Chapter 7: Horizon

"EDI. Please let Joker know that he can come back up." Shepard spoke and stood up, Garrus followed her lead.

Shepard was surprised at how the weight she had expected to feel was not on her shoulders. She had expected that slaughtering countless prisoners and mercs by destroying Purgatory would weigh heavily on her. She assumed that it may have something to do with Garrus standing by her even as they completed this brutal task.

Shepard tried stepping forward but nearly fell, her tired muscles giving out on her. Shepard felt the weight of Garrus hands on her arms keeping her upright.

"Lean against me." Garrus spoke, his voice calm and soothing to her exhausted mind. Shepard nodded and allowed Garrus to take the majority of her weight on his side.

They made their way towards the back of the deck and the elevator. Shepard felt the shocked gazes of her crew on her and Garrus. She should have expected to get odd glances from a Cerberus crew, but she didn't expect the almost approving looks that were sent her way. Shepard was puzzling over why in the 'verse they would garner such looks when Kelly intercepted them just before reaching the elevator.

"Commander Shepard." Kelly glanced at Garrus and sent Shepard a mischievous smile.

Shepard raised an eyebrow at the other woman. "What is it Kelly? Can it wait for a bit?"

Kelly shook her head. "I'm sorry Commander. The Illusive Man has a priority message for you. He's patched into the conference room and waiting there."

Shepard let out a heavy sigh. "Thanks Kelly." Shepard turned to Garrus. "Mind keeping me up for a bit longer Garrus?" The deep pits of warmth Shepard found in his eyes were the answer she knew he would give her. He nodded to her, as she expected.

Garrus half led half carried Shepard through the armory and into the conference room just behind the elevator. There in the center of the room, where the table had sunk into the floor, was the image of The Illusive Man, his back towards the pair.

"Shepard." The Illusive Man said. Garrus settled Shepard into a nearby chair. "We've got a lead."

The Illusive Man turned around, his eyebrows raised a hair at seeing more than one occupant in the room. "Officer Vakarian. I wasn't expecting you."

Shepard cut him off before he could say any more. "Let's get to the point, Yeoman Chambers said this was important. What is this lead you say you have."

The Illusive Man swung his gaze back to Shepard. This was the first time she could view him without most of his features hidden by shadows. The Illusive Man was an older man, as she expected, his hair completely grey by age and stress. He seemed to be fit for a man appearing to be in his mid-sixties, his face weathered yet not lined in wrinkles. His eyes were not normal human eyes. Shepard had known that people were startled when she wore her contacts, which was almost always, she knew now what people had been weirded out by. The Illusive Man's eyes were two blue rings, one inside the other. The outer ring held three blue circles that kept orbiting around the ring. The man's eyes caused a shived to run down her spine.

"...Our long range scanners in the Terminus found something." The Illusive Man's voice brought her back into focus. "They have picked up a large energy signature heading towards one of our colonies, Horizon. At it's current speed it'll be there in six hours."

Shepard felt herself more awake now. The Illusive Man took a drag from his hand rolled cigarette. "You think it's the Collectors don't you." Shepard leaned forward in her seat, She felt the weight of Garrus steadying hand on her shoulder.

The Illusive Man nodded. "This is the most warning we've ever had Shepard. Get there as fast as you can. Find out anything on them, I don't care how you do it, just get it done."

Shepard stood, this time with only a steadying hand from Garrus on her shoulder. "You don't need to tell me twice." The Illusive Man nodded.

"Godspeed Shepard. And good luck." With that his image disappeared and the table began raising back up from where it had sunk into the floor.

"EDI." Shepard said moving towards the door, Garrus at her side. "Set a course for Horizon. Get us there at full burn I don't care if you use all of our fuel doing it. Just get us there yesterday."

"Yes Shepard. Course has been set. ETA seven hours." Shepard groaned. It was too slow, but she had to except it.

"Make sure I'm up an hour before we get there. Inform all ground team members, everyone is going on this one."

"Yes Commander."

"Come on Garrus. I'm going to need some sleep before we hit planetside."

