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thelegion2017-09-13 02:13 pm
legionnpcs) wrote in thelegion2017-09-13 02:13 pm
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Legionnaire Legacies: Garrus Vakarian
[The Legion World staff maintains a feed of all Legion-related media so Legionnaires can be kept abreast of any reporting that's done on them. Two women appear on the screen, sitting at a desk, their appearances altered by glam filters so that one is all pink hair and skin and sparkles, and the other is all in blues. They look pretty flashy and tacky but this is the future. Reporters don't exist anymore; they're "personalities" now.]
Shellee: I'm Shellee Star! [That would be the pink one.]
Tammee: And I'm Tammee Tim! [That would be the blue one.]
Shellee: And this is another investigative episode of Legion Watch: Legionnaire Legacies! Today, we're taking a closer look at one of the newest Legionnaires.
Tammee: That's right, Shellee. This scarred sharpshooter is driven by a strong need to see justice done - to see the good guys get ahead and the bad guys behind bars. It's a noble goal, but as we all know, good intentions only get you so far.
Shellee: Too true, Tammee. Our subject started off with the best of intentions, but it led him to some dark places. Every time he saw a criminal escape prosecution thanks to powerful friends or a legal loophole, it chipped away at his faith in the rule of law. Eventually, he decided to throw those rules out all together.
Tammee: And while everyone loves a bad boy, some might say that he took things too far when he took the law into his own hands - and paid for it when it all fell apart around him.
Shellee: Tonight's story is one of redemption - a good man making bad choices, and being brought back after losing everything. Let's get to know the Legion's resident loose cannon cop: Archangel!
[The opening image was tooootally not pictureshooped at all. Not even a tiny bit.]
[A brief series of warnings flash across the bottom of the screen: Violence, Adult Language, Graphic Content …]
[The screen goes black. Synth-heavy music begins to play. Text begins to appear:
["In Earth year 550 BCE, turian explorers on the moon of Menae discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization known as the Protheans. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies.
["The turians could now reach the furthest stars, and among those stars they found new life and new civilizations - a myriad of races and the galaxy-spanning government they had built.
["All of it was made possible by the same incredible technology, the basis of which is a force that can shape the very fabric of space and time.
["They called it the greatest discovery in turian history.
["The civilizations of the galaxy call it …
["MASS EFFECT”
[The text disappears and a new scene fades in - rolling steppes covered in pale, amber grass, punctuated by rocky buttes. A title appears: Palaven - Turian Homeworld - 2165 CE
[A young Garrus, 9 or 10, takes aim at a line of glass bottles under the watchful eye of a stern, older turian with similar facial markings. He watches silently as Garrus attempts to steady the oversized rifle in his shaky hands and fires. All misses. Garrus sighs and lowers the weapon, his shoulders sagging.]
Garrus: Can we stop for a while? My arms hurt.
Castis: Not until you hit those targets. Now. [Castis nods towards the bottles] Again.
[Garrus hefts the rifle. Three more shots, no hits. Once again, he lowers the rifle and turns to the older turian.]
Garrus: Why are we doing this? I’m not getting any better.
Castis: Then this is exactly the moment when you try harder. This is the moment you pull yourself together and get it done. If you stop now - if you give up on something when it gets hard - you’re never going to make it anywhere in life.
[The older turian's expression softens. The steel in his eye gives way to something warmer, however incrementally, and he puts a hand on Garrus’s shoulder.]
Castis: I'm not doing this to punish you, but as your father, my job isn't to make your life easy. It's to teach you how to be an adult.
[Garrus nods, and Castis pats him on the back. Garrus lifts the rifle and fires.]
Shellee: Archangel, real name Garrus Vakarian, was born on Palaven in 2156 CE. His father, Castis, was a high-ranking officer in C-Sec - their universe's version of the Science Police. It's a job that Castis excelled at, but it didn't leave him much time at home. Even when he was home, he was all business.
[As she speaks, Garrus's early childhood unfolds in a series of images - each moment a fond memory Garrus shared with his mother and sister. Home life, the three of them watching a parade from their balcony, things like that.
[Castis isn't in these, but images of him do appear. They're not happy or familial. They're target practice. Castis looking over Garrus's shoulder as he strips and reassembles a rifle. Garrus watching dad give an interview on TV. Finally, Castis giving Garrus a firm handshake as he stands outside a sprawling military academy in a cadet's uniform. There's no warmth - just a professional sort of respect.]
Tammee: Turians have a compulsory service requirement - from ages fifteen to thirty, every turian has to serve the state in some way. When that time came for Garrus, he chose to enlist.
[Smash cut to a training room - a turian hitting the mat hard. Garrus is standing over them - taller now, starting to fill his lanky frame. He offers a hand, helps them up, and they both drop into fighting stances. They lock up, jockeying for position, surrounded by dozens of other recruits doing the same. Cut to a firing range, where a row of young turians in armor fire at holographic targets. The targets blink out of existence when hit, only to be replaced by another one.]
Tammee: The turian military is considered to be one of the elite fighting forces of the galaxy - the best of the best. So when we say that Archangel stood out, we want to make sure you get the full meaning.
[Garrus's rifle fits him now. His hands, and his aim, are steady. He hits target after target dead center.]
Shellee: Garrus served with distinction, and was even selected as a Spectre candidate! Now, we need to take a second to talk about the Spectres, because these bad boys come into play later.
Tammee: That's right, Shellee! The Spectres, or Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, are agents entrusted with sweeping power by the Citadel Council - the Milky Way's ruling body. They're an elite unit of the galaxy's finest soldiers and intelligence agents, hand-picked and specially trained. It's their job to keep the peace, and they're given total operational freedom to do it. They choose their cases, and pursue them through whatever means they deem necessary. It's a distinction shared by another Legionnaire - Sentinel! But, once again, we'll get to her later ...
Shellee: Now, those of you who know Archangel might think, "Wow, that sounds perfect," but get this: he turned it down. It's a big job with a lot of responsibility, so he wanted to get some advice before he accepted or declined. Most of his family were supportive - everyone but dad. Castis is a buy-the-book kinda guy, and he sees the idea of someone having near-zero accountability as a recipe for disaster. So, when Garrus brought it up, Castis talked him out of it.
Tammee: On Garrus went with military service until, a few years later, he decided to transfer into C-Sec. He'd grown up watching his father make big arrests, and he was ready to make a few of his own and make the streets safer for people like you and me.
Shellee: Unfortunately, things never seem to go quite as planned for him...
[And once again, the screen fades to black. Somewhere, a door opens and allows light into the space. We’re in a shipping container, full of high-tech looking boxes. A shadow crosses the now-opened door, and Garrus enters. He's in the blue armor that anyone who’s met him would recognize, but there are no scars yet.]
Shellee: Shortly after being promoted to detective, Garrus was assigned to investigate black market trade on the Citadel. As he started digging, he found something alarming to say the least.
[Garrus walks up to one of the boxes and taps a key. The green light on the box blinks, and the lid opens - thin wisps of frost escaping from within. Inside is what appears to be a liver.
[A montage of the investigation. Tissue sampling, names put to the organs. Confused people being interviewed, pretty darn sure their kidneys are where they're supposed to be. One of them starts bleeding during the interview, panicking as medics come to help. As they remove his shirt to treat the wound they find incisions all over the man's body.]
Tammee: The trail led to one Dr. Saleon, a geneticist who had taken to using his own employees as living incubators for cloned organs. If the organs were good, he'd remove them and sell them. If they weren't, he'd just leave them inside.
[A salarian with dark, reddish-brown skin herds a group of sickly people into a truck at gunpoint. In the background flames lick out of the windows of a building - a sign informs us it's the Saleon Clinic. The hover-truck lifts off and flies away. Cut to a Citadel dock. The truck is abandoned on the ramp, and an old freighter is pulling away as Garrus and two other officers sprint towards the end of the dock. Garrus stops, quickly keying his comm:]
Garrus: Control, this is Vakarian. The freighter that just launched from Dock 572 is a fleeing suspect - armed and extremely dangerous. He’s got hostages on board, but if we stop him before he gets to the relay, we can save them. Target his engines, see if you can leave him dead in the water--
C-Sec Command, through the comm: Control, this is Exectuor Pallin. Do not fire on that ship. It's too risky. Even a well-placed shot could hurt the hostages.
Garrus: Sir, if we let him get away those hostages are already dead. If we take the shot, they have a chance and Saleon doesn't get to hurt anyone else.
C-Sec Command, through the comm: Negative, Vakarian. The ship's too close to the Citadel. If we disable its engines, the hostages aren't the only possible casualties.
Garrus: So wait until he makes a break for the relay, we have him--!
C-Sec Command, through the comm: Negative, Vakarian! It's over.
Garrus: ...Understood.
[Garrus knocks back a shot at a bar. He turns the shot glass over in his hand a few times, examining it as if the smudged glass has some kind of answer for him. He's frustrated. Angry. The camera slowly dollies in on him as he calls for another shot.]
Shellee: Saleon wasn't the first one to get away, but he set a trend. It started to seem like every time Garrus nailed someone who needed to be locked up, they'd get off scot free. Sometimes they knew the right people, other times they'd escape through a loophole. Either way, it got under Archangel's skin. If the rules let people walk away and keep hurting people when they deserved a life sentence, what was the point in having them?
[We see Castis in his office, sitting behind his desk, scrolling through pages and pages of reports on a holographic display. He looks up as his door opens and Garrus storms in.]
Garrus: You let Kishpaugh go?! Do you have any idea how long it took to build the case against him?
Castis: Assaulting a person of interest and breaking into a private residence without a warrant? That's your idea of building a case?
Garrus: Sure, pass judgement from behind the desk, but if you'd seen what he's done you'd do the same damn thing.
[Castis opens his mouth to speak, but Garrus cuts him off.]
Garrus: You have no idea what it's like out there, do you? There are guns and drugs flooding into this place through people like Kishpaugh! Everyone one of them walking the streets could get people hurt or killed, and you'd rather I spend my time doing paperwork?
[Castis stands up.]
Castis: So you don't like the rules, you just break them. Is that it?
Garrus: Of course not. It's--
Castis: It's nothing, son. This isn’t just a job, and you need to take a look at the bigger picture. There are millions of people on this station. Some good, some bad, all of them with their own idea of how things should work. On a bad day, we’re the only ones holding all of it together. It's our responsibility to live up to the trust they all put in us. It isn't meant to be easy, but if filling out a few forms is too much for you, then maybe you're not cut out for this.
[Garrus's jaw drops, Castis glares at him for a long moment before sitting back down at his desk.]
Castis: Do things right, Garrus. Or don't do them at all.
[Garrus tries to speak, but nothing comes out. The conversation is over. The hurt in his eyes lapses into anger, and he leaves. Castis goes back to work.]
Tammee: Garrus and his father didn't speak much after that. Things went on as usual, and Archangel's frustration kept building. Then - dun dun duuuun! - everything changed when a new case fell into his lap.
[A strange noise blares from the speakers. It's quickly replaced by screaming and gunfire as the camera quickly cuts to shaky, helmet-cam footage. Human soldiers in a firefight with sleek humanoid machines with a single, glowing cyclopean eye in place of a face. A massive, almost organic looking ship descending from the sky as finger-like appendages extend towards the camera. A turian - strange looking, cybernetically enhanced - shoots another turian in the back of the head. The final shot is steady - the same cybernetically-modified turian approaching a strange alien device that thrums with green light, an almost religious awe on his face.]
Shellee: Saren Arterius was a turian Spectre, one of the best. He was respected and feared for his ruthless efficiency, but he hated humans. So, when he was accused of masterminding an attack on the human colony of Eden Prime, it was just plausible enough that the Council ordered an investigation. Guess who got the case?
[A montage of Garrus conducting his investigation. Interviews, pouring over computer records only to see page after page of black bars. Classified information, or nothing at all.]
Tammee: Unfortunately for our boy in blue, a mountain of red tape made finding anything concrete virtually impossible - especially when Saren was already covering his tracks.
[In a magnificently appointed antechamber, Garrus argues with another turian. A title card informs us that he is "Executor Pallin - Head of C-Sec"]
Garrus: Saren is hiding something! I need more time. Stall them.
Pallin: Stall the Council? Don't be ridiculous! Your investigation is over, Garrus.
[Garrus grits his teeth as Pallin walks away, but turns to face an approaching figure - a red-haired human soldier. "Lt. Commander Jane Shepard - a.k.a. Sentinel".]
Shellee: We told you she'd show up! Archangel wasn't willing to give up the case. Something was wrong, and he could feel it. So, faced with no other options, he turned to the person who had seen Saren on Eden Prime.
[A quarian, "Tali’zorah Nar Rayya," is surrounded by a group of gunmen. As they take aim, Shepard and Garrus appear at the end of the alley and dispatch the thugs with ease. Cut to the Citadel Council chambers where Shepard, Garrus, and Tali present their evidence - a recording of Saren planning the attack.]
Tammee: Together, they saved a key witness with evidence of Saren's guilt and blew the case wide open. Saren was proven guilty, and Shepard was made the first human Spectre. Her first mission? Bring Saren to justice.
Shellee: Sentinel invited Garrus to join her team for the mission. Suddenly faced with an opportunity to do some real good without the confines of C-Sec, Garrus could hardly accept fast enough.
