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A Slave... Or A Pet	By : NakedOwlMan Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 94307 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: Mass Effect and all the characters in it are owned by people that are not me. I have not made a cent off this work of fiction

Chapter List
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Delaana and the mercs – the ones not unconscious on the floor – stared in stunned silence, as the quiet medic held Liara by the arm with one hand. The human's other arm snaked around Liara's waist to brandish an omni-blade against her bare torso. Liara winced as the red-hot weapon smoldered less than an inch from her flesh.

"Drop it," Hawkins warned Delaana, as she started to bring her arm around to aim her pistol at him. "Slowly, no sudden movements. I even see you think about flaring up those biotics of yours, and the Broker's favorite slave gets dissected."

"You're making a big mistake, Hawkins," Delaana gravely muttered, as she tossed the pistol to the floor. "You think you're getting off this ship alive?"

"Oh, I'm sure of it," Liara could feel Hawkins's spittle spraying onto her shoulder from behind her, as the human started to drag her by the arm towards the door to the room. "Because you wouldn't dare risk me killing your little sweetie here, would you?" He leaned his head down to hiss into Liara's ear. "All those hours you two have spent together, and I bet she hasn't even told you, has she? What the Broker's been planning for you and your friends? Why he's been having you-"

"Damn you, Hawkins!" Delaana yelled out, cutting off Hawkins's taunts. "Even if you make it to a shuttle, you know the Broker will find you. I don't know who you're working for, but if you think they can contend with him, you're completely fucking mistaken."

This sent Hawkins into hysterical laughter. "You mean... you really didn't know, did you? And here I thought you had everything figured out before we even stepped in the room. But there I go... giving alien filth like you too much credit."

"What are you..." Delaana started to say, before her eyes narrowed and she snarled. "Of course. Cerberus."

"This assignment was such a fucking chore," Hawkins said, nearly to the door now with Liara. "Having to pal around with all you aliens and alien sympathizers. But it's all going to be worth it when I come back to the Illusive Man with this intel. A full description of the Shadow Broker's ship and personnel on board, its last known location, and let's not forget..." Hawkins shook Liara roughly, "Someone who's actually seen the fucker up close and personal."

Liara stopped in her tracks, resisting Hawkins's attempts to keep pulling her out of the room. "Wait," she muttered, looking over at Shepard and Miranda standing stunned against the wall. She didn't like the idea of delivering Shepard and Miranda back to the Illusive Man after what happened at the Collector base, but anywhere was preferable to here. If Hawkins were to take them all with him...

Hawkins saw where she was looking, and gave a low chuckle. "Oh, them? Sorry, I don't have time to worry about a couple of traitors. If they're lucky, maybe the Illusive Man will be merciful to them when we get back here with an assault team."

No. She couldn't leave them behind. Shepard was watching the whole scene unfold helplessly, and Liara couldn't help but think about a similar moment from a month ago, the one that had sealed their fates. How horrible it had to be for Shepard, to be once again watching Liara in danger and not being able to do a thing about it.

And then Liara remembered something else, the weight that she had been carrying for so long that she had almost forgotten it was there. "The collar," she hissed at Hawkins. "If you take me off the ship, it's going to explode!"

"Seriously?" Hawkins asked, not seeming too disturbed at the prospect. "That's disconcerting." He clucked his tongue in slight annoyance. "Well, I guess you'll have to tell me all about your fight with the Shadow Broker while we're heading toward the shuttle bay. Of course, it's only a few doors away... so you should probably talk fast."
She heard the door to the room slide open behind her, and Liara knew that if Hawkins got her out the door, it was all over. She would die, whether from her captor's blade or the collar around her neck. And with her dead, the Shadow Broker would have no reason to keep Shepard and Miranda alive. She had to fight, not for her own life, but the lives of the people she cared about.

"Stop struggling, dammit," Hawkins snapped at her, his grip loosening on her arm as she wriggled against his grasp.