Garrus nodded. They reached the elevator and stepped in, Shepard pushed the button for her quarters. Shepard leaned against Garrus once more, this time leaning into him more than against him. She was still thankful he wanted to stay with the ship, even with what had happened the last few days. Shepard felt the weight of his hand move from her shoulder to just below her ribs. Shepard felt Garrus begin to put more pressure on his hand and then he stopped, his body stiffened. Shepard felt her own body stiffen in response. Shepard pulled herself away from him and looked up at him. She saw a conflict raging in the depths of his icy blue eyes.

"Shepard I…"

Garrus…" They spoke at once. Garrus closed his mouth and nodded to her, telling her to speak first.

"Thank you." Shepard said, her voice full of sincerity. "For everything. For staying, for helping me, for being there." She placed a hand on his unscared mandible. She felt it quiver beneath her palm.

Garrus lowered his head. "Shepard nothing will stop me from helping you. I've told you, I'll always have your back." With his words Shepard felt something stir in her. Shepard placed her other hand on his scared mandible. She gently lifted his head so that he was once more looking at her.

"You don't know what that means to me Garrus." She smiled up at him. In his eyes she saw the same familiar warmth that she always saw in his icy blue gaze. She felt him stiffen a little under her palm.

Garrus looked as if he was about to say something when the elevator chimed and the door swished open. The air around them was filled with the loud earth music she favored. The music instantly broke the peaceful, soft mood that had just filled the air between them. Shepard chuckled.

"Alright that touchy-feely moment is over." Shepard turned and hobbled out of the elevator. "See you in a few hours big guy. Make sure you actually get some bunk time."

"Will do Shepard." Garrus chuckled out before the door closed between them.

"Might as well follow my own advice." Shepard sighed to herself. She moved into her cabin and started stripping off pieces of her armor as she went. letting them fall haphazardly to the floor.


"Alright people listen up." Garrus snapped his gaze to Shepard when she entered the, now crowded, conference room.

Every member of the ground team save Shepard and Doctor Solus had already gathered in the small room. Garrus noted that Doctor Solus was close on Shepard's heels, his arms full of a dozen small grey boxes. Garrus along with everyone else in the room immediately brought their attention to Shepard. She glanced around the room, no doubt making sure she was the last to enter. Her gaze paused for a moment on him, her eyes gave him a brief smile while her face remained stone. Garrus let his mandibles widen in a small brief smile of his own, one that only she or someone extremely good at reading Turians would see. Shepard brought her attention back to the rest of the crew.

"We are currently thirty minutes out from Horizon. The Collectors are already there and no doubt working on abducting the colonists there as we speak." Shepard paused, letting the information sink into the mostly human crew. Garrus could see the looks of shock and rage on the faces of the rest of the crew, all save Grunt that is, the Krogan just looked bored while munching on a slab of smoked meat.

"Everyone is going planetside with me. We will be splitting up into three teams." Shepard tapped a few keys on the conference table, a holo of a small town sprung to life in the center of the table.

Shepard looked to Jacob. "Jacob. You, Jack and Grunt are red team." A large box appeared at one end of the colony, the west end if he had to guess. Three red dots appeared next to it.

"You are to go around the south side of the colony. Clear it out, save any colonists you can and pick up any collector tech you can." The dots moved around the colony heading to the right of the box. Jacob nodded. Shepard turned to Miranda.

"Miranda. You, Mordan, and Zaeed are purple team." Three more dots appeared, these ones purple.

"You are to do the same thing to the north of the colony." Miranda nodded as well.

"Understood Commander."

"Kasumi. Garrus." Shepard looked at Kasumi then back at Garrus. "We're blue team and the wanderers." Three more dots appeared on the map, as expected they were blue.

"Our job is to shoot straight towards the Collector ship. If one of the other teams needs help one of us help them." The blue dots moved through the center of the colony. Unlike the other two groups that stayed relatively close together, these three fanned out in the colony, one heading more to the north the other more to the south while the last went straight in towards the center of the colony.

