After a long discussion about the mission up to this point, Jacob seemed to catch on to her anxiety over Garrus, she kept looking at the door as if she wanted to rush out of it.

"Commander, we've done what we could for Garrus." Her attention snapped back to him and he continued gently, "But he took a bad hit. The docs corrected what they could with cybernetics, best we can tell he'll have full functionality, but…" the door flew open, breaking off his sentence.

Garrus stood as tall as he could in the doorway. He felt the pain, but he managed to get some rest since then and, much to the doctor's dismay, couldn't stay in bed. He'd remembered the terrified look on the commander's face even as he was on the edge of death. He'd never seen her afraid before, it shook him. But now he could see the tension ease from her, her shoulders relaxed and she crossed her arms, resting her hip on the table as she smiled over at him.

"Tough son of a bitch, didn't think he'd be up yet." Jacob was in disbelief, any human would be down for weeks.

"No one would give me a mirror," he walked towards her, "How bad is it?"

"Hell, Garrus, you were always ugly, slap some face paint on there and no one will know the difference." She grinned mischievously.

"Ha… aw damn it, don't make me laugh. My face is barely holding together as it is." His hand came up and tentatively touched his mandible. "Some women find facial scars attractive…" he began, using a sultry tone, then shook his head, "Mind you most of those women are Krogan." She grinned wider and shook her head at him, he could have sworn he saw her eyes roll.

He watched her nod to Jacob, dismissing him. Once the door shut, his tone became serious. "Frankly, Shepard, I'm more concerned about you. Cerberus? You remember all those sick experiments they were doing?"

"I haven't forgotten, Garrus. The only surviving member of my unit was mixed in it. I hate them as much as ever." Her eyes shadowed.

She was leaving something out, "Shepard, what's going on?"

"Collectors are attacking human colonies. In a matter of hours everyone is…gone. The alliance won't do anything about it and is blaming it all on slavers, so is the Council. Cerberus is the only one taking a stand. I don't like it either, but it's better than sitting on my hands." She fell quiet for a moment then looked back up at him, "I'm glad you're here Garrus, it's good to have someone I trust at my side, especially if I'm about to walk into hell."

"You do realize this plan has me walking into hell too, right?" He laughed as gently as he could to keep his face in one piece, "Just like the good old days." She returned his smile, "I'm fit for duty whenever you need me, I'll settle in and see what I can do for the forward batteries." He nodded a farewell and left the room.

She stared after the place he'd just been standing and let out a large sigh of relief. She'd almost lost him. She rode the elevator up to her apartments and changed out of her armor before plopping down on her bed. She stared up at the stars, a small smile stuck on her face. She'd turned him. Garrus, the used to be snooty C-Sec boy had become a hardened vigilante taking on major gangs. She was sad he was forced into that situation, but proud of how he'd handled it. Her terminal beeped. She sat up slowly, rolling to keep the weight off of her ribs. A message from Anderson, she could almost see him typing this frantically and smiled. She missed him… but she wasn't sure she could face him just yet. Maybe after she recruited Mordin…then she'd go see him. How could she tell him she was working with Cerberus now?

But Mordin had to be her priority. And she couldn't bring Garrus into a plague-zone for Turians, not with him in this condition. She summoned Zaeed and Jacob to the airlock and back onto Omega. With Garrus safely tucked away and healing, she could focus on saving Mordin.

"I'm human you ass!" A woman was yelling at a Turian, demanding to be let back in.

Shepard listened for a while before interjecting, "So, we can't go in?"

"Finally a human that can hear." He explained the situation in detail. Vorcha and Blue Suns killing off anyone not already dying, a full gang war amidst a plague…typical Omega. She shook her head, "Look, you're stuck here until this is all sorted out, right?" The Turian nodded, "What you need is for someone to fix this problem, and fast. That's what I do, solve problems. I'll get this district sorted out so you can get on with your own life."

Eventually the Turian nodded, "Why the hell not, the quarantine is more to keep infected people in anyway."
The woman was livid, Shepard left them behind to argue. "You don't have a grenade launcher lady." She couldn't help but chuckle.

The ward reeked of rotting and burning flesh and disease. She coughed as she choked on the smell, pushing away her memories of Mindoir and Akuze. She knelt to help a Batarian.

"Lies drip from your mouth like the blood from my sores." He groaned, nearly passing out before she gave him medi-gel. She spoke gently with him, he was obviously in pain. "Maybe it's the fever, but your words….sound sincere. As you said, what have I to lose? What do you wish to know?" She promised to send someone back for him and made their way to Mordin's clinic.

The conversation with Mordin took all of five seconds with how fast he was speaking. She informed him of her mission and who she was working for, and asked for his help. He became very flustered and refused, saying his mission was more important, while she agreed that the plague needed cured, she was exasperated.

Shepard shook her head, "Just once I'd like to ask someone for help and hear them say 'Sure! Let's go right now! No strings attached!'" She sighed, her arms falling to her sides. "What do you need me to do?"

