Edit: Because of the recent DLC (Citadel,) I have updated this chapter to include new areas from the Citadel!

Just a Drill

"Garrus...I need your help."

The first time the words had come out of my mouth and they already tasted bad. I knew that I would regret asking later, but it had to be done. I couldn't get out of Probee status without him. The second he knew it, I knew that he would never let me live it down.

I could see the surprise on his face as he looked up from his paperwork. Was it my imagination, or was he trying to hide it from me? Nah, it was my imagination. "Are you in trouble?" he asked after an awkward pause of shuffling papers around.

"Huh? Oh, no. I just need you to evaluate me on my abilities to shoot at fake, moving targets in a cardboard box." Translation: I need you to score me on shooting in the crappy simulation room.

"You mean target practice?"

"Worse. Crappy simulation target practice." He let out that low gravelly sound in his throat. I really liked making him chuckle. It sounded nice and it made him seem less threatening even though it sounded like a rumble to my puny human ears.

He nodded and started putting away his files. "Sure. Just let me clean up a little." Garrus, I noticed, was all about organization...but I wasn't sure if I could follow his methods. His desk was a little too cluttered for my taste. But, that just made him Garrus.

"Ready?" I asked when he stood up. I felt eager to get my C-Sec gun license. Unable to carry any weapon but my fists made me a little paranoid.

Garrus nodded and made sure his pistol was secured in his holster. "Yes, let's go." We didn't make it very far out of the office before he asked, "What weapons are you trained in?"

"Pistol, Sniper Rifle, and heavy weapons of almost any kind." He looked at me strangely, opening the door to the simulator with his DNA and scrutinizing me. "What?"

"You? Heavy weapons?"

I should have known that he would judge me. I was secretly happy that he hadn't looked at my service record, but damn, how else would I have been able to take down thresher maws? "I told you once...I'm tougher than I look."

oOo

The two of them walked into Armax Arsenal Arena and Mia gasped at the sight before them. "This...isn't crappy simulation shooting." The Arena featured a huge rectangular room full of holographic adds for guns, new movies, and all of the different levels that Armax supplied. Combat participants could redeem their prizes at a company store opposite the food kiosk, which was manned by a hologram of a female turian. Everything was shiny and new and looked damn expensive.

Garrus admired a new scope for his sniper before he turned back to the matter at hand. "Go and pick out your weapons. You have to start on the Foot Solider level and work your way up."

"You've been here before?" she asked in awe, looking around like a small child.

"As you said, all personnel has to go through a weapons check before they can carry." He smirked at her wonderment and shook his head. "Besides, C-Sec gets a discount for training here. Cerberus or Geth?"

"What?" she asked distractedly, her brown eyes coming up to meet his. That was the only word for the color of her eyes - brown. "I have to choose what I shoot? Um, Geth, I guess."

Garrus suspected Cerburs, so that was a surprise. He took a deep breath and followed her to the nearest room. He then went to stand above in the upper area of the room where the spectators stood and watched as she picked out her armor, read the rules, and picked out her weapons. He suspected that she would pick the pistol, or even the assault rifle. So, when she tucked an Edge IV into her belt, he wasn't surprised. What surprised him and half the other men in the room was when she picked up a Black Widow—one of the heaviest sniper rifles in the world, but also the most deadly—and lifted it with one hand as if it were a baby toy.

"Well," she asked, leaning the rifle against her shoulder and looking up into the spectator stand, "you boys coming?"

The other Probees in the room scheduled for their evaluation stared after her in awe, confusion, and anger. Obviously they hadn't expected someone of her...stature...to even be able to pick up a weapon like that. Spectators started to come to the railings and started watching.

Mia set up the weapon against her shoulder as if it were an extension of her arm. She knew how to prime it, how to reload and care for it. She looked at it almost lovingly. "I can tell you my knowledge about the gun...I'm sure that it's on the test." They talked through their omni-tools for easier communication.

