[Book Two] Chapter 25: Flag day

Chapter 25: Flag day

On their way to Illum to give Liara the information on the Shadow Broker, Shepard decided to activate the geth back in EDI’s room. They had so many things to do one after the other that time for taking care of it was missing. Surprisingly it has been non-violent and in fact very diplomatic. That he could talk in the first place had been a shock. Because the unit had many geths inside of it (1,138 to be exact which was ten times more than normal), EDI called it Legion, an apt reference to a passage in the bible. He has been created for the purpose to understand organics after Shepard defeated Nazaara, the geth name for Sovereign. To complete his objective he went through every place Shepard and the crew had been two years prior during their pursuit of Saren and even went to first Normandy’s crash site where he got the piece of the N7 armor he was currently using. Question him a bit more and Legion revealed that there were actually two factions of geths, the first one was peaceful and contented themselves with simple observation of the organics to understand their existence and forge their own path toward the future. The other faction, that it referred to as “heretics”, followed the old machines to be guided. That piece of news changed Rick’s mind from ‘killing all the geths in sight’ to ‘ How did geths have a split’? A question that Legion was asking itself and didn’t have any answers to.
In the end the synthetic wished to join Shepard and his team, both to fight the reapers which were a threat to the geths and to better understand organics. Jane had been skeptical but agreed nonetheless. Tali would not have been happy with that decision but she'd have to endure it.

Rick, not able to get answers to his questions went to the Cargo Bay, after ‘borrowing’ Karin’s scan to study his progress. He was hell bent in succeeding the goal he set himself. More to see if it was possible than to actually do it. Progress was slow ( if anyone could call it progress at all) and Rick had to search the extranet for similar subjects not necessarily linked to biotics but to the existence of nodes into the body. He found a very old Japanese comic ( or manga as it was the correct term) about ninjas who had bodies with nodules which acted like a checkpoint for their power to go through their bodies. One thing that intrigued him was that if those checkpoints were blocked their power couldn’t flow to the pathway beyond it. That actually gave him the idea to try it out for himself and to first find out if blocking an eezo nodule was possible as the ninja’s power came from a core and his biotics from the many eezo nodules.  The manga was using pressure to close those checkpoints and wondering if that was the solution, began to read on acupuncture. Not being able to take the test and observe what was happening at the same time, he went to Mordin for help. Karin was out of question as he was ‘borrowing’ her scan still.

“Good morning, Mordin.”
“Good Morning.” replied the salarian not raising his head from the microscope he was looking at.
“Any news on the area counter agent for the swarm?”
“Gas dissipation too quick. Problematic. Searching for stabilizing agent.”
“Innocent question but did you think of changing the nature of the gas while keeping the properties of the agent?” advised Rick prompting Mordin to raise his head and look at him.
“No. Good idea, worth a try. Making the gas heavier.”
“Like smoke.”
“Creating base agent, once burned react, becomes active. Brillant. New pathway of experimentation.”
“Well, I’ll let you to it though if I could have a bit more of your time for an experiment.”
“Experiment? On what?”
“Biotics.”
“Not biotic. Can’t help.”
“But I am, it involves a scan, acupuncture, understanding of the basic working of the eezo nodules and the channeling of biotics.
“Eezo nodules produce mass effect fields controlled by brain activity. No mystery, no experiments.”
“Except I want to see if it’s possible to train the brain to control the activity of the nodules more thoroughly, like stopping the flow of the mass effect field to a particular nodule instead of letting it go to the hands or feet.”
“Rewiring brain? Have my attention. When do we start?”
“Now.”

He explained his current idea to the Salarian and showed him his research. The doctor had been baffled that Rick would experiment on himself based on a fictional fiction but the man went further with his explanations and convinced him.

“Acupuncture, too dangerous. Nerve blocker first, less danger, no pain.”
“That makes sense.”

Mordin went to his drawer and picked up a new syringe gun then a bottle of nerve blocker from the cabinet behind him. Once he associated the two he went to Rick who gave him the scan which he had linked to the doctor's terminal.

“Let’s try the nodule on the hand first.”

The Salarian nodded and used the scan to find his target. Once the injection was done. Rick channeled his biotics through the injected arm. Nothing happened.

“Interesting. Without signal, nodules inactive.”
“I can feel the power building in my wrist though.”

Scanning Rick’s wrist they saw the energy agglomerating into the last nodule active on the nerve pathway.

“Indeed.”

Trying to release the energy building up, Rick tried to make a pull. The experience was successful when a tiny blue ball appeared from his wrist.

“Success. Small but success.”
“It’s reminiscent of my early days with my biotics except it was with my hands.”
“What happens when injection farther away from hand?”
“Let’s find out.”

Doing a second injection but this time just below the nodule of the elbow, Rick had the same difficulty but also achieved the same success.

“Distance not a problem.”
“No, but the question is why is it harder?”
“Electric signals different and new or…
“The nodules are different. Is it possible to have a better view with the scan? Make the imagery bigger to compare size?”
“Yes, only a moment.” said the salarian as he tinkered with the imagery program to get a zoomed picture. “Eezo nodules in hands five times normal size.”
“Probably the result of my training or they are normally that big.”
“Doubtful. Comparison with another biotic needed.”
“Let’s ask the girls.” he said before talking to EDI “Can you ask, Samara, Jack, Miranda and gingerbread to come to the Miordin’s lab when they have the time, please?”
“All said they were on their way. Jack’s language has been especially colorful.”
“Samara? Asari’s biology different from humans.”
“Yes, but the asari became more powerful biotics as they age, proven by the Matriarch's humbling abilities. She’s nearly 600 years old. If the theory about nodules expanding is true, Samara’s results would definitely show that.”
“Not necessarily true. Again, asari biology.”
“I know, but if the theory holds true, the other nodules in her body would be way smaller.”
“Ha! Test less about size comparison between patients but more about different nodules size in patients.”
“Yes. Only from those result could we compare between people and species”

The four women entered the lab soon after, Jack was pissed for reasons he didn’t know.

“What was so important that you interrupted my teaching time with the grasshopper, Dickhead?”
“Grasshopper?”
“Yeah, you graduated from worm a while ago.”
“Yay.” said Shepard in a dejected tone.
“I’m researching biotics for a project of mine and asked Mordin for help. We came to the conclusion that we needed more data and so asked the four of you to come and do some tests.”
“Hell no! No one is probing me or injecting shit into my body!” Yelled Jack. It was understandable after what she went through at the Teltin facility.
“Nothing like that! Mordin is just going to use this scan and that’s it.” Rick quickly explained.
The ex-convict looked at Mordin who held up the said scan and nodded.

