Tela as she said to him, "About 25 minutes ago, someone took a shot at T'Soni. Note the bullet holes."
Pointing out to the bullet holes at the window as she went on saying, "She stuck around for almost four minutes before leaving the building. whatever she was doing was Important."
"Did the police find anything when they arrived?" John question again as Tela said to him, "Just the mess and bullet holes. I have them a gold star for finding the bullet holes."
"Well, it not something to not take notice of," Leon said as doing a 'Duh' moment as anyone would notice the bullet holes, even a baby Krogan and might take it as a challenge also as John went on saying, "If Liara isn't here, where is she?"
"If I knew that, I wouldn't be sifting through her crap. There's no blood, no body. It looks like T'Soni got away," Tela said pointing out everything she knew as she went on saying, "the sniper didn't plan on her kinetic barrier."
Kalvin took notice of what Tela had said as how did she know Liara had used a Kinetic barrier to stop the sniper bullet? AS the Asari SPECTRE went on saying, "Clever girl. Paranoid, but clever."
"Liara was expecting us. She would have left a message here. Her office wasn't safe," John said as he suspect that Liara might have left a note or message somewhere for them to find as Tela said, "I'm not surprised. Illium is just Omega with expensive shoes."
"In a way that does make sense with all the stuff we had to go through," Penny said as they meet with as many criminal here that wanted to kill them there as much on Omega as the paladin had to do a few mission there for reasons, with Tela went on explaining, "I haven't found anything useful for tracking her down yet. You knew T'Soni better than I do. Where would she have hidden her backups?"
"Let us take a look around," John said as Tela nodded off as the group split off around to look for any clues of Liara's whereabouts.
Kalvin, Garrus, Ashley, and Leon looked at the bullet hole made in the window, Penny and Tali went over to the computer to see if she can find anything, Sven was checking out the varying devices with Hector, and Allura was looking at a painting Liara had.
"That is not standard issue." Ashley said as Garrus nodded in agreement.
"Probably custom made for this sort of work." Garrus said being a former cop had its perks. "How else could it have penetrated the glass." Garrus said more then asked but it didn't help them much or so it would seem.
"Which means?" Leon asked but Kalvin was the one to answer.
"This was a hit and Liara was the target." Kalvin said knowing they had a lot to work with. "This means Liara is raddling the Shadow Brokers cage." Kalvin added which also gave them a lead to chase down.
Nearby Kalvin saw his father looking at something in a glass case. Walking over Kalvin saw what it was which was a piece of his father's old N7 armor. "A part of your old armor." Kalvin said recognizing the armor.
"Yeah... it used to have a photo inside it, one I kept close." John said recalling that the photo was likely gone now.
"A photo?" Kalvin asked curious as to what his father had for a photo.
"It's not important right now." John said as he continued the search.
"It's not the only piece of armor." Kalvin said as this stopped John for a second. "Liara gave me most of the other pieces that she recovered said I deserved it more." Kalvin said recalling how broken up Liara was after the incident. She gave him his father's armor pieces so he can remember his father. "I still have it..." Kalvin added as he been thinking on what to do with it and one idea was to melt it down and apply it to his Paladin Armor or even the N7 Armor the Alliance gave him. "Look dad if you." Kalvin began but John smiled.
"No keep it." John said as he looked to his son. "Liara knew me well I would have wanted you to have it." John said before he walked off to continue with the search.
He soon arrived to where Allura was as she looked at the photo that had something familiar to both Allura and John. Tela saw this and decided to voice a thought she had. "That's not the Asari home world. I'm not sure what planet that's on." Tela said not sure what that planet even was.
"It's Ilos." Allura said recalling the planet. "I wonder how Liara got this painted." Allura mused aloud as she wondered if she could do a similar painting to the original Planet Altea. During this Kalvin had made his way upstairs and head towards Liara's room.
As Kalvin looked around, he noted a picture on the bedside table one with the image of the Normandy on it. Walking over to it Kalvin picked it up and saw how the image glitched for a moment before switching to a Normandy Dig site. This surprised Kalvin when he saw this as it had caught him off guard.
"Guys I think I found something!" Kalvin called and thus John and Tela opted to investigate.
When the two SPECTRE's arrived John was the first to speak. "What did you find?" John asked before Kalvin pointed to the picture. John saw it and picked it up and saw how it instantly shifted to a new image unlike with Kalvin where it glitched.
"The picture changed when you touched it." Tela said surprised with what she saw.
"It did the same for me." Kalvin said which surprised his father.
"Then it must be keyed to your ID's." Tela said as it made more than enough sense. "What does it show now?" Tela asked curious as to what it may lead her too.
"It's a Prothean dig site." John said as he put the picture back down. "Liara did leave a message." John added which meant they had a lead now.
"Well, it definitely narrows down our search." Kalvin said as he had seen enough of the apartment. "The apartment is covered in Prothean Relics." Kalvin added which meant they knew what to look for.
"Let's see what we can find." Tela said and in turn their search continued anew.
Kalvin got downstairs with his father and Tela and began to call over to their local tech experts. "Penny, Tali can you two scan the Prothean relics around the apartment?" Kalvin asked knowing they might be able to dig something up.
"Already scanned the room." Penny said revealing she and Tali were five moves ahead.
"And we detected a strange energy signature from this Prothean Relic." Tali added gesturing to the relic on display. "There's definitely more to it." She added which got Hector's attention as well.
John walked closer, and just as he was about to touch it, a drawer opened up, revealing a backup disk. "Huh… it didn't do that, when I walked past it earlier," John noted as even Kalvin was surprised by this.
