Chapter Text
Art by: Minque
Cor Aut Mors
Garrus's eyes immediately noticed the familiar red-headed human crouched behind the wall of the doctor's office as they entered. A flare of her biotics and single shot of her pistol taking out the leader of Fists men as his team drew their attention, giving her an opening. The rest followed soon after as they worked together and quickly took them out.
"Thanks for the distraction." Shepard called back to them as she helped Doctor Michel to her feet. "You alright?"
"Yes, thank you." Michel answered, smiling at the Garrus and his team over Shepard's shoulder as well. "All of you."
"What happened?" Garrus interjected. "What didn't they want you to tell Officer Shepard?"
"I had a quarian come by a few days ago, she'd been shot, but wouldn't tell who did it. I could tell she was scared." The doctor explained. "She asked me about the Shadow Broker, trading information for safety. So I put her in contact with Fist. He's an agent for him."
"Not anymore, he's working for Anderson now." Shepard corrected. "And apparently the Broker is pissed."
"He betrayed the Shadow Broker?" Michel exclaimed. "That is… stupid. Even for Fist."
"The information." Garrus pressed. "Did it have anything to do with the Geth."
"Yes! The Geth!" The doctor confirmed. "That was it."
"Thank you, Doctor." Shepard said, smile crossing her face. "Take it easy ok? I'll get some unis watching the clinic and I’ll come by and check on you later."
The doctor nodded and they said their goodbyes, Officer Shepard following as they exited the clinic.
"Take me with you." The officer said as the door closed, eyes locked on his.
"And why would I do that?" Garrus asked, admiring the humans persistence and wanting to see how long it would last.
"Spectre Alenko was an outstanding soldier, a good man, and a friend." She explained. "He trained me in biotics when I was still with the military. He didn't deserve to be shot down like a dog. This whole thing isn't right."
"She seems like more trouble than she's worth, sir." Sidonis commented from his left, Garrus missed the frown Ashley threw at the other turian, but clearly heard her mumble about how people had said the same about her in the past.
"I might be a pain in the arse." Shepard countered with a grin. "But I can be a god damn useful one."
That was all he needed.
"Then welcome aboard Shepard."
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"Hold it." Archangel called; her pistol now firmly pointed at his forehead "Don't think I didn't notice those pretty little insignias on your suits."
The second the woman spoke Garrus' suspicions were confirmed and he knew exactly who Archangel was. She still had the same smart mouth that got her in trouble (that was obvious), but she looked leaner now, her stance more firm and practiced - more confident.
It was in that moment that Garrus realised just how much time had passed without him. He didn't even know what she looked like under that helmet anymore.
"Stand down." He called back to his newest companions who reluctantly lowered their weapons, holstering them cautiously.
"Shepard-"
"No." She cut him off. "I'm not completely sure I haven't lost it right now, so-"
"Jane Shepard." He started again. "Former Alliance military and C-Sec, amount of commendations only overshadowed by your disciplinary record-"
"Yeah that's cute, I can recite my service record too." She snapped back.
"Only because-" Garrus pressed, lowering his voice as he leant towards her so the other two couldn't hear. "You can't stand to see others have the same helplessness and fear you felt when the Batarians took you from Mindoir. Gets you into trouble sometimes."
With that the woman finally stopped, no more fighting, no more smart comebacks. She finally set her pistol down beside her sniper rifle and disengaged her helmet, gently lifting it from her head.
Her hair was longer now, tightly tied back in a braid that now fell down to her shoulders. The dark circles around her eyes were what worried him, she looked even more exhausted than she had sounded.
Archangel pushed herself forward, still looking like she was determining if he was real or not. She tentatively put a hand forward, resting against his armour for a second -
Before she drew her hand back and punched him as hard as she could in the face.
"I thought you were dead." She yelled as he stumbled back slightly. "We all did. Oh, God."
