AN: Whoo! Sorry about that delay. I've been working on home renovations. And it's hot. I'll try to get more out, faster. :)

Kasumi, Second Promenade, Citadel

"Hello there, Mouse," she let her voice purr as she stepped between the little man and the vent he could probably still fit through, even at his age. Like most duct rats, Mouse got too big to stay in the walls, but he was still able to escape when he needed. In most places.

"Hiiiiii!" Mouse jumped nearly six inches off the ground as he spun, his eyes darting left and right, like a startled deer. "Who are you!"

"Oh, Mouse, you know me," Kasumi laughed a she decloaked. "I need information. I've been through you before, so I know you are good for it. Or can, at least, tell me what you've heard."

"Kasumi!" Mouse swallowed quickly as he nodded his head in little, fast movements. "Yeah, yeah sure…."

"Excellent!" it was always nice when things went smoothly. Too many ops went sideways when Shepard was involved. "Looking for a drell. He was hired to kill somebody."

"Drell, yeah," Mouse nodded. "Young drell came looking for work. I happened to know somebody that had a target he wanted eliminated. Kid's fresh, would probably get caught doing it."

"I assume that was part of the plan," Kasumi sighed deeply. So much for smoothly. "Where is he? Who hired him?"

"I...I can't kasumi!" Mouse waved his hands in front of himself, as if to ward her off. "They'll kill me!"

"Mouse, that drell is the son of the best assassin in the galaxy. I don't think you want to get in the middle of this one," Kasumi smirked as she tilted her head slightly.

"Thane's here?" Mouse looked at his feet for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, yeah...Fade did the dirty work. Only one that knows how to hit Fade is Elias Kelham. And you didn't hear it from me, alright?"

One last deep breath and Mouse turned to look back at Kasumi, but found only empty air.

And the fading echoes of a giggle.

John, Wards C-Sec Station, Citadel

"Elias Kelham mean anything to you?" John leaned his hip against the computer bank Bailey was working at. His arms crossed as he frowned. The information Kasumi sent their way added more questions than it gave answers. The name 'Fade' was also involved in making Sedonis disappear.

"Kelham? Yeah," Bailey snorted, not looking up from his display. "He is a rising star in the criminal world. Lotta holes were made when the geth attacked, Kelham was on of the scum that picked up one of the open spots."

"I guess bring him in then," John shrugged. "We can question him, find this 'Fade' character, get our leads, find our targets, then I take a nap."

"Pff…" Garrus shook his head ruefully. "You never rest. You just kill things while you sleep."

Bailey watched the exchange, his expression never wavering. "I'd be happy to, but I can't."

"What? Why not!?" he good humor in Garrus was gone in a flash as her growled, leaning over Bailey.

"He's a made man that has more lawyers than I have hair," the C-Sec captain snorted, not particularly impressed with the turian. "Made himself fairly untouchable. Hell, we can't give him a speeding ticket without politicians falling all over us."

John frowned slightly, snorting through his nose. Then, he had an idea. "Pick him up," John smirked. "Pick him up and put him in one of the questioning rooms. Stall his lawyers. I'll invoke Spectre authority, take the brunt of the backlash."

"I would like to help, Commander," Thane rumbled quietly. "I have some ways of getting information."

"Yeah!" Garrus slammed his fist into his open hand with a nod. "It's hard to run a criminal empire without kneecaps….."

Thane flashed John a small look. A silent sentiment passed between them. One they both shared. "Just us, Garrus," John placed a firm hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Too many cooks spoil the pot."

"What?" Garus deadpanned, his eyes going flat. John could see the rising anger behind them. "What does that even mean?"

"It means Thane and myself are taking this one," John kept his eyes locked on Garrus's. "I'll need you fresh for getting to this Fade character."

John could see Garrus's mandibles quiver for a moment before they went stiff and folded in, close to his cheeks. "Fine."

"Alright, Bailey, Let's get this guy," John nodded, turning back to the cop.

Meanwhile, SR-2 Normandy

"AARRROOOOOMPH!" the loud barking sound reverberated through engineering. It echoed through crawl spaces that, generally, were reserved for repair duty. And the occasional mid shift nap…. And sometimes Johnson and Cohn would take a 'break'.

"Jesus, lord!" Donnelly jumped away from his station, his hands clapped over his ears. "Tali! Can you do something about your damned varren?!"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Tali's legs shook in time to her words. Legs that, currently, stuck out of one such crawl space.

