Yet another throat was quietly slit as Kasumi hacked the door to the next section. The station had seemed way less enormous on the schematics.

"On your left," Thane warned as he silenced an unsuspecting operative, the poor soul unable to react, blinded by a flashbang the assassin had perfectly thrown.

Shepard sprung in the air gracefully, landing on the left menace. They were all humans. This particular one barely had time to shoot once before his body slumped on the ground.

So far, everything had gone according to plan. Kasumi fried all systems in each compartment they passed through, locking down area after area until they could move on. Most of them went smoothly. Shepard and Kasumi had their cloaks, and discretion wasn't a problem for the drell. The station was in alert, but Tali had made sure they were undetectable. As expected, the necessity to fight varied depending on the areas, since operatives came in small groups, having no idea where to search for them.

It would be easy to get lost; the station was all metallic walls and doors, clean, aseptic. There was no real way to know where they were unless they had a map, but they thankfully did. Each compartment was composed of a long corridor and several doors, and so far, they'd only made it through the crew quarters, dormitories, a mess, the infirmary. All were thoroughly searched. No sign of John. As for the Illusive Man, Shepard was betting his ego dictated he had to be on the highest floor.

"Status report. We'll soon reach the third floor," Shepard informed in her earpiece as they made their way unnoticed through another corridor.

"Acknowledged, we've come across several groups of mercs, and are now headed to floor three as well," Garrus responded. "This place is a damn maze. Over."

"Agreed."

They took an elevator up. When the doors opened, a dozen different guns greeted them, held by an army of operatives. Unfortunately, the elevator was empty. Or so their enemies thought.

"What the fuck?" one of them shouted, perplexed.

In an instant, all of the group's omnitools overloaded, courtesy of Kasumi, shocking them for a brief moment. Thane suddenly appeared, dropping down from a trap in the ceiling and using the momentum to plant his feet directly into the first face they met. Two gunshots, two bodies down. He was precise. Shepard had not bothered hiding like he did, and simply decloaked in the middle of them, smiling with the adrenaline rush as Eris did her job, painting the austere walls in a new flashy color. It was soon over, and the trio was still unharmed. Kasumi didn't take long to put the new compartment in lockdown to prevent more ambushes, and annihilated the surveillance system. Then she turned to the pile of bodies and pouted. "Not that I especially enjoy bloodshed, but you guys could have left me some."

"Let's move, hopefully that's all the resistance we'll get for this level," Shepard dismissed, recloaking and starting to check the new area. Labs. Terminals. Machines. John had tobe there. The others split up without a word. She took the first room on the left, small in comparison to the others. Only furnished with a metallic chair in the center, empty straps hanging loose on the armrests and a terminal on the far side. The smell of antiseptic invaded her nostrils. She noticed the badly-cleaned drops of blood that stained the floor. Horrible theories flooded her brain in an instant, and a painful apprehension made her fingers shake as she reached for the terminal. Logs. She rummaged through the files until she found one labelled 'Nemesis' but hesitated. One hand clenched on the desk as the other hovered over the launch command. It was ridiculous. She had handled way worse than this before. Forcing the fear out of her system, she punched the button.

"Dr. Gavin Archer, Log 23, progress update. Biotics in check. The implant works marvels but subject needs training. Currently sedated to avoid pain from adaptation to cybernetics. No rejection, though i'm worried about the chip. But that's up to TIM."

A chip. She knew precisely what that meant. She froze in horror as chills ran down her spine.

Of all the twisted things...

There was camera footage attached. The screen displayed a dimly-lit room in which a shadowy silhouette convulsed, tied to an examination table, quality too bad to identify it, yet Shepard knew. Her knuckles grew white as her hand clenched the edge of the desk. She had to look away as the poor soul jolted in his restraints, head sprung back just enough for her not to be able to see his face. She felt nauseous. Memories of a small scared child collided mercilessly in her head with the sight of her brother spasming in pain, now so different. It seemed impossible. Yet she had no doubt. She longed to put an end to his suffering, to finally be able to embrace him and tell him how much she regretted, how much she had missed him.

"The area is clear." Thane declared behind her, making her start. "Are you alright?"

She swayed on her feet and refused to turn around; he didn't need to see how weak she felt.

"He was here. I… A fuckin' control chip!" she hissed between her clenched teeth.

There was a pause before Thane asked: "Are you certain?"

When she didn't answer, two cool hand gently braced her shoulders, but she shrugged them away and made her way past the drell to the door.

"Let's go."

"You are aware he will probably be forced to attack us." It wasn't really a question.

"I'm good at improvising."

