A/N: One of these days I'll get around to posting more than one chapter in a single month. The starting flashback is based on a comic by greenmamba5 over on deviantart. I'm going to try posting the link (please work please work please work) greenmamba5 . deviantart art / Wake – up – 321886859 ? q = gallery %3 A greenmamba5 % 2F41350647 & qo = 27

Remember to take out the spaces.

3: The Hunt is On!

"Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?" Garrus groaned as he was dragged kicking and screaming from his sleep by his son's voice peeping in his ear "Daddy wake up! Daddy it's morning!"

"Whaaatttt...?" Garrus grumbled.

"Daddy I'm hungewy!" Carn whined.

Garrus opened his eyes enough to check the clock on the nightstand.

5:04 am.

He groaned and covered his head with the pillow "Go back to sleep Carn… it's too early for Daddy to get up."

There was a brief pause before he heard the pitter patter of little feet leaving the bedroom. Breathing a sigh of relief, Garrus slowly drifted back down into the blissful realm of sleep. Alice and Mordin had left the previous day on a trip to Sur'kesh for a convention on the latest medical advances Mordin had desperately wanted to go to. Garrus had just returned from an exhausting mission and therefore, Alice had offered to take Carn with them. Garrus however, had insisted that this would be a wonderful time for he and Carn to bond.

CRASH!

Garrus' eyes shot open at the loud noise. Intruders! He sprang from the bed and pulled his emergency pistol from the nightstand drawer, the safety flicking off as the gun registered his biometric signature. He rushed to the apartment's kitchen, the source of the disturbance. Got to make sure they don't get to Carn. He burst into the room, gun raised to meet any intruders head on-

-and found Carn standing on a stool, wearing a pot on his head like a helmet, trying to lift a pan onto the stove.

Garrus gaped at the ridiculous scene before him "What the- Carn, what are you doing?"

Carn turned his head to his father, smiling broadly as he squeaked "I'm making bweakfast!"

Garrus just stared at his son in disbelief "You have a pot on your head…"

"'Cause I'm making bweakfast!" Carn said like it was the most obvious thing in the world; Garrus could practically hear him ask: How do you not know this?

Garrus sighed, normally he would have found Carn's antics unbelievably cute, but right now he was too tired to appreciate it. Putting the pistol somewhere out of Carn's reach, Garrus lifted his son off the stool, removing the pot from his head, and got to work preparing breakfast, mumbling to himself all the while. "'Go have fun' I said. 'I can handle Carn' I said. 'It'll give us a chance to bond' I said…"

Not five seconds later, the impatient little devil was tugging on his father's pant leg "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy I'm hungewy! Daddy? Daddy?"

…

You mean to tell me that you never realized it was Kal?" Carn said angrily.

"It's been 6 years, it was dark, and he's a quarian! You can never tell them apart in those suits!" Lily defended.

Kal watched the cousins go back and forth with confusion. What in Rannoch's name are they doing working as thieves? I never would have thought that they… well, Lily maybe, but never Carn!

[He did follow her around like a lost puppy when they were kids] Dex pointed out.

I know, but still…

He was jarred from his musings when the drell spoke up "Let me get this straight, not only did we kidnap a quarian during an important social event, but that quarian in Tali'Zorah's son?!"

"Pretty much," Carn grumbled.

"This is bad, this is really bad!" the drell started pacing "If they find out that we're the ones who kidnapped Admiral Zorah's son, Spectres will be the least they send after us!"

"If I might make a suggestion," Kal spoke up, crawling out of the smuggling compartment "I can send Aunt Raan a message about how the processor is a fake and that you're helping me retrieve the real one." He paused "On one condition."

Lily arched an eyebrow "Which is…?"

You give me the real processor to return to the Citadel once we have it."

Lily's expression hardened, saying "No deal" at the exact same time Carn said "Deal."

Lily glared at her cousin "I'm the Captain of this ship and I say no."

Carn returned her glare with one of his own "This is Reaper tech Lily; it shouldn't be out roaming around in the black market."

"So we should just let them lock it away in some remote space station to gather dust when it could be studied?"

