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Chapter 3: The Pulse

Through all his time aboard the Normandy, Garrus had quickly learned that there were two types of crazy: There was you-need-to-check-into-a-mental-ward crazy and Shepard crazy. And Commander Shepard, was definitely Shepard crazy. What could she possibly be thinking?! Was he the only one listening when Miranda said they were last known for experimenting on thorian creepers? Or when she let it slip that the compound had fallen off the grid almost half a year ago? Why in spirits name were they even considering this?!

"That low?" Shepard voice echoed in his head. His eyes flickered to her. She was standing at the head of the conference table, her left arm crossed under her chest and her right was bent at the elbow, her index finger and thumb holding her chin steady as her emerald eyes scanned the blueprint EDI projected for them.

Mordin confirmed with a nod of his head, "Not enough to upgrade Thanix Cannons, anyways. Cerberus hideout has plenty. Prefer to have bigger guns when face-to-face with the collectors myself."

"I gotta warn you, Commander," Jacob interrupted, he braced his hands on the edge of the table, his head looking through the hologram and straight to her, "We have no idea what's down there. The whole facility has gone dark, and the last reports we did receive from them were disturbing. Who knows what happened since then."

"We have no idea what's beyond the Omega relay either," She justified, "Besides, I'm with Mordin on this one."

"What exactly do you classify as 'disturbing', Operative Taylor?" Garrus spoke up from his little corner of the room. He straightened his posture and stretched out his neck before continuing, "Being with Cerberus, I can't imagine that a couple of dozen thorian creepers will disturb Cerberus the slightest bit." The sarcasm was literally dripping from his words.

Jacob sighed heavily, his eyes fixed to Miranda's and the woman simply shrugged her shoulders, "This facility's main priority was to focus on biology," She said casually.

"That translates into cloning for anyone with a brain cell," Jack interrupted, "And there are people in fucking mental wards just because they hear voices and fold origami. How the hell does Cerberus get away with this shit?"

"They went rogue," Miranda defended.

"I'll keep the tallies open." The fugitive shot back with venom.

The two glared at each other.

"Enough," Shepard's voice cut through the air like a knife, "What exactly do you two know?"

Garrus's eyes shot back to her, an image of her in sweat pants flashed in his head. Her tone was full of authority now, and no one in the room dared to object her words. He heard her breathless whisper of his name echo in his head. He still couldn't get over just how different she was, how good she was at keeping personal and business separate. He couldn't help but compare the two different versions of little red head he saw. And no one else knew that she liked to paint her toenails pink but him. His eyes scanned everyone standing in the room, feeling like he held the galaxy's most prized secret; the woman behind Commander Shepard.

Jacob sighed, pushing away from the table to cross his arms over his chest, "The last reports we received weren't from the man in charge. They were from the scientist under him."

"Solomon Grieves," Miranda took over, revealing information she obviously hadn't intended to give out and probably wouldn't have if Jacob hadn't spoken up, "He was the Illusive Man's favorite scientist, so he was put in charge. An egomaniac, even by my standards. According to the ones who worked there, he started to take volunteers; people who were willing to combine their DNA with the creepers'," She brought a hand up to cradle her forehead as her fingers massaged along her temples, frustration showed as she shook her head. There was a pause in her voice before she sighed and continued, "And they took that new form of DNA to make clones."

She activated her omni-tool, and began to play an audio recording. At first there was nothing but static, then someone in the recording started to breathe heavily, "I-if this gets out to anyone, please heed our warning and do not enter this facility," She was desperate, and obviously frightened. She spoke urgently but through a whisper, as if she was hiding somewhere. There were some loud crashes from the background and she cried out, "Oh, heavens, they found me!" There was glass shattering and the woman in the recording started yelling for whoever- whatever- it was in front of her to leave her alone. Nobody in the room could mistake the sound of a blade penetrating flesh. There was quiet, then a heavy thud. They heard her nails scrapping at the floor and a blood gurgling cry before her breaths finally died. Faintly, there were some ominous growls in the background before the audio cut off.

