I'm genuinely upset with my isp at the moment: I was ready to get this chapter up and posted a couple of weeks back, but they decided that it was the perfect to come by and shut it off. Evidently I had late fees and other notices that were due without me knowing about them not receiving any mail about anything that was wrong. Turns out, there was an error in their system that showed that I still owed them money, when that was a late fee from last month that I paid in full, but someone, somewhere, didn't get the memo that my service SHOULDN'T be shut off. That and the Covid-19 virus that is currently going through the country has everything in a mess, which made my situation more complicated than what it needed to be.

Life just gets to you sometimes, you know?

Moving on from that, this chapter was tedious as hell to get through and I'm not really satisfied with how everything turned out: I had written and rewritten this entire chapter several times over, scrapped ideas, added some, removed entire sections and replaced them with others, reworded everything else, and still had make sure that all of the points in the chapter were met.

Basically, over forty thousand words went into this nine and a half thousand word count chapter.

Mind you, this chapter takes place DURING the last one, similar to a chapter that acted as filler while Shepard was doing Miranda's loyalty mission.

Review Time:

Blaze: Most of the time, these people get used to the fact that they work for someone so powerful that they forget common sense and all logic goes out the window once they're assigned an "easy job" that needs to be done asap. Considering that she was meant to take out a "broken" Spectre and a "cripple", it can be assumed that she could get through with this mission with ease. She was wrong.

Guest: Generally, most chapters from here on out will be above the five thousand word count (most often it's always above six thousand), but with this new update schedule, yeah it SHOULD be safe assume that these chapters will be a bit longer. As for them getting employed by Liara after Shepard gets arrested, sadly no, but they will stay in touch with her. Devin and Jay will do their own things after Shepard leaves.

Captain: Which is exactly why this Shepard has his old gear Spectre gear back! The whole "we don't use magazines because they add unnecessary weight to our gear, we use thermal clips because they function in the same exact way as a magazine" was a big pet peeve for me during my many playthroughs of ME2 and 3. And the system you described was exactly what my friends and I thought as well. As for Justin going Sherlock and Johnny Cage on those people, I'm glad that at least one person caught that. I envisioned him as a happy go lucky individual that would rather talk his way through things if it meant that everyone can go home that night, but if it came down to it, when the man snaps, his military training takes over and he goes on autopilot as he lets his training take over his actions. Think of it as a form of PTSD from the Elysium raids.

Dark: Glad to finally have caught your attention after all these chapters! Hope they live up to your expectations and thank you kindly for the compliments!

Here you go Blaze, hope this chapter is to your liking, even after all that's happened to it.


Chapter Twenty-Six: A Recollection of Events

"Hey Devin, what did you call me in for?" Jay asked, walking through the elevator doors as he seen both Devin and Tulma at the small table near his bed, both of whom had a serious face on their features.

After being waved over by the older gear, Jay walked over and pulled out a chair for himself to sit in, raising an eyebrow as Devin stared at him with both hands clasped together on the table.

Before speaking however, Tulma had nodded at Devin and placed a fairly decent sized device on the middle of table, activating it via her omni-tool as the machine came to life, producing a dull droning noise as Tulma proceeded to place a couple of spare power cells close by for future use.

Future use as in they're going to be used for whatever this session is about.

"This machine completely scrubs any audio that is currently recording us; EDI, for example, isn't able to hear us. Just watch." Devin tells him, motioning to the device as he looks around the hanger bay.

"Justin made this device specifically for use on the Normandy; how he got it to work I'll never know. For instance: Hey EDI, did you know that Joker has developed yet another kink in the form of synthetic or android women? I'd watch out from here on out."

The room is met with silence as the dull, low droning noise is the only thing audible as Devin nodded to himself in satisfaction.

"… is that even true?" Tulma asked, the look on her face is the equivalent of mild disgust and slight concern that Jay also had on his.

Devin laughed as he shook his head at the question, telling them that it was something that he had made up, but wouldn't be surprised if he did turn out to be into that stuff.

"I do advise wearing a helmet or something that can mask your mouths, because I'm like a hundred percent sure that EDI can read lips and turian vocal patterns from footage."

Jay can already tell that this was going to go deep; if they were wanting and willing to go this far to make sure that the resident AI couldn't be hearing or reading up on their conversation, then it was going to be about something private.

"Now that we all have our gear on," Devin started, his helmet firmly secured on his head as Tulma equipped hers, leaving Jay wearing a simple face mask to conceal his lips, "you're going to tell us how you came here; I believe that we already discussed this, but it was never in great detail. And this machine is only going to be used for the first portion of this conversation, okay?"

Jay, for his part, remained stone faced at the question, only averting his eyes to Tulma as the two of them waited patiently for him to answer.

"Don't be worried about Tulma here; she and Garrus are already aware of us coming from Sera, that we were in the COG, and everything else in between. Now, with that out of the way; we both know you were at the Ilima City ruins, found the teleporter and came here. What we don't know is what you've done since then, before Shepard, Samara, and I found you standing over Morinth's dead body. And while we're at it, tell us what happened with Kasumi, because I noticed that she seems to be… fulfilled or content for whatever reason."

Jay was slightly taken back at the revelation that there were two others abord the ship that knew about his and Devin's origins, but ultimately decided that the man had a good enough reason to let them in on their secret.

Taking a deep breath, Jay asks if there was any water around because it was going to definitely take awhile for him to explain everything.


Jay held his head in pain, groaning and nearly throwing up after taking his helmet off as he propped himself against a couple of crates that came with him, looking around as he tried to make sense of where he was and how he had got to where he is now.

