Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, nor am I affiliated with anyone in the production of Mass Effect, from BioWare, or EA. Though, you know, if you guys wanted to hire me on, I'd totally be down for that; I am hard working and people tell me I'm a good writer. Additionally!: this fic is rated M for Mature because only mature people can look at naughty words without going all "oh no, what is the world coming to, I am so scandalized that I'm going to write a strongly-worded letter to my senator" etc etc.

Don't worry; I still intend to keep on Glass Coffin. However, let me repeat that I have very little time in my life, what with 2 jobs and several projects that soak up my time (and video games, because if it weren't for video games, I wouldn't even be here). I wrote this all up in the meantime, and went ahead and wrote all four chapters out before releasing them, because I figure I shouldn't have you guys wait on the conclusion of this little story as well.

"Mr. Vakarian, the commander wishes for your presence in the Communications Room on the CIC."

Garrus looked over to the materialized blue sphere with a look that would have been annoyance if he wasn't just wasting time reconfirming algorhythms. "Did she say what about, EDI?"

"She did not specify. However, from the context of the meeting up to this point, I believe it will be for a mission briefing."

"Mission briefing?" he wondered aloud, but instead of asking any more questions, he quickly paired off the danglers in the equations he was working on and locked the terminal. He was being called into the middle of a briefing? As far as he remembered, they were going to Illium, and considering what was planned, it would be unlikely that the briefing would happen while this far out.

The unreasonably long elevator trip to the next level had its advantages; they'd taken care of Sidonis, and now that he's had a little time to reflect on it, he wanted to thank Shepard and, well, tell her how much he appreciated her being back. And for being there for him when he needed it. He had hoped it'd be when she next did rounds, but before a sudden mission was as good as any given the circumstances.

When the doors opened and he entered, he expected to see people there along with Shepard, but he expected Miranda or maybe Jacob. Zaeed and Katsumi were leaning against the table instead, still involved in what seemed like a heated discussion with Shepard. When Garrus entered, they stopped to look at him and greet him in a way that told him he must have been the subject.

"Garrus," Shepard said and motioned him next to her. "Zaeed brought to our attention a very rare opportunity for us to take advantage of, but it's a little more complicated than what we're usually up against."

"More complicated?" Garrus couldn't help but snort, "We're already doing the impossible and looking good while doing it. I'm having a hard time imagining anything farther than a typical mission under your command."

Shepard gave a guarded smile. "I'll grant you that. Zaeed, why don't you bring Garrus up to speed with your idea?"

"Right," Zaeed started, then over-straightened from where he was bent to knock out a kink in his back. "I got some information from an old contact about a nice, intact artifact that sounds suspiciously prothean. Of course, this information being what it is, instead of going to a respectable museum or university, it's up on auction at an Invitation-Only gathering with those invitations going to some of the less scrupulous, but nevertheless wealthy people of the galaxy."

"Seems like the perfect party for us to crash," Garrus returned.

Kasumi smiled. "It is at that, and it's lucky for us that we have Alison Gunn-" She gestured to Shepard. "-here to request an invitation, since she's now picked up a hobby in collecting rare and illegal things. And we got the response from them just before we called you up. But, of course, even if Ms. Gunn brought in a little muscle, being armored for the inevitable and a full squad with her would make her stand out in a way we don't want."

Garrus stopped her right there. "Wait a minute, you're using the Alison Gunn alias? Hasn't that one already been used out? The last thing we want is Shepard falling into a trap with some slavers again."

"Yeah, well, the galaxy is a big place," Zaeed supplied, "And illegal operations have redundant databases all over the place; not because they don't pay attention to basic database theory in school, but when a spot goes dark and records have to be destroyed regularly to keep lines from being traced, some reference errors are bound to occur. A lot of places hardly update their files more than once a month, this one included."

"Huh. Wish I knew that in C-Sec; would have saved me time when consolidating files. So, what, I'm Alison Gunn's bodyguard?"

"Not exactly,"Kasumi butted in, but she had a very curious grin on her lips. "The commander still has to choose who plays that role, though the choice will probably Jacob or Grunt. If I had any vote in it, I'd say Jacob's the best choice, there."

"What the old lady here needs is more than a gun at her shoulder. Alison here is an aficionado of rare, illegal goods, right? At these kinds of parties, it's pretty much given that she's going to be showing off what she's got, and what she's got is a One-of-a-Kind Turian Merc-Killer."

Garrus's mandibles flattened. "Wait, what?"

"That's the difficult part," Shepard said, frowning with him, "I wouldn't be outright saying it, but heavily implying that Archangel is not only alive, but my trophy-slave. You'll be able to wear your armor so long as you're wearing a collar and not carrying a rifle, but…" She shook her head. "I won't order you to agree to this mission. You might not be comfortable with all the duties or risks associated."