[The "SSV NORMANDY" pulls out of dock on the Citadel. A montage ensues as they add new members to the crew - "Urdnot Wrex - Krogan Warlord", "Liara T’soni - Asari Scientist", "Kaidan Alenko & Ashley Williams - Human Soldiers". In icy tunnels, they fight close-quarters against a swarm insectoid creatures with red carapaces and snapping claws. On a fiery planet covered with rivers of lava and gaseous geysers, they tear through the hostile terrain in an armored vehicle, blasting Geth with the cannon mounted on top. On a crumbling highway in the sky, they spray bullets into a rushing horde of dessicated, corpse-like creatures. In every scene, Shepard and Garrus are side-by-side.
[In the downtime, Garrus and Shepard watch poker night, making bets on who'd fall for which bluff. He and Tali share drinks and stories. He listens while Liara talks enthusiastically about the Protheans - interested at first, but his eyes start to glaze over.]
Tammee: Joining Shepard's crew was everything he'd hoped. It was exciting, it was freeing, he made lifelong friends, and he was getting to actually go after the bad guy. It felt like he was making a difference. It wasn't until they attacked one of Saren's facilities on a planet called Virmire that they'd find out just how big a difference it really was.
Shellee: There, they discovered the secret behind Saren’s massive, mysterious flagship Sovereign.
[Shepard, Garrus, and the others stand before a massive, glowing red hologram of the ship seen attacking Eden Prime. It speaks with a rumbling, deep voice:]
Sovereign: Organic life is nothing but a mutation, an accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal - the pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable - we are the end of all things. The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance, and at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished. The Protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel. They did not forge the mass relays. They merely found them, the legacy of my kind. I am the vanguard of your destruction.
Shellee: Sovereign wasn't a warship at all, but actually a techno-organic monstrosity called a Reaper. Every 50,000 years, this unstoppable armada of alien machines sweeps out from the space between galaxies and annihilates every space-faring civilization they can find. Not only that, but all the technology that makes the galaxy's star-spanning civilizations possible is based on Reaper technology - a primitive form that the Reapers are more than ready to fight. Saren wasn't the mastermind. He was a pawn in Sovereign's plan to begin the Reaper's cycle of death and destruction again. For the galaxy to have any chance of surviving, Shepard and Garrus needed to find a way to stop them.
Tammee: Talk about raising the stakes! Things would only get harder when they returned to the Citadel and end up grounded when the Council decided that the Reapers were a fabrication to distract from Saren's true goal. While the Citadel Fleet went to hunt for Saren, the Normandy was grounded until the truth of the matter was sorted out.
[Shepard aboard the Normandy, trying to get gear from her locker. She's locked out. She sighs, glancing up as Garrus enters. She sits back against the wall, looking tired.]
Shepard: I actually thought they'd listen to me. That they'd trust one of their Spectres enough to look in the right direction long enough to see the actual threat. I guess they're through with the benefit of the doubt after Saren.
Garrus: Maybe, but the Council are used to being the biggest kids on the block. The idea that there’s something out there that could step on them like they’re less than nothing? That's not just hard to imagine. It's uncomfortable enough that they wouldn’t want to believe it until they had no other choice.
Shepard: Not much of an optimist, are you, Garrus?
Garrus: Not really.
Shepard: There's too much on the line here. I don't care what I have to do or who I have to go to, I'm not going to just sit here and wait until the Reapers start killing people.
Garrus: I had a feeling. I just wanted to let you know that, whatever you come up with, I'm in.
[He holds out a hand to Shepard, and when she takes it he pulls her to her feet.]
Garrus: We've made it this far. I'm ready to see this thing through.
Shellee: And see it through they would. With some help, they managed to break the lockout on the Normandy's systems and take off to the final leg of their hunt for Saren - a planet called Ilos - where they discovered a Prothean AI named Vigil.
[Shepard, Garrus and Wrex approach the flickering green hologram. As Vigil speaks, a hologram of the Citadel appears.]
Tammee: Vigil confirmed Sovereign's story, but added a new wrinkle - the Citadel itself, the heart of the galactic government, is actually a mass relay! If Sovereign activated it, the Reapers would come through and wipe out most of the galaxy's leaders in an instant! Now they knew the enemy game plan, but they were halfway across the galaxy and Saren's forces had already begun their attack on the Citadel!
Shellee: Fortunately, Vigil gave them their eleventh hour miracle - a miniature mass relay that was built into the Citadel by the Protheans during their own fight with the Reapers. While the Normandy went for help, Shepard and Garrus went through.
[Back on the Citadel, a statue begins to glow blue. Suddenly, in a flash of light, the armored vehicle seen before appears, tumbling end over end until it finally stops. Shepard, Garrus, and Wrex climb out. Outside, visible through the closing arms of the Citadel, a space battle between Saren's fleet and the beleaguered Citadel Defense Fleet rages. Ships erupt into blossoms of fire and smoke as Sovereign carves through the battlefield, impervious to the defender’s fire.]
[The arms of the Citadel close, and Sovereign lands on the tower in the heart of the massive structure. The camera flies in, closer and closer. We see specks on the side of the tower. As we grow closer, we see Garrus, Shepard, and Wrex, scaling the outside of the tower in a pitched firefight. The resistance is fierce, but they're advancing.]
Tammee: They found Saren in the control room with his finger on the button. Shepard tried to talk to him, and her words seemed to get through to Saren, but as he seemed to realize the situation - really understanding it for the first time. He nearly broke free, but Sovereign had one more trick up its sleeve.
[A torrent of red lightning throws Wrex, Garrus, and Shepard off of their feet. As they recover their footing, Saren stands before them. His flesh - the actual Saren - has melted away. The only thing left is a jawless, skeletal figure made of metal and red light.
[The Saren-thing leaps around the room, impossibly fast and agile. The three heroes open fire, scattering to dodge the deadly bolts of energy shooting from the Saren-thing's eyes. Eventually, the volume of fire puts it down and it disintegrates in a flash of red. Outside, Sovereign recoils and its shields fail. The human ships tear it apart.]
Tammee: With the destruction of Sovereign, the day was saved. The Reapers weren't gone, but they had been delayed, maybe long enough for the galaxy to get its act together to fight them.
Shellee: For the time being, though, things were pretty quiet for our Legionnaire. No major crisis, no invading army, just cleaning up the stragglers and recovering Sovereign’s attack. And then suddenly:
[BOOM! Smash cut to the Normandy, trailing fire out of multiple hull breaches. Behind her, closing fast, is a strange alien ship. A beam of yellow energy lances out from the ship, blasting another hole in the Normandy's hull.
[The ship looks worse inside. Fires out of control, bodies littering the floor, and power relays exploding seemingly at random. The crew is scrambling. Garrus sprints through the carnage until he finds Shepard.]
Shepard: The distress beacon is ready for launch.
Garrus: Will the Alliance get here in time?
Shepard: They damn well better. Right now, we need to focus on holding on and getting everyone onto the escape shuttles.
Garrus: Jokers still in the cockpit. He won't abandon ship. [He glances over his shoulder at Shepard] I'm not leaving either.
Shepard: I need you to get the crew onto the evac shuttles. I'll take care of Joker.
Garrus: Shepard--
[Another explosion rocks the ship.]
Shepard: Garrus. Go. Now!
Garrus: Yes, ma'am.
[They split. Garrus dashes through the smoke-filled corridors, herding crew members towards the escape shuttles. He waves them in, eyes scanning for anyone else. One stumbles and he grabs them by the belt and bodily throws them in. One last crewer rounds the corner, but they're caught in an explosion before they can make it. When he's sure no one else is coming, Garrus hops into the shuttle.
[The shuttle launches along with a half-dozen others. As they pull away from the burning Normandy, Garrus watches for the last shuttle. It launches, and a few moments later another shot from the mystery ship reduces the Normandy to flaming debris.]
[A title card informs us we’re aboard the "SSV Kilimanjaro - Five Hours Later". The shaken Normandy crew are scattered around a launch bay that's been converted into a makeshift triage unit. One of them, a bearded man with reddish hair, "Jeff 'Joker' Moreau - Pilot, SSV Normandy" is sitting on a crate, taking measured sips of water. Garrus appears in the crowd, working his way over.]
Garrus: Joker! [When Joker turns:] You alright? Where's Shepard?
[Joker doesn't respond. He looks shell-shocked as Garrus approaches. Garrus opens his mouth to speak, but stops, uncertainty creeping across his expression.]
Garrus, quietly: Where's Shepard?
[Joker shakes his head, and suddenly, Garrus understands. He grabs Joker by the collar, jerks him to his feet, and pins him against a wall.]
Garrus: Where is she?! What the hell happened?!
Joker, quietly: She's gone ...
[Garrus stares for a long moment, crestfallen. His face twists up in anger and he slams his fist into the side of the container, next to Joker's face. Garrus drops Joker and stalks off. He finds space away from everyone else, collapses onto a crate more than he sits on it, and drags a shaky hand down his face.]
Tammee: After the Normandy's destruction and Commander Shepard's tragic death, Garrus was more than a little bit lost. He tried going back to the Citadel, but that didn’t stick. He'd been hoping that things would change after Sovereign, that maybe the Council would realize they had bigger problems than trade disputes. That didn't happen.
[We return to the scene of Garrus in a bar, empty glass in front of him. The screen in front of him is displaying an official statement from the Council, commending the bravery of those who defended the Citadel during, "The Geth attack orchestrated by rogue spectre Saren Arterius." No Sovereign, nothing about the Reapers. He shakes his head and leaves.]
Shellee: And of course, the old problems were still there.
[Garrus at the C-Sec shooting range, doing some target practice. A human in a blue C-Sec uniform enters.]
Officer: Kishpaugh walked again. Your dad cut him loose.
[Garrus puts down the pistol without a word.]
Tammee: Suddenly, anger, frustration, and grief were clouding his desire to help the good guys and punish the bad ones. He felt like his hands were tied, and they always would be unless something changed.
[A shot of an alley. Suddenly, there's a loud thud - fist meeting face - and a human stumbles into frame, falling on his ass. "Ronnie Kishpaugh - Drug Dealer". Garrus walks into frame, pins Kishpaugh to the ground with a knee in his chest, and punches him in the face.]
Kishpaugh: You can't do this! You’re C-Sec, you're--
Garrus: Not anymore. No more red-tape between you and me, so if you feel like walking out of here, you're going to tell me exactly where all that poison you're pushing comes from.
["Omega." An exterior shot of a huge space station built around a half-hollowed asteroid.]
Shellee: Omega is the most wretched hive of scum and villainy in the galaxy. Well outside of Citadel space, the law here are the criminal syndicates that run it. Mercenaries, slavers, drug dealers, you name it, Omega's got twelve to a block. More than any place in the galaxy, it needed a hero.
[Garrus enters a bar - neon lights, pretty dancers, ugly characters. His eyes are quickly drawn in the same direction as everyone else's - to a fight at the edge of the bar. A krogan is absolutely savaging a turian. The turian is dropped to his knees by a punch and tries to wave off the fight, but the krogan responds by driving his boot into the turian's chest. The turian is sent sprawling, and the krogan draws a long knife from his belt.
[As he advances, Garrus moves. He catches the arm with the knife and drives his palm against the outside of the elbow. It bends but doesn't break, so Garrus whips it against the side of the bar - knocking the knife out of the krogan's hand. The krogan swings wildly, but Garrus is all over him. Punch to the temple, knee to the gut, elbow to the jaw, and the krogan is left on the floor out cold. Garrus turns to the turian as the crowd disperses. He offers the man a hand and pulls him up to his feet.]
Garrus: You alright?
Turian: Bruised pride, mostly. It would have been a whole lot worse if you hadn't stepped in.
Garrus: Don't mention it. Just doing what I can.
Turian: If this is your idea of a helping hand, you're going to be pretty damn busy on Omega.
Garrus: That was the general idea.
[The turian blinks. Not the response he was expecting.]
Turian: What's your name?
Garrus: Garrus. Yours?
Turian: Sidonis. Lantar Sidonis. Where'd you learn to fight like that?
Garrus: I could show you.
[Sidonis hesitates, then nods.]
Sidonis: I like the sound of that.
Tammee: Sidonis was the first person to join up with Garrus, but he wouldn't be the last - not with the reputation Garrus built for himself taking on the worst Omega had to offer. Soon enough, every drug dealer whose stash got torched, every protection racket that collapsed, and every gun-running operation that got busted up was being attributed to "Omega's Guardian Angel."
Shellee: The name that struck a chord with Garrus. It told him that people felt safer because of him. They were walking around a little taller because he'd been able to actually deal with the people hurting the innocents unimpeded. It felt good -- validating. So he adopted the name, calling himself and the squad that formed around him "Archangel." For the first time in his life, he felt like he was making a difference, and it was hard to argue that.
[A montage of Garrus, Sidonis, and ten others taking the fight to the gangs of Omega. They're freeing people from traffickers, raiding warehouses full of illegal weapons, intercepting shipments of drugs, and more. Some of the people getting busted are street-level pushers, but some of them are a lot better equipped. There seem to be three groups of well-armed mercenaries doing most of the big crime, "Blood Pack Mercenaries" in red, "Eclipse" in yellow, and "Blue Suns" in blue. These guys fight back, but they lose. They try to hunt down Garrus and his team, but they walk right into ambushes.]
Tammee: Suddenly, the previously untouchable gangs of Omega were being hunted. The most dangerous mercenaries outfits in the galaxy were bleeding resources and manpower with nothing to show for it and, amazingly, no civilians were caught in the crossfire. The impossible was happening, and for the first time, someone was standing up to the thugs on Omega and winning.
Shellee: The problem is, when you back dangerous men into a corner, they get desperate.
