Chapter 1

Looks can Deceive

"Excuse me Commander?"

"Yes, Miranda?"

"You might want to read this."

Commander Jane Alice Shepard sighed in annoyance. She really did not like this Cerberus cheerleader, enough so that she had borrowed that phrase from Jack. "Okay, but it better be pretty damn important." she said coming out of her quarters. Once she made it down the elevator and walked to Miranda's quarters Miranda shut the door behind her.

"I have no idea why the Illusive Man would hide this file, but I found it hidden in his desk." she started. Shepard noticed that for the first time since meeting the lady Miranda seemed unsure. Miranda walked back to her desk and pulled out a dossier, and then gave it to Shepard. "This dossier is of a man named Jonathon K. Soze," Miranda stated. "The founder of Soze Inc.?" Shepard asked puzzled. Miranda nodded and said, "the very same."

"Hmmmm this just got interesting," Shepard pondered why the Illusive Man would have this dossier and also why he would hide it. It just didn't make any sense, Miranda is his right hand. Of course he would tell her everything. Unless of course this is a man Cerberus does not want around. In which case Jane would be interested in meeting such a man.

That is all it took for the Commander to set coordinates to Earth and find out exactly who this Jonathon Soze was. "Hey Commander!" said the always cheerful yeoman Kelly, "I don't have any messages for you right now." "That's okay Kelly, just tell me what you thought of the last mission," Jane responded. "Well, I am glad we got everything settled between Mr. Krios and his son." "also I would like to point out how handsome Kolyat is," Kelly said with a subtle blush.

Jane raised her eyebrows at this and looked questioningly at her yeoman. "Do you want me to get his extranet address for you?" Kelly's blush went from subtle to bright red as she stammered her denial. Jane laughed and started walking back to the captains cabin with a smirk on her face. As she made it into the elevator her smirk faded away, she then looked at the file in her hand. Well, I better read up on this Mr. Soze, she thought with a sigh. Stepping out of the elevator into her cabin she immediately walked to her terminal and slumped down into her chair.

After two hours of reading the file and checking the extranet about Soze she eventually gave up. She knew quite a bit about him by this point, such as that he was Irish and extremely successful, and that he graduated from law school at the age of twelve, started Soze Inc. when he was 19 and became a billionaire by the time he was twenty. Currently he lives in New York City and is 24 years old.

Impressive, Jane thought to herself, very impressive. That was what she read on the extranet, however what she read in the dossier was way more secretive. Soze was a business man who according to these files was also a very dangerous man. Nothing showed up on a crime check, but in the dossier his actions took up five pages front to back. None of those crimes could be proven however, and so he never spent a day in jail. There was no father on the record, or a mother for that matter he grew up in Belfast with his Irish nanny. He (according to reports) was against humanity first, and had a very outspoken hatred of Cerberus and Exogeni. Jane herself found herself nodding in approval of his almost radical speeches.

Two Days Later

They had finally made it to the docking station in New York City. Shepard felt odd coming through the city, mostly because as a species humans look towards the statue of liberty which is still standing as a symbol of hope. Yet, looking down on the streets hope seemed lost. Homeless people everywhere, drug dealers, prostitutes the works. And then possibly worse, was the overly rich. The privileged few who looked down on the dirt and grime and thought themselves better. Jane was from New York, she fought through the dirt, the gangs and drugs.

She made a code for herself and she has always followed it no matter what. But just looking at the snobs who wouldn't give money away even if it was on fire made her want to go on a shooting spree. "Easy Commander," said Garrus, who could always tell what she was thinking. "Don't worry about these assholes, lets just find Soze and get the hell out." Shepard nodded in agreement, "Okay, if I was a billionaire in New York where would I be?" she mused.

Garrus, her and Miranda were searching the whole city for him and still didn't have a clue. Shepard got a comlink call from Thane, "Hey Thane, Whats the problem?" "No problem commander," he responded in his deep voice. "Just found out from one of my contacts that Soze is going to be assassinated as his apartment in three hours." "WOAH, WOAH,WOAH" Shepard yelled. "What the hell do you mean 'Assassinated' Thane?" "I believe that the word speaks for itself Shepard," Thane countered. "If you want this Soze character on our squad you better make it to the apartments in upper Manhattan by 6." Right then Thane cut off. "smart-ass," Shepard muttered. The relationship between her and the stoic Drell assassin was odd to be honest, but she loved him and he loved her. "Commander, we absolutely need to get moving if we are to make it to Soze," said Miranda.

After catching a Rapid Cab to the apartments there was nothing that Shepard, Garrus and Miranda could do except wait. Frankly, this bored the shit out of Shepard. She was used to running and gunning, shooting Geth, and more recently, reuniting lost families that hated each other. This waiting bullcrap had to go after this mission, she thought annoyed. "Shepard, I see movement" Garrus exclaimed quietly.

"Finally, this is go-time squad," Shepard said excitedly. They looked to the left and they looked to their left and saw the back of an extremely expensive suit and some amazing hair above the neck. "I think that's him," Garrus stated. Shepard sneaked about 30 feet behind Soze to not appear suspicious. Garrus decided to get into the nearest closed shop and scope out through the window. Miranda followed Shepard but stayed back about 10 feet behind Shepard. This went on for about 3 blocks when Soze (with his back still turned to Shepard) started climbing up the steps. Suddenly a bald human pushed her to the ground and ran up the steps. "Shit, shit." Shepard exclaimed. "That was the hitman" Shepard tried to follow him but there was too many people blocking the way. By this time Soze was on the third floor and opened the door to his apartment and walked in.

Before the door even closed the hitman walked through with a Striker III pistol and shut the door. Shepard pushed past all of the people on the second floor with Miranda right behind her. They finally made it to the third floor, "Should we kick down the door?" Miranda asked. In response, Commander used her biotics to kick the door with enough force to go flying into the apartment. She pulled out her shotgun and jumped into the room. There she was greeted by a bald body facedown and Soze sitting on the couch next to the door with a lit cigarette in one hand and a smoking mini-bodyguard pistol in the other. He looked square into Shepard's eyes, pulled off his sunglasses and said, "Ah, Shepard, Your late."