As we walk down the streets of what I learn to be Citadel, Kasumi asks me some question about where I am from and I ask my own about this universe. I can't believe she is so accepting of this. "So, what was your job before you came here?" She asks as we round a corner to slowly leave the slums.
"I am a bard. Well, my talents maybe on hold until I can get another harp. Some jackass broke it before having his buddies beat the shit out of me."
"Is that how you died?"
"Nah. The guys were Templars whose goal is to kill all magic users and beings. Some guy I beat up accused me of being one, I would like to mention I beat him WITHOUT magic, and then the Templars came and broke my harp. I don't know how, but the emotional reaction from this caused these marks on my torso and arms which led to me sprouting wings in front of them... yeah that didn't go over well. They beat the shit out of me and the next thing I remember is being dragged down the streets on a cart full of prisoners. I almost escape, but take an arrow to the heart."
She looks at my tan tattooed, they look more like tattoos then anything else, chest and pokes me where the arrow hit. "Yeah, I see the scar." I look down and see indeed that there is a scar in the middle of a knot brand.
"Huh... well look at that. That guy had some good aim to hit a target scrambling up walls right in the heart. Any ways, what's your chosen profession in this realm?"
"I'm a master thief," She says without hesitation and with a grin. I smile at the fact that there was no hesitation in her answer. We once more walk in silence to the space docks to get on Kasumi's ship. Which we will us to get to Omega where the man we will be stealing something from. Hopefully, she will have some clothes that will fit me because I am getting some stares from the population here.
As I am lost in thought, Kasumi shoves a bag into my hands. Where did she get this? I look over to where Kasumi was to see nothing. She couldn't have moved for more than ten seconds. Where did she get this bag?
As I stare at her and the bag, she just giggles and says, "Master thief."
Looking in the bag, I see some shirt, jacket and pants. I thank her and head into an alley to change. I come out wearing what Kasumi calls a wife-beater, a jacket made of what seems to be leather, but dyed black with red stripes down both arms from shoulder to the end of the sleeve and pants made of black cloth with a large pocket just above both knees. She calls them cargo pants. I slide the belt for the sheath of my new dagger through the belt loops.
When I come out, she gives me a wolf whistle and continues to lead to the docks. As we walk, I study the different cultures and creatures, so I can blend in better. I soon start adopting a walk that is less confident than mine and slightly hunch my shoulders. It seems body language didn't change, so I make myself less intimidating and aggressive looking. Traits that sometime poke through my masks that I have to constantly check myself from. Can't have a bard that looks like he will tear your eye out. I really don't know why I have that kind of walk either. I'm not super strong or really skilled at fighting. Sure I've been on some battles and helped siege a few castles, but not much after that.
The Turians of the realm looks to be predators, so I have to watch out for them. The Salarians seem to be passive, but excitable creatures that have a logical outlook on things and don't seem to be physical fighters. More of a range or magic flinger. Last race I see is the Asari which look to have mannerisms of elven nature.
As we walk up stairs, I see a set of numbers that I recognize as 26, thank the gods the numerical system is still the same. As we walk, I see what Kasumi has told me, an officer manhandling a woman in a full body suit with a helmet with glass visor. "Quarians... They are thought to be thieves everywhere, but the few I know are good people." Kasumi says with sadness in her voice.
A fat halfling next to the two has his arms crossed and if I could see through his mask, I would see a smug look on his face. "Wait here."
I jog up to the three and ask, "Yo, what's going on? No need to manhandle the woman sir."
The halfling turns to me and says in halted speech like he's some obese man with breathing troubles, "this is, none of your concern, Earth-Clan! The good officer is, just arresting a, thief that stole my credit chip!"
The Quarian spoke up, "I'm not a thief! I didn't take anything from you! YOU bumped into ME outside the used ship dealer! That doesn't make me a thief! That makes you a jerk!"
I say to the officer, "Did you find the chip on her person?"
"The scan came up with nothing, but that doesn't mean she would not have stashed it."