[In a dark meeting room, one member of each of the mercenary outfits gather around a table. On the table is a map and scattered pictures of Garrus and his team. They're talking. It's not friendly, but they’re coordinating.]
Tammee: The Blue Suns, the Blood Pack, and the Eclipse had never worked together before, but they'd come to hate Archangel more than they hated each other.
[A pair of mercs march into the meeting room, carrying someone with a hood tied over their head. They drag the captive to the table and push them onto their knees. They pull off the hood to reveal Sidonis. The Eclipse leader nods approvingly and glances towards the Blood Pack battlemaster, who cracks his knuckles.
[Time has passed. Sidonis is bloody. The Blue Sun leader holds a comm up to his face. Sidonis hesitates, trying to will himself to say silent, but eventually his head hangs and he speaks.]
Sidonis: Garrus? We've got a problem. I'm gonna need you to drop whatever you're doing and get over here now.
Garrus: Sidonis? You alright, you sound a little--
Sidonis: I'm fine. Just ran into a little trouble on a job and could use a hand. Garm and the Blood Pack are trying to pull a fast one - running guns through the Kenzo district. Big operation.
Garrus: How big?
Sidonis: More than I can deal with alone, but nothing the two of us can't handle.
Garrus: Alright. It'll take me a little while to get over there so hang tight. On my way.
[The Blue Sun leader ends the call and turns to the others. Sidonis looks sick.]
[Cut to Garrus, moving through Omega's dirty streets, sticking to cover. But there's nothing there. No activity.]
Shellee: By the time Archangel realized what was going on, it was too late.
[As if on cue, Garrus figures it out. This was a set-up to lure him away. His eyes go wide and he breaks into a sprint.
[Garrus runs across a bridge towards a squat building nestled against one of the outer walls of the station. The walls are scarred by bullet holes and scorch marks, and as soon as Garrus sees them he slows. Then he hears gunshots from inside, and starts running again.
[Inside, he sees the last of his squadmates cut down by a firing line of mercenaries. They're laughing. This was sport for them. Garrus opens fire, and soon, he's alone. He crosses the room, climbs the stairs, and tries to put some distance between him and the carnage. He walks out onto the second floor balcony, steadying himself against the railing with shaky hands. He draws in a few shuddering breaths. He might be sick.
[His eyes focus on something - movement across the bridge. Mercenaries stacking up to storm the safehouse and finish the job. Suddenly, his hands are steady. He picks up his rifle, takes a knee, and puts a bullet into anyone who sticks their head out.
[Later, the bridge is strewn with bodies and damaged mechs. Barricades have been erected on the far side. The safehouse is shot to hell, but Garrus is still posted on the balcony with his rifle. There’s movement across the bridge - Blue Sun, Eclipse, Blood Pack, and freelancers they’d recruited to keep their own casualties light. He'd managed so far - the bridge gave them nowhere to run but into his sights - but he wasn't going to be able to keep this up. His arms were heavy and stiff, every joint ached, and it was starting to be a struggle to focus his eyes.
[As the next wave of mercs hops the barricade, he sighs, hanging his head. This is it. There’s no way out, and he knows it. He taps a button on his visor, opening a comm channel as he re-shoulders his rifle.]
Castis, on the comm: Hello?
Garrus: Dad.
Castis: Garrus? What's all that noise.
[Bullets coming way too close for comfort.]
Garrus: Just a little target practice.
Castis: So call me back when you're finished.
Garrus: I don't think I’m going to be able to. Lot of targets.
Castis: ...I see.
Garrus: I just wanted to hear your voice. See how retirement was treating you.
Castis: Never mind that. I'm fine.
Garrus: I don't have a lot of time, but I wanted to tell you...you were right. About a lot more than I ever gave you credit for. I'm sorry I was too stubborn to see it.
Castis: I said don't worry about that. Those targets - they coming up on you fast?
Garrus: Not fast enough. But they're getting there.
Castis: Thermal clips?
Garrus: You know how it is. Could always use a few more.
Castis: Work with what you have. Don't stop pulling that trigger until it clicks and remember: As long as you've got one shot, you can get the job done. When you finish, come home. Come back to Palaven. We've got a lot to talk about.
[Garrus opens his mouth to reply as he adjusts aim to a new target, but he falters. Through his scope, we see the familiar N7 emblazoned on Commander Shepard's armor. Garrus lets out a breathy laugh, not quite believing what he's seeing.]
Garrus: Yeah, we do. I have to go. Don't worry about me, I'll...I'll make it home when I can. The odds just got a whole lot better.
Tammee: Now, I know what you're asking yourself: "Wait, wasn't she dead?!" The short answer is that she got better. The long answer is that she was brought back by a shadowy organization known as Cerberus, who invested billions of credits to repair her broken body so that she could lead the fight against a new threat. She came looking for Archangel, but she found Garrus.
[As Tammee talks, the reunion unfolds. You can't hear the words spoken, but you can see the excitement on Shepard's face and all the happiness that Garrus can muster in that moment. The two of them, along with Shepard's new squadmates, get to work. Even after two years apart, they're working like a well-oiled machine, cutting through wave after wave of mercenaries. They're unstoppable. Untouchable.
[Until a gunship emblazoned with Blue Sun colors roars up. Garrus is caught off guard, and the kinetic barriers around his armor fail under a storm of bullets. He stumbles, falls, and tries to drag himself into cover. The gunship fires a rocket from a wing-mounted launcher. Garrus tries to move, but there's no running from that even when you're not exhausted, and hurt, and bleeding. The resulting explosion sends Garrus flying. He doesn't move when he lands.
[Shepard and the others manage to pick the gunship apart with small arms fire, and it falls out of sight, smoking and belching flames. Shepard rushes over to Garrus's side, wide-eyed and worried. His eyes snap open and he rolls over onto his back, drawing in a ragged, wet-sounding breath. There's a pool of blue blood forming around him.]
Shepard: Garrus!
[She sounds scared, but quickly brings it under control.]
Shepard: We're getting you out of here, Garrus. Just hold on. [She turns to the others.] Radio Joker! Make sure they're ready for us.
[Garrus coughs and the fluid sitting in his throat gurgles as he struggles to breathe. The camera slowly zooms out and fades to black.
[Cut to the the "Normandy SR-2 - Medbay". Shepard lingers outside, watching through a viewport as a team of doctors work to save Garrus's life. She stays there until another woman, "Miranda Lawson - XO, Normandy SR-2" comes up to her and guides her away.
[Inside a conference room now, Shepard is speaking to "Jacob Taylor - Cerberus Operative".]
Jacob: Best we can tell he'll have full functionality, but...
[The door to the conference room slides open to reveal - Garrus. He looks rough. His armor is blackened and those scars of his are fresh.]
Garrus: Shepard.
Jacob: Tough son of a bitch. I didn't think he'd be up yet.
Garrus, mildly annoyed: Nobody would give me a mirror. How bad is it?
Shepard, smiling: Hell, Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some face paint on it and nobody will even notice.
[Garrus laughs, then winces. Something pulled wrong.]
Garrus: Ah, don’t make me laugh. Damn it, my face is barely holding together as it is. Still, there are some women who find facial scars attractive. Mind you, most of those women are krogan.
[Shepard chuckles, and Jacob salutes and leaves. Now it's just the two of them.]
Shepard: I'm glad you're here, Garrus. If I'm walking into hell, I want someone I trust at my side.
Garrus: You realize this plan has me walking into hell too, right? [His one good mandible draws up, a grin.] Just like old times.
Shellee: Maybe not hell per se, but they were definitely walking into some trouble.
[On a planet called "Horizon" the sky is thick with strange, orange and black clouds. Swarms of tiny, buzzing insects fill the air, especially thick over the bodies in the ground. The bodies are human - not dead, but paralyzed. The terror in their eyes suggests that they might be able to see what's going on around them. Strange, insectoid beings walk through the horrifying scene, eerily calm. Some stand watch, holding weapons that seem to be made from the same material as their carapaces. Others load hover-trolleys with the paralyzed humans.]
Shellee: Entire human colonies were vanishing overnight. Everything left standing, but the people were gone without a trace. The Alliance was slow to react, but Cerberus had figured out the culprits: a mysterious alien race known as the Collectors. Now, no one knows much about the Collectors...
[The camera tilts up, revealing a ship hovering above the colony. The same ship that destroyed the Normandy.]
Shellee: But Archangel and Sentinel had tangled with them once before.
Tammee: If they wanted things to go differently this time, they'd need to be ready. They were going to need a team, so they gathered old friends and new allies.
[A montage of the new squad. Tali is back, but the rest are all new faces. A drell with a submachine gun, "Thane Krios - Assassin". A human woman with a shaved head and a body covered in tattoos, "Jack - Biotic Psychopath". A weathered looking human with mismatched eyes and battered armor, "Zaeed Massani - Mercenary". A regal asari in red, "Samara - Asari Justicar". Another human woman, hooded and dressed in black and greys, "Kasumi Goto - Discreet Entry and Acquisitions". A geth, jet black and with an arm that appears to be the remains of Shepard's old armor, "Legion". A lab coat-clad salarian with no shortage of scars, "Prof. Mordin Solus - Licensed Medical Practitioner". A blue-eyed, orange-skinned krogan in silver armor "Grunt - Grunt".]
Shellee: And as they did, crossing path with the Collectors again and again, the true force behind the Reapers became clear as an old enemy reared its ugly head.
[Cut to black. Yellow light reveals a room. It's dark, cramped, and the walls are rough, honeycombed with holes and bumps. It looks like the hive of a giant insect, and as if on cue, a collector stalks into view. This one is different- bigger, with glowing yellow eyes. It speaks without moving its mouth.]
Harbinger: Human. You have changed nothing. Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction. You will surrender your potential, against the growing void.
[Back on Horizon. Shepard, Garrus, and Miranda are in the midst of a firefight - battling desperately against a swarm of Collectors, husks, and other such creatures. They're winning, thinning the horde shot-by-shot, annihilating clusters with grenades and biotic blasts.]
Harbinger: You cannot stop us. We are the Harbingers of your perfection. We will bring your species into the harmony of our own.
[One of the Collectors, hunched behind a waist-high wall, doubles over and clutches at it's head.
[Somewhere, in the deep, black void of space, a massive object - no, a figure - lies in wait. It’s a Reaper, bigger than Sovereign. Four spots along its massive form light up - mimicking the positioning of the eyes of a Collector.
[Back on Horizon, the Collector's eyes snap open with the same yellow glow.]
Harbinger: Prepare for our coming. Assuming direct control.
[Energy ripples over the Collector's frame as it convulses, lifting off the ground. A wave of yellow light explodes off of it, and it seems to have come to grips with it's new form. It hovers in the air, its body covered with fiery fault lines of energy, as though barely holding under the pressure of the awesome power that inhabits it. It raises a hand towards, Garrus, Shepard, and Miranda, and a flash of light fills the screen.]
Tammee: That’s right, Shellee. The Reaper's plans didn't die with Sovereign. Through the Collectors, they had new agents, and suddenly, this went from being a threat to humanity to a fight for the galaxy's very survival. If they were going to clash with Reaper tech without the help of the entire Systems Alliance Fifth Fleet, their shiny new Normandy was going to need a major overhaul.
[An exterior shot of the Normandy at dry dock as new panels of armor plating are welded into place. Underneath, a huge lift slowly raises a massive twin-barrelled cannon into a waiting gap on the ship’s underbelly. As the cannon slips out of sight, we cut to the main battery as the cannon slots into place and Garrus begins the work of installing it.]
Shellee: Along with the best and brightest, they were hunting for the most advanced weapons and armor that they could find. But through all of that, there was one thing lingering in the back of Garrus’s mind, one big piece of unfinished business.
[The camera dollies in dramatically towards Garrus before cutting to...Sidonis. He's nervous - twitching at every noise, eyes darting to anyone who gets too close. Most of the scars inflicted during his capture have healed, but not all of them.]
Shellee: You see, Garrus had no idea that Sidonis had been captured and coerced into selling out the rest of their team under threat of death. All he knew was that Sidonis was the one who lured him away when the safe house was attacked - when the rest of the team was killed. There was only one conclusion Garrus could draw when Sidonis didn't turn up amongst the rest of the team: Sidonis had sold them out.
Tammee: So when Garrus found out that Sidonis was still alive and actively trying to hide, well...
[Back to the battery. The cannon is installed and Garrus is working at a terminal when Shepard enters.]
Shellee: Garrus was angry - furious - to know that the man responsible for the death of ten good men and women might get to walk away from it all. He hadn’t been able to prevent Sidonis's "betrayal,"... but he could avenge it.
Garrus: Shepard. Glad you came by. I've got something I may need your help with. Remember Sidonis? The one who betrayed my team? I've found a lead on him. There's a specialist on the Citadel; name's Fade. He's an expert at helping people disappear. Sidonis was seen with him.
[Shepard nods, her eyes narrowing slightly. She's not considering the possibility so much as she's considering Garrus. Studying him to see where he’s at.]
Shepard: So, where do we find Fade?
[Cut to someplace new - cold and industrial, harshly lit. There's a loud thud and a man stumbles into frame, falling over and clutching his stomach. "Harkin - Former Crooked C-Sec Officer, Known as 'Fade'". Cut to a reverse angle and we see Garrus and Shepard standing over him.]
Shepard, deadpan: Ouch.
[Her eyes dart to Garrus as he takes a step forward. She's watching him carefully, ready to intervene if he goes too far.]
