Alenko gritted his teeth so hard he thought they might crack under the pressure. He could still see the look etched on Shepard's face, an ugly battle-face that shed light into the deep abyss of hatred she felt for the Reapers. A hatred deep enough and black enough to make her think going in on foot was a good idea.

He couldn't think of a better one, but there had to be another option!

"Come on, Shepard, this is stupid!" Vega shouted, one hand clamped over his ear radio as if this might help amplify his voice somehow.

"I am sorry, Lieutenant, but unless your commentary is pertinent to the current situation, I am blocking transmissions to Shepard," EDI declared.

"You're what?!"

"She put you on hold," Tali answered sharply. "So you can't distract Shepard by yelling in her ear! She needs to focus on that thing!"

Alenko's stomach churned.

EDI might have them on hold, but she hadn't muted Shepard on the operational frequency.

"EDI! Patch every gun in this system into the Normandy's weapon system—I want this targeting laser synched up to the whole damn fleet," Shepard commanded coldly.

"Understood. Done."

"Gimme the all-call."

"You now are on an open channel."

"Shepard to Fleet: I'm going to paint the weak spot for you. You should have been sent synch-up data for the Normandy's targeting system. Wait for my mark, then fire at will…Come and get me, you son of a bitch…"

The rover stopped.

"Why are we stopping?" Vega demanded, more restlessly than angrily.

"We are out of range to be a threat to the Reaper, and we deem that there is sufficient cover. If you wish to watch the conflict, this is a reasonable place from which to do it," Legion answered. "Also, we are close enough to go back for Shepard-Captain." With that, the geth popped the doors to the rover.

-J-

Tali was out of the vehicle first. Sure enough, Legion had pulled them behind a rock formation, its feet surrounded by shrubbery. She bolted for it, threw herself on her stomach, and wiggled underneath the shrubs. She could see a small miniature of Shepard on a rocky ledge or shelf, and the Reaper beyond. A second later, she yelped—as did Vega and Alenko—as the Reaper opened fire at Shepard. Shepard dodged the laser, throwing herself flat and rolling to avoid it.

Moments later, without any kind of warning, fire fell from the sky, slamming into the Reaper, knocking it to its knees. Most of the shots seemed to bounce off.

"You got it!" Shepard's voice barked over the radio. Tali was sure she could hear the thundering patter of Shepard's heartbeat—or maybe just the way her heartbeat rocked her breathing. "Let's do it again!"

Tali bit her lip, not sure she really believed what she was seeing as she watched Shepard duck, dodge, and sidestep the laser. The thing might be a Reaper, but clearly Shepard was simply too small a target for it to attack with precision and accuracy. It was simply too bit, its weapon too slow to move. Or maybe Shepard was just stupid lucky, Tali thought blankly.

Suddenly, the Reaper let off a shot, not at Shepard, but skyward.

"Not my ship your son of a bitch!" Shepard screamed.

"It is harassment fire," EDI's voice relayed smoothly.

Shepard took advantage of the Reaper's distraction to begin charging the painting laser. She had to stop midway through as the Reaper reacquired a lock on her, but laughed as a second bombardment dropped. "Boom! Eat that!"

Tali glanced sideways at Vega, who was nearest to her, took in the expression on his face, one of blank awe, as if he didn't really believe what he was seeing: Shepard going toe to metaphorical toe with a Reaper, like it was any other kind of enemy…and she wasn't losing.

-J-

Vega swallowed in a dry throat, hands shaking, in spite of the fists they were balled into. He knew what he'd seen on the Major's face moment's ago. That was a man terrified for someone he loved…and not in the sense of comrades loving comrades.

It was a detail he hoped he would forget in the next few minutes, then he reminded himself that they were both Spectres, so it was none of his business, anyway. Still, interesting to know what kind of guy Shepard would go for. Not what he'd expected.

Vega flinched as the Reaper's canon recharged and opened up on Shepard—this time, the thing got way too damn close. Or maybe she tripped on unsteady ground, because she staggered, and ended up falling, then rolling immediately in the opposite direction as the laser came down where she'd been a moment before.

"She wears a second shield," Alenko said hollowly, expression wracked as he watched, as if to reassure himself.

"Yeah," Tali agreed, though her tone didn't sound any more certain than Alenko did.

But Shepard pushed herself to her knees and painted the target again. That thing was getting way too close…and he couldn't even shout at her to just get the hell out of there.

This time, she got shrapnel from shots that clipped the rock formation around her, but she said nothing, merely sprang to her feet and moved as the Reaper staggered and fell again.

For a moment, Vega thought it was over. Then the damn thing, being too stupid to just die already, slowly got back up. It moved unsteadily, though. "Come on, Lola, just one more hit…" he breathed.

"One more hit! We're almost there!"

What was it like to be that frikking close to a Reaper? How big did that gun look at that proximity? And the only shake in her breathing, the only tremor in her voice, was that of someone about to deliver a killing blow, who knew that if she could just get lucky one more time, it was over.

It was epic, even if she was batshit crazy.

-J-

"And there are about five hundred people back there, as you can see through the loopholes, who rake us either for fools or for heroes, two classes of imbeciles that are rather similar." ~Athos, The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas.