Chapter XIX - The Art Of Deception

Not often have I found myself waking up in a bed that isn't mine. But as I have learned, thanks to many experiences during my younger days, alcohol performs incredible feats - rarely in a positive way.

Ryla is lying close to me on the left side of the bed. One hand is covering the eyes, the other is holding the blanket tight to conceal her naked body. Despite the embarrassment, she has a rather noticeable grin on her face. "And the worst part is that I can't even remember who won the bet," she says. I chuckle, getting up and getting myself dressed. "Could've been worse," I add, "we could've puked all over the place.".

"Still not sure we didn't, actually," she says as she starts putting her clothes on. "By the way," she adds, "you were pretty good yesterday. Might just call you again if I need you.".

"Works for me. Just... no more Ryncol, yeah?". She chuckles, "I was talking about the heist, but sure, works for me too," she winks, "Maybe some wine?". We laugh. "But honestly, you handled yourself well during that fight. I should keep you in mind if I ever need help."

"Right. I'm afraid this one was a one-off. I'm not one for heists."

"Yeah, I know. I'll be sure to call you if it helps the war effort," Ryla says, "which reminds me, I gotta leave the Citadel for another job. Not to be rude or anything, but we should leave."


As I'm about to open the door to my house, I hesitate for a second, dreading Elia's response to my absence. I wasn't there when she woke up yesterday, and I've been away all day long. Part of me starts to entertain the thought of spending the rest of my life on the run to avoid my sister's wrath, but I fear there are no places where I could hide. The door slides open. "Derek Neri Ezail," she says, with a tone not unlike our mother's when I came home drunk in my youth, "you've got some explaining to do."

"Don't I know that," I say, walking to the kitchen counter to pour myself a glass of water, past the table she and Kara are sitting at, "Well, are you going to believe me if I told you I went to the range, met someone, hit it off and went on a date?"

"Hmm. Plausible," Elia says sarcastically, standing up from the chair and opening an extranet news article on her omnitool, "but what about 'Cerberus warehouse on the Citadel raided: multiple weapon cargos handed to the war effort by unknown squad of militants?' Is that a good recap of what you did yesterday?"

"How the hell do you know that?" I say, scared that our cover was somehow blown. Elia's face turns white for a second, her expression dead serious. After a few moments of silence, she bursts out laughing. "You dick, you almost got me," she says, playfully hitting my shoulder, then sitting back down, "so, how was the date?".

"Blurry. There was a lot of Ryncol involved," I say, grabbing some breakfast and sitting down with them. "Well, you didn't come back last night," Kara says, "I assume it went well?".

"Yeah, I guess. Look, there's something I have to ask both of you.". Elia grabs her mug, "Sure, go ahead," she says before taking a sip from it. "You two ever thought about adopting?". Elia almost spits out her coffee, Kara just gives me a funny look. Before they ask any questions, I explain myself, "See, we rescued this girl on our last mission. For now, she's been sleeping on the ship, but they're departing tonight, and she needs a new place to stay. And you know that I'm not even going to consider giving her to an orphanage. It's supposed to be a temporary solution."

"Well, I would've suggested she stayed here if you'd have led with that," Elia says, "It's fine by me."

"Great. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go rest a bit. My head is killing me," I say as I stand up and start making my way to my room. I know what awaits me once I close my eyes, but I've been depriving myself of sleep so much these past few days that it feels like I'm always seconds away from dropping on the floor. It's still not worth living a new nightmare, but I don't have much choice this time around.

...

The following day...

...

I grab a thermal clip by the dead soldier on the ground and load it into my gun. I look up to see the large room refugees usually stay in. It's empty, which isn't surprising given the situation; they probably ran as soon as they heard gunshots.

T'Scoris is looking through her sniper rifle's scope to check if any more Cerberus snipers are waiting to ambush us, but she finds none. We get out of cover and slowly move down the steps, not to alert any hostiles on the ground, still unaware of our presence.

After just a little bit, we all halt at the sight of a civilian. She is slowly peeking out of her hiding spot to see if any troopers are nearby; and steps out when she sees none. She looks back towards where she hid and utters a few words, which I do not pick up from this distance. "Derek?" I hear calling from beside me. Jonas hands me his rifle and tells me to look down the sights, "You're not going to like this.". I do as he says, and the zoom allows me to recognize the refugee: Elia.

