Me: I'm back with a new chapter and new occurrences. This is what I'm talking about I'm getting more reviews, opinions and most importantly, advice! So thank you to tamarah122, GingerNinja26, Detective Ethan Redfield, and Made Nightwing.

Delta: Yeah thanks for that and for the others who have added this story or author to their favorites or alerts lists. Reviewers get thanked by name because they're extra special, but we still appreciate you all the same.

Me: Sergeant Salsa hasn't told me what he thinks of the cameo yet…

Delta: Probably hasn't found the time to read it yet. Oh well, we go to the Citadel this time baby!

Me: and Delta gets angsty.

Delta: What really?

Me: No, you're not the type. Also we go to a certain store never explored in the game and meet up early with a certain character. Here's a hint, Infiltrait0rN7.

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect. I would've made it possible for a lot more paragon interrupts to be bitch slaps, like in the Overlord DLC, a-mazing. I don't own Halo either, or Cortana would be saved from rampancy. I hope she is, it's not the same with just Chief. Still badass but not the same.

Change of Mind

So we now have Jack aboard the Normandy. And Shepard's practically forbidden me to see her. I guess one of those thoughts crawling through her head is an idea on how to kill me… You'd think I'd be a little more scared than I am about that. Oh well, let's go visit Mordin. These energy daggers are soo badass, I hope I get more info processed soon because the Mjolnir armor would be useful, btu i dont have the genetic augmentations necessary for it. I could get the cybernetic augmentations but I think I'd need a specific chemical cocktail for the genes. Sadly, I don't think any of the weapons from Halo are going to help me here, the Spartan armor was badass but the Human guns aren't very useful here and the Covie weaponry was either plasma or needles, and only the geth have extensive plasma tech. So anyway, I'm now in Mordin's lab and can see him hard at work on the Collector seeker drone.

"Hey Mordin-"

"Not now. Too busy. So much data. Need time to compile, organize. Come back later."

And he just blew me off. Well there goes the smile from my face. Fine I'll just go to the armory and mess around on the extranet. I enter the armory and see Jacob standing at his terminal.

"Sup man." I say.

"Nothing much. Feeling a bit hungry though so I was about to head down to Gardners," replies Jacob

"What does he usually make?"

"Nothing much, usually just military rations with some odd spices here and there."

"Is that bad?"

"No, it's horrible." Jacob shudders.

"Really?"

"Cerberus is more worried about everyone receiving the optimal amount of nutrients, and rations do just that. Usually they allow for more diverse and, well, edible sustenance."

"Really? It's not always military rations?"

"No, the Illusive man knows that some measure of relaxation and happiness breeds efficiency, so he's careful to make sure we're never too lax, but at the same time not too strict. I learned that earlier on, before I joined Cerberus."

The Iphone game, what was it? Mass Effect Galaxy? "How?"

"Miranda,"

"…"

"What?"

"Miranda showed you how strict you needed to be?"

"No, Miranda showed me how lax Cerberus can be."

"…" Jacob laughs at my surprised expression. "I don't see that being possible." She's the ice queen until you help her sister, how could she be it before-oh wait she and Jacob had dated before, I guess he's the exception. Maybe Miranda's vulnerable to the 'Jungle Fever' virus.

"It happened after a mission I did as a Corsair."

"Corsair? Those freelance black ops captains for the Alliance?"

"Not exactly 'Black ops' but yeah, basically. Corsairs were ship captains who were contacted by the Alliance to perform missions that would help if they succeeded but if captured the Alliance could and would use plausible deniability."

"Like Splinter Cell…"

"You like Tom Clancy?"

"Have yet to see someone who doesn't. but tell me more about this Corsair mission."

"It wasn't easy, even with Cerberus helping. Miranda was my Cerberus contact, and together we contacted a salarian info broker named Ish. Our mission was to find and neutralize a deadly poison the batarians were planning to unleash on the council and all through the Citadel while the batarian ambassador pretended to engage in peaceful negotiations between the Hegemony and the Council.

"Pretended?"

"The negotiations were a front. The Ambassador was the mastermind behind it all, so with Ish's help Miranda and I went to three different planets to neutralize the poison and gather enough evidence to present to the council."

