There was something about hot water tumbling over your skin that made the hair stand on end, made the muscles begin to relax, made the world outside melt into nothingness.

He didn't come. He said he wanted to try it with her, said he would figure out how to make things work, and then he didn't come.

'Jesus.' Ezmay thought. 'Here we are, about to plunge through mass relay that was buddy-buddy with anti-matter and black holes, about to go kick over the Collector's beehive, and I'm getting all pissy about a crush.'

It still hurt. Honestly, before kicking Saren's ass, there was a time she could have gone either way between Kaiden and Garrus. If Garrus had shown any interest, that is.

Shepard's fingers lay against the glass and she rested her forehead against her knuckles. The water stung as it pelted against her neck.

She'd gone with Garrus to kill Dr. Saleon. Spent hours talking with him in their off-time, Had finally worked up the balls to flirt outright. At the time, she'd thought maybe she wasn't being clear. Imagine her elation when it seemed to work.

Now they were going to their deaths, and he'd bailed on her.

'I am not going to cry like some fucking girl.' Her lips tightened, brow furrowed.

No. No, she didn't cry. Instead, she got out of the shower, got dressed, and intended to go dial up a vid while she rested.

And there he was. He was definitely out of uniform. Shepard's heart leapt in her chest. Her first instinct was to bestow a good ass-chewing on him for waiting so long. But she was too happy to see him. And nervous unexpectedly.

"Hey. I brought wine. Best I could afford on a vigilante's salary."

*****

If there was one thing that Garrus didn't think he'd ever get tired of, it was watching Ezmay in various states of undress. It wasn't a sexual thing, really. Ok. Sort of, but not wholly. It was the differences between them that he had never marveled at before that demanded his attention now. Garrus himself stood nearly seven feet tall, and was heavy by turian standards. He could move swiftly, yet could pack quite a punch in melee combat. He had reach, as he'd already established. His plated skin was a sort of metallic colour that shifted between gold or silver depending on who you asked. His eyes burned cobalt blue, and under the armour, he was all roughness, plates, and rigidity. Ezmay, by contrast, was small and swarthy. Her skin spoke family raised near the equator, of sunny days by a beach. Her eyes were a shade of green that were unique to her species; he'd never seen turian eyes reach that deep a green. Her hair was like silk, was shiny ebony. She was tiny to Garrus's eye, even though in reality, she didn't have to look too far up to him. And her body. It was taut and lean. She was sinewy muscle with modest curves and skin that felt like it would tear if handled too roughly. When pissed, Shepard could strike with the speed of a snake, and she overcame the natural physical weakness of her gender by being clever as hell. Garrus liked to watch her dress and undress because he liked to contemplate the strange sort of creature he'd thrown in his lot with. How had it come to pass that a Vakarian, considered one of more honourable families in the Hierarchy, had chosen to mate with a barefaced human?

"Miranda says that Zael's fed and resting comfortably in the brig. Also says they searched her several times and found no tracking devices of any sort."

Shepard hobbled over to Garrus, and leaned against him while she pulled on one of her boots. The nonchalance of the action made him feel inexplicably satisfied.

"If she's resting, then it's just about the right time to barge in for a chat." She mumbled as she bent to pull on the other boot. Her leg trembled; it was the injured leg she was trying to bend up for her shoe. It had to have hurt.

'How on earth does she heal from a brain injury in three days, and then goes to having trouble with a bullet wound?' He thought. There were a lot of things about Project Lazarus that he didn't understand; Garrus liked to think he was pretty smart, but when Miranda got going with her neurological talk, he couldn't follow that well. Something about pouring more resources into making sure Shepard stayed who she was, with healing from secondary wounds being…well…secondary.

Shepard straightened her leg, shook out her foot, and then tried again. It pained Garrus to watch her body shaking with the effort to bring her leg up high enough to accept the boot.

"You want some help?" He offered.

"I…can…do…it." Her teeth were clenched.

"Oh. And here I thought that you wouldn't mind."

"I'm good." Shepard managed to hook her toes in the boot opening, but couldn't quite maneuver the shoe over her heel.