"Is this… is this somewhere near Jacinto? In it even? Jacinto should've been sunk… unless it's a fortified bunker, which is plausible. But… working lights?" The man spoke to himself, looking around as he had no idea on his current whereabouts, but figured that he needed to check and see what were inside the crates as he was hoping that he left nothing important behind.

The first crate that the man propped open held a single robot, though heavily modified than its counterparts, and the other one held something that was functionally more valuable, a fabricator that he "borrowed" from his time working under Jinn.

Closing both crates and making sure that they were promptly secured, Jay had discovered that his boltok and torque bow had traveled with him, prompting the man to grab them and make sure that they were still in functioning condition before scouting the surrounding area for anything that could tell him about where he was. He was hoping that he could find a way back to wherever he came from, if not, then he'll have to do it the old-fashioned way.

Walking back home.

It had been a couple of hours, with Jay back in the alleyway that he had found himself in, and the man had to take a seat on one of the crates as the revelation that he was no longer anywhere back home and had found himself in an unknown, potentially hostile environment. He needed to find somewhere safe to store his gear and act as an impromptu base of operations for him.

He also needed to find this 'Doctor Maynard' guy that used the teleporter before him and see if he could replicate what had happened and to see if he could find his way back. If he was still alive.

From the terminal that he was able to bring back to life and read through, the last time it was used was nearly thirty years prior to the man finding the ruins, and that whoever did use it, most likely the good doctor, had arrived where he was at as well.

With a mission in mind and a plan set, Jay hopped off the crate he was sitting on and broke it open once again, this time fully removing the mech that was inside of it and activating it, watching as it sprang to life and the lights all across it were activating one by one until they glowed their signature COG blue colors, much to Jays excitement that his favorite project was still functioning entirely.

"Cavalry!"

"Lieutenant Scott, Cavalry unit is online and awaiting orders, sir." It told him, giving the man a salute as the man returned it swiftly, watching as it dropped its robotic hand and equipped the modified hammerburst rifle that it had with it, as Jay grabbed its secondary weapon and presented it to it.

"Cavalry, I'm going to be completely honest with you: we're in unknown territory surrounded by unknown beings. Your orders are to help me establish a suitable location to act as our base and to help me carry this heavy son of a bitch to said established base. Those two are your primary orders and your secondary orders are to ensure that no one tries to interfere with what we're doing and once we've established said base, I'll need you to secure it. Understood?"

"Sir, Cavalry unit is ready for the mission and will ensure that all primary and secondary orders are followed through!" It told him, saluting once again as it had put a heavily reinforced and modified riot shield on its back and grabbed the handles on the side of the unopened crate with it left.

With Jay grabbing the other end, the two of them lifted the crate with slight effort, with Jay grunting at first and Cavalry staying silent the entire time, the two of them had set off to look for their new home, which would hopefully be free of any rodents and other undesirables that could complicate their plans.

Too many complications have happened already and Jay doesn't want any more of them going on right at his feet.

"Hey Cavalry, this looks like a decent spot to occupy." Jay tells his robotic companion, gesturing to a rundown and abandoned building that looked as if it had a second floor that could be used as storage.

What he was going to use the first one as was unknown to him, at the time.

What he was going to do with the first floor, he didn't know yet; maybe use it as a mechanical shop so that he could fix his gear and keep them maintained, now that he thought about it.

With this in mind, he and his companion pick up their pace so that they could begin fixing up their newly discovered home, with hopes that it'd be enough to house everything they'll need to get back to Sera.

Jay had walked around the district in which he found himself in, keeping his eyes open and alert to anything that'd interfere with what he had planned.


It'd been a couple of weeks since he's been here and from all that he's learned about the station of Omega, crime drastically increased with the destruction of Archangel's hideout and his top lieutenants shortly before or after his arrival. Whichever one was true, Jay didn't know; all he knew is that after interrogating a batarian, there was a shipment of newly captured, or recaptured, slaves that were in the process of being led onto the small frigate that was surely headed back into batarian space.

Jay didn't know about what was going to happen to them once they've left, but from what the now dead batarian told him, he was definitely going to have to have some backup with this mission.

He may have been a gear, but he's going to need help to take on a crew of a few or more dozen slavers and however many slaves.

He's going to need a few shepherds for this one.

"We all set for this, Cavalry?"

"Yes sir, all DB units and the one Dr-1 are ready for engagement on your orders." It responded, its modified head appearing that of the standard issue COG helmet from the end of the Human/Locust War.

From all that he's seen of them back home, they were readily more greeted and welcome than the standard DB counterparts that you'd find anywhere else at the settlements.

Raising his hand in anticipation, Jay closed it firmly then pointed onwards, signaling the other robots to begin their attack and to make sure that they follow all of their orders to the letter about saving as many of the slaves as humanly possible.

He wasn't about to let these people become tortured servants for the remainder of their lives.

With the attack commencing, eight DB's, a DR-1, Cavalry and Jay sprang from cover and expertly gunned down any slaver that didn't make it into the ship in time, leaving a handful of slaves outside, which a few of the robots stayed behind to watch.

With everything else secured, Jay motioned for all of them to assault the frigate and to leave the captain alive for questioning, afterwards the DR-1 and Cavalry can go and locate wherever they're keeping the captured slaves and to notify him immediately of anything happening or if something was discovered on their way.

With synchronization, all the robots saluted the man immediately, readying their weapons and portable cover as the DR-1 began prying the docking bay hatch open with its bare hands and brute strength, getting the door open halfway before two more joined it and helped fully open the doors, keeping it held open for the remaining others to board the ship.