"Oh yeah, Ish was that Salarian on Omega. Why you were so mad at him?"

"He sent me straight into a batarian ambush he knew about."

"So that's why you were pissed. So what'd you do with the batarian ambassador?"

"Shot that bastard. Then showed the council the evidence to justify my choice."

"Respect." We fistbump.

Jacob chuckles. "I'll see ya later Delta, I have to go eat." Jacob leaves the armory and I pull out my cot to sit on while I peruse the extranet.

Well this was productive. I found some good places to buy things online, and found a few store inventories on the Citadel. Sweet thing is, I can afford a vid screen, and a console, along with a few games from that one Salarian gamer guy. I can't wait to pick up my stuff when we get to the Citadel. I also found out something really awesome. A music site. For 21st century rap, R&B, Hip-hop and soul. I managed to refill my original itunes list, and add some rock songs that I had for my fight vids. I wonder if it'll be funny to play 'til I collapse' during a firefight. Or maybe 'Bodies'? I just hope if I do Shepard doesn't mind too much. Speaking of which, I'd better adjust my helmet so I can listen to it while the radios off. That'd be great.

"Delta, The Illusive man wishes to speak to you."

I freeze with my eyes widened slightly. I look over to EDI and stare at her blue globe thing for a while.

"Now would be preferred, Delta."

"Tell him I'm busy."

"Casually browsing the extranet cannot be classified as 'being busy'."

"So what does that say about-"

"Delta don't make me come up there," Why am I not surprised Miranda was listening in on this.

"…" I sigh and stand up, heading towards the Comm. Room. I have a right to not desire this. TIM is bad enough on screen, wanting to keep the tech and use the methods of the Collectors against the Reapers. I mean seriously, it's like the guy goes even more mad with power the farther Shepard gets through his/her mission. Miranda and TIM argued about using a control chip on Shepard during her reconstruction, I bet TIM wishes he had on in her after She blows the Collector base. Or will, at least….Hey, an orange cylinder. I watch the hologram scanner rise and switch to the showing of TIM's 'office'. The man himself is sitting in his chair with is liquor glass half full in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I never liked cigarettes, the secondhand smoke is bad enough, and I almost hate them after my uncle died from a failed lung. Doctors said it was the cigarette smoke and the tar coating, along with some tar seeping into his blood veins and harming his heart as well. I don't wish cancer upon people normally but this time I will make an exception, as long as he survives until the end of our mission.

"Delta, it's good to meet you."

"Funny, where I come from people usually trade names. This 'first meeting' seems rather one sided."

"And where do you come from?"

"Apparently the ocean if you're still fishing for info. I don't have time for this Tim, what do you want?"

"You and Shepard are rather similar. It's little wonder that she seems to trust you so much."

"I could just leave if you're going to stare and speculate."

"I want to know who you are. Ever since we found you on Freedoms Progress I've been searching for information on you, information that doesn't seem to exist."

"You got me, I'm a ghost. I've come back from Christmases past to warn you about your evil deeds and-"

"This is not a joke. Thousands of human lives hang in the balance here, possibly even more."

"And if the events at Omega concerning the plague are of any indication, the same applies to alien lives as well. The collectors are as much a danger to the humans as they are to the rest of the galaxy, and I care about that little fact as well."

"Then you have misjudged me if you assume I don't care about the other aliens in this galaxy. I run Cerberus and our intentions are for the benefit of humanity."

"I thought that the phrase 'at any cost' would be in there somewhere. Whether you omit it or not changes nothing, TIM. Cerberus goes too far in too many things, if Jack is any indication."

"That was a project I had no control over."

"I doubt that very much. You're an accomplished liar, so don't bother trying to win my trust because I never would. I'm leaving, hope I don't see you later." I turn around to step out the hologram ring.

"One last thing Delta." TIM still seems rather calm about this whole exchange we've had. He must get that a lot. "Miranda told me that she suspects you received a large amount of information recently. If anything you manage to make sense of in your head, or have trouble with, please consult with our operatives."

