"Shepard, this is the craziest idea you've ever had," said Garrus, pacing back and forth in front of the weird stasis pod-like thing. He watched Legion scaling the interior restraints down to Shepard's size, his mandibles twitching with agitation.

"Crazier than running the Mako through a mass relay? Or hitting the Collector base?" She sounded almost amused. "It'll be fine."

He didn't laugh. "The last time this happened to you, that insane VI/human hybrid almost killed you."

"He has a name. It's David Archer," said EDI evenly. She was leaning over Legion's shoulder, watching the geth work with great interest. A normal person might have called it hovering, or even distracting, but Legion didn't seem to mind. "Legion's logic is sound. Shepard will be in no danger inside the geth consensus."

"When was the last time a mission of ours went the way it was supposed to?" said Garrus. "Can't you go in with her, EDI?"

"Negative," said Legion, looking up at Garrus from its preparations of the interfacing pod. "EDI possesses different programming from the geth, but she is still an artificial intelligence. She would be quickly detected and attacked." As though it knew what Garrus was about to suggest next, Legion added, "This unit does not possess enough processing power to bring more than one organic mind into our consensus. We will need to remove all programs from our hardware to assist Shepard-Commander."

Shepard blinked. That wasn't what she'd been expecting. "You mean...you and I will both be unconscious?"

"Negative. This platform will be completely inactive. Your physical body will still perform autonomic functions and react to stimuli like contact or pain." Legion's flashlight eye rested on EDI and Garrus. "We judged physical presence on the server platform necessary in case any geth units attempted physical confrontation."

Garrus shook his head. "So EDI and I are here in case any of these geth come online and start shooting? What if something happens to you in there?" he demanded. "We wake you up?"

"Negative. We will not respond to physical attempts to remove us from the consensus."

"So what the hell do we do if something goes wrong on your end?" Legion merely flicked its headflaps at Garrus before returning to its preparations. "Legion, if you don't have a plan-"

"It does," said Shepard, cutting across Garrus. "EDI, Legion, would you excuse us for a moment?" The geth didn't even look up; EDI nodded and turned her attention back to Legion, occasionally asking the geth questions. Shepard had to smile at the powerful curiosity in the AI's voice even as she grabbed Garrus by the elbow and dragged him out of earshot of their companions.

She cornered him against one of the inert pods, her hands on both of his shoulders. "Do you trust me?"

Garrus blinked at her in surprise. "Shepard, I'm not-"

"I asked you a question," she said, not unkindly. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course," he said without hesitation. She couldn't possibly be angry with him for worrying about her crazy plan, could she?

"And I trust Legion. Have a little faith, Garrus."

"It's not Legion I'm concerned about, it's you. What if there are cyberwarfare suites like EDI's? What if something happens and you can't get out? What if-"

She stopped his ranting with two fingers against his mouth. Slowly, deliberately, she traced the lines of his face paint up to his cheek. Garrus involuntarily shuddered, both fascinated and frustrated at how quickly she could get him to shut up. He took her other hand in his, squeezing as tightly as he dared.

"I haven't left your side since Menae. Please don't go where I can't follow," he whispered, heart pounding.

Her breath caught in her throat. So that was it. It wasn't about her, or Legion, or even the geth. She squeezed back and tried to smile for him.

"I'll be careful," she promised. "Just watch my back out here. Er...pod. Whatever."

Garrus nodded. "Always."

"We are initiating peer network integration. Proceed to docking port."

Shepard gave Garrus a gentle punch on the shoulder before making her back to Legion; it had raised the hatch on one of the weird pods. She gingerly stepped inside. Two sets of strange metal cords snapped around her torso and legs, holding her firmly in place.

"Mapping to consensus. Remain still."

Shepard felt her skin starting to tingle a little. She could see the blue light of Legion's scanning through her closed eyelids. Then there was a sudden rush and shudder, almost like the vertigo from a ship, and she heard Legion's voice all around her.

"Shepard-Commander. We acknowledge your integration into this server. We welcome you to our consensus."

Her restraints sprang loose, the hatch opened...and Shepard could only stare at the beautiful, alien world around her. Order, chaos, unity, collision: it all kept shifting around her in patterns of chrome and silver.

