Afternoon, Citadel - C-Sec Interrogation Room

Thomas Fulton

The interrogation room was plain as they tend to be, with just the chair I was sitting in, table that I was chained to and another chair for the interrogator. The wall behind me was made of some sort of glass, no doubt a two way mirror for others to monitor how the interrogation was going.

I flexed my hands a bit trying again if the chains would have gotten looser since the last time. Nope, no such luck, though I didn't really know what benefit it would be to me if they somehow miraculously were loose. I was still deep in the C-Sec headquarters, surrounded by at least hundreds, probably thousands of officers. Relaxing my head by letting it lean against the back of the chair I tried to think my possible options out of this mess.

My side was patched up but I had lost quite a bit of blood and it still hurt like a motherfucker. Escape without help was all but impossible, I was not a goddamn superman, and I didn't have anyone to bail me out of here either. Seems I had failed once again in my mission, unless... It was a REALLY long shot but it was pretty much all I had at this point, I had to try it.

The door to the room suddenly opened while I was win the middle of my planning. An asari walked through the door and it closed after her with a heavy clang. She had a datapad that she put on the table as she sat opposite of me. For a short while she just looked at me with a analyzing gaze.

"I am Officer Myana and I will be your interrogator. Would you like to introduce yourself 'Mr. Laverra'?" She asked making clear that she didn't buy my fake name one bit.

"No, I would not." I replied calmly. She squinted her eyes at me slightly and replied: "Are you sure, I'm sure we could get this done much more smoothly should you cooperate."

We sat there in silence for a bit as she waited for my answer, but instead of giving her one I asked: "As I recall detainees get one call to a person of their choice, is that right?"

She slowly nodded her head to show assent. "I'd like for you to call 'Eline' from my omni-tool and pass me it so I could speak to them." I said.

Officer Myana sat there for a moment listening to something in her ear, probably her superiors discussing if they wanted to give me the omni-tool, before she stood up and walked to the door which opened and someone passed my omni-tool to her. She put it on the table in front of me and went to my contacts and selected the one I requested and pressed call.

As the call was processing she said to me: "Five minutes, and we'll be listening." After that she left the room closing the door after her. The call rang unanswered for a couple of seconds before a chipper voice of Jess Eline answered. "Tom I didn't expect you to call so soon! How are you, not too bad of a headache I hope?".

"Hey Jess. I'm in a bit of trouble I could use your help for if you have the means." I replied

"Oh? What's going on what do you need help with?" Eline asked with concern in her voice. "I am being detained in C-Sec headquarters here on the Citadel on the charges of double homicide, assault of an officer with intent to maim, assaulting a civilian and multiple counts of destruction of property." I explained in a low voice.

Silence reigned for a few moments, bouncing heavily off the plain walls of the room, before a equally low voice as mine replied, "Damn, Tom. You've really got yourself into a spot of trouble there. Those are no small accusations."

"If there's any way you could help me I'd be in your debt." I replied to her, closing my eyes as I prepared for the worst outcome of her not being able or willing to help me.

"I'll see what I can do Tom. Hang on in there." Came the reply after a while of silence, and then she ended the call. I sighed heavily and slumped back into the very uncomfortable chair I was in, blowing air out of my nostrils at the same time. Seconds after the call ended, an officer came in to the room with the interrogator and took the omni-tool away before leaving us alone again. Myana sat again on the opposite end and looked briefly at her datapad before starting to speak.

"So let's get this started then 'Mr. Laverra'. Why did you murder Andrew Barnett in the room 711 of Janiri Skyscraper?". And so began the first round of questions.


Evening, Citadel - C-Sec Holding Cells

Thomas Fulton

They had questioned me for four hours before deciding that they would not get anything out of me today. They dumped me back in to the cell I had been put when I was first arrested. It was slightly more comfortable than the interrogation room so I couldn't complain. Who am I kidding, I cursed like a sailor when they brought me back to the cell. I cursed my bad luck and not being fast enough to stop the clerk from pressing the alarm and everything else between heaven and earth that I could think of.

I had been back at my cell for an hour or so now and my side was getting a little better and I carefully tried flexing it.

Shit. No. Still hurts like hell.

As I was holding my battered wound my cell door opened, startling me. Instead of a C-Sec officer stepping in like I was expecting, Eline came through. She was wearing rather plain civilian clothing and there were some signs of nervousness on her face. I slowly stood up to face her, the chains on my legs shifting a little, as the cell door was closed behind her.

I was about to open my mouth when she suddenly moved closer to me whispering fast: "Listen Tom, I talked with my employer and they can help you with this situation but you will owe them after this as this is a great risk for them. Do you understand?"

I nodded quite surprised at what she was telling to me. I don't think she was working for any normal tech firm like she claimed to, but I wasn't the one to talk about secrets, now was I? "As long as you don't work for the Batarians or some shit like that I'll take that offer."

"No nothing like that. Look, take this." She handed me a tiny little device in my hand. "Put it in your ear, it is nearly undetectable and it allows us to communicate when the time is right. Sometime in the next three days a fire alarm will go off in here and I need you to follow my orders to a T when that happens." I nodded and put the device in my ear, feigning scratching.

"Good, we need to be quick as I can't be here long. After the fire alarm you must break off that vent cover." She pointed to a air conditioning vent on one of the cells upper walls. "It will hurt like a bitch to break but you must do it. After that enter the vents and follow my directions. After you get out of them I will meet you on the other side. Repeat it back to me."

I repeated her plan quickly back to her, impressed at the same time at how good a plan she had managed to conjure up in such a short time. Her employer must be quite something. After she was satisfied that I'd remember the plan she quickly left, leaving me to my cell to think about all that I heard.

Nothing more to do than prepare and wait for the moment I guess then.


