Getting back to the Normandy had been easier than Casey had anticipated. She was still wearing the Cerberus uniform, and so she bound Grunt's hands together, and simply walked him back to the ship as if those were her orders. No one even gave her a second glance, in fact, Casey was starting to wonder how Cerberus had become such a successful operation when their security seemed so lax. Though she supposed they had never dreamed anyone would ever make it into their super-secret base undetected, they'd never planned for this kind of situation.

"How's it going?" She whispered into her Omni-tool.

"All good up here Case," Kasumi replied quickly.

"Better than good," Sam added, sounding excited. "I don't know how she's done it, but Kasumi has managed to hack every Cerberus system on this station. She's jammed their scanners so they'll never see Shepard coming, caused huge communication problems so their agents can't talk to each other, and found out exactly where the Illusive Man's office is!"

"The only thing I can't see is whether or not he's there," Kasumi muttered.

"He better be," Grunt growled. "I want to be the one to snap that guy in half."

"I imagine they'll be a line," Casey replied. They were at the doors to the Normandy now, she turned to check no one was around, and quickly undid Grunt's restraints.

"Ok," she began, knowing she'd have to make this little pep talk quick, because Grunt was literally hopping from side to side in his eagerness to get on board and spill some blood. "We need to do this as quickly, and as quietly, as possible."

"Uhuh." Grunt didn't appear to be giving her his full attention, so she continued in a slightly louder voice.

"Kasumi may have jammed their communications, but that doesn't mean people outside the ship won't be able to hear a load of gunfire and screams from inside."

"Right," Grunt was now examining the shotgun Casey had stolen for him.

"And the last thing we want is every soldier in this base coming for us at once."

"Yeah." He literally had his hand hovering at the handle of the door, just waiting for Casey to stop talking.

"So it's probably best if you let me take them out with biotics, it's usually quieter."

Grunt certainly heard that, and he turned to look at Casey. She could tell he was less than thrilled with this plan. She hurriedly added, "I mean, you can shoot some….but maybe not until we're further into the ship."

"It's too noisy…" Grunt said this as though these were foreign words he didn't quite understand.

"Yes."

Grunt grinned, and it was an expression that always filled Casey with feelings of apprehension and, well, downright dread. "Ok."

Casey raised an eyebrow. "Ok?"

"Ok, I won't shoot any until we're off the Command Deck."

Casey felt a weight lifted from her soldiers. Had she just won that argument? "Great."

Unfortunately, her cheerful disposition was short lived. Grunt agreeing not to shoot any Cerberus right away didn't mean he was going to be quiet. In fact, the doors to the ship had barely opened enough for them to step inside before he cried out "I. AM. KROGAN!" And barrelled into Cerberus Tech's who were unfortunate enough to be examining Joker's console.

Casey sighed, who was she to spoil Grunt's fun? And as two more Cerberus soldiers approached, she flung them to the wall with a biotic throw, allowing Grunt to immediately break his word and shoot them both with his shotgun.

The fight was long, and there were way more Cerberus personnel aboard than Casey had thought. But thankfully no reinforcements had arrived so far from the base, so perhaps she needn't have worried about being quiet. She and Grunt had taken out everyone on the Command Deck, Crew Deck, and in Maintenance, and were now down in the Cargo Hold. Grunt could more than hold his own, and was on average fighting between three and five men at a time. Casey, on the other hand, was beginning to flag. She'd had a near miss when one of the Tech experts had unleashed a combat drone that zapped her every time she looked out of cover. Her Cerberus uniform was ripped in a few places, and she had a sneaking suspicion she might have broken a rib when she was thrown across the room by a Cerberus soldier she hadn't realised had been a biotic.

She was almost out of thermal clips for the stolen pistol, and the fact that Grunt was now using his shotgun as a rudimentary club suggested he was out too. She fired the last three shots into a guy hiding behind the Shuttle, and turned to face Grunt, who finished his fight with the last guy by delicately stamping on his head.

Sweat seemed to be streaming out of every pore, and Casey wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. Grunt was panting, but she didn't know if that was because he was tired, or from all the adrenaline. Krogan tended to pant a lot after a fight, yet could then go on to fight for hours more, she had no idea where they got their stamina from. Grunt came over, and slapped Casey on the back in his typical 'gentle' style. "We did it," he said proudly.

"I guess so," Casey was still working hard to catch her breath.

"Thought they'd put up more of a fight than that."

Casey looked up at Grunt at the exact second he was blown backwards. At first she couldn't understand what had happened, but when she spun around she saw Brooks holding the biggest gun she had ever seen. Had she just used a missile launcher on Grunt?! Before Casey could put the thoughts together she saw Brook aiming again, this time at Casey. She ran as fast as she could, darting behind the shuttle just half a second before the missile would've reached her.

"There's nowhere to hide down here!" Brooks laughed. "I knew there was something familiar about you when I saw you in the bathroom with Shepard, but I couldn't put my finger on it."

"That wasn't Shepard!" Casey was yelling the words before she even realised she was doing it.

"Maybe not," Brooks paused, and Casey knew she was moving closer. "But he will be soon enough."