He looked down and saw that, yes, it was indeed on the test. "Uh...yeah, go ahead."

Who knew that the woman could monologue? "The Black widow seeks to improve on the M-98 Widow's faults. The result is a powerful rifle, still capable of dealing significant damage, while at the same time giving the Black Widow three shots instead of one before reloads are needed. However, it does less damage than the regular Widow. The main strength is that the Black Widow has much higher damage than any other semi-automatic rifle, which allows it to serve a dual-purpose. The first is that it can kill weaker enemies outright in one shot to the body. The second allows it to pick off stronger targets with a single headshot. The high damage, combined with the semi-automatic firing means that this rifle can achieve much higher damage per second than most sniper rifles and against armor it is virtually unparalleled." She made a face and rolled her shoulder back, as if preparing for recoil. "It sure does weight a hell of a lot, though."

Garrus was sure that he wasn't the only man looking at her in complete and utter confusion. He cleared his throat and marked down that she had the information way under control. Now he just wanted to see if she could shoot it. "If you're any good with that gun, we should have a competition one of these days." He didn't bother telling her that he was the best there had been at C-Sec in over three generations of turians.

She looked rather surprised that he'd said this, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open, before suddenly she bared her teeth. Garrus thought that she was growling at him, then he remembered that when humans did that, it was called smiling. "Really?"

He didn't know if he should get her hopes up, but it was nice when she smiled like that. "Sure. Now show me how you shoot that thing." He then watched as she completed the evaluation with perfect notes. He would try to correct her at first, but she would fix the problem before the first word even came out of his mouth. Perfect form, perfect aim, she even wanted more of a challenge—she made it to the next level before she even finished the first round.

Her armor, a bright yellow tech armor, had only needed to be discharged once, knocking out quite a few adversaries before she loaded it back with her omni-tool. She took out machine after machine, only using her armor and the guns, and ended up making it to the third level and drawing a crowd that cheered after each headshot.

"I think we're done here," he said an hour later, in disbelief of her shooting skills. He now, more than ever, wanted to have a shoot-off between them. They'd probably bring the house down!

"Can I finally carry a weapon around with me?" she asked, not having even broken a sweat. She sat the gun down lovingly, even wiping it down with polish. She got some approving shouts and even turned in her points for 900 credits as they left.

"Sure, Probee," he said with a roll of his eyes, ignoring the vorhca trying to get them to play Three-card Monte, "whatever you want."

oOo

Being around Garrus really was starting to get easier. When he didn't underestimate me, leave me out of the job, and ignore me, we got along pretty well. So, we walked out of the shooting range and made our way through the fake sunlight of the Silversun Strip, headed towards the Presidium. "Whaddya say," I said with a smile, twirling in said fake sunlight, "drinks on me?"

We must have looked quite the pair. Probee human and turian Officer, just walking along like it was no big deal. We got a few strange looks, but I didn't even care. I was finally getting along with this guy. "Why not? We're off duty."

I felt like I was grinning like an idiot as I pulled him along. Instead of going to Purgatory or Chora's Den, (heaven forbid,) we made our way slowly to Flux, where many of our fellow C-Sec workers would be relaxing. There was a gentle breeze that had been made to make it feel like we were outside. There were even clouds in the sky, but this would never feel like the forest outside my grandparent's house on Earth.

We passed a few new stores opening - there was a bar that sold party supplies, an arcade that I would totally be hitting up later, and even a casino that was already open and looked like it would take an entire paycheck to even enter, let alone play in.

"So," I said, glancing around at all of the new business owners personally helping the Keepers set up their new stores, "you've been with C-Sec a while. Is there more to it than just sitting and reading through paperwork? Is there even any action?"

He gave me a grin that looked a little sheepish in my opinion. "Not as much as you've seen, obviously, but I've seen some interesting things. The paperwork gets to you, though. I feel like I'm about to pull off my fringe...and that would hurt. A lot."