The poor operative didn't stand a chance. He made a disgusting indistinct noise when Eris plunged in his gut, and Shepard kept walking down the corridor without bothering to end his suffering. She had pushed aside fear and let anger drive her like a ruthless machine. The others followed and when she caught glimpses of them, she noticed how often they exchanged concerned looks. She didn't care.

"On our way to the last floor, Garrus. Anything to report?" she barked in her comm, carefully stepping over a fresh corpse.

"We're two floors below, Shepard," Tali's high-pitched voice replied instead of Garrus', accompanied by the muffled sound of gunshots and static."Taking heavy fire. Garrus is wounded, Mordin is trying to patch him u- Argh!"

"Tali!" Kasumi exclaimed.

"Go get them, girl," Tali continued, apparently shouting to her drone, then to herself: "Come on you little… bosh'tet! Damn seals!"

"Shepard, she has a suit rupture... they need help!" the thief stammered.

Shepard had to think fast. She had hacking skills, but not as developed as Kasumi. They could part, but the ascension would get a lot more difficult. But as heartless as she was, she still wouldn't let half of the team die stranded two levels below.

"Then go," she ordered. "Help them. Get them out of the station. Thane, how good are you at hacking?"

"Good enough, I suppose," he replied with a hint of curiosity, arching an eyebrow at her.

"But I…" the thief began.

"I said GO! We'll finish this on our own," Shepard hammered to shut her down. There was no time.

Kasumi stared at them for a second, hesitating. Then, before any of them could react, she pulled them both in a quick hug. It didn't last long enough for Shepard to push her away, and maybe she wouldn't have.

"Be careful."

"Kasumi!" Shepard suddenly shouted despite herself. "...Don't get yourself 're fucking annoying, but… I'm starting to get used to it."

The hooded woman smiled, ran her fingers on her omnitool and disappeared. "I love you too, Shep."

Shepard allowed herself a small smile and turned toward the elevator. Both assassins got in, and started locking down the areas above and methodically taking out surveillance, though much slower than Kasumi would have been.

"This is it," Shepard commented, probably more to herself. John had to be there. Harper had to be there. She had no doubt in their ability to take him out but since it was now just the two of them, the likelihood of one or both of them dying in the process had gone up significantly. The drell was silent. He had offered her his life before, but it felt wrong.

"Last chance to turn back, Thane."

He turned to face her, offering her a small smile that somehow contrasted with his determined gaze and the low rumbling that emanated from his chest. "Not a chance, Rahna."

She tugged on his collar to pull him in searing kiss as the doors of the elevator closed on them. It was quick enough to avoid being affected by his venom, but meaningful enough to ease the turmoil within her and slow down time as they ascended.

Gunfire and flashbangs. The highest floor was the widest and most defended. Using her tactical glasses to see through the smoke, Shepard moved swiftly from target to target, using both her Stinger and Eris in a deadly frenzy. From the corner of her eye, she marveled at the efficiency of her calm shadow, Thane ending lives silently in her wake and never losing focus. Room by room they searched, room by room they cleared their path.

"Check the corridor on the left, I'll take the right."

The 'corridor' on the right wasn't really a corridor, she soon discovered. It opened on a wide area filled with terminals and screens that led to an ominous door. Bigger than the others, it had to be the place.

"Wait, Thane," she shouted, " I think I foun-"

She was cut off mid-sentence as the doors behind her closed with a hiss.

"Nice to see you again, ice-queen," a familiar voice greeted her. Even as her mind registered Jack's voice, but before she could turn around, she was hurled into the wall in a blue haze of biotics. Her back screamed in agony as she collapsed to the floor.

"Shepard!" came Thane's deep voice in her comm. "The door closed. What's your status?"

She tried to answer, but all that came out was a groan.

She tried to get back up, but another attack tossed her onto a terminal that collapsed under her weight in a symphony of buzzing noises. Her head must have hit something, leaving her dazed. Through the blur, she could barely make out Jack's lean figure in front of the exit.

"Hey, Jack," she tried weakly. "Likewise."

"I thought we were friends, Shepard," the biotic spat with disdain, "I thought you were different. But you're like everyone else. You JUST LEAVE!"

Another biotic blast interrupted Shepard's pitiful attempt to stand up as she was thrown across the room again. One of her ribs made a horrible cracking noise and a silent scream distorted her face, breathing momentarily denied.

"Listen to me," she mouthed, but no sound came out.

"Oh, don't try to bullshit me into letting you leave. No one has ever betrayed me and lived to tell."

Shepard could see Jack coming her way, and after coughing blood and finally inhaling the precious oxygen she had been missing, she managed to gasp: "It's not about you, Jack."

