Disclaimer: All characters belong to Bioware.

Beta Reader: Renting

Chapter Two

She's A Puppeteer

"Thank you. Thank you for saving me from those things."

Garrus held back a bark of disbelieving laugher. This was far easier than he expected. Only going through one room filled with Dr. Saleon's brutal test victims and then they find the mad man in the very next.

The commander lowered her gun and Alenko followed suit. Only Garrus kept his gun trained at him. Just shoot and get it over with. All it would take was one bullet. One bullet to end the sickness the man called a life.

"Commander, that's him." His mouth moved of its own accord. "That's Dr. Saleon." Why was he hesitating? Wasn't the only reason they were on this damn ship was to kill the doctor? This was his problem, yet he was letting Shepard decide.

He knew the moment she lowered her gun was the same moment he should have taken the shot. But as much as he hated the doctor, the idea of disobeying an order from Shepard, even if she didn't voice it, was unsettling.

"What!" The man's large speckled eyes met his and widened in understanding. He turned to Shepard and took a step towards her, who had re-holstered her weapon. "My name is Heart! Dr. Heart!" He took another desperate step towards the commander. "Please get me out of here." His voice was a pleading whine that grated on Garrus' nerves. With his gun still on the doctor, he could end this in a flash.

Her voice was calm as she called him. "Garrus." That was new. Garrus slightly lowered his arms and caught her sidelong glance. "Are you sure it's him?" She regarded the doctor with an impassive face.

He nodded. "Positive." He took a step forward, not liking how close Saleon was getting to the commander. "There's no escape this time Doctor." His eyes narrowed as a small amount of glee filled him. "I'd harvest your organs first … but we don't have the time."

"You're crazy." Saleon's eyes shifted across the three of them and clearly saw Shepard as his only chance. "He's crazy." Too close. That bastard was too close to her. "Please don't let him do this to me." Again Garrus inched forward, wanting more than anything to block that monster's path to his commander.

Her hand shot out and stopped his advancement, touching his as she pushed his gun down. The memory of her soft, cool touch sneaked up on him as his hand tingled. "Stand down, Garrus." Again the sound of his name coming from her was strange and new. He lowered his gun and put it away. "We'll take him in; drop him off with the military."

He knew she was going to do something to interfere, either by stopping him or even taking the kill shot herself. Why didn't he shoot again?

"But we have him. We can't let him get away." He was brisling at the idea. "Not again."

"Think Garrus." Again with his name. No Vakarian. Just Garrus. "If he dies then we'll never know what's he's been up to or how he did it. How he made those … things." She was still staring at the man in front of her. "We'll take him in, interrogate him, and he'll serve his time."

"I've—Okay. You're right." She's always right. "You're very lucky, salarian. You owe the commander your life."

The shift in Saleon's demeanor was so sudden that it caught Garrus off guard. "Oh, thank you so very much, Commander."

Then he lunged at her, pulling his rifle from his back and opening fire at point blank range. Saleon was too close for Garrus to shoot without risking harm to Shepard and for Alenko to use his biotics. Her shields were useless. Garrus felt his stomach drop.

She, of course, didn't need his help as she grabbed hold of Saleon's gun and jerked it down, sending the bullets into the floor. Garrus felt his tension ease seeing her easy handle of the doctor.

Then she stabbed him in the neck.

His jaw dropped as Saleon's green blood gushed around the combat knife. Her other hand still pointed the gun to the floor as his finger seized in a dead lock and the gun spent itself.

His body finally went limp and Shepard eased him gently to the floor.

"Commander?" Alenko asked as he took a step towards her. Clearly he was just as confused as Garrus was.

Shepard pulled the knife from Saleon's neck and wiped it on his clothes. Placing it back in its sheath at her thigh, she turned to leave.

"We'll discuss this later. We need to do a full sweep to make sure the ship is clean and then contact the nearest military vessel."

The sweep was marked with a strained silence and both Alenko and his own questioning glances at the commander.

Why kill him? She could have disarmed him in a heartbeat. It made no sense to kill the man after talking Garrus out of it. What she said made sense; now they wouldn't know all the sick, twisted things the doctor did and never bothered to write down. Hell, it was still unknown if he even kept written records.