"Must be the photo." Ashley said knowing Liara to be able to do something like this. "Maybe it had to be activated in sequence," Ashley suggested as it made the most sense to her.
"I'll take that." Penny said snatching up the backup disk. "Leave this to the tech experts." Penny added as she headed for the nearby terminal.
"Found something?" Tela asked as she saw the group had gathered.
"Yeah, it's a backup disk." Kalvin said as they headed for the terminal in the apartment.
"If we use it on the Terminal, we might find something." Penny said and in turn went over to Liara's home office where the Terminal in question was. Sitting on the chair Penny inserted the backup disk into the Terminal and began to access what was on it.
Soon enough a message began to play with a Salarian on it. "Looks like she recorded a call." Garrus said noting this turn of events.
"And hid it, smart." Hector added as the message began to play.
"What do you, got for me, Sekat?" Liara's voice was heard asking the Salarian in question.
"It was tricky, but you paid for the best." The Salarian named Sekat responded. "I can narrow it down to a cluster, maybe even a system." Sekat said reporting to Liara what he had.
"How soon can you have it?" Liara asked sounding like it was all business for her.
"Shouldn't take long." Sekat said assuring Liara he will have the information she wants. "Come to my office, Baria Frontiers, in the Dracon Trade Center." Sekat said as unknown to the group Tela gave the others a bit of a side eye. "Gotta say though, T'Soni... you're making me a little nervous. How big is the trouble that could come out of this?" Sekat asked clearly worried how this might bite him in the ass.
"Relax Sekat I'll see you in a few hours." Liara said before the message came to an end.
"Zis must be important." Sven said noting the urgency of it all.
"He's right, the Shadow Broker's goons already tried to kill her once." Garrus added knowing if they don't hurry then Liara would be in danger.
"I know where the Dracon Trace Center is." Tela said knowing Illium like the back of her hand. But looking at the group noting that there was eleven of them in total. "Ok maybe not all of us." Tela said noting that there was a lot of people here.
"It's alright, we came here by car, too." John said assuring that they have their own ride. This meant if the math was right, they took three cars to get here. Vasir's car made four which would likely draw some attention towards them. "You go ahead, Vasir. We'll meet there." John said assuring Tela that they'll be there. In turn the SPECTRE looked conflicted for a moment, but she nodded, and left the apartment for her skycar, leaving the others behind.
"I don't zink I trust her." Sven suddenly said once Tela was gone. Something about this was rubbing Sven the wrong way.
"How come, she helped us in the past." Kalvin said showing he trusted her for her help in hunting down evidence against Lotor.
"Good I wasn't the only one." Tali said agreeing with Sven.
"It's definitely going around." Ashley added in agreeing with the group.
"Garrus?" John asked looking to his best friend.
"I'm unsure. But something definitely is fishy about this." Garrus said trusting his gut on this one. "I mean, a SPECTRE on Illium, who just happened to be in the vicinity, moments after an attack happened? That's too much of a coincidence for me." Garrus said which got the Paladins thinking about it.
"Now that you mention it..." Leon said noting how this doesn't add up. Why would a SPECTRE be on Illium and then arrive just after a shooting attempt.
"Maybe we should ask her about it when we find Liara." Kalvin said as he wanted to give her a chance to explain herself.
"Alright, but until then we keep an eye on her." John said as he wanted to trust his son's judgement but also knew that Kalvin was still young and would make mistakes it was only natural. They in turn got moving once more knowing they had to find Liara before her would be assassin did.
"Agreed." Penny said as she knew that with SPECTRE's it's never easy to tell if they really are your allies.
(Scene Break Dracon Trade Center)
It really wasn't far, only about ten minutes of flying, and it would have been faster, if the traffic wouldn't have been that dense. Their target stood out a mile, even in Nos Astra's skyline. The Dracon Trade Center was a large skyscraper, with big lettering on its exterior facade announcing its name.
When John parked the skycar in at the adjacent parking lot, with the Paladins own vehicles arriving right after. A bit further away, Ashley spotted the Asari SPECTRE, who had also been waiting by her own car. The group began to make their way over to the building knowing Liara might already be there.
"EDI this is Commander Shepard; I need you to scan through Police frequencies." John said into his communicator. "I want to know if there is any mention of Li–" John began but could not finish issuing his order. A fulminant rumble caught everyone's attention and made them immediately duck for cover behind nearby cars, and walls. It was so forceful that even the ground started shaking for a few seconds.
Once the initial wave of dust and debris had ebbed down, Ashley peeked out from the skycar she was hiding behind and saw that several floors of the trade center had just gone up in flames. "Whoa," Ashley gasped, still behind the car. "I think Eclipse could have learned something from whoever was behind this." She said as Leon raised his head.
"Oh, come on why does everything need to hit snag!?" Leon complained as he saw the damage that took place before them. The whole place was a mess, with many people crying, and shouting. Judging from the explosion it was a wonder that the trade center was still standing.
"They just took out three floors to make sure she's dead," Tela Vasir shouted towards the group from her position.
"All those people." Allura gasped horrified to the lengths the Shadow Broker would go to keep Liara from finding him.
Kalvin kept looking at the partially destroyed building, barely acknowledging the Asari SPECTREs presence. Kalvin felt a rage building inside of him one he had only felt once back when he faced Lotor in single combat. A drive was rising in him to fight, to attack, to dominate and eliminate his enemies. For a brief moment Kalvin's eyes began to turn yellow his eyes shifting to slits suggesting a beast inside was roused from its slumber.