"For god's sake." Garrus knelt, feeling Shepard's hands hurriedly resettle on his collar in an effort to steady herself. He gently unbent her injured leg, and slipped the boot on her foot. He spoke as he closed the pressure clasps for her.

"You're stubborn."

Shepard's fingers tightened on him, but she didn't respond until he was straightened back up and staring down at her.

"This from the man who tried to take down three merc organizations on his own."

"I learned from the best. What is it you like to say sometimes? Anything worth doing is worth doing right?" Garrus squinted one eye, exaggerating the pantomime of having to struggle to remember.

"Right, wiseass. I'm itching to talk to Zael. Let's go to the brig."

"I'm right behind you."

They trooped out, taking the elevator to level 5. Down here, they were in the belly of the Normandy. None of the boarding crew for the Collector base had chosen to live down here, and honestly, Shepard or Garrus had never had much need to venture to this part of the ship. As Shepard passed, with Garrus at her heel, crew members saluted, nodded, greeted. In the brig itself, two guards sat watching the asari sleep. Garrus felt momentarily sorry for them; it had to be boring as hell, staring at a prisoner for eight straight hours.

Zael lay on her bunk, staring at the ceiling. The sound of boots coming made her bolt upright and perch on the edge of the mattress. Garrus's eyes went to her arms, which folded and wrapped under her breasts. Her hands were relaxed. Cautious, but not scared. She'd probably seen worse.

"Commander!" The guards chimed.

"At ease. How is our prisoner?" Shepard planted her feet wide, and folded her arms.

"Hasn't been any trouble."

"Has she been feeling chatty?"

"No ma'am. Can't say as she has."

"Well, then." Shepard approached the cell slowly.

During the time Garrus spent in the military academy when he was young, he had a general understanding of how human ships had been built. Bars in the brig, which made it easy for an unassuming guard to find him or herself being strangled by a prisoner who'd slipped their arms outside. The Normandy followed modified turian design; a glowing pink kinetic barrier separated Shepard from Zael. Garrus was glad for it. As Shepard approached, Zael got to her feet. She moved to the field with all the predatory motions of a leopard getting ready to leap from the trees. She eyed Shepard in a way that Garrus did not like. His talons twitched in the direction of his sidearm.

Zael looked different from most asari. Where the purple-skinned asari tended to fall into the lavender range, Zael's skin was a rich magenta that paled only when it went down her throat. Her markings were almost nonexistent- only a few pale pink spots surrounding her eyes. The difference between her two colours was offsetting. The contrast seemed wrong. It had been proposed that asari's deeds determined their colouring and their markings, but had been dismissed as urban legend.

Zael looked Shepard up and down, her eyes lingering on Shepard's right leg as if she could see the white linen bandages through her trousers. Then she paced the length of the cell, back and forth, as if she were waiting for the barrier to release in order to pounce.

They just stood there, staring and pacing, or staring and standing. Out of the corner of his eye, Garrus saw the two guards exchange glances. They didn't understand this little show like Garrus did. Dominance and hierarchy was a part of turian life; facial markings often delineated which family and which colony the turian came from, thus establishing rank. Humans didn't have such a clear system; they relied on body language to establish who the more dominant one was. It was one of the many things Garrus had noticed. Since he'd become the de facto executive officer, sometimes Miranda would puff up her chest when she encountered Garrus, for example. She didn't have the confidence to push the issue further than that. Now, he watched Shepard and Zael sizing one another up like two alpha wolves trying to decide who was going to lead the pack, and who would either become beta or leave entirely. Of course, Zael would break first. Shepard had home field advantage and was infinitely stubborn. Not to mention, batshit crazy at times.

Shepard stood rigid, staring.

Pace….pace….pace…

At last, Zael turned away, slinking back towards the bunk. Her pacing became aimless, wandering around the cell. She spoke first.

"What do you want, Shepard?"

"Your client."

Zael's laugh was short, genuinely amused.

"Like hell. Giving up clients is bad for business."

Garrus had a flashback to Harkin. Was there some book full of supposedly badass things for villains to say when they were in this kind of situation?

