A/N: This pretty much started up when a friend and I were talking about our Shepards and she said in a fist-fight hers could beat mine (with no biotics, 'cause biotics are cheats). That circled around and gelled until my muse decided to write this fic where they both meet.
Rated M because my friend's Shepard likes to drop cluster-F bomb. Also, while it semi-follows my post-ME3 canon, it's not 100% conforming.
Chapter One:
Ishtar backed up slightly, looking around at the scene in front of her and frowned. The Citadel. She was on the god-damned Citadel. How? It had been shot up and looked like shit the last time she saw it, and that was only a few months ago. Here, it was all sparkly and shiny and shit.
She scowled as she looked around. This didn't fit right. It was the Presidium, that she knew. There was none of the signs of destruction she had seen, none of the remnants of Cerberus' coup.
Shit. This wasn't making sense.
She pushed away from the wall she'd been standing against, feet moving quickly and eyes darting everywhere. Analysing, categorising, checking for threats and calculating escape paths. While she might have known the Presidium, these changes unnerved her.
She looked across the water, seeing the familiar krogan statue and the miniature mass relay, long since dormant. Her eyes tracked across, ticking off the familiar sights.
And paused on the one unfamiliar sight: a statue of a human. Smaller than that of the krogan, it was still exceedingly visible, gleaming in the artificial sun. Ishtar took off at a trot, slowing down only when she drew near.
Her clothing drew some attention - the N7 logo and stripe always would - but served as more to allow her closer access to the statue than anything else. As the crowd parted, she was able to see text written on the small podium.
In reverence and remembrance of those who lost their lives in the Reaper War of 2186-2188.
Lieutenant Commander Allison Shepard.
What the fuck? No, no, this is all fucking wrong!
Further text etched on the podium offered no more clues, but a look up at the statue itself did. The eyes on the person were narrower than hers, nose and lips narrower.
No.
None of this made any fucking sense.
[ - ]
Allison brushed some of her hair behind her ear, sighing softly to herself as she looked out at the statue of herself. No matter the time of the Citadel, there was always a crowd surrounding it, and if she was anywhere near it...well, the odds were good she'd get waylaid for anything from fifteen minutes to a couple of hours depending on how many people wanted to talk to her, get her autograph, get pictures with her...
Her face was seriously all too well known.
"Did you want to find another way around?" Kaidan asked, his hand gripping hers a little tighter, and she shook her head.
"No, I'm..." Allison sighed again. "I'm tired but I'll deal with it." She rubbed her free hand over her slightly protruding stomach, glad that most of her clothing still fit. Those that didn't...well, Kaidan hadn't complained too much when she'd slipped on his jacket earlier in the day.
Kaidan moved to a stop, pulling Allison back a little with the hand that was still holding hers. She closed her eyes for a second before turning around and facing him.
"Allison, you're not even four months' pregnant and it's already wearing you down. Come on, if you need to take a different route back to our apartment, just say."
Allison shook her head. "Stop babying me, Kaidan. I'll be fine."
Kaidan shook his head slowly and stepped forwards, dropping Allison's hand. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "I think it's my job to worry about my wife and our child." He moved back slightly, allowing Allison to see his smile.
Allison smiled herself, pulling back more until Kaidan dropped his arms. His hand found hers again and the two continued off at a slow, casual pace.
They brushed past the statue, Allison rolling her eyes slightly as they did so, being careful to keep her opinion away from the view of the people there. One of the people in the crowd broke off and moved towards the two of them, purposefully but seemingly unhurried. She had medium-hued skin and short cropped black hair, looking to be around the same age as Allison.
"Seems like someone's a big fan," Kaidan said with a grin. The woman had on a black hoodie with the N7 logo and red stripe down the right arm. A replica, no doubt - there'd been a rush of those after the end of the Reaper War.
"Hey there," Allison said, plastering a smile on her face. "What do you want me to sign?"
The woman stepped forwards again, an arm shooting out and grabbing Allison's elbow. In a split-second they were face to face, the woman scowling.
"What the fuck is going on here?"