Miranda stood there, looking straight at Shepard, "That's the last we heard from them."

Shepard felt a chill run down her spine. Her eyes immediately went to Garrus, but the turian was all ready looking at her and the look she saw in those blue hues told her everything: If she were going through with the plan, he was going along with her and there was nothing she or anyone else could say or do to stop him.

Everyone had their eyes on the commander. It was obvious she was disturbed by the voice recording, but he knew she hadn't been swayed. There were two types of stubbornness as well. He knew she would still want to go down there. If not for the minerals, then to definitely put a stop to whatever it was that was down there.

"We have to go," Shepard said steadily.

"Are you fucking crazy?" Jack questioned as if Shepard grew a second head.

Garrus chuckled from his corner, shaking his head, "You haven't the slightest idea," There was a hint of amusement coming from him this time. Shepard could have sworn that there was something in his voice that whispered 'just like old times' as an image of she, Garrus, and Wrex running over thorian creatures in the mako flashed in her head. Wrex freaking out over Shepard's horrible driving skills. The chuckle was returned.

"EDI, are you picking anything up with the thermal scans?"

The projection in front of them transitioned into heat readings and everyone could see the multiple signatures hoarding in one area of the facility. EDI popped up just before the commander, "All seals and emergency exits have been sealed, within reason. We cannot allow an outbreak, Shepard. Once you enter the facility, we cannot ensure your exit until the compound has been quarantined."

Shepard nodded her head, "Noted. Everyone else, you're dismissed."

As the room cleared, Garrus never took his gaze off the commander. And when it was just the two of them, he approached her casually, "I don't suppose there's a chance of me persuading you not to go down there?"

She eyed him from the corner of her eyes, her focus still on the thermal image EDI kept projected, "It's not about the platinum anymore, Garrus," She turned her body to face him, pointed to the holo with her hand, "You heard that recording. Whatever's down there, it needs to be stopped."

He brought up a hand to rub a spot behind his fringe, "Well, whatever the case, I'm not letting you go there alone. Personally, I think we should pull a Cerberus and ignore the obvious danger all together. But orders are orders."

"Sounded to me like you volunteered, Gunnery Officer." There was a playful smirk on her lips, and he noticed that she was teasing him.

He hummed deep in his chest, taking a step closer to her, "I'm beginning to realize why," he whispered to her. He watched has her breath hitched in her throat, and his mandibles pulled into a smirk as he stepped away, "I'll meet you on the shuttle."

After Garrus cleared the room, Shepard remained for a few moments longer. She studied the blueprint, counting the exits, the number of rooms and kept an eye on those that contained heat signatures. She tapped her fingers against the table, "EDI, can you tell if any of these signatures are human? Are there survivors?"

"The data is too corrupt for me to determine which are human and which are not," The room went silent as EDI worked on the scans. The projection rotated and zoomed in to a corridor that appeared to be a dead end. Shepard lifted an eyebrow at the scan, remaining quiet until EDI spoke up, "Cerberus records indicate that there is a panic room here at the end of this corridor, Commander. If there are any survivors, it is likely they are here."

"Just think of it as any other routine sweep for survivors, Commander," Joker's voice peeked inside from the intercom, "Or one big game of Hide-and-Seek."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

When Shepard boarded the shuttle, she was surprised to see Miranda sitting on the bunker across from Garrus. The two were holding a conversation about the mission, Garrus mostly getting on the brunette's case about her choice in clothing when they were about the land on a snow planet. The red head smiled to herself as she remembered Garrus complaining about the cold during their time on Noveria.

They both greeted her when she stepped foot into the shuttle and she returned the gestures, "Miranda, I'd be lying if I said I was expecting you to come along."

Miranda sat forward, slouching over, "Cerberus invested a lot of our resources into bring you back, Commander. I'm here to make sure it doesn't go to waste."

Garrus grunted at that, as if to say 'like I'd let that happen.'