"Long range scans show a massive energy signature on the east side of the colony. It's no doubt as to who this thing is." A massive tower appeared on the map dwarfing everything else shown. Garrus took his eyes from the holo-map and looked at Shepard. Her face was stone serious as she assessed the squad, her eyes softened momentarily when her gaze met his.

"Our main goal here is to save the colonists." Shepard spoke, once more looking at everyone but him. "If we can do any damage to the Collector ship or even get inside it, do it. We need all the info we can get on them."

Garrus looked down at his hands when one of Mordan's small grey boxes, no bigger than one of his talons, was shoved into his hands. Garrus looked around to find the rest of the team holding the rest of them, all of them looking at them in confusion.

"What the fuck is this thing?" Jack spoke up, shaking her box.

"These are Mordin's counter for the seeker swarms." Jack immediately stopped shaking the box. Garrus let a soft chuckle out.

"They emit a frequency that the seekers we have completely avoid." Shepard clipped her box to her belt. Garrus followed suit and heard the faint clicks as the others did the same.

"Great, electric bug spray." Massani grumbled while clipping his on.

"Unsure how countermeasure will fair. Only tried on small numbers not full swarms." Mordan's rapid speech easily flowed around the room, followed closely by a deafening silence.

Mordan and Garrus looked around at the rest of the room. All save, Shepard and Grunt wore looks of shock on their merely grunted around his quickly diminishing slab of meat.

"Can modify all devices remotely." Mordan spoke trying to way lay some fears. For the most part the rest of the team was reassured, however Garrus noticed Jack giving the object more care now.

"You've got your groups. Get your gear and meet back in the shuttle bay. We drop in twenty minutes. Anyone not on the shuttle then gets left behind." Shepard looked around the room, making eye contact with each person.

"Dismissed." With that one word everyone started filling out of the room. Garrus waited for the rest to depart first. Once everyone else had left Garrus stayed where he was, Shepard seemed to not see that he was still there. Garrus felt his throat clench when Shepard seemed to deflate, her shoulders slumped and he could still see the traces of exhaustion written over her. She seemed to be looking down at something in her hand. He couldn't quite see what it was, and it was completely blocked from his view when her hand tightened into a fist around it.

Garrus moved away from the corner of the room and stepped up next to Shepard, she seemed to not notice he was still there. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and he felt her stiffen in surprise. Shepard's gaze snapped to the hand on her shoulder and then up at Garrus. He felt her relax under his hand and gaze.

"You ok Shepard?" Garrus asked, concern filling both sets of vocals.

"Yeah." She smiled up at him. "Yeah, still a bit tired is all."

"Need anything before I head down?" Garrus asked, concern still in his voice but only in his subvocals now.

Shepard weakly shook her head. "No I'm fine." She smiled up at him again. "I'll meet you down there. I need to get a couple things before we head planetside."

Garrus gave her a small smile of his own and nodded. "See you down there then Shepard."

Garrus patted Shepard's shoulder and left the room. Shepard's scent following him as he went. It seemed off of some reason, another scent mixed in that he couldn't quite place.


"We need either another shuttle." Garrus spoke when he entered the shuttle's cockpit. "Or we need to not bring everyone on a mission again."

The shuttle's passenger bay was just big enough to fit the entire ground team. Had there been anymore and people would need to sit in other's laps.

"Or." Shepard spoke from the pilot's seat. "We could get another Mako." Shepard grinned up at him, her eyes held a mischievous glint to them. Garrus felt his face morph into one of pure horror.

"NO! Even better! We could get a Hammerhead!" Shepard's grin widened, her eyes held a faraway look to them. "Now that was a real tank!"

Garrus sat down in the copilot's seat. "Shepard. Even with the excuse of having hundreds of hostiles shooting at us. You are still a terrible driver in that thing." The door opened with a hiss behind him. Garrus sniffed and thought he smelled a very faint hint of lavender. Garrus glanced over his shoulder to see Kasumi step through the door, which hissed closed behind her.

"There's not enough room back there for me." She spoke simply to his inquiring gaze.

Shepard nodded to Kasumi. "Besides Garrus. The Mako is a terrible vehicle. You need to have the reactions of God to drive that scrap bucket smoothly."

