"And that's all we've got," Jeroth reported, then after a brief moment added belatedly, "Sir."

Toombs breathed in deep and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You're telling me no one's seen Shepard since she jumped out that goddamn window?"

"Yeah." Toombs opened an eye and glared at the man before him. "I mean, yeah sir."

Toombs exhaled. He didn't miss the Alliance – how could he, after what they had done to him, to his men? – but sometimes he did miss the perks, like the order or respect for the chain of command that was instilled into its soldiers. He hadn't really ever appreciated the discipline Alliance marines had until he was forced to make due with the dregs of the galaxy that made up his crew now.

"I want Shepard found, now." he said, looking to the side as his door hissed open. He bit down a groan as he recognized the krogan who entered and marched towards them.

"Hmph. Worried your little girlfriend will run away?" Keave said as she came up beside Jeroth. The young man stiffened and inched away.

Toombs braced his hands on the desk between them, glaring at her. "You've no idea what you're even talking about."

"I know you let one of Cerberus' best operatives escape right out from under that thing you call a nose." she grumbled, holding his gaze. Jeroth quietly took another step back. "An operative who just happened to be an old friend of yours."

A sudden wave of pain jolted through Toombs, making his breath hitch slightly. He ignored the sickening sensation; he'd been living with the after effects of the thresher maw venom for years now, and had long ago learned how to deal with all but the worst of the symptoms. "My past with Shepard is none of your goddamn business."

"Yeah? Well I say it is my damn business." She took a step closer to the desk. "How else did Shepard get away from our ambush, huh? Fully surrounded, with all the exits blocked off. No way she could have gotten out of there without help."

Toombs felt his hands curl into fists. "If you've got something to say, Keave, then just say it. Don't scurry around it like some inbred varren."

The krogan narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm saying you either helped that bitch escape, or she got out all on her own. Either way means you're a useless pyjak."

Toombs leaned forward, holding her gaze as he resisted the urge to just shoot the krogan here and now. He'd need her strength for when Shepard came – which wouldn't be long now at all, if she was still half the woman he remembered, Cerberus or no. "Enough. You have no idea how dangerous Shepard is, what she's capable of. You really think you'd even have a chance against her without me?"

Keave shrugged. "She's one human, alone with a half dead turian that's probably already rotting in an alley somewhere. What could she possibly-" The sound of an explosion from the floors below cut her off, and Keave looked down as the ground shook slightly beneath them.

Toombs narrowed his eyes as fresh wave of pain shot through him, then reached for his gun.

Shepard was focused.

She was in the middle of battle, surrounded by hostiles. Just one mistake, one small slip, and it would be all over. So of course she was focused. She had to be.

And yet that didn't stop her from watching Garrus with an almost hungry fascination.

How had she never noticed before how impossibly graceful was? He moved through the crowded room, dropping merc after merc with each shot, and Shepard found herself marveling at the precision that rippled through him with every action; at the casual way his arm rose to reload his rifle with a natural ease, wasting not a second as he popped out the filled heat-sink and replaced it with a fresh one; at the way he vaulted over a low crate and ducked behind another as smoothly as a born predator. Had he always angled his hip like that when he lined up a shot? And had the blue in his eyes always burned that bright when they found hers after nailing yet another headshot? Certainly that fluttering sensation in her stomach in response had never been there, of that Shepard was sure.

You're going to get yourself killed, getting distracted like this, she told herself as she finally dragged her eyes away from him, activating her Cloak as she slid out from behind her cover to find a better vantage point. She came up beside a merc whose shields had already been taken care of by Garrus and proceeded to finish the job with a quick series of shots from her pistol. She ducked behind a nearby couch while she waited for her Cloak to recharge. Or worse, you'll get him killed, the voice continued as she glanced over the room.

They had almost cleared out the first floor completely and, by her count, the two of them had finished off at least eleven mercs by now. Roughly a little less than half of Toombs crew, if they were lucky. The rest of his men seemed to be hunkering down on the upper floors, and Shepard used the sudden lull in enemies to move closer to Garrus.

"Think it's time to press forward?" he asked as she came up beside him, crouching behind the same crate he was.