“What’s this about anyway?” she wondered aloud.
“And why is Jacob not here?” inquired Miranda.
“Who?” Rick asked after a moment of confusion.
“Jacob! Tall, black, biotic, spend his time in the armory?” replied Jane.
“Ha! Knock-off? His name is Jacob?”

All three human ladies had their jaws hung low at the fact he didn’t even remember one of the members of their team’s name. Samara was impassive but was chuckling inside feeling nostalgic. Rick had lots of difficulties remembering the names of people he never interacted with much and instead filed them under a nickname related to what he thought of them. That he called the ex-corsaire Knock-off, a counterfeit, was very telling… and not wrong in Samara’s point of view.

“Anyway, we just want to see your eezo nodules, after that you can go back to what you’ve been doing.”
“Why?” asked Miranda.
“What the cheerleader said. Why do you want to look at that?”
“Well…”

Rick related his thoughts on biotics, his trials and errors, the research he’s done and the ideas he and Mordin wanted to explore. Once again their jaws hung low, this time Samara too. What Rick was studying could very well redefine biotics as everyone in the galaxy knows it.

“You’re insane! How the fuck do you even come up with those ideas?!”
“Experience?”
“What experience? No one has ever done what you think of doing, including you!” noted Jane.
“Oh! Not that experience, no. I mean, if I could use biotics with my legs, why not another part of my body? Why can we only use our biotics from our limbs’ extremities when our whole body is filled with eezo nodules?”
“Because… because that’s how it is!” Jack said.
“I admit the idea that you could use biotics from every part of your body is… doubtful. Asari have been natural biotics for several millennia and never displayed such ability, despite a lot of research on biotics.” announced Samara.
“No offense, Samara but none of them were me. EDI if you please.”

The AI began playing the recording of the little experiment they had done earlier. When the moment Rick did a very small pull through his wrist happened all were left speechless.

“Now, let’s get to scanning.” the helmet man said simply.

____________________________________________________________


The results revealed that, indeed, eezo nodules grew in size with time as Samara’s were enormous on her hands and ten times the size of the ones on Rick’s hand for the less used. Jack was second after her but by a large margin. Miranda’s were smaller than Rick’s size and Shepard had the smallest.

“I thought I would get the answer from Samara but never thought I would get it from you too, Red, didn’t even cross my mind.”
“Why?” inquired the woman, a bit muffled to be dead last in an imaginary competition in her head.
“Because you are the most recent biotic. That your nodules are the smallest of us five give credit to the idea that the more you channel power into a nodule the more it expands. And if it wasn’t for Jack’s training I believe they would be even smaller.”
“What now?” said the ex-convict.
“Now I work on expanding all my nodules and controlling their use.”
“That would take you years to achieve any results.” Miranda remarked. She was not wrong. Minus Shepard, all humans present have been using biotics for years and their nodules were not significantly that big. There was also the possible factor that everyone was born with nodules bigger or smaller than another person.
“I know, that’s why I’ll find a method to quicken the process by a lot.”
“And, he says that likes it’s a done deal…” stated Jack in a flat tone.
“Well… If anyone can do it, it’s you.” 

The support that he got from the redhead surprised him a bit, not that it was unusual but not so soon after one of their fights. The truth was, she was following Tali’s advice. In the end everyone left Mordin’s lab who was not too unhappy to find himself alone and free to work on his current project.

Going back to his quarters, he saw a healthy and out of her suit Tali lying on her front reading a data pad on their bed with nothing but one of his shirts on her as she had no real clothes at hands. Her shawls and ponchos were clothes that she put on her suit. He couldn’t resist and gave her a very light slap on her ass, making her yelp and let his hand there enjoying the feeling he got from it.

“What was that for?”
“It was tempting me so I told it no. With my hand.”
“Why is your hand still on it then?” she asked as he started to massage the buttcheek under his finger.
“Its temptation is too strong and my spirit too weak. In fact…” He removed his hand and dove head first into it. Then he took two big handfuls of the greatest ass of the galaxy and motorboated it, making Tali laugh.

“You’re an idiot!”
“That’s its fault my IQ drops by at least a hundred points.” He said before going under her shirt and kissing strongly her perfect lilac posterior. Once done he removed his head from there and went to lay beside her, cupping her face who adorned an beautiful amused smile and looking straight into her eyes which were full of happiness.

“Keep doing things like that and I’m the one who will not be able to hold back.” she said as she kissed his helmet where his mouth was supposed to be if he would not wear it.

“I don’t know, the simple sight of you out of your suit is already difficult for me.” replied Rick as he brought the little quarian into his embrace.
“I’m very happy, you know. I find it hard to believe.”
“Why?”
“A week ago my whole world came crashing down. My trial, my father’s death. And now here I am, outside of my suit with my best friend / lover / high minion holding me in his arms ready to satisfy my every need and desires.”
“Not every one of them. I have limits, you know.”
“Like what?”
“I won’t take it well if you find another best friend / lover / high minion. I don’t share.”
“What about the others? Aren’t they free to sleep with whoever they want.”
“They are, but they’re not you.”
“What makes me apart?”
“You’re you and… I don’t think I like the idea of someone else having a taste of the best pussy in the galaxy.” he joked, earning him a slap on the chest.
“You’re definitely an idiot.”
“I’m just so smart that everyone doesn’t understand my thinking and think I’m one. Anyway, what are we watching tonight?”
“The second movie of the Lord of the rings trilogy.”
“Nice!”
“I.. Don’t be mad but I invited Jane.”
“Why would I be mad?”
“Well last time…”
“Last time everything went well. It was in the morning that it didn’t. I wonder though, you’ll let her see you?”
“I thought about it, you know, if I should put back my suit on but… It’s Jane, so it’s fine.”
“Geez I can feel the love. Took me two years for you to show yourself to me and Jane rode on my tail and took a few days…”
“It’s not like that and you know it. Honestly, you need to resolve this problem you have with her. You made progress since our time on the first Normandy but that’s not enough.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?
“I just can’t.”

She didn’t understand  and wanted to press on but she knew his short answers meant he wasn’t going to talk about it and that he found the conversation annoying so she let it go.

