"Okay Garrus" Shepard said in an authoritative voice, "I need to know everything you know about Jax Weaver and I need to know it now." Being absent of clues, the team had returned the Normandy where Shepard had been forced to ask Miranda up to give her mission report. The Cerberus operative was present in the conference room as they conversed.

"Human, twenty one years old" Garrus replied factually, "grew up on Omega, born there too, lived with his mother, no father, no siblings as far as I'm aware."

"That would explain the lack of an official birth record or identification" EDI interjected.

"Well there's no official anything on Omega" Garrus muttered.

"How well did you know him?" Shepard asked.

Garrus shifted a little uneasily, "less than I should have. He joined my squad with Sensat, my explosives expert. From what I could tell, Sensat was like a father figure to him."

"A human child growing up with a Salarian father figure?" Miranda asked, "not something you see often, Salarian longevity usually makes maintaining the right age bracket for those relationships short-lived."

"Sensat was a community leader of sorts" Garrus explained, "he saw a lot of kids come and go but Jax stuck with him. Sensat was an explosives expert, I'm pretty sure he had experience with the Special Tasks Group, he began teaching Jax what he knew and when Sensat saw what I was doing and asked to join up with me, Jax followed suit."

"How did an ex-STG operative end up on Omega?" Miranda pressed, seemingly more interested in the political ramifications than the human conflict.

"Same way I did, I suppose" Garrus mused, "just became disillusioned with the lack of results, or maybe like Mordin did and just wanted a less morally ambiguous lifestyle."

"So he survived, and now is hunting Sidonis like you" Shepard summed up. "Do you have any clue where he would've taken him?"

"In most cases, I would say that Jax would've already put a carnifex to his head, pulled the trigger and threw the body in a protein vat" Garrus muttered. "He wasn't much outside of any description of 'business-oriented', Sensat virtually spoke for both of them. They were always a package deal."

"And losing a father is a fine way to get driven off the deep end" Miranda muttered under her breath.

Garrus winced, light enough to pass it off as a wrinkle on his features but Shepard knew him better than that. "You're dismissed," Shepard told her second-in-command, "file away a report, if I have any further need of you, I know where to find you."

Miranda nodded curtly, and left.

"Thanks Shep" Garrus said after the door had closed behind her, "I've got a lot of respect for how cut and dry Miranda handles her business but right now, I don't particularly like it."

"It's fine" Shepard reassured him. "How are you holding up?"

"Probably better than I deserve to be" Garrus said quietly, pulling the visor off his head. As he discarded it on the table, Shepard saw the magnified image of Jax on the inside. "I thought Jax died that day, I saw the bullet wounds, he was covered in blood. But I didn't stop to check…" His voice trailed off as he took a pained breath. "I just ran, I can't even say I was focussed on revenge, I just ran, concerned for my own safety when I had already failed all of my men."

"You can't blame yourself" Shepard implored, trying to get through to him. It wasn't often she saw him with two unobstructed eyes and as she studied his expression struggling with the burden of guilt, she noticed the minute mismatches and wrinkles between the two.

"Right now, I just need to find him. The official story on Omega is that Archangel is dead, Jax thinks he's the last of our team, I know that feeling, it's a dark place," Garrus' eyes hardened like flint. "It's not a path I intend to let him walk alone."

"But you said it yourself, Jax probably already has executed Sidonis, he'll be a ghost by now."

"I said that would be how he would conduct himself normally. This is Sidonis we're talking about, he took away Sensat from Jax, he isn't looking for a quick resolution. Under these circumstances, I'd want to drag this out, torture Sidonis, make him feel the pain of all ten deaths over and over again."

"You let someone that imbalanced on your team?" Shepard asked, sceptical. "Were you really so desperate?"

"Like I said, he came as part of a package deal" Garrus shot back. "And he's a good kid, or at least he was. Sidonis took everything from him, friends, family, his home, Jax will think he has nothing to lose, that this is everything he has left, hence the stay in his lethality."

"So where would a youth take a prisoner he intends to execute?"

"I don't know" Garrus said, exasperated. "As a far I know, barring a few shuttle runs, he's never even been off Omega, certainly never left the system."

"Well even so, some things need to remain the same" Shepard said, pondering. "To torture someone, he'd need a large space, far away from any civilians.

"Well I suppose that rules out most places" Garrus noted. "So we're looking for somewhere commercial, abandoned most likely, but not decrepit." His eyes glittered with a memory. "I remember he asked me about why I picked the hideout I did back on Omega. We had just cleared a squad of Blue Suns out of it, I told him when a place like that sees so much activity it dies down hard, no one wants to air their dirty laundry out for long. No one ever returns to…" He trailed off.