Jay could tell that this was going to be a cakewalk, given that he made sure to supply all of them with shield emitters that he had crafted from the fabricator, after getting a few and processing them through it, and enough ammo to make sure that this would be a breeze.

He felt somewhat sorry for the slavers that were trying to fight back, knowing that they're weapons were barely affecting the dense and durable armor that every DB came with, especially the DR-1, they'd have to have a weapon from Sera if they hoped to destroy one, or a heavy weapon that was fielded for dealing with heavy armor.

When he finished that thought, an explosion rang out through the main bridge, Jay peeking out of cover as he seen one of his mechs fall apart from one of the slavers handling a heavy weapon and reloading it, and as a result it had caused the other mechs to lift their combat shields, lowering a slot that was in it, and proceeded to fire their weapons through it, effectively protecting themselves and laying down suppressive fire at the same time.

(Think of the shield as being a hybrid between Black Ops 4 gun shield, and Rainbow Six Siege Montagne's shield and the deployable cover all in one, except when deployed, movement speed is drastically reduced.)

Pushing up from there, Jay kept his down as the wall of bulletproof mechs made their way to the line where the slavers tried in vain to break through, many of them either having to reload their weapons, getting shot to death, or retreating to the back of the ship or its lower levels.

It wasn't enough, however, when the DR-1 stopped the elevator doors from closing and began forcefully prying them back open with its size and strength, allowing all of them to get gunned down as there was no chance for escape.

With the bridge finally secured, Jay attempted to get into a terminal to see if he could gauge just how many personnel there were aboard the ship before the attack commenced.


"So… what you're telling me is that the COG now fields heavy infantry and other fields of tactics in the form of armored mechs?" Devin asks, his head tilted as he watched as Jay nodded his head in confirmation, telling him that it's been like that for the better part of eight or nine years.

"That'd been useful for clearing out locust-controlled areas. Moving on from that, what happened afterwards?"

"Well, after we got into their system, we learned that the slavers were cowering all throughout the ship, maybe thirty in total, waiting and setting up choke-points so that they could corral us into a kill-zone. It didn't work; having a DR-1, Cavalry, and multiple DB units working in tandem guarantees that you'll be able to push through any choke-point that you meet with dangerous efficiency, lethal even. We found out that the captain was hiding in his quarters at the top of the ship, a small squad consisting of what he called his 'elite guards' and were waiting for us to breach the room. We kinda did, in an unorthodox way; after clearing the pens in the cargo bay, I had six mechs to charge through the doors, while I went through the vents and tried to get in behind them. The rest of the mechs that survived were either gathering the parts that were left behind by those that were destroyed or were guarding the pens. Long story short, they were collecting slaves and planning on selling them on the black market but we stopped them before anything could happen. After they were all released, many of them left to try and find something to do with their lives, I gathered all the credit chits and supplies that I could, sold the captured ship to those who wanted to leave the station, and went back to my base and opened up a repair shop for tools, weapons, armor, and other things as well. The few that stayed with me wanted to help me set up shop there and after that, I employed them when we opened up. Right now, I have Cavalry running the show, considering I tinkered enough with him so that he could make his own decisions and that my staff didn't seem to mind." Jay explained, recollecting all of the events that had happened that day and how he had first settled down on Omega, and when questioned about what had happened with Morinth, Jay was all too eager to explain how it exactly went down.

"Well, it started like this…"


"We sure that our target is in there?"

"From reports and surveillance that we've gathered inside, the ardat-yakshi going by the name Morinth is indeed in this club, possibly hunting or seducing her next victim. It is unclear who it is, but we're sure that they'll be somewhere dark and out of the way." Aneyis, an ex-Eclipse asari mercenary told him, her omni-tool sending the man all the information that he needed as the man in question made sure that his gear and his mechs were combat ready.

"Good, very good. Anything else?"

"Why in the hell do you use those relic weapons? You're not secretly that guy that was in Archangel's vigilante group, are you?"

Jay laughed at that, telling her that he had no idea who Archangel was and that the weapons that he had were a one of a kind, not one of humanity's old chemical weapons.

With nothing else being said, Aneyis gave him a once over and waved him through the doors and told him to kick ass and take names, shaking her head as the man laughed and grabbed his explosive bow as he entered through one of the maintenance doors.

With the sound of music, drinks and glasses clinking together, and people chattering, it was easy to see that the dark lighting made it difficult to see what was happening in the shadows, but briefly bringing up his omni-tool, Jay activated a program on it that enhanced his visor's sensitivity to where it could see better in low-light environments; the only downside was that it lasted roughly ten minutes, and with the amount of people in the club and in the booths, he didn't have time to waste.

After searching for roughly six minutes, he had found his target conversing with a rather large man wearing armor that vaguely familiar who seemed relaxed on the surface but was ultimately on edge the entire time, hinting towards some form of military background that he had.

Considering who and what he was dealing with, Jay somewhat wanted the man to follow his gut instinct and get the hell away from her, but ultimately cursed under his breath as he seen the woman beginning the meld shortly after the man had finished his sentence.

Readying his torque bow, Jay had charged it to the max, sending the explosive projectile near the two and watching as it exploded, sending both people flying as they were surely dazed but not dead.

'Please make an orderly line and leave the premises immediately: this area is now under fire.' Jay heard one of the mechs announce, it waving its arms towards the nearest exit as more of them began swarming the club to try and cut off their target from escaping the area and out into the galaxy once again.

