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Osiris	By : samanthalee Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 8333 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This work of fiction is meant for entertainment purposes only, and no profit is being made from it. Mass Effect is the property of Bioware

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
Chapter 4

For the second time that day Shepard sat in a medical facility wincing as Dr Chakwas injected the specially programmed medi-gel into her system to treat her fractured ribs. This gel was comprised of thousands of microscopic robots, each with its own specific role; some focused in on the fractured bone, filling the fracture with a cement-like paste, while others anesthetized the area and treated other internal injuries. These machines were a medical revolution and meant that most injuries could be fixed without invasive and risky operations. Still, they hurt like hell while they worked. Shepard, of course, was used to it after over a decade in the military, and barely registered the pain while she sat there; she felt as if she was drowning in a sea of impossible questions.

“The process will take about twenty minutes but it will be tender for a few days, Commander.” Chakwas said, sounding like a disapproving mother patching up a grazed knee. “I would suggest that you take it easy for a few days but I doubt if you’d listen.”

“Thanks, Doc.” She said as she stood and flexed her shoulder as EDI’s voice came over the intercom system.

“The prisoner is secured in the briefing room and ready for interviewing, Shepard. I was able to erase all security footage of the confrontation from Citadel Security databases until the situation is resolved. Joker is ready to initiate exterior lockdown on your command.”

“Thanks EDI.”

“Oh yeah, by the way, Commander,” Joker’s voice echoed throughout the medical bay over the intercom. “When you said you had a high risk prisoner you might have mentioned it was a damn ghost! And then you go and order us to seal ourselves in this tin can with him? Thanks a bunch for that.”

“I don’t want to risk any friends he might have trying to launch a rescue mission. Just keep an eye out.”

“Alright, but if he starts floating through walls I’m outta here.”

As she headed towards the door, Thane stood up from the bed where he was awaiting treatment for his own wounds. Shepard spoke before he moved to follow her.

“Relax, Thane.” She said comfortingly “We can handle it from here. You’ve done enough.”
After a second, Thane reluctantly sat back down as Chakwas approached him. Shepard headed out of the med bay and towards the elevator. She saluted the two guards at the elevator doors and punched the button for the combat information centre. Leaning against the wall of the elevator she held her head in her hands and tried to gather her thoughts.

This morning she had woke feeling like they stood a fighting chance against the Reapers. They were the most terrifying thing Shepard could have imagined but the Protheans had, as their final act of defiance in the face of extinction, given them the advantage they so desperately needed. She had to hand it to the Reapers, they had built the perfect trap. By building the Citadel they had guaranteed that whatever civilization built up in their absence would use it as their centre of government. By using the same structure as a giant mass relay which they used to launch their assault every fifty thousand years meant that the centre of a civilizations government was the first to be destroyed. They had instant access to the very heart and leaders of every race that could stand against them, but not this time. With the destruction of Sovereign the Reapers were cut off from their mass relay and with the Collectors out of the picture their biggest ally was lost as well; this gave Shepard time and the galaxy a chance.

But now, with Saren back so suddenly and no explanation, Shepard felt like there were enemies in every shadow. As the elevator doors opened she saw the Normandy command centre in full alert. She had radioed ahead and put the ship in full battle readiness, she needed everyone at their best until they knew what was happening. As she expected the crew had responded perfectly; brushing of what must have been hellish hangovers and getting the ship ready for full scale war in minutes. By the time that Thane, Wrex, Tali and herself had walked through the airlock with Saren the security team were fully armed and armoured. They took Saren away to the briefing room in preparation for his interrogation, followed by Wrex who refused to let the turian out of his sight. Shepard and Thane went down to the med-bay for treatment while Tali had assembled and briefed the team members that were still on the Normandy.

As she turned to walk towards the armoury Shepard saw Garrus walk through the airlock of the Normandy. He looked perfectly relaxed, much like she had felt this morning; he had a bounce in his step that she had not seen in a long time and was holding a large box of cooked klixen larvae. While Shepard couldn’t eat these little bug snacks that turians seemed to love so much and found the thought of doing so sickening, the look on Garrus’ face as he popped one in his mouth was of pure bliss and in spite of the past few hours Shepard found herself smiling; she didn’t think she had ever seen him so care free.

