Author's Note: So, back by popular demand (if seven votes count as "popular") is a new chapter of GvG. I at least have a rough outline for the rest of the Thief: Reliquary story for Garrus to run through, so hopefully it won't take me three months to write another chapter!

Garrus paced up and down the length of the Thanix cannon. One of his specialized tools, perfect for adjusting a variable capacitor one micron at a time and ergonomically designed for turian hands, twitched in his grip like a spastic drumstick. When the door opened, his brain couldn't decide whether to hurl the tool, grip it tighter for use as an improvised (very tiny) bludgeon, or grab for his pistol. Which, he noticed as it clanged on the deck, was sitting on the console by the door.

"Feeling jumpy, Garrus?" Shepard asked, raising one eyebrow in that ever so familiar cocky way. "Relax. We'll find Sidonis. Soon as I can get Thane's son to safety." He grinned, the red glow leaking from his scars illuminating his teeth.

"It's just hard for me to wait, Shepard. Eleven people who trusted me are dead because of him," Garrus said, picking up the tool and walking slowly up to the front of the battery. "Knowing that I'm only an aircar ride away has me itching for my sniper rifle. I had to lock it up after recalibrating it for the third time."

Chuckling, the Commander clapped a hand on the damaged armor, right over the scarring from the gunship. "Garrus, you are one of a kind. I'm glad you're here. Now, we should be at the Citadel in about an hour, so you need to kick back and relax. Watch a vid, or play a game or something. Miranda will help me get Thane's kid. Who do you want with us when we go after Sidonis?"

That was actually a tough call. On the one hand, the only other person on board Garrus could really trust was Tali. Problem was, for all the growing up she'd done in the last two years, he didn't think she was quite … pragmatic enough to agree with gunning down Sidonis for his betrayal. On the other, Kasumi was certainly okay with revenge, given what she did to Hock's little palace, and her stealth skills would help them get closer, but it would fan the annoying rumors between all the Cerberus crew.

He gave a deep sigh. "Either Tali or Kasumi. But absolutely not Samara." Shepard snorted in amusement. "Last thing I need is to come back from a guaranteed suicide mission and have her decide I need to be strung up for shooting Sidonis."

"Don't worry about it, I'll keep the asari Templar off your back, Garbear," the human said, giving him another clap on the shoulder. "You're my most dependable man! I'll think about it while we're tracking Thane's kid. In the meantime, do something to relax." With a wink and a thumbs up, the Commander was out the door, striding towards Miranda. The biotic didn't even spare a glance towards the lone occupant of the battery before the doors closed.

"I don't think I will ever understand human relationships," Garrus muttered to himself as he sat down on the bench against one wall. He glanced down at his omni-tool, then spread his mandibles in a slow smile. "Heh. An order is an order, after all."

The game booted up in seconds, dropping him at the menu. With the group nature of the game, he couldn't skip ahead, but since the only people immediately leaving were Thane and Miranda, the rest of them could get into the game. Despite how they complained about it, he knew the engineering trio could switch over to shore power in a second or two, not even an interruption in the game.

He sent out a ping to everyone, watching as everyone logged in one by one. Kelly was last, probably having to come up with a decent excuse to leave the bridge first. The game wasn't Garrus' first choice for taking his mind off the upcoming confrontation with Sidonis, but it would serve for now.

The mission cinematic was shorter than some of the others, as game-Garrus almost made it back to his hideout with the pagan artifact when a guard patrol rounded the corner. With nowhere close enough to hide, he fled down the street, clambering up a building onto the roof, only for a lucky arrow shot to pierce his loot sack, spilling out most of the gems and gold acquired from the pagans. Along with the lumpy-looking stone artifact, which killed a guard as it crashed into his head from the roof three stories up. Gravity: 1, cheap steel: 0.

The guard objective was simple, and two-fold: Stop the thief before he could escape, and bring the loot back to the station. Garrus poured out of the station along with two dozen other guards, armed with a crossbow. More than likely, the thief just had to escape the area. The local guards were less competent than Blue Suns patrols on Omega, which was saying something.

Garrus called orders out to two sword guards, which both followed along as they skipped the shortest route to the artifact. One of them, from the constant weaving and looking around, was definitely another player. Kelly? Donnelly or Daniels? It's not Mordin, Kasumi, or Jacob, they're more professional than this.