The woman stilled, face frozen in the scowl. Allison glanced over to see Kaidan flickering with the last vestiges of a corona, in the last position of his mnemonic. She stepped back, pulling her arm out of the other woman's grip.
"How long can you hold her?" She tried to calm her racing heart, hand still pressed protectively against her stomach. The nearby crowds had encircled the three of them, faces scared and confused.
"More than long enough." Kaidan said, still holding his pose. He shifted so that he was standing tall as opposed to having a wide stance, but still kept an arm held out towards the woman.
Allison activated her omni-tool, clicking through her contacts. "Garrus? It's Shepard. Yeah, we've got a small situation here. No, nothing major, just..." Allison broke off, looking at the woman again. "Well, we're not quite sure."
[ - ]
Ishtar tried to break out of the hold the man had on her, but to no avail. She could still hear and see perfectly fine, noting the crowd closing in around her, offering no good escape plan. Her eyes snapped back to the woman as she spoke Garrus' name - but her flicker of hope faded with the next two words out of the woman's mouth.
It's Shepard.
Fuck no, she was Shepard. Whoever this imposter was, whatever she'd done...it was not going to continue.
Ishtar flicked from the woman to the statue. Yeah, that was her all right. Prim and proper with her own fucking statue commemorating her efforts. Fucking hell, how had she managed that?
The fake-Shepard and the man kept their eyes focused on her, even after the crowd dispersed. Fake-Shepard said something about no autographs today, but to come back tomorrow and she guaranteed she'd do a session. When one young boy said he was flying out of the Citadel that day, fake-Shepard relented and signed the hoodie he had on. That set up a crowd and clamour for fake-Shepard to sign things for everyone else, and she was still doing so when a C-Sec crew turned up.
"Hey, Shepard. Heard there was a bit of a ruckus here." Ishtar's eyes widened and she tried to look over her shoulder where Garrus' voice had come from. The stasis was still holding, preventing her from moving, looking, seeing...
Fake-Shepard stepped forwards, still keeping her gaze focused on Ishtar. "Yeah. Kaidan overreacted."
Kaidan? Ishtar looked over at the man. His features all clicked into place and she recognised him - he was older, broader, with some just-visible grey hairs. The fuck? How'd mister 'oh if you're not interested in me, you must be into girls' get here?
"Overreacted?" Kaidan sounded indignant. "I'm sorry, Allison. Shall we count how many times you almost lost me and see how much you overreact when a complete stranger dashes towards you and grabs you."
Fake-Shepard - Allison - sighed and rubbed a hand across her forehead. "I called you over because I thought it'd be better to get C-Sec involved and sort this out diplomatically."
"So..." Garrus said, still standing behind Ishtar. "What are you expecting me to charge her with?"
"Assault."
"Kaidan!"
"Allison," Kaidan said in the same tone of voice. "No. She's stupid, trying to attack you in a place like this, but I'm not going to let her get away."
Allison glared at him, folding her arms across her chest. "I'm sitting in on the interview."
"No."
"Wasn't a debate. I am sitting in and figuring out what she wanted."
"Allison."
"Kaidan."
"No."
"Garrus."
"I'm not getting in the middle of this."
Wise. If Ishtar could have done, she would have snickered. A few seconds later the stasis faded, but before she could do anything more than reassert herself she heard the click of metal on metal and felt her wrists being bound together. Turian claws moved across her hands and she looked over her shoulder.
"Garrus, it's me, Shepard." She paused, trying to find a flicker of recognition in his eyes. "Ishtar."
Garrus didn't pay any attention to what she was saying, checking her restraints were tight before ordering her to be taken to C-Sec.
[ - ]
Allison rested her hands on her elbows, looking in through the one-way glass. Her bribery with Garrus had gotten her into the observation room, and she stood there in a black tank top, Kaidan's jacket flung unceremoniously onto one of the nearby chairs. She'd been standing almost from the moment the woman had been brought in, and despite repeated attempts by one of the officers to get her to sit down, she'd refused.