"Yeah. The others don't seem to be coming down anytime soon."

"Well, I guess they had to wise up sooner or later. Damn shame, though. Those stairs had them funneling in right to me." he said, tossing his head towards the pile of corpses that clogged the stairwell in front of them. He turned back to her, narrowing his eyes slightly. "By the way, it was seven to five this time around."

Had his voice always purred like that?

Shepard swallowed and ran a hand across the back of her neck. "Yeah, well, I figured I'd cut you a break, what with being injured and all." Which was true, or at least partially. She had noticed the way he had faltered every now and then, his hand pausing momentarily over his side in-between reloading and shooting. That had even been her excuse for watching him so closely at first; she'd told herself she was only doing it out of concern, like any proper commander would for her crew. And that was true.

Or at least partially.

"How are you holding up?" she asked him, leaning in to take a closer look at his wound. The medi-gel patch seemed to be wearing out slightly against the strain of combat, it's clear casing cracked and dried in some places.

Garrus shifted his weight from one foot to the other, looking away. "It's fine, Commander. Nothing I can't handle."

"Uh huh." she said as she opened up her omni-tool anyway.

"Really, Shepard, you don't-"

"Oh just sit still, Garrus." Shepard said, rolling her eyes as she applied a fresh patch over his burned side. He stiffened slightly when she released the dosage, but then let out a barely muffled sigh of relief as the anesthetic kicked in. "There, all done."

He twisted to the side and back, stretching. "Thanks, Commander."

She nodded, and gave him a crooked grin as she lifted her pistol. "Now let's go kill some mercs."

There was something off about Shepard.

Her bio-feedbacks had been spiking abnormally ever since they had first left Afterlife. Garrus had dismissed it at first, assuming it was from anger, but now he wasn't so sure. He shot a glance at her as he reloaded, watching from behind his crate as she sniped a merc from behind her own cover. Her readings were normal now – her heart-rate was slightly higher than usual maybe, but he attributed that to battle adrenaline –yet he could have sworn her pulse had been elevated earlier when she had come over to him after they had finished off the first wave of mercs.

Garrus took a moment to aim at a clutch of mercs across from him, and then fired a Concussive shot. His mandibles flicked as the group scattered, one of the bio-readings in his monitor disappearing with a blink. Another blipped out as Shepard landed a headshot on one of the stunned mercs, and he glanced over her. He winked when her eyes met his, acknowledging the shot, and once again her heart-rate spiked strangely. His eyes narrowed with concern, but before he could do more the readings had leveled back out and she was grinning at him. "That's twelve to twelve" her voice crackled in his ear, and then she was gone as she activated her Cloak and disappeared.

He resisted the urge to shake his head as he took aim again. Had she gotten injured earlier, back during their fight at the warehouse? He hadn't exactly been fully aware of what was going on back then, so it was possible she'd taken a hit when he was semi-unconscious. Garrus fired, taking down the barrier of a biotic. Another two shots saw the merc fall and Garrus moved on to another target. It could be from stress, he thought as he took out a salarian engineer. Going after Toombs like this probably isn't easy for her. He ducked back behind the counter he was using as cover and ejected the filled thermal clip. Then again, maybe he was just being paranoid. Maybe-

"Garrus!" Shepard's voice crackled in his ear, "Move!"

He didn't hesitate; Garrus dove away from the counter, rolling to the side just as the metal frame twisted and bent beneath the massive weight of a charging krogan. He scrambled to his feet as the krogan roared, running towards him as it leveled a shotgun in his direction. Garrus brought his own gun up and fired, swearing when the trigger clicked uselessly without an empty clip in it's heat sink. He backed away and fumbled at his belt for a clip while the krogan grinned, its finger squeezing down on its shotgun's trigger.

A ball of orange light shot past Garrus and crashed into the krogan's face. It roared as the fire spread across its body, throwing its head back and dropping its gun as the Incineration burned its armor away. There was a static fizzle as Shepard appeared just in front of the krogan, her cloak flickering off as she aimed her pistol at its head and fired. She got off three shots before the merc lashed out with a growl, its thick fist colliding into Shepard's right shoulder.

