Garrus was pinned in the corner of Dr. Michel's med clinic in the wards the next time he saw Commander Shepard. His leads from his investigation into Saren led him here, where Fist-a known criminal on the Citadel-sent his thugs, who proceeded to threaten the doctor. He was trying to figure out the best way to take the thugs out without putting Dr. Michel in danger when his distraction arrived in the form of the human Commander, her Lieutenant, and the other human that looked at him like he had two heads. The Commander made eye contact with him immediately, and the smirk he had seen once already today reappeared on her face along with a wink. That was the only cue Garrus needed.
He lunged out of cover and shot at the man holding a gun to Dr. Michel's head. He wanted to continue his assault but was enraptured by the Commander's skills in battle. He soon realized that she was skilled in tech abilities, watching her overload one thug's shield while pulling out her shotgun and taking down another. She moved with the grace of an asari commando and the discipline of a turian soldier-he couldn't help but stare. This human was certainly the most interesting one he'd ever met.
Garrus hadn't thought much of the other humans he'd met; being in C-Sec he'd mostly come into contact with politicians, criminals, or a combination of the two. Commander Shepard was the first one he'd encountered that seemed to deserve any respect.
The Commander finished off Fist's thugs in no time, bringing Garrus back to the present. She turned to Garrus, her face serious for a moment before the corners of her mouth turned up into a smirk, which he was starting to think was her signature expression.
"Nice shot," she said, breaking the silence, "Good to see you again, Officer Vakarian."
"The pleasure's all mine, Commander," he responded in kind, the turian equivalent of a smirk playing on his face at her praise. He hadn't had more than one interaction with the Commander before feeling admittedly comfortable in her presence-he was wary of humans, but he had a good feeling about her. He was admiring her features-her short, dark brown hair, peircing green eyes, and the mysterious scar that ran from her left eyebrow to her right cheek-when he realized that they had been silent for a less than comfortable amount of time.
Snapping out of his daze, he cleared his throat and said, "Dr. Michel, are you hurt?"
"No, I'm okay. Thanks to you. All of you." She said, seemingly calming down from the barrage of gunfire in her clinic.
"Happy to help," the Commander said with a tender smile, placing a hand on the doctor's shoulder. "I know those men threatened you. But if you tell us who they work for, we can protect you.
Dr. Michel took a second, but then softened under the Commander's touch. "They work for Fist," she murmured, clearly still shaken up by the events of the last few minutes, "they wanted to shut me up, keep me from telling Garrus about the quarian."
"What quarian?" Shepard softened her tone, no doubt in an effort to keep Dr. Michel comfortable.
"A few days ago, a quarian came by my office. She'd been shot, but she wouldn't tell me who did it. I could tell she was scared, probably on the run. She asked me about the Shadow Broker. She wanted to trade information in exchange for a safe place to hide."
"Then what?"
"I put her in contact with Fist. He's an agent for the Shadow Broker."
"Not anymore," Garrus interjected, "Now he works for Saren, and the Shadow Broker isn't too happy about it."
"Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker?" Dr. Michel asked incredulously. "That's stupid, even for him. Saren must have made him quite the offer.
"That quarian must have something Saren wants. Something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get."
Commander Shepard looked at him now, her eyes wide with realization. "She must have something that proves he's a traitor. Did the quarian mention anything about Saren? Or the geth?"
"She did!" Dr. Michel exclaimed, clearly glad she was able to help. "The information she was going to trade. She said it had something to do with the geth."
"She must be able to link Saren to the geth. There's no way the Council can ignore this!"
"Time we paid Fist a visit," the Commander said.
She looked at her squadmates and made a move to leave before Garrus stopped her. He hadn't known what he would say yet, but this was big-he had to be a part of it.
"This is your show Shepard," he started, making it up as he went along, "But I want to bring Saren down as much as you do. I'm coming with you!"
"You're a turian," she scoffed, making Garrus take a step back. "Why do you want to bring him down?"
Garrus felt his anger boiling inside him, but quickly responded, trying not to anger the human as well. "I couldn't find the the proof I needed in my investigation, but I knew what was really going on. Saren is a traitor to the Council, and a disgrace to my people!"
Shepard looked in his eyes for a brief moment, clearly questioning his intentions, before she softened. Her smirk returned and she held her hand out to Garrus as she did in the tower. "That's what I like to hear. Welcome aboard, Garrus."
Even though she seemed satisfied, Garrus felt the need to further show his commitment to the cause. An idea struck him.
"You know, we aren't the only ones going after Fist. The Shadow Broker hired a krogan bounty hunter named Wrex to take him out."