However, as he reached into the box to grab another snack, Shepard saw him pause and look around him. She watched his muscles tighten and his eyes sharpen as he noticed the crew members staring at the sensor terminals and sitting resolutely at their battle stations. As he scanned the combat deck his eyes fell on Shepard, with blood still smeared on her face, neck and arms: his eyes darkened. He marched up to her, his eyes a mix of anger and concern, the spring in his step gone. She missed it.

“Shepard, are you alright?” He asked, taking her injured arm carefully into his gloved talons, examining the cuts that she received when she fell among the smashed remains of a dozen bottles in Chora’s Den. “What happened?”

Shepard gently removed her hand from Garrus’ before motioning him to follow her and proceeding into the armoury.

“To be honest Garrus I have no idea. Looks like a failed assassination attempt in Chora’s Den, seven men. Thane spotted someone tailing me and Tali in the markets, Wrex was already at the Den so we thought we’d take him there.”

She used a cloth usually used for cleaning weapons to wipe the worst of the caked blood from her face and neck while drawing a couple of thermal clips from the supply. She began checking her Carnivore hand cannon for any damage or blockages as she continued.

“The hit squad showed up at Chora’s Den, the spotter moved in so we hit pre-emptively but I...” She paused. What had she done?

I froze, she thought.

“He got a shot off, hit me with a concussive shot, sent me over the bar. Hence...” she motioned to the gash on her head, already knitting together as the medi-gel smeared over it worked away unnoticed.

“A concussive shot?” Garrus said, confused. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know.” She said as she placed her pistol on the magnetic lock on her belt and moved into the corridor that lead between the armoury, science lab and the briefing room. She knew she had to tell him, but she couldn’t find the words. Why was it so hard to tell him? “Anyway, Tali, Wrex and Thane took care of the others but the spotter ran.”

“Commander...” Garrus

“Thane and Wrex caught him though.” She continued, cutting him off. “You should have seen the place, Wrex tore apart half the markets to get to him.”

“Shepard.”

“He charged through a damn wall -“

“Jane!” Garrus reached out and grabbed her arm, spinning her to face him outside of the briefing room doors. “What aren’t you telling me?”

He stared into her eyes, searching, and she suddenly felt vulnerable under his gaze.

At that moment the doors to the briefing room opened, and both turned to see the wall of flesh and armour that was Grunt standing in front of them.

“We’re ready.” He said as he moved out of the way. Only then could Garrus see into the briefing room. His eyes immediately locked in on the figure sitting at the head of the table. Sitting confidently, even with his hands in handcuffs in front of him stared back the eyes of Saren Arterius.

Immediately Garrus had a pistol in his hand aimed straight at Saren. The look in his eyes was pure murder, a hatred more fierce than Shepard had ever seen in him, it almost frightened her. She reached out and put a hand on his outstretched forearm.

“Stand down, Garrus.” She said softly. “It’s ok.”

It took a few moments for the words to penetrate through the anger and confusion on his face, but eventually Garrus lowered his weapon, though his hard gaze never left Saren’s eyes.

The others in the room visibly settled back down from where they had leapt up as Garrus had drawn his weapon. All of the remaining team members were present: Miranda and Jacob sat at opposite end of the table from Saren while Tali, Jack and Grunt all stood leaning against the wall around the room. Wrex stood behind Saren’s left shoulder, seemingly refusing to be more than three feet away from his captive at any time. The other members of the team had disbanded back to their old lives: Zaeed had taken his payment and left as soon as they had returned from the Omega 4 relay, planning on reclaiming his position in the Blue Suns; Kasumi had vanished within six hours of getting to the citadel, leaving only a note in Shepard’s inbox thanking her and wishing her luck in the future; Mordin returned to the clinic on Omega; Samara had bought a small ship and went back into asari space to continue her justicar duties and Legion had requested a small ship and headed back beyond the Perseus Veil.