"Liara, no!" Delaana cried out, as Liara gave one last wrench against Hawkins's grip. The human's fingers slipped away from her arm, and too late Liara realized that her momentum was carrying her forward. Right into the heated edge of Hawkins's omni-blade.

Liara cried out as the blade cut deep into her waist. She had suffered wounds in combat before, but always with body armor or at least some sort of clothing to protect her. But with no such luxuries this time around, the searing-hot blade cutting into her bare flesh was excruciating. She clutched at her side in agony as she fell away from Hawkins to the floor.

Hawkins didn't have time to react to the loss of his hostage, before Delaana thrust out her hand, a blue field of light surrounding her. Hawkins suddenly found himself held in place, a mass effect field rendering him immobile.

From her position on the floor, Liara watched Delaana bend down to retrieve her discarded pistol. Walking up to the helpless Hawkins, she pointed the barrel straight between his eyes and waited. Hawkins's eyes were wide and terrified, knowing what was about to come and powerless to take action. Delaana stood rigid, gun aimed at Hawkins's face, her expression cold and merciless.

Delaana could have dismissed the stasis field at any time, but Liara knew that Delaana wouldn't let the traitor to her team off that easily. She would make him stare death in the face for as long as possible, make him live his last moments in anticipation of the shot that would end his life.

Finally, the stasis field faded, and Delaana pulled the trigger before Hawkins could even move a muscle. Hawkins collapsed backwards, dead before he reached the floor. Walking up to the corpse, Delaana planted a boot on his chest and fired again into the corpse's head. Again, and again, until there was little left of the human's skull but shattered fragments. Her teeth bared in anger, Delaana kept pulling the trigger until the heat warning sounded, and the weapon emitted nothing but clicks.

Turning away from the dead body, Delaana crouched in front of Liara. She stared down at the wound on Liara's torso and winced. "Oh, goddess. Stay with me, pet," Delaana called out, though her voice seemed like it was miles away. Pulling her hand away from her side, Liara brought it up to her fading vision and realized her fingers were covered in blood.

"So it's over," she thought to herself, as she felt herself fading backwards into the black. "I'm so sorry, Shepard. Sorry I..."
* * *

The next thing she remembered after that was staring up at a bare white ceiling. "Am... am I..."

"A total idiot? Yes, you are," said a voice to her side. Liara turned her head to the side to see Delaana sitting on a chair, beside the cot Liara was currently laying on in the medbay. "And now that we're minus one medic, I'm the one who has to clean up after your foolishness."

Looking down, Liara saw Delaana's hand, gently rubbing medi-gel on her wound. "Might leave a mark," she heard Delaana said, "but you should be pretty much healed by tomorrow."

Liara sighed. For a brief moment, as she had slipped into nothingness and believed herself near death, she had felt... relief. It was selfish of her, but for just a second, she had welcomed the release from this nightmare. She felt terrible. The thought of leaving Shepard behind in this horrible place almost made her retch.

"Idiot," Delaana muttered, as she finished sealing up Liara's wound.

"Sorry if my death might have caused you an inconvenience," Liara glared at Delaana.

"I wasn't talking about you," Delaana responded, uncharacteristically low-key. "Out of all of them, Hawkins was the one I was least sure about. Always thought something was a little off about him. But I needed somebody who knew more about medicine than 'slap some medi-gel on it,' and he fit the bill." She let out an aggravated grunt. "And now he's dead, and we have no damn way of knowing what message he sent out to the Illusive Man. The Shadow Broker is monitoring Cerberus communications, seeing if we've been compromised, but who knows? Could wake in a few days to find a human strike team knocking at the bulkhead. And it's all my damn fault."

The tone of self-recrimination in Delaana's voice was so strong, Liara almost felt the insane urge to assure her, "It's okay, Cerberus didn't get the message. It was Solvitis, sending for his strike team to come and take down the Shadow Broker, and kill you and all your men." Luckily, that thought passed quickly.

"It's funny," Delaana mused, more to herself than to Liara. "When those lights went out... I was sure that was it. That another justicar or someone else had come for me, and I'd be dead within seconds."