Yes, I'd seen some action. More than my fair share, if you counted staring down the gaping holes of two thresher maws. I tried to ignore the gnawing feeling it left me walking with, trying instead to think of Garrus pulling out his 'hair,' and it didn't quite work. Actually, it was kind of funny. "Give me some details, Gare. I'm dyin' here. Investigation or Enforcement?"

He smirked at the new nickname and stepped out of the way for an Elcor to pass. He brushed up against me. It was strange to feel his rough skin on mine—but it wasn't unpleasant. It felt like old leather...adding in a few spikes, of course. "It was a while back. I was tasked with tracking black market trade for a dive into Investigation. Most of it was harmless and I still had to deal with Enforcement. Nothing I needed to pursue. Still the same amount of paperwork."

I had to smile about that. I'd walked in on him a few days ago, stacks of paperwork on his desk that I hadn't even realized needed to be filled out. The stubborn turian refused to let me file it with him. "I can help with the paperwork, you know."

"You've got enough on your plate," he said, the same thing from a few days ago. "But this case was different. I noticed an increase in the trade of body parts. Organs, mostly."

I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. He must have noticed because he looked at me with almost a caring look. "People sell organs?"

"People sell people, Mía. It's a disgusting fact of life."

"That's why we're here," I said with a nod of my head. We were now standing over the lake directly. If I looked down through the see-through walkway, I could see the water flowing, the water supply to the Citadel. "That's just one reason why I want to be at C-Sec. If I can't protect people...then who will?"

When I turned to look at him, it seemed almost as if he had been staring the entire time. There was a look on his face that I couldn't place. "We will," he said simply, before continuing with his story. "Every so often a lab tries to sell unwanted goods on the black market. But they're not as bad as the psychos."

"There's something worse to selling parts on the market?" I asked, feeling a bit lightheaded. I just kept picturing some crazy doctor trying to harvest me.

"This crazy Elcor diplomat in my third year, yeah. He was hacking people up and selling their organs. Had the station in a bit of a panic." He chuckled as if he remembered it being funny. I told him that I didn't understand his amusement. "If you could have seen Pallin with his pants in a twist like that, you would laugh, too. Gotta laugh to keep away the pain. The images were...horrific."

"I can imagine," I said softly, finally glad that we were almost to Flux. I could tell that this was bothering him so I gave him a small shoulder nudge and asked, "How hectic was Pallin, again?"

He gave me a sad smile and said, "You should have seen it. He was running around like a chicken with its head cut off."

"You know what a chicken is?"

"Not really. I just know that apparently everything in the universe tastes like it."

I laughed a little, glad that he could finally open up to me, if only a little. It was nice when we weren't biting each other's heads off. I could really get to know this guy. He reminded me a little of a mixture between Eddie and Jason—strange, but not all unwelcome. "You could say th—"

Suddenly a bad feeling washed over me. Gut instinct, I suppose. I threw out my hand to land on his chest, keeping him from moving forward. I looked into one of the stores near me, a human one that was obviously anti-alien, to see a turian with the Blue Suns logo 'talking' to the teenage female worker. The store was called "Home Spun" and it was still moving in to the relatively new Ward.

"Garrus," I whispered, motioning my head to them, "look."

"Just a transaction," he said simply, keeping on ahead. We still had to go down a few levels to get to the Presidium itself.

"Transactions don't occur with the shop keeper. They're just there for customer support." Obviously this guy didn't have gut instinct. Did turians have guts? I reached out and grabbed his arm, making him glare at me, but I didn't care. I moved closer to the store, Garrus dragging behind me, and watched in slight terror as the Blue Suns agent pulled the young girl towards the back of the store. "Garrus..."

"Alright, more than a transaction. We should call Enforcement, we've got plans."

I couldn't believe I was hearing this from him. We were police officers, for Christ's sake! We were supposed to uphold the law, no matter what. Even if we had plans and were off duty. So I pushed past him, taking out the pistol I was finally able to have. "Get out of my way, then."