“C’mon Garrus, sit down.” Shepard said quietly. As Garrus finally relented and moved around the table, standing rigidly in the middle of the room.

Seeing that Garrus was at least not going to execute him then and there, Shepard turned her focus to Saren, still sitting calmly at the head of the table. The sight of him still didn’t seem real to her, after going through to much to kill him and for him to now be sitting here seemingly as healthy as ever was like some bad dream. Despite the blue blood that had dried as it ran from his nose and the few torn patches of clothing, some with blood visible on them, he seemed in perfect health. The only thing notable was that he seemed to be completely organic, the synthetic augmentations that Sovereign integrated into his anatomy seemingly removed; even his entire left arm was once again Turian, instead of the geth-like replacement that was evident when they had fought on the Citadel. He almost seemed amused by the situation as he looked around at the other team members casually.

“Drell assassins, human convicts … Cerberus. Your recruiting methods have certainly taken a turn for the sinister, Shepard.”

“Says the man who allies with genocidal Reapers.” She said as she sat in the chair closest to him. As much as it unnerved her, she needed to be close to him, to look into his eyes as he spoke. She needed her answers, and she needed to be sure that they were true.

“Point taken.” He replied, shrugging.

Shepard let the moment lie for a second before continuing.

“I seem to remember killing you, Saren. I also remember Sovereign melting your skin off and killing you again. For you to show up and try to kill me after all this time seems a little rude.”

“My, my.” Saren said, shaking his head condescendingly. “Aren’t you the hypocrite.”

He sat back, relaxing into the deep chair, resting his bound hands on his knee.

“But I wasn’t trying to kill you, we both know that if I had been, you would be in a coffin by now.” Shepard ignored the sideways glance that Garrus gave her. “I was actually saving your life: I had intended for something more subtle but the circumstances forced the alternative.”

Wrex growled behind him. “Bullshit.”

Shepard silenced him with a look before turning her attention back to Saren.

“Elaborate.” She ordered.

“The mercenaries showed up earlier than expected, when I approached you to warn you about them you pulled your weapon. The mercs were reacting so I had to act quickly.”

“So why run?”

“Well I don’t imagine your crewmembers were much inclined to let me keep my head had I stayed.”

“Very true.” Tali chimed in.

“I’m still not convinced it’s a bad idea.” Garrus stated. Saren gave a slight chuckle in response as he turned to look at Garrus.

“That’s what I always liked about you Garrus,” he said “you were never afraid to do what was necessary. You could have become such a promising Spectre, but alas you left to go play Robin Hood all over the galaxy.”

“I had far too much fun killing you the first time, Saren.” Garrus growled, his hand resting on the pistol at his hip. “Don’t tempt me.”

“Easy Garrus.” Said Shepard, she had never seen him so itching to kill somebody since Sidonis. She didn’t like seeing him like this but had to keep focused on Saren.

“If we could take a few steps back for a moment.” Shepard said, keeping firm control of the conversation. “I’d like to tackle the more obvious mystery of how exactly you’re still breathing.”

“Project Osiris.” Saren said simply.

“Which is?”

“Can you not guess, Shepard? Have the pieces not fallen into place?” Garrus said, obviously enjoying Shepard’s apparent confusion. “Osiris? The Egyptian god of the dead, the ‘Lord of Silence’, killed by his brother only to be resurrected. You should read more.”

“Robin Hood and Egyptian mythology, you seem to know a lot about human culture for someone who hates us.” Shepard said, genuinely surprised. Saren’s face suddenly became firm and serious as his eyes locked onto hers, it sent a chill down her spine.

“Know thy enemy, Shepard.”

She ignored the goose bumps rising on her arms as he continued to stare at her intently.

“What is project Osiris?” she asked, “and who conducted it?”

