Chapter 6: Chances

Fury filled her. Her fury was one that she had felt only once before. Her fury was fueled by the limp body in her arms and the wetness covering her. Her fury was unquenchable, any that stood against her was destroyed. The wreckage and bodies around her was testament to that.

She was surrounded by bodies of the upper class. Bodies of Turian merc leaders, Asari matriarchs and human merchants. None of them had been prepared for what a single gunshot had unleashed upon them.

She was covered in sweat and blood. Blood that was her's, blood of her victims and blood of the one in her arms. None of it mattered to her anymore. Her fury and now sorrow narrowed her world into the limp body cradled against her chest. The fires and smoke had stopped bothering her, almost as if they feared her. The nearly overpowering stench of death that hung in the air was not repulsing but oddly inviting, as if asking her to cause more destruction for the now sweet smell.

Shepard felt herself rocking back and forth while gazing down into the still face of her partner. She had closed Jane's now sightless eyes, with them closed she almost looked peaceful. Other than the bloody smudges on her cheeks and the make-up that was part of their mission she looked just as she had the morning before when Shepard awoke with her in her arms. The peaceful time that had been that morning and the night before seemed like eons ago.

Shepard had a bad feeling about the mission they had been sent on today. It was a small tugging at the back of her neck that warned her that something would happen. That pull had only intensified when they were briefed that their backup hadn't arrived due to ship problems and they were to continue the mission as planned.

Shepard and her partner Jane had been sent into a high class party to find and kidnap a Blue Suns leader. They were to bring him back alive in any way possible for "interrogation". Shepard had snorted at that, she had been on all sides of "interrogation" and nothing about it was worth the information that could be gained. No one came away from it the same, not the victim, not the interrogator and not the observer. The scars covering her body, nearly head to toe, was her proof of it.

Shepard and Jane had gone into the party as a powerful merc leader and her slave. Jane had tried to make the dark air that hung around them brighter, she had tried making a joke about how Shepard always got the fun parts, how being the one to be "eye-candy" and nothing more was too dull. It had worked for a time. Until the shot came.

Shepard didn't know where it had come from. She was talking with their target when it happened. She had felt Jane's weight completely fall on her arm just as she heard the shot. She hadn't been alert enough to know that someone had discovered them. After that time was a blur to her. She had knocked out their mark. At some point weapons were drawn on her. Shepard only reacted and didn't think. Before she knew anything else the room was full of corpses.

Now she was holding what was left of one of the brightest points in her life. She thought she could faintly hear booted feet thundering in the distance and voices calling out through the dull roar of a dozen fires that she had caused.

"Shepard! Cobb!" She thought the voices called. she couldn't be sure.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and a pair of combat boots came into view in front of her. She looked up to find herself face to face with a ghost. His face was charred and bits of skin hung loosely from his face but she knew it was him.

"John?" Her voice was rough and coarse from her blood curdling screams.

The figure in front of her nodded. It was him, her first love, her first cause of real pain. He looked at her with sadness, that sadness only deepened when he looked at the still form in her arms. His eyes closed in pain. He reached out to the body and seemed to lift it from her arms. The body did not move but an image of Jane's body appeared in his arms nonetheless. This form was breathing but her breaths were shallow. He turned with the form in his arms and walked into a cloud of smoke.

"Wait!" She choked out, but it was too late, she knew he was already gone.

Shepard's head dropped and she began sobbing uncontrollably. Her eye's blurred with tears. The voices got closer and louder.

"Shepard! Cobb!" It was Rodriguez'' voice that had reached her ears. She tried to reply but her voice would not come.

She felt another hand on her shoulder, this time it had three fingers in place of five. She knew the grip from somewhere, but couldn't remember where she knew it from. She felt a finger under her chin another under her lip. The hand lifted her head to met the piercing blue gaze of a Turian. Most Turian's had small beady eyes that she had always had trouble reading. This Turian's eyes however were pits of warmth and sorrow and comfort. The Turian's face pulled at something in the pit of her stomach. His face was painted in a familiar warm blue, one of his mandibles was heavily scarred. Shepard knew this Turian, he was her pillar, her friend, her hope. He was everything she stood for and more. He was the one person she could depend on most.

She flung her arms around the Turian's neck and brought him close. She cried into his chest and he pulled her closer.

"Kathrine." He said her given name. He almost purred it. His voice was both full of sorrow and full of comfort. Shepard felt the word rumble out of his chest, out of his very being.

"Shepard! Cobb!" Rodriguez' voice was close.