Kasumi piped in again. "It isn't just that you're Archangel; I happen to know that attractive turian males are very popular among certain circles of slavers. One that's a little banged up might lower in price, but if he's banged up because he survived a rocket to the face, well that's a special kind of collector's value."

Shepard scowled at that. "It's your decision, Garrus. If you want, I can have you as my bodyguard instead, or you can opt-out the mission entirely, though it'll mean fewer boots on the ground. I fully expect this mission to get messy, and we won't be the only ones with guns coming."

Garrus thought about it for a moment. Shepard with minimal back-up… he didn't like the idea of that. And in some situations, her bodyguard wouldn't be allowed to follow her; that was often the case in underground auctions to have weapons and those hired to carry them checked in at the door for some events. But slaves were expected to follow; after all, who would suffer a rich degenerate to be without his man-servants and arm-candy? "So, you want to have your very own Archangel in the original packaging? Not exactly what I expected to do with my resume, but I'm in."

Shepard gave him a surprised, wry smile. "If you're sure."

"Positive. I can't let you strong-arm yourself into an illegal auction and start stepping on all the toes before you shoot them off, can I?"

Would it be strange to say he liked how she beamed with reassurance when he said that? Surely one can be glad to sell themselves out to some dangerous criminals if it meant having their CO smile.

"Well, then, let's prepare our trophy for viewing." Kasumi started pushing Garrus towards the door. "Shepard, you go ahead and get ready with that little black number from before."

Zaeed shrugged. "I'll go brief the Krogan in the cargo hold." He sensed Kasumi's glare from under her hood and rolled his eyes. "Hey, she's supposed to have an uppity turian slave that terrorized Omega for two years, so unless we plaster 'POWERFUL BIOTIC' on Taylor's head, Ms. Gunn's going to have to carry someone to be able to handle it we want anyone to believe this scenario."

Garrus had a feeling Kasumi might have had a response to that, but instead she ushered Garrus on out.

Being on the shuttle without his weapons felt strange; being on the shuttle with this uncomfortable piece of metal looped around his neck and no familiar HUD readout from his visor in his eye felt even stranger. Shepard, to her credit, was sitting in a laid-back position in the skin-tight, waist-wrapping civvies she wore. Perhaps too laid-back, since the open gap in the skirt from where her legs spread was too casual to be proper (he supposed), but too dark to be intriguing. Well, maybe it was still intriguing, but he still couldn't see anything. Then again, he wouldn't suppose human women would store light emitting diodes under their skirts.

Well, why the hell not? He wanted to joke. There are some curious turian men who might want to know a little more about… Hmm, perhaps it's best not to follow that reasoning too far.

Grunt, on the other hand, seemed as typically anxious to get into the spirit of killing things as usual, which may be a while considering how these affairs tend to run. Garrus almost envied that; instead he was going to be referred to in the third-person all evening and almost certainly harassed—he hoped Alison Gunn was at least the type that didn't like people touching what belonged to her—never mind that he'll never be out-of-character long enough to have a decent goddamn conversation with her about what happened. Maybe he should just go ahead and blurt it out so it doesn't gnaw on him all evening. "Shepard."

She looked up at him. "Hmm?"

"I just wanted to say… thank you. With your help with Sidonis."

"Oh." Her eyes widened very slightly, and her posture straightened up. "We never had a chance to talk about that, did we? I'll admit, I had some doubts about it when I was up there."

"You had nothing to worry about," he assured her. "Shepard, you know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were more worried about what will happen to me on this mission, and I'm not the half-naked one."

She huffed a little. "I can't help but to think I'm forcing you out of hiding, and I know that can be dangerous. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

"You never have to worry about making me uncomfortable." He stretched his mandibles at her. "Though, I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a little nervous."

It took two transitions with two more shuttles, just to be safe, before they finally docked and walked up to the doorman. There were a couple people arguing with him in the front, and several loitering around for their turn to yell at him, but Shepard walked straight up to him, completely snubbing the asari arguing with him, and put on a haughty face. "Name's Alison Gunn. Me and my boys-" She gestured to Garrus and Grunt. "-are on the list."

Although the asari looked properly annoyed, the batarian didn't even raise one of his four eyebrows. "Alison Gunn," he looked over a data pad. "So you are. You, a bodyguard, and your toy over there. Nice armor for a slave, even if it's a little scuffed up."

"The scuffed armor is part of the package," she said with a knowing grin. He stood aside, and she beckoned her party to follow her in as she sauntered.

Sauntered.

That's exactly how you describe that gait she pulled out of nowhere. It wasn't like Shepard, but damn if Garrus didn't like seeing her hips sway like that. How exactly was he supposed to focus on hating his owner if he was too busy admiring the way she walked?

"I'd get a move-on, slave," the batarian doorman hissed, "or we might have to check you in with the coats at the desk."

He sniffed indignantly and stalked in. It looks like slaver culture would make up in the anger and resentment.