"You're assuming that you're going to go back to business. I've arranged an auction between Liara T'Soni and the Shadow Broker for your head." Shepard feigned disinterest; slender fingers leaned up to flick away a bit of imaginary lint from her jacket.

Zael turned and halted, staring at Shepard with anger now. There was more silence. Garrus broke it.

"Ilardi told us that you arranged for him to be smuggled on at Omega. He did a piss-poor job of setting up the bombs, though. Cut himself while he was rigging it and depressurized his environmental suit. Bled all over our cargo bay. I finally found him hiding in the ventilation system. He's a bit amateur for your organization, isn't he, Zael?" His voice sounded business-like. It was like old hat, slipping into the C-Sec role once more.

"Fuck you, turian." Zael's pacing belayed her flippant tone.

"By the way, you owe us for the food he stole."

Zael laughed at him.

"Ilardi told us he was working with turians. Do you know anything about that?" Garrus's voice was calm and patient. In reality, Sean Ilardi had told them no such thing. He was extrapolating from what Jack had said, but he wanted to see how Zael reacted.

"So, you're good cop, and Shepard's bad cop?"

"Actually, we're both bad cop, but he's just got more patience than I do." Shepard spoke up.

"Well, you're a perfect match, then." Zael's voice came up, nearly interrupting the Commander.

So, Zael knew the status of their relationship. Interesting. Once more, Garrus wondered if someone on the Normandy was feeding information off-ship.

"Did you tell Ilardi to try again, when he contacted you?"

Silence from the cell.

"Did it piss you off that the substandard help you hired had failed?"

Zael's eyes glowered at Garrus. She looked back and forth between him and Shepard. The insinuation that her organization and contacts were less than competent was the wedge. This seemed to irritate her more than anything and Garrus had found the key to getting information out of her.

"Makes you look bad, doesn't it? What did your client say when you told him you'd need more time to do your job?" Garrus asked.

"You gave him a time frame one when I'd be dead, right? How did it make you feel to fail?" Shepard had picked up on the angle that Garrus was working on. It seemed to be helpful; Zael's lip was twitching as if she wanted to growl.

"What's your usual protocol when you fuck something up?" Shepard prodded.

"I didn't fuck anything up!" The yell echoed in the enclosed space of the brig.

The asari was beginning to break. All it was going to take now was a little bit of pressure.

"Of course you didn't." Garrus made his voice sound patronizing, as if talking to a small child.

"You." A slim purple finger poking in the direction of Shepard's head. "You fucked this all up."

"How? By not having the good manners to kindly die when the bombs went off?"

"Would've been nice."

"Cost you a lot of money, didn't I?" Now that Zael was talking, Shepard came a little closer to the barrier. Garrus restrained himself from stopping her, only swallowed hard instead. He knew the field would protect her, but it was hard to watch her close the distance between herself and theoretical danger and not jump to protect her himself. Even though he knew damn good and well that she could protect herself.

"Not too much. Just the promise of future projects..." Zael's eyes were moving over Shepard. One could tell that she wanted to come through the kinetic barrier and throttle the Commander.

"Who was it?" Garrus asked. The sudden sound of his voice worked like a gunshot; Zael tore her eyes away from Shepard and narrowed them on him. Too soon. He'd asked too soon. Zael retreated, plopping down on her chair.

"Fuck you, turian." Her voice was almost acid.

"How much did they pay you for me?" Shepard mirrored Zael, flipping a chair around so she could straddle it with her arms leaning on the back.

"Enough."

"How much is enough?"

"It's enough."

"How much is that?" Shepard pressed.

"It was e-fucking-nough." Zael had a worse mouth than Jack. Garrus felt a sudden wave of irritation ghost through him, unexplained. He looked towards Shepard, and found her lips twisting into a thinner line that spoke of her rising fury.

"Did you know that we spaced Ilardi?" She said, very softly.

"My sources say you turned him into C-Sec." Zael crossed her arms over her chest. Garrus knew from his C-Sec days that the sudden barrier of Zael's arms put between her and Shepard meant that they'd touched on a topic that was upsetting her. Garrus's bet was that she was lying, that she had no contacts. They had indeed turned Ilardi in, but if she really knew that, she would've acted a lot more relaxed.