Garrus felt the need to salvage what was left of this mission.

"We need to find his files. Make sure they're still intact."

Spirits, this was eating him up. He was relieved, happy even, that Saleon was dead, and he would have thought nothing of his death if Shepard didn't open her damn mouth.

For a moment he thought she would disagree. Say that it didn't matter and that whoever came to salvage this ship would deal with it.

She didn't look at him as she nodded her agreement and lead the way back to the locked door near the front of the ship; the only room left to search and surly the doctors lab. She settled down to hack the door. With the higher encryption it was going to take a few minutes before the locks were bypassed. After five minutes Garrus leaned over her shoulder to see what was taking so long.

Shepard was only half way done. The same women who could hack two geths in mere seconds and make them enter in a suicide pack was taking near ten minutes to hack a door.

Something was wrong.

"What's the hold up?" Alenko joined Garrus to peer over Shepard's shoulders. Luckily he was not well versed with tech and couldn't see the same thing Garrus saw: the way she was moving too slowly through the program, like she was reanalyzing things over and over. The way she missed simple connections and had to reload. How she nearly triggered the fail-safe every couple of seconds.

"Nothing." The tone of her voice never betrayed her. "But if you're getting antsy you can go check Saleon body."

Alenko raised a brow. "What I am looking for?"

Shepard shrugged but Garrus answered. "Anything disturbing that screams 'mad scientist'."

Alenko turned to head across the hall. "That's the whole damn place," he muttered as he departed.

Garrus was by her side as soon as Alenko left. Shepard jumped, but didn't fight as he leaned around her and took over. She was too far in to reroute the hack to his tool—that would just lock it down for good and force them to blow open the door—so he had to work from hers.

Even with their armor, she fit easily in the space of his arms. His head brushed her hair and he noted how soft it was. Shepard kept her arm level as he breezed through.

This was a huge breach of space and was questionable on many levels, but he couldn't bring himself to care as he felt her lean very slowly into his hold.

Her voice was soft when she spoke. "Something tells me what's behind this door isn't going to be pleasant."

Garrus remembered how easily they had struck down the mutated test subjects. Maybe it was only easy for him and Alenko.

Garrus didn't know what to say. Comfort was something he wasn't used to giving and was something he knew she didn't get often.

So he did the first turian thing that came to mind; he pressed his mandible to her cheek and hummed with his subharmonics.

Always the wary one, it took Shepard a moment of thought before she slowly pressed back. Finally she let out a small sigh as his harmonics rumbled through her.

"Garrus …"

He stopped her with a rub of his cheek to hers. "Almost done."

When did Garrus turn so callous that he could strike down a room full of people the same way he could mow down geth? How did he not think about their suffering beyond his moment of rage? Why did it take a moment of weakness from his commander to remind him why he was out here taking on the worst monsters in the galaxy in the first place?

Why did it ache to see her like this?

The door beeped as the lock turned green.

Shepard's shoulders tensed before she let out a small breath. The room was just a well-stocked lab. No test subjects, no body parts. Just a lab.

He stood, pulling her to her feet, and watched as her cheeks flushed. Her eyes darted at anything but his face, and she shifted on her feet like she was ready to bolt given the chance.

"Nothing on Saleon, Commander," Alenko said as he rejoined them. Garrus had to admit he had good timing. Any second earlier and they would have had a hell of explaining to do.

Humans always overreacted when it came to touching.

She gave a jerky nod. Alenko seemed puzzled by her flushed cheeks. "Everything alright?" He turned his question to Garrus, but Shepard took the moment to regain self-control.

"Everything is fine." She walked briskly into the room. "Come on."

And, just like that, she was back to normal.

Garrus paced as the elevator made its way up. It had been a few hours after leaving Saleon's ship. The three-man team had parted ways the same as always with him checking on the Mako and Alenko and the commander leaving on the lift.

She didn't seem upset over the mission. Yet Garrus knew he couldn't trust just reading her. He would have to ask and trust that she would give him an honest answer, which he didn't.

