A/N: This takes place during the events of Targeted Interference: The Chase chapter 25: Prognosis Poor (chapter 50 on FFN).
Born Cursed
Theodus brought the cup to his mouth, inhaling the rich scents of espresso as he looked out over the booming city. Rush, rush, rush. One of the first things he learned about New York City was that it was called 'The City That Never Sleeps'. Fitting. It was also, quite possibly, the last place anyone would ever think to look for him. Who would ever suspect he'd take up residence on Earth? The human homeworld, of all places in the galaxy.
He liked humans. They were … enterprising. And ruthless. They respected power and wealth, understood the value of having things no one else did, but they would just as quickly take it from someone as earn it themselves. Perhaps even more quickly take as opposed to earn. His own people would rather be subservient to the hanar, seeking to gain nothing for themselves, despite the fact their species was swiftly becoming extinct. Three hundred and seventy-five thousand drell 'rescued' from Rakhana, leaving another eleven billion to die of starvation, dehydration, and exposure. Eleven billion. Dead because they had nothing, no ability to get it for themselves, and no one willing to give them anything. And why should they? The galaxy uplifted the krogan, and look what that got them.
Meanwhile, the drell continued to live on a planet 'hellbent' on killing them, as the humans say. Bowing and scraping, doing the bidding of the hanar. The hanar. Quite possibly the biggest galactic joke next to the volus, although the volus where quite savvy as a species. They understood wealth and the subtleties of true power. They would never die off for want of food, water, or shelter. The humans, though, the humans were much like the cockroaches and rats New York was so full of—not where he lived, though, of course—humans could survive anything. He admired them.
He sipped his espresso, closing his eyes as he savored the rush of caffeine to his system.
Rule Thirty-Eight: Respect the espresso.
Skycars zoomed passed the window while more than three hundred meters below, people swarmed through the streets, pushing and cursing, greedy little fingers dipping into one another's pockets as they passed each other by, not even meeting one another's gaze, safe in their anonymity.
Theodus smiled, letting his focus shift to take in his reflection in the tinted glass. A face his people hated, at least those old enough to remember being born albino meant one was cursed. A face not even his parents could love, and they'd never failed to remind him of the fact. In the end, it didn't matter. They stayed on the planet of death and gave their lives in service to the hanar, and he left. Granted, he wound up living in a relatively humid environment, despite Earth having some of the most exquisite areas of desert. New York City suited him, though, and he rarely had a need to leave his environmental controlled, skyrise apartment. He could have literally anything and everything he needed delivered right to his front door. What curse?
Rule Six: Never let anyone make you feel less than.
He'd bought the entire floor of the building, converted the space to accommodate his trade, installing servers and computer equipment, monitoring devices, safes, alias alibi staging rooms, and everything else he could possibly need. He'd worked hard, if not honestly, to get where he was.
At fourteen, he'd made his way to the Citadel, by law, he wasn't yet old enough to be on his own, but his parents never tried to find him. They never even reported him missing. So he scraped and scrounged to survive. He'd spent his entire life as a drala'fa among his own people, why not spend some time as one among the other species. Except he realized, his white scales made him attractive to some of the other species, even as it made him horrific to look upon by drell standards.
Within a month, an asari took pity on him and invited him into her home—on the Presidium, no less. Nassana was a diplomat, one of two daughters in the latest generation of the Dantius family. She liked nice things, beautiful things, as she said, and it didn't take Theodus long to learn he was one of those beautiful things; he'd been added to her collection. She didn't care about him any more than his family. At first it hurt, but then he realized it was just how the galaxy worked. Everyone wanted something and those with the means were willing to give a great deal to get what they wanted.
It was Dahlia, Nassana's sister, who gave him the most valuable lesson, though. Rule Thirteen: Don't pay for what you want, find a way to make them want to give it to you instead. If that doesn't work, take it. He knew what he wanted, the things his family never had; power and wealth. The things his family never gave him; love and respect.