"Oh, they're wrong. We dragged him into the airlock, stripped him down, and sent him out into the vacuum as naked as the day he was born."

"You lie." Zael's eyes glittered dark blue. Garrus watched her arms close tighter around her torso.

"The Shadow Broker said he'd give me 50,000 credits for your head. It'd be enough to cover the debt we incurred fixing your screw-up with the bombs."

Again, real fear in Zael's eyes. Intriguing. She wasn't afraid of death, but she was afraid of the Shadow Broker.

"Zael…" Garrus interjected. "Was it your idea to mix fireworks with the high explosives?"

"Fireworks?" Her shoulder jerked, and she looked to Garrus with a confused stare.

"Your agent mixed fireworks with the high explosives because he thought it would be the same type of explosion. Needed a bigger bang." Again, Garrus was extrapolating, but Zael didn't have to know it. It was radical, watching the wince of pain as she envisioned having sent such a total idiot to do a job that should have taken a small army. This hurt Zael's pride, and the more he hammered at it, the weaker she got.

"I told him…." Zael took a breath. "I told him to put the bombs near the hull. Near an airlock door or something."

"To depressurize the ship, yes?" Shepard said. "He changed his mind and went with his own plan. You got a real free-thinker there."

There was a perceptible sag in Zael's shoulders.

"I told him not to deviate from the plan." Zael's fingers came up and rubbed at her brow bone. Now she genuinely looked tired.

"I'll cut you a deal, Zael." Now Shepard was standing. Garrus had not noticed her do so.

"I don't deal with targets." The tired look was replaced with a hard smile. For just a second, Shepard felt sorry for her. The asari's business was over, and she knew it. No deal she could cut now would give her the security of the life she was yanked out of. Ah, well….live by the sword, die by the sword and all that….

So where did they go from here? 'Advanced interrogation techniques?' Garrus could tell from looking at Shepard that she didn't want to have to go down that route again.

"You give me what I want, and I'll drop you off somewhere in the Terminus systems. No one will be able to find you if you don't want to be found." Shepard was being mighty generous.

Zael was silent. She looked away, truly looked as if considering it. The slim lips pursed, and a hand came up to stroke at her neck. It was as good an offer as she was likely to get. Garrus knew full well that Shepard had not contacted the Shadow Broker or Liara, but it didn't preclude her doing it in the future. Watching the asari consider the offer, it was hard to keep in mind that this was the person who coordinated the sale of slaves, the taking of captives, the sale of stolen ships and good, the dealer of drugs, the murderer, the thief, etc., etc. Now she did not seem dangerous and vindictive, but delicate and afraid. They had taken her so easily. It was a surprise attack, powered by sheer emotion…

Something wasn't right.

"That's a very charitable offer, Shepard. May I discuss it with Officer Vakarian here, in private?" She said, her voice turning silky.

Surprise. Something was still grating on his nerves, screaming that something was off. Shepard looked as if she was having the same thought, but she nodded.

"Make it quick." As the Commander turned on her heel to leave, Garrus stood straight from where he'd been leaning against the wall. Cautious, he approached the kinetic barrier that sealed Zael's cell. The sound of the door shutting came from behind him. Then Zael's innocent smile turned smug. Garrus halted when he saw the edges of her lips turn upward cruelly.

"What's the human saying, Officer Vakarian? Your chickens are coming home to roost."

"What the hell…?"

"It's about time…" Zael's eyes went to the clock posted on the wall, and she jerked her chin towards it.

Another bomb?! Another attack of some sort?! Garrus didn't have too much time to ponder it. Suddenly, the ship was rocked by another explosion. This one….seemed much bigger than the last. All four of them in the brig had to stumble, and then right themselves. Garrus was already moving to the door when EDI beamed up in the brig as the guards snapped to with guns trained on Zael.

"Officer Vakarian, Commander Shepard requests that you 'hurry your ass to the CIC'."

"Tell her I'm coming. And you…" Garrus turned and fixed Zael with a death glare. "I'll deal with you later."

