Twin Fates

by Tobias5

Fate played as much a role in Shepard's defeat of the Reapers as did his skill. What if fate had different plans? Did you know that the Shepard on Mindoir was born as a twin? What if both had survived the raid? How would the Reapers have dealt with TWO great heroes instead of one? It's time to find out just how much better and worse things get with TWO Shepards fighting a war.

16. Chapter 15

Twin Fates

By Belle and Tobias

Automatic Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the Mass Effect or any other referenced copy righted material.

Toby's Note: Okay so I don't normally want to do this at the beginning of a chapter (I usually save these for the notes at the end of a chapter) but I need to say this to people (who seem to be getting angrier and angrier) about the ME2 arc focusing on Jane.

Jane didn't die. John was dead/in a coma for two years. During that time Jane was alone. With how close we made the Shepards and not losing anyone on Virmire, John's death really messed Jane up. She was lost, adrift and hurting. She just drifted away and most of the people closest to her weren't in position to help her or they left (*coughs*Kaidan*coughs*. Jane's issues are forefront right now because John almost time traveled in away. For him, it's still becoming a reality. He was firmly in the denial phase of accepting that he's lost two years of his life and last chapter he had a firm shove past that stage. John has issues but they're developing. Also, about Jane being super-human biotic and John being a nothing soldier…um hello? He gripped his pistol so hard when he found out about Cerberus resurrecting him he cracked it. He also ripped a YMIR mech's head off and he took on a Krogan one on one, basically beating him to death. Jane did that and almost died. So yeah, John's stronger.

Reading all those comments last chapter I just wanted to shout, "Too soon! Most of these are addressed in the future!" Trust us folks, everything has a purpose but we agreed we'd be realistic. (I know! In a fanfic based in a universe set in the future that involves giant mecha-squid and space powers, crazy right?) We wanted these people to be real and issues take time to be addressed and even come up.

However, to those of you who left the wonderful comments and are seeing the Shepards storyline coming together, thank you. We love that you love the Shepard interactions between them and how they react to the crew. This chapter especially we were thinking of you guys. Just an aside but those Jane/John interactions and conversations are actually developed line by line between Belle and I. I'll e-mail her John's response and some description, she'll e-mail me back Jane's response and so forth. Those are the most time consuming but most fun for us. I hope you enjoy them too.

Enjoy fifteen folks. I promise growth, action and character development.

e took on a KoHe

Belle's Note: *stares at Toby's note before smirking evilly at the readers* Unlike Toby, I love it when you guys freak out about what you love and what you hate, especially because Toby and I have been planning this story out. We have been writing TF for four years now. We knew some parts that were going to happen from the beginning and others that we hash out as we get closer to the point in the plot. We knew John would die and Jane would live early on and we have been coming up with ways that would affect their relationship since the first chapters. If you enjoy this story, don't worry, we have a lot of plans regarding what will happen. Nothing we write is without a purpose. We fight a lot about this story, but I think that is what makes this story even better. Enjoy.

Oh and that line about John being stronger...physically yes he is, but I think of John and Jane as a war hammer and a katana. They are both powerful weapons, but each has their limitations. When pitted against one another it all depends on the warrior using them on who would win a true battle.

Chapter 15: The Same but Hurt People

Earth Date: January 27th, 2186 CE

Location: Normandy SR-2, In Transit

The Citadel burned. The trees in the Presidium were already charred husks, the flowers and bushes were right behind them. Here and there a body lay. Most of them children but John recognized some of his friends amongst them. A low moan rose in the back of his throat as he saw Liara's body wrapped around a little Asari who looked just like her but had cream colored markings around her forehead and crest. He was about to run over to them when Jane's voice tore his attention away from them.

"You could have prevented all this you know," Jane commented idly. John looked over at his sister. She looked exhausted with her hair askew on her head and every bit of her was covered with grime, soot, and smears of blood. His twin's blue eyes were full of grief and regret. "If you had been here from the start we could have saved them. We could have saved them all."

"I didn't want to be gone! It wasn't my choice!" John countered angrily. Jane shrugged at him and knelt down. John finally noticed the corpse at her feet. It was Miranda. The Cerberus agent hadn't gone easy judging by the wounds and scorch marks on her body. To John's horror Jane began to carve out her eyes. "God damn you Jane, you don't have to do this!"

"Silly John," Jane chided as she kept at her gruesome work. "How else will they know we were the ones who stopped them? Reapers and Cerberus, they all need to be shown what happens to you when you try to destroy what is ours."

"Not like this!" John screamed. He wanted to move forward but couldn't. He had to stop her. Grab the knife, stop the horror. Jane paused and smiled up at him and as he strained, trying to just reach out and stop her.

"Well you weren't around to show me another way, were you? You're dead. Silly John." Jane chided, resuming her work. This time the body at her feet was Garrus.

"I'm not dead!" John screamed, still unable to step forward and stop her. Jane just chuckled before whistling Olly, Olly Oxen Free.

"Yes, you are very dead and welcome to Hell, John. All because you failed me."

"I'm not dead! I-"

"-didn't fail you!" John screamed, bolting upright in bed. His heart was pounding in his chest and he was covered in sweat. He glanced over to the clock on the nightstand. Almost zero four hundred on the dot. John scrubbed at his face for a moment before getting out of bed. He shook his head, trying to shake the nightmare off as he staggered to his bathroom, the room barely lit by the empty fish tank. He'd been up to nearly midnight, just thinking about what Jane had told him. Guilt had eaten away at him and apparently didn't want him to get any real rest either. Jane had gotten lost without him. She's kept guard at the abyss so long that the abyss had also touched her. He could understand her hate of the slavers. God just listening to her he had felt it swell within him but to mutilate them. To deny their belief of their afterlife just to…

John turned on the sink faucet and splashed some on his face. He took a moment to calm himself, grasping the sink tightly as he stared down into it. He finally looked up into the mirror and froze. Eyes, gleaming with red stared back at him.

"Yes, you are very dead and welcome to Hell, John." John screamed in anger and just a bit of fear before smashing a fist into the mirror. He took great gasping breaths as the lights in the bathroom and the Captain's cabin blazed to life. He stared at himself, breathing hard with wild eyes. The red glow was the same glow he had noticed under his eyes when he first looked himself over. The effect had seemed to be magnified in the near dark of the bathroom.

"John, are you alright?" EDI's voice called out to him from her hologram in the main part of the cabin. John took a deep breath and eased his fist from the shattered mirror, hissing in pain as he did. He'd sliced his right hand open over his knuckles and the back of his fingers pretty good.

"I'm fine EDI," he called out to her. He paused and considered for a moment. "Is Mordin still up or is he taking his hour of sleep?"

"The Professor is currently cataloging his experiments and testing schedule for the day. He has been up for the past few minutes. Would you like me to have him meet you in the infirmary?" EDI inquired. John nodded and headed back into the main room to get dressed.

"Yeah, that would be great EDI. And keep this between us, would you?"

"Of course, Shepard."

~*TF*~

Jane slipped into the forward battery when the noise in the galley dropped. She had noticed the nervousness of the crew around her and made it a point to avoid the Cerberus crewmembers. She had spent some time getting to know Kasumi and Jack, but she had other plans for today. Garrus looked over his shoulder before turning.

"Shepard, need me for something?" he asked and Jane noticed something beside the main guns.

"Is that a mattress?" she asked and he shrugged.

"Someone left it in the galley, since I don't fit in a human sleeper pod, this works best," he commented and Jane smirked. Looks like Miranda's beloved, custom mattress was supporting a turian every night. It made a petty part of her giddy with that knowledge.

"I was just here to talk," Jane said and Garrus nodded. "Got a minute for that?"

"Sure. Just checking the weapon systems. You can never be too careful. I thought I'd seen every weapon in the galaxy in our fight against Saren. Mercenary work showed me otherwise," Garrus said as Jane moved to lean against the railing behind the main guns. "And now Cerberus rebuilds the Normandy with a few upgrades to boot. I wish we'd joined up with them sooner."

"I certainly haven't joined Cerberus," Jane spat and Garrus' mandibles flared. A nervous gesture, she mentally swore, Garrus wasn't the problem. "I'm using them to fund my Spectre mission, you know that." She gave him a look. "I don't mean to be snappish."

"Relax, Shepard. Just a figure of speech, besides, you risked a full on allergic reaction keeping me in one piece on Omega. I can't exactly doubt your judgment though, not after I got my own squad killed," Garrus said and Jane stood up, approaching him. Garrus had lost a team, she knew exactly how painful it was to be the only person walking away from a mission.

"What did your merc squad do? It didn't sound like you were putting yourselves up for hire," Jane asked and Garrus' face turned cold, hard. It surprised Jane, did she look like that when she thought about Akuze?

"You saw Omega, it was full of thugs kicking the helpless. I formed my team to kick back," Garrus said and Jane whistled.

"On Omega that was really dangerous," she said and he nodded.

"We weren't mercenaries. At least, nobody was paying us. We made money by taking down slavers, pirates, or gangs that went too far," he said and Jane listened. Full vigilante behavior. It was courageous...and stupid. Jane whispered a thanks to God for letting her reach Garrus in time.

"It doesn't sound like you made any friends with the gangs," Jane commented and Garrus smirked. It didn't look like a happy expression.

"I got three separate merc bands to work together to take me down. My manager at C-Sec would be impressed. It was simple. We'd hit their shipments, disrupt activities. Get under their skin. Make them angry. They'd come charging right into our well-prepared kill-zone. Crossfire and snipers, clean and surgical. They never stood a chance," he said and Jane nodded. She would have done the same.

"Not bad with what you had and on Omega," Jane said.

"Everyone in my band had lost someone to the gangs. We weren't out to make it rich, just get them to think twice about what they were doing," Garrus said and Jane respected that. "I learned a lot watching you." Jane winced at that, she regretted deeply her title from the Hegemony. Garrus was probably on the same path she was, she didn't want that for him. She wanted him to have better, she hadn't been there for him, she needed some answers.

"So how did you end up fighting mercenaries on Omega?" she asked and he gave her a sheepish look.

"I never got to tell you, but I got tapped as a potential for the Spectre program after the Normandy was destroyed," he said and Jane's jaw dropped.

"What?" she gasped and he looked down before back up.

"I didn't want to get your hopes up, for turians, the process has conditions. I was training to become a Spectre but it didn't work. Too much politicking at the Citadel. Nobody was willing to take risks," he said and Jane worried.

"Did I get you blacklisted?" she asked and he shook his head.

"I was out of the program by the time you took on Dirake, when you came back in the state you were in...it was bad, Shepard," he said and Jane blinked. Tela had told her little about Jane's time in the coma, just that Garrus had been there every day and then had vanished.

"What do you mean, it was bad?" Jane asked and Garrus gave her a look. He tapped the back of his head.

"When the surgery to remove your old implant was done, you were in bad shape. I heard some of the chatter. The damage done to your skull was too extensive for a replacement L3 and most of the doctors doubted there was enough proper bone structure at the site for proper L4 implantation. If the Spectres you befriended didn't step up and get that L5...I don't think you'd be here," he said and Jane stared at him. Tela made the implant seem like no big deal. "I stayed until you were confirmed to wake up. That's when I left. I knew I could nothing about the mess on the Citadel, but Omega...Omega was filled with criminals nobody else could touch, and there was no red tape to slow me down. It was a perfect fit. People there needed someone to believe in like you. I knew you would work on the Citadel. I would go small, I could be someone to stand up to the local thugs on Omega." Jane's heart ached. Garrus wanted to be like her, had seen her fall and survive, no thanks to the Council apparently. Although Jane suspected Anderson might have done something...Tela and Chirum just beat him to the punch. Garrus had left knowing Jane was fine to fight the big battle while he handled what he felt he could. Brave, courageous, and just this side of crazy.