He convinced Nassana to buy him every technical manual he could find, making it clear to her that he could use the knowledge to be an even greater asset to her. He could collect information on her rivals, shift stocks in her favor, whatever she wanted. He spent every free second he had reading and learning, he pulled off a few light hacks for some of the other kids on the Citadel, just to see if he could, changing grades, opening locked doors, altering security feeds so they could sneak out at night. Soon, kids were begging for his help, offering to pay. Life was good.
Until he realized Nassana expected a greater return on her investment than he was willing to provide.
"No? What do you mean, no?" Biotics spring to life around Nassana, casting her in blue-white fire, licking and dancing over her skin. "You ungrateful runt! I've given you everything, taken you into my home, you're nothing without me. Nothing! You think you can just take everything I've given you without giving back?"
"I'm not going to help you invest in the slave trade!" I raise my voice, brow ridges pulling in. Disgust. Shock. I never expected this from her. How can she ask this of me? These are people we're talking about. Living beings, not … not credits or abstract numbers. I look at Dahlia. Surely she understands. "Dahlia, tell her this is insane!"
Lips lift in a slow smirk, she shakes her head. "If they won't give you what you want, take it. Sorry, kid."
Theodus blinked, pushing away the memory, shoving it back into the recesses of his mind. They'd captured him when he tried to leave, truly turned him into chattel. Dahlia took him from the Citadel and sold him off to batarians in the Terminus. He didn't realize she was the mastermind behind the whole thing, he thought it was all Nassana. But no, Nassana just saw her sister's choice of revenue as another investment opportunity. He'd liked Dahlia, looked up to her. Her betrayal crushed Theodus.
Luckily, he was young, only sixteen then, and not especially strong, but incredibly smart. It earned him a better position in the compound on Khar'Shan than some of the other slaves. The batarians who bought him weren't from an especially high caste, but high enough that they seemed to live comfortably. They'd held off on implanting him because they didn't know enough about drell physiology to ensure they didn't kill him, or as one said, 'or worse, render him useless by turning him into an invalid.'
They were looking into it, though, and he knew he didn't have long. He did his best to ingratiate himself to his captors, and within a week, he was ordered to fix a problem with the compound's security system. Instead, he sabotaged it and escaped, opening every locked door in the compound in the process, using the slaves' revolt to make his way to a shuttle and off the gods forsaken planet.
Theodus learned later every other slave in the compound died trying to escape, and he still hated himself for it.
He'd found himself lost, adrift among the stars, and he likely would've died out there, starved to death like his ancestors or run out of air if not for being found by a ship of salvagers. At first, he was afraid to tell the humans how he ended up out there, all by himself in a batarian shuttle, so clearly unprepared for travel. None of them seemed to know what a drell was, and he saw fear in the eyes of more than a couple of them. They were still so close to Khar'Shan. What if they decided to take him back to the batarians? But then, as he told his story, he realized the men and women around him were listening with rapt attention, awe in their eyes. They laughed, clapping him on the back and congratulating him for 'fucking over those batarian sons of bitches on the way out.'
He'd stayed with them, by choice, for three years aboard the Escalante. He learned about the salvage trade, about ship operations, and all about galactic economics from the most fascinating human woman named Amaya … whose skin was as dark as his scales were pale, yet seemed to glow, as if lit from within; eyes the color of the coffee she introduced him to. He thought she was beautiful. 'Respect the espresso,' she'd told him. She'd encouraged him to develop his hacking skills, giving him challenges and tasks to complete. When they stopped somewhere to offload, she would take him out to see the sights. They'd go to restaurants together, theaters, or sometimes just for walks along the docks if they weren't going to be somewhere for very long. When someone asked who he was or even what he was, she told them he was her friend. Friend. He'd never really had a friend.
One night, she kissed him, her lips so soft, tongue so sweet, as they stood in the moonlight of Cyone … and he thought he might love her.
She stops walking, the moon's light making her look ethereal, beautiful and unreal. Eyes narrowing, she looks at me, studies me. Her brow starts to crease.