"Kalvin!" John said and thus Kalvin looked to his father. "Take your team and get the Lions I have a feeling they'll be needed." John said fearing for the worst. "If our Shadow loving opponent is capable of this then we need our big guns." John said reminding Kalvin that he and his team were the ace in the hole.
"I'll take my skycar and seal off the building from above." Tela said heading to her skycar.
"The rest of us will start down here and work our way up." John said and in turn the team broke apart to carry out their goals. Kalvin and the other Paladins returned
"Just leave some for me." Tela said and thus she flew off in her skycar to the top of the building.
(Later The Castle of Lions)
The Paladins arrived with Sven an hour later as they entered the Castle after parking the rentals. Making their way through the Castle they headed to the Lions when Shiala saw them. "What has happened?" Shiala asked noting how the Police frequencies had blown up with activity.
"Liara raddled the Shadow Brokers cage." Kalvin said as he ran past Shiala to get to his Lion.
Once they got to the Castle Command Deck four doors activated color coded with red, yellow, blue, or green. Leon stepped into the red door, Hector into the yellow door, Sven into the blue door, and Penny into the green door. From there the four Paladins stepped into lifts that began to lower them downwards.
Kalvin on the other hand stood around the Black Paladins chair on the control deck revealing it had its own lift exclusive for him that began to lower. Once all the Paladins got to the bottom, they were met with handlebars for ziplines that they jumped and used to travel down a tunnel. Once they got to the end of the tunnels, they flung themselves down a slide like tube and landed inside hover pods and began to ride towards their individual lions.
Travelling a short path, the pods arrived at another lift that began to lift them up towards their lions. The pods were loaded into the lions and from there each of the Paladins went to the cockpits and activate their individual lions. The Lions eyes flashed to life before they each let out a mighty roar showing they were ready for battle.
One by one the lions launched with red, yellow, blue, and green launching from the four pillars of the Castle while the black lion launched from the main tower. The five Lions flew off to assist at the building and hopefully get Liara out of there to safety.
(Later back with Johns Team)
John, Tali, Garrus, and Ashley moved into the final room with guns at the ready. However, upon entering the squad found a mercenary falling over recently killed in fact. They're had been a large amount of mercenaries on their way up and the team had fought through every one of them.
It seems that Tela had beaten them here and taken care of the last few obstacles to their goal. Looking nearby the team saw the Salarian they were looking for dead against the wall. "Dammit if I could have been a few seconds faster I could have stopped them." Tela said however her tone suggested otherwise which was the second strike against her.
"Is this Sekat?" John asked as he saw this was likely Liara's contact.
"Must have been." Tela said while looking away from the group while they looked around for the missing data.
"No sign of that data Liara talked about." John said as he stood back up. "Looks like a dead end." John said yet he could not shake the feeling something was off about all of this. As he spoke John stood back up and turned his attention back over to Tela.
Ashley then noticed something and elbowed John before gesturing with her eyes to make sure he was aware. Not noticing the gesture Tela continued to speak to the group. "Speaking of which, did you find your friends body?" Tela asked unaware that there was a fifth arrival.
"You mean this body?" Liara was suddenly heard as Tela turned and found Liara was pointing her gun at Tela.
"Liara, this is Vasir, she's a SPECTRE." John said moving seemingly to stop Liara from making a mistake. "And last I checked she helped the Paladins discover Lotor's true goals." John added but Liara would not be deterred on this.
"This is the woman who tried to kill me." Liara said defending what she was doing. Of course, while the team suspected she was dirty it still surprised them that they had lead Liara's would be killer right to her.
"Your joking." Ashley said and while she suspected it was still surprising to be right.
"You've had a rough day, so I'll let this slide." Tela said as she stepped back while Liara moved in on her with her handgun. "Why don't you put that gun down?" Tela said as it seemed like she was cornered while moving towards the window that stood behind her.
Liara however would not be deterred as she continued her movement. "I saw you!" Liara accused making it clear that while yes, she had a rough day she was not crazy. "I doubled back after I left, I watched you break into my apartment." Liara said her gun pointing directly at Tela ready to shoot.
"You didn't know where Liara went, because she hid the message." John said drawing his own side arm as the entire team began drawing their guns and pointing it at the SPECTRE standing before them. "You needed me or Kalvin to find it for you." John added as he glared at the Asari with fury.
"Using Shepard here is one thing, but, using our… his kid that's crossing a line." Ashley said ready to riddle this rogue SPECTRE with bullets.
"Thanks for the help." Tela said seeing no more reason to deny all these accusations.
"Once she had my location, she signaled the Shadow Brokers forces." Liara said knowing that what she and Sekat had found was getting the Shadow Broker nervous and for good reason if she might add. "They bombed the building to take me out." Liara said as the pieces had all began to fall into place. "She found Sekat, took his data, and killed him." Liara said listing off the major points of what Tela had done against her and Sekat. "I'm guessing she still got the disk on her." Liara finished knowing that disk had the location of the location of the lair of the Shadow Broker stored in it.
In turn Tela showed that she did in fact have the disk Liara was looking for. "Good guess." Tela said while showing off the disk with her right hand and activating her biotics behind her back with her left hand. "Not that you'll get to see what's on it." Tela began before the window behind her shattered with a surge of her own biotic energy. "You pureblood bitch!" Tela yelled and sent the broken shards at the team to skewer them.
Acting fast Liara made a Biotic barrier to protect themselves from the incoming glass. Tela tried to run for it, but John was quick and gave chase. As he got close John tackled her through the window causing the both of them to fall from the floor. Tela used her Biotics to slow their descent as they struggled all the way down the building.