Shepard felt the Turian's chest rumble once more and felt at ease, at peace. This Turian always had that effect on her, he was always there to give her peace when she most needed it.

A harsh beeping came from his chest. The sound wasn't his, but came from his chest all the same.

Shepard's eyes opened wide and was greeted with the stars above her. On reaction she flung her arm out and hit the button on her alarm clock to turn it off. She glanced at the clock's display. As it did the day she went and recruited Grunt almost a week ago, it once more read 0900. It seemed this would be the new time she would be up and awake in the mornings, three hours of extra sleep never hurt anyone.

"EDI, what's our ETA to Zorya?" Shepard called out. She sat up in her obscenely large bed and rubbed her hands over her face.

"We are currently two hours, thirty eight minutes and twenty seven point nine seconds away from Zorya." The female synthesised voice that was EDI spoke over her room's stereo.

"Thank you EDI. For future updates please just round ETA's, makes it easier."

"Yes Commander."

"That'll be all EDI."

Why were you in my dream Garrus? Shepard mulled as she moved towards her shower.


The door behind him cycled open. Garrus tensed for the half second it took for the nearly overpowering scent of earth flowers, roses he remembered Shepard calling it, to flood over him.

"Shepard." Garrus said, not looking away from his console.

"Hey Garrus." She replied and walked up to stand next to him."How's it going?"

"Fine until you came in." Garrus turned his head to look at her, a look of hurt on her face. Garrus gave her a smirk.

"Relax. The stuff you shower with has a strong scent to my nose, just need to snort some oil to get the smell out." His comment was rewarded with a small chuckle from her. His mandibles flared into a smile.

"But joking aside, things are good down here. Just trying to get our new cannons tuned down. By the time I'm done with these calibrations we could pick off anything anywhere with these." He turned back to his console and typed in a few commands. He ran another simulation and looked back up at Shepard.

"Good, but not what I meant. I'm asking about you not the guns." Shepard looked at him with a look of concern in her eyes.

Garrus forced his smile to stay where it was. "I'm fine Shepard."

"I'm the one person in the galaxy you don't need to lie to Garrus." Her gaze made a shudder run down his spine. "Please. Tell me what's going on in that head of yours. Maybe I can help."

"I've just had a lot on my mind." Shepard's eyes begged him for more.

"I've been thinking about Omega. About my squad." About you. Garrus let his head drop and sighed.

"That's one thing I can relate to all too well." Shepard said. She placed a hand on his shoulder, Garrus had to stop himself from leaning into it.

"Tell me about what happened back there." Shepard asked, almost pleaded.

"I left the Citadel not long after your memorial. I couldn't take all the red tape blocking my way." Garrus turned away from his console to fully face Shepard.

"I went to Omega thinking I could do more there and I did. Eventually I started picking up a squad. They followed me around, helped me on missions, made life easier. They became another family to me." Garrus shook his head, trying to focus on telling Shepard what happened and not be lost in the memories.

"There was this one Turian who joined. His name is Lantar Sidoins. Before you showed up he contacted me with a job. He told me it was a big one and to meet him in person to talk about it. " Garrus' let his head drop again in shame.

"An hour went by and he didn't show. Then my team contacted me. Told me the mercs were attacking our base. By the time I got there it was too late. I was too slow." Garrus felt Shepard's hand on his mandible, his scarred and battered mandible.

"I promised myself then that if my team were to die, they all would. I plan to find Sidonis and fix my mistake." Garrus felt Shepard's other hand come up to his other mandible. She gently pulled his head up to met her gaze.

Garrus was dumbfounded at what he saw there. He saw sorrow, he saw anger, he saw grief, he saw understanding, he saw warmth. Never before had Garrus seen Shepard's green eyes hold so many things at once. Never had they held them for him.

"Garrus." Shepard said softly, he barely heard her. "Don't go down this road. I know where it leads and I still walk it. Believe me when I say this, it's not worth the weight on your soul."

Garrus stepped back away from her and instantly regretted it, but it was too late to turn back. His mandibles shivered at the loss of the comforting heat from her hands. The air between them seemed to fill with ice at the loss of her body that had been pressed against his.

"I swore an oath to uphold that promise Shepard. I'm not going to go back on my word." Garrus turned back to his console. He couldn't bare to see the hurt and sorrow that had overtaken Shepard's features.

"At least think about what I said Garrus." Shepard's voice almost made him crumble, it was so full of pain he could barely stand it. She laid her hand on his shoulder. "Please."