"Kinda look like when Johnson…" Donnelly started before one of Tali's wild kicks nearly connected with his knee.

"Finish that thought at your own peril," Tali growled, more in irritation to the situation than any real animosity towards her team.

Snickering, Gabby shook her head. "I'm getting an internal reading. Urz should be near the central access hub."

"I'm looking at the central access hub!" Tali spat before dragging herself back. "How did he get in the spaces, anyway?"

"Dunno," Donnelly shrugged as he turned back top his own boards. "But it does explain how he kept popping up on the crew deck."

"AIIP!" a loud painfilled sound echoed from the crawl space. "Aiip, aiip!"

Sounds of crashing, and battle came. The snapping of teeth, the spray of blood! The stench of fear and excrement! War! War battled below the Normandy's decks!

"Urz!" Tali stuck her head back into the tube, yelling out. "Urz! Come here! URZ!"

There was a crack and rattle. Then the rending of metal as the cover to the vent above engineering gave way, dumping the varren to the floor.

Urz leapt up, his huge dark eyes wild as he spun, looking this way and that. Wounds oozing blueish blood covered his body as his legs pumped furiously, but gaining no traction. Then, finally, his claws caught the floors grating, launching his body forward. He ducked to the left even as Tali withdrew herself from the crawl space, startled.

"Urz? What happened?!" Tali spun, trying to get a good look at her varren as he curled around behind her, his shivering body pulled tight against hers. "Urz?"

Then, it arrived. The terrible foe. The unbeatable beast that stalked the ship's innards! It dropped heavily from the vent above, it wicked fangs bared! It's sharp, hooked claws drug it's lithe body, a body made for only murder, forward! The beast let loose a low growl, a sound that shook one to their very core. Another sound, this time one that sounded like the tearing of one's very souls rolled from this...this beast!

Urz tightened against Tali, his form shaking even more.

"Gerald?" Tali sighed as she brought up her omnitool, one hand lightly rubbing at the side of her helmet. "Can you come down to engineering and get your damned cat?"

Thane, Wards C-Sec Office, Citadel

"Do you have any fucking idea who you are fucking with?" Kelham nearly screamed, spittle actually flew from his mouth. And...now that he thought about it, That was a weird thing. In all the years that he had been an assassin, he had encountered this phenomenon maybe twice before. It wasn't a trait many species shared with humanity. Especially not his own. Drell were from a desert world, after all. It would be a waste of water.

"Other than a limp dicked piece of krogan droppings? No," Shepard shrugged with a small smile. He had come up with this idea of 'good cop, bad cop'. Odd name, but a standard psychological gambit.

"I'm gonna murder you," Kelham growled through clenched teeth. "But I'm gonna make sure you suffer first! Maybe something will happen to this lizard," Kelham made a rough gesture with his chin, seeing as how his hands were still cuffed behind his body. "Then I'm going to find who you love. Maybe let them linger before the end. Got a wife? A girl? Boy? I'm going to do them real person-"

Kelham stopped talking suddenly. Mostly because Shepard drove his fist into the man's face.

"Now, now," Shepard's easy smile had turned to something hard, almost predatory in nature. "No need to get so worked up. I just need to know where Fade is. He and I need a chat."

"F-fuck! Fuck you!" Kelham spit blood and a couple of teeth onto the table. He looked up from Shepard, then to Thane with teary eyes. Shattering a human's nose did that. It crushed bone into mucus membranes, as well as sinuses. Currently, kelham's nose was twisted and mangled, he would probably need some reconstruction.

"Ah, ah! That wasn't a location!" Shepard said, his voice in a type of sing-song tone. His fist flashed out again, this time cracking Kelham's face over his left eye. Blood immediately began to run from several cuts from Shepard's armored gauntlet.

"Commander," Thane stepped up, lightly placing a hand on Shepard's shoulder. His back was to Kelham as he leaned in, speaking in a stage whisper. "He's no good to us dead."

"Bah, fuck this guy. We don't need him," Shepard snapped, but turned away, stomping to the opposite side of the room.

Thane turned sharply to regard Kelham. The man's goatee was covered with mucus and blood, his left eye was swollen shut now, the wounds still leaking sluggishly. There actually might have been damage to the orbital socket.