"That explains how you started. How'd you end up with a squad?" she asked and Garrus looked proud.

"Not too different from how you two formed your squad to fight Saren, actually. You prove that you get things done and people join up. Mercs who wanted to atone. Security consultants tired of playing by the rules. I gave them hope...and now they're dead. Shows what I know," he said and Jane reached out to place hand on his shoulder.

"I know how it feels to be the only one to walk away," Jane said and Garrus stared at her with his piercing blue eyes. "How did those bastards get your men?" Garrus looked at her before turning and pacing.

"It was my own damn fault. One of my people betrayed me. A turian named Sidonis. He drew me away just before the mercs attacked my squad, then he disappeared. Everyone except me is dead because of him. And because I didn't see it coming," Garrus said, a low growl entering his voice. Anger, rage, betrayal. Yeah, Jane knew that feeling. Every time she thought too long about Cerberus, the knowledge that they set up Akuze, they set it up for her men to die, that Toombs' torture existed, it made her feel that way. It made her sick to realize Garrus felt that way. However, killing Cerberus agents to stop them from committing crimes hadn't made Jane feel better.

"Do you know where Sidonis is now?" she asked and he stopped, turning to look at her.

"No. His trail vanishes after he leaves Omega. But I'll keep hunting. I lost my whole team expect for Sidonis. One day I'll find him...and correct that," Garrus said coolly. Jane recognized that tone. A killing tone. Garrus broke eye contact. "Thanks for coming by, Shepard. I've got something to take care of." He started to walk by and Jane grabbed his arm. She didn't look at him, she didn't want to see his killing face, she didn't want him to see the conflicted look on hers. Garrus knew humans better than most turians, so he might know the expression on her face and she didn't trust it.

"I'm with you, Garrus, I have your six now, whenever you need me," Jane said.

"You could have died giving me medical treatment getting me off Omega," he said and Jane shook her head.

"I'm dextro tolerant, you can't kill me bleeding on me," she said as she let go and headed past the sleeper pods. She needed to distract herself, maybe a few asari exercises would get her to focus. Hovering over the ground took her mind off things...like her own flaws.

~*TF*~

The cargo bay was empty most of the time. After the supplies were stored and the shuttle checked over the crew usually locked it down and left. There were crates here and there and even some consoles near the doors to help take inventory when needed. The only time it was opened was when Gardner would make a supply trip or if the ground team went through on their way to the shuttle. It was usually quiet and if you found the right spot between crates you were even hidden from view from the spare rooms on the engineering deck. Which was why John was there now. He'd drug a spare punching bag and stand from the armory shortly after Mordin had patched him up and set it up in the corner hidden by some crates. He given EDI orders to have Joker set course for Omega and then he'd started hitting the bag.

For hours he'd slammed his fists into the bag. Again and again he hit, practicing everything he could think of, trying to clear his mind. Not that it was working.

With a meaty thump his left fist hit the bag.

-an elementary school-

His right fist slammed into the bag. Thump!

-thirty students-

His left again. Thump!

-I executed the pilots-

This time it was a kick with his right leg. Thump!

-their little heads shaved and bandaged-

Another fist. Thump!

-bastard wanted to take me alive-

Another. Thump!

-I did it-

Thump!

-I...desecrated the bodies-

THUMP!

-I deserve-

THUMP!

-you could have prevented all this-

Thump, thump, thump!

-you failed me-

Thumpthumpthumpthu-CRACK!

"Shit!" John snarled, pulling his left hand back from the punching bag as it swung free from the stand, two of the chains barely holding it as the third hung lazily in the air. John hadn't even realized it had given until he'd smashed his left fist into the chain as it swung between his fist and the heavy bag. He began to unwrap his hands as he made his way to the elevator. He ignored the bag as it hung lopsided on the stand and moved into the elevator. He jabbed the button for the crew deck as he finished unwrapping his hands. The middle of his left hand was swelling but didn't look broken. Shaking his hands out he took a deep breath before checking his omni-tool. A little after eight hundred. They should be arriving at Omega soon to resupply. Then he'd check the dossiers over and decide who to recruit next. Maybe put it out on Omega that they were looking for information on the Collectors. He could get Jane's opinion as well, she might have some contacts he didn't. As the doors opened John mulled things over as he headed to get breakfast. He didn't even realize most of the crew was up, having breakfast while the night shift finished. In his own head, he strolled over to the kitchen to grab a breakfast tray and coffee still soaked with sweat. After getting his meal he turned and found Zaeed standing there, glaring at him.

"We need to talk Shepard. Now." Zaeed growled and John sighed.

"Can it wait a bit? I want to eat and we're due to dock Omega for resupply soon. After that's done-"

"No, it can't!" Zaeed barked making John blink in surprise. "If we wait any longer Vido will hand off the day to day control to someone else! Then I'll have lost my chance!"

"Zaeed if you'd just calm down and-"

"I'm not going to calm down, Shepard. You agreed to do this and you'll damn well help me out! If they get dug in anymore it'll be impossible to get in!" Zaeed snarled. "I wanted to sneak in during rotation when they bring in more refinery workers!"

"What workers?" Jane spoke up. John glanced to his right and saw Jane approaching from her room. She was also soaked with sweat, making John wonder what kind of training she could do in that cabin.

"The Blue Suns didn't kill the workers. They just work for them now." Zaeed growled and John scowled. He turned and tossed his tray back on the kitchen counter before focusing back on Zaeed again.

"You never mentioned hostages when you told me about this on Omega!" John snapped and Zaeed rolled his good eye.

"They didn't matter! Are we going or not?" Zaeed demanded. John growled to himself.

"Son of a bitch, yes we are!" John snapped storming off to give orders to Joker to do an immediate course change.

"You're lucky we have to hit the relay in the Ismar Frontier anyways to get to Omega!" Jane said as she followed him onto the elevator. John said nothing but just growled as he jabbed a finger for the command deck.

"How much do you know about Zaeed?" Jane asked after a moment. John frowned and shook his head before forwarding her the message he received from the Illusive Man about Zaeed. Jane looked it over before frowning too.

"Do you have anyone you could see about getting more information from?" John asked and Jane nodded.

"I'll check in with some friends...I know a few retired Spectres who might be useful," Jane said and John gave her a look.

"There are retired Spectres?" he asked and Jane looked at him before flicking at her omni-tool.

"Not many. Looks like only the smartest and fastest get out of this job alive," Jane replied as she headed back to her room.

~*TF*~

Earth Date: January 27th, 2186 CE

Location: Ismar Frontier, Faia System, Planet Zorya

As soon as the shuttle doors opened a wave hot, muggy air hit them. Zaeed led them out and as John's boots hit the muddy ground he felt himself break out into a sweat. He followed Zaeed as he led the way deeper into the jungle just outside the facility. As Zaeed patched them into Blue Suns communications, John glanced at his sister. Jane kept shooting him looks. He knew she had expected him to try and talk to her about what she had told him the day before. To be honest he didn't know how to. It had finally hit him, truly hit him. He'd lost two years. Two years of life. Two years of his sister's life, of Liara's, Garrus's, Tali's, everyone's lives. They mourned him, buried him, and tried to move on. What could he do? How could he judge Jane, what Jane had done, everything that had happened when he wasn't there? He was lost in his own thoughts, barely registering Zaeed talking or the Blue Sun's chatter as he thought. Jane had become a Spectre, truly embraced it. She'd stood guard and he'd not been there. How could he help her now?

"-been spotted!" Jane shouted, breaking John out of his thoughts. Zaeed had led them to an outlying part of facility. John took cover as the Blue Suns opened fire. John moved to cover behind a large rock and pulled out his rifle. He put it out of his mind as he forced himself to focus on the job. He glanced over his cover to take it in the situation. A dozen mercs, three Fenris mechs. No problem. He leaned out of cover and opened fire on the mechs. They came to halt, trying to locate John but he never let up, eventually shredding them to pieces with his assault rifle. He ducked back down to reload and narrowed his eyes when he saw Zaeed lob a grenade into a group of Blue Suns. It exploded, engulfing them in flames. Even as they screamed John just scowled. Zaeed had grenades. John grumbled and popped back up to fire again. Damn it, when they got to Omega to resupply he was getting grenades. After a few minutes they finished clearing out the mercs. They moved past the facility towards a small access bridge over a ravine. John pressed the bridge override as their comms sounded out with Vido's voice.

"This is Commander Santiago. If any of you retreat while the intruders are still alive, I'll kill you myself," Vido growled and John stopped the bridge at Zaeed's sign. "Now, get the hell back out there."

"Vido. Sounds like he hasn't changed," Zaeed growled and the twins shared a look.

"Speaking of which, you formed the Blue Sun's with him, how did he cut you out of that operation?" John asked. Jane had been able to supply John with some background information on Vido. Zaeed was a crazy sly merc who had done some things Jane could barely believe one man could do and survive, although, she was starting to build a reputation similar to his but he had her beat by a few decades.

"He ran the books, I led the men. Worked real well for a while. Then Vido decided to start hiring batarians. Cheaper labor, he said. Goddamn terrorists, I said," Zaeed growled. "He turned my men against me. He paid six of them to restrain me while he put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger."

"Impressive survival," Jane said, her gaze flickering to John as Zaeed turned on her. Glaring at her with his dead eye.

"Yeah. And you survived a krogan beating your implant to pieces while it was still in your skull. Your brother survived getting disintegrated. A stubborn enough person can survive just about anything," Zaeed said and Jane shrugged as she kept her gaze on his good eye. "Rage is a hell of an anesthetic." Jane would have to remember that line.

"Twenty years is a long time to hold a grudge," John commented and rage crossed Zaeed's face in a way that made Jane's hand move to her gun. Zaeed's eyes were killing eyes and they were aimed at John.

"For twenty years, I've seen that bastard every time I closed my eyes. Every time I sighted down on a target. Every time I heard a gunshot. So, don't call it a goddamn grudge!" Zaeed snarled, spit flying from his mouth. Jane wondered just what would happened if this mission failed. Twenty years of this much hate was dangerous.

"We better get moving," Jane said and John started the bridge again. As it closed the gap Zaeed was in the lead again.

"They know we're here. Bring it on, you son of a bitch!" he snarled.

~*TF*~

As Zaeed led them into the gate house John froze as a voice above them spoke.

"Zaeed Massani, you finally tracked me down." John looked up to the catwalk above them and couldn't help but sigh. Vido was standing with a team of Blue Suns all around him, looking down at them.

"Vido." Zaeed growled, going to his gun. Vido grunted, uncrossing his arms.

"Don't be stupid, Zaeed. I have a whole company of bloodthirsty bastards behind me, ready to be kill or be killed on my command." Vido growled down at them. John exchanged a look of worry with Jane, who returned it. "Actually, take your shot. Give my men a reason to put you down like the mad dog you are. Again."

John caught Zaeed looking at him and received a nod. Zaeed yanked his assault rifle out, opening fire at the mercs, forcing them to take cover. John and Jane bolted right as Zaeed went left. John vaguely heard Vido say something but it was drowned out from Zaeed firing again. He must have hit what he was aiming for because the refinery line running over the catwalk exploded.

"I know Zaeed is a loose cannon but shit!" Jane exclaimed. John grunted in agreement.

"You just signed your death warrant Massani!" Vido shouted down at Zaeed just before the mercs began to open fire at Zaeed. Apparently, they had completely forgotten the Shepards were there. Zaeed didn't seem fazed by it at all and began to beat on a relief valve with his gun.