Shepard looked at him expectantly. "Yes?"

"That clever little bastard" Garrus muttered with half a smile on his three quarters of a face. "He's back at the factory district, with Harkin arrested and all his Blue Suns protection dead, that place will be a ghost town. Plenty of heavy machinery to strip down, it's virtually a squatter's paradise."

"Not to mention being easily defensible" Shepard added.

"Let's load up" Garrus barked, a little loudly due to his over-enthused state. "One of my team needs saving."

"Sidonis is the one needing saving" EDI clarified.

"It's not Sidonis that Jax needs to be saved from" Shepard replied, knowing exactly what was going through her partner's turian mind. "Contact Thane, tell him to arm up. If this turns into a firefight, I want it defused, quickly."

"Of course Shepard" EDI replied, her holograph disappearing.

"Thanks Shep", Garrus said, picking up his visor off the desk. Shepard watched run a finger along the names branded into it, settling on Weaver, the last. "I need him alive. I lost my whole team once, maybe this is a chance for atonement."

"You don't owe penance for Sidonis' sins" Shepard told him.

"Maybe" Garrus said, puling the visor over his head and loading his pistol. "But either way, Sidonis isn't free of our little episode yet, let's get them both out of there."

Shepard flagged down a taxi and within minutes, the three squadmates were flying over the arms of Zakera Ward. Shepard couldn't help but notice the aggression with which Garrus handled the skycar, swerving between traffic and taking corners a few degrees tighter than what would constitute comfortable.

Shepard wasn't the only one noticing it either, as an image came up on Commander Bailey's desk, alerting him to a skycar engaging in dangerous driving. Bailey narrowed his eyes and he zoomed in on the N7 patch on one of the occupant's chests. Looking over his shoulder, "I don't see anything wrong with this picture", he muttered to no one in particular as he dismissed the alert.

The car touched down and Shepard's squad moved swiftly through the facility, guns at the ready. She eyed the heavy mechs nervously but they all remained inactive at their posts, waiting to be objectified with some menial task. They reached the final office and at Shepard's count, stormed in, guns raised. Sidonis saw them first but he couldn't respond, he was tied to a chair and gagged, his mandibles fastened shut. Garrus looked further behind him and saw at the end of the room the red bloodstain from where he had shot Harkin. Jax was easy to see beside him, but hard to look at. His hair was a dark brown, it had an unkempt look to it. His eyes were dark as he rounded on Shepard and his heavy pistol came up but the tension in his arm went slack when he saw her turian squadmate. "Garrus?" He asked tentatively.

"Hello Jax" Garrus said, holstering his assault rifle over his shoulder and motioning the rest of his team to do so. "It's been a while." He gestured towards Sidonis who, aside from a few bruises to the face, seemed unharmed. "Been busy I see."

Jax scoffed. "That's it? 'Been busy'? I thought you were dead, all of Omega thinks you're dead, because of him!" He finished with a yell, rounding on Sidonis.

"Has Sidonis said anything in defence?" Garrus asked.

"I don't have a defence" Sidonis called back, looking up from his bindings.

"Damn right you don't" Jax growled, jamming the gun underneath his chin.

"Wait Jax," Shepard called, "Garrus forgave Sidonis for what he did, and it was his team. Surely you can find the strength within yourself to do the same."

"I didn't forgive him" Garrus shot back, daring to openly conflict her. "I only decided I didn't need him dead anymore." He nodded at Jax, "then you swooped in and nabbed him."

"We recovered the bomb you used to obscure your escape" Thane suddenly rasped, "I've dealt with many explosives in my profession but the trigger you used was entirely alien to me, how did you do it?"

Jax shrugged, "it was easy, I keyed a proximity sensor with Sidonis' ID chip, the bomb scans anyone who comes close and as soon as the target comes into range it detonates."

"Impressive work" Thane noted.

"High praise indeed from you" Garrus remarked.

"Good work or bad work" Shepard said, "it doesn't matter, we're letting Sidonis go, and you're going back to Omega."

Jax looked at her distantly. "I'm sorry Commander, but I can't let that happen", raising the pistol to Sidonis' head, "he needs to die for what he's done."

"Nobody ever needs to die to atone" Shepard replied.

Jax chuckled at that. "he's already dead anyway. Hell, we all are. How many times to you get four dead people in one room? I'm assuming no one believes you're dead" he added, speaking to Thane.

"They only hope" Thane answered, "and be disappointed."

"We're all ghosts here Shepard" Jax called across the room, "Sidonis here is just about to become a bit more literal." He leaned in close, "this is for Sensat you son of a bitch" he whispered, "I'm going to kill you now."