The struggled ended in Tela's victory as John hit the ground while Tela landed softly on her feet. Turning to face her downed foe the Asari SPECTRE looked ready to finish off the first human SPECTRE. Just then the glass shattered again and from above Liara came down ready to pounce on the fellow Asari.
Tela seeing no other option made a run for it to make sure the Normandy team does not get the data on the disk. Liara chased down Tela and bashed her way through a few of the Shadow Brokers men sent there to assist Tela. As they vanished through the door John began to awaken with Ashley, Garrus, and Tali arriving to provide support for John.
It was fortunate that they came because soon a new door opened and from it several more of the Shadow Brokers men came out. They had guns out meaning that they were here for a fight and thus this meant that the crew had to take them out first before they can assist Liara.
(Later back with the Lions)
Once airborne the Lions flew over Illium back to the Draken Trade Center. The entire time the Paladins paid close attention to the radio communication between John and his shore party. What had started out as a simple combing through a half-destroyed building in search for Liara's informant had quickly taken a new perspective. In a not quite unexpected, but still dramatic shift of events, Shepard's SPECTRE colleague had turned out to have an agenda of her own, as she apparently had been working for the Shadow Broker the entire time.
Needless to say, Kalvin was not happy about this when he found out. What he expected was that their fears were unfounded but clearly one mission did not mean he knew someone. Of course, they had to change directions when a new development caught their attention. they did not have time to worry about it knowing they had bigger fish to fry which was Tela.
By now it had turned into a high-speed pursuit through Nos Astra's artificial valleys comprised of skyscrapers in the middle of rush-hour. It entailed having to avoid colliding into either the buildings, or the omni-present traffic comprised of larger ships, and small skycars like the one Shepard and his team were using now.
"I knew there was something fishy about her!" Leon called out as they flew through the city to find Vasir from top side.
"It makes sense shots fired and Tela so happens to be in the area, this just screams set up!" Penny said agreeing with what Leon said.
Wanting to focus on the mission at hand Kalvin decided to call up his father. "Commander what's the situation?" Kalvin asked needing an update on the current stream of events.
"We're in pursuit and it seems Tela is dropping proximity charges." John said as he sounded like he was focused on driving.
"We'll join the pursuit and." Allura began but was cut off by John.
"No, I need your team to flank her and intercept." John said as this meant he was trying to lead the Asari to a place for an ambush.
"Right, we understand." Kalvin said and just as he did Liara was heard from the radio.
"Truck!" Liara alerting voice sounded from the radio. It seems that the Asari was in a panic.
"I know," Shepard responded to the Asari with him.
"Truck!" Liara yelled again, now so loud that it caused the speakers to crackle.
"I know," Shepard replied once more, still surprisingly calm, as there was an explosion in the background.
"Come on!" Kalvin called out and thus the Lions all moved to position.
"I got a lock on Shepard's comm links we can plot out where they're heading and set up our ambush!" Penny said which Kalvin nodded.
"Do it!" Kalvin ordered as Penny did so and sent the data over to Kalvin.
(Later)
The Lions arrived at where they were needed and had hidden amongst the buildings waiting to pounce. "Ok if my calculations are correct, and they are, our target should arrive in this area." Penny said sending over the data to the others.
"Good when she shows up, we pounce." Kalvin said ready to move.
"Here they come." Hector said as he saw that the chase was coming towards them.
"Dad we're in position start slowing down." Kalvin said warning his father so to avoid hitting him by mistake.
"Understood." John said and in turn the Paladins laid in wait.
(Meanwhile with the Car Chase)
Vasir had been driving off to get away from the group but whoever was driving was a damn good one. Tela cursed the whole time especially after they avoided her proximity mines. It seemed she would have to slow down and ram them but then something strange happened. She saw her pursuers were slowing down instead.
"What?" Vasir asked surprised at seeing this.
"SURPRISE!" Leon was heard as from the side Tela was caught by surprise when the Red Lion came out and clawed at the back of her Skycar. This caused her to lose control as the engines were shot for it.
Vasir shuttle clearly begins to slow after the collision. As it sails down, it barely kept from completely falling to the ground some miles below by hitting the balcony of an adjacent building. It grinds to a stop, sparking and burning from the section torn off from Leon and the Red Lions surprise attack.
John got them out of the car stream and brought the shuttle around to land on the platform. Below they saw that Vasir apparently survived, as from the passenger side she pulls herself out. She's injured though, clearly, as she was limping while she made her way into the building itself.
They brought the skycar down and as soon as its doors opened the Normandy Shore Party stepped out. John stepped out just as quickly as the rest of the group, but because he's motivated to catch Vasir, not because he's afraid of dying in a flying taxi. That is clearly not one of his concerns, but based on her initial shaky step out, it is one of Liara's.
She adjusts quickly though, looking up to see the crash across the lot from them.
"There's Vasir's car." Liara said pointing out the downed vehicle. "Come on, she can't have gotten far." She said as she begins to draw her gun after John already drew his own. Just then the Lions landed and joined up with the team and in turn the Paladins came out.
"Where is that lying backstabbing bitch." Kalvin said as he drew his Bayard ready for a fight.
"Stay close watch you six and Penny." John began and in turn Penny took out her biotic counter measures.
"Ready." Penny said and thus distributed the countermeasures between the team.
"Alright let's move." John said and thus they teams began moving to find Tela wherever she is.
They began to make their way across to the car in just a moment, finding it empty, as they knew it would be. They do find a damaged LOKI mech though however it did not seem to be from a fight. Just then Liara noticed something on the ground which would be helpful to them.
