Chapter 48

A Promise of Battle

Ty had his feet kicked up on the table again just without leaning his chair back as Tali and Grunt were eating. They all chatted with each other during this time and sometimes Tali and Grunt would hold a conversation with each other about something that the purple eyed man didn't intervene in, like personal question Tali would ask Grunt or vice versa.

Either way, they were getting along fine when Ty would let his mind wander about the room they were in, checking everything out like where everyone was. Rupert was relaxing in the kitchen not exactly hiding his disgust for Tali or Grunt the couple times he'd glance over though Ty would shoot him a death stare to get him to look away.

Racism over species pissed him off, but he couldn't go knee cap the cook, plumber and whatever else Rupert did, that would mean more work for someone else. Chakwas was in her office with a glass of Ice Brandy in one hand and a data pad in the other as she walked about checking over the machinery in there.

Donnelly and Daniels had a big surprise when the elevator opened and Tali, Grunt and Ty were standing in there with Grunt in the front, but they recovered quick enough and went back down to then Engine Room after the three got out. Miranda hadn't left her office the whole entire time he had been in the Mess Hall since the little fight she had with Jack, but she really never left her office.

The sleeping pods were occupied by a few crew members and the former mercenary had to restrain himself slightly from using his omni-tool to have the door open and have them fall out to wake them up. Mean, but still funny since they'd laugh about it…eventually…probably.

Kasumi was nowhere to be found, but that was her nature. Unless you had a keen eye you could barely ever spot her unless she'd un-cloak. The shimmer of her cloak could give her away if you were lucky enough to spot it, but it was rare that you'd ever be able to. She was a killer at hide and seek.

No one from the CIC deck was down walking about in the Mess Hall but they could have been the ones in the sleeping pods, Ty wasn't sure. Then again it wasn't a huge crew so he wasn't expecting to see a Cerberus Officer at every door, standing around watching the post ready to salute whenever someone important came by. They weren't Alliance, they didn't get paid to stand and salute.

As Ty continued looking around his omni-tool popped up informing him the search was done. He clicked on the detectives name and a small biography popped up describing her career on Illium and how she did at her job. She was as clean as she seemed, there wasn't a speck of corruption on her file. In fact she fought it pretty hard by the sound of it so he dismissed the file and clicked on the smugglers name.

A bigger screen popped up and paragraph upon paragraph filled up the bigger screen until it started scrolling down. Ty skimmed through it as it went by and saw that he was indeed the stereotypical smuggler: dirty, no loyalty and liked to leave his people to die apparently.

"That's a big file." Tali commented.

"Yeah that's what I call a dirty smuggler with no loyalty." Ty said as he closed it and started to call Shepard.

It was no secret that Ty wasn't a saint, but smugglers that held no loyalty to the people who they worked with or to the contracts always irritated him. Loyalty to your people was a big thing to him and some people, like this Volus smuggler, didn't give two shits about their partners and so-called friends.

Smugglers weren't the worse scum in the universe though, but they weren't the greatest set of people either. Ty had met a fair share of loyal smugglers as well as killed his fair share of scummy smugglers.

Maybe it was karma coming to bite the Volus in the ass finally, but Ty was happy knowing that once Shepard heard this information she would eventually turn the little round shit in for his deeds. The dial tone went off three times until Shepard answered. "You've got some good timing."

She was too out of breath for the warrior to really figure out if she was being sarcastic or serious. "Is that sarcasm or are you serious?"

Shepard released a short chuckle then took in a deep breath. "I was serious. We just finished taking down a gunship. If you would've called a minute earlier I wouldn't have answered since I doubt anyone here wants to have a missile to the face…again."

"Ha ha." Garrus replied dryly.

Or get impaled on a wall after shooting a missile. That was not one of my brightest ideas, but can't say I regret it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. "Well go me then. I got the information you asked for."

"That was quicker than I thought. What do you have?"

"Well your detective friend is as clean as a nun. She takes her job seriously and hasn't had any black marks on her record. Your smuggler friend however, he's about as clean as a Batarian slaver."

"That's pretty dirty. What did he do?" Shepard asked.