"What the hell are you doing?" John shouted at him. Zaeed ignored him, beating on the valve till it gave. The lines running under the gate house and to the refinery ignited and burst open. The mercs screamed as the explosions tossed them off the catwalk or incinerated them. John stood up and watched in awe struck disbelief as the refinery line continued to ignite, blowing the gate doors open but then continuing down the line until it hit the refinery. The refinery seemed to shudder and large explosion shook the ground as portions of the refinery ignited and gave. John growled and stormed up to Zaeed.

"We don't sacrifice innocent lives for the sake of the mission!" John snapped, "There's always a better way!" He missed Jane giving a startled jerk behind him.

"Like what?" Zaeed shouted, gesturing wildly. "Wandering around the jungle for hours looking for another way in? You want to waste time out there, go ahead! I'm going to kill Vido!" Jane let out a noise behind John as he swung his fist and punched Zaeed in the face. Zaeed staggered back and clutched at his face, glaring at John. Jane had her pistol in her hands, she was ready to take a shot if Zaeed even breathed the wrong way.

"You're endangering lives, and the mission, for your own selfish reasons!" John barked.

"You really want to do this John?" Zaeed growled, scowling at John. Jane's eyes were on Zaeed's hands on his rifle. He was deranged, and as much as she hated to think it, but Vido might be right about Zaeed being a mad dog.

"I should knock you out and leave you here." John snarled. "But thanks to you we now have a burning refinery to save."

"Let these people burn!" Zaeed snapped, gesturing wildly. "Vido dies, whatever the cost!"

"Like hell!" John scoffed, moving towards the door, ignoring Zaeed. John drew his weapon and headed inside the complex but caught a glimpse of Jane. She hadn't said anything since the bridge but she appeared to be deep in thought. John quickly gunned down two mercs who were trying to bar the way. He stormed down the walkway past them, avoiding the bursting pipes and heading for the closest door. As Zaeed swore and began to move, Jane snapped out of her trance and followed, quick to catch up to John. A door opened on a catwalk above them and a man ran out of the burning building.

"John, above and behind us." Jane spoke up behind him. John stopped and turned. The worker was running down the overhead walkway towards them.

"Help, we're tapped!" he screamed down at them. "We can't get to the gas valves to shut them off! The whole place is going to blow!"

"Let's go," John said instantly, heading for the railing edge to jump down to the access door behind them to the area the worker had run from. Jane stayed behind Zaeed in case the merc decided to disagree.

"There's no time. Vido's probably halfway to the shuttle docks by now." Zaeed replied. John stopped and turned, not surprised to see Zaeed hadn't followed him but he was surprised that Jane was standing behind Zaeed with a black look on her face. John felt his temper spike again and he snarled, grabbing Zaeed by the front of his armor, dragging him towards him.

"We're here to free these people," John hissed at him. "We're going in." John shoved Zaeed away from him, before shaking his head. He shot Jane a disappointed look before going to the railing and vaulting over. Jane blinked at the look, he thought she agreed with Zaeed?

"I knew this was a mistake to bring him." Zaeed growled to Jane. "I should have just brought you, Jane."

"Fuck you, I put civilian lives before revenge," Jane said as she waited for him to jump the railing. Zaeed shot her a look.

"I forgot, you butcher the bodies after they're already dead," he shot back and Jane felt like he had punched her in the gut. She glared at him as they walked in.

~*TF*~

The room with the valves was engulfed in fire. Jane quickly pulled on her helmet to help with the breathing. Her visor locked onto the valve locations as John pulled on his own helmet.

"Can you see the valves?" John asked and Jane nodded. "Take point."

"On it," she replied. As they headed in she heard a pipe begin to give and threw up a barrier around them, protecting them as a chunk of metal flew at them and flame followed. She began to jog through the building and as they passed a window the workers were pounding on, trying to get their attention.

"The doors won't open until the fire is out!" one cried out over the speakers as they reached the first valve. Jane quickly put in the command to turn it on. They raced up and around, detoured as the pipes around them ruptured. Jane took the last walkway at a sprint, John close behind as she activated the sprinklers.

"I'll take point again," John said as he removed his helmet. Jane nodded and took off her own helmet as they watched the workers evacuate.

"We haven't seen many Blue Suns." John noted as they entered the next room and sure as shit two turians were waiting. "Fucking Murphy." They were able to take out the two quickly but the refining room revealed a lot more back up.

"Damn it," Zaeed snarled and Jane had to agreement with that statement.

~*TF*~

John was scowling as they moved past the remains of YMIR mech. All Zaeed'd done during the firefight after they'd saved the workers was grumble about Vido trying to delay them. John felt the man had a point. The access and storage room just before the shuttle pad was filled with mercs and even a YMIR mech. It had cost them precious time to clear the way. Now they were heading towards the loading doors. They opened as they got close and a gunship was turning away to leave.

"Not this time Zaeed you son of a bitch!" Vido called out over the ship's speakers as it began to fly away. "See you in another twenty years!"

As they skidded to halt on the platform Zaeed let out a scream of rage, opening fire with his assault rifle. John watched a few of the rounds actually hit the gunship but it kept flying away. He sighed and came up behind Zaeed who was still pulling the trigger, despite the gun being over heated. Jane watched Zaeed with caution, her hand on her pistol again. John watched the gunship fly over the horizon and shook his head. He focused on Zaeed who was shaking and smacking his rifle before popping out the heat sink. Before John could even blink Zaeed swung his rifle up to John. John reacted in an instant and drew his pistol on Zaeed. He missed seeing Jane kick the hot heat sink away from a streak of fuel before she drew on Zaeed as well.

"You just cost me twenty years of my life!" Zaeed snarled. John looked Zaeed dead in the eyes and missed Jane moving to flank Zaeed. His body language spoke of a man on the edge, ready to kill. Jane could not let this John die, he could be her brother and if he wasn't, he had a lot to answer for. Zaeed would not be the one to that from happening.

"I promise I'll help you track him down after the mission is over but I won't apologize for saving the workers first." John retorted. Zaeed snarled and-

Jane's pistol roared and a round punched through Zaeed's temple and exited the other side. The merc dropped to the ground dead and John whirled to face Jane.

Jane stared at Zaeed's body, her face was still in her kill mode but her brain was stunned. She had pulled the trigger so fast. The only times she had ever responded so fast to a threat was when John was in danger. Did her body instinctively react to this John as if he were her brother or...could he...no...she still had to be analytical. Zaeed had his weapon aimed for a head shot that would kill John and his finger was squeezing, she had just been at a good angle to see it.

"Jane I was talking him down!" John snapped. Jane shot him a blank look and holstered her pistol. Her hand closed in a clench. She had killed Zaeed without a second thought. His finger had squeezed and she couldn't let him blow John's head off. Not until she knew it was him or not.

"He was slipping his finger on the trigger, what did you want me to do?" she replied. John was about to say something and bit his tongue. He realized Jane had a better angle on Zaeed and would have seen his fingers moving on the gun.

"Thank you," John allowed. Jane blinked, surprised at John's simple and polite thank you. She watched as he knelt by Zaeed to check his pulse before closing the man's eyes. He sighed before fishing a compressed body bag from a slot on his belt. He expanded it and set it next to Zaeed. Jane came over and helped him place Zaeed's body into the bag and thought about what she had done.

"This is going to cause trouble," Jane said and John looked at her.

"It would be nice to have an experienced merc on the ground team, but we can manage..." John began before Jane held up her hand.

"That's not what I was talking about," she said and John froze before looking at Zaeed and he nodded as he realized what she was saying. "I'm not the most trusted member of the crew."

"Not to speak ill of the recently deceased, but neither was Zaeed," John replied.

"I think Grunt liked him," Jane said and John blinked at that.

"How did you know that?" he asked.

"I went to talk to Jack about training and I heard him talking to Zaeed before and after I left," Jane said. "That's beyond the point. Miranda is looking for a reason to kick me from the Normandy."

"That's not happening," John said coldly. Jane stared at him for a moment before looking at the body bag as John zipped it up.

"You believe I didn't have a choice?" Jane questioned after a few minutes of silence. John didn't reply right away.

"I believe you," John said, standing up. "I always believe you. I just think there's another way sometimes."

Jane stared at him as she dusted her hands off and looked at the direction Vido went.

"I agree," she said and John froze. "There is always another way, but sometimes, the way we chose to take is the wrong one. "What do we tell the crew?"

"The truth. He was going to kill me so you killed him." John replied. Jane shot John a look.

"The Cerberus crew members might not like that." Jane countered and John grunted.

"I don't care." John replied before turning on his comms. "You did the right thing this time."

Jane stared at his back as he summoned the shuttled. She stared down at her hand, she had reacted so fast, she had fired the second the muscles in Zaeed's fingers had tensed. She was fast, but she hadn't reacted like that in...about two years. Her eyes moved to John's back and once again she was torn.

~*TF*~

The two Shepards lowered the body bag into the prepped body storage unit, it looked like a Cerberus brand coffin in Jane's opinion. As the two headed for the elevator, it opened to reveal Miranda. Her eyes passed from the body storage unit to Jane. It was clear what she was thinking.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded and Jane stared at Miranda.

"I protected your science experiment," she shot back and Miranda sneered at her.

"You shot Zaeed, do you know how difficult it was to get him to join this effort?" Miranda cried.

"You sound heartbroken about it," Jane snapped, she was still not sure how to feel about Zaeed. She had killed plenty of mercs, but she felt weird. Maybe John could have talked Zaeed down, he made Saren blow his own brains out to try and save them...a fat lot of good that had ended up doing...but that was John and this...she had protected this John as fast as she had protected that one.

"Save it," John ordered. "We will meet in the conference room in twenty minutes," he ordered.

"Yes, Commander," Miranda said and Jane continued past her as they headed into the elevator. The ride up was quiet until they reach the crew deck.

"Wait for me in the conference room after you change Jane." John ordered. Jane shot him a look but headed out. After the doors closed the elevator headed up to the captain's quarters. John shot Miranda a look.

"Mission debrief after I get this armor off. Wait for me, understood?" John replied and Miranda frowned in irritation.

"Yes, Commander," she replied and John sighed. The few minutes to change passed too fast and soon enough Jane and Miranda were glaring at each other in the conference room as they waited for John.

"You're a danger to this crew," Miranda sneered after she got tired of waiting and Jane gave her a cold look.

"I never denied that I was," Jane said and Miranda's biotics flickered. "I wouldn't do that, cheerleader. I am stronger than you."

"You haven't seen me in action," Miranda shot back and Jane grinned.

"But I have, running away from an Alliance strike team. Very impressive, it must be nice to be the package people protect instead of a soldier," Jane stated and Miranda glared.

"You get people killed Spectre, your teams always seem to die and you manage to walk away, how do you do that?" Miranda growled and Jane felt her biotics start to flicker to life too.

"Who let you two be alone?" John groaned as he walked in. Jane cut her biotics, she didn't need to start a fist fight with Miranda that the cheerleader would lose.

"Shepard you need to do something about her. She is dangerous to this crew. Her anti-Cerberus sentiments are well known and she is a threat to every member of this crew," Miranda stated and Jane smirked as she leaned against the wall.

"That's a lie, Garrus, Grunt, Mordin, Kasumi, Jack, Joker, and Chakwas are perfectly safe," Jane said.

"You slaughtered Zaeed without a care! Anyone of the crew could be next!" Miranda cried. "This will only make the crew more nervous around her!" Jane crossed her arms.

"I protected John, isn't that what you wanted. I didn't see you running through fire to save factory workers and protecting him. If you wanted him with a hole through his forehead and that brain you supposedly worked so hard to keep intact, then you should thank me," Jane sneered.