"Legion?"

"Here." A hologram of Legion's physical hardware flickered into view. "We have made ourselves visually distinct for your convenience. We have also installed filters to help you make sense of our consensus."

"Sense" was a generous way of putting it. Legion had at least provided her with her own body, illusions of mass and motion and gravity. A geth energy rifle materialized in her hands.

"Thanks," she said to Legion, holstering the weapon. She suddenly felt better.

"We judged familiarity would be preferable." The hologram hesitated, then took a step toward her. "Status?"

She started to say "I'm fine" but the words died in her throat. She could discern fragments of images, whispers of sound. It wasn't just around her or part of the environment; it was part of her. She was terrified, fascinated, anything but fine.

"Take your time. You communicate in nanoseconds, though you perceive it as analog speech."

It took her a moment to work that one out. "You mean I'm talking through neuron patterns?"

"Yes. It is significantly more efficient. We are in no rush."

Gingerly, she reached out and put a hand on Legion's shoulder. She expected no contact from the hologram, but instead, the geth felt warm. Comforting.

"Thanks, Legion." She clicked the safety off the geth rifle and took a deep breath. "OK. Let's go."

Of all the people Shepard brought with them to the server, it had to be EDI. Tali would've kept Garrus's mind off things reminiscing about old times. He and James would spend the whole time trying to one-up one another. But all of EDI's attention was focused on the console Legion had been working on.

"Wish you were in there?"

EDI didn't even look at him. "Legion's reasoning for bringing Shepard to the consensus was sound. However, I cannot deny my curiosity about the geth. They are the only synthetic life I have as a point of reference."

"Apart from the Reapers," muttered Garrus under his breath. He resighted the scope for the umpteenth time, pacing back and forth in front of Shepard's pod. Legion's platform slumped against the pod beside her.

EDI tilted her head to one side, a very human gesture. "May I ask you a question?"

"Shoot," he said absently.

"Shepard routinely performs far more dangerous missions. Logically, there is no reason to fear for her safety. Does your emotional attachment to her cause agitation?"

Garrus stopped in his tracks and gaped at her like a slack-mandibled idiot.

"Have I offended?"

"No," he said hastily. "I just, uh..." Spirits, how Shepard talked to robots on a regular basis was completely beyond him.

"Yeah," he said at length. "I'm worried because I care about her."

"But there is a qualitative difference in your relationship with Shepard, even without the factor of sexual activity," said EDI, ignoring Garrus's awkward cough.

He rubbed his temples, wondering how he was going to phrase this. A lot of bad analogies came to mind, each worse than the last. Finally, he said, "I can't lose her, EDI. Not again."

For once, EDI didn't push for more clarification. She lapsed into a thoughtful silence and came to stand beside him, both of them looking up at Shepard.

Time was measured in nanoseconds, but it was exhausting in a way she hadn't anticipated. Her physical body might be sleeping, but her brain was working in overdrive, even with the filters the geth had installed for her convenience. After busting the first two server nodes free of Reaper code, Shepard sat down on the blinking walkway Legion had created to catch her breath. Figuratively speaking.

She looked down at the infinite expanse of data beneath her feet. "Legion? What would happen if I fell?"

"We would compensate for any deviation," replied the geth, flickering into view beside her. "In organic terms, we would catch you."

"That's good," she said with a grin. "No offense, but I'm not sure I'd want to be stuck here."

Legion's head light seemed to increase in intensity, zeroing in on her eyes. "We are confident that even without guidance, you could navigate our consensus."

"Tali, maybe. Not me."

Legion shook its head, a human expression it had picked up during the last suicide mission. "Navigation of the consensus requires understanding, not technical knowledge. You understand the geth better than any organic...better than our own creators."

There was no mistaking the droop to Legion's headflaps, the tone of its voice. She wasn't really sure what to do. Could she even comfort a geth? She might give a fellow organic a hug, but even their bodies were illusions here.

Shepard could feel the consensus all around her, just outside the confines of the body she inhabited. She reached out to put a hand on Legion's shoulder, but this time, she gave an experimental push beyond her fingertips. We're all one here, she thought. I'm part of it too. I can help.

