"Do you think she even knows about whatever this big plan is?" Lantar asked Garrus as they walked down the hallway to one of the interrogation rooms. "She might not even be part of the op."

"That's what I plan to find out."

Shepard was already inside the interrogation room, sitting on one side. The room was exactly the same, but is time it didn't have a table or a mirror. She looked up at the turian pair as they entered.

"Commander Shepard? Garrus Vakarian." He stood behind the two chairs that were across Shepard. "I'll be conducting the session today."

She nodded weakly as Garrus and Lantar took their seats. Garrus noted that she looked a bit wan. He scooted forward with his chair, his knees a foot away from Shepard's. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Shepard replied, as if trying to convince herself too. Her stomach grumbled. She looked away from Garrus' gaze. He frowned. She had gone one day without food, but he doubted that it would affect her this much. Surely she had missions where she'd have to go with little to no food for days. His mind flashed to the surveillance video of her sleeping. Even he had a couple of nights where he wished he had stayed up instead of going to bed. Sometimes there were nightmares that just drained you of all your energy resulting in you waking up feeling worse than before. He wondered if that was the case with Shepard.

"You'll have something to eat after this," Lantar said. "How do you find your room?"

Shepard shrugged. A miniscule emotion skittered across her face for a second. Guilt? Embarrassment? Garrus considered a line of questioning to explore that emotion, but quickly decided against it. He needed to see it again, to confirm what it was.

He leaned back against his chair and continued, "Going back to the previous session, you mentioned that you were able to extract the location of the outpost that you attempted to infiltrate from one of your prisoners." Shepard nods. "I didn't have any involvement in that." There was that expression again. He decided to test his theory that she disagreed with the Alliance's treatment of turian prisoners, even if she wasn't part of it. It was easier for some soldiers to treat the enemy as objects; it was easier not to think of them as living, breathing people like themselves. It made it easier to take a life. He had a feeling that Shepard was not like that, but he needed to figure out exactly what she felt.

Garrus paused for effect and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, his head bowed down. "How are my turian brothers and sisters faring?" he asked softly.

Shepard steeled herself, but not without a fleeting wince. He was right. She tried hard to hide it, but, "I'm guessing they're not treated as well as you are."

She faced him, challenging him with her eyes. "Maybe I'm just special." She attempted to display indifference, but it was clear that she was affected. She may not know exactly what interrogation methods were used, it looks like they were borderline torture at the least.

Garrus said frowned but nothing. She'll find out later just how false that statement was. He leaned back onto his chair and crossed his arms. Back to business. "We just received some intelligence that the Alliance is planning something big. Of course, we don't know any details."

By intelligence, he was mostly referring to General Victus' intuition. Again, Shepard didn't need to know.

He didn't even need to ask a question, because Shepard immediately had something to say. "Are you really expecting me to divulge that kind of information?" she retorted with a raised brow.

"It was worth a shot, but what we would like to know, at the very least, is if it will be in a civilian area. We'd like to keep the collateral damage as low as possible."

Shepard looked incredulously at him. "Do you honestly think we would resort to terrorism?"

"There have been attacks on some of our border colonies." There was also the fact that the Alliance wasn't adverse to using torture in their interrogation tactics, but there was no need to mention that again. It was already firmly planted in Shepard's head.

"That was Cerberus."

"Cerberus?" Of course they knew who Cerberus was, but she didn't need to know that.

"They're paramilitary, but also dabble in finance, research and development, and other sciences. They believe in the advancement of humanity through any method. The ends justify the means," Shepard explained, rubbing her temples with one hand. "They do have former members of the Alliance in their ranks, those who are tired of the rules and red tape. They believe that their heinous methods will be vindicated by history once they've accomplished their mission."

Garrus looked at her skeptically. "Plausible deniability. Are you sure that it isn't a black ops branch of the Alliance, or an autonomous branch that conduct their own ops without the knowledge or direction of Alliance brass?"

Shepard pressed her lips into a thin line. "Believe what you want," she sighed and shrugged. So there is such a group.

Silence fell in the room, broken only by the breathing of its occupants. After a minute or two, Garrus whispered. "A school," he said, then continued when he got Shepard's attention. "A school was attacked."

"It wasn't the Alliance!"

"Right."

"I have nothing to prove to you." Shepard was shutting down. If he left it at this, she'd go back to her room and easily forget about the session. He needed her to go back disquieted.

Softly, "My niece went to that school."

Shepard looked straight into Garrus eyes, her expression softening. "I'm sorry."

Garrus didn't exactly have a niece in that school, but he did have a friend who lived in that colony. It was her daughter who went to the school. He remembered the anxiety and desperation in his friend's last video call to him. He let the anger he felt then creep into himself now. Shepard was starting to think that they would always be soft on her. While he disagreed with fear and control tactics, he knew that she wouldn't respect someone who she perceived as weak. Just because he was being nice meant that he couldn't display some dominance.

He scoffs. "Sorry?" He slowly stood up, letting the rage wash over him. He could tell that she sensed it, because her eyes widened slightly in surprise. He rushed at her before she could react, grabbing her by the neck. Her chair fell back with a clang as he lifted her and slammed her unto the wall behind her. "'Sorry' isn't going to cut it, Shepard," low growl, the sound rumbling deep in his chest. She clutched his wrist, unable to look at him in the eye. But she quickly recovered and leveled a glare back at him. Got you.

Lantar slowly approached the pair and rested a hand on Garrus' shoulder. He didn't say anything. He didn't need to. Garrus closed his eyes and shook his head, as if to clear his mind. Despite how it may look to anyone else, Lantar knew that Garrus was still in complete control of himself. It was just an act.

Garrus softly grunted and lowered Shepard gently. He looked down at her neck and saw a slightly red indentation where his hand had been. He muttered a quick apology under his breath and turned to leave. Lantar stays next to Shepard as they both watched Garrus exit. He looks down at her from the corner of his eye, watching her as she absently rubbed her neck, still staring at the door. He sighed and moved toward the door, pausing to say: "There'll be some food for you when you get back to your room," before leaving.