One Mass Relay jump and a quick run at FTL later, and Garrus was hailing Citadel Control for docking instructions. Getting a berth wasn't as easy as it had been- twenty odd years after the War, the Citadel was still rebuilding and some wards were almost completely abandoned. Fortunately the words "Spectre priority" still had a certain cachet, and Garrus had no problems getting berths for their fighter and Miranda's scout. Which was just about the last thing on the Citadel that went as planned.

Their first unexpected factor was waiting for them when they docked. All nine feet of him, cased in scarred red battle armor and festooned with weapons. Shepard stopped when she saw him, but their conversation was predictably brief.

"Wrex."

"Shepard." That gravelly bass growl hadn't changed a bit either. Shepard crossed her arms.

"Didn't expect to see you here." Wrex chuckled, a sound like boulders rolling down a hill.

"Haven't you learned by now Shepard? A krogan is always exactly where he means to be. It's just that sometimes the universe has to move a bit."

"But shouldn't you be-"

"Standing by my battle-kin when they need it? Of course. I wasn't kidding about the honorary krogan thing, Shepard. Whoever these people are, they've touched the honor of Clan Urdnot. So I really hope you weren't planning on giving them one of your patented second chances."

Shepard shook her head. "Not this time. Allright, welcome aboard." Shepard stepped forward and shook the krogan's massive paw. "Now gear up. We've got a lowlife to interrogate."

"Shepard." Wrex fell in next to Garrus, giving Miranda and Jack only a quick sideways glance. They were with Shepard, the look said, and that was good enough, but it didn't mean he was interested in talking to them. On the way to C-Sec the two biotics started bickering- quietly, they knew better than to draw Shepard's attention right now- apparently continuing an argument Garrus could only guess at by inference. From what he gathered it had started when Jack reprogrammed the voice file on the yacht's VI, but it seemed to have expanded outwards to encompass sleep habits, personal hygiene, Cerberus, the finer points of biotic control, who was the better pistol shot, and basically incompatible philosophical approaches towards life in general. More to break the silence than anything else, because Shepard was still being scary quiet, Garrus interjected with,

"So, you two fighting again?"

Two identical glares snapped around to pin him. "Just what is that supposed to mean?" Miranda's voice was cool, tart. "Are you implying that we're some kind of couple?"

"Um." Garrus had a strong feeling that whatever he said was going to be wrong, so he went with his first impulse. "Well, you do seem to argue like one sometimes."

"Shit, Garrus, thought you'd have figured out by now I ain't gotta fuck somebody before I fight with 'em."

"Good thing too. Otherwise you'd have an even longer list-"

"Oh my God, will you shut the hell up, cheerleader?" Jack flicked her eyes back to Garrus. "Anyway. We may fight like a couple, but we don't need any of your shit over it, got it?"

"Because we're not. So you can take those ideas-"

"And wipe 'em the fuck out of your spiny skull. Got it?"

Garrus held up his hands in surrender. This was obviously not a fight he could win, and if it went on much longer Shepard might notice. He didn't even want to think about what would happen them. "Allright, allright. I'm sorry." The squad fell back into silence as they continued toward C-Sec. Even though nobody made a sound, Garrus still had the distinct feeling Wrex was laughing at him. Somehow.

Another familiar face was waiting outside of C-Sec. Shepard actually cracked a smile at this one. "Commander Bailey. Doesn't C-Sec have a retirement plan anymore?"

Bailey snorted. "That'll be the day. The only way those punks under me are getting my chair when they carry me out of the station feet-first. Besides, what would I do, grow corn on some backwater rock?"

"Don't knock it." Shepard leaned forward. "Did you get my message?" Bailey nodded.

"Alenko relayed it, yeah. Sends his regrets, by the way, but the Council has him off getting a cat out of a tree or disarming a superweapon or something." He hiked his thumb over his shoulder. "I got your man in Interrogation One. Let me know when you're done with him."

"About that." Garrus stepped aside with Bailey as the others moved towards the indicated door. "You do know Shepard and I aren't technically active-"

"Funny thing about that. I keep meaning to run a check on your Spectre status, but it hasn't gone through yet. Paperwork must have gotten lost someplace. Just remember," Bailey shook a finger mockingly, "I have a duty to intervene if I see you doing something horribly unethical. So make sure to get video, because I love watching your interrogations after it's too late to do anything about it." Bailey clapped Garrus on the shoulder. "So who's good cop?"

