"Jane, how are things on your end?"
I addressed the girl, though I perfectly understood she would have contacted me if something had happened.
"Fine... no one has flown in yet."
"Excellent, then go ahead, unload the bombs; we're coming to get them now. We seem to have cleared the path, so they can be carried to the places where they will do the most good."
I said the last words extremely sarcastically.
"Understood, unloading the bombs."
After that, we headed toward the ship, but we didn't manage to go far; our path was blocked by a small squad, in front of which stood a man.
"You... you came here and are ruining what I am building..."
"Building?!"
Jack exploded and took a step forward, but I, putting a hand on her shoulder, made her freeze.
"Yes, building..."
The man's gaze focused on Jack.
"Ah... Subject Zero, I remember you. We hated you..."
A nostalgic smile appeared on the man's lips.
"...because they treated you the best."
"Best?! They tortured me! Constant experiments! Abuse!"
"You know nothing..."
The man shook his head.
"...they only tested successful drugs on you, so the risks for you were minimal. But us... they tested any ideas that came into their heads on us! And for your safety, we hated you!"
The man was practically screaming the last words.
"Well, well..."
I shook my head.
"...however, you were children, and such a reaction was more than understandable. Adults caused fear, and Jack..."
I smirked sadly.
"...Jack was more or less a peer, so you simply transferred your hatred onto her."
"Perhaps..."
The man shrugged nonchalantly.
"...but in any case, you are not welcome here."
"And what are you doing here?"
Jack looked at the man with slight suspicion.
"What am I doing? I am reviving this place."
This was said in a voice as if he had said: "What, are you stupid? This is more than natural!"
"Reviving?"
Jack clenched her fists.
"Of course! I want to understand why all this was done... They couldn't have done all this for nothing, which means if I bring the experiment to an end, all our suffering and deaths will not have been in vain."
A light snap of fingers and the Krogan and Vorcha fall to the ground with holes in their heads, while the man himself, trembling, looks around to see part of Jane's squad, who came at my call so that my squad and they could simply shoot them down.
"And one almost realized what was happening, managed to twitch."
Chifuyu Orimura said this with a smirk, watching as the man collapsed to his knees and, clutching his head, began to wail.
"I'll kill you..."
"Jack."
Slightly squeezing her shoulder, which she should have felt even through her light armor, I made her turn to me.
"He's not worth it. Look at him..."
A slight nod toward the man.
"...you can see he's sick; he needs to be turned over to a hospital, not killed."
"He wanted to bring this place back!"
"And I pity him."
"Pity?"
Jack stared at me in shock.
"Yes, both of you couldn't let go of this place; only you found a way to do it beautifully and correctly, by simply destroying it, while he went down a false path."
Jack frowned.
"We're still destroying this place, and we'll turn this poor soul over to a clinic. Perhaps he can just live there or, after some time, become adequate enough for life in society."
"I... fine."
She slowly, clearly making a very great effort, nodded.
"But we are destroying this place."
"I never intended to argue with that."
I shook my head, after which the preparation continued.
The complex was on the verge of exploding, and the failed experimenter had been bound and tossed onto the floor of the shuttle.
"Is that everything?"
Once the bomb was set, Jack nervously licked her lips, staring at the complex on the landing pad where she stood. During the bomb's installation, Tali, having hacked the experimenter's omni-tool, realized that the equipment ship wasn't scheduled to arrive for several days. Thus, we worked calmly, without fear of an aerial raid.
"Yes, the bombs are set and connected to this detonator."
I handed a small cylinder to Jack, who took it with both hands as if it were the most precious object in the world. Her hands were trembling ever so slightly.
"Get inside, let's fly."
"I… one second…"
Jack quickly approached the door leading inside the complex and, taking a deep breath, screamed at the top of her lungs.
"DIE, ALL OF YOU! MAY YOU EXPERIENCE IN YOUR NEXT LIFE EXACTLY WHAT YOU CONDEMNED THESE CHILDREN TO!"
Calming down slightly, she boarded the shuttle, and it immediately lifted off the pad, followed closely by Jane's shuttle.
Jack sat in her seat, tensely opening and closing the detonator's safety cap, which was somewhat irritating, but none of us dared to say a word. We didn't fully understand, but we could imagine exactly what she was feeling right now.
"Twenty seconds."
Chifuyu Orimura, once again acting as pilot, signaled how long until the detonator could be activated. Jack froze, her gaze focused on the button, her finger hovering over it, incredibly tense. So tense, in fact, that I doubted she could actually press it.
"We are clear of the blast zone."
Jack continued to sit there, hypnotizing the button, so I had to lean forward slightly and put my hands on her shoulders.