"Umm... You're kind of bad at your job... Pickpockets and thieves are mostly a very paranoid bunch. They would not just steal something, stash it and come back. They would leave with it and then stash it, come back in like an hour to hit another target. Plus I don't see a pocket on your short ass." I see to the midget.
"I have pockets within the back of my suit sir!"
"If you bumped into her, then it was from the front so... She couldn't have reached around and searched your pockets that quick without being noticed. It probably fell out when you bumped into each other or you left it in the store." I calmly say in an almost bored voice.
"I did not even purchase anything! So it couldn't have been left in the store!"
"Officer, have you checked with the store or searched the grounds before arresting her?"
"No, and I don't need a civilian to do my job!"
"How bout this, I go check the area around the store and at the store. Give me directions and five minutes and if I don't come up with anything, you can arrest her."
"Fine. Five minutes, but if you don't find anything, I will arrest you for obstructing justice!" The officer gives me the directions and I go check out the store the midget who is called a Volus I learn. I walk up to the Salarian shopkeep and ask, "Did a Volus leave a credit chip in here?"
"Why yes, he purchased some drivers and forgot it. I didn't notice it was here until he had left. If you find him, please tell him I have it behind the counter."
"Thank you sir." I walk back to the group and say, "You left it in the store you dumbass. The shop keep is holding it for you."
The officer let's go of the Quarian arm and backs up. "Okay you are free to go, but I am watching you. Next time you get in trouble, I'm bringing you in for vagrancy."
As he starts to walk away, I call after him, "You sir, are a DICK!" He turns around and marches into my face. I have seem scarier drunk people then him.
"What did you say?!"
I flash my eyes a bright crimson red with an unearthly glow, flaming cracks start to spread up my neck to my face and I repeat myself with shifted vocal cords to have a deeper, more malice filled voice, "You sir, Are. A. Dick!" I growl out the last word. He flinches back from the sudden change. He starts to back away as I make my eye color slowly turn brighter crimson as it spreads to the white of my eyes.
I unleash my black wings which tear a four-inch holes in the back and then they unfold into their full form. The officer and the Volus bolts. Once they are out of sight, I change my features back to what they were and have my wings slide back in.
"Ah, nothing makes a man flee faster than a black angel. Seems that still hold true here." I turn to the Quarians, whose eyes are comically wide behind her mask. "You okay?" She slowly nods. "Cool! Well, now that's that is done, Kasumi! Let continue on!" I call back playfully point the way we were going.
I start walking the way to the port, ignoring all the stares I was now getting from the crowd that saw what I just did. Eh, might as well make an impression not to be fucked with. Kasumi steps up next to me and says, "You know, you mentioned wings, but I never thought they would be so... Badass!" We both fall into a fit of laughter as we walk to the docks.
"So, where do you think you got those wings from?"
"Well... I'm an orphan so I didn't know my parents, but I would hazard a guess and say one of them was either a demon or an angel, but judging by the type of wings they are, it would seem my parent mated with an angel of vengeance. Don't know how that would work, but don't care, got some kick ass wings out of the deal."
"Wait, angels and demons are real where you come from?"
"Yeah, there not here?" She shakes her head, "Oh... Well the gods are real too in my realm. They regularly talk to their worshipers... well if they feel like it. Death gave me the impression that being a god can be very boring and repetitive."
"I can see that. Anyways, we are here finally." We walk into an area and there is a rather small ship. Never seeing a space vehicle, I am impressed anyways by the size and complexity of everything. Thank the gods for my magical background. If I was some human fighter, with no experience in magic, I can see myself freaking the hell out when I got here.
We board the ship, I take the back seat and Kasumi takes the pilot one. Next thing I know, we are flying through space. After the amazement of being in space wears off, I sit down in the back and take a nap. Dying took a toll on me and plus I think I've been awake for about twenty-two hours.
I get flung forward into the pilot seats when Kasumi suddenly stop the aircraft and smash my face into the back of it. Groaning, I climb to me feet. She turns around and says, "Ah, your awake! Great! We just got here!"