Garrus felt the shuttle jerk into motion under him. Kasumi wasn't prepared for the sudden violent movement and staggered into him.

"Might want to take a seat Kasumi. This might be a bumpy ride." Garrus barely caught the mischievous glance she sent him. "I'm sure Garrus won't mind. Will you?"

Garrus glared at the side of Shepard's face. She was deliberately not looking at him. He could see the edge of her mouth straining to not be the grin he knew would be there. Garrus didn't bother with a reply, or at least not a verbal one.

Kasumi let out a small shriek of surprise when Garrus grabbed her about her waist and plopped her square in his lap. Garrus sniffed and his nose was instantly filled with the nearly overpowering scent of lavender. A faint nagging in the back of his mind told him he knew it from somewhere but couldn't place where. Garrus faintly heard a small chuckle from Shepard..

"Trust me. It'd be worse if you were standing." Garrus spoke loud enough so that Shepard could hear.

Horizon filled the forward view screen. Garrus felt the shuttle speed up beneath him, the force pressed Kasumi's lithe frame into his chest. Garrus faintly heard noise coming from Shepard's side of the cockpit. A quick glance showed that she was mouthing words and bobbing her head to some beat that he couldn't hear.

Kasumi turned her head to look at Garrus, keeping her mouth out of Shepard's sight. Garrus saw the corners of her mouth turned up in a slight mischievous smile. She looked as if she were about to say something, but her smile and her words were lost before she could say anything. Garrus felt the pit of his stomach drop and watched Horizon grow rapidly as the shuttle sped towards the planet.

The shuttle lurched and shook around them. Garrus heard the rest of the team shouting out curses, the were no doubt getting tossed into one another and then hitting each other as they rushed to get strapped in.

"FUCK YOU SHEPARD!" Garrus heard Jack shout over the noise.

Garrus glanced over and saw that Shepard finally broke, a wide, ear to ear, grin spread across her face. Garrus couldn't help but grin too. He grinned even wider when another shudder ran through the shuttle and Kasumi gripped his hands tightly, clinging on as if her life depended on it.

Garrus heard Shepard's joyful laughter fill the cockpit. The laughter was contagious and Garrus couldn't help but laugh with her. Garrus could barely make out the sounds of more cursing coming from the passenger bay, another violent shudder ran through the shuttle.

"They're still at it?" Shepard managed to calm her laughter enough to speak.

"They've never been in a Mako with you Shepard." Garrus yelled out over the dull roar of the shuttle beginning it's descent into Horizon's atmosphere.

"Hell Shepard, compared to that this is a walk in the park." Garrus tightened his grip on Kasumi, keeping her firmly planted in his lap with no chance of her moving.

Shepard chuckled. "Gee, maybe I should put the external dampeners on." Shepard shouted over the roar of the shuttle's vibrations.

"What's the fun in that though? Let them get pissed off. They'll fight better." Garrus replied. He winced slightly as Kasumi's grip turned into a near hand breaking one. Shepard's laughter once more filled the air around him.


The shuttle shuddered under him This time much less violently than before. Garrus heard the faint sounds of the ship's engines powering down. He released Kasumi from the strong grip he had held her in for most of the ride down.

"We are down! Teams fan out! Keep in radio contact." Shepard spoke over the team's comms.

Garrus heard the soft thud of the shuttle door opening. Kasumi stood up from his lap and gave him a rueful look. Without a word she opened the cockpit door and stepped out into the passenger area. Garrus followed her out, but stopped when he realised that Shepard wasn't following him.

Garrus glanced over his shoulder to see Shepard still seated in the pilot's chair. He turned around to fully face her.

"Shepard?" He asked and took a step forward.

Garus grew worried when he saw her back arch and her head fall back. His worry faded slightly when he saw the look of near ecstasy on her face. Her eyes were closes and her mouth wide in a deep almost happy breath.

"Shepard?" Garrus asked, his worry seeping into his subvocals.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and her eyes snapped open. The look of bliss faded from her but her mouth was still turned up into a wide grin, one that didn't meet her eyes. She stood up and was instantly alight in her azure biotic aura.