Allison tracked over the other woman's face. She didn't even look remotely familiar, and that was what concerned Allison. The woman had given her name as Ishtar Shepard, but no records had appeared of anyone human with that name. Even her giving her date of birth was no help, although Allison's eyes narrowed when Ishtar spoke it out from memory - eleventh of April, twenty-one fifty-four.
Allison tapped the toes of one of her boots against the floor, drawing the attention of the C-Sec officer in the room yet again. Young and fresh-faced, he was both likely a new graduate from the Academy, as well as a little star-struck. Why he had been given the role of watching over he she didn't know, but given that he had stayed silent and mostly still, she hadn't cared.
Allison frowned as the officer in the interrogation room asked another question, and Ishtar replied without fault.
"Alliance Military, Marine division. Council Spectre. N7 qualified."
Bullshit. That was copying Allison's own life. Had someone really been delusional enough to pretend that they could be her? With a different name and different appearance?
"Personal history."
"Born and raised on Earth. Joined the Alliance at eighteen. Lost my entire unit at Akuze."
More bullshit. Toombs was still alive and he could be brought in to confirm that he was the sole survivor of that massacre. There had been fifty people on Akuze at the attack, the dog tags of forty-nine people collected, the fiftieth - Toombs - presumed KIA. She was a spacer, one who'd faced down batarian and pirate forces on Elysium.
Allison slammed her hands down on the desk in front of her, leaning towards the mirror with a grimace. No, this facade was going on for long enough; she was going to figure out what was going on.
[ - ]
Ishtar looked up as Allison stormed into the room, not even breaking her pace to yell out, "Spectre business," over her shoulder. The officer who had been interrogating Ishtar backed up quickly, moving to the open doorway.
In one swift movement, Allison had wrapped her hand around Ishtar's neck, lifted her up, and slammed her against the wall.
"I don't know what your little fucking game is, here. but it ends now."
"Game?" Ishtar clawed at Allison's hand, glaring down at the other woman. "I'm not the one playing a fucking game here."
Ishtar moved through the air, her back slamming against the metal table.
"Let me start," Allison said. "Major Shepard. Alliance Marine, N7 qualified. First human Spectre. You? Are not me. You don't even look like me."
Major. Ishtar bit off a laugh. Oh, that explained the whole calling C-Sec for help. Too long behind a desk and people forgot how to fight.
The pressure on Ishtar reduced for a split second; Ishtar lashed out with a foot, catching Allison in the stomach. Allison's eyes went wide, her hand moving from Ishtar's neck to her stomach. Ishtar had a momentary thought, a consideration that she hadn't hit her that hard, but she was off running out of the room before she could ponder the logic of it, cloaking herself.
Ishtar made it halfway down the hallway, her cloak disappearing, before she felt herself being biotically lifted, then slammed down onto the floor, hard. It happened a second time, then a third. Someone pounced on her, grabbing her wrists, and forced her down onto the floor. She managed to look behind her to see Allison with a mask of rage on her face, one hand still curled around her stomach.
"Ma'am, you okay?"
Allison breathed heavily a couple of times before she responded. "Fuck. Fuck it. Fucking hell." She breathed a couple more times. "Call Kaidan. And Doctor Salant. Fuck, he's gonna kill me if anything's happened to the baby."
Baby? Aww, shit. Ishtar could just about see the bulge in Allison's stomach, her mind supplying the information now that she knew.
[ - ]
Allison refused to look the doctor in the eyes as she ran over a myriad of tests. Thankfully, Kaidan was more than willing to follow every movement and gesture Doctor Salant did. Allison was sitting astride a bed, Kaidan standing beside her and gripping her hand tightly. They were in one of the check-up rooms at Huerta, one that Allison was sure she had been in only a week ago for yet another check-up. One small consideration for her high-risk pregnancy meant that she had almost a direct line to Doctor Salant in the event of any incidents or concerns. They had been exceedingly lucky that Salant had been available, but Allison suspected more than not that Allison was one of Salant's few patients, if not only.
"Please lay down and lift up your top."
