2. When I Looked at You Differently: Purgatory

It wasn't in her nature to lie; when the Illusive Man had given her the dossier of 'the most dangerous human biotic', Shepard had felt a little insulted. Fortunately, she and the Illusive Man shared a pleasant relationship which allowed her to speak entirely frankly with him. He rarely rose to any bait, of course, which didn't include accusation as to his intentions, and merely insinuated that Project Zero had experienced enhancement and instruction far beyond that of any Alliance-trained human biotic. It was, perhaps, misfortunate that that didn't send alarm bells ringing; her natural state was to be distrustful of him and everything he said, and this was no different. She would later learn that this only added to Cerberus' long list of misdeeds.

Proud of her L5x implant, despite the splitting headaches and who she had to thank for it, Shepard was sorely curious to see this 'ultimate' biotic. Only the recruitment of Mordin Solus - and Archangel, for they were both on Omega - had taken preference, but now it was time to satisfy curiosity. Elbows leant against the comfortable back of the pilot's chair, Shepard inhaled, ready to continue with recruitment. It was still a little hard just readjusting to the fact that she was alive, and everything which was happening almost made it seem as though nothing had changed. What had been her first actions upon setting off against Saren? Forming a team. They weren't all as easily accessible as last time, but being cherry-picked certainly made them worth it. Shepard enjoyed having a salarian on her team; it had been one of the species she had 'missed' last time around, and working closely with Kirrahe had proven their military virtues. Toning out the non-stop bickering between Joker and the ship's AI, Shepard flicked through the dossiers uploaded to her datapad. They were already en route to the mass relay which would take them to the Hourglass Nebula cluster, but Shepard wanted to have a plan for afterwards. Assuming that 'Jack' was as compliant as Mordin had been and caused no issues, the commander wanted to waste no time in collecting their next fighter. She was tempted by the krogan warlord. Wrex had left a very soft spot in her heart for the species, and though she doubted that any krogan would replace him, having one on board would certainly help push this mission further into familiar nostalgia. To run alongside a krogan again would be exhilarating!

It amused her, sometimes, when she realised she treated the Normandy almost like a zoo. The simple truth of it was, she felt a greater affinity for the aliens than her own kind; having grown up as an unwanted stranger on her own planet, there was no love lost for the human race. She disliked being forced to pretend that she shared their agenda or interests; save for very few exceptions, the aliens in her life had done far more for her than any homo sapiens. One of those exceptions was, quite possibly, the physically frail pilot in front of her, who glanced back at that point to jovially announce their arrival. The massive structure, like some kind of elegant sword, loomed ahead of them. Shepard nodded; Joker punched in the coordinates; the relay began to visibly shift, twisting slightly in the direction of the relay they were headed for. They had always awed her, and she felt as though she should brace as the Normandy was propelled forwards at insane speeds. As ever, though, the ship made mass relay travel feel no different to anything else, and so Shepard had to be content to stare out of the heavy glass windows just so she didn't forget the immensity of what was happening. Joker laughed, and she realised she was gripping onto the back of his seat. "Feel small, commander?" She lightly cuffed the back of his head before departing with a smile.

"Miranda, Jacob, Garrus, you're all coming onto the ship." She had debated only taking the humans, since this was ultimately a Cerberus deal, but bringing the turian seemed sensible; the necessary communications prior to docking had revealed the owner of the facility to be a turian, and where one turian led, many were bound to follow. Besides, it was owned by the Blue Suns, and therefore turians were bound to be a common sight. This didn't mean that Garrus had to empathise with the authorities there, but taking one of her own seemed to even the score a little. Heh, one of her own: she really did view this like a collection, didn't she? Mordin was too useful analysing the Collector bugs to waste his time on a simple pick-up mission, and the shuttle couldn't comfortably take more than about four anyway.

The three nodded, and began suiting up. Minutes later, the four of them were stood, guns pointing at the security who had greeted them. "Just like old times," Garrus laughed quietly, something he had been saying quite a lot since his return. Shepard had smiled, but it went over Miranda and Jacob's heads. Seeing their expressions had disorientated security for a moment, but they all swiftly got back to business; "I never relinquish my weapons," Shepard said calmly, then lowered her pistol. The turians opposite them didn't follow suit, confused by the conflicting signals. "Not that you can take them from me," she continued, voice dangerous, as distorted blue light flashed in her free hand, pulsating threateningly. It was entirely clear that no agreements were going to be made which didn't include the full arming of her team. It was fortunate that the warden appeared at this point, and though his manner was friendly, something about him made a tendon in Shepard's neck twitch. He took them away and began an unnecessary if interesting tour of the prison ship, presenting Shepard with moral decisions she wasn't entirely sure how to judge. Only the worst criminals were placed here, he had said, the types of people she didn't hesitate to destroy. Why, then, was it hard to simply acknowledge what they were doing as right? Was it the fact that she was preparing to idly purchase one of these convicts to strengthen her team? It seemed incredibly two-faced to agree with the punishments and then agree to work alongside the murderers in the same breath. Cerberus was testing what was once a perfectly-formed moral code. In the end, though, the source of her discomfort was hard to pinpoint, though maybe his lack of face paint was a factor; she had long learnt what the term 'barefaced' meant to turians - untrustworthy, 'politicians' - and it now was a part of her vocabulary and understanding the same as any derogatory remark originating from Earth. It would never have quite the same impact on her as it would a turian, though, and Shepard idly wondered what Garrus thought of it; was he as immediately resistant to the warden's casual manner? Or was it something else? It did not matter, the mission was simple, and they were 'permitted' to keep their weapons with no further trial. Not that they could take them from her.

Just like old times.

"I need to confirm that the funds have cleared," Warden Kuril said, concluding the tour as he pointed them in the direction of Jack. As he turned to go, something close to malice in his voice as he said "I'll see you later, Shepard," it suddenly clicked. She held up a hand; he paused; she stared hard at him.

"Did I mention that you sound like a turian I used to know?" she said, the tone in her voice shifting between conversational and accusational. He blinked a little in surprise, since they had both enjoyed quite a professional, if cold discourse so far, and this seemed rather off-topic and pointless. He humoured her, though.

"No, you did not. A good friend, I hope?"

Shepard's eyes narrowed, and she casually turned to leave. "Nah, I got him to shoot himself."

The Warden processed that, and then huffed, leaving them to collect their prize in peace. Inevitably, it ended in a firefight.