Next day a team of four lawyers arrived to take over Jo's legal defence. One of them was an asari. That fact let Jo know that the Shadow Broker had sent them. Still, her interrogations continued.

Jo was amused to see that her new guard, having entered her room with a considerable limp in the morning, promptly got rid of her 'honour squad' of eight armed to the teeth soldiers. He ordered them to stay outside her room at all times and to set up a makeshift station for themselves there. He escorted her everywhere by himself all day, carrying no other weapons but a simple pistol. Observing him gave her some distraction from the tiresome interrogation in Joker's absence.

Vega amused her. Yes, yesterday he'd been a drooling fan when he entered her room. This morning he seemed a lot more composed, professional and determined. Jo didn't waste time thinking about his trustworthiness. She trusted Anderson to give her someone reliable. With that problem out of the way, she fell back into the same old meditation technique she'd used on Garrus, Wrex and Tali so long ago. While they walked along the HQ corridors, Jo tried to see if this kid felt right, if he could be a part of her team.

She felt his force like it was a visible biotic shield. It was in the way he cleared the corridors for her without a hint of hesitation, moving aside anyone who had the misfortune to step in her way. It was in the way he fell into a relaxed but highly attentive stance at the door whenever she was in some room. It was especially in the way he seemed hyperaware of her every word, move and expression. Yes, she knew that he was just trying to learn all he could about her because she was some sort of a hero to him, but his observations could make him an invaluable ground team member, if fate ever tossed them onto a battlefield together. She had yet to see him fight, but if he paid attention to her like he was doing it now and followed her directions, he had a lot of potential.

Jo had a little fun making Vega feel useless, though. She already knew her way around and walked ahead with purpose, making him hurry next to her like a child in the crowd. He had yet to earn the right to be promoted from 'tail' to 'guard' and that would take a lot more than her little meditation and a kick in the balls.

The lawyers took over her defence, but the Command still insisted on putting her into an interrogation room for half a day.


James was not supposed to leave Commander Shepard's proximity, but since he couldn't stay with her in the interrogation room, he decided to be so bold and stay in the dark adjacent room, from where he could watch Shepard through a two-way-glass. Major Lance and a General Vega didn't know by name yet were watching as well. Neither officer noticed James at all.

Shepard sat in the barren, grey room, handcuffed to the table. Two officers were fussing around her, asking questions, but otherwise she seemed like the queen of the world. Her hair was done so perfectly that James even wondered if it was real. Her grey prisoner clothes sat on her figure without a single wrinkle. He never managed to wear clothes with such dignity. Her face was calm, relaxed, even somewhat pleased.

"Tell us again what happened on that asteroid," one of the officers asked. James already realised that she had been forced to tell the same story over and over for more than a week now. She showed no sign of irritation, however, when she opened her mouth and began talking.

She told the story in slightly different words every time to show that she wasn't repeating something she'd learned by heart, but with every single little fact confirmed again and again.

"So you claim that these 'Reapers' were coming through Alpha relay," the officer, a Captain in rank, drew quotation marks in the air. He was walking around. The other officer sat across from Jo and looked at something on his datapad. "How do you know they were really coming, if we assume that such an obviously mythical product of a feverish mind really existed?"

"Do I look feverish, Captain?" Shepard asked with interest, but he slammed his fist on the table instead of an answer:

"I ask the questions here!"

"Whatever you say," Jo said with calmness and regal superiority of an iceberg and handed him the handcuffs she had just been cuffed to the table with. "Here you go. Please, don't insult me with handcuffs I learned to get out of when I was eleven years old."

He fumed. The other officer looked up with an interest people would show a strange insect. James almost exploded: how dare he look at the saviour of the galaxy like she was some lunatic? But Shepard didn't seem to mind. She sat calmly at the table, her hands now gently in her lap. The officer knocked on the door and a guard with a lot of guns came in.

"Find some better cuffs, will you?!" He threw the disabled ones at the soldier. "NOW!"

"I wouldn't work myself up to such a level of stress, if I were you," Shepard noted as a matter of fact. "Your heart might give in to that injury. I am here strictly voluntarily and will not go anywhere, handcuffs or not."

James shook his head, impressed: he'd been with Shepard only one day and this was already the third pair of handcuffs she'd gotten rid of.

