Chapter Text
Garrus, be mature. Let Grunt have this one. ——————— ╱ ╲
I'll flip a coin. You two pick sides. ——————————— ▏← ○ ▕
Grunt, maybe Garrus will bring you back a turian crest. — ╲ ╱
"Alright, you know what? I'm going to toss a coin. You two pick sides."
Garrus flared his mandibles. "A coin, huh? Didn't know you were so old-school and nostalgic."
"Shut up, Garrus. Which side do you pick?"
Instead of answering directly, he turned to the impatient krogan and gestured with mock courtesy. "Grunt, why don't you go first?"
"Soft-shell." Without further ceremony, Grunt stepped forward and arbitrarily chose tails. Garrus, as a matter of course, took the remaining side, heads.
They watched intently as Shepard spun the silver coin on the table. Just as the spin was about to die, leaving the coin to settle on tails, Garrus's sniper-sharp eyes caught an almost imperceptible flicker of blue biotic energy nudging it, pushing the antique coin to land on heads instead.
"Alright, looks like our big guy has some luck today after all. See you on the Normandy, Grunt. We'll bring you back something good." After seeing off the roaring, frustrated krogan, Shepard looked amusedly at the turian who was now practically buzzing with subvocals right next to her. "What?"
"Admit it, Shepard. You love me. Go on, I won't tell the rest of the crew. We can still clean up in Joker's betting pool." Fluttering the mandibles on his uninjured side triumphantly, Garrus's arrogant tone made Shepard laugh out loud. "Because you got lucky on a coin toss once? I could still call our big boy back and have him escort you to the Normandy, you know."
"Oh—Shepard, I don't think you have the heart to send me away. After all, you let me win this one, didn't you?"
The human commander shook her head with a wry smile. "Fine, if you insist on crediting your luck to me."
The turian sniper gave her a meaningful blink. "You know, you've always been my good luck charm."
"And just when you thought your turian, who loves to mock asari for always crying 'Goddess!' in a falsetto, wasn't religious."
"Say what you will, Shepard."
The drell assassin made no attempt to join their conversation. He maintained a humble silence towards the turian's almost showy subvocals, until they reached the port, sealed off due to the death of a volus merchant, and found the frantic asari captain. The poor captain had orders from her superiors to imprison the asari Justicar, lest the Justicar and her ancient Code—which demanded the eradication of all 'sinners'—cause a diplomatic incident.
Even if it meant the captain herself might be counted among those 'sinners' and eliminated by the powerful Justicar.
"This is ridiculous! It's a suicide order! You should refuse to carry it out!" Shepard declared righteously, trying to pry any information about their new recruit—the asari Justicar who adhered to the most ancient laws—from the unlucky captain.
However, the turian sniper she'd recruited for this suicidal mission was being uncooperative behind her. "Really? We can refuse suicide missions? This is the first I'm hearing about it."
The drell assassin, newly joined to their squad, turned to look at Garrus, who was giving Shepard a turian-style smirk. "Does Shepard often require you to perform suicidal missions?"
"Yeah, generally about twice a day," Garrus quipped, half-teasing, half-threatening. The next moment, he grunted as a discreet elbow from Shepard connected with his left thigh.
"Don't listen to him. And even if I ask you to do something dangerous, I always have a damn good reason."
"I believe you would."
Thane nodded calmly at her. His unflappable attitude caused a flicker of frustration in the turian. But soon, he realized his frustration had come too early, just like his earlier words, "I'll be happy to return to my calibrations after you find a better sniper."
The drell assassin proved the Widow sniper rifle on his back wasn't just for show. While Garrus cleared Shepard's flank with a headshot accompanied by a triumphant "SCRATCH ONE!", Thane neatly detonated the stacked volatile cargo around the corner ahead of Shepard, flushing out the ambushers hiding there, and delivered a merciful follow-up shot to a mercenary who came charging out, engulfed in flames.
"Nice shoot." His experience leading teams on Omega made the compliment slip out instinctively. He emitted a subvocal tone of annoyance, which usually went unnoticed by his non-turian teammates, but the drell assassin's amused glance reminded him that drell also possessed unique dual-vocal cord physiology. He could hear, and understand, his subvocals.
