Five Seconds

Chapter 10: Asari Gumbo

Authors Note: Thank you for everyone that sent a review, it is all very much appreciated. Also a thanks to the person that pointed out my error in chapter five, I keep thinking of Purgatory as the bar on the citadel in the third game and can't imagine it being repeated twice (shows what I know). As I said all grammar flubs are my own, and I do not own anything in the Mass Effect Series (Except Daemon I guess _ he was my idea after all).

He woke up an achy sensation all across his body. His green eyes slowly opening, staring up at the ceiling, head pounding from the strain of practice. He sat up carefully, mindful of his ribs as he sighed. He kept his button up shirt unbuttoned, looking down at his wrap, he thought it would be best to get a change of clothing and bandages. Standing up he walked towards the door, opening wide as he almost walked into someone he had to guess was a quarian from the enviro-suit.

"O-Oh! S-Sorry," The speaker toned voice said, making her a female he assumed, now seeing the rest of her body confirmed his suspicions.

"No I'm sorry, Colonel Daemon Heraldson, can I help you?" He asked, his head tilting to the side, wondering what a stranger needed from him.

"S-Shepard s-said I should meet the r-rest of the c-crew, T-Tali'Zorah vas Neemah," She stuttered, holding out her hand, he noticed how she only had three fingers.

He didn't want to stare so he reached out, taking her hand as best as possible, and shaking it noting that she didn't squeeze that hard. "You're the first quarian I've met, so I apologize if I say anything that's offensive in your culture," He said.

"A-Ah don't worry about it, S-Shepard t-told me a-about your situation…I-I'm really sorry, I-I can't imagine what t-that is like," the quarian responded.

"Are you alright?" He asked. He wasn't sure if she had a stutter, or if there was something else wrong.

"No! I mean, yes," She said quickly, if he had to guess she must have taken a deep breath before she continued, by changing the subject, "Shepard wanted me to let you know that Jack is acting up in the engineer deck…"

That made him frown, "Is she alright?" he asked. What could have happened from between the time she left and now?

"I don't know, Keelah I went to meet her and she screamed curses at me! I thought she was going to kill me," She said, placing her hand over her heart as if the thought made her jump.

He reached up, rubbing his ear at the word 'Keelah' the translator must have acted up at that moment cause he wasn't sure what that meant. "I'll try to talk to her then, thank you Miss…Neemah?" he asked unsure.

"Oh please!" She started, "Call me Tali, Neemah is the name of the ship I was stationed on."

"Alright Tali," He said with a nod of his head, "It's a pleasure meeting you."

"Oh! Before I forget Shepard thought you'd like to come see Illium," She added before she turned to let him through.

"I'll see if I can get Jack to come along with, some air might help," He said before he walked towards the elevator, "Thank you for coming to see me Tali."

The last glimpse he had of her was her head tilted down, was that…in a shy way? He pressed the button for the fourth floor, sighing as the door closed.

"Looks like you got her hot and bothered," A voice suddenly came from his left. He practically jumped, his head whipping around to see Kasumi standing next to him, giving that once over she sometimes did, "And I don't blame her with how you're dressed," she pointed out at him.

He looked down, realizing his chest was showing, he quickly started to button up, feeling embarrassed, he was going to get the bandaging changed so he hadn't bothered buttoning. That was why she was acting strangely he finally realized. "I didn't mean to do that," he said, buttoning up just until the neck.

"Of course you didn't," she said in a relaxed tone, "doesn't change the fact that you did, and Jack seems to be….irritated with something."

"Any idea about what?" He asked, seeing that they were just about to hit the fourth floor.

"I don't know, I certainly wasn't about to pry," She said, placing a hand on her chest, "I'm curious not suicidal, just be careful when you go down there."

"I'll keep that in mind," He promised, the elevator making a soft ding as the doors opened. He stepped out, looking to the left he saw Zaeed fingering his gun as if he was expecting a charging krogan. Which might have been the case, his head jerking to the left, nope, Grunt was standing by the door as well, nose flared and looking combat ready.

"She's been cussin' since last night," Zaeed said, "Anyone that tries to go down there gets even more cusses from 'er"

"I can smell the anger from here tank brother," Grunt sniffed, "best be careful."

Almost on cue he could hear the swearing from behind the doors, a tingle of fear sliding up his spine. The hate behind those words was so much, she could have been screaming rainbows and kittens and no one would dare to go down there. He looked over at Zaeed and then Grunt, "I'll be careful," he said, clearing his throat as he delved into the lion's den.