Nothing could have prepared her for what happened; sparks of light arced down her arm and into Legion. The geth made an unmistakably startled sound, its hologram flickering as the stream of light grew stronger. Shepard yelped and tried to pull away, but Legion suddenly grabbed her hand and held her in place.

When Legion's hologram finally reasserted itself, it looked more solid. Less unreal. And dancing between the pixels of red and green were sparks of golden light. Legion slowly let go of her hand, flashlight eye fixed on her in wonder.

"You gave to our consensus," it murmured, flexing its fingers.

"Are you ok?" she asked frantically. "What do you mean? What the hell did I just do?"

Legion flicked its headflaps at her, clearly wondering how to explain. "We have assimilated the experience you gave us. We are now operating at maximum capacity." It gestured out at the expanse of silver and chrome data. "All geth share. All organics do not. We cannot share your experiences, even within the consensus, unless you give them to us voluntarily."

Shepard was quiet for a long time. Finally, she asked, "What exactly did I give you?"

"Empathy." The geth blinked twice at her. "It is an organic response we acknowledged, but did not understand until now."

"I take it this is a good thing?"

"Yes. Your experience is now our experience." Sparks glimmered along its skin as it spoke, then as Shepard watched in fascination, began to disseminate into the patterns of code surrounding them. It was a subtle, quiet thing, until the expanding shell of sparks reached the next ugly tangle of Reaper code.

The yellow and orange knots writhed, constricting themselves around the new data. It let out a low, grating spluttering that almost sounded like pain or rage. But everywhere the sparks touched, the Reaper code weakened...and did not regenerate.

"Did you just-" Shepard began, not even sure of what she was going to say, or what she'd witnessed.

"The experience of empathy appears inimical to the Old Machine infection." For once, Legion seemed just as awed as Shepard did.

"Are you telling me we just weakened the Reapers' hold with feelings?" This was fairy-tale stuff. It wasn't supposed to happen during a war against giant robots trying to kill them all.

Legion placed a hand tentatively on her shoulder, gave it a squeeze. That was all the answer she needed.

"Holy shit," said Garrus as the console Legion had been working on suddenly lit up like a beacon. He glanced at EDI, who rushed over and immediately began picking through the data. "What the hell's going on in there? I thought the server was supposed to go dark."

If he didn't know better, he'd say EDI sounded confused when she answered. "I am detecting a steady decrease in the amount of geth programs connected to the server, but the amount of processing power used just spiked to 345% of normal operational use."

"What does that mean?"

EDI shook her head. "I cannot interface with the consensus. There is no way to know until Shepard and Legion reawaken."

Garrus growled something impolite under his breath, but was distracted by the comm lighting up on his omnitool. Admiral Raan was hailing them. Instinctively, he tensed as he answered the call.

"Garrus Vakarian here," he said shortly. "What is it, Admiral?"

"The geth fighters are at the liveships, but...something is happening to them. Only a few of them are firing. Some are just drifting. What did you do?"

Garrus glanced over at Shepard and Legion's unconscious forms. The quarians didn't need to know the details. "Shepard's taking care of the geth here."

"Legion led us to the server these geth inhabit," EDI added.

"Please hurry," said Raan. "Our civilian fleet will continue taking casualties until all the fighters stop firing. Raan out."

"You did not inform Admiral Raan about the geth consensus," said EDI once Garrus severed the comm, fixing him with those strange, almost-human eyes of hers.

"Neither did you," he pointed out. He really didn't want to discuss it; if he was honest with himself, he still couldn't see how any of this was going to end well. Then again, a few weeks ago, he'd thought the same thing about the krogan and turians. It just went to show Shepard's absurd diplomatic skills.

He went back to his pacing, now throwing looks at the console from time to time. The power draw had slowly dropped from its ridiculous spike, but it was still a good ways above normal. What could Shepard possibly be doing in there? Unbidden, his mind came up with about a thousand scenarios of what could go wrong and cause such a power surge. He groaned and rubbed his temples with his knuckles. Expecting the worst really didn't help in this situation.