I moved in slowly, hearing his exasperated sigh, and then I had backup. "I've got your six," he said lowly to me, making me smile.

We moved through a sea of boxes that surrounded the new store, coming to either side of the back door that led to a storage unit. No way out except this door. I looked at Garrus, nodding, and counted down from three.

I kicked open the door, just as I'd always wanted to do like in one of those twenty-first century vids, and shouted, "Citadel Security!" The room was large, with dozens of boxes on shelves. Furniture was scattered everywhere. The turian had the girl on the floor next to a safe, gun held to her head.

The turian startled, hesitating just for a moment, giving me time to overload his shields with my omni-tool. My foot instantly went out and cut across his face, knocking the gun out of his hands. Garrus seemed a little surprised about this but he took it in stride, going to the teenager who was cowering on the floor to protect her.

Then the Blue Suns agent bolted. "Damn it—Garrus, stay with the girl! I'm going after him!"

"Not without backup!"

I smirked to myself, already running low with my gun quickly across the Presidium. "Then keep up, turian!" I'd always been fast, probably because of my extensive dance training and running away from people who wanted to harm me, back on the Station. I could hear Garrus's breathing behind me, and he was pretty damn fast...I forgot how fast turians could be. My eyes were focused on the criminal in front of me.

He was running towards the bridge overlooking the Presidium Lake. I ran a little harder, yelling, "Stop now and put your hands in the air!"

"I've got a shot!" Garrus said from behind me, but I saw where the man was—there was no way he could shoot without the possibility of hitting a civilian.

"Don't you dare, Garrus! I've got this!" I was on the male's heels, ready to grab his shoulder when he turned and knocked me to the side. But I'd grabbed him anyways. His talons dug into my shoulders, his teeth and bad breath in my face. He was trying to intimidate me. But I was going to take this bastard down...until, that is, a three-taloned hand was then wrapped around my neck, choking me, picking me up off the ground. White lights started to flash behind my vision as his hand tightened

Suddenly Garrus was behind me. He was growling audibly, but not at me this time. He got the other turian to turn his attention onto him. "Let go of her."

The pressure was released and I was pushed backward, coughing and hacking.

They grappled for a moment, too evenly matched, until I regained my breath and shouldered into the male. He started teetering against the railing overlooking the lake, and then...he fell. There was a tense silence in the air as the male screamed before a loud splash! came to my ears.

Garrus and I stared for a moment, unable to believe that I'd just pushed that male over the railing. "Mía," Garrus said after a few moments of static silence, "turians can't swim."

Before I knew it, I was standing on the rail. I was numb to the protests to my partner. I then straightened up and put my hands over my head in a point. I haven't done this in years, I thought as Garrus cried out, trying to grab me, but I dove off into a perfect dive. The free-fall was liberating and I took a deep, calming breath before slicing through the water and opening my eyes. I could tell how perfectly clean the water was. And fucking cold! I was contaminating the water supply, but that had been done first by the turian. I found said turian flailing around under the surface.

I grabbed under his arms, getting stabbed in the legs by his knee spurs, and kicked up from the bottom. My lungs screamed as I drug his heavier weight to the top. And, by the time I made it, I was gasping for breath. I drug his useless, flailing body to shore and laid out next to him. But not before I slapped a pair of handcuffs on his wrist and connecting it to mine, saying, "Y-you're under arrest." Then I collapsed, taking deep, gaping breaths.

The second I'd handcuffed the turian, claps rang throughout the Presidium. My eyes were pointed straight up and I saw Garrus getting ready to climb over the railing to get to me. There were spectators everywhere.

I breathed deeply, trying to recapture my breath. I flopped my arms to my sides and gave a groan. "Damn turians can't swim!"

Garrus was by my side in a few moments with a team of Enforcement officers. He picked me up, shivering and soaking wet, holding me against him. His supernatural turian warmth started soaking through my wet uniform and for that I was grateful. The team effectively took in the criminal while Garrus put his C-Sec jacket around me. I was instantly warmer and comforted by his closeness.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he asked under his breath, keeping me at his side. His eyes looked frightened and furious at the same time. "You could have been killed!"