Something twisted inside Garrus when he heard the dull crack that followed the collision, and his mandibles flared when Shepard gasped as her arm dropped limply beside her. Her gun fell from her grasp and she dodged the krogan's next punch as she ducked to pick it up with her good hand. The krogan reached down towards her, and Garrus ran forward as he finished reloading. He slammed the butt of his rifle into the krogan's face, feeling the thick bone and skin break beneath the weight of his gun. He smashed the merc's face once more before the krogan could react, then jumped away when it swung out blindly with a fist. Garrus glanced over at Shepard beside him as he regained his balance, who already had her pistol up and aimed at the merc. She nodded at him as he did the same, and then they both fired.

Two empty thermal clips later, Garrus and Shepard stood panting over the merc, their guns still aimed on the krogan's prone form even though it had long since stopped moving. Finally, after double checking his visor's bio readings once again just to be sure, Garrus let his rifle lower. He looked over as Shepard did the same beside him and his eyes found hers. The bright green glittered with adrenaline and she grinned at him as she said, somewhat breathlessly, "Nice work, Vakarian."

His mandibles spread as he smiled back. "Well, I try." he said, raising his rifle slightly in a kind of salute. "Thanks for saving my ass back there."

Her eyebrows rose in acknowledgement as she holstered her pistol. "Anything for my favorite turian." His mandibles twitched at her words, but then stilled when he saw the way her forehead creased with pain as she tried to move her injured arm.

"How bad is it?" he asked, walking over to her and holstering his own weapon.

"It's fine, just a shoulder dislocation I think." she answered, wincing slightly as she ran her hand over the shoulder the krogan had hit. She stiffened when Garrus carefully did the same, gently examining the strange angle her arm hung at now.

"We're going to have to pop it back in place." he said as he looked it over.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "You've done this before?"

He nodded. "It's been awhile, but yeah. I had a human partner once, back in C-Sec. It was only for a few weeks before he transferred out, but long enough for me to pick up a few things."

"A few weeks and you already learned how to relocate a human's arm? Damn, C-Sec's more dangerous than I thought."

"It was his own fault, really. Damn idiot tried to follow a perp through a vent and got himself stuck when it turned out he wasn't nearly as flexible as he thought he was. Took me almost an hour to get him out."

Shepard started to laugh, then stopped when the motion caused her injured arm to shake. "Well, can't say I blame him. Flexibility's really about all us humans have in our favor compared to you bigger species."

Garrus shook his head, keeping his hand held lightly over the place where her empty socket was as he finished his examination. "Not this guy. You should have seen him, almost looked like he could have been part krogan he was so big. Not nearly as flexible as you, Commander." Shepard made a strange choking sound and he immediately lifted his hand, mandibles twitching. "Sorry. Did I press too hard?"

"No, no, that's," she cleared her throat. "No, it's fine. Let's just, ah, get this over with."

"Right." Garrus wrapped one of his hands around her elbow, placing the other one by her shoulder, and bent her forearm slowly upwards until he felt resistance. Shepard breathed in deep, closing her eyes. "You ready?" he asked.

She opened her eyes and stared into his. "Do it."

Garrus moved his hand down from her shoulder to her upper arm and rotated it, moving it around slowly until he felt it pop back into its socket. Shepard hissed in a breath, clenching her teeth together as Garrus brought her forearm back towards her chest, testing the shoulder's placement. The bone stayed in place. He nodded. "All done, Shepard."

She exhaled, pinching her eyes shut for a moment. "Thanks."

"Anything for my favorite human." Garrus said lightly and her eyes popped open. She laughed breathlessly as he brought up his omni-tool and released a dosage of medi-gel through her system. "Better?" he asked, running a hand over her shoulder one last time. He checked her pupils for excess dilation.

"Perfect." she said as she held his eyes, and his mandibles twitched at the sudden intensity that glittered in them. Before he could react further, however, she coughed and looked away. "It's all perfect now, thanks."

Garrus took his hand off her shoulder, suddenly feeling awkward. He scratched at his scars. "No problem, Commander."

Shepard took in a deep breath, then glanced upwards at the final floor above them. "Right. Let's finish this."

Garrus nodded. "I'm right behind you, Shepard."