Garrus nodded. He didn't look at her, he didn't trust his body to do what he wanted if he saw what he knew would be written all over her. He didn't trust his voice to reply either, he didn't want his voice to say something that would cause even more pain.

"Meet me in the shuttlebay in thirty minutes. I still need you watching my six Garrus. This won't change that." Shepard's voice still held her pain but with those words she sounded almost like nothing had happened.

Garrus closed his eyes and nodded again. He let out a small keening sound once the doors had closed and Shepard had left. He forced himself to focus on his task at hand, he needed to be there for Shepard just as she had tried to be there for him.


"Come on! Let's go!" Shepard heard the strained and anger filled voice of Vido Santiago, the head of the Blue Suns when they beached the landing pad door.

"VIDO!" Zaeed yelled out next to her. The grizzled man charged forward, firing his Avenger Assault Rifle as he ran.

"Maybe in another twenty years Massani!" Vido yelled back. He hopped into the gunship waiting on the pad. The ship's engines roared to life and the ship took off.

Massani, still yelling sprayed the back of the ship with rifle fire. Shepard saw some of the rounds punch through the back of the ship. A blue armored form fell out of the ship. Massani's fury only increased when he saw it wasn't Vido.

Zaeed whirled on Shepard. His rifle's spent thermal chip popped out of his rifle and clattered to the metal floor.

"TWENTY YEARS! You just wasted the last twenty years of my life! And for what!" Massani yelled at Shepard in fury. She glimpsed the spent clip rolling into a pool of liquid in the corner of her eye.

"For a bunch of fucking refinery workers!" Shepard heard the liquid catch fire.

"Give me one guddamned reason…" Zaeed was cut off as a nearby fuel tank exploded.

Shepard shielded herself with a biotic bubble before the blast could catch her. Shepard knew Garrus was out of the blast range. Zaeed was not so lucky, he was knocked off his feet and landed on his back, the front of his armor held a black tinge to it's otherwise orange color.

Shepard stormed over to Zaeed and placed her foot on his chest, pinning him to the ground. She pulled her Phalanx from her hip and pointed it at the elder man's head. Zaeed tried to get up, but Shepard added more pressure to her foot keeping the man down.

"I told you when we found out your reason for doing this Zaeed. I told you that the mission comes first. As far as I'm concerned the mission was the refinery. The mission was NOT your quest for revenge." Shepard's tone was steely. She could see it visibly bite into Zaeed and his fury. Shepard took her foot off of his chest.

"If you are going to be on my ship you need to understand that. There are bigger things in this galaxy than you and your revenge." Shepard felt Garrus' eyes on her as she spoke, watching every move she made.

"The sooner you understand that the sooner we can get this shit with the collectors over with. The sooner you can get back to your hunt for that piss poor excuse of a human." Shepard flipped around her pistol, it's grip now pointed at Zaeed. She held out her other hand to help him up.

"Now. You can either put this behind you until we are done. Or you can stay here until evac for the workers comes. Your choice."

Much to her surprise Zaeed gripped her arm and the pistol. She hauled him up to his feet. Shepard took a step back and released her helmet, retracting it back into her armor. She spread her arms wide.

"Chose Masani." Shepard said her face and voice calm.

Massani, safetied the pistol and handed it back to eyes held a look of defeat and acceptance.

"Alright Shepard. I can put this behind me until your mission is over." Shepard nodded.

"Good." Shepard turned around. "Let's get off this rock."

Shepard stepped up to Garrus, her eyes held a pleading look. She placed a hand on his arm.

Please. think about this. Her eyes said.

Garrus nodded and place his hand over hers. I will. For you.

"Normandy." Shepard spoke, she dropped her hand from Garrus' arm. "We need a pick up."


Garrus leaned against the shuttle. He had been waiting there for the last ten minutes. Shepard had asked him to meet herself and their newest member of the team in the shuttle bay five minutes ago. Garrus scowled at the thought of Kasumi Goto. He hated it then and he hated it now that Shepard agreed to have the galaxies' best thief as part of their crew. He could see the strategic value of Miss Goto, but having been C-Sec for years gave him a hatred for criminals.

Garrus heard the elevator doors slide open, and Shepard's familiar scent washed over him. Garrus looked at the elevator and felt his mandibles and jaw go slack. Walking out of the doorway were two woman. One was the hooded form of Miss Goto, the other made Garrus do a double take. Garrus rubbed his eyes and shook his head.