Jumping down from the catwalk, Jay came to a roll as he quickly equipped his boltok and fired it at the retreating killer, successfully hitting her in the shoulder but quickly cursed as a shield or barrier stopped the bullet just enough to ensure that the round wasn't lethal.

It still had to hurt though.

Running past everyone, Jay and a few mechs followed with him as they quickly ran after the woman to catch her before she escaped.

They had followed her closely behind as she had entered a warehouse of sorts, possibly where a getaway vehicle was stashed and currently waiting for the woman.

With his mechs focusing entirely on getting the Eclipse merc's attention, Jay crashed through an office window then promptly kicked open the door that lead out of it, seeing his target speaking with an Eclipse merc and taking aim at the woman and firing his embar, watching as it had hit her head, effectively killing her as her shields couldn't hope to withstand the monstrous round that tore straight through it and her armor, reducing her head to a fine mist.

Seeing that his target had sealed off the doors, Jay had elected to use another torque bow round to see if he could blast the door open, but watched in dissatisfaction as it only caused cracks to appear in the reinforced glass.

He was going to fire some more at it, but was interrupted when rounds began hitting his own shield, causing the man to jump into cover to avoid taking any real damage.

He needs to kill his target before she leaves and these mercs were not helping him in the slightest.

Rounds started to ping off of his shield, prompting him to take cover behind a shipping crate, swapping his rifle out for his boltok and combat knife as they were his only close-ranged weapons. He waited for one of the mercs to get close to him before he made his move: whipping around the corner and jamming his knife as far as it could go into her neck, firing all sic of his shots into two others who were unfortunate enough to be close to the man when he began his attack.

Kicking the body away from him, he went back into cover and calmly reloaded his weapon as rounds were chipping away at his cover and the ground beside him, and looking down at the corpse that was only a few feet from him, Jay had seen that there was a shotgun that was still collapsed on her back and with nothing else to use at the moment for close range, Jay had elected to swiftly roll out of cover and grab it all in one move; deftly taking aim and firing two shots into the closest merc as he came to a stop.

Sensing that their target was no run-of-the-mill vigilante looking to make a name for himself, the Eclipse Sisters had elected to use their biotics against the man, hoping that it would be more effective than to just take him in a head on firefight which would most likely cost them their lives.

Jay had to make sure to take care of these mercs as soon as he could; because, at any moment, Morinth could escape at any moment and leave the station before he had the chance to get close to finish her off.

With him currently being thrown off of his feet, the man came to a roll stopped his momentum from knocking him over once again, looking up and seeing that three of the five mercs were using their biotics to knock him around as the others were firing at him in hopes of landing a hit.

Two can play at that game.

Getting into cover once more, Jay equipped his torque bow and began charging it, letting it cook for a moment before leaning out of cover and quickly zeroing on two mercs who were close enough to each other that a shot would most likely kill both of them.

And he did just that, watching as the explosive-tipped arrow was finally released of all the built up tension that the inner mechanisms of the weapon was applying to it, launching itself at extreme speeds and completely bypassing the barrier of the left asari, lodging itself deep into her chest and priming its second-delay fuse, giving the woman just enough time to look down at what had hit her and cough up blood before it exploded, instantly killing her and sending lethal shards and fragments from her armor into her comrade, dropping the woman out of the fight immediately as she had clutched her neck in vain to stop the blood that was freely flowing from the wound.

She died within moments.

Using the time provided by the sheer gory display of their comrades being butchered, Jay had charged the cover that they were using and leapt over it, planting his boot into a poor merc's chest and firing his shotgun into her head at point blank. With that one out of the way, Jay gets his weapon ripped from his hands as he looks up and sees that the two remaining mercs were now upon him, biotics primed and pistols drawn as they began their assault.

Ducking below the first swing, Jay used his right hand to push the pistol-wielding hand away from him and used his left hand to draw his knife, stabbing the woman twice in the ribcage and once through the stomach as he twisted his blade, the serrated knife doing its job perfectly as it tore straight her flesh and bone with extreme lethality.

Considering that it was designed to be used against the much hardier, durable, and larger locust back on Sera, he wasn't surprised that it had practically eviscerated the woman's insides with ease.

With the last merc now throwing everything she had at him, Jay knew that she was no longer a danger to him at this point and simply elected to backhand across the helmet as hard as he could before grabbing her head and smashing it against the ground, not killing the woman, but definitely concussing her all the same.

With the sound of robotic footsteps coming from behind, Jay turned and seen that it was Cavalry walking up to him, his chassis showing several scorch marks, warped metal, and scratches from the fight that had ensued in the main warehouse floor.

"What's the sitrep, Cavalry?"

"Sir, three individuals, one asari and two humans, are within the upper levels of the warehouse and seems to be after the target that you are currently after as well. DB-013, just before it went offline in the bar, reported that it had found a COG captain, but due to the report remaining unfinished as it was crushed immediately after this discovery, the facial scans were corrupted and other observations were lost as well."

Processing the information within his mind, Jay silently walked to the shuttle and began planting small explosives along the hatch, hoping that it'd blow it open and give him the chance to kill Morinth after a month of hunting her down.

The only way that the DB could've registered that someone was in the COG and that they were a captain was if the person they came into contact with was wearing something that displayed both their rank and the COG insignia out in the open. Given how there were several uniforms and armors that did exactly just that, Jay was beginning to get hopeful as he may have found the elusive Dr. Maynard that had originally designed and used the teleporter roughly thirty years ago.

He needed to find the man before he got too far.