TIM severs connection from his side. I can't help but think I've screwed myself somehow, but then again, strategy was never my strong side, and reading Orson Scott Card has only exacerbated my sense of little understanding of the human mind. I stop thinking about Card as soon as I see Shepard standing by the door with a rather irate looking Miranda beside her. I wave causally at the two of them, at which Shepard smirks and Miranda just glares harder.

"Need anything Commander?" I say as I turn to Shepard.

"No, I heard you were talking to The Illusive Man so I wanted to see how it would go. Apparently Miranda had the same concerns."

"Concern for me, or whether I piss off her employer. Never mind, I know the answer."

"Right, we're a few minutes out from the Citadel, so gear up and get ready to go."

"Awesome! I ordered some stuff so I need to know where we're docking."

"Zakera Ward, Dock 26. See you in a little while Delta." Shepard walks off with a nod of her head, going towards the CIC. I smile then look towards Miranda. She's still scowling so I shrug and head into the armory, sitting down on my cot as I open my omni-tool to add some info. Mirnda stalks through a few seconds later and Jacob raises an eyebrow slightly at me.

"I didn't do nothin."

Jacob just turns back to his terminal shaking his head. I smirk and turn back to my omni-tool, switching to my infiltrator and activating the hack function. Logged in on my new gamer-file on my Soldier tool, I follow the link on my infiltrator OT to hack into the database. I search quickly, looking through the billions of gamer profiles until I find the one I was looking for. I smirk to myself and save it, making it easier to access in the future. As a bonus I use my Soldier OT to send a friend request to the profile, with a certain message. With that done I head over to the airlock with Jacob to set foot on the Citadel for the first time. Shepard is already at the airlock, as usual, with Miranda and Garrus there as well. I wave to them and receive one in return from the expected.

"So Shepard, where we headed?"

"First stop is the presidium. Councilor Anderson got us a meeting with the Council so I'm going to try and convince them to help us." Shepard replied.

"That's not going to work commander. You know they're not going to help, they don't care enough, even with the evidence we have will they do anything."

"Miranda's right Shepard. They're politicians, they don't plan to do shit unless something A. threatens their position or pride, B. Gets them money, or the newly popular C. threatens their illusion of peace and future safety. It's far too frustrating having to deal with hardheaded idiots that are obsessed with maintaining their willful ignorance."

"Well thank you very much for the vote of confidence you two," Shepard replies.

"Well, Miranda might still change hers just out of principle since I agreed with her." I smirk at Shepard as I say this and watch Miranda shake her head. We walk over to C-sec customs and are about to go through before-

"Commander Shepard, Enter the password and claim your prize." Yayyy, Kasumi!

Shepard walks over to the advertisement board and eyes it curiously before speaking almost hesitantly. "Silence is Golden."

"Glad its you. Kasumi Goto, at your service."

"I assume you know about the mission?"

"Yes. I'm actually a bit offended I wasn't consulted earlier. Partly my fault, making myself so hard to find."

I look up casually toward the rafters as the ad boards volume lowers and a more human voice is able to be heard.

"I'm ready to go whenever you need me. I just can't wait to see what you look like in formal wear."

"Formal wear?" Shepard replies questioningly. They continue their discussion as I activate my cloak. Once invisible I go over to a shuttle under the rafters of the Citadel and climb on top. I look up to the side of the rafter and I jump, clinging on and pulling myself up as silently as I can. I see Kasumi with her eyes on Shepard, pacing by the other end of the rafters. I crouch and sneak over to her, the sound dampeners active during my cloak muffling any noise I make during movement. Glad I made that upgrade while Mordin worked on my blades. I stop behind Kasumi and stand still as I uncloak myself.

"Watsup?" I ask loudly. Kasumi turns with a smile as Shepard and gang turn around and look up, instantly recognizing my voice.

"You're rather skilled." Kasumi says, placing a hand on her hip.

"Guess I'm just a natural." I smirk at her crossing my arms.

"Good to see you've met our newest member Delta," says Shepard. "Now get back down here because we have stuff to do." Shepard turns and talks to Jacob who nods and goes back to the shuttle that took us from the Normandy. Kasumi and I look at each other before smirking and jumping down to land near Shepard. I crouch because of some of the extra weight of my armor. We all head into the C-Sec scanning tunnel and stop as the scanners activate. We wait a second as the scanners start then go over Shepard. Alarms go off.