"I'm fine Garrus." She pulled her only weapon, her Scimitar, off her back. "Lets go save us a colony."

She stepped past him without another word. She sent him a grin over her shoulder, this one lightly touching her eyes in the same manner that they always lit in whenever she talked to him. Garrus nodded and followed her, pulling his Mantis off his back. His worry still there but put aside for now. He would have plenty of time to worry when Shepard was safely back on the ship.


The crack of gunfire filled the air. Ever since they had touched down on the planet the sounds of combat had been present. It was either them in a firefight or one of the other squads. Both of the other teams had radioed in that they had come in contact with Collectors after being on the planet for not even five minutes.

The Collectors weren't the only problem they had come to face. With the Collectors were Husks, humans that had been morphed into something else, something different, something monstrous. Even back on the old Normandy Garrus had been creeped out by the wrongness that were Husks. Their dead, cold blue cybernetic eyes and their dead blue skin laced with tech still haunted his dreams.

Garrus' rifle cracked from his position on top of one of the pre-fab colonial buildings. Shepard had lifted him up with her biotics once they started moving through the maze that was the colony. Thankfully all the buildings were either interconnected or not far from each other. Any building that wasn't connected to the one he was on was an easy jump for his long powerful legs to make. Garrus sighted another Collector, his Mantis jumped in his hands and the Collector fell minus a head.

"Garrus." Shepard called out to him over their comms, between yells of using her biotics. "Kasumi's pinned. Heavy rifle on her two is keeping her down."

Garrus quickly found Kasumi, and then the Collector Shepard spoke of. His rifle cracked and the Collector fell.

"Kasumi you're good to go." Garus spoke calmly over the comms.

The air around him started sizzling, his shields screamed out in protest of the Collector fire hitting him. Garrus rolled backwards, away from the ledge of the building, a second more and his shields would have failed.

"Shepard." Garrus spoke and moved towards a building to his left at a crouch. "Three of them got a bead on me. I'm moving but they should be expecting me there still."

"I see 'em." Shepard replied.

The next thing he heard was becoming more and more common. Shepard yelled out, drawing on the massive well of biotic power she seemed to have. The next instant the air was filled with a resounding boom of her charge and the discharge of her barriers. The boom was soon followed by the sizzling of flesh, almost like the sound of frying bacon, when Shepard cut into the Collectors with her biotic blades.

Garrus had been surprised that she had learned the signature tool of Asari mercs the first time he had watched her biotically throw herself at a merc back on Omega. Even for the Asari a biotic charge was said to be hard to master, and Shepard had picked up on it like she was picking up a rock. Now she had shown that she could do much, much more.

The first squad that they had come across was all but obliterated when Shepard had charged into their midst. The Collectors had all been thrown off balance from the charge, most had stumbled or fallen on their backs, the one she had slammed into became a smear on a wall. The rest of the Collectors soon followed suit when Shepard threw out her arms and a biotic wave of sheer power exploded out from her. The one that had somehow escaped the fate of it's fellows was quickly killed by a sharp thrust of an azure blade that had sprung from her arm. Garrus didn't know where this power seemed to come from, but its usefulness was not to be argued against. Garrus couldn't help but think that some very wrong would happen because of this.

Garrus, once more in position to cover Shepard and Kasumi, quickly scanned the area. Other than the two women nothing moved. Everything was still. Garrus faintly heard a dull moan coming from up ahead. The moaning was quickly drowned out by the sounds of a firefight coming from the north.

"You're clear. Moving ahead." Garrus radioed down to the two woman below him. Garrus moved to the next building ahead of his team and quickly swept the area.

"Husk swarm, just a head." Garrus reported. He quickly shifted his scope to scan the areas to the north and south. Purple team seemed to be fine and were mopping up a swarm of their own. Red team was moving towards a squad of Collectors. They didn't seem to be aware of the team yet and were busy putting captured colonists into their weird bug-like transport pods.

"Taylor, you're moving up on a squad of eight. They don't know you're there yet." Garrus radioed to the other team.