With a detonator ready and primed in his hands, Jay and his companion took cover behind the ballistic shield and suitable cover that wasn't too far away from the shuttle and pressed the button on the top, hearing the decompression and ensuing explosion that it had caused, ripping the hatch from the shuttle as Morinth dived out of it, a biotic barrier formed over her as she gritted her teeth in pain, no doubt her ears (or the asari equivalent) being in pain as they seemed to be bleeding.

Jay took no chance and ran at the woman, diving at her just as her barrier failed, colliding with her harshly and sending both of them to the floor, with Jay attempting to stab her as she was on the ground, but was shocked as her biotics returned at seemingly full strength and actually pushed his hands and blade back before delivering a viscous elbow to the side of his helmet, knocking him off balance just enough for Morinth to flip him over her, jumping to her feet as she began attacking the man with vigor, screaming obscenities at him as Jay, for the first time in a while, had to fight on the defensive.

Morinth was relentless: being an asari who was at minimum 400 years old and had been honing and perfecting her biotics the entire time, and being an ardat-yakshi meant that her biotics were already superior that many of her peers.

Unlucky for Jay as he had to keep avoiding her attacks as they had homing properties and/or were going to hit him if he didn't move out of the way.

All in all, it wasn't a pleasant experience for the man as he hated fighting someone who knew exactly what they were doing in a fight.

'I need an opening,' he thought to himself, rolling across a crate to avoid getting hit by both a throw and a warp at the same time, 'because this bitch is starting to piss me off.'

And as luck would have it, that opening came in the form of her feet being spread too far apart, causing the man to quickly spring into action as he had suddenly rushed the woman, grabbing her outstretched hands and promptly yanking her towards him, bringing his arm up just in time to give her bone breaking clothesline, dropping her almost immediately.

He was about to finish her off right then and there, but had to dive back into cover as the doors opened at the far side of the room, revealing the three intruders that Cavalry informed him about.

"Your thoughts, Cav?"

"I advise that we wait here in the shadows to see what will occur."

"Roger that."

"You there, in the shadows! Step out immediately or you will be fired upon!" The smaller man immediately ordered, his rifle and the other two aimed at his position, with Jay silently cursing yet again before looking at his mech companion and telling him to hold tight and wait to see what happens.

"Chances of survival against this group aren't as high as the other encounters."

"Still a chance though." He quipped, equipping his torque bow and stepping out of cover, revealing himself to the group, but stopping himself from saying anything else as the large human had immediately caught his eye.

Especially the COG insignia and the captain ranks that were emblazoned on it, and the fact that the armor that he had was a one of a kind that very few individuals had ever received.

"You're armor… that's Onyx Guard… You there! What's 'The Golden Rule'?" He asked the man, tensing in anticipation as he waited for the man's answer.

He hopes that he gets it correct, because he'd hate to-

"Take cover or die." The man immediately responded, causing Jay to breathe out a sigh of relief as he lowered his weapon and relaxed his posture completely.

He was definitely COG, that much he's sure about.


"And that was how we met: everything from that point on, you know for yourself. After leaving my mechs back at the shop and having the store looked over by my employees, I joined your all's cause because, at the time, I thought you were Dr. Maynard, but that was quickly dashed when you explained who you were and what all had happened that brought you here. Other than that, like I said, you know yourself." Jay told them, leaning back into his chair as Devin had grabbed the device again and primed it some more, telling him that he was resetting the timer on it so that he could explain what had happened with him and Kasumi while he was under.

"Yeah, I noticed that you two seem chummier with each other, more so than usual; what happened there?" Devin asked, his right hand cupping his chin as he look at Jay with a straight face as Tulma deactivated the machine that had virtually muted them to EDI as they began removing their helmets.

"Well, I had gone with her down to the planet where her personal mission was held. Turns out she was after a graybox that held her old partner's memories and that they held important information, what that is, I haven't asked her. Now, if you all got the time, I'll explain what exactly had went down that day while you were getting that mutated parasite out of your system." Jay told him, taking off his mask and grabbing a glass and lifting it to his lips, drinking its contents to ease his throat's discomfort.

"Here's how that went down…"


"I understand that you want to keep your… cowl, I think that's what it's called, on to conceal your identity, but don't you think that it would almost immediately raise suspicions from this Hock guy?"

"Now Jay, I understand where you're coming from, but if my face were to ever be shown-"

"No one even knows who you are! You're the best thief, not the most famous, remember?"

Kasumi, upon hearing that, rolled her eyes at the comment, putting a hand on her hip as she looked at the tall man who stood before her who was dressed in the finest white garments tailored by the best tailors in the galaxy, his black undershirt and white tie contrasting nicely with the setup, before sighing in defeat, reaching up to remove her hood as she now looked back up at him.

"I suppose you're right, Mr. Gunn, this is too important for us to get caught immediately." She told him, waiting for the man to make a response, but seen that he was still staring at her in stunned silence.

"You're…"

"Albino? Yes, it's a rare trait these days, I assure you; I even have the blood red eyes to boot. Lack of melanin within them and all that science-y stuff." She commented, looking at her reflection in the mirror as she heard the man clearing his throat.

"You look wonderful, beautiful even. But I guess we should actually get off this thing; you know, so that we can get what you need and get out of here. At least one of our gifts is waiting for him."

Without a word, the two of them leaves the luxury sky-car, both of whom were walking down a red-carpet path as cameras from the crowds flashed, guests conversing with one another, and guards interacting with those who were either too rowdy or who weren't meant to be there.