"No, you won't" Garrus suddenly called out, a dark fury in his eyes. He had drawn his pistol. "I will" he said softly, and pulled the trigger. Sidonis looked up sharply and gasped as the pulled punched through his forehead and blasted out the other side, leaving a wet blue flower of blood on the wall as bits of brain and bone slowly dripped down. The force of the bullet had knocked Sidonis backwards, the light in his eyes instantly extinguished. Shredded brain matter began to trickle down his face and out the exit wound as it pooled around him. Jax stared at it with a silent horror, this was meant to be his kill, his action to avenge the people he had held most dear, now that it hadn't been him, he was only horrified by what lay in front of his eyes, the bloody and ugly end of another person he had once called a friend.

Shepard looked at Garrus sharply, who had already holstered his weapon. "I thought you said you didn't need him dead?"

"I didn't" Garrus said softly to her, "he did. Sidonis promised me he'd do everything to make his actions to make what he did right, well dying was the only action he could offer to fix this." He walk slowly over to Jax, who had his hands balled in shaking fists. "Are you okay Weaver?" He asked.

Jax nodded slowly, "I spent forever focussing on how I'd do it, I'm just realising I never really thought about how I'd see it."

Garrus patted his shoulder, "come on, you're coming with us."

Jax shook his head. "Our team is done sir, this ends it, I'll be getting ready now."

"Ready for what?" Garrus asked.

Right on cue, a red light start beeping on the dashboard of the office. "That" Jax answered. "Before you arrived, I sent a message to the Blue Suns. I told them who I was and what I'd done back on Omega, embarrassing them. They naturally can't let someone associated with Tarak's death continue living, it's a black mark on their professional reputation."

"You knew they'd send everything they had" Garrus said, looking at the security feed of troops unloading from the gunships. "How did you plan to take them all down?"

Jax was silent as he grabbed his assault rifle from the locker and checked the clip.

"He didn't" Shepard said, vocalising the thought that was in all their heads. "He's planning to take down as many possible with him."

"You can get out that way" Jax said, pointing to a door as he unfurled a belt of grenades and began to loop it over his shoulder. "I'll hold them off."

"Not a chance" Garrus told him, locking the door with his omnitool. "We're a team, we fight together."

"We don't have a lot of time to prepare" Shepard said, pulling her own assault rifle and cocking it.

"We have some time" Jax told her, "I planted a few surprises along their route."

Theta team moved swiftly through the warehouse, clearing every space, looking for this one human kid. The captain of the squad didn't have any idea why one little duct rat deserved one of the most lethal squads in the outfit to be hunting him but he wasn't be paid to question his orders. The factory had been decommissioned and the operations defunct, the shadows of disused mechanical limbs still as skeletons unnerved him slightly, the mechs all in standby mode didn't give him pause for comfort either. They passed the first heavy mech when suddenly he felt a rush of heat roar past him. He felt his head, the helmet had tightened in response to a concussive blast. He looked around him slowly to see the floor around covered in flames. He reached out to see if it was all real when he realised his hand was on fire. And his arm. Then his nerves finally caught him up with what was happening and he screamed.

Shepard watched the feed with a horrified expression, Jax stood removed, dead silent and impartial, his neutrality to the footage was almost disturbing. "You planted an incendiary explosive inside the heavy mech", Garrus analysed.

Jax nodded, "behind the fuel tank. It's tricky to not crush it when the mech compacts itself." They watched as the two dozen men lay dead or dying in the ocean of flames, their blood bubbled on the factory floor as it began to boil in the heat. Flesh was melting right off any uncovered limbs, and what was blue armour was now scorched black.

Shepard was shocked. "You employed these methods on Omega?"

"Only for desperate measures" Garrus replied, "when we couldn't take them down conventionally, we'd use traps, ambushes, anything to whittle down their numbers first."

"Remember that krogan for the Blood Pack, the walking tank?" Jax asked. "We used the same bomb except his armour was so thick, the fire couldn't burn through it."

"What happened?" Shepard asked.

"He boiled inside his suit" Jax said, "the red slush was leaking out of his breathing filters and everything, it was nasty."

"Now they're sending in the mechs" Garrus noted, drawing their attention back to the screens. "Those LOKIs will scan the next heavy mech for explosives, your trick won't work twice."

"Which is why the next mech doesn't have any explosives" Jax replied.

Sure enough, the mech was scanned and troops began to move in with a sense of safety, though not without caution as they stepped over the ashen remains of their former comrades. "You're letting them get through?" Garrus asked.