"I have to apologize, Mister Kelham," Thane inclined his head briefly. "The original plan was to do the 'good cop, bad cop' method. However, threatening Commander Shepard's loved ones may have been a bit of a mistake. I was supposed to be the bad one."

"D-don't...f..fff….fuck….Lawyer gets here…." Kelham lifted his head to look at Thane. There was anger in the gaze, along with no small amount of fear. And the eye was extremely dilated. Probably a nasty concussion.

"I'm afraid you might be of a small misunderstanding," Thane nodded slightly as he sat in the chair opposite the man. "Commander Shepard is a Spectre. That means he works above the law. He is authorized to do whatever it takes to get his job done."

Kelham's one good eye seemed to clear slightly as it shot to the Commander and back to Thane.

"Yes, you are a very bad person, even if it can't be proven by C-Sec standards, Shepard can eliminate you at his whim," Thane shrugged slightly as he let his elbows rest on his knees, his hands clasped together in front of him. "I cannot promise you one way or another as to if you will survive this encounter. What I can promise, however, is how painful it will be."

"You don't...don't scare me…." Kelham slurred, fear evident in his gaze.

"Painful it is, I suppose," Thane shrugged again as he withdrew a long thin blade from his coat. He then pulled out a small vial, rubbing the liquid inside of it over the blade. "Don't worry. You won't die right away. But this will hurt. A lot."

Garrus, Wards C-Sec office, Citadel

"Goddess, Thane," Shepard was laughing as the pair stepped out of the interrogation room. "I thought the guy was going to shit his pants when you pulled out the little knife."

"Ah, yes," Thane half smirked. "The Tallma blade is quite sharp, but I was putting a simple balm over it."

"What was the balm for?"

"Dry scales."

"Ha!" Shepard laughed, slapping Thane's shoulder before turning to him. "Okay, Garrus! We got the location. Cargo bay sixty-four. Apparently Fade is working out of a shipping container he has all modded up. Kelham said that it is stocked with supplies so that he could hole up in there for months if needed."

"So, we find it and get a really big can opener," Garrus chuckled evilly. "I'm looking forward to questioning this guy. My fist has some questions too. And my foot. Maybe my knee too."

"Alright, Thane, why don't you find Kasumi and meet us at the cargo bay? Garrus, why don't you go pick up Miranda," Shepard grimaced slightly as he sighed. "She was rather...adamant, about being involved."

Garrus grunted, not really hearing. He was close. So close. There so many questions that he was going to get answers for. So much blood was spilled. Good people died because he failed them. Because he didn't see than danger Sidonis represented.

"GARRUS!" Shepard half shouted as a hand dropped on his shoulder. "Garrus, we can get this done, but I need you to focus up. If you're going to be a liability, I'll do it myself."

With a shake of his head, Garrus took a shuddering breath. "No, sorry, I'm okay."

Shepard stood, looking him in the eye for a long moment before giving a slight nod. "Alright. Let's get moving."

Cargo Bay Sixty-Four, Citadel

"I'm getting real tired of Blue Suns, guys," Kasumi snorted. "They're like glitter."

"Glitter?" Miranda paused to blink, a poor Suns trooper suspended in the air by a blue corona, his legs kicking weakly.

"Yeah, shit gets everywhere, the more you clean it up, the more you find," Kasumi came back, a laugh in her voice. "Sometimes it'll pop up weeks later, when you've forgotten about it."

"I can see that," Miranda nodded as the aura around the floating trooper flared, smashing him into the ceiling before throwing him to the ground with bone crushing force. "Stuff gets in your knickers."

"What kind of parties do you go to?" Kasumi laughed loudly as she dropped onto the cargo container that was supposed to be home for Fade.

"None of your business," Miranda grinned as she eliminated two more enemies.

"No, wait, I kinda want some details," Shepard chuckled. "If I have to, I'll pull rank."

"Can we just get through this?" Garrus snapped. He leapt to his feet, firing into several Suns while moving forward. "I need to get to him before he gets away!"

Shepard frowned darkly, his mouth opening to say something. Then the box dropped. Overhead, cargo containers were zipping by nearly all directions, moving from ship to station, cargo bay to cargo bay. And now this one fell, crashing open as two YMIR Mechs unfolded from inside. They turned to face him as their guns spun up.

"Target: Engaged."

