Mass Effect: Turian Infiltrator

[camalyng]

Title: Turian Infiltrator
Rating: PG (language)
Words: ~2400
Summary: When Ashley rejoins the Normandy, Garrus is thrilled to finally have another sniper on the squad, but paper targets in the shuttle bay just don't cut it when you really want to try out guns with someone who knows what they're talking about. What's a Spectre to do?
Notes: Non-Infiltrator Shep who doesn't snipe. Shh, no DLC weapon packs here.

"It's itchy."

Ashley glances back to where she's pretty sure Garrus is. With a Tactical Cloak on, it's hard to tell. "It's a mass effect field and it isn't even touching you. It shouldn't be itchy." She doubletakes at a faint, moving shimmer in the air. "Tell me you're not scratching. I've worked with a few N7 Infiltrators and they never scratched."

"They probably weren't cloaked for minutes at a time," Garrus grumbles. "I don't know how Kasumi did it."

She rolls her eyes. "With the same Cloak you're using now." He'd been the one who'd recommended Kasumi Goto as someone with an excellent Tactical Cloak, and after Ashley had used her Spectre authority to get Kasumi's e-mail address from the Crucible team, she'd been happy to help an old Normandy friend do something slightly illegal. The company Shepard kept while working for Cerberus is worrying sometimes.

"It's itchy like biotics are itchy," he murmurs. "I think it's the static. You know we have trace amounts of thulium in our skin."

"You big whiny bird," Ashley sighs. "Shut up, we're almost there."

Commander Bailey holds them up in the hallway for a moment to thank Ashley again for shooting Udina, and she awkwardly waves him off before heading for the Spectre office, Garrus on her heels. She never liked Udina, but it still feels weird to have killed the man who nominated her as a Spectre, to be the second human Spectre who killed the second human Councilor.

Of course, that's the main reason she's hitting the shooting range in the first place. She needs to get her mind off things. The reconnection with an old squadmate is nice too. Garrus wanting to test guns and discuss loadouts with her is a distant bonus, and what they both told people who'd asked why they were taking all the sniper rifles and some of the assault rifles off the ship. They just hadn't said where.

Garrus fires off Kasumi's program to filter his readings from the bioscanner, and she holds her breath as they enter. She's already almost let Cerberus take over the Citadel, shot a Councilor, reassigned herself instead of waiting for the rest of the Council to reassign her, and hung up on them when they called to object. Being stripped of her Spectre status for sneaking a friend into the office would just be insulting.

It's an insult she doesn't have to worry about: Just like Kasumi said had happened to her when she'd followed in another Spectre, the scanner only confirms Ashley's identity and says nothing about the cloaked turian at her side. Garrus decloaks the second they're through and breathes a sigh of relief. "We made it."

"I can't believe that worked," she says. "No wonder Cerberus almost took over the Citadel. Council security's crap."

"No, Kasumi's just a very good hacker," he says, looking around with interest as they enter the office proper, and she wonders, not for the first time, what happened to his reapplication for Spectre candidacy.

"Shooting range is that way," she says, nodding towards the door and passing him her gun case. "You go ahead and set up; I should check the terminal."

He looks into the windows and gives a whoop of "so much better than targets in the shuttle bay" before he heads inside, leaving her alone in the main office.

Ashley authorizes a civilian militia, some surveillance warrants, and the release of medical supplies, but deletes a weapons permit request. She overheard that asari huntress during her own stay at Huerta Memorial; there's no way that would end well. Having this much power and responsibility is still a little terrifying, but she's determined to do at least one good thing in her time as a Spectre.

A check of the requisitions terminal reveals no new sniper mods in stock. By the time she walks into the range, Garrus has three targets set up at the far end and is happily tinkering at the weapons bench.

"I love this range," he says, his subvocal practically a purr. "Forget the extralegal powers. When we beat the Reapers, I'm going to apply for Spectre candidacy a third time just so I can use this place."

That somewhat answers what happened to his last application. "It's my favorite part of being a Spectre," Ashley admits, joining him at the bench. "Has Shepard told you Spectre requisitions has a new Widow model?"