Looking out the window, I see we have already docked at Omega. "Anyways, stay here. I got to go pick up your suit and identity for the party along with the gift." She doesn't wait for a reply and just heads out. I sigh and flop down back in my spot.
An hour and a nap later, Kasumi comes in with this... suit. It is all made out of silk and the shoes are shiny. She hands me the clothes and I put them on getting another set of wolf whistles from Kasumi as she watches. I have no modesty, so I did it there. I will walk around a city in just pants if I feel like and change clothes in front of a female. I think it comes with the ability to change into any body that you just don't care what you look like.
"Okay, now that you mostly look the part," I change into a clean-shaven older gentleman, "Now that you look the part, you are Solomon Gunn. An intergalactic gun dealer that is looking for contacts." I nod, acknowledging my back story. I do need to keep the talking to a minimum to make sure I don't give away my ignorance. "Your gift is a nearly perfect fake golden statue of a rogue... Elite... in the military. Saren. He was also one of his contacts, so this should impress Hock. That's the guy we are stealing from. Donovan Hock," She says his name with immense hate. "Inside the statue is a set of guns I stole for you. Just a standard assault rifle, nothing too fancy. Also we are going to send your clothes with it,"
"Okay, so I go in there, talk to Hock for a bit which you will... 'record' and use that to open the locks. Why aren't you in something formal? With that on, no lord... host would let you in. I think they have problems with not seeing people's faces. If this Hock is like you say he is, he would probably not let you in. Wouldn't it be better if you were on the floor with me instead of stalking around where if you get caught, that's it for the job? You could be disguised as my sister or wife. That would make sense."
"Whoops... Hold on that makes a lot more sense." She leaves and comes back in a few minutes with a dress on. A tight black dress that shows off her curves and toned body. Her hair done up in a bun. "okay, I like your story. I'll be Allison Gunn. The back story I set up did hint at a wife."
We get out of the ship and make our way to the "rapid transit" which seems to be this worlds wagon service, but with a flying car. We arrive just as the statue arrives. A rather impressive sculpture, not dwarf-grade, but by human standards, a masterpiece. As we are about to walk in, a guard stops us., "One moment sir, there seems to be an issue with the statue."
Before we could reply, a man walks down the steps asking, "is there a problem here?"
"No Mister Hock, just doing a scan."
"I don't believe we've met. Donovan Hock."
"Greetings sir. My name is Solomon Gunn and this is my lovely wife, Allison Gunn," I introduce us with as much charisma that my profession has given me while I lace my words with trust and ending with a slight bow. Enough to show respect, but not enough to show submission.
"Ah, I've heard a lot about you Mister Gunn, if the extranet is to be believed. Anyways, I don't believe these two would come all the way here to cause trouble, so you may pass. Please enjoy the party."
I smile and offer Kasumi my arm and we walk in. As we make our way around, Kasumi whispers to me, "Nicely done. Where did you learn to act like that?"
"I've been to a number of noble's balls as entertainment. As a changling, I have learned to watch and copy accents, style, mannerisms, the works and I just busted out an old one."
We mingle around a bit and map out the party. We easily find the vault and find that we need the voice, plus something called DNA and a password. After Kasumi gives me the basics of DNA, we go and try to get a voice sample from Hock.
Kasumi waits around the side ready to record and I go up to Hock. "Mr. Hock, I would like to thank you for allow us to join this party."
"I hope the affair at the gate didn't ruin your evening."
"Not at all, a man such as yourself has to be cautions. I would have done the same myself if it meant the safety of me and my guests." I give him an easy smile.
This starts him to give a speech that I listen to to get his mannerisms and speech pattern down. His accent sounds like a posh dwarf. After that, he subtly dismisses me and I wonder and mingle for a bit. Kasumi soon leads me to an open door. Going through the door closes and locks.