"A blood trail." Liara said as Tali and Penny moved in on it.
"She was hurt in the crash." Penny said grazing her hand over the blood. "She's leading us right to her." Penny added seeing this as a chance to bring down the SPECTRE.
"Plus, it should slow her down." Allura said adding in her two cents on their advantage over Tela.
"Then let's keep moving." John said and in turn began to lead the group once more. They rounded the corner to start heading along the outer walkway of the building, where the trail leads. Of course, they had to speed up slightly when they heard the sound of people screaming from up ahead.
Arriving at a pair of automatic doors the group of ten arrived and what appeared to be a luxury apartment. But it was not looking so fancy when they noted the floor was covered in broken Loki Mechs and a few, Asari.
"My word." Allura gasped as he saw the dead bodies.
"Ok I'm having second thoughts about this." Hector said wanting to turn around ASAP. Seeing this scene showed him how dangerous Vasir was.
However, John was distracted by a holographic screen that played some media vision. "Where did we land, exactly?" John asked keeping his question limited.
"Azure." Liara responded of where they were. "A luxury resort with an… exotic edge. "Azure" is slang for a part of the Asari body in some areas on Illium." Liara explained to the group as this quickly detailed what this place really was.
"Where?" John asked while making his way across the floor to the next hatch leading out of the room that they were in.
"Mainly the lower reaches, near the bottom." Liara answered why she was following him.
"I meant, "Where on the Asari body?"" John said clarifying his question to Liara.
"So did I." Liara responded which actually got a laugh out of Tali.
"So basically, this is a Brothel." Allura said appalled by being in such a place.
"For lack of better words." Liara said and thus Allura wanted out as did Penny.
"Let's get out of here before the Princess loses her nerve." Ashley said as she also wanted to leave as they got to the doors.
"Agreed." Leon said before the door opened.
But what the found on the other side quickly forces the teams to focus back on what they were doing. The trail of blue blood lead them all the way across the hotel to the Asari they've been following, still limping along into a crowd of people clearly just enjoying themselves.
Liara is the first to make her way out after the Asari, pushing past Shepard in the process.
"Vasir! It's over!" Laira announced as she kept her gun aimed on the Asari SPECTRE.
The others arrived and aimed their weapons and ranged Bayard's as well. they came to a stop beside Liara, leaving about fifteen meters between them and Vasir. It also left quite a few people seemingly unaware to the situation between them.
Tela slowed down to a stop, still turned away from them, and still clutching her gut. Slowly, she turned around, looking back at them seeing she was trapped.
Seeing she had no other choice Tela Vasir had to act and get some leverage. "Hey! Hey, you." She called out to one of the bystanders, a human woman. "Come here." She snapped, and with a flash of blue Vasir is standing just behind her. She's either unaffected by, or is ignoring, her wound as she seems to have no problem using one arm to hold the woman by her neck, whist using the other to hold a pistol against the side of her head. "What's your name?" Vasir asked calmly to her hostage. This makes the surrounding crowd pretty aware of what exactly is happening, demonstrated with a panicked uproar of screams as they start running away.
"M-Mariana." The human woman answered cautiously, and fearfully.
"Let her go!" Leon demanded but was ignored by the now Rogue SPECTRE.
"Mariana, you want to live, don't you?" Tela asked as she smirked at her leverage. "Tell those people that you want to live." Vasir said showing them she now had a hostage.
There's a moment of silence as the woman looks to the group. "Please…" She eventually speaks, still terrified.
"We'll get you out of here safely, Mariana." Shepard said assuring the woman that everything will be all right.
"Well, that's good to hear." Vasir said as she sneers at the group. "All you had to do was walk away. Now it gets ugly." Tela said as she pressed the barrel of her pistol more firmly into the woman's head.
"Please. I have a son." The woman begged as her eyes were glassing over.
"A son? I hope he gets to see you again." Tela said with an almost sadistic tone. "I've heard losing a parent is just horrific for children. Scars them for life." The Asari taunted as she had more to say. "Of course, you'd know that Kalvin after all I heard that you were by your moms hospital bed as she withered away and died from her sickness." Tela said as this served to anger Kalvin.
John stood protectively before his son knowing that Tela was now playing dirty. "I'm going to end you, Vasir." Liara growled promising the SPECTRE untold pain for this.
"it's okay, Liara." John said assuring his friend that they will beat Tela. "We'll handle it. The usual way." John stated while keeping his gun steady.
"You want Mariana's little boy to grow up without a mommy, Shepard just like yours did?" Tela taunted as this served to anger Kalvin further.
"Hey lady not cool." Hector said as Penny hid in the back a bit to secretly use her Biotics for a little trick of hers.
"Shut up." Tela snapped pushing the gun closer to her hostage. "Thermal clips and Bayard's on the ground, now. Power cells, too." She ordered the teams refusing to drop her hostage unless she can make a clean getaway.
John and Kalvin both hesitated as Kalvin looked like he was foaming at the mouth. No one lowered their weapons following John's lead on what to do. "So, all that crap about my potential about making me a SPECTRE was bullshit?!" Kalvin snapped glaring at the Asari before him.
"You got potential but your so naive too simplistic on how the galaxy works." Tela said as Liara joined in on what Penny was doing. "Power is what matters and you squander the greatest power the Galaxy has ever given you." Tela said but Kalvin was far from done.
"Squander it if anyone is squandering shit it's you!" Kalvin yelled ready to slaughter Tela at the drop of a hat. "I know the Galaxy is not black and white! But at least I'm trying to make it better!" Kalvin went on but John pushed his son back to get him to back off.