"Yes, you will." She promised. Something about the expression on her face told him he shouldn't leave, should stay and keep an eye on her. As he left, he didn't notice the way her eyes slid to the guards.

There was chaos in the passageways of the ship. Engineers and crew were dashing this way and that. Whatever had happened to the Normandy had caused damage; fires had broken out. People were spraying them with extinguishers as he bolted past. The elevator seemed to take forever. When the doors slid open to admit him to the CIC, there was more bedlam here. People were working furiously on their respective stations, some putting out fires, some shouting orders to and fro. The new yeoman, whom Garrus had not yet gotten acquainted with, spotted him and waved him up to Joker's cockpit.

"She's up there."

Even if he'd not had that direction, Garrus could hear her bellowing orders. So it was a tactical battle. Yes, this was right, then. The executive officer should be by the Commander's side. Shepard straightened up when she spotted him.

"What happened?" He asked. Another explosion rocked the ship, and sent him stumbling into the console where EDI's sphere was illuminated.

"Three ships appeared out of nowhere! Started firing. They haven't communicated yet." Joker said. "They've probably got the same kind of stealth tech we do."

"Zael's people, I'd bet my ass on it." Shepard tore her eyes away from Joker's console long enough to fix Garrus with a look. "She must have gotten something on board that broadcast our location. Something we missed."

"Miranda said they strip-searched her. Must be something internal." It made sense. Garrus nodded.

"Then this whole thing was a trap. But we've got a little leeway; she wouldn't be a party to a plan that would put her in danger of death. I'd bet my ass on that too. Which means these ships aren't here to kill us. Yet. There's something on board that she wants." Shepard said.

Garrus's memory yanked him back to what Zael'd said just before the explosion.

'Your chickens are coming home to roost.'

"Me. She's taking me." Garrus was dumbfounded. It made no sense.

The sense of shock in the cockpit was tangible. Shepard was staring at him.

"Are you sure? Was that what she wanted to say to you?"

"Pretty much. We should send people down to the brig."

"You're right. Grunt! Round up some people and go guard our prisoner." Shepard said into her intercom.

"I'm on it." Came the grizzled voice of the krogan.

"Joker, keep us whole." Shepard's green eyes turned to Garrus. "Garrus, take Jacob and Jack and get down to the battery. I need you firing. No one handles the thanix cannon like you."

"Going." Already Garrus was moving away, and he heard Shepard on the intercom behind him. She called first Jacob, and then Jack.

Shepard watched Garrus head back across the CIC, and then she turned her attention back to Joker's console. The pilot was already coordinating with EDI about defensive maneuvers.

"Commander, it's going to get rough in here."

"Just keep us in one piece; I don't care if everyone on this ship vomits in tandem."

"Got it."

"All hands! Get ready for some chop!" Shepard cued the ship-wide address.

Below in engineering, Tali was working with the engineers to push more speed out of the Normandy. The ship's drives flared up, and Joker pressed down the throttle. The Normandy picked up speed, jerked up over the three ships flanking.

Shepard braced herself behind Joker's seat. He cleared the three ships, pouring on the speed, and then jerked the Normandy hard to starboard, turning the ship upside down and dropping them down. If they'd been flying in the atmosphere of a planet, the Normandy would have been plummeting towards the ground. Suddenly, the Normandy righted itself, and Shepard could see that Joker had brought them behind one of the ships that had not started giving chase.

"Vakarian, fix your firing solution. Fire at will." Shepard said into her intercom.

The ship that the Normandy was targeting seemed to finally get a clue. It geared up and took off. Suddenly the beam of a canon flared past the window. Shepard lurched to the right, slamming the shutter down to protect the cockpit. EDI brought a larger display up, showing the field of battle for both Joker and Shepard to see.

The ship that Joker was chasing swung right, one side dipping down as it struggled to turn and put itself behind the Normandy. Joker mimicked his moves, and Shepard watched as Garrus let loose with the canon.

"Got one behind us, Joker." The display showed another canon shot fired at them. Joker jerked the controls and the Normandy swung out of the line of fire.

"Yeah, yeah."