"Hey, you're not alone here."
"Huh?"
She blinked distractedly, focusing her gaze on me.
"I'm saying you're not alone. You have comrades who are ready to help."
"I… yes…"
Still appearing dazed, Jack nodded, then sluggishly pressed the button. A few moments later, the explosion roared. The shuttle jolted slightly, and a smile appeared on Jack's face—one of peace and relief.
"I did it."
"Yes."
I nodded in agreement and noticed tears streaming down Jack's cheeks.
* Some time later. *
"Tali?"
"I had a list of over seven hundred people."
"Fuck…"
I cursed quietly, but my sentiment was shared by all my comrades.
"Agreed. But it's not just various pseudo-scientists; it's security, cooks—basically the entire staff of the facility. To be honest, I doubt my skills would have ever been enough to check them all quickly, but we have EDI, who was also in a rage. So…"
Tali looked at EDI, and the AI activated the monitor in the briefing room.
"I've checked everyone, and I can say the following: three hundred people are definitely dead. They perished during the riots at the facilities."
"That doesn't mean we can't ruin their reputations in the eyes of their children and other relatives."
I smirked.
"Of course, we could release all the information publicly, but it seems to me that subjecting the innocent to persecution—and it would certainly follow—would make us just like those scumbags."
Jack, who clearly wanted to just leak everything, froze, her gaze losing focus slightly.
"So let's settle on this: if their relatives are decent people, a representative from my corporation will visit them and, in a private conversation, tell them everything about their deceased relative, without any sugarcoating. But if the relatives are pieces of shit too, then we can release the info to the public. Let society steamroll them."
EDI nodded understandingly.
"As for the rest, they are still alive… some have retired and are now living with their grandchildren or girlfriends."
"And those are the lives we will destroy. I'll contact Tevos; she will certainly allocate either Spectres or some other operatives to help detain all these bastards. And in the process, tell their loved ones exactly what they did."
"However, there are still about a hundred people on active duty for Cerberus."
"Now, those we can work with."
My smirk grew even more malevolent.
"Yes… we can definitely work with them."
And that same malevolent smirk was now on the lips of every single one of my comrades.
"Alright, did you prepare the data?"
"Yes."
EDI nodded and handed me a drive, which I inspected with some disgust.
"So much filth in people… well, no matter, we'll be cleaning these Augean stables a bit soon. But first, I need to contact Tevos."
I didn't ask the others to leave; instead, I simply dialed Tevos, who answered my call quite quickly.
"Catch the data. I think after you study it, there won't be any questions about my next request. Those who are still alive must be arrested, and their relatives must find out everything this asshole did. And those still working for Cerberus—the Spectres can use them to dismantle the organization and diminish its capabilities."
"Am I correct in assuming you will be working through the list regardless?"
"Precisely."
"Fine… I will study it… and I won't interfere, but you must understand yourself…"
"This concerns children."
Tevos froze, her eyes widening slightly as I deliberately struck a nerve for any Asari—children.
"They were performing experiments on them."
Tevos's eyes grew colder.
"We will deal with it. If necessary, I'll bring in huntresses who are currently on leave."
"It would be better to…"
"Don't teach me how to fuck."
I simply closed my eyes, acknowledging that Tevos was indeed far more experienced.
"I'll need time to look into the matter, but if it's all true, I'll start working through the provided list in a couple of days."
"Thank you."
"Nothing to thank me for yet. Anything else?"
"No, that's all for now."
"Good, then I hope next time you contact me for a more pleasant reason, or wait until I need one restless Spectre."
I only smirked at Tevos's words.
"And what was that?"
Jack looked at me in surprise.
"That is the manifestation of care for children from adult Asari in all its glory."
Liara T'Soni said this with a slight smirk.
"It's still very faint in me, though I, like any normal sentient being, wanted to tear everyone apart after finding out what happened there. Lissi and Missi are a bit more prone to it, but someone like Samara or Tevos…"
"I'll be honest…"
Samara joined the conversation.
"…if it weren't for my duty to help in the fight against the Reapers, I would have already run off to kill all those scumbags. And no, it's not some unconditional reflex; it's just that from a certain point, Asari begin to value children very deeply."
Samara began explaining Asari policy to Jack, who clearly didn't understand the situation.
"Not to the point of madness—for example, if the Reapers were already here, no one would even think about looking for these scumbags. But right now, that's not an issue. And overall, finding free operatives who can resolve the matter is a matter of a few calls. So don't worry, they'll find everyone, and they will all answer for it."
"Good."
An anticipatory grin appeared on Jack's lips.
***
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