"Okay, behind that door is the security office. Do you think you can act as Hock and take out the guards?' I reach into my suit and bring out the dagger I got. A black non-reflective fixed blade. Morphing my face into Hock and hiding my hands behind my back, I take up his posture and stride into the office. The guards stand up and before they can talk, I slit one's throat and throw the dagger at the other, piercing his heart.
"Clear."
After some searching, we find out the password and where Hock's room is and to use Chief Roe to get in. Kasumi has her voice, so all should work. I change back and leave with Kasumi. No one the wiser that the two are dead. After some persuasion and another search, we find and get the sample of DNA from a datapad. This realm's books. We leave and go back to the vault and using all that we got and while I was killing people, Kasumi had cut the shield that she didn't tell me about. Not that I would have known what the hell she said.
Locking the room, we open the statue and change. Neither of us caring if the other saw us naked. After we are dressed in our outfits and have our guns, we enter the moving room which Kasumi calls an "Elevator" All I know is that it is SLOW! Finally we are let out in a room full of statues. Looking around for a bit, we find the thing Kasumi came for along with two guns. One for each of us.
Suddenly a large head pops out of no where. It's Hock. He starts to gloat and threaten Kasumi, so I draw my new gun and shoot one of his pots to shut him up. If they are in a vault, then it must be expensive. He starts shouting for the guards to kill me.
The door on the other side of the room slides open and I start shooting at them with Kasumi as she ducks behind cover. I call out an insult and lace it with power causing all who hear it to grasp their head as they slowly die from the mental attack. Their shields doing nothing to help. They all die due to the attack and I loot their bodies. Finding a few grand in credits. I also steal the chief's shield and with Kasumi's help, integrate it into my omni-tool so I now had something to protect me and a good shield at that.
We continue on. I had already explained what a bard could do with a few simple words to Kasumi. The next rooms held some enemies and giant fucking robots that we had to gun down. The shield really came in handy here. I don't know how many times I would have outright died if not for that shield taking the round for me. A bullet to the head would not have been pleasant.
We enter a large room with vehicles spewed all around it. The fire fight did not last long as they were just minor grunts of some mercenary group. No big deal. Kasumi tells me to use the cannon to blow through a wall. She points to a vehicle with a long tube on top with an opening at the back. Hopping in, I see a stick with a red trigger like button, another button with "activate" on it and a screen with the wall on it.
First, I press the second button and the machine powers up. Okay, you can do this. I assume the other trigger-like one fires the thing so I hit it. My ears almost shatter from the noise, but the wall is now gone. Looking though the hole I made, I see about five dismembered bodies. That's just a bad day for them.
I stumble out of the cannon and meet up with Kasumi and we continue on our wide-spread killing spree.
We finally make it outside and suddenly a large ship comes up and starts tearing up the ground with automatic fire. I dive behind cover as Hock mocks us. I launch a few words filled with domination in them at him. Thanks to the speakers in the gunship, he heard me fine and followed the directions. The ones that said, "Kill yourself."
"Yes Sire," I heard his monotone voice over the speakers then a bark of gunfire. The gunship started to spiral out of control and crashed into the ground, exploding on impact. All that was left was kill the panicking mercenaries.
After that was done, Kasumi's contact showed up with a shuttle to get us away and back to the main parts of the city. In the shuttle, Kasumi starts to watch the recording she picked up. Once done, she asks me, "this has incriminating stuff and Keiji told me to destroy it, but I don't know what to do?!"
"Just keep it and hide it. It seems to mean a lot to you and if you want to keep it, do so." She gives me a smile and goes back to reading and watching whats in the piece of hardware.
When we get off the ship, we head to the nearby bar for a bite to eat to celebrate a job well done. Barring the large amount of causalities. Kasumi turns to me, "So what now for you dead man? Want to part ways or continue the life of a thief?"
I look around the area we are in and see mercenaries and drunk people. All of whom are armed to the teeth with weapon. "yeaah... I think I'd rather be a thief then try and entertain this crowd. I think if I give a bad performance I may get shot. So you've got yourself a partner." I reach out to shake on it which she enthusiastically takes.