The Captain turned to Shepard with an angry face:

"What do you know about my injury?"

She gave him a serene look and spoke:

"I detect a slight irregularity in your breathing pattern. The veins on your temple and neck are pulsing very visibly. You walk like a person in the last stage of recovery from an injury to the ribcage, and in my presence alone you rubbed a spot right above your heart seventeen times, though I suspect you do that without noticing. Calm down, Captain. You will not be able to pull the bad cop number on me, trying it will only ruin your health. I am an N7, the original badass, as they say."

"Oh yeah? What else did they teach you in your N7 program? How to fool a lie detector? You're obviously lying and I will find out the truth!"

"Of course I learned how to fool a lie detector. It's quite easy, actually. Alliance teaches all Special Forces to do that before we even join N1. But you received the audio log of every minute on that mission from me. The reason why you insist I'm lying eludes me."

"Audio files can be tampered with."

"Which part of what you listened to seemed tampered with to you?"

He already forgot who's asking the questions, James thought to himself. Shepard was twisting the Captain around her little finger without the man even noticing. She totally owned his ass there.

"All of it," the Captain almost spat.

"If you claim that the entire 59 hours, 36 minutes and 4 seconds of the feed you received are a fabrication, then you have no proof whatsoever that I or my ship have ever been to the Bahak system and have anything to do with the relay explosion. In that case you have no choice but to release me."

"Be quiet. For what you did there, they won't only strip you of your ranks, they'll put you against the wall and line up the firing squad."

"Apart from the death sentence being a barbaric tradition banned to the edges of the Alliance space and technically illegal on this planet, I have no ranks. I'm a civilian."

His eyes narrowed:

"You just said you were an N7. Are you contradicting yourself?"

"I received the N7 level of training and served as a Lieutenant Commander until I retired. It's in my file. I'm a civilian now."

"Brought back to life by Cerberus, the terrorists," he hissed. The banter went back and forth like that until the soldier returned with a different pair of cuffs. Those looked menacing and, as far as James knew, were used only on extremely dangerous, mentally unstable prisoners during transport.

Jo showed no reaction at all, as the soldier put them on her and locked an adjusted chain to the table. When he was done, she said to the Captain:

"Would you like to wager how long it will take me to get out of these?"

He stood there, trying to hide his disbelief. She was so much better at this game than he was, it was painful. But he was learning. Instead of imploding, he cocked his head:

"How long do you think you'll need to get out?"

"Two minutes and eight seconds," Jo said.

"Go for it, hotshot, I'm stopping the time," he said and looked at his omnitool. At first nothing happened, and Jo simply kept looking at the man. Then they heard a tiny crack and she pulled her arms and hands out of the contraption. Her thumbs were out of joints and she had to shake her hands several times to set them back. Not a single hair fell out of her hairdo.

"So, how did I do?" She asked the Captain, as the soldier obediently collected the metal gear from the floor. She massaged her hands a little, then folded them back in her lap. The Captain looked at the time, then cursed and dismissed the matter.

Major Lance in the observation room sighed with deep exasperation and sent a message from his omnitool to the Captain. James had a feeling that Shepard wouldn't be handcuffed anymore.

"You're something else, Shepard," James said to her, as he accompanied her to her room later.

Joker and his two guards were waiting outside her door. He and Shepard naturally slid their arms around each other upon entering the room. James followed them.

"Watch and learn, rookie," Shepard said, sitting down on the couch next to her man. "One day you'll be a real boy."

James snorted, but he was impressed. Shepard held her hands to Joker:

"Could you rub those spots, please? I'm getting too old for that dislocating thumbs trick."

"For what?" Joker asked while he took her hands gently and started massaging the spots she pointed out. She told him about her day while James sat quietly in an armchair and watched them interact. Her hands were battered, burned, scarred. He wondered how many times she'd willingly pulled her thumbs out of their sockets before.

Technically he was not supposed to leave Shepard alone with any visitors except officers from Command, and he'd already neglected that last night when he'd left her and Joker alone while he nursed his balls in his own room. He couldn't ignore the orders today, no mater how much he wished to give them privacy.