"Yes," Carn said "You of all people should know how horrible the Reapers were."

Lily snorted. "'Me of all people'. You mean my dad of all people. Not once did he ever stop talking about them. 'Reaper this, Reaper that, blah, blah, blah'!"

"Damnit Lil'! You know that-"

"Enough!" Lily snapped "I'm you Captain and you will treat me as such, cousins or no!"

Kal winced and turned to look a t Carn. He was trembling with barely contained rage, but made no move to continue his protest. Lily took a deep breath to calm herself and her expression softened "I'm sorry Carn, I shouldn't have snapped at you but I am Captain, and while I appreciate your feedback, when I make a decision it is final." When Carn continued to glare at her, Lily approached him and held up her hand "Hey," she said softly "No Shepard…"

Carn hesitated before clasping his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers "…Without Vakarian." He finished.

Lily smiled at Carn before looking at Kal, her expression hard "Seeing as you're not exactly a guest, I should probably keep you locked up in that smuggling compartment. However, seeing as I'm feeling generous, I'll let you out once we're clear of the Citadel. Just keep in mind that engineering and other key systems are off limits and that you're constantly being watched. You so much as twitch funny and I'll throw you back in there. Capiche?"

Kal nodded; best to just play along for now. Satisfied, Lily turned back to the two other crew members. "Alright, we best buzz off before someone comes looking for us."

The asari spoke up "I hope you don't mind me asking but seeing as I'm the pilot, I kind of need to know where we're going."

Lily thought for a moment "We need to know where they got the processor from in the first place, and then retrace its path from there. Head to Bekenstein, it's time we paid a visit to an old friend."

…

Garrus took a deep breath of the fresh (recycled) air as he stepped out of the spaceport elevator onto the Presidium. He'd spent the last four months on an assignment and was glad to finally be back home. He hadn't been able to get any messages where he was, so he was eager to learn how Carn's C-Sec training was going. Shouldering his duffle, Garrus made his way to the nearest Rapid Transit station. He decided that he would first head over to see John before dropping by his own apartment. Alice would probably still be at work managing Liara's Shadow Broker network, so he'd have plenty of time to set up a nice little surprise for her when she got home. He took the cab to the Spectre headquarters and made his way through its halls to John's office. He nodded to John's secretary as he passed, having already been given permission to enter the office whenever he wanted, provided John wasn't in a meeting.

The doors opened and Garrus flung his arms wide, his mandibles fluttering in a broad grin "Surprise!"

John was at his desk, typing away at some report to the Council no doubt when Garrus entered. Looking up, Garrus' brother-in-law's eyes widened when he saw the turian "Garrus? When the hell did you get back?"

The turian shrugged, dropping his duffle on the floor and taking a seat in the chair across the desk from John "Just now, I thought I'd surprise you guys since I've been gone so long."

John nodded "So how'd it go?"

"Alright, you'll be happy to hear that those krogan terrorists won't be a problem anymore." Garrus said casually "Although their leader was a bitch to hunt down."

"Did you find him?" John asked.

Garrus grinned "Please John, it's me we're talking about." His expression grew serious "You were right."

John cocked an eyebrow "About what?"

"The leader told me who hired them." Garrus paused "It was Katoc Prax."

John sighed, "Damnit, I was afraid of that. Wrex has enough trouble controlling the clans as it is, he doesn't need his enemies resorting to terrorism to get what they want."

"As long as Wrex has our support, Katoc and its allies won't dare try anything." Garrus reassured him.

John nodded, though he didn't seem convinced. Deciding to change the topic, Garrus casually asked "So, how's Carn? Wait, let me guess, he's top of his class right?"

John gave him a look of surprise "You mean Alice didn't tell you?"

Garrus frowned "John, I've been out of contact for four months, and I didn't call ahead because I wanted to surprise her when I got back. So no, she didn't."

John sighed "I see…" he rubbed the bridge of his nose "Carn dropped out of C-Sec over a week ago."

Garrus instantly straightened up, alert. "What?"

"Bailey said he was frustrated with the courses." John explained "I don't know all the details but they talked and agreed that C-Sec wasn't the place for him."