Miranda glanced at the turian before turning her attention back to Shepard, "I assume EDI mentioned the panic room?"

Shepard nodded her head.

"It's highly doubtful there are any survivors, Commander. The only one who knows the access code is Solomon himself. And according to the reports, he lost his sanity."

"It doesn't matter," Shepard interjected, reaching up to grasp the railing that hung from the roof of the shuttle, "Were checking the place out regardless."

The bay fell into silence the rest of the way. It was about an hour before the pilot notified them that they were entering the planet's orbit. When they entered the atmosphere, the temperature dropped considerably. Shepard could see the grumpy look taking over the turian's face. Miranda was obviously trying not to shake, her willpower kept her from showing any signs of being wrong.

It grew to the point that Shepard had to put her helmet on to ensure her body heat wasn't escaping from her armor. Garrus followed her example and Miranda simply put up a blue barrier around her body. Another hour went by and the trio engaged in a discussion about battle tactics and what to do in case the group got separated. They adjusted their comms to the same channel and eventually the shuttle came to a slow stop. The pilot announced their landing, and the doors opened.

A heavy gust of wind swept into the shuttle, billows of snow intruded into their space. They all looked at each other before jumping off to the snow covered land. When the shuttle closed its doors and flew off to meet back up with the Normandy, Garrus turned around to watch its departure and then turned to face the commander, "...Shepard," Garrus grumbled into his comm, "Do you remember when I told you how bad turians hated the cold?"

"Not as bad as Miranda is now."

Garrus chuckled, "I bet you're feeling nice and cozy right about now, Lawson."

"We're not discussing this," the woman muttered back to them.

Thankfully, EDI was able to disable the automatic turrets outside the compound. To which Garrus commented on how odd it was that they were still operative considering the time lapse in which the facility had gone dark. Someone has to be maintaining them. But aside from the cold, the approach to the Cerberus underground lab had gone uneventful. Just the chills of a ghost town as they investigated each bunker before moving on to the main compound.

They kept their weapons ready as Shepard bypassed the lock on the main door to the facility. It took a minute but the lock eventually beamed green and opened for them just long enough to slip through. Once inside, it was considerably warmer but it was obvious that the power wasn't working. The doors behind them sealed shut, the console glowing red to indicate it's locked status. Shepard took in a deep breath, "All right, no turning back now."

"Don't remind me," Miranda quipped back.

"Right now, let's just focus on the quarantine. We'll work our way to the bunker so we aren't cornered by whatever the hell is down here."

The research lab was built in a diamond shape with two floors and a hallway that cut across the side corridors horizontally to an elevator at the heart of the structure. All the heat signatures were crowded on the second floor, and Shepard could recall seeing a few straggling behind the larger hoard in the hallways and stairwell, some even seemed trapped in rooms. She remembered how EDI mentioned that the movements weren't human like. They were sluggish, lethargic. Shepard could only hope that their presence here wouldn't provoke hostile reactions. Last thing she wanted was all those movies and books she'd seen or read about zombies come true before her eyes.

The trio took this time to double check their ammo and weapons, knowing there was a long fight ahead of them. Miranda, testing her biotics; Shepard prepping the medi-gel; Garrus adjusting the specs to his visor.

Currently, they were at the main entrance lobby and Shepard noted just how little Cerberus seemed to care for the comfort of their employee's. Miranda had said something about how the organization operated in separate cells, but everything was still run by the Illusive Man. At least the Alliance built false windows with holographic views to help whoever was stationed at an underground lab feel like they weren't underground. But here, everything was very bland. All white walls, tile floors that had collected dust and unloaded cargo caches that were crammed into the area. The whole place looked like it had fallen off the grid more than just six months ago.

Shepard could feel her stomach clenching as an ominous chill frightened her skin into goosebumps. She checked over her shoulders; Miranda on her left and Garrus on her right. They were as ready as they'd ever be. With a steady breath, she ventured through the threshold that had its door completely ripped from its frame and had somehow been thrown across the room. There was a body to the right of the entryway.