Shepard hated seeing Saren enjoying this so much as he chuckled quietly in his seat. Wrex, obviously tired of the mind games, took a step forward and sent a hammer blow of a punch into Saren’s side, cutting off his laughter and making him grunt in pain. He took a moment to catch his breath before sitting up straight again, still smiling.

“It’s a Cerberus operation, Shepard. Authorised by your Elusive Man.”

Impossible! Shepard thought. It was true that she had defied him when she destroyed the Collector base, but surely he wouldn’t resurrect Saren for vengeance.

“Think about it, Shepard.” said Saren, seeing the turmoil on her face. “Who else has such technology. Every bit of progress Lawson made on resurrecting you was fed directly into Project Osiris.”

A thousand different thoughts, explanations and theories were swimming through Shepard’s mind. Finally, she decided to simply go with it: she couldn’t know the truth until she had the full story, so she would keep him talking and if there was a hole, she would find it.

“Why?” she asked confidently, “You almost destroyed the galaxy.”

“Of course he never intended to release me. Project Osiris was tasked to rebuild my body to study the effects of long term indoctrination on a physiological level. Sovereign took its time with me, Shepard. Indoctrination is usually done by breaking down the minds defences, a brute force attack that overpowers the mind, but it leaves the subject hollow after a while. You saw the colonists on Feros, they were almost crippled by the Thorian’s control. But Sovereign couldn’t do that to me, it needed me. It played it slowly, more like seduction that oppression. I was the only being that had been indoctrinated so slowly and so completely as to remain sane while it did so.

“Of course, when the Elusive Man saw the potential of the technology operative Lawson was developing, he changed the project’s parameters. My tissue showed no effects of the process, its all in the mind. He woke me up, Shepard. The indoctrination is a two way link when done like it was to me, I had been inside of Sovereign’s mind, just as it had been in mine. Nobody else knew more about the Reapers. When you were fighting the Collectors on Horizon, I was sitting through countless interviews and psychological evaluations.”

“And…?” Shepard asked.

“I am no longer indoctrinated, Shepard.” he said seriously. “Whether its been destroyed from the destruction of Sovereign or lost in the process of rebuilding me I don’t know, but I have myself back.”

Shepard held up a hand to stop him. “So, you know the Reapers’ plans?”

“In part.” He said, shrugging.

“So you knew about the Collectors?”

“No,” he said, “Sovereign didn’t deal with them, they must have been orchestrated by a different Reaper.”

“Harbinger,” Miranda spoke for the first time in the interview. “There were times when we fought them when a Collector would change, as if something else was controlling it. It called itself Harbinger.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

Shepard didn’t tell him about the information on Harbinger they were able to download from the Collector base, she didn’t want such information to be known to anyone who didn’t need it. The details on Harbinger were being analyzed for anything they could use against the Reapers, it would take time with so much data, but Shepard was confident they could uncover some way of beating them.

“So, you were brought back to study indoctrination, but you’re no longer indoctrinated?”

“Yes. Seemed like an awful waste of money, but I certainly didn’t complain.”

“And they just … let you go?” Shepard said, unconvinced.

“Well, they may have done eventually, but as your mission against the Collectors progressed the Elusive Man became concerned about your methods. You don’t see the big picture Shepard, sometimes there is no room for morality in war but you can’t see that; you’re far too sanctimonious to do what is needed in order to win, and it will cost you this war.”

“I’m not going to argue morality with you of all people, Saren” Shepard said dismissively, “What happened next?”

“The Elusive Man hired me to, shall we say, reclaim my purpose.”

“Which is…?”

“To protect this galaxy, Shepard. To do what you won’t, what you are too weak to do, what MUST be done.”

Garrus scoffed from where he still stood rigidly “Protect? You tried to destroy the galaxy, you’re a traitor!”

“I’M NOT!!“ Saren roared, slamming his cuffed hands onto the table. Garrus once again raised his pistol, but Saren made no move to rise to his feet, instead remaining seated and staring angrily at Garrus over the barrel of his pistol. “Everything I ever did I did to protect this galaxy!”