Garrus almost let out another subvocal tone that would put him at a further disadvantage in this… competition, but he controlled himself in time, focusing his attention on the asari Justicar now approaching his commander.
This elegant and noble biotic had just crushed an uncooperative Eclipse merc's neck with her heel in front of them and was likely to slaughter the entire police station trying to hold her later. Garrus had to be wary of the possibility that she might be completely unreasonable and simply snap Shepard's neck.
Fortunately, Samara, the Justicar in red form-fitting armor, was not unreasonable. She confirmed she must act according to her Code and admitted frankly that if the asari authorities tried to confine her, she would eliminate all who stood in her way, though she regretted the necessity.
So she made a proposal: if Shepard would help her find information on the Ardat-Yakshi she was hunting from these Eclipse mercs, she would cooperate with the asari captain and wait peacefully at the precinct.
And if Shepard not only found the Ardat-Yakshi's location but was also willing to help apprehend this dangerous asari later, she would offer her full assistance for the suicide mission.
Shepard's immediate agreement to the terms prompted Thane to speak up once the Justicar returned to the precinct and they moved to a more secure area. "This is a troublesome task, Shepard. 'Ardat-Yakshi' is an ancient asari term for 'demon of the night winds.' While I do not know its full meaning, she is certainly not an easy target. I am surprised you did not negotiate further with the Justicar. You are very… generous."
"Ha!" Shepard laughed, ready to open the door and loot anything that might help recoup the funds lost to the fifty-thousand-credit calibration scope. "Nah, just used to it. Most crew I want to recruit come with extra demands. Like retrieving an ex's keepsake, killing an old enemy, blowing up a derelict facility. Someone like you, who agrees to work with me without additional conditions after being found, is actually the minority."
Ahem. Garrus coughed pointedly behind her.
"Oh, and this big guy too. I'll never forget how eager he was to climb all over me and get carried back to the Normandy, right?"
Garrus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. And I'll never forget how you charged through three merc companies' crossfire just to give me a hug."
Thane looked at them curiously, about to ask more, but an odd sound from the room interrupted their conversation, making them all aim their weapons at the conference table.
"Wait! Don't shoot!" An asari in Eclipse uniform crawled out from behind the table, her face full of fear, her whole body trembling. "Don't shoot! I just joined! I haven't done anything bad! I- I just thought it was cool, please, let me go. I'll quit! It's not cool at all!"
Shepard squinted at the asari merc hiding deep in the enemy base. She wasn't entirely convinced of her innocence, but…
"I can let you go." Shepard raised a hand, cutting off the asari's grateful, near-tearful response. "But you have to give me one of your… tentacles. Or head-fringes. Whatever you call them."
"Wow, Shepard, you're just going to have her cut one off for you?" Garrus clucked his tongue as the asari merc shrieked "WHAT?". "You know those have nerve endings, right?"
"No, I didn't. I thought they were like human hair, just thicker."
"Shepard—"
"Of course I fucking know it hurts, Garrus! I've fought asari before!" Shepard rolled her eyes. "But what do you expect me to do? We promised to bring Grunt back something, and there aren't any turian mercs in Eclipse! This will have to do! Or are you planning on letting him pluck one from your crest?"
"I'm planning on locking the main battery door the second we're back on the Normandy—for the ancestors' sake! Of course I know we need to bring the big boy something! But can't you just take it from one of the dead mercs? I'm not fond of asari shrieking, and might I remind you: turian hearing is much sharper than a human's."
"Oh, right. Cutting a tentacle off a dead asari corpse. Have you thought about what you'll say when the big boy is chewing on it and asks, 'Hey, how'd you get this?' Don't tell me you forgot what he said last time when your overload set off that merc's flamethrower."
Garrus let out a frustrated groan at the memory. "He said he was hungry."
"And you said?"
Garrus groaned even deeper. "I said, 'You can't say you're hungry looking at a pile of merc corpses. Krogan reputations are bad enough.'"