"I couldn't just let him drown," I shivered, trying to huddle into his alien-like warmth. "He deserves worse, threatening that defenseless girl. What was the store even hiding for him to hold her at gunpoint?"

"Cerberus information," he said lowly into my ear, making my eyes widen. I rested my head against his cheek, trying to catch my breath and control my breathing. The plates were once again like worn leather, comforting and easy just to lay there. "Don't ever do that again."

I couldn't promise him that, but I nodded and closed my eyes, trying to stay still so that the breeze wouldn't chill me even further. One of his hands closed over my arm, pulling me tighter to him. The hustle and bustle of the ward just disappeared as I honed in on his heartbeat and his breathing, simply relaxing.

"Khalisah al-Jilani, Westerlund News," said a woman near me, making me open one eye crankily. She was dark, obviously Indian descent, with a short black bob and a hooked nose. "That was an impressive display, Miss..."

"Officer Mía Luna-Galván," I offered up, slowly pulling away from Garrus's warmth. I could have sworn that he scowled briefly, but the light of the video camera blinded me for a moment and I forgot about it. "Hopefully it wasn't too much of a spectacle, ma'am."

"The entire Presidium wants to know—what happened?" she asked, making me sigh and straighten up. Here we go...time to put on my officer face. It was too bad that my hair was in strings around my head or that my uniform was sticking uncomfortably to my body. I was sure I looked beautiful.

But surprisingly, Garrus stepped up in front of me, almost like he was protecting me. He gave me a look that told me to stand down. "We were off-duty, preparing to go for a drink at Flux."

The woman raised an eyebrow as if this were juicy news. "And you are?"

"Officer Garrus Vakarian."

There was a dangerous gleam in her eye as she said, "So, Garrus Vakarian and Mía Luna-Galván...?"

I wasn't about to have my name spread around saying that I was dating a turian. Not that that would be a...a bad thing, but...who was I kidding? The only turian who didn't scare me was Garrus, and that was because I forced myself not to be. "We're partners at C-Sec," I offered up, trying not to picture myself dating Garrus. That would just be...awful. Wouldn't it? I couldn't even see how it would...was sex even...

What was I thinking?!

"I'll get back to that in a moment," she said, obviously tickled pink about the story she was getting. "What happened on your way to Flux?"

Garrus had on his 'official face,' the one he showed to superiors and important people. "We passed by anew store up on the Sunset Strip. A turian was trying to rob it, threatening the young human female who worked there. He then ran and we pursued."

I felt myself blushing as the camera was turned to me. "W-well, there was a scuffle and the turian fell. My partner then informed me that turians can't swim." I looked up to him with a raised eyebrow. "Good to know, by the way. And...that's where you saw me—"

"Dive off of the bridge!" She seemed happy and scolding about this a the same time. "What made you think of such a thing? You could have died!"

"The Presidium Lake is over one thousand meters deep. I was only a quarter of a kilometer up. In the end, I would rather him face justice than drown." I'd had plenty of practice in swimming back on Earth. The fact that Garrus couldn't swim made me want to teach him! Or maybe turians couldn't swim at all? "Besides, I had Garrus on my six."

"And you caught the criminal," the reporter said with a smirk, "together."

I thought about it—technically, this had been the first thing we'd done together without arguing. And, if we'd thought about it, Garrus had gone for what had been best. I was sure that it was a one-time thing, but I would take what I could get. "Garrus and I are a team. We'll do what we have to do to make sure that justice is served."

The small crowd that had gathered gave a cheer, making me blush and smile sheepishly. I even gave a little wave, hamming it up. This is what it feels like to do something good. I'm getting recognized for it, too. Garrus, next to me, didn't seem to be too happy about it, but he waved too when I nudged him. I felt cameras flashing in our faces and I just...basked.