I don't know what gets into me: I start running towards her, shouting her name. I hear Jonas scream for me to get back to the team, but it's too late. I'm about halfway to her when she finally notices me. She starts running towards me as well. We get near each other and are almost able to throw ourselves into each other's arms. That's when I hear the blast.

A shot goes through my barriers, armor, and chest as I feel a sharp pain. I start bleeding profusely and turn towards Elia: the bullet went through her and hit me. She's dead.

But the second shot doesn't kill me; in fact, it never fires. Because for the first time, this nightmare isn't a new one. Elia being killed by a Cerberus sniper on the Citadel... I dreamt the same thing a couple of nights after our mission on Sur'Kesh.

...

As always, I cannot avoid being startled when I wake up, but no scream comes out of my mouth. Partly because I knew what was going on this time. Still, it does not prevent fear and confusion from creeping into my mind, even more than usual. I've had dozens of similar nightmares, but never the same one twice. Does this mean anything? Am I close to witnessing it in my wake? Or is my brain just starting to lack creativity in the ways it tortures me?

The notes of a soft, passionate melody gently sneak their way into my bedroom, muffled by the walls. It's a sound I easily recognize yet find myself surprised hearing: my piano. As far as I know, Kara doesn't play, and the only thing Elia could perform is Für Elise, at best. What that leaves me with is Iris, who I didn't know could play. She was just like a fish out of water when she got here yesterday, so I'm not surprised she wasn't in the mood to play. I'd say it's a good sign if she is now.

As soon as the door opens, the melody becomes clearer. I don't know the name of it, but I think it's a piece from an asari composer, arranged to be played on piano. Without taking her hands off the keys, she turns towards me and smiles, "Sorry... didn't mean to wake you up.".

"Don't apologize. It's much better than the wake-up calls I'm used to," I say, smiling back at her, "I didn't know you could play.". She shifts her glance back to the keyboard, "My foster parents had one in their house, could still be there as far as I know. It felt like I was their daughter only when I played. They weren't bad, but they seriously lacked commitment."

"I hear you," I reply while analyzing her way of playing, highlighting some similarities between mine and hers: no sheet music, all by memory, a keen eye can tell that she's self-taught for the most part. The melody is also reminiscent of some of my personal favorites, albeit by a non-human composer. "Which one of you plays?" she asks when she finishes playing. I raise my hand in response. "Great," she says, "we've got ourselves a duel one of these days.".

I chuckle as I open my omnitool to check the time. I was already doubtful I'd fall asleep at all, much less that I'd be able to sleep for so long: 6 PM. A quick look at the notifications bar reveals some unread messages from Taria asking me to go to Huerta Memorial, sent just a few minutes ago. Seeing as they are from Taria herself and not from an unknown user, I assume it is not related to the heist. Since I didn't catch a glimpse of my sister and her girlfriend since I woke up, I instruct Iris to tell them I left to check on a friend at the hospital when they come back. I grab my jacket and leave.


Taria greets me with a nod, signing the last few sheets of paperwork for her discharge. "Perfect timing, Derek.". She says, "come on, Desmond's getting discharged too.". I stop her as she starts walking, "I thought he was supposed to stay longer.".

"Well, he was. But you know how doctors are, picking the slow way, then the quick one... they probably changed their mind after they saw he's fine.". What she says is followed by a few instants of silence. "You hacked the discharge reports, didn't you?". She leans in and whispers, "They are so easy to get access to... how could I resist?". I shake my head, "Look, they were going to let him go in two days, anyway," she says, "I just sped up the process so the three of us could have a celebratory dinner at Apollo's.".

"And what are we celebrating, exactly? The heist?" I ask, whispering as she did. "Nah, he wasn't a part of it," she says. She leans in even closer and lowers her tone of voice further, "The news isn't official yet, but Echo 7 came back from Tuchanka with no casualties. It means the effort to cure the genophage paid off. That's what we're celebrating.". She starts walking towards the aisle Caryll's room is in. "So," she says at a regular volume of voice, "how did your date with Ryla go?". I look at her, annoyed, "Hacked your way into my private affairs again?".