Shepard let the two men stare each other down for almost a full minute, allowing each of them to collect themselves before she changed the subject, keeping the discussion away from opinions and focusing on the facts.

“When did they release you?”

“Six weeks ago,” He said, placing his cuffed hands back in his lap and settling back into the seat again, “Small one man planet-hopper but I have the money to hire merc crews if need be.”

“Cerberus didn’t give you a crew, or a team?” Shepard asked “Seems a little unlikely, given their resources.”

“My mission needed to be a little more … subtle. A small craft can get in and out of most systems without much scrutiny.”

“For short range flights.” Tali said from the wall, “There is no way one person could operate a ship through mass relays, run the systems, maintenance and sensors.”

“Cerberus built the ship bespoke, multiple shipboard VI’s handle the ship’s systems, all I do is pilot the ship in atmo and handle the weapons.”

“Where is this ship, and what’s its name?”

“Its name is the Ascalon, its currently at the Binary Helix docks in the Tayseri Ward.”

“Jacob,” Shepard said without looking away from Saren, “Contact C-Sec, have them look into it.”

“Will do, Commander.” He replied as he stood and left the briefing room. Shepard kept her gaze on Saren until she heard the door close behind her.

“How did you hear about the assassination attempt?”

“I didn’t, the Elusive Man sent me the information. They were Eclipse mercs hired after the news of your survival was confirmed by the Alliance, although he didn’t know who hired them. All he knew was that the hit was to take place on the Citadel. I was to stop them, undetected if possible. Obviously that part didn’t go as planned.”

Shepard thought for a moment. “There’s not exactly a lot of love between the Elusive Man and myself right now. Why would he send you to protect me?”

“You may have betrayed him by destroying the Collector base, but he understands humanity as an entity. Without you they would simply continue to ignore the threat that we both know is on its way, and would cower in fear when they eventually arrive. You are still a powerful symbol that humanity needs, and that makes you valuable enough to keep alive for now.”

“I’m flattered.”

“The C-Sec report has been filed, Shepard.” EDI’s voice chimed over the intercom system, “Five of the mercenaries have been identified, all of them have suspected ties to Ecplipse enforcement and racketeering operations. Two of them are wanted for questioning in connection with the murder of a Salarian politician on Illium last month. The report is putting the shooting down as a failed robbery attempt on Chora’s Den.”

“Doesn’t prove anything.” Garrus snarled.

“They were hired a week ago and set out immediately from an Eclipse base on Invictus. They arrived two days ago under the guise of a merchant and bodyguards.” Saren said.

“EDI…?” Shepard said without breaking eye contact. She waited silently for a moment as EDI ran her way through Citadel Security systems. After almost a full minute the synthetic, feminine voice sounded again.

“Facial recognition confirms the mercenaries arriving two days ago. Citadel Security records state that the ship departed from Illium.”

“That makes sense,” Garrus said. Shepard looked at him, surprised. “It’s a common way of smuggling criminals onto the Citadel, we saw a lot of it at C-Sec. They hit a merchant ship en-route and assume the identity of whoever was on board. Anyone extra can pose as bodyguards, and any ships going from Illium to the Citadel have to go through the Minos Wasteland relay…”

“Which is the closest relay to Invictus.” Said Miranda before Garrus continued.

“…and because the Terminus systems don’t share their security records with the Citadel and most corporations keep their information confidential it’s almost impossible to check the passengers of non-chartered ships. Only the ships themselves.”

“O.K.” Shepard said, taking a deep breath, collecting her thought for a second before continuing. “Do you have a location of the Eclipse base on Invictus?”

“Of course.”

“OK, Grunt, take him to the brig.”

Without a word Grunt hauled Saren to his feet and marched him out the door, nobody moved as the door slid closed and the two very different sets of footsteps padded towards the elevator. Only when Shepard heard the sound of the elevator descending towards the engineering deck did Jack speak up.

“So,” she said, “Airlock or shotgun?”

Shepard was silent for a moment before she answered.

