"Vakarian-XO, we would like to ask you something." Legion cocked his head at the turian, who sighed. It wasn't that he didn't like the geth, far from it even. Legion had become easily accepted by the crew of the Normandy, had even taken to spending meal times in the mess. Not that the geth needed to eat, he just seemed to crave the company, was almost never found by himself any more. Maybe that was a kind of prejudice on Garrus' part, to think that, anthropomorphize the geth in that way.
"Just call me Garrus. If I have to hear Vakarian-XO one more time, I'm going to shoot somebody." Ironically, Garrus did just that, popping his head around some cover to scope his sight onto a geth hunter, whose flickering tactical cloak gave away its position. He poured the Incisor's three rounds into that indistinct shape's head and watched with satisfaction as it dropped to the ground, broken like a discarded toy.
No, he did like Legion, he just didn't appreciate the geth's penchant for asking complicated questions during a firefight. Legion's eyebrow flaps fluttered above his eye, and the geth said almost hesitantly, "...Garrus, what is the purpose of organic existence?"
"Can't this wait til we're back on the ship? I mean, I'm hardly the one qualified to discuss existential philosophy with. Maybe Shepard would be a better choice." Garrus rolled into cover just as a geth destroyer exploded, its tank busted by Legion's well placed shot. Garrus switched weapons smoothly and laid into one of the two hubs with his assault rifle. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shepard dispatch the other neatly then linger near it, hip cocked.
"We did ask Shepard-Commander. She made a noise that we interpreted as a 'laugh'. What is the purpose of laughter?" Oh, Legion was on a roll today. The geth was hitting all the tough ones. Garrus walked over to where Shepard was standing, looting of course, the woman never met a piece of tech that she didn't want to bring home, like a stray animal.
Garrus rubbed the back of his neck and shifted from foot to foot, "These are big questions, Legion. Not ones I can even begin to answer in the middle of hostile territory. The short answer is...nobody knows, existence is figuring all of that out for yourself, purpose has to be discovered."
Shepard turned an amused eye on him, the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile. The geth moved to the door, body turned to face Garrus while his hands were occupied with hacking the lock. It was not the first time the turian had seen Legion split his attention in this way, though it highlighted the difference between them in a disturbing way. The geth's voice drifted to him, "Each individual must self-determinate? Alert, this appears to be inefficient for attaining consensus."
"Yeah, that's us organics. Inefficient." It was a non answer and Garrus was relieved when the shooting started again. Reprieve lasted only as long as it took to clear the next room, however.
"Garrus, how do organics accomplish so much with so little consensus?" Garrus almost groaned aloud, but stifled it for Legion's sake.
"Not every individual is involved in the decision making process. That's why we have governments and laws. Not that there's much 'concensus' there, either." This was fast becoming a much deeper discussion than they really had time for.
"Some individuals let others determine their purpose? Is this not counter to your earlier assertion, Garrus?" Legion picked off his heretical brethren with precision. Garrus wondered how the geth felt about that, killing geth, then found himself wondering why he thought the geth would feel anything. Legion was a machine, with no chemicals rushing through his veins to make him feel remorseful. And yet, Garrus felt there were times when Legion showed something, some shadow of empathy. It was hard to place.
"Is it odd that some people determine not to self-determinate? It should be odder than it actually is, but most people find purpose contributing to a greater whole at the expense of personal freedom of purpose. Good laws and lawmakers have the people's best interest in heart, will do what's best for them. It is the hope of the individual that the people in power will be good custodians of their safety." This exposition was punctuated by Garrus repeatedly bashing a geth hunter in the face, the clever bastard had flanked them and his shields had taken a vicious shotgun blast. The hunter dropped in a heap and Garrus plopped down into cover to let his shields regenerate, panting heavily.
"Garrus, what is your purpose?"
Unable to stop himself, Garrus' gaze swept across the battlefield to rest on a tiny female figure, stared at that straight back as it plowed enemies underfoot. She moved like war incarnate as she swept the geth aside. His heart thumped painfully in his chest as he watched her. As if she heard some silent call, she turned and flashed him a brilliant smile, breaking his reverie. He cleared his throat uneasily as he met Legion's gaze, "Uh...data not available."