She fell back onto her bed on the Normandy, a smirk on her face. Dr. Mordin Solus, ex-STG and a very interesting character. He would be an excellent asset to her team, and he was funny too. He seemed unsurprised by the AI, and she agreed, Cerberus must be desperate. She tongued the back of her lip ring, it still hurt. She'd had one in the left corner of her bottom lip before but along with all her scars Cerberus had gotten rid of it. It was a bit swollen, but she knew the drill. She stretched out before popping back up. No time to rest, she needed to go and check on Garrus.

"You know, I really wanted to add 'Saved Omega from the Plague' to my resume." Garrus commented when he saw her, then shook his head, "I see you have your lip ring back, I was wondering where it went."

"Had to get it re-done," She rubbed her lip, "It's a bit swollen still. Hey, do Turians ever get piercings?"

"Not really, no," He said with a laugh, "Our armor plating tends to break the needles."

"Right…." She smiled at him gently. "You got a minute?"

"Sure, just checking the weapons systems, can never be too careful. Thought I'd seen it all, mercenary work showed me otherwise. And now the Normandy is back and better than ever."

"She's still just a copy," Garrus was a bit surprised at her tone and that look in her eyes was so sad.

"It's better than nothing. I'd take a copied Normandy over no Normandy any day. Cerberus did a hell of job fixing her up; I only wish we would have joined them sooner."

"We haven't joined them; we are using their resources to save the colonies and take down the Collectors, that's it. But I'm glad to see you are getting along with the new crew." She sat down on the stack of crates.

"Better than I'd expected, they are being quite civil, plus they have you vouching for them. I can't exactly doubt your judgment…not after I got my own squad killed." He shook his head and turned away. "I formed my team to kick back at Omega, everyone of us out to make the gangs think twice before murdering someone in the streets. And they all wound up dead because of me."

"Do you not remember anything I taught you?" She tried to keep her tone gentle. He looked up at her, confused. "Garrus, they were strong, and they lost. If you had been there maybe you could have made the difference, but you also could have wound up dead alongside them."

"That might have been better." He shook his head, "living with this guilt it's… hard."

"It gets better." Her tone was soft, she stood and put a hand on his shoulder, "Why don't you tell me what happened. How did you wind up on Omega, I thought you went to Spectre training?"

"I did, but I couldn't stand all the political bullshit on the Citadel, no one was willing to do anything. But on Omega, there was no red tape to slow me down and it was crawling with thugs who thought they were untouchable kicking the helpless, it was a perfect fit." He paused.

"That explains how you became Archangel, how'd you get a squad?" She prompted him to continue.

"Not to different from you, actually, prove you get things done and people join up. Mercs wanting to atone, security consultants tired of playing by the rules, I gave them hope." He said forcefully, "And now they're dead, shows what I know."

"How did they track you down? That fortress was in the middle of nowhere."

He looked at his feet, "It was my own damn fault. One of my team betrayed me, a Turian named Sidonis. He sold me out and ran."

"Maybe he was a casualty?" She followed him as he paced down the hall, "Maybe they killed him first?"

Garrus gave her a weak smile, "Trust you to hunt for the good side of bad people. But no, he cleared out his bank accounts and booked passage off Omega the day before. He sold me out and ran. I lost my whole team except for Sidonis, one day I will find him and correct that." His eyes burned with vengeance, it wasn't a look she was used to and it unnerved her. She put a hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts. He brushed past her, "Thanks for stopping by, but I have some things to take care of."

She didn't follow him. She knew the feeling and she'd wanted to be alone as well. She spoke gently, knowing he could hear her. "If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me." She turned and headed back up to the CIC.

Garrus braced his hands against his terminal, his thoughts swirling. He pushed his way back into Calibrations; they always helped clear his thoughts.

Garrus needed air. Calibrations didn't do the trick like they usually did so he went on a trip around the ship. No one was doing anything interesting and he didn't feel like going to engineering, Tali wasn't there so why bother. He wandered up to the bridge when he heard a commotion from the CIC. Roughly five crew members were gathered around Jokers chair, he nodded to them as he joined.

"What in the world is that?" Garrus asked, unable to believe his eyes.

"It's the commander. She posed for this magazine a few months before the original Normandy went down." Joker replied and turned to look at him, "Don't be a snitch, she'd kill me if she found out I had this."

"I won't tell, but you haven't answered my question, what is it?"

"A magazine called Battlescars, they go around and interview soldiers who have, well, a lot of scars or that are really interesting. They interviewed Shepard after she took out Saren and this was her pose." Joker informed him, holding up the magazine for Garrus to see. Her back was strong, the muscles well defined, her arms up and flexing; but that wasn't what caught his attention. There was a tattoo of two wolves on her left shoulder, circling each other inside of a dream catcher. The black wolf looked rabid and violent, its red eyes beaming with hatred, while the white practically radiated with purity, its eyes a bright blue. A large scar ripped between them and feathers shot out from the side. Her entire back was covered in both small and large scars.