Garrus couldn't believe his eyes, there walking towards him was Shepard but not in any way he'd seen her before. Garrus had heard on the last Normandy that Shepard was beautiful by human and even Asari standards. Some of the crew had even talked about how "hot" Shepard was and that they couldn't believe she didn't wear "make-up". Garrus hadn't realized what they had meant til after she was gone. Now Shepard wore all of the different products that the female crew had used. She was different, but not in a bad way. It seemed that the products had augmented the traits she had and made her "flaws" seem less of a "flaw".

"I don't get why you're making me wear this thing Kasumi. Why couldn't you have just gotten me a tux like I had used on my N7 missions?"

"Shepard?" Garrus asked, his voice sounded strangled to his ears. Garrus was trying to prevent his subvocals from purring her name.

"Hell." She continued not hearing Garrus. "Even something Asari made would've been better."

"Shepard." Garrus cleared his throat, gaining control over his voice. She and Goto were half way across the shuttle bay. "Why are you wearing a ummm… dress?"

Garrus' eyes slowly took in her form again. Shepard was wearing a black leather dress. The dress was sleeveless and only covered from her chest to halfway down her thighs. Her chest however was mostly exposed, the neckline of the dress dipping low to show the tops of her breasts. The leather of the dress hugged Shepard's body not leaving much to the imagination of what was covered.

Garrus forced his eyes to Shepard's which held a mischievous look. 'What's wrong Garrus?" Shepard asked playfully. "Never think I was an actual woman under my armor?"

"Never had a problem with that Shepard." Garrus forced his eyes away from Shepard entirely. Garrus felt heat start to rise on the skin of his neck.

Fuck. Please don't show. Please don't show. Garrus desperately thought about gun calculations to distract his mind, and body, from Shepard.

"Huh." Shepard said her tone still playful. "You must either have the restraint of a saint or you don't have thing for humans then."

"The later." Garrus said, his being once again under his control he locked his gaze with Shepard's once more. He was still running simulations in his head however just to be on the safe side.

"Looks like we'll be putting that to the test then today." Shepard opened the doors to the shuttle and stepped in. Garrus followed her.

The trio sat down and almost immediately Garrus felt the ship jerk into motion, it's mass effect fields not yet active.

"So what's going on Shepard?" Garrus asked, his mind still trying to grasp what could possibly be going on.

"I'm cashing in on your debt… kind of. We're going to a party to help Kasumi steal something. I really don't want to go to some party on the Citadel so I'm settling for this."

"Ok" Garrus said still cautious.

"Basically, you and I are going in under cover while Kasumi disables the security to this guy's vault. She can stay cloaked almost indefinitely so she won't be spotted. You and I are going in as party guests. My armor and our weapons are being sneaked in with a "gift" to the guy." Shepard paused for a moment before continuing.

"Until Kasumi is done, you and I are to mingle with the party goers. I'm under cover with the alias of Alison Gunn, you are going to play the part of my slave for the day. You get the easy part of this, just be attached to me at the hip, and spend all your time looking menacing and hateful. You think you can handle it?"

Garrus snorted. "Is that a question? I told you I have your back. This'll be the weirdest mission ever but I can do that." Garrus hoped he could.

Shepard grinned. "Glad I could count on you big guy."

"Just one question." garrus asked. "Why bring me along? Wouldn't it be easier with just you and Miss Goto?" Shepard's face darkened.

"Normally yes. The last time I went on a mission like this though….." Shepard's body shuddered. Garrus placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's just say things didn't end well last time." Shepard sent a thankful look towards Garrus.

Garrus nodded. "Let's get this done and over with then."

Shepard smiled gratefully at him.

A metal collar was thrust into his hands. Garrus looked at Miss Goto with a brow plate raised.

"If you're going to play the part," Kasumi spoke, her mouth turned up in a faint smile. "you need the gear to go with it."

Garrus took the collar and eyed it warily. He turned his head at Shepard's chuckle.

"Don't worry Garrus, its not on. And if for some reason I need to turn it on, I'm the only one that has the controls for it." Garrus nodded at Shepard's words. Without further delay garrus clipped the collar around the base of his neck.

"Guess we'll find out how far your trust will go today Garrus." Garrus locked eyes with Shepard.

"I trust you with my life Shepard. Nothing will change that."


"Not much farther." Shepard whispered "The vault should only be just around that corner." Shepard pointed in front of her. She heard Garrus grunt in reply.

They had snuck away from the main party as soon as Kasumi had given them the ok, they were currently on their way through the winding corridors that made up Donavin Hock's massive mansion. So far they had made it passed several patrolling guards without being noticed.