"Mhmm. Really setting a 'fine example' for him there, Garrus."
"Shepard, if you are finished." The drell offered the human commander a vacuum-sealed bag containing a freshly severed asari tentacle, the asari merc clutching her wound and panting颤抖地 in the background. "The tentacle you requested."
Taking it in surprise, Shepard's gaze shifted between him and the asari merc. "What… When did you… How?"
Thane placed his hands behind his back, looking down to meet the commander's scrutinizing gaze. "I offered her a fast-acting anesthetic. It significantly reduces pain for a short duration."
"Can I go now?" the young asari trembled. "I still need to see to this wound, you freaks. Enjoy your meal with your pet krogan monster."
Rolling her eyes at the merc's loose-lipped remarks under the influence of the anesthetic, Shepard let her leave. As they progressed, looting the enemy base for ill-gotten gains as usual, they意外地 discovered an email belonging to the former merc. It detailed how she had gleefully disabled the unfortunate volus merchant's pressure suit, causing him to explosively decompress right in front of her.
"Oh, looks like we let a murderer walk. She was quite the actress." Coming up behind the silent commander and looking over her shoulder at the email, Garrus's mandibles twitched. "Need me to do some 'Archangel' work later? Just say the word, Shepard."
"I do not believe that will be necessary," said the other sniper, coming up behind Shepard. "The anesthetic I provided is quite potent. She has likely collapsed near the exit by now. If she is lucky, the asari authorities will find and detain her for questioning. Or we can collect her on our way out."
"Impressive, Thane." Shepard turned with a raised brow to the drell assassin, whose unreadable black eyes were fixed on her. "Keep this up, and I might just buy you a few rounds myself."
Wait, seriously? By the ancestors, I followed her to the frozen hell of Noveria chasing Matriarch Benezia, ran from Virmire to Ilos with her to catch Saren, by the Spirits, I even rode in her MAKO! Even though her driving is Reaper-level terrible! And she's never offered to buy me rounds!
Garrus grumbled inwardly as he provided covering fire from a distance with his beloved rifle, following Shepard's orders while she engaged the Eclipse squad leader up close. A concussive shot from him made the merc captain stagger, breaking her last biotic barrier and allowing Shepard's subsequent Charge to slam home, pinning the powerful asari against a wall.
"Now," Shepard threatened, leveling her shotgun at the struggling asari, "tell me where the Ardat-Yakshi is."
"Pl-please… don't… I'll tell you everything," the asari captain gasped, clutching ribs likely broken by the Charge, struggling to speak from her position on the floor. "You… want to find… the… Ardat-Yakshi, right? Have you… tried…"
Her voice grew faint, her body slumping lower. Shepard frowned, leaning down, trying to let her translator pick up the dying asari's slurred speech.
But the moment she bent over, the turian sniper behind her敏锐地 noticed a glint of red light from beneath the asari. Ignoring previous orders to hold position, he vaulted over a cargo container, shouting as he charged towards her: "Shepard, fall back!! She's priming a—"
But blue biotic force was faster than the turian sniper tackling his human commander. A field of dark energy slammed into the asari merc from the side, hurling her and the primed shockwave mine she held into the air across the warehouse. The turian, who had used his own armored body to shield the commander, stared in shock from the explosion's glare to the drell who had thrown the biotic field. "You're biotic?!"
"Yes," Thane nodded simply. "I believe my initial dossier to Shepard detailed as much."
"And you didn't use it before because?"
"The previous situations did not require it, and Shepard did not instruct me to use it. Furthermore, I thought it best, for this mission at least, to rely solely on my sniper abilities."
"But you used it then." Garrus remembered the coin that had suddenly flipped to heads. He'd been sure Shepard had nudged it. "That was you, wasn't it?"
Thane blinked his large eyes, not disputing it. "Yes."
"Why?"
The drell standing before him tilted his head slightly. "Because you wished for a contest, did you not? I assumed you wanted Shepard to decide who is the Normandy's superior sniper."
Garrus let out a low growl. "And you thought you'd won?"