"Yeah, we heard about him," he'd heard from behind Shepard. It was the female human traveling with her. She didn't seem happy to have Garrus bring up the krogan.
A krogan? Noelle was already nervous about having one non-human in her squad, but at least she knew turians could follow orders. Everything she had heard about the krogan painted them as comparable to animals, but she needed all the help she could get, so she replied "A krogan might come in handy."
"Last I heard he was at the C-Sec academy."
"What's he doing there?" She had heard the skepticism in Ashley's voice just prior, but this time it came from Kaidan.
"Fist accused him of making threats. We brought Wrex in for a little talk. If you hurry, you can catch him before he leaves."
Shepard smirked at Garrus's emphasis of the words "little talk." In the small amount of time she had been around Garrus, Noelle noticed that he was breaking all the rules. He genuinely wanted to bring Saren to justice, so much that he would willingly work with a krogan-who she knew turians didn't get along with. That, along with his cunning in battle intrigued her. With just one look, she was able to convey an order to him, and he obeyed by shooting the thug holding Dr. Michel hostage. As wary as she is of turians as a whole, she felt a connection with Garrus, a need to be nice. She had never been nice to turians; she could not see why this one should be any different, but he was. He had already proved her wrong by going after Saren, and he continued to do so by resuming his investigation without permission. In that moment, she decided she needed Garrus on her team; someone determined, with personal stake in the issue.
"Alright," Shepard sighed, finally willing herself to recruit the krogan. "Welcome aboard, Garrus. Lieutenant, return to the Normandy; Garrus is going to be accompanying me on this one."
She caught a glimpse of the lieutenant-was he scowling at Garrus?-but when he looked at her, he saluted and replied, "Aye aye, ma'am."
Wrex was certainly a type of person Commander Shepard wasn't used to dealing with-not in the Alliance, anyway. Alliance soldiers were structured, obedient, and usually reserved, not speaking unless they were spoken to. Wrex was completely the opposite. You couldn't keep that thing from it's goal if you tried. He had a lot of attitude and an urge to fight, and reluctantly, he reminded Shepard of herself. He was willing to do whatever it took to get the job done, like she had done on Torfan. She may not like aliens, but she damn-well respected Wrex's determination.
With Wrex and Garrus at her side, Shepard invaded Chora's Den and made her way into Fist's office. He revealed that he had sent the quarian straight into the arms of one of Saren's assassins, and they had to act quickly. Before she could get her thoughts together, Wrex shot Fist. Like she said-he gets the job done, no matter what.
Shepard, Garrus and Wrex left as quickly as they could-if they didn't reach the quarian in time, their only shot at bringing down Saren was gone. Wrex even slammed through a door on the way, forcing Shepard to stifle a laugh. The quarian was seconds away from being killed when Shepard and her squad arrived. Just as the assassin reached for his gun, Garrus took out his sniper rifle and put a bullet right through his head. Shepard had to regain her composure upon watching him take the shot; she admired his finesse. She knew how to use a sniper rifle, but was better at shotguns; more straightforward and in-your-face. Garrus just looked over to her and nodded his head after taking the shot, like it was something as easy as breathing. It had taken them minutes to wipe out the other assassins, and they ran to the quarian.
Her name was Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. She was on her pilgrimage, some rite of passage for the quarian race, when she had discovered audio on a disabled geth proving Saren's guilt. They brought the evidence to Udina, the human ambassador, immediately and he took Tali, telling Shepard, Wrex and Garrus to meet him in the Citadel Tower for another meeting with the Council.
The meeting with the Council went the way it should have the first time-with Saren's Spectre status revoked, and Shepard being initiated as the first human Spectre. Her first mission was, of course, to bring Saren down-no big deal, right? she thought. However, she had to admit, she was proud to be humanity's first Spectre.
As the meeting came to a close, she turned to see Garrus walking up to her. "It's been a pleasure, ma'am," he said before reaching out for a final handshake. "Now, do us all a favor and take that bastard down."
Shepard's stomach sunk, but she didn't know why. As she shook his hand and watched him walk away, her instincts kicked in. "Vakarian, where do you think you're going?!" she shouted, "We have a rogue Spectre to track down, get your ass back here! Or would you rather be sifting through paperwork for some politician who was called a bad name?"
He turned around, what she thought was a smirk playing on his face. "Wouldn't dream of it ma'am."
Garrus had gotten comfortable on the Normandy within the next few days. He found a space in the shuttle bay where he could tinker with the Mako. He had made at least two friends on the ship-Wrex and Tali were also invited to join the Normandy's crew. They were even on their way to pick up an asari named Liara T'Soni. He couldn't speak for the human crew, though; Kaidan and Ashley both seemed wary of him. That didn't matter though-he was getting the opportunity of a lifetime, and he wouldn't miss it just because a couple humans didn't like him.