"Shepard, wait-"
"Fuck, I can't do this." Shepard said brushing past him. "Keep an eye out for the mercs Cerberus." She barked at the two other turians before heading out the door and across the hallway.
"Commander-" Mierin warned, flashing Shepard a glare as she stormed out.
"Do it, the second they start to move you tell me." Garrus confirmed for of them. "I've got her."
Mierin and Trenus exchanged an unamused glance but followed their orders, moving to set up near where Shepard had been stationed to watch the mercenaries barricade.
When Garrus found Shepard again she was leaning against the arm of the couch in what looked like the main bedroom, an open med kit on the cupboard beside her, clenching an empty tube of medi-gel between her teeth and she tightly wrapped a bandage around her forearm.
"'m comin' back, ‘kay" Shepard mumbled as she saw him. Spitting out the tube to her left before she continued. "Ran out of supplies in that room a while back."
"How long is ‘a while back'?" Garrus questioned.
"Few days I think." Shepard pondered. "Feels like a week though."
He moved around to grab her discarded piece forearm armour, handing it back to her, earning a nod in thanks from the former officer. He was beginning to sorely regret going looking Professor Solus first.
"What happened here, Shepard?" Garrus asked as she fixed up the bandaging a bit more.
"You know me Commander, always getting myself into trouble."
"Jane."
She exhaled heavily as she began to reattach her arm piece. "One of my team, he asked for help on a job - I went to the meeting place and he wasn't there. By the time I got back the mercs had hit here and only two of my team were still alive. They didn't last long. He sold us out and ran." She spat.
He'd heard the rest of Archangels team were killed when they'd been making their way through the set up across the bridge, but Garrus hadn't known that was how the mercs had gotten to them. "I'm sorry, Shepard."
"Don't be. It's my fault. They were here because of me and they died because of me" She said, an angry, bitter tone in her voice he'd never heard before. "I wasn't exactly planning on leaving them here, but then your ugly ass has to show up and ruin all my plans."
Silence lingered between them for a moment, Garrus was still processing how the passionate officer he'd met months, no, years ago - had gone from merely pissing off her superiors to earning a renowned reputation for herself and pissing off every major band of mercenaries in the Terminus systems.
He felt guilty at the surge of pride he felt at the thought of that, while she sitting there ready to greet her death with gunfire and as many mercs as she could bring with her.
"How did you get off the Normandy?" Shepard finally asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"I didn't," he said quietly. "I got knocked out after getting Joker into the escape pod. Airline broke. Next thing I know I wake up in a space station, hell if I know where it was, and find out Cerberus spent two years putting me back together"
He waited as his words finally registered for the tired human. "You're not joking are you?"
"No."
"Only you could die and live to tell about it." Shepard drawled, the familiar smug grin he knew all too well finally appearing on her face. "Can you pass me the stim please? Should be one left in there." She asked, leaning her hands against her legs to keep herself upright as he rummaged around in the kit for a moment before pulling out the item.
She gave him a small smile as he handed it over, not a moment passing before she clicked it open and drove it straight through her under suit and into her thigh.
"We have a few ways out on the basement level." Shepard explained. "If the mercs haven't discovered them yet I might be able to get you and your squad out of here."
"Not an option." Garrus objected.
"You have the option to stop being stubborn." She refuted.
"Jane." He said, resting his hands on her shoulders, resisting the urge to shake some sense into her. "We're going after the collectors. I need you on my team; I need someone I trust if I‘m walking into hell."
"Commander-"
"I need you."
Garrus felt like he was in a staring competition with the woman for a few moments as her desire to be left with the remains of her team vanished, replaced with a fiery determination with a side of pissed off knowing she just got talked out of it. "You know this has me walking into hell too, right?"
"Right now I need you walking out of this particular hell." Garrus explained.
Shepard bit her lip as the stims started to kick in, beginning to figure out exactly how to do that.
"Ah, fuck it." She grumbled before pushing herself back up and stalking back towards to front of the building, Garrus following close behind.