"Took a guess, actually," she replies, stopping in front of a door and knocking. Caryll tells us to come in and greets us, busy signing his own paperwork. "Guess I owe you a favor, Taria," he chuckles, "couldn't have lasted another day in this place.".

"Trust me, you don't want to be in her debt," I say, "her favors can get... interesting.". Caryll smiles, "You mean the heist? I'm a bit mad I wasn't a part of that, actually.". I look at Taria, who shrugs, "Well, he doesn't look like a snitch to me.".

I sigh, "Let's just go get dinner.".

...

"The first rumors aired this morning on several unofficial sources, sparking a plethora of reactions on the Citadel: those who wished them to be real, and those who hoped for the opposite," the reporter on the holovid says. Never before has the Presidium been this quiet, the bustle and chatter of people going about their business vanished the instant someone at Apollo's yelled out, "News from Tuchanka!". The haste and religious-like silence with which they answered the summon is unlike anything I've ever seen on this station. Only a handful of lucky people were already seated at a table when the report began; the rest is standing, packed so dense that, was one of them to pass out, they wouldn't even hit the ground.

But that's not what I find most interesting, however. As the reporter did say, the reaction to this kind of news is varied. But not random. Those terrified by what words will be spoken soon have their faces decorated by colorful shades of makeup, their bodies dressed in clean, stylish clothes. Then there are those with an expression of hope on their face, worn just as proudly as their fatigues. Those are the ones who have witnessed what is going on with their own eyes. "But now, those rumors have been officially confirmed," the reporter says, "the Genophage has indeed been cured.". That's when the anticipation on everyone's mind erupts into a choir of euphoria. When the cheering dies down, an asari stands up from one of the tables, "By the goddess, what are you grunts cheering about? Can your weak little minds even fathom the devastation those brutes wrought during the Rebellions? Oh, of course, you did not study nor witness it.".

There is once again silence. Not because what the asari said was deep or meaningful, but because everyone deemed it better to save their breath. Everyone except Caryll, of course. A few seconds after, he bursts out laughing. "Aye, you're bleedin' right, birdie, we wasn't there to see it," He shouts out in an unfiltered British accent, still laughing, "but we was there to see the Reapers blow us outta the water. Can your weak little mind fathom how much we're gettin' our arses kicked out there?"

"Unsurprisingly shortsighted. Can you not comprehend that they are bound to rebel again after the Reapers are defeated," the asari says, flustered. "I comprehend that if it does happen, it'll be a bloody blessing. Means we'll have actually defeated the cuttlefish-looking-cunts.". The 'grunts' give Caryll a round of cheering and applause, driving the indignant lady to leave. Taria's mask is incapable of hiding her laughter, whereas I put up a worthless attempt to fight back mine, not wanting to give Caryll this kind of victory. He takes an ironic bow towards those who cheered for him, then sits back down with us, "Ah, that felt good. So, we hitting Purgatory?"

"Why the hell not?" Taria says, "After all, we got a batch of good news to celebrate.".

...

"Tequila Old-Fashioned, top it up with beer and sprinkle in some chili," I tell the turian bartender, almost shouting - it's the only way to be heard over the music, "And, uh, scotch with a splash of water for the brit.".

"For the who?" the bartender asks, confused. "Right, lost in translation," I say, pointing at Caryll, who's busy trying to hit on an asari chick. "I'll have whatever you have that won't poison me," Taria says. The bartender nods swiftly, then turns to get the ingredients. Taria and I turn towards Caryll, who's giving us his back while talking to the girl. "Think he got it?" she says without looking away from the spectacle. I can feel my bones tremble at every beat of the song, so, unsurprisingly, I can't hear a single word of his conversation. "With an asari?" I answer, "No way.". She grunts, "I don't know. Bosh'tet's got charm. I think he could make it.".

"Buy my drink if you're wrong?" I chuckle. "Yeah, sure. Challenge accept...". Before she can even finish her sentence, the asari stands up from the barstool and walks away. Shortly after, Caryll does the same, but towards us, his usual dumb grin over a somewhat defeated expression. "What's the matter with the bird," I tease him, "she fly away?".