Garrus slumped, fighting down the sting of disappointment that was threatening to well up within him "I guess I should have expected that. Where is he now?"

John grimaced "That's where things get complicated."

Garrus' brow-plates furrowed "What do you mean? He didn't become a vigilante on Omega did he?"

John shook his head, "Worse, he's with Lily."

Garrus' eyes widened "What?! Are you sure?"

John nodded "One of our informants saw them together at Illium's spaceport, and another saw them a few days ago delivering supplies to a mining colony."

Delivering supplies? Garrus relaxed, so Lily and Carn weren't doing anything stupid. John however, still seemed troubled by this. "What's wrong?"

John hesitated "Both informants said that Carn wasn't wearing his colony paint."

Garrus froze, an unbearably painful ache clenching at his heart. What? But… No it can't be true. Why would he…? Does he think I… Oh Spirits… Finally he put his head in his hands "Damnit…" his voice trembled "Damnit…"

He was surprised when he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder. Raising his head, Garrus saw that John had gotten to his feet and leaned across the table to rest his hand on Garrus' shoulder, his expression sympathetic. John may not know exactly how bad it was in turian culture to willingly remove your colony paint, but he understood what it felt like to have your own child reject you.

Garrus flashed him a weak smile "Thanks." He took a deep breath to calm himself "Maybe your informants were wrong. I mean, from a distance, Carn looks a lot like a regular turian."

John nodded "I hope that's the case, because if he's with Lily…" his expression was grim "He could be charged as her accomplice."

Garrus' eyes narrowed, his moment of vulnerability gone and replaced with cold fury. Growling he said "What did Lily do?"

…

5 hours earlier

Javik knelt in the safe room that the Reaper processor had been stored in the previous night; the fake Reaper processor. Javik examined the crime scene intently; when he, Raskos, and the guards came to retrieve the processor they had found a hole cut through the floor to the Keeper tunnels below with an omni-laser. Javik's first thought had been to examine the processor. Upon close inspection, he immediately determined that the processor was a fake. While he had sent the guards to fetch Councilor Lawson, Javik had carefully reexamined the room, though he was careful not to touch anything just yet, waiting until the Councilor arrived to examine things through his Touch.

Javik knelt next to the hole. "Thoughts?" Javik asked Raskos, giving the raloi the chance to demonstrate how skilled he was in the art of deduction. He was supposed to be evaluating him over the next few missions after all.

Raskos clicked his beak, a sign that the raloi was thinking. Finally, he chirped up "It could be that the thieves replaced the processor with a fake, but then why would they leave such clear evidence of a break-in? Of course they could have tried to seal it back up but were either unable to or interrupted. It would have been simpler if they didn't even bother to bring a fake." Javik could hear Raskos clicking again and forced himself to be patient. "Unless… Unless they broke in intending to steal it, but the processor was a fake the whole time. Somehow, they must have realized this and left."

Javik nodded, he'd had come to the same conclusion. They waited for Councilor Lawson for several more minutes. By the time she joined them, Javik was wondering if something else was wrong; it was unlike Miranda to be so late. When she finally entered the safe room, Javik noted that she looked more than a little irritated.

"Sorry I took so long," Miranda apologized briskly "Councilor Raan is five seconds from having a heart attack."

Javik frowned "Something has her worried?"

Miranda nodded "Yes. You remember Tali's son Kal? He went missing during the party last night. She's been tearing the Citadel apart trying to find him."

"Do you need help?" Raskos asked.

Miranda waved him off "We have more pressing concerns. I'm sure he just got lost in the tunnels looking for the Catalyst again."

Javik did the Prothean equivalent of cocking an eyebrow "'Again'?"

"Don't concern yourself with it." Miranda said casually "Nobody has been able to find the Catalyst since the end of the Reaper War. It's probably deactivated itself by now."

Javik reluctantly let the matter be. Kneeling down, Javik pressed his hand to the metal floor and activated his Touch. As the information flowed through him, Javik watched the events from the previous night unfold. When he was finished Javik frowned and turned to Miranda "You said that Kal'Zorah had gone missing?"