"Maybe some tried to escape?" Garrus commented

"And were stopped." Miranda concluded, sounding surprised.

"Possibly to prevent an outbreak. Who knows what went on down here." The turian spoke back, not bothering to conceal the disgust in his voice.

"We're here to find out." Shepard scanned the room, with the power being shut off, the only lights guiding them were the emergency lights which were built to make a path to the exits and not to actually light up the room. She turned her head slightly, "Garrus, can you see movement on your visor?"

"Nothing, Commander." But she knew he would be the first to let her know if there were anything lurking in the shadows.

She huffed quietly to herself then, ordering for them to turn their weapons' lights on. The room had been illuminated and smaller details were seen. There were more bodies piled on the floor, and Shepard had been thankful that her helmet helped filter the smell. It was obvious now that a fight had broken out here, there was blood smears all over the floor as if bodies had been dragged elsewhere. They couldn't see past what the light their flashlights provided, and for once, the commander was grateful for it.

They continued through the main lobby, carefully stepping over the bodies that lie in their way. They came to the fork of the two corridors that formed the diamond shape of the facility and they paused again to discuss a course of action. Garrus, the ever rebellious turian he was, refused to take Miranda with him. He mentioned his visor worked at a second pair of eyes for him, and that it would be better if she and Shepard stuck together instead.

In reality, he couldn't stand the idea of letting Shepard wander the hallways alone. No one there to help her. He knew she was more than capable of defending herself (she was N7, after all) but for some reason, panic boiled in his chest at the mere thought of any harm coming to her. Eventually, Miranda took the initiative and simply walked off into the direction Shepard was going. The red head gave in to the turian and turned to catch up with the brunette. She ignored the want in her heart to remain with him just a second longer and whisper charms of good luck to him. However, she would not allow that luxury during a mission.

After they searched all the rooms on either side of the building, they turned back around and met back up near the elevator. Aside from discovering that security cameras were still active and were watching them, the search had been uneventful. They were positive that someone was here and alive. But that knowledge left doubt: Who was it?

They stopped just before the door to the stairwell, if Shepard remembered correctly, there were at least three heat signatures down there. The next couple of minutes would determine the level of danger for the rest of the mission. She readied herself, prepared her mind to accept that this was happening, and that whatever she saw down there was real. Her hand reached out and she pushed the swing door open slowly. She kept her weapon forward, and braced the first few steps before a growl erupted from below them. She paused in her steps and looked down the stairwell.

There were three sets of gleaming eyes reflecting the light from her flashlight back at her. She could barely see the faces, but knew that they weren't human. One shrieked loudly, and started running up the steps to where the trio was standing. Shepard pulled the trigger and the first body hit the floor. The other two reacted the same, and she pulled the trigger twice. There were two thuds and she could hear a body rolling down the steps.

"I suppose offering tea and flowers as a peace offering is no longer an option, hm, Shepard?" Garrus spoke from behind her, and she turned her neck to glare at the turian from over her shoulder.

"And just how many are down here?" Miranda asked, following the commander as she continued down the steps.

"I'm not sure, wasn't really counting." Shepard knelt over the first creature she had shot at. Garrus shined his light on her.

Whatever that was, it wasn't human. Though the silhouette was an exact match. It had long nails that could pass for claws and there wasn't a blunt tooth in the mouth. There was a huge hole where the nose should have been, its skin was burnt and chipping away and in some areas the bone was showing. He watched as Shepard pulled its eyelids open, there weren't any eyeballs. There were ears on either side of the head, longer than a human's and pointed like an elf's. It was naked, and obviously a male.

"Well, at least we know what a human-thorian baby would have looked like."

And despite the gravity of the situation, Shepard couldn't help but snicker at Garrus's comment. Miranda rolled her eyes, "This is a serious situation. Its reaction was violent; we should expect this from the rest of them. I wouldn't be surprised if it's cannibalistic."