Five minutes later, Shepard entered the room, went through the decontamination process and walked toward the bed when she stopped right there in her tracks at the sight of Tali.

“Hello~~” the quarian said with a wave of her hand and a smile.
“Tali?!”
“Mm-mm.”
“Wow! You’re… you’re… wow!” was all the redhead could say as her gaze was locked on Tali.
“And somehow she has confidence issues, go figure.”
“Hey! You would have too if you were in my place!” Tali complained to Rick.

He chose to remain silent while Shepard got on the bed on her knees. With her hand she reached for Tali’s hair.

“You even have perfect hair, that’s not fair.” she whined.
“A result of spending all my time inside my suit. I don’t suppose you want to trade?”
“I don’t know, do I get the ass and hips with it? Because I might.” she joked, making Tali roll her eyes.
“I’m happy for you though.”
“Thank you.”

Jane moved back from her to find some place she could lay on. It turned out to be right on the other side of Rick and because the bed was small for three persons laid on her side and hooked herself onto his arm.

“And what do you think you’re doing, exactly?”
“Getting comfortable.”
“.. I hope you have something under my shirt but considering that I can feel your saggy tits being free...”
“For the last time, they do not sag! And I’m wearing shorts!”
“EDI, please start the movie before they begin to fight for good.” Tali asked the AI nipping in the budd any potential altercations between her two friends.

____________________________________________________________

The next morning, nothing out of the ordinary happened, well outside Rick’s head being firmly lodged between Shepard’s breasts, by her hands, which wasn’t something unusual considering the many nights he secretly (he still believed) spent like that. He didn’t know what was the feeling he was having but he felt good and he hated it because it was because of her. With Tali being closer to the wall and alone, he had no qualms about waking Shepard up as he extracted himself from her grip.

“Whaaa?”
“Get up, it’s time to train.” he whispered

Looking at her omni-tool with half opened eyes she saw that it was 4am, and went back to sleep. It didn’t matter one bit for Rick, who got dressed and exited the room for the Cargo Bay.

Once there he sat down in the lotus position and began to flare his biotics, channeling the power through his body in an endless loop. At first it was a small amount to test the water so to speak, then increased it every three loops until he felt a bit of strain. Once he reached that level of intensity he maintained it and looped away. He was so focused on what he was doing that he became oblivious to the world around him.

____________________________________________________________

Jane arrived at the Cargo Bay and so the usual sight. Grunt lifting weight and Jack practicing her biotics with her legs. She had made great progress and wasn’t far from using some skills with them. Getting closer she greeted her.

“Good Morning, Jack.”
“Morning, Shepard.”
“You’re here early nowadays.”
“Yeah. I prefer training when there are less people around and… I have more time for it. It’s… really relaxing.”
“I know what you mean. I find myself looking forward to it more and more.”
“Are you sure it’s not because of the hunk over there?” Jack said with a smile, pointing with her head to the corner behind the commander.
“What is he doing?” she asked the ex-convict as she saw Rick sitting with his biotic active.
“Hell if I know. What I do know is that I’ve been here for an hour and he was already doing that and didn’t move an inch.”
“Didn’t move a… Jack, it’s 9 am!”
“So?” the bald woman asked with a brow raised, not seeing the point.
“He got up at 4! Are you telling me he’s been at it for five hours?!”
“Damn! He must be burning!”

Both walked to him. Getting a better look as they were closer, they saw his shirt completely drenched in sweat.

“With the helmet it must be even hotter.” Jane wondered.

He must have heard her as he turned off his biotics and let out a deep breath.

“Need something?” he asked.
“No, we were just wondering what you’ve been doing.” replied the redhead.

“And why for so long. Shepard said you’ve been at it since 4 in the morning?”

Looking at the time displayed inside his headgear he was surprised that he had been practicing for five hours.

“I’ve been channeling the mass effect field through my whole body.”
“What for?” Jane inquired
“Expand my eezo nodules.”
“You’re insane, you know that? You could destroy your own body!”

“Worried, dudette?”
“The fuck I am!”
“And here I thought you began to like me.”
“In your dreams perhaps.”
“In my dreams you have hair.”
“What do you mean he could destroy his body?” Jane cut in, trying to not let this go further. She knew that it was their way of communicating but she never knew when one of them would stop joking and snap.
“Did you never notice that when you use your biotics, the part of your body using it gets hotter?”  the man asked.
“Not really.”
“That’s because you’re not using them long enough or are too focused on what you are doing.” Jack chimed in.
“Mass effect fields are energy and energy produces heat. Basically I've been heating my body for the past five hours which is not good.”
“Why did you do it then?”
“Because I wasn’t using enough to damage my body. I started low and increased the output until my body felt a bit of strain. From there I maintain the output and let it flow. It was like being under the sun for a while. Nothing like being in a desert though.”
“Does it even work?”
“I don’t know, too early to tell.”

Jack shook her head at the absurdity of all of it.

“Though I think I should not do it for so long.”
“Why?”
“I… I can’t feel my body at all, just pain. I.. I can’t move.” he confessed, embarrassingly making Jack snort.
“Do you know what that means, Shepard?” she asked with a mischievous smile.
“Justice!”

Jane walked slowly behind him and grabbed him by the collar firmly.

“I’m going to have so much fun.” She whispered in his ear.
“I’d rather talk.”
“Nu-huh.”

Jane dragged him towards the elevator, Jack laughing her ass off at the sight wondering what her student had in store for the man who accepted his fate as he couldn’t do anything about it. He was surprised when she brought him to her cabin and to her shower. She removed his clothes leaving only his underwear on and turned on the water.

“What exactly are you…”
“You’re drenched in sweat and you stink. I’m not bringing you back to your quarters with Tali out of her suit there.” she replied as she crouched and began to wash him.

He kept silent as she methodically cleaned every part she could without being intrusive, or more intrusive than her actions already were. She wasn’t being awkward about it, she didn’t try to cop a feel or anything like that. She was behaving like a nurse doing her job. When she began to rinse him he joked.

“I’m surprised you’re not washing the part you like to manhandle.”
“It was wrong of me to do that and I’m sorry for doing it, though it was partially your fault. As for right now, it’s not my style to take advantage of others, especially when they are down.”