Ty chuckled. "You should be asking what he hasn't done. Smuggles red sand, leaves his partners behind to die, does rip off deals all the time. He's about as scummy as the Eclipse mercs you're fighting even though red sand is legal on Illium as long as you have a permit."

"Motherfuckers with no loyalty don't deserve to live." Jack said.

He nodded to himself, that was something that both of them could agree on right now. "Amen."

"I'll turn him in when we're done here. Ty I ran into an Eclipse merc who claimed she hadn't killed anyone and just pretended to be shooting." The N7 said.

"What's her name?"

He had expected her to do something like this if she did run into someone like whoever she had run into. Shepard was a good person and Ty didn't fault her for what she did, it was just a shame that her good will and good heart had to be wasted on a piece of scum like an Eclipse Sister.

"I take it you figured out I didn't kill her?"

"I know you, Shepard. I knew you wouldn't if someone claimed they didn't."

"Hey Shepard, check this out. It's a recording of that Eclipse merc, seems she was lying all along." Garrus informed.

"Play it again so I can hear it." The sound of the recording was very faint in his ears, but he could get the gist of what was being said. The Eclipse merc she had spared had earned her armor by killing the Volus, which really wasn't much to brag about. All it proved was she could kill innocents instead of being able to handle a real gunfight. "Well at least I know who killed the Volus. Shit."

"Don't blame yourself, Shepard. You are guided by a good heart and you should stick to it. She'll get hers eventually." Ty reassured.

Shepard let out a sigh. "Yeah, thanks Ty."

"Want me to head out and see if I can find her?"

He was an expert hunter after all and she'd likely be easy prey. In the silence he felt like he could feel the gears in Shepard's head turning while she put together a plan of action. "No, that isn't necessary. Hmm…you think you could get her location or anything I could give to the detective to help her find her?"

"Come on Shepard, I could have her delivered to the detective's office tied up with a sign attached to her chest that gives her name and what she did on it if you wanted."

That got an evil grin from Grunt and a light laugh from Tali. They couldn't hear the full conversation but they seemed to understand what was going on. The Commander chuckled lightly at his comment. "Well it definitely would make me rest easier knowing that she didn't get away with it because I let her go."

"One Eclipse merc special delivery on the way, just need a name."

"Elnora is all I got. She's an Asari."

"Clear enough, you don't find a lot of Elnora Asari's out there. She'll be captured and delivered with a sign that says 'my name is Elnora and I killed the Volus. Please arrest me, I've been a bad girl. Courtesy of Commander Shepard and the Normandy crew' I'm sure it'll make her popular in her cell block."

It seemed to lighten the mood enough for Shepard, Jack and Garrus as it did for Tali and Grunt. The tank-bred Krogan had a big grin on his face as he let out a menacing laugh while Tali suppressed a laugh. "I want to see a picture of that when it happens." Jack told him.

"Consider it done. Alright you three get back to work and I'll start getting someone to hunt her down, knock her out, tie her up, pin a sign on her, take a picture of it, and bring her to this Detective Anaya."

"I'd hate to get on your bad side, Ty. Is there even a good side?" Garrus asked dryly.

"Well I haven't switched your rations out yet so take that for what you will, Garrus." Ty joked.

"He wouldn't really fall for something like that." Shepard said. Jack barked out a laugh while Ty attempted to not laugh at the memory of the joke Tali had played on him. "Wait, what's so funny?"

"Oh Shepard you should have seen his face when Tali tricked him."

"Oh man that was fucking glorious." Jack said with what Ty could tell was a huge shit eating grin on her face.

"Wait a minute, Garrus you actually thought that you were eating human food? Don't you check that before you eat the food? It's clearly marked."

"I check it now." He replied dryly.

"And you three didn't record that?! Do you know how much that could have sold for? I would have paid at least over a hundred thousand credits to see Garrus freaking out." Shepard reprimanded Jack and Ty.

Jack lost complete control of her laughter, no doubt caused by the look on Shepard's and Garrus's face and the scolding she gave them. "It took to much will power to not laugh and it wasn't as if we planned it. He would've noticed it anyway and that would've ruined the joke." Ty responded.

"Damn, that would have been good." The N7 muttered.