"I swear to god I didn't touch anything," Kasumi says quickly. A small laugh bursts out before I snuff it. Meanwhile the Turian officer, Sergeant Haron, I think it was? Is talking into his earpiece.

"Shut it down. I said shut it down! Are you serious? Well alright." He turns to Shepard. "Sorry for the inconvenience ma'am the scanners seem to think you're, ah, dead."

"I was listed Missing in Action a couple years ago."

"Go on in and talk to my captain, he'll help you get reinstated."

"Thank you." Shepard walks out the tunnel and we all follow her as she heads over to talk to Bailey. He's within sight but the office is almost twice the size as in the game, and the interrogation rooms are further off to the left in a small hallway. Shepard talks to Bailey but I don't pay attention, besides I know what happens anyway. So I walk over outside the C-Sec office and look around the area after checking to make sure I'm within sight of the Commander. I'm not a kid but this is still a giant station, and getting lost like a little child would not help my situation with Miranda. Then again that won't really improve until and unless I help save her sister.

"First time on the Citadel?" I turn to my new company. It's Kasumi,who's ahead of the pack while Shepard says goodbye to Bailey.

"Yep. Pretty place they got here. Protheans were pretty good at building great stuff."

"It wasn't the Protheans who built the Citadel, it was the Reapers. Though no one wants to believe it, the reapers built everything so that people would follow a certain path of technology. That way it would always be easy for them to kill organics and it would keep the trend going." Shepard intervenes.

"What trend?" hate feigning ignorance, but for now, its necessary.

"The trend of organics using the Citadel as such, a Citadel, the capital and seat of the highest governmental power in the galaxy. Then since the Citadel is a mass relay to dark space, the Reapers come through and immediately cripple everything and everyone in a surprise attack. Our leaders are suddenly dead, the center of our mass relay network is inhabited and controlled by a giant enemy force, and on top of that they made sure we developed certain technologies and only to a certain extent, so they always have the advantage and improved version of whatever we have."

"And we get to kill them. Glorious."

Shepard smirks at me. "I don't see how Miranda can hate you so much."

"I agree Shepard, it seems hard not to like this boy," Kasumi says, nodding in agreement. Miranda looks on and frowns while Garrus flares his mandibles in that funny Turian grin.

"Come on you guys, we've got to get to the Presidium for the meeting." Aw, I don't want to, The Turian just makes me want to punch him and the Asari's a pussy bitch who doesn't do shit but complain and ignore the obvious hatred the Turian has for humans and Shepard.

"Shepard can I sit this one out? I hate useless politicians."

"What makes you think they're useless?"

"At most I'm willing to bet they'll reinstate you as a Spectre. Other than that, you might as well forget about having any other form of their support. And I'm likely to blow up when they do that because they'll be endangering people by not facing the threat to their illusion of peace."

"Fine. Kasumi, you mind making sure he doesn't do something bad?"

"Sure Shep, I'll be watching him closely" Kasumi responds.

"Great. trading babysitters," I mutter.

"Alright, Miranda, you can watch him instead-"

"See ya Shep!" I drag Kasumi and hear Shepard chuckle as I hurry away. Me and Kasumi walk around the Citadel's Zakera Ward, me thinking of things to do and Kasumi doing nothing. Except ten occasional pilfer and relocation of an object. Sometimes we'd watch a little ways off and laugh at the people who fumble for their things. A few saw us watching expectantly but we left before they confronted us. Eventaully we made our way to the 28th floor and were standing outside the Dark Star lounge, waiting for the Salarian vid game guy to be done with his latest customer.

"Hey, I bought a vid screen console and a couple games online, so I came to pick them up" I say, stepping forward. Kasumi steps up beside me but doesn't say anything.

"Ah yes, you must be Delta! Here, your Xbox 1080, your copy of "N7 Code of Honor: Medal of Duty", and the mini room vid screen."