She turned the water off and took her towel to dry him off. Unfortunately nothing could be done about his underwear. She picked him up this time while using her biotics and put him on the chair at her desk after they exited the bathroom, leaving him unattended for a moment as she went to get her bedsheet. The thought of dressing him with the shirt she was borrowing crossed her mind but it was his shirt so it would only have covered his torso. Instead she took her bed sheet and put it around his shoulder. Picking him up again, she carried him all the way back to his bed in the engineering deck without saying a word. She didn’t drop him like a potato sack but put him gently on the mattress.

“Just so you know, I’m warning Tali.” she said as she left and five minutes later he had a very angry quarian berating him for being stupid and not taking care of himself. That he got incapacitated in a fight was understandable that he did himself in the safety was not.

____________________________________________________________


By noon, he began to regain his mobility and the pain was replaced by soreness. Mordin passed by, interested in his condition. The salarian scanned his body and told him he would send the results back soon. With lots of time on Rick was bored to death. He thought about watching some movies but decided against it, one scolding from Tali was enough and he wasn’t sure EDI would agree anyway as she was quite fond of movie night. So with nothing to do or rather with nothing he was able to do he thought back on what went wrong. Clearly five hours had been too much, he would have to program a timer on his omni-tool to send an electrical shock after one hour to get him back to the living world. Thankfully the intensity was low so he didn’t fry his nervous system, that would have been a disaster.

He had been lucky enough to get back sensation in his body as he needed to go to the bathroom. That he’d have asked help for that would have been the most humiliating moment of his life. Mordin came back before the end of the day to check him up. After observation he told Rick that he would be alright in the morning. He also shared the results of the scan who comforted the human male. There has been a change in the size of his nodules. Really, really small change, around 0.2µm of gain in the radius of his nodules which average size was 100µm. That potentially meant that in one hour he expanded his nodules by 0.04µm. In theory he could have a gain of almost 1µm per day if he was doing it non-stop.

Realistically it was impossible. Beyond the fact that his body wouldn’t last six hours were already reserved for sleep, two less for everything else meaning bathroom breaks, lunch, dinner, breakfast and shower time. So a total of sixteen hours left. Of those, half would be spent training the other half recuperating. In short, if the gain was constant, it would be 0.32µm a day. In a year it would double the size of the nodules. That is, if the gain was constant. 

Rick thought that the gain was acceptable if in a year he could increase the size of his nodules by 115.2µm every year. Considering that the biggest he had currently were around 500µm in radius and that it took him more than a decade to get there he was more than satisfied. There was a lot more he didn’t know about but he would discover it along the way.

The next morning at 4am he checked how his body felt. He wasn’t in pain, he wasn’t sore and he could move as usual, that was enough for him to go with his new schedule. Kissing Tali’s head before leaving, he went to the cargo bay.

A bit more than four hours later he was yelled at by a very angry Jack that had just come down to the level.

“Seriously! Are you retarded?! Did you already forget what happened yesterday?!”
“No, that’s why I train for one hour and rest for one hour. You just interrupted my third session.”
“And your body is fine?”
“Mm-mm. No pain, no soreness, I can move normally. Everything’s good.”
“Does it even work anyway?”
“Yes. After my stun yesterday, Mordin did a new scan; 0.02% of increase.”
“That’s…”
“I know, it’s not much.”
“More like nothing.”
“Take into consideration that it took years of sparse use to get our nodules the size they are. If I do this for a year, they would more than double in size.”
“Damn, when you put it like that… Still It would take you a decade to reach my level and by then I’ll be even stronger.” she said with a smirk.
“Six years actually. That’s alright, it’s not like I want to kick your ass anyway.”

Jack just shook her head and moved away to do her own training. By the end of the day, every calculation Rick made went out the window when a new scan resulted in a growth of 0.48µm. Mordin theorized that with his new method of training, the nodules began to adapt to the cycle training/resting and so developed faster. That was fine with Rick, that meant he would get his nodules up to bar faster and could work on his first objective, using biotics through any of them, faster.


____________________________________________________________

They arrived on Illum and they went to see Liara, it was late and the team hoped to catch her before she went home. They were fortunate as the asari was still in her office overworking.

“Good evening, Liara.” Shepard greeted.
“Shepard!” the former teammate raised from her chair and went to hug the redhead. “It’s good to see you again.”
“It’s good to see a familiar face from time to time. I have nothing against Garrus, but his, is the only face I know from the first Normandy.”
“Just because Tali let you see hers now means that you’re worthy of seeing mine.” Said Rick from the entrance.

Liara almost flew and hugged him too fiercely.

“Wait, you saw Tali’s face?” she asked in wonder.

“Yeah, and she’s gorgeous.” replied Jane.
“Didn’t need to so her face to know that.” Rick chastised her.
“How come you saw Tali’s face, is she…”
“I made our quarters sterile.”
“Our quarters? As in…”
“Yes, Tali is bunking up with me. She didn’t feel safe with strangers around, so I took her in.”
“That’s not fair! She can spend all the time she wants with you!” fake pouted Liara.
“You just had to join the mission.”
“You know I can’t, I…”
“We, know that’s why we’re here.” Jane cut in. “ I received information on the shadow broker. Here.”

Transferring the information from her omni-tool, Liara immediately began to read it. She suddenly gasped and went to her terminal to check something on it.

““What is it?””
“He’s alive! Feron is alive?”
“Who’s Feron?”
“Isn’t he the guy that betrayed you? It’s a hunt then?” inquired Rick.
“No! No, no, no! I mean, yes he betrayed me but I’m still alive today because he saved my life by staying behind. I thought the Shadow Broker’s agents killed him but they didn’t!. It’s a rescue mission now, after two years!”
“Are you sure? Traitors should be dealt with properly.”
“I’m sure, Rick. Look, I have something to do. Meet me in two hours at my apartment, I’m sending it to you on the way.” she said as she hurried out of her office.
“Jealous?” Jane teased.
“Hmm?”
“Of that Feron guy!”
“Should I be?”
“She spent the last two years trying to find the guy.”
“So?”
“You’re not jealous at all?”

“No. Liara is free to see whoever she wants, we’re not a couple after all.”
“I really don’t understand the relationship you have with her. Nor Tali, nor Miranda, nor… Actually I don’t understand any of your relationships.”

Rick looked at her for a moment before removing the glove in his left hand revealing a silver alliance on his ring finger.