In all the things Garrus had read about Shepard, he had learned that she was ruthless, and a typical human; wary of aliens in every way. Her efforts on Torfan proved that she would stop at nothing if it meant keeping humans alive. Nothing could have prepared him for the real Commander Shepard, though. She was funny, sarcastic, and generally friendly. Her eyes sparkled when she spoke about the things she enjoyed-from what Garrus gathered, that included shooting things, listening to music, and reading. So far, nothing he read about her seemed true; she was extremely pleasant to be around. Sure, she seemed distrusting of the aliens within the first few minutes of meeting them, but she also warmed up to everyone quickly.
On the way to find the asari, Garrus was trying to optimize the Mako's combat. He was calibrating the guns and trying to upgrade the armor, when Commander Shepard stepped off the elevator. She must have just showered because her fringe-oh right, humans called it hair-was wet. She was wearing an Alliance hoodie and matching sweatpants, and holding two beers. He was shocked when she walked over to him and placed one of those beers in his hand. Great, now he had to find a way to tell her he couldn't eat or drink anything that humans could. Just as he was about to open his mouth, Shepard beat him to it.
"Don't worry," she said, "I got you that dextro shit. Can't have you being poisoned on my watch, ya know?" She smiled and sat down on a crate next to Garrus. "Besides, I figure on a mission like this, I need to keep all my crew well fed, and occasionally drunk."
Garrus chuckled at that. "Careful Shepard, you might mess with my aim. Your best sniper can't be all wobbly going out on a mission."
"Speaking of which, where the hell did you learn how to use a sniper rifle like that?" she asked. Her eyes were bright, genuine curiosity written all over her face.
Her innocent appearance made him smile. "The turian military helps with that. I can't say the same about the Alliance, you can't aim for shit."
"Hey, hey, hey!" she countered, "You may be able to pick enemies off with your fancy rifle but get a bullet from my shotgun in your face and your mouth would be on the opposite end of the room from your eyes." She howled with laughter at her own joke.
While she was laughing, Garrus got a really good look at her. Based on what he knew about humans, she was attractive for her species. She had shoulder length, dark brown hair, and full lips. She had curves that you would barely see in the outfit she was wearing, but in a dress would be so obvious human men could become animalistic at their presence. She carried herself with confidence and wasn't afraid to be herself, regardless of who she was talking to. The only physical fault she had-if you would even call it that-was a long scar across her face. Even so, she's what the humans refer to as a "knockout". Garrus's thoughts were confirmed by almost every human male on the ship-his visor detected their heartbeats increasing every time they spoke to her.
Garrus realized that he needed to think of something to say quickly so he didn't make her uncomfortable. When her laughter subsided, he cleared his throat and said, "So, did you just come down here to threaten the lone turian on your crew?"
"Nah," she replied, her composure back to normal, "I just want to get to know my crew; you're the one that's being the big macho ball-buster." Another smile emerged on her face.
At that, Garrus prompted her to start asking him questions, to which he would respond and ask her a question. He learned about the colony she came from-Mindoir-which was victim to a slaver raid, leaving her the only survivor in her family. She learned about his family-his father, sister, and ailing mother. She told him about enlisting and about her decisions on Torfan, and he realized that the reason she had the reputation she did wasn't because it was true. On paper, anyone looking at her abandoning her crew on Torfan would find her to be ruthless and cold. But get to know the real Commander Shepard, and you would feel totally different. There was a charm about her; she had layers, ones that she would only reveal when she was ready, to people that deserve it. There was something that drew Garrus in about her, and he hoped he'd be one of those people that deserved to learn more about her.
They drank a few more beers each and talked into the night, joking and learning what they could about each other. It felt more like old friends catching up than two strangers getting to know each other. However, the mood shifted late into the night.
Shepard was just laughing at a joke that Garrus had told, when she looked to her right and stopped all together. She dropped her head, and Garrus asked if she was okay.
"Yeah…" she said, sounding unsure of herself, "I think I just had too much beer." She chuck;ed, but it wasn't as light-hearted as before. "Hey, Garrus, I have to go, but we should do this again sometime."
She rested her hand on his shoulder and walked back to the elevator. Garrus looked to where Shepard looked before she stopped laughing, and found the face of Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams scowling at him. At that point he realized, getting along with Shepard was the easy part. But the people that sought the idea of Commander Shepard-the heartless, xenophobic war hero-would be a problem of their own.