They ate dinner at an Alliance outpost in Riga and then Joker took over piloting Vega's shuttle. The new coordinates they were going to were in North America, in a charming little town called Las Vegas. Vega shot Joker an evil glare to nip all jokes in the bud.

"Las Vegas has been completely destroyed," he reported while Joker flew over Europe and the ocean. "The desert is taking over what used to be a big city. Ninety nine percent of the population have been killed, but not before they took down several Reapers and countless waves of husks, cannibals and such. It's a brutal battlefield and a gruesome graveyard these days. Whoever had a chance left the place because there is literally nothing there to build up anymore. But the ruins are not empty. Several gangs of bandits settled down there. They're raiding the buildings and scavenging whatever they can. It's not a bad living if you know where to look and if you have enough firepower to keep nature and other bandits at bay."

"Okay, so what's your problem there?"

"My problem is that smack in the middle of all this brutality there is a little sector the gangs still haven't conquered. Believe it or not, it's being held by a group of kids. There are at least twenty of them, as far as I can tell."

"That's why there is another Kodiak shadowing us," Joker nodded. One Kodiak could only hold up to 16 people.

"Are you saying those kids have the firepower to hold a territory against gangs and, dare I say, you?" Jo raised both eyebrows.

"I told you, the battle for Las Vegas was brutal. Alliance was there in force. Those kids, blasted be the day, ended up with a surface-to-air missile launcher and what looks like a wagon of ammunition for it. They probably have more than that, but so far they hadn't let us near enough to test the theory. They shot down one of my Kodiaks, I barely saved the crew. Can you imagine?"

"Kids mean business," Jo nodded, impressed.

"You saw the kids in Riga, they know I'm there to save them, but they still don't trust a big, ugly, scarred man. They need a different approach. And Lola, I need those kids out of Las Vegas, like, yesterday. The other gangs are getting more and more violent and very soon they'll want that piece of territory. And when they move in - and they will find a way past those missiles! - they won't take hostages."

"I feel ya," Jo nodded. "Joker, are you up to outmanoeuvring a missile?"

"Always," Joker grinned.

It was almost amusing to plan their advance on the kids as a battle, but this was the reality of this new world.

They approached the destroyed city in the late afternoon. As predicted by Vega, at a certain distance they were greeted with a missile fired from an empty street right in the middle of a closed-off area - the kids' stronghold according to Vega. Joker bent the Kodiak in ways that would have made Cortez cry. The shuttle pilot always maintained that the Kodiaks were too heavy, too slow to really fly. That didn't seem to make any difference to Joker. He might have performed some unheard-of flying stunts there, but he got the missile to hit a tall, empty building nearby and landed the shuttle on the same street the missile had been launched from. The second Kodiak followed them from a distance and landed several house blocks away, waiting for their instruction.

Jo told Vega and Joker to stay at the shuttle and walked down the street alone. Joker sat down on the step and watched her. The street looked completely deserted, ramshackle. Hot wind blew dust and litter from corner to corner. It was a ghost town. And yet it wasn't. Jo stopped towards the middle of the street where a few empty crates and barrels were piled up, closed her eyes and turned around. Joker watched her transform. He'd never seen her like this. She lifted her face to the sky and inhaled deeply. On exhale she shuddered and became something less than Commander Shepard, and yet more. She became one with the street.

"My name is Commander Shepard," she spoke and her strong voice echoed between the carcasses of tall buildings. "I mean you no harm. I would like to speak to your guy."

There was no answer and Joker wondered how she was going to handle the situation. He always loved watching her work, but usually there were either children or hostiles. There had never been hostile children before.

Jo closed her eyes once again and started pointing at random points around her:

"I can feel it when someone's watching me, my skin is crawling. There are two people there, three over there, one there, there and there." So, maybe those weren't random points at all. "Two more over there and at least four down here. Come on, I come in peace, I just want to talk. There is no point in hiding," she opened her eyes and stated pointing once again: "You've done a good job making this place look uninhabited, but I'm a street rat myself, I can tell that this is where you enter the building most often, so it's probably your common room, kitchen and dorm. This crate covers another entry, and that metal sheet over there as well. Now, come on. I want to talk to your guy."

Joker thought there would be no answer again, when suddenly a young male voice sounded:

"What guy?"