Shepard watched the throttle key down a bit; Joker was bleeding off speed, forcing the other ship into a scissors maneuver. The other ship matched speed, and then sped up suddenly, as if to break away from the Normandy. That was what Joker was waiting for. He slammed down the throttle then, slowing the Normandy up dramatically, and once more, the thanix cannon let loose. This time, they were rewarded with a hit. The canon laced through the hull of the other ship, cutting it neatly in half. There was a brief flare of an explosion as Joker sped up the Normandy once more. They sailed through the debris.

"Shepard, we got a problem." Grunt's voice came over the intercom.

"Jesus Christ, don't tell me she's out." Shepard growled. When it rains, it pours.

"'Fraid so. Killed the guards. Looks like biotics."

"EDI, you and Joker got this?"

"I got this!" Joker answered instead.

Shepard jerked her head at Miranda.

"You're with me. We need to go find out guest."

"I'm right with you, Commander."

Down to the bowels of the ship they went. The condition alarms were still flaring down here, and they ran into Grunt's party just outside of the brig.

"Any idea where she is?" Shepard asked Grunt. He'd commandeered five soldiers, and none of them looked too thrilled to be there.

Grunt had no time to answer, however. The Normandy took a hit. The ship rocked, and the entire group found themselves stumbling to the left. Shepard damn near fell on her ass.

"EDI, damage report?"

"A canon hit to the starboard side. Hull is intact. Minimal damage. There are fires on deck 3, but personnel are currently taking care of them."

"Looks like she took down the kinetic barrier with biotics, crushed the guards to death."

Shepard cursed. Nowhere in any of the information that she'd gotten on Zael Hollinth listed the asari as a biotic. It shouldn't have come as such a surprise though.

"Right then, you're with us." She pointed towards one of the soldiers, a red-haired young woman with a name tag reading 'Holloway.' "Fan out, we search this entire level. Let's see if we can flush her out. Radio contact at all times."

There were scattered 'aye's' and a nod from Grunt. The two parties split, each making its way in opposite directions. Fortunately, level 5 wasn't huge. There were only so many places Zael could hide.

"Are we shooting to kill, Commander?" Miranda said beside her.

"I'm considering it."

Shepard was chewing her lip as her party made its way down the passage of level 5. This entire operation had gone to hell in a hand basket; she didn't know if she'd played it sloppy or if it was just Fate pissing on her. All she knew was her wounded leg was burning horribly in protest of all the activity.

Then the lights went out on level 5.

Their party halted immediately. Miranda was the first to speak, her voice coming out quiet as three omni-tools flared with light.

"I'm not a betting woman, but I'd wager this is from Zael, rather than the fight outside."

"Commander, lighting and environmental for this level has been tampered with at the base output."

"That's near the front of the ship on this level." Holloway said helpfully.

"You know it's a trap." Miranda said. Shepard could see her fingers nervously checking and rechecking that she had a fresh thermal clip in her pistol.

"Shepard, the lights're out." Grunt said over her earpiece.

"Grunt, move out towards the base output for lighting and environmental. It's near the escape pods."

"Moving out."

"Shepard!" Miranda said again.

"I know!" Shepard said, looking upwards as the red emergency lights came up. "EDI, can you bring environmental back online?"

"Negative, Commander. The environmental system has been disabled remotely. My sensors also show that the elevator had now been disabled as well."

"Godammit to hell and back." Shepard swore again. "We go then. Keep sharp. EDI, can you give us a thermal pinpoint of where Zael is?"

"Currently, I have a heat signature near the base output. She's not going anywhere."

"Just waiting for us. To hell with this." Shepard keyed up the intercom to Grunt. "Grunt, EDI says she's waiting for us at base output. Shoot to kill. She's already proven herself too dangerous."

"Got it."

Shepard's party began to make their way down the passage. The air was beginning to bleed off, but it wasn't bad yet. This was a standard design in turian ships, meant to keep the entire ship from being decompressed if one level lost atmosphere. They crept towards the base output, pausing only when the Normandy rocked from more hits. A readout from EDI on her omni-tool kept her updated on the damage report; Joker must have been working some miracles up in the cockpit. Hull integrity was still strong. The thermal display still showed Zael waiting.