Garrus whistles, surprised. "She didn't, no. Think it's any lighter than the M-98? She and Legion were using them last year - it's so heavy I almost broke my arm trying to fire one."

"I'll let you know when I have two hundred and fifty thousand credits to spare," she says.

He winces. "I'll pool my money with you for joint custody."

"Oh, please, like we won't just start arguing over visitation rights." She gestures at the gun he has out on the bench. "Is that a Viper?"

"Good eye," he says, tightening the screw on the barrel mod he's putting in. High velocity, if her eye's as good as he thinks. "We started using these in the turian military once the Reapers hit - got this one off a dead soldier on Menae. I didn't like the upgrades on last year's model at first, but it's growing on me."

He passes her the gun, and she goggles at it. "When you say 'upgrades', do you mean Rosenkov started making toys? It's so light."

"Which makes it good on the move," he defends it. "No, I meant it fires slower than the one we picked up on Illium last year, but it hits harder, too."

She takes a closer look, finds that he's also put in a piercing mod, and moves into line with the center target. Raising the scope to her eye, she lines up her shot, and gets a headshot. Garrus steps up with her when she brings the targets closer for inspection.

"Huh," she says, peering at the sizeable hole she's blown. "That did hit hard."

"Mm," he agrees, passing her another thermal clip. "Want to try it with armor piercing ammo? I brought some along."

They spend an hour trying out all three of the new sniper rifles the squad's picked up since Mars with different mods and their two kinds of specialized ammo, debating the pros and cons of each as they go. Once she gets the hang of the new guns and starts getting a feel for what she likes using, they fall into an unspoken speed competition, their points measured in smirks when someone takes down a target faster rather than actually counted aloud.

Garrus is reloading his gun when abruptly, he cloaks. "You know, we should use this. I'll be your next target: You can get some practice in dealing with cloaked enemies, and I can see if cloaking would be a viable strategy on the field."

Ashley shakes her head, lowering her gun. Her gaze darts around the range, trying to find that telltale shimmer.

"Concussive rounds only," he says, past the fence and halfway down the range. "I've got good shields, Ash."

She frowns, and backs up all the way to the weapons bench, laying her gun down. "I'm not shooting you."

"I've shot Shepard," he says, and Ashley gawks in his direction. "Not like I hear you almost shot Shepard, just enough to take down her shields."

"Can we not talk about my almost shooting Shepard?" she asks. "Seriously, I think I've waved enough guns at my squadmates lately. I'm not trying to collect the full set."

He decloaks next to her (she jumps), considers her for a moment, then nods. "Probably a bad time to try out a new technique I've never trained for, anyway."

"Exactly," she says, relieved by the subject change. "Besides, I'm not explaining to Shepard how you even got a Tactical Cloak."

Garrus chuckles, then pats her on the shoulder. "You know I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't trust you," he says. "And I do. Even if you think no one else does because of the whole gun waving incident."

That's exactly what she thinks. And to get that kind of declaration of trust from her turian squadmate... Ashley swallows a sudden lump in her throat, but all she says is, "Javik wants to throw me out the airlock."

"Javik wants to throw everyone out the airlock," he says patiently. "Including himself when he's particularly sick of all the 'primitives'. You're alright, Williams. I know you wouldn't hurt me if you didn't think you had a good reason."

Ashley's never been the most physically affectionate squadmate, too afraid of so much as looking like she was fraternizing, and she's always been even more hands off with the aliens, especially Garrus. She's pretty sure she's only ever touched him in combat, shoving him behind cover or applying medi-gel.

She disarms him, puts his gun on the bench, and hugs him. He's rigid for a moment, and then he hugs her back, wrapping his arms around her. At least one participant in armor never makes for the most comfortable hugs, but she sticks with it, unable to put into words how much this means to her. Thank you and I trust you too seem woefully inadequate.

Suddenly, he draws away and holds up a hand for quiet. She listens, and faintly they hear the beeps of the bioscanner. Eyes wide, Garrus cloaks. She kicks his gun case under the bench behind hers and gets up to her third casual pose on a chair, looking out the range window: Of course of all the Spectres in the galaxy, it's Shepard coming in.

Part of Ashley still wants to straighten every time she sees her, even though she knows they're equally ranked now, especially when they're not on Normandy business and she's not really her CO. Ashley settles for a nod. "Hey, Shepard."