“Neither.” She said as she stood from the table and began to march out the room. “Miranda, I know you have a loyalty to Cerberus, but I need to know whether the Osiris Project exists.”

“It’s possible,” said Miranda, “It was a bit strange, the Elusive Man demanded a link to all our research data for the duration of the project. He usually is only interested in results, not work-in-progress, I assumed it was just because he had more invested in the Lazarus Project, but it’s possible he was passing all our data along to Osiris.”

“Any way you can make contact with him?” Shepard asked.

“That may not be easy. The Normandy is still linked into the Cerberus network but after the Collector base he’s completely cut himself off from us, I don’t know how to get through to him.”

“What about other Cerberus groups?” Tali asked, Miranda shook her head.

“Every cell operates independently, no cell knows anything about the others.”

“OK,” Shepard said, “just put the word wherever you can, Cerberus fences, supply stations, agents, he’ll eventually get the word.”

Miranda nodded and strode out of the room, leaving only Tali, Garrus and Jack stood around the room. Shepard stood motionless, her mind spinning with questions and theories, grasping in the darkness for answers she couldn’t find without following these insane events further into the black. Finally, she turned raised her head and stood from her chair.

“Tali, get down to the brig and get those coordinates from Saren’s omni-tool, along with anything else you can get from it, I want every piece of data you can rip from that thing. EDI, prep the systems to make way.”

Garrus, who had been staring blankly at the wall, lost in his own thoughts, suddenly snapped back to the present with shock on his face. He turned to Shepard as Tali left the room.

“Wha-” he stammered, “Shepard?”

“Joker,” Shepard called into the intercom, “Get the rest of the supplies stowed and set course for Invictus.”

“Shepard,” Garrus said, “What the hell are you doing?”

“What do you think?” she replied, a fire back in her eyes now that she had some form of a plan. “We’re gonna go to Invictus and burn those mercenaries out and find out who hired them.”

“You can’t be serious!” Garrus fumed. “He’s lying, Shepard! You can’t let him set us up like this.”

“You said it yourself, Garrus, he could have killed me in Chora’s Den and his story makes sense.”

“That doesn’t change who we’re dealing with here, we’ve both seen what kind of man he is. We’ve both seen what he’s capable of.”

“What are you suggesting, executing him?”

“Shepard, some people are just too dangerous to be around. Lock him up … or put him down.”

Shepard suddenly felt an anger rise in her. She couldn’t blame Garrus for not trusting Saren, but to hear him talk so openly about killing an unarmed prisoner set her blood to boil. She marched towards Garrus until she was barely a foot away from him, standing toe to toe and staring him in the eye.

“Garrus,” she said coldly “He is a prisoner on this ship, and while he remains as such he will not be harmed. We are gonna go to Invictus, we’re gonna take down the Eclipse there and find out what the hell is going on here. You can piss and moan about it all you like but as long as you are on my ship you WILL follow my command.”

The two soldiers each stood their ground for what seemed like an eternity until Garrus finally took a step back. His expression remained hard and determined for a second before he spoke.

“So be it.” he said coldly and marched out the door without another word, leaving Shepard and Jack alone in the briefing room.

“Wow,” Jack said as the door closed. “He’s pissed.”

Shepard sighed and leaned back against the table, facing Jack. “What do you think Jack? You think he was lying?”

“Why you asking me?”

“I guess I’m having trouble seeing things clearly, too much history here.” She replied with a sigh. “So what do you think?”

“Fuck knows.” Jack said simply. “But no point killin’ him until we know what’s happening, he didn’t seem like some brainwashed robot-worshipper to me.”

“Yeah…” Shepard said, once again slipping back into her own thoughts until Jacob came back.

“Commander,” He said. “C-Sec have found the Ascalon and put a landlock on it pending investigation.”

“Thanks, Jacob.” Shepard said. “Joker, how we doing? We all set for departure?”

“Ummm … Yeah,” Joker sounded strangely nervous over the intercom, “Supplies are stored and ready.”

“Good,” Said Shepard, “Take us out.”

There was a pause before Joker spoke up again.