Allison did as Salant asked, letting go of Kaidan's hand as she moved. As soon as she was settled, however, Kaidan's hand was right back holding hers. Salant moved the ultrasound wand over Allison's stomach, watching the picture on the screen nearby. Despite all the technical advances, ultrasounds were still the best and safest way to track pregnancies.
Kaidan heaved a sigh of relief as a fast, thumping sound filled the room, and Allison allowed a small smile of her own. Salant kept quiet as he continued the scan, checking for various things Allison didn't currently care for. The baby was still okay, and that was all that mattered at that point in time.
Salant finished the ultrasound, handing Allison a paper towel to wipe away the gel with while he turned away. She did so, readjusting her top over her stomach.
"Your results from your last check-up all arrived yesterday and I was making plans to pass them through." Salant turned back, his omni-tool active and scanning through some information. "Everything is progressing as normal, nothing of concern, DNA checks have returned..." he paused, looking up at Allison and Kaidan. "Would you like to know whether it's a boy or a girl?"
Kaidan looked over to Allison.
"Not that it matters, but yes. We'd like to know." Allison squeezed Kaidan's hand and looked up at him. "Do we still have that bet running?"
Kaidan chuckled. "It's all over the Normandy. Although we'd have to make sure the bets aren't completed until this one's actually here."
Salant smiled. "It looks like you're having a little girl."
Kaidan cracked a wide grin. "And I bet she's going to be a real badass like her mother and grandmother." He leaned forward to give Allison a quick kiss.
"What can I say? We Shepards breed our girls badass."
"Yeah, just..." Kaidan sighed. "There's a reason you were put on maternity leave as soon as we found out you were pregnant, remember. Just...try not to get caught up in any more adventure until after the baby is born."
[ - ]
Garrus looked around at Apollo's. This was certainly not where he had been heading to, and the view was not what he expected. The Citadel gleamed brilliantly, birds fluttering overhead and people meandering around, just enjoying things how they were.
Apollo's was packed with people, a heaving mess and with nary a free table to be seen. Garrus stepped away, resting against the balcony, eyes flicking across to differing people as they wandered in and out of view. Faint voices drifted on the light breeze, offering Garrus snippets of conversation; all light-hearted, everyday things.
"Shepard. Glad to see you're taking time out of your superhero schedule to come visit."
Garrus turned, identifying the person who'd spoke - Aethyta. As he looked down, he saw the person she was talking to, someone who was not the Shepard he knew. She had her hand hooked through a human's arm, and although her back was to him he could see the hair was the wrong colour.
"How's the mini Spectre doing?"
A laugh filtered through. "Oh, doing fine. She's been keeping quiet a lot though."
Aethyta nodded briefly before her mind caught up with what had just been said, and a grin appeared on her face. "Liara's going to be put out at losing the bet."
"We're not confirming it. Not yet, anyway." The man turned, his quarter profile visible to Garrus. Kaidan Alenko. "But the doc said it looks like we'll be having a girl."
Garrus stayed where he was, observing the scene from his vantage point. This was...interesting. A curiosity. The discussion moved to more abstract topics, Aethyta gesturing over to a recently-vacated table which the two humans slid into. Shepard took a seat which faced back towards the interior of the Citadel, and her eyes absently scanned the area. Her gaze locked onto his, and she beckoned him over.
"Shepard, Kaidan," Garrus said, mind calculating things. "How are you doing?"
Shepard's smile faltered. "You hadn't heard? Oh, great." She looked over at Kaidan who shook his head and gestured for her to continue. "Well, you know that woman who was saying she was Shepard? I, uh, may have lost my temper with her."
"And..." Kaidan said.
"And...ended up in a fight with her."
"In C-Sec's interrogation room. And she got kicked in the stomach." Kaidan shot a cool look at Shepard. "The baby's okay, thankfully."
Baby? Garrus kept his expression neutral, choosing instead to cross his arms. "How long ago was this?"
"About an hour ago," Shepard said. "C-Sec's probably still trying to figure out what this 'Ishtar Shepard' is doing."
Ishtar...oh, shit. What has she done now?
"I need to head off."
Shepard nodded. "See you around, Garrus."