"Fucking shit holes!" She cursed, pacing back and forth; she'd been pacing back and forth all night, her mind buzzing with the information that she found in the Cerberus files. Her hands rubbing at her skull, her fingers flexing, she wanted to…wanted to… "SHIT!" She shouted out loud before she stopped, seeing him standing there. Her anger was already boiling over and she sure as hell wasn't going to let him stop her, "Get the FUCK out of here!" she shouted at him.

She expected him to move, shout back, tell her to 'calm down', but he just…stood there. The only thing on him that moved was his green eyes when they blinked slowly.

That stunned her for a moment before she gritted her teeth, "I ain't fucking kidding, leave or I swear I'll shoot you in five seconds!" she threatened pulling out her gun, pointing it straight at his leg.

Anyone else that would have made them flinch back, move, or leave. He just….kept fucking standing there. His face said nothing, but there was a hint of amusement at the 'five seconds' comment.

She stood there, pointing the gun at him, her fingers twitching around on the trigger, five seconds slowly passed. She just cursed explosively tossing her gun away shouting, "SAY SOMETHING GODDAMMIT!"

He said nothing for a moment slowly walking towards her he stopped, looking down at her, his green eyes reflecting her face, she felt her chest tighten for reasons she wasn't sure about. "What's wrong Jack?" He finally asked not angry, not irritated, just…calm.

The over flowing anger was suddenly capped off, it was hard to keep shouting at someone when they were wouldn't reciprocate. Her jaw worked up and down as she reached up, grasping her head as she started to pace, "I've got these…things crawling about in my head and they won't stop!" She suddenly turned towards him, walking past as she went to sit on the stairs, her fingers clasping together, her anger threatening to boil up again.

"Will you tell me about it?" She heard him ask, he had followed her, staying standing as she felt his eyes looking into hers.

She clenched her fingers together to keep them from moving, turning her head to look to the side. "You know I have history with Cerberus," she started, "do you know how far back it goes?"

He just shook his head, signifying he had no idea. She didn't expect him to know, it was more of a way for her to start to tell the rest of her story. "Shepard's pal the Illusive Man? Never seen him before, but Cerberus raised me. First thing I remember is my cell door in a Cerberus base," She said.

She watched as he moved closer, his eyes clearly showing that he was paying attention. "They did experiments" she continued. "Drugged me. Tortured me. Whatever chance I had to be normal, they stole it by trying to turn me into some super-biotic," she looked past him, feeling the memories start to bubble up from the mire. "The doctors…the other kids…Every one of them hated me," she said as her teeth clenched, her anger rising, "They let me suffer."

"They just tortured you?" He asked. Did she catch a bit of anger in his voice? "What point was there in that?"

"Something about pain breaking down mental barriers," She explained, "and how it might clear the way for more biotic power." She spat on the metal flooring as she sat "I'm sure there was a payoff due at some point, but I wasn't going to see it, I was wired up in a cell."

"They ruined a little girls life just to make a strong biotic?" He asked sounding stunned.

"Wasn't in a position to ask Daemon," She took a deep breath before she added, "All I know is…a little girl crying in a cell…begging for the pain to stop…" She felt her throat clench, closing her eyes, she was not going to think about that, not now.

She felt something touch her shoulder, turning her head she saw him sitting down next to her brown eyes looking into his green pools. She felt her face grow hot, suddenly jerking away from him, standing up as she left him sitting on the step. He didn't follow, but there was a look of apology on his face.

What was…with him? He made no sense, that hand was placed there in a romantic intention it was…comforting. She didn't like it; it wasn't familiar. Not since…

"What about the other children?" He suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

She appreciated the interruption, looking over at him, "I didn't know much about them," she answered, "I was kept separate, and they hated me just like everyone else there." She felt a sneer twitching at her lips as she said, "When I broke out, I had to fight through them all, I showed them, but there's a loose end I need to deal with."

"How did you get away?" He asked.

"There was some kind of emergency," she answered, her mind going back to that day as she talked about it, "I made a break for it, the other kids came out of their cells, and attacked me, guards included." She took a deep breath to push it back down as she said, "I just killed everything in my way and ran, guess my biotics had developed faster than they thought." "I managed to get a shuttle off the ground, drifted in space until a freighter picked me up…the crew used me, then sold me…" She finally finished, looking at him, "That's my uplifting escape story," she made sure to let that last bit to ooze with sarcasm.

"I don't know about the kids, but the men had it coming to them," she heard him say, the dark look in his eyes made her perk a brow.

"Well they got it," she said, her lips curling into a wicked grin, "Turns out, mess with someone's head enough and you can turn a scared kid into an all-powerful bitch…fucking idiots."

"You've been holding this in all your life Jack…what got you riled up?" Daemon asked.