All in all, Jay didn't like the whole uptight atmosphere that was coming from the place; his mind used to the gritty and grim world that he came from before coming here to this place.

All in all, he didn't like it; but it was for a friend, a quite attractive one at that, and he'd do a lot for his friends.

Coming up to the entrance of the rather large home that the main party was held, Jay let out a whistle at the shear size of the place, looking over the entirety of its exterior as he could imagine the cost of building, bills, and upkeep that it requires to be in this shape.

Though, considering who was hosting the party, it didn't really surprise him when it came down to the credits necessary to keep this all running.

Speaking of the devil, it appears that he had made his way to personally greet him and Kasumi as the two stopped and bowed their heads slightly in curtesy of the host.

"You must be Solomon Gunn, I presume? No worries about the statue that you brought as a gift; I personally told my guards to let it through, as I am a fan of the exploits that the late Saren Arterius participated in. The detail was also exquisite." He told them, waving a few guards away as he motioned for the two to follow him.

"I'm very glad you enjoyed the gift, Mr. Hock; it costed an arm and a leg just to ensure that it made its way to you… or several, who knows?" Jay told him, coming to a stop as the man started chuckling at the remark, a smile adorned on his face as he turned back to look at the man and his guest.

"I like the way you think, Mr. Gunn, but where are my manners? I don't think that I have been acquainted with your partner this evening."

Upon the comment, Jay promptly apologized to the man, telling him that it had slipped his mind as he was thinking about how the night will go and a few other business activities that he had in mind as well.

"Her name is Naomi Tanaka, and she is as pleased to make your acquaintance as I am. Now, I have yet another gift for you, Mr. Hock; something I'm sure that you won't mind one bit." Jay told the man, opening his coat and grabbing a small case and presenting it to the man, with Hock giving it his undivided attention as he simply raises an eyebrow in silent questioning.

Upon opening said container, Hock's opened up in surprise as he gazed at what was held inside.

"I'm very curious as to what this is, Mr. Gunn; mind explaining its functions for me?"

"Gladly; as you know, out in the Terminus, there are numerous individuals out there waiting for a chance to take what you got, or even you wanting what they have. This here was developed by my lead engineer and weapon's specialist to be designed for area and asset denial: the small cylinder you see houses over twelve highly conductive shards of charged metals that, once it has been activated and exposed to the oxygen in the air, produces a field of electricity that will completely fry and disable the internal circuitry of any mechs that are unfortunate enough to be caught within its area of effect. It was theorized that it could short out the biotics of an individual who had the genetics necessary to use them, but since this is still new tech, we haven't been able to actually test that side of the spectrum as of yet. As for normal targets? It should completely lock up the various muscle groups in anyone who comes into contact with it as well, but there is a chance that some extraordinary individuals could potentially power through the pain and move forwards."

Hearing the explanation of the grenade's capabilities did Hock let out a genuine smile, knowing that something like this would sell for millions to the numerous mercenary and military factions of the galaxy and he was one of the few people who has a working variant within their arsenal.

When asked about the design of the device and the chained handle that it was attached to, Jay explained that it was meant to act as a traditional bolo-style projectile, and with the nature of its design, it was designed to be able to be thrown far distances with minimal effort and be able to land behind occupied cover.

"What's special about this knife?"

"It's made completely out of osmiridium, a metal alloy that it extremely durable and able to withstand constant use. It, much like other military-grade combat knives, is mono-molecular, but as the case of its composition, shouldn't wear out as often as its counterparts. I do hope you enjoy it, as it is perfectly functionable for someone who wants to use it."

"Amazing; I am very pleased and humbled that you had these made and presented just for me. You and I will most certainly do business in the future, Mr. Gunn, on that I will assure you. But I must be off as there is a party waiting for us inside; do not let me hold you and your lovely guest any longer than I have. Enjoy your evening, and once again, thank you for the gifts." Hock told them, carrying the box that housed the grenade and the knife within his arms as he bowed to the two of them before leaving them to their own devices.

When entering the home, both Kasumi and Jay decided that if they were to blend in then they'd have to get something to drink at the bar and maybe something small to dine on as well.

"Does that knife really have any practical uses?" Kasumi asked, sipping on her wine glass as Jay held a cup of bourbon within his right hand.

"Oh absolutely; it's practically one of the best knives in the galaxy right now, due to its composition. It can carve through some harduits with ease, but for the heavy armor one's it'll have a little trouble with, but will ultimately get through it if given enough time."

"And what about Devin's armor? I notice that he had a knife that looks similar to the one you gave away."

"Right now? Eh… it'll probably get through, if the man stood still for longer than a minute. After the upgrades are finished on it, however, that thing will have zero chance of getting through it at all."

Kasumi could only smile at the thought, knowing that the big guy was going to be just fine once the armor was finished.

Tulma, the poor girl, had been through enough in the last week, so with him being extra safe was not only a good thing for her, but a good thing for Kasumi as well.

She hated seeing the people she cares for and the friends she has on the ship in distress, and that girl has been through nothing but distress ever since Devin had gotten out of surgery and into that coma.

Finishing her glass, Kasumi looked up at Jay and had asked him if he was ready to start what needed to be done first, to which the man responded with affirmation; ready to get out of the building and finding the graybox before it was too late.

All they needed was a password, a voice sample, and DNA samples in order to get into the vault, and Kasumi knew exactly how and where to get all three, and Jay was going to be the one to get them for her.


"Aha!"

"What? Did you find something?" Kasumi asked hurriedly, looking up from the lounge area as she seen the man holding onto a something.