[ - ]
Alarms were blaring in C-Sec, Ishtar glancing around from her position at an intersection. She was cloaked, only noticeable if someone ran into her, and with the chaos around her that was surprisingly unlikely. Most people were streaming either left or right, the corridor she was in going completely unused. A small break in people allowed her to dash out and make small progress towards what she hoped was the exit - if this layout was anything like the C-Sec she knew, anyway.
She dodged and weaved through the masses of C-Sec people, squeezing against the wall and hurrying through when there were free spaces. She was almost to the main doors, she could see that, and continued on forwards. Next plan of action - find some weapons and figure out who the hell was drawing up this huge laugh at her.
Ishtar pressed up against the side of the doors as they began to cycle open; as a salarian walked through she dashed by, skidding into the reception area of C-Sec. The doors to the main part of the Citadel were wide open and she hurried out. A short distance from C-Sec, she decloaked and took in her situation. As before, people were all milling about, seemingly unconcerned over someone decloaking right in front of them.
Ishtar ran through situations and scenarios in her head. She needed a weapon, and fast. She hurried down the nearby stairs and headed to her left, looking around at the stores. She recognised the Kassa Fabrication store and paused by there, waiting until the terminal freed up. Once it had, she scanned through the available stock.
M-6 Carnifex and M-98 Widow. Perfect.
Ishtar selected the two items and moved to purchase them, but a message popped up on the screen. Ishtar frowned at it.
"'Error: Account does not exist. Please try again'. Oh fu-antastic." She caught sight of a small kid out of the corner of her eye just as she was mid-curse, causing her to catch up and change it to something less offensive.
She cleared the selection and backed away from the terminal. She crossed her arms across her chest, and paused, thinking. She caught movement above her, seeing Garrus. She scowled and backed up, looking to her right. The path up beside Apollo's was mostly clear, and she started plotting a route when one word stopped her.
"Ishtar."
[ - ]
Garrus quickly headed down the stairs, moving in front of Ishtar in what seemed like a split-second. She looked as panicked as she ever got, and as he walked towards her her eyes narrowed in suspicion before she traced the scar down his neck. The scar from Tuchanka, Grunt's rite of passage.
"Garrus?"
"Yeah, it's me."
"What the fu-ndamentally random heck is going on here?"
Garrus chuckled quickly before becoming serious. "I have theories."
"More than I have."
Garrus placed a hand on his forehead, thinking. "Alternate universes. Parallel universes where different events occurred. Somehow we might have been pulled into one different to our own."
Ishtar glared. "Are you shi-king me? That's your brilliant theory?"
Garrus nodded.
"So...you're saying magic brought us here?"
"Alternate-"
Ishtar held up a hand. "Magic. Super-creepy woo-woo magic."
Garrus smiled. "I heard you met the presumable Shepard of this universe."
Ishtar winced, checking around her. "Yeah. And I may have kicked her in the stomach. Not my fu-reakin' fault I didn't know she was knocked up." Ishtar scowled. "Besides, she hit me first! Grabbed me by the neck and started slamming me into the wall and the desk! How else was I supposed to react?" Ishtar paused. "How did you know that?"
"I ran into them a bit earlier." Garrus inclined his head towards Apollo's. Ishtar followed his line of sight and drew out the sight of Allison and Kaidan sitting at a table. "All right. Assuming this is an alternate universe, our best shot is going to be talking to this...other you. She'll know the situation around here, plus if Liara's still around she can work her broker magic to see if she can find us a way back."
Ishtar grumbled under her breath, muttering nonsense sounds. She folded her arms across her chest and looked down at the ground, only looking back up when Garrus nudged her gently.
"You'll also feel better once you've apologised."
"Like fu-reaking hell I will! She attacked me!"
"And her first instinct was to go to the hospital and check that the baby was all okay."
Ishtar muttered some more, Garrus making out some curse words this time. "All right, fine!" She threw her arms up in the air and glared at Garrus. "We'll make nice with the knocked-up Shepard with her weird space-magic biotic powers." She turned back to muttering. "God damn fucking biotics are a cheat." She glanced over, seeing yet another kid nearby. Fucking hell, how many kids are there in the Citadel. "Hey, kid," she said, drawing the child's attention. "If you overheard what I just said, don't ever repeat it, okay?"