"Is there anything I can do to lessen your distress?" EDI asked. Garrus looked up at her, startled. "Perhaps a lively rendition of turian drinking songs?"

He had to chuckle. While EDI wasn't exactly socially adept, the intent to help was there, and it did make him feel better. He quirked a brow plate at the AI. "How do you know turian drinking songs?"

"Jeff has many extranet bookmarks," said EDI vaguely.

"That was a joke?"

"Yes."

Garrus glanced again at the woman in the interface pod, ran gauntleted hands down the smooth glass of the hatch. A thought popped into his head. "EDI," he asked, "how would you feel if Joker was inside that pod instead of Shepard?"

EDI shook her head. "That scenario is unlikely. Jeff does not have the trust of the geth the way Shepard does."

"Now you're just dodging the question," said Garrus. "Hypothetically. Work with me here."

She looked from Garrus to the pod to Legion's still form. "I..." she started, then trailed off into silence. "I would be concerned for his safety," she said, sounding almost surprised by the answer. "I would want to be there with him."

Garrus gave her a smile. "There. Now you know how I feel."

She looked very puzzled, like she was about to ask more, when a soft but unmistakable hum came from the pods surrounding them. All of the previously inert machinery was powering up, coming online, including Shepard's.

Instantly, Garrus moved between Shepard's pod and the others, drawing his rifle. EDI took his other side, guarding Legion's hardware, both of them suddenly as tense as live wire.

The server shutdown was slow at first, but soon Shepard began to notice less depth in the consensus, fewer voices and patterns. She knew it was necessary, as did Legion, but it still made her wonder how many more would have to die before the quarians and geth decided enough was enough.

"Legion?"

"Ready."

"If the geth in this server were going to die anyway, why did you disseminate the data I gave you?"

If she didn't know better, she'd swear the geth almost looked guilty. Legion hung its head, flicked its headflaps in agitation before speaking.

"We...liberated several million programs from the Old Machines' shackles. Your data and our perspective has changed their view. They wish to help. They will accompany us into waiting platforms outside the consensus."

Shepard raised her eyebrows. "And I'm guessing you didn't tell me this sooner in case the quarians caught on."

"Correct. We judged you would understand." Legion blinked at her almost apologetically, and she couldn't help but smile.

"It's ok," she said. "I didn't like the idea of killing your people to save the quarians. I wish-"

She cut herself off. Wishing didn't do anyone any good, and now that the server was shutting down, she was just wasting time here dawdling. Still, it did seem a shame to leave the consensus so soon, just as she was getting used to it.

"Don't suppose you can hold onto this interfacing hardware for the future?" she said.

Legion looked from her to the docking port, then back out at the rapidly dimming server. "You wish to return to our consensus? Your statement implies belief that the geth have a future with organics."

"I've always believed that," she said quietly.

This time, she reached out to Legion without hesitation, taking both hands in hers. Instead of sparks, her entire form pulsed with bright white light, enveloping both of them as it turned from intense to blinding. She expected the transfer to be one-way, as it was before, but Legion responded.

Suddenly she found her senses flooded with a nation of voices all speaking to her at once, each different from and yet like the next. Pictures, sounds, smells, sensation-it should have all been a jumble, but the overwhelming intent behind it took her breath away.

Thank you.

When the light subsided, Shepard found herself blinking furiously. Legion let go of her hands, waiting patiently while she composed herself.

"You gave us an experience for which we have no word," it finally said. "What was it?"

"Hope."

Legion didn't answer. Shepard knew from her conversations with EDI that that piece of data would take a long time to process. She walked through the exit port side-by-side with Legion, each of them lost in their own thoughts as the vertigo took them.

The hiss of the pod hatch nearly sent Garrus out of his skin. He transferred his rifle to one hand as the hatch opened and Shepard stumbled out, looking a little dazed.

He caught her with his free hand, steadying her. Recognition dawned in her eyes. "Hey, Garrus," she said quietly.

"Are you all right? We just had a power spike like crazy-"

"We can discuss that later," EDI called. "We have company."