"I should have made it so EDI would eject you into the void of space," Miranda hissed at Jane, biotic light beginning to flicker around her.

"That eager to have a shot at a second resurrection?" Jane snapped, her own biotics gathering.

"Okay stop!" John snapped, as he slammed on palm on the conference table, causing both women to cut their biotics. He glared at both of them as they looked at him. Miranda flinched but kept scowling and Jane just looked at him with cold eyes. "What happened to Zaeed was Zaeed's fault. He was a loose cannon and I trust Jane when she says that he was going to shoot me, he was going to shoot me!"

Jane shot Miranda a smug smirk and Miranda huffed. John focused on Jane.

"Jane you know what Miranda says is true. They don't trust you. You don't socialize much and I've never seen you train with anyone. Not even Garrus. No one sees you except at meal times. I'd like you to spend more time getting to know the crew. Ground team and Normandy personnel. Understood?" John stated. Jane blinked, taken a back but nodded. She had been training in her room since she got tired of being stared at by the crew. She had trained a few times with Jack but they purposely waited until the majority of the crew were asleep or engrained in their work.

"I know neither of you trust the other." John said, gesturing to the two women. "However, I lead this team and I trust you both. There will be no more talk about either of you putting the other off this ship or even killing the other from now on. Am I understood?"

"As you wish, John," Miranda snapped. Jane just kept staring at the Cerberus doctor coldly.

"Am I understood, Jane?" John demanded. Jane shot him a look and then sighed.

"Fine," Jane drawled. "I get the message. You lead the team, I'm just here as an observer."

"No, you're here because I trust you," John clarified. Jane seemed startled at that and he turned to Miranda. "Give us a minute, would you?"

"But Shepard, the Illusive Man wanted to speak with you." Miranda protested and John waved a hand at her.

"I'll call him when I can. Go on, give us the room," John ordered. Miranda eyed them for a moment before leaving in a huff.

"I told you that she would try to use this against me," Jane said the moment the doors were closed and John rolled his eyes.

"Well, maybe if they knew you like I do she wouldn't have done that," John stated.

"You don't know me anymore!" Jane snapped. John raised an eyebrow at that as Jane immediately looked shocked that she had said that. Jane swore in her head, this wasn't John, not for sure.

"Maybe not like I did but I'm going to learn all I can about the new you," John stated simply. The two Shepards stared at each other for a moment. Jane swallowed and tried to speak.

"John, I-"

"I'm sorry to interrupt Spectres but I have new data that I believe you should know immediately." EDI broke in, her hologram appearing in the middle of the table. John looked at Jane for another moment but she turned away.

"What's up EDI?" John asked, turning his attention to the AI.

"The subroutine I created to decode the message the Geth received has completed its analysis. While the message itself is too fragmented to be played there are several key words in it. The intact words are Shepard, Geth, attacked, mayday." EDI explained. "The data with the coordinates is also fragmented but I was able to use existing star charts to fill in the blanks. I believe Ms. Tali'Zorah vas Neema was trying to send out an SOS signal from the planet Haestrom in the Dholen System." The Shepards exchanged a look and nodded. John turned back to EDI.

"EDI tell Joker to set course for Haestrom," John ordered. "Stop for nothing and no one. Tell Ken and Gabby we're going to redline the engines till we get there."

"The Illusive Man wanted to speak with you rather urgently, John," EDI reminded him. John scowled.

"Send him a message, if you have to, tell him what's happening but we're going to save our friend," John replied. He turned to Jane who crossed her arms and was looking down, lost in thought.

"Do you know what Tali is up to?" He asked and Jane looked up. "You managed to get those Quarian kids on our colonies with her help, didn't you?" She nodded.

"Tali called me in to help the Flotilla with an issue that Cerberus caused," Jane explained. "I was able to help them a lot and was even able to get Council aid since Cerberus is a human terrorist group. Still, it was only a minor bit that Tali and I did to get the Quarian kids on pilgrimage to the colonies. All I had to do was mention how colonies regularly scrap tech they can't keep working and the kids were rushing to get to their hands on potential materials for their Pilgrimage offerings. As for Haestrom...I cannot imagine what she is looking for there."

"Then we get her off that world," John said and Jane snorted. Why the hell were the Quarians even there?

"Obviously," Jane said as they exited.

~*TF*~

Earth Date: January 30th, 2186 CE

Location: Normandy SR-2, In Transit

"Come on, Grunt, you can do better than that!" John snapped. Grunt roared and charged. John waited for the Krogan to get just a foot away from him and side stepped out of the way. He stuck his left arm out in an arm bar. Grunt's eyes widened comically and tried to check his momentum. Too late John lunged forward a step, slamming Grunt in the throat. Using the Krogan's own momentum he sent the giant man to the ground in a heap. John stepped back and gave Grunt some distance. Grunt pushed himself to his hands and knees and let out several deep coughs and hacks.

"How did I beat you?" John asked simply. Grunt didn't answer and John scowled. Two quick steps and he kicked Grunt in the side, sending him rolling.

"How did I beat you?" John demanded. Grunt snarled softly but got to his feet.

"You used my momentum against me," Grunt grumbled. The two men began circling each other. They were alone in the cargo bay, several mats laid out over the area. John had decided for a mission to extract Tali and her team from Geth Heretic controlled space he needed fire power. He'd tapped Jane, Garrus, Legion, Grunt and Mordin for the mission. Mordin would act as team medic but everyone was chosen for one simple reason. Go in, kill everything in their way, and leave with the Quarians. A simple plan and goal but not so simple in execution. Jane had voiced her concerns on Grunt's lack of experience and John had a simple solution to that.

Training. Morning to night. Training with him and Legion. The Geth had left this training session early to prepare a briefing on the area of Heretic controlled space so now it was just John and Grunt.

"You have the knowledge," John had said the first morning shortly after they had begun, "But knowing what to do and knowing how to do it are two vastly different things." And so, they had trained. Grunt was improving by leaps and bounds but now John was sharing something only he and few others on the ship truly knew.

"That's exactly what a biotic will do," John lectured now as they circled each other. "However rather than an arm bar you would have run straight into a warp or stasis field or even worse a singularity if the biotic is exceptionally gifted so, you need to learn how to check yourself. Charging in to close range takes away most biotics' advantages. They're used to hitting targets from far off so you close the gap or take cover till they need a moment to recharge."

Grunt charged again but this time he was moving from side to side in a zig zag pattern. John smiled, pleased the Krogan was learning. Just before he reached John, Grunt checked his speed on his left heel and spun a fist at John. John ducked and launched both hands at Grunt's stomach, palms flat. They connected with a meaty whump sound and John sent Grunt staggering back.

"Expect them to have anticipated such a tactic, so adapt on the fly," John noted and Grunt nodded before lunging at John. John ducked under Grunt's grasping hand and stepped through the boy's guard and brought his knee to Grunt's stomach. Grunt snarled at the impact but quickly grabbed John's leg. He smiled and prepared to toss John away when pain exploded in the side of his head. Grunt staggered back and glared at John who was slowly lowering his right leg and right arm, which he had just used to elbow Grunt in the temple just below his crest.

"Take stock of what they have and remember it," John chided. Grunt growled and they began circling each other again.

"How's it going boys?" Jane's voice came from the doorway into the cargo bay. John didn't turn to face Jane until he made a timeout gesture at Grunt who growled in annoyance but stopped circling John.

"Just a little biotic combat training while Legion prepares that briefing on the Dholen System." John replied, heading for his towel and water bottle. Jane made a sound of surprise in the back of her throat as John drank.

"Why are you doing that?" Jane asked and John lowered the water bottle to look at her. "I'm the biotic, not you."

"That's exactly why Jane," John stated. "You know how to fight with biotics. Grunt needs to learn how to counter them without biotics."

"So, I can teach him a few weaknesses." Jane retorted. "I have been training while you've been gone."

"Maybe you can teach him some signs on what biotics look like as they harness certain powers and even how to dodge them but he needs to know tactics like what I use to counter biotics." John explained. Jane scoffed and John felt his temper spike.

"What can you teach him that I can't teach better?" Jane stated in a tone. John scowled at Jane and turned to Grunt.

"Go shower, rest up for tomorrow. We should get there about zero nine hundred. Pre-mission brief at eight hundred." John replied. He said nothing till the doors closed behind Grunt. Then he snapped around to glare at Jane.

"I can teach him plenty!" John barked at Jane. Jane glared at him.

"But not about biotics!" Jane snapped.

"This wasn't about biotics it was how to fight biotics without them!" John shouted at her. "You don't know that! Every second of your life since Mindoir is how to use them! How to extend your biotics just a bit more, how to push just a bit more!"

"Which is why I should be his teacher in biotic combat, not you!" Jane countered. "I know almost as much as an Asari Commando!"

"No! This is not about biotics! This is about tactics you would never use against biotics because you are one! He needs to know how to counter biotics without them! It may not work for every biotic but he needs to learn what to think about in combat with one!" John barked. He turned to storm away when he heard it. The slight crackle of biotics coming to fore. He dove to the left, rolling away and then up to his feet as Jane used a biotic Stasis where he had just been. He rushed Jane and checked her with a shoulder sending her back.

"Stop that!" John snapped, his temper well and truly snapped. "You did that to me before when we were arguing about Miranda. Well here and now I'm telling you to fucking STOP!" he screamed the last bit. Jane seemed shocked at that but John kept going. "For years since you've had your implant you've used that damn trick to get the upper hand in our arguments! Do you know how fucking humiliating that is to have your own sister put you in a fucking stasis just to win an argument! You've thrown me out of an elevator just because you were upset, you've stasised me when I try to walk away to keep from screaming at you. Those biotics are honed as techniques meant for combat! You've used a combat technique on your own brother to win fucking arguments! I've had enough! Enough of giving you time to get used to me being back, of accepting that I'm me! Well this fucking stops right now!"

John took a deep breath before speaking again, trying not to shout.

"Yes, you have things you can teach Grunt but there are things only a non-biotic knows about combating biotics. A mentality, a basic approach. Grunt needs that because he's just like me. A plain, ordinary soldier who fights people with complex tech abilities and people with fucking space magic!" John snarled. Jane's eyes widened at that.

"Don't do that again." John snapped, whirling around to leave. "I've officially had it. You've had your space."

As the cargo bay doors closed behind him he wished he had a door to slam.

~*TF*~

Jane was standing frozen still in the cargo hold. How fucking dare he? Her biotics flowed over her skin like a violent ocean. She wanted to scream. She had wanted to hurl him from the door into air. He had no right to talk to her like that.

She counted backward from ten. Then twenty. Rage roared in her head. That fool might just be her brother speaking to her that way, but he was a fucking moron if he thought every biotic was so simple. Plus, the additional insult from Miranda about Jane's dead comrades burned beneath her eyes. The rage was too much and she focused on levitating. She forced her biotics down, her feet lifting from the ground. Not enough, she levitated the crates around her. The rage still poured around her. She set off four singularities before she felt the pain in her forehead. She needed to stop. The crates lowered and the singularities ran out. She lowered to the ground and panted.

Jane ran the back of her hand across her upper lip. Scarlett decorated her hand. Great, she had a fucking nose bleed. She licked the blood from her hand before looking up to see Jack smirking down at her from walkway window. The bitch would probably be harder on her the next time they practiced. Jane still need to blow some energy so she began to practice her hand to hand. She punched and kicked the air, using blasts of biotics to throw herself into the air with more force than an opponent would think capable. She twisted and bounced off crates. Sweat rolled down her temples and more blood was oozing into her mouth from her nose.