"You can complain more about it later. Get your asses moving before Samara has to kill the cops."

"See you later Ty."

"Later."

Ty immediately started sending a message to his brother asking him to go hunting for a recent addition to the Eclipse mercs on Illium and to knock her out and do all the things he told Shepard he was going to have done. He figured his brother was still on Illium anyway. He wouldn't have come by himself, he would've brought Haley or Jessica if not both with him to get out of the ship and stretch their legs out in a nice populated area.

The former mercenary also figured his brother would have fun with the new mission he was sending him on. It wasn't every day he got to pin a sign on someone who was getting arrested and take a picture of it.

Ty's omni-tool disappeared and Tali looked over to him. "Who do you have going after Elnora?" She asked.

"I sent the message to my brother so he'll probably do it, if not he'll pass it along to one of the few people he trusts. Knowing him he'll definitely do it himself. He wouldn't pass up a great joke."

"I'm surprised you don't do it yourself."

"I would, but I have to stay on board here and Elnora, if she was smart, would take the first taxi out of the district and to the first Eclipse ship heading off the planet. I don't have the time to chase after her right now even though it would be fun if she was already running."

"Ha! Nothing like the thrill of the chase." Grunt stated.

"That's the fun part of everything. Well that and if it's a good fight."

Tali's gestures told Ty she had a big smile on her face as she spoke in a humored tone. "I think you have some Krogan in you."

"That or the two Urdnot's, Kar and Grunt, knocked it into me when they knocked me out."

"I still can't believe you did that." Tali stated in disbelief.

"Yeah and both outcomes left me unconscious so think of how I felt." Ty said with a smile.

"Exhilarated." Grunt said.

"Exactly."

Tali shook her head at him. It wasn't actually exhilarating, but it was close enough. For some strange reason, despite it hurting badly, he enjoyed the head-butting. It was likely because the first time had knocked the common sense out of him, but that was still unconfirmed. "Who did you last longer against?" Tali asked.

He wasn't entirely sure of the exact time or how many each had done, but he knew that Grunt had knocked him out faster. He wasn't sure by how much; he just knew Grunt had knocked his lights out quicker. "Grunt's pure Krogan strength knocked me flat on my ass quicker than Kar did."

"Ha!" Grunt laughed victoriously.

Kar had a huge head-plate unlike Grunt's not fully formed head-plate so it was a bit of a surprise still that Kar hadn't done it quicker. There was a possibility though that because his quicker unconsciousness was caused by him being emotionally out of whack.

"Though I was emotionally unstable against Grunt, I mean Kar was huge too." Ty said looking for a reaction from their resident Krogan.

Grunt let out a deep laugh. "Is that a challenge I'm hearing from you Ty?"

Ty wasn't sure why he was continuing his line of thought at the moment. "I told you I wanted a rematch after this mission is over Grunt and I'm looking forward to it."

"It's on, Ty. We will prove who the strongest crew member is."

"May the best human win." Ty said with a challenging smile.

"Your fighting spirit is great, but my pure strength will outlast it." Grunt said sending a challenging smile back.

Grunt and Ty's smiles turned into grins as they stared each other down. It was going to happen now. It was crazy for him to even consider doing it three times in one lifetime, but in an odd way there was a thrill to the idea. It wasn't testosterone or pride that caused him to challenge Grunt again; it was the thrill he got from it.

The back and forth between them, the challenge it was to try and knock him down or back a few steps, the blood pumping adrenaline that rushed him when he got busted open and continued to push through all the pain trying to achieve an impossible goal. The fire burning in their eyes now showed that they both had the same feelings on the idea of doing it again. You could see them challenging each other with every second that went by, you could tell they could hardly wait to actually challenge each other again.

Ty and Grunt both stood up nearly at the same time and walked to the side of the table until they were nearly chest to chest. The purple eyed warrior was looking up at the Krogan's towering frame while the Krogan stared down at the smaller human.

Both were still giving each other challenging grins. "You know Ty, there's something about you that gets my blood rushing. You stir something in me that no other creature has stirred in me."

"Like a beast within."

"Yes."