"Fuck off," he says, grabbing the drink the bartender just put on the counter. "Fink it frough next toime, bruv," I tell him in a voluntarily butchered British accent. He gives me an appalled look while taking a sip of his scotch and water. "Ah, just messing with you, Des.". He smirks and shakes his head, "Yeah, well, you know how asari are. I should've... wait, what did you call me?"

"Uhh, Des?". He chuckles and looks up for a second, "Oh, finally. Was getting bored being called Caryll all the damn time.". I let out a short laugh and take a sip from my drink. As soon as the liquid flows past my lips, the subtle bitterness of the beer invades my mouth, followed by a hint of the stronger liquor. Then, my taste buds are flooded with the spice from the chili. Instinctively, I hiss slightly, trying to smother the fire with the little gust of air. Desmond smiles and, apparently intrigued by what I'm having, asks the bartender for one of the same.

"Aw, look at you two..." a voice says from behind me - a familiar voice, even though something feels off with it. I turn around to see Rachel walkint to and sitting down on the free stool beside me, resting her left arm on the bar and slightly leaning on it, a half-finished drink in her right hand. "Too bad we're not going to see this little bromance evolve in the battlefield, now that Derek's been kicked out.". Until now, I've always heard her "masking" her slight Scottish accent in favor of a more generic one. And that's what feels off - it almost seems like something is fighting off that effort to hide it. Even from a meter away, I can smell a hint of alcohol in her breath. It's got to be that mysterious force.

I chuckle dryly, "It was only a matter of time before someone told you.". Rachel's smiling as she looks at me, though it's not hard to tell that there's some bitterness behind it. "Reed had already told ya about it when we spoke in the mess hall, hadn't he?". I could lie. I could lie so easily about it, and she'd probably even fall for it. And yet, for some reason, I look down and nod, wearing guilt on my face. "And why the hell didn't you tell me, then?". I sigh, "Rachel, I..."

"Whatever, forget it," she says, downing the remaining half of her drink in one sip. "Oi, barman. Whiskey on the rocks. Stat," she shouts, prompting Desmond to slowly stand up from his stool and walk to her. "Scratch that, mate," he tells the guy, "think she's had enough.". The turian nods and turns to other customers. Desmond leans towards Rachel and starts whispering to her. Taria, who had been silent during the entirety of our conversation, swiftly taps on my shoulder and asks me what happened. "She's upset 'cause I didn't tell her I got kicked out. Plus she's shitfaced, which surely can't help," I whisper back, before turning back to Rachel and Desmond, who seem to have come to an end in their private conversation. "Right. I'm callin' it a night. Taking Rachel home," Desmond says, "Derek? Care to help?".

"Don't think that's a good idea, Des," I tell him. He gets close and whispers, "She's not mad at you, Derek. Trust me.". I nod reluctantly and help him walk Rachel to the club's exit.

Desmond sits Rachel down on a bench next to the cab terminal. Rachel looks annoyed rather than angry. "Couldn't you let me have one more before haulin' my ass out here?". What astonishes me is the lack of a follow-up from Desmond. No wisecrack; no smart one-liner. Not a one - just a look full of disappointment, but mostly... mostly full of helplessness - something I'd never seen on Desmond's face. I've known him for just a short time, but I know he's the kind of person to headbutt a krogan to death if he set his mind on it. And yet, with that look, he just gives up.

The same look I recognize later when we reach Rachel's apartment. This time, it's Julia wearing it upon seeing her sister in such a state. There is just no surprise whatsoever in their eyes... like part of them already knew this would occur. Julia invites the two of us in and asks us to sit on the living room couch while she accompanies Rachel to the other room. Once we're alone, I turn toward Desmond, "What did you mean back there at the bar? Why did you say she's not mad at me?"

"'Cause I know her," He says, "Have been serving with her for years now, been her friend since day one.". I look down for an instant, then back at him, "Yeah, noticed you two are good friends. Or... is it more than that?". He chuckles slightly, "Definitely not.". I smirk, trying to veer the conversation towards a more lighthearted direction, "Dunno, I think you'd make a nice couple."