“I’m married.”
“You’re a widow. And if you weren’t, you'd be a cheater.
“No, they can have my body if they want, my care and for a lack of better word to describe what I feel for them, my love. But only one has my heart whether she’s alive or not.” he said as he put back his glove.
“That’s… strangely romantic… in a way. I’m surprised, you don’t seem the type.”

Rick just shrugged his shoulders and exited Liara’s office. They had two hours to kill and he needed to find something to do.


____________________________________________________________


When they arrived at Liara’s apartment they quickly noticed that something was wrong. Forensics were here and studying what seemed to be a crime scene. One of the guard? Cop? Stopped them.

“I’m sorry but this is a crime scene, you can’t be here.”
“We’re spectres.” replied Rick.
“I am. Jane shepard, first human spectre and he’s with me.”

The asari turned on her omni-tool and scanned the commander, then Rick.

“Commander Jane Shepard, status spectre confirmed. Your friend on the other hand doesn’t exist, he’s in no database.”
“I wouldn’t be a good spectre if I was.”
“Seriously, stop it.” Jane turned her head and sent him a glare.
“You said he’s with you and that’s good enough for me. Good enough for anyone in truth when you’re a spectre. Anyway, your colleague is inside already, so you can ask her for the preliminary report.”
“What…” Jane was about to ask ‘What colleague?’ when Rick hit her on the side with his elbow. “Nevermind. Thank you and keep up the good work.”

The asari officer nodded and let them in. One thing was sure, Liara loved to have her space, the apartment was huge and on two levels. Looking around they saw some more officers scanning everywhere to find some clue.

“Thank you officers, you are dismissed.” Said an asari in armor coming down the stairs of the second floor. She looked at Shepard and Rick and introduced herself.

“Tela Vasir, special…”
“Spectre, we know. The officer who let us in told us you were here. Not your name though. I’m …”
“Commander Jane Shepard, first human spectre. You’re well known, commander. And your friend is…?” Tela asked as she looked at the man who had walked towards the apartment’s gigantic window.
“Don’t pay attention to him.” Jane answered without giving his name. If it wasn’t in any database which was a surprise then there must have been a reason for it and telling it to a spectre may not have been a very good idea.

While Jane and Tela were conversing, Rick was studying the scene meticulously.

The shots had not been stopped by the reinforced window but the points of impact on the wall are not in alignment with it. Something deflected them. There is no debris on the ground nor traces of a heavy object being moved. That means that the area was clear of a what but since the projectiles were deviated, not of a who. Liara deflected them with a barrier. She was lucky the speed of the shots was slowed down by the window. Window that is very thick and reinforced, only a very powerful sniper rifle could do that. Not the kind of weapon you can buy at every weapon shop. No, it’s military grade and the distance of the shot… Only a pro could do that, making the list’s size of potential suspects shrink by a lot.

Looking around he tried to imagine what Liara would do in this situation.

Someone just tried to assassinate her in her own apartment. The big window gives her an obvious disadvantage as it gives a very good view of most of the first floor. She could risk going on the second floor but if the sniper had an accomplice she would have been trapped. That is if she stayed there. Her primary objective was to get out of here and find somewhere safe or go after the assassin. Unlikely as they were far but an assassin means contract. They could have been hired directly but those kinds of things are almost nonexistent, so an intermediary would have been needed. Considering Liara is a broker she must have gone to one of her sources directly to get answers. That created a problem for the assassin. With Liara gone their contract isn’t fulfilled. The sniper rifle is expensive and the shots were done by a pro, odds are high that the assassin is asking a lot for their skills meaning they must be well known. Those kinds of pro don’t stop at one failure, they hunt until they kill their prey. Since Liara had gotten away, they needed leads to find her. They had two choices, her office and here. The former is farther away, the latter closer so they came here first. The apartment is clean and Liara would never have left information on her out in the open; the assassin would have had to spend some time searching the place thoroughly. Problem: cops came here, so either they had to run away and dodged the police or they used the police to find leads…

Rick turned towards the two spectres and in a quick motion drew his pistol and shot Vasir behind the knee. Her balance suddenly being supported by one leg she expectedly fell on the floor screaming and holding her wounds. One thing was sure, Tela Vasir would not be a spectre anymore for this wound alone.

Shepard was shocked and drew her own gun and took a stance, thinking they were being attacked but when she saw Rick with his own gun in hand she relaxed her body and lowered her arms.

“So… Why try to kill Liara?” he asked, standing above the bleeding asari pointing his weapon at her.
“What the hell?!”
“Don’t fuck with me, bitch. That was a warning shot.”
“You busted my knee.”
“Answer my questions and that’s the only thing I’ll bust.”
“Commander! Don’t stay there, do something!”
“I’m silently approving of his actions. A word of advice, you better answer his questions you’ll save yourself from a world of pain.”
“I won’t tell shit!”
“Wrong answer.” Rick said and applied pressure on the wound with his foot making the asari scream.
“Let’s try again. Why try to kill Liara? Who hired you?”
“Give it your best shot!” Tela dared as she activated her biotics, unfortunately for her Rick’s finger was faster and a new bullet hole found itself on her shoulder breaking her focus and making her scream again.
“I…” This time she didn’t even get the chance to say a full sentence as Rick shot her again a bit higher on the shoulder.
“I’m going to shoot you enough time in the shoulders that with a simple tug it will be separated from the rest of your body. Then I’ll start again with the other, then the legs. If you expect to bleed to death before that, don’t worry I have more than enough medi-gel.
“You’re a monster!” she yelled and got shot a fourth time.”
“Shadow Broker! It was the Shadow broker!” She finally answered not able to take it anymore.
“Why?” he asked as he crouched down and applied some medi-gel on the wounds.
“Because… she’s snooping around… He doesn’t like that.”
“Why did he hire you? Not paid enough as a spectre?” Jane asked.
“I give him information from time to time and he gives some back in return.”
“So you’re selling the council’s secrets, joy.”
“What does it matter if…” were Tela Vasir's last words as Rick shot her in the head.
“Was that necessary?”
“She was a rogue spectre. One Saren was enough.”
“I wouldn’t have gone that far in the comparison.”
“Doesn’t matter much anymore doesn’t it?”
“She may have had more information to share.”
“I have all the information that matters. A name. By trying to have baby blue murdered the Shadow Broker made it personal.”
“How did you know it was her?”
“Do you want the long or short version?”
“The short one.”
“Everything pointed to her.” he replied, making her sigh.
“The long version then, please.”
“Alright but we better search for clues in the meantime.”