Miranda groaned closed her eyes, rubbing her temples "Please don't tell me that he's the one who broke in here."

Javik nodded "He was, however it appears he did come here to steal the processor. Five minutes after he arrived, a human female climbed through the hole with the aid of a drell male. She and Kal'Zorah conversed, then struggled with the female rendering him unconscious. . She then carried the quarian back through the hole and left with the drell."

Miranda fixed Javik with a hard glare "Are you telling me that the thieves also kidnapped Kal'Zorah?"

Javik shook his head "No, the processor was never touched."

Miranda froze as the implication of what he was saying sank in "So it was a fake all along."

"A very good fake" Raskos added "But why would they kidnap Kal? Are they holding him for ransom?"

Miranda shook her head "No, Kal has an almost unhealthy obsession with the Reapers. Tali told me he's even developed a program to track Reaper artifacts. He probably let that slip and they took him to find the real processor."

"It seems our problems have intertwined" Javik noted. "There is one other thing."

Miranda frowned "What?"

"The human female was Lily Shepard."

Miranda sighed heavily "That makes things much more complicated."

…

Lily casually activated the Hermes' com system in her quarters, the glass case she kept her model ships in darkened as the connection was established (yes, it was not lost on her that she collected model ships like her dad). The visage of a turian male appeared, his silhouette in stark contrast to the backdrop of the plain white room. Half of the ebony plates on his face were cracked, showing the telltale red glow of cybernetics underneath; one of his eyes was even red.

"Captain." The flanging that underlined all turians' voices was different in this one, especially when compared to her Uncle Garrus. While Garrus' voice was threaded with a deep, soothing rumble, this turian's voice was burned by a sharp, grating growl.

Lily cracked a smile "Hey there Darth Vader. Wazzup?"

The turian's expression remained stoic "I take it from your casual façade that you've failed to retrieve the processor."

Lily's grin faltered. Damn it, how does he do that? "Yes sir, it was a fake. But don't worry, we're on our way to retrieve the real one right now."

The turian scoffed "Naturally." Lily resisted the urge to wince. The representative for her employer, lily had had numerous dealings with the turian Kronov before, and had firmly decided that she did not like him. Kronov looked down at the holo-pad in his cybernetic hand before looking back up at Lily. "I notice you have made an addition to the crew. One Carn Vakarian." Kronov's mandibles twitched into a harsh sneer. "You're cousin I presume?"

Lily averted her eyes from the turian's sharp gaze "Yes."

"And what, might I ask, led you to believe that he was exempt from the rules that apply to all new crew members?" When Lily didn't reply Kronov continued "Your silence speaks for itself. When you deliver the processor bring your cousin with you. I will evaluate his trustworthiness then." Having dispensed his orders, Kronov cut the communication.

Lily breathed a sigh of relief, dealing with Kronov always made her feel like she was being interrogated. She headed over to the door to her cabin, intending to get a quick snack before going to bed. When the doors opened however, Carn was standing on the other side, hand raised as if to knock.

Awkwardly, Carn lowered his hand and cleared his throat. "May… May I come in?" Lily nodded, stepping aside to let Carn pass. He looked around the comfortable room, "This is twice the size of my cabin."

Lily shrugged "What can I say? Being Captain has its perks."

Carn nodded, fidgeting nervously "I… um… I wanted to apologize for how I acted earlier, I was… wrong to challenge you like that, especially in front of the others."

Lily rolled her eyes "It's been what, five hours Carn? It's fine, don't worry abou' it."

Carn shook his head "No, you're my superior, I shouldn't have-"

"Carn" Lily said, fixing with a hard glare "It's fine." She glanced at the clock on her bed's nightstand "It's late, shouldn't you be asleep?"

Carn shook his head "Couldn't."

Lily's gaze softened "Nightmares?"

Carn shrugged "It's fine, really. I'm used to them; it's more all that's been going on recently with Kal and Reaper brains and all that." He focused his eyes back on Lily "Do you ever… you know, dream about…?" the unfinished sentence hung in the air, looming above them.