"Thanks very much." I take the suprisingly light bag of durable tech and place it over my shoulder like a backpack. Kasumi and I walk away into the Dark Star lounge where I once again enjoy the new universal drinking age of 17. Always the cautious one, I only have one drink while Kasumi has a few. After finishing and paying for our drinks, we move down the stairs to the 26th level. I grab some ramen from the stand and listen to Kasumi's comments and criticisms while she compares the stand ramen to her grandma's. I expected the comment she made about how she should have stolen the recipe, yet I still chuckled. We finished eating and stood up to look around the floor at the different shops, like 'Saronis Applications' and the 'Sirta Foundation'. We went to Sirta first, where I bought some genetic implants and augmentations, pretty small scale but still useful. While I was browsing though I noticed a volus walking around the store. I've got a bad feeling about him but oh well. we make our purchases and see the volus go out the door. we follow behind and notice a quarian coming too before she almost completely trips over the volus. Oh, here we go... oooh!

"Where are you going?" Kasumi asks as I head over to a nearby bench that offers a view of most of the floor.

"Setting up"

"For what?"

"My hunch tells me there's gonna be a hero moment coming on. Or a gentleman one. either way, my compass points to those two."

"What compass?"

"My conflict/moral compass" We sit down on the bench and wait for only five minutes before Lia turn's teh corner and the volus ru-...waddles up with a C-Sec officer and points at the poor quarian girl. I smirk and Kasumi watches interestedly before turning to me with a questioning glance.

"Momma always said to trust your gut." I wait for things to settle between the three before I get up and walk over to them. Kasumi trails behind me as my face settles into a neutral expression. "Is something wrong?"

The officer turns to me, "This is a C-Sec matter sir" he says, "Please move along."

"I've had experience with police work. Maybe I can help."

"Its not much of a case. This volus says that the quarian stole his credit chit."

"and?"

"Well my omni-tool says she doesn't have one on her, but she still could have stashed it to grab later. heh, you know quarians."

Yeah, I do know quarians. evidently you and almost every other racist bastard on this station don't. I turn to Kasumi with a depressed look on my face. She shakes her head and frowns in agreement. I turn to the quarian and ask "So whats your side on this?"

"I didn't do it. I was just at the used ship dealers when this guy comes running out of nowehre and bumps into me. He didn't even stop or apologize, then a minute later, he runs up with C-Sec and accuses me of stealing his damn chit."

"A minute, 17. So you got to the used ship dealers a lot?"

"Yeah, I'm hoping to get one."

"It'd be a welcome pilgrimage gift."

The quarians surprise is shown and she looks to the other two before turning back. "You know about the pilgrimage?"

I nod, "My commander had a quarian friend who was on hers. She told me about the cultural relevance. Dont worry Ms..."

"Vael, Lia Vael nar Estahnz"

"Well Ms, Vael don't worry, I'll help you." I turn to the volus and my smile instantly drops to a sneer as we look at each other before I turn back and walk over to the Sirta foundation and Saronis applications. I talk to Marab, he gives me the chit and I head back to the trio.

"Hey Jackass, found your chit." I threw the chit at the volus and it bounced off its stomach. I chuckled at that, before turning to the Officer. "I found the chit at Saronis Applications. this idiot bought something and left before he got it back. "I point at the volus as I say 'idiot'.

"Yes, well...The Quarian could have stolen it." the volus comments.

"I'll close the case then." the officer says as he taps on his pad and turns to Lia. "As for you, you'd better get a permit or a living residence or I'm hauling you in for vagrancy." I choose PARAGON.

"Whats your name officer?" I ask.

"Huh? oh its officer Dawes"

"My name is Delta. Now, Mr. Dawes are you fucking kidding me."

"What?"

"You know what. This volus asshole drags you over and accuses this innocent woman of stealing his chit. Instead, the dumbass left it behind and lies to you and when I bring the chit back you threaten to arrest the girl for vagrancy?"

"How about I run you in for obstruction of justice?"

"How about I tell Bailey how I was doing your job while you were being a racist shithead?" The officer shifts nervously as I say this while I turn to the volus and Lia is in slight shock. "And you, you threaten and accost this woman for no valid reason, but on the grounds that she's a Quarian, and then when she's innocent you just say she could have done something, like anyone else on this whole damn station. You had better leave before I kick your ass"

"Just a minute you-!" the volus seems surprised, better shock him out of it. I raise my arm and pop my plasma blade out.