____________________________________________________________

Jane couldn’t believe the conclusion he had come to from just observing the crime scene for a few minutes. She remembered something similar when they met on Eden Prime when he studied Nihlus’ body, the spectre that was supposed to evaluate her and was murdered by Saren. It really brought home the fact that Rick being a powerful fighter was not why Anderson had forced him on her when she was ordered to go after the rogue spectre two years ago. His mind was his deadliest weapon, not his body. Sure, she knew how smart he was after the multiple inventions he had come up with but those were just ideas given shape, she only saw the results and thought that ‘yeah it was smart’ or most often ‘ that was so obvious, I wonder why no one thought about it before?’. Back at the apartment it was none of that. Nothing has been obvious at all. When he told his reasoning he had to explain some parts because she had asked many times ‘How do you know that?’ and every time the answer baffled her.

That’s why it didn’t take long to find the clue that Liara had left, which led to a recording giving the duo her next location. In no time there were Baria Frontiers and offices dealing with information brokering under the table. They barely set a foot out of the cab that the building exploded. The explosion was not that strong as the building was still standing but lots of people died. Jane and Rick made their way towards the upper level and were blocked by mercenaries.

“I think they didn’t get the memo that Vasir is dead and can’t pay them.” Jane said.
“They’d probably kill us anyway as revenge for the lost pay.”

If any of the two had anything nice to say about Vasir it would probably be that she knew how to hire good personnel. The mercs were well equipped and skilled. A discovery they made when Rick, who usually steam rolled everything in his way, got shot. Thankfully his shield held well, but that prompted the duo to change their tactics. Shepard would offer covering fire from a bit of distance away with her assault rifle when they were in the different wide halls while he would just do a hit and run tactic. Biotic charge, shotgun in the face, biotic charge towards another enemy, regardless if the shot killed or not his first target.

Tight spaces however and they were unstoppable. Two juggernauts that moved forward without slowing down at all as if the mercs were made of paper. With no need to worry about any other sides but the front, the two just charged ahead in a blue blur. During a lull in the fight, he gave her some praise.

“Good, your skill with the biotic charge is more than acceptable.” Rick said as it was the first time he saw her do one properly during a gunfight.
“After the training Jack and you put me through, it’d be a let down if that wasn’t the case.”
“Don’t get a big head though. You still need to raise your situational awareness so you could charge around an open space and not get shot and to use a shotgun in this situation. While an assault rifle with a very good fire rate is good, nothing can beat the spread and power of a Shotgun in close quarters.”
“I don’t think I’d be comfortable fighting the way you do.”

“I know, but you still need to be able to do it. It could save the day or lives. It’s also good training for you to start fighting like a biotic. You still mainly use your gun first. Still fighting like a normal person.”

Shepard nodded at the points he was making. Being able to move instantly around the battlefield was a tremendous help. Twice, Rick had saved someone that way, the first one was her during the mission to recruit Samara, the second was on the Collector’s ship, saving Jack’s life.

They got a few close calls during their ascension, mainly because they were severely outnumbered and a third or fourth teammate would have been nice but they managed. She noted how Rick was fighting a bit differently than usual, a bit more risky if she could call it that. She was pretty sure had he been alone he would have taken them all down. He would have been hurt but he would have done it. It reminded her of the time they met; he had been alone and surrounded by geths and dealt with them without any difficulty. She understood how he could have dismantled many pirate groups and slaver clans on his own when he left Thessia for Omega. He was where he needed to be, doing what needed to be done. As they were only two he had to pick up the slack. With three teammates you couldn’t really see that, as each member did a part of the fight but with less people the workload increased. For the second time today, she remembered that his intelligence was way above the norm and that despite his physical abilities it was his head that he was using the most. And use it well, he did.

They finally reached the last floor and dealt with the last of the mercs in sight. For a fraction of a second they thought they were doomed when they saw a bomb on a table but it was not armed. When they got to Liara’s informant’s office they killed the leader of the merc group that was holding the salarian at gunpoint. It was then that Liara appeared, gun drawn and ready to shoot.
Seeing her two friends she lowered her weapon, gave them a nod and spoke with the man holding the information she needed on the Shadow Broker.

“Are we good to go?”
“No. We can’t go after the Shadow Broker with an assassin after me, She’s…”
“Staining your apartment floor with her blood and brain matter.” Jane cut in.
“What?!”
“You can blame Rick for that.” the commander added as both women were looking at the said man.
“She went after my baby blue. She shouldn’t have done that.” was all he said as he exited the room.
“How did he…?”
“It's a long and very entertaining story. Come on, I’ll tell you on the ship.”
“You know whenever a situation involves you or him it is always entertaining. Though in your case things blow up and in his, people die and we dodge by a hair’s breadth a diplomatic incident.”
“Ah! You will love the story about how he saved Tali being exiled for treason. I thought we were doomed.”
“Oooh, I want to hear that one.”
“I think that the best of them all was Garrus’ reaction to what was happening. To him it was just another Tuesday. He was just done with it and wanted to go back on the Normandy.”

____________________________________________________________


Once back on the ship, Liara has caught up with Garrus and Tali. She also talked with Joker and Karin a bit. When Jane invited her to her cabin she was amazed by the room. They sat down on the couch and she was filled in on everything that happened since the last time they saw each other.

“By the Goddess! He found out it was Vasir just from that?!”
“Yep.”
“He really should have been a detective.”
“A detective?”
“That’s what he wanted to be when he was a child.”
“He talked to you about his childhood?!”
“Mm-mm.”
“You… you’re perhaps the only one who knows about it. Not even Tali does!”
“My lips are sealed, Shepard.” replied Liara putting an immediate stop to this conversation.
“Jane. Please call me Jane. It’s… Shepard is so formal and it reminds me of my mother.”
“Jane it is, then.”
“Thank you. I tried with the others, but they can’t, they think it’s too weird after calling me Shepard for so long..”
“It will take a while to get used to but I don’t have any problem with it.”
“Thank you. Now, did you see Tali? I mean without her suit?”
“No, I can’t say I have. This is a really intimate thing for quarian to show themselves to people. They must be really close and trusted.”
“I’m sure she’d show herself to you. In fact it’s movie night tonight!”


