Mako Madness

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There was a reason why she never let anyone else drive the Mako. ME1.

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Disclaimer: This author in no way profits from the writing of this story. All characters, dialogue, or other referenced material from the Mass Effect trilogy belongs to Bioware.

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"Um, Shepard?" tentatively questioned the turian sitting in the Mako's passenger seat. "Is there a reason we're scaling the mountain?"

Shepard, Garrus and Ashley, who was at the turret controls, could hear the Mako's wheels grinding against the steep rock face. Shepard, pedal to the floor, did not answer the question.

As the Mako began to skid on the rocks, sliding backwards unsteadily, Garrus felt queasy. He'd been attempting to tinker with the wires under the dash, but now could only sit back and shut his eyes, hoping the sensation would pass.

"Come on," Shepard muttered to herself, "Find some traction!" She maneuvered the Mako backwards slightly, then lurched it forward, catching onto a small patch of grass. "Aha!" she crowed triumphantly.

Garrus let out a relieved sigh as they came over the peak of the mountain, hoping that things would go more smoothly from here on out. "Was that really necessary, Shepard?" he couldn't help asking. "There was a perfectly flat area we could have crossed instead of climbing the whole mountain."

The commander sounded casual as she answered. "It was a thresher maw nest."

"I'm not sure I've ever seen you avoid a fight," Garrus mused in surprise. "I mean, you usually try to negotiate first, but…"

"You can't negotiate with thresher maws," Shepard replied stiffly. Garrus gave her an odd look, but she said nothing else.

When the three of them got out at their destination, Shepard marched off determinedly towards the prefab structure while Garrus stretched his legs and Ash climbed out the back of the vehicle.

Suddenly, Garrus felt a whack on the back of his head. Rubbing it, he turned and saw Ashley standing behind him. "What the hell was that for?" he demanded.

"How could you be so insensitive?" she vented, and he just stared at her in confusion.

She whacked him again. "Akuze, you idiot!"

"Ow!" He glared at her, rubbing the back of his head. "And I still have no idea what you're talking about."

She rolled her eyes at you. "You know nothing at all about her, do you?" she rebuked.

Having had enough of her physical and verbal abuse, Garrus moved to turn away, but she grabbed the barrel of his rifle and wouldn't let go. Her eyes were on fire. "She watched her whole team get mauled by thresher maws on Akuze! She almost died!" Ash vented in a low voice. "So the next time I hear you say one damn word about a thresher maw or her driving, I'll have your ass on a platter."

The two of them just stared at each other, him in shock and her in anger, until a voice interrupted them.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Shepard called from near the door. "Hurry up!"

Ashley let go of the turian's rifle and sauntered off towards the commander. "Waiting on you, Garrus," she called back to him.

With a shake of his head, he followed.

Ash was right, he mused, his eyes following the woman in question, red hair waving in the breeze. He didn't know much about Shepard after all.

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