Lazarus Project: Mass Effect 2 (Shenko)

Chapter 50

Milky Way/Crescent Nebula/Tasale/Illium

Earth year: 2185 CE – August

Callie and her team had just stepped out of Vasir's transport when an upper level of the building Liara was in exploded in a rain of fire.

"Liara's up there!" Callie cried. "We have to move!"

"Check the ground floor and head up Shepard." Vasir called over the noise. "I'll head to the roof and work my way down."

"Got it." Callie replied, readying her weapon and heading inside.

"Lot of destruction here." Thane noted.

"Agreed. Vasir?" Callie called on her comm. "Elevators are out and there are several bodies here."

"Understood Shepard. Working my way down. No sign of T'Soni or anyone who might've set off that bomb, but there's a lot of smoke."

"Got it. Heading up."

They came to a a second floor executive office that Callie learned had registered Liara entering less than fifteen minutes earlier.

"Vasir." Callie called. "Liara entered the building a short time ago. She's here."

"Sloppy work. A bomb is what you use when you don't have time to plan. Almost there Shepard. No sign of hostiles. Continuing down."

Sprinkler systems were making short work of the fires while simultaneously soaking the floor and reducing visibility. Rounding a corner, Callie had seconds to duck back behind a wall when a flash-bang exploded before her, filling her world with blinding white light.

"Cover your eyes!" She cried. "Vasir! We've got resistance down here! They're well-armed and organized."

"That has to be the Shadow Broker's strike team. Watch yourself Shepard, they're very well-trained."

Well duh, Callie thought not bothering to respond. With a nod from Thane, they shadowed each other as they pressed forward, hugging the wall and moving further into the room.

Thane took up a position through a broken office window, sighting through his sniper rifle and taking out three targets while Kasumi moved up. With a press of a button, the skilled thief activated her cloaking device and disappeared from view. She reappeared beside an enemy as she brought her weapon down on his head like an axe, dropping him to the floor before vanishing again.

Recovered from the flash-bang, Callie marveled at the fluidity of her team. Moving up, she caught two hostiles in a Warp field before slamming Reave into them, draining them of life even as it renewed her shields. A few more minutes of shadowing each other's movements and the three of them had cleared the room.

Standing outside an office door, they heard muffled shots from the other side. Weapon up, Callie took point and stepped inside the room, relaxing her stance when her eyes fell on Vasir.

"Damn." Vasir muttered as Callie joined her. "Looks like one of the Broker's people killed Liara's contact. If only I'd been a little faster, I might've stopped him."

"So this is Liara's contact?" Callie asked, suspicion creeping along her skin.

"He's the only salarian I've seen. By the way, did you find your friend's body?"

"You mean this body?" Liara growled, stepping into the room, her pistol trained on Vasir.

"Liara!" Callie exclaimed. "Something I should know?"

"She's the one who killed Sekat and shot at me at my apartment. She killed him and took the data file he had for me. She has the disk Shepard."

"Now Doctor, you're upset." Vasir sneered. "Let's calm down and talk about this rationally."

"Sure, we can talk." Liara replied, loading a new heat sink. "After you hand over the disk."

"I don't think so. Die you pure-blood bitch!" Vasir snarled, throwing out a heavy Warp that Liara instantly blocked with a barrier bubble which Callie had never seen before.

Vasir turned and ran for the window, Callie tackled her, glass shattering as they plummeted to the floor below. They struggled as they fell, Vasir used her biotics to slow their descent even as Callie's weight unbalanced them. Breaking contact, Vasir landed softly as Callie crashed into floor, landing hard and knocking the breath from her lungs. Vasir stalked toward her, intent on smashing her with biotics when she saw Liara leap from the window above, aiming straight for her.

Tela sprinted away, heading for the landing pad and escape, Liara hot on her tail.

Thane grasped Callie by the arm and helped her up, having followed Kasumi back down the stairs in pursuit of Liara. They dove for cover as a squad of Broker operatives poured into the room, intent on stopping them. But in moments, they'd cleared the room and were running for the transport pad.

"Shepard." Thane said at Callie's side. "I don't mean to presume anything, but I would appreciate accompanying  you on this mission."

Callie glanced at Thane before catching Kasumi's eye.

"Hey Shep. Don't look at me, this is your party." Kasumi quipped. "I've got no preference here."

"Alright. Let's go Thane." Callie said, stepping into Liara's taxi.

----xxx----

After a harrowing, white-knuckle chase in heavy traffic, Vasir crashed her transport. Callie, Liara and Thane spent the next twenty minutes fighting their way through four waves of Broker agents before catching up with Vasir outside a crowded restaurant.

With her last breath, Vasir cursed Callie for working with Cerberus and lying to herself that she was doing so for the good of the galaxy.

Liara ignored the exchange, taking the data disk off Vasir and stalking away before the dying asari took her last breath. Thane said nothing, bowing his head in silent prayer while Callie hurried to catch up with Liara.

"Liara!" She called as Liara quickened her pace. "Liara would you wait? What's your hurry? We've got time to talk."

Liara ignored her and kept moving. Huffing in irritation, Callie reached out and grabbed Liara by the arm to stop her. "Dammit Liara, I'm talking to you! What the hell is going on?"

Liara shrugged her off and moved to the railing to stare out at Illium's horizon. "Did Cerberus ever tell you how they got your body Shepard?"

My body? Callie didn't know what to make of what Liara had just said. The adrenaline from their battle with Vasir was still coursing through her veins, clouding her thoughts. "No. No they didn't."

"I... I gave you to them." She murmured, her voice troubled.

"You what? Why?" Callie didn't know what she'd expected, but this wasn't it.

"Feron came to me when he learned of it. The Shadow Broker made a deal with the Collectors. Your body in exchange for protection from the Reapers. Feron helped me stop them, but sacrificed himself so I could escape with you."

"I don't know what to say Liara. I don't know what I thought you were going to say, and I'll need some time to think about this, but now I see why Feron is so important to you."

"He saved us both." Liara reminded her. "We owe it to him to hurry."

"Let's get moving then." Callie muttered, shoving Liara's unexpected confession into the darkest place in her mind, refusing to look too closely at it. She'd deal with it later if she had to but right now she just wanted to help her friend.