Location: Cerberus carrier shuttle—En-route to Albatross.

Miranda nudged the deactivated geth from her shuttle's plank as she stepped back onto Citadel ground. "I've set the pirate ship's coordinates directly beneath Sovereign, his armor should shield the rest of the fleet. We're heading back to the Albatross."

Cheers sounded from the other end but she disconnected before they could extend congratulations. The mission would not be a success until Shepard dealt with that reaper. She had what she needed. It was his show now.

As her small shuttle crew greeted her, she gave them curt nods and only allowed a sigh of relief when they left the docking bay behind. From her window she could see the battle of the Citadel rage on as thousands of Alliance ships converged on the single reaper. It didn't stand a chance as humanity dealt its first real blow. The Pirate ship detonated, weakening the reaper to a score of ordinance.

But the sense of pride abated when they entered straight and level flight. Hope Lilium strode up to her, smiling in victory. "We recovered his body, ma'am. It's in the cargo bay."

"Very good. I'll see to it in a moment." She didn't want to go into their cargo bay but knew it couldn't be helped. Unlocking her seatbelt Miranda made her way to the back of the shuttle, ignoring the eager eyes watching her proudly. She needed confirmation or it would haunt her forever.

A steel gurney held a body bag. She unzipped it and came face-to-face with Armistan Banes, his youthful features and bleach blonde hair frozen for all eternity by her hand. He looked so peaceful in his death, not a trace of the black corruption that lined his features. This monster, scientist and her good friend was now just another failed experiment for Cerberus to poke and prod in.

So be it.

She zipped the bag up and left the storage area with full composure, even as her nails dug into her clenched palm.

o~O~o

Location: Unauthorized docking station—Omega

"Sam!" Liam called her away from where she talked in hushed tones with Vega and Ellie.

"Commander?" The young technician looked way out of her depth in the harsh twilight of Omega. The pit-hole at the end of the galaxy was the last place for someone as gifted as her, and yet he was selfishly glad she was there. If she didn't block the comms and jammers back on the ship, they would have been gunned down in the docking bay.

"I'll take all the information you decrypted from Elena's files," he explained, watching his new surroundings suspiciously. His mind counted hours since the battle of the Citadel, but it had been three days worth of travel for them. Most of which felt like a blur.

Sam suddenly resembled the kid who lost her dog as she tapped her omni-tool. "Actually...I've been meaning to tell you. The files corrupted themselves. We think it was done remotely but I couldn't trace the source before we left..."

Liam felt his eyes bulge. They spent months looking for Major Flores and even longer trying to decrypt her notes. All they had was a glossary of reaper devices but nothing meaty like actual experimental trials. "So we have nothing?"

Her shoulders drooped and Liam felt like a jerk. "I'm sorry, Commander."

"No, I am," Liam replied, folding his hands behind his back and almost bowing his head shamefully. "If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be in this mess."

"I made my decision, Sir," Traynor said resolutely.

"I'm making mine," Shepard said as he strode towards the others with Traynor in tow. "I appreciate the help but you all have to go back."

Vega chuckled. "Did I hit you too hard? We're all fugitives now, Loco, there's no sense going back."

"You can't stay on Omega. It's not safe." Liam argued.

"It's not safe on the ship either, I mean whatever got to Dana..." Ellie trailed off, watching him carefully. Liam cringed at her name, it hurt too much to think of what happened and Ellie sensed that as she changed tactics. "Look, Shepard we can't leave you here and we can't go back."

"I feel shitty about it too, Loco. But it's for the best," Vega tried to console.

Liam smiled and bumped his friend's shoulder. "Yeah, you're right."

Vega barely had time to register the change in attitude before one swift right hook from Liam took him out of commission.

The girls jumped in surprise but Liam caught his friend and kept his limp body upright. "The Marines are all he knows," Liam explained, looking Ellie straight in her surprised eyes. "Tell them it was my fault, you were all just following my orders."

"But what about you?" Traynor interjected.

"I'm going to destroy Cerberus," Liam vowed, "then I'll hand myself in."

"And what, everything is fine and dandy after that?" Ellie challenged, as she looked Vega over. "You did nothing wrong."

"Don't!" Liam snapped, knowing there was only one person to blame. "I pulled that trigger. I'll face the consequences."

"Alright, no need to get snippy," Ellie chided as she and Traynor took Vega by the arms and started hauling him inside the shuttle. "I'll drop them off and come back to support you."

"I'm doing this alone, Ellie." He crossed his arms and felt his demeanor darken.

"You're not." She held up a hand to stave off any protests, then as Traynor was busy strapping Vega in, she came closer and sighed. "My stupid brother has sided with the bastards. You help me find him, you get Cerberus."