"That's interesting. Did they just take the picture?" He looked at the front, the article next to her shoulder read 'Scars of a Spectre, Get a glimpse at the Commanders scars and hear her stories' in elegant script. Joker opened to the page, everyone stood around him as he read the Q & A article:

Q: What does your tattoo represent?

A: It's based on an old earth Indian story about a battle between two wolves. A black wolf that represents hatred, anger, ego, greed, basically all of the negative aspects of humanity against a white wolf that is purity, hope, love, caring, all the positive attributes. They are locked in a constant battle, at the end of the story, it is asked which one wins, and the story teller replies 'The one you feed'. It's my reminder to always feed the right wolf.

Q: Why do you have so many scars? Why not just remove them?

A: Scars remind us that the past actually happened, and can help separate dreams from reality. Every single one of my scars has a story attached to it, I wake up and I know I am still me, I know where I came from and where I intend to go. Sure I could get them removed, anyone could. But no one else has scars like mine. They remind me that I have gone out into the galaxy and lived, I obviously didn't dodge well, but I lived.

Q: What is your favorite color?

A: ….Green. You can ask me anything, and you ask me what my favorite color is? C'mon guys, step up your game.

Q: Are they any men in your life?

A: Ok you stepped up your game…Can I say 'no comment' on these? Is that fair? No? Um… technically no?

Q: What can you recommend to all the colony kids out in the Terminus?

A: Live your dreams, no matter how far away they might seem. I know this sounds clichéd but if you apply yourself and bust you're a** towards something, you can make it happen. Also, take a martial art; you never know when slavers might hit. If the community has an escape plan, you can save more people.

The questions degraded from there. Garrus remembered her having scars on her arms and neck, but it was interesting to see the tattoo, he liked the story for it, and that she kept them all. He smirked, Krogan's would even find her attractive, she was practically one already. The distraction had served its purpose and he was back to calibrations.

"My advisor is unavailable" She heard Anderson say through the door, "Shepard will be here any mom-Ah, commander! We were just talking about you."

"It's been a long time, Anderson, I hope the last few years have treated you right," She gave him a firm handshake.

"It's been rough, but it's good to have you back." He shared her smile.

The Salarian councilor interrupted, forcing her to explain her ties with Cerberus. The Asari explained the meeting was so she could defend herself from the allegations, they owed her that much. Which was true, she had saved their lives and the entire crew of the Ascension. She sneered as the Turian councilor dismissed the reapers.

"Look at the wreckage! Look at—"

"The council has made its decision, commander. Also, that is not the purpose of this meeting."

She tried not to growl.

Keep a low profile, yeah right, she thought, but was happy to have her Spectre status reinstated none the less. No sense in burning bridges, and she wanted a quick end to her relationship with Cerberus just as much as they did, if not more. They ended transmission with the council as Udina charged into the room. She groaned.

"I have a long list of people I didn't want to see, your name is right at the top." She sneered as he ranted about a political shit storm. "That's your job isn't it, cleaning up the metaphorical shit? Besides, it went fine. I'm a Spectre again and everyone's happy."

"You shouldn't have done this without consulting me first." Udina pressed on Anderson.

"I don't report to you, Udina, it's the other way around. Why don't you go back to your office and think about that?" Anderson replied; his stance authoritative as Udina slinked away. She waited until the door was closed before embracing him tightly. Garrus already knew Anderson had taken her in after the fiasco on Mindoir, and she was sure Miranda had done her homework on her and would have known as well. He was practically her step-father.

"I missed you." She said into his shoulder.

"I missed you too. Losing you was hard, on everyone." He returned the hug before letting her go. He walked over to the balcony and answered all of her questions. She was pissed to find that all of the wreckage from Sovereign went unexamined, how blind could they be?

I am the vanguard of your destruction…

She dismissed herself from Anderson, promising to keep in touch but she had a long ways to go, and the more she delayed the more colonies were taken. She grabbed some groceries for Gardner and picked up some cool looking fish before heading back towards the Normandy.

"Commander Shepard, enter the password to win a free prize!" An advert of a hooded woman summoned her. She sighed, she hated these stupid things.

"Silence is Golden." She said flatly, "Ms. Goto I presume?"

"Very good, Shepard, you really are as quick as they say. Its good to finally meet you, Commander, I'm a fan. "

She laughed lightly, "Thanks. You ready to head out and save the galaxy?"

"Of course, after you run the little errand I was promised." The add smirked at her.

"Which Cerberus neglected to mention." She crossed her arms, "What do you need?"

"I guess it slipped their minds…I'm looking for my old partners Graybox. A man named Donovan Hock took it, and I intend to get it back."

"If that's what Cerberus promised you, we'll get it done."

"It'll be fun!" She continued excitedly, "And if we are lucky, you won't even have to draw your gun."

"I'm going to warn you right now Kasumi," She laughed, "I'm never that lucky."

"We'll see. But we had better wrap this up, you look pretty silly talking to an advertisement." She winked before cutting the connection.