I chuckle, finding her sudden concentration both amusing and unnerving. "What?"
"Sometimes … you give me this look, and I'm never really sure why," she says, tilting her head to the side, "but it makes me feel like you think you're witnessing a miracle or something."
Embarrassed, I blink and look away. "My apologies." I don't know what else to say. Heat washes through me, my frills so hot I feel feverish.
"I didn't say I didn't like it." She laughs, the sound light, carrying through the warm night's air with ease.
I don't look at her, though. I can't. If I've done something, anything, to give her reason to question our friendship …. Her hand slides into mine, fingers gently tugging me towards her. Surprised, I look up, unsure of what to make of the look in her eyes. She tugs again, so I take a step closer. Heart pounding against my ribs hard enough I feel as if I might suffocate. She closes the distance between us, her chest brushing against mine. Lifts a hand to my face, fingers trailing over my frills. I moan, not meaning too, and it only embarasses me further, I avert my gaze.
"Rokat …." Fingers press under my chin, urging me to meet her gaze again.
She smiles, slips her hand around to cradle my head and pulls me to her. Lips brush over mine, tentative, feather soft. Heart beats so fast, I'm sure she can hear it, feel it when she presses herself against me. My hand finds her hip, and I pull her closer. Her mouth closes over mine, lips parting. Open my mouth to her, welcome her tongue into my mouth. I … I don't know what to do. She does, though, and like with so many other things, she teaches me.
A sharp, almost painful whistle cuts through the air. She pulls away, the sudden absence of her against me wrenches my heart, leaving my body begging for more. I blink, look up. Abdul stands a ways down the dock, eyebrows raised, eyes wide and serious.
He waves, arm arcing through the air. "Come on, let's go! Let's go!"
Amaya steps away from me, hands slipping away completely. She turns, walks towards the ship, glances back over her shoulder at me and smiles.
Amaya died when pirates attacked the Escalante a few hours later.
After that, Theodus knew it was time for him to move on, he said goodbye to the people he'd spent every day of the past three years with—those that survived, at least—and left the Escalante. Needing a fresh start, he started using a different name for every new place he went. He found himself frequenting human colonies, though he also spent some time on a few asari planets, despite his hatred for Nassana and Dahlia.
He even managed to spend some time on Sur'Kesh, and although the tropical nature of the planet reminded him too much of Kahje, salarians were a species he could relate to. They were a curious people, like him, always interested in learning new things and understanding the behaviors of others. Not to mention, they also had eidetic memories, which made them incredibly easy to speak with. There was never any need to try to find ways to trigger a memory in them, he simply needed to reference the time and event, and they knew exactly what he spoke of.
Humans, however, loved him every bit as much as he loved them. He offered them something they didn't have: complete recall. Companies might forbid the use of technology capable of taking photographs or recording data on their premises, but they oh so rarely thought to forbid a drell. And those who did quickly found themselves faced with discrimination lawsuits. After all, a drell could no more help his or her ability to remember everything they saw and heard anymore than an asari could help being biotic. Anymore than he could help the color of his scales the day he was born.
Rule One: Never be ashamed of who or what you are.
So he used it to his advantage, took 'tours' of companies and then compiled what he learned into reports, selling them off to the highest bidder on what the humans called 'the black market'. Sometimes, people would seek him out specifically for this, other times, they'd just ask him to use his technical skills to gather information. Throughout it all, he never stopped learning. Never stopped testing his limits and taking risks, gathering information, learning new coding languages, staying up to date on the latest technological advances. And he saved. He saved every credit he could, determined to someday have everything he wanted in life.
Theodus' omni-tool vibrated against his wrist, dragging him back to the present. He glanced down at the code flashing across the holographic band. "Ah, Jasmine."
He perked up, smile sliding effortlessly over his face. So rarely did he encounter a client who actually seemed to care about what risks he might be taking to acquire the information they wanted. She was swiftly becoming one of his favorites. He made his way to the staging room he used with Thane, and because he met her through Thane, he used the same room for her as well.
