Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Crisis Core copyright Squaresoft/Square-enix.

**** Saxon's POV ****

I was slowly drifting off to sleep on the couch when I heard a knock on the door. Who the bloody hell could that be at this hour? I slowly got up and lumbered to the door. I looked into the door eye and could not believe what I saw.

"Fyoderova!" was all I could come up with to say when I opened the door. She just stared at me with no visible reaction.

"Would you like to come in?" I offered; she didn't respond. I haven't even heard a sound from her since that night in London. I stood near the door for a few minutes, and then went to sit down on the couch and turn on the TV. I was slowly zoning out to the newscaster's fast talk about politics. My eyes were just about closed when I was pulled back to Earth by the sound of the door closing. Not really sure what that was about, but ok. I should probably go to sleep soon. I felt the couch cushion shift away from me slightly; she finally decided to come in. There was an uneasy silence for a couple of minutes; I gave up on waiting and broke the silence myself.

"So… how did you find me?" I asked; to repeat the same action and expect different results is madness. She never said anything when I first met her; she never even said anything when I saved her life in Montreal. She wasn't going to say anything now; I was just going to have to accept that. I waited a few minutes for her to answer, and then started walking to the bedroom.

"Thank you." I thought I was hearing things. Did she just say something? I turned around to see her looking me in the eye. I opened my mouth to speak, but I suddenly lost my grasp on the language so no words came out.

"Montreal. Thank you." She repeated. I was still speechless; my mind was completely silent as well. There was no way this was reality. Surely I just had too much to drink and now I'm just dreaming of what I wished I could witness.

"I couldn't just watch you die." memories of Montreal floated through my mind.

"It's bloody late, so I'm going to hit the sack. I'll see you in the morning if you're still here." I said as I resumed walking to my bedroom. Does this mean my illusion of a normal life is over? I don't know if seeing her show up here after all this time is a good thing. I was starting to mentally debate the meaning of Fyoderova's appearance when I felt the soft embrace of another person.

"Why?" Fyoderova's voice was almost a whisper.

"No one really chooses to work for Jaron. We are forced by life and circumstances to choose him. I know you didn't really like working for him; but you knew if you left he would come after you, like he did after me. I wanted you to have another chance at life." I explained the reason for my decision in Montreal; which ultimately may have jeopardized my attempt at a normal life. My answer was the sound of relaxed, rhythmic breathing; like that of someone who is asleep. I carefully walked her over to my bed and laid her down; I guess my queen-size bed wasn't entirely useless. Finally some shut-eye. I thought as I lay down.

I woke up to a needle of sunshine poking through a hole in my window blinds. I turned over to see Fyoderova still asleep; although she woke up a few seconds after I turned over. After she realized she was on my bed, she blushed and had a really embarrassed look on her face.

"Don't get your Tai Yong tighties in a twist, we didn't do anything. You fell asleep on my shoulder so I decided to walk you to my room since it was closer than the couch; and more comfortable." I explained dismissively. She turned away from me but stayed on the bed. Everyone is out kicking doors and killing people, and I'm just sitting here with an emotionally sensitive assassin on my bed. I was about to get up when I heard the herald of the end of my normal life.

"Bratan, you are needed again." Janus's crackly Russian accent came into my head through the infolink.

"No. I am done. I am trying to live a normal life. Key word 'trying'. A certain someone from the past showed up to my doorstep yesterday; I let them in, possibly against better judgment." I did not miss working for the Tyrants one bit; although it felt good to flip Jaron the bird by destroying those tracking systems and stealing one of his pilots. Janus did help me out a lot by getting me through mine and Anna's rough patch during the neuropozyne shortage.

"That certain someone is your partner for your next mission." Janus answered several of my questions about my new guest with that one line, and raised several new ones. I let out a heavy sigh.

"What is the mission?" I asked. On one hand, I felt like I owed Janus for all that he's helped me with and asked for nothing in return; on the other hand, I know if I come back for 'one mission', I won't be able to just leave after that 'one mission'.

"You are going to help Zack Fair escape Shinra custody so that he can take them down." Janus gave me the basics.

"Well if he was captured by them this time, how is he going to take them down after I help him escape?" I didn't feel like rescuing someone just for them to go back to where I rescued them from; seemed like wasted effort.

"He has made progress in fighting against them, but he cannot do it alone. He needs help; just as you did in blinding that suka Jaron. Shinra is a company comparable to Belltower, so the task of dismantling it is not for any one man." Janus gave me a little more detail; I felt like I had to talk for 30 minutes to get 2 minutes worth of information every time he gave me a mission.

"I have sent the coordinates to you. Udachi, bratan." Janus wished me good luck and his face faded from my infolink. I grabbed my assault rifle and ammo belt out of the closet and headed for the bedroom door.

"Fyoderova, I have been informed we are to go on a rescue mission in Detroit. We are to head out as soon as possible. Are you ready?" I delivered the main point of Janus's call. Fyoderova got up and nodded silently. She followed me on my way to the front door but stopped to pull her two machine pistols out from under the couch.

"There are four clips in my nightstand. You're welcome to them." I offered; I wasn't expecting her to have any ammo since she just showed up from God knows where. We headed out to the roof of my apartment complex; there was a helicopter already waiting for us.

**** Zack's POV ****

I thought I was doing better this time, but I again did not have any real plan. That doesn't matter, though. No amount of planning could have prepared me to see Aerith working for Shinra; let alone fight her. I thought as I lay in my E.M.P. bed; after the show at the testing bunker, I was transferred to a hyper-security cell. They had limited my augmentations so much; it took some effort to even breathe. Why didn't I realize that the gas may be flammable? Maybe if I didn't blow myself up, I would still have my freedom. I was worried about the others; Cissnei, Jensen, Sarif, Pritchard. They must be worried sick.

"Critical system failure. This is not a dr-urrrrr…" A voice chimed and then faded to a stop; the way a talking kid's toy does when the battery dies. I felt like I could breathe normally again; even get up if I wanted to.

"Now is your chance, chuvak. There are a lot of people counting on your success and survival. You must escape this lab and go on to destroy Shinra." A crackly voice with a heavy Russian accent came through my infolink; the picture was an outline of a face made from pixels.

"Who are you?" I asked my mystery caller; this was seriously not the time for prank calls.

"You will find out in time if the need arises. It is who you are that is important right now. You are the person that will take down Shinra; and end their oppression of millions of people. But I know you cannot do it alone. Help is on the way. Your equipment is in the next hallway. Do vstrechi, chuvak." The crackly voice was very vague except for the part about my equipment; then vanished as if he never called in the first place.