"It's a good thing I don't taste like human. Shepard, there's too many of them down there for us to handle alone."

"I know." She responded, pushing her body to stand, and continued to the bottom of the steps were she peeked her head out and into the corridor.

The area was clear for now, but she remained inside the safety the stairwell. Shepard turned to look at both Miranda and Garrus, ordering them to continue in silence. They ventured out into the hallway, their steps as silent as their breaths. The first creatures they came across had been disposed of easily. Slipping behind them and snapping their necks seemed to be a sufficient way of rendering them useless.

Eventually, the creatures grew too dense for them to sneak up on, and they had to open fire. That was when all hell broke loose. Like a tidal wave, they all turned and howled, not even hesitating a second as they broke out into a full speed run. The Cerberus operatives fought back with a wave of gunfire. Miranda was able to use her biotics on the first few who managed to break through the barrage of bullets Garrus and Shepard provided. Fortunately, these creatures didn't have enough intelligence to consider avoiding the bullets, and were easily taken down. One by one, they hit the floor and left nothing but a bloody corpse to pile on top of another. Blood splattered on the walls and by the time both Garrus and Shepard stopped to reload, Miranda was able to finish off the last few with her pistol just before they could close in on the group.

The gunfire echoed through out the floor and they checked on each other to ensure there weren't any injuries. They all turned their attention to the fresh pile of bodies in front of them. Their lights provided enough for them to see that a pool of blood began to expand beneath the corpses. There were still a few ominous growls emitting from the rooms which were sealed shut. They could hear the creatures banging against the doors, trying to get out.

The corridor was suddenly lit up as each light above them flickered on one by one. They readied their weapons, each aiming at a different door as if the locks were next. But they waited in silence and nothing seemed to happen. The growls and banging grew louder, more violent. They could hear their claws scrapping against the metal doors and Shepard could only pray to whatever god was watching them that those doors did not open.

But there was suddenly static on the intercom above their heads. It grew louder, the white noise screeching at them before a voice finally took over, "Lawson? Did the Illusive Man finally send help?"

Miranda narrowed her eyes at a nearby camera, cocking her pistol and aiming at it, "Solomon. I was hoping to never have to hear your voice again."

There wasn't a response the static cut out, and Miranda shot at the camera. It fell to pieces against the floor and the group continued to travel down the corridor. They approached the hallway where EDI pointed out the hidden panic room and they could see the console glowing an angry red.

Again the voice picked up from over their heads, "Did you receive our message? Why are you here?" He sounded more angry at their intrusion versus being relieved that he was finally rescued.

Unless being rescued wasn't on his agenda. Garrus looked to Shepard, a bad feeling grew in his stomach, "Something's not right."

"Aside from the resources you have hidden there in your little panic room, we're here to quarantine this facility," Miranda responded, once again pointing her pistol to the camera that was snug away into a corner of the dead end, "Now are you going to let us in, or do we have to tear this door down?"

"I can't!" The male cried into the speakers, "If I undo this lock, it will release the others."

Shepard rolled her eyes. She tried her best to be an understanding woman, however, there were times where she just wanted to smack the stupid out of people. As if Garrus was picking up on her annoyance, he spoke up, "Just undo the locks long enough for us to get in."

It was simple math.

Solomon gave a weak confirmation, and the minutes rolled by tortuously slow before they finally hissed open. Almost immediately, the growls emitted from down their hall and it was obvious they were all headed in this single direction. Shepard was the first to enter, and that was a move Garrus would regret the rest of his life.

Before he or even Miranda had to time to follow suit, the doors snapped shut behind the commander. The brunette yelled for Shepard, banging at the door just once before she turned around and drew her pistol to face the oncoming wave of monsters. But then, in the midst of the growls, there was an unmistakable gunshot firing from behind the steel door.

There were no words that could describe the fear that burst in his chest when he heard a loud thud fall against the door. Garrus was never a religious being, but in that moment, he prayed for whatever spirits watching over him to lend their strength just long enough to protect Shepard.