As one, the lids of all of the other pods opened, and out stepped at least two dozen hulking geth prime units. Garrus swore and took aim at the nearest one-only to have Shepard stop him.

He watched, astonished, as Shepard approached the prime unit and held out her hand. As Legion had done back on the SR2, the prime mirrored her motion. Garrus could practically hear the grin in Shepard's voice.

"Legion freed a lot of the geth on the server from the Reapers," she called over her shoulder. "These are friendly."

"Friendly," Garrus replied weakly, looking up at the impassive, towering units.

A click and a buzz behind him heralded Legion's return. Garrus turned toward the geth. "I think you've got some explaining to do back on the Normandy," he said, gesturing toward the primes.

"We are attempting to reach consensus," said Legion, sounding almost preoccupied. "Shepard-Commander can answer your queries."

Garrus gave Shepard a long look, and she knew she was in for a long, long conversation when they got back to the ship.

To Garrus's credit, he managed to wait until they had debriefed the quarians before cornering Shepard in her quarters. She knew it was him; he was the only person on the ship who dared barge into her room without knocking.

"So," she said without any preamble, turning away from her console to look at him, "what do you want to know?"

He didn't know why, but the blase way she'd approached joining her consciousness to the bleeding geth consensus bothered him. She could tell-Shepard could always tell. She got to her feet and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's ok," she said, looking up into those fierce blue eyes. "Talk to me."

Garrus made an odd huffing sigh, disarmed for the moment. "I remember what happened to you on Atlas Station," he said in a quiet rumble. "The sight of you being puppeted by that thing...it's hard to forget."

Shepard quirked an eyebrow at him. "That wasn't really the geth, and it wasn't David's fault," she said.

"You don't understand," said Garrus, mandibles twitching. "That almost makes it worse. It was an instinctive reaction, a survival reflex. I never thought the geth would hurt you on purpose, but on accident..."

"The geth didn't hurt me," Shepard replied quietly. "They thanked me."

"They what?"

As best as she could, she explained what had happened inside the consensus. The memories Legion showed her, their conversations about the nature of the geth, and the overwhelming gratitude she'd received in exchange for the experiences she gave them. When she was done, Garrus realized his mandibles were hanging slack again and snapped his mouth shut.

He'd been doing a lot of that today. "You did all that in fifteen minutes?"

Shepard blinked, startled. "Wow. Yeah, I guess. I communicated with the consensus as fast as my brain could send impulses. Still not quite light-speed like Legion, but it's a start."

One thing that always amazed Garrus was how calm she was about utterly bizarre things. The Prothean Cipher, coming back from the dead, making friends with AIs after fighting Saren and the geth...she took it all in stride. Then again, she made up for it by physically hurling quarian admirals off her ship when she was ticked off.

Garrus just shook his head at her, reaching out to stroke her hair. "You're a crazy motherfucker," he said with mixed affection and exasperation.

"I have to be," she retorted. Her fingers found the back of his neck. "I'm dating you."

He gave an ungracious snort and pulled her into his arms. She was ok. She really was ok. That was all he needed. For a long moment, they just stood there and held one another.

"You know," said Garrus thoughtfully, "I still wish I could've been there with you."

"Worrywart," she said, poking him in the ribs.

He chose to ignore her. "No, not just that. The experience of unity you had with the geth, of being able to just share thoughts directly. It sounds incredible."

There was almost a wistful tone in his voice. Shepard smiled up at him and stroked the scarred side of his face. "Getting jealous of the geth?" she teased.

"Please. Legion can't do this."

He leaned down and closed his jaws over the nape of her neck, not biting, just holding her still while practiced hands removed her uniform. Shepard squeaked, then shuddered from head to toe, the tension of the day draining from her body with each gentle stroke of his hands. She closed her eyes, allowing him to completely support her weight.

Garrus let go of her neck just long enough to scoop her up into his arms and carry her to the bed. She grinned up at him as he hastily undressed.

He took her slowly, gently, savoring each gasp and every breath. They came quietly, Shepard's body shuddering violently beneath him, Garrus's face pressed to her shoulder to stifle his moans.

"I belong here," she whispered in his ear as he collapsed on top of her. "With you."