"I found the coordinates in the files," she said as she started to pace back and forth. "I want to go to the Teltin facility on Pragia, where they tortured and drugged me," Her words coming out of her in a rush now, a spurt of anger coming to her as she continued, "I want to go to the center of the place, my cell, I want to deploy a big fucking bomb and I want to watch from orbit when it goes." Her hands exaggerating the size of the bomb as she walked towards Daemon.

She could see the wheels going in his mind as he thought about it before he said, "Cerberus are a bunch of terrorists, blowing up one of their facilities and killing people just makes us as bad as them."

She just shook her head, "The files say it was shut down after my escape, it's been abandoned for years, the only thing we're gonna fucking terrorize are a few squirrels."

She thought that he would tell her to leave it behind, to get over it, but instead he stood up, walking down the steps, standing in front of her. "I'll talk to the Commander if you want me to…convince her to take us to this facility as soon as possible," he said.

Her jaw dropped just a little, working up and down, she looked to the side, murmuring "I'd owe you another one Daemon…" Her eyes closed to keep her emotions from showing in her treacherous eyes.

She felt his hand touch her shoulder, lightly, this time as she heard his voice in her ear, "I told you Jack…you don't owe me anything." Silence followed for a moment before she heard him again, "Shepard wants me to come with her onto this planet called Illium…why not come with? You could use the fresh air."

She thought about it honestly for a moment, but then she just shook her head, "I need time alone…figure this shit out…" she said.

"Alright…we practice again when I get back?" he asked, his footsteps already fading away as he climbed the steps, the door opening then closing.

"Yeah sure…" she said to herself, her eyes finally opening as tears started to spill out from her eyes, smearing her mascara once again. Walking over to her bed she buried her face into her pillow, curling up into a ball. Weeping alone once again.

"You sure about this?" Shepard asked one more time, watching Joker as he sat on a hovering chair.

"Yeah why not? Could use a little fresh air," the crippled pilot said, floating over to the air lock with her, Garrus, and Tali.

She wasn't concerned with him ending up in a combat situation, not in the slightest since they were only going out to shop for supplies, and to visit an old friend of theirs. Liara.

The Illusive Man told her how the asari was working with the Shadow Broker, and therefore couldn't be trusted. She just couldn't imagine sweet innocent Liara working for someone like him, or her, but then again she thought Kaiden would be excited to see her….she immediately had to cut off that line of thinking.

Why she was surprised at Jokers sudden need for fresh air was that the pilot rarely left the ship, hell, she wasn't sure if he ever left that chair. Which gave her one or two unpleasant images that made her shudder internally.

"Commander," She suddenly heard Daemons voice coming from behind her, turning he saw him. He was wearing a green leather jacket, the word 'Rangers' stitched on his shoulder. It was something she found while on the Citadel, but with all the things happening lately she had forgotten to give it to him until earlier.

"Colonel," She said back to him, nodding her head. "Ready to see another new world?" She asked.

"As ready as I will ever be," he responded. She watched as the black haired man looked over at Joker, "Mr. Monroe," he said in a formal tone.

"Call me Joker, Ice cube," he said.

"Joker…" Shepard started, thinking of pushing over the pilots hover chair.

"I take it back, I take it back," he said, waving his hand in a calming manner.

She watched as Daemon just perked a brow up at the pilot, shrugging his shoulders saying, "Okay Joker."

"Alright then, let's get going," She turned, Garrus, Tali, and Joker moving on right ahead of her.

Just as she was about to join them when she heard, "Commander, can I talk to you for a second alone?"

She turned around to see Daemon standing close to her as if he didn't want anyone else to hear. "Sure what's up?" She said, crossing her arms.

She listened as he told her about his conversation with Jack. She was frowning by the time he finished; he seemed to be rather intent on helping Jack. "I'll put the coordinates into the navigation," she promised, "But it will have to wait, Jacob and Miranda came to me with problems of their own as well, and I'm taking them one at a time, fair?"

Daemon looked down at the ground, she watched him bite his bottom lip before he nodded, saying, "Fair…I just…know what it's like…needing closure…" He looked up at her before he asked, "Commander, did you send me an email?"

Her brows furrowed at the sudden question, shaking her head, "No I didn't, why?"

"I got an anonymous email…someone took the time to get a picture of my house…in this present…" he said, the look in his eyes intense, "Commander, my home is out there…I…need to go there."

She didn't like the sound of that, anything anonymous on her ship wasn't something she liked. "I don't like the sound of that Daemon, it's too suspicious," She said.

"It's a risk I need to take Shepard, please," the sound of his voice, he was almost…begging, eyes becoming glossy.