Garrus: You helped a friend of mine disappear. A turian named Sidonis. I need to find him.
Harkin: I don't give out client information. It's bad for business.
[Garrus brings his boot down across Harkin's upper chest, pinning him.]
Garrus: You know what else is bad for business? A broken neck.
Harkin, gasping for breath: Alright! Alright, get off me!
[Garrus doesn't. He leans on Harkin just a little harder until Shepard reaches forward and puts a hand on his shoulder, guiding him back. He doesn't resist.]
Harkin, smiling slightly: Omega really changed you, huh, Garrus...?
Garrus: No, but Sidonis...opened my eyes. Now arrange a meeting.
["A Few Hours Later…" Garrus waits high above a neon-lit stretch of the Citadel Wards. His sniper rifle is in his hands. He looks...pensive. His eyes are cold, distant, and deep in thought - not entirely in the moment until he sees Shepard below. He draws a breath in through his mouth and lets it out through his nose as he takes a knee and sights his rifle. Sidonis approaches Shepard.]
Sidonis: Let's get this over with.
Garrus, to Shepard: You're in my shot. Move out of the way.
[Shepard stays planted firmly between Garrus and Sidonis.]
Shepard: Listen to me very carefully. I'm here to help you, Sidonis--
Sidonis: Don't say that name aloud. Ever.
Shepard: I'm a friend of Garrus's. He wants you dead, but I'm hoping to get us all out of this.
Garrus, to Shepard: Damn it, Shepard. If he moves, I'm taking the shot.
Sidonis: Garrus? Is this some kind of joke... [His blood runs cold] You're serious, aren't you? [He starts to panic] Screw this. I'm not sticking around to find out. Tell Garrus I had my own problems...
[He turns to leave, but Shepard grabs his arm and pulls him back.]
Shepard: Right now, I'm the only thing standing between you and a hole in the head.
Sidonis, realizing just how bad his situation is: Fuck... Look, I didn't want to do it, I didn't have a choice.
Garrus, hissing through gritted teeth: Everyone has a choice.
Sidonis: They got to me! Said they were gonna kill me if I didn't help! What was I supposed to do?
Garrus: Let me take the shot, Shepard, he's a damn coward!
Shepard, to Sidonis: That's it? You were just trying to save yourself?
Sidonis: I know what I did. I know they died because of me, and I have to live with that. I wake up every night. Sick, sweating. Each of their faces staring at me, accusing me... I'm already a dead man. I don't sleep. Food has no taste. Some days, I just want it to be over.
[As he talks, Garrus's eyes begin to soften. He's having second thoughts. Doubts. But the moment passes and he forces himself back to that dark place.]
Garrus: Give me a chance...
Shepard: You have to let it go, Garrus. He’s already paying for his crime.
Garrus: He hasn't paid enough.
Shepard: Look at him, Garrus. He's not alive. There's nothing you can do to him that he's not already doing to himself.
Garrus: My men...they deserved better.
[Sidonis lifts his head and looks to Shepard.]
Sidonis: Tell Garrus... [He sighs] ...I guess there's nothing I can say to make this right.
[Garrus's doubts are back. He sees the pain on Sidonis, even a few hundred meters away. He's looking at a broken man, someone who's being eaten alive by the same guilt that's plaguing him. Dramatic, trilling violins build in intensity. He grits his teeth, hangs his head, and lowers his rifle.]
Garrus: Just...go. Tell him to go.
Shepard: He's giving you another chance, Sidonis. Don't waste it.
Sidonis: I'll try, Garrus. I'll find some way to make it up to you. [To Shepard.] Thank you, for talking to him.
[Sidonis turns and leaves, and so does Shepard. A few moments later, she's meeting Garrus at the hover car they came here in.]
Garrus: I know you want to talk about this, but I don't. Not yet.
Shepard: I know it didn't go the way you planned, but it's for the best.
Garrus: I'm not so sure.
Shepard: Give it time.
Garrus: Yeah. Maybe that'll be enough... I want to know that I did the right thing. Not just for me, for my men. They deserve to be avenged, but when I had Sidonis in my sights … I just couldn't do it.
Shepard: The lines between good and evil blur when we're looking at people we know.
Garrus: Yeah. There was still good in him, I could see it. [He sighs] It's so much easier to see the world in black and white. Gray...I don't know what to do with gray.
Shepard: You have to go with your instincts.
Garrus: Following my instincts is what got me into this mess. Let's just go. I need some distance.
Shellee: And despite all the anger in him, there's good in Archangel too. He just needed Sentinel to remind him of that. To put him back on the right path.
Tammee: But that wasn't quite all. There was still one more conversation they needed to have as they prepared to take the fight to the Collectors.
[The screen fades to black. Then, it lightens, powering up like a display monitor. Numbers scroll across - targeting algorithms, power levels, alerts of a dozen different varieties. Garrus is hard at work, calibrating the Normandy's new main gun. But once again he's somewhere else entirely.]
Shepard: You got a minute, Garrus?
[It's phrased as a request, but traditionally a lot of orders are.]
Garrus: Ca-- [No, he knows what this is about, and he knows it can't wait.] Yeah. Time for that talk?
Shepard: Yeah. [She takes a seat on a crate near Garrus's gunnery console, leaning forward with elbows resting on knees, expression serious.] This is twice now you've tried to kill someone who isn't an immediate threat. There can't be a third time.
Garrus: I... [There's a moment where he wants to stick up for himself, but he's in the wrong and he knows it. No matter how angry, how lost, or how justified he felt. Some time to process all of it had given him at least that much perspective.] I'm not going to make any excuses. I was was angry, and stupid, and I wasn't thinking straight. But nearly doing something you're going to regret for the rest of your life has a way of shocking your head clear.
Shepard: This went beyond "not thinking straight." You're not an idiot and you're not a murderer. What's it really about, Garrus?
[He opens his mouth, but he stops and shakes his head. It takes a moment for him to find his voice.]
Garrus: Omega, what I was doing there, felt right. For the first time in my life, I was free to do things my own way. Not only that, but it was working. The mercs couldn't touch us, but we got to them. They weren't on the brink, but they were slipping. It was going to be a long time before it was anything resembling safe, but at least some of the people they were leaning on got out from under them. The ones who hadn't gotten there yet saw that it was possible.
[He turns to look at her, his shoulders sagging. Somehow, despite his size, he looked small. Vulnerable. Lost.]
Garrus: I actually felt like I was making a difference, and then it was all gone. Suddenly, there were a lot of good people dead because of my decisions - because I was so distracted by the promise of a brighter tomorrow that I was blind to the cracks forming around us.
[Garrus draws in a breath, steadying himself to push out the hardest words he’s ever had to say.]
Garrus: Because I was wrong.
Shepard: Yeah, you were. [She's not trying to rub it in, but the talk needs to stick this time.] That stuff about Sidonis already suffering was true, but not the point. I brought it up to get you to back off, which I shouldn't have had to, no matter how personal it was. [Shepard sighs and shakes her head, tired and disappointed. It's worse than her anger.] Vengeance isn't justice, Garrus.
Garrus: I know.
[And the fact that he has to be reminded of that leaves him just a little bit more disgusted with himself than he already was.]
Garrus: This isn't going to happen again, Shepard. [A beat.] I'm done letting my emotions get the better of me like that. I'm never letting myself come that close to throwing out everything that I believe in again, and I don't want any more people dying because I made a bad call when I should have known better. From here on out, I'm doing things the right way, or I'm not doing them at all.
Shepard: Good. [Shepard rises, putting her about equal with Garrus's chest.] I need my sharpshooter at a hundred percent. [Her "CO" vibe softens back to her usual camaraderie, and she looks at him with an affectionate half-smile.] And I want my friend the same.
[The weight that's settled around his shoulders lifts just a little bit. He still looks tired and beaten down, but he's smiling. Or whatever passes for a smile among turians, anyway, it's hard to tell.]
Garrus: Just give me a little time. I'll be alright. [He pauses.] Though, that is only because of you. I never got to thank you. For talking me down.
Shepard: [Her half-smile becomes a full one.] You're welcome.
Shellee: Touching, isn't it, Tammee?
Tammee: It absolutely is, Shellee. But that final confrontation with the Collectors was going to come a lot sooner than either of them expected.
Shellee: That's right, Tammee! You see, one of the reasons no one else was ready to confront the Collector threat was the location of their home base - through the mysterious Omega 4 Relay! No ship that's tried to pass through the relay has ever survived - each one destroyed by some sort of automated defenses that scan incoming ships for a specific friend-or-foe tag. If they wanted to get through, they'd need one of their own.
Tammee: So if the Archangel, Sentinel, and the Normandy wanted to make it through, they'd need one of their own. The problem is, the Collectors knew this and set up a trap. They put one of the tags out in the open, modified to include a tracker. So, as the team left the ship to perform a few final tasks before hitting the relay, the Collectors hit the Normandy.
[The Normandy's airlock hisses open, revealing Shepard, Garrus, and the rest of the squad. The ship is empty, seemingly abandoned until Joker limps in from the cockpit.]
Tammee: The crew was taken, and if it wasn't for the Normandy’s pilot, they would have got the ship too. If they wanted any chance of getting their crew back, they would have to go for the jugular. So that's exactly what they did.
[The Normandy emerges from the relay into a field of debris - a graveyard of ships that tried to pass through before them. There are no stars, only thick clouds lit red by the dying corona of light surrounding a black hole that dominates the vista. Music builds as the Normandy weaves through the wreckage. In the distance is the Collector base - a massive cylinder of rock and metal, their warship writ even larger.
[As the Normandy approaches, the Collector ship emerges from a berth in the massive space station. It lumbers forward, firing its main gun, but the Normandy deftly avoids the crackling energy beam. Then it's the Normandy’s turn. It’s cannon lowers from the ship's underside, and their shot finds its mark - a beam of blue light cutting through the Collector ship's rocky hull. The Normandy closes for the kill, dipping and twisting and rolling through a barrage of desperate fire. The cannon fires again and the Collector ship erupts into a ball of fire - an unexpectedly huge explosion that catches the Normandy. The engines sputter and go dark, and it hurtles towards the Collector base. It punches into the side of the base, sliding to a halt in the cavernous, honeycombed interior.]
Shellee: The Normandy needed time for its systems to reboot, but they were in. There was still an army of Collectors between them and the crew. More of them still between the base's reactor, which they could overload to destroy the station.
[The squad emerges from the Normandy’s airlock. They check their gear, ready themselves, and rally behind Shepard and Garrus. Together, they march forward.]
Shellee: But they'd come this far. They were ready for whatever the Collectors and the Reapers could throw at them.
[A montage of the crew fighting their way through the interior of the base. Winged Collectors and Praetorians swoop down at them from above, but disciplined volleys of coordinated fire bring them down. Fortified positions crumble as they press onward through ever thicker waves of enemies. Awakened Collectors - the glowing ones controlled by Harbinger - appear in the horde. A new Collector awakens each time the previous one is killed.
[The Normandy crew being freed from strange pods, saved from whatever fate the Collectors had in store for them.
[The squad covers Tali as she unlocks a massive door, staying put as she runs in along with Shepard and Garrus. The latter covers the former two as they furiously work at control panels. Alarm lights begin to flash, Shepard nods, and they run out with even more urgency than they entered.
[Explosions shake the base. Our heroes run and gun through the crumbling structure, narrowly avoiding rock and metal blown free from walls. Collectors appear ahead and behind. Some are killed, others are outrun, but they keep coming. The passage they're all running through opens up into a massive cavern. Nowhere left to run as the Collectors close the distance...at least until the Normandy rises up into view. The airlock opens, and the crew sprints inside.
[They take off, racing through the rapidly deteriorating base's interior, weaving through falling debris until an explosion rips a hole to the outside. The Normandy banks, threads the needle, and they're home free. They tear through the open sky and the Collector Base evaporates in a flash of light.
[The screen fades to black, the music slowly quiets to silence, and we return to the gals at their desk.]
Tammee: Now, the story of Archangel, Sentinel, and their galaxy is far from over. The Reapers are still out there - their diabolical plans still in motion - but this is where we find our intrepid hero this week.
Shellee: That's right, Tammee. Archangel's life has been full of ups and downs, but now, at the other side of it all, he's got a chance to do real good - a chance to really make a difference here with the Legion. It's up to him to keep those hard-learned lessons close to heart and rise to the occasion. I'm Shellee Star!
Tammee: And I'm Tammee Timm!
Both: And this has been Legionnaire Legacies!
Shellee: I'm Shellee Star! [That would be the pink one.]
Tammee: And I'm Tammee Tim! [That would be the blue one.]
Shellee: And this is another investigative episode of Legion Watch: Legionnaire Legacies! Today, we're taking a closer look at one of the newest Legionnaires.
Tammee: That's right, Shellee. This scarred sharpshooter is driven by a strong need to see justice done - to see the good guys get ahead and the bad guys behind bars. It's a noble goal, but as we all know, good intentions only get you so far.
Shellee: Too true, Tammee. Our subject started off with the best of intentions, but it led him to some dark places. Every time he saw a criminal escape prosecution thanks to powerful friends or a legal loophole, it chipped away at his faith in the rule of law. Eventually, he decided to throw those rules out all together.
Tammee: And while everyone loves a bad boy, some might say that he took things too far when he took the law into his own hands - and paid for it when it all fell apart around him.
Shellee: Tonight's story is one of redemption - a good man making bad choices, and being brought back after losing everything. Let's get to know the Legion's resident loose cannon cop: Archangel!