"Oh, shut the fuck up!" the tattooed woman seethed, engulfed in a rage of glowing blue tendrils.

This time, Shepard dodged the wave of energy Jack produced, leaping aside and unsheathing Eris. The pain in her ribs made every movement an ordeal, but she'd seen worse.

"Hurry the fuck up, Krios!" she groaned in her comm as she circumvoluted swiftly around the enraged biotic hurricane, determined to pin her down.

"Eliminating back up as we speak. Stay safe," he replied, noises from his own fight echoing in the static.

Shepard would have answered with an ironic comeback, but she was busy searching for an angle. Jack certainly had progressed since the last time they fought. And she knew everything about Shepard's fighting style. There was simply no way to get close.

Come on, think. Weaknesses.

Jack was emotionally unstable. As much as Shepard liked the little biotic, all she could do to avoid getting killed was hurt her with words. And she knew just the way.

"Hey, Subject Zero, remind me why you joined the Network?" she barked with a fake smile.

Momentarily taken aback by her loathed nickname, Jack didn't pause long enough for Shepard to attack, but her biotic halo flared wider and her face distorted with anger.

"You bitch!" she screamed as she sent another shockwave her way and missed. "You know damn well why, don't you dare try to turn me against him!"

"Ever heard of Project Nemesis?" Shepard shouted back, still running and jumping in circles, avoiding shockwaves and warp attacks from her former friend.

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

"Network experiments." Shepard continued mercilessly. "On a kid. Control chip. Cybernetics. Biotic enhancements. Remind you of anyone?"

Shepard was now at the far end of the room, near the big door that seemingly led to the head of operations.

"YOU'RE LYING!"

"No, I'm not."

Shepard suddenly noticed that she was cornered against the door. Jack had noticed, too, but her features were hesitant, an old pain making its way in her eyes.

In the back, a faint hiss. Jack didn't hear it.

The tattooed fury hesitated, all it would take was one last wave. But the seed of doubt had been planted and would cause her demise.

"I'm sorry," Shepard muttered and nodded to the shadow that had crept behind her friend.

Two gunshots.

Jack gasped as life left her body and slumped in Thane's almost-tender embrace as he lowered her to the ground and closed her eyes. He offered a silent prayer to his gods as Shepard recovered.

"Nice timing," she said weakly, turning to the door to busy herself with hacking and avoid thinking too much.

Another one. Yet another death she couldn't just ignore like she used to.

"You knew her," the drell commented softly.

"I did. Help me bypass security," she dismissed.

There was no reason to dwell on it. It was bound to happen. Everyone she ever grew close to ended up dying. Even Thane would…

"Are you alright?" he asked gently.

"Just a broken rib, I think. Don't worry. We're close. Let's get it over with," she answered aggressively.

"Shepard, Thane," a voice chimed in their earpieces. "Kasumi here, everyone is safe on the ship. You're still alive, right?"

"We're good. If you don't hear from us in two hours, consider us dead," Thane replied like it was the most natural thing ever.

"Hum… yeah, okay, be careful out there, over." Kasumi agreed hesitantly, before the static faded and the two assassins busied themselves with their omnitools again.

The door finally opened, revealing a large room with a view on Anadius' enormous sun, burning bright and blinding them with the contrast. The large space was almost completely bare of furniture, simply furnished with a long row of terminals and a chair Shepard knew only too well. A dark silhouette occupied it, his eternal halo of smoke making his shape blurry even though she would have recognized him anywhere.

"Shepard," he greeted coldly, shifting to face them. "Always so punctual."

She could barely contain the murderous rage making its way through her aching body as she finally saw those icy glowing blue eyes in person, her hand twitching in anticipation of all the horrid things her mind prompted her to inflict on her former boss.

"You're awfully calm for someone who's about to die," she snarled.

"Why shouldn't I be? Every single detail of what I had planned worked out in my favor, even you, the unpredictable factor, have proved to be easy to direct when given the right motivation."

"Motivation? Oh, I will rip your gut out of you and paint the walls with it," she fumed, barely avoiding to just do it so right now. She needed answers.

"I thought you would be pleased to meet your long-lost brother, Shepard," the Illusive Man teased. "After all, you came all this way and even removed the Shadow Broker from the equation to find this place, didn't you? He was a useful asset, but I'm afraid his loss was necessary. Finding John Shepard wasn't easy. But now, I've got you, and Azure Edge's best operatives far from Omega, so I'd say it has paid off."

"Far from Omega," Thane repeated blankly.

"Precisely, Mr. Krios. The Network is raiding Afterlife as we speak. Even if you succeed in killing me, there's a fair chance you'll have nowhere to come home to. Shepard has caused Azure's demise, just as she's going to cause yours."