She had a good point. No doubt the Alliance Brass would have even more questions for her if they found out about Kenneth. Liam reached into his pocket and handed her three remote detonators, they were special in the fact that they stuck to anything. Armor, skin, concrete, they dug deep and could cause a lot of damage if placed in the right spot. "Show them these," Liam instructed as Ellie turned them over in her palm. "Say I coerced you guys into following me and let you go when I escaped."

"Commander..." Sam whispered, watching the tech Ellie held.

"Please...do this for me," Liam begged, glancing between them. "I promise if I find Kenneth, you'll be the first to know. But I can't let you get mixed up in this. Either of you."

Ellie sighed in frustration but didn't protest. "Goddammit, Liam. You're impossible."

"I try," he replied, stepping in to help them get Vega aboard. When the Marine was secured back in his seat, Liam received parting hugs from both of them as well as strict orders to not get killed.

Minutes later, Liam watched the Alliance shuttle engage FTL and disappear into space from the relative safety of Omega's makeshift port.

"Are you okay?" Sasha asked. His eyes found hers on the omni-tool screen. The light tone of her voice matched the inquisitive droop in her brow. Her concern was welcome but felt...foreign.

"Yep," Liam replied, massaging his bruised cheek. He knew he looked like a mess, but this wasn't a pity call. "Are you and Michael okay?"

"We're at Dillon's. The Battle of the Citadel is what they're calling it, it's being broadcast galaxy-wide," Sasha explained, though they both knew he wasn't really listening. "Dad is going to go on about how he sat it out, for the rest of his life."

"Yep," Liam said mechanically.

"Li...what happened?" she prompted. There it was, the question he had become accustomed to ignoring and which she never stopped asking. Suddenly it felt like the old days, before the frustration boiled over and verbal arguments passed for calls. "They're saying someone shot your Captain but they can't find a body."

The image of Dana persisted in his mind's eye, unable to let him go. "I should go. Talk to you later, Sash."

He hung up before she could recover and tossed his omni-tool into the toxic waste disposal stream that ran below Omega's docks.

o~O~o

Location: Caesar's pub—Rio de Janeiro

Rio reminded her of Omega, a place where honest folks mingled with trigger happy criminals during a soccer broadcast. But what started as a celebratory night of the Olympic opening ceremonies was interrupted with breaking news from the galactic empire.

"Cerberus Officials have come forward and documented their heroic role in the battle of the Citadel...behind me you are seeing footage of a peace treaty between the once hunted splinter group and the Alliance."

The locals boo'd and jeered, but Elena found herself listening to the GNN reporter with one ear.

Live footage of the Citadel being bombarded by an Alliance fleet took over the vid screen, but nobody seemed to care. She shook her head, Earth's attitude towards galactic affairs needed to change if they were to have any hope against the reapers.

"They won," Mark whispered to her ear, as they claimed a bar counter for themselves. "I guess there's hope for the Alliance after all."

"Um-hmm." Elena thumbed the scrubber in her palm, it was no bigger than an ancient memory stick but was ten times more powerful in its application. The little device could wipe a supercomputer in another system.

Mark took a swig from the beer he was nursing and nodded to the scrubber. "You regret using that thing?"

Elena shook her head. Having depressed it earlier she swore there would be no regrets, destroying all of her data, even the backup Matrix she had left for Dana was the right thing to do. She met his gaze with a wane smile. "I think what they don't know can't hurt them."

Mark shrugged. "If they're working together, maybe we can try to reach them again? I mean it doesn't matter if they know about the Hammerhead, Cerberus has a prototype no matter what I do. But your research could give them an edge against these things."

"My research will only encourage them to control the reapers and use them as a weapon." Elena glanced back to the screen that displayed the battle while running the Cerberus defection in the banner section. "They know who their enemy is now. They'll destroy them in time."

"So this is mission accomplished?"

"What do you think?" She challenged playfully.

His lip twitched into a smile as he leaned in for a kiss. A few patrons cheered and whistled. Elena felt herself blush but didn't care. They fought long and hard to get here, the rest was on Dana.

The End

A/N: Special thanks goes out to The Outlander. Without your diligence, patience and understanding this story wouldn't make half as much sense. Thank you for being the best beta I could ever ask for.

Thank you all for reading! I know it was a long walk to the end but here we are. Your reviews were inspiring and extremely helpful, thank you so much for never giving up on me. You may have noticed that this story leaves a few loose ends, those will be addressed in the sequel. I can't wait to start posting the second part of Liam's adventures but this time I will wait until everything is finished before posting a single chapter. I welcome all of your comments and feedback!