[The opening image was tooootally not pictureshooped at all. Not even a tiny bit.]
[A brief series of warnings flash across the bottom of the screen: Violence, Adult Language, Graphic Content …]
[The screen goes black. Synth-heavy music begins to play. Text begins to appear:
["In Earth year 550 BCE, turian explorers on the moon of Menae discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization known as the Protheans. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies.
["The turians could now reach the furthest stars, and among those stars they found new life and new civilizations - a myriad of races and the galaxy-spanning government they had built.
["All of it was made possible by the same incredible technology, the basis of which is a force that can shape the very fabric of space and time.
["They called it the greatest discovery in turian history.
["The civilizations of the galaxy call it …
["MASS EFFECT”
[The text disappears and a new scene fades in - rolling steppes covered in pale, amber grass, punctuated by rocky buttes. A title appears: Palaven - Turian Homeworld - 2165 CE
[A young Garrus, 9 or 10, takes aim at a line of glass bottles under the watchful eye of a stern, older turian with similar facial markings. He watches silently as Garrus attempts to steady the oversized rifle in his shaky hands and fires. All misses. Garrus sighs and lowers the weapon, his shoulders sagging.]
Garrus: Can we stop for a while? My arms hurt.
Castis: Not until you hit those targets. Now. [Castis nods towards the bottles] Again.
[Garrus hefts the rifle. Three more shots, no hits. Once again, he lowers the rifle and turns to the older turian.]
Garrus: Why are we doing this? I’m not getting any better.
Castis: Then this is exactly the moment when you try harder. This is the moment you pull yourself together and get it done. If you stop now - if you give up on something when it gets hard - you’re never going to make it anywhere in life.
[The older turian's expression softens. The steel in his eye gives way to something warmer, however incrementally, and he puts a hand on Garrus’s shoulder.]
Castis: I'm not doing this to punish you, but as your father, my job isn't to make your life easy. It's to teach you how to be an adult.
[Garrus nods, and Castis pats him on the back. Garrus lifts the rifle and fires.]
Shellee: Archangel, real name Garrus Vakarian, was born on Palaven in 2156 CE. His father, Castis, was a high-ranking officer in C-Sec - their universe's version of the Science Police. It's a job that Castis excelled at, but it didn't leave him much time at home. Even when he was home, he was all business.
[As she speaks, Garrus's early childhood unfolds in a series of images - each moment a fond memory Garrus shared with his mother and sister. Home life, the three of them watching a parade from their balcony, things like that.
[Castis isn't in these, but images of him do appear. They're not happy or familial. They're target practice. Castis looking over Garrus's shoulder as he strips and reassembles a rifle. Garrus watching dad give an interview on TV. Finally, Castis giving Garrus a firm handshake as he stands outside a sprawling military academy in a cadet's uniform. There's no warmth - just a professional sort of respect.]
Tammee: Turians have a compulsory service requirement - from ages fifteen to thirty, every turian has to serve the state in some way. When that time came for Garrus, he chose to enlist.
[Smash cut to a training room - a turian hitting the mat hard. Garrus is standing over them - taller now, starting to fill his lanky frame. He offers a hand, helps them up, and they both drop into fighting stances. They lock up, jockeying for position, surrounded by dozens of other recruits doing the same. Cut to a firing range, where a row of young turians in armor fire at holographic targets. The targets blink out of existence when hit, only to be replaced by another one.]
Tammee: The turian military is considered to be one of the elite fighting forces of the galaxy - the best of the best. So when we say that Archangel stood out, we want to make sure you get the full meaning.
[Garrus's rifle fits him now. His hands, and his aim, are steady. He hits target after target dead center.]
Shellee: Garrus served with distinction, and was even selected as a Spectre candidate! Now, we need to take a second to talk about the Spectres, because these bad boys come into play later.
Tammee: That's right, Shellee! The Spectres, or Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, are agents entrusted with sweeping power by the Citadel Council - the Milky Way's ruling body. They're an elite unit of the galaxy's finest soldiers and intelligence agents, hand-picked and specially trained. It's their job to keep the peace, and they're given total operational freedom to do it. They choose their cases, and pursue them through whatever means they deem necessary. It's a distinction shared by another Legionnaire - Sentinel! But, once again, we'll get to her later ...
Shellee: Now, those of you who know Archangel might think, "Wow, that sounds perfect," but get this: he turned it down. It's a big job with a lot of responsibility, so he wanted to get some advice before he accepted or declined. Most of his family were supportive - everyone but dad. Castis is a buy-the-book kinda guy, and he sees the idea of someone having near-zero accountability as a recipe for disaster. So, when Garrus brought it up, Castis talked him out of it.
Tammee: On Garrus went with military service until, a few years later, he decided to transfer into C-Sec. He'd grown up watching his father make big arrests, and he was ready to make a few of his own and make the streets safer for people like you and me.
Shellee: Unfortunately, things never seem to go quite as planned for him...
[And once again, the screen fades to black. Somewhere, a door opens and allows light into the space. We’re in a shipping container, full of high-tech looking boxes. A shadow crosses the now-opened door, and Garrus enters. He's in the blue armor that anyone who’s met him would recognize, but there are no scars yet.]
Shellee: Shortly after being promoted to detective, Garrus was assigned to investigate black market trade on the Citadel. As he started digging, he found something alarming to say the least.
[Garrus walks up to one of the boxes and taps a key. The green light on the box blinks, and the lid opens - thin wisps of frost escaping from within. Inside is what appears to be a liver.
[A montage of the investigation. Tissue sampling, names put to the organs. Confused people being interviewed, pretty darn sure their kidneys are where they're supposed to be. One of them starts bleeding during the interview, panicking as medics come to help. As they remove his shirt to treat the wound they find incisions all over the man's body.]
Tammee: The trail led to one Dr. Saleon, a geneticist who had taken to using his own employees as living incubators for cloned organs. If the organs were good, he'd remove them and sell them. If they weren't, he'd just leave them inside.
[A salarian with dark, reddish-brown skin herds a group of sickly people into a truck at gunpoint. In the background flames lick out of the windows of a building - a sign informs us it's the Saleon Clinic. The hover-truck lifts off and flies away. Cut to a Citadel dock. The truck is abandoned on the ramp, and an old freighter is pulling away as Garrus and two other officers sprint towards the end of the dock. Garrus stops, quickly keying his comm:]
Garrus: Control, this is Vakarian. The freighter that just launched from Dock 572 is a fleeing suspect - armed and extremely dangerous. He’s got hostages on board, but if we stop him before he gets to the relay, we can save them. Target his engines, see if you can leave him dead in the water--
C-Sec Command, through the comm: Control, this is Exectuor Pallin. Do not fire on that ship. It's too risky. Even a well-placed shot could hurt the hostages.
Garrus: Sir, if we let him get away those hostages are already dead. If we take the shot, they have a chance and Saleon doesn't get to hurt anyone else.
C-Sec Command, through the comm: Negative, Vakarian. The ship's too close to the Citadel. If we disable its engines, the hostages aren't the only possible casualties.
Garrus: So wait until he makes a break for the relay, we have him--!
C-Sec Command, through the comm: Negative, Vakarian! It's over.
Garrus: ...Understood.
[Garrus knocks back a shot at a bar. He turns the shot glass over in his hand a few times, examining it as if the smudged glass has some kind of answer for him. He's frustrated. Angry. The camera slowly dollies in on him as he calls for another shot.]
Shellee: Saleon wasn't the first one to get away, but he set a trend. It started to seem like every time Garrus nailed someone who needed to be locked up, they'd get off scot free. Sometimes they knew the right people, other times they'd escape through a loophole. Either way, it got under Archangel's skin. If the rules let people walk away and keep hurting people when they deserved a life sentence, what was the point in having them?
[We see Castis in his office, sitting behind his desk, scrolling through pages and pages of reports on a holographic display. He looks up as his door opens and Garrus storms in.]
Garrus: You let Kishpaugh go?! Do you have any idea how long it took to build the case against him?
Castis: Assaulting a person of interest and breaking into a private residence without a warrant? That's your idea of building a case?
Garrus: Sure, pass judgement from behind the desk, but if you'd seen what he's done you'd do the same damn thing.
[Castis opens his mouth to speak, but Garrus cuts him off.]
Garrus: You have no idea what it's like out there, do you? There are guns and drugs flooding into this place through people like Kishpaugh! Everyone one of them walking the streets could get people hurt or killed, and you'd rather I spend my time doing paperwork?
[Castis stands up.]
Castis: So you don't like the rules, you just break them. Is that it?
Garrus: Of course not. It's--
Castis: It's nothing, son. This isn’t just a job, and you need to take a look at the bigger picture. There are millions of people on this station. Some good, some bad, all of them with their own idea of how things should work. On a bad day, we’re the only ones holding all of it together. It's our responsibility to live up to the trust they all put in us. It isn't meant to be easy, but if filling out a few forms is too much for you, then maybe you're not cut out for this.
[Garrus's jaw drops, Castis glares at him for a long moment before sitting back down at his desk.]
Castis: Do things right, Garrus. Or don't do them at all.
[Garrus tries to speak, but nothing comes out. The conversation is over. The hurt in his eyes lapses into anger, and he leaves. Castis goes back to work.]
Tammee: Garrus and his father didn't speak much after that. Things went on as usual, and Archangel's frustration kept building. Then - dun dun duuuun! - everything changed when a new case fell into his lap.
[A strange noise blares from the speakers. It's quickly replaced by screaming and gunfire as the camera quickly cuts to shaky, helmet-cam footage. Human soldiers in a firefight with sleek humanoid machines with a single, glowing cyclopean eye in place of a face. A massive, almost organic looking ship descending from the sky as finger-like appendages extend towards the camera. A turian - strange looking, cybernetically enhanced - shoots another turian in the back of the head. The final shot is steady - the same cybernetically-modified turian approaching a strange alien device that thrums with green light, an almost religious awe on his face.]
Shellee: Saren Arterius was a turian Spectre, one of the best. He was respected and feared for his ruthless efficiency, but he hated humans. So, when he was accused of masterminding an attack on the human colony of Eden Prime, it was just plausible enough that the Council ordered an investigation. Guess who got the case?
[A montage of Garrus conducting his investigation. Interviews, pouring over computer records only to see page after page of black bars. Classified information, or nothing at all.]
Tammee: Unfortunately for our boy in blue, a mountain of red tape made finding anything concrete virtually impossible - especially when Saren was already covering his tracks.
[In a magnificently appointed antechamber, Garrus argues with another turian. A title card informs us that he is "Executor Pallin - Head of C-Sec"]
Garrus: Saren is hiding something! I need more time. Stall them.
Pallin: Stall the Council? Don't be ridiculous! Your investigation is over, Garrus.
[Garrus grits his teeth as Pallin walks away, but turns to face an approaching figure - a red-haired human soldier. "Lt. Commander Jane Shepard - a.k.a. Sentinel".]
Shellee: We told you she'd show up! Archangel wasn't willing to give up the case. Something was wrong, and he could feel it. So, faced with no other options, he turned to the person who had seen Saren on Eden Prime.
[A quarian, "Tali’zorah Nar Rayya," is surrounded by a group of gunmen. As they take aim, Shepard and Garrus appear at the end of the alley and dispatch the thugs with ease. Cut to the Citadel Council chambers where Shepard, Garrus, and Tali present their evidence - a recording of Saren planning the attack.]
Tammee: Together, they saved a key witness with evidence of Saren's guilt and blew the case wide open. Saren was proven guilty, and Shepard was made the first human Spectre. Her first mission? Bring Saren to justice.
Shellee: Sentinel invited Garrus to join her team for the mission. Suddenly faced with an opportunity to do some real good without the confines of C-Sec, Garrus could hardly accept fast enough.
[The "SSV NORMANDY" pulls out of dock on the Citadel. A montage ensues as they add new members to the crew - "Urdnot Wrex - Krogan Warlord", "Liara T’soni - Asari Scientist", "Kaidan Alenko & Ashley Williams - Human Soldiers". In icy tunnels, they fight close-quarters against a swarm insectoid creatures with red carapaces and snapping claws. On a fiery planet covered with rivers of lava and gaseous geysers, they tear through the hostile terrain in an armored vehicle, blasting Geth with the cannon mounted on top. On a crumbling highway in the sky, they spray bullets into a rushing horde of dessicated, corpse-like creatures. In every scene, Shepard and Garrus are side-by-side.
[In the downtime, Garrus and Shepard watch poker night, making bets on who'd fall for which bluff. He and Tali share drinks and stories. He listens while Liara talks enthusiastically about the Protheans - interested at first, but his eyes start to glaze over.]
Tammee: Joining Shepard's crew was everything he'd hoped. It was exciting, it was freeing, he made lifelong friends, and he was getting to actually go after the bad guy. It felt like he was making a difference. It wasn't until they attacked one of Saren's facilities on a planet called Virmire that they'd find out just how big a difference it really was.
Shellee: There, they discovered the secret behind Saren’s massive, mysterious flagship Sovereign.
[Shepard, Garrus, and the others stand before a massive, glowing red hologram of the ship seen attacking Eden Prime. It speaks with a rumbling, deep voice:]
Sovereign: Organic life is nothing but a mutation, an accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal - the pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable - we are the end of all things. The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance, and at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished. The Protheans were not the first. They did not create the Citadel. They did not forge the mass relays. They merely found them, the legacy of my kind. I am the vanguard of your destruction.