"I said drop your weapons now!" Tela snapped refusing to hear Kalvin out.
"You better hope your plan didn't hinge on me hesitating." John said surprising the group.
"What?!" Tela asked shocked at what she was hearing.
"If you haven't noticed I sacrificed hundreds of human lives to save the Destiny Ascencion so Voltron can take out Sovereign." John began listing off some of his deeds. "I unleashed the Rachni on the Galaxy." John continued as this was getting Tela nervous. "And if you haven't been aware my Deceased wife was the Butcher of Torfan who slaughtered every enemy she had with a sadistic glee that lead her troops to their deaths." John said listing off his past deed and the fact he's the widower of the most savage N7 in the Alliance Navy.
"You're bluffing." Tela said pointing her gun at the teams.
"And you're not watching your flank, Penny Liara now!" Kalvin called out and in turn Tela was hit by a chair curtesy of Penny and her biotics which freed the hostage before Liara followed it up by slamming a table into Tela with her own Biotics. Tela was sent flying into the water where she crashed with a splash while everyone move towards it guns and Bayard's ready.
Not long after Tela shot out of the water with a furious roar and Biotics active and wild. "Just like old times!" Ashley called out as the battle began.
The combat zone was a rather large reception area, and there were still traces of some sort of a hastily abandoned get-together. It almost made the group regret not bringing one of the Krogans along to fill in for Wrex. Still, they had more then they needed to bring down this rogue SPECTRE.
"This does indeed remind me a little bit of our combats at Peak 15." Liara added happy to work with the original Normandy crew again.
"Wasn't that the mission Garrus wussed out on?" Leon quipped as the girls giggled a bit.
"I don't like the cold now drop it." Garrus said as they moved to cover knowing the Asari, they were facing was about to make tings difficult for them.
Tela Vasir stood back for now and coordinated several mercenary squadrons to attack Shepard. She seemed to show first signs of battle, so maybe she stood back to regenerate her shields. Ashley immediately ordered Tali and Garrus to the side, where they could flank the opposition. A bunch of rocket drones appeared, and Garrus did good work disabling them with an overload, in combination with Tali's own combat drone.
It opened a window of opportunity for Ashley, and she used it by pacing up the few stairs, and rolled into cover, close to where Shepard and Liara were. Once there, she switched her pistol for her rifle, and started firing a few bursts at the Shadow Brooker's troops. Of course, the Team had recalled Noveria. The fighting in the labs had been intense, But especially due to the encounter with an alien race, which had been believed to be extinct, the Rachni.
The last thing they needed right now was a bunch of Rachni soldiers, unleashed by the Shadow Broker. Those rocket drones were bad enough anyway. A new wave of them had already arrived. Ashley switched her rifle into disruptor mode and started shooting. Those on her side were gone in an instant before they could even fire one of their rockets. The others had been once more taken care of by Garrus, and his tech abilities.
Of course, the Paladins would not allow Vasir the chance to fully regenerate her shields. Kalvin moved in with Allura to take out the foe. Firing at Vasir he fired off his handgun to break her concentration. Vasir had the combination of Biotic shields and armor to prevent any lasting damage to be done to her. Thankfully, Penny had the answer to the Biotic part. Throwing a counter measure Penny moved to cover as Vasir saw it and stopped it with her Biotics but then Kalvin shot it with his hand, gun triggering it and blinding Vasir as her brain was hit with a ringing sound causing her Biotics to fizzle on her.
Nearby Hector and Leon were taking out the drones with their guns standing back-to-back as they fired. The Drones fell and the few that came close Leon shifted his Bayard to its sword form and sliced through the enemies. With that dealt with the battle continued with them. Vasir ended up back in the main battle as the Paladins forced her hand in this one. Her Biotics were not working properly now thanks to them as they continued as such.
Kalvin charged in at Vasir and threw his dagger at her. Vasir was forced to dodge it only for Penny to show up and grab it. She latched on to Vasir's back and began stabbing the knife into her armor causing Vasir pain. Acting fast the Asari roared and slammed Penny into a wall and forced the girl to get off of her. Penny then threw the dagger at Kalvin who caught the weapons and shifted it into its sword form. Kalvin brought it down on Vasir who then quickly rolled out of the way.
The battle continued as Kalvin roared and went on the attack. Acting fast Vasir focused hard knowing she needed her Biotics NOW. Vasir rolled away again and then looked at the wall before she took a gamble. With a roar Vasir slammed her head against the wall and in doing so got that damn ringing to stop and with it her Biotics returned. Her head was sore and there was a chance she gave herself a concussion, but Vasir needed the edge. Kalvin went for the attack and in turn Vasir used her Biotics to suspend Kalvin midair. She then slammed Kalvin against the wall as the Normandy Team saw what was going on.
"Kalvin!" John cried out seeing his son was in danger.
"Not so fast!" Vasir called out and began crushing Kalvin with her biotics causing him pain. "You need him for Voltron, right?" Vasir taunted as she kept the crush going. "Now you're going to let me walk away with all of your damned Medigel." Vasir said as she crushed Kalvin to show she meant business.
"Kalvin!" Allura cried out shocked to see Kalvin in danger.
"Put the kid down!" Ashley yelled but clearly not willing to shoot through Kalvin.
"Shoot me and he dies with me!" Vasir threatened ready to kill Kalvin once and for all.
Kalvin meanwhile felt like a cornered animal his body screaming for release. As he tried to get free, he found he could not as the pain grew worse in him. His eyes were clenched shut as he gritted his teeth to prevent any more yelling. He needed to fight, he needed to win; he needed to dominate his foe.