"Copy that Vakarian." Jacob replied. Garrus saw the man giving orders to his squad before switching his Mantis out for his Vindicator.

"Eat this!" Shepard yelled out.

Garrus quickly pivoted back to get a bead on the Husk swarm in front of him. Shepard had once more flung herself recklessly into them and exploded in an azure wave. Garrus quickly picked off one of the unfortunate Husks not caught in Shepard's first attack. The swift popps of Kasumi's Locust SMG, told him she was doing the same. Garrus swept the area once more, but found nothing moving that wasn't Shepard or Kasumi.

"Commander." Miranda's cool voice came over the comms. "We've just found a colonist that isn't in stasis and he's the head mechanic for the colony."

"Get anything out of him?" Shepard asked and started moving toward the large gate on the opposite side of the courtyard she was in. The gate seemed to be big enough to fit anything smaller than a Mako through it.

"Yes. The colony had been hosting an Alliance officer. The mechanic didn't give an name but did give a reason for the officer being here." There was a short pause over the comms.

"The officer is here overseeing the installation of a GARDIAN defense tower." Shepard visibly perked up at the words. Garrus moved ahead of her on the roof tops, moving towards the gate.

"The tower has power but the targeting system doesn't work yet."

"Thank you Miranda." Shepard's voice held a barely detectable hint of joy at the other woman's words. If they could take out the ship here they might have just found a way to solve the Collector issue.

"EDI." Garrus was only a few meters from the gate now.

"Yes Commander?" The AI replied, in her same cold synthesized voice.

"I want you to link up to that tower. Get the thing operational ASAP." Shepard and Kasumi moved towards the gate, but Garrus was still quite a bit ahead of them.

"Yes Commander. I will need a link to the tower controls. My scans show that they are just ahead of you."

"Copy that." Garrus thought he could hear a faint buzzing as he got closer to the gate.

"Purple and Red teams." Shepard spoke into the squad wide comm. "Fall in to my location. I want everyone here ten minutes ago."

The buzzing sound grew louder and louder. Something pulled on him at an instinctual level to turn around. Not one to disobey his instincts, Garrus swiftly pivoted and spun around. As soon as he did he was greeted with the form of a Collector flying at him. This one was different from the rest, this one had an odd yellow glowing network of lines running along it's body. Before he could react the thing flew into him, the wind was knocked out of him as he was lifted off the roof tops and flung backwards.

"Garrus!" Shepard called out to him, panic and fear filling her voice.

Just as he was starting to get his lungs to work again they were battered once more. Garrus landed on the other side of the gate from Shepard. Luckily his shields and armor took the brunt of the fall but it still hurt. Garrus tried to stand up but was quickly shoved back down when the Collector landed on top of him, it's insect-like feet planted squarely on his chest. Garrus thought could see the gate begin to open out of the corner of his eye, but he couldn't be sure.

The Collector leaned down, bringing it's brightly glowing,yellow eyes closer to his face. a loud shriek filled the air and both Garrus and the Collector turned to the sound. The gate was slowly opening. As soon as it opened wide enough Shepard stepped through, her eyes wide and wild and filled with panic.

"Garrus!" Shepard yelled her voice still filled with a panic that made his heart clench.

The Collector straitened over him, without taking it's eyes off of Shepard it moved it's foot to his neck. The collector pressed down hard and Garrus began clawing at the foot trying to get it off.

"We are the Harbinger of your destiny. We are your salvation through destruction." The Collector spoke, in a deep reverberating voice, it was the only one to speak more than just basic chirps and chitters.

"Get. Off. Him!" Shepard yelled and flung her arm forward. The massive blast of biotic energy collided with the Collector, only to be shrugged off by an aura of dark yellow energy.

The Collector looked down at him, it's cold glowing eyes regarding him intently. It looked back up at Shepard and pressed harder on his neck.

"This hurts you." The thing spoke to Shepard.

Garrus used the Collector's distraction with Shepard to his advantage. The foot still planted on his chest seemed to be unsteady. Garrus grabbed the leg and pulled to his left, towards Shepard. The Collector was caught by surprise and stumbled of him. Garrus quickly rolled away from the creature.

