Maybe he was old-fashioned, but Garrus wasn't one for dodging bullets to protect a vault of someone else's money. Someone else's insured money. But the Robbery squad was where he was assigned, and that was where he'd go.

Pallin's set me up.

As he reported to his new partner in the armouries, Garrus contemplated the reasoning behind the Executor's actions. To get rid of him? No, his clearance rate was well-above average. To show his abilities as a detective? No, not much investigative work went into Robbery. To see how he worked with guns? It was possible, he decided, as he continued towards his destination.

Turning the corner into the gunroom, his sight fell to a human male, hunched over a work bench and feverishly tinkering with small mass accelerator parts. The human was tall for his species, with a stylish black hairdo combed up and back, accompanied by a matching goatee.

On the bench was a disassembled Stinger VII, with a modified ammo block and a strange addition to the heat sink.

"What's that?" Inquired Garrus, peering over the human's shoulder.

Without looking back, the human replied, "My Stinger VII. Ammo block VI makes squash projectiles for more impact force. High-calibre barrel and overclocked targeting VI means higher velocity for rounds and better precision at the cost of heat absorption – but I've got that covered," he picked up the bizarre heat sink. "See this? It's actually six heat sinks. When one overheats, it cycles to the next. The whole pistol's calibrated to one shot per sink, and the first cools off by the time I've fired my sixth shot. A whole cycle."

"Why use such an elaborate system for heat absorption? Surely you could achieve the same thing with one sink, right?"

"Right, but with less power per shot; this way, I don't have to worry about overheating due to high firepower. It side-steps the issue. Normally one shot would short out the whole clip, and I'd have to wait to fire again. Alliance telemetry data suggests that firefights are won by the side that can maintain a constant rate of fire for extended periods of time. I don't have to wait to cool down because I've tricked the gun out so much, and I get massive stopping power for each shot." He finally pivoted to face the turian.

It clicked in Garrus' mind. "Yeah, you can put more rounds down range at a consistent rate, and you nullify the heat damping problems high-calibre barrels normally produce. Impressive."

The human's face took on an amused grin as he shrugged, head tilted. "Exactly. It's not practical to mass-produce, though. Cost me nine months' salary and took a mountain of eezo."

Garrus' mandibles spread in surprise as the human continued. "You're my new partner, Garrus Vakarian, right? I'm Neil McCauley, Deputy head of Robbery. The Captain is Felix Caelius. Hard-nosed. Good turian. I hear you're some kind of golden child, that dear old dad was some kind of C-Sec big shot."

McCauley's comment earned a grumble from Garrus, along with a non-committal grunt about how 'he didn't want to talk about it'.

"Anyway, I'd better take you to get briefed. Come with me so you don't run into D'Tora again; I would hate for someone to file a sexual harassment case against you before you got into the field."

With a groan, Garrus jogged up to McCauley, and fell into rhythm with his stride. An idea in his head, the turian showed his pistol to the human.

"Any chance you could make my gear like yours?"

"How so? The VIs? The rounds?"

"That weird heat sink thing."

"The revolver thing? Sure, but not with that hunk of junk – Kessler III right? I've got a Striker V laying around I used as a tester. It's got all the parts already, the quartermaster just has to assemble it. I'll put in the call. I'll get you a new kinetic barrier generator, too. You'll need it.

During his time in Burglary, Garrus had seen a lot of briefings. They were never as empty as his first, but were never as full as the Robbery squad room's briefing area – 'the drawing board', as they called it. Almost identical to Burglary's briefing room, the only difference was the presence of a large black board on a side wall with white cloud-like drawings and words in human (English, to be precise) scrawled on it.

'The old ways is the best ways', huh?

McCauley stepped up to the lectern, using his hands to hush the background noise of officers chatting in their chairs. Clearing his throat, the Deputy Captain straightened himself and pointed to someone behind Garrus.

"Thrace, gimme a report on that 211 in Shin Akiba!"

"It wasn't them, sir, but it's a code four now."

'Them'?

"Good. Doklan! The grand theft auto ring?"

"Our CI's gone dark, sir. He may be rogue, but he's under surveillance and hasn't tried anything. Our mole's still got some pull though, and she's chasing down leads."

"Alright. Everyone, get outta here and work your cases. Remember to follow up on any Heat leads you got. We wanna nail these bastards as soon as they show their crafty heads, got it? Break!"

At once, every officer except Garrus stood and began to leave. The controlled auditory chaos of individual discussions returned, throwing him into a state of confusion at what to do. Then, from the front, came McCauley marching over to him.

With a flick of a wrist, he gestured for Garrus to follow him out back to the armoury, where he picked up his new pistol – well, it was more of a hand cannon – and installed his new kinetic barriers. They were fifty percent stronger, and with the user's input, could redirect power to give more protection to certain extremities such as the legs.

Or the head. Useful.

For all the reassurances of his new gear, he still knew the deal. Being at Robbery was still a death sentence; he was just moving himself to the back of the line. At least now he could die being a pain in the ass.

The two headed exited the academy, moving to the carport, when Garrus stopped. He'd seen McCauley's skycar.

Sleek, aerodynamic curves formed a smooth trim on the back and sides that radiated class, while the vibrant red paintjob gave a sporty look to the vehicle. It was discreetly fitted with a retractable roof, reinforced armour plating and hardened kinetic barriers to shield it from the hell it saw on a weekly basis.

"Nice, huh? She's a real beauty: souped-up mass effect core, inertial dampers to make the convertible aspect viable, redundant field generators to re-initialise the shields and double cup holders. You would not believe how much she costs me in repairs and repainting."

"She?"

"Amanda." McCauley gestured in the direction of the vehicle. "Let's go kick some criminal ass!"

"Hmm."

The two hopped into the skycar and took off, kicking up dust in their wake.

Turning in his seat to face McCauley, Garrus asked, "And whose ass are we kicking, exactly?"

"One of the greatest heist men I've ever had coffee with, plus his two of his buddies."

-A/N- I realise this has taken ages, and I'm sorry. It's been difficult to motivate myself to write regularly recently and it was hard finding the words for this chapter. I can't guarantee more frequent updates though. In terms of longevity, don't worry; this won't be like Burglary, where Garrus defeats a thorn in the department's side in one day – there will be effort involved.