(Author's Note: Had a great question about whether or not this was a refusal ending. This story actually takes place before the selection of any ending. Shepard never makes it to the beam. Hope that clears it up. Thanks so much for the question and support!)

(38 minutes ago)

'Garrus!', Tali yelled. 'She's here.'

With the combat shuttle kicking up dust behind her, Jack emerged as if from the very darkness and fog of London; a demonic being summoned with pentagram and black mass. Energy, amped with rage and scientific theory, twisted along her entire being, but the display of power paled against the might of her gaze. Eyes kissed with bolts of biotic flame bore through the gathered sons and daughters of the Normandy, dismissed their existence, and instead pierced beyond the obstacles of friend, foe, stone and steel to find her one absolute destination, Shepard.

Each footfall carried her toward the Alliance bulwark and the great beam beyond, and it didn't take a tactician to realize she had no intention of stopping. But suddenly, where there had only been her 'goal' before, a giant armored Turian now stood.

'Jaaaack,' Garrus drug the word for several beats, attempting to 'question' the woman while also gaining her attention.

Dust and hate swirled to a pregnant stillness, as Jack's combat boots paused their charge.

'I'm going to say this once, Vakarian. Get the fuck out of my way.'

''Fraid I can't d…', Garrus's refusal fell, as he found himself jerked into the night.

Weapons of every conceivable design drew down on Jack, as soon as her biotics enveloped the Turian and lifted him off the ground.

'Put him down, Jack,' Tali commanded from behind both her helmet and her sub-machine gun. 'Now.'

'We are all grieving, Jack,' Liara T'Soni softly spoke, as she walked toward the raging woman. 'Shepard was…'

'IS, Bitch! Don't talk about him like he's dead!', Subject Zero nova'd with the decree.

'You self-righteous pricks!', Jack shouted at Liara, at them all. 'If you all 'love' him so much, you should all be lying next to him! Fucking cowards!'

'He…tricked…us,' Garrus choked from his elevated position. 'We were…scattered…adhering…to a plan…a plan…he didn't follow. Shepard spearheaded…the charge with EDI…and Vega. He…tricked us…to keep us alive.'

With the revelation, Jack released Garrus, unceremoniously dropping him back to the earth, yet even with her acquiescence, the rest of the group kept their guns trained on the deadly being.

'Okay, lets say I believe he fucked you over. What was 'his' plan then?', Jack demanded. 'Why was Shepard charging that…whatever the hell that is?'

'It's the only way to the Citadel,' Liara explained. 'Shepard was trying to get up there and open the station so the Crucible can dock. We bel…'

'I don't give a shit about your theories, T'Soni', Subject Zero interrupted. 'All I care about is that Shepard fell trying to get to that beam.'

Misconstruing Jack's musings as acceptance of the situation, Liara continued.

'The plan now is to fall back, but we will not leave him. Katsumi is prepping a team to bring back Shepa…to bring back his body.'

Jack's eyes flicked left and right, while in her mind, hammer and chisel began to fashion a plan of her own, one of rescue and not retrieval.

'Yeah…fuck that plan, Shadow Broker. Where's the Thief?', Subject Zero snapped. 'I need her, and one of those goddamned 'two-horned Salarians'…one of the sneakier ones.'

As an aside, Jack muttered under her breath, 'Figures the only salamander I could stand went and hero'd out.'

A circle had formed around Jack, a circle composed of the crew of the Normandy past and present, and while their faces expressed sympathy for the lover of their fallen leader, they also displayed a loyalty to Shepard that hadn't ended with his 'death'. They meant to do everything in their considerable power to follow their commander's unspoken 'last order' and stop Jack from committing suicide.

Returning her attention to the scene at hand, it took only a blink for Subject Zero to ascertain the crews' bent. For one that had lived the majority of her life in chains, Jack knew a 'snare' when she saw one.

'Can't let you throw your life away, Jack', Garrus spoke as he advanced slowly.

'Let us help you,' Tali offered, as she too moved forward.

All along the circle, the Normady's crew moved closer: Liara, Ashley, Zaeed, Grunt, Samara, the Cheerleader, and the aforementioned Garrus and Tali. Shepard's closest friends, his family, now sought to save one of their own from herself.

'Don't make this a goddamn'd event, girl', Massani growled. 'Stand down and save it for the bastards.'

Fighting through her comrades, while not impossible in her current state, would certainly deplete a large amount of her new reserves. Instead Jack opted for the next best thing…

She laughed.

Without taking his full attention from the cackling madwoman, Garrus deadpanned.

'You cracking up, Jack?'

Gone as suddenly as it appeared, her mirth fled, and with her response, Jack started to spin slowly, taking in each member of the squad.

'I'm going out there to get Shepard, and I'm going alone.'

'Why,' Liara breathed, her own pain clearly soaking the word. 'If you're determined to go, why go alone?'

In a rare display of sympathy, Jack slowly shook her head, 'Because I can't protect you all.'

Grunt and Zaeed each produced simultaneous, derisive snorts, while the rest of the group cast more subtle cues of incredulity.

'What makes you think we need your 'protection', Jack?', Garrus spat, his patience at an end.

Turning to face Liara, Subject Zero continued. 'You asked 'why'. The answer…because this moment is why I was made.'

Near the edge of the circle, Miranda's eyes narrowed. A barely perceptible 'tell', but one that did not escape the notice of Jack's heightened senses.

Without even looking at the ex-Cerberus cheerleader, Subject Zero pointed one slender tattooed digit her way.

'Ask her.'