Finding a way: Mass effect 3

Mars - part 2

"Good," she turned away and headed for the tram. "Liara, let's get this data and get the hell out of here."

She cast a worried glance between him and Aubrey before following. A tense silence descended in the tram car as it started moving forward. Aubrey started to apply medi-gel to her injuries, but couldn't get to the one on her shoulder.

"I'm still a trained field medic, Commander. Any chance you'd let me do my job?" he asked.

Her jaw clenched, but then released in a huffed out and mumbled 'fine.'

"Thank you," he replied sincerely, moving to help address the injury. He could feel the tension radiating off of her and she steadfastly refused to look at him. His fingers grazed her skin and his biotics instantly hummed with the contact. He wished he understood how the hell she did this to him, but all he knew is that it didn't have to do solely with them both being biotics since nothing like this had happened his one night with Rahna.

"How did you get, much less learn to use, an Asari sword?" Liara asked while he worked, breaking the silence and some of the tension.

Aubrey smiled faintly at her curiosity and replied, "You remember Samara?"

"The Asari Justicar that helped you against the Collectors?" Liara answered after a moment of thought that furrowed her brow. Her eyes widened at Aubrey's nod. "That is an immense honor."

"I know," she replied. "Although, she said I needed a couple hundred more years of practice to be less sloppy." The two of them shared an easy grin and he wondered if he'd ever share something like that with her again.

The tram pulled up to the archives and they readied their weapons as the doors opened. They rounded the corner into the hallway and were met with immediate gunfire.

"Shepard!" a voice called after they got into cover and the firefight started heating up. "The Illusive Man just wants you. Give him what he wants and your friends go free!"

Kaidan glanced in her direction as she yelled back, "I didn't give him the Collector base when he wanted that, so he should be used to not getting what he wants from me."

They fought their way down the hallway and finally flanked the doors to the Prothean Archives. He met Aubrey's eyes across from him after he hacked his way past the locking mechanism. She nodded at him that she was ready and they swung into the room finding it blessedly free of Cerberus troops.

"Major, secure the perimeter," she ordered as she followed Liara forward to the Prothean relic at the center of the room. It resembled the beacons – dark gray metal and soft green lights with an ethereal glow to them – but on a much larger scale, taking up the entire center of the room and rising at least two stories high.

Shepard covered Liara as she started accessing the data while he started making a slow but methodical sweep of the room. He was about a quarter of the way around when his blood ran cold at the sound of a man's voice addressing Aubrey. The voice was steely and dripping with venom. He glanced in her direction and saw her with her rifle trained on a hologram of a person who could only be the Illusive Man.

"Exactly what the fuck are you doing?" she questioned him, lowering her rifle once she realized it would be of no use. He half listened to the conversation as he continued his sweep.

"The solution to the Reaper threat is in here and I want it," the image said.

"Your solution involves turning people into monsters," she replied angrily.

"Hardly," he scoffed, "they're being improved."

"You have totally lost it."

"Oh, no, Shepard. I've simply found a better way. The only option you see is to destroy the Reapers, but I see the option for control – to dominate the Reapers and use their power to better humanity. Imagine how strong we would be?!"