This John knew a lot but he sure as hell didn't know that Jane never considered when she put her brother in stasis as a "win" it was almost always an escape measure. Lock his stubborn ass down and usually get the last word before running away. Asshole. He also didn't know she knew a whole lot more about krogan battle now. Maybe he was John, or maybe he was a really great actor. If he wasn't her brother, she was going to throw him into the walls until he didn't look like John anymore. She headed up to lie down, staggering under the agony of her headache. She would stop by Chakwas for a little medical aid.

~*TF*~

Earth Date: January 31st, 2186 CE

Location: Far Rim, Dholen System, Planet Haestrom

"Shepard, our data indicates that Tali is somewhere in these ruins. There is considerable heretic geth activity, and an environmental hazard." EDI told them over the comms as the shuttle was landing. John grunted and checked his shield capacitors. He glanced out the corner of his eye and noticed Grunt doing the same. Good, he was following John's lead. As the shuttle finished landing he surveyed the rest of the team. Legion was standing there, still as only an AI could be. Mordin was checking his own omni-tool with Garrus not too far away, watching Jane intently. Jane herself was staring at the doors as they opened, the look on her face icy. He'd offered to let her bring Blasto but she had declined. He understood her reasons why, considering the varren's lack of shields for protection from the sun.

"Move out," John ordered, un-holstering his rifle as he led them out of the shuttle. He heard the team following him out. As soon as he entered the light his shields immediately began to emit warning tones.

"Solar output has overwhelmed Haestrom's protective magnetosphere. Exposure to direct sunlight will damage your shields," EDI continued as they moved down the walkway from the landing area.

"I wonder how long this Quarian settlement had been here," John heard Jane mention to Garrus as they walked.

"It must have been awhile if this sun is already dying. I can't see them settling in a system like this intentionally." Garrus said something back to her but John missed it. He saw a guard post up ahead that looked like it had been used recently and the doors to the colony were closed. John headed for the post to open the doors when he heard someone speaking. He opened the door to the guard shack. There was a destroyed geth near the entrance and a Quarian on the ground by a console. He was recording a message.

"-stayed to buy time," he gasped and as the door opened he turned. He made a surprised sound in the back of his throat. "Humans? Here?" He let out a cough that was more gurgle than anything. He gasped as Legion came up behind John. "Geth!" Before John could react the man raised a pistol and shot at Legion. All his shots hit dead center and passed through the hole in Legion's body. Legion looked down for a moment before fixing a look on John.

"No damage, John-Spectre," Legion replied. "We request that the wounded Creator not recommence with corrected aim."

"Take it easy," John said gently as he knelt by the Quarian. Mordin hurried over and took some readings. He glanced at John and shook his head.

"Can you tell us what happened?" John gently prodded. The man nodded before taking a raspy breath.

"Geth, they attacked this morning," He rasped. "I stayed here to buy some time for the others. Please you have to…have to…" The man trailed off into a set of raspy, desperate breaths. Mordin injected him with something but he kept gasping, trying to breathe. It wasn't long before he slumped over. John sighed and got up and Mordin gently slid the man down. John hit the controls to open the doors into the colony. He moved past the others and headed past the doors deeper into the colony. It was quiet except for the distant sounds of gun fire echoing.

"That doesn't sound too far away," Garrus mentioned to John who nodded in agreement.

"From the subharmonics our audio processors and runtimes indicate that there is a ninety-eight point four percent chance that this is Creator weapons fire with Geth pulse rifle fire in response," Legion noted as they moved deeper into the colony.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Jane muttered behind them. John just shook his head but Legion's head did a one eighty and looked at Jane. Jane looked shocked by the motion.

"We believe the extranet indicates we should respond with 'Thank you, Sergeant Sarcasm'," Legion replied before turning his head back to face forward. Jane's jaw dropped at the response.

"Oh that's not creepy at all," John muttered.

"Interesting," Mordin mused, "have never seen a Geth turn their head in such a fashion. Please explain, do the servos in your necks normally allow such movement or has your frame been altered to allow such movements?"

"We have made significant alterations to our frame to facilitate such movement," Legion explained as John led them through the loading area. "Given the audio recordings of such banter amongst the original Normandy collective we believe such humor guidelines and alterations will help others adapt more to our presence. Also, we believe humans have a typical response to such. Worth it," Legion replied. John laughed out right while Jane just shook her head.

~*TF*~

The team entered through the blast door to the next area and Jane looked up. The roof had a ledge she could follow.

"Garrus, give a girl a lift?" Jane asked and the turian quickly put his back to the wall, getting into a lift stance and cupped his hand before him. Jane ran at him and jumped, firmly placing one foot on his cupped hands. He shoved her up and with a biotic boost Jane was on the roof.

"Jane, what are you doing?" John asked over the comm as she ducked into the shade.

"The ledge extends over all the buildings we have seen. It gives me cover from the sun and the fire. I can give you covering fire and you can keep two snipers down there to give you a good cover," Jane said and John nodded.

"Good technique," he said and began to signal the rest of the team to spread out. They kept moving, slow but steady and when a few geth units rushed around the corner they were ready for them. Jane quickly rushed to get to the other roof, using a biotic leap and drawing some of the fire. The sun was making her shields sizzle as she dove into the shade. She would have to watch out for a sunburn in this light. She peered out and took shots, moving back and forth in the shade.

"Grunt to the west," John's voice ordered in her ear.

"Scoped and dropped!" Garrus cried and Jane smiled.

"I am krogan!" Grunt roared.

"Focus on the Prime!" John ordered. Jane listened to John's orders for a moment and rolled her eyes. She was still mad. She caught his hand motions, he was even making them to her. She didn't need to listen to this. If John wasn't going to listen to her advice, she didn't have to hear him when he was giving orders. She flipped her comm off. This wasn't anything they couldn't handle and she could do better than John. A few minutes later and the main courtyard was clear and Jane turned on her comm.

"Coming down," she said as they reached a hallway in the shade. She leapt from the roof and used her biotics to slow her decent, not the graceful float of an asari matriarch, but a fall with style.

"Nice new move, Shepard," Garrus stated. Jane shot John a look.

"You never know what new moves a person will pick up," she replied. John just shook his head after sighing.

"The geth sent a dropship towards OP-2. Tali'Zorah's secure, but we need backup," a voice called on the open channel and John was pleased to see the childish look was off Jane's face at that. Tali was still alive. They moved into the tunnel to see two quarians on the ground.

"Damn it, I'm out," one groaned as he struggled back, glaring at Legion.

"I...I...can't...see..." the other panted. The group rushed to the men. Jane and Garrus took guard on their six to make sure another dropship didn't fuck them over. Mordin was by the one who couldn't see. His face indicated it wasn't good.

"The Creators need not fear me," Legion said as John got in front of the geth unit as the quarian noticed him.

"We're here to help," John said. "This unit is loyal to us." The quarian who was out of ammo was trying to move back.

"OP-1, this is Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, come in, over!" a voice on the comm called.

"Answer your squad leader," Jane said, gesturing with her hand. "I'm Spectre Jane Shepard. We are friends of Tali'Zorah. We got a distress call from her." The quarian seemed stunned at that as Mordin left his companion and approached, quickly dispensing medical aid to the other.

"This is Yili'Maenna, OP-1 is down, Fula ordered us to return to back up OP-2, but we were ambushed in the tunnel," Yili said over the comms and looked at Mordin in hope but the salarian shook his head. "I'm the only survivor. But Tali'Zorah's old crew is here. They got her distress signal. It made it through. Over."

"I wish it was the Flotilla but back up is back up," Kal'Reegar said. "Get to OP-2. Over."

"Yes, sir, over!" Yili said.

"Patch Tali's friends into Channel 617 Theta, over," he ordered. The team quickly linked up their comms.

"We read you, Squad Leader," John said and he heard Kal'Reegar take a breath.

"We are on a stealth mission. High risk. We found what we were after but the geth found us. They got us pinned down. Can't get to our ship, can't transmit data through the solar radiation," he began.

"What are the chances of geth back up?" Mordin asked.

"Unlikely. Their patrol ship hasn't lifted off again, and the radiation blocks all offworld communication. Tali sent a probe into space to transmit an SOS, it was a low success rate, but you guys are here, so I'm not complaining," Kal'Reegar explained.

"How are you holding up? We can be there in a few minutes," John said.

"Take it slow and careful. Direct sunlight fries your shields all to hell," he warned.

"I got to feel that first hand," Jane said and John gave her a look. "Rooftop is the best place for me. Eyes in the sky is best and I'm the only one we can get up there fast enough to keep their shields intact." John nodded in agreement.

"We're bunkered down at base camp across the valley. I left Tali'Zorah at a secure shelter, then doubled back to hold the choke point. Getting Tali out safely is our top priority. If you can extract her, we'll keep them off you," Kal'Reeger said.

"Hold position, we'll hit their back ranks," John said and Jane elbowed Garrus as the team headed out.

"Wait! Watch your ass! We've got a dropship coming in!" Kal'Reeger cried.

"Pull your heavies," John ordered. Garrus, Grunt, Jane, and John rushed out of the tunnel with their missile launchers drawn.

"And some people would say bringing four missile launchers is too much," Garrus commented.

"Said the person who catches missiles with his face," Jane replied.

"Take it down!" John ordered as the dropship appeared. The four began firing and the missiles homed in on the ship. The dropship took a pounding and several geth units dropped. Mordin and Legion covered the fighters with the heavies and as the ship began to fall it let out one shot at the three quarians across the field. It hit the barricade and there was a scream.

"Need to assist fallen quarian. Likelihood of suit rupture from such a hit extremely high," Mordin commented. Jane casually turned off her comm as she switched to her rifle and looked to John. He smiled at his sister's attention.

"We'll cover you, Mordin," John ordered. "Garrus, Legion, Jane, take them out, Grunt and I will cover the three of you." The three snipers took positions and began to riddle the approaching geth units.

"Prime!" Grunt roared, but his excitement soon turned to disappointment when he noticed the optics were blown out, but still pleased to have a fight when that didn't stop the unit from trying to shoot him. "He...he...he..." The krogan's growling chuckle was less than comforting to Jane as Grunt began to tear the unit apart.

John moved with Mordin and covered him as they reached the quarians. One was still in fighting shape, keeping geth units from approaching the door, Mordin seemed to be working on a second one, but from what he could see, the third one was out of luck. John was about to charge another geth unit when a shot took it down. He looked over his shoulder to see Yili peering around a piece of debris. Looked like the quarian marine was still in the fight, John grinned. This was going to be easier than he thought.

Soon enough the battlefield was littered with geth remains and the group approached the door, Garrus and Jane quickly flanked Legion while Grunt stood behind him.

"Keelah...is that a geth?" the one who was by the door cried.

"They have it under control," Yili stated and the other marine looked nervous. "Don't worry, Ken'Bekk, you saw it taking down the other units."

"Correction, we are not under control, we mean the Creators no harm at this time," Legion said and Jane elbowed the unit. "We do not understand this communication, Jane-Spectre."

"It means, you are not comforting," Garrus stated.

"Or you are being an ass," Jane added.

"This unit is not a quadruped," Legion replied helpfully.

"This geth is a member of our team," John said and the quarians shared a look. "It helped, so give him a chance."

"We are here to help extract your team," Jane said and Ken'Bekk nodded.

"How is Kael'Shiro?" Yili asked.

"I will be fine...thanks to you," the female that Mordin had been treating said. "But Maera'Orzh..." She looked at the body of the other quarian. The missile had shoved the barrier into the two quarians, but it looked like the male had shoved the female to the side and had been crushed between the barrier and the stone wall behind him. There was a sound of gunfire in the room.