Miranda, Container Twenty-Six B Cargo Bay Sixty-Four, Citadel

"Harkin?!" Garrus roar, his right fist catching the human man in the cheek, spinning him into the wall. "Harkin?" This time a left spun the man, but he had no place to go, except to bounce off the wall.

"Might want to tell us what we want to know, Harkin," Shepard sounded almost bored as he leaned against the doorframe. His legs crossed at the ankle, his arms, loosely crossed over his chest.

"Gak!" Harkin spit out as Garrus caught him by the throat and slammed him back against the wall.

She had never seen Garrus this...brutal. He was a walking wall of rage, Harkin being the unfortunate target of his ire. But...still….

"Where is Sidonis, Harkin?" Garrus hissed in the man's face. "Where is he?!"

"I….don't….know…." Harkin wheezed against the forearm pressed against his throat, slowly lifting him off the ground.

"Tell me!"

"Files….'s in….files!" Harkin waved an absent finger at the many terminals against one of the walls. "I'll open…."

"Nah, I got it," Kasumi grinned as the desk chair slowly spun, her form decloaking in it. If nothing else, the woman knew how to make an entrance. A quick tap of her omnitool and all the screens began streaming data. Faces, names, places, they all flashed by as Kasumi shrugged her way past Harkin's firewalls.

"How...did…." Harkin gasped again, drawing the room's attention back to him.

With a small grunt, Garrus dropped the man. His feet hit the floor and he crumpled in on himself, his hands grasping his throat as he took in deep ragged breaths.

"Actually, Kasumi," Shepard tilted his head as he looked at the woman. "How did you get in to the systems so quickly?"

"Eh," Kasumi shrugged with a grin. "I expected more of a fight too, but these systems are thin as paper. I mean….it looks like he was just using a bunch of home terminals strung together."

"Are you serious?" Miranda rolled her eyes. "I expected him to be working for the Shadow Broker or something."

"Nope! Turns out when he was fired from C-Sec, nobody erased his passwords," Kasumi gestured at the prostrate man. "He was just changing things around. Passports, criminal records, evidence. Looks like he was even…."

Kasumi froze for a moment as she paused one of the data feeds. Her smile dropped as he hands hit the keyboards. "Shit...Edi!"

"Yes, Kasumi?" the AI's voice came over the comm.

"I need you to connect to the Citadel's security cameras. I'm sending you Harkin's passcodes," Kasumi's finger flew across the three keyboards, seemingly at once. "Find Joram Talid!"

"Right away."

"Kasumi," Shepard, now tense again, walked up behind the thief.

"Talid is the one Harkin sent Thane's son to kill!" Kasumi spared a glance up at Shepard. "He's a politician that is taking a militant anti-human stance. I…..Shep, I think this is a Cerberus encryption."

"Miranda?" Shepard turned to look at her. Not with the accusation she had expected, but as a member of his team that might have information.

A frown creased her forehead as she nodded, stepping next to Kasumi and bringing up the relevant files. Her heart sank a bit as she looked over the data.

"It is," she confirmed. "I don't recognize the cell name, 'Jormungand'. But that doesn't mean anything. I think only the Illusive Man knew them all."

"I have located the target," Edi came back. "Joram talid is currently in the West Wards, doing a walk around."

"Alright….let's get moving," Shepard nodded, turning for the door.

"Shepard!" Garrus growled. "I can't let Sidonus get away! This is my chance!"

Shepard looked at his friend for a long moment before nodding. "Alright, Garrus. Get your information. Take Miranda with you, and I'll catch up as soon as Thane's son is safe."

Garrus's face was a frozen mask of anger for a long moment before he took a deep breath, blinking. "Yeah, go Shepard," he turned to Thane and clapped a hand over the drell's shoulder. "I'm sorry. Save your boy. My revenge isn't worth another life."

"Thank you," Thane nodded. "If your quarry does escape, I will help you hunt him."

A small smile crossed Garrus's face as he nodded. "Enough mushy stuff. I have information to beat out of a man."

Drell Lexicon

Thalma Blade: A small knife used to ritually prepare fruit before consumption. Very much out of vogue, as most Drell have converted to the Hannar belief in the Enkindlers.

AN: I've written off and on for most of my life, but didn't really get serious about it until about this time last year. In that year I have written 473,819 words, not counting this one. Holy crap. Thanks to all you lovely people that read and give me feedback, even the assholes. :)

I couldn't have done it without you all!