"I hope you can shoot and listen at the same time, Cerberus." Shepard announced to Mierin and Trenus as she walked back into the front room. "Because we have a lot of work to do."
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Shepard had insisted the best strategy would be to take the mercs out wave by wave, keeping the advantage they still had in the building and Garrus was inclined to agree with her. She had switched back over to her prized sentry visor now, helmet kicked aside and resting near Garrus’s position near her as they continued to open fire on the Eclipse.
"Think you can hold them without me for a minute?" She called to Garrus who was a few feet down from her.
"Yes." He said back quickly. "What do you need to do?"
"Have to disengage the explosives I've got set in the buildings structure." She explained as she brought up her omni-tool rapidly typing away.
"You have the building rigged?" Mierin yelled at her. "Are you mad?"
Shepard ignored her for a moment as the omni-tool on her arm flashed three times and disappeared.
"What they'll do if they get me alive?" She said to the turian. "I would rather be good and dea- oh fuck"
She pulled up her rifle once more, aiming it for the YMIR mech that was being dropped just outside the barricade.
"Don't shoot." Garrus warned. "Just watch."
Shepard could barely contain her excitement when the YMIR turned right back around and started decimating the Eclipse stronghold on the bridge as they picked off any survivors.
"Vakarian. You, me, marriage." She laughed. "It's happening."
"I also took out the batarian fixing the Suns gunship." He added with a grin.
"Fuck that gunship." Shepard said through gritted teeth. "I already took it out once, that was enough."
They all lurched suddenly as the building shook.
"Guess they found the basement level entrances." Garrus remarked. "Can you shut them back down?"
She was tapping away at her omni-tool assessing the damage. "Manually yes, from here - no."
Garrus looked between the three of them before speaking again. "Mierin, with me. Trenus you stay here and keep her alive."
"I don't need a babysitter, you don't know how many will be down there." Shepard countered as he motioned for the other female to follow him.
"Alive, Trenus." The Commander called back down the hall, ignoring Shepards objections.
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"So, Cerberus -"
"My name is Trenus, ma'am." The turian corrected, mandibles tight against his face in annoyance.
"Cerberus." She repeated, picking off another vorcha on the lower floor with her rifle. "How did you bring him back?"
She unloaded another string of rounds from her mantis as Trenus lobbed a grenade to the lower level. Scattering the vermin and blowing a few to hell.
"And space magic isn't an answer, by the way."
"Look." The disgruntled turian growled. "I was head of security. I don't know the details."
Shepard cocked an eyebrow at him. "You know enough to answer my question though I'd bet."
They both paused, focusing their fire on the varren making their way to the stairs. "All I know is that they recovered Commander Vakarians body and spent the last two years regenerating and reanimating as much as possible him as possible, supplementing the rest with cybernetics."
"Has Cerberus done this before?" She inquired.
"As far as I know it's the first time anyone's done what project Lazarus did. It's not exactly an inexpensive venture."
"Define inexpensive."
Trenus shook his head. "Billions."
"But what does- shit!" Shepard swore as an explosion rocked the building, a familiar Krogan appearing in her field of vision. "Garrus, we've got Garm and a fuckload of vorcha coming in up here."
"The doors are secure, we'll be there."
Shepard reloaded and concentrated fire on the Krogan. She'd expected Jaroth, and Garm and the Suns.
But within the next ten minutes she realised she hadn't expected to see Tarak and the gunship.
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"You need to stop, Commander." Joker complained as Garrus continued to pace around the cockpit, it was a few hours after the ships night cycle had started and Joker was one of the few left awake.
"They've been in there for hours, I'm going crazy." He still couldn't get the image of Jane's motionless, blood soaked body out of his mind. He'd showered hours ago and could still smell it.
"And now you're driving me crazy." Joker said. "I've been... monitoring the med-bay for info. She was out of critical hours ago." He decided not to mention the two minutes about six hours ago where Shepard had flat lined "She'll be up and about in no time, go get some sleep or something."