Lily felt a sharp pang of guilt in her chest and looked down "Not really anymore, but yeah, sometimes." She looked up "Is that what your nightmare was about?"

Carn shook his head, sitting down on her bed, his eyes glazed over. "No, it was this dream I've been having for almost as long as I can remember. In it, I'm surrounded by a thick fog- or maybe it's smoke, I'm not sure. I can't see anything, little embers are falling all around me and in the distance I can hear this faint sobbing. I try to find the source, but never can. Recently though, the sobbing's been getting louder, but still just out of reach." He shuddered "I don't know why, but something about that dream terrifies me."

Lily frowned; that sounded hardly like a normal dream, but she didn't press further, deciding to let the matter rest for now. Once we get the processor, I'm taking him to see Ophelia. Maybe that old bat can help him. She sat down next to him on the bed, wrapping her arm around him. "Hey," she flashed him a warm smile once she had his attention "If you ever have trouble sleeping, come find me, I'll be more than happy to talk."

Carn smiled back at her "Thanks Lil'… I'd like that."

The comfortable silence that followed was broken by a certain gruff asari's voice "Blegh."

Lily turned in outrage to Nyn standing in the doorway, having just returned from the mess hall with a cup of asari tea. "If you two are gonna start getting all incestuous, at least shut the door. Some of us find that king of thing disgusting."

Lily facepalmed at Nyn's comment while Carn's expression became one of complete and utter horror "Y-You think that… that m-me and Lil'… Oh God!" Carn clamped a hand over his mouth and burst up from the bed, bolting to Lily's private bathroom.

Lily got up and dragged Nyn back out the door, closing it behind them. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the pilot "I hope you're happy."

A smug little grin danced across Nyn's lips "Oh I am, believe me." From the bathroom, a loud retching could be heard coming from the bathroom as Carn regurgitated his stomach. Nyn cocked an eyebrow at the noise "Talk about rejection."

"Ha, ha" Lily said dryly "You know, you could at least try to be nice to him."

Nyn shook her head with a heavy sigh "Look Captain, he doesn't belong here. I'm sure Carn's a nice guy and all, but that's exactly the problem, he's a nice guy. Nice guys don't go far in this business, in fact, nice guys usually get killed. Or worse. "

Lily's eyes narrowed "Is there any point to this Nyn?"

"He shouldn't be on this ship." Nyn said sharply "You saw how he challenged you today. He needs to be flexible, to be willing to do things he doesn't agree with. He can't, so he needs to go."

Lily glared back at Nyn unflinchingly "That's not for you or me to decide, Kronov will determine if he can stay or not."

Nyn snarled "Are you out of your fucking mind Lily?! Kronov will destroy Carn if he 'reviews' him. You have to get him out while you still can!"

"It's too late Nyn," Lily replied, "Kronov already knows about Carn; even if I wanted to I couldn't let him go until Kronov deems him trustworthy."

Nyn and Lily faced off for several more seconds before Nyn shook her head "I hope you know what you're doing Captain." She turned and opened the door to her own quarters, right across from Lily's own and entered, locking the door behind her.

…

The trip to Bekenstein from the Citadel took approximately 15 hours. Kal spent that time walking around the ship, studying the layout as best he could. All the rooms vital to the ship like engineering or the armory were locked, along with the personnel quarters, but the rest of the ship was open to him. The first thing he did was check up on Dex to make sure his captors were still unaware of the geth in his suit.

[I believe so] Dex said [I've remained silent after my initial attempt to contact the Collective. It is likely that the AIs believe the attempt was an automated signal.]

Well that's something, Kal thought, relieved. At least we have a surprise up our sleeves.

Kal wound up spending a great deal of time in the lounge on the second deck, fooling around with everything that caught his fancy; the bar, the holo-table with dozens of games installed, the large vid-screen against the wall, he even found a supply of emergency induction ports. He might be kidnapped and forced against his will to help a bunch of thieves (and Carn) find and steal a Reaper processor but that didn't mean he was going to just sit around being bored.