"The one who protects you and takes care of you. A boy or a girl, I don't know yet, but you know whom I mean. Your guy."

Metal scraped against stone somewhere and three boys appeared. They each held a rifle and they made a good show of pointing them at Jo with serious miens. Joker absolutely didn't like her standing there with her arms raised, wearing khakis and a thin shirt against at least three rifles, but he trusted that she had the situation under control.

"Stay where you are and don't move," one of the boys demanded. All three of them looked like early teens.

"I mean you no harm," Jo said, but complied. She stood still and kept her hands in the air.

"You're with him," the boy spat in Vega's direction.

"Yes. And he is here to help you."

"Yeah, right. He's been snooping around here for weeks."

"Okay, whoever you are," Jo spoke up louder and addressed the houses. "The leader of this little gang, don't you think it's time to stop hiding behind your foot soldiers and face me like a man? I am not here to harm you or any of your charges."

"I am facing you like a man," another boy suddenly stepped out from behind a pile of rubble. "But if you make trouble and I die, who will take care of them?"

"Yeah," the boy with a rifle sneered. "We stand together and protect our own."

Joker looked the newcomer up and down and tried to see what it was that made him so special to be the guy. He wasn't tall, looked barely eighteen, maybe even only seventeen. He was thin and his clothes were threadbare, unkempt hair gone so long without a cut that he had to tie it in the back. And yet there were these three younger boys facing Jo, pointing rifles at her - for him. To protect him, blindly disregarding their own safety. Much like Joker and the Normandy crew would disregard their safety for Jo.

"You can call me Jo," she offered. "What's your name?"

"Malcolm. Mal," he offered.

"All right, Mal, let's talk business," she lost her submissive stance, lowered her arms and suddenly became just what she was: an adult among children. "First things first. That missile launcher? Good job. These rifles? Not so good. These two aren't even loaded, and yours is jammed and useless at the moment," she pointed at the boy who spoke earlier. "I can fix it for you right now, if you like," she raised an eyebrow and stretched out her hand. The boys winced at having been made so easily and looked at Mal for guidance. He nodded tiredly. The boy carefully stepped forward and gave Jo his rifle. She took it, twisted something with sure, practised gestures, slammed her hand against its side and showed the boy the difference.

"See? This little hook was jammed. Now it's loaded and hot. Be careful who you point it at, you can kill someone with it."

The boy took the rifle and stepped back, confused at the trust she showed him by handing him a loaded weapon. Mal came closer. He had no visible weapons on him.

"Now, Mal," Jo sat down on one of the crates on the street. "You have a situation here, you know that, right? Las Vegas is not safe for you and your guys."

Joker could see Mal's lips tightening. He knew the situation, but he had no options.

"Don't have anywhere else to go," he shrugged.

"You do," Jo waved in the Kodiak's general direction. "Lieutenant Vega over there has been trying his best to get you guys out of here. You've been resisting."

"We can't trust anyone, especially some guy who drops from the sky and offers help," Mal declared. "For all I know, he's no different than Chip and Rocky."

Those were probably the leaders of the gangs nearby.

"Do you know who I am?" Jo asked the kids. "I mean, do you really know who I am? I'm Commander Shepard, and to start things off, I'm the one who made peace between the krogans and the turians, and then made peace between the quarians and the geth. And then I went against the Reapers and they all died. I killed them. That may or may not be relevant to you, but this will definitely be: I'm white trash. Lost my parents and spent a few years in an orphanage that was so bad that I ran away from it and lived on the streets rather than return there. I've spent ten years as a street runner for a gang, but not like your little colony of lost children here. I was in a real gang. I killed my first man when I was fifteen, and then two more before my eighteenth birthday. I know all about your struggle. Whatever you think and feel, I know it all. Whatever tricks you use to stay alive, I know them all and more. But there is a big difference between you and me."

She leaned her elbows on her knees and gave Mal a look. Joker noticed a few small, dirty faces peaking out from behind garbage, crates and crumbling walls. Kids were curious and since no violence seemed to erupt, they couldn't stay away.