"I know how you feel. The head-butting contest we had stirred my inner demon in a way I can't exactly explain. It seems to hunger for a rematch. I can feel it in the fibers of my body right now. My nerves feel like they're on fire wanting me to start the contest right this second."

"I feel the same."

"Oh Keelah." Tali said quietly as she stared in awe at the two.

It would be hard for anyone watching right now to understand what the two were doing. To some it would look like a standoff before a fight or an argument about to escalate into the fight, but they both knew the contest would be for the thrill, not for crew hatred or a true challenge of who was stronger.

They both knew well enough that Grunt would win each time, but Ty's time in a conscious state was the only changing factor and that was the thrill of it for the human. It had to wait though, now wasn't a time for head injuries and being put on bed rest. Ty had enough time in that category and he couldn't add more to it.

Their loyalty to Shepard and her mission was what mattered now. Both knew it and could feel it overriding their nerves, instincts, and inner fighters making this look like a "tense situation" to onlookers, but in reality it was just a friendly bargain though neither knew that an onlooker would have the Normandy's XO come try to get involved.

Miranda appeared on Grunts left and Ty's right but she was only a blur in his peripherals. "What are you two doing?" Miranda asked with a slight tone caught between assertiveness and shock.

"I think we're upsetting the natural order Grunt." Ty said jokingly without breaking eye contact.

"We do that everywhere we go, ha ha!" Grunt bellowed.

Miranda looked at the pair like they were insane for a moment before shaking it off and asking in her assertive tone, "Is there a problem here?"

"No." Grunt answered still staring at the former mercenary with a grin.

"None at all, Princess."

"Then why do you two look like your about to rip each other apart and enjoy it?"

"Hold on, Miranda. Respect is a big thing to me, Grunt, something I hold very dear like trust. Doing the rite with you and fighting alongside a great fighter like yourself and seeing what you were capable of earned you my respect. It was one hell of a show of really everything that makes you a true Krogan and great fighter."

"You're a great fighter Ty. You've proven that in several ways. I never thought I'd find such a strong fighting spirit in a human, but you and Shepard have shown me otherwise. Having your trust and respect is an honor and you have mine as well."

"It's an honor to have gained that from you."

Grunt nodded and put his hands on Ty's shoulders and Ty put his right hand on his left arm. They then swung their heads back and slammed them into each other with a hard thump echoing in the room. The Krogan smiled and Ty smirked. "Good one, that should hold me over for a while." Ty said.

The Krogan let go of him and sat back down to finish his meal. With that taken care of, Ty looked over to Miranda to address her. "Okay, so what's up Miranda? Me and Grunt were just talking about our future head-butting contest after this mission is over."

Miranda was holding back her jaw from falling to the floor, that much Ty could tell but her business focused mind kept it from dropping. "I was making sure you two weren't about to tear each other apart. I'd ask if you were sure about that, but after seeing everything I just saw I guess it would be pointless to protest."

"At least she knows." Grunt said.

Ty heard a sigh of relief come from Tali so he turned his body so he could look between her and Grunt and Miranda. "Worried Tali?" He asked.

"I think I stopped breathing a few times during that exchange."

He smirked and Miranda shook her head. "You sure have a way with people, Ty."

"Thank you."

"Ty do you want to finish up those upgrades now or later?" Tali asked.

"Later, that way we can mobilize when Shepard gets back if something bad happens. Doing the upgrades will leave us stranded until we're finished and that could give the Collectors a whole colony." Ty said.

"Good point. When we're both on the Normandy next for a while we'll finish it all up."

Ty nodded and looked at Miranda. "Anything you need Princess or can I dismiss myself to go work on more guns for the crew?"

"Could I talk to you for a minute in my office?"

Ty shrugged. "Doesn't sound like I have much of a choice, let's go."

Miranda led the way to her office with the warrior trailing close behind. After they got in she went to a chair that let her look out a window and sat down in it. Ty chose a wall across from her to lean against. "What's up Miranda?"

"I wanted to ask you how you are doing with this mission."

Strange question from a woman who had read a dossier about him and had fought alongside him to know him well enough that he didn't shirk away from a fight. "Why?"