Thane checked his omnitool immediately, frowning. "Our comms are out, Shepard. No way to know for sure if this is the truth."

"We'll find out soon enough," she muttered under her breath. "Before you die, Harper, tell me how you found my brother."

"Oh, you can ask him yourself," he smiled coldly, then pressed a button on his terminal. "Mrs. Lawson, would you send in our newest recruit, please? In the meantime, I have a war to win, I'll be going now."

"You're not going anywhere!"

Shepard's Stinger came to life, aimed at Harper's back as he walked away and fired three shots. However, they never reached their target. A lean shadow appeared between them, stopping the shots with a biotic field. Shepard instantly stopped shooting as the silhouette raised his head, exposing his pale face to Anadius' sun's light. Two menacing blue eyes glowed as bright as the Illusive Man's, gazing directly into her soul.

"J…" she gasped, unable to finish the word.

This reunion should have felt different. But the figure before her looked nothing like a scared child. His head was shaved, skull and face covered in scars, as if she was gazing into a broken mirror. Only his scars glowed red, contrasting with his cold eyes. His thin form disappeared in a black suit, slightly armored, and his posture was clearly hostile.

"Master?" he asked in a cool tone that reminded her of Harper's own, his omnitool glowing to life, yet another source of unnatural light to illuminate his ghastly face.

"Kill them, they won't harm you," the Illusive Man ordered with a wicked grin, before making his way to the small door in the rear of the room. He pressed a button, but nothing happened.

Thane lowered his arm, shutting off the omnitool he had been meddling with with a small contented half-smile, coaxing an angry groan from Harper. Before Shepard could compliment him on his hacking skills, John had disappeared.

"On your right!" the drell warned, his modified eyes giving him the ability to see the invisible threat.

All Shepard could do was avoid her brother's attack, as foreshadowed by her former employer. She leaped to the side, cursing under her breath as biotics flared in her direction, revealing John's position. Thane had shifted his attention to Harper, instantly knowing that Shepard wouldn't let him handle John, even with his advantage. She quickly lost sight of him, focusing on her own enemy. In the back of her mind, she wondered how John had managed to master his biotics so quickly. His attacks were not as powerful as Jack's had been, but they would be enough to pin her down if she failed to dodge them. On top of it all, her brother seemed to be a blend of several combat specialities, as she soon discovered with the combat drone that suddenly popped behind her and nearly managed to stun her.

"Listen to me!" she shouted in the midst of a backflip.

But the silent menace seemed unstoppable.

"Don't you recognize me?" Her tone was gentle, despite the efforts she made to escape her brother's attempts to end her life.

"You attacked my master, you're an enemy," came his soulless response.

It felt like talking to a mech. Or a wall. But still Shepard tried. She had no choice. She couldn't possibly harm him. She'd been searching for so long, she had been afraid of not being able to recall his face, but the exact opposite had happened. He looked at her with nothing but blank eyes, seeking her death. How much of him did the control chip effect? Was he still there, somewhere?

"Stop it, John! It's me! It's your sister! Look at me!" she blurted out shooting his drone while she ran in circles throughout the room. "Don't you remember?"

"My name is not John. My name is Nemesis. I don't have a sister."

John had not hurt her physically yet. But his words felt like a thousand knives all the same. She could feel the tears crawling slowly to her eyes, her throat tightening with the realisation that he probably wasn't there at all. He was nothing but an empty shell, designed to fight, designed to kill. He didn't bother running, simply walking in her direction, shifting when she shifted, an inevitable force that would not falter.

"I… Please remember me…" she begged, panting, weak voice wavering with sorrow. "It's me. It's Hope. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry I couldn't save mom and dad. Please John, please, remember. Remember Mindoir. We loved you."

He stopped in his tracks.

Something in his eyes had changed. A glint of life she couldn't quite describe.

"Embrace the sea."

The odd phrase made her turn around, only to see that Thane was about to do what he did best. Harper was cornered, unarmed, completely at his mercy.

John saw it too, and it was enough to kill the spark in his eyes.

In an instant, he cloaked again, rendering Shepard unable to stop him, and reappeared in front of his master, arms extended, ready to take the shot.

"Thane!" Shepard warned.

The drell didn't shoot but took a step back carefully.

"Step aside," he asked firmly.

"You will not harm him," John threatened almost robotically.

"What a good boy," the Illusive Man rewarded him, petting his shoulder like he would a dog. "I can't take all the credit for his obedience, though, after all he was already a slave when we found him."

A slave? But how did he escape the blast? How was he captured? Who? When?