"Hurry up and waddle away Rodent." He runs as fast as his two legs can carry him. The officer looks at me and decides to leave as well as I sheathe my blade. Kasumi looks like she might be regretting inaction.

"Thanks. No one's ever done that for me, or any of us really."

"Nessun problema. Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine. I'm eating nutrient paste in a Turian shelter, but I'm surviving."

"Good luck on your pilgrimage. Take care Lia Vael."

"You too. Keelah Selai

I wave goodbye as I turn away from Lia and walk away, I noticed that she jumped a little before fiddling with her omni tool. Odd, didn't see her do that in the game. Oh well, Kasumi and I head back to the ship, just in time too, because Shepard sent a crew-wide notice to return, guess she's done with the Council meeting. As per her orders, Kasumi and I make our way back through the C-Sec office to the ship. I had a quick word with Bailey and now a certain officer Dawes is getting a severance package. Kasumi and I board the Normandy and she goes down the elevator to the port observatory while I head to the meeting room to wait for Shepard. After a few minutes I feel the ship begin to take off, meaning Shepard's on board and a couple later she enters the meeting room still in armor with Garrus and Miranda at her sides.

"Hey Delta." she says

"Hey Shepard," I wave and smile at her, moving my gaze from her to Garrus, to Miranda, and back to Shepard, without dropping my smile. "How'd the meeting go?"

"(sigh) Well I found out Anderson's still the only one who has faith in me and I got my Spectre status reinstated."

"oh..."

"On the bright side, I went shopping and picked up some new improvements for our tech, guns, armor, and biotics." That's Shepard, still a woman excited about shopping, but for completely different kinds of products.

"Leave it to Shepard to enjoy shopping for battle equipment." GARRUS, YOU JOKE THIEF!

Shepard chuckles with Garrus and Miranda's frown lessens but I'm still here so she won't smile at all. I should probably get around to fixing that... Eh, I'll do it tomorrow.

"Delta, why didn't you get any new armor parts?" Shepard asks.

I open my mouth and lift a finger then close it and a surprised look comes across my face "...uhhhh"

Shepard raises an eyebrow as she looks at me.

"I forgot..." OOOOOHH I'm an idiot! Miranda scowls more-shut up Miri, no one asked you- and Shepard seems like she's trying to resist a laughing facepalm. We end the meet-up and I head to the armory to set up my stuff.

"whatcha got there Delta?" asks Jacon, as he strides into the room.

"The xbox 1080, a copy of N7 Code of Honor: Medal of Duty, and a mini vid screen. You okay man? You look like somethings off."

"Yeah, I'm fine, just, met the new squadmate. She seems nice." Jacob smiles at this.

"Oh cool, hope you two hook up."

"What?" He seems slightly shocked.

"Yeah, It'd be hilarious if you two hooked up. That day would make my week. the ensuing ones would make my month."

"Haha, jackass" Jacob turns to his terminal and I start playing my game.

After a few rounds, this happens.

"Oh great, an egotist"

"-You suck n00b, why don't you get off and eat your boyfriends dick you fag?-"

"What happened?" Jacob asks.

"Dude hit me with a rocket. We're tied so if i get a kill I win the FFA match. ooh shotgun, hold up a sec." I run up to the guy and shotgun his chest as he turns around, blowing his torso wide open.

"OH YEAH! What happened there huh! You was talkin all that goooood shit a second ago, then what happened? You got blasted in yo chest! YOU EAT A DICK NIGGA, YOU EAT A DICK!" The game ends with most of the party laughing and the one asshole stays silent. Jacob is struggling to stay standing while he laughs and I chuckle while smirking triumphantly.

Me: Next stop, Korlus, and Grunt. Get ready to have your ass handed to you Delta.

Delta: What? oh goddamnit...

Me: Hey, you gotta pay somehow for making people wait this whole time for a new chapter.

Delta: BUT THATS YOUR FAU-

Me: (Vulcan neck grabby thing) shhhhhhhh...

Delta: (faints)

Me: Don't worry, he'll be up to get put down by Grunt later. until then, (throws Delta over shoulder) PEACE!