"Ash," says Shepard, nodding back. Abruptly, she frowns. "Have you seen Garrus? James said you two were going out shooting today."

"We were, but then he got a call from the Primarch. Something about the refugees," Ashley says, the excuse they'd prepared for why people would see her in the Embassies alone.

Shepard's eyes narrow. "I checked there first and they haven't seen him all day. EDI's trackers placed him with you. I told her that couldn't be right if you were in the Spectre Office, but..."

But EDI is never wrong about these kinds of things, and they really should have thought about that before deciding to sneak him in.

"There was a turian Spectre in here earlier," she says, leaning back in her chair. "Probably had similar life signs."

Shepard raises an eyebrow. "Ah. Yes. 'Similar life signs' is why EDI pinged Garrus's unique identitag in the Spectre Office."

She doesn't need to actually make the finger quotes or verbally dismiss those claims for Ashley to feel like she's being lectured by Councilor Sparatus.

"Probably," Ashley repeats. She glances sideways, ostensibly at the weapons bench but really at the last place she saw Garrus before he cloaked. "Look, Shepard, I was actually just finishing up, and these rifles still don't clean themselves. I'll call you if I see him."

Shepard doesn't answer, swiping at a map of the Embassies on her omni-tool, and after she zooms in, she squints forward at the targets. "Is someone cloaked? Because the sensors are getting someone right here."

"Sometimes I hate you, EDI," says Garrus, and he decloaks, jumping the fence and coming towards them. "Ash, thanks for trying."

Shepard looks back and forth between them and groans, smacking a palm to her forehead. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Oh, come on, Shepard," he fires back. "You snuck Kasumi in here!"

Ashley stares at him. She hadn't made the leap to that conclusion.

"I didn't 'sneak Kasumi in here'," Shepard says, exasperated. "It's Kasumi: She was already here and just asked for a ridealong!"

Ashley finds herself wondering whom Kasumi followed in and why she'd waited for Shepard. She's never even met the woman.

"But you said yes," Garrus insists.

Shepard points accusingly at them. "You two planned this. I don't even want to know how you got a Tactical Cloak, let alone how you got in here."

"With all due respect," says Ashley, hitting exactly the note that all but changes kiss my ass from subtext to text (even Garrus notices it and flinches), "I really needed some downtime with someone familiar who didn't have a gun pointed at me two days ago."

Shepard sighs and suggests, "Joker? In Purgatory?" before shaking her head. "Look, Ash, I'm not gonna report you to the Council. But just... think a little about the position you're in? What if another Spectre had come in here?"

"I can do a great Spectre impression," says Garrus, at the same time as Ashley says, "You're the only Spectre who tracks both of us."

She rolls her eyes. "I can't believe either of you. But..."

Shepard steps forward and puts a hand on Ashley's shoulder, and Ashley suddenly feels like Shepard's trying to stare into her soul. There's nothing but tired warmth in her eyes, though.

"I'm glad to have you back on my squad," she says.

Ashley blinks. "I'm glad to be back, Shepard."

"And I'm glad to see you two getting along," Shepard adds, releasing her shoulder to indicate Garrus. "Back in the day, you would have taken out Joker."

"Joker doesn't shoot and hasn't been rejoicing over finally having another sniper on the team for the last two days," says Ashley, choosing to ignore her real meaning.

"Oh, no, I've seen Joker shoot," says Shepard.

"He didn't hit anything," Garrus objects.

"Anyway," says Shepard. "Enjoy your playdate. Your... very strange playdate."

Garrus rolls his eyes. "Thanks, Mom."

"After Grunt left for Tuchanka, I was really hoping I wouldn't feel like anyone's mother any more, but I guess I overestimated everyone's maturity," she complains. "Don't get caught by anyone else."

"Ma'am," says Ashley, saluting.

They watch her leave, and once the door closes, Garrus grins. "You know, Javik brought in a beautiful assault rifle that uses a cooldown pack like the good old days."

Ashley almost hits her head on the weapons bench in her dive for his gun case. "Gimme."

"We are immature," he says, as if this is news to him, and he digs out the rifle.