"I didn't say that," Jax replied, opening up a keyboard and typing in command prompts. "I just said it's not going to explode."

"So what did you do?" Shepard asked.

"I deliberately infected it with that virus that's going around" Jax explained, "the one that's turning off the friend/foe identifiers? Anything organic that thing sees is going to be blown away." He touched a button and the mech suddenly sprung up, the was a short burst of gunfire that rattled on the armoured plating before the mech decided to return fire. Shepard muted the screams as the mech marched onwards, the massive bullets it was throwing separating men from their limbs and punching holes six inches across through chests. Eventually the heavy weapons crews moved in and the mech was blown apart, but not before a significant death toll had been suffered.

"This is slaughter" Shepard mused.

"This is war" Jax replied, looking to Garrus. The turian just nodded neutrally, eyes on the monitor, not looking at Jax nor Shepard. His eyes betrayed no emotion, neither condemning nor condoning.

"It would appear that half of the original force has been eliminated" Thane said, "however, the firefight will still be significant. I would recommend we assume a defensive position.

Shepard nodded, but before she followed him out, she grabbed Jax by the collar and pulled him in close. "You and I will be having a serious conversation after this is all over" she warned him, "so do me a favour and don't get killed."

Jax nodded wordlessly and she turned and left.

"That order comes from me as well" Garrus told him, stepping up beside him.

Jax looked over, "you still sharp with that sniper rifle?"

"You still sharp with blowing anything and everything you see up?" Garrus asked in reply.

Jax almost laughed.

"Come on" Garrus said, stepping forwards. "We've got mercenaries to kill."

"Just like old times" Jax replied, walking with him.

The group convened around the main entrance over the cargo bridge, Shepard and Garrus took elevated positions while Thane and Jax were on the ground. "You trust him?" Shepard asked, making sure they were out of earshot.

Garrus looked at Jax testing the sights down his rifle. "I've trusted him with my life before and he never let down. Jax isn't much of a leader, he's never been independent before. He's going to be a little shaky but solid under fire. He is an asset."

"If you say so" Shepard said, "still, I'd much rather…"

She was cut off by a hissing sound as three smoke grenades were suddenly thrown forward, creating a thick cloud that obscured the factory floor in front of them. "Time to welcome the new tenants" Shepard said, popping over cover and unleashing a salvo of bullets into the smoke, satisfied when a few screams split the silence. A human was first out the other side, his shotgun pellets sprayed blue trails as he started firing at Shepard. Garrus leaned out the side of his cover, he could see the whites of his eyes down the scope. His trigger finger clenched, and the man suddenly didn't have eyes anymore as the bullet angrily punched a hole through his nasal cavity. By now three more troops had emerged, a spray of bullets hammered into Garrus and Shepard's cover, pinning them down. Jax popped up, taking three quick shots at the first one, a woman. The first two ricocheted off the side of her helmet but the third penetrated through an opening under her helmet in the throat. She fell to the ground, thrashing wildly as blood squirted out, changing her Blue Suns armour to red. Thane was next, Jax watched as he curled a fist full of biotic power before thrusting it at the turian, sending him flying backwards into the smoke. The next he eliminated with surgical precision, his shots all finding major organs. "Does something disturb you?" He asked, noticing Jax staring.

Jax shook his head. "Still can't get used to seeing biotics in action" he excused. "my mother always used to say it was unnatural."

"And a gun is not?" Thane questioned in reply, blinking with his rear eyelids.

"Fair point" Jax conceded, unholstering a grenade. There was a red ring around but as he pressed a switch, it changed to yellow. "It has multiple modes" he explained, noting Thane's curiosity. "Red is incendiary, yellow is concussive." He pressed a button and threw it over his head, feeling a bullet narrowly miss his fingers. After it exploded, all four members rose and opened fire, unleashing a tirade of man-made death. Armour cracked, shields were overwhelmed and biotic barriers were shredded as the team continued to mow down the Blue Suns. Jax's rifle stopped firing and he looked down at it with a curse, it had jammed. He pulled out his heavy pistol which made a much more snug fit in his hand and loosed the first bullet straight through an eyehole of a mercenary. "This is becoming too easy" Thane called out.

As if on cue, a pair of rockets were fired directly upwards from beyond their vantage line, blasting two girders that supported the structure. The team had to run to escape the falling debris but that wasn't the end of their problems. Descending through the hole breached by the rockets was a gunship, its engine's high pitch escalating into a roar. "Take cover!" Shepard roared as it opened fire, bullets slamming into the floor around them. Jax was forced to leap behind a container as the bullet stream chased him, almost taking off his leg.