"I dunno." Garrus' gaze was locked on his wife, as he moved to catch up. "I'm not sure we have one anymore."

Garrus pushed open the door to Interrogation Room One. The room was dark, with only a single glow panel to put a spot of light on two chairs and a tale. In one of the chairs was Ilya Romanov, a meek-looking man in a suit who didn't look a thing like a slaver until you checked the eyes. He had the look of a man who knew the cops had nothing on him, and expected to be home after a few hours of boredom. Shepard stayed in the shadows, so Garrus slid into the other chair and leaned forward.

"They say you should always start with a joke. I usually leave that to a friend of mine, but I've got a pretty good one. How many Spectres does it take to beat information out of a two-bit slaver?" The man's eyes widened, just a bit.

"Spectres?" Garrus chuckled, darkly. Oh yeah. He knew he was in too deep now.

"Guess you give up. The answer is two. One to ask the questions-"

"And one to beat the living hell out of you until we get the answers." Jane picked the line up perfectly and stepped forward, the light catching her face- pinched, hard as stone.

Romanov nearly fell out of his chair. "Jesus Christ! Commander Shepard!"

"Wrong the first time, right the second." Jane put her arms on the table and leaned forward. "I'm in a hurry, so I'm going to ask you this once. You got some slaves in from Omega. Where. Are. They?"

Romanov raised his hands, palms up. "Look, Shepard, I don't know what's going on here. But I don't kn-"

"That wasn't an answer." A pause. "You know where I'm from Romanov?"

"Uh." The man shook his head, trying to catch the apparent segue. "Earth, right?"

"Chicago. It's a province now, but it used to be just a city." Jane drew back and circled around the table, her voice coming out of the darkness. "Always been a rough place, but we know how to deal with it. It's called the Chicago Way, and it's very simple." Her voice was right behind Romanov now, and suddenly her head lunged out of the darkness like a striking snake, bringing her mouth right next to Romanov's ear. The man jumped again, but Jane didn't break her cadence, her voice a harsh whisper. "You bring a knife, I bring a gun. You put one of my gang in the hospital, I put one of yours in the morgue. You kidnap. My daughter. And sell her as a sex slave." Shepard's voice rose with each phrase, until she was screaming in Romanov's ear. "Do you want to know what I'll do to you then, scumbag? Do you?"

"Shepard." His voice was pleading now. "Shepard, you don't understand. They'll kill me if I cross them."

"Yeah? That's real tough." Shepard walked around the table again, heading for the chair. Garrus rose automatically to let her sit, wondering where this was going. Nowhere good, he was afraid. "You know, I had a very well-connected friend of mine check you out, Mr. Romanov. Or should I say, Mr. Gregarian?" The man jerked in surprise again, and Shepard smiled as she laid datapads on the table. That smile...Garrus had never seen it before. He'd seen her grinning because a victory was won and her crew safe. He'd seen her teeth bared as she went into battle. He'd even seen the slow, honest one she saved for him, that always reminded him of watching the sun come up. This was none of them. It was a smirking, malicious little pout, the face of someone who's about to enjoy causing pain. "Yeah, that was a good fake ID, but pro tip- if you want to stay hidden, don't keep sending credits to your family back on Earth. Sister, husband, two kids- all survived the war, lucky you. They know where you get the credits that moved them out of the Refus camp, Gregarian? Do you tell them about the girls whose lives you destroy at family dinners? Or does that not come up?" She didn't give him a chance to respond, but his face began to turn bright red. "Mother just got admitted to Armstrong Medical on Luna for limb regeneration. Lucky lady."

Gregarian's face was deep red. "You trying to scare me now? I know you. The perfect Commander Shepard. You'd never hurt them."

"No. I never would." That smile got a bit bigger. "But I can hurt you." Jane tossed another datapad onto the table. "That? Is a Spectre order freezing their bank accounts as suspected proceeds of organized crime." Another one. "That's another one, requisitioning the apartment your sister's family was going to move into. Shame about the frozen accounts, but the camp can always take them back. And that?" Shepard tossed another datapad onto the table. "That is an emergency priority request for medical resources from Armstrong. A request that will just so happen to bump your mother pretty far down the priority list for treatment. No big deal, she'll be up eventually, and I'm sure she can manage with that robot leg for another few years. " Gregarian was white as a ghost and looked like he was going to be ill. Garrus felt like he was close behind. Who was this woman? Jane- Shepard- leaned forward. "I will sign these orders. I will make sure they go into effect. And then, only then, I'll kill you. So decide, Gregarian. Who do you think is more dangerous?"