"Well, I say we wouldn't," he says, "Know that for a fact.". I look at him, curious, "You did get together?". He nods, his gaze pointed beside me, staring at nothing, "Yep. Few years back. Always been good friends, so we decided to give it a shot.". "And how'd it go?"

"Things were good, way too good. Then we both realized that nothing had changed between us - we were still the same pair of best friends, only difference being we were kissing now. So eventually we decided to leave it at friends. Wasn't going to risk what we had.".

I nod in response, not really knowing what to tell him. "Bottom line is, trust me when I tell you Rach isn't mad at you. You're not the cause of this.".

"Then what is?" I ask him.

"We all have our ways to cope with stress, hers has always been, well... this.". Desmond sighs, then resumes speaking, "She got out of it almost a year ago, was clean for months. Then... then this whole mess of a war started, stress is the least of our worries and... evidently she's fallen back into it.".

Before I can express anything, Julia walks into the living room and sits down on an armchair. "Thanks for taking her home, guys.". I smile at her slightly, "Happy to help.".

"And, uh... never really got to thank you for that other thing, Derek," she says, "For Anhur. You promised me she'd come back safe and sound, and she did.". I remember the conversation. She told me that "no fancy N7 tricks might save me from her reprisal had anything happened to Rachel".

"It's alright, don't worry. Just... no threats next time, ok?" I say jokingly. "Yeah, well... I was worried about her.". I chuckle, "Trust me, I know that all too well. Got a sister, too. I can understand why you weren't excited at the thought of Rachel's life being in the hands of the guy who dropped a building on her.". She laughs, "Yeah, well, that wasn't exactly an N7-worthy move.".

"So, how'd things go on Tuchanka? Everyone make it out in one piece?" I ask. "Could've gone better, honestly... Cerberus was there.". Cerberus? Something doesn't add up. "They knew about the attempt at curing the Genophage?" Desmond asks her.

"Apparently not. They were only at our location. The main force didn't meet any sort of resistance from them. Just Reapers.". Echo 7's mission was to distract Reaper ground forces while the Genophage was cured. "If they had intel on our plans, why would they attack the decoy team?".

"No idea. What's even weirder is that we all got outta there alive, albeit scratched.".

"Nah," a voice from the other room says, "weirdest thing was that Cerberus chick.". We turn towards the noise and see Rachel leaning on the bedroom door's frame. "I mean, they were throwin mass effect fields, shootin' bullets... and one of them had a fucking bow! A bow and a bunch of arrows! Why would anyone use a bow over a rifle?".

"Well, a good bow could shoot an arrow fast enough to pierce armor, but..." I stop all of a sudden, as a paralyzing chill courses through my spine. "... but slow enough to bypass barriers.". That's what I say after a few seconds of silence, my muscles deadened. "Everything alright, Derek?" Desmond asks me. I rapidly put on a fake smile, "Yeah, yeah, of course.".

What I told Rachel... it's the exact same response I received when I asked Ryla that very question...

Ryla...

Shit...

"Well, It's getting late, isn't it?" I say, pretending everything is fine, "I can handle Reapers, but a pissed off little sister? Yeah, that's something I gotta watch out for.". I make my way to the door with false calm, even though you could probably tell something was off from a mile away.

"Derek?" Julia says once I've reached the door, "For once, I don't care what the captain says - you're alright in my books.". I smile at her. Perfect timing, I think, seeing how bad I fucked up. I open the door and close it slowly. After that, I start running.

I swiftly tap on my omnitool and call Taria. She hangs up and, immediately after, my omnitool rings - Unknown Caller ID. "Is something wrong? Or you just can't get enough of hanging with me?". I take a turn into what I think is a less populated street. "The hideout where you briefed us for the heist. Meet me there, stat.". She can hear the shortness of breath in my voice; her tone turns serious, "Keelah, what's going on?".

"Just be there. Got one hell of a problem on our hands," I say just before I end the call.


"Who's the best hacker out there?" Taria's voice says from behind the door to the hideout. Same question she asked when trying to prove it was me contacting her the first time around. "Definitely not you," I reply immediately. The door slides open. "Well, that hurts my feelings," she says, grabbing me by the shirt and pulling me in before shutting the door closed. "Now, what the hell is the matter?"