Kal had just discovered the vibrate on the recliner and was currently leaning back in the chair with his eyes closed, thoroughly enjoying the experience when the door opened and Lily stepped in. "Cyan told me you've been fooling around in the lounge for the last three hours and wanted me to make sure you weren't…" Lily's voice trailed off when she noticed the quarian hadn't even registered her presence, too busy enjoying the vibrating chair. "…up to something." Lily frowned and walked over to Kal, snapping her fingers in front of his faceplate "'Ey Zorah!"

Kal blinked his eyes open and saw Lily looming over him. "Oh heeeyyy Liiilllyyy!" Kal said casually, his voice vibrating with the recliner. "Waaazzzzuuup?"

Lily cocked an eyebrow "Enjoying yourself?"

"Yeeeeessss." Kal said contently.

Lily's eyes narrowed and then, to Kal's disappointment, turned the vibration off. "Alright, what are you up to? Why aren't you trying to get a message out, or escape, or something?"

"Why would I need to?" Kal said, sitting up "Undoubtedly there're already people looking for me and the processor. I don't need to do anything; I'll probably be rescued in a week's time, you'll be arrested, and I'll get an earful from Auntie Raan." He shrugged "Might as well enjoy myself while I can." Lily cocked an eyebrow and Kal got the uneasy feeling that she didn't quite believe his casual attitude. Deciding to change the topic, Kal noticed Lily had two pistols on her hip in old-fashioned holsters. "What model are those pistols? I've never seen a gun like them before."

Lily looked down at the guns and unholstered the one on her right hip "Oh these? They're custom-made; I built them about four years ago." She held the pistol tenderly, like it was the most valuable thing in the world. "This little guy here is called Clint."

Kal leaned forward, examining the gun. It was oddly shaped; the handle wasn't blocky like most modern weapons, seeming to flow from the barrel. The handle appeared to be made of some kind of wood, (although Kal doubted it) while the remainder of the gun was constructed from a dark metal that gave off a faint silvery sheen. It had a hair trigger, a small ring the only guard. In front of the trigger there was a large chamber that looked like it could be spun. The barrel was long and large, somewhat thick, yet sleek. There was a long scope on top, and a small, v-shaped barrel extension on the muzzle, the standard flashlight located below it.

"You made this?" Kal asked, impressed. Gunsmithing was an incredibly complex process these days. The fact that Lily had the time and patience, not even mentioning the knowledge to build not one, but two pistols was impressive.

Lily smiled a little, "Well, I had help from a friend of mine." She flicked the chamber out, revealing six holes each containing a heat sink. "It's based off of a revolver. He can fire fifteen shots on each sink, and once the current one is spent it rotates to the next one. I don't need to switch out clips until they're all used up, and by then the bad guys are usually dead." Her voice was brimming with pride. She holstered Clint and took out the other pistol.

This one was different from its counterpart. The pistol's handle and trigger were similar, but the pistol was made with a duller, dark gray metal. The barrel was just as long as the first pistol's and twice as large, reminding Kal of a club. The second pistol lacked a scope, and was certainly heavier than Clint judging by the way Lily held it.

"This big boy is Chuck. He can fire only six shots per sink, but he packs one hell of a punch. One shot is all it takes to bring down your shields, and before you can take cover, BAM! You got a hole between your eyes." Lily was clearly proud of her creation.

"Impressive," Kal said as Lily holstered her other gun. "Why were you carrying them around on the ship? Expecting trouble?"

"Nah, just getting some target practice down in the cargo hold." Lily turned to leave, "You should get some sleep, we'll be at Bekenstein in a few hours."

Kal didn't bother keeping the surprised tone out of his voice "A pirate caring about her prisoner? I'm shocked."

Lily snorted and looked back at him "I'm a smuggler and occasional thief, not a pirate."

"There's a difference?"

"Yes," Lily said sharply.

He and Lily merely stared at each other for several moments, studying one another's eyes. Finally, when Kal opened his mouth to speak, Lily cut him off. "You better not be about to give me some shitty 'return to the Light Side' speech."

Kal blinked "I was actually going to ask if you had any dextro food aboard."

"Oh," Lily said sheepishly "Yeah, Carn eats a mixed diet of levo and dextro so we should have some lying around."

Kal nodded "Thanks."