Shepard and Garrus reached the corner. Shepard held up her hand for Garrus to wait. Shepard carefully peered around the corner, but quickly drew back. Not even twenty feet down the hallway a guard was walking towards them.

"Shit." Shepard muttered under her breath. Shepard looked at Garrus and signaled to him.

One contact. Rapidly approaching. Garrus looked around behind them and nodded. Shepard turned back to the corner, her arms began flaring into her familiar azure light. Shepard felt Garrus' hand on her elbow, the sounds of the guard's foot falls growing louder. Before Shepard knew what had happened she was spun around and shoved up against the wall.

Shepard let out is small cry of alarm but was quickly silenced by something hard yet smooth pressed against her mouth. Shepard's eyes widened in surprise when her gaze met Garrus'.

Play along. His eyes seemed to speak where his voice couldn't.

Shepard and Garrus had passed several couples in similar positions along their routes, none of them had paid the two any mind. Shepard mentally kicked herself for not thinking of it before.

If this is how you want to play it then. Shepard thought.

She opened her mouth against Garrus'. Taking it as a queue he did the same. Shepard let out a small moan upon feeling Garrus' tongue intertwine with hers. Garrus ran his long, nimble, tongue along the sensitive parts of her tongue and lips. Shepard's eyes closed in an attempt to savor the pleasure spreading throughout her body. Shepard moaned again when she felt Garrus running his hands along her sides.

Not into humans my ass. Shepard thought and let out another moan. She thought she could hear the footsteps of the guard walking past them. She couldn't be sure but she thought she heard him snort.

Shepard lost all track of any coherent thought when Garrus cupped one of her breasts in his strong hand. He began slowly massaging it through the black leather of her dress. Shepard arched her back and pressed against Garrus harder. Shepard found herself lost in the bliss Garrus was causing her. Her world seemed to become heat and desire and pleasure. She never had any idea that Garrus would do this. Never in her wildest dreams had she any thought that her best friend could make her melt. Shepard had felt peace before, but this moment she felt a sense of everything being right in her world.

Her bliss seemed to last forever and yet seemed only a second. Shepard almost fell to the floor when Garrus parted from her. He stopped her from doing so with his hands on her shoulders. Shepard had to stop herself from asking why he stopped, she knew exactly why. She couldn't hear footsteps anymore.

No this can't happen. Not with Garrus. I won't screw up a good thing. Shepard thought to herself.

She quickly shoved down the feeling of hurt and need that started to raise from her core. Garrus wasn't, and couldn't be, into her. The very thought of doing this must have been appalling to him. The act of doing it may have just destroyed their friendship.

"Sorry Shepard, a body would have just attracted more attention than we need." Garrus said, his voice seemed strained. Shepard felt her fears thicken. She had a sinking feeling come over her.

Shepard felt a tinge of pain at seeing that he was looking everywhere but at her. She felt torn between wanting more and wanting to apologize for letting that happen. Shepard felt her face and chest flush with heat. She looked down at her feet in embarrassment at the first thought and in shame.

"Hope I didn't overstep my bounds there. If I did I'm sorry." Shepard looked back up at Garrus to find his eyes on her once more. She could see something below the surface of his calm exterior, what it was she couldn't tell.

"It's fine." Shepard's voice sounded husky to her ears. She cleared her throat and stood up straighter, Garrus dropped his hands. "I just didn't expect that is all."

Garrus shrugged."I figured you'd rather that happen over needing to clean up a body." He took a step back and scratched the back of his neck. Shepard noticed a slight blue tinge to the sin of his neck.

They stood there in awkward silence while Shepard regained her breath. Shepard didn't dare let hope form in her mind.

"Come on." Shepard said and pushed off from the wall. "We still have a job to do."

Garrus nodded. "Right behind you." Garrus' mandibles opened in a small smile at her. The dark thoughts of dread of losing a friend lightened slightly.


Hours after the fact Garrus still couldn't believe what he'd done. He still couldn't believe that he had actually kissed his best friend. He and Shepard had gone their separate ways once getting back the the Normandy. He hadn't seen her since. Garrus had tried to get back to work but that moment kept playing out in his head over and over. He had begun to think that killing the guard would've just been easier.

Maybe I should go talk to her. Garrus thought. He quickly shoved that aside, with his luck he'd just end up making things worse. He already expected to be told any minute to get off the ship next time they docked.