It was then she realized this was the first time he's called her 'Shepard'. She took a deep breath; reaching her hand up she rubbed her brow. "When we can we'll go back to Earth…I promise," she said.

"Thank you….Commander," he said, correcting himself as he saluted her.

"I think I liked it better when you called me Shepard…Daemon," She said with a smile.

Daemon cleared his throat, reaching back he rubbed the back of his head, "Well…" he started before he just swallowed.

She just chuckled as she shook her head, "C'mon" she said, "let's get going."

Illium wasn't what he expected. It made him imagine how Cloud City from Star Wars would have looked like. With all the white towers, white floors, it was just…white. It turned out while he and Shepard were talking an asari had approached the group and told them that a Liara T'Soni had paid all fees for their docking. Apparently the woman was an information broker and her office was above the 'trade market floor'. Shepard was all the more excited after hearing that, Garrus and the rest of the group as well. Apparently they had been close before from what he heard of their chatting.

He stayed silent while they talked, being the odd man out in the group made him feel a bit off. But soon enough as they walked through the market, something started to bother him. It was clear to him after only a few minutes being there that this was a place heavily populated with asari…but he started to feel confused. They passed a volus, which made him think of an overly large gopher, and an asari talking about what he had to assume were stocks. It was amazing that even over 170 years in the future people still had those kinds of things, even in alien society. From all he'd seen, aliens were just like humans, just different.

Instead of going through the rest of the market they veered to the right, walking past what must have been and door and going up stairs. When they reached the top they were greeted by what must have been a secretary.

The woman stood up and then spoke in a rather peculiar voice, "Hello Commander Shepard" She said, "Liara will be pleased to see you."

Shepard looked at the woman peculiarly for a moment before she jerked her thumb at the door, "Is she in?" she asked.

The woman nodded her head, "Oh yes," she said, "Liara has been working so hard lately she hardly leaves her office, such a determined woman."

Daemon couldn't help but wonder if this woman was fawning over this Liara, or was being sarcastic; it was a very blurry line in his mind.

He gave the woman a long look as they turned away from her, he could almost feel a chilling sensation on the back of his neck. He tried to shake it off…but he had a bad feeling about that woman. As the door to what must have been Liara's office he thought back to what Shepard said about the woman. From her point of view this asari was a saint that would cry at the sight of a dead kitten…well so would he, but that wasn't the point. The woman should be, as Shepard put it, "A cute softy"

As soon as the door opened he got an entirely different impression of the woman, "Have you ever faced an asari commando unit before?" this 'softy' said in the most sinister voice he'd heard outside of a movie, "Few humans have," she said. He watched as the asari tapped at a data pad before she said, "I'll make it simple, either you pay me, or I flay you alive…With my mind," she emphasized before she cut off communications.

He finally got to see her face when she turned around. A lot of asari looked alike to him, and he thought that it was because of how he hadn't seen many. However, when he saw her face it was obvious that she wasn't a normal looking asari, her face was more…unique, beautiful, her blue eyes and blue lips, if he was ever into aliens she probably would have been the one to do it. Her sinister face suddenly vanished as soon as she saw Shepard, suddenly saying something to her creepy secretary about 'Holding her calls'. She then in turn hugged Shepard, for a rather long time he noted, then Garrus, then Tali, and then Joker.

When it came to him he could tell that she was giving him a once over as if he was something curious. "Colonel Daemon Heraldson," he introduced himself to avoid an awkward silence, going with an offering of a hand shake.

"Liara T'soni," She said in turn, shaking his hand. It wasn't a soft weak shake, but firm and confident. He watched as she turned, walking back over to her desk.

What proceeded that made him feel rather out of the loop. It was all going 'back in the day' talking about their past missions or catching up. Just when he couldn't handle it any more he felt a hand tug on his jacket. Looking down he saw Joker looking up at him, jerking his head to the side as if saying 'Let's go' he turned his head looking over at Shepard before he said, "Hey Commander, me and the Colonel are going to take a bit of a walk." She just looked over her shoulder, nodding her head before she turned back to talk with Liara.

"You didn't need to come with me you know Joker," He said as they moved down the steps.

"Yeah well nostalgia is nice, but it can get a bit boring after a while," He replied, shifting in his floating wheel chair.

They moved back onto the trade floor, standing near the railing, looking out over Illium. It was an indeed a beautiful planet, but as he looked around at the asari women he couldn't help but feel confused again. "Joker…I have a possibly dumb question," He said as he looked down at the pilot.

"Oh well then I'm definitely the one you want to ask," he said, looking up at him with a smirk.