"Nobody wanted me," Jo said to Mal. "Nobody offered me help. Not until I went out into the world and cut a piece of it for myself. I've been through hell when I was a kid and somewhere deep inside me I always felt that something was wrong with that picture. You know what I mean. Some of you may have been street rats before the war, but most of you had parents and homes until the Reapers destroyed it all. Most of you know the one rule of the world that is the most sacred, and yet the most abused. It's a contract which says that parents take care of their children until they are able to take care of themselves. When I was a kid, I somehow knew that I'd been wronged, but I didn't know how. I had nobody who would have cared. Everything I am now, I achieved against abysmal odds, against expectations and in spite of everyone who tried to put me down. Now I am an adult myself and finally in a position to do something about these kinds of situations."

She waved her hand to indicate her surroundings. More and more kids appeared, some stepped onto the street, seeing no reason to hide. Joker watched and smiled. Where Vega failed, Jo was winning.

"I am here to tell you that you all have been terribly wronged. You are children and there should be adults to take care of you. It's not supposed to be your daily business to fight for survival. You're not supposed to be handling weapons, shooting missiles at tanks or hiding from intruders. You're supposed to learn how to live before you're forced out of the nest. I am also here to tell you that unlike me you have someone who cares. I was one of you once upon a time and now that I'm an adult myself, I'm in a position to offer you exactly what you need. I care. Regardless of who you are, how old, how prickly, how scared, how hungry, how dirty - I care, and I will continue to care. Why? Because it is our holy privilege as adults," she waved at herself, Joker and Vega. "Our divine duty and our sacred right to take care of our children. I may not be related to any of you, but I came from the same streets and I made it. It is my turn to pass on some of what I've learned and some of what I've earned. I am here to give you what you were supposed to have by default, what you deserve. It is my care, my protection, my guidance and my loyalty."

"Why? Why would you be loyal to any of us?" Mal whispered through a tight throat. Joker could see the boys slowly lowering their rifles and a whole bunch of other kids approaching Jo in a circle. A little girl with the same auburn hair as Mal bumped into him from behind and wrapped her arms around his leg. Little sister, Joker concluded. Gunny had done the same when she was little and he came home for a visit.

"Because I care and because it's the way the world is supposed to be."

The little girl suddenly left her brother's protection and dashed at Jo.

"Emmy, no!" Mal cried out but it was too late. The girl jumped and Jo caught her easily. Thin little arms and legs went around Jo like a vice. Jo hugged the little body in return and soothed the girl's silent sobs. About three dozen children now stood in the street around Jo, a ragtag band of orphans trying to get by day by day, completely out of their depth, relying on chance to get them through. They were lost and while they tried to be brave and tough, when faced with a caring adult they had no choice but to admit that they were not very successful. They were children and Mal was merely the oldest one of them.

Tiredness and bone-deep weariness slumped their shoulders as one by one the kids surrendered to the truth. They needed adult protection and care. There was no way around it.

The girl stopped sobbing and sat back to look Jo in the eye.

"Hello there," Jo cooed. "I'm Jo."

"I'm Emily. You're pretty," the girl announced confidently.

"Thank you," Jo pulled her sleeve down and wiped the girl's tears. "Oh, there you are, hiding under all that dirt!" She smiled such a brilliant smile that the whole street lit up. "My, I do believe that if we wash off all this grime, a beautiful girl will make an appearance."

"Are you here to help us?" Emily asked seriously.

"Yes."

"Will you take Sammy, then?"

"Who is Sammy?"

"Samantha," Mal sighed deeply. Kids moved aside behind him and someone stepped close to Jo, handing her a small bundle. Joker's heart jumped to his throat. A baby! They had a baby here?!

Jo took the bundle carefully. Emily climbed off her lap to allow her a good hold of the child.

"Sammy," she said, carefully touching the infant's face. Jo stared at the baby in her arms, transfixed and quite shell-shocked. She hadn't seen that one coming, Joker could tell. Then she tightened her grip and looked up at Mal.

"What's her story?"

Mal shook his head and clenched his fists with anger at the situation.

"During the war, when there were still soldiers around here, some of our elder girls tried to earn money or food or clothes. One of them, Petra, got pregnant that way. She gave birth to Sammy in February, but she didn't survive it. We have no medicine here. We tried to take care of Sammy as well as we could, but... Well."

"And the father?"

"Who knows? Probably dead in a ditch somewhere. Most of those soldiers are."

"How old was Petra?"

"Fourteen."