Casey crawled away from the sound of Brooks' voice, towards a pile of crates. She could still hear Brooks close behind, and she wasn't sure if she was talking to Casey or herself. "He may be the biggest idiot the galaxy has ever known, but with me behind him, he can put Cerberus back on top once more."

Casey was halfway to Grunt now. She could just see his legs behind another pile of crates. He wasn't moving, she had to know if he was ok. Luckily for her, Brooks seemed to be enjoying the sound of her own voice, and still sounded far enough away.

"The Illusive Man has a plan for dealing with the Reapers, and once they are under our control, he will truly be the most powerful man in the galaxy."

Controlling the Reapers? She's insane. He's insane. They all are.

She was almost at Grunt now, just one open space she'd have to run through. Brooks' voice still sounded far away, Casey should have time. It was now or never. But just as Casey was preparing to stand up and run, she felt the ground fall out from beneath her. She looked up. Brooks had pulled her out by the leg, and it was like everything was in slow motion. Casey felt her head smack against the cold, hard floor, and for a moment she was completely disorientated. How had Brooks got so close so fast?

Brooks answered the question without being asked. She raised her Omni-tool and spoke into it. Casey heard the woman's voice from the other side of the room: she must've synced the Omni-tool to a walkie talkie or something, then kept talking to make Casey think she was far away. Clever.

Casey's head was pounding, and she felt like she may pass out. She tried to snap out of it, she needed to focus, maybe she could use her biotics? She tried to use a singularity, but though the air turned blue and quivered beside Brooks, nothing more happened. Brooks raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't do that. You hit your head pretty hard, I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." She raised her gun to Casey's head. "Not when I can do it for you."

BANG.

Brooks looked down her stomach, watching in horror as blood flowered against the material of her dress. She turned to the elevator, and Casey followed her gaze. The clone was there, holding his gun high. Brooks gasped. "Why?" She breathed, falling to her knees. The clone moved closer, his gun still on Brooks, who was slipping away quickly. He reached Casey and held out his hand. "Come on," he said.

Casey didn't reply, was this option much better than Brooks? Then she heard others coming out of the elevator, she looked over. Liara, Wrex, and Tali were moving towards her. Casey looked back, "Shepard?" She asked warily. He nodded, and she took his hand, allowing her to help him up. Tali was next over, "Are you alright?" She asked, scanning Casey with her Omni-tool.

"Yes," Casey lied. "Grunt…" she stuttered, pointing to his still body. Wrex, Shepard, and Liara moved over quickly. Casey held her breath.

"He's alive." The words were like a soothing balm, and Casey slowly followed her friends to where Grunt lay. Liara was applying Medigel to his bloody face, but now Casey was closer she could see he was breathing. "We'll need to get him to the medbay," Shepard said. He spoke into his Omni-tool. "Shuttle bay clear, get Chakwas into the medbay, Grunt needs help….Yeah, she's here."

"Where's Doctor Chakwas?" Casey asked.

"On the ship we came in on," Tali explained, watching as Wrex and Shepard hauled Grunt up. "Sorry we took so long, but we had to clear the landing zone. I'm surprised you didn't hear all the gunfire! Cerberus definitely knows we're here now."

"Kasumi and Sam hacked their systems," Casey replied, as she and Tali followed the others to the elevator. She was finding it hard to put one foot in front of the other, but hid it as best she could. Tali nodded, "Yes, we were able to contact them as we approached, no way we would've been able to land without them."

They arrived at the elevator just as the doors opened. Casey felt like her legs were finally going to give way. There was Garrus. Her perfect Garrus, standing in the elevator wearing an expression of complete shock. She imagined she must've looked the same. He stepped out and took her in his arms, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. For that moment it was only the two of them in the world. Garrus kissed her passionately, his tongue exploring her mouth, and she held her arms around his neck so tightly a Mass Relay wouldn't have been able to separate them. She was vaguely aware of the others passing them to get into the elevator, and of Shepard saying awkwardly, "We'll be in the medbay…you know…whenever."

As the elevator doors closed, she finally pulled away from Garrus' mouth, allowing herself to look at him properly. His beautiful blue eyes, his scarred cheek. He allowed her back onto her feet, and she could see his eyes skimming over her body. She couldn't have been a pretty sight right now.

"Are you ok?" He asked. It was such a ridiculous question she couldn't help but laugh. Garrus' mandibles twitched, and a smile played on his lips too. "Yeah, probably not the best choice of words," he muttered. He took her hand, holding it gently in his own. "I was so worried about you."

"Me too," she admitted.

"What you did…what all of you did here, that was incredible," Garrus continued.

Casey shrugged, which sent bolts of pain through her body. Garrus stiffened. "What hurts?" He asked. She nodded her head, "I'm fine." But even she knew Garrus wasn't going to fall for that. Carefully, he scooped her into his arms like a child, and pressed the button on the elevator. It arrived quickly, and he stepped inside. "Don't worry," he soothed as the elevator climbed. "It's over now."

Casey shook her head, breathing in his intoxicating, familiar scent. "No, but it will be soon."