Sitting down at the desk, he opened the laptop, forwarding the call to the computer's screen. He took a moment to scan the data readout on the call, noting she was calling him from Lusia, not Ferris Fields. Thane must've whisked her away to his quaint little cottage in the woods to keep her safe from harm. Theodus sighed, smile faltering for a moment.
Which means … Avalina.
He answered the call, the cheery smile Jasmine flashed at him restoring his own. "Why hello, my favorite human."
She snorted, rolling her eyes, and he chuckled. He loved the reactions he got from her; she was such fun. Completely wasted on the likes of Thane, but if they made each other happy, he was in full support of their relationship. After all, even if Thane didn't know, he was family—their fathers born brothers—and the first of such to not care what color Theodus' scales or eyes were. Maybe someday, Theodus would let him in on the secret.
He took a sip of his espresso. "What can I do for you, Jasmine?"
She shrugged and shook her head. "Nothing, really. I just wanted to check on you, make sure … you know."
"Make sure Cerberus hasn't found me?" He raised a brow ridge, giving her a coy smile. "That I'm still breathing? Still absolutely the most dashing drell you've ever laid eyes on?"
She snorted again, laughter taking her for but a second before she winced and groaned.
"Still in pain?" Setting his cup down, he ran his fingers over his keyboard, pulling up Citadel news. There were still no public reports of the Blackwatch corpses she, her handler, and the mysterious, hooded, badly scarred turian—whom Theodus still might decide to look into more, eventually—left behind. Good. Though it looked like C-Sec Officer Garrus Vakarian was searching the extranet for her alias' name in his free time again. Theodus made a note to keep an eye on the C-Sec turian.
"It's not so bad," she said, letting out a weary sigh. "So, everything's okay?"
He flashed his teeth in a grin. "Of course." Bringing his brow ridges in, the genuineness of his own concern surprised him. "And you? Are you safe? I see Krios has brought you to his luxurious vacation home. Are your associates there as well?"
She smirked and nodded. "Yeah, I'm safe. So far. This place is actually kind of nice, once you get used to the wildlife. But no, Malcom and Mateo aren't here."
"Wildlife?" He asked, quickly searching out what creatures frequented the area of Thane's property. "Ah, you're in niathik territory." He didn't really know what a niathik was, but the pictures and brief description on the screens lining the wall behind his desk told him all he really needed to know.
Her eyebrow twitched, and he winked at her. She smirked, absently licking her lips. "Yeah. Their howling at night kinda grates on my nerves."
"So where is Krios? He never seems to be more than a few steps away from you whenever you two are together. He normally would've made himself known by now." He raised a brow ridge. "Surely he didn't leave you there alone?"
"He's …" She tilted her head to the side. "… preoccupied in the other room."
Theodus hummed, sitting back and locking his hands over his abdomen. "Preoccupied?" He swiveled his chair from side to side.
She gave him a light shake of her head. "Not my place to say, Theodus."
He stuck his lip out in a pout, earning him a chuckle and roll of her eyes. "How boring." His omni-tool vibrated, and he glanced down at the displayed code. Hm. Nytenia could wait, she never brought in enough business for him to be too concerned about missing her call. He'd contact her when he was done with Jasmine. "So, it seems I have you all to myself, then. What shall we talk about?"
He could tell there was something she wanted to say by the look in her eyes, perhaps something she wanted to ask. He figured it was most likely regarding the things he revealed during their discussion with her handler. Isaac Winter. Interesting man, difficult to find information on, but not impossible. Well, not for Theodus, at least. There was a man who had wealth and liked to spread it around. And the other, the one who thought himself skilled enough to handle Cerberus and challenge Theodus, Raúl Hernandez, he had quite the colorful past. But then again, what's a history of premeditated murder, grand theft auto, illegal possession of classified data, possession of legal stimulants in a quantity exceeding federal regulation, and one poorly executed attempt to hack into the UNAS federal reserves to someone employed by their military's assassin program? Not that Theodus blamed him, after learning what the senator did to the man's daughter … well, it was enough to turn even the gentlest of men into a crazed murderer. Funny thing, though, the senator's daughter—Raúl's daughter's closest friend—looked an awful lot like Jasmine.
