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To Break a Hero	By : Tanwen Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 6128 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 8
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Shepard was barely keeping it together as she left the QEC and headed to the war room. Telling the asari councilor that Thessia was about to fall was right up there on the list of things that she wished she’d never had to do.
“Asari forces are in full retreat. It is no longer safe for us to remain in this system,” EDI told her. Shepard grit her teeth and kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t EDI’s fault that she wore the body of the woman Shepard now hated with a passion, even though that woman was dead. The only person she hated more was the one who had been giving that woman orders.
“Get us out of here,” Shepard said, more sharply than she’d intended.
Liara stood over the map, head bowed. Shepard tried to summon compassion and understanding for her friend. It was her job to bolster everyone’s resolve, wasn’t it?
She couldn’t do it.
“Shepard … I …” Liara said, drawing herself up slowly. “Nobody could have predicted Cerberus would reach Thessia before us.”
“To hell with predictions,” Shepard snarled. “Thessia’s lost, and that’s on me. As is the data on the Catalyst.” As is Kaidan. “I’m sick of Cerberus beating us to the punch.”
“Let’s kick them in the balls first for a change,” James suggested.
Shepard pushed herself back from the map and nodded. “I’m with James,” she said, which was a colossal understatement. Only the lack of concrete data was keeping her from blasting the Illusive Man with the Cain. No, that would make it over too quickly. The Arc Projector, maybe. “Does anyone have a clue as to where the fuckers are hiding?”
She saw heads turn to look at her. She made a mental note to watch the vitriol, only because she didn’t want anyone else hovering over her and fussing like she was some goddamn fragile thing.
“Um… well,” Samantha Traynor said into the silence. “There is something.”

Shepard took Liara and Tali with her to investigate Horizon. She took a great deal of delight in seeing the Reaper forces attacking Cerberus troops, in seeing a fucking Harvester overhead giving Cerberus lots of problems to deal with.
When they found the terminal with Miranda’s message on it, Shepard felt genuine cheer for the first time in a long time. Miranda was here. Miranda knew more about Cerberus than anyone else Shepard would have had easy access to. (EDI didn’t count. EDI rarely counted for anything except running the Normandy, these days.) Not even the frightening news that Miranda’s crazy father was running this facility for Cerberus diminished the hope Shepard now felt.
If anyone could tell her how to get Kaidan back, it would be Miranda.
If it’s possible to get Kaidan back.
Shepard didn’t know which voice she needed to ignore.
“This looks more like a factory than a refugee camp,” Liara commented as they moved through the back corridors.
“You got that right,” Shepard said. “And it doesn’t bode well for anyone who came here hoping to get some help.” She snorted. “Help. Cerberus never really helps anyone. All their gifts come with strings, poisonous strings that will tear into you and make you regret ever hearing the Illusive Man’s offer.”
She deliberately kept her gaze forward as she spoke so that she couldn’t see anything that passed between Liara and Tali. She had to be strong. She had to be Commander fucking Shepard. She didn’t need her friends worrying if she was losing her mind or not.
Shepard found the power switch to give the command center back its power easily enough, and they all looked up at the overhead monitors.
“What are they doing?” Tali asked. “Oh, no. No, no, no.”
Shepard had seen enough husks to last two lifetimes, and this wasn’t helping. A cold rage filled her, very close to becoming hot fury. If there had been anything living in front of her to lash out at, she would have. But she wasn’t so far gone that she would take this out on her friends. Not Liara, whose home burned because of Shepard’s mistake. Not Tali, whose people had almost lost everything to the Reaper-controlled geth. She was just glad that there had been one thing where yelling in blind fury accomplished something.
“Husks,” she said, voicing everyone’s thoughts. “They’re turning them into husks.”
There didn’t seem to be anything else they could say, anything that could possibly encompass the magnitude of the betrayal the Illusive Man was perpetrating on the public. On people who had already lost everything to the Reapers.
“This didn’t have to happen,” Shepard said. “The Illusive Man didn’t have to do this.”
“No,” Liara said. “He didn’t.”
“As if we needed another reason to put a bullet in his brain,” Tali said.
“My bullet,” Shepard said firmly.
“No arguments, Shepard,” Tali said quickly. It almost made Shepard feel bad about the tone she’d used. Almost.
“Let’s move,” Shepard said, keeping an eye on their surroundings as she lead them towards the next door. Deeper into the atrocities.
“ - shutting down the power -“ Shepard heard Miranda’s voice again, and bolted for the terminal that was the source of the sound. She unscrambled and restarted the message.
“Reaper forces have made a mess of the facility,” Miranda said on the screen. “I’m shutting down the power to the processing plant to lock them down. Should keep them out of the entrance as well.”
That was the end of Miranda’s message - but the video kept going. Shepard felt the all-too-familiar dread and disgust forming in her stomach as she saw the figure that stalked into view after Miranda had left.
Kaidan.
“She doesn’t know he’s here,” Liara said slowly.
“At least she knows to be wary of him,” Shepard said. That damned Cerberus uniform was a complete giveaway. She hadn’t mentioned Kaidan at all in her chats with Miranda. She hadn’t wanted to. Miranda clearly had enough going on, and Shepard hadn’t wanted to admit the weakness.
“Miranda Lawson has arrived sooner than we expected,” Kaidan said, and Shepard almost jumped, to hear his voice again. It almost sounded normal. Almost. “Do you want me to deal with her?” That had more of a menacing tone to it. Shepard’s hands clenched into fists.
“Only if she gets in your way,” the Illusive Man replied over his voice link. “Stay focused on the research data. Find it, and get out.”
“Yes, sir,” Kaidan replied.
“Fuck,” Shepard said. “We have to get to her.”

Shepard didn’t know how many of the husks she killed had been from Sanctuary, and how many had come in with the other Reapers. It would boil her blood, she knew, if she thought about it too much. And she needed to keep that fury under control.
Hearing the communication between Henry Lawson and the Illusive Man, courtesy of Miranda’s hack, hadn’t helped. The Illusive Man had been on about controlling the Reapers for so long, it was extremely disturbing to hear that he was actually within striking distance of doing it - the ability to control Reaper troops was bad enough. As Tali had said earlier, they didn’t really need more reasons to want the Illusive Man dead. And yet, he kept providing them.
The transmission had cut off on that ominous note, and they had to fight their way through multiple batches of Reapers before they finally made it up to the tower.
As they exited the elevator, guns drawn, they were met by Miranda, whose gun was pointed at them. “Shepard!” she said, quickly dropping her arm. “I’m glad to see you.”
“Miranda,” Shepard replied, dropping her own arm. “Your messages along the way were very helpful. Have you found your father yet?”
Miranda shook her head. “I was just about to enter his office to look for him when I heard the elevator arrive. I thought it might be him, or …”
“There’s a Cerberus operative here,” Shepard said. “Coming to clean up the mess. Take the data and destroy the facility.”
“Who?” Miranda asked. “If you know, that is. I shouldn’t expect you to-“
“It’s Kaidan,” Shepard said, her voice low and firm. “Cerberus turned him. Right after the Omega-4 relay.” She swallowed. “I’ve been chasing him since the Citadel coup.”
“Shepard,” Miranda said softly. “Why didn’t you - no. Never mind. I don’t have any right to take you to task for keeping secrets. He’ll be coming here soon. Or - wait. Shouldn’t he be here already, if you saw him on the monitors?”
Shepard heard the tell-tale sign of a cloak switching off and, her heart pounding, turned to see Kaidan behind her. He smirked.
“Hello, Shepard.”
- 8
- 9
- 10
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To Break a Hero