Garrus laughed as Legion cocked it's eyebrow plates at him, at how much like doubt or incredulity it seemed. Thankfully, the geth remained silent for the rest of the mission. Shepard surprised him by letting Legion rewrite the heretics, helping them rejoin the collective. It wasn't like her to take the choice away from sentient beings. Her purposes must be farther reaching than he could see. Soon enough they were back in the shuttle, enjoying a roll-up, Garrus passed it to Shepard, who took a drag, smiling contentedly.
Legion watched the cigarette closely as it bounced between the two, not commenting. The geth's whole body conveyed deep thought and Garrus sighed, "What monumental dilemma plagues you now, Legion?"
"What is the purpose of hope, Garrus?" He took a deep breath as Shepard chuckled softly, her eyes glittering with mischief at him. It was going to be a long ride back to the Normandy.
Garrus stared at the empty chairs, at all the empty chairs. Rage writhed in his innards like a living thing. It flared whenever he caught the sorrow in Shepard's eye, made him snarl as he walked through the empty ship behind her. The goddamn Collectors had blindsided them all, when they'd been out on assignment, every one of the ground team had been out running ops when the bastards had come calling, taking everyone who was left. Kelly, Gabby, Ken, Gardner, everyone.
What was worse was the hopeless gleam in Shepard's eye. He knew she felt like it was her fault for not leaving anyone to defend the Normandy. It was like the Collectors knew exactly what would hurt her the most, which the cunning bastards probably did. He was finding it really hard to love his enemy right now.
Shepard eventually settled on the conference room, pacing. In the post invasion meeting, they'd decided to hit the Collector base as soon as possible, so they were en route. It would be several hours before it could be discovered what had happened to their crew. Garrus leaned against a wall and watched her go back and forth, back and forth. The end was so near, and it felt like they hadn't done enough. If they fell, whether or not they failed, there would be no one out there to take their place, to see and prepare for the Reaper threat. And now this...setback, as insufficient a word as that was for this.
"Garrus, you should get some sleep." She'd finally come to a stop, her back to him, hands resting on the console.
He walked to her side, looking at her profile. "We should get some sleep."
She looked at him, wincing, her teeth exposed in a grimace, "You think I could?"
Garrus sighed, "No more than I could, or anyone on this ship. Jane..."
He tucked her hair, which had fallen in her face, behind her ear. Her eyes moistened as he gazed into them. She dashed the tears from them angrily, spitting venomously, "How dare they? How dare they? I can't even..." And she laughed a soft bitter laugh, "oh, they will pay."
He opened his mouth to say the trite, consoling words and she pulled herself away from him, eyes flashing furiously at him. He closed his eyes, trying to contain his own anger. Garrus opened them and grimly said, "They will."
She seemed to collapse then, his easy acquiescence disarming her. He rushed forward to catch her, pulling her into a crushing embrace. Shepard touched his face with a soft hand and he kissed her palm. Even desire, as it tickled his senses, couldn't quench his rage, making his limbs tremble. There was fear in him, too. Fear for the stolen crew, fear that she'd die out there, he shut the thought down, it was too much, could steal his composure if he let it. And then there would be no hope. He had to be strong for her, "I assume you sent a data packet to Liara?"
She grinned savagely, "You know me too well now, Garrus. Yes, with a copy of the IFF if we fail. There will be others if the worst happens."
He sighed, relieved that the fight wouldn't end with them, "It won't. You've put one hell of a team together, Jane. We'll get through this."
"All that's left before we do the actual deed is to talk to the Illusive Man. Though I'm tempted to just throw his Q.E. communicator out the airlock. He's cost us so much, time worst of all." Ghosts paraded behind her eyes and she shut them, saying tensely, "It's so very...inconvenient that I also owe him for this one chance, the best chance, and for the time to do it most of all. It always comes full circle."
"Then I owe him, too. Without him, I wouldn't have seen you again. My life would have found it's dismal and mostly deserved end on Omega, in obscurity." He picked her up in his arms and made to carry her out, "But, you know, I think he can wait for my thanks. And maybe someday I can deliver my thanks in person, on the end of my rifle."
Shepard laughed then, fiercely as she clung to him. The promise of violence in her eyes made him feel no envy whatsoever for the Collectors, the Illusive Man or anyone else who thought that they could get to Shepard through the people she loved. Garrus made a beeline to the elevator, turning her so she couldn't see all those empty chairs. He looked down into her face as the elevator hummed its way upward. He basked in the light of her fury, feeling it feed his own urgency.