Shellee: Sovereign wasn't a warship at all, but actually a techno-organic monstrosity called a Reaper. Every 50,000 years, this unstoppable armada of alien machines sweeps out from the space between galaxies and annihilates every space-faring civilization they can find. Not only that, but all the technology that makes the galaxy's star-spanning civilizations possible is based on Reaper technology - a primitive form that the Reapers are more than ready to fight. Saren wasn't the mastermind. He was a pawn in Sovereign's plan to begin the Reaper's cycle of death and destruction again. For the galaxy to have any chance of surviving, Shepard and Garrus needed to find a way to stop them.
Tammee: Talk about raising the stakes! Things would only get harder when they returned to the Citadel and end up grounded when the Council decided that the Reapers were a fabrication to distract from Saren's true goal. While the Citadel Fleet went to hunt for Saren, the Normandy was grounded until the truth of the matter was sorted out.
[Shepard aboard the Normandy, trying to get gear from her locker. She's locked out. She sighs, glancing up as Garrus enters. She sits back against the wall, looking tired.]
Shepard: I actually thought they'd listen to me. That they'd trust one of their Spectres enough to look in the right direction long enough to see the actual threat. I guess they're through with the benefit of the doubt after Saren.
Garrus: Maybe, but the Council are used to being the biggest kids on the block. The idea that there’s something out there that could step on them like they’re less than nothing? That's not just hard to imagine. It's uncomfortable enough that they wouldn’t want to believe it until they had no other choice.
Shepard: Not much of an optimist, are you, Garrus?
Garrus: Not really.
Shepard: There's too much on the line here. I don't care what I have to do or who I have to go to, I'm not going to just sit here and wait until the Reapers start killing people.
Garrus: I had a feeling. I just wanted to let you know that, whatever you come up with, I'm in.
[He holds out a hand to Shepard, and when she takes it he pulls her to her feet.]
Garrus: We've made it this far. I'm ready to see this thing through.
Shellee: And see it through they would. With some help, they managed to break the lockout on the Normandy's systems and take off to the final leg of their hunt for Saren - a planet called Ilos - where they discovered a Prothean AI named Vigil.
[Shepard, Garrus and Wrex approach the flickering green hologram. As Vigil speaks, a hologram of the Citadel appears.]
Tammee: Vigil confirmed Sovereign's story, but added a new wrinkle - the Citadel itself, the heart of the galactic government, is actually a mass relay! If Sovereign activated it, the Reapers would come through and wipe out most of the galaxy's leaders in an instant! Now they knew the enemy game plan, but they were halfway across the galaxy and Saren's forces had already begun their attack on the Citadel!
Shellee: Fortunately, Vigil gave them their eleventh hour miracle - a miniature mass relay that was built into the Citadel by the Protheans during their own fight with the Reapers. While the Normandy went for help, Shepard and Garrus went through.
[Back on the Citadel, a statue begins to glow blue. Suddenly, in a flash of light, the armored vehicle seen before appears, tumbling end over end until it finally stops. Shepard, Garrus, and Wrex climb out. Outside, visible through the closing arms of the Citadel, a space battle between Saren's fleet and the beleaguered Citadel Defense Fleet rages. Ships erupt into blossoms of fire and smoke as Sovereign carves through the battlefield, impervious to the defender’s fire.]
[The arms of the Citadel close, and Sovereign lands on the tower in the heart of the massive structure. The camera flies in, closer and closer. We see specks on the side of the tower. As we grow closer, we see Garrus, Shepard, and Wrex, scaling the outside of the tower in a pitched firefight. The resistance is fierce, but they're advancing.]
Tammee: They found Saren in the control room with his finger on the button. Shepard tried to talk to him, and her words seemed to get through to Saren, but as he seemed to realize the situation - really understanding it for the first time. He nearly broke free, but Sovereign had one more trick up its sleeve.
[A torrent of red lightning throws Wrex, Garrus, and Shepard off of their feet. As they recover their footing, Saren stands before them. His flesh - the actual Saren - has melted away. The only thing left is a jawless, skeletal figure made of metal and red light.
[The Saren-thing leaps around the room, impossibly fast and agile. The three heroes open fire, scattering to dodge the deadly bolts of energy shooting from the Saren-thing's eyes. Eventually, the volume of fire puts it down and it disintegrates in a flash of red. Outside, Sovereign recoils and its shields fail. The human ships tear it apart.]
Tammee: With the destruction of Sovereign, the day was saved. The Reapers weren't gone, but they had been delayed, maybe long enough for the galaxy to get its act together to fight them.
Shellee: For the time being, though, things were pretty quiet for our Legionnaire. No major crisis, no invading army, just cleaning up the stragglers and recovering Sovereign’s attack. And then suddenly:
[BOOM! Smash cut to the Normandy, trailing fire out of multiple hull breaches. Behind her, closing fast, is a strange alien ship. A beam of yellow energy lances out from the ship, blasting another hole in the Normandy's hull.
[The ship looks worse inside. Fires out of control, bodies littering the floor, and power relays exploding seemingly at random. The crew is scrambling. Garrus sprints through the carnage until he finds Shepard.]
Shepard: The distress beacon is ready for launch.
Garrus: Will the Alliance get here in time?
Shepard: They damn well better. Right now, we need to focus on holding on and getting everyone onto the escape shuttles.
Garrus: Jokers still in the cockpit. He won't abandon ship. [He glances over his shoulder at Shepard] I'm not leaving either.
Shepard: I need you to get the crew onto the evac shuttles. I'll take care of Joker.
Garrus: Shepard--
[Another explosion rocks the ship.]
Shepard: Garrus. Go. Now!
Garrus: Yes, ma'am.
[They split. Garrus dashes through the smoke-filled corridors, herding crew members towards the escape shuttles. He waves them in, eyes scanning for anyone else. One stumbles and he grabs them by the belt and bodily throws them in. One last crewer rounds the corner, but they're caught in an explosion before they can make it. When he's sure no one else is coming, Garrus hops into the shuttle.
[The shuttle launches along with a half-dozen others. As they pull away from the burning Normandy, Garrus watches for the last shuttle. It launches, and a few moments later another shot from the mystery ship reduces the Normandy to flaming debris.]
[A title card informs us we’re aboard the "SSV Kilimanjaro - Five Hours Later". The shaken Normandy crew are scattered around a launch bay that's been converted into a makeshift triage unit. One of them, a bearded man with reddish hair, "Jeff 'Joker' Moreau - Pilot, SSV Normandy" is sitting on a crate, taking measured sips of water. Garrus appears in the crowd, working his way over.]
Garrus: Joker! [When Joker turns:] You alright? Where's Shepard?
[Joker doesn't respond. He looks shell-shocked as Garrus approaches. Garrus opens his mouth to speak, but stops, uncertainty creeping across his expression.]
Garrus, quietly: Where's Shepard?
[Joker shakes his head, and suddenly, Garrus understands. He grabs Joker by the collar, jerks him to his feet, and pins him against a wall.]
Garrus: Where is she?! What the hell happened?!
Joker, quietly: She's gone ...
[Garrus stares for a long moment, crestfallen. His face twists up in anger and he slams his fist into the side of the container, next to Joker's face. Garrus drops Joker and stalks off. He finds space away from everyone else, collapses onto a crate more than he sits on it, and drags a shaky hand down his face.]
Tammee: After the Normandy's destruction and Commander Shepard's tragic death, Garrus was more than a little bit lost. He tried going back to the Citadel, but that didn’t stick. He'd been hoping that things would change after Sovereign, that maybe the Council would realize they had bigger problems than trade disputes. That didn't happen.
[We return to the scene of Garrus in a bar, empty glass in front of him. The screen in front of him is displaying an official statement from the Council, commending the bravery of those who defended the Citadel during, "The Geth attack orchestrated by rogue spectre Saren Arterius." No Sovereign, nothing about the Reapers. He shakes his head and leaves.]
Shellee: And of course, the old problems were still there.
[Garrus at the C-Sec shooting range, doing some target practice. A human in a blue C-Sec uniform enters.]
Officer: Kishpaugh walked again. Your dad cut him loose.
[Garrus puts down the pistol without a word.]
Tammee: Suddenly, anger, frustration, and grief were clouding his desire to help the good guys and punish the bad ones. He felt like his hands were tied, and they always would be unless something changed.
[A shot of an alley. Suddenly, there's a loud thud - fist meeting face - and a human stumbles into frame, falling on his ass. "Ronnie Kishpaugh - Drug Dealer". Garrus walks into frame, pins Kishpaugh to the ground with a knee in his chest, and punches him in the face.]
Kishpaugh: You can't do this! You’re C-Sec, you're--
Garrus: Not anymore. No more red-tape between you and me, so if you feel like walking out of here, you're going to tell me exactly where all that poison you're pushing comes from.
["Omega." An exterior shot of a huge space station built around a half-hollowed asteroid.]
Shellee: Omega is the most wretched hive of scum and villainy in the galaxy. Well outside of Citadel space, the law here are the criminal syndicates that run it. Mercenaries, slavers, drug dealers, you name it, Omega's got twelve to a block. More than any place in the galaxy, it needed a hero.
[Garrus enters a bar - neon lights, pretty dancers, ugly characters. His eyes are quickly drawn in the same direction as everyone else's - to a fight at the edge of the bar. A krogan is absolutely savaging a turian. The turian is dropped to his knees by a punch and tries to wave off the fight, but the krogan responds by driving his boot into the turian's chest. The turian is sent sprawling, and the krogan draws a long knife from his belt.
[As he advances, Garrus moves. He catches the arm with the knife and drives his palm against the outside of the elbow. It bends but doesn't break, so Garrus whips it against the side of the bar - knocking the knife out of the krogan's hand. The krogan swings wildly, but Garrus is all over him. Punch to the temple, knee to the gut, elbow to the jaw, and the krogan is left on the floor out cold. Garrus turns to the turian as the crowd disperses. He offers the man a hand and pulls him up to his feet.]
Garrus: You alright?
Turian: Bruised pride, mostly. It would have been a whole lot worse if you hadn't stepped in.
Garrus: Don't mention it. Just doing what I can.
Turian: If this is your idea of a helping hand, you're going to be pretty damn busy on Omega.
Garrus: That was the general idea.
[The turian blinks. Not the response he was expecting.]
Turian: What's your name?
Garrus: Garrus. Yours?
Turian: Sidonis. Lantar Sidonis. Where'd you learn to fight like that?
Garrus: I could show you.
[Sidonis hesitates, then nods.]
Sidonis: I like the sound of that.
Tammee: Sidonis was the first person to join up with Garrus, but he wouldn't be the last - not with the reputation Garrus built for himself taking on the worst Omega had to offer. Soon enough, every drug dealer whose stash got torched, every protection racket that collapsed, and every gun-running operation that got busted up was being attributed to "Omega's Guardian Angel."
Shellee: The name that struck a chord with Garrus. It told him that people felt safer because of him. They were walking around a little taller because he'd been able to actually deal with the people hurting the innocents unimpeded. It felt good -- validating. So he adopted the name, calling himself and the squad that formed around him "Archangel." For the first time in his life, he felt like he was making a difference, and it was hard to argue that.
[A montage of Garrus, Sidonis, and ten others taking the fight to the gangs of Omega. They're freeing people from traffickers, raiding warehouses full of illegal weapons, intercepting shipments of drugs, and more. Some of the people getting busted are street-level pushers, but some of them are a lot better equipped. There seem to be three groups of well-armed mercenaries doing most of the big crime, "Blood Pack Mercenaries" in red, "Eclipse" in yellow, and "Blue Suns" in blue. These guys fight back, but they lose. They try to hunt down Garrus and his team, but they walk right into ambushes.]
Tammee: Suddenly, the previously untouchable gangs of Omega were being hunted. The most dangerous mercenaries outfits in the galaxy were bleeding resources and manpower with nothing to show for it and, amazingly, no civilians were caught in the crossfire. The impossible was happening, and for the first time, someone was standing up to the thugs on Omega and winning.
Shellee: The problem is, when you back dangerous men into a corner, they get desperate.
[In a dark meeting room, one member of each of the mercenary outfits gather around a table. On the table is a map and scattered pictures of Garrus and his team. They're talking. It's not friendly, but they’re coordinating.]
Tammee: The Blue Suns, the Blood Pack, and the Eclipse had never worked together before, but they'd come to hate Archangel more than they hated each other.
[A pair of mercs march into the meeting room, carrying someone with a hood tied over their head. They drag the captive to the table and push them onto their knees. They pull off the hood to reveal Sidonis. The Eclipse leader nods approvingly and glances towards the Blood Pack battlemaster, who cracks his knuckles.
[Time has passed. Sidonis is bloody. The Blue Sun leader holds a comm up to his face. Sidonis hesitates, trying to will himself to say silent, but eventually his head hangs and he speaks.]
Sidonis: Garrus? We've got a problem. I'm gonna need you to drop whatever you're doing and get over here now.
Garrus: Sidonis? You alright, you sound a little--
Sidonis: I'm fine. Just ran into a little trouble on a job and could use a hand. Garm and the Blood Pack are trying to pull a fast one - running guns through the Kenzo district. Big operation.
Garrus: How big?
Sidonis: More than I can deal with alone, but nothing the two of us can't handle.
Garrus: Alright. It'll take me a little while to get over there so hang tight. On my way.
[The Blue Sun leader ends the call and turns to the others. Sidonis looks sick.]
[Cut to Garrus, moving through Omega's dirty streets, sticking to cover. But there's nothing there. No activity.]
Shellee: By the time Archangel realized what was going on, it was too late.