As Vasir had the cards she lost sight of Leon and due to this she didn't realize Leon had a sniping spot ready. So, the laser shot came in and Vasir was hit in the arm causing her pain and in turn freeing Kalvin. "Shit!" Vasir cursed and used her biotics to move out of the area fast.
Kalvin was on the ground as Allura moved in to check on Kalvin. "Kal! Kalvin!" Allura cried out trying to get Kalvin to respond. But then to her shock Kalvin raised his head and showed his eyes had shifted with the white turning topaz yellow and his eyes becoming violet slits. Then with a savage roar Kalvin charge in at Vasir much to everyone's shock. Kalvin moved and acted almost like he was in a Krogan Blood rage. But unlike a Krogan Kalvin was moving like he was possessed using his speed and savagery to get the edge. Vasir was unable to keep up as Kalvin stayed ahead of her bullets when she fired her gun. She tried her biotics to hold Kalvin down, but he used random chairs and tables to cover himself and flanked Vasir.
For John this was different because the way Kalvin was moving was just like Jane moved. His departed wife had a similar fury that built up the reputation Jane had been known for. Kalvin soon latched onto Vasir's back and with his sword now back in its dagger form proceeded to stab into Vasir's chest again staining her armor with her blood. Vasir cried out as she then tried to slam Kalvin into the wall like she SPECTRE stumbled but Kalvin kept going. He began slamming his fists into her and used the dagger cut up her body. Vasir swung her fist only for Kalvin to catch the weakened attack and then slammed Vasir down to the ground before he held the arm.
"Wait isn't he." Garrus began only for a sickening crack to echo as Vasir cried out in pain after Kalvin broke her arm. Vasir used her Biotics to force Kalvin off of her but before she could use her good arm to get back up Kalvin had it and wrapping his body around it moving on instinct Kalvin broke that arm too. Pinning her down Kalvin took his knife and began stabbing into her repeatedly much to the groups horror.
Allura knew what this was, every Galra had this state of mind to use in case of emergencies and Kalvin was using it. the issue was that due to his diluted Galra blood Kalvin may not have inherited the ability to get out of this survival state. "Kalvin stop!" John called out as Kalvin was about so finish off Vasir.
But then John grabbed his son's arm and forced him off of Vasir. But Kalvin fought him snarling as he tried to get free. "Kalvin enough its over she's had enough!" John said putting his own son in a choke hold. Thankfully, that seemed to do the trick as Kalvin began to calm down with his eyes reverting to their normal state. What followed was a violent cough from Kalvin as John hesitantly let go of his son.
"You ok kiddo?" Ashley asked checking on Kalvin.
"I don't, what happened?" Kalvin asked as clearly, he was having a lapse in memory.
John knew Kalvin would have questions and its one of the questions only Jane could answer. "We can talk about it later." John said and in turn he knew it was time to interrogate Vasir.
"Urgh. Damn it! Damn it." Vasir groaned as Liara walked over, looking across her armor Liara found what she was looking for and with her arms broken Vasir could not fight back. The bullets and stab wounds were all bleeding, and it would not be long before she bled out. The Teams began to regroup as Liara inserted the disk into her Omni-Tool.
"Sekat's personal datapad." Liara began as she was looking over the data. "This has what we need to find the Shadow Broker." Liara said as they now had what they needed.
"Your dead." Vasir was heard as she laid on her back her own blood filling her mouth. The group all turn to focus on her, except Liara, who is already making her way back to the lot where they parked the shuttle. "The Shadow Broker has been in power for decades. He's stronger than anything you've ever faced!" She stated as if the Shadow Broker's existence was like a force of nature.
"Is that why you sold out the Council to work for him?" Shepard questioned the Asari, his helmet locked on to her.
"You think I betrayed the Council? Like Saren? Go to hell!" Vasir snapped as she glared at the ones who beat her. "The Broker's given me damn good intel over the years. Intel that saved lives and kept the Citadel safe." She went on defending her actions as just. "So, if the Broker needs a few people to disappear, I'll pay that price without hesitation!" Vasir finished for as far as she saw it, she was simply repaying the Shadow Broker for his part in defending the Citadel.
"You blew up a building!" Allura snapped glaring at the Asari. "A Building full of innocent people." She shouted reacting before John could get the chance.
"That's what SPECTRE's do." Vasir said from her spot on the ground. "We get our hands dirty, so the Council doesn't have to. The Councilors might complain about our methods to soothe their consciences, but they never look to closely." She added while wincing, surpassing a cough for a moment before a splatter of blood leaves her lips. "Besides, you're with Cerberus. You have any idea what your terrorist friends have done?" She asked accusingly to the group.
"I know who they are and what they've done. It doesn't matter." John stated, kneeling down to her level for this SPECTRE's final moments.
"I think it does." She countered with a glare at John. "You want to judge me? Look in the mirror." She then turned her head, just enough to look through Shepard's visor into his eyes. "Kidnapping, kids for biotic death camps! Killing off Alliance Admirals who ask questions." Vasir said listing off the crimes. "Hell, your son hasn't even been entirely honest with you nor has your lady friend." Vasir said which caused Kalvin and Ashley to go wide eyed in horror at what she was implying. "Ask your boy here about Akuze it should be an eye opener." Vasir said as she then coughed up more blood. "You're with them, Shepard. Don't you dare judge me!" Vasir sneered while she was gritting her teeth in pain before she leaned her head back to the ground. "Don't you…" She trailed off before her eyes closed for the final time.