They closed the distance. Around the corner, she should be there. Shepard paused, gesturing for Miranda to use biotics to disable Zael, and Holloway to open fire when she had a good shot. From the display, Shepard saw Grunt's party massing, and going into a similar formation.

They turned the corner.

In the red emergency lights, Zael stood there. She swung her head around to face them when the lights from their omni-tools fell on her. The next few moments seemed to happen as if in a blur.

On the other side of the passage, Grunt's party rounded the corner as well. Gunshots began to ring out as one by one, they sighted and fired. Zael seemed to move like lightning. She'd taken one of the guns off of the guards from the brig. If Shepard hadn't been seeing it, she wouldn't have believed that Zael was actually dodging the damn bullets. She whipped her biotics out, warping, and then throwing the four guards that Grunt had with him. Then she spun, and put three rounds in Holloway's torso. Shepard and Miranda dodged to either side as Holloway fell. There was no cover to be had in the passageway. Grunt charged.

Zael swung around to meet him, seizing him with biotics and stopping him just before he reached her. Miranda and Shepard took this opportunity to unload their guns on Zael. A biotic field flared around her with each bullet.

Miranda's body flared with biotic power, and snapped Zael's head back, releasing the hold she had on Grunt. He saw his opening and began to fire once more. Again, the field around Zael seemed to absorb the bullets. Shepard charged as Miranda's field was released, trying to strike when Zael was distracted by Grunt's firing.

Suddenly, Shepard and Zael were locked in struggle. Zael drew back her fist, and once more, the purple biotic field flared. She threw the punch at Shepard, knocking her back. Shepard skidded, sliding backwards on her ass, losing her shotgun in the process. There was a fiery burst of pain in her leg as she hit the wall. What had she run into? She couldn't see. The pain was blinding her. As quickly as she could, she struggled to her feet. It was so godamn hard. A sense of heat in her leg told her that her stitches were torn out. She had to have been bleeding. She tried to stand, but fell. The leg wasn't working with her; it went weak when she tried to force her weight on it.

Zael let loose a whirlwind of biotic punches, one of them further disabling the base output and killing the emergency lighting. Level 5 plunged once more into darkness. What happened next, Shepard couldn't see. The light from her omni-tool was like a strobe. She saw more gunshots, heard Grunt let loose a moan of pain, and then there was silence from him.

Purple light illuminated the area briefly enough for Shepard to see Miranda and Zael gripping each other at the shoulders. Miranda was snarling, trying to overcome Zael's biotic field with her own. Zael, for her part, seemed eerily calm-faced. A sudden burst of power knocked Miranda away, fairly blowing her out of Zael's grip. There was a shriek as Miranda banged into something, and then she too, fell silent.

Suddenly, Zael blazed purple above her. Shepard tried to swing up her pistol, tried to take the shot, but a biotic fist wrenched the weapon from her grasp. Zael's fist slammed down on her wounded leg once, twice, thrice. Shepard felt, and heard, a scream rip out of her.

"Now who's the fuck-up?" Zael hissed. Shepard tried once more to struggle to her feet, but Zael's hand came down and knotted itself in her hair. She was being dragged. Shepard's hands shot out, seeking to seize Zael's ankle and yank her down. Her reward was a boot in her kidney. Another wail of pain.

No. It couldn't go down like this. Once more, Zael half-dragged, half-yanked her down the passageway. Shepard's hand crept down to her left boot, to the combat knife she kept there at all times. She snatched it free of the sheath and then lashed out blindly at Zael's arms. She was rewarded with a squeal of pain.

The pain in Shepard's leg was so hot and horrible. It spasmed and throbbed, and she didn't think she'd ever felt anything that hurt so bad. Even when she was spaced, and she'd run out of air, the burning of nothingness in her lungs hadn't hurt so badly. That was more like going to sleep.