"Ryla. Why'd you pick her for the heist?" I say, catching my breath, bent over with my hands on my knees. "Worked with her a couple of times. Never let me down.". I look up at her, "You run a background check on her?". She shrugs, "First time I recruited her, sure. All clean.".

"And how thorough was it, exactly?". She chuckles, "You kidding? Alliance personnel records, criminal record, every ID she ever used... even N7 databases - wasn't gonna trust a dishonorable discharge just like that.".

I get back up, "What about Cerberus databases?".

"Keelah, Derek... even I'm not that paranoid." She says, snickering. But her amusement is short-lived: she soon realizes what I'm saying must be based on some sort of information - information she didn't have.

"Fuck. This isn't paranoia, is it?". I shake my head.

She dashes to a pile of crates in the corner of the room closest to us, picks one up, opens it, and starts rummaging in it. "There you are, you little bosh'tet.". She pulls out a small device, which she then jacks into the terminal on the holo in the middle of the room. She then takes another box and opens it. Inside are several little shards with the Cerberus insignia on both sides. When she switches the terminal on, the device she connected starts beeping rapidly, stopping once she slots in one of the shards. "What's going on?" I ask.

"Cerberus authentification device," she says, without gazing away from the terminal, "Agents use it to access the Cerberus network from any terminal in the galaxy. Needs one of these single-use drives to verify. These ones are all top-level access.". Once the system recognizes her as a Cerberus operative, she takes out the shard and throws it away. "Why the hell didn't you do that already if it's that easy?".

"First of all, I had no reason to go look for her file in Cerberus databases. Second, Cerberus was much less of a nuisance to the galaxy when we started working together.". She says, almost angrily. Though it feels like her anger and excuses are aimed at herself more than they are at me. Like she was telling herself that it's not her fault she got played.

She lets out a sigh of relief, "No mention of her name.". I look at the terminal too, "You sure? Could've used a fake one.". She looks at me and shakes her head, "No. Ryla Kessir's her real name. She's had many aliases, and I checked every one of them. No matches.".

She sits down on a shabby sofa placed against the wall and takes a deep breath. "Why all the fuss, Derek?". I sit down beside her, "The team ran into a Cerberus team on Tuchanka. One of them was using a bow and arrow.".

"Can't believe I'm the one saying it, but it might've been a coincidence," she says, "Plus, Ryla didn't know about Tuchanka.". I shake my head and chuckle, "She did, actually. Drunk Derek never could keep his mouth shut.". Oh, how many fist fights I accidentally started this way back in the day. Good times. Taria stands up and walks to the terminal to shut it down, stopping for a second to look at a symbol displayed in the bottom right corner. I look at it too: it's a stylized drawing of a mountain surrounded by a greek olive wreath. "I feel like I've seen that symbol before," she utters.

She walks back to the box of shards - calmly, this time. She carefully goes through them one by one until she finds what she's looking for. It's identical to the other shards, except this one has the Cerberus logo only on one side: the other one bears the same symbol seen on the terminal. "Found it on Sur'Kesh, on our first mission," she says, "thought it was just another drive.". Slotting it in starts another authentification process. When it's done, we find ourselves in a different network - one dedicated entirely to a so-called Olympus Cell. "Olympus... that's new," she whispers to herself as she starts going through the files, "looks like some kind of black ops division of Cerberus.".

"I thought everything Cerberus did was a black op," I whisper back. Taria turns on her omnitool and fiddles with it for a bit. I can tell she's trying to hack into some other network. She's doing it with complete nonchalance like it's some kind of stupid game, something she can do with her eyes closed. Realizing she just broke into Alliance databases feels like a punch in the gut. "No mention of any intel on this Olympus Cell," she says, "This looks like one hell of a catch, Derek.". She takes a deep breath, "Just out of curiosity...". She enters some of Ryla's aliases without getting any matches back. "Right, should be in the clear," she chuckles, "Doubt they'd be so stupid as to actually use her real name.". Despite the assertion, she looks for matches with her real name. The terminal takes a few seconds to navigate through the information...