"Well you just seem so upbeat most of the time and you're always trying to keep everyone in a positive mind frame but I've noticed that you never really let anyone talk to you about how you feel."

"Sure I do, you just don't see it being in your office all day. I've talked to Chakwas about stuff, I talked to Tali today about personal things between us. Everyone I talk to on a personal level with talk to me about something different so I do talk to some about how I feel. You and I just haven't had the time to bond with you being in here all day and doing reports."

Miranda rolled her eyes at the word bond since Ty had intended it to be taken in such a manor, but then she looked out the window and went silent for a few beats. "How do you feel about the mission?" She asked after a moment.

"You mean like me personally or if I think we are ready?"

"Your thoughts on our progress would be nice as well as your personal mindset." She answered.

"As of right now, we aren't ready." Ty said. Miranda cocked an eyebrow up in question. "We need to get all the experts and get them headstrong for the mission otherwise we're fucked plain and simple. Our people aren't all completely focused where their heads need to be for this mission and if we take on this mission with that mentality there will be unnecessary deaths that could be avoided."

She nodded in what he assumed either to be agreement or approval as well as for him to continue. "The Normandy still needs a few tweaks though most of them are out of my department except for the last thing me and Tali are working on. I also still have to finish all the guns I started working on so the crew is outfitted with more powerful guns. The Collectors have some strange tech and got some thick armor, but if we have some stronger guns than the basic equipped ones we have now that'll boost our chances I think. If I had a contact in the black market still I would be able to get us some guns that are more lethal than the ones we have now, but the last guy I knew turned out to be a rat and nearly killed some friends of mine for 'business,' needless to say he's dead."

"I wouldn't expect anyone to betray your trust to survive the reprisal." Miranda stated matter of factly though with a slight smirk creeping on her face.

Ty smirked himself for the truth of the statement and because the Cerberus Operative had actually emotion to get on her face naturally instead of forcing it. Perhaps she was changing. It might be a slight change but it was an improvement nonetheless.

"As for me, I'm fine and ready for anything as long as the Illusive Man doesn't try something stupid."

"What about your family? Are they okay with you doing this?"

"You mean okay with Cerberus or okay with being on the mission that is the start of a war that we will all be fighting soon enough?"

"I guess both now that you mention it."

"They still hate Cerberus as much as before though they see this as more of working with Shepard than working with glowy eyes. Otherwise, yeah they're fine 'cause I don't plan on dying and this war that is coming involves everyone no matter race or status. As long as the Illusive Man remembers that, he actually could be a big help. If he goes all power hungry and doesn't think through what a war with the Reapers is and why we have to destroy them then he'll be wasting good resources."

"He knows what needs to be done." Miranda assured.

Ty chuckled. "Right. Excuse me if I don't seem completely convinced. You put too much trust in the man, but hey he's your boss. I guess you have to regardless of what I think of him."

Miranda chose to ignore his comment which was fine. He doubted her faith in the man would ever be easily shaken regardless of what he said. She'd need to see something with her own eyes that was completely terrible for it to really sink in. "I know you risk your life a lot, but if you did happen to die could they handle that?"

Ty shrugged a little. "Well, all hell would break loose and I'm sure Cerberus would be the main target. Death isn't a possibility unless you let it be a possibility and when we take it to them it won't be a possibility."

"You seem sure of that."

"Because I know who's leading us and I know everyone we have fighting with us. Once everything is ready, nothing can stop us."

"I wish I shared your optimism."

"Yeah you can be a bit of a Debby Downer sometimes." Miranda rolled her eyes at him. "You should have more optimism since Shepard is one hell of a leader and the crew of miscreants she's leading, including us, are some of the toughest and smartest fighters out there."

"I don't doubt Shepard's talent to lead. I guess I actually envy that in her, but the Collectors are an unknown and what we do know is that they can abduct entire colonies like clockwork."

Miranda sat forward and her faced showed the worry that she easily hid from others. "Yeah, but we got Mordin to come up with a repellent that has worked so far and we stopped them from abducting a whole colony on a fly response, imagine what we can do when we are the ones preparing the attack."

"We don't even know where there base is, just that it is beyond the Omega 4 Relay. We don't even know how to get through the Relay without getting killed let alone why they are abducting human colonists." Miranda stated.

