Kasumi locked the door to the women's bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror. She stared blankly at her eyes, shining from under the dark hood she wore day after day. She thought about changing it up, maybe even putting on that 'come hither' hood for Jacob. Kasumi laughed at herself, and she made it a good laugh. It would have to last a long time, her laugh. She shook her head and went back to reflecting on her appearance. She looked at herself leaning over the sink, then stood up straight, sucked in her stomach and smiled at her reflection. Then she slumped back over. No, that was not a good look on her. She took her hood off of her head and ran her fingers through her hair. "Now smile pretty!" she told herself as she put her hands on her hips and did her sideways suck-in-her-stomach stance. A little better, she was getting there, but not good enough. She took in a deep breath and sighed at herself. Kasumi didn't believe she was too much to look at in the first place, why now did she feel like making herself pretty in the mirror?

Because this is the last time I may see my reflection.

Kasumi cringed at the thought and looked around the bathroom as if someone had suggested it. When she was sure she was alone, she leaned against the sink and slid down. Kasumi slid slowly down until she was sitting in the fetal position on the floor and she started to cry. Why? Why me? Why us? So many questions, and she knew the answers. Right when she had met the notorious commander, she knew something amazing would happen. Something amazing was happening all right, but not this. Not something this.. Dangerous. Kasumi had been put in danger countless times, but nothing like this, not like the Reapers. She would much rather break into a museum and take a priceless piece of art, maybe something by Flora, the elcor artist was getting pretty big now, and it's (?) pieces were getting valuable. Kasumi wiped her eyes and tried to make herself laugh again, but it came out as horrible sobs and she ended up crying harder at the attempt. She was glad she locked the door, anyone who might have been walking by would probably have come inside and maybe even tried to console her. No, that's the last thing Kasumi wanted. No one was going to help her with this. Hell, what was there to help with? No one could help her now, they were all just as damned as she was.

There was a knock on the bathroom door and Kasumi tossed her pistol at the door and shouted at the person on the other side.

"Its occupied!"

Kasumi waited, but they never did knock again. Good. She didn't want anyone to see her like this. This was her moment, this was the only time she could break that strong face she gave everyone so that she could get her stress out. Stress was bad, it distracted you. If you were distracted when you were stealing, you got captured and thrown in jail. If you got distracted fighting Reapers, you died. Or worse, you got indoctrinated. Kasumi shivered at the thought of being just like the Keepers or the Protheans, beings that were alive, but they weren't... Living. They went on like all synthetics do, just doing things for a higher, more intelligent power. That's not the ideal way she planned on living the rest of her life, but when this mission was over, that was a very possible outcome. Normally the thought would give her adrenaline to push forward, to bring out the best of her abilities, but... No, not with so much hanging from the ballots. Not only did she have her life to worry about, she had her teammates lives.. She had the galaxy's lives in her hands with this mission. No, that's too much. It's not fair, she was just a simple thief, then Cerberus had to come scout her out for the most dangerous mission the galaxy had ever seen. But that wasn't the hardest part of the mission. The hardest part is the fact that her Commander has more faith in her abilities than she did.

Commander Shepard was no man to take lightly- he knew talent when he saw it, hell, the man is practically exploding with leadership and weaponry skills. Commander Shepard was an artist on the battlefield, and that would be one work of art Kasumi could never steal no matter how hard she tried.

The knock on the door came back and Kasumi rolled her eyes.

"I TOLD YOU IT WAS OCCUPIED! I WOULD LIKE TO USE THE REST ROOM IN PEACE!"

She waited again for another knock, but it seemed like the person had left.

"People need to get the message, I want to be alone! I'm going to DIE on this mission... Okay, I don't know that for certain, but... There's such a high probability..." Kasumi said, slumping back down into her poor form. Why was no one else having this little self preservation trip? Was she the only one worried about her life?

Maybe you are, because your the only person who doesn't believe we can pull this off.

Kasumi sat up straight. That made a whole lot of sense! She hadn't been on this Normandy crew as long as others had, like Garrus or Tali. No, she had just met the commander, she had only been on a few missions with him, and that's what she was supposed to make hear assumption on? Those few missions? ... If she were to make the assumption on her survival with those few missions, she knew she would survive. The commander has dealt with Reapers longer than she had, and as far as Kasumi could tell, he was good at it. Really good. When they infiltrated the Collector ship, and they were faced with a variety of Collector drones, Shepard handled himself... Amazingly. She felt the hope rise in her chest. Maybe she could do this... Maybe she could rise up to this challenge the commander gave her. She's good at infiltrating, she's perfect with stealth and rocks the hood if she does say so herself. She picked herself up off the ground and started back into the mirror and smiled at herself. She slowly raised her hood back over her head.

"I make a pact right here, as a master thief. I solemnly swear to make the Collectors go through hell to get us. I solemnly swear to keep my cool in this hard battle, and to never falter. This isn't for me, but for my crew mates who are depending on me, waiting for me to go out there and do my thing. I will give the Reapers a taste of what this galaxy has to offer them, and I will destroy any enemy in my path that I may see. .. I also swear to follow Commander Shepard, wherever he may force us to go. Crawling through the smallest duct, working our way through the biggest maze, or dying in front of my enemies."

Kasumi straightened up and put her hands on her hips, turned sideways, sucked in her stomach, and smiled.

"Smile pretty, gorgeous, and get ready to die!"

Just as she had said it, the knock came on the bathroom door with a vengeance. Kasumi whipped her head to the side and slowly walked backwards from the door as the banging kept coming. Suddenly, the door caved in, and there stood Commander Shepard with Garrus and a rocket launcher.

A lot of things passed through Kasumi's mind at that moment, probably some really good things to say, but only one thing came out of her mouth.

"This is the women's bathroom Commander."

Garrus and Shepard just stared at her, the whole awkward moment dragged on for seconds, then to minutes. Kasumi started to feel uncomfortable, so she continued on with her statement to the silent human and turian.

"I expected as much from Garrus, but not you Commander."

Shepard and Garrus stared forward at Kasumi, then turned their head toward each other and let out the loudest laugh they had given each other in a long time. Kasumi giggled with them, and let out a full blown laugh with the boys. As Garrus wiped the tears from his eyes, the commander struggled to explain to Kasumi what was going on between bouts of laughter.

"All we could.. All we could hear was you yelling... Tali saw you go in the.. In the bathroom and she wanted to make sure you were okay.." He said, straightening up, still working on controlling his laughter. In reality, it shouldn't have been that funny, but right now, it was the best joke that had happened in years.

"So Tali came to me, and I went to check on you, and all I heard was some more inaudible yelling, and so I asked Garrus what I should do, and.." he couldn't do it, Shepard burst back into laughter and left Garrus to finish the story.

"I suggested the rocket launcher, because big guns can solve all the worlds problems. So I put together this rocket launcher to rescue you,and... You didn't even need it."

Kasumi shook her head. Her hand went to her face and she started laughing again, the tears flowing from her eyes. This crew wasn't your average, everyday, run of the mill crew. All these people were special, including herself. She was ready to face the Collectors and face whatever came her way, even indoctrination. But first things first..

"Garrus, don't aim that rocket launcher at me or it's going up your..."