Rule Fourteen: Always know more than what they think you do.
She lowered her gaze, pursing her lips. Sucking in a deep breath, she looked up at him again. "How bad were the pictures, Theodus?" she asked, voice soft and filled with a mix of dread and embarrassment.
He gave her a soft, sad smile, shaking his head, and she lowered her gaze again. "In my line of work, I see all kinds of things I shouldn't. Often, I wish I was able to forget, but I can't. Under different circumstances, I'd gladly hold on to the memories of those images, but they are tainted knowing they come from a terrible violation. I'm sorry I saw them, I'm sorry they existed at all. If it helps to ease your mind, they weren't … what I think you'd call 'distasteful.'"
He blinked, fighting to keep those exact memories at bay. She truly was a beautiful woman, Thane was a lucky man. He watched her as she seemed to study her keyboard, brow pinched. He rarely wished to see his clients in person, but just then, he thought he would've liked to have been able to reach out and put his hand on her shoulder, offer her some level of comfort. She seemed like a genuinely good person, despite her profession.
"Jasmine?" he said after the silence stretched into uncomfortable levels.
"What did the letters say?" she asked, voice barely loud enough for her laptop's mic to pick up on. She swallowed. "What did they say, exactly?"
He winced, pitching his voice low, letting a pleading quality seep through. "Please don't ask that of me."
She sniffed and swiped at her face, and only then did he realize she was crying. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling and wiped her cheeks again. "I hate him so fucking much right now. I wish he was alive, so I could kill him all over again."
He didn't know what to do with what she was giving him. Sure, he often enticed her to talk about herself, he did so with all his clients. All information was valuable, and he was a curious man. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but it never resulted in something quite so … personal. He didn't like seeing her cry, so, he did his best to make her laugh instead. "Hmmm. Well, if you want, I can completely destroy his name in the public eye. Just say the word, and I'll have news reports reaching all over the galaxy claiming he slept with stuffed animals and liked to do obscene things with niathik. Whatever you like."
She snorted, a soft laugh escaping her, shoulders shaking as she met his gaze again. "Don't tempt me."
Theodus grinned. "I won't even charge you."
Rule Twenty-Two: Never give something for nothing, unless it'll get you even more later.
She chuckled, shaking her head. "Remind me to stay on your good side."
He winked at her, relieved the tearful moment seemed to have passed. His omni-tool vibrated again, and he sighed, glancing down to see it was Nytenia.
She watched him, a soft smirk on her face when he met her gaze again. "Am I keeping you from work?"
He let out a dramatic huff. "Not that I don't thoroughly enjoy your company, but yes, I'm afraid if I don't take her call this time, I'll never hear the end of it."
"One question before you go?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Curious, he dipped his head to her.
"What ever happened to the client you were so concerned about that one day?" She waved her hand in a small circle through the air. "You said you were waiting to see if the information you gave them go them killed."
"Ah. I'm afraid I can't say much, but they are indeed alive … however, I think next time they might be more inclined to take my advice." He smirked. "Have a good evening, Jasmine."
"You, too." She smiled and cut the call.
Picking up his cup of espresso, he drained it while it still carried some semblance of warmth and moved to the staging room he used when he spoke with Nytenia. One that gave the illusion of him being on Illium. The windows in the room had been overlaid with receiver sheeting, and a camera strategically placed in an empty apartment he owned on Illium—mirroring his staging room—provided the imagery of the darkness of Illium night and sparkling skyline.
Sitting down on the couch, he pulled a laptop over on the low table and opened it. He'd already missed the call, but she was usually easy enough to reach. Steeling himself for the shift in his personality, he typed in Nytenia's extranet address and waited while the call connected. The asari answered right away, looking just as distraught as she did every time she called him.