The last two days had turned his life and everything he believed in upside down. He'd been tasked with a job that was blowing his mind. Not only were the rumours about Commander Shepard being alive true, he actually got to meet her. Commander friggin' Shepard. In person. Right in front of him. His idol for years. He knew everything there was to know about her from the vids, files, interviews, pictures. He knew all he could find about her ship and crew.

For a moment there, on the way from Omega to Vancouver, he'd toyed with the idea of getting to know the woman behind the legend, being at her side all the time, having her to himself, talking, offering her support and maybe even getting close to her. Instead she had wiped the floor with his face three minutes after meeting him. He knew she was good, but he had no idea she was so… He didn't have words to describe her. She was blowing his mind, and his balls were still hurting.

The guy next to her was an odd development in the Legend of Shepard, though. Of course James had heard of the Normandy's crippled pilot, who hadn't? Hell, people in the Alliance were telling jokes about him. But how in hell did those two become lovers? He watched them sit there, talk quietly while Joker rubbed her hands, and somehow he didn't like the way his own guts were turning to stone at the sight. James knew Commander Shepard less than two days, but this job was already proving to be nothing like what he'd imagined on the way here.

The change in Shepard in the course of this day alone was dizzying. From an ice queen in the interrogation room she went to a gentle girl, cooing into her boyfriend's ear in one second.

James felt like the worst of intruders, even though they paid him no heed. But Joker didn't stay long. His timer was ticking. When he stood to leave, Shepard didn't give him a farewell kiss, didn't even look at him. She got up from the couch, suddenly dark-mooded, and went to look out of the balcony window. James could understand the notion, even if he'd never been put in the same position as these two. Shepard didn't want to watch Joker leave, plain and simple.

"Go away," she declared and James needed a moment to realise she was talking to him. He couldn't imagine what he had done to make her angry, but Joker signed him to follow him outside. James obeyed. What else could he do?

Once the door to Shepard's room closed and locked, Joker motioned him to walk a little ahead of his two guards for a private conversation. They stopped nearby and Joker fixed James with a serious look in his eyes.

"Listen, Vega," he began. "You can imagine how much I hate this whole situation, but there is nothing I can do about it. I have ten hours a week with her and it's barely enough to say hello. You guard her now, it's your job to take care of her. So take care of her."

"I will," James nodded with a little annoyance. He didn't need this limping pendejo to tell him how to do his job. Joker wasn't letting him go, though:

"I mean it. Really take care of her. She won't let you in on what she's thinking, but she's worried. You can't imagine how much weight is on her shoulders. You need to promise me something."

"What?"

"You'll hear her scream in the night soon enough. She's having nightmares. When you do, go to her room and try to wake her up. Do it gently. I know she looks like only a punch can wake her in such moments, but it's not true. Wake her carefully. If you punch her, I'll personally have your balls."

"Uh, okay."

"What is that?" Joker suddenly sounded stern and James followed the other man's glance down. That was when he realised that the Normandy badge, the one that had been with him since before Fehl Prime, the one he used to wear on his chest, his own little holy relic, somehow made it into his hand. He'd gotten so used to fumbling it in the last few years that he hadn't noticed that he'd taken it out of his pocket. And now Joker was narrowing his eyes dangerously at the sight. "Is that what I think it is?"

Suddenly James felt silly and stupid, like a boy with a self-made cardboard imitation of a pistol in front of a soldier with real weapons. The man before him, cripple or not, was a legend of the same calibre as Shepard and the Normandy. Hell, the ship was this guy's baby!

"Uhm. Nothing," James swallowed hard. Joker looked at the badge again and shook his head:

"Whatever you do, do not ever let her see this. The last guy she caught wearing a self-made replica of her armour – she shot him in the foot. Because she liked him. She doesn't look upon fan-shop merchandise kindly. For this she could throw you out of the window. And if I ever see you fumbling a picture of my baby again, I'll tell Jo that I don't like you. Care to imagine what would happen to you then?"

James could see in Joker's face that he was serious. After what she'd done to him last night James really didn't want to imagine what she was capable of if her boyfriend asked her for something.

"Uhm, not really, no."

"You've been trusted with the galaxy's greatest treasure. And my own. Don't screw it up." Joker cut off the conversation decisively and waved his guards to follow him.

James watched him limp away and sighed: behind that closed door was also his own greatest treasure. Only this grounded pilot didn't need to know that.

