ME2 and ME3 have a huge continuity gap that, in the broader sense, just doesn't add up. It's hard piecing up a story when the people behind it, leave not even a cookie crumb trail for it, but I'm gonna try. Also, there's a MShep/Jack romance, Jacob is Martin Lawrence for some reason and it's gonna be both serious and funny, campy and cheesy and many lighthearted things in between, I hope. So call it what you want, this is "Bridging the Gap" because I suck at coming up with titles.
Chapter 1: Another day, another fight
The concussive shot had knocked him out, temporarily. There was a loud buzz in his ear and he knew he was awake, but all was dark. A distorted image seemed to come to view before his eyes, then coherence, then color, then clear sound. The Loki mechs were drawing closer. A few feet to his right, Tali sat crouched behind a crate, clutching her shotgun tightly. The two glowing lights that were her eyes seemed to be dulled or gone. Shepard figured she was just praying to a Quarian god or something equivalent for a miracle. Not too far ahead, the body of Garrus Vakarian was hanging from a high ledge. Garrus had tried to gain a vantage point to shoot at a mech carrying a missile launcher. Instead, he managed to draw all enemy fire on him, as he charged head first, without warning his comrades.
Dammit, Vakarian, Shepard muttered under his breath. He needed to buy them some time. He thrust a second thermal clip in his pistol and threw it amidst the Loki mechs. At first, the mechs moved away from it and took to cover, their programming telling them to avoid projectiles. Seeing as the pistol didn't explode, however, the droids seemed to resume their advance. It was all the time Shepard needed. Pulling out his sniper rifle, he shot the charged thermal clips, causing a small blast that took out a few mechs. There were plenty more, though, from where those came from. He needed to get Garrus up again. Last one, he thought to himself as he remotely activated Garrus' medigel dispenser.
Garrus slowly opened his eyes and shifted as he hang from the ledge. He almost fell, but even in a near lethargic state, his reflexes kicked in lightning fast, his arm grabbing on to a steel pipe, as he was about to drop. His emergence not registered yet by the mechs, Garrus deftly climbed back up. A sniper rifle, his sniper rifle, was laying on the ledge, on a spot behind a steel cover. Setting up as fast as he could, he looked down, over the cover, seeing Shepard smacking a droid with one of his biotic charges. A couple dozen feet away, a droid was firing a missile from its launcher. Incoming, Garrus shouted.
Shepard heard the shout and looked up from his cover. The missile was headed for Tali. The Quarian still remained in her place, in a state of shock. The crates behind her had taken a lot of fire, but they wouldn't stand another missile. Shepard's senses heightened. He'd been successful before in getting in a state where he seemed to move twice as fast as most anybody alive. The missile seemed to slow down and Shepard run to Tali, tackling her by the shoulders and moving her away from the crate as the missile hit. Bits of shrapnel flew everywhere, grazing him and cutting him. As he hit the ground, he could hear Tali groaning. Upon quick inspection, he noticed that a metallic shard seemed to have lodged itself in her right calf. Move to cover and stay down, Shepard ordered her, grabbing her by the helmet.
Y-yes, Shepard, Tali muttered, finally seeming to snap out of her shocked state. Slowly, she crawled out of the way, leaving her shotgun behind for Shepard. In the distance she could hear Garrus' triumphant shouts. Scoped and dropped, he exclaimed as his sniper rifle echoed over the open platform. Meanwhile, his shields recharged, Shepard grabbed Tali's shotgun and dived after the mechs that had started to swarm around Garrus.
Shepard and Garrus together were a formidable team, once they got started. Holed up in his tall vantage point, covered behind a steel sheet that worked for a railing, the Turian marksman was taking down droids faster than they could shoot. The ones that tried to climb up to him, were quickly blown to bits by Shepard and the Geth plasma shotgun he took from Tali, while the ones that tried to go after Shepard, were quickly reminded that they should never have ignored the precision of Garrus Vakarian. This resulted on a deadly cycle of blasted nuts, bolts, chassis' and mainboards.
The mayhem over with, Garrus Vakarian climbed down. That was some fight, huh, Shepard? Garrus remarked casually. Hidden under his helmet, Garrus could not see Shepard's facial expression, for if he could, he wouldn't have been so casual. Shepard grabbed him by the collar and pushed him up against the wall.
The hell were you thinking? Shepard demanded of him. Garrus looked at him confused and a bit intimidated. Shepard let him go, shaking his head to cool off.
Shepard, look ... Garrus tried to defend himself.
I did look, Garrus. And I saw you run past me, just as I'm about to fire a biotic blast. It's a damn miracle I didn't kill you on the spot! And you ... Shepard turned to Tali as she limped over, the metal shard still stuck in her calf. Tali, you have the most powerful shotgun in the galaxy and you don't fire it, not even once! Care to explain that to me?
I'm sorry, Shepard. I guess I should have told you. After the fight at the collector base, I'm not quite ready again for action, but I didn't want to disappoint you either, Tali apologized.
I figured that much, Shepard snapped. He took a few breaths, trying to calm down. Listen, Tali, you can't follow me in your condition. Go see Chakwas and get that thing removed asap. It's not gonna kill you, but the infection will have you out of commission for a while. Garrus, you're relieved as well.
Me? Shepard, I took a few blows, but nothing like a rocket to the face. I'm fine now, Garrus defended himself.
Fine? You're ... fine. This, Shepard made a swooping move of his arm, is what fine looks to you. We almost got killed. And to what? A few mechs? No, Garrus, you're not fine. You're going in that shuttle with Tali. He strapped Tali's shotgun and started off to enter the warehouse ahead of him. Once you reach the Normandy, get Samara and Thane to come find me.
Just the two of them? There's room for three in the shuttle, Garrus asked.
Shepard stopped his march and turned to face Garrus. Yes, Garrus, I know. I plan on going home in that shuttle.