"The science team!" Ken'Bekk cried and they opened the door. Geth had the door on the opposite side of the room open and were pouring in, shooting as they moved in. Three quarians were dead on the floor, but two others were shooting from behind cargo containers in the back of the room.

"Jane!" John cried and Jane threw a singularity at the geth. Most of them were caught but a prime was working its way through allowing a few units to pass around it. The team were quick to start firing, Jane taking out geth caught in the singularity while Grunt, John, and the quarians focused on the prime. Legion, Mordin, and Garrus were helping with the units not caught in Jane's singularity. The prime charged, trying to clear the way but John blasted it back with his shotgun. Every shot blasted away armor and then it fell back as his last shot blew off the rest of its upper half. The shootout was quick to end after that and the quarians aimed at Legion.

"He's a friendly!" John cried but one quarian got off several shots, all passing through the hole in Legion's body.

"No damage, Shepard-Spectres."

"I think he kept that hole on purpose," Garrus remarked to Mordin.

"A...friendly geth?" one of the two quarians from behind the containers asked.

"It sounds insane, but this unit seems to be a...companion," Ken'Bekk explained.

"Jofa, are you okay?" Kael'Shiro asked and as one of the two came out of cover bent over and holding his side.

"I have a suit rupture," Jofa said and Mordin was quick to give him a once over.

"I am Shani'Naanar," the other said as she put her weapon up.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Tali called from a hologram. John and Jane approached.

"Tali, its Shepard. We're here with the remains of OP-1, OP-2, and the science team, you've been hit with several casualties," John explained.

"John? I'm not complaining, but you show up at the strangest times!" Tali remarked. "What are you doing in the middle of geth space?"

"A friend of ours picked up a garble SOS from you," John explained, grinning at her. "Since I was in the neighborhood I thought you might need a hand."

"Thanks for coming, John. It means a lot to hear your voice," Tali said and Jane huffed peeking over John's shoulder at the screen.

"We also have Yili, Kael, Ken, Jofa, and Shani," Jane said.

"Jane?" Tali sounded surprised.

"Yes, I'm here with him," Jane said, giving John a look.

"Good to have you here then as well," Tali said.

"What, not going to let her know I'm with you?" Garrus called and Tali looked surprised for being masked.

"Garrus?!" she cried and he smirked.

"You think I would come this far with Cerberus without Garrus on my six?" Jane teased and John smiled. It was almost like old times.

"How are the survivors?" Tali asked and John looked at Mordin who was finishing patching Jofa up. He shot John a thumbs up.

"Our medic says all survivors should be good," John said and Tali let out a breath of relief.

"We knew this mission was high-risk, but I'm glad we haven't had a complete loss of the team," she said. Jane noticed how the other quarians seemed comforted by Tali's concern. "If you are here in the middle of geth space, my probe must have been able to transmit."

"It actually didn't get directly to us, we had help and even then it was pretty badly degraded. Probably from the sun's radiation," John said. "I'll explain later. We are here to help extract you."

"Thanks for coming, Shepard...Shepards...Garrus. It means a lot that you all came," Tali said. "Kal'Reegar and what's left of the marines got me into the observatory. From where you are, it's through the door and across the field. I got the data I needed and I'm safe for now, but I've got a lot of geth outside."

"We are ready to fight!" Yili said and Mordin shook his head.

"Too many suit ruptures. Need to stay back. More ruptures will increase risk. Already using excessive antibiotics, bad choice to risk further exposure. Remain here, complete suit repairs," Mordin advised and John nodded in agreement.

"We got this, we'll get Tali and the data for you," John said.

"Pick up this Kal'Reegar too, think I owe him a dextro beer for watching out for you, kid," Garrus said and Tali made a noise in her throat.

"I am not a child, Garrus Vakarian," Tali stated and Garrus chuckled as Jane elbowed him. "I'm unlocking the door."

"We'll see you soon, Tali," Jane said.

"Stay here, we got this," John said to the remaining quarians. The group headed out and headed to the opening. The room was massive and Jane wondered what it was originally used for. As the drones in the doorway cloaked Jane noticed a walkway.

"Garrus, a lift?" she asked and Garrus got into position to fling her up. A boost of biotics had Jane up high. She looked down to watch John's hand signals as they moved from shadow to shadow. If he was going to signal all the better, she certainly didn't need to listen to him. She flipped her comm off again, ducking to cover along the walkway.

"They know we're coming now," John grumped, drawing his rifle. "Everyone keep going till-"

"John-Spectre, alert! Two Prime units incoming!" Legion shouted. John's eyes widened as two Primes stepped around the corner. He dove for cover, as did the others. The area he'd been standing exploded with the impact of a rocket round.

"This is a bit much, don't you think?" John shouted to Garrus as he opened fire from his position.

"I think they analyzed how much they were screwed with two Shepards!" Garrus noted shooting a drone down that just decloaked.

"Geth survivability does decrease with the increased presence of two Shepard-Spectre units," Legion noted, deploying a combat drone.

"Fascinating, I believe that was a Geth compliment," Mordin noted as he incinerated as drone. John rolled his eyes as the first prime went down in a hail of gun fire. He switched his attention to the second Geth prime and noted its shields were down but it was charging straight at them.

"Focus on its knees," John barked, opening fire at the left knee. The others followed suit and the geth stumble, falling face down and skidding to a stop not far from them. John got up and switched to his shotgun, putting the barrel to its face before pulling the trigger. The entire unit collapsed after its head was blown off.

As Jane walked she noticed the walkway passed through the wall. She flipped on her comm.

"I have an entryway above, instead of risking my shields coming down on this side, I'm going to pass through up here and get a view of the field before I come down," Jane reported.

"Does it look clear?" John asked. Jane checked with her scope.

"No door, I can see straight through and the platform it opens to is in shadow, I'm still in the back of the room, so I'll be a minute behind you. The walkway is not whole up here, but I can easily make it," Jane said.

"Go for it," John said.

"See you on the other side," Jane said, flipping her comm off as she used a biotic leap to head along the walkway to the other side.

~*TF*~

John lowered the shutters in the next room, an office, to get a view of what they were walking into. It seemed to be a loading dock with a lower and upper catwalk on each side. There was also-

"Shit!" John cried, diving to the side. "Colossus! Get down!" The others scurried out of the way just in time as a large energy blast shot through the window and impact on the wall behind him.

"Well this is special," John noted. He scurried along the way to the ramp leading down.

"Definitely like old times," Garrus noted as he followed with the others. They hurried down to find a quarian in heavy red and grey armor taking a shot at the geth with a rocket launcher. John hurried over to him and the squad spread out around them.

"Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet Marines. We talked on the radio before that dropship arrived." He shouted to be heard over the gun fire. He glanced behind John and froze for a moment. "You've got a geth, right behind you!"

"We are allied with Shepard," Legion explained. "We fight the heretic geth units in this area."

"You know ordinarily that wouldn't fly with me but I can't afford to be picky right now!" Kal'Reegar noted, ducking a bit as a rocket impacted their cover by them. "Tali's inside over there. The geth killed the rest of my squad while they were trying to get to her. Best I've been able to do is draw their attention."

"Are you sure she's still alive?" John asked worried by all the fire and geth units in the area.

"The observatory is reinforced. Even the geth will need time to get through it." Kal'Reegar chuckled. "And it's hard to hack a door when someone's firing rockets at you. The geth are near platoon strength, but the colossus is the worst part. It's got a repair protocol. Huddles up and fixes itself. We couldn't get a clear shot while it's down like that. When I found out you were coming I order my team to try to move in closer." Kal'Reegar looked down for a moment before continuing. "The geth killed them to a man."

"I'm sorry." John said earnestly. "What can you tell me about the battlefield?"

"The right side's got a catwalk with sniper perch. You could wreak some havoc from there, but none of my men made it past the geth. The middle's got cover, but the damn colossus has a clear shot at you the whole time, and you've got geth coming in from both sides. The left gives you cover from the colossus, but your ass is hanging out for the geth." Kal'Reegar explained.

"Any ideas on how to deal with the colossus?" John inquired, ducking as another rocket impacted near them.

"Standard protocol with armature-class units is to sabotage the shields and whittle it down, you know. Kill it with bug bites. But the repair protocol blows that plan to hell. You try to wear it down, it just huddles up and fixes itself. So whatever we do has to scrap that bastard fast. Probably means getting up close, past that cover." Kal'Reegar noted. John frowned and turned to Legion.

"We need to get to Tali. Analyze the area and give me the best solution." John ordered. Legion nodded and poked its head above cover for a few seconds. Then it dropped back down and John heard several electrical noises he'd come to associate with geth. He'd thought it must have been units communicating with others but he realized as Legion did it right here by himself that it was the geth programs inside a geth platform communicating with each other.

"We recommend using the upper catwalk to the right. Moving slowly we can draw them towards us provided Creator-Kal'Reegar shoots at them from here with its rocket weapon to draw them into our field of fire. If units move along the catwalk we should be placed to the side of colossus unit to flank it." Legion replied. "Jane-Spectre needed to increase chances of plan succeeding."

"Jane you heard him, follow us down after we're out to the right to bring up the rear!" John said into his comms.

"I'm not going to stand there while you run into the enemy fire! They killed my whole squad!" Kal'Reegar protested.

"And if you want to honor your squad, follow the plan! That way all of us and survivors at your base of operations can all go home!" John chided him. Kal'Reegar stared at him for a moment before nodding.

"All right, Shepard! We'll do it your way but at least change frequency to delta 352, that way we can communicate if we need to," Kal'Reegar agreed. John quickly passed on the order and called over the comms to Jane to do the same. She never acknowledged John but she had done that before when she was giving him the cold shoulder like she had been since yesterday.

"Let's move out!" John called to the others. "Grunt and I will go up the middle for fifteen feet to draw them in and then double back to join you on the higher catwalk."

"Hit them for me. Keelah se'lai!" Kal'Reegar shouted. John grinned and nodded at him. He turned to the squad and gestured for them to move out.

~*TF*~

Jane made it through the doorway, she had taken longer than she meant to when part of the walkway had threatened to collapse under her weight. She looked down to see John talking.

"Fuck," she hissed before turning on her comm. Her heart stopped, the line was silent. John was clearly talking. "Fuck...oh fuck..." She looked at her comm settings, it was working, but they weren't on the channel. She quickly went back to the agreed ground team frequency. Nothing. "Fuck!" She had missed the orders, but his hands signaled that they were splitting up, he and Grunt were moving toward the center while Legion, Mordin, and Garrus were holding on the catwalk. Maybe John was doing a three prong rotation. The catwalks would attack from the right and left, the middle would advance. The middle would attack and the catwalks advance. He would probably want her on the left if the others were on the right. Legion would take care of the advancing geth while Garrus and Mordin covered the middle.

The platform Jane had seen turned out to be some sort of office. She looked down and saw some cover. She dropped and used a barrier to shield and her biotics to decrease the fall. If John was doing a three pronged attack she wasn't in position to do her job from the left.

"Fuck," Jane hissed as she moved quickly to the left. She needed to be in position. She flipped her comm to the Alliance channel. Still quiet. She had completely fucked up, she could only hope John didn't realize what had happened.

~*TF*~

"John!" Garrus shouted, drawing John's attention from the Geth trying to stop them from getting an angle on the colossus.

"What is it?" John called to his friend. The turian pointed across the field and John saw Jane moving along the other catwalk on the opposite side and lower than the entire area. The one where Kal'Reegar had indicated his squad had gotten killed.

"What the hell is she doing?" John roared, before turning his mic on. "Jane! Jane answer me damn it!"

"John, I think her comm unit is off. If she's there by herself-" Garrus began worriedly.

"They'll swarm her from both sides since we're drawing them this way," John finished. "Fuck!"