"Are there any other pregnant girls here right now?"

"No."

Joker seethed. He also felt Vega next to him vibrate with anger and helplessness. This was just fucked up. Children were not supposed to have children and be forced to raise them!

Jo got to her feet and fixed Mal with a stare.

"Mal, I came here to offer you what Vega wanted to offer you long ago. There are safe houses we're building and a chance to either find blood relatives or adoptive families at least for some of you. Regardless of that, there will still be food and shelter for all of you until you come of age, I guarantee you that. Whether you come with us or not is entirely up to you, but this," Jo nodded at the baby. "This is not optional. I'm taking the baby with me."

"Yeah, I know." Mal lowered his head again.

"Make the choice that is best for all of your charges, Mal. You don't have to be strong anymore. Let me be strong for you. Spirits know I've got more strength than the galaxy can handle. I can solve all your problems if you only let me. So let me, I'm begging you to. I will never ask for anything in return."

There was a moment of tension when all eyes were on Mal. His sister and three dozen other kids looked at him, expecting him to make the decision for all of them. They would stand by him no matter what he decided, Joker could see that, but he could also see a glimmer of hope in their faces. Hope for real, adult protection and care. For an end to their struggle for survival.

Joker was sure that it was Emily who balanced Mal's decision. She leaned against Jo and wrapped her arms around her leg, just the way she'd done with Mal earlier. The look of trust and hope in his sister's face did him in.

"Okay." He agreed. "But if there's anything I don't like about where you're taking us, we'll be gone."

"Absolutely fair," Jo agreed, then addressed the whole group: "Go on and collect your belongings. Don't forget food and any keepsakes from your families, if you still have any, they might help us find your relatives. Photographs would be especially helpful. We won't be returning here, so make sure you get everything."

Vega called the second Kodiak in as the kids dispersed to do as Jo instructed. For a few seconds she stood there in the middle of a suddenly empty street and looked at the baby in her arms.

Joker's world slowed down to a fraction of its speed. His heartbeat became slow and heavy and the edges of his vision darkened. He watched Jo look up at him as she headed towards the Kodiak, and he stopped feeling his arms and legs. Would this be the moment?.. Would she come to him now and say that she couldn't let the baby go? Would she tell him that he'd just become a...

Would it?..

He watched her approach in slow motion and his heartbeat picked up until too much blood was being pumped through him too fast. He was having a panic attack and there was nothing he could do about it.

He almost fainted when Jo finally approached the Kodiak...

...and handed the baby over to Vega.

"Plant your ass in the co-pilot's seat, strap yourself in and no matter what else is going on, you protect her with your fucking life," she instructed the big man. Vega nodded grimly and did as she told him. The kids started to appear and Jo caressed Joker's shoulder:

"Get this bird started."

She wandered off to count the kids, ask their names and divide them btween the two shuttles. It gave Joker sufficient time to calm down, slow his heartbeat, wipe off the cold sweat and check if his hands weren't shaking too badly. Whoa, he thought. What was that?

There were thirty one kids, which left just enough seats in the shuttles to fit them all, if Jo remained standing through the trip. She personally loaded their belongings in the back of the shuttle, strapped each kid in a seat and made sure they were secure and comfortable. Then she suddenly disappeared and Joker walked around the Kodiak to look for her.

He found her approaching Mal, who stood alone in the street and looked at the place that had become his home over the last year. Joker observed how she grabbed the boy and wrapped her arms around him.

"It's over," she said to him softly. "You did good, you did so good. You got them this far, but it's over now, you don't have to be strong anymore. You don't have to take care of everyone. You're not responsible anymore. They're all safe and so are you. I got you," she rubbed his back gently. "I got you, baby. You can return to being just what you are. A teenager."

Mal was stiff for a while, but eventually he lowered his head on Jo's shoulder, fisted his hands in the shirt at her sides and sobbed quietly.

The tension broke, the weight this boy had been carrying on his shoulders for months fell off him and he crumbled. According to Jo, in her entire life there hadn't really been anyone to hold her and allow her to fall apart, not until she met Joker and they had gotten to know each other well. It was amazing that she could give someone else this kind of relief after just ten minutes of knowing them.

Joker watched Jo as she cooed in Mal's ear and gave him time to collect himself. Joker just fell in love with her a little more.