The child looked at her, slightly mystified, but still nodded. Ishtar sighed and turned to Garrus who was trying - very unsuccessfully - to hide his mirth.
"All right, let's go."
[ - ]
Ishtar did have to hand it to the othe-Allison - and her unfortunate choice of beau - they were quick on the mark. Before she and Garrus had fully crossed into the area of Apollo's, Allison was already on her feet, hands moving in what Ishtar assumed was a biotic movement. At her reaction, Kaidan had glanced over his shoulder and also stood up, his hands out but still.
"Garrus," Allison said, not taking her eyes off Ishtar. "Please tell me you're taking her somewhere private."
"We need to talk," Garrus said. How he was remaining calm in this situation Ishtar didn't know, especially when everyone in Apollo's and also nearby was looking at them. "Do you mind if we sit down?"
Allison traded looks with Kaidan; she looked pissed off, while Kaidan seemed more relenting. Eventually Kaidan moved to sit back down, gesturing Ishtar and Garrus over; Allison remained still until they'd sat down, only folding herself into her seat when she seemed certain she wasn't going to be attacked again.
She kept a glare levelled at Ishtar the whole time.
Garrus shifted forwards, clasping his hands together and placing them on the table, leaning forwards. "I want you to hear me out before you say anything."
"Sure, Garrus," Kaidan said.
Garrus looked over at Ishtar, getting an exceedingly small but unhappy nod from her before he started. "We think there may have been some kind of...incident somewhere."
Ishtar looked away, muttering under her breath. "Yeah, incident and me. That's new."
Allison turned to look at Garrus. "Of course there was an 'incident'. I contacted you about it, remember?" A hand went to her stomach. Kaidan reached over and grabbed her hand, moving and placing both of theirs on top of the table, his thumb stroking the back of her hand.
Rather immaturely, Ishtar moved her head to the side of the table and mimed throwing up, sticking her tongue out. Returning her attention to the table, she caught Allison glaring at her again.
"Look, Miss Priss. You attacked me! It's not my fucking fault I didn't know you were knocked up by this ass!"
Allison's chair screeched against the floor as she stood up, slamming hands onto the table. Blue flickered around her and Ishtar looked up, slight panic in her eyes.
Garrus stood up, positioning himself between the two women. Allison kept her glare levelled at Ishtar, and when it was clear she wouldn't move Kaidan stood up and placed his hands on Allison's shoulders.
"I'd rather not take a second trip to Huerta today, please."
Allison broke her glare and looked over at Kaidan. In a second her blue glow disappeared and she allowed herself to be gently moved back to sit on the chair. Ishtar seemingly forgotten, Kaidan cupped Allison's cheek in his hand and started muttering what she presumed were supposed to be comforting comments.
Garrus sat back down as well, turning to look at Ishtar.
"What?"
"What do you say?" Garrus said. "What did we discuss before we got here?" That got Allison and Kaidan's attention again, although Ishtar did note that his hand was still entwined around hers. Urgh.
Ishtar folded her arms and leaned back in her chair. "Sorry."
"About what...?"
Ishtar sighed. "About kicking you in the stomach."
"And..."
Ishtar gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes. "And I won't do it again. Fuck, if I'd know you were pregnant in the first place I wouldn't have done it. I would have gone for your knees instead."
Garrus' mouth flared slightly, seeming at a loss of words. Eventually, he managed to say something. "Ishtar, I think that apology would have worked better if you'd stopped sixteen words ago. Even eight words before would have helped."
"But it's true!" Ishtar turned to look at Garrus, a devilish smile appearing on her face. "Besides, I thought you liked my kneecapping ability."
Garrus smiled slightly. "Not the best thing to discuss when you're trying to apologise."
Allison and Kaidan had kept silent through the conversation, Kaidan moving to speak when a lull started up. "You're not the Garrus we know, are you?" Garrus shook his head. "What was this incident?"
