title: trigger, quick to fire
rating: R for gore, swearing in multiple languages
pairing: squint and you might see fem!shep/garrus
notes: set during ME1 on a random side mission
summary: Garrus notices the commander acts different when only aliens are around.
A snippet of my ME1 renegade fem!shep, Lana, who's an adrenaline junkie sentinel. Many thanks to /slang for the easy slang. People say my Shep looks Asian (except for her random green eyes), so I ran with it.
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a trigger, quick to fire,
punctuate betwixt the eyes
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Garrus is hitting another overload home on an unsuspecting Batarian merc taking half-cover behind a crate when she runs up, shields down, cursing in Krogan, before switching to a language much with much odder vocal stressors. His visor takes a moment to recognize as Alliance Chinese.
"Son of a varren-humping, nose breathing whore," she swears, making sure he has her covered before checking her omni-tool again. "Making a pyjak's ass out of me, catching me with my shields down."
Wrex is ahead, catching the bottleneck at the door with a mean shotgun spray, steadfast in position but the shimmering, phosphorescent net of his immunity is starting to fade and Shepard looks worried as more mercs round the door, concern written on her face.
Stopping mid-tirade to take a breath, she closes her eyes, steadies her pistol.
"Suck on this, motherfuckers!"
Three shots ring out, over the surrounding commotion, followed by three bodies crumpling to the ground. He fires two rounds into another merc coming from the side, feels it before he even looks over at her, the electric tingle blue crackling of ozone around her as a biotic barrier comes up around her, giving her precious seconds to swap a new heat sink into her pistol.
Biotics still on coooldown, she charges towards the incoming merc, redistributes her energy to sidestep him before grabbing the back of his helmet and holding on until her other hand connects. His head jerks to the right and she goes with it, twists. The merc falls instantly to the ground, limp as a ragdoll, neck snapped as quickly and efficiently as any other predator he's seen.
Covering her so she can move in to help clean up with Wrex, Garrus tags the original Batarian merc once, twice, as it goes down in a slick mess on the concrete ground. Stopping for a moment to adjust, his omni-tool blinks on and takes in any new data, before winking away again.
We should be in the clear now.
Right on cue, the gunshots stop, and he looks up to sees Shepard coming back towards him, face turned to him questioningly. Dismantling the merc's gun with swift precision, he takes only what is valuable (better heat sink, a newer rail compatible for Shepard's pistol). He tosses her the salvaged scram rail part, and she gives him an appraising look.
"Good work, Vakarian," she says, placing a gloved hand on his armored shoulder, letting it linger momentarily before dropping it to her side. He meets her eyes and can see just the beginnings of a smirk on her lips, before she's looking away, nodding the affirmative to Wrex and packing the new rail away safely, as he continues to scan the merc for anything else particularly useful.
"Thanks, Commander."
He finds a couple credits and omni-gel, leaves the rest in a pool of viscous blood for whatever vermin scavenge this shithole of a planet they're currently on. He's never had a problem with any of the citadel races, but seeing Batarians always leave a foul taste in the back of his mouth, the old saying of where there's Batarians, there's always trouble echoing in his head.
"Shepard, if you're done making eyes at the Turian, could you open this damn door?" Wrex grunts ahead and to the left of them, eying a locked door in frustration before slamming a fist into the metal mere inches from the terminal.
"Jealous?" She asks, waggling her eyebrows at the both of them. "Cos if my Krogan wants some snuggle time I'll put him in the front of the line just for you."
Wrex laughs heartily. "Shepard, the day that Turian leads us and doesn't get us killed, I'll kiss him myself."
Garrus snorts at the exchange, but stays silent, waiting for the exchange to play out, as he scans the mercs in the hallway Wrex took down. It's still new to see this brasher, edgy, more reckless Shepard that comes out only when the threat of Saren and the Geth is temporarily blocked from her mind, the Alliance soldiers out of site, safely aboard the Normandy.
She only recently started bringing him out, Kaidan falling out of favour after the first couple time she brought Garrus on squad recon. The missions went smooth, and Shepard stayed with, reluctant to try and "fix what wasn't broken" when anyone asked about her choice in squad mates. After that, it just stuck; the three of them complimenting each other's mixed talents. She disables, he fires. Wrex leads, she follows, he protects. Ever since their mismatched team got in synch, it's been the same M.O., like a well-oiled machine, or a finely calibrated gun.
"Your right, Wrex. He's too pretty to play the bullet sponge," Shepard adds, shaking her head, winking once before making her way towards the door with peals of laughter escaping her lips. A few clicks and the door opens, Wrex stepping out of the threshold.
Making a rude noise, before tossing her inky hair back and sauntering in the room, he notices Shepard's green eyes searching the room quickly for supplies to salvage or sell. Finding a tech kit in the corner, she opens it, but shakes her head pulling out a chameleon tool, no good to either of them, save a measly few credits.
"Damn," she sighs. "Just a bunch of tian di wu yong crap." She looks around at the empty shelves and broken terminals dejectedly, sweeping the room a glance one more time before giving the signal to open the door and move out.
"Thanks for having my back there, Commander," Garrus replies dryly, before getting up and following them.
"You'll know the day I don't, soldier. You'll be full of enemy bullets before you can blink."
"A comforting thought, I assure you."
They're walking back to the mako, winding through the maze of strewn about crates and bodies, she smirks at him and is about to say something, when her face suddenly changes, insouciant grin disappearing into her lips held in a tight line. She holds up a hand in warning, motioning they take cover before she opens the door.
"Wo de ma he ta de fen kuang de wai sheng dou," she mutters, under her breath barely audible. "Is there any planet in the 'verse we can visit without getting ambushed? My signal to Normandy is jammed; looks like this party had Geth invites we didn't notice at the front door."
"Trap," is the Krogan's only reply, the shimmering net of immunity covering his armor once more. She nods, throwing her barrier back up seconds after.
They take their places; prepare to aim, as Shepard hits the locks that hold the door shut. Sunlight slants into the building, the smell of sulphur through their helmets, as the sound of gunfire greets them again, once more.
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a/n: I know lana sounds like a character out of firefly, I'm admitting homage on my part.
tian di wu yong - completely useless
Wo de ma he ta de fen kuang de wai sheng dou - mother of god and all her crazy nephews