When everyone was finally ready to leave, Jo closed the shuttle doors, had Joker connect with the second Kodiak via screens and occupied the kids on both shuttles with group games for the entire flight from Las Vegas to Merill, a small town at the Wisconsin River. Vega had a house prepared just for this gang of kids because there were so many and he knew they wouldn't want to be separated. The red brick house was fully stocked with food, beds, hot water and a staff of five caregivers.

They unloaded slowly. The kids were still mistrustful of their new surroundings, but all the adults seemed nice and caring, so the kids had no choice but to accept aid. Jo helped the caregivers assign a bed for each kid, soothed any fears and tears, asked the staff a million questions and made sure they had all they needed to take care of baby Samantha. Joker watched her work and honestly wondered: why hadn't she brought up the question of adopting a kid or a dozen to him yet? She was so naturally good at this that it seemed a logical conclusion.

But at the end of the day, when the kids were safe and warm, she came to Joker and asked him to take her some place quiet.

Since Joker didn't know the area, he just flew them until his navigation system told him they were at the Porcupine Mountains State Park. It amused him a little because his mother used to call him porcupine.

They sat down together on a hill and looked out towards a big lake. Joker could feel it: Jo was distressed once more. Some dark emotions were brooding under the surface and he'd developed a keen nose for that kind of thing by now.

"Talk," he encouraged, wondering just how many more times he would have to deal with a crisis like that.

"Vega said that he was doing this work in my name, and that as far as he was concerned, I could take over anytime. Do you know why he said that? Because this is a fucking hard job. Not the logistics, but the emotional involvement. I can't do this. I barely know myself, so I really don't have the nerves to deal with this. Not right now, anyway."

Joker nodded to himself. He could see her point.

"Is it true about the afterlife being like an ocean?" He asked.

"It's what it felt like to me. All I said to the kids was true, even if they have no business knowing how it feels to be ripped out of the ocean again and be stuffed into a meat suit that no longer fits."

"But it didn't feel like that the second time around?"

"No, this time I came back on my own, I fought with all I had to come back. But I still died, Joker. I died." She shuddered and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I can't feel it anymore."

Joker almost thought he'd imagined her whisper.

"Can't feel what?" He asked, dreading the answer. Don't say 'love', he prayed.

"The... urge. To kill."

"What?" He hadn't seen that one coming.

"I have... I used to have psychopathic tendencies. For many years I've felt this urge to do something needlessly violent now and then. Not always, mind you, but from time to time. And my chosen profession gave me a lot of opportunities to feed that need. It usually works like this: when a group of people attacks me, I kill the immediately threatening ones in my 'soldier mode', then interrogate whoever is left alive and then take this little sadistic pleasure in killing them for no other reason than that I can. But yesterday... I killed those guys who held guns to your head without hesitating, then I interrogated the last guy, but when I swung the blade to behead him, I felt nothing. No sadistic urge, no pleasure, no need, nothing."

"Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"I have no idea. All I know is that a part of me is gone and I have to wrap my head around that fact. I'm not a brutal killing machine anymore. I'm still efficient, but I don't feel this rage anymore that made me able to do impossible things on a battlefield. It may return, or it may not. Right now I'm just overwhelmed."

"I suggest that we leave Vega to his work for now and do something less emotionally challenging."

"Like what?"

"Get married?"

"That's less emotionally challenging?" Jo laughed and Joker shrugged:

"What's to be emotional about? You want me, I want you even more. All we have to do is pick a date and a place and dress up."

"Okay," she said slowly, letting the idea take root in her mind. "When and where do you want to do it?"

"We should probably invite the whole gang, or they'll never forgive us. Do you think a week is too soon?"

"Let's give them two weeks to make sure they're all available. How about Ilos?"

"Why Ilos? It's a graveyard of the last cycle, isn't it? With all those pods."

"That's why. Those people gave us our best chance. Thanks to them we're here now."

"Well," Joker considered it. "The planet is quite beautiful, and we don't really have to celebrate in the middle of those ruins, right? We could pick a nice, corpse-free spot and appreciate those Protheans in spirit."

"Yes, I love the idea. So," she sat up with a little more energy, now that they were making plans. "You head to the Normandy, message all the guys and start making arrangements. I'll ask the Council if they feel like marrying us after what I've just done to them. They're still the only authority I recognise."