____________________________________________________________

The trip to the Shadow Broker's location took nine days. Liara had the occasion to see Tali unmasked and her reaction was more or less the exact same as Jane had been. The quarian's issues about her appearance took another heavy blow which was for the better. The meeting between Samara and Liara went well. The young asari had met a justicar before thanks to her mother’s status; she had been dumbfounded when she learned that Rick had traveled with one for four years and didn’t tell her. The scolding he got however was nothing in comparison to the one he got when his blunder with his biotics reached her ears. Even calm and collected Samara feared for the man facing the young maiden’s anger. Things didn’t get better when Tali joined her, in support.

On the biotic side of things, Rick didn’t miss a single day of training. The continuous flow in his body was giving results beyond any hopes or calculations he had made. Following his first calculations in those nine days he should have gained 2.88µm but instead as he kept increasing the intensity every three days his gain had been of 6.9µm. Almost 2.5 times more. If that new gain stayed constant he would, after a year, have all his nodules 25 times bigger than they already were. That was insane, and left both Rick and Mordin speechless. What was even more frightening was that, since the nodules grew in size they could tolerate a higher intensity making them grow further and faster. Mordin supposed that at one point the growth will drop as it was impossible for an organism to keep growing indefinitely. A point against that supposition was the asari matriarchs but there was the possibility that since biotics are not used in a prolonged manner their own nodules just didn’t reach their maturity.
Another question was, if the nodules’ growth wasn’t finite, what would happen if they became too big? While the craving for an answer was great, the sheer number of potential problems to verify that were big so were the possible consequences. The theory that bigger nodules make the use of biotics easier was verified though. Doing the same test with the nerve blocker Rick’s pull had been slightly bigger and easier to make. Not by much as they needed the scan to see that result, the change in size of the pull ball being invisible with the naked eye.

Rick shared his success with the other biotics in the know of the project. That discovery was so groundbreaking that Samara took part in it. She especially helped Jack find the calm and peace she needed during the growth exercise as it required to not move and be focused for an hour. It hadn’t been easy but the human woman could stand being still with herself for almost half an hour now. All in all, those were nine days well spent.

When they arrived in orbit above the planet where the Shadow Broker resided, Shepard asked for a briefing to review the plan one last time. From Rick and Liara’s information they would have to land on the ship itself and find a hatch to open and enter it as fast as they could as the lightning storm was too dangerous to wander unprotected for too long.  From there they would need to go through the ship, dealing with the Shadow Broker's agent then take care of the guy himself.

Once the team composed of Jane, Liara, Garrus and Rick landed, things went south immediately. Liara found the closest way to enter the ship was at the tail end of it. They would have to go through half the ship’s length to get to it. They barely walked a hundred feet so a small group of agents barred their way. Immediately Rick charged the group and to everyone’s shock they went flying as if they weighed nothing.

“They… don’t have any shields.” he said in amazement.
“Good, it will make things easier.”
“It’s more than that, Garrus. Without any shields…”
“It’s a biotic festival.”
“Red is right, the only thing we have to do is to push them over the edge of the ship.” Rick finished the explanation.

And that’s what they did, though the sheer numbers of opponents didn’t make things any easier for the team. When they finally reached the end of the ship they were blocked by a door.

“Rick.” called out the commander.
“Sure, let me hack the door while being stationary, defenseless and with people shooting at me.” he replied sarcastically.
“There is no need. I have something for that.” said Liara as she stuck an object on the door which she activated with her omni-tool.
“Are you sure it will work?”
“Considering it’s illegal even on Illum and that it costs a fortune, yes, I believe it will work, Jane.”
“It’s a Janus, so yes.” Rick added his two credits.
“You know what that is?” the redhead inquired.
“I’m perhaps the best hacker in the galaxy, take a guess.”
“Why didn’t you get one for us on the ship?”
“Why should I pay 100 000 credits for something I created?”
“You made it?!” Laira exclaimed.
“I was bored and drunk so I don’t fully remember but yeah.”

The rest of the team looked at him as if a second head suddenly appeared on his shoulder.

“He created one of the best if not the best hacking program because he was bored and drunk.” the asari said dejectedly.
“Hang on a minute! You rarely drink so I can’t imagine you being inebriated.” Garrus
“I… had a fight with Aria. My… little excursion in the traverse and the Terminus after leaving Thessia caused her some problems and she wanted me to lay low on Omega.” Rick replied sheepishly.
“Can’t believe I wasted 100 000 credits for something I could have gotten for free from you.”
“Honestly it’s not worth a quarter of that. It’s easy to counter, but since it’s so rare, nobody found how to do it yet. Or if they did, they kept that information locked away.”
“Will that be long?” Jane inquired.
“Probably, not my best work and that’s the Shadow Broker’s back door. Probably has a lot of security on it.

The talk was cut short as a consequent group of enemies came their way. They didn’t have a good vantage point. They were on lower ground and confined in a small area so to not get shot like fish in a barrel they got up the ramp in the open part of the ship. Rick was going left and right pushing overboard the idiots without shield while those who had some or a barrier were dealt with properly by Garrus and his trusty sniper rifle. Any others were dealt by Lira and Shepard in any way appropriate depending on the situation.

“Turrets from the front!” Yelled Garrus, who took down one of the turrets. The other two were destroyed quickly but not before firing a rocket which thankfully were dodged. Or so they thought.

“Oh no!” exclaimed Liara.
“What is it?!” Jane asked as she threw a Throw right on the torso of an agent sending him flying down to his death.
“One of the rockets damaged the cypher!”
“Shit!”

Rick fell back and tossed his shotgun at Shepard, while going to the door.

“Red, baptism by fire. Liara barrier!”

Shepard put away her assault rifle and with Rick’s shotgun in hands took his place moving around. While she had not been ready yet, she had no choice but to do it, as her movement would disturb the enemy cohesion.

“Why don’t they all attack at the same time? We’d be overwhelmed.” the asari exclaimed as she stood behind Rick, her hands raised and her barrier deployed.
“You should yell it louder! I think they didn’t hear you!” Jane yelled as she sent flying two grunts with a biotic charge and used a pull that missed on a third one on her left, that Garrus took out.

With that last enemy taken out there was a lull in the fight and the team didn’t waste this opportunity to catch their breath.

“Rick, how long?” the redhead asked but got no answer as the man was too focused on his task.