The silence stretched on once more. After a long moment, Lily spoke up "So… um… goodnight… I guess…" with that she turned and left the lounge.

Kal didn't bother to respond.

…

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Bekenstein?" Nyn said dryly as she brought the Hermes out of orbit and into the planet's atmosphere.

Carn gave her a look of confusion "No."

"I wasn't talking to you." The asari pilot snapped.

"Nyn, be nice." Lily chastised from the Captain's chair. She turned to where Mort was standing next to her. "Did we get in contact?"

Cyan's avatar popped up "Yes, I have arranged for you and Mort to meet with her at the safehouse."

"Meet with who?" Kal asked from the back of the cockpit.

Lily swiveled in her chair to address the quarian "An old friend of ours. With any luck, she'll be able to point us in the right direction."

Nyn guided the Hermes down toward one of the larger cities, bringing the ship to dock in a small, inconspicuous spaceport, with just enough through traffic for them to go unnoticed. Lily and Mort departed the ship through the airlock, making their way over to the meeting location. The safehouse was a small, unassuming apartment in one of the city's many complexes. After a long walk through dingy streets and up crumbling stairs, they arrived at a plain door with an apartment number marked on it.

After checking to see if anyone was around, Lily knocked on the door. There was a long pause before the door finally opened revealing nothing but darkness. Without hesitation, Lily and Mort stepped through. The apartment was small, consisting of only one room with some chairs, a table, and a bed. It was lit only by the lines of light streaming through the shutters. A lone figure was leaning against the wall, twinkling eyes concealed beneath a hood.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here."

Lily grinned at the light, playful voice "Hey Kas'."

One of the twinkling lights beneath her hood vanished for a moment as Kasumi Goto winked "Hey there Lil'. I see your still hanging around with that sexy drell I found you."

Mort smiled "It's good to see you again Kasumi."

The petite thief smiled "So, what can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for the Reaper processor you stole for my dad." Lily said.

"Oh?" Kasumi pushed herself off the wall, moving forward "And why do you want it?"

"I assume by now you've heard that the one you gave the Spectres was a fake." Mort asked, stepping forward.

Kasumi pouted, cupping her chin "Yeah, not my best job, I'll admit."

"We need to know where you found it." Lily said.

Kasumi shot Lily a curious look from beneath her hood "Why's that?"

"It's a job." Lily said briskly.

Kasumi studied her for a moment before shrugging "Well, far be it from me to keep a fellow honest criminal from making a living." She activated her omni-tool "There's a millionaire on Elysium named Charles Bones. He's a collector of rare and exotic antiquities. As I'm sure you're aware, it is illegal to be in possession of Reaper artifacts without a permit. We got a tip that he might have one so your dad sent me in to… liberate it." She smiled mischievously. "It wasn't the easiest job, but I managed to lug the processor out of there before he was none the wiser. I probably should have checked to see if it was a decoy but I was in a hurry."

"Do you think he has the real one?" Lily asked.

Kasumi grinned "Using decoys to fool thieves is hardly a new practice. I've wound up with my fair share of fakes, it's annoying, but most clients don't know the difference." She tapped a few times on her omni-tool "Here, I'll give you the layout of the mansion and a list of likely locations where the real processor might be hidden."

Lily smiled thankfully as her omni-tool pinged to signal she'd received the data. "Thanks Kas'."

The petite Japanese thief winked. "Don't thank me yet, I already gave all this info to the Spectres. You better hurry if you want to get the processor before they do."

A/N: For reference, here're the images that served as my inspiration for Lily's guns:

fc05 . deviantart fs70 / f / 2012 / 215 / 1 / f / sci_ fi _ revolver _ by _ bring me a sunkist - d593a3g . jpg

4 . bp . blogspot _ snIFN3 Tdk5U / TC mz MKVUNRI / AAAAAAAAAPI / 6Nx5QoMveCU / s1600 / revolver _ side . jpg

i794 . photobucket albums / yy224 / Ryoku 67 / my weapon 18 . jpg

farm5 . static . flickr 4003 / 43897 73143 _ 3f37 44272a . jpg