[As if on cue, Garrus figures it out. This was a set-up to lure him away. His eyes go wide and he breaks into a sprint.
[Garrus runs across a bridge towards a squat building nestled against one of the outer walls of the station. The walls are scarred by bullet holes and scorch marks, and as soon as Garrus sees them he slows. Then he hears gunshots from inside, and starts running again.
[Inside, he sees the last of his squadmates cut down by a firing line of mercenaries. They're laughing. This was sport for them. Garrus opens fire, and soon, he's alone. He crosses the room, climbs the stairs, and tries to put some distance between him and the carnage. He walks out onto the second floor balcony, steadying himself against the railing with shaky hands. He draws in a few shuddering breaths. He might be sick.
[His eyes focus on something - movement across the bridge. Mercenaries stacking up to storm the safehouse and finish the job. Suddenly, his hands are steady. He picks up his rifle, takes a knee, and puts a bullet into anyone who sticks their head out.
[Later, the bridge is strewn with bodies and damaged mechs. Barricades have been erected on the far side. The safehouse is shot to hell, but Garrus is still posted on the balcony with his rifle. There’s movement across the bridge - Blue Sun, Eclipse, Blood Pack, and freelancers they’d recruited to keep their own casualties light. He'd managed so far - the bridge gave them nowhere to run but into his sights - but he wasn't going to be able to keep this up. His arms were heavy and stiff, every joint ached, and it was starting to be a struggle to focus his eyes.
[As the next wave of mercs hops the barricade, he sighs, hanging his head. This is it. There’s no way out, and he knows it. He taps a button on his visor, opening a comm channel as he re-shoulders his rifle.]
Castis, on the comm: Hello?
Garrus: Dad.
Castis: Garrus? What's all that noise.
[Bullets coming way too close for comfort.]
Garrus: Just a little target practice.
Castis: So call me back when you're finished.
Garrus: I don't think I’m going to be able to. Lot of targets.
Castis: ...I see.
Garrus: I just wanted to hear your voice. See how retirement was treating you.
Castis: Never mind that. I'm fine.
Garrus: I don't have a lot of time, but I wanted to tell you...you were right. About a lot more than I ever gave you credit for. I'm sorry I was too stubborn to see it.
Castis: I said don't worry about that. Those targets - they coming up on you fast?
Garrus: Not fast enough. But they're getting there.
Castis: Thermal clips?
Garrus: You know how it is. Could always use a few more.
Castis: Work with what you have. Don't stop pulling that trigger until it clicks and remember: As long as you've got one shot, you can get the job done. When you finish, come home. Come back to Palaven. We've got a lot to talk about.
[Garrus opens his mouth to reply as he adjusts aim to a new target, but he falters. Through his scope, we see the familiar N7 emblazoned on Commander Shepard's armor. Garrus lets out a breathy laugh, not quite believing what he's seeing.]
Garrus: Yeah, we do. I have to go. Don't worry about me, I'll...I'll make it home when I can. The odds just got a whole lot better.
Tammee: Now, I know what you're asking yourself: "Wait, wasn't she dead?!" The short answer is that she got better. The long answer is that she was brought back by a shadowy organization known as Cerberus, who invested billions of credits to repair her broken body so that she could lead the fight against a new threat. She came looking for Archangel, but she found Garrus.
[As Tammee talks, the reunion unfolds. You can't hear the words spoken, but you can see the excitement on Shepard's face and all the happiness that Garrus can muster in that moment. The two of them, along with Shepard's new squadmates, get to work. Even after two years apart, they're working like a well-oiled machine, cutting through wave after wave of mercenaries. They're unstoppable. Untouchable.
[Until a gunship emblazoned with Blue Sun colors roars up. Garrus is caught off guard, and the kinetic barriers around his armor fail under a storm of bullets. He stumbles, falls, and tries to drag himself into cover. The gunship fires a rocket from a wing-mounted launcher. Garrus tries to move, but there's no running from that even when you're not exhausted, and hurt, and bleeding. The resulting explosion sends Garrus flying. He doesn't move when he lands.
[Shepard and the others manage to pick the gunship apart with small arms fire, and it falls out of sight, smoking and belching flames. Shepard rushes over to Garrus's side, wide-eyed and worried. His eyes snap open and he rolls over onto his back, drawing in a ragged, wet-sounding breath. There's a pool of blue blood forming around him.]
Shepard: Garrus!
[She sounds scared, but quickly brings it under control.]
Shepard: We're getting you out of here, Garrus. Just hold on. [She turns to the others.] Radio Joker! Make sure they're ready for us.
[Garrus coughs and the fluid sitting in his throat gurgles as he struggles to breathe. The camera slowly zooms out and fades to black.
[Cut to the the "Normandy SR-2 - Medbay". Shepard lingers outside, watching through a viewport as a team of doctors work to save Garrus's life. She stays there until another woman, "Miranda Lawson - XO, Normandy SR-2" comes up to her and guides her away.
[Inside a conference room now, Shepard is speaking to "Jacob Taylor - Cerberus Operative".]
Jacob: Best we can tell he'll have full functionality, but...
[The door to the conference room slides open to reveal - Garrus. He looks rough. His armor is blackened and those scars of his are fresh.]
Garrus: Shepard.
Jacob: Tough son of a bitch. I didn't think he'd be up yet.
Garrus, mildly annoyed: Nobody would give me a mirror. How bad is it?
Shepard, smiling: Hell, Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some face paint on it and nobody will even notice.
[Garrus laughs, then winces. Something pulled wrong.]
Garrus: Ah, don’t make me laugh. Damn it, my face is barely holding together as it is. Still, there are some women who find facial scars attractive. Mind you, most of those women are krogan.
[Shepard chuckles, and Jacob salutes and leaves. Now it's just the two of them.]
Shepard: I'm glad you're here, Garrus. If I'm walking into hell, I want someone I trust at my side.
Garrus: You realize this plan has me walking into hell too, right? [His one good mandible draws up, a grin.] Just like old times.
Shellee: Maybe not hell per se, but they were definitely walking into some trouble.
[On a planet called "Horizon" the sky is thick with strange, orange and black clouds. Swarms of tiny, buzzing insects fill the air, especially thick over the bodies in the ground. The bodies are human - not dead, but paralyzed. The terror in their eyes suggests that they might be able to see what's going on around them. Strange, insectoid beings walk through the horrifying scene, eerily calm. Some stand watch, holding weapons that seem to be made from the same material as their carapaces. Others load hover-trolleys with the paralyzed humans.]
Shellee: Entire human colonies were vanishing overnight. Everything left standing, but the people were gone without a trace. The Alliance was slow to react, but Cerberus had figured out the culprits: a mysterious alien race known as the Collectors. Now, no one knows much about the Collectors...
[The camera tilts up, revealing a ship hovering above the colony. The same ship that destroyed the Normandy.]
Shellee: But Archangel and Sentinel had tangled with them once before.
Tammee: If they wanted things to go differently this time, they'd need to be ready. They were going to need a team, so they gathered old friends and new allies.
[A montage of the new squad. Tali is back, but the rest are all new faces. A drell with a submachine gun, "Thane Krios - Assassin". A human woman with a shaved head and a body covered in tattoos, "Jack - Biotic Psychopath". A weathered looking human with mismatched eyes and battered armor, "Zaeed Massani - Mercenary". A regal asari in red, "Samara - Asari Justicar". Another human woman, hooded and dressed in black and greys, "Kasumi Goto - Discreet Entry and Acquisitions". A geth, jet black and with an arm that appears to be the remains of Shepard's old armor, "Legion". A lab coat-clad salarian with no shortage of scars, "Prof. Mordin Solus - Licensed Medical Practitioner". A blue-eyed, orange-skinned krogan in silver armor "Grunt - Grunt".]
Shellee: And as they did, crossing path with the Collectors again and again, the true force behind the Reapers became clear as an old enemy reared its ugly head.
[Cut to black. Yellow light reveals a room. It's dark, cramped, and the walls are rough, honeycombed with holes and bumps. It looks like the hive of a giant insect, and as if on cue, a collector stalks into view. This one is different- bigger, with glowing yellow eyes. It speaks without moving its mouth.]
Harbinger: Human. You have changed nothing. Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction. You will surrender your potential, against the growing void.
[Back on Horizon. Shepard, Garrus, and Miranda are in the midst of a firefight - battling desperately against a swarm of Collectors, husks, and other such creatures. They're winning, thinning the horde shot-by-shot, annihilating clusters with grenades and biotic blasts.]
Harbinger: You cannot stop us. We are the Harbingers of your perfection. We will bring your species into the harmony of our own.
[One of the Collectors, hunched behind a waist-high wall, doubles over and clutches at it's head.
[Somewhere, in the deep, black void of space, a massive object - no, a figure - lies in wait. It’s a Reaper, bigger than Sovereign. Four spots along its massive form light up - mimicking the positioning of the eyes of a Collector.
[Back on Horizon, the Collector's eyes snap open with the same yellow glow.]
Harbinger: Prepare for our coming. Assuming direct control.
[Energy ripples over the Collector's frame as it convulses, lifting off the ground. A wave of yellow light explodes off of it, and it seems to have come to grips with it's new form. It hovers in the air, its body covered with fiery fault lines of energy, as though barely holding under the pressure of the awesome power that inhabits it. It raises a hand towards, Garrus, Shepard, and Miranda, and a flash of light fills the screen.]
Tammee: That’s right, Shellee. The Reaper's plans didn't die with Sovereign. Through the Collectors, they had new agents, and suddenly, this went from being a threat to humanity to a fight for the galaxy's very survival. If they were going to clash with Reaper tech without the help of the entire Systems Alliance Fifth Fleet, their shiny new Normandy was going to need a major overhaul.
[An exterior shot of the Normandy at dry dock as new panels of armor plating are welded into place. Underneath, a huge lift slowly raises a massive twin-barrelled cannon into a waiting gap on the ship’s underbelly. As the cannon slips out of sight, we cut to the main battery as the cannon slots into place and Garrus begins the work of installing it.]
Shellee: Along with the best and brightest, they were hunting for the most advanced weapons and armor that they could find. But through all of that, there was one thing lingering in the back of Garrus’s mind, one big piece of unfinished business.
[The camera dollies in dramatically towards Garrus before cutting to...Sidonis. He's nervous - twitching at every noise, eyes darting to anyone who gets too close. Most of the scars inflicted during his capture have healed, but not all of them.]
Shellee: You see, Garrus had no idea that Sidonis had been captured and coerced into selling out the rest of their team under threat of death. All he knew was that Sidonis was the one who lured him away when the safe house was attacked - when the rest of the team was killed. There was only one conclusion Garrus could draw when Sidonis didn't turn up amongst the rest of the team: Sidonis had sold them out.
Tammee: So when Garrus found out that Sidonis was still alive and actively trying to hide, well...
[Back to the battery. The cannon is installed and Garrus is working at a terminal when Shepard enters.]
Shellee: Garrus was angry - furious - to know that the man responsible for the death of ten good men and women might get to walk away from it all. He hadn’t been able to prevent Sidonis's "betrayal,"... but he could avenge it.
Garrus: Shepard. Glad you came by. I've got something I may need your help with. Remember Sidonis? The one who betrayed my team? I've found a lead on him. There's a specialist on the Citadel; name's Fade. He's an expert at helping people disappear. Sidonis was seen with him.
[Shepard nods, her eyes narrowing slightly. She's not considering the possibility so much as she's considering Garrus. Studying him to see where he’s at.]
Shepard: So, where do we find Fade?
[Cut to someplace new - cold and industrial, harshly lit. There's a loud thud and a man stumbles into frame, falling over and clutching his stomach. "Harkin - Former Crooked C-Sec Officer, Known as 'Fade'". Cut to a reverse angle and we see Garrus and Shepard standing over him.]
Shepard, deadpan: Ouch.
[Her eyes dart to Garrus as he takes a step forward. She's watching him carefully, ready to intervene if he goes too far.]
Garrus: You helped a friend of mine disappear. A turian named Sidonis. I need to find him.
Harkin: I don't give out client information. It's bad for business.
[Garrus brings his boot down across Harkin's upper chest, pinning him.]
Garrus: You know what else is bad for business? A broken neck.
Harkin, gasping for breath: Alright! Alright, get off me!
[Garrus doesn't. He leans on Harkin just a little harder until Shepard reaches forward and puts a hand on his shoulder, guiding him back. He doesn't resist.]
Harkin, smiling slightly: Omega really changed you, huh, Garrus...?
Garrus: No, but Sidonis...opened my eyes. Now arrange a meeting.
["A Few Hours Later…" Garrus waits high above a neon-lit stretch of the Citadel Wards. His sniper rifle is in his hands. He looks...pensive. His eyes are cold, distant, and deep in thought - not entirely in the moment until he sees Shepard below. He draws a breath in through his mouth and lets it out through his nose as he takes a knee and sights his rifle. Sidonis approaches Shepard.]
Sidonis: Let's get this over with.
Garrus, to Shepard: You're in my shot. Move out of the way.
[Shepard stays planted firmly between Garrus and Sidonis.]
Shepard: Listen to me very carefully. I'm here to help you, Sidonis--
Sidonis: Don't say that name aloud. Ever.
Shepard: I'm a friend of Garrus's. He wants you dead, but I'm hoping to get us all out of this.
Garrus, to Shepard: Damn it, Shepard. If he moves, I'm taking the shot.
Sidonis: Garrus? Is this some kind of joke... [His blood runs cold] You're serious, aren't you? [He starts to panic] Screw this. I'm not sticking around to find out. Tell Garrus I had my own problems...