They all stood there for a moment and knew a few secrets were revealed not completely but enough. Kalvin looked bitter and ashamed as he knew what Vasir was talking about. Only Ashley knew about it but beyond that not even Kalvin's fellow Paladins knew about what had happened on Akuze during the year they had been separated for training. Though a small part of Kalvin suspected that Liara also knew about it and being an information broker, it made sense. John would ask but now was not the time because from the look in Kalvin's eye what he saw was personal.
(Later with John and Liara)
John found Liara in the Hotel again looking over the data Sekat and gotten for her. "Eliminate T'Soni and retrieve the data. Civilian casualties not a concern." The synthesized voice of the Shadow Broker was heard from Liara's Omni-Tool.
"Vasir's dead." Shepard states casually, approaching Liara.
"I'm putting the data through to the Normandy's computers." Liara said knowing EDI would have the best chance at figuring the data out. "We can be at the Shadow Broker's base in a few hours." Liara said as she started walking again, prompting John to walk after her. "He'll know about Vasir before long. If he decides to kill Feron…" Liara began but was then cut off by John.
"We'll get Feron out of there alive, Liara." Shepard interrupted while extending a hand to her shoulder. "I promise." John said as he assured Liara that they will rescue Feron.
"I know." Liara said as she pulled away from him, taking a few more steps before turning around. "You're here to help. Just like always." Liara said sounded almost bitter.
"That's not a good thing?" Shepard asked sensing more was going on here.
Liara paused for a moment her brow wrinkled and her lips pursed as she thinks, then changed to a soft smile. "When we first met on Therum, you saved me from the Geth." Liara said recalling the day she met her new family. "You fought a Krogan battlemaster while I cowered." she said showing how weak she felt back then. "Now you're doing it again and I'm still leaning on you for help." Liara said but John was quick on the uptake.
"That's what friends do, Liara." John said pointing out the facts.
Liara just looked at him for a moment before turning around to start walking again. This act prompted John to pace after her and out onto the walkway leading around the building.
"I can get us there, based on Sekat's data. The Normandy's stealth drive will keep them from detecting us, but we could get there faster if we used the Castle of Lions Wormhole." Liara said knowing the Wormhole was their best bet to catch the Shadow Broker by surprise. "The Shadow Broker's agents are still shooting their way through Illium. With luck, they won't notice we've left until it's too late." Liara said giving her plan which sounded cold almost ruthless.
"That's a little cold." John said as he, came to a stop. Liara does the same as he speaks, turning back to look at him. "They killed innocent people." John added knowing that they would have done everything to stop that from happening.
"You know what I mean." Liara said defending her actions, but John begged to differ.
"Do I?" John asked, stepping forwards to close the gap between them. "When I fell out of the window back at the trade center, you went after Vasir without a backward look." John said reminding Liara of what had happened then.
"A little fall wasn't going to kill you." Liara said as she turned away from him but doesn't continue back towards where the Lions were waiting. Instead, Liara simply stepped over to the railing and rests her hands against it, looking out over the city. "I had to stay on Vasir. I had to stay rational, make the call. Like I did when Sekat was killed for having this data." Liara said knowing she had to make a lot of morally grey choices lately.
Shepard steps over to the space beside her. That's Vasir's fault, not yours." John said reminding Liara she's not at fault for the choices of others.
"Sekat had no idea what the stakes were. I put him in harm's way to get the data I needed. I got him killed. And I'd do it again." Liara said as she sounded guilty that she would do that and not care. Liara then leaned back from the rail, again seeming to reject her and Shepard lingering in a space for even a moment. "But from here on out, things will be simple. Get in, get Feron, get out." Liara said as she turned to continue alone, and Shepard was again forced to pace after her. "And kill anyone who tries to stop us." She added at the end of it.
"That's it?" Shepard asked with concern for Liara.
"That's it." Ashley said with a voice of pure conviction to John.
Shepard reaches forwards, stopping her again with a gentle touch to the side of her arm. "Will you just stop for a second?" John asked and in turn Liara does, quickly turning back to look at him again. "We'll be jumping several light years. There's time to talk." John said as he knew there was a lot bothering Liara.
"About what?" Liara asked, her voice holding a tone of indifference.
"About us!" Shepard said, tossing an arm up as if to accentuate the point.
Liara eliminated the space between them, stopping just before him. "Shepard, listen, I'm… glad you're here…" Liara said admitting the truth of things.
"But you're worried there might be terminals you need me to hack?" He asks rhetorically, clearly failing to suppress some frustration.
For the first time so far, her impassive expression actually faulter to something of guilt. "That's not fair. You were dead!" She defended despite John giving a fair point.
"I came back!" John countered but Liara wished it were that simple
"It's not that easy! You can't just come back and have two years of mourning suddenly vanish!" Liara said before she cuts herself off with a sharp sigh, as she raised a hand to press against her brow while her eyes were close. After a moment, her hand fell, and she opened her eyes again, focusing on the man across from her. "I'm sorry, Shepard, I can't get into this." Liara said as her eyes fail to meet his for a moment, then return to the visor of his helmet as she composed herself again. "For now, let's just focus on getting Feron back." Liara said wanting to save her friend.
"Fine." Shepard said, turning to step away first for once. Liara lets out an uneasy breath, before she then turns to follow him. There was still a lot of question to ask and right now one of them involved Kalvin and some place called Akuze. More so Kalvin had a new level of issues to worry about such as the possibility of his Galra heritage making itself known and what it could mean for the Shepard's.
(TBC)
ESKK: Another Chapter completed I hope that you all enjoyed it. Be sure to leave a review before leaving and we'll see you all in chapter 11, until then, ja-ne.