Zael was reeling back, clutching bleeding hands, and giving Shepard just enough time to get to her feet. With monumental effort, Ezmay forced herself up, forced herself steady on her leg (now screaming with agony) and took a defensive stance. Yeah….she'd be great in battle right now. Cutting Zael had only seemed to enrage her. Shepard may have all her cybernetic upgrades, her stubbornness, her will to live, but Zael had wounded rage, biotics that would have easily rivaled Jack or Samara, and fewer debilitating wounds. Shepard simply couldn't keep up. She managed to block a few strikes, and to get one more slice in with her knife before Zael blazed once more with the biotic fury and leveled Ezmay. Again, Zael began to strike while Shepard was down, but this time, she didn't immediately stop. Shepard felt ribs crack, and then break on either side. She screamed as her knee dislocated. Fell silent and felt paralyzed momentarily as Zael's fists rained on her head. She saw stars.

"EDI!" Shepard cried out. It was the only thing she could do. EDI seemed to answer her back, and yet, it was like there were shouts coming from up and down the passageways. Shepard heard Zael's breath rasping, felt the asari dragging her once more by her scalp. A door hissed open and she bumped over the threshold. The jarring hurt her leg and knee, and ripped more screams from her.

Zael was hissing frantically now.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit…"

Shepard couldn't see where she was. She raised her hand to her face, and wiped liquid from her eyes. Blood. The metallic smell told her it was blood. There was another smell, of a space rarely used. Of carpeting that was pristine and never-walked-upon. Shepard heard the beeps of keys being pressed, heard more shouts coming closer, heard the door for the room slamming shut.

Just before she passed out, she realized exactly where Zael had taken her. The escape pods. Zael was escaping from the Normandy in one of the emergency pods, and she was taking Shepard with her.

*****

Garrus was enraged.

As soon as the display on Joker's console lit up, confirming that life pod 2 was successfully away, the other two ships had disengaged. One ship firing warning shots over the bow of the Normandy, tagging the hull and guarding the other ship as it picked up the life pod.

Once the battle with Zael had started, EDI had informed him and the other main crew members what was happening. Swearing, Garrus had abandoned the forward battery, and made a mad dash for the elevator. He wheeled in surprise when he saw Thane and Samara right behind him. The lift didn't work, though.

"Zael has disabled the elevator, as well as life support and lights for level 5. I urge you to hurry; she is decimating Shepard's party. You should be able to take the engineering shafts down to level 5."

Garrus found himself spouting swear words that he didn't even know existed. The shafts ran down through the AI server core. He almost hadn't fit in the narrow tunnel.

He didn't move fast enough, though. He'd started cursing himself the moment he saw the door of the life pod slam shut with Zael and Shepard inside, and he hadn't stopped since. He was terrified that that was going to be the last image he had of Ezmay, lying battered and broken on the floor of the life pod, with Zael standing over her. So much red blood. He found a trail of blood leading from the pod, back to where the combat had taken place at the base output.

Joker was good, but he hadn't been good enough to follow the two ships. After they'd scooped up the life pod, they'd spooled up the engines and almost literally disappeared. The speed was so startling that Joker realized the dogfight had been all for show. They'd been playing with him. He might have been able to maneuver enough to take out one of the bastard ships, but if they'd wanted to race him, he would have went home crying to mommy. This was Joker's cross to bear; that he'd been duped and outmatched and hadn't even caught on.

The damage to the Normandy wasn't severe, but it was great enough that they'd been forced to idle and make repairs. With halting steps, Garrus had made his way to the CIC. It was the strangest thing. He was pumped so full of adrenaline, yet he felt numb. He barely felt Miranda's touch on his arm. Garrus looked dully to the Cerberus operative. She'd taken a bad blow in the fight. Her head was bandaged and blood was seeping through near her temple.

"Officer Vakarian, you have the ship." Her voice was soft.

"What?" He'd misheard. What was there to do but find Shepard? Who cared about the ship? He'd happily sacrifice everyone on board if it would have stolen Shepard back to him.

"You're the XO. Shepard's been taken. That makes you acting captain."

Hell with this ship! To hell with Miranda's conciliatory gesture. He leaned, bracing his talons against the console in front of him. Had Miranda steered him to the galaxy map? He tried to think.

"What are your orders?" Miranda said again. Her hand was on Garrus's forearm. He jerked away from her.

"We find Shepard."