"Nope, I found a credit chit with a single credit."

"You're unbelievable."

"And a credit richer than I was a minute ago."

Kasumi could only chuckle at the remark, understanding where the man was coming from.

Any profit, no matter how small, is still profit, after all.


"Mother fucker!" Jay harshly whispered, grabbing the merc's head with both hands as he slams it against the wall and into the display monitor, watching as it shattered and the merc remained slumped as his helmet was firmly stuck in it.

"You okay?" He hears from his omni-tool, causing the man to look down at his dress and notice that there were a few holes in it.

"Yeah, fucker just ruined the suit is all. Oh shit, almost forgot; the password for the vault is 'Peruggia', whoever or whatever that is."

"That's the name of the man who stole the Mona Lisa."

"The what?" Jay asked, the name of both individuals completely unknown to him as he stood still in confusion.

"How have you not heard about the most famous painting of all time?!" Kasumi almost screamed at him, her compassion for the art and their history feeling attack by the ignorance of her compatriot as the man never seemed to bother himself with history.

"I'm not a history nerd, only a science and mechanical one."

"Shame on you."


"Oh my god, I was so tempted to just shoot the fucker right then and there; he just kept going on and on about how we're 'doing the dirty work for the better of the galaxy'. Holy fuck, if he said business one more time, I was going to leave him there, go down to the statue, grab my gear, and commit wholesale slaughter towards anything that moves." Jay complained, walking down the stairs as Kasumi could only laugh in response, telling the man that he'd probably be doing the galaxy a favor by removing everyone single one of them from the picture.

"It'd certainly be easier, that's for sure." He comments, donning his armor as he undresses from the ruined suit as Kasumi takes her dress of and reveals her usual attire beneath, opting to wear a mask to conceal her identity as she normally does.

"Come on, no need to whine about it anymore; we're already through the hard part, so now all we have to do is get to the Keiji's graybox and… oh my god…" Kasumi whispered to herself, seeing what exactly was inside Hock's vault as she couldn't help but wander around and inspect each piece of art and scripture that the man had acquired over the years, ranging from ancient quarian script, Michelangelo's Statue of David, sculptures of turian and krogan design, and even the missing head of the Statue of Liberty.

There was so much in here that Kasumi momentarily forgot why she and Jay were in the vault until the man had cleared his throat, watching in amusement as the woman held to submachine guns to her chest and cradled them as if she would lose them if she were to let go.

"Having fun?"

"This is THE Kassa Fabrication Locust, the gun that killed two presidents! It even comes with a matching pair! Jay, we need to come back and get all of this when we leave." She tells the man, making sure to take pictures and videos of everything in the vault as she made a mental note to come back and get everything that she could.

Jay knew that she was dead serious about coming back too; the look in the eyes are what gave it away. So, with that in mind, he told her that he knows a few people who would gladly help make that a reality and that they'll do it for free as well.

"If you do that, then I'll kiss you right on the lips and dance all night with you."

"I'm looking forward to it."

While they were talking and trying to get through the encryption on the device, Hock himself made his presence known to the two, telling them that he was expecting them to show up sooner or later and that they shouldn't waste their time trying to get through the encryption.

"I knew you'd get in here as if I'd left it open. Now, I need your graybox if I am to get into your late partner's and you know I am willing to kill you for it. Regardless of what happens, you and your friend are going to die screaming, just as your partner did." He told them, obviously activating something in the background as Kasumi and Jay nodded to one another, getting into cover as mercenaries came through the set of doors at the far end of the room.


"I'm surprised that a man of his status and influence would hire Eclipse mercs to guard his precious belongings." Devin commented, knowing that they weren't really the best at guarding a vault that housed millions, if not billions of credits worth items that were literally one of a kind.

He's reminded of the time that he charged into the Eclipse hideout and killed their second in command back on Omega several months prior.

"No kidding, the man can afford to hire his own security force and have them trained to his standards and all he does is waste it on a few Eclipse mercs? Dumb and rich describes him perfectly, dumb and rich." Tulma followed up, her arms crossed over her chest as Jay only nodded his head in agreement, telling them that it didn't particularly make any sense to him, but it was his money that he was spending.

"So, what happened when those mercs came through?"

"Well, we had to deal with a few waves ourselves before they wisely decided that facing off against us was a pointless endeavor; too many of their numbers were cut down during that approach. So instead they just started sending out the large YMIR mechs that you can find at warehouses and other areas of importance at us, slowing us down by a lot, so we had to get through them fast enough to stop Hock from leveling the place on top of us. Thing is, this asshole had hundreds, and I mean hundreds of these mechs waiting to be activated. Why he didn't do that, I'll never know. But, after thirty minutes of navigating the labyrinth beneath his home, we came to a port or loading area located outside of the entrance to the service tunnels and this asshole arrives in a fucking gunship and tries to turn us into mincemeat! Fucking hell, I wish we had a King Raven with us, show this fucker with a superiority complex what a real gunship can do…"


"There's… five or six mercs down here with us!" Jay informed Kasumi, ducking into cover as another volley of mass accelerator fire begins shredding the ground next to him.

"Besides, how in the fuck is this cock muncher able to pilot the damn thing?"

"Who cares? He's still a terrible shot regardless of how big his weapon is."

"Innuendo aside, how are we going to take him down?"

Kasumi took a peek out from her cover long enough to analyze the aircraft, ducking back into cover as a merc had tried to take her head off with his rifle, only to get his taken off by Jay's.