Two Days Later, Citadel C-Sec Headquarters

Officer Myana

The mysterious assassin she had been interrogating for the last couple of days was a real engima, and that bothered her greatly. She was not used to not being able to gleam any kind of information from her suspects, and this guy had not given her anything. Not even the tiniest amount in a accidental slip up.

She slammed the beverage machine that was dispensing her tea with frustration, earning a few curious looks from the people around her.

The profile that they had received from Illium was quite accurate, the man was clearly ex-military, all his mannerisms suggested he had been extensively trained in resisting interrogation. Not to mention his combat prowess that he displayed during his escape attempt, which very nearly succeeded. Had the patrol not been there by accident to block his path they would have lost the man to the alleys of the Citadel.

She took her tea from the machine, still concentrating her thoughts on the assassin. She was on her way to their next session and she really hoped she could get some information today. Really anything would do, because this was starting to hurt her professional pride.

Suddenly a loud noise startled her from her musings. After a short moment of confusion she identified the sound as the fire alarm and cursed heavily as the civilians in the waiting lounge where she was fetching her drink were starting to panic. She could see small amounts of smoke coming from the vents in the are from behind the moving mass of people. But before she could react to any of this the sprinkler system started to pour water on the room. She tried to cover her datapad with her body as the cold water sprayed everyone in the room.

After a while the water stopped coming and she looked around. The smoke had all but evaporated under the unrelenting torrent of water. That was good.

She looked at her teacup that was filled with the water from the sprinkler and sighed heavily. Well at least her datapad was not damaged by the water.

As she was brushing off the excess water from herself, the comm in her ear crackled: "Myana come to the cell of your assassin, quick!"

"On my way." She replied wondering what the hell had happened there to need her presence. As she was nearing the cell she got a looming feeling that the fire had not been an accident, but instead to...

Her colleague was standing at the open door of his cell looking in. She ran next to him and peered inside; no sign of the man and an open vent, the cover on the floor with some blood on it.

The officer next to her said something about them searching him already but she did not hear. She simply stood there in stunned disbelief.


20 Minutes After The Alarm, Citadel - Unknown Docking Bay

Thomas Fulton

I ran towards a waiting shuttle in some out of the way hangar with Jess by my side. My fingers were in quite a rough shape after ripping off that cover but the crawl through the vents with all the smoke had been the harder part. Nearly choked in there, well, would have had I not had instructions.

"The shuttle will take us off the Citadel to a safe place where my employer wants to meet you Tom." Eline said from my side, huffing slightly from the running as she did.

"Let's get to it then, but on the way you'll explain to me who your employer is." She just quickly nodded her head and kept going for the shuttle. Freedom was nice and all but I still wanted to know what kind of asshole I had sold my soul this time around. Probably as bad as the others but if Eline was working for them, then maybe I did not make an absolutely terrible decision. She was a smart woman.

After we made it inside the shuttle I noticed that there was a pilot who Jess gave a command to go as we strapped ourselves to the seats. The ride to the mass effect relay was a tense one as we waited if any of the patrol ships would demand us to stop. Once in a while the pilot communicated with someone that I presumed to be with flight control and from the corner of my eye I saw Jess glance at me every now and again with a unreadable expression.

After we had managed to clear the system without any problems I breathed out a single sigh of relief as the adrenaline and tension in my body started to slowly decrease. Soon I heard a voice from my left.

"So you wanted to know who I worked for... Well here goes..." Jess looked somewhat anxious, for what reason I couldn't and didn't care to know right now, took a large breath and continued. "I work for Cerberus. You know them right?"

I looked at Jess for a while, thinking. Her anxiety seemed to only increase as I did not immediately respond. Cerberus, huh? Human supremacist semi-secret organization that was known for it's radical means. Well at least it was not the four eyed slaving freaks of nature.

"Yeah, I know them." I finally said. I did not really like Cerberus, I couldn't care less for their aims or alleged protection of humanity's interests, they were equally shady black ops as the ones I did back in the Alliance. And I did not have happy memories of those. But then again they were not the Alliance or any other group I've worked for, but it'd be naive to think they'd be somehow different.

I looked at Jess who was seemingly bursting in her seams waiting for me to say more, if I didn't know better I might have said that she looked like she was about to cry. She seemed to like working for them. And they did help her free me on a very short notice. Probably more because they were interested in me than because Jess requested them to but nevertheless...

"How long have you been working for them?" I asked Jess who seemed to nearly jump at my question. "For over two years now, I left the Alliance because they offered me a chance to make a difference and protect our people more than I could in the Alliance." She explained quickly to me. I thought over her words carefully before opening my mouth again. "I'll come and meet these people at Cerberus, I am a man of my word if nothing else. But if they try to screw me over I'll not be responsible for my actions.

She seemed a bit unsure for a moment before a large smile was plastered on her face; "Tom, I knew I did the right decision when I asked them to help you. And who knows maybe they can help you with this personal business too? They certainly have helped me in the past."

I turned my head from Jess, towards the grey and white walls of the shuttle squinting my eyes slightly in thought. I highly doubted that they would actually be able to help me in this but if they could... Well maybe I could work with them for that.

"How long until we get to this safe place of yours?" I asked half buried in my thoughts.

"Oh, it shouldn't be too long, mayyyyyybe six, seven hours or so? So we can get comfortable while we wait, now let me take a look at those gashes of yours. I could have sworn somewhere here were medical supplies..." Jess' voice became muffled as she started to rummage around in the depths of the shuttles containers. I leaned in my seat as comfortably as one can in a shuttle, and I'll give you a hint; it's not good.

What'll come of this turn of events then, I wondered as we continued our steady pace towards this Cerberus safehouse.


Writer's note:

Slow and steady, but most importantly slow. Again please excuse any spelling mistakes.