"We are the Harbinger for all your sins." The Collector spoke in it's deep thrumming voice.

Garrus quickly sprung to his feet, crouching low between Shepard and the Collector. He pulled his Mantis off his back and swept the area for any other hostiles. He spotted another group of Collectors coming in from the opposite side of the large courtyard he had landed in. In the center of the courtyard was a tall antenna, a computer console at it's base.

Some part of him told him to run, but not because of what was coming towards him, but because of something behind him. Some small part of him still held the animal instincts of being prey and not the predator. Garrus turned his head slightly to look behind him, but kept the Collector in his sight. His eyes widened and he turned to fully face Shepard.

Standing there was both Shepard and not Shepard at the same time. Her body was there, of that there was no doubt in his mind, but her mind was not. Standing before him Shepard's body was wreathed in a powerful azure aura that seemed to radiate raw, primal power. Garrus gazed into Shepard's eyes and what he saw there made him want to find somewhere to run and hide. Her eyes had turned a dark purple and glowed much like the Collector's. Even with this near blinding azure light coming from her eyes Garrus could feel the furry that radiated from them.

Garrus was forced once more to turn around when stray Collector rifle fire grazed his shields. He dodged to his right seeking both cover and to be out of the way of the thing that had become Shepard. The air was once more filled with gunfire from his Mantis and Kasumi's SMG. Before he could get off his second shot at the Collectors that had been approaching them from the east end of the courtyard, his target fell, missing it's head. The air was filled with more gunfire coming from the north and south, the other teams had arrived in time.

Everything went still however when a blood curdling roar filled the air. Garrus' eyes widened and he turned his head to the left. He turned just in time to see Shepard, in all her biotic might, charge the glowing Collector. The very earth shook when Shepard impacted the creature, the air trembled with the unleashed power. Garrus watched when the glowing Collector's body was flung backwards, the body disintegrated as it flew through the air.

"You only delay the inevitable." The thing's deep voice filled the air once more. It seemed to radiated out from every Collector this time in place of just the one, now dust, body.

Shepard, either not caring or not hearing its words, roared once more, and flung herself into the mass of Collectors and Husks that still stood. The entire group disappeared under the sheer weight of her power. Garrus caught the glint of something large and silver falling to the ground from above. A second later the ground shook once more. On the other side of antenna, a massive silver beatle rose from the crater it's impact had created.

"Bringing defense lasers online." The voice of EDI spoke in his comms. "Correcting firing algorithms."

The light that was Shepard turned to face this newest creature. The beatle stood several feet taller than him on four long, spike like legs. From where he stood the creature looked like a walking tank, and quite likely was. Shepard's roared in fury once more. Her body pulsed in waves of azure light. The world around them seemed to be holding it's collective breath, waiting to see what the titan Shepard had become would do.

The breath was released, almost explosively when the sound of an Avenger firing broke the silence around them. Garrus swept the area around him. It was none of the ground team that had fired. Garrus' scope finally settled on the blue armored form of an Alliance soldier, the officer bars on his arm showed him to be a Staff Commander. The soldier was wearing his helmet so he couldn't get a look at the man's face. The soldier fired another burst from his rifle and Garrus swung his scope back to the Collector creature. The shields on the creature flared and it slowly turned to face the newest threat.

Garrus' rifle cracked, and then again in the span of just a few heart beats. The air was soon filled with weapons fire as the rest of the squad opened up on the creature. The bug took a heavy beating without a dent being made in it's armor, it's shields taking all of their attack.

Once more the air was filled with Shepard's roar of fury. Garrus felt his heart stop when she launched herself at the giant bug. The creature stumbled, a Shepard sized dent now in it's armor. Garrus froze with fear as the thing turned to face her, it's large black eyes lighting up with blue energy. Shepard roared and sprung at the creature, lunging for it's legs. The creature fired dual beams of energy at the spot Shepard had just been, but far too late. Shepard grabbed one of it's legs and, like a hot knife through butter, cut it off where it connected to the body.