... stand by...

... 1 Match Found: Agent Dossier - Artemis.

When we looked for references on the first Cerberus network and found nothing, I genuinely thought all this was just a big coincidence. That I was stressing out for no reason, and that there was no danger. Should've guessed it was too good to be true, and I only realize it once we open the dossier and confirm our suspicions. We were both played. And not just by any Cerberus agent either... but likely one of the best they've got. One that was on a mission to secure intel, even going as far as to hit one of their own facilities to do it. Taria downloads all the files to her omnitool. "We gotta show this to the Council, to the Alliance... to everyone, damn it! Keelah...".

She goes to remove the authentification device from the terminal. However, she notices a small detail: there's a light flashing red. She's paralyzed for a second. "Taria?" I ask, terrified, "What's that.". She turns around. It's almost as if I could see her face behind the mask, too scared to even speak. She finds the strength, eventually, "They were tracking our actions within the Olympus Cell subnet," she pauses for a second and breathes, her whole body shaking like the ground during a thresher maw attack, "as well as our location.".


Interlude.

Somewhere in the Serpent Nebula, 15 minutes later...


The view from here isn't half bad, she thinks, as she slowly stands up. The ship's starboard observatory is the only place where she feels like she's not suffocating. Spectacles like the Citadel peeking out of the colorful gas clouds of the Serpent Nebula almost make her feel free. Most of the little idle time she has is spent here, her gaze lost in the vastness of space, only to be brought back to reality by something: a noise, a thought... this time, it's the sound of the door behind her sliding open. One of her favorite things to do here is praying. And pray she did, for soon, an end would come... for better or for worse. Starting right now, with the words that break the silence in the room.

"Artemis," the voice from behind her booms, full of despise. "Mitch," she replies, almost as if to challenge him. As soon as she turns around, a sudden blow strikes her stomach, causing her to fall to her knees. "Zeus," the beast of a man before her corrects her. They both remain silent for a few seconds. He unloads his anger with a kick to her face, which causes her to land on her back. "Zeus," he repeats, almost shouting. "...Zeus," she replies, beaten. The distorted voice speaks again, "We sacrificed one of our best tactical advantages on the Citadel for you to gather enough intel to stop the genophage cure. And you sent us against a fucking decoy team.". She tilts her head to the side and spits out blood, remaining silent. "What was the problem? Went too long without a shore leave, so you jumped on top of the first Alliance idiot you found?".

Artemis lifts her gaze to look at him, blood pouring from her nose. "I got that intel following your best lead.". The rest of the team walks in, all of them looking down at her with hatred. "Our best lead was the quarian," a woman among them speaks with condescension. "It doesn't matter, Athena. Once we get the Council out of the picture, the krogan will be of no use to them.".

"Right, the Council," Zeus says with what seems like sarcasm, "As if you hadn't fucked that up too.". Artemis stands up, confused, "How the hell did I fuck it up if the plan isn't even in motion?" She says, chuckling. "We're no longer going after the Council," Zeus utters before striking her at the stomach again, "Kai Leng is. Alone.".

"Leng? Illusive Man's sending his golden boy?" Artemis says as she tries to get up, falling back down halfway through her attempt. "As if the spotty intel wasn't enough, you even left them a trail to follow," Zeus explains, "your boyfriend and that quarian cunt figured out you're a Cerberus operative. What's more, they now have a copy of every single existent file on Olympus. When we attack the Citadel tomorrow, we'll use the confusion to track them both down and eliminate them before they can divulge the information.".

"Tomorrow?" she says, "The coup was supposed to be weeks from now.". This time, she manages to get back on her feet. "The hit on our base got people on the Citadel talking, so they started investigating," Zeus says, "they realized something's off with Udina. Plus, now they have that intel. We need to go in immediately, even if unprepared. That's the magnitude of your fuck-up.".

He walks towards her, "I know that you fear the Integration, Ryla. You fear becoming a mindless husk obeying the Illusive Man's every bidding. The only reason you're not like that is that we need you as a spy. If you prove unsuccessful at it again, I'll drag you to the operating room myself.". And with those words, the team leaves the room.


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