"Tactically unsound," Mordin said, sliding next to them from cover. "Jane Shepard is ignoring orders."

"She thinks she knows better!" John snarled. He thought for a minute trying to figure out what to do. He glanced at Garrus and made a decision. "Garrus I hate to ask but I need you to get over there and pull her back. Take her to where Kal'Reegar is and you two will provide cover fire from the back. We'll advance after we give you cover fire to get to her. We'll clear out the colossus and the other units and come down from the front."

"I'm ready John," Garrus said, holstering his sniper rifle and crouching. "Give the order."

"Run as soon as we open fire," John order. He turned to the others and nodded before popping up. "Covering fire!" John unloaded his assault rifle as Mordin, Grunt and Legion followed his lead. Garrus moved the minute he could, running back the way they had come, dodging Geth and bolting across the entire field to reach Jane. He slammed into the minimal cover near Jane.

~*TF*~

Jane was aiming at a geth unit in the middle of the field. Unaware of the turian sprinting just out of her vision to the right and completely ignorant of the geth unit slipping from cover to her left.

"Jane!" Garrus cried as Jane shot, removing the head of her unit. Time seemed to slow down as she saw the other unit aiming in her direction, sighting on her. She felt her blood run cold as she realized she was going to lose her head. What a stupid way to die. As she was expecting her head to be blasted off her shoulders, a large turian body impacted with her instead. A geth round went off and the body hitting her jerked. They landed behind a pile of barrels. She was flat on her back, Garrus' face was inches from her own and his eyes were fighting pain.

"Why weren't you answering the comm?" he asked. She looked up into his grey-blue eyes before she heard something drip against her armor. She looked down to see a trail of bright blue rolling down Garrus' side.

"I was on the wrong channel," she said and he looked at her as she grabbed him, rolling him so he was sitting. Her armor was splattered with his bright blue blood. It was staining her stomach, so much blood in such a short time, he was in trouble! Garrus grabbed her arm and changed her comm frequency on her omni-tool.

"Not like you," Garrus grunted as he attempted to shift his body up only to wince. "We're on Delta 352." he told her, his face contorted in pain. Jane quickly rushed to his side to see bloody ruin just under his arm pit. A hole in his armor. Blue was oozing from the hole in his side and down his back in a steady stream. A puddle was growing beneath him. She pressed a hand to the wound before noticing the puddle still growing, another hole...and exit wound. He was shot, she had gotten him shot. Garrus was bleeding and she was the reason. Fuck...oh fuck...not Garrus...panic and guilt rose in her throat as she activated her mic, administering medi-gel. She didn't want to move him to look at the exit wound. She needed help, she needed help...Mordin!

~*TF*~

"Garrus is hit! John! I need Mordin it's bad!" Jane screamed in terror over the comms. John ground his teeth and glanced left. He couldn't see them from here, flanking the colossus.

"Son of a bitch!" John screamed in frustration. He turned to Legion. "How many Geth platforms between us and them excluding the colossus?"

"Nine units remain," Legion reported before popping up to shoot one with his sniper rifle. "Now eight."

"Colossus shields are down!" Grunt exclaimed in joy. John turned and looked. The colossus was indeed sparking and was taking shots directly.

"I got a bad idea!" John shouted down the way to Grunt and Mordin. "Mordin you need to get to Garrus and Jane now! Legion you cover him and draw the heretic Geth here. Grunt!"

"Yes, Shepard!" Grunt crowed in joy gunning down two more Geth.

"We're charging the colossus!" John shouted, almost not believing his own words. "We hit the legs with every bit of firepower we can before we slam into them! Hopefully that will be enough to put it down."

"Understood!" Grunt shouted and laughed a deep Krogan belly laugh that only came when they were in the middle of a great fight.

"Ready on your word Shepard!" Mordin replied.

"John! Please!"

"GO!" John shouted and vaulted over the edge. He immediately opened fire on the colossus's legs with Grunt right next to him. The Krogan bellowed a challenge and did the same. John ran straight for the colossus till his gun overheated. He tossed it aside just as he reached the colossus with Grunt. Both men barreled into a leg each, a loud metallic banging echoing across the field. John strained, groaning and snarling as he pushed. The colossus let out a high pitched whine and then to John's shock the leg he was pushing actually ripped away from the leg at the knee joint. Grunt's did the same and both men barrel past and under the colossus just before it fell to the ground. The colossus began making error noises but its head was looking around wildly, trying to target them. Grunt laughed joyfully and whipped out his shotgun and going up to give it the coup de grâce. John took a deep breath looking around. A gun shot rang out and he actually felt the wind as the bullet moved past his head. He whirled trying to find the shooter but saw a Geth unit that had been behind him fall to the ground. He looked back to the upper catwalk and saw Legion there.

"All heretic units, terminated John-Spectre." Legion reported over the comms. "Jane-Spectre has called for shuttle evac of Vakarian-unit."

"Well done, Legion. Come on down." John said and focused on Grunt. "Go help Mordin and Jane get Garrus on the ship. Good work, Grunt."

"Thank you Shepard," he rumbled before heading off to help as the shuttle came in. John watched from a distance as they loaded Garrus into the shuttle till Legion reached him. He turned to his Geth friend.

"Follow me, let's go get Tali," John said, heading for the observatory doors, picking up his assault rifle as he went. As they walked through he heard Tali call out to them from the end of the room.

"Just let me finish this download," Tali said. John walked up behind her, watching Tali work for a moment as he put his gun away. Tali finished and withdraw and disc before inserting it into her omni-tool. Then she turned to face them.

"John. I can't believe you're-" Talki cut herself off with a gasp and yanked her pistol up aiming behind John. "Geth! Get down!"

"Tali wait-!" John cried but he didn't move fast enough. Tali pulled the trigger and unlike the others who had met Legion today she hit Legion square in the head. "Tali easy! He's a friend!"

"A friend?!" Tali demanded but stopped shooting. Legion seemed woozy, swaying on his feet and his head was sparking severely. "They just killed a whole lot of my friends!"

"He's not like the Heretic Geth!" John explained. "I promise I'll tell you everything back on the ship."

"So it's just one of the friendly Geth that drove my people from their home world." Tali snarked.

"We-we-we do not inten-ten-ten-tend physical harm to the-the-the-the Cre-Cre-Cre-Creators at this ti-ti-time," Legion stuttered out with an electrical screech at the end.

"Fine," Tali said icily, "we can talk about this later, John. In private." John sighed and looked at Legion.

"You gonna be okay Legion?" John asked. The Geth seemed to hesitate before turning to the destroyed geth in the room.

"We are functional-al-al at this pre-pre-pre-sent time, John-Spec-ec-ec-ectre with no loss of geth program-am-amz. We can use the Heretic platforms to re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re," John gave Legion a back handed smack with his gauntlet covered hand and a loud clang issued in the room. "-repair our platform. We shall re-re-re-retrieve appropriate materials."

"Good, see to it," John sighed and focused back on Tali. "Ready to get out of here?"

"Absolutely. This whole mission has been a disaster." Tali said with a sigh as they began walking to the door. "I wish I'd joined you back on Freedom's Progress, but I couldn't let anyone take my place on something this risky. Haestrom's sun is destabilizing. Back when this was a quarian colony, it was a normal star. It shouldn't change that quickly. The effect is similar to when stars blow off mass to enter a red giant phase, but Haestrom's sun is far too young for this to be natural. If I had to guess, I'd say that it was dark energy affecting the interior of the star. And of course the Admiralty Board believed the information here was worth sacrificing all our lives for. A lot of people died here. Some of them were my friends. All of them were good at their jobs. All for some damned data about a dying star."

"Once you deliver that data would you join me on the Normandy?" John asked. Tali nodded.

"I promised to see this mission through. I did. I can leave with you and send the data to the Fleet." Tali said, bringing up her omni-tool to prepare a message to do just that. "Just let me transmit the data from a secure channel. Then I can leave with you. And if the admirals have a problem with it, they can go to hell. I just watched the rest of my team die."

"Maybe not your whole team, ma'am," Reegar said, softly as he came up to them as they walked outside. The other quarian team members were behind him.

"You made it!" Tali exclaimed and Kal'Reegar nodded at her.

"Your old captain is as tough as you said, ma'am," Kal'Reegar explained. "He made sure I didn't get my head blown off and took out that damn colossus. He also saved the rest of the team."

"If need be, the Normandy can get you all out of here," John offered, eager to get off planet and check on Garrus.

"The geth didn't damage our ship. Long as we get out of here before reinforcements show up, we'll be fine," Kal'Reegar explained.

"Actually, I won't be going with you. I'm joining Commander Shepard." Tali explained. Reegar glanced between them and then nodded.

"Well then ma'am if you hand me the data, I'll make sure the Admiralty Board gets it and I'll explain everything." Kal'Reegar said and looked at John. "Keep her safe Shepard, she's all yours now."

"You can count on it."

~*TF*~

"He is stable for now, but we will need to remove the armor to see the path of the bullet," Mordin said as he knelt behind Garrus. Jane knelt on the other side, helping to hold the turian on his side as Mordin treated the exit wound. The rest of the team was still on Haestrom while the shuttle brought Garrus to the Normandy and then returned to pick them up.

"Talk to me, Garrus," Jane said, her voice sounded weak to herself. She wasn't the one who had been shot, but she sounded broken.

"You didn't get rid of me that easily," Garrus chuckled weakly and then groaned. Tears welled in Jane's eyes as she held his hands tightly.

"This is all my fault," Jane said and Garrus managed to open one eye to stare up at her.

"You made a mistake, it happens," he said and Jane gave him a look.

"I failed you and you are paying a price I should have," she said and he chuckled.

"Alright, next time you can catch a rocket with your face and I'll consider us even," he said and Jane clutched his hands tighter. The big dumb turian making jokes with two holes in his body that should have been through Jane's thick skull.

"She is dangerous to this crew." Miranda's voice rose in Jane's mind as she watched Mordin monitoring Garrus' vitals. The pool of blood wasn't growing so that was good, but Garrus had lost a large amount of blood.

"You get people killed Spectre, your teams always seem to die and you manage to walk away." Miranda's voice called again. Garrus' eyes began to flutter.

"Garrus!" Jane cried.

"No concern, sedative taking effect," Mordin stated and Jane was fighting back sobs as she clutched Garrus' hands as if clinging to him would keep him alive.

"...she is a threat to every member of this crew..." Miranda's voice taunted. It seemed like an eternity by the time they docked. Jane and Grunt got Garrus on the stretcher that Chakwas had waiting in the hanger. Jane kept her grip on Garrus' hand all the way from the cargo bay to the medical bed.

"Shepard..." his blood was on her hand.

"Shepard..." his eyes were closed, but his chest was moving.

"Jane!" Chakwas cried and Jane snapped her eyes from Garrus to her friend. "You are in the way. He's stable and he'll be fine now that we have him onboard. Go to your room." Jane nodded as she walked out. The world was twisting around her, but she managed to get to her room. She didn't bother to lock the door behind her. She stared at the window and saw her reflection. Blue blood covered her armor and Miranda's voice haunted her.

"You get people killed..." Garrus's blood was on her. Her breathing became ragged as she saw his face contorted in pain.

"... your teams always seem to die..." tears were pouring down her cheeks as she remember the sight of Hicks's severed head after the final Thresher maw attack on Akuze. Jane began ripping her armor off.

"... and you manage to walk away..." the Normandy crew who had died in the destruction of the ship. Jane dropped the last of her gear and curled up, pressing against the walls of her room. She did...she kept living. She always made it, she kept getting people killed. Her men on Akuze, the Normandy crew, even her own brother. Jane began to weep.