"I head to the Normandy? Where will you be heading?"

"To retrieve a certain stasis pod and to get it to Greenland."

Joker jumped to his feet, dislodging himself from Jo almost violently.

"I hoped you'd forget the whole idea. I really hoped that."

Jo sighed and became more serious again, thoughtful.

"She's my sister, Jeff."

"No, she's not! She didn't even exist until, what, two years ago? She'd been created in a Petri dish, for fuck's sake!"

"Nature clones, too. It's called twins, or triplets. Just because my twin hasn't been alive as long as I have, doesn't mean she doesn't deserve a shot at real life."

"Jo," Joker took a deep breath to calm down and stop shouting. He tried to appeal to her reason: "I admit I have no idea what it's like to grow up and live your whole life as an orphan with no blood family whatsoever. I do see, however, that family is extremely important to you. You collect your children at every corner, you give your love to your chosen brothers and sisters unconditionally, you need them, crave them and you give them all you have. And when real people are concerned, I'm not worried. I know Garrus and Wrex and Vega and Tali and Jack and the rest of them personally and I know I can trust them. This clone? It's a waste product of science, not a real person. The only claim it has to you is the DNA you share. Why, just tell me, why do you consider that so important? It just seems like an obsession on your part. Obsession with having some sort of family. Aren't Garrus and Tali and Wrex enough? You're about to marry me, so we'll be a family, a real one. Isn't that enough? Why are you so obsessed with this clone?"

"You had a sister, Jeff. Tell me, did you enjoy it in any way? Were you ever happier with a sister than without? If you had a chance to bring her back to life, wouldn't you?"

"Don't bring Hilary into this. She was a real person."

"Okay, so maybe I'm obsessed. Yes, I want a sister, more than I've ever wanted anything else, except you. Maybe she just made me feel normal. The way I am now, a lone hero, there is something... divine about it. Don't take the word 'divine' wrong right now, please. Just think about it. People already see me as some sort of a messiah. A saviour. There are Shepard religions, for heaven's sake! And the fact that I have no connection to anyone in the world except those I chose as my companions makes me even more unattainable, detached from the world. That's what I always felt like: floating above the crowd, observing but never participating. But something as mundane as having a sister grounds me. Makes me feel normal, approachable, real. A person, not a goddess. Is it so hard to imagine that I would want to feel normal?"

"I'm just thinking that maybe your emotions are clouding your judgement. Remember how it felt for you to be torn from the ocean and stuffed into a body that no longer fit. Do you really want to put your sister through the same hell? Remember yourself right after your first resurrection. You didn't sleep, screamed your head off at night, crushed and maimed people without provocation and were constantly on the verge of a breakdown. Do you want that for her? And the only reason you got over it is because you're a good person and you found your way back to that. She doesn't have this solid foundation, she's not a good person. All she knows is what Brooks taught her, which is hate and more hate. What's to stop her from going on a killing rampage? Because if she does, there is nothing that can stop her, not even you, because you wouldn't want to harm her, and she would have no such reservations. You could unleash a threat upon the galaxy that is worse and more destructive than the Reapers. Are you willing to take that risk?"

"I'm not taking that risk, Joker. I know what I'm doing. Okay, the resurrection may not be the most pleasant experience, but I had you to get me through it and she'll have me. I know how to help her because I've been through it. And yes, you're right, all she knows is what Brooks taught her, which is hate." Jo got up to her feet and started slowly pacing up and down like a teacher in front of a class. "I'm a profiler, Joker. It was a part of my training at the ICA. I'm not good enough at it to profile civilians, but I'm quite good at reading people in combat situations. It helps a lot that I have this natural instinct about people. That instinct combined with the training led me to the best of my friends in the oddest places."

"Like Garrus and Tali, and me?"

Jo turned sharply and pointed at him with her index finger:

"No. No! You were never one of my projects! Garrus was, and Wrex, and Tali, and Jack, and many, many others over the years. But never you. Whatever you've achieved in your life before we met, you did it on your own. You were on the Normandy before I was. You earned that commendation honestly without my input. The only thing I did to your career was kill it."