"I thought you might let Shepard up first."
Shepard, who had been propping her head up with one hand and tapping the floor impatiently beneath Garrus this whole time, let out an exaggerated sigh to emphasize her presence. "Ah, finally. I was wondering when you two would remember me."
Only then realizing he'd unconsciously trapped his commander in a cage of his own body and was still sitting on her back, the disciplined turian's headcrest practically bristled. "Spirits! I'm so sorry, Shepard! I…"
"Yeah, yeah, just get your hard-plated ass off my back first, you big lummox. Explosions might not kill me, but I might one day be crushed by your armor." She batted away his offered hand with feigned annoyance, ignoring the apologetic, guilty subvocals he was emitting—he was even trying to pitch them within human hearing range—and instead took Thane's offered hand to pull herself up. "Thanks, Thane. I think I've got a good measure of your skills now. You're impressive."
"And I have learned more about you, Shepard." Thane slowly released her gauntlet. Noticing her curious glance at his fused second and third fingers, he tolerantly opened his palm fully, gesturing towards a nearby terminal. "We should check their terminal. There may be data on the Ardat-Yakshi."
They were lucky; the mercs never remembered to wipe their logs. Using the information found and a promise to help Samara capture the dangerous Ardat-Yakshi, Shepard successfully recruited the powerful biotic.
Of course, this was after Samara swore that during the suicide mission, she would not oppose Shepard or her orders based on her ancient Code. Shepard couldn't guarantee her methods for handling various situations would align with the Justicar's strictures.
After settling Samara in the starboard observation lounge, ensuring she was comfortable and wouldn't feel pressured to 'cleanse' any crew members, Shepard considered taking her on a few missions to gauge her temperament. She then entered the Life Support unit where the drell assassin was housed.
Given Thane's terminal illness, he had requested the drier environment of Life Support.
Normally, Shepard might have made some twistedly humorous remark, like 'Life Support to support your life.' But she wasn't that familiar with this drell yet, and his somewhat inscrutable demeanor and beliefs made her cautious.
However, after a few pleasantries, the drell sitting across the table from her fixed her with a surprisingly sly smile. "So. What is the verdict?"
Shepard was momentarily confused. "What?"
"Your turian sniper desired a competition. Regarding who you consider the Normandy's finest sniper." He unfolded his hands, which had been resting prayer-like on the table, the unexpectedly humorous drell asked with a smile, "So, have you reached a conclusion?"
Shepard let out a laugh, adjusting her posture to be more comfortable. "I didn't take you for the competitive type, Thane."
"I do not seek out competition, but I never shy from it when it presents itself." He tilted his head slightly, studying the relaxed commander. "Much like when I first believed you were a rival hunter, attempting to eliminate the asari merchant before I could."
"Wait, what? You thought I was your competition? Like some bounty hunter?" Shepard's laugh mixed with her question. "Did I make you nervous?"
"Extremely." The corners of the drell's lips, reflecting a peculiar metallic sheen, curved further upwards. "I watched you from the shadows. Observed your actions. Infiltrated while you drew more fire, aiming to deal with the target before you. But in the end…"
He stopped abruptly, simply staring straight at Shepard, who waited curiously for him to continue. His solid black eyes blinked rapidly several times. "—But in the end, we are sitting here together."
Shepard felt he had intended to say something else, but didn't press, simply smiling slightly. "Yes. We're sitting here together. I suppose by your competitive standards, you killed that cold-blooded asari. You won that round. But by my standards, I got you. The winner is me."
"Yes. You have me." Thane gave a soft laugh, the multiple tones of the drell vocal structure reminding the human Spectre of turians. "I suppose that is a win for us both."
"I suppose it is."
"And what of Garrus?" Thane circled back to the original question, leaning forward slightly, his focus intensifying on the human woman before him. "Have I won the competition with him?"
Garrus will always be my favorite sniper. ——————— ╱ ╲
I might need a few more missions with you to decide. ———— ▏ ○ ▕
For now, you're my favorite assassin. ——————— ╲ ╱