Plus, he was worried how she was reading into his earlier action. Did she know that it was something turians used for comfort, mostly among children? Would she be offended by that?

Exiting, he headed up to the CIC. He found her leaning over the galaxy map; her head slightly limp as she stared at a bright cluster of stars. The crew was at their stations and they weren't giving the commander any attention. Garrus stayed back, not sure if he should intrude.

"Commander." Garrus wasn't the only one seeking her. Alenko had approached Shepard from the other side and was looking expectantly at her.

Shepard stood to her full height as she faced Alenko. "Something you need, Alenko?"

It looked like Garrus wasn't the only one moving up in familiarity. Alenko noticed the lack of 'Lieutenant' and he smiled at her. "I would just like to talk."

"About Saleon." Always to the point.

"Yes."

She nodded, then added, "You might as well come along too, Vakarian." Her head turned to include him.

When did she even notice him?

"I trust you both don't mind airing your grievances in from of each other?" she said while looking back at Alenko. He nodded, and she did not wait to hear Garrus' confirmation. "Good." She stepped down and led the way to her quarters.

It was spacy and bare, with no personal items of any kind, just two couches, a table, two terminals, a clothes locker, and a bed.

Alenko gave the room a once over as well. Shepard waved at two vacant chairs as she settled into a third.

Shepard looked expectantly at them both and when her eyes met his, words just tumbled out. "What was the point of all that?" His earlier frustration hit him full force and his flanging came out pitchy.

Shepard laced her fingers together as she leaned forward. "You can't predict how people will react. But you can control how you will respond." Her voice turned softer as she looked over them. "In the end, that's what really matters."

Garrus could only stare at her as it all clicked in his head. Why did she always make sense? I don't think I've met anyone like you, he thought with more awe than he liked.

Alenko was still confused. "But you killed him?"

"Yes, I did." Her gaze bore into Garrus. "Can you tell me why I did, Vakarian?"

He shifted. "You had given him a way out. A chance to keep his life, and he turned it down."

"But you could have still disarmed him," Alenko countered.

"And he still would have fought. If he was truly remorseful or he was willing to cooperate, then yes, I would have let him live. A dead man can't make things right."

"I see," Alenko said as he leaned back in his chair.

"Personally," Shepard seemed reluctant to go one, but she did, "I wanted to kill him the moment I saw him." She was frowning as her eyes glassed over.

"Why didn't you?" Alenko asked.

"It didn't matter what I wanted; personal feeling have no place in a mission. You shouldn't make a choice on simple feelings of 'good' or 'bad'. You have to stay objective."

But you didn't, he realized.

He thought back to how Saleon kept moving closer and closer. How still she remained and how her eyes never left the doctor. How quick she reacted, like she was waiting the whole time for that moment.

Shepard knew he was going to attack, and she let him. She had played the doctor and got the outcome she needed while giving Alenko and him a lesson. He wasn't sure if he should be impressed or upset.

Was her breakdown an act too? At this point he wouldn't put anything past the commander.

A few minutes passed in silence before Alenko stood and said, "I'll talk you later, Commander." He nodded at Garrus. "Vakarian." Then he left.

Shepard was now waiting for him to speak.

"You let him attack. So you could kill him." It wasn't a question.

Shepard looked surprised before she smiled. "Of course you would see right through it." She sighed. "I have to remember you're a hell of a lot smarter than me."

"I'm not smarter—" She cut him off with a soft laugh.

"Modesty? From you, Garrus? I believe hell just froze over."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh, don't get me wrong, I am better than you in many things: sniping, tracking, hacking, and I believe I blow everyone on board out of the water in the looks department. But you had me going for a while."

She was leaning towards him. "But you still pieced it together. Just like with Saren." That caught his interest. "The only damn reason I knew he was dirty was because he was shoving his evil down my throat on Eden. And how did you find out? From paper trails and clues?" She grinned at him. "You're a damn good detective, Vakarian, and I'm glad you're here."

He wanted to believe her, he really did, but she was just too damn good at playing a room …

"And about … what happened on the ship … " She looked away and ran a hand along her head. "Thank you." Her cheeks flushed.

Against his better judgment, he believed her.