Daemon considered not asking…but he had to know, "I've only been seeing asari women ever since I've woken up…where are the men?" he asked.

The silence that followed was rather palpable, he started to wonder if Joker was going to even answer when: "Be careful how loud you ask that question," he said in a serious tone that he didn't expect from the pilot.

Daemon looked down at the man, his face matching the tone. "….Why?" he asked.

Joker looked over his shoulder for a moment before he started to whisper, "They keep them hidden in asari space as slaves."

His eyes widened as he heard that, "The council allows slavery?" he asked stunned.

"Shhhhh!" he placed his finger over his lips with an intensity. "It's not considered slavery to them, more like culture," he continued, "They've been like this for ages."

"Why do they do that to them?" Daemon asked, finally slipping into a whisper of his own.

"Like I said culture…" Joker replied before he added, "They use them for a lot of things…and when breeding season comes around…well let's just say they offer more than just asari males."

"….What?" He asked stunned.

"Asari are practically capable to have children with any race," Joker explained. "To keep up genetic diversity they'll take human males, drell, turians, even krogan if they can get their hands on them," he said in a whisper before he looked over his shoulder and added, "and I think it's getting close to the season."

His eyes widened, looking over his shoulder quickly, his mind shooting back to how Liara looked at him. "Oh my God I'm going to get abducted," He thought, eyes darting back and forth at the other asari.

"They can refuse to put out though," Joker said, breaking his thought process.

"What happens to the humans that refuse?" he asked, rather scared to know if he had to be honest.

"Calamari gumbo is a delicacy in asari space," Joke responded.

He swallowed hard, his eyes now looking at every asari with suspicion; he wanted to get back on the Normandy now. To his relief Shepard and the rest of the group were already coming towards them. "Liara knows that Thane Krios and Samara came here," Shepard said, "But it's going to take her a day to find out how we can contact them."

"Alright, we're heading back to the Normandy right?" He asked, trying to hide how anxious he was to feel the confines of the ship around him right now.

Shepard lifted a brow at him before she nodded her head, "Yes we are, you alright?"

"Oh yeah sure," Daemon nodded his head, suddenly turning before he suddenly walked in the direction to the Normandy.

Shepard looked down at Joker, "What's wrong with him?"

"No idea," he said with a shrug.

She wasn't sure what she had expected when she went to go see Liara, but it certainly wasn't that. It felt like deja vu when she walked into the room, hearing the same words her mother had used before they had fought to the death. The soft sweet Liara had changed into a cold woman that would break your knee cap…or flay you with her mind. She was slowly starting to not recognize her old team. Even Tali was different, but in a good way at least. She was amazed how the changes bothered her.

It had been a few hours since they got back onto the Normandy and Shepard couldn't stay still. She had talked with Mordin when they got back on and found out that he had problems of his own. A student of his, Malone, had been kidnapped by krogan on Tuchanka. Everyone seemed to be having something they needed, even Daemon. She stood in the elevator as she went down to the crew deck, that message that Daemon got worried her the most. Who sent it? It must have been someone closely related to this mission, the only people even aware of his existence were only a handful of people. Not to mention why would they do that? What was the angle? All these thoughts going through her mind as the elevator door opened.

She turned to the left as she saw Daemon walking out of his room, giving a nod to him. He was wearing his same white shirt and camo pants, she couldn't help but feel worry for him.

They walked together towards Mr. Gardner, where to her surprise she would find Joker sitting at a stool. "Joker what are you doing down here?" She asked.

"Hey Commander, Colonel, Gardner just wanted someone to try something he cooked up, so I volunteered, why don't you both try?" he asked, patting a stool next to him.

"Finally making use of the groceries I got eh Gardner?" She asked as she sat down, Daemon joining her.

"I picked up a few things while we were docked, here!" he placed three bowls with bits of meat in a broth.

The three of them took a bite; she had to admit it was rather delicious, nodding her head as she took another scoop. "What is it?" Daemon asked as he also scooped up another bit.

"Calamari Gumbo," Gardner said, Shepard heard a clatter of a spoon, looking over she saw that Daemon turned a little green. Gardner didn't seem to notice, "It's an asari recipe, seems a bit cannibalistic what with-"

Daemon suddenly jumped off the stool, running as if hell were on his heels before he disappeared behind the corner. She could hear the violent vomiting from her seat.

"Their tentacles and all…" Gardner finished.

"Wonder what got into him," She heard Joker say.

Authors Note: So ends this chapter! Sorry it took so long, I've been a bit busy, real life is a bitch sometimes. I thought this was the best way to have Joker and the Colonel bond for the first time :3. Please review and tell me what you think!