The man held up his hands. "Enough! Okay, okay, you've made your point. The girls came in about a day ago from Omega. They shipped out this morning in two lots. Errant Symphony out of dock B17 for Hades Gamma, Shadow Venture out of E2 for Hawking Eta." The man was weeping now, holding his head in his hands to hide the tears. "That's all I know, I swear!"

"Not good enough!" Shepard slammed her palm down on the table. "Human girl, tall, athletic, blue eyes, long black hair. Which one was she on?"

Gregarian held up his hands, trying and failing to choke back a sob. "I don't know! I don't know, I swear it, I swear on my life and soul, I just schedule the ships, Pondam Vol handles the inventory assignments, Pondam Vol in Crytos Shatterward, I swear on my grandmother's grave that I don't know." His voice trailed off, and for a long moment there was silence in the room except for the sound of his crying.

"Okay. I believe you." Shepard swept all the data pads off the table and stood. "I'll tell Bailey to get you into witness protection. Just remember, if I find out you lied-"

"I know. I know. I'm not. I swear. Just go." Shepard turned and strode out of the room, Garrus a half-step behind her. As they cleared the door he leaned forward and hissed in her ear,

"Jane, what in the nine hells-"

"Not now, Garrus." That was all he got as she strode forward. He trailed in her wake, watching closely. All of a sudden, he felt like he was losing two of the women he loved.

Everyone stayed quiet on the walk back to the docking bay, trying not to set Shepard off and waiting for their next move. Far as Garrus could see they had several, none very appealing. They could check for cameras and interrogate witnesses near the two docks, hoping to get lucky. They could try to find this Pondam Vol, who they knew nothing about and lived in one of the lawless Shatterwards, still abandoned twenty years after the Battle of Earth. Or they could split up and try to trace both transports. Whatever they did, it was going to take time. Time for something to happen to Ash, or for her to be shipped somewhere else and reenter the web of galactic commerce. And that was exactly what they didn't have.

So when Garrus heard an annoyingly familiar voice call out "Hey! Shepard! Long time no see!" from the crowd, Garrus took a step forward and reached for his stun rod. Because they would be delayed even further if his wife snapped and killed someone here on the Citadel. Even Conrad Verner.

"Conrad." All things considered, Jane's voice was pretty level, a surface calm barely holding back star-hot rage. "Conrad, this is not a good time." The man held up his hands.

"Oh, sure, I get it. Probably looking for Ashley, right?" Shepard wheeled, and Garrus started forward, convinced Conrad was seconds from a very messy death. But when she spoke again, Jane's voice was still perfectly level.

"What do you know about Ashley, Conrad?"

Verner grinned wide, laughing a bit, apparently unaware how close he was to oblivion. "Come on, Shepard! I'm your biggest fan! I know all the kids, I keep up with them. I feel like I watched them grow up, you know, kinda like an uncle or something."

Garrus blanched. "We'll talk about that later." Behind him he could hear Miranda, Jack, and Wrex talking sotto voce.

"I don't think I ever had an uncle."

"You ain't missing much."

"If he doesn't stop babbling, think Shepard will let me eat him?"

"Why did you ask about Ashley?"

Conrad scratched his head. "Oh, hey, not trying to pry. Just that I saw her heading off towards B dock with some friends a while ago. She looked kinda out of it, like maybe she fell in with the wrong crowd. Huh, kids, you know?"

Garrus' mandibles splayed in shock.

In his peripheral vision, he was pretty sure he saw Miranda pinch herself.

"B Dock." Shepard's gaze was intent enough to melt armor. "Are you sure?"

"Oh, absolutely! They were using back passages, but I've got you and Garrus and all the kids written into this facial recognition software that I sorta hacked into the C-Sec system, so I was able to track her the whole way. She went to B-17. Got the chip if you want."

"Conrad..." Shepard trailed off, shaking her head from side to side for a long moment. Then she grabbed him by the hair and mashed her lips up against his. Verner's eyes went wide as the Citadel, and he nearly fell backwards. After a second Shepard pulled back, that same blazing look on her face. "We're even." She took off at a dead run towards their docking slip, squad in trail. Trailing off in the distance, he heard a faint "Call meeeeeeeeee", but that was the least of his worries right now. From behind him:

"Conrad Verner saves the goddamn day. Now I really have seen everything."

"Except a hair salon."

"Oh fuck you, cheerleader!"