I'll let her come to me. No sense making this worse now. Garrus thought but was still too distracted to get any work done.

Garrus sat down on the cot the occupied one side of the main battery. He rested his head in his hands and played that moment over again. He tried to find out what happened to make Shepard so different, so conflicted. He could see some inner conflict raging in her through her eyes. Garrus couldn't tell what it was, but he'd be willing to bet money on it being how and when to kick him off her ship.

Garrus remembered that his bright idea popped into his mind at seeing there was no where to hide. Shepard had told him that she wanted the mission to be as bloodless as possible. His bright idea had sprung up from seeing the other party goers that had found areas of Hock's mansion to spend time alone. Garrus had bet their lives on the idea that the guard wouldn't think anything of it if they acted like the others they had passed by. His idea had worked for that guard. Hock however had some how been tipped off that he, Shepard, and Kasumi were there, so they had to fight through a dozen squads of mercs anyways.

His bright idea had probably just cost him the one real friend he had in the universe, and for what? For the life of a stupid guard? Garrus' bright idea of "making out", as he'd heard the crew of the old Normandy call it, with Shepard would probably be the end of his friendship with Shepard. Garrus hadn't thought of it when they were doing it though, his only thoughts were of how good it felt. Of how good Shepard felt.

Everything that had happened made it seem like she was enjoying it, enjoying him. Garrus cursed himself for that. Of course she made it seem like she was enjoying it she had to have known what was at stake. She was probably just acting so the guard would pass them by. If that was the case then it had worked, maybe a bit too well.

Garrus cursed himself. It was probably his hands that had caused it. Even after the guards' steps had faded Garrus had kept going. He had let his hands roam her body and eventually let one of them stop at her breasts. Shepard had seemed to like it so he had kept going. He had only stopped because of what he knew he might continue to do. Garrus had stopped because he knew that if he continued he'd end up permanently ruining their friendship. He knew that if he kept going he'd end up trying to go farther than Shepard would've wanted. Hell he'd probably already went too far with letting it get that far.

"Officer Vakarian." The synthesized voice of the ship's AI broke into his internal struggling.

"Yes EDI?" Garrus replied not lifting his head.

"Commander Shepard has requested you meet her at the airlock in thirty six hours, provided you feel fit to accompany her to the space station Purgatory." The AI's voice spoke, indifferent to his current state.

Purgatory? Why would she be going to a prison ship? And why bring me with her? Garrus thought. He crushed down a raising thought of panic. No she wouldn't put me in there. Probably picking someone up.

"Tell her I'll see her then. Please ask her what state of readiness." Garrus replied, finally lifting his head. He felt a strange sense of calm come over him.

"She wishes you to be fully combat kit as well as vacuum ready just in case."

"Understood EDI."

If Shepard still needed him he'd need to be at his best. He may have damaged himself in her eyes but he still felt the same way as always towards her. As long as he would be on her ship he'd have her back.


"Awfully quiet today Garrus." Shepard broke the silence between them once they had entered the Normandy's decontamination part of the airlock. "Something on your mind?"

Garrus wasn't sure if she was trying to ease into the blow that he knew was to come or just making conversation.

"I've been thinking." Garrus said and took a deep breath. "About the other day." There he said it. No going back now.

"And? Anything I need to know about?" Shepard asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Garrus took another deep breath and closed his eyes. "I want to know when I'm getting off." When he opened his eyes again the look of pain in Shepard's eyes crushed him.

"You are kicking me off? Right?" He asked, uncertainty in his voice.

"Why in the 'verse would I do that?" Shepard asked her voice barely a whisper.

"Ummm…" Garrus was stumped, he'd been so sure he'd be dropped off he didn't know what to do. "Because of our last mission?" A look of amusement flashed over her face.

"Garrus, I told you. You did nothing wrong. If anything you probably bought us more time with that." Garrus was dumbfounded. Shepard chuckled at him and he realized his face was once again slack in shock.

"What? Did you expect me to kick you off over that? Hell Garrus, I more expected that you'd want to leave over it."

Before Garrus could respond the airlock doors beeped and opened for them. Garrus followed Shepard through the almost immediately sealed on them so their other team member, Grunt, could come through. The airlock on the Normandy was only large enough for three people at a time and Krogan were the size of two people by themselves.

Shepard turned to face him again. "Once we're done with this, if you want we can talk about what happened. I don't want anything that is unsaid to harm what we have. Whenever you want to you can come up to my cabin. My doors are always open to you."

Garrus nodded and the doors chimed once more letting Grunt onto the station.