"It looks like an older model mantis; we get those shields down, target the glass at the center of the canopy with everything you've got, it's been proven to be structurally weaker there than anywhere else. If you're not able to do that, aim at the braces holding the thrusters; they're made out of a cheaper composite material that doesn't hold well against a lot of trauma! Oh and be sure to load disruptor ammo as well!" She told him, receiving a thanks for the information she provided as Jay grabbed a discarded viper rifle from a dead merc, seeing as she wouldn't be using it anymore.

With the rifle in his hands and the ammo type loaded, Jay went to work with pelting the gunship with rifle fire, having to get back into cover and reload when necessary as he either ran out and had to scavenge, or to avoid getting a closed casket funeral.

Both of which would suck immensely.

With the shields down, Jay switched to his torque bow and charged a shot, sending it off towards the gunship but to no avail as Hock was already descending to restore his shields and sending the explosive bolt through the air before it exploded harmlessly, causing the man to curse loudly.

"FUCK! Bastard has full shields again and I don't want to risk wasting more ammo for my torque bow. Any solutions?"

"Keep the mercs off me and make sure I don't get shot!" She told him, catching the man off guard as she began to use the boxes and pipes as a form of parkour obstacles, effortless maneuvering herself between each of them before coming to a stop on the uppermost pipe.

That was the part when she ran full tilt at the gunship and leapt through the air, twisting herself as she professionally landed on the canopy, her omni-tool activated as she sent the kill code to the shield system and permanently disabled it, giving the man inside the aircraft a cheeky grin as she gave a two fingered salute before jumping back down and coming to a roll beside Jay.

Jay, understandably, had no idea she was capable of doing what he had witnessed, much less with the amount of skill, grace, and flexibility that she had pulled off to accomplish such a feat.

"Wow… that was amazing."

"I know; you couldn't keep your eyes off me the whole time." She responded, giving the man a playful wink as she slid back into cover beside him.

"How'd the fuck did you do that? Cybernetic implants? Are you a secretly a machine or something?"

"Gravity here is much lower than Earth's, Jay; didn't you know that? Try to use the low gravity to your advantage and maybe you'll realize that your size and strength can be much more useful than elsewhere."

Jay nodded at the woman's logic; knowing that she was exactly right and that she'd be the one person, besides Justin, who would take advantage of low gravity worlds.

With the shields disabled, Hock was more than livid with them, screaming obscenities at them as he ordered the mercs to kill them once and for all, while Jay readied another torque bow shot, this time aiming at the braces for the thrusters.

Within a second of fully charging the shot, the arrow goes soaring through the air, its explosive tipped payload piercing the composite materials as if they weren't there and embedding itself as deep as it could, the delayed time fuse only taking a single second to activate as Hock could only stare at it in confusion, watching as it exploded violently and completely tearing the wing off.

With the gunship crash landing on the loading pad, Kasumi and Jay decided that it was time to finish this fight once and for all, with Jay tearing the hatch off the burning wreckage of the mantis, seeing that Hock was still very much alive and very angry at the two of them.

"This isn't over you two! Once I get out of here, I'm going to use all of the resources available to me to hunt the two of you down and torture you both for as long as I can! I'll kill you both!" He screamed, trying to untangle himself from the harness as Jay simply crouched down to be eye level with the man.

Upon seeing that he had the box that he had given him, Jay opened it up and retrieved its contents, sheathing the knife in one of the satchels that he uses to keep spare thermal clips and ammo, and grips the shock grenade by the handle.

"Did you know that these grenades can be very touchy when it comes to activation? How touchy you may be wondering? If I were to slap someone with this, it'll activate almost immediately, sending its payload out and into the open air. Do you remember what I told you once that payload hits air right?" Jay told him, watching with sinister satisfaction as the man's eyes go wide at having understood the implications.

"Besides, your accent is just plain awful." Is all that he told the man, smacking and planting the grenade onto his chest as he and Kasumi turn their backs to him, not bothering to watch as the screams turned into forced chokes and guttural noises as the was currently frying from the amount of electricity coursing through his body.

He was dead before the electric stopped.


Devin let out a whistle at that, nodding his head at the action as Tulma asked about what had happened afterwards with Kasumi and the graybox that she was after.

"Well… I'm sorry but that is personal information that I promised not to tell anyone. I'm sure you understand, or at least I hope that you will." Jay told them, receiving a nod from both people as they decided to not push the subject as the three of them stood up to stretch from having to sit down for an extended period of time.

"Now, if you'll go excuse me, Justin and I are going to be very busy with deleting certain information that may prove to be harmful to the Alliance at large. And one more thing Devin," Jay called out, catching the attention of the man in question as he waited patiently for what he had to say, "it's good to see that you've recovered nicely; it would've been devastating to everyone's morale if we lost you."

With that that, Jay left the hangar bay and took the elevator up, leaving both Devin and Tulma alone as they processed the information that was shared with them inside their heads.

If only there was a way that they could come clean to Shepard without having to worry about Cerberus involvement.


And that's all for this chapter. Writing it was a hassle, and with all that's happened to it, I'm not 100% satisfied with it, in my honest opinion. Besides, I'm grateful to actually get this posted at the very least, maybe as an apology to you all for having to wait so long for an upfate yet again.

As for the other story, next chapter should be out tomorrow or Saturday. I promise that much.

I hope that you all have a great week and that you all stay healthy, safe and clean and that if you have any worries about the virus that is currently running amok, all you need to do is make sure that you're staying clean at all times, wash your hands regularly, monitor yourself for any changes in behavior and in your body.

Stay safe out there everyone and I'll see you all next chapter!