Garrus hugged the side of a crate for all it was worth as it soaked up bullets seeking his flesh. "I'm out of ammo, did I mention that I really hate gunships?" He yelled out.

"We're too exposed out here!" Shepard yelled, risking a look at the gunship hovering above them. She saw a yellow light spawn in its rocket tubes. "Move!" She yelled as a pair were launched at them. The four ran but as the missiles exploded just behind them, Shepard was thrown clear across the floor by the blast. She landed heavily face down and did not move.

"Shepard!" Garrus yelled as the gunship homed in on her.

Jax watched the scene with wide eyes, adrenaline was surging through his system and he was fighting to keep a level head in the firefight but as he heard the whir of the gunship's mounted gun warming up, he knew what he had to do. "Fuck" he whispered as he left his cover and ran.

"Weaver!" Garrus yelled, seeing his motion but it was too late to stop him. Jax ran over to Shepard's body and grabbed her arms. The gunship opened fire and bullets whistled past Jax's ears and he quickly pulled and dragged Shepard behind an inactive mech, bullets ringing off its armour. Garrus was already waiting, "we need to get out of here!" He yelled.

Jax shook his head, "the exit's too far away, that gunship will cut us to shreds if we make a break for it and my shields are already on critical."

"Well then I hope you've got a bright idea for taking down that gunship," Garrus told him. "I can't get off a shot with the amount of lead it's throwing at us, plus the Blue Suns will already be mobilising."

Jax swore, racking his mind. He looked down at Shepard's unconscious form and an idea came to his mind. "How powerful are her shields?" He asked.

"Stronger than anyone's, she's a soldier, she leads the charge every time so her shields basically rival a tank."

"Do you still carry a talon?"

Garrus produced a knife from a holster on his hip. "I hope you're not thinking of taking a knife to a gunship fight."

"Not exactly" Jax replied with grit, turning the blade over and stabbing it into Shepard's back.

"Jax!" Garrus yelled, "what in the blazes are you doing?"

"She's fine, relax" Jax replied annoyedly. He wiggled the knife in a bit more before he felt his leverage and twisted the knife sharply, hearing the armour crack. He dug his fingers in and yanked sharply, peeling the the spinal plate off her armour. He flipped it over and yanked out a small device with multiple wires leading out of it.

"What is that?" Garrus asked, leaning protectively over Shepard with a hole in her armour, a Cerberus undershirt the only thing between the battle raging on and her skin.

"It's her armour's shield generator" Jax replied, producing a grenade and opening it up before reattaching the wires from the generator to feed into the grenade. "This should work, in theory."

"In theory? Oh that's brilliant, could you work any faster? We are in mortal danger here."

Jax cursed, his fingers were shaking from an amalgamation of adrenaline, nervousness and fear coursing through him. "I'm working as fast as I can, I'm not Sensat" he replied. Finally he closed the grenade, cycling through the modes until it became blue. "Tell me when that thing is about to fire its rockets and I might be able to take it down."

Garrus looked at him with incredulity in his eyes but nodded with all seriousness when he saw the expression in his eyes. "Got it" he affirmed, poking his sniper rifle out of cover and looking dead down the scope, his visor scanning the ship. Sure enough, the rockets locked onto Thane who had just become exposed and warmed up to fire. "Now!" He yelled.

Jax spun out of cover, pressed the button and hurled it at the gunship with all his strength. It flew towards the ship but was slightly off-target, it was going to just sail pass the front of the ship. As it did though, it detonated with a blue ripple passing through the air. The ship, unaffected fired the missiles only for them to explode after just leaving the tubes. The gunship lurched to the left, thrown off balance by the explosion's shockwave. The pilot was unable to do anything as the left wing smashed into the wall and the thrusters exploded. The ship spun erratically left with only one thruster until it hit the ground and exploded with a massive fireball spawned from the explosives and fuel still remaining. Garrus watched the ship's burning wreckage, it had fallen between them and the remaining Blue Suns squads, effectively cutting them off. Jax whistled, "lucky that worked" he remarked.

"What did you do?" Garrus asked.

"I linked the shield generator to an overload grenade" Jax told him, "the pulse essentially charged up the shield generator for a split second before it fried the circuits."

"You created a shield in front of the gunship for when it fired its rockets" Thane realised.

Jax nodded, "Exactly. The explosions did the rest."

"We need to get out of here" Garrus said, looking around as he picked up Shepard in his arms. "Where's the way out?"

Jax led him with a wave. "I'll show you, you can reach the docks quickly enough as well. I assume you have a ship?"

Garrus nodded with a chuckle. "Oh yes, and you're coming to see it. I think Shepard is going to want to talk to you personally after today's effort."