"Come on, let's go get this 'Jack' and get off this place. I've got a bad vibe from this place."


"So cryo chamber and a big red button. Guess this is what we're looking for." Shepard said and stepped up to said red button. They had reached the room where Jack could be released after the warden tried to trap them to sell Shepard.

Shepard knew a prison ship run by the Blue Suns was bad. Now finding out a price was on her head, even after being dead, was no comfort. Now They were looking out over a room that held a single cryo tube and two YMIR heavy mechs. Shepard reached out to push the button.

"Shepard." EDI's voice spoke over their comms. "Be advised that the controls to release Jack will also release every prisoner on board the ship."

Shepard pushed the button. "Ops." She said as if she had only knocked something over.

The room below them filled with steam as the tube was hard thawed. The YMIR mechs activated just before they were enveloped in steam. Shepard felt the air around her vibrate with power. Through the steam she could make out a very faint slim outline in an azure glow. A harsh loud yell filled the air and a YMIR mech was thrown out of the mist like a tin can. The first was quickly followed by the second. The mist cleared and Shepard saw a slim, wiry, bald woman. The woman's only cloths were a pair of loose black cargo pants, black combat boots and a harness of leather that only covered her nipples. The rest of her visible skin was covered with a network of tattoos in no apparent order. A look of pure rage and fury was on the woman's face.

"That's Jack?" Garrus asked next to her.

"Jack is small." Grunt replied.

The bald woman yelled out in fury and rushed forward. Shepard lost sight of her and immediately felt a shudder underneath her feet.

"Come on! We need her alive." Shepard called out and snapped her grenade launcher off her back.

"Grunt here." She shoved it into the Krogan's hands. "Have fun. Don't kill us or Jack. Everything else is fair game."

Shepard heard the Krogan's deep thundering laugh behind her while running to try and find their, now missing, convict.


When Shepard and her team finally caught up to Jack they had fought their way through countless mercs, mechs and prisoners only to end up back at the airlocks. When they found her, Jack was running up to a par of mercs alight in azure energy. Jack charged head first into them in spite of the rounds whizzing by her head and bouncing off her biotic barriers.

Jack grabbed one of the mercs and slammed him into the other. The two flew into the nearby docking windows, a small spider web of cracks appeared when their bodies hit the clear ballistic plastic. Neither merc moved, Shepard pegged them for either dead or unconscious.

Jack's loud rough voice filled the docking passage. "CERBERUS!" the woman yelled in fury. She threw a biotically charged punch at the window overlooking the Normandy, the web of cracks grew.

As they got closer Shepard could feel the raw power radiating from the other woman. Shepard flared with her own energy. She held up her hand for Garrus and Grunt to stay put. Shepard walked up towards the other woman, her power seeming to grow more prominent the closer she got. When she was only a dozen feet away Jack turned. Her face a mix of fury and confusion, she probably wondered why Shepard was walking towards her and not running away.

"Jack." Shepard said. She released her helmet, exposing her head. She forced her face into a look of steel and control.

"Who the fuck are you?" The other woman shouted back.

"Commander Shepard. I'm here to get you off this station." Shepard replied her voice calm. Not for a second did she let her biotics rest, there was no telling what Jack would do.

"You think I'm going anywhere with fucking Cerberus scum?" Jack nodded towards the Normandy.

"I'm offering you the only way off of this station. And you're arguing." Shepard said, her voice still calm despite the fear this woman's power invoked.

"Fine, but I want something from you." The woman's glow dropped. Shepard kept her power just at the tip of her fingers.

"Name it."

"I want any files Cerberus has on me. I want everything they have on me. Any bit of dirt, any records, everything." Jack seemed to relax her stance.

"You'll get it." Shepard nodded, her voice still cold and calm.

"Then what are we waiting around for? I'm done with this shit hole." Jack turned. Shepard walked past her motioning for Grunt and Garrus to follow.

"I want a bunk out of the way. Somewhere cold and dark. I don't like through traffic." Jack spoke to Shepard's back ignoring the other two.

"Fine." Shepard replied to the woman curtly.

"Grunt take Jack to the engineering deck, show her the storage area below the main deck." Shepard turned to look at Jack over her shoulder. "That's where you bunk."

Grunt grunted in reply. "Follow me human." He stepped into the decontamination area, Jack close on his heels.