~*TF*~

"He'll be alright then doc?" John asked. Dr. Chakwas nodded her head and finished injecting something into Garrus's IV line. It felt odd to John to see his friend without armor on, wearing hospital garments in a bed.

"The bullet deflected off his natural plating. Two inches to the left and it would have shredded his lungs as it passed through. As it is he'll be down for a day but he should be on his feet after that. I would recommend light duty for a week after that however." Dr. Chakwas advised. John let out a big sigh of relief before turning to EDI's terminal where the hologram was watching silently.

"You heard the doc, EDI. Garrus is off combat roster for next seven days till the doc says otherwise." John ordered. The hologram seemed to flicker for a moment.

"Acknowledge Shepard. Also, you might want to check in on your sister. She seems…unsettled." EDI advised and John scowled.

"Oh yes," John said darkly. "I will definitely be doing that next. Thank you for reminding me EDI."

"I'll let you know when Garrus wakes up, Spehard," Chakwas replied, focusing on the readings from her omni-tool.

"Thanks doc," John said before turning and heading out of the medbay. He walked towards his sister's quarters. The crewmen saw him coming, the thunderous expression on his face, and scattered. Within moments the crew deck was emptying of personnel. He reached the door to Jane's room and barely noticed it was unlocked. As he stormed in, ready to give Jane a piece of his mind, he felt the words die in the back of his throat at what he saw.

The room was spartan, Jane's gear was on the floor sloughed off and forgotten in a way that John had never seen Jane do, as if she dropped the weapons and armor as she entered. In the front corner Jane was curled up, Blasto curled up beside her. He raised his head to look at John before returning to rest beside his mistress. Jane was curled up in the corner, her knees in front of her chest and her forehead resting on them. Her hands were on her head and there was no mistaking the sounds of her sobs.

John sighed. He made his way to his sister, ignoring the varren watching his every move. With another sigh he sat next to Jane on the ground and waited. Jane did nothing but continue to sit there, her arms wrapped around her knees and her face pressed into them as she sobbed.

"Tell me what happened," John prodded gently, his anger completely gone. "Why did you go to the other catwalk?"

Jane looked up, her arms dropping to the side and she turned her head towards him.

"I turned off my comm. I knew the drill. I used your hand signals most of the way from the drop," Jane confessed. "I couldn't see when we converged...when I turned it back on I realized you must have changed channels. I was mad and I turned off my comm earlier, I missed the orders." Tears rolled down her cheeks. "Garrus saved my life and nearly died. That should have been me..."

John ground his teeth for a moment, doing his best not to look angry. Jane had ignored him, again. She had actually turned off hers comms during a mission just to ignore him and his orders.

"So you didn't hear anything then? Not us speaking to Kal'Reegar, Legion's assessment of the battle field, and me asking you to join us on the catwalk? My order to switch channels?" John clarified. Jane nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks and John sighed again. "Never again okay? I know you have more experience than I do now but I do know what I'm doing. You know me trusting you again means you have to trust me again too."

Jane sniffled and nodded. John shook his head and scooted closer to Jane, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Jane stiffened under his arm for a moment. "Garrus is going to be okay. He'll be on his feet in a couple of days and on light duty for a week." More tears fell and she dropped her head back to her knees, wrapping her arms around them before sobbing.

"Thank God..." she sobbed. "I can't lose another one."

John felt taken aback at that. "Who did you lose? I thought the Normandy team was still around. Was it someone else? Another team after I got...lost?"

Jane turned her head to stare at John. She looked at him, tears still on her cheeks. Was this man really John? He was about as dense as her brother. Hearing that Garrus would make it made her feel more in control. She stared at John.

"I have lost my parents, my home, my friends, my comrades, and it never ends. I have ordered my men to their deaths and I have watched them die in situations I could never prevent. I have to live with not making it in time to save people I care about. I have to live with knowing my brother died alone in the vacuum of space and that one of my most loyal friends nearly died because I was stupid and careless enough to break contact. I keep living..." She said, her eyes wide and tired. "I cannot lose another..."

"Ah," John said simply, understanding. It haunted him too some nights. Mindoir, people he'd gotten killed. He'd had to make those choices too but he'd never lost anyone as close to him as Jane and he were. Not since their parents had been killed. He thought for a moment and wondered how he would be if Jane had been the one lost that Cerberus had found. Would he still be a Spectre or would he be so mad with grief that he'd have broken. "I...I can't promise it will never happen again but I will promise I will do my damnedest to make sure it doesn't."

He hesitated. If he said this he would have to acknowledge the possibility. Just the tiniest doubt that lingered in his mind but Jane needed to hear this.

"I understand why you don't trust me." John began. Jane stared at him. Her bloodshot eyes cautious but she was listening.

"I know there might be the chance, the smallest, most remote chance I'm not who I think I am," John allowed, swallowing a sudden lump in his throat.

Jane realized this was not something he was comfortable saying...or he was one of the best actors she had ever seen. But his voice was calm in a way that was so John, she wanted to believe.

"I could be a clone, some high tech VI in this body that just thinks he's John Shepard. Maybe even an AI put in here somehow," John allowed. Looked down at Jane and smiled softly. "But I might just be the real me. And if I am just trust me a bit. Just trust me to let me help us get everyone home. We've done pretty well so far. We've gotten Garrus and Tali back, rescued a woman from the worst prison in the galaxy and even are raising a baby Krogan together with a very crazy Salarian doctor. It's like old times, we even have a Geth friend on the team. Just trust us enough and we'll do our best together to get everyone home."

Jane stared at him, her face closed. The sorrow and pain from before suddenly locked behind a blank expression. For a moment John wondered if the shitty attitude would be back.

"Garrus is alive because we worked together. I will trust you to lead and we'll figure out who you really are together," she said. Blasto barked happily from his place beside the two.

"Spectres? I hate to interrupt, but the Illusive Man needs to speak with John immediately. He says the Collectors have attacked another colony." EDI call out in to the room. John gently pulled away and stood. He went to head for the conference room but stopped. He turned and faced Jane, considering. Then he held a hand out to her.

"Let's go talk to him. Together." John offered. Jane glanced at his hand and then looked up into John's face. The she reached out and took his hand.

"Mind if I clean up first," Jane said, her eyes still red as he helped her to her feet.

"A cold shower should help," John suggested.

End of Chapter 15

~*TF*~

Toby Note: *stretches in his chair and groans happily as his joints pop* Well that was fun. Time for the Vakarian fans to call out for our blood. I hope you all enjoyed it. I know Belle like writing Jane's parts.

Belle Note: I won't lie guys, this chapter had some major fights between me and Toby, (Toby: Oh yeah, big time. Belle: Oh hush!) mostly because we wanted to best convey the humanity of our characters. I wanted a feeling that Jane is not the superhuman Spectre that so many think she is. She is a soldier and she has a human psyche which has been under completely too much pressure. Toby wanted people to understand that John is not some submissive follower, he is the Commander of the Normandy and he is trying to ease his fucked up sister into believing he is who he says he is but he is done with her shit. This was a very hard chapter to write because we wanted our Shepards to still be heroes and amazing characters, but we still wanted them to be human. Humans are not perfect and I especially was upset by how many people commented on how "perfect" Jane was. Jane is not perfect, she is bearing an unbelievable amount of survivor's guilt. She has cut off all of her close personal bonds and is slowly regaining them. While Jane was being a bad ass Spectre she was far from perfect. She couldn't confirm the Collectors were attacking the colonies, she ignored her friends from the Normandy, she became a brutal warrior who would desecrate bodies to use psychological warfare on Batarians, that in my mind is not a perfect person. Bad ass, yes, scary, yes, but perfect, hell no. However, please keep reading and I hope we keep living up to your expectations.

OMAKE 1

"So where's Jane right now?" John asked after checking in on Garrus.

"Oh I'm sure she's off in her room-"

Meanwhile in her room.

"GOD DAMN IT SHIT!" Jane screamed, her biotic energy wilding tearing apart her room around her.

"-coping."

OMAKE 2

Jane entered the forward battery and noticed the mattress from Miranda's room.

"Is that Miranda's mattress?" she asked.

"Was it the one left in the galley?" Garrus asked from the panel and Jane smiled.

"Yes it was," she purred. "Garrus, I need your help with a project."

"Sure thing, Shepard," Garrus said and Jane pulled up a mobile camera.

"How do you feel about revenge porn?" she asked and Garrus gulped nervously.

A few hours later...

"...she's reckless and a danger to the team," Miranda nagged John on the bridge before she got an alert on her omni-tool. "And now she's sending me messages!" John looked over.

"It is titled, Accept this Please, maybe it's an apology," John suggested and Miranda opened the message. Immediately the unmistakable sound of rutting filled the bridge. "Oh God...is that Garrus?!"

"Is that my mattress?!" Miranda shrieked.

"Can I get a copy of that?" Joker asked

OMAKE 3

"Which is why I should be his teacher in biotic combat, not you!" Jane countered. "I know almost as much as an Asari Commando!"

"No! This is not about biotics! This is about tactics you would never use against biotics because you are one! He needs to know how to counter them!" John barked. He turned to storm away when he heard it. The slight crackle of biotics coming to fore. He dove to the left, rolling away and then to his feet as Jane used a biotic Stasis where he had just been. He rushed Jane and checked her with a shoulder sending her back.

"Oh this is it!" John roared. "I'm going to teach you a fucking lesson."

"What are you doing! Where did you get that?! No, John no! Don't you dare!"

"This worked for Dad when you were being a little brat!" SMACK!

"John stop that, this is so wrong!"

"What did you do wrong?" SMACK!

"Damn you!"

"What did you do?!" SMACK!

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Jane began crying like a baby.

OMAKE 4

Jane looked up at Garrus, he had flung them both to safety from the geth approaching. Jane gasped and Garrus grinned before bouncing slightly.

"What did we land on that is so squishy?" he asked before a blast of biotics threw him across the battlefield.

"OH MY GOD MY BREASTS!" Jane cried in complete agony.

"What are breasts?" Garrus asked from where he landed upside down by Mordin.

"Fatty tissue located on the chest of human females and asari," Mordin commented. "Most species find them attractive in basic biological sense." Mordin took in a deep breath. "Also make me think of old breeding contracts."

"They're bouncy," Garrus offered.

"Grunt wants to try!" Grunt cried running across the battlefield.

"Oh God no!" Jane screamed.

OMAKE 5

No one knew where John got the karate gi. Not for himself nor the one that fit Grunt perfectly.

"How did I beat you?" John said using his best wise monk voice.

"John this is not the Matrix!"

"How do you know?" John said to Jane in the same tone of voice. "I mean we could just be virtual representations of someone else in this universe. Our actions and choices controlled by them."

"…that's stupid. You're stupid…"

OMAKE 6

"It's good to be working with you again, Shepard," Tali said as she and Jane looked up at the core of the Normandy.

"Haven't directly worked together since that incident with Cerberus on the Flotilla," Jane commented and Tali nodded.

"Thank you again," Tali grinned.

"So..." Jane began and Tali looked at her.

"What?" Tali asked.

"How about that Kal'Reegar?" Jane said and Tali's light blinked quickly.

"No," she said and Jane grinned.

"He was cute," Jane said.

"You couldn't even see his face," Tali stated.

"Okay so he had a nice body," Jane grinned and Tali sighed. "You quarians purposely design armor to make your asses look that good?"

"Shepard!" Tali cried, covering her butt.

"Don't worry, John loves the view, now about Kal'Reegar. What about you and him?" Jane laughed before noticing Tali was gone. Her eyes widened in realization. "No Tali! Go to Kal, not my moron brother! Fuck, I suck as a matchmaker!"