Having her vent her stresses to him was a bit odd, but the purple eyed man still considered her a friend so he was going to do his best to ease those stresses. "Not yet, but we will. We'll kick their asses and send them back to their masters on their knees bloodied and battered or just plain dead."

"I never thought you'd be such an optimist."

"And I never thought I'd see you shed a tear over anything." He retorted.

"That's different and not up for discussion." Miranda defended.

Ty smirked and raised his hands in a surrendering motion. "Okay, how'd it go by the way?"

Miranda's mood changed and she relaxed in the chair with a smile. "It went well. Her parents were surprised, but she adapted quickly. I'm glad that I did it though. I don't really know what else I'm going to do about it. I haven't thought that far ahead since there is so much to focus on with this mission."

"I told you so."

"Shut up, you ass."

"Just glad to be right sometimes. Anything else you wanna talk about Miranda?"

"You have time to spar?"

Ty laughed a little to himself. "You know if you would've asked me earlier before I was tossed across the room and have to balance myself with my leg and back muscles, I would've said bring it on. Unfortunately for you my back and legs are sore. I'll have to take a rain check, maybe tomorrow or the next day, I just don't think I could go as long as we did last time right now."

"We'll do it another time then. I did warn you not to step into that fight though."

He waved her off. "Yeah yeah yeah, but I'm stubborn and don't listen to things that involve my own wellbeing and safety. I'm gonna go work on guns, I'll talk to you later Miranda."

"Goodbye Ty."

Ty left her office and looked to the table to find both Grunt and Tali were gone. He continued on his way to the elevator and after waiting for it to get up to him, he took it down to the Cargo Hold where his work was waiting for him.

Four Hours Later

Working on the designs for Jacob's shotgun took a while first to figure out and then paint, but he finally figured it all out and was satisfied with the result. He had made it a black base with a gold barrel and gold down the sides and on the back of the grip. He also added a choke on it for more damage. On one side he engraved Jacob Taylor into one side and Mr. Abs into the other.

After completing it Ty started on Mordin's ammo and kill counter for his Tempest though he wasn't sure Mordin was into the kill counter, he just figured it would be a nice add-on if he wanted it. He had equipped both Mordin and Jacob's weapons with inferno ammo though he wasn't sure if it was Mordin's preferred or not. It was just what he was going to have.

While finishing up Jacob's gun Shepard, Jack and Garrus got back with Samara who was ready to do the mission with them though Ty passed on the meeting. He wasn't sure if the Justicar and him would get along or if she even knew who he had been before and if it mattered he was trying to change. He doubted them all since from what little he knew about Justicar's, they had a strict code and it didn't get broken for anyone. It wasn't a pleasant thought thinking about how she could filet him with her mind if she wanted to.

He had finished up the kill counter and ammo on Mordin's then called it quits since he had to think about what paint job to do this time around though he was starting to get ideas already. The purple eyed warrior was going to need some more metal so he could add onto it like he did Garrus's but in a different way.

As he thought, he looked to the shooting range at the targets he had painted and noticed a lack of art to the last one he had done that was furthest away from the elevator. There was nothing spontaneous about it, it was just a plain face and it didn't scream out 'shoot me!' so he grabbed a few different cans of paint and walked over to the crate and started painting.

Two Hours Later

It was finished, it was impressive and most of all it screamed 'shoot me!' Ty backed away from his art and smiled. "Now that's a target." It was a masterpiece and when some of the squad members saw it, they'd probably only ever use that space. The target took on a shape of its own as he started painting and when he finished he barely realized what he had done.

The slicked back hair, the piercing blue eyes, a cigarette in his fingers as he sat in a chair wearing a black suit with a white undershirt, the Illusive Man had appeared as Ty remembered him and he even had a thought bubble that read, "No one can see things the way I do. I'm the Illusive Man. I am the pinnacle of human kind."

Under the thought bubble Ty wrote, "Shoot me in the head, I'm asking for it." A true work of art is what it was and he was proud of it, although he was sure Miranda would undoubtedly be pissed, but she'd have to at least chuckle to herself at the true artisanship of it.

It was perfect.