Sure enough, whoever was the thief was cunning, as the first batch of guards had a gate slammed in their faces. Garrus and the VI-guard got it open quickly, and then ten guards were watching the artifact. Make that nine, he thought sourly as an arrow thwapped into the throat of another guard. The direction was easy enough to trace, and though another crossbow guard fired, they didn't seem to hit anything.

With a VI-guard carrying the disturbing stone piece, they moved back to the station at a crawl. Both gates between them were slammed shut, though a squad going around opened them back up both times. With only two more guards falling to arrows from the shadowed rooftops, they strode inside, placing it inside a vault and sealing the heavy doors.

With that task accomplished, they dispersed back into the streets, rejoining the other two dozen guards on patrol, trying to catch the wily thief before he could make his escape. It was probably not sporting, but Garrus ran through the streets until he found the building where the children were hiding, then stood right in front of the door.

Ten minutes later, the game ended in success for the thief, as a bright burst of light left him swinging wildly. He knew he hit, but they still managed to get past him and into the building. A little unrealistic, perhaps, but he could forgive the occasional moment of nonsense.

Before turning off his omni-tool, he did note with satisfaction that his score had been the highest of the guards, thanks to his clumsy flailing around with the crossbow. Sighing, he turned off the game, surprised to discover almost two hours had passed by. As he stood up and stretched, the door swished open, revealing a triumphant Shepard. "One teenager rescued, and nobody hurt but a krogan with some flesh wounds. So, you ready for this?"

"Absolutely." Garrus quickly unlocked the case and pulled out his trusted Viper and clicked it into place.

"Good. Tali's going with us, so whenever you're ready?" Shepard cut off as Garrus strode past him towards the elevator. "Alrighty then." Together they rode in silence, stepping out onto the station. The first step was cornering Fade, but that would be the easy part.

Three hours later, Garrus' rifle pointed down over the balcony railing. He could see the traitorous Lantar Sidonis from here, well within easy range. After some of the shots he'd taken as Archangel, let alone with Shepard, a hundred fifty meters was child's play. Tali stood at his side, glowering silently, arms cross in furious disapproval. "What?" he finally growled.

"Don't you want to know why?" she said. "Yes, he sold you out, and got your men killed. You didn't see it coming, and you're blaming yourself. It's very turian of you." He mostly managed to hide the wince those last few words caused.

"Knowing why he did it won't bring back eleven lives. It won't change the harm it did to the people of Omega, who heard their hero is dead and gone." He carefully flexed his fingers, spotting Shepard ambling over in that relaxed manner of his. "It's too late for him."

"The why isn't for him, it's for you. If you know, then maybe, Ancestors forbid, you can stop someone else in the future," Tali said.

Down below, Shepard was talking to Sidonis, the glowing scars almost visible without the scope. Garrus had a clean shot, his Commander standing off to the side while keeping him occupied. His finger tightened on the trigger, almost but not quite to the tipping point. Then he loosened it, listening to Sidonis talk about his dreams, and tightened down again. With a snarl, he collapsed the sniper rifle, turning and racing towards the stairs down.

The promenade area was half in shadows, courtesy of the open roof of the Ward, the faint shimmer of the air shields serving to mute the ambient light from the nebula outside. He ducked into the shadows. Sidonis was facing in the direction he had to approach, so though it sounded a little corny, he brought to mind the stealth instructions from the Thief tutorial. He ducked from shadow to shadow, watching for Sidonis to look away, to fidget, anything that meant his attention was distracted. A few bystanders noted his odd behavior, but no one said anything.

Finally, he was crouched down behind the planter next to the bench, and he heard Sidonis drop onto the seat. "The drugs, the torture, the year of living with the constant fear of the mercs or Aria catching us. It was just too much. I tried to be like Garrus, I tried to be strong, with a heart of stone, but I couldn't." His head drooped.

Garrus put on his helmet and stood, rising into the lights. To his credit, Sidonis didn't gawk or scream or panic. He just closed his eyes and nodded, waiting for the blow to come. "I thought you were going to blow his head off from up there," Shepard said.

Garrus stared down at his former teammate, running over the entire conversation in his mind. He knew Sidonis didn't have quite the same fervor that he did. But would he have held up to torture and mind-altering drugs? It wasn't something he could tell. "I was, but I had to see it for myself." He stepped forward as the other turian tilted his face up. "I don't need to put a bullet in him. He's already dead."

Without another word, Garrus turned and walked back towards the stairs and their waiting vehicle. As his footsteps faded, Sidonis finally opened his eyes, but the shadows had claimed Archangel.