[He turns to leave, but Shepard grabs his arm and pulls him back.]
Shepard: Right now, I'm the only thing standing between you and a hole in the head.
Sidonis, realizing just how bad his situation is: Fuck... Look, I didn't want to do it, I didn't have a choice.
Garrus, hissing through gritted teeth: Everyone has a choice.
Sidonis: They got to me! Said they were gonna kill me if I didn't help! What was I supposed to do?
Garrus: Let me take the shot, Shepard, he's a damn coward!
Shepard, to Sidonis: That's it? You were just trying to save yourself?
Sidonis: I know what I did. I know they died because of me, and I have to live with that. I wake up every night. Sick, sweating. Each of their faces staring at me, accusing me... I'm already a dead man. I don't sleep. Food has no taste. Some days, I just want it to be over.
[As he talks, Garrus's eyes begin to soften. He's having second thoughts. Doubts. But the moment passes and he forces himself back to that dark place.]
Garrus: Give me a chance...
Shepard: You have to let it go, Garrus. He’s already paying for his crime.
Garrus: He hasn't paid enough.
Shepard: Look at him, Garrus. He's not alive. There's nothing you can do to him that he's not already doing to himself.
Garrus: My men...they deserved better.
[Sidonis lifts his head and looks to Shepard.]
Sidonis: Tell Garrus... [He sighs] ...I guess there's nothing I can say to make this right.
[Garrus's doubts are back. He sees the pain on Sidonis, even a few hundred meters away. He's looking at a broken man, someone who's being eaten alive by the same guilt that's plaguing him. Dramatic, trilling violins build in intensity. He grits his teeth, hangs his head, and lowers his rifle.]
Garrus: Just...go. Tell him to go.
Shepard: He's giving you another chance, Sidonis. Don't waste it.
Sidonis: I'll try, Garrus. I'll find some way to make it up to you. [To Shepard.] Thank you, for talking to him.
[Sidonis turns and leaves, and so does Shepard. A few moments later, she's meeting Garrus at the hover car they came here in.]
Garrus: I know you want to talk about this, but I don't. Not yet.
Shepard: I know it didn't go the way you planned, but it's for the best.
Garrus: I'm not so sure.
Shepard: Give it time.
Garrus: Yeah. Maybe that'll be enough... I want to know that I did the right thing. Not just for me, for my men. They deserve to be avenged, but when I had Sidonis in my sights … I just couldn't do it.
Shepard: The lines between good and evil blur when we're looking at people we know.
Garrus: Yeah. There was still good in him, I could see it. [He sighs] It's so much easier to see the world in black and white. Gray...I don't know what to do with gray.
Shepard: You have to go with your instincts.
Garrus: Following my instincts is what got me into this mess. Let's just go. I need some distance.
Shellee: And despite all the anger in him, there's good in Archangel too. He just needed Sentinel to remind him of that. To put him back on the right path.
Tammee: But that wasn't quite all. There was still one more conversation they needed to have as they prepared to take the fight to the Collectors.
[The screen fades to black. Then, it lightens, powering up like a display monitor. Numbers scroll across - targeting algorithms, power levels, alerts of a dozen different varieties. Garrus is hard at work, calibrating the Normandy's new main gun. But once again he's somewhere else entirely.]
Shepard: You got a minute, Garrus?
[It's phrased as a request, but traditionally a lot of orders are.]
Garrus: Ca-- [No, he knows what this is about, and he knows it can't wait.] Yeah. Time for that talk?
Shepard: Yeah. [She takes a seat on a crate near Garrus's gunnery console, leaning forward with elbows resting on knees, expression serious.] This is twice now you've tried to kill someone who isn't an immediate threat. There can't be a third time.
Garrus: I... [There's a moment where he wants to stick up for himself, but he's in the wrong and he knows it. No matter how angry, how lost, or how justified he felt. Some time to process all of it had given him at least that much perspective.] I'm not going to make any excuses. I was was angry, and stupid, and I wasn't thinking straight. But nearly doing something you're going to regret for the rest of your life has a way of shocking your head clear.
Shepard: This went beyond "not thinking straight." You're not an idiot and you're not a murderer. What's it really about, Garrus?
[He opens his mouth, but he stops and shakes his head. It takes a moment for him to find his voice.]
Garrus: Omega, what I was doing there, felt right. For the first time in my life, I was free to do things my own way. Not only that, but it was working. The mercs couldn't touch us, but we got to them. They weren't on the brink, but they were slipping. It was going to be a long time before it was anything resembling safe, but at least some of the people they were leaning on got out from under them. The ones who hadn't gotten there yet saw that it was possible.
[He turns to look at her, his shoulders sagging. Somehow, despite his size, he looked small. Vulnerable. Lost.]
Garrus: I actually felt like I was making a difference, and then it was all gone. Suddenly, there were a lot of good people dead because of my decisions - because I was so distracted by the promise of a brighter tomorrow that I was blind to the cracks forming around us.
[Garrus draws in a breath, steadying himself to push out the hardest words he’s ever had to say.]
Garrus: Because I was wrong.
Shepard: Yeah, you were. [She's not trying to rub it in, but the talk needs to stick this time.] That stuff about Sidonis already suffering was true, but not the point. I brought it up to get you to back off, which I shouldn't have had to, no matter how personal it was. [Shepard sighs and shakes her head, tired and disappointed. It's worse than her anger.] Vengeance isn't justice, Garrus.
Garrus: I know.
[And the fact that he has to be reminded of that leaves him just a little bit more disgusted with himself than he already was.]
Garrus: This isn't going to happen again, Shepard. [A beat.] I'm done letting my emotions get the better of me like that. I'm never letting myself come that close to throwing out everything that I believe in again, and I don't want any more people dying because I made a bad call when I should have known better. From here on out, I'm doing things the right way, or I'm not doing them at all.
Shepard: Good. [Shepard rises, putting her about equal with Garrus's chest.] I need my sharpshooter at a hundred percent. [Her "CO" vibe softens back to her usual camaraderie, and she looks at him with an affectionate half-smile.] And I want my friend the same.
[The weight that's settled around his shoulders lifts just a little bit. He still looks tired and beaten down, but he's smiling. Or whatever passes for a smile among turians, anyway, it's hard to tell.]
Garrus: Just give me a little time. I'll be alright. [He pauses.] Though, that is only because of you. I never got to thank you. For talking me down.
Shepard: [Her half-smile becomes a full one.] You're welcome.
Shellee: Touching, isn't it, Tammee?
Tammee: It absolutely is, Shellee. But that final confrontation with the Collectors was going to come a lot sooner than either of them expected.
Shellee: That's right, Tammee! You see, one of the reasons no one else was ready to confront the Collector threat was the location of their home base - through the mysterious Omega 4 Relay! No ship that's tried to pass through the relay has ever survived - each one destroyed by some sort of automated defenses that scan incoming ships for a specific friend-or-foe tag. If they wanted to get through, they'd need one of their own.
Tammee: So if the Archangel, Sentinel, and the Normandy wanted to make it through, they'd need one of their own. The problem is, the Collectors knew this and set up a trap. They put one of the tags out in the open, modified to include a tracker. So, as the team left the ship to perform a few final tasks before hitting the relay, the Collectors hit the Normandy.
[The Normandy's airlock hisses open, revealing Shepard, Garrus, and the rest of the squad. The ship is empty, seemingly abandoned until Joker limps in from the cockpit.]
Tammee: The crew was taken, and if it wasn't for the Normandy’s pilot, they would have got the ship too. If they wanted any chance of getting their crew back, they would have to go for the jugular. So that's exactly what they did.
[The Normandy emerges from the relay into a field of debris - a graveyard of ships that tried to pass through before them. There are no stars, only thick clouds lit red by the dying corona of light surrounding a black hole that dominates the vista. Music builds as the Normandy weaves through the wreckage. In the distance is the Collector base - a massive cylinder of rock and metal, their warship writ even larger.
[As the Normandy approaches, the Collector ship emerges from a berth in the massive space station. It lumbers forward, firing its main gun, but the Normandy deftly avoids the crackling energy beam. Then it's the Normandy’s turn. It’s cannon lowers from the ship's underside, and their shot finds its mark - a beam of blue light cutting through the Collector ship's rocky hull. The Normandy closes for the kill, dipping and twisting and rolling through a barrage of desperate fire. The cannon fires again and the Collector ship erupts into a ball of fire - an unexpectedly huge explosion that catches the Normandy. The engines sputter and go dark, and it hurtles towards the Collector base. It punches into the side of the base, sliding to a halt in the cavernous, honeycombed interior.]
Shellee: The Normandy needed time for its systems to reboot, but they were in. There was still an army of Collectors between them and the crew. More of them still between the base's reactor, which they could overload to destroy the station.
[The squad emerges from the Normandy’s airlock. They check their gear, ready themselves, and rally behind Shepard and Garrus. Together, they march forward.]
Shellee: But they'd come this far. They were ready for whatever the Collectors and the Reapers could throw at them.
[A montage of the crew fighting their way through the interior of the base. Winged Collectors and Praetorians swoop down at them from above, but disciplined volleys of coordinated fire bring them down. Fortified positions crumble as they press onward through ever thicker waves of enemies. Awakened Collectors - the glowing ones controlled by Harbinger - appear in the horde. A new Collector awakens each time the previous one is killed.
[The Normandy crew being freed from strange pods, saved from whatever fate the Collectors had in store for them.
[The squad covers Tali as she unlocks a massive door, staying put as she runs in along with Shepard and Garrus. The latter covers the former two as they furiously work at control panels. Alarm lights begin to flash, Shepard nods, and they run out with even more urgency than they entered.
[Explosions shake the base. Our heroes run and gun through the crumbling structure, narrowly avoiding rock and metal blown free from walls. Collectors appear ahead and behind. Some are killed, others are outrun, but they keep coming. The passage they're all running through opens up into a massive cavern. Nowhere left to run as the Collectors close the distance...at least until the Normandy rises up into view. The airlock opens, and the crew sprints inside.
[They take off, racing through the rapidly deteriorating base's interior, weaving through falling debris until an explosion rips a hole to the outside. The Normandy banks, threads the needle, and they're home free. They tear through the open sky and the Collector Base evaporates in a flash of light.
[The screen fades to black, the music slowly quiets to silence, and we return to the gals at their desk.]
Tammee: Now, the story of Archangel, Sentinel, and their galaxy is far from over. The Reapers are still out there - their diabolical plans still in motion - but this is where we find our intrepid hero this week.
Shellee: That's right, Tammee. Archangel's life has been full of ups and downs, but now, at the other side of it all, he's got a chance to do real good - a chance to really make a difference here with the Legion. It's up to him to keep those hard-learned lessons close to heart and rise to the occasion. I'm Shellee Star!
Tammee: And I'm Tammee Timm!
Both: And this has been Legionnaire Legacies!
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I see. So there was no way your shot would have penetrated her shields. [What a weak rifle.] How did you manage to even kill all those mercenaries on Omega with those shield generators around?
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[He doesn't like those odds. They're not the worst thing in the world, but he wouldn't take that bet.]
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[The way she said that made it clear she still wasn't satisfied with the answers she'd been given. And after another moment, she pursed her lips than voiced her real thoughts.]
I had been wondering why you hesitated to take the shot, when you were thirsting for it so greatly.
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[Do you need more of an answer?]
If there was a chance it was going to hit her - that she'd take the bullet instead of him - it wasn't worth it.
[He paused.]
And in the end, it wasn't worth taking anyway. I know the whole story now, and ... I'm still not sure I'm ever going to forgive Sidonis, but I don't want to put a bullet in him, either.
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[She didn't care about whether it was worth it or not - hindsight is 20/20 and all that jazz. She's more interested in the moment, in picking Garrus' thoughts and emotions apart at that time. At least nothing in her voice gives any kind of approval or disapproval.]
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And even then, I think no matter how badly I wanted it, I think some part of me knew I was going to regret it.
Whatever the case, I'm glad I didn't.
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[She held up a hand.] I do not care that you didn't take the shot. I just wanted to know why you didn't. Now I know.
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[The fact that she'd be willing to ... it's not surprising, but it does lose her some of the goodwill he'd had towards her.]
Well. Now you know.
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And what would you have done had he taken her hostage? Forget the absurdity of that notion given the two in question; this is a hypothetical. If the only shot you had to save a teammate's life is to take the shot through them, are you going to sweep it off the table as well?
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[No hesitation there.]
But if it's just me? If the only thing on the line is my vendetta, that's not worth it.
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[He has enough control over his emotions that she won't alter her personal view of him. And then, perhaps just to surprise him, if nothing more...]
I would not have taken that shot either.
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And why's that?
[For what it's worth, he's genuinely curious instead of judgemental or critical.]
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That's ... cold, but I guess I can't argue with it too much. [He shrugs.] Avoiding the lectures was half the reason I stuck to the rulebook at all back in C-Sec.
[And he's a lot of things, but a hypocrite isn't one. Hopefully.]
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Also, I do not think you actually wanted your vengeance.
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no subject
[Such weakness. But then again, he wasn't human, so it could be excused
so says her Talon programming.]no subject
[He shrugs. He doesn't like to examine it. He knows what he did wrong, he knows why he went wrong, and he has no desire to do it again. As much as he hates himself for it, as much as he can't escape it, he tries not to linger there.
[She has a point, but he almost doesn't want to accept it. As if he doesn't deserve the out.]
no subject
Maybe.