He kept his gaze low, doing his best to look cowed and concerned. Something he most certainly did not feel, but it was what worked best with the asari. "Nytenia, sorry I missed your calls. Are you well?"
She let out an exasperated sigh. "No. I'm not. If you don't value my business, Erato, then I'll go to someone else."
"My apologies, of course I value your business. I only wished to respect your privacy." He lowered his gaze further. "I was outside, I didn't dare take your call in front of others. I came right inside and called you back as soon as possible."
Rule Twenty: Always tell the truth. Except when a lie works better, then tell a lie.
He glanced up at her, letting a slow smile spread over his lips when she met his gaze.
She sighed and waved a hand. "Fine. Of course. I'm just so worried. I need your help, right away."
Rule Three: Smile. Always smile. It'll disarm the dullest and pacify even the shrewdest of them. Or, at the very least, it'll make them underestimate you.
"How may I be of service?" He moved his hands to the keyboard, ready to see what child's play thing Nytenia wanted him to do.
The asari wasn't all bad, she just had no real understanding of how the rest of the galaxy worked. Even with her life nearly half over, she still seemed to think things would go her way, simply because she wanted them to. But, she had money to spare, and she seemed to like spending it as frivolously as possible, so why shouldn't Theodus take what she was so willing to give?
"I can't get into my laptop." She lifted a hand to rub at her brow and let out a miserable sounding whine. "I think Jol did something to it again, and I have a very important meeting in a half-hour."
Of course you do.
Theodus smiled, fighting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose and shake his head in dismay. It was the fifth time in less than three months Nytenia called about being locked out of her laptop, and every time, it had absolutely nothing to do with her daughter, Jol, and everything to do with her own stupidity. She'd become paranoid about someone hacking into her computer and change the password while drunk on Thessian Temples. The next day, when she couldn't log on, she assumed it must be because Jol was playing pranks on her.
Theodus told her how to go through the password recovery process, which allowed for just that sort of thing, twice. Yet she kept doing it, and kept calling him to fix it for her instead. A part of him wanted to tell her she was an imbecile and stop calling him, but he didn't get where he was at in the galaxy by turning down credits, even when the job only brought in a handful. A hundred credits was a hundred credits, and twice as much as he'd charge just about anyone else for the same job.
"Oh no," he said, hoping his voice didn't sound too dry. "I can have that fixed for you right away. Do you have your laptop open now?"
"No," she said, shaking her head and looking absolutely put out by his question, "give me a moment, it's in the other room."
Because why would you have it open and in front of you when you know that's what I'm going to need in order to do the job you want me to do?
"Of course." He dipped his head.
Propping his elbows on his knees, he clasped his hands together to rest his chin on while he waited. He glanced away from the screen to avoid the headache and eyestrain of watching her camera jerk and jump all over the place as she dropped her arm to the side while she walked, nevermind her omni-tool was open and the call still active, potentially inducing motion sickness in anyone watching. As soon as she settled down on her bed with her laptop in front of her, Theodus opened the program—one he himself designed—and entered her laptop's serial number into the system, gaining access to her laptop and preparing the system for a password reset with a few keystrokes.
"It's ready for you to enter your new password, Nytenia," he said, meeting her gaze once more.
"Oh, fantastic!" She grinned, splaying her hand out over her chest. "You truly are a miracle worker. I'd be lost without you, Erato."
"You flatter me." He chuckled, offering her a smile. "I'm happy to be of assistance. Shall I add the charge to your account?"
"Yes, of course," she said, her tone already shifting to dismissive as she focused on her laptop, giving him a view of the rest of her room.
"Very well. Good luck with your meeting." He waited a moment, but as expected, she didn't say anything else, so he ended the call.
Collapsing back against the couch cushions, he closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. Reaching up, he pinched the bridge of his nose before rubbing his thumb and fingers over his eyelids. Pulling himself up from the couch, he grabbed his empty cup and left the staging room, making his way out into the open floor plan of the area he actually lived in and made himself more espresso. The sun was barely up, and it already felt like it was going to be a long day.