"And when do you ever sleep?" Garrus countered. "We're out of here tomorrow, and you're starting to look like you need it."
"You always had the nicest ways of telling others they look like crap." Joker said back. "Also, I've transcended the need for sleep."
"Still full of shit then, Joker?"
The two spun around at the additional voice, to find Jane Shepard walking slowly into the cockpit.
"Told you, Commander." Joker said smugly to the turian.
"Now, I know the scarring's going to be hot, at least by Krogan standards I think."
Shepard said with a small grin, taking a place beside Garrus. "But I can't have you talking behind my back about my good looks again Jeff."
"Good thing he's not a krogan then." Garrus interjected. Earning a snort of laughter from each of the humans.
Shepard groaned. "Fuck you, my face is barely holding together right now."
"I can't stop imagining a krogan flying my baby." Joker groaned. "It's not on the list of things that make me happy."
"It's not pornographic enough to make the list of shit that makes you happy-"
"Commander." EDI interrupted. "Doctor Chakwas is requesting Officer Shepard's location."
Shepard just shrugged at Jokers whisper of 'busted'.
"Tell her I'll bring Jane back down now, EDI" Garrus replied, the blue orb disappearing after. "Joker, finish up and go the hell to bed or I'll be back to physically remove you myself. You-" He added, turning to Shepard. "With me."
Shepard attempted a mock salute, only to find herself groaning in pain as it pulled at some of the stitches holding her together. Garrus just shook his head and lightly placed an arm around her good shoulder steering her back towards the elevator.
"So, the uh, AI is… nice." Shepard commented slowly.
"It's an interesting addition to the ship, that's for sure." Garrus replied, choosing his words carefully.
"Can't say I'm going to complain about the ship or the whole… Project Lazarus thing but-" Shepard continued, giving him a small smile.
“How do you know about that already?” Garrus questioned.
“I grilled Trenus while you were off fixing the doors.” She replied a smirk quickly flashing across her face. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around the funds Cerberus, or the Spectre, I guess, poured into all this."
"You and I both."
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The glow of the room was a deep red, filtering in through the small horizontal gap that constituted for a window at the back of the sparse viewing platform.
Garrus had run into Cerberus operatives and operations on numerous occasions when they'd been searching the galaxy for Anderson. Some had been sick, well past the border of cruel - others had been sloppy, complete messes when they'd gone in to shut them down.
Garrus had been curious as to how the inconsistencies happened, he'd had suspicions that Cerberus and the two of its apparently three remaining heads were far bigger, widespread and resourceful than any of them had first thought.
Perhaps there'd been a change in management while he'd been dead. The turian counterpart, the Spectre, he was there. The human - the Illusive Man, he recalled, was nowhere to be seen.
"Commander Vakarian." The holo of a turian with his back turned to Garrus greeted him. "I trust you've been briefed on the situation."
"I have." Garrus replied slowly. "The Collectors are going after remote colonies outside of council space."
"Correct."
"Do we have confirmation that it's them, or that they're working with the Reapers?" Garrus prodded. Mierin had given him a detailed rundown on their Intel and suspicions on the way there, but that wasn't enough.
"No." The turian answered again. "You will be leaving for Freedoms Progress momentarily. The colony has gone silent, you need to go in and investigate before the humans show up-"
"I don't work for you, Spectre." Garrus interjected. His tolerance for taking orders like a good, compliant turian from these people had worn itself thin.
The Spectre finally turned to face him, looking almost demonic with the thin red glow illuminating the outline of his sharp body. "You will work with me, Vakarian."
"Why?" he practically yelled. "You could have financed an entire army for what you spent to bring me back." Garrus said, recalling the logs he'd seen on that station, finally unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "Why me?"
The Spectre just smiled at him with a quick flare of his mandibles.
"Victory." He said simply. "At any cost."