James' official orders were to stop all and any escape attempts, but after the first meeting with the Commander he knew that he couldn't do much if she decided to leave. Even those eight guards that were now stationed in the corridor outside her door couldn't stop her.

His unofficial role was to make sure she survived. As her bodyguard he would have to take a bullet for her and he knew he would do it eagerly. And if push came to shove, he would have to take her from the building and hide her to the best of his abilities. He knew how to disappear and to remain hidden if he really needed to, Admiral Anderson chose him for this very reason. But in the meantime James would just have to be there, watching his idol day in, day out.

He'd seen her in the vids so many times and the woman was amazing. He had seen that spectacular person in the interrogation room earlier and she'd made his head spin. She was even better at this than the vids gave her credits for. And then there were her other sides. Like that evil grin she gave him right before challenging him to a sparring session. Or the low, seductive purr right before she almost destroyed his balls. And then, of course, the quiet, gentle girl who asked her lover to massage her hands. The change of personalities spun the ground from under his feet.

Joker's warning about nightmares and screaming promised him even more different personalities in the future. Commander Shepard, the real deal, was a lot more to handle than he'd ever imagined. Did she live up to the legend? Oh, the scariest thing was that she lived up to them all.

All his naïve ideas about the Great Commander Shepard he kept worshipping for years now were being torn to pieces. Instead a solid, real, living figure suddenly stepped into his life. James Vega needed some time to readjust his world. She didn't give him that time. When he came back to her room after seeing Joker off, she asked him if he wanted a rematch.

"You are not to leave this room, so the gym is out of question."

"Oh, don't let that hold you back. We did fine last time, didn't we? If you worry about furniture – don't. The government's paying for it."

James half-smiled:

"Well, all right, then. Shall we at least push the coffee table aside?"

"Sure, you do that, and I promise not to attack while you're busy."


Jo was curious if he'd keep watching her despite her promise or if he'd trust her. To her approval he kept a sharp eye on her all the while he shoved the low coffee table and the armchair against the walls.

Jo kneaded her hands and wrists, taking up a stance that she didn't really need. She was lethal in every position, but the fighting stance from boot camp seemed to make Vega more comfortable. Vega took place opposite her and assumed a similar stance. The muscles on his arms flexed, when he raised his fists to his face, and the t-shirt sleeves around his biceps stretched dangerously. Her eyes wandered down those shoulders and arms and Vega attacked while he thought she was distracted by his appearance. She evaded his blow easily, since she had only let him believe she was distracted. He still had to learn that no man's body could ever tempt her again, if it wasn't Joker's.

In this manner they kept it going for a while, circling, feeling each other's strength, looking for weaknesses. When the guards outside heard the ruckus, they joined them in the room against Vega's orders. Who'd want to miss such a show? Jo noticed them placing bets on the winner. Vega was unimpressed with the spectators and she was pleased to see that neither his concentration nor determination suffered.

One full hour later the spectators were almost bored. Vega had a split lip to show and Jo a bruise on her ribs, but neither of them were anywhere near giving up or stopping.

"You've got endurance, my young guard," she nodded at the big guy. "Anderson obviously didn't pick up the first guy off the street. How long can you keep this up?"

"As long as it takes," he answered.

"As long as it takes to do what?"

"Huh?"

"Well, why are we fighting? What is your goal? Kill me, incapacitate me, kill time until your backup arrives? What kind of goal did you set yourself?"

"I'm here to see what you're fighting for."

"Oh, so this whole hour has been for nothing, then? Fine, I'll set myself a goal. A broken nose and a cracked rib, if that's okay with you. I won't kick your balls today, I'm brutal but not cruel. Or do you maybe want to lose a tooth?"

"I dare you to try and wrestle me down without breaking any bones at all," Vega smirked.

"Why? Afraid of some pain?"

"Pain is my middle name. However, I'll want to dance with you again tomorrow, and it would do you no honour to take down a disabled opponent."

"Are you appealing to my honour?" Jo snorted. "Man, that's like mistake numero uno."

"You got no honour?" Vega raised his eyebrows.

"None whatsoever, when it comes to fighting," she nodded. "So, what's it gonna be?"

"Come and get me without breaking my bones, or teeth, for that matter."