“Uhh … Commander, there may be a problem here.”

“What is it?”

Another pause.

“Garrus is gearing up, Commander. He’s at the airlock.”

Shepard gave a small glance at Jack, who shrugged, before she marched double-time out of the room, through the armoury and towards the cockpit. She marched past Wrex and Grunt who fell in behind her as she strode towards the airlock. Joker pointed with his thumb from the pilot’s chair as she approached, seeing the inner door open she marched right through it to find Garrus fully armed and armoured, checking the systems of his armoured suit.

“Going somewhere?” Shepard called, trying to keep her voice level. Garrus stopped whatever he was doing on his Omni-tool, taking a deep breath to steady himself before he turned to Shepard. To her surprise, she did not see anger in his eyes, but sadness.

“I’m going to find answers.”

“That’s where we’re going and it’s a days cruise so why are you in full gear?” Shepard knew the answer before he said it, and it brought a tear to her eye as he spoke the words.

“Because I’m not coming with you.” he said quietly. He sighed heavily and set his Viper sniper rifle against the wall. “Look, Shepard, I understand you can’t kill him outright but he IS setting you up, I know it. If you have to walk into whatever trap he has set before you see that then so be it, but don’t ask me to watch. When I find proof, I’m gonna come back and put a bullet where it belongs.”

The expression on his face broke Shepard’s heart as he turned away from her, picked up his rifle and pressed the control panel for the exterior door. As it slid open, Shepard’s restraint snapped and before she knew it, she had dashed forward and grabbed Garrus’ elbow.

“Please!” She blurted out before she could stop herself. For a moment she didn’t care that it was unprofessional, didn’t care that she should be stronger, she didn’t even care as she felt a tear slip from the corner of her eye. She had to make him stay, they had to stay together. “Don’t leave.”

For a second Garrus stood motionless before slowly turning to face Shepard, they had never stood so close before, except perhaps a few times crouched under cover in combat, but this felt completely different. His features softened slightly as he reached up and gently cupped her face, using his thumb to slowly wipe the tear from her cheek. Her heart soared as she rested her cheek in his gloved hand, feeling the warmth beneath the thick material.

“I’m sorry.”

Her eyes snapped open as she heard the words, she hadn’t even realised she had closed them. He met her confused gaze with the most pained expression she could imagine before he turned around and walked out of the Normandy, making his way down the docking corridor towards the Citadel, slotting his sniper rifle onto its magnetic holster on his back next to the Mattock heavy rifle on the other shoulder as he went. Shepard stood motionless as she watched her closest friend leave her.

Shit, Wrex thought as he watched from the airlock. He was too far away to hear what was being said, but he saw the shock ripple through Shepard’s body as Garrus turned away, he saw her knees twitch and hands begin to shake as he began walking away from the Normandy. He knew exactly what was going on; the little prick was going solo trying to find his own proof. It was a stupid idea if he was wrong and a fucking suicidal one if he was right. He weighed up his options for a moment before he let out a large sigh and glanced sideways to Grunt who stood beside him.

“The turian’s a slippery bastard, stay sharp.” He said, only drawing a small grunt of acknowledgment from the wall of armoured flesh beside him. He felt Grunt’s fist against his arm and turned to see him offering a handful of thermal clips.

“And keep her alive,” Wrex said as he took the clips from Grunt’s outstretched hand. “Or I’ll kill you myself.”

With that he marched out of the Normand towards Shepard, who still stood motionless as she watched Garrus walk away. As he entered her field of vision she slowly took her eyes off Garrus and looked at Wrex with a mix of pain and confusion.

“I got his back.” Wrex said as he marched straight past her and followed Garrus towards the citadel. Breaking into a jog, he caught up to Garrus just before they exited the gangway to the Citadel, falling into stride beside him without a word. He didn’t meet Garrus eyes when the turian looked at him.

“Thanks.” Garrus said after a few seconds of silence.

“Shut up.” Wrex replied as they passed through the doorway into the Citadel docks.
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Osiris