Once they were alone again Shepard turned to Garrus. She finally let her biotic aura drop. As soon as she did she felt a wave of exhaustion flood over her. Shepard felt herself starting to swoon. Garrus reached out and put a steadying hand on her shoulder. Shepard placed her hand over his, she looked up at him and smiled gratefully.

"Thanks" Shepard said wearily and Garrus nodded. She took his hand off her shoulder and leaned against his side.

"Always Shepard." Garrus readjusted his arm to better keep her upright, his arm now resting across her shoulder blades. Shepard felt herself leaning into him more but stopped herself from doing so too much.

"So what are we doing about this place? We going just just leave it in the dust?" Garrus asked her. The airlock doors chimed and they stepped in.

A weight started to grow heavier on her shoulders. Shepard had been thinking about what she would do after she picked up Jack since she released the psychotic woman. Purgatory was home to some of the galaxies biggest and baddest criminals. The ship housed everything from slavers to rapists, molesters to serial killers. Shepard had also realized that amongst the prisoners here had to be those that were innocent. Even in Earth's history there had always been convicted criminals that were really innocent. There was no doubt in Shepard's mind that there were more than a handful of prisoners like that on the ship. The thought of saving those few innocents had been weighing against the thought of sparring the galaxy from the rest of the prisoners, the real criminals.

"Shepard, whatever you decide to do…" Garrus said as if reading her mind. "I'm with you. Even for this I've always got your back."

Shepard looked up at Garrus and smiled. Always there when I need him.

"Thanks Garrus." She started to say more but was interrupted by the airlock doors opening into the Normandy. Shepard felt a slight pull in her stomach when Garrus dropped his arm almost immediately.

Shepard slowly walked over to behind Joker's forward view screens showed Purgatory. Parts of the ship were alight fire fires eating up the atmosphere, other parts were venting atmosphere, and few others seemed to not be damaged at all.

"Joker." Shepard said upon reaching the pilot's chair, her voice casual in spite of the exhaustion she felt. Shepard laid a hand on the man's shoulder. "Go and take a break. You look like you could use one."

"I'm good Shepard, but thanks." The pilot replied, not looking up from the displays in front of him.

"Joker." Shepard's voice started to harden, just slightly. "I mean it. Go take a break, I'll watch over the ship while you're gone."

This time Joker looked up, an eyebrow raised. Joker met Shepard's eyes and a shudder went through him. She knew that even if she wanted it to be so or not, she probably had the eyes of the condemned soul she was. Joker nodded and stood up. the crippled man left the cockpit as quickly as his fragile legs would allow. Shepard turned to Garrus who was standing just inside the doorway, she noticed that the door was closed behind him and not open like it typically was. Shepard met Garrus' eyes, they were pits of warmth and sorrow and comfort just like they were in her dream.

"Garrus. I'm about to do something that no one should ever need to do, but needs doing. I'm not going to ask you to bear this burden with me. If you want to you can leave now with no weight on your soul and no blame from me."

Garrus put his hand to the door controls, never taking his gaze from Shepard's. For a moment Shepard hoped he would leave and let her bear this alone. She heard the small shrill beep of the doors locking. Garrus stepped forward and place his hands on her shoulders.

"Shepard. I just told you, I'm not going to let you do this alone. Some weights are easier to hold with others than alone."

"You're not going to change your mind about this are you." Shepard stated, she had already known his answer when he had stayed after Joker left. Garrus shook his head no. Shepard felt the weight on her shoulders lighten. A feeling of peace washed over her, peace and undefinable right..

Shepard didn't know how long they stood there for, just gazing into each other's eyes. Neither of them wanting to move. Neither of them wanting to break the peace they had found before their grim task.

Shepard sighed. "We should get this over with then. Joker'll want his chair back at some point." Garrus nodded and moved to sit into the co-pilot's seat, Shepard sat down in the pilot's chair.


A/N:

So I've had nothing to do the last few days and most of this was written while sitting around in rift waiting for queue pops. So with the fact that I had a good 2 hours of writing in between thirty minutes of play this got done rather quickly. Also the fact that this is one of 2-3 original ideas that have survived the meat grinder of plot development helped. I've actually been sitting on the Kasumi part of this chapter since the start of this, and damn it I wanted to make a (somewhat) boring mission interesting.

So with that out of the way, I am going to be doing Horizon next (obviously). I plan on it being a full chapter and not just bits and pieces like I've done to the previous chapters.

As always thanks a ton to everyone that has favorited/followed/read/reviewed my story. Also major thanks to my guildmate (she knows who she is) for the reviews and support.

I'm done rambling. I promise! Til next time!