"You didn't kill my career, I was done with the Alliance before Cerberus approached me," Joker waved her off, but his chest tightened at the realisation that she was right about one thing: he got his posting at the Normandy on his own, due to his own abilities. When they met, they were equally good at what they did. Jo never taught him anything the way she taught Wrex and Garrus. "Still, how can you be so sure that the clone would accept you as family? That's a bit far-fetched, to put it mildly."

"That instinct I just told you about, combined with my profiling training is why I'm sure. Look at my track record. Garrus was a wash-out C-Sec officer with a chip on his shoulder and nobody was listening to him. Wrex was a disillusioned merc, and a cheap one, too! Tali was about to be killed in a back alley and nobody would have cared until the body would have started stinking. Jack, a real sociopath. Thane, an assassin, Grunt - now that's a creepy origin, and yet look at him now! The rachni queen, Legion, Primarch Victus - have I ever trusted someone who betrayed me? So yes, maybe I'm emotional about my sister and maybe it makes me more optimistic than I would be with other people, but it doesn't change the fact that I know my gut: she deserves my trust."

"How can you be sure? You don't know anything about her."

"Oh, the depth of personality!" Jo moaned in exaggeration. "The layers of experience! Come on. She'd been alive for half a year, there isn't much to know yet. I could see right into her head when she stood in front of me."

"And what did you see?"

"She could have taken over the galaxy on her own, she didn't need to steal my identity. Instead she came looking for me. She wanted me to know that she existed, she wanted my approval more than she wanted my identity. She wanted to show me that she could be as much of a badass as me, but she also knew she still had a lot to learn. More than anything else she wanted my attention. Come on, you had a little sister who worshiped you, don't tell me you don't know how that works. Only my sister, she's just like me in a certain way. Her technique of asking for help was a punch in the face. She wanted to prove herself to me because I'm the only person in the galaxy she knew and cared about. Not Brooks. Me. She wanted my help, but she wouldn't simply ask for it, or accept it. She would have made me chase her down, tie her up and sit on her before she accepted me. She wanted me to prove myself to her," Jo talked with excitement. "And I was definitely up to that challenge, I wanted to do and be everything she asked of me."

"But she tried to kill you!"

"She never actually tried to kill me. The only time she fired a weapon at me was on the Normandy, when I started shooting at her first. The biggest tragedy of it was that in the end she didn't trust me enough to make everything better. Brooks betrayed her, turned away from her, and she gave up on the whole world, me included. She'd put her trust in the wrong person, someone who didn't really care for her, not like I care for her. Had she only given me a chance, I would have shown her what love and loyalty really mean. I'll do that when I bring her back to life and she can decide for herself if it's worth being ripped out of the ocean for."

"And what if she decides it's not?"

"Then she can kill herself again as often as she desires, I'll let her."

"Jo," Joker took her hands in his and implored her with everything he had: "Promise me. Give me your word that if the clone is evil in any way you'll kill her before she can do damage."

"I'll make sure she does no damage. All the consequences will be mine."

"I'm warning you. If she tries to take your identity again, comes to me pretending to be you and I can't tell the difference, it's your fucking fault."

"Duly noted."

"Do you understand what I'm saying? If I fuck your sister, it's your damn fault!"

"Yes, I hear you. It won't come to that."

"You can't promise that. So at least promise me to kill her if she's dangerous."

"I promise I'll kill her if she's dangerous and not susceptible to persuasion."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"Jeff, you've trusted me so many times, and about things much more important and rich on consequences than this. Just trust me one more time."

"I really can't talk you into dropping this idea, can I?"

"Not really, no. I'm doing it because I feel it's the right thing to do."

"I'm still against it, just so you know. I'll always be against it. But I can't stop you, either, so I won't waste any more of my breath. Come on, let's pick up Vega and head to the Normandy. I'll take you to the pod."

"No, I need to go there alone. Nobody can know about it but you, me and Link, because Link will be the one to work in the lab with her body. Vega can't know, Garrus can't, and no journalist can find out. So you stay with the Normandy and start preparing for the wedding and I'll disappear for a few days. Nobody will notice."

"Yeah, whatever. Is this what our married life is going to be like? You railroading me into whatever you want?"

Jo tilted her head with a small, honest smile:

"Yeah, pretty much. How is that any different from our life and work until now?"

Joker shook his head and corrected his cap with a sure, familiar gesture:

"Point taken."