Jo didn't even blink. The first item that came to her hand – a folder from the shelf – flew right at his head. While he was ducking, she dove to the side where the spectators sat on the floor and grabbed a rifle from one of them. Still holding it by its muzzle, Jo took a wide swing at Vega's head again and forced him to bend backwards to evade a blow. While he was distracted, she kicked one foot from under him and jumped on top of him. She sat on his chest with her knees on both sides of his head, and cocked her head:

"Done?"

Something sparkled in his eyes and he did what she didn't think any man could. She wasn't holding his arms down, only his shoulders. He rammed his elbows into the floor and lifted himself up, right along with her sitting on his chest. The spectators whistled, bets renewing. Vega pushed himself up to his feet, her thighs still wrapped tightly around his neck. She grabbed him by his ears and he roared, slapping her hands away.

"Now you're showing some promise!" She laughed with joy, reached up and tore the ventilator off the ceiling. She took the longer cable that was sticking out of it and before he knew what was happening, she wrapped it around his neck. "Sleep," she whispered to him gently and squeezed.

He tried to fight her off, but was unbalanced by carrying her entire weight around his neck. First his face turned red, then blue, the greenish-purple. Only when he almost went black did he finally collapse. Jo rolled off him.

"Did anyone actually bet on him?" She asked the guards.

"Who would be that stupid? We were betting on how long he lasts."

"Take him away and get him a doctor, or something," she shrugged. "Tell him to step up, if he wants to show his face here tomorrow."

The guards busied themselves with Vega and left Jo alone in the room. She righted her clothes and stopped in front of the balcony window, looking outside. Taking apart the new guy was fun for as long as it took to defeat him, which wasn't exactly long. Now her head was back in reality. It was late in the evening and soon enough she'd have to go to bed.

She dreaded these moments since she'd been locked up. Ever since Joker started spending nights with her – that was only six weeks ago! – she'd been sleeping better. Her nightmares still plagued her, but usually he could wake her up quickly and spare her the agony. She was surprised that she hadn't had one of those since being on Earth yet. But it was hard to even fall asleep without him next to her. He'd done a great job getting her healthy in those six weeks, she'd been sleeping just fine during her first nights here, but his absence was taking its toll. The agony he'd chased away was coming back and Jo suspected it would slam her with a vengeance sooner than later. She couldn't do anything about the galaxy ignorantly walking towards its doom, but Jo had all the time in the world to worry about her own problems right now. The PTSD was a bitch at the best of times, but Jo was back on Earth, and not just back – she was in Vancouver. The place of her birth.

Back when she was a child, running with the Tenth Street Reds, the world was a different place. The Alliance was recruiting new soldiers by promising them a chance to fight the 'monsters' out there in space. Jo remembered sitting high on a concrete wall of a dilapidated building and watching traffic around this very complex she was now locked up in. The Alliance Headquarters. She'd been intrigued back then, fascinated with the life that was going on – on the "inside".

Always being on the "outside", on the wrong side of the law, in the wrong part of town, being the one who had no parents, no home, no possessions, being ignored by the society like a nasty growth, being the wild child of the concrete jungle – Jo remembered those days as literally the worst time in her life. The day she turned eighteen, she'd run and swore to never return. It was the only time she admitted to her own cowardice and owned it. She was more scared of Vancouver's streets than she was scared of Thresher Maws. She was not ready to face those fears again and she didn't think she ever would be. There was too much pain and horror in Vancouver, even now that she was a thirty one year old badass woman and not a skinny little girl holding a gun that was way too big for her hand. She'd grown into her guns, but Vancouver never left her.

Vancouver was filled with monsters that clawed at her mind just like the agony of dying and being resurrected did. There weren't many people in the world who knew why she was so scared of this city, she never offered that information freely because it was a weakness and Commander Shepard couldn't show weakness, especially right now. Still, staring down from the window and seeing the old, familiar city, she wanted nothing more than to scream, to wrap her arms about her man and to tell him everything. Everything.

She heard the low rumble of an approaching vehicle long before it appeared. There was nothing unusual about cars flying around one of the busiest buildings in a busy city, except this wasn't the sound of a car. It was…

An Alliance coloured Kodiak descended from above and lined itself up with her window. Time slowed to one heartbeat per minute when Jo saw a scowling batarian's face through the windshield of the tank, as he bared his teeth at her and opened fire.