A myriad of questions buzzed in Shepard's mind as she raised her gun, standing next to Thane, even though she knew threatening was useless. Her brother stood between her and her revenge and she couldn't risk hurting him.

"John, step aside," she repeated despite her weak voice and her wet eyes, anger slowly making its way through again.

"I won't," came the cold answer.

"No, he won't," Harper confirmed as he passed an arm below her brother's throat to get him closer, a human shield. "He couldn't, even if he wanted to. We did a marvelous job with the chip, I'm afraid. Now, open the door, drell. I've got a shuttle to catch, and a war to win."

Thane gave Shepard a rapid glance, and when she nodded with a defeated sigh, he unlocked the door.

There was one last thing to try. She took Eris out, raised her in the air so John could admire her.

"Don't you remember, little J?" she exhorted faintly, desperately turning the dagger in her hands as a single tear rolled down her cheek. She had to bite her lip to keep the others from following.

Something changed. John marveled at the weapon with curiosity, frowning with concentration as he tried to remember. But the Illusive Man was forcing him to move back, pulling him towards the unlocked door.

"Let's go, boy."

What Harper didn't notice was the small glow of biotics that had appeared in John's hand as he furrowed his brows and narrowed his eyes at Eris. Finally, his eyes widened, and something switched again in his gaze.

"Hope…" he whispered, staring at her like he would at a ghost.

"What?" Harper blurted out.

Biotics flared. There was a loud grunt before the Illusive Man's back made contact with the window, and slumped on the floor. He spit blood and growled, a pathetic mess of limbs on the floor. He was about to say something, but Shepard didn't let him. In a split-second she was on him, Eris ready and John finally out of the way.

"Isn't it ironic, Harper? You spent you whole life thinking aliens were the threat, only to be killed by a human," she grinned.

His eyes widened in fear as she raised the dagger above him. It was the most delightful thing she'd ever seen. The sweet sight of her most loathed enemy, writhing in pure dread beneath her coaxed a maniacal grin out of her.

A gurgling sound.

The muffled thumps of a blade entering flesh mercilessly, several times.

It all happened in a blur.

It was not a clean kill. It was not professional. Frantic joy surged through her as she finally took his life away as she had promised, eyes unblinking and whole body shaking with the realisation. She only stopped the stabbing when a cool hand settled on her shoulder to get her to calm down.

"Rahna. He's dead," came the calm observation of the drell.

She stopped abruptly, realizing that John had probably witnessed the whole scene and her joy faded as fast as it had appeared.

The young man had retreated to a corner of the room, his head in his hands, clawing at his skill and sobbing quietly. His body was pressed against the wall, shaking hard. She caught the sound of a quiet whimper. He was suddenly a scared child locked into the body of a robotic killing machine.

"I will send a message to the Normandy," Thane declared and walked away to leave them some space. She offered him a small thankful nod and swallowed hard.

"Hey now," she murmured apologetically as she reached her brother.

He shrank even more into his corner, refusing to look her in the eyes. The fact that she was covered in blood probably didn't help.

"You're gonna come with us, you'll be safe. I won't let anyone hurt you, I won't let anything happen to you ever again, okay? I'm sorry you had to witness this, little J," she whispered in the most reassuring tone she could muster, even though her voice faltered despite herself.

The scars on his skull glowed an eerie red under the sun's light. He wouldn't look at her, still sobbing and shaking. She felt her heart clench painfully.

"I searched for you... I-"

She was cut off mid-sentence when he threw himself in her arms, clutching at her like his life depended on it. She was stunned for a second, face contorting in surprise, before she embraced him back tightly, tenderly caressing his head as she had dreamed of so many times before. It felt surreal. Yet, the irregular texture of his scars, the quiet grief that made him tremble, they were very real. Her own tears finally came out as she rocked back and forth slowly, soothing his fears with the calm regularity of her movements.

"Shepard, I contacted the Normandy, they'll pick us up shortly," Thane informed.

"...Shepard?" Came the small voice of John against her shoulder.

He had frozen. Something was wrong.

As she tried to understand his confusion, it all happened too quickly for her to react. She felt Eris being slid out of her sheath. The cold blade entered her stomach so fast she couldn't fight it.

Excruciating pain, burning, clouding her mind and blurring her vision.

John hugged her tight, his grip way stronger than it should be, holding her agonizing body as he twisted the monomolecular metal in her gut without hesitating.

The last thing she saw was her brother's glowing blue eyes, devoid of any expression, merciless and cold.

Author's note: Thanks to Askeebe (Moments in between, Never let me go etc.) for English proof and beta reading.

Come chat with me on tumblr if you have questions : labucheronne