Snapping back to being serious, Garrus turned to look at Kaidan. "What do either of you know about the many-worlds interpretation?"
"A slight bit," Allison said. "All potential alternate historical events occurred in alternative universes."
Garrus nodded. "In one universe you may have been born on Earth; in another you may have been born on a colony world." Garrus glanced over at Ishtar. "What's the history of you in this galaxy?"
Allison looked taken aback, and Kaidan frowned.
"Humour me."
"Born and raised in space to parents both enlisted in the Alliance Navy. Latent biotic - gained biotic abilities a few months before my sixteenth birthday. Enrolled with the Alliance on my eighteenth birthday. Led a force of soldiers and civilians against batarian slavers and pirates on Elysium in twenty-one seventy-six. Faced off against the Reaper Sovereign in twenty-one eighty-three, died a month later. Rebuit by Cerberus and fought Collectors in twenty-one eighty-five. Fought in and ended the Reaper War in twenty-one eighty-seven."
Garrus nodded before looking over at Ishtar. Ishtar scowled. Well, looks like Miss Priss has the perfect life. Perfect childhood, perfect family, perfect fucking career history, and perfect fucking war against the Reapers.
"How'd they die?"
Allison snapped her attention to Ishtar. "How...?"
"The Reapers." Ishtar waved a hand around to indicate the Presidium. "You got everyone to listen and managed to blow the assholes up before they did any real damage, right? Fucking hell." Ishtar slammed back against the back of her chair, it rocking dangerously on its back legs for a second.
To her surprise, Allison laughed. It wasn't a mirthful laugh; this one was bitter and sour and once done she fixed Ishtar with a steady look.
"It's been almost two years since the end of the Reaper War. The Citadel's been mostly patched up but no way in hell did I manage to get everyone to listen until it was way too late. Heck, I had to blow up a mass relay and destroy an entire system before anyone even came close to believing me."
Ishtar snorted. "Assholes. Don't care until Reapers are hovering over their planet." She got a sly smile on her face. "So maybe you're not the prissy little can't-fight type. How'd you manage to destroy a relay?"
"Get a big enough asteroid and move it fast enough and it does the trick." Allison heaved a sigh and closed her eyes, looking away. "Over three hundred thousand batarians died to give us six months of extra time."
"Well." Ishtar looked around. "That six months did you a lot of good from where I'm standing."
"No, it didn't."
Garrus rubbed his left mandible. "We're getting away from the topic here. The many-worlds interpretation can explain some effects such as someone having a vastly different history or background." He looked at Ishar. "Such as Commander Shepard instead being someone who grew up on the streets of Earth and survived a Thresher Maw attack."
Allison's eyes flicked between Garrus and Ishtar, and Ishtar saw the moment that Allison went from confusion to outright disbelief.
"We've certainly experienced some pretty strange stuff..."
"It was space magic!" Ishtar looked indignant. "Space magic fucked all of this up, and now we need to find some way to un-fuck it all up! Simple, right?"
"I'll call Liara," Kaidan said, standing up to move away into a quiet area to make the call. "Weren't you also going to call your mother this afternoon?"
"If she's available." Allison sighed and stood up. She paused, considering, and looked back at Garrus and Ishtar. "You're not going to cause mayhem if I step away, are you?"
Ishtar gave her a mocking salute. "No, ma'am." Technically with this other Shepard being a Major Ishtar was outranked...didn't mean she couldn't put a little maliciousness in her actions. She waited until Allison was a distance away before speaking. "Fucking perfect. Miss Priss gets the perfect childhood, perfect military career, everyone seemed to love her...bet she never had any problems getting her beau to follow her onto a Cerberus vessel."
"Your beau followed you." Garrus smiled at her, and Ishtar offered a small one back at him.
Kaidan walked back to the table, and Ishtar had to fight to avoid scowling at him. "Liara's agreed to do a vid-call with us to discuss what we know. In the meantime, she's advised us all to stick together and not do anything that could be...disruptive" His gaze ran pointedly over Ishar who scowled and sulked.
"Not my fault," she muttered.