Shepard leaped up onto the giant bug's silver shell, bringing it's leg with her. With another flare of her biotics Shepard shoved the leg into the creature's body, where it's head would be. The blue light in it's eyes died out and it collapsed to the ground.

Garrus' heart clenched when the azure light faced from around Shepard. She fell with the bug and landed on the ground, unmoving. Garrus rushed over to her side. To his relief she was still conscious but her breath came in ragged gasps.

"Algorithms complete. Firing defense lasers." EDI's mechanical voice spoke over his comm.

The air shuddered with the explosions of the laser blasts hitting the Collector ship. The ground shuddered when the ship's engines fired and the ship launched itself into the air, quickly moving out of range of the defense lasers.

Shepard seemed to have regained some control of her breathing. She sat up from her spot on the ground, Garrus still right beside her. Exhaustion and anger mixed across her features as she watched the ship disappear into the sky. Garrus heard the faint thumps of boots on the ground behind him. Garrus turned to face the person behind him and Shepard. When he locked eyes with the man that stood there he froze.

"Garrus? Why are you here?" Kaidan Alenko spoke, his voice unsteady. "Why are you with Cerberus."

Shepard stiffened next to him. She stood, using him for support, and turned to face their friend.

"They're here with me Kaidan." Shepard's voice held the joy of seeing another familiar face.

"So the rumors are true." Kaidan spoke, disgust filling his voice. "Is this where you went Shepard? Have you really turned your back on everything you stood for?"

"Kaidan, you've got the wrong idea." Shepard knew just as well as Garrus where he was going with this.

"Do I? You turned your back on the Alliance and joined up with Cerberus." The disgust evadent on his face now. "They're probably the ones that gave you the Breath too." Shepard stiffened next to him.

"No, Kaidan that's not…" Shepard tried to speak, but Kaidan cut her off.

"And you." He looked to Garrus. "Why are you of all people with them too? Cerberus is more likely to kill you than help you."

"Kaidan!" Shepard Shouted at the man, Garrus felt Shepard lean more heavily on him. "I died. They brought me back. I'm only working with them until the Collector's are stopped."

Kaidan didn't seem to be phased in the least by her words. If anything his disgust, thickened. If it wasn't for being the only thing keeping Shepard on her feet Garrus would have gladly beat some sense into the man.

"Kaidan we're going. If you want to come with us you can." Garrus knew the futility of the offer, Kaidan had already made up his mind. "Otherwise there's still at least half of the colony that needs to be taken care of."

Kaidan shook his head and walked away from them without another word.

"Lawson." Shepard spoke, her voice weak. "Get the shuttle and bring it in for an evac."

The other woman nodded grudgingly, but went off to do as she was ordered.

"Everyone else, fan out and see if there's anything useful to be salvaged from the Collector tech." Shepard spoke, her voice commanding, but it was forced.

"Are you ok Shepard?" Garrus asked Concern filling both sets of vocals.

"No." Shepard spoke, her voice barely a whisper. "I can't see."

Garrus turned to face her. In her hand, was her contact chase. Garrus' gaze moved to her eyes and his own widened. Her eyes were dull and sightless, she was completely blind.

"Shepard, what happened?" Garrus fought to keep his panic from his voice.

Shepard turned her head towards him and gave him a weak, forced smile. "I'll be fine big guy. It'll wear off. It did last time at least."

A look of intense pain washed over her face. Shepard slumped into his arms, unconscious but alive.

"Miranda." Garrus spoke into his one way comm. "Something's wrong with Shepard. We need to get her to Chakwas."

In the distance Garrus heard the engines of their shuttle roar to life.


A/N:

So sorry that this chapter took so long to come out, had about a week where I didn't want to write and I'm not going to force myself to do so. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this, it as quite a bit of fun writing. Up next I'm going to start rearranging when you get what loyalty missions, starting with Garrus' mission. More background stuff is also incoming so be ready for that.

As always thank you all so much for your, favs, follows, reviews and even just views. Hopefully I don't leave you hanging with this cliff hanger for too long.

Until next time!