Her hands came up to pull his head down to her and he pressed his mouth to hers, feeling the wet softness of her kiss tease his skin. He rumbled, his ardor filling him with desperation. He began to pull at her clothing, sorely tempted to just rip them off her body. She seemed just as eager, snarling at the seals on his armor as they took too long to unlatch. They left a trail of discarded armor and torn clothing all the way to the bed, where they attacked each other with renewed fervor, almost wrestling as each one fought for dominance.
Garrus used his weight to pin her down, hands running over her body roughly. His tongue came out to tease her breasts and she arched into him violently, almost throwing him off, her voice crying out in pleasure. His cock slid out of its sheath along her thigh and he shuddered at the sensation. There just didn't seem like there would be time, there was never enough time. Desperation had him bucking against her skin helplessly. Shepard sensed his burgeoning despair and caught him a surprising blow across the jaw with her elbow. He snapped his gaze back onto her, hiss escaping his mouth.
Felt his mouth go dry at the feverish lust and rage that filled her eyes, his grip slackened and she rolled them. She hovered over him like a predator over a kill and he felt his member grow even harder as he was pinned helpless. She tilted her pelvis to line him up with her entrance, sliding over him with agonizing slowness, her lips curling in a silent snarl. He writhed under her, as much as he could being pinned by her knees. His hips arched to try to get more of him into her and she rose easily with him, keeping to that slow slow friction, letting him in centimeter by centimeter. Finally, he couldn't take it any more and grabbed her hips in a bruising grip and thrust the full length of him into her tight canal, crying out with the relief at being fully seated in her.
Her eyes rolled back into her head and he felt a deep shudder roll through her and her already tight channel clenched around his shaft almost painfully. With a growl, he lifted her almost completely off him then slammed home, hips arching off the bed. The tight focus of her regard pinned him again and she used her strong thigh muscles to squeeze his sensitive waist, making him buck arhythmically. He felt a surge of ecstasy as his cock pulsed in her wet depths, filling her with his issue, and a languidness replaced his heated urgency.
Shepard rolled her hips in a delicious circular motion, pulling his attention to the junction of their thighs. He watched his cock appear and disappear into her as she worked herself on him. She clawed at his chest plates, her face intense in its concentration. Her mouth formed a perfect 'o' as she tilted her head back and reached one hand up to fondle her own breast, the other heading down to flick that hard knot of flesh that gave her so much pleasure when he licked it with his tongue. The image was so erotic, her pleasuring herself on him, that desire pounded through his veins, making his head spin. She screamed as she came, her inner muscles twitching and pulsing madly and her whole body went limp, sliding onto his chest, her hair falling in a brilliant titian cascade.
She mewled as he sat up, holding her to his chest. He arranged her limbs so that she had her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms were limply encircling his neck. Then he started to move in her, slowly and with all the sweetness their earlier lovemaking lacked, caressing her back and waist and buttocks soothingly. Garrus bounced her on him, gently but rapidly, his passion and love for her filling him with a blinding heat. He breathed in her scent, nuzzling her neck tenderly, ran his fingers through her hair. She whimpered, pressing her lips against his neck and he trembled at the feeling, fast losing control of his pace.
He shut his eyes tightly, embracing her as his release flooded through him, pulsating with his heartbeat. There was no tomorrow, no Collectors or Reapers in that perfect moment. Just she and him in a lover's embrace, and the universe seemed to hold its breath.
Then the moment passed. He didn't mourn its passing, just held the memory of it in his heart like a jewel. His eyes opened to see her face inches from his, the anger and pain all but vanished and he was grateful. She held his face in her hands and just looked at him, eyes skipping over his features. He did the same. If the worst came to pass, he wanted to remember this forever. She smiled into his eyes and winced as his cock slithered from her.
Garrus gave her a concerned look, wincing himself as he took in the redness around her nether lips and the bruises on her hips. He shot a look of consternation at her, "I think you're turning me into a deviant. Why don't you ever...say anything when I hurt you?"
She shrugged, dismissing the wounds with a wave of her hand, "You'd never hurt me."
"Jane..." He held her close, and let her faith chase away his doubts. Knew that if she didn't want this, he'd be lying broken and bloody on her floor. He contented himself to just whispering her name against her skin, fluttering his mandibles at her throat, tickling her with his breath in her ear. They shifted to lay next to each other in the bed and lay, just awake and holding each other until EDI informed them that they were approaching the terminus of the relay, where the Collectors awaited them.