Soon enough a new wave of enemies attacked but this time with thrice the number.
“Guess, now we know if they hear you or not.” said Garrus headshotting one of the agents who wasn’t careful.
“Well… See the bright side! There would be less of them inside!”
“Can someone stop her from raising more flags?” yelled Rick, breaking his concentration.
“Opening the door now would be nice!” Yelled Garrus, diving to the ground to dodge a rocket from a new turret.

Rick spent a few more seconds on the door and it opened.

“GO NOW!” he yelled as he entered the ship quickly followed by Garrus then Jane, protected by Liara’s barrier. She was covering the entire entrance and walked back as fast as she could under heavy fire. The moment she passed the door, Rick closed it.

“Just in time, anymore and we would have been toast.” said Garrus as he rested against the left wall.
“What took you so long?” Jane asked as Rick was locking the door so no one could open it, at least not before a long time.
“Took so long? I had to start over hacking from scratch and I did it in less time than the Janus’s progress. That was some really good stuff. I don’t know who the guy that was hired for the job was but he was above just good.” replied Rick defending himself.
“Honestly, I miss the good old times of the omni-gel.”
“Are you mad? I’m getting paid a fortune by idiots buying my products!”
“Hey!” Liara protested.
“I’m sorry baby blue but you got scammed.”
“They’re here!” said a voice from further down the long corridor they were in, revealing a group of five enemies.
“So much for having less of them inside.” Garrus said as he took cover behind a wall protrusion.”
“I’m sorry, okay?!”
“It’s fine, it’s a corridor and they don’t have shields. Gingerbread, my shotgun, please!”

Shepard tossed him his weapon back and both charged to the other side of the corridor. The enemy group was ripped to shreds.

“Wow.. it’s almost too easy.”
““LIARA!!!””
“I’m sorry!”

The next group they encountered was fully equipped with rocket launchers, cutting off any chance for Jane and Rick to charge unless they wanted to get really intimate with a rocket. Rick switched from his shotgun to his modified Black Widow, the sniper rifle he got on the Collector’s ship. It was easy picking for them as Liara creates a singularity amidst the enemy group making them float around in the air.

“I swear I’m not doing it on purpose!” the asari defended herself as her three teammates were looking at her reproachfully.

They dealt with one more group before finding Feron stuck to some kind of electric chair. He was conscious enough to recognize Liara and give them the information about the chair getting shocked a good deal.

“I have to say, the Shadow Broker is rather smart. He keeps Feron to lure you in, just in case and make sure that you confront him.” said Rick.
“It doesn’t matter. We’re four and he’s alone, there is nothing he can do against us, so we kill him and access his network to free Feron.” replied Liara.

They left the drell behind, took down another group and crossed an empty corridor before arriving in the broker’s quarters. It was a very spacious room with a desk on the other side and the broker sitting at it. Behind him were plenty of screens to keep watch of his operatives. It was an alien that Rick didn’t recognize. He didt notice that it had a big build. He saw how big it was when Liara gave so much information on it after being taunted, that he entered a murderous rage, throwing his heavy desk at the team, knocking Garrus out as he failed to dodge. The alien was nearly 9’ tall if not more and had more muscles than a Krogan. 

As if that wasn’t enough his armor was tough and when Rick discharged his shotgun at it, he activated a new kind of shield bouncing back any projectiles and energy. That left only one option left, hand to hand combat. At that moment, Jane was so glad that her training now included martial arts even if it was centered around the use of her feet. Between her and Rick they succeeded in disabling the Yahg’s ( as was the name of his species from what Liara had said) shield. Unfortunately it still had an ace up its sleeve; an actual shield that it used to push away violently its two assaillants. While this new protection covered most of its body it was just that, most. With well placed shots the Yahg staggered. Not missing the opportunity Rick charged it, relieving it of its weapon then the shield. The alien activated back its bouncing shield and lurched at the helmeted man, who grabbed its hands with his own. Rick was enhancing himself as much as he could with his biotics but the Broker’s strength was out of this world and was losing the battle, his knees bending. Shepard tried to intervene but got a kick for it and was sent a dozen feet away.

“Rick! Get him to the ground!” Liara yelled from somewhere behind him.

Instead of resisting it by pushing back as much as he could, He pulled its hands down. With the difference in height and the sudden shift in applied force the Yagh tilted over on the ground. Rick used the momentum to flip over the alien as far as he could, not wanting to land within reach of backward kick. That saved his life as Liara brought down the energetic crystal on the ceiling providing the alien its protection and with nowhere else to go the energy came down hard on it. It disintegrated in seconds and left no traces.

“We’re four and he’s alone, she said. There is nothing he could do against us, she said.” Rick complained as he still felt the numbness in his hands.
“Liara, you’re not allowed to say your thoughts out loud during a mission anymore.” Jane forbid as she got back to her feet.
“It’s just a bad day!”
“It’s beyond a bad day! You’re not the one who almost got disintegrated by your friend!”
“I didn’t know it would do that!”

Rick just groaned and went to wake up Garrus, who wouldn’t like that he was out for the hardest fight they ever faced. Saren excluded. Liara quickly went to the console and accessed the network freeing Feron from the torture device he was locked in. When the Shadow’s Broker operatives began to call out to it she hesitated for a moment, before replying assuming its identity, to everyone’s shock.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“It’s the best solution to keep the network alive. The resources at disposition are tremendous. The Shadow Broker has eyes and ears everywhere, Jane. I couldn’t let it go to waste.”
“I don’t like it one bit. Not since Cerberus knows we’re here.” said Rick.
“Don’t worry, I’ll manage.” she replied with a smile.
“If you say so.”

They spent some time taking a look at the hard earned information they now had. Some were very useful for Rick’s project, which he shared privately with Liara. A massive influx of credits will allow him to hire more construction mechas to finish the bunker faster and perhaps start to build new ones. He didn’t forget to spend some time upgrading the security system as the information was truly too valuable to be in anyone else’s hands. As he was about to disconnect from the terminal a file caught his eyes, Shepard’s. While her file wasn’t interesting one bit, the ones related to her, belonging to people she knew, were.

“Liara?” he called out to his lover.
“Yes?”
“Do you think you could find something for me if you have the time?”
“Of course, what do you need?”
“Everything.” he simply answered, pointing to a single file with his index. “From birth. Do you think you could do that?”
“It would take some time.”
“That’s alright, I’m not in a rush. It’s just a crazy idea, so just go at your own pace.”

THIS CHAPTER UPLOAD FIRST AT NOVELBIN.COM