The growls grew louder, and he quickly dispatched his old clip for a new heat sink, aiming his rifle at the hall. He saw their shadows on the wall before they appeared. Miranda hesitated not one second after the first sighting as she pulled the trigger. There were many battles Garrus fought that put his life on the line. But never had he felt like this before. Shepard was on the other side of that door, there was a gunshot. And he knew without witnessing what happened, that the thud they heard against the steel door was Shepard's body.

It didn't matter how many times he pulled the trigger, the fear did not drown out. Even when he saw the creatures falling to the ground, panic pushed against his ribs and for the first time in his life he could hear his heart beat thundering in his ears. He could tell himself over and over that Shepard could handle herself, and he knew she could. His fear was a waste of mental strength, but it was unavoidable. As if something inside him had been sleeping and the sound of that door slamming shut woke the beast up and it now refused to sleep.

Pulling the trigger wasn't cutting it. He dropped his gun and pulled a small combat knife out from a pocket tied around his boot, the turian charged. He had half a brain left to notice that Miranda stopped firing her pistol when the creature to his right was encased with blue before being slammed against the wall. He walked up to the last remaining three, plunging his knife into the forehead of the closest one, bring his foot up to side kick another square in his jaw, bones cracked and the body hit the floor with a broken neck. A third and fourth charged at him, one of the two swung at him, growling at the turain with unspeakable violence before swiping again. Garrus caught the wrist of the creature, he bent the arm backward and it snapped. It howled out in agony but the turian wasted no time stomping on the head with one final blow.

He turned his attention to the last one standing, but its head suddenly exploded and red blood splattered all over the turian. Garrus narrowed his eyes at Miranda, the Cerberus loyalist released the overheated heat sink in her pistol and just as she opened her mouth to say something, another gunshot fired from behind the steel door.

"EDI, what's happening?!" Miranda spoke into her comm.

But her only answer was static and small snippets of the AI's voice that were drowned out by white noise.

"Dammit!" The brunette cursed.

Garrus went to work on the console near the door. He was typing furiously fast against the red as he tried to bypass the lock. Minutes passed since the last gunshot and he was getting closer to breaking the code when the doors in front of them suddenly unsealed themselves open. Garrus armed himself and entered the room before Miranda even had a chance to.

On the other side of the door, there was only one thing that kept him from pulling the trigger, and it was Shepard's face smirking back at him, "I could be dead now." She teased the two, taking her hand off the locking mechanism.

The turian wasn't sure what to do. But it was like the beast that had woken up with gnashing teeth instantly fell asleep the moment his blue eyes met the familiar green and now, he was left holding smoke in his hands. He blinked once at her, speechless. He suddenly felt very embarrassed for worrying like he did but he covered it up as best he could, "We were just making sure you hadn't lost your touch, Shepard." He quipped back at her, folding his arms across his chest, "And it looks like you've gotten slower." He pointed with his chin to her cheek.

Her smirk deepened, and she shook her head, walking away from the desk she was at and closer to her team, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that if it weren't for my barriers, I'd be dead now." Shepard was just your average solider when the Normandy was first attacked by the collector ship, and it seemed that her life wasn't the only thing Cerberus had given her. Her hand went to wipe away some of the blood that was dripping from the wound. The bullet was strong, it broke through her barriers with a single shot but not before they were able to interrupt its trajectory causing the bullet to steer off course and graze her cheek.

He'd seen her look down to the hall, to the fallen bodies and back to the turian who was spotted in blood. He coughed in embarrassment, looking off to the side. No way was he going to admit what happened. But when his eyes finally looked back at her, he could see her understanding glinting behind the bright colors. Then suddenly, her body swayed. She lost her footing and her balance crumbled. Her green eyes rolled to the back of her head and Garrus barely had enough time to reach out and catch her before she could hit the floor.

"Shepard?" He called out to her, shaking her shoulders gently.

She didn't respond.

And the beast had woken up again.