Liara remembered when the lights had come on, and she had seen the look of pure terror on Delaana's face. The look of an asari fearing for her life.

"When I first went on the run... I stowed away in the cargo bay of a freighter," Delaana said, her tone turning confessional. "Squeezed in tight with all those suitcases and boxes... and no light. So dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. It was like I was buried alive. You know how long that flight was?"

Liara shook her head.

"Two days. Two days in that pitch black, certain every second that a hand would come out of the darkness, pull me out of there and take me back to live the rest of my days behind locked doors," Delaana said, her eyes distant. "Ever since then... I tend to always keep a light on."

She tried her best, but eventually Liara couldn't help cracking a smile. "Delaana, the baddest Ardat-Yakshi mercenary to ever live... afraid of the dark?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, laugh it up," Delaana said, and Liara was surprised to see the mercenary lightly smile as well. "It's silly, I know. Like all those poems I used to read. All those flowery verses about green fields and love that would last for centuries... parts of me that I should have left behind a long time ago. But it's a lot easier than it sounds."
And for the first time since she had placed under the captivity of this woman, Liara saw it all fall away. The years of built-up anger and bravado, the persona that this woman had put on to prove herself the superior of anyone who would challenge her, all of it just melted. Sitting by her bed wasn't her brutal jailer, but the scared teenager who had fled in the night from a life of captivity, and who'd never stopped running since.

"Listen to me, pet," Delaana said, her tone soft as she leaned in close. She kept her voice low, underneath the hum of electronics inside the med-bay. "We may not have much time left. The Shadow Broker's building some sort of... facility, and it sounds like it's almost finished. I don't know much more than that, except that once it's complete, you and your friends are going to be taken there." Delaana pursed her lips. "And considering how little the Broker is sharing with me, I'm not sure that me and my team are coming along for the ride."

This distressed Liara, even more than it was obviously distressing Delaana. The mystery of this "facility" and its purpose was bad enough. But Liara had no idea how long it would take Solvitis's team to arrive at the Broker's ship. If she and her fellow prisoners were moved somewhere else before rescue arrived, and Solvitis was left with the rest of Delaana's team to guard the Broker's ship...

"You were right," Delaana said quietly, a wry chuckle in her voice. "Of course you were. You're always so damned right about everything. I have been watching out for you. Bad enough that these fuckers force you to watch them sticking their cocks up your friends; I'm not going to let them drag you into their twisted games. Not when you're so much fun to talk to." Delaana's left hand fell away from the healing wound on Liara's stomach, while her right reached up to gently lay on Liara's shoulder. "But once the facility is up and running... I don't know what I'm going to do, pet. It's just like you said: I'm not thrilled with the idea of not having you to talk to anymore. You're... nice to have around."

Liara remained silent, not wanting to say anything that would make Delaana stop spilling secrets to her in this unguarded moment.

"I'm going to try my best, though, pet," Delaana said, trying to sound reassuring. "Don't know how much the Shadow Broker is going to trust me now, with a traitor in my own house like this. But I'm going to do whatever it takes to show him that I’m trustworthy. Hell, I'll put a bullet through all the rest of them, Bowers on down, if it shows the Shadow Broker that he can put his faith in me," the tone of Delaana's voice made it sound like this notion wasn't all that unappealing to her. "And hopefully, once he moves you on to this new prison, I'll have his ear... or whatever the hell he has... enough to make sure that I'll be able to keep watching out for you. But if that doesn't happen..." Delaana started, as if she had something encouraging to say to Liara. But the silence that followed told Liara more than any words could. Delaana eventually let out a melancholy sigh. "Let's not worry about that for now. Rest for now, pet. I'll come by later to make sure the wound is mending properly."

For a moment, Delaana didn't move away, her warm hand stroking Liara's shoulder. Finally, the merc abruptly rose to her